by Kay Hadashi
She aimed her phone at the fleeing van and tapped on a button several times, hoping at least one would be good enough to identify the van.
Melanie shifted her attention to the boat. Two men were now on the rear deck, stowing things, coiling lines, making it look as though they were ready to set off. When one of them went to the wheel and started the inboard engines, a rush of water and bubbles came from beneath the boat. It looked like Ozzy at the helm.
“They’re going to get away.”
Just as she was getting a few more pictures, a siren blared in the distance.
“Hurry up, Nakatani.”
The man at the helm must’ve shoved on the gas too hard and fast because the engines roared, but quickly died.
“Ozzy! Quit screwing around and get us out of here!” the other man shouted from the deck.
Melanie listened as the engines were tested, turned over, but didn’t catch. With each new attempt, complete failure sounded close.
The sirens were loud now, just out on the highway close to turning into the resort. Melanie thought—or hoped—she heard two sirens.
The other man joined Ozzy at the helm and tried starting the engine several times. Flashing blue lights were now illuminating the palms and shrubs, reflecting off the side of the boat and water. While the men continued trying to get the boat engines to start, the police sirens were cut as those vehicles skidded around turns in the parking lot.
“Get the weapons!”
Melanie watched as Ozzy went to a storage locker in the gunwale to retrieve an assault rifle and a pistol. Keeping the AR for himself, he tossed the pistol to the other man.
Two cars bounced over curbs and rumbled to a stop on the lawn not far away, blue lights flashing. Melanie watched as the doors opened but no one got out.
“Carlos Cabrera, you have nowhere to go! Get off the boat and keep your hands up,” Detective Nakatani said over a loudspeaker.
Somebody on the boat shouted a profanity at him.
“Get off the boat and keep your hands up!”
Melanie couldn’t let Nakatani proceed without warning him about the assault rifle.
“He has an AR!”
A short burst of gunfire blasted the tree trunk and the sand around her. She ducked down as much as she could to hide.
Two guns fired back at the boat from the position of the police cars. That only induced more gunfire from the boat back at the cops.
Melanie feared it would turn into a massacre, with Ozzy and Cabrera overpowering the police and coming out on top with their assault rifle. She decided she wasn’t going to let Ozzy win again.
“Wait. He barely knew how that thing worked last time.”
All she had was the T-shirt and shorts she was wearing and her phone. Not much to fight with. But a newly fallen coconut was in the sand not far away. She would have to risk exposing herself to go get it, but maybe, just maybe…
Melanie jumped out from behind the palm tree and ran for the coconut. Scooping it up with one hand, she kept running through the soft sand until she was just about to the boat. When she saw Ozzy stand up to aim his rifle at the police, she flung the coconut as hard as she could at him.
It was a direct hit with his shoulder, bouncing up and clonking Ozzy in the side of the head just hard enough to knock him sideways. When Melanie heard a small splash, she hoped it was the rifle that went into the water.
When she heard more gunfire, she realized it was in her direction from the pistol Cabrera had. Figuring she couldn’t outrun his aim, she ran into the water and dove. Coming to the surface, she heard more gunfire from both directions. Then there was the large sploosh of a human either jumping or falling into the ocean.
Suddenly, the boat engines roared to life, roiling the water all around Melanie. While she treaded water to keep from getting swamped, the boat’s engines kicked in and it sped out to open ocean.
Kicking her legs frantically, she got her head above the water. While she’d been under, the headlights of the vehicles had been turned on and a spotlight was scanning the water surface. She saw a tall, lanky body try to run through the water to the beach.
“Cabrera, stop where you are!” Nakatani said over the loudspeaker. The spotlight waved around the surface of the water, trying to find him again.
He kept splashing through the water.
“You’re not going anywhere,” she said, more to herself.
Taking a few strokes to shallow water, she ran up to the beach. Cabrera was running full blast by then to the far side of the resort grounds. If he got into the little village of condos and shops, he would surely never be found.
Nakatani continued to shout orders over his loud speaker. Melanie wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard footsteps and heavy breathing of someone running behind her.
“Over here!” she shouted. “Down the beach to the left!”
Getting her bare feet on firm sand, Melanie took off after Cabrera while shots continued to be fired at the fleeing boat behind her. Ozzy must’ve been shooting back from his position on the boat, because when she heard him fire again, one bullet caught her.
Melanie stumbled to a stop. Bending over, she reached for her arm. The bullet had hit her upper arm, taking a chunk of skin off. Blood was already running down, dripping from her elbow. But going after Cabrera was more important than first aid right then. She took off after him in a redoubled effort.
“You’re not getting away from me!” she shouted, quickly gaining on him. She was running on firm, wet sand, while he was having trouble in the soft, dry sand.
When she saw a middle finger go up in the air, it only gave her legs the energy they needed to chase him down. She was so close, she could hear his heavy breathing, even the sand getting kicked up by his feet. With one last push, she leapt and tackled him to the ground.
“Give up!”
He tried squirming out from under her weight while swearing at her.
“Just give up, Cabrera. You’re not going anywhere.”
She had him locked up even better than she had with Andrew. The more he struggled, the more she wrenched his body and neck into unnatural positions.
“You can forget about ever selling drugs on my island again. But before the police get here, take a few deep breaths, because they’re the last ones you’ll ever take outside prison walls.”
***
Once Cabrera was loaded into a police car and taken away, Nakatani finally set his attention on Melanie. Her arm wound was being attended to by a paramedic that had been called to the scene, even though Melanie was the only one injured.
“What about Ozzy on the boat?” she asked.
“The Coast Guard has already picked it up about five miles out to sea.”
“So, they got Ozzy, then?”
He shook his head. “No one was on board the boat. It was on autopilot, and the steering wheel had been tied off to keep it going out to sea in a straight line. They have no idea where Ozzy might be, but they’re treating it like a man overboard, with two boats searching for him in the water between there and here.”
“Be a crying shame if a shark found him first,” she said, watching what the paramedic was doing with her wound.
“Mayor, not just three hours ago, didn’t you promise me you’d stay out of police business?” Nakatani asked.
“Yeah, it was about that long ago.”
The paramedic finished wrapping Melanie’s arm with gauze and let them talk while he filled out a report.
“And weren’t you the one who told me, not just three hours ago, that I’d see very little of you in the future?”
Melanie couldn’t help but smile. “I’m pretty sure that was me, yes. Not very good at keeping my promises, am I?”
Both Nakatani and the paramedic laughed.
Melanie told the story all over again how she was already at the beach when she noticed the boat and the suspicious activity around it. “When I recognized Ozzy, I sent that text to you.”
“As much as I
hate to admit it, you pulled it off, Mayor. If you hadn’t been here, they’d be halfway to Lanai with about a hundred toys filled with meth. And if you hadn’t thrown that coconut, that little gunfight could’ve been much worse. That was an NFL throw if I ever saw one.”
She winced when she shrugged her injured arm. “Going to get a new scar for my efforts.”
“You need stitches in that, Ma’am,” the paramedic said. After reminding Melanie to get a tetanus shot at the hospital, the paramedic tore off a copy of his report to give to Nakatani and left them alone.
“Okay, now that I have your attention, what’s all this stuff about me not seeing you around much anymore? Are you thinking about not running for mayor again?”
“No way in the world I’m making that mistake again.”
“Does that mean you’re running for governor in the next election?”
“Ha! With the way my name has been smeared in the news lately, I doubt I’d get any votes at all.”
“But smeared for no fault of your own.”
“Smeared none-the-less. I’m done with politics, Detective. You’ll have to find another action figure mayor to help solve your crimes.”
“Well, it’ll give you more time with your family and for work at the hospital.”
“There’s some news about that.” She told him about Josh going home in the summer, possibly not coming back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know things were as serious as all that.”
“I think both of us have seen it coming. We’ve been relying on spikes of happiness, or at least satisfaction, in our marriage for a long time, rather than anything meaningful. And lately, even those spikes haven’t been happening.”
He looked truly disappointed. “Anyway, you have your kids and career. That should be very fulfilling.”
“Even more news about that. You may as well be the first to know. Even Trinh and Josh don’t know this yet.”
“I guess I should be honored but I don’t like the sound of this,” he said.
Melanie looked out at the ocean for a moment. When a smile formed on her face, she knew she was making the right decision.
“I’m giving up medicine. It takes up too much of my time, and every time a patient doesn’t do well or dies, I’m just too heartbroken over it. I know that sounds very selfish, but I just can’t do it anymore.”
“But from everything I hear, you’re the best surgeon Maui has, maybe even in Hawaii. I heard about your reputation even before moving here from Honolulu last year.”
“Thanks. But I’ve had enough. I’m really close to draining a bottle of the hard stuff.”
“Welcome to stress, Mayor. Come join the rest of us at the local bar for a stiff one sometime.”
“Except for me, once I get started, it’s the entire bottle. I’ve struggled too hard for too many years to go back to that, just to ruin what I still have with my kids.”
“Not a good drunk?”
“Kind of a mean drunk, and I’ve been turning mean enough lately while sober. I know I’m not mother of the year, but being sober and tense is a lot better than being drunk and mean when trying to raise kids.”
“What about work? Can the hospital afford to lose you?” he asked.
“Earlier this month, I hired two new surgeons to join our practice, one of which is a vascular surgeon. They’ll come at the beginning of the summer, and once they’re up and running, I’m stepping away to spend more time with the kids.”
“It’ll take two at least to fill your shoes. What are you going to do for a living?” he asked.
“Well, I have the restaurant, and my adventure sporting goods store should open soon. I have my research lab, which could be earning a lot more money if I managed it right. And I’d like to start a little farm upcountry somewhere, if I can find the right parcel of land.”
“I thought you wanted to be less busy?”
Melanie laughed. “Believe it or not, with four different businesses to run, I would be less busy than I am now as a surgeon!”
Chapter Sixteen
Melanie had hated goodbyes since she was a kid, and the ones at airports were the worst. They just seemed so final, that somehow the distance between the departing and the ones left behind would grow too quickly. It all seemed so irreversible.
She watched as Josh picked up Thérèse. It was a tender moment between father and child, one that was held between him and Chance only the moment before. Somehow, Thérèse was holding up better than she was, maybe still ignorant of what was happening. After they kissed each other, he set her down again to let the girl go to her grandparents to say goodbye.
“So,” she said with tremendous anxiety in her heart.
“Remember, if you want to come for a visit this summer, you can stay at the house,” Josh said.
“I’ll keep it in mind. I doubt Chance would notice the change in scenery, and Thérèse would never remember.”
Josh looked uncomfortable. “You won’t be able to make time? You’re done working now, right?”
“I have a restaurant to run, a sporting goods store that’s just opened, and a new research contract for the lab to get under way. I have plenty to keep me busy.”
He looked over to where Thérèse was saying goodbye to his parents. “Keeping the nanny?”
“Keeping the nanny.”
Josh and his parents’ flight was announced for pre-boarding.
“Time to go,” he said.
“Yep, time to go.” Melanie clamped her molars together. She was determined not to cry.
When he leaned forward to hug her, she returned the favor with one arm, turning her face away, getting only a glancing blow of a kiss on her cheek. When their gentle hug eased, she leaned back and called Thérèse to come to her. Two minutes later, Josh and his parents were gone, taking their walk down the terminal.
Summer vacation traffic in and out of the airport was heavy as Melanie got her pickup into traffic, with Thérèse and Chance buckled into their child carriers in the back seat. Thérèse was examining her newest stuffed toy animal, one she’d received only minutes before in the terminal.
“Daddy done gone to Wimming…Werming with Grandmother and Grandpop, huh, Momma?”
“Say it right, Sweetie.”
The girl sighed dramatically. “Daddy gone to Werming, huh?”
“Yeah, Daddy has gone home to Wyoming with his parents.” Melanie adjusted her rearview mirror to make eye contact with Thérèse. “Sweetie, what happens if Daddy doesn’t come back to live with us anymore?”
“Daddy no more come back to Maui?”
“We talked about that with you several times. He might come to Maui for short visits, maybe at Christmas, and we could go to Wyoming to see them in the summer. But I think Daddy’s not going to live with us anymore. Is that okay?”
Thérèse winced with one eye. “Momma, I don’t have the answer.”
“Either do I.”
Melanie drove through the heart of town, battling with her emotions. Everything had turned to grayscale as familiar sights went by at speed limit. A few raindrops hit the windshield. She switched on the wipers once. Turning off the A/C, she put the windows down and pulled her hair loose from the knot at the back of her head. She turned off the slack key guitar love song playing on the radio. For everyone else around them, it was a day not unlike any other on Maui, with music playing on car radios, palms swaying in the steady breeze, surfers on their way to beaches all around the island. A bead of sweat ran down her neck as a tear streaked down her cheek. She ignored both of them.
She looked in the mirror at Thérèse again. “What do you want to do today?”
The girl perked up. “Can we go the beach?”
“Resort beach?”
“Yeah! That’s the best one!”
“I agree.”
Once they had changed into beachwear at home, Melanie took the kids across the highway to the resort area and the beach she had known all her life. On the way there, she knew there was o
ne detour they had to make, and that was to the bench. Once she had a hat on Thérèse and an umbrella over Chance, Melanie sat and waited. It was only a few minutes later when she saw her mother coming from the direction of the house, leading a little girl along by the hand. With a second look, Melanie felt a vague connection with the girl even though she didn’t look familiar.
June, Melanie’s mother, gave the baby and Thérèse’s cheeks kisses.
“Hi Mom.” Melanie made space for them to sit.
“Hi Dalisay,” Thérèse said to the girl.
“Hi Thérèse.”
“You wanna juice box?”
“No, thank you.”
“Sweetie, how’d you know her name?” Melanie asked.
Thérèse shrugged. “I dunno. Just sorta like I always knowed her.”
The little girl named Dalisay looked up at June. “Can we go play?”
“You sure can. Just stay on the grass, please.”
“Stay away from the beach until I can go with you, Thérèse,” Melanie called out as the two little girls raced away. She gave Chance to her mother to hold. “Dalisay is…”
“The soul of the little girl that has been in your old room for all this time.”
“She’s the one that sings sometimes?” Melanie asked.
June nodded. “She’s very sweet.”
“You’re taking her with you?”
“She needed someone to bring her here to play.”
“She needs an escort?” Melanie asked.
“It’s very difficult to explain these things, Honey.”
They watched as the two girls ran far and wide across the giant resort lawn, Dalisay having the time of her life with her freedom.
“Who is your new nanny?” June asked.
“Good question. Georgie was for a while. Then I met Hana Tsuda through Detective Nakatani. She’s a Japanese handwriting analyst who works for pay under the table for the Maui Police Department. Well, she was barely making ends meet, so I offered her a job working as a barista in my new café at the sporting goods store. When she didn’t catch onto that right away, she and Georgie decided to trade jobs. Georgie ended up having the perfect personality and appearance for being a barista, and Hana has the right temperament and patience needed to be a nanny. She’s also been teaching Thérèse Japanese. But since I pay both of them the same, and they both have a place to live at my house, I don’t really care who shows up at either place, as long as one of them is here to help with the kids.”