Red Rain

by Toby Neal

  Patterns like the path of blood, sliding down a wall. So much blood could come from one body. They said it was only five to eight pints for most people, but when it all emptied out of dying veins, it looked like a lake. I’d wondered sometimes if it only seemed that way because of the color—so intense. So permanent.

  And blood had so many textures.

  Pooling blood, with a skin of coagulation, like Jell-O beginning to set.

  Spattered blood in abstract patterns, bizarrely beautiful at times.

  Blood with flies stuck in it and scabbed blood in dried puddles. Blood hardened into black strings, blood speckled like freckles on skin.

  Bloody hands reaching for me.

  I cried out, adding my hoarse voice to the yelling of the rest of the men.

  The palm fronds lifted, and a round brown face looked down.

  “Ayuda esta, por favor!” cried K-Man. His hands dug into my armpits as he tried to haul me upright, but I collapsed face down in the water. “This man is sick!”

  The black of the wipeout at Ho`okipa rolled over my head, and I was gone.

  Lei set the child’s skull down on her desk. Pono Kaihale, her longtime partner, barely back at work from a minor gunshot injury, recoiled at the sight.

  “It’s a kid.” No one liked kid cases, but Pono’s aversion was almost at the phobia level.

  “Don’t worry. The captain gave me this one to work on my own,” Lei said. “She thinks this is an old skull. Someone found it washed down a stream in Hana.” She leaned over, inspecting him. “Show me your arm.”

  He held out that thick, brawny appendage. A triangle tattoo pattern encircled the biceps that had been gouged by a drug dealer’s bullet in their last case. Lei winced inwardly, remembering how terrified she’d been when Pono was shot. She traced the white edge of the bandage with a finger, wishing again that she’d remembered to call out that the suspect was armed.

  “Told you, just a flesh wound.” Pono’s cheeks creased in a wide grin. “Did I tell you Tiare thinks it’s hot?”

  “You did. And you told me you’d always wanted to get ‘just a flesh wound’ for bragging rights.” Lei sat, booted up her computer. “Captain wouldn’t grant my request for leave.”

  Lei had called Pono from Oahu to tell him the news about Stevens. She had no secrets from her partner, who’d become like the brother she’d never had.

  “Nothing you can do for Mike with him way over there in some classified hot zone.” Pono squeezed Lei’s shoulder with a meaty hand. “I know that doesn’t make it any easier. But Kiet needs you. He still having sleep problems?”

  “Yeah.” Lei sighed, looking down at the pathetic little skull. She picked it up, hefted it. “This skull doesn’t look much bigger than Kiet’s head.”

  Pono looked away with an exaggerated shudder. “Get that thing out of here. It’s bad juju.”

  “So superstitious, you.” But Lei stowed the skull out of sight in her desk drawer. She deliberately pushed Stevens out of her mind as she opened her departmental e-mail. She’d tried. She really had. And she wasn’t going to risk leaving her job without permission after that last time. Her hand rested in a brief habitual gesture on her belly.

  Lei was flipping her notebook to the number for Maui Memorial’s morgue when she heard a delicate throat-clearing at the door of the cubicle.

  Both Lei and Pono turned their office chairs. An attractive woman stood in the doorway, and there were spots of color on her high cheekbones. “Hi, Sergeant Texeira. Detective Kaihale. I wonder if I could have a moment of your time.”

  “Sergeant Fraser.” Lei took in her husband’s partner’s appearance. As one of the MPD’s training officers, Fraser wore a uniform. She’d opted for a pencil skirt and low heels instead of trousers, and Lei could see why—her legs were stunning. The crisp navy fabric of the uniform brought out the woman’s deep blue eyes. Creamy skin, smooth dark hair in a French braid, and shiny winking brass finished a look worthy of any recruiting poster.

  Lei suppressed the instinct to smooth her own springing curls and straighten her wrinkled tank top. “How can we help you?” She was proud of how calm she sounded, when every cell in her body wanted to leap up and tear the woman’s hair out by the roots.

  Stevens had never told Lei he had a partner. She’d found out by accident, going up to his office after his deployment for a missing set of keys and finding Kathy Fraser sitting at his desk. That was also when she’d found out that Fraser had known his deployment date for months, though he’d told Lei only the day before he left.

  What was this woman to him?

  “Could I speak to you privately, Sergeant Texeira?” Fraser was obviously uncomfortable, and Lei’s stomach tightened. There was nothing this woman could say that Lei was going to like.

  “I need another cup of coffee, anyway,” Pono said. “Nice to see you again, Sergeant Fraser.”

  “You too,” Fraser said.

  Lei shot her partner a look of shock as the big Hawaiian stood and sidled out past Fraser, not meeting Lei’s eyes. Was she the only person in the whole department who had never met Kathy Fraser or known that she was Stevens’s partner?

  Fraser entered and closed the retractable privacy slider. The roof of the cubicle was open, but soundproofing inside helped cut down on ambient noise as the detectives worked their cases. The woman took a seat in Pono’s chair.

  “You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming and talking to me.” Lei could feel herself arching and stiffening, like a cat reacting to a threat.

  “I came because…” Fraser licked her lips, and a tiny bit of lipstick got on her teeth, a small comfort to Lei. “I wanted you to know there was nothing between Michael and me. I could tell you—jumped to some conclusions when you found me at his desk. But there was nothing you need to worry about.”

  Lei stared at Fraser, unblinking. Her eyes felt hot as lasers, like she could burn holes in the other woman’s uniform. “Maybe not. But he didn’t tell me about you. And you knew his deployment date, and I didn’t. Both those things are a problem, but nothing to do with you.”

  “Okay. I can see how that’s upsetting. But I swear, he never did anything…” A deep flush rose up the woman’s fair chest and neck like the red in a thermometer, and Lei, no stranger herself to unwelcome blushes, knew that there had been something between them. At least, on Fraser’s part.

  “You need to get out. Now.” Lei spoke through gritted teeth. “Before I do something I’ll regret.”

  “I understand. But I’m covering his duties, and I heard that something happened to him. That he was captured. I’m really worried. I wonder if there’s anything you could tell me?” The blush happened again. Fraser looked way prettier blushing than Lei did.

  Lei could stab the ballpoint Bic she was holding into Kathy Fraser’s neck. Oh, it would feel so good. Blood would spurt in an arc as she ripped it back out. On the second stab, she’d go for the woman’s eye and pierce her brain. “He has been captured, but I don’t know anything more than that. Please leave.”

  Fraser stood. “I wish you would believe me. And be mature about this.” She sounded sad, and a little huffy. She spun on a heel, opened the privacy door, and left.

  Lei waited until the tap-tap of Fraser’s heels had disappeared before she surged to her feet.

  “Mature!” she snarled. Too furious to do anything but swear, and not wanting to draw unwelcome attention, she headed for the MPD gym, where she could hop on the treadmill and run it off. She paused in the locker room to throw on her gym clothes and shoes.

  She was running all out on the treadmill when Pono eventually found her. “Thought you went to see Dr. Gregory.”

  “I wanted to work out first.” She didn’t slow down. The thunder of her heart and the pounding of her feet on the treadmill’s track were finally dissipating her rage. “You knew about her and you never told me.” Her voice was accusing.

  Pono glanced around, but they were alone in the soundproofed, air-conditioned gym. “S
low down a minute while I’m talking to you,” he growled.

  Lei punched the button that lowered the speed of the treadmill to a fast walk and shot Pono a glare.

  “I never told you because there was nothing to tell. I heard Fraser’d been assigned about a year ago to work on the third floor in recruiting and training new hires. I met her at something.” He flapped a hand. “There’s no conspiracy here. Far as I know, she just shared Stevens’s office. She’s covering his duties. There’s nothing there, Lei. You’re being paranoid.”

  “No, I’m not.” She brought the treadmill to a full stop. “But I won’t get any answers until Stevens is back, safe and sound. Then I can take a strip off him for not telling me his departure date. But he told that woman months before.”

  “Ah. Well. If the guy weren’t already in the doghouse, he definitely deserves to be for that.” Pono trailed Lei as she got off the treadmill and headed for the locker room. “But if you think he had something going with Fraser—my vote is no.”

  “I didn’t ask you.” Lei flicked him with her gym towel. “But tell me any rumors you hear about this woman. Anything at all. I want dirt.”

  “Be careful what you wish for.” Pono smacked her on the shoulder, making her stagger. “Now get back to work. And take that skull with you. I don’t want it in our office.”

  Chapter Three

  Something was badly wrong. Anchara would never have called me if it weren’t serious. I reached the ugly Kahului hotel with its terrible whale murals, parked the Bronco, and ran up the metal stairs on the side of the building two at a time to her room.

  “Anchara!” I cried, and pounded on the cheap, hollow door. Even as I turned the knob, I knew what I would see, because this was memory as well as nightmare. I didn’t want to see, and yet I had to. I opened the door.

  She was on the bed, naked.

  The blood was everywhere around her, soaking the bedding, splashed on the lamp, dripping onto the cheap carpet. The mountain of my son, the son I didn’t know yet and hadn’t known about, distended her slender, naked body.

  Everywhere, blood. Her reaching hands, her begging eyes, and her voice, a thread: “Take the baby, Michael. Save the baby.”

  I woke screaming, thrashing, and shivering, as I so often did since this nightmare began. Five years ago, it had begun in that hotel room. With finding her like that. It had fucked me up, big-time. All the rest that followed, all the other that was before…it was like I was a jar full of rocks, and then that final rock landed right on top of me and the jar broke.

  I’d been picking up my own pieces ever since.

  My throat was raw when I stopped screaming.

  I wasn’t in the pit anymore. I was in a dark place that smelled of wet and mold. I could hear the rain, the ever-present rain, drumming on the roof. Relief to be out of the pit warred with guilt that the other men were still in it.

  I was lying on something. Feeling along, I could detect the harsh weave of a blanket. I sat up slowly and felt the tug of some sort of restraint on one of my wrists.

  I was so weak. Periodically, shivers swept over me like wind over a grassy field. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark.

  Across the room, which had a very low ceiling, I could see the faintest lighter area around what must be the door. On either side of me were dark shapes. Feeling with my hands, I discovered bags of something on one side and boxes on the other. There were no windows.

  I was in some sort of storage shed, wedged between stacks of supplies. Tied up like a dog in a kennel. My brain was spongy and glitching, like it had a computer virus. Random memories booted up and cut off.

  Throwing a ball for Conan at home, barely registering the beautiful Rottweiler leaping after the ball, the happy prance as he trotted back—I’d been biding my time until I could go to my workshop, where I kept a bottle. Keiki, our old girl, was already sitting by the workshop door. Her brown eyes on me were accusing. But that was probably just my guilty conscience…She was a dog, for God’s sake, though no one had the heart to tell her that.

  Snuggling Kiet against me on the couch that last morning. “Son, I gotta tell you something.”

  “What, Dad?” Eyes still on cartoons.

  “I’m going away for a while. Six months. But I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Silence. I looked down at the crown of his shiny black hair. My arm was around him, and under it, his body felt fragile but strong and warm. He was still watching the cartoons, his mouth open a little, a sign he was absorbed in something.

  “You understand, little man?”

  He nodded. “You’re going on a trip.”

  “Yeah. It’s a long one. But I’m going to be helping people who need it.”

  “Okay.”

  But when I drove him into the turnaround at school, the crying started. No words, just tears and clinging. I had to get help from one of the crossing guards to even get him out of the Bronco’s cab. It felt like getting stabbed in the heart, a breathless pain, as he was carried off, sobbing.

  Another memory floated up. Watching Lei from the bed as she came into our bedroom one morning, from that back room where she’d slept since I told her I was leaving. Early-morning sun on the tangle of her hair as she bent to get some clothes out of the dresser. The shape of her, familiar and sweet. She could wear a flour sack and I’d know it was her under there. I still wanted her so much, but I hadn’t known how to break down all that was between us.

  I kept my eyes almost shut, pretending to be asleep, when she looked over at me. But I hadn’t slept all night, trying to avoid the dreams.

  Another memory.

  My partner in the training program at MPD. Kathy’s face coming toward me, those dark blue eyes so intent on mine, pretty mouth so soft. She wanted me to kiss her.

  I opened my eyes and blinked. Kept blinking. There were shapes in the corners of the shed, dark snakes wriggling along the walls. Probably not real, but who knew in this place?

  I coughed. My throat made a sound like ripping wet cloth.

  That wasn’t good. I felt around a little more. The floor was dirt, and my hand encountered some sort of jar or bottle. I rolled over onto my side, my head swimming at even that small exertion, and explored the jar. It seemed to be of glass, and it had a screw top.

  Probably water. The dryness in my mouth told me I was well past the point of thirst.

  Slowly I hoisted myself upright onto an elbow. Clumsy with the restraint on my wrist, I got the lid off. I drank, spilling some, and when my stomach protested, I put the lid back on and lay back down. Was it worth it to try to get out? I plucked at the rope on my wrist, but even with the water, still felt too sick to investigate further.

  I drifted.

  The plane had landed without incident, unlike at least one of my dreams.

  I’d jumped up and hurried down the slanted ramp first, eager to get my boots on the ground. I hadn’t known where we were going and now I didn’t know where we were. That felt shitty, no matter what I was getting paid.

  The muggy air of a jungle setting hit me like a wall when I got off the plane. The smell of mud and damp things held a note of rotting fruit. I ran into a cloud of gnats as, carrying my kit, I walked up to two men. They were dressed in jungle camo, and the sergeant held a clipboard. Major’s bars on the other man’s uniform identified his rank.

  “Michael Stevens, reporting for duty, sir.” I saluted. I still had the salute from long-ago Marine days. The sergeant ticked a box on the clipboard.

  “Welcome to Camp Erehwon. I’m Major Forsythe,” the other man said. “Let’s greet the rest of our happy group.”

  I had at least six inches and fifty pounds on Forsythe, and I could tell by his stance that he didn’t like it. I moved to the side, flanking him and pitching my voice low and respectful. “Camp Erehwon, sir?” I asked.

  “An old joke. ‘Nowhere’ backward. Our fond nickname for Operation Trifecta, the jungle shit storm. How much were you briefed?”

  “N
ot at all, sir. I don’t even know what country we’re in.”

  “Well, I only like to do this once, so let’s wait for the others to get here.” We watched the civilian contractors, supplies transport, and military police staff coming our way. “Did you have a civilian rank?” Forsythe asked.

  “Yes, sir. I’m ranked lieutenant in Hawaii’s police department. Did a stint as a Marine a long time ago.” I kept my eyes front.

  “Well, then. We’ll use your title with the men.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  The other men had gathered in front of us, and the sergeant addressed the enlisted, marked by their uniforms. “Attention!”

  They formed up an uneven line, dropped their kits, and saluted. The sergeant began calling out names off a list on a clipboard. The other civilian contractors were easy to spot, walking slowly, staring around in bewilderment. One guy was even looking pissy about the mud getting on his expensive shoes.

  I took a chance to look around myself. The airstrip was a packed-dirt track laid down in the jungle. Tall, unfamiliar trees bordered it on all sides. Strange birdsong filled with screeches and trills sounded in the air. The air was thick, and the sun felt like a superheated helmet on my uncovered head. Mosquitoes buzzed, even in the broad daylight. I resisted the urge to smack at them, though the yuppie-looking guy in the expensive shoes had no such restraint, muttering and scratching like a monkey with fleas.

  Carrigan. He’d been with me in the pit.

  Somehow I’d been moved from the pit to here. And I was alone. Had they just parked me in here to die? It seemed like a good possibility.

  I’d have to prove them wrong. I sat up slowly and drank more water.

  Lei drove the short distance to Maui Memorial Hospital and took the elevator down to the basement where the county morgue was located. As she always did, Lei paused for a second outside the swinging doors to steel herself against the smells.