She couldn’t see Nat but she heard him run to the other side of the boat, giving her an opportunity to swim for the life preserver. She was feet away from it when something slashed through the water in front of her a split second before she heard the gunshot. She reeled and headed back for the boat, but managed to catch the thin nylon rope attached to the preserver with her arm first.
Another shot entered the water beside her, and she felt a slash on her ankle but told herself it couldn’t have been the bullet. However, her ankle began to burn, which brought on a whole new fear. Now there was blood in the water. Did sharks swim at night? She whimpered as she pulled the nylon cord closer so she could grab the life preserver.
The life preserver, though it kept her afloat, made it harder to stay next to the boat, and it was almost more work to keep her position than it had been to keep herself above the water. There was another splash, this time on the other side of the boat, and she heard Nat run across the boat again.
“Nat?”
Charlie’s soft voice cut through the air in a way the bullets and the splashing and the terror never could. Sadie craned her neck to see what was happening on the boat, but she couldn’t see over the side. Nat was silent, and, realizing Charlie had just created the perfect distraction, Sadie began swimming as silently as she could toward the back of the boat.
“ . . . are you doing here?” she heard Nat say as her head bobbed in and out of the water.
“ . . . true? . . . killed my mom?” Charlie asked.
Sadie rounded the back of the boat and found the ladder. She gripped it with both hands and pulled herself up smoothly until she could catch the bottom rung with her bare feet, only then realizing she’d lost her slippahs and her shoulder bag to the ocean when she’d been thrown overboard. Her breathing was heavy and thick, but she tried to mute it as much as possible as she lifted her head high enough to see over the back of the boat.
Charlie stood at the top of the stairs that lead to the cabin, looking at Nat who stood with his back toward Sadie. Nat was still holding the gun, though it was pointed away from the little boy who’d just asked for a confession.
“I . . . I . . . I’m so sorry, Charlie,” Nat said, back to the man Sadie had met that first night. The man concerned about Charlie. The man who called Charlie his brother. “It was an accident. I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“You took her on this boat?” Charlie asked, his chin quivering. “You put her in the ocean?” His voice broke, and Sadie’s chest tightened, but she started climbing, slow, smooth, and careful. The paddle Nat had swung at her earlier was on the row of seats on the right side of the boat. Sadie reached the top of the ladder but remained crouched, ready to jump back into the water if need be.
A quick glance down showed blood running from a three-inch gash on her ankle where the bullet must have grazed her. She looked away from the rivulet of watery blood that trailed down the edge of the boat and ignored the searing pain.
“It was an accident,” Nat said again. “She . . . she shouldn’t have been there.”
Sadie took a step onto the once-white cushion of the seat, bloody water pooling in the indentation she made with her foot.
“Why did you do that?” Charlie asked.
Sadie reached for the paddle. Just as she grabbed the handle, Nat saw her. He turned fast, but this time she was faster. She wrapped both hands around the handle and brought it down hard on the wrist of the hand holding the gun. He screamed, and she lifted the paddle again, ready to hit him in the face.
“Get in the cabin, Charlie,” she yelled. “Right now!”
She had no idea if Charlie followed her instructions. She swung for Nat’s face, but he dodged. Sadie immediately swung again, this time at the back of Nat’s knees. He fell, hitting his shoulder against the steering wheel. Sadie jumped off the seat toward him, but slipped on the slick bottom of the boat with her wet and bloody feet. In an attempt to get her balance, she pitched forward, which happened to bring her down hard on Nat’s back as he tried to stand. It was very WWF, and a happy accident that seemed to punch the air out of his lungs.
She didn’t waste a second of his shocked stillness. She grabbed his left arm, twisting it behind his back and pulling his wrist nearly up to his neck. He cried out in pain, but Sadie just shifted her position so she was sitting squarely in the middle of his back, bracing her right foot against the side of the boat. She’d never been so grateful for the extra twenty pounds she’d been trying to lose for the last ten years.
“Charlie!” she yelled. “There’s some fishing net in the cabin. Get it for me, quick!”
“But you said for me to go—”
“Net! Now!” Sadie yelled, pulling up on Nat’s arm even harder when he tried to roll her off of him. Her arms were shaking in an attempt to hold him, and the breeze off the water felt icy on her wet skin. Her adrenaline had kicked in, and the panic attack she feared would be the end of her had not taken control. “It’s by the seat you were hiding in. On the floor. Hurry!”
Nat yelled at her, swearing, demanding she let him go. She pulled up on his arm again. Though she wasn’t devoid of sympathy, she knew what Nat was capable of, and she wasn’t taking any chances.
“Lucky for you,” she said between clenched teeth as she strained to hold him still. “I’m fully prepared to show you more mercy than you showed Noelani.”
A moment later, Charlie’s head appeared over the top stair. He looked scared as he handed over a bunched-up wad of net. Sadie leaned forward, digging her elbow into Nat’s back to hold him still long enough so she could let go with one of her hands and grab the net. It was made of thin strings, and when she shook it out, it proved itself plenty long for her to use as a rope.
“Do you know how to drive this boat?” Sadie asked Charlie as she tried to figure out how she was going to tie up Nat with only one hand.
“Kinda,” Charlie said, but he looked at Nat with sad, scared eyes.
Sadie leaned down, close to Nat’s ear. “You really want him to watch you fight me? You said he needed to learn how to be a kane. Now’s your chance to show him that a real man accepts the consequences of his actions.”
She felt Nat’s resistance decrease and his muscles go soft beneath her, but she still wrapped the net around his wrists before tying them off and rolling him over. She tied up his feet as well.
Nat looked at Charlie, tears filling his eyes but apparently without justification any more. He turned his head, and Sadie felt in his pockets for his phone. He didn’t fight her. She left Nat lying in the middle of the boat as she limped to join Charlie who had started the boat and was driving forward without realizing the harbor was somewhere behind them. Her chest was tight. It was hard to breathe, but she did everything possible to keep from losing it in front of Charlie.
Sadie put one arm around Charlie’s shoulders. He’d started to cry but was trying to keep a brave face despite his trembling chin. With her other hand she dialed 911 on Nat’s phone. Her hands began to shake.
“Yes, I’m in a boat off the coast of Kaua’i and don’t know how to get back to Nawiliwili Harbor. Oh, and I also need to report a murder.”
Chapter 48
Monday afternoon, less than seventy-two hours since the Coast Guard had guided her to the harbor, Sadie pulled up with Gayle to the temporary shelter where Charlie had been staying while the police finished their investigation.
An hour earlier, Charlie’s new caseworker at the DHS office had called to tell Sadie she’d been granted a visit before Charlie would be returned to CeeCee’s care later that afternoon. Charlie had been asked if he felt comfortable returning there and he hadn’t hesitated, which relieved everyone—CeeCee especially.
Mr. Olie was still at Wilcox Memorial but had been able to explain that he’d spent Friday reviewing everything he knew about both Charlie and his foster family in order to present the best argument possible to the judge Monday morning. During his search, he’d come across a record of a boat CeeCee�
�s late husband, Yogi, had owned. With Sadie’s questions about Noelani fresh in his mind, and questions about Nat not much further behind them, Mr. Olie had tracked the boat to Slip 23 at Nawiliwili Harbor before the symptoms he’d been ignoring all day caught up with him.
Sadie had gone to see Mr. Olie on Sunday to update him on what had happened after he had passed the slip number on to her.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said when she finished the story that still felt a little unreal. “I’d have never thought of Nat.”
Mr. Olie had only grunted, but she’d decided that was his way of saying “Thank you so much. You’re wonderful!”
“Charlie Pouhu,” Sadie said when they reached the reception desk. “I have an appointment to see him at two o’clock.” She’d made the recipe for Aloha cookies Tanya had taped up inside one of her cupboards. She and Gayle had eaten too many but she still had enough to fill two plates with what was left. One plate was for the receptionist, who accepted them with a soft “Mahalo.” The second plate was for Charlie; Sadie still felt bad that the first thing she’d ever fed him were brownies from a mix.
A few minutes later, Gayle squeezed Sadie’s arm before Sadie was led down a hallway and into a common area full of furniture, books, and a TV.
Charlie sat alone on the couch watching cartoons. Sadie sat down next to him. He glanced at her but then ducked his chin and kept watching TV. What she wouldn’t give to read his thoughts. Then again, maybe it would be too hard. He’d lost his foundation too many times in his young life, and Sadie was connected to the latest one. His reticence wasn’t hard to understand in light of all that had happened.
After a minute of waiting for him to say something, she broke the ice. “Howzit,” she said, trying to get him to smile by using the pidgin greeting she’d heard the local kids use.
“Hey,” he mumbled.
She handed him the plate of cookies. He pulled back the plastic wrap and quickly ate two cookies while still watching his show.
Sadie pulled his worn list of questions out of her bag and unfolded it on her lap. He glanced at it, straightened slightly, and then looked back to his show, more intent than ever.
“You left this at my house that night I found you in the courtyard,” Sadie said. “And I wanted to get it back to you.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Charlie,” she continued softly. “I know how to answer these questions now.”
He looked at her then, his expression guarded. The sounds of an animated explosion came from the TV.
“Can I turn that off?” she asked, pointing at the TV.
He nodded almost imperceptibly, and Sadie picked up the remote and clicked off the show before returning her attention to the note.
“Number one was how did I know your mom.” She smiled sadly at him. “I’ve gotten to know your mom through her friends and through you and through the good changes she was making in her life. She was a strong woman, Charlie. I think I would have liked her very much.”
He looked down at the plate of cookies.
“Number two was if I told any lies to the police. I didn’t. I told them exactly what happened that day I found your mom, and I’ve told them everything else, including how you helped me on the boat with Nat. I wrote the name of a police officer on the paper.” She turned the paper toward him, now filled with her handwritten answers as well as Officer Wington’s contact information. “He said that anytime you want to know more about what happened, he can talk to you about it. I know you haven’t always trusted the police, but Officer Wington is a good man.”
Charlie looked at her again, having dropped some of his guard.
“The third question was if your mom had a new boyfriend.” Sadie shook her head. “She only wanted to take care of you, Charlie, and she didn’t want anything else to get in the way.” Emotion was creeping up on her, and Sadie had to pause to clear her throat. “Four. Was Mom taking drugs? No, Charlie, she wasn’t. She had been clean since she lost you, and she was doing everything she needed to do to get you back. When the two of you played spies in the tree house after your last visit, she heard Nat talking on the phone and knew he was doing something bad. She tried to stop him. She died doing a good thing, Charlie—trying to help Nat and trying to help you. Nat didn’t understand that, but he didn’t want to hurt her either. When he told you he was sorry, I think he really meant it.”
Charlie’s expression softened, but he ducked his chin even lower, reminding Sadie of how much he’d really lost. His mother, Nat, and a little more of his innocence. The loneliness was familiar to Sadie, who had lost so many people she loved—people she couldn’t have imagined living without. But she had lived on, and she believed that life had a way of offering you new opportunities when others were taken away. She didn’t know how to explain that to someone so young. Hopefully, life would show him that was true. She moved on to the fifth question.
“She did talk about you that night, Charlie, and when things got bad, I have no doubt she wanted to be with you more than anything in the world.”
Charlie blinked rapidly against the tears forming in his eyes, and Sadie stopped fighting her own, wiping them quickly with the back of her hand.
“The last question, Charlie, was about when your mom was coming back.” Sadie took a deep breath and put her arm around Charlie’s shoulders. To her surprise, he leaned into her. She kissed his hair and then rested her head against his. “She’s not coming back, Charlie,” Sadie said, her voice cracking. “But she didn’t leave you on purpose, and she loves you as much now as she ever has.”
The emotion finally broke through and Charlie began to cry. Sadie held on tighter and closed her own eyes, tears dripping down her own cheeks. She thought about all that had happened, here in Kaua’i, back home in Garrison, in Boston, Oregon, Miami, England. So many tragic events that Sadie had been a part of it, but none of them had felt quite like this. More than ever she wanted the magic words that would make sense of this for Charlie, make sense of it to her, but there was no quick fix for the heartbreak that had happened in this tropical paradise.
They cried together for what felt like a long time, but then Charlie straightened and looked at the list Sadie still held on her lap. She passed it to him and he took it.
“Charlie, I don’t know why bad things like this happen, but I do know that while this is a horrible thing, you have good things in your life too.”
He looked doubtful and rubbed at his red eyes.
Sadie continued. “I have two children. They’re both adopted, and I love them so much. CeeCee loves you like that, and I know she’ll take really good care of you. She wants you to be happy. Mr. Olie and your new caseworker want to help you any way that they can, and even though you don’t know me very well, I hope I can send you some letters and postcards. And maybe you can send me some too.”
He shrugged, but didn’t look up.
After a few seconds, Sadie reached down and lifted his chin so he was looking at her. “Life is a gift, Charlie, a wonderful journey full of amazing things. You’re very young to have had to go through such a horrible tragedy, and I’m so very sorry for it, but . . .” She let the word hang between them. She forced a smile as she dropped her hand. He didn’t look away. “It’s because of you that everyone knows the truth now. It’s because of you that your mom was working so hard to be better. It’s because of you that us grown-ups are looking around and seeing what we can do better too.”
He blinked at her. “Pastor Darryl said my mom’s an angel now,” he whispered.
Sadie nodded, wanting to give Pastor Darryl a hug—an appropriate one.
“And she isn’t sick anymore or sad or anything. She’s all better now, right?”
“Yes,” Sadie said. “And she’s watching out for you, Charlie. Even though she isn’t here, every time you think about her and remember the good things, she’s there, feeling it with you and loving you still.”
“How do you know?”
; “Because I have angels too,” Sadie said, her voice barely a whisper. “I feel them sometimes, and I dream about them, and I know that they come to me when I need them. People don’t go away just because they die, Charlie. I believe that with my whole heart.”
Charlie sniffled, trying to maintain a brave face and nodded, a look of hope on his face. Maybe one day, the hope that what Sadie was saying was true would become a belief of his own.
“Oh, Charlie,” Sadie whispered. “One day you’re going to be a grown-up man, and when you have a child of your own, you will remember what it felt like to be loved by your mother. I hope you’ll look at the choices she made—good and bad—and choose a road that will give your child what you have missed out on without denying them the beautiful things your mother gave you.”
She knew he didn’t really understand what she was saying. She hoped one day, though, he would remember her words and that they would mean something then. She wrapped both arms around his small shoulders, pressing her cheek against his hair. That he’d seen so much sadness in his young life was tragic; she hoped the worst was behind him and that he’d have the chance to experience joy as life marched forward.
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