by Neal, Toby
The drums came to a crescendo, and everyone flopped in a circle as the older couple brought a coconut bowl of mysterious drink around. Mac sat behind her, and she moved into the circle of his long arms, feeling protected.
Marcella crawled over from her spot a few yards distant. “Who’s your friend?” She twinkled all her charm at Mac, but Lei could see assessment in her big, dark eyes.
“Mac Williamson. He’s all right,” Lei said. Her earbud crackled.
“Running background check. Red One out.” Lei remembered one of the tools Rogers carried in his backpack was a laptop with satellite uplink.
The bowl came to them—Cal Haddock, Jazz’s brother, handed it to her, and she pretended to drink. The dark liquid left a fizzy aftertaste that numbed her lips.
Tiger moved in on Marcella, nuzzling her neck. Lei wasn’t sure how she did it, but somehow Marcella managed to avoid him while appearing to enjoy his attentions. Lei was going to have to learn some of those moves. When the bowl had circulated the room a few times, Tiger stood up and addressed the group, hands outstretched.
“Peace. Truth. Love.”
“Peace. Truth. Love,” the people chanted back.
“We have some guests today. We want to honor them with a special toast. Lani and Marcella, come up.” Lei’s scalp prickled with alarm, but she and Marcella stood and faced the cult leader. He took the bowl and raised it high. “Spirits of Truth, bless this bowl. Let it show these sisters the Truth; let them see it reflected in every embrace.”
Lei glanced at Marcella out of the corner of her eye as Tiger handed the halved coconut shell, shiny with use, to the agent. Marcella closed her eyes and appeared to drink deep. When she handed the bowl to Lei, it was half empty.
Lei had no such courage. She barely let the liquid touch her lips, and immediately felt the numbness that signaled its effect.
She handed it back to Tiger and he finished it. The crowd cheered, and something about that roar reminded Lei of the bloodthirsty howl of the Colosseum. Her earbud crackled.
“Red One checking thermal imaging. What’s going on in there?”
“Marcella drank a lot of the drink,” Lei said. The noisy crowd drowned her comment.
“Red Two, what’s your game plan?” Rogers’s voice was a crack of alarm.
“Authenticity and puking,” said Marcella. She bent over and vomited. Some of it splashed on Lei’s feet.
“Gross!” Lei exclaimed.
“Red Two—you okay?” Rogers’s voice.
“Early training—bulimia,” hissed Marcella, staggering realistically. She fell to the ground in a good imitation of a faint, and Lei bent to help her. The drums resumed, and Tiger leaned down.
He hefted Marcella up over his shoulder and put his other arm around Lei, dragging her off the dance floor. The crowd roared again, and Lei looked around wildly for Mac or Jazz.
She couldn’t see either of them. Lei was revolted by the garlicky body odor emanating from Tiger’s skin. She writhed and tried to break his hold, but he clamped her wrist in a grip that would leave bruises the next day. She felt the walls closing in as he dragged her toward the back door of the barn. Her ears buzzed with insipient dissociation.
She felt Marcella touch her shoulder. The agent held her finger to her lips and winked at Lei. Even with her head dangling upside down over a man’s shoulder, Marcella had it together. Lei sucked a few breaths and got her terror under control.
They pushed through a rough wooden door to the outside. Lei stumbled in the long grass as Tiger yanked her forward. “Let me show you how we worship.”
He brought them to a tool shed attached to the back of the barn. A single dim bulb hung from the center beam. Several futons lined the floor—this was Tiger’s sex lair. Lei could smell it.
She’d come far enough. She flipped her arm, breaking his hold at the same moment Marcella arched up and karate-chopped the side of Tiger’s neck. He went limp as a dishrag, crumpling where he stood. Marcella somehow landed on her feet.
“What a shame he passed out,” she said, surveying Tiger’s sprawled body.
“Ginger, Red Two. You okay?”
“It’s handled,” Marcella said.
Lei’s knees were shaking and her wrist throbbed. All that Tae Kwon Do practice and she still wasn’t at all sure she could have escaped from Tiger alone. They picked the cult leader up under the armpits and hauled him into the shed, sliding the door shut. They closed the hasp and stuck a stick through it. “He can still get out. Let’s hope it isn’t anytime soon,” Marcella said. “Let’s poke around, see what else we can find.”
“Roger that.”
“I’m not seeing a connection here so far, just a lot of drugs and sex. I’m also worried that Mac guy will blow your cover.”
“He’s clean, Red Two,” said Rogers. “No priors, not even a parking ticket.”
“I don’t think Mac knows I’m a detective. I met him socially,” Lei said. They trotted to a low nearby outbuilding, another of the metal sheds. Lei rubbed the window—blacked out. A big padlock secured the door.
“Red One. Checking this outbuilding. Anything on the thermal?”
“Heat sources inside but small. Not human.”
They circled around and Lei spotted a six-inch circular vent. She reached inside, pushed. Pushed again. They heard the metallic clatter of the grille falling to the floor. Marcella took out a tiny, powerful penlight she carried in a leather pouch at her side and shone it inside. She gave a low whistle between her teeth and handed the penlight to Lei. Lei squinted into the circular opening as she shone the beam around a room. Crock-Pots and trays in rows on several tables, more stacked HEET in boxes, even a giant roll of tiny tear-off ziplock baggies.
“Contents consistent with meth production, Red One,” Marcella said.
“Must be how they get their money. None of them seem to have jobs,” Lei said. “I wonder if there’s any connection to the Nakamoto murder.”
“Let’s discuss it when the op is over,” Marcella said. They darted back over to the barn and slid along the side of the building, heading toward the house.
“We have movement.” The earbud crackled. “Someone’s exited the barn. Looks tall enough to be a man. Possibly two.”
The women plastered themselves against the side of the wall, hearing stumbling footsteps coming their way.
“Lani?” Jazz’s voice.
“Tell him I’m sick so we can leave,” Marcella whispered.
Lei stepped out and touched him, and he gave a little shriek of fright.
“Oh my God, Jazz, we barely got away,” Lei said, tugging Marcella forward. The agent staggered realistically. “Marcella drank too much of that stuff, and Tiger tried to rape us!”
“I warned you guys—he’s dangerous.” Jazz sounded genuinely worried as Marcella sagged in Lei’s arms.
“TruthWay is not all like that.” Mac’s deep voice came from the shadows. “I’m sorry you had a bad time.”
He walked beside them as they made a beeline toward the Camaro, Jazz bringing up the rear.
“It’s okay. I just need to get Marcella home. Tiger passed out before he could do any real damage.” Lei supported Marcella toward the Camaro, and Mac opened the door. Lei noticed the carved staff he carried, but she couldn’t make out any detail in the dim light. He helped her get Marcella into the car.
“Not all of us are like that,” he said again. “Some of us want to show you another way.”
“Whatever. I’ve had enough Truth for one night,” Lei said. She got in her side of the Camaro and slammed the door, locking it. Mac’s staff tapped on the window. Lei looked up as she turned on the car with keys left under the seat.
“See you soon,” Mac said through the glass.
Lei nodded, and the Camaro jumped forward and roared out of the yard.
“Casual; be cool,” said Marcella. “Don’t blow the cover.” She seemed genuinely out of it now, head lolling. “I puked, but some of that shit must have got me
.”
“Red Two, this is Red One. Meet at rendezvous point.”
“Ginger here. She’s kind of out of it, and I’m driving. What’re the coordinates?”
“Corner of the papaya farm, west side,” Rogers barked. He was breathing hard and she could tell he was running.
The evening had started out so under control. Lei looked over at the indomitable Marcella curled up, small and vulnerable in the bucket seat.
Chapter 33
Sunday, October 31
Lei debriefed with the agents by phone the next morning.
“How are you feeling, Marcella?” Lei had dropped the agents off at the safe house the night before.
“Got a headache, but I’m okay. We’ve been conferring with the other agents from BAU and reviewing the footage from last night, and we’re going to just surveil the cult for now. There’s nothing there so far that ties them to the murders. Newsome wants to keep you and me at the Health Guardian to pick up intel in the community and on Jazz, but no more trips to the celebration. Too risky.”
“What about the meth lab and Tiger? That man’s a rapist, at least.”
“We’ve apprised your captain. He’s agreed to hold off on arresting them until we see what shakes out with the investigation. Soon as we know there’s no connection, they can move in.”
“What about the Nakamoto murder?”
“Thought you had someone in custody.”
“I think he was framed.”
“That’s one for your PD to handle. We have to stay focused on the unsub who’s disappearing people. Let me fill you in on the latest so far.” The bones found in the cave had yielded their DNA to the grindstone of the FBI’s portable lab. Two of the skeletons had been identified through a national missing persons database, and the hand bones in the wall cache belonged to five different unknown donors.
“Unsub?” Lei wasn’t familiar with the term.
“Unknown subject.”
“Ah. Feds and their lingo.”
“Separates the women from the girls.”
“Five victims?” Lei shook her head, sipping a second cup of coffee too fast and burning her tongue. “Wow.”
“Yeah. The lab is working on those, but it’s not a quick process. Becky’s been a big help.”
“She’s good at what she does. Anything else about the bones?”
“The bodies were cut up and each of the pieces burned—but not totally, just the meat burned off. I don’t know why the unsub did it that way. He could have eliminated the bones entirely, burnt them to dust so they’d be gone as evidence. Anyway, it’s probably part of his pathology—MO to you police types.”
“Gotcha. I’m going out to pick up the list of heiau sites from Esther Ka`awai this morning. Stevens needs it to organize the Hanalei Valley cadaver search. I’m not looking forward to it. She was pretty fired up about me arresting her grandson.”
“Hey, tough luck on that,” Marcella said. Her concern sounded genuine. “I heard you guys were dating.”
“Unfortunately, I fell for his charm. Shoulda known better.”
“Hey, listen, want some company on the ride out? I wouldn’t mind getting eyes on this Esther lady.”
Lei hesitated. There was an element of her relationship with Esther that went beyond the case, and in spite of what had happened with Alika, Lei hoped something of that could be salvaged. On the other hand, she welcomed a distraction, a chance to get to know Marcella better.
“Sounds good. Meet me at the Bubba Burger in Hanalei town.”
Marcella Scott sat beside Lei as she drove the winding two-lane road toward fertile Wainiha Valley where Esther lived. The agent wore a pair of cutoff jeans and a tie-died T-shirt with a marijuana leaf on it. Dream catcher earrings dangled from her ears. Lei wore her shorts and crochet top with a man’s shirt.
“Gotta get into the thrift store and pick up some more hippie clothes,” Lei said. “These are pretty stinky.”
“Yeah. I need some variety, too, for the Health Guardian.”
“I think Jazz is the key somehow, but I don’t know what the connection is. He seems so sincere in wanting to solve the case.” Lei tapped her finger on the steering wheel.
“I’ve seen that a lot, actually,” Marcella said. “The guy who discovers the bomb is the one who set it. The dude who rescues the kid is really the kidnapper. Don’t be fooled by his concern last night—he didn’t exactly step up to rescue us.”
“I know. What I’m really worried about is that . . . today’s Halloween. If the perp is going to do Jay—if he’s even still alive—it’s going to be today.”
“We don’t know there’s a connection between Halloween—or Samhain—and the disappearances. We have no solid connection there, nothing hard.”
“I know, but I can’t shake this feeling that time’s running out. Jay’s family is in town. Kelly, the girlfriend, brought some posters by the Guardian. I feel so bad for her.”
“You get used to that feeling. You guys have some undercurrents in this community, that’s for sure. Kaua`i looks like such a paradise, but scratch the surface . . .”
“And you’ll find the craziness of any small town.” Lei grinned. “Actually, more craziness than most.”
“Yeah—no kidding. Kaua`i has a lot of diversity—we’ve been working up an area profile on this island, and the fact is that you have almost as many cultures and religions represented per square mile as New York City.”
“And throw in isolation, jungle, and economic challenges and sometimes it’s a volatile brew.”
They bumped up the last bit of road to Esther’s pole house. The dogs swarmed the truck, barking as before, and Esther appeared on the upper deck. She called the dogs as Lei and Marcella got out. She watched in regal silence as they negotiated the muddy driveway and rain-soaked stairs. Lei had brought a bag of lychee from the Health Guardian. She held it out to Esther.
“I brought you something.”
The older lady took it, peeked inside at the knobbly red fruit. She looked up and her brown eyes softened.
“I love lychee. Who’s your friend?”
Lei breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Esther was going to forgive her.
“This is Marcella Scott, FBI.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Marcella said.
“Welcome.” Esther gestured to the open slider. “Come in.”
The women slipped their shoes off and followed Esther into the living room. She gestured to the couch. They sat.
“Alika wanted to talk to you, but I told him there was no point. You aren’t going to listen to him.”
“I can’t, Esther, at least until this investigation is over. I just don’t have anything to say to him.”
“Well.” Esther arranged the long, graceful skirt of her flowered muumuu over her knees, and calloused bare feet peeked from beneath the hem. “Never mind that. Here is a list of the heiaus and sacred sites between Hanalei Valley and the end of the road at Ke`e Beach.” She handed over a sheet of yellow legal paper. “I also put them on this map as best I could.” She handed a folded map of Kaua`i to Marcella. “Show respect. Don’t move any rocks.”
It was going to be very difficult to look for bones and body parts without moving a few rocks, but there was no point in upsetting Esther about it.
“We’ll do our best,” Lei said. “Thanks so much for being our consultant and for all your advice. I appreciate all you’ve done.”
“Come visit me sometime on your day off. And I have a final word for you. He’s close. Very close. He may know he’s being hunted.” Esther’s wide brow knit, and she gave her head a slight shake, as if trying to hear something just out of range.
“How do you know?” Lei asked. Marcella had gone still, alert as a hawk.
“I just know.” Esther closed her eyes, opened them. “I wish I could tell you more.”
Chapter 34
The women were somber as they took their leave. Marcella unfolded the map and studied it as Lei drove them back to th
e safe house.
“How reliable is she?” Marcella asked.
“Very respected in the community. She’s a spiritual leader and seems to be a bit psychic.”
“Tested anything she’s said?”
“We verified what she said about the stones and ti leaves with a University of Hawaii professor—it was accurate. She also said the perp has a cave where he cuts up the bodies, and there are four torches. No verification on that, obviously.”
“Hm.” Marcella turned on her cell phone and ordered an in-depth background workup on Esther and her family.
Lei bit her tongue. Alika’s involvement with Lisa Nakamoto had opened the family up to this, not to mention Esther’s feedback on the killer.
“So we’ve finished our background on Jazz,” Marcella went on after closing her phone. “Not only does he lack the physical strength to be the killer; he keeps a schedule that would make it almost impossible. He’s up at seven a.m. and at that store virtually twelve hours a day.”
“I know. I was poking around in his office being his 'assistant’ this week and didn’t find anything interesting. But the fact remains, he put together that binder. He had the stones from the disappearance sites.”
“I agree, but we’re just not making anything stick to him directly. He seems to be what he claims, the Guardian of the hippie community who’s trying to get some justice for the missing.”
“I just wonder, why does he care so much?”
“If we knew that, we might be closer to solving the case.”
They arrived at the safe house and Lei let Marcella out. As she opened the door, the agent turned back.
“Maybe we’re going about this wrong. Maybe there’s something going on with the meth angle, the cult, and Lisa Nakamoto’s murder that intersects with this case. So what’s happening with the Nakamoto murder and your friend Alika’s charges??”
“Not sure. I better call and check on it. Now that we have the heiau sites, maybe the cadaver hunt will turn up something new,” Lei said.