The Scent of Waikiki

by Terry Ambrose

  “My intention was to explain how greed influenced her decision to meet with a stranger in an inappropriate business establishment.”

  “What are you talking about, Mrs. Nakamura? I thought Grace’s transaction took place online.”

  “That is not the case.”

  “She met with this man?” Benni asked, then stared at me. The little lines around the corners of her eyes wrinkled with concern.

  “Yes. At first, in the park. Then, in a coffee shop.”

  Rather than saying the topmost thought in my head—that I was embarrassed for A) misinterpreting what Grace had told me, B) not asking more questions about the transaction, and C) being a moron—I shrugged off her news. “Mrs. Nakamura, that’s not so unusual.” What bothered me more was that Grace had met with her scammer on multiple occasions. She’d only mentioned one meeting. “People conduct business in all kinds of places these days.”

  “That does not make it appropriate, Mr. McKenna. When one is giving money to another, they should know where they can find the other party. Grace does not have the name of a business, nor does she have an address.”

  An image of Grace popped into my head. Wholesome. Naive. Her arm immobilized. “How did she get the cash she gave to the scammer?” I muttered.

  “What was that, McKenna?” Benni peered at me, then blinked. “Hey, wait. You’re right. She can’t use her right arm.”

  Mrs. Nakamura clucked her disapproval. “Mr. McKenna, you did not ask? I am surprised at you. You are typically quite thorough.”

  Yes, Mrs. Nakamura. I’m a screw-up. This felt like fourth grade all over again—and I’d never even taken a class from the woman. “I’m sure you know, don’t you?”

  The old woman bowed her head slightly, the wrinkles on her face contorting themselves into a mask of self-satisfaction. “Of course. Do not worry, Mr. McKenna. I will not make you suffer unnecessarily.” Her thin eyelashes fluttered as she smiled at me. “She took the man to an ATM.”

  Holy cow. “Are you sure?” Of course she was. The old bat didn’t make stupid mistakes.

  She held my gaze. “Perhaps you would wish to confirm this with her yourself?”

  Did I ever.

  CHAPTER 11

  If there’s anything I hate, it’s when people lie to me. You could argue Grace hadn’t actually lied, she’d just left out a few details. As a skip tracer, people had done the same thing to me more times than I could remember. At my peak, I would probably not have missed such an important point. Knowing I had fallen for Grace’s lack of candor made me feel foolish.

  Grace lived in a one-bedroom facing into the courtyard. Her rent was less because she didn’t have an ocean view. Most of the renters at the Sunsetter Apartments left their front doors and windows open to take advantage of the trade winds. The trades, as we call them, act as our natural air conditioning. They’re great as long as they’re blowing. When they stop, life gets miserable.

  The sounds of people laughing drifted through Grace’s open window. Oh, great. Grace must have the daytime talk show blues. What else was she to do when she was out of work and couldn’t use her right arm? I knocked, and a moment later the noise stopped. Grace appeared in the doorway. She wore shorts and a T-shirt and even through the mesh of the screen, I could see she looked tired.

  “Hey, McKenna. How’s it going?”

  Her voice didn’t have its usual lilt. Given the mistakes I’d already made by not asking enough questions, I was determined to grant her no quarter on this encounter.

  “You feeling okay, Grace?”

  “Kind of blue.”

  “Blue? As in down?”

  “I couldn’t sleep last night because of the pain. I finally gave up and took the pills the doctor prescribed. That knocked me out until a little while ago. There’s so much fog in my head.” She unlatched the screen door and pushed it open.

  Normally, Grace’s eyes were bright and clear. Not so, this morning. Her cheeks were swollen, making her face look like she had a couple of black suitcases under her eyes. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I think we need to talk about what happened.”

  “You’re changing your mind about evicting me.”

  “No. Not that.”

  “Chance won’t help.”

  “Grace, slow down. Mrs. Nakamura and I were talking a few minutes ago. She told me you took this guy with you to the ATM and withdrew cash for the sales kit. Is that correct?”

  She winced and rubbed her right shoulder as she nodded her agreement. “Is that important?”

  “It could be.” How could she not see that? “When you and I talked, we didn’t go into much detail about how you actually got into this. I thought you were going to cover that with Chance.”

  “He didn’t ask about it.”

  “I think we both assumed this whole thing took place online. Where did you meet this guy?”

  “The park at Queens Beach. Not far from the Waikīkī Wall, yah? My shifts start—started—early, so I could go there for lunch on my way home.” She shrugged. “He’d be there on a lot of days. Most of the time he was just hanging out, but I’d see him talking to people every once in a while.”

  “Did you meet him more than once?”

  “Is that important, too?”

  “Grace…please. Just tell me.”

  “The last time was at a coffee shop. That’s the day he cleaned me out.” She paused and quickly added, “The bank sent me a new card so the old one won’t work anymore.”

  “Did you give him your card because of your arm?”

  Grace nodded and avoided my gaze.

  “Let me guess, you didn’t think to get your card back.”

  She sighed, nodded again. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at me and grimaced.

  “What’s his name?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  That had to be a lie. She’d met a man on multiple occasions and signed up for his work-at-home scam and she didn’t remember his name? I wasn’t sure what to say, but I didn’t want to turn this into an ugly confrontation. “So you saw this guy there all the time. What did he look like?”

  “Normal.”

  “Come on. You’ve got to give me more than that. What? Tall, dark, and handsome with blue eyes that sparkled like the sea.”

  “No.” Grace fixed me with an irritated stare. “He was maybe five-ten, clean-cut, looked like any normal guy who was on his lunch hour.” She glanced away. “I don’t remember what color his eyes were.”

  “How old?”

  “I don’t know. Salt-and-pepper hair. Middle-aged, I guess. Not all gray like this.” She pointed at the streak of gray Chance had called a skunk stripe.

  “You’d recognize him if you saw him again. Yah?”

  “Sure. Like I said, I saw him a few times.”

  It was a start. “I’m going to talk to Chance. We may want to take you to the park and have you point him out.”

  Her eyes darted up and to the right. Was she making this up as she went along? She pressed her fingertips to her lips and said, “I hadn’t thought of doing that.”

  “How did he approach you?”

  “All the other tables were full. He asked if he could share mine so he could eat his lunch. When he sat down, he said he’d seen me there before and asked where I worked.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  She fingered the lobe of her left ear, then wrinkled her nose. “I told him I worked at the market. He made a joke about us having something in common because he shopped at a market.”

  I nodded politely, trying to encourage Grace to talk more. It didn’t make sense to tell her how obvious the guy’s tactic had been. Relax the victim. Get them to like you before you start asking for money. “You’re a checker, yah?”

  “Mostly. My boss likes the way I organize the displays, so I do that, too. I try to arrange them with the warmer colors on the end caps.” She smiled weakly and shrugged. “It increases the impulse buys.”

  “Good to know,” I
said. Actually, I seldom bought on impulse, but didn’t want to demean Grace’s job. “So when did he tell you how he was involved in some great business?”

  “It was after he asked if I was happy where I worked.”

  “And you said?”

  “I like my job, McKenna. But I need two of them to pay the bills. You know how it is.”

  “Let me guess. He asked what your second job was.”

  Beneath Grace’s bronze skin, her cheeks glowed with a hint of pink. I must have nailed it, and she now saw how predictable the conversation had been. She related the rest of it, explaining how the man had taken her from casual conversation to the final, critical question.

  When we’d finished, I had a good picture of the man who’d scammed her. He was a middle-aged, attractive man who was unemployed in the traditional sense, but made his living by preying on victims. It was possible he had a minor criminal record, but without a name or a photo, finding him would be impossible. Even if we located Grace’s mystery man, getting her money back was unlikely at best.

  As I explained all of this to Grace, her face fell. She was practically in tears by the time I finished. To offer her a bit of encouragement, I said, “There’s not much we can do, but there might be one way Chance and I can resolve this for you. We need your help. Are you willing to go to the park and point him out?”

  “I’m desperate, McKenna. I’ll do anything.”

  I’ll admit that confronting a scammer in person wasn’t the safest solution, but the cops weren’t going to help, and without some sort of bold move, Grace definitely wouldn’t get her money back. It was five o’clock and our mystery man would be long gone from the park for today, but maybe tomorrow we could snare him. I pulled out my phone and dialed Chance’s number. He answered immediately.

  “What’s up, McKenna?”

  “Are you available for a field trip tomorrow at noon?”

  “Awesome. Of course. I knew you’d come around.”

  If there’s anything I hate more than people lying to me, it’s being so predictable.

  CHAPTER 12

  Queens Beach is one of those spots where it would be easy to pass an entire day just watching everything from the waves to the people. Grace, Chance, and I were seated at a picnic table that had been vacated by a family of four. We’d had Grace wear a big floppy hat and sunglasses to help disguise her presence. Hopefully, our guy wouldn’t recognize her and bolt.

  As we sat, Grace became increasingly animated and regaled us with trivia about how the modern fragrance industry actually began in the south of France. For the most part, we listened politely, neither Chance nor I understanding why she was so excited. Then, she pulled out her phone and brought up some sort of to-do list.

  “You see, McKenna? I even have a marketing plan set up. Since I don’t have any money, I’ve got to do this all on the cheap, but if I can market to five new prospects each week, I can reinvest to help with growth.”

  I stared at the screen. “Grace…is this for the beauty kit Danny sold you?”

  Her cheeks flushed pink, then she stammered, “It was. If that doesn’t work out…I’m really good at marketing, McKenna.”

  I took a deep breath as I handed the phone back. “Grace. There is no beauty kit. There is no ‘business.’ You were scammed and that’s why we’re here—to try and get your money back.”

  “Wow. You sure know how to bring a person down.”

  “I’m sorry, Grace. I really am.”

  While Grace sulked, Chance asked, “How do you want to play this if we find him, McKenna?”

  I shrugged. “We need information. That means we might have to do some intimidating.”

  Chance seemed to consider what I’d said as Grace looked around nervously. He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Good cop, bad cop?”

  “Did you ever play a bad cop in Hollywood?”

  “No, but I sure wanted to. Those guys had all the fun.”

  I gave Chance a thumbs-up and a big smile. “Well, it’s your day to have some fun, then.” Across from me, Grace was still scanning the area. She looked about ready to vomit.

  “You see him?” I asked.

  She looked around and shook her head absently. I felt terrible about shooting down her marketing plan, but how could she market with no product?

  There were couples, both young and old. A few families. One of them had set up an elaborate picnic lunch. Mom was busy with the food while dad attempted to play frisbee with the two kids. The boy hadn’t yet developed his skills. The result was a frisbee with a trajectory that went straight down and then rolled across the grass until it plopped over from lack of momentum. Though his dad was patient and encouraging, his sister gazed skyward and muttered to herself each time her younger brother blew it.

  We kept up our vigil, doing much the same thing as the dad with his younger boy, offering Grace encouragement despite our own apparent flop. While we waited, Grace repeated what she’d told me earlier about her meetings with the man for Chance’s benefit. Just as she was completing her story, I spotted a man who matched the description Grace had given me.

  “Suspect. Ten o’clock,” I said. Unfortunately, my ten o’clock was behind Grace and Chance. I quickly added, “Chance, don’t look yet. Grace, can you turn your head slightly? Don’t be obvious.”

  She did as I asked and blurted, “Danny!” She started to rise, but Chance stopped her by grabbing her left hand.

  “Danny?” I did a double take and stared at her. “You told me you didn’t remember his name.”

  “I’m sorry.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I was embarrassed.”

  “You two stay here. I’ve got this.” Chance glanced across the table at me. “How far away is he?”

  “Maybe a hundred feet. Coming this way. Salt-and-pepper hair, olive complexion, about five-ten, maybe a hundred and sixty pounds. It looks like he’s scouting. Oh, crap, I think he just recognized Grace. He’s turning to leave.”

  I pointed at the man as Chance stood. The man Grace knew as Danny took off at a dead run. Chance was after him immediately.

  “Why did you lie to me, Grace?” I asked as I watched Chance narrow the gap.

  But Grace didn’t answer. She was frowning and watching the chase.

  The whole thing was over in seconds, partly because Danny’s escape route took him into the path of two Honolulu police walking their beat. Danny stopped to change direction, but it was too late. Chance was there with a hand gripping his arm. The cops watched the interaction, but seemed unconcerned. After all, nobody had thrown a punch or complained. Like I said, it was over in seconds.

  Chance guided Danny back to the table. When they arrived, he had Grace move next to me and sat next to him.

  “I’ve explained that if he doesn’t cooperate, we’ll be visiting those officers very soon,” Chance said.

  “You should turn him in! He stole my money,” Grace snapped.

  I held up a hand in hopes it would settle her down. “Let’s keep this calm, okay?” Now I regretted telling Grace her dream was nothing more than that. At least before she’d been mostly calm. If she went off on Danny, the cops might come by to check us out. Technically, Danny could claim he’d been assaulted. Bogus charges or not, we didn’t want to go there. We needed a Plan B. Fast.

  Danny hung his head and mumbled some BS about being sorry and not liking his life. Oh, please, I thought. This was classic. His remorse had nothing to do with not liking his life; he didn’t like getting caught. He’d be scamming a new victim tomorrow.

  “Here’s the deal, you can cooperate with us or not. It’s your choice. If you choose not to, my friend here will break your arm in twelve places and put you in the hospital.”

  Chance shook his head. “Oh, no, McKenna. I hate breaking bones.” He gazed at Danny with a stare so cold it made me shiver. “Do you know what the spleen is, my friend?”

  “For sure, man.”

  “If yours is ruptured, which could happen by a sharp jab here…”
<
br />   Chance poked the left side of Danny’s stomach, which caused the man to squeak. The jab hadn’t been hard, so the reaction was obviously more surprise than anything else. When the moment was done, Danny glared at Chance.

  “Anyway, if your spleen is ruptured, you’ll probably die before you get medical attention.” Chance shrugged nonchalantly. “Are we clear?”

  Danny nodded, the whites of his eyes large with fear. “What do you want?”

  “I want my money back!” Grace demanded.

  “I don’t have it.” He glanced sideways at Chance as though he were expecting another blow.

  “Grace, calm down.” I laid one hand on her shoulder and scrutinized Danny. “I don’t think this guy wants the cops here. Do you?”

  “Maybe so. Maybe they could protect me from you guys.”

  The urge to punch him myself nearly overpowered me. Thank goodness I didn’t because I’d probably have hurt myself more than him. He had a good twenty pounds on me and probably that many years. The smart move was to leave the physical intimidation stuff to Chance.

  “Tell you what, let’s leave the issue of the money off the table for a moment.”

  He looked up at me, and his expression brightened. “Okay. What do you want?”

  “How many bottles of perfume do you have?”

  “I don’t have any of that stuff. I just told her I did.”

  Grace muttered something under her breath. I reached over and clasped her hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze, then let go. I hoped it was enough to mollify her while we broke Danny’s will.

  “Danny, please, don’t lie to me,” I said. “Chance doesn’t want to hurt you. Do you?”

  Chance shook his head, but kept his face impassive as he leaned closer. The other man tried to back away, but Chance wasn’t letting up. He had his eyes locked onto Danny’s.

  “I’m really a nice guy,” Chance said. There was no emotion in his voice as he continued. “I don’t like hurting people. But bad guys make me angry, and when I get angry…”