Someone in the crowd yelled out asking about the other hostage.
The woman called out, “He’s hiding in back of the big walk-in refrigerator. Not inside it, behind it. The guy with the gun never even knew he had three hostages in there. He thought he only had two, me and the guy he let go.”
“Sing!” The police captain signaled Kiki. “Sing, Aunties.”
They picked up where they left off and sang as loud as they could. By the time they got to sixty-eight bottles of beer, a black chopper appeared over the clubhouse, and an officer swinging on a rope was lowered to the roof while the SWAT team, in full regalia, ran out in a line and hugged the sides of the building.
The last thing Kiki wanted was for Tom Benton to put a bullet in his head, no matter what he’d done. She wanted justice. She wanted him to stand trial for three murders and spend the rest of his life in prison with a big, burly cell mate with bad breath and no teeth.
“Fifty-four bottles of beer on the wall, fifty-four bottles if beeeeeeer,” the Maidens howled.
The crowd had moved up as far as they could behind the maidens, and some of the folks started howling along with them. Kiki noticed Em standing not far away. She wished Kimo was here to see this, but by now he was busy with the last few dinner orders at the Goddess.
“Take one down and pass it aroooooound . . .”
There was a loud pop near the clubhouse, and then smoke suddenly billowed out of the windows. Three of the members of the SWAT team climbed through a window. Two ran in the door the chili dog lady had left standing open.
The Maidens’ singing gradually faded away. Em moved closer to Kiki.
“Do you think it worked?” Em whispered. “If it did, it’s a miracle.”
“If it worked, we’re going to be even more famous than we are now. Randy Rich is going to eat his heart out over this one. He couldn’t have scripted this scene in a million and one years.”
“Think of all the dance gigs we’re going to get now.” Flora was so hoarse she could barely talk, but her croak sounded ecstatic.
“Hey, is that photographer here from the Garden Island?” Precious’s head was on a swivel.
“I haven’t seen him, but I’m here,” Trish said. “I’ve been taking photos all day. I got some of you all lined up singing a few minutes ago. No worries. I took enough for a whole spread in the paper. I’ll email you copies for your websites.”
“Could life get any better?” Kiki lowered the bullhorn and sighed with relief.
“Have you all forgotten why we’re here? Tom Benton was a cold-blooded murderer.” Em was staring at the tear gas rolling out of the smoking clubhouse.
The rest of them immediately sobered.
“Way to bring down a party,” Kiki nudged her with her elbow.
“This is no party, Kiki. Just pray the SWAT team makes it out all right.”
“Look!” Little Estelle started tooting her horn. “Here they come! They’ve got Tom Benton with them.”
Sure enough, Tom Benton’s arms were draped over the shoulders of two SWAT team members. He was hanging between them, head down, and they appeared to be supporting him. His toes dragged on the ground.
When the police officers visibly relaxed and started slapping one another on the back, a cheer went up from the assembled crowd. The hippies started playing their flutes and frolicking in the grass again.
Kiki felt Em stiffen beside her, looked up, and saw Roland walking toward them. He wasn’t smiling, but he appeared to have thawed a bit. Kiki wanted like hell to say she’d told him so, but she held her tongue.
Roland looked like he was about to swallow glass.
“I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but thank you, ladies.”
Kiki was glad he thanked them, no matter how sparingly.
“No problem, Roland. If you ever find yourself in another standoff situation, you’ve got our numbers.”
48
All Pau for Now
After a day’s respite, Pat called the Goddess at Kiki’s request and asked Em to please reserve them a table for lunch. She said they were officially coming in to celebrate their success as the KPD’s secret weapon deployed at what was quickly becoming the legendary Princeville Makai Clubhouse standoff.
“What time will they be here?” Sophie was busy wiping off chair seats and pulling tables together.
“Eleven.” Em glanced at the clock behind the bar. They had ten minutes before the Maidens descended and they would open for lunch.
Louie came breezing in, his thick white hair still wet from the shower and slicked back. He walked over to Em. “I got your phone message. What do you need?”
“The Maidens are coming in for lunch to celebrate. I thought you might like to whip up a commemorative cocktail for the occasion.”
“Great idea. I saw the article in the Garden Island this morning. Front page story and two pages of photos, most of them by our Trish. Super coverage.”
“Wasn’t it? The standoff ended too late for the story to run yesterday, but the paper wrote them up big time today,” Em said.
“Probably not a good thing.” Sophie had finished setting up the tables and headed over to the bar. “The reality show fame was bad enough. There will be no living with the old girls now that the whole island has read about them.”
“I particularly liked the quotes included from all the bystanders,” Em said. “Especially the one hippie guy who said the police should sponsor starlight concerts on the golf course once a month.”
Louie got busy behind the bar. Kimo told Sophie to push the mahi mahi sandwiches. A carload of tourists walked in for lunch, and Em took their orders.
“Excuse me,” one of the women asked. “What time do they turn on the waterfalls?”
Used to folks asking every kind of question under the sun including where they could see the Hawaiians who lived in grass huts, Em didn’t even blink. She looked at her watch.
“They should have the waterfalls running in a couple hours. Now, how about a Mai Tai to go with that mahi sandwich?”
By eleven sharp all the Maidens had shown up and were poring over their copies of the newspaper while sipping hurricane glasses full of Louie’s hastily concocted new drink, the Sour Note.
“Listen to this,” Suzi read. “Police won’t say what Kiki Godwin, local party planner and hula enthusiast, did to help, just that she was instrumental in bringing Tom Benton, alleged murderer of three people on the North Shore, to justice.”
“Hula enthusiast?” Kiki sniffed. “That makes it sound like I’m just a fan of hula, not a professional dancer.”
“Here’s to Kiki!” Flora raised her glass. They were all toasting their leader, and not for the first time, when Lillian Smith breezed in followed by MyBob. She waved her copy of the Garden Island in the air.
“You’re all so famous,” she cooed. “I’m so proud of my hula sisters I could just burst.” She pulled out the last empty chair at the table and sat with the girls. MyBob was forced to wander over and grab a stool at the bar.
“Where are the other Lillians?” Trish asked.
“Gone home, thank heavens.” Lillian patted her pink bouffant. “What an exhausting group. We were playing the radio in the Holoholo van yesterday and heard about the standoff on KONG radio. It took forever to get everyone collected after tubing down the irrigation ditch, and then half of them wanted to drive all the way over to Hanapepe to walk across the swinging bridge, so off we went. Then a couple of tourists told one of them about the monk seals beached at the park at Po’ipu, so off we went again. By that time it was sunset happy hour at the Sheraton, and you know how that goes. I was soooo sad to miss the standoff and the singing. I was in the choir in Iowa. I could have really helped out.”
Little Estelle piped up, “You wouldn’t have been allowed to si
ng.”
Lillian started to tear up. “Why not?”
“Only off-key singers allowed,” Pat said.
Too late. Lillian was already crying.
“I could have tried to sing off key,” she wailed.
“Here you go, dumpling.” MyBob walked over and handed her a Sour Note. “That’ll make you feel better.”
She sniffed and wiped her nose with a napkin and then looked at the others’ plates. “So would a mahi sandwich and fries.”
“I’ll give Sophie your order, honey.” He walked back to the bar.
“Already got it,” Sophie told MyBob before she turned to Em. “This is better than TV.”
“Don’t even think it.” Em kept her voice low. “I’m afraid Randy Rich will call any minute to tell us the network saw the news and wants us back. Kiki said he’s probably eating his heart out right out now.”
Louie walked over to the Maiden’s table.
“Congratulations, ladies. How do you like the Sour Notes?”
They raised their glasses high.
“Love, ’em,” Kiki said. “I can’t wait to read the legend you’ll write for the menu.”
Em joined her uncle and stood next to him at the head of the Maidens’ table.
“I’ve got an announcement to make,” she said. “Uncle Louie is heading to Honolulu in the morning to compete at the state level of the National Cocktail Shake Off. If he wins the state, he’ll go on to represent Hawaii in Long Beach, California, at the Western Regionals.”
The Maidens started whooping and slapping the table.
“Here’s to Louie.” Kiki raised her glass. “Bring home the trophy! Better yet, if you make it to the regionals, we’ll all go with you.”
Louie waited until the cheering subsided. “Mahalo for your support and confidence. In celebration, you can all have another round of Sour Notes, this time on the house.”
“Das goot!” Already bleary-eyed, Lars raised his glass.
Once the fresh round had been served, Kiki got to her feet and asked for everyone’s attention. Kiki’s speeches were known to be unending. Em sighed and headed back to the bar. Louie mumbled something about needing to do something at the house and walked away.
With all the drama of a soap opera star, Kiki slowly let her gaze touch each and every one of the Maidens and then took a deep breath.
“If there’s one thing I can count on in life, it’s my hula sisters. From the first sign of trouble when Kimo became a murder suspect, and then the Defector was murdered and suddenly I was a suspect, you were there for us. Two mornings ago, I called for your help, and you showed up to help me clear my name. Pat, Trish, and Suzi risked their own lives to save me from a terrible, terrible end, I’m sure. And then, last night, we stood shoulder to shoulder to help the KPD bring in the real murderer, Tom Benton. You were there through it all.”
She paused and blinked her false eyelashes. “Well, almost all of you were there. You, Lillian, were too busy with your fan club, but that’s okay. I understand. Really. That’s ok-ay.” She raised her glass. “So here’s to all of you. Here’s to us!”
“Ya!” Lars shouted. “Us goot!”
Behind the bar Em told Sophie, “I called Tiko and asked her to come in tomorrow morning while I take Louie in to the airport.”
“Did he decide to take Letterman to Honolulu?” Sophie was topping off Sour Notes with lime wedges and cherries on plastic swords.
“No, I get the wonderful privilege of bird sitting.” Em reached for more hurricane glasses and had her back to the room. “With any luck I’ll keep all my fingers.”
“Well, look who just walked in,” Sophie said. “Maybe he’ll offer to light your fire while Louie’s off island.”
Em turned around in time to see Roland head directly for the Maidens’ table. The women started toasting him, and Kiki announced she had a wedding reception gig for him if he wanted to book it. It was impossible for Em not to notice he hadn’t even looked her way.
“Talk to me about that later,” he told Kiki. “I’ve got a little something to say to all of you.”
“Uh, oh.” Sophie set down the tray she was about to carry over to the table.
Roland towered over the seated women, who were all staring up at him in awe.
“Ladies, on behalf of the Kauai Police Department, I’d like to officially say mahalo for your part in ending the Princeville clubhouse standoff. We appreciate what each of you did to help, and there will be a more formal presentation in the near future.”
There were more cheers and more toasting. Flora’s glass was empty, and she was looking toward the bar with anticipation.
Roland raised his hand, and they all quieted down again.
“On a personal note,” he looked at each of them in turn. “I’d like to say that even though there is no doubt that your efforts helped us end the standoff and hostage situation and bring in a dangerous criminal, under no circumstances,” he glanced over at Em and then away, “under no circumstances do I condone any of you interfering in KPD investigations in the future, whether the events are connected to you directly or indirectly. To make myself perfectly clear, no more amateur detecting. No more. You are all pau with that. Got it?”
One by one they all slowly nodded. All but one.
“Kiki?” Roland stared at her until she met his eyes.
Kiki actually looked a bit sheepish, but Em guessed it was simply a well-practiced expression.
“Oh, okay, Roland. I’ve got it. All pau.”
Satisfied, he nodded, then turned and headed for the bar, leaving them to polish off their drinks in silence. He surprised Em by sitting on a barstool directly in front of her. Feeling awkward, Em hesitated to say anything. An awkward silence ensued.
“What can I get you, detective?” Sophie stepped in to ask.
“An iced tea and a mahi sandwich.”
“Fries?”
“Sure, why not?”
As soon as Sophie left to take the order into the kitchen, Roland turned to Em.
“I hope you were listening. That speech was meant for you, too.”
“I figured,” she said.
“Do you know how serious I am?”
“I think so.” The koa wood bar was all that separated them, but she felt as if an ocean had come between them in the last couple of days.
He glanced over his shoulder at the Maidens. Kiki was on the phone, and the rest were leaning into the center of the table talking in hushed undertones, clearly discussing his ultimatum.
“You know, I’m not fired up just because that bunch is a menace to North Shore tranquility and each other, Em.”
Thankfully, his expression wasn’t as closed off and angry as it had been during the standoff. If he was really so furious, would he have stayed for lunch? she wondered.
“Do you want to know why I’m so upset?” he asked.
“Why?”
His stare made her nervous. She brushed her hair back behind her ear.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice.
“I’m afraid one day you’ll get in over your head, and I won’t be there to save you.”
She was so stunned by his honest expression of concern that she didn’t know what to say.
“You don’t want to know what I was thinking on way up here after the call went out that shots had been fired on the Princeville golf course, and I knew that you were somehow involved.”
She shook her head. “But I wasn’t. I didn’t even know what Kiki was up to at that point.”
“But if you had known before hand, you would have gotten dragged along on their little escapade even sooner. I know you’re somehow under the impression that you tag along just to keep them out of trouble.” He shook his head. “Let me tell you, that’s impossib
le. Trouble finds that bunch faster than Flora can suck a Gatorade bottle dry. You’re not invincible, Em.”
She sighed. There wasn’t any way she could argue with the truth.
Sophie shot Em an apologetic look for interrupting, set Roland’s order, silverware, and a napkin on the bar in front of him then moved a bottle of ketchup closer. She walked away without a word.
“I’m sorry,” Em said. “Really.”
He hadn’t picked up his mahi sandwich yet. She almost wished he’d break his stare, because she certainly couldn’t look away from those dark eyes.
“How about we go out for dinner on Friday night?” His invitation startled her. “Maybe a movie if there’s anything worth seeing. Or we can do anything else you’d like. Maybe go hear some Hawaiian music at Shutters.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “A nice dinner. A real official date. The kind you go on with your neighbor. We will not discuss any police business, any murders, any clues, any suspects. Those subjects are off limits from now on.”
Em knew she was grinning like an idiot, but she couldn’t help it.
Finally Roland smiled, too.
“So? Is it a date?”
“It’s a date.”
“Good.” He picked up his sandwich, nodded and said, “Good. Friday night then.”
Across the room Kiki jumped to her feet and waved her cell phone over her head.
“Attention everyone! I just got a call from the Keep Kauai Mongoose Free organization. They’ve invited us to appear on their float in the King Kamehameha Day parade in June.”
A cheer went up from the Maidens still seated around the table.
Kiki raised her hand for silence. “It gets even better! Someone from the county called and asked if we could ‘possibly fit in some time’ to appear in Puhi at the dedication of the new bus bench shelter!”
More screams and cheering. Little Estelle laid on the Gadabout horn.
Kiki shouted them down.
“The mayor is going to be there. You know that means a great photo op.”
“Can you believe it?” Suzi joyfully waved jazz hands in the air.
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