by Toby Neal
Lei felt a stinging tug as her rescuer towed her by the hair. The position lifted her face clear of the water and tilted her onto her back. “Just relax. I’ve got you.” Thomas’s voice, a little breathless but confident.
Lei focused on breathing, and let him pull her through the choppy waves.
Where was Pono? Was her partner okay?
“Lei! Holy crap, seestah, you wen give me one heart attack!” Pono’s bass voice boomed above her; they’d reached the side of the Coast Guard craft.
Lei shut her eyes and smiled, too worn out to do anything but go limp as a dozen hands caught her, lifting her up onto the sun-warmed deck of the Coast Guard craft.
Someone took off her shoes.
Someone else put a pillow under her head and covered her with a thermal blanket.
“Lei! Talk to me, girl!” Pono sounded frantic and way too loud, right in her ear. Lei hauled her heavy eyelids open enough to see his looming shadow, handily blocking the sun.
“I’m fine,” Lei croaked, and promptly rolled onto her side to retch and cough, as Pono thumped her on the back.
Pono settled her back. “I just swam straight up. Couldn’t believe you weren’t right behind me with Thomas. Then he sucked a few breaths and went back down . . . longest minutes of my life.”
The Guardsman who doubled as a medic pushed Pono back and knelt beside Lei with his kit. “I’d like to check you out, Sergeant, if you don’t mind. You’ve probably got a little hypothermia and water inhalation, but I’d like to make sure that’s all there is.”
Lei nodded, shivering and miserable. The man applied a stethoscope to her back and asked her to take some deep breaths, which set off another round of retching and coughing. Her eyes watered and her nose ran. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard craft had lifted into a vibrating roar, and Lei felt the huge rigid-hulled inflatable slamming through the rolling waves of the rough Au`au Channel as they headed back toward Ma`alaea Harbor.
Finally, Lei was able to curl up and rest, shivering in her wet clothes under the crinkly silver blanket. Pono bent over her with his cell phone. “Someone here wants to speak to you.”
Lei took the phone with a trembling hand and applied it to her ear. “Texeira,” she croaked.
“Sweets, are you okay?” Stevens was yelling in his fright. “You sound awful!”
“I’m fine. Just got checked by the medic, here. I sucked some water getting away from the sinking ship. Throat hurts, but I’m okay.” Lei flashed to the strangling hold of the heavy backpack holding her arms down, dragging her in the wake of the ruptured yacht. “One of the Guardsmen came back for me, thank God. Aina Thomas. He saved my life.” She turned her head, searching for the Guardsman. She spotted him inside the boat’s cabin, talking to the crew. “I probably wouldn’t have made it if he hadn’t come back for me. That backpack . . .” her throat closed.
Pono plucked the phone out of Lei’s fingers. His pidgin was heavy in his agitation. “Your wife been t’ru one heavy kine t’ing an bumbai, she need res’. I tell you what wen down.” Her partner, his soaked pants and wet shoes leaving prints on the deck, told the story with much hand gesturing as he walked into the lee of the cabin out of the wind. Lei curled up tighter and shivered in her silver thermal blanket.
Thomas, done with whatever report he’d been making, came out of the cabin and squatted next to Lei. He was still wearing his wet uniform, but wrapped in a crinkly blanket too. He peered at her, brown eyes crinkled at the corners with worry. “Our medic tells me you’re okay—but how are you feeling?”
Lei slid a hand out of the warm nest formed by her blanket to squeeze his arm. “Alive, thanks to you.”
He cleared his throat. “Oh, you’d have got to the surface without me. The will to survive is incredibly strong.”
“No.” Lei shook her head. “I wasn’t getting out of that pack without help. It was pulling me down like an anchor.”
“Just doing my job.” Thomas patted her shoulder awkwardly. Whatever attraction they’d once had for each other was definitely gone.
“But now, the evidence, and the crime scene, are both on the bottom of the ocean.” Lei shut her eyes, suddenly weary. “We’re going to have a hell of a time with this case, now.”
Chapter Six
Lei continued to hold Stevens’s hand as he punched in the code to the gate opening into their home in verdant, green Haiku on the east shore of Maui. A high wooden fence around their two-acre property wasn’t a guarantee of safety—they’d been attacked by a pyromaniac even with it in place—but that sturdy barrier still gave Lei a sense of security, of a private world. It also kept their kids, and their Rottweiler, Conan, safely contained inside.
A twinge of sadness made Lei close her eyes, remembering Keiki, her first Rottweiler. The loving, battle-scarred old girl, Lei’s companion for more than ten years, had passed away peacefully from old age a year ago. Keiki was buried on the property with a hand-carved petroglyph, engraved by one of their Hawaiian friends, marking her resting place.
Conan, much younger, was already barking a deep-throated welcome on the other side of the gate as it rumbled open.
“I didn’t say anything to the family about what happened to you,” Stevens squeezed Lei’s hand as they drove forward. “No sense worrying our parents or Kiet, since you’re fine.”
“Good,” Lei agreed. “I’ll ditch this blanket. I’m sure Thomas wants it back, anyway.” She stripped off the silver thermal covering, bundling it up and stuffing it behind the Bronco’s seat as Stevens navigated the winding gravel driveway leading through a property rich with fruit trees and marked by two separate dwellings. “Easy enough to explain that I had to go swimming for a case.”
“And you wouldn’t even be lying.” Stevens’s crystal blue eyes crinkled at the corners, but tension still bracketed his mouth from the stress and drama of picking her up at the Ma`alaea dock. “Sure glad that Coast Guardsman went back for you, or this would be quite a different homecoming.”
He parked the truck in front of their open garage, cluttered with the kids’ toys, gardening implements and tools, and a mountain of laundry piled on the washer at one end. The house was simple, a new stucco and cement block rectangle with a fire-retardant metal roof, but they slept well in its sturdy structure. Lei loved every square inch of it, since they’d built it themselves with the help of friends.
“I need a hug.” Lei shivered in her damp clothes, reaching over to Stevens. “I don’t ever want to get that close to drowning again.”
“Amen to that,” Stevens said gruffly. “I almost had a heart attack when I heard what happened.”
They held each other for a long moment. Lei wriggled over the gear area to rest her cheek on Stevens’s chest, reaching up to encircle his neck with her arm. She made a little sound of need and tipped her face up towards her husband’s. Stevens bent his head to kiss her.
For just a moment, they shut out Conan’s barking, war whoops from Kiet and a little friend of his as the boys ran around the yard, and the sound of eighteen-month-old Rosie howling in tantrum mode from Wayne and Ellen’s cottage.
Lei shut her eyes and sank into the kiss, into the warmth and love of her husband’s arms. Gratitude suffused her. Nothing was guaranteed. Every day was a gift.
“Ew, gross, Mom and Dad!” Seven-year-old Kiet yelled outside Stevens’s window as his friend giggled. Conan barked loudly on Lei’s side, clearly worried something was wrong.
Stevens let Lei go with a sigh. “To be continued.” He touched her nose with a finger. “Divide and conquer, ok? You go get Rosie and relieve poor Mom, I’ll deal with the boys.”
“Deal.” She pressed another quick kiss on his jaw. “We have a date later. Much later, when everyone’s in bed.”
Lei got out of her side, calming Conan with a soothing voice and pets on the head. Stevens got out of his side, grabbing each of the boys under an arm and carrying them off as they shrieked with glee.
Ellen appeared on the porch of her and Wayne
’s little plantation style cottage, with its border of ti plants and red hibiscus. The cottage had not burned in the fire that destroyed the main house, and retained the charm that was such a part of those vintage structures.
Her mother-in-law seemed frazzled, her silver-blonde hair in disarray and food smeared on the shoulder of her blue smock. “I was getting ready to call for reinforcements, beg Wayne to come home from the restaurant or something. Our girl has been super cranky today.”
“She’s teething. I’m so sorry I forgot to give you the frozen washcloths I made last night. She loves to chew on them.” Lei hurried up the wooden steps to scoop the toddler, hiccupping miserably, into her arms. “Oh, sweetie, what a grumpy face you have!”
Rosie looked as frazzled as Ellen. Her silky brown curls were a sticky mess and her face was crumpled and shiny from wailing. She burrowed her wet face into Lei’s neck and popped her thumb into her mouth, quieting at last as Lei hugged Ellen with her free arm. “You deserve a grandma-of-the-year medal!”
“I do, don’t I?” Ellen made a mock ‘Scream’ face with her mouth wide and hands cupping her cheeks. “Thank God the kids have school and nursery care . . . I’m only good for a couple of hours of hard-core parent duty!” Her gaze swept Lei, and she frowned. “Your clothes are all wet. Did you fall in the water or something?”
“Sure did. I’ll get both of us into a hot shower. That ought to distract baby girl here,” Lei said. “Give Dad a hug for me, will you?”
“I will. I’m getting cleaned up and meeting him at Ono Grindz for a date,” Ellen said. “We’re going to the movies.”
“Oh, what I’d give to go to a grown-up movie!” Lei exclaimed. “I don’t think we’ve been out in the eighteen months since Rosie was born.”
“Well, we’ll have to fix that situation. But not until that tooth comes through, right, sweetie?” She caressed Rosie’s hair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, darling.”
“Bye!” Lei waved and prompted Rosie to wave too. Carrying the baby, she hurried across the yard. Kiet’s friend was being picked up, so Lei greeted the boy’s mom and they talked story for a few minutes until Rosie began fussing again, and she was finally able to get inside the house and into the shower.
The big, tiled walk-in shower was large enough for Lei to carry Rosie in with her. She played with the baby under the warm water, cooing to her, soaping both of their bodies and hair, loving on the fussy baby until Rosie was giggling and relaxed. It was early for her bedtime, but when Lei got out and wrapped them both in towels, her daughter was soft and sleepy, resting her head on Lei’s chest, her eyes at half-mast. Lei admired Rosie’s long lashes as she blotted the extra water out of the baby’s hair.
Carrying the sleepy toddler, she held a finger to her lips, cutting Stevens off from commenting as she tiptoed through the living room past Kiet, intent on his daily dose of Cartoon Network. Stevens nodded, waving his spatula at her. He was stir-frying something that smelled delicious, and her stomach rumbled as she passed him, carrying Rosie to the kids’ room.
Lei put a diaper on the baby, and then pajamas. She settled Rosie in her crib, turning on a white noise machine and lowering the blinds. Rosie promptly rolled over, hiking her little padded butt in the air, and plugged her mouth with a thumb.
Lei tiptoed into the master bedroom and dressed in her favorite old pair of pj’s. On her way back to the kitchen, Lei draped a lightweight Hawaiian print quilt, created by Rosie’s godmother Esther Ka`awai, over the baby. She hovered a moment, smoothing the quilt over Rosie’s back and savoring the sight of her sleeping child—then she shut the door gently, casting her eyes heavenward in thanks that the baby had gone down so easy.
Lei came up behind Stevens in the kitchen, sliding her arms around his chest from behind and snuggling her cheek against his shoulder blade. She breathed in the smell of his clean body and shirt—he’d found time to shower, too. “Thing One is down. Only Thing Two to go.” They’d come up with those Cat in the Hat nicknames after Rosie came along.
They both glanced over at Kiet, snuggled with Conan on the couch, his gaze on the TV. The little boy’s hair gleamed in the soft light, and his slender arm seemed tiny draped over the Rottweiler’s sturdy side. “Gotta get some food into him,” Stevens tossed the beef stir-fry one last time. “Can you check on the rice?”
Lei lifted the lid of the cooker. “Almost done. I’ll set the table.”
They were a team. A team fixing dinner, a team caring for their children and their home, a team solving crime at work.
But later on, in the privacy of their bedroom, they were passionate lovers whose souls connected through their bodies.
Lei fell asleep in her husband’s arms, thankful again for how far they’d come . . . just to be exactly where they were.
Chapter Seven
Lei walked into the morning team meeting at Kahului Police Station, still scrunching gel into damp, wayward curls. At least she’d managed to find a clean set of clothes, and her backup weapon was oiled and loaded. A woman had to have priorities—and hers had been getting Kiet to school on time and Rosie settled at nursery care, while Stevens dealt with the dog and prepped food for dinner when they all got home.
Captain Omura had beaten Lei to the conference room and taken the head chair at the battered Formica table that had seen too many team meetings to count. “You seem recovered from your ordeal yesterday, Texeira.”
“I am, thanks. It was scary, but no lasting damage.” Lei sat beside the immaculately dressed woman affectionately nicknamed the “Steel Butterfly.” Omura’s shining, bobbed black hair, classy makeup and red lacquered nails were perfect, as usual. “I owe my life to Petty Officer Aina Thomas.”
“I read the report. Scary, indeed.” Omura blinked, hiding emotion. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Pono pushed the door open with an elbow, both hands occupied with a pair of MPD coffee mugs. He handed one to Lei. “Figured you hadn’t had time to grab a cup.”
“Thanks, partner. And you remembered creamer.” Lei peered in at the tarry brew and stirred the chunks of dissolving powder with a red straw stick Pono’d thrown in. “Too bad that fancy coffeemaker’s acting up.”
Lei’s good friend Sophie, a tech investigator based on O`ahu, had gifted their department with a new Keurig coffeemaker for Christmas. Lei had enjoyed the smooth, tasty stuff until the machine had disappeared. “Unfortunately, those pod refills cost too much for our budget,” Omura said. “It’s in the storage room at the moment.”
Lei opened her mouth to volunteer to chip in for more of the coffee pods, when Becca Nunez, their crime scene tech, walked in ahead of Aina Thomas.
Nunez was new to Kahului Station; she’d only been there a year, and she carried her computer tablet against her chest like a breastplate. A recent grad from University of Hawaii’s forensics program, she wore her hair in an edgy cut with a bright magenta streak in the front, and was fond of goth—today she wore a chain mail mesh necklace.
Thomas took a chair across from Lei. “I see you’re feeling better.”
“Totally fine. Thanks again for the rescue.” Lei lifted her mug in a toasting gesture.
Captain Omura already had her laptop open. She drummed her glossy fingernails across the metal keys, making an impatient sound. “Let’s get started. Time is of the essence with all of these people missing. I’ll call our man on Lana`i to join in.” She connected the video call, and shortly, they greeted Gary Miller.
The young black man waved, grinning, from his communication window on the Captain’s laptop. “Hey all. I was sorry to miss all the drama yesterday. I was waiting on the beach for pickup from the Coast Guard tender boat, and just before it reached me, the guy turned around and hauled ass out to the wreck! Then I saw it go down.” His expression sobered. “Looked intense.”
“Did you have a chance to do those sweeps, checking for survivors coming up on the island?” Thomas asked.
“We are short-staffed at the Lana`i Station, as you know, but w
e have a civilian neighborhood watch group. Great folks. We rousted all of them to patrol the beaches. No one has seen anything,” Miller said. “Any survivors of the wreck must have taken off on another boat.”
Thomas leaned forward to speak to the group. “We called out our big cutter, the Independent, yesterday. They came out to support us as we dove the wreck after we took Lei and Pono back to Ma`alaea. We also sent patrols all around the different channels and bays on Lana`i, looking for signs of any people or craft that might have come ashore. Nothing. We’ve also been diving for any bodies near the wreck. So far, nothing.”
Omura steepled her fingers. “So, what do we know? Texeira, go to the board and summarize for us.”
Lei got up and went to the whiteboard on one of the walls, uncapping an erasable marker.
Thomas turned to Captain Omura. “Our divers went down to the wreck as soon as they were able and the yacht had settled on the bottom. Fortunately, it’s not too far down, only forty feet or so. Unfortunately, any crime scene trace that would have been useful was lost. We did, however, recover Lei’s backpack.”
Nunez inclined her head. Tiny silver skeletons swung at her ears. “The backpack is in the lab drying out, Lei. The evidence bags inside were paper, so that was a mess, but the blood samples you retrieved were sealed in plastic, so they’re still good. The fingerprints you picked up were on gel, and that degraded in the water, so we’re at zero with those, unfortunately.” Nunez took a breath. “The good news is, you’ll get most of your personal stuff back, unharmed.”
“I don’t care about that,” Lei said. “But I’m sick about that fingerprint evidence getting lost.”
Pono nodded. “I’ve been on the phone with my cousin’s family. Got his blood type. We need types for the rest of the passengers and crew. Once we rule out anyone who’s not a match to the samples we collected, we can go in deeper for a DNA match.”