Paradise Crime Mysteries

by Toby Neal

  Keiki butted her head against Lei’s thigh, breaking the spell.

  “So. Let’s do this.” She scooped up the cap and put it back on.

  “I had another idea. I’m missing practice with the club, so I borrowed a canoe for us to take out.”

  “I’ve never paddled before.”

  “What? Local girl like you? They didn’t raise you right over on the Big Island,” Alika teased as he whipped off the straps securing the canoe.

  It took both their effort to lift the fiberglass shell, sleek and cigar-shaped, off the racks and carry it to the water. Alika went back and brought out the iako, or outrigger, a stabilizing contraption made of carbon-fiber plastic with an attached ama, or float. He clipped it into brackets on the hull. The sleek canoe was completely sealed, all of a piece, with adjustable molded seats flush with the top of the hull and recesses for their feet in a molded plastic interior.

  Keiki whimpered anxiously. Lei shared her feeling as she looked at the tippy little craft.

  “Oh no. Keiki counts on her run for exercise.”

  “No one’s around. Why don’t you let her off the leash and we’ll paddle along the shore? She can run and keep up.”

  Lei unclipped the leash, giving the dog the signal to sit. They launched the canoe, pushing it into the water and jumping in. It tipped precariously and Alika stabilized them with his paddle.

  “Keep your weight distributed across both sides of the hull with your hands,” he instructed until she was settled in her plastic seat. He showed her how to dig deep on the downstroke and switch sides, and after some initial wobbling, Lei picked it up. She glanced back and saw Keiki sitting where she’d been told, looking mournful.

  “Keiki, come!” She called, and burst out laughing as, instead of running along the beach, the dog leapt into the water and swam after them.

  “She’ll get her exercise, all right,” Alika said.

  They paddled along the shore just outside the wave line, the big dog’s head bobbing in their wake as she tried to keep up. Every twelve strokes on one side Alika would call, “Hut—ho!” and on the hut Lei was warned to change, and on ho she was supposed to switch sides. She sprayed Alika and herself with water and smacked the paddle into the side of the canoe, but she soon found a rhythm that made her shoulders burn with satisfying effort. Keiki finally figured out she couldn’t keep up and swam in, trotting along the shoreline with eyes on her mistress.

  They paddled the length of the bay and drifted a bit at the end, getting their breath. Lei watched the light play through the clear water in dancing streaks, bouncing off the smooth, pale sand of the bottom.

  “Whew, that’s a workout.” She plucked the sweat-soaked tank top away from her body.

  “Jump in and cool off.” Alika stowed his paddle under an elastic strap and stripped his shirt off over his head. He lifted an iron bar that had been tucked up into a compartment in the hull and tossed it overboard. A length of nylon rope spun out behind it. The water wasn’t deep, only fifteen feet or so, and Lei could see the bar hit the sand on the bottom. “We don’t need to worry too much because the wind’s not up yet, but never get out of a canoe without an anchor.”

  “Aye, aye, captain.” Lei gave a mock salute and stowed her paddle as he stood up, rocking slightly, and dove into the crystalline water. She didn’t have a suit on but decided her running clothes were fine. She stood up, and the canoe promptly pitched her into the water.

  She came up spluttering, and Keiki barked in alarm from the shore, jumping in and making for Lei like a big black missile. Alika laughed, and they both dove down to find pebbles for Keiki to fetch.

  Alika finally grabbed the gunwale of the canoe on the side with the outrigger and hauled himself up. Lei enjoyed the sight of his tanned back flexing as he lifted himself up and into the canoe. He sat in his seat and stabilized the rocking little craft with his paddle.

  “Now you.”

  Lei was able to eventually haul herself aboard, hooking a leg over the side and sprawling in her seat. She saw laughter in a flash of his gold-flecked eyes.

  “Don’t say anything,” she warned.

  “I know better. You’re actually doing great for a beginner.”

  They paddled back to the pier and hauled the canoe up, boosting it onto the sturdy racks. Alika lashed it down.

  “I’ve got something to tell you.” Lei bent and stretched her knotted shoulders. “Lisa Nakamoto’s been found.”

  “She all right?” He leaned over, stretching beside her, muscled arms surprisingly limber.

  “No. She’s been murdered.”

  He stood up. A darkness passed over his face, twisted his mouth. He covered his face for a second with his hands, blew out a breath.

  “I can’t believe it. What happened?”

  “We found her body yesterday. The rain had uncovered it. Got a call late yesterday—a positive ID on her.”

  “Oh my God. Shit like this just doesn’t happen on Kauai.”

  “You’d be surprised at what happens on Kauai, sheltered boy. Lisa was into something major with that meth lab. It’s priority one to find Darrell Hines, the guy who you told me got her into it. The detectives on her case are interviewing all her friends and family, so I was wondering if you had any more information we could follow up on.”

  “I may have a lead for you. Are you working her case?”

  “No. I’m on another one that’s taking a lot of my time. But I’ll be able to get any intel you give straight to the team who’s on it. We’re also concerned about the rest of the cleaning crew. They must be in hiding.”

  “I had a bad feeling about Lisa.” Alika turned and they headed toward the showers, Lei clipping the leash on to Keiki’s collar. “I knew she was into something over her head. I wonder if she tried to turn them in and they killed her.”

  “Maybe.” Lei put Keiki under the shower. She rinsed the dog down while Alika showered under the other rusty metal spout. She handed him the leash as she got under the cold stream of water.

  Done rinsing, she hung her head down and shook it, stood back up. Her cropped hair was almost dry.

  “There—good to go. I think I’m getting to like having a buzz. So what was that lead you had for me?” She took Keiki’s leash and headed for her truck.

  “I think my grandmother knows Darrell Hines’s mother,” he said, following. “I met the lady at my grandma’s. She might know where he is.”

  “Pretty good tip. I’ll call that in right away.”

  “Wish I could do more. Lisa—I can’t believe she’s gone. She didn’t deserve that.”

  “Nobody does.” Lei lowered the tailgate for Keiki to jump in and grabbed a towel out of the back. “I’ll call Esther right away and check this out. I have something else for her to look into anyway.”

  Alika reached over to rub her head. “I’m getting used to this. Okay, I’ll call you later.”

  Lei could tell he wanted to kiss her again, but she turned away, hopping into her truck and turning the key. She headed back to the house, thumbing open her cell phone and calling Esther, who said she could fit her in later that morning. She then called Fury to tell him she was following up on a lead related to Darrell Hines.

  She was relieved when he didn’t pick up—he couldn’t scoop the lead away from her to follow it up himself. Lei squelched a niggle of guilt. Yeah, Lisa Nakamoto wasn’t her case, but he’d shut her and Jenkins out so thoroughly they didn’t have any further leads on the robberies. So fair was fair.

  She would also take the three stones out for Esther to “feel.” Who knew what the psychic kahu would be able to tell her by handling them.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Come see my teaching room.” Esther gestured for Lei to follow her. They went through the living room and down a set of interior stairs to a small chamber. High louvered windows let light in. The floor was lined with lauhala matting, and the walls covered in tapa cloth decorated with traditional patterns. One wall was covered entirely by
Hawaiian musical instruments: several ukulele (miniature guitars) in various sizes, ipu (gourds) used for percussion, slotted bamboo pu`ili sticks, poi balls, various sizes and shapes of drums, and feathered uli`uli` rattles.

  Esther went to a round fat cushion at the end of the room and sat cross-legged, her muumuu settling in graceful folds around her. She seemed in no hurry, gazing at Lei with impassive eyes. Lei could see the breadth of her calm forehead and boldly marked brows in Alika’s features. Once again Esther’s hair was braided into a crown around her head; this time a rose folded out of palm frond decorated the coronet.

  Lei took out the ziplock bag with the three stones Jenkins had brought her from Jay Bennett’s remaining possessions.

  “These are from the most recent disappearance site.” She poured the stones into the older woman’s seamed brown hand.

  Esther set her hands palm over palm, the stones between them, in her lap. Lei sat back on her heels as the older woman’s eyes fluttered shut.

  “We don’t use stones like these in our ceremonies.” Esther’s voice rang like a cello. “These stones are not from here.”

  “I know that much. We think they’re from all over the world, being used to enhance some quality of a ceremony.” Belatedly she realized Esther wasn’t listening—her ear was tuned to something different.

  “This is a dark place.” Esther’s eyes were still closed. “There are four torches.”

  Lei bit down on her lip to keep from asking the questions that bubbled up.

  “It’s a bad place. Blood all around. Death.” Esther dropped the stones out of her hand onto the lauhala mat as if she didn’t want to touch them another moment. Lei leaned forward and scooped them back into the bag.

  “What did you see?”

  “It’s not a seeing; it’s a knowing. I know those stones are soaked in blood.”

  “There wasn’t any trace on them. I checked early on.”

  “Metaphorically. Perhaps.”

  “Okay.” Lei frowned. Esther was being enigmatic again, and now she felt the telltale buzzing in her ears that signaled an episode of her own. Blood. Death. The words vibrated in that dark place in her mind.

  “A cave, maybe?” Lei struggled to focus.

  “Maybe. It’s still, dark with just the torches, and the blood…” Esther’s voice trailed off.

  Lei reached over to pinch herself as her vision narrowed, the walls closing in as her dissociation symptoms returned full force. Her eyes fluttered shut as she sucked a relaxation breath in through her nose, out through her mouth, digging her nails into her arm in desperation to stay present.

  It didn’t work.

  The next thing she knew she was lying on her back on the matting. She heard a low pule, or prayer, and her feet were being massaged. Wonderfully, marvelously, powerfully massaged. She lifted her head, looking down her body. Esther’s face broke into a luminous smile. Her strong hands continued to rub and knead Lei’s feet. The smell of coconut oil filled the room.

  “You had me worried, girl.”

  “That hasn’t happened to me in…ages.” Lei sat up. “I get triggered sometimes and I—check out.”

  “Where do you go?”

  “I don’t know. I never remember.”

  “Do you want to remember?”

  “I don’t think so. I think the disappearing is to…escape something.”

  “Maybe your soul is wandering.”

  Lei felt the hairs rise on her arms. She pulled her foot out of the older woman’s hands, tucked it beneath her, rubbed her arms briskly.

  “I don’t believe in that kind of thing. My shrink says it’s dissociation related to trauma. I was molested when I was a little girl.”

  “Same thing,” Esther said imperturbably. “Your soul leaves the body. It goes where it feels safe. It comes back when danger is over.”

  “Only—that might have made sense when I was a child being sexually abused. It doesn’t work for me now. Here I am, in the middle of an investigation, in the middle of your teaching room—having one of these episodes.”

  “Nothing is an accident. Everything happens the way it wants to.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “What does it mean to you?”

  “I don’t know.” The irritation she used to struggle with last year during her therapy, angry rebuttals to Dr. Wilson, didn’t seem to happen with the mysterious Esther. Not that Esther was her therapist or anything.

  “I can help you heal, though,” Esther said, as if Lei had spoken aloud. “Maybe there is something different you can do with these ‘episodes,’ as you call them. Maybe they serve a purpose. If you stop fighting them, they might yield their message.”

  “Speaking of message.” Lei stood up. “I have a lead to follow up on. Do you have any contact info for Darrell Hines’s mother?”

  “We’ll discuss these episodes again; don’t think I’ve forgotten. I’ll be praying about them. And yes, I know Celia Hines. Why do you want to speak to her?”

  “Another case, not the one we’re working on.” On impulse, Lei asked, “Do you know Lisa Nakamoto, by any chance?”

  “I knew her mother much better, Ann Nakamoto,” Esther said. She went to a corner of the room, where a screen shielded a little bamboo desk. She flipped through an old-fashioned Rolodex and jotted down Celia Hines’s number on a blank card. “Why do you ask?”

  “I’m sorry if you knew her, but—Lisa’s been murdered.”

  “Oh no.” Esther’s hand dropped to her side, the card fluttering out of her fingers as her chocolate-brown eyes grew wide. “Lisa was a friend of Alika’s when they were growing up and Ann was a friend of my daughter’s—Lehua will be devastated. She was so upset when Ann died of cancer.”

  “I’ll let you break the news, then.” Lei cringed at telling kind, regal Lehua Wolcott something devastating. She wondered briefly about the muffled quality of Alika’s response to the news of a childhood friend’s murder—almost as if he’d been expecting it. Well, he had been worried about Lisa.

  “I have to call Lehua.” Esther headed for the old-fashioned dial phone on the desk. “You can let yourself out. And keep that necklace on.”

  Lei reached down and picked up the fallen card, touching the Ni`ihau shell choker at her throat. She hadn’t taken it off, even to sleep.

  “I will. Thanks.”

  Esther was already dialing, and said over her shoulder, “Come back next week. Same day, same time. And call me if you need to.”

  Maybe she was going to therapy, Lei thought as she ascended the stairs. Except when did therapy involve psychic stone readings, prayer, and foot rubs?

  Only on Kaua`i, where the usual rules didn’t seem to apply.

  Lei called Stevens as she carried a glass of wine out to her back porch that evening. She needed the wine after passing on all the information she had on Darrell Hines to Fury—as usual he hadn’t appreciated her initiative.

  “Esther seems to be psychic. She held the stones, says there’s a dark place with four torches and blood all around. Maybe a cave.”

  “I’m not that interested in psychic mumbo jumbo. Anything solid on the cultural angle?”

  “She said the stones aren’t used in any Hawaiian ceremony. So whatever he’s doing is some other religious practice—or the stones mean something else entirely.”

  “Seems like a dead end for now. The UH guy basically confirmed what you’re saying. The stones are nonnative to Hawaii, and not used in any cultural rituals he’s ever heard of.” Stevens blew out a breath. “I just got done interviewing Shellie Samson. She walked out yesterday, refused to believe me. So today we had to show her fingerprints and a picture of the hand.”

  “What fun.” Lei pictured the social worker’s shock on hearing her husband was a victim of foul play.

  “Poor lady. She’d been angry at him so long, it took some convincing that he was murdered.”

  “That hand is the first body part we’ve found confirming any of the missing were murd
ered. I’d give anything to find the site where it was buried; I bet that would tell us a lot.”

  “You and me both. Speaking of, the captain is calling in the FBI now that we have confirmation of murder. He says the numbers are just too big for us to handle with our resources—since Flea and Fury are already pulled onto the Nakamoto case.”

  Lei’s stomach dropped at the mention of the FBI. She took a big swig of wine to settle it, frowning at the peaceful river.

  “I’m just getting started on my undercover thing! Dammit. I’m not surprised, but—what’s that going to mean for our investigation?”

  “Don’t know. He’s been making the calls today and more will be revealed. In the meantime, we know Samson’s hand came from Hanalei Valley within the path of the flood. I’ve been working on a plan to take the guys and some cadaver dogs and do some major hiking.”

  “Better wear hip boots and serious mosquito gear.” Lei looked out at the tangled masses of hau bush and tall grass growing along the river. “When’s this going down?”

  “Don’t know yet. Having trouble getting the K-9 unit. They’re doing a drug sweep with the dogs at the airport for the next few days.”

  “Talk to the captain. He’ll get the dogs pulled for you.”

  “On the agenda for tomorrow. So how was your start at the health food store, Sweets?” His voice was lighter, teasing. Lei leaned her elbow on a knee, rubbing her short hair and enjoying its soft, springy texture.

  “It’s actually hard work. I’m busing tables and waiting on people in the café area. Nothing much interesting on my second day either.” Lei traced the “om” symbol on her wrist with a finger, the phone caught between her shoulder and ear.

  “It’ll be interesting to see what the FBI think of the cult angle as a lead, what they make of your undercover operation. I’ll probably use J-Boy on the cadaver hunt since you’ll be busy waiting tables for the health food store.”

  “I’m happy to miss the hunt. I live right on the river, so I know firsthand how hard you’re going to have to work. So how are you and Fury getting along?”