Big Island Blues

by Terry Ambrose

  Sitting on your ass behind the counter? “Sure,” I said. “But, how’d you get him to work on the door? It’s a long ways from talk to getting kids to do something these days, yah? No?”

  He shrugged. “Dunno. Guess that’s what interested him. He likes computers. Anything techie, you know? Back in the day, it was cars. These days, you gotta go with the computers. That’s what they’re into.” Sam straightened a bit and smiled. “He offered to set up a website for us. Got us cheap hosting and all that. I don’t understand that stuff, but he’s a whiz.”

  “He probably even set you up on Facebook, huh?”

  “Facebook, Twit—whatever. All of it. He takes care of it. Says he can manage it all from his laptop. He does all that fancy stuff.”

  “So he’s got his own business?” I tried to sound interested in the services Donny could offer. “He’d do a website for someone else?”

  Sam settled back in his chair and spread his hands wide, suddenly relaxing. “It’s strange. He said he was talking to other businesses, but nobody else I know is using him. Whatever, he walked in, it worked out. We talk quite a bit now.”

  “I run an apartment complex. I wonder how much he’d charge to do all that for me. You pay him in cash?”

  Just then, the rooster alarm went off and Sam straightened up. Any rapport we’d had disappeared with the first crow. I turned to see who had caused the setback. It was my ride. I smiled at the big guy as he approached. “This is my friend, Alexander.”

  The two men exchanged a head bob, but I couldn’t help notice how closely Alexander watched Sam. A moment later, Alexander raised his hand and pointed. “I remember you! You was in that picture with my sister. That’s been a good twenty years. You and another guy—what was his name?”

  “You got me mixed up with someone else, brah,” said Sam. “I only been on island for maybe ten years. Came from LA.”

  I could tell that Sam was hiding something by the way he’d dodged Alexander’s accusation. “I left LA about eight years ago. Tough place.”

  “Lucky I found this job. I was about ready to go back,” said Sam.

  Alexander shook his head. “Nah, I remember.”

  Sam stiffened and I could tell he was shutting down completely. I had to stop Alexander’s inquisition before this went completely wrong. “You smoking that pakalolo again, buddy? Sam said he’s only been here ten years.” I turned my back to Sam and crossed my eyes right in front of Alexander’s face.

  He frowned, but must have gotten the message. “Maybe you right, McKenna. I don’t remember so much about high school. I coulda got it wrong.”

  The chances of getting anything else out of Sam at this point were slim at best. The prudent move was to change the subject, then get out of the store. I glanced down at the tee I held in my hands. It was the first time I’d really looked at the shirt. It had “Hot Stuff” stenciled across the front in a bright pink curly script. My heart sank. Oh shit, I was determined to make a fool of myself. I held up the tee for Alexander to see. “You think Harris will like it?”

  My face felt like someone had glued my cheeks into a permanent clown smile.

  Alexander snickered. He crossed his arms and licked his lips, then massaged his chin and neck with his left hand. “She is hot stuff, McKenna.”

  Don’t tell me he was actually considering saying yes. Please, say no. Please!

  He took the shirt from my hands and held it at arm’s length. He pursed his lips and said, “At your age, though, I don’t know you wanna have her advertising. You know what I mean?”

  “Thank you,” I mouthed. I turned to Sam. “I think I’m going to have to wait. Sorry.”

  Hot blood rushed to Sam’s face. His voice was venomous as he spat out his words. “You—need—to—leave.”

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  “You two are screwing with me. Did he send you?”

  “Let’s go, McKenna.” Alexander placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “Did who send us?” I asked.

  “Get out!”

  Alexander pulled me toward the door. Over my shoulder, I saw Sam standing at the counter, his face crimson with anger. Outside, Alexander asked, “What the hell you did to him?”

  “Where’s your car?”

  He pointed toward Sarona Rd., which was just a block away. “Somebody’s ruined his life, that’s for sure.”

  We turned left at Sarona. Alexander appeared lost in thought as we made our way along the narrow street. It pissed me off how close I’d been to getting something on Donny, aka Blueslover, only to lose the momentum when Alexander walked in. I was, however, curious about why Alexander thought he recognized Sam Burroughs. The car was parked halfway across the lot to take advantage of a spot in the shade. When we were both in the car with the windows rolled down, I asked. “So you know this Sam Burroughs from somewhere? Why did you say you recognized him?”

  Alexander faced me, draping his arm over the back of the seat. “Burroughs?” he asked, then stared absently at the dashboard while nodding to himself. “I shoulda seen all this sooner. McKenna. I kinda suspect what this all about.”

  “You’d gotta do mo’ bettah than that,” I said. My smile was lost on Alexander’s dark mood. I’d never seen him like this. “Does this in any way tie in to why Andi’s missing?”

  He shrugged. “I ain’t so sure about that. Maybe. I do know where I seen that Burroughs guy before. It has been twenty years.”

  “That’s a long time to remember a face. Besides, he said he came here ten years ago. I think he’d know when he moved to the Big Island.”

  Alexander balled his fist, then took a deep breath. “He lied, brah.”

  “What makes you so certain?”

  “It was a big moment. Benni met some haole in Honolulu and they was gonna get a new start on the Big Island. She was pretty headstrong back then.”

  “Back then?” I paused. “Sorry, but it seems like that hasn’t changed much.”

  Alexander dismissed my comment with a wave of his hand. “That ain’t the point. That Burroughs guy, he was here in ’91. The year Benni moved here.”

  “Tell me he’s not the guy she came here with.”

  “Nah. Nothin’ that simple. He was friends with the haole, or they worked together. That’s all I remember..” Alexander’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “That haole’s lucky I don’t remember his name.”

  “That’s not like you. Making threats, I mean.”

  “I don’t like people messing with my sister.”

  Despite the 80 degree day, I could sense a chill in Alexander. This was something he’d hidden—or buried—long ago. “You’d do anything for her, wouldn’t you?”

  Alexander covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t. I shoulda—come over here and found the haole is what I shoulda done.”

  “So Benni and her boyfriend had a falling out and he left after they got here? Is that what happened?” I knew so little about Benni’s past. Why she’d moved here from Honolulu made little sense. Why she’d stayed away from her family, even less.

  “It’s about right, but something ain’t right with the timing. She married Warren a few months before Andi was born.”

  “A few months? Okay, she was young. Headstrong. Girls get pregnant before they get married. It happens a lot. Is that why she stayed here? She couldn’t go back because she got pregnant too soon?”

  “Our parents wouldn’t let us talk about Benni after she ran off. It wasn’t til I got out on my own that she told me she was married and had a kid.”

  I groaned. We’d come full circle back to Benni’s secrets. “So only your sister knows the truth about what happened in those days?”

  Alexander shook his head. “I think Burroughs knows something, too.”

  “How? Why? I don’t even know why you recognize him.”

  “You can’t tell her you know. I didn’t even remember it. Not until I saw him.”

  “It’s hard for me to make a pr
omise about something I don’t understand.”

  Alexander nodded at me, took a deep breath, and started the car. “Then you gotta go home. I can’t take no chances on you sayin’ something about this.”

  “Wait!” I put a hand on his arm. Shit. I couldn’t walk away now. “Okay. I promise. But there’s one caveat. If Andi’s life is in danger, I do what I think is right.”

  After a moment, Alexander said, “Then I got one more question. What if it might send my sister to prison for murder?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Murder? Where the hell does that come from?” I watched Alexander’s face for a sign. Anything. A smile. A frown. This had to be some sort of weird island humor I’d never heard of. But, all I saw was concern. He gazed out the windshield—so solemn. And determined. I said, “Alexander, you’d better tell me everything.”

  “This all happened back before Andi was born. I didn’t find out nothing till years later when Grandma Alice showed me a newspaper picture of Benni and two guys here on the Big Island. Mom and Dad wasn’t gonna even acknowledge Benni ever again. My dad’s that way, brah. Very old fashioned. He said she brought disgrace to the family.”

  For some reason, I’d been holding my breath. Lightheadedness overwhelmed me and I sucked in huge gulps of air. “Grandma Alice again? Can we call her and get copies of the clippings?”

  “She died a couple of years ago.”

  Another of Alexander’s dead relatives causing trouble. This one, unlike Kimu, had done her part while she was alive. “Then tell me what you remember.”

  “That’s what I was saying back in the store. Burroughs was the one in that picture.”

  “What’s all this about a murder? I need the whole story, not just bits and pieces.”

  Alexander shrugged. “What do you wanna know?”

  “Who got killed?”

  “All I got was rumors, McKenna. Nobody told me nothing.”

  “What about Grandma Alice? Didn’t she tell you something when she showed you the picture?”

  “I was just a kid, McKenna. My sister was eighteen. She’d just run away from home. Grandma Alice wouldn’t say no more.”

  “You never got curious? I mean, later on?”

  “Sure. But, by then it was this big family secret. Even when Benni and me talked, she didn’t wanna stir up the past. She kept saying it could hurt Andi.”

  Okay, that could make sense, I thought. In the right hands, family secrets were powerful weapons. Family pride, even more so. The poor guy had been struggling with going into the world on his own even as the people he trusted most swept his older sister’s sins under the carpet. I asked, “So there were never any charges?”

  “Like I said, rumors was all I got.”

  “What did they say?”

  “I don’t remember. There was all sorts of different stories. Some was saying a haole got killed, others was saying it never happened. One version was the guy came after Benni when the bar closed. I asked Benni about that once and she said he attacked her on her way home, but she ran away. There wasn’t no DNA back then. No witnesses either. Burroughs might’ve been the bartender.”

  Even with the windows down and the car parked in the shade, the inside air felt suddenly oppressive, heavy with closeness that comes from too much trapped and overheated humidity and too many unanswered questions. I got out to gain some clarity. The faint aroma of Mexican food coming from one of the nearby restaurants enveloped me. My mouth was dry with the thought of Benni as a suspect in a cold case murder. I couldn’t believe it.

  “McKenna?”

  I jumped, realizing how disconnected I’d been for those few moments. Alexander stood before me, his arms folded. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Neither did I. But, my friend had done so much for me over the years that I couldn’t let him down when it was my turn for payback. “Well.” I cleared my throat. “We can work through this, I just need more facts. For instance, how did Benni get a job in a bar when she was only eighteen?”

  “I got no idea, brah.”

  I suspected that was the answer Alexander would give for all of my questions. “There’s only one person who can shed light on this, your sister. I can’t believe that even if she thought she might go to jail, she’d save herself at Andi’s expense. She must think Andi is safe.” I paused to consider a new possibility. “What if Benni’s being blackmailed?”

  “Who would want to blackmail my sister? She ain’t got no money.”

  “Turkey burgers,” I muttered.

  Alexander peered at me. “What?”

  “Last night, she said that was why we were having turkey burgers. Remember? She said, ‘We don’t have a lot.’ Who’s ‘we’, Alexander? Does she mean her and Andi? Or someone else? We have to find out who’s doing what to your sister. That’s what we need to zero in on.”

  All I got was a blank stare. “How you gonna do that?” he asked. “She won’t talk.”

  “Maybe Crazy Warren will.”

  “Warren?” Alexander gaped at me. “He was gonna tear you apart yesterday.”

  “And he sold me a cup of coffee this morning. We had a nice chat.”

  “About the weather, I bet.”

  “Not at all. He asked me what I wanted, I told him a small coffee. He told me it was a buck twenty-five.”

  Alexander gave me a mocking smile. “You two gonna be getting married next.”

  It wasn’t much, but my reasoning was simple. “If Warren has any memory left, he might know something about what’s going on here. Maybe he’s still got feelings for her.”

  “I don’t think he got the same kinda feelings you got in mind, yah? They divorced.”

  I spotted Sam Burroughs limping toward us. He was about a block away and looking at the ground as he walked. “Quick! In the car. Here comes Burroughs.”

  We watched as he went to an old open Jeep with no doors. He still hadn’t looked our direction.

  “Change of plans,” I said. “Let’s follow him.”

  Burroughs pulled out of the lot and onto Sarona Rd.

  “What do you expect to get from him?” Alexander started the car; the air conditioning blasted us with a wave of hot, steamy air.

  “I’m hoping he’s headed home. I want to know where he lives.”

  We nearly lost Burroughs twice during the trip, but caught up just as he parked in front of a shabby apartment building painted varying shades of rusty red and dirty blue. A huge banyan tree shaded the parking area. We couldn’t be more than a half mile from the surf shop and on a nice day like today it would have been easier to walk. So, why would Burroughs drive? Maybe the lady in the surf shop was right. Was he in that much pain? Had he been in a fight? Taken a fall?

  Alexander drove past the building. It needed maintenance badly. The paint peeled worse than a three-day-old sunburn and surface roots from the banyan tree spiderwebbed their way across the parking area. We found a spot on the opposite side of the street with an easy view of the front—as long as we flopped one arm over the seat and twisted like a pretzel. After about ten minutes of this, it would take me a day to un-pretzel myself. However, I was able to watch long enough to see Burroughs enter one of the units without a key.

  I gave up the twisted position and faced forward. “You think this guy is still tending bar?”

  “Maybe. That surf shop job can’t pay much.”

  “Yah, especially if he’s only working part-time. He said he paid Donny, but didn’t say with what. A screwed up kid like that, what would they use for barter? And why would he pay him personally?”

  “Got me.” Alexander shifted position so he faced forward. “You want me to turn the car around so we can watch easier?”

  “I’m not sure there’s much to see. What’s he gonna do? Have lunch? Head back to work?”

  “He might only be here for a few minutes.” Alexander sat rigid, obviously uncomfortable with this spying thing.

  I looked over my shoulder again. “Why would Burroughs lie about
how long he’s been here? He must know something’s up.” I’m not so hot in the swagger department, but I threw in a my best gangster imitation. “We need to crack him like a walnut.”

  Alexander stared at me with both eyebrows raised. He shook his head. “There you go, acting all pupule again.”

  “I’m not crazy!”

  “You sound that way to me. Like maybe you spent too much time in the sun this morning, yah?”

  “Whatever. Fine, you want all serious, how’s this? The idea of going to that guy’s door and getting right in his face scares the crap out of me and the only way I can deal with it is to make wisecracks. Better?”

  It killed me that I wasn’t helping my friend. How could I let him—and Benni—down at a time like this? I opened the door without a second thought and marched toward the apartment.

  “McKenna! Where you goin’?” Alexander stood in the street next to the car.

  “I owe you, Alexander. It’s time I pay up. Mr. Burroughs and I are going to have a chat. If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, call the cops. Unless, of course, you see me laying on my ass in the street. Then I’d appreciate it if you’d call them sooner.”

  “Thanks, brah, but I can’t let you go in there alone. Anything happens to you and Kira will never forgive me.”

  I shook my head. “Nice try, but your wife hates me.”

  “You just way too easy, brah. She’s only jerking your chain ‘cause you make it easy and she likes you.” He closed the car door. “C’mon, we’ll do it together. That way, Kira gonna take sympathy on me if I get hurt protecting you.”

  When we got to the front door, we heard voices inside. The front window was open, but the blinds were angled up, making it impossible to see anything other than the ceiling. However, even though the blinds could stop us from looking inside, they couldn’t stop the sound. I recognized Sam’s deep voice. It almost sounded like he was talking about my visit to the surf shop. “I’m telling you this guy was trying to trick me into saying something. He’s too damn persistent. He’s going to start connecting dots pretty soon.”