Distant Echoes

by Colleen Coble

  “I don’t get why the helicopter cared that we showed up unless whatever they were doing was illegal,” Kaia said as she approached him. “There’s nothing out here but sand.”

  Jesse nodded toward the mountains. “Waianae Range has the munitions storage in the caves up there. I sent some men up to check it out. I’m wondering if the helicopter planted the explosives to carry out their plan.”

  Kaia winced. “They’re not wasting any time. Maybe they were just scouting it out.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. It’s possible. Maybe I should go take a look myself.”

  She clutched his arm. “I wish you wouldn’t. What if they managed to plant explosives and they went off while you were up there?”

  Did she care if he got hurt? The thought left him smiling. There was something developing between them, and neither of them wanted to talk about it. Jesse was afraid to look at it too closely. He didn’t want to care about another woman. What if he failed again?

  He pulled his arm free of her grip and turned away. “I’ll be fine. I’d better check it out.”

  “I’ll go with you then.”

  He stopped. “No, I don’t want you up there. You’ll be safer here.”

  “So would you.” She stuck out her jaw.

  He nearly laughed at the pugnacious expression on her face but knew it would make her madder. “You’re not military anyway. This is my job, Kaia.”

  “We were nearly shot last night. This is getting scary.” She clasped her arms around herself as if the warm wind were thirty degrees cooler than the balmy eighty degrees.

  “I know. And I need to make sure the next missile test is secure.”

  “When is that?”

  “Next week. Thursday.” He didn’t want to tell her how uneasy he was about that test. He’d been thinking about the Morse code from last night. Hammer fall. What if it had something to do with the missile test? Lawton still believed the problem with the first test had been a malfunction of the computer and that everything was fixed now.

  But what if it wasn’t?

  Faye cracked eggs for omelets into a bowl and got out the juice. Curtis entered the kitchen, kissed her, then sat at the kitchen table. She whipped the eggs with vigor and didn’t look at him.

  “Am I in trouble?” he asked. “You’re beating those eggs like they have personally offended you.”

  Tears flooded her eyes. “I’m going to make a hopeless grandmother. I’m tired and cranky and want to go back to bed. I’m feeling my age.”

  He stood and put his arms around her. “You’re jumping the gun a little. The kids aren’t even married yet. Besides, it’s different when the children are your own. Heidi is sweet, but she’s not your own flesh and blood.”

  Faye leaned against his chest. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long week.”

  “What time is Jesse coming?”

  “He called a little while ago and said he’d be here around ten when he finishes an errand. I’m so tired, Curtis.” She sighed and laid her cheek over his heart. Its steady beat calmed her nerves.

  “You could tell him to find someone else.”

  She pulled away and hurried to flip the omelet. “No, I can’t do that, and you know it. Besides, Heidi needs me too.”

  “We could figure out another way to keep you and Kaia connected. If nothing else, I could pull her back to the office. Maybe that would be best anyway.”

  Faye shook her head. “No, I’m just overreacting. I had a nice talk with her yesterday.”

  “Did you ask any questions?”

  “No. The time didn’t seem right. I’m not sure it ever will be. Maybe you’ll have to do it.”

  “I think you can handle it better than I could.” Curtis sat back down at the table, and she put his breakfast in front of him.

  “I don’t know if I can talk to her or not. Maybe I should talk to one of the boys.”

  “I thought you wanted to start with Kaia.”

  “I did. Now I just don’t know.” Faye pulled out her chair and sat at the table. The omelet looked unappetizing, and she picked at it. She wished she could go to her bedroom, shut the door, get out her novel, and forget what was happening in her world.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Faye. We agreed this was the best way to handle it. You can’t give up before we’ve even started.”

  “I want to give up,” she said. “I want to get on the plane and fly away from here. This is too hard.”

  Curtis put down his fork. “You have to stop running someday. It’s time to face up to what you’ve done.”

  “I’m not sure I can.” The old, familiar panic clawed at her chest. She couldn’t handle this. It was too much. Though Curtis didn’t know it, she had a voucher for an airline ticket to Chicago in her dresser. The safety net it gave her had calmed her more than once. Maybe it was time to use it.

  But no. She couldn’t leave Curtis. She loved him. He would be so hurt and disappointed in her. Even if the future brought pain, she needed to see this through. She was too old to keep running. Faye had thought she’d grown up, but she was beginning to see the old habits were harder to kill than she’d realized.

  She must have some kind of defect that made her hate confrontation and trouble. Maybe she would never overcome it. And if she didn’t, what would she do with her life? Where would she go? She wouldn’t be able to stay here and face all her failures. Was there ever a woman with more regrets than she carried?

  Jesse parked at an overlook with the panorama of Waimea Canyon spread out before them. “You sure this is the place?” he asked Kaia.

  From here Kaia could see the reds and greens of the canyon that nearly took her breath away. Dubbed “the Grand Canyon of the Pacific” by Mark Twain, the smaller canyon was no less spectacular than its larger namesake. The colors were deep and rich and spoke to her soul.

  Kaia nodded. “Mano gave me directions.”

  “How’d you weasel them out of him?”

  “I told him the truth that I wanted to talk to Jonah Kapolei’s family. He tried to talk me out of it, but he knew I could find out in town if I asked.”

  “Did he ask to come with you?”

  She nodded. “I told him you’d be along to protect me.” She turned in her seat and smiled at him. It felt good to be here with him. When had she begun to drop her defenses? She needed to be careful. He was not the type of man she’d always thought of marrying. He was older and not Hawaiian.

  “We’d better get moving. I need to pick up Heidi at ten. And you look beat.”

  “I am,” she admitted. “I’m hitting the bed as soon as I get home.”

  “Want to go on a picnic with me and Heidi after church tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” she said before she thought. What was she thinking? She’d just decided she needed to be more careful. She got out of the Jeep and wished she could find a way to bow out gracefully.

  “I thought we’d go to Po’ipu and watch for monk seals. Heidi loves them.”

  “Sounds fun. Where have you been going to church?”

  “Nowhere yet. I haven’t had a chance to look for one, but I thought I’d figure out where to go.”

  “I haven’t been in ages,” she said. “I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about it. You could come with me and my grandfather,” she offered. She was getting herself in deeper and deeper. Maybe he’d refuse.

  “I’d love to. Want me to pick you up?”

  “Okay.” She slammed her door and headed toward the path that led down the hillside.

  The house they approached looked as though it had been perched on the ledge since King Kamehameha had ruled the island. Wood weathered to silvery gray covered the small home, and a stone porch added substance to the structure. Wild orchids, plume-ria, and ginger grew in profusion along the brick path to the front door. The trade winds brought the sweet scent to Kaia’s nose.

  “Let me start us off,” Kaia whispered as they got to the door. With Jesse in a uniform, he was liable to choke off any
information the woman might give.

  He nodded and let her go in front. From inside she could hear the strains of a ukulele. Kaia rapped on the door. There was no answer at first, then the sound of footsteps echoed on hardwood floors.

  The woman who opened the door was about Kaia’s height. Her Hawaiian features were framed by black hair cut into a short bob. She wore khaki shorts and an orange top. Maybe the outfit would have been attractive on a twenty-year-old, but it made her forty-something skin look sallow. Kaia guessed she was at least five years older than her husband had been.

  “Mrs. Kapolei?” Kaia held out her hand. “I’m Kaia Oana and this is Lieutenant Commander Jesse Matthews. We’d like to ask you a few questions about Jonah, but first I’d like to say I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  The woman blinked rapidly and bit her lip. “Mahalo. Who are you? I already told the other military guys and the police everything I know.”

  “We’re also investigating for the base,” Jesse said. “Do you have any idea why he was diving by himself? Did he usually dive with a partner?”

  “I’d begged him not to go out alone, but he always laughed at me. He thought he was invincible.” Mrs. Kapolei rubbed her forehead.

  “Did he always dive with a dart gun?” Jesse put in.

  Kaia shot him a look. He wasn’t paying any attention to what she’d told him, and Kaia could see the woman bristling.

  The woman took a step back. “I know the military is trying to pin that dart gun on Jonah, but I’ve never seen him with anything like that. I doubt he would have known how to use one.”

  “So you think he was murdered and didn’t shoot himself by accident?” Kaia asked, her voice gentle.

  “Of course he was murdered! And I can tell you who the culprit is, though no one will listen.” Mrs. Kapolei stepped onto the porch and shook her finger in Kaia’s face. “It’s that no-good Nahele Aki. He hated Jonah.”

  “I thought your husband was a member of Pele Hawai´i,” Kaia said.

  “He was. But he’s been trying to get Nahele out of power for months. Aki is taking the organization in a radical direction.” Her eyes flooded with tears. “And Nahele couldn’t stand the competition, so he got rid of my husband and made it look like he was involved in something suspicious.”

  “Did you tell the military this?” Kaia asked.

  Mrs. Kapolei nodded. “But I could tell they didn’t believe a word of it.” She rubbed the back of her hand over her eyes. “As far as they were concerned, he’d been tried and found guilty.”

  Kaia opened her purse and pulled out a tissue. She pressed it into the other woman’s hand.

  Mrs. Kapolei blew her nose. “Mahalo. Are you going to do something about Nahele?”

  The hope in her eyes rattled Kaia. This was beyond her reach. “We’ll do what we can,” she promised.

  The light in Mrs. Kapolei’s eyes dimmed. “In other words, no.”

  “We’ll follow what leads we can find,” Kaia told her. “Is there anything else you can tell us? Did Jonah have a best friend who might be able to help us?”

  The woman’s jaw hardened, and her dark eyes closed to mere slits. “You might ask his girlfriend. I doubt she’ll talk to you, but you can try.” Mrs. Kapolei opened the screen door and stepped back into the house. “She works at the Waimea Brewing Company.”

  Kaia knew the pub. She exchanged a quick glance with Jesse. “What’s her name?”

  “Lindy Martin. She lives in a gray house next to the school.”

  The door shut, and Jesse took Kaia’s elbow and guided her back to the path. “That was informative. You think she knows what she’s talking about?”

  “I don’t know. She knew about the girlfriend though, so she’s no dummy.”

  Jesse looked at his watch. “I’ve got forty-five minutes before I need to pick up Heidi. You game to see what this Lindy Martin has to say?”

  “Sure.”

  They reached the road, and Kaia followed him to the Jeep. She was quiet as they drove back down the winding road to town.

  “You doing okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. Just tired. I’ve fallen from a tree, twisted my ankle, been grabbed, shot at, and endured practically no sleep for the past few days.” She shifted in the seat and turned to face him. “To tell you the truth, I’m beginning to wonder if this is something I need to back away from. If I get killed, Nani will be at the mercy of Seaworthy Labs and likely be made to perform in a sea park. I can’t let that happen. My research doesn’t have a chance to move forward with problems like these.”

  “Can you just hang in there with me until the missile test is complete?”

  She was silent then leaned her head back against the rest. She didn’t know when she’d been so tired. Her life was racing from one crisis to the next, and she wanted the stress to end. “Okay, but if anything happens to me, you’re to take care of Nani. Agreed?”

  Jesse chuckled. “Agreed. But I won’t let anything happen to you.” He slowed as they entered the town.

  “That must be the house.” Kaia pointed to a gray house next to the school.

  The small structure had peeling paint and a broken windowpane in the door. A flock of chickens ran from under the Jeep’s tires when Jesse pulled into the rutted driveway. They got out and went to the door. Splinters had been gouged from the wood, and the red paint had faded to pink.

  Jesse pounded on the metal screen door that didn’t fit securely into the frame. Almost immediately, a young woman in her twenties answered. She had red hair of a shade Kaia had never seen in nature. A cigarette hung from her crimson mouth.

  She looked blearily at them through the door. “If you’re selling something, I’m not interested.”

  “We’d like to ask you some questions about Jonah Kapolei,” Kaia said. She smiled, but the young woman wasn’t moved by the warmth. “We won’t take more than a few minutes.”

  Lindy’s manner thawed only slightly, and she stepped out onto the porch. “I’m about to go to bed.”

  “We wondered if you knew of any problems Jonah might have had with Pele Hawai´i.” Jesse took off his hat and rubbed his forehead.

  “The military has already been around asking their questions. Why do you care?” Her gaze lingered on Jesse’s ribbons. “You’re a little higher rank. The big boys are getting involved, huh?” She blew a ring of smoke in his face.

  “You have a chance to help your country out by just telling us what you know.”

  She gave a bitter laugh. “What’s my country done for me lately?”

  Kaia had a feeling she was enjoying putting them off. “What was Jonah’s relationship with Nahele Aki?”

  “I suppose you won’t leave until I answer your stupid questions.” She dropped the cigarette to the porch and ground it under a foot clad in a pink fuzzy slipper. “He hated that Aki guy. They had a big fight a couple of days before Jonah died. But why the questions? Didn’t he shoot himself with a dart gun accidentally?”

  Jesse shrugged. “That’s what we’re trying to find out. Did he have a diving buddy?”

  “Sometimes. Some guy from the group. I can’t remember his name. Big Hawaiian guy with scary eyes.” She shuddered.

  “Did he have a birthmark on his nose?” Kaia asked.

  Lindy nodded. “That’s him.”

  “I don’t know his name either, but I’ve seen him,” Kaia said.

  Lindy glanced at her watch. “Look, I’m bushed. I don’t know anything about Jonah’s death, and I’m going to bed.”

  “Mahalo,” Jesse called through the door as she slammed it in their faces.

  Sixteen

  The man glanced at his watch. The others were late. A grove of monkeypod trees surrounded this clearing in a sheltering fence of tangled roots and overgrown vegetation. Mynas chattered from the trees above his head, and his nose caught the faint scent of orchids blooming along the wild path that led to this remote spot.

  The mynas squawked and flew off just as he heard the
sound of careless feet crashing through the vegetation. He rose from his seat on a tree stump and brushed the debris from his pants then turned to face the two who stepped into the clearing. “You took your time about getting here.”

  His blond assistant gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. We got lost.” He approached and held out a file.

  The man took it and opened it. He flipped through the pictures. One photograph showed Jesse Matthews aboard a boat, another at his quarters, still more at Seaworthy Labs. “This is all you got?” He closed the folder and stuffed it in his briefcase.

  “Yeah. He’s pretty wily. We had to make sure he didn’t see.” The third man stomped on a line of ants heading for the safety of the jungle.

  “Why did you want them anyway?”

  “I have my reasons.” While revenge on Jesse Matthews hadn’t been part of his original plan, he couldn’t deny the thrill the opportunity brought him. One of life’s serendipities. He pulled out his cell phone and an electronic voice synthesizer.

  “What are you doing?”

  Ignoring his assistant, he dialed the phone and asked to speak to the base commander. “Hello, I have some information about the recent break-in where missile schematics were stolen. I think if you look in Lieutenant Commander Jesse Matthews’s quarters, you’ll find what you’re looking for.” He shut the phone quickly and wished he could see Jesse’s face when he found the military riffling through his belongings.

  Arush of excitement propelled Kaia out of bed. Jesse had arranged for navy personnel to patrol the waters so they could both have a day off and get caught up on their rest. She needed the break.

  She showered then blow-dried her hair, leaving it down in a curtain of black that fell to her waist. The red print dress she chose showed off her tanned arms and legs. She wondered at her desire for Jesse to notice her. Never before had she really cared whether a man found her attractive.

  She took special care brushing her teeth then flossed as well and put on red lipstick. It was all she could do to keep herself from pacing. Jesse was different from any man she’d come in contact with though. He was more—well, manly. Everything about him exuded confidence and strength. She felt safe with him. It had been a long time since she’d felt safe. Not since her dim memories of being held in her father’s strong arms, of looking up into his laughing face. Not that she equated Jesse with being a father figure. He was much too attractive to be thought of that way.