by Neal, Toby
Lei moved over beside her partner as he popped the case open. Right in the center of the suitcase, surrounded by clothing used as padding, was a black metal box with a small cylinder attached. A long pause followed as all three of them considered its foreboding appearance.
“That looks like it might be a bomb,” Pono finally said. Clarice hurried to her house phone to call for the hazardous devices technician even as Lei held up a hand.
“I think this is for transporting the birds. See this canister? It’s got a pressure gauge like you use for scuba. I bet he was going to sedate the birds and carry them back in this suitcase.”
“I still want the technician to open that,” Clarice said, punching buttons on her phone. “It’s my evidence locker that will get destroyed if it’s a bomb.”
Lei and Pono removed the clothing, careful not to touch the matte black metal case that would probably fool most scanners. The gas in the canister, if it were just compressed air as Lei suspected, wouldn’t set off any alarms.
Abe Torufu, wearing a coverall and gloves, arrived with his explosives detection kit. “Where’s the fire?” Torufu asked. Lei couldn’t resist a quick fist bump with the Tongan giant, whom she’d worked with on several cases.
“We don’t actually think it’s a bomb.” Lei indicated the case with its screwed-on canister. “But Clarice wanted you to check it out.”
Torufu opened his kit. “Let me see if it’s even something I have to get into gear for. If I do, you all need to clear the room.”
“I don’t want my evidence room blown up.” Clarice fiddled with her glasses.
“And I don’t want to get blown up either.” Torufu carefully inspected the case. “I don’t see any external wiring or trigger mechanism. I’ll swab for the usual.” He swabbed the flip-top latches of the case, all around the edges, and all over the canister. “Nothing.” He held up the swatch of cloth. It didn’t look any different. “This detects several chemicals present in explosives. I think we’re safe to open it, but I’d prefer if you move outside.” He was already wearing a fire-retardant coverall and gloves, but now he pulled a respirator out of his kit. “This is in case of any nonexplosive but otherwise dangerous substances, like biologicals or chemicals.”
Torufu put the respirator on with its protective faceplate as Lei, Pono, and Clarice stepped outside and watched through the window in the door. Torufu flipped the latches and opened the interior case, inspecting it on all sides.
He took off the respirator, gestured, and they came back in, clustering around. “Looks like he was getting ready to carry some live contraband,” Torufu said.
“I thought as much.” Lei wasn’t surprised, but she felt dismayed to see the six padded chambers in the case, lined with soft cotton batting, and the plastic air hose running from the canister into each of the chambers. “This looks as if it were made for the birds he’d caught. I wonder how he was going to sedate them. They couldn’t have lasted long in this case.”
“It’s a long flight to China, at least twelve hours from here if you can get a nonstop,” Pono said. “Maybe that is why he had six chambers. Preparing for some of them to die in transit.”
Lei’s chest tightened. She was really coming to care about the sweet-songed, nectar-feeding birds of the Hawaii forest.
“Now I’m curious,” Torufu said, sitting on one of the folding chairs, his bulk causing an ominous creak. “What’s this case you’ve got? You guys usually work homicide.”
“There is a homicide.” Lei filled him in. Clarice displayed no such curiosity. She simply continued filling out her inventory by going through each nondescript piece of clothing, listing the mysterious black case as “illegal wildlife transport apparatus.”
Lei drove along the two-lane highway beside the wind-tossed ocean, black and silver under the moon, past the beach town of Paia, toward her home near the small village of Haiku. After the evidence storage, she’d called the Hawaiian Bird Conservatory to schedule a meeting with their biologists the next day, and now it was well past the dinner hour. Turning off the highway onto an even narrower road bordered with plumeria trees, tall red ginger, and banks of palms, Lei smiled, thinking of how much mellower her commute was compared with when she’d been living and working in downtown Honolulu.
She pulled her silver Tacoma inside the chain-link gate of her little plantation cottage, parking it next to Stevens’s brown Bronco. She rolled the gate shut and locked it, Keiki, her Rottweiler, doing a happy dance beside her. Lei made a stern face with an effort and snapped her fingers, did the hand signal for “sit.” The big Rottweiler parked her cropped behind on the ground, tongue lolling.
Lei rubbed the dog’s silky triangle ears and squatted to embrace Keiki’s sturdy neck now that the Rottie was sitting and still. She rubbed the sensitive spot between Keiki’s gentle brown eyes, and the big dog shut them in bliss. Lei reminded herself that Keiki was a working dog, and if she didn’t maintain discipline, the animal would lose the edge of her police training—but still it was hard these days to keep from loosening up when they were both so much more relaxed.
Lei patted her hip, and Keiki fell into step beside her as she ascended a couple of worn wooden steps. The iron security door they’d added, with its layer of screen for mosquitoes, was unlocked, and she stepped into the dimly lit, white-painted space. She could smell delicious cooking scents coming from the old-fashioned kitchen, and her heart lifted in anticipation.
Coming home to find Stevens in her house, in her kitchen, cooking, still felt like a dream she’d wake up from. They spent most evenings together, and the only thing she didn’t like was when he left for his apartment.
Lei bent over and untied her athletic shoes, dirty from their sojourn in the jungle. She set them on the low shoe rack beside the door and padded across the lauhala matting that covered creaky wooden floors.
“Honey, I’m home,” she mock sang.
“About time,” Stevens called from the kitchen. He sounded good, not too tired or grumpy in spite of her lateness. Lately he’d been irritated with things like their separate dwellings and the seemingly endless wedding preparations.
Lei wondered why she’d felt such a need to have her own place before they got married, and then, as now, couldn’t really explain it. As it stood, Stevens had his apartment in Kuau until after they were married. She walked through the living room, unstrapping her shoulder holster and sniffing the air. Keiki was still plastered to her side.
“Whatcha got cooking?” she called as she headed into the bedroom. Here a king-sized bed, shipped over from Oahu, took up nearly the whole room. She hung her holster over the corner of the headboard and sat down, slipping off her socks. “I’m going to hop into the shower. Had a big day crawling around in the jungle on top Haleakala,” she called.
“Sounds like a plan. It’s ready when you are.” His voice echoed a little within the wooden walls.
Lei walked into the bathroom, stripped off her clothes and utilitarian white bra and panties, throwing everything into the hamper. She stepped into the old-fashioned tiled shower, someone’s home-improvement project that was too big for the small bathroom, leaving barely any room for the sink and toilet. It had a giant rain-like showerhead and a small plastic bench left over from other tenants. She lathered up a washcloth to clean the scratches on her arms from climbing the tree.
Stevens opened the pebbled-glass door. Tall, muscled, and naked, there was a hungry light in his crystal-blue eyes as they traveled over her lean runner’s body under the fall of water.
“Thought I’d join you.”
Lei’s stomach hollowed at the sight of him. “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”
The emotion between them felt so intense it had to dissolve at some point—and yet it kept surprising her with its power. He stepped in and reached out a hand to wrap around the nape of her neck, drawing her into his arms. The rain-like water poured over both of them, luxuriously sensual. She delighted in the way she fitted into th
e spot just under his jaw and wondered if she’d ever get tired of it.
“I love your big, sassy mouth. It’s so sexy.” He tipped her chin up and kissed her lightly, tracing her lips’ outline with his, nibbling. Her body began a hum that felt like being plugged into an electric current.
“We should probably stop seeing each other before the wedding.” She broke away, teasing.
He shook his head as water caught the dark strands of his hair. “I’m addicted. I’d be a shaky deprived wreck at the wedding. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
His big hands, calloused from his weapon and a thousand outdoor projects and activities, slid up and down her wet back and over her bottom, raising goose bumps of anticipation. “I know this bench is in here from the old people who were here before us, but I’m thinking we can find some other uses for it.”
“Oh.” Lei’s tongue went thick and her body boneless as he turned her in his arms, his hands never stopping their stroking, bringing tingling hunger in their wake until she whimpered with wanting. He gently directed her to kneel with one hand on the back of her neck and bent her over the bench.
The water fell around them in an endless warm celebration.
On the mat outside the shower, Lei rested a hand on the doorframe, holding on to it for support. “I’m not sure I can walk.”
“Me neither. Let’s crawl. That might be fun.”
“Got to save something for the honeymoon,” Lei said. Stevens pulled a big fluffy beach towel off the shelf, wrapping it around her.
“I like you too weak to object to any of my ideas.”
“I love your ideas.” She reached up and pulled him down for a kiss, feeling a little scared of how happy she was. Growing up, being happy meant something bad was just around the corner. She reminded herself a little forcefully that that was then and this was now. Holding back, trying to protect herself, had only stolen from the present, not saved her from any pain. Stevens had proved his love to her over and over. She had to start trusting that love, and hers for him. Making those vows to him at the wedding was the final proof of that.
“I approve of this too-big shower you were complaining about.” Crinkles bracketed Stevens’s eyes.
Lei laughed. “I think it’s a good thing we decided to move into this house instead of your apartment.”
“I’ll miss the ocean though.” Stevens dried his hair with a towel and led the way down the short hall to the bedroom. “It’s been great listening to the ocean.”
She admired the long, graceful line of his spine as he walked ahead of her, the muscular rounds of his buttocks. She never got tired of looking at the intricate tiny curls of hair on his chest, the scars of a life spent in law enforcement tattooing a body kept strong by surfing and lifting.
The house had only one bathroom, as many of the older cottages did, but two bedrooms, one of which Lei used as an office. Keiki lifted her big square head off of her ratty blanket at the end of the bed as they came into the bedroom. Lei slid into a pair of black silk pajamas Marcella had given her. She caught Stevens looking as she buttoned the fabric over her breasts.
She cocked a brow at him. “Thought you’d had enough.”
His eyes had that intense focus she’d come to know as he stepped toward her. “I never get enough. I can’t figure it out.”
“Will it always be this way?” Lei’s breath caught, a sensual lassitude softening her knees as he reached out to cup the sensitized round of her breast in the silky fabric.
“I’ll enjoy finding out,” he said. She watched his hand, deft long fingers contrasting with the black silk and the round shape beneath it. The beauty of the sight hypnotized her as he pinched her nipple gently, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger, watching her watching him.
She found it almost unbearably delicious. Her nipple seemed to swell and elongate, distending the shiny fabric. He bent his head and suckled it through the material.
Lei gasped.
“I think dinner’s getting cold,” Stevens said, smiling.
“Huh?” She looked up at him through hazy eyes, incapable of coherent thought.
“Dinner.”
Lei loved the way the color of his eyes brightened as he looked into hers, the white rays in them intensifying. She was the one who did that to him. It made her feel powerful and more alive than ever. Maybe it was how close they’d come to losing it all that made what they had now so incredible. She didn’t know, and maybe it didn’t matter.
Chapter 5
They ate the now-cold dinner, a delicious Mexican casserole, and snuggled close in front of the evening news on the couch. Stevens insisted they keep up on the news, as it often pertained to their cases. Sure enough, Wendy Watanabe from KHIN 2, pert in a turquoise suit, reported on the body Lei had been investigating.
“Officials are stumped by a body discovered in the pristine and protected wilderness of Waikamoi Preserve on Haleakala. An as-yet-unidentified man of Asian descent has been discovered, the apparent victim of a bow-hunting accident.”
“We aren’t stumped. We’re at the beginning of an investigation and unable to give her any hard answers yet,” Lei grumbled, taking another bite of casserole. She’d finished putting on her pajamas and sat cross-legged, the plate on her knees.
“See, but that’s why we need to watch the news. See what they’re saying about us.”
“I know Wendy’s just doing her job, but I just can’t warm up to that woman.”
“She’s a tough reporter, but you know she’s got a heart from how she stepped up for the Smiley Bandit.” The previous year, Lei and Watanabe had been in a race to uncover the identity of the same bold young thief—and that chase had led to unexpected consequences.
“I still don’t have to like her,” Lei insisted, remembering how Watanabe had enjoyed humiliating Lei on that investigation. “She loves implying law enforcement is incompetent.”
Stevens shrugged. “Whatever gets ratings. So what’s the inside scoop on your Haleakala body?”
“Asian John Doe. Some sort of bird hunter or collector. He had several dead native birds in a bag, which he’d caught by attracting them with recorded calls and a net. He was shot from a blind in a tree with a compound hunting bow. Died instantly.” Lei took another bite but found it hard to swallow, thinking of the birds. Even dead, they’d been bright and precious as jewels. “Phil Gregory has his work cut out for himself with a four-day old body, but at least the cause of death is pretty straightforward. Pono’s pretty sure he knows what species the birds were, but we’re having Hawaiian Bird Conservatory biologists identify them and the equipment the vic had on him tomorrow.”
“So what are you thinking? A poacher? Think he was shot by accident or on purpose?”
“Either could be true.” Lei summarized their three possible scenarios. “I just really wish I’d gone up to the preserve for some reason other than a crime scene. It’s an amazing place—Hawaii before people got to it.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “Take me up another time. We’ll do it together. Pretty soon we’ll have all the time in the world for weekend explorations.”
“Yeah, when the wedding is behind us. I can’t wait.” Lei couldn’t think of the wedding without a headache starting.
“Me neither. And don’t worry, I haven’t used up all my ideas yet, I’ve got a few I’m saving for the honeymoon.” He pulled her into his arms, snuggling her against him.
Lei’s phone buzzed. She grimaced, but picked up, mouthing “wedding plans” to Stevens as she got up and headed back toward the bedroom. “Tiare! How’s it going?”
Pono’s always-industrious wife, Tiare, had opened a wedding-planning business in addition to her nursing practice. She’d insisted on coordinating their wedding at no charge, when excited questions about Lei’s plans were met with a blank stare Lei employed for meth addicts—and, it turned out, wedding planners.
“Lei, everything’s a go. We have the beach park at Kanaha as the venue with the caterer doing the
traditional mixed Hawaiian and Japanese menu you asked for. Fire and hula dancers from Pono’s cousin Shannie’s halau. Haku head lei for you and maile lei for Stevens. He already bought an aloha-wear outfit: white patterned shirt and black pants, which will look terrific with the green maile leaves of his lei. Photos by a very competent young photographer who’s willing to do more for less. Cake is ordered; booze is ordered. Marcella as maid of honor has purchased a dress in your chosen color, red.”
Lei interrupted the flow of words. “This sounds great. I don’t know what you need me for.”
Tiare gave an annoyed sigh. “The dress. Did you get one?”
Lei felt her stomach drop. “I haven’t had time.”
A long silence, then: “You had one thing to do, Lei. Just one. Get a dress. You have to get one, and I can’t do that for you.”
“Okay, I’ll find the time. I’ll pick something up.”
Another long silence. Lei rubbed her temples, imagining Tiare’s grimace and eye roll.
“I’m sorry, but it’s really hard to just ‘pick something up.’ Dresses have to be ordered,” Tiare said. “Fitted. Adjusted. And I guarantee, you won’t like what I pick out if I end up having to get it for you.”
“Okay. Got it. Wedding dress. Check,” Lei said, writing it in her Notes feature on her phone and setting it as an alarm. “I’ll get something going this week.”
“And how about the honeymoon?”
Lei had an answer for that, thank God. “Stevens is in charge of that, like I told you. He’s been on his phone a lot; won’t tell me a thing. I’m sure it’s in the works.”
“Well, ask him. Make sure. Also, I have a large vacation rental booked with room for your dad, your aunty Rosario, your grandfather, and Stevens’s mother and brother. But you should call them too, and make sure they are all set with their travel arrangements.”
Lei felt sweat beading on her upper lip as she added that item to her list of to-dos.
