Death of the Big Kahuna

by Catherine Bruns

  Even though there had been rumors about Carmen and Hale, her confession had rocked me, and if the story was true, I was appalled at how Hale had treated her. Alana whining to me how Hale had been a "kind and gentle soul" was ludicrous. I walked swiftly, the anger growing inside and threatening to consume me.

  I'd almost forgotten about Keanu until he touched my arm. "Hey, wait up, will you?"

  I turned to face him. "Sorry. This whole thing disgusts me. I'm sorry he had to die, because I wouldn't wish that on anybody, but I can't believe how vile the man was. If Carmen's story is true, he took advantage of her when she was drunk and then asked her to have an abortion. Personally, I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork instead of have sex with that man."

  Keanu choked back a laugh.

  "It's not funny," I spat out, and started walking again. We were back at his moped.

  Keanu laid a hand on my arm and whirled me around to face him. "Hey. I wasn't making fun of you. I'm sorry."

  He was standing very close to me. I looked up at his striking features—the high forehead, the silky-looking dark hair, strong, well-defined jaw, and the thin lips drawn together in concern. I again wondered what it would feel like to be kissed by them. Keanu's eyes were even bluer in the sunlight as he smiled down at me, the dimple alone enough to make me swoon.

  He reached down onto the bike and handed me a helmet. "Let's go back to the Aloha Lagoon. We'll sit on the pier and have a long talk."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I removed the phone from my back pocket and placed it on the beam next to me. When I sat down next to Keanu, I tried not to think about the fact that our legs were touching as they dangled over the water. My mind drifted back to the conversation with Carmen. I was still shocked about her confession—if it was true, that was.

  "So do you think she's lying?" Keanu asked, as if reading my thoughts.

  I paused for a moment to consider. "I'm not sure." If the story was true, and she had killed Hale, what would it have solved? She'd already lost her baby and would have no way of getting further money out of him. "If Carmen was drinking heavily and mixed prescription pills along with the alcohol, her behavior could have been erratic. Maybe she came to confront Hale that night at the café after he had fired her. He might have insulted her, they fought, and then she killed him in a sudden rage."

  "I've heard of that type of scenario before," Keanu remarked. "I didn't know she was taking pills, but one night after work I stopped off for a beer at The Lava Pot. Casey told me he'd had to call a cab for Carmen. She was so drunk that she could barely stand."

  I thought back to the night Hale was murdered. "Alana told me that she thought Carmen was the last person to call Hale the night he died. And I'm pretty sure I know how the conversation played out too."

  Keanu's expression was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

  "Do you remember when you told me that Hale wanted to see me? I was certain he was going to fire me. When I got to the top of the stairs, I heard him talking to someone on the phone. He was laughing and saying something about cutting them off without another dime. They had threatened him, and he said it wasn't the first time he'd heard that line."

  "Carmen did say she called him," Keanu said. "So that definitely would fit."

  "I wish I knew for sure." Deep down, I wanted the killer to be Carmen. I hated to think it was someone I was working with at the moment—or Tad. With the exception of Alana, I liked everyone else at Loco Moco Café.

  I looked out at the water and instinctively moved backward so that my legs were no longer hanging over the side. The ocean was peaceful and serene, but I didn't want to tempt fate.

  Keanu watched me intently. "You're all tensed up. You don't like the water, do you?"

  I had to hand it to Keanu—he was pretty perceptive. "I almost drowned as a child. My mother brought me to the beach and then let me wander into the water alone. I went out too far and—" I hated reliving the memory, which sometimes woke me up in the middle of a deep sleep at night. "Thankfully, someone saw and rescued me in time."

  His jaw tightened in anger. "Wow. Was that a common thing for your mother to do? Let you wander off on your own?"

  When I didn't answer, Keanu blew out a breath. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

  "I don't like talking about my childhood," I said honestly. "It wasn't a very happy time for me."

  Sympathy and kindness filled his eyes. There was also a question I assumed was on the tip of his tongue, so I quickly reassured him. "I wasn't abused. Not physically anyway. My mother never wanted me, and neither did my father." It was tough to say the words out loud.

  He reached out and took my hand between both of his. They were strong but gentle as his fingers stroked mine. "I can't imagine someone not wanting you in their life."

  The waterworks threatened to make an appearance. "It's all in the past. I don't want to feel sorry for myself."

  "It's all right. You're allowed."

  He was so easy to talk to, but I still didn't want to get into this. What was there to tell him—stories of a mother who'd wished I'd never been born? Or maybe I could regale him with tales of the older sister who'd told lies about me and thrived on being the perfect daughter, never once coming to her little sister's defense about anything. "I'd rather hear about your family."

  Keanu leaned back and stared up at the sky. "I'm an only child. My parents are terrific. They own a chain of supermarkets in the Pacific Southwest."

  Wow. I wondered if they were as wealthy as the Akamus. "So why aren't you working for them? Or maybe you don't even need to work at all?" I wanted to bite my tongue off as soon as the words came out. "I'm sorry. That was rude."

  Keanu's eyes locked on mine, and he smiled. "It's all right. To tell you the truth, I don't know what I'm doing here either. Didn't we say we were going to play confession earlier? You know, before we went to talk to Carmen? You go first."

  Great. I sighed. Keanu was going to hate me when he found out I'd been snooping. He'd probably walk away and leave me at the pier, but I wanted to be honest with him. "The other night, when I slept in the office? I kind of did some snooping."

  Keanu waited. "Go on."

  I shifted uneasily. "I um—looked around in Hale's desk. I thought maybe I could find something to tell me who the murderer was."

  He nodded. "I appreciate you being honest with me."

  I gaped at him. "You knew already!"

  He grinned. "Guilty. I could tell someone had been in the files."

  I hung my head in shame and wished I could disappear. "I don't know what to say. This is so embarrassing. Are you going to tell Alana?"

  He was silent. Panicked, I raised my head to look at him.

  "No. I might have done the same thing if I didn't already have access to them," Keanu admitted.

  Relief washed over me. "I also found an agreement between Poncho and Hale."

  Keanu's expression was grim. "Yeah. I asked Hale about that once and was pointedly told to mind my own business, so I never asked again. I can't be positive, but I always figured it had something to do with Poncho's past. Why would Poncho agree to something like that? What if he killed Hale in an attempt to get out of it?"

  "You really think he was the one—" I couldn't go on. I didn't want to. I remembered when Poncho had spoken fondly of his children and wife, saying how his marriage had been given a second chance. He'd also made me breakfast and been so kind when he'd found me sleeping on the couch—well, after he'd almost scared me to death. "No. I don't believe Poncho did it."

  He reached for my hand again. "But someone did it, Carrie. Only an employee would have been able to put that knife in your bag. Or someone else who had easy access to the room."

  "Could a customer have snuck in?" I asked.

  He frowned. "It's doubtful, unless, like Carmen or Tad, they knew the layout well and where the employees kept their stuff. I hate the thought that there might be a killer among us, but we need to face facts here."

 
; We sat in silence for a couple of minutes and watched the white foam skimming the surface of the gentle waves of the ocean. It was mesmerizing and threatened to lull me to sleep. I was tired. My brain resembled a jumble of mixed-up conclusions as to who might have committed the crime. I had come to Hawaii in hopes of starting over—with my boyfriend by my side—finding a career, developing my singing, and someday maybe even having a family, complete with the dog and little white picket fence. Instead I was currently homeless, had a cheating ex, and my voice had been compared to that of a wailing cat. It was also safe to say I'd become one of the lead suspects in the murder of my boss. The only way out was to discover who had killed Hale.

  I glanced sideways at Keanu. "So, I told you my secret. How about you?"

  Amusement brimmed in his eyes. "What do you want to know? I'm an open book."

  Yeah, right. "Well for starters, you told me the night of the murder that you had a reason for wanting Hale dead."

  Keanu turned his head and stared out at the water. "Sure, I hated Hale like everyone else. Do you know what it did to me to watch him treat his servers like dirt? Do you think I enjoyed watching him coming on to you? No. The guy was pure vermin. But the real reason I couldn't stand him was because of what he did to my sister."

  Dread as heavy as a mountain settled in my chest. I fervently hoped that this was not something revolting, like the situation between Hale and Carmen. "You said you were an only child."

  He looked at me sadly. "Let me finish, okay? Twenty years ago when the café was up for sale, my parents tried to buy it. They've always wanted to be in the restaurant business. Hale's parents were extremely wealthy, while mine were just starting out. They had one small supermarket at the time and were easily outbid by the Akamus. Hale's family was one of the most prominent to settle in Hawaii, and his grandfather made a fortune in the real estate market. His parents started buying up businesses left and right. Hale's sold most of them, with the exception of a shopping center in Oahu."

  "I've heard about that place," I volunteered.

  Keanu's jaw clenched. "Yeah, it's one of the biggest in the state. I've been there. The place is the size of a small town. It actually figures prominently in the story I'm about to tell you."

  I had no idea what he meant. "Go on."

  "My parents were disappointed when they couldn't buy the Loco Moco," Keanu continued. "They loved the place—still do."

  "So, did you come to work here because you were angry at Hale about that?" After all these years, it seemed like an odd thing to do.

  Keanu stared down at the water and blew out a long, ragged breath. "No, that's not the reason. I had a sister, Kara. She was ten years older than me. That's how my parents knew about the restaurant going up for sale. She worked at the Loco Moco as a waitress back then and told my parents the original owner was selling. After Hale's parents died, she continued to work here for a few more years." He gripped the pier, his knuckles turning white suddenly.

  My stomach convulsed. "Oh no. Hale—he didn't…"

  "No," Keanu said. "He didn't have a relationship with her. He'd just gotten married to Alana. Not that it would have made any difference to him, but Kara had a boyfriend and no interest in dating her boss. Anyhow, after a few years she scraped together some money and moved to Oahu with her boyfriend. My parents didn't like him, but in all fairness to the guy, he did help her get her business started. Kara was always so fiercely independent, and my parents were overprotective. She had enough money to rent a spot in Hale's shopping mall. It was a small clothing boutique. The place didn't make a ton of money, but she loved it anyway. It was her lifelong dream."

  He paused and closed his eyes for a moment. "I remember going there a few times. I was just a punk of a kid and couldn't care less about that kind of stuff, but she was so damn proud of it. And I was of her."

  This sounded like way too much interaction with the entire Akamu clan for my taste. "Go on," I said softly.

  He rubbed a hand wearily across his eyes "Kara got sick—cancer. She didn't have health insurance. My parents weren't as well off as they are now—they were just starting out in business themselves back then but did what they could to help her. She didn't tell them how bad things were financially at first and refused to move back home. Kara got behind on her rent at the store. She asked Hale if she could have a few extra weeks to come up with the money, and he refused. One day she got to the shop and found she'd been evicted."

  "What a horrible thing for him to do," I murmured.

  His nostrils flared. "Hale knew about her condition and didn't care. Hell, everyone knew. She'd lost all her hair and a ton of weight, but she never once complained. Hale didn't need her money that bad—he had more than God. You'd think after he lost his parents it would have made him a better person. Nope. So you know what he told her when she begged for more time? 'Business is business.' He had the place rented again a few days later. Probably at a higher rate too."

  My insides went hollow. "Wh-what happened after that?"

  Keanu's face was stony as he watched a ski boat cross the water in the distance. "It broke her heart. She came home to my parents and then died a few weeks later."

  His voice shook, and tears started to gather in my eyes as I covered his hand with mine. "I'm so sorry. How awful for you and your parents."

  When Keanu turned his head to look at me, I saw the face of someone whose world had once been shattered. "I've watched the progress of the café and Hale's shopping mall over the last few years. When Hale had an opening for an assistant manager months ago, I applied. The last name didn't even register with him."

  Uneasiness washed over me. "Keanu—"

  He cut me off. "Since I also had an accounting degree, Hale was thrilled and hired me on the spot. It was his typical speed—getting two jobs out of a person while actually only paying for one. Hale also asked if I could help out with some paperwork at the shopping mall from time to time. I knew he had to take on some investors a few years back when the place was briefly in the red. So when he asked for help, I jumped at the chance. This was what I'd been hoping for."

  Oh no, he didn't. "What exactly are you saying?"

  "I wanted to get even with him," Keanu explained. "I was going to fudge the books so that it showed Hale was performing illegal activity, like embezzling from his own investors. Hell, I don't know what I was thinking. I wanted some type of payback for Kara. I thought it would make me feel better."

  Incredulous, I rose to my feet. What was going on here? The one person I thought I could trust was also deceitful?

  "I don't believe this." Perplexed, I started to walk away from him.

  "Carrie!"

  Keanu gripped me by the shoulders and whirled me around to face him. I was startled by the authority in his voice. "I didn't do anything. I swear. I chickened out. I realized it wouldn't bring my sister back. And when my parents found out I was working here, they were furious. I promised them that I wouldn't do anything wrong, and they believed me." He paused. "I hope you will too."

  My lower lip trembled. "I do believe you. But why would you stay here—if you didn't plan to harm Hale?"

  He sighed. "I'm not sure. I've thought about leaving, but I really do love the place and the customers. I'm not so sure that I want to be an accountant anymore. This is the type of establishment I'd like to own myself someday. I guess restauranteering is in my blood. Plus, I think the coworkers are pretty terrific too." His eyes locked on mine.

  We stood there, looking at one another as a golden ray of sunlight streaked across the bright blue sky, and I felt my resolve weaken. There was something about Keanu that spoke to me and said he was different from other men I'd known in my life—especially the likes of Brad. Sure, he'd had a moment of weakness and wanted to make Hale pay, but he hadn't followed through. Heck, Keanu was human. Who was I to judge? No one was perfect, least of all me.

  "You're lucky to have such wonderful parents," I said hoarsely.

  We were standing very close
to each other. When I stared into his eyes, I found myself wondering how the ocean had settled there.

  "I am lucky," Keanu agreed. "My parents are good people. They've worked hard for everything they have. I don't like people to know my family is wealthy, because then they treat you differently. Sure, I've had opportunities that most people haven't been afforded, but my parents wanted me to learn to depend on myself and not them. That's how they raised Kara and me. I don't know any other way. Does that make sense?"

  More than he knew. "Totally."

  He stared at me thoughtfully. "Something tells me that's why you left Vermont. Because your family was less than wonderful."

  "Keanu, please don't." I tried to turn away again, but he placed his hands on my shoulders and forced me to look at him.

  "Talk to me, Carrie." His voice was gentle and soothing, like the tropical breeze.

  "I told you—I don't want anyone's pity." But even as I said it, the tears began to gather behind my eyes. "Here's the deal, and then let it go, okay? My father got my mother pregnant when she was very young. She was crazy about him, and I suspect she might have even trapped him into it. After my sister was born, they agreed on no more kids. He had never wanted any in the first place. Then three years later, I was born. The accident waiting to happen."

  He smiled. "I'm sure your father must have been crazy about you when he first saw you."

  "I don't have any memories of him," I confessed. "From what my sister told me, he was hardly ever home, and even when he was, all they did was fight. When I was four years old, he left home for good. We haven't heard from him since, except when he used to send money. Over the years, whenever my mother would get angry at me for a bad report card or making a mess, she'd throw it in my face that I was the reason he left. She once told me she wished I'd never been born."

  The silence that followed my confession was deafening, and it was as if I had been stripped naked for the entire world to see. I had never revealed that last part to anyone, not even my best friend. I figured Penny probably knew, but since we'd never been close, it hadn't been a topic of discussion between us.