“No, he won’t. He knows if there’s mayhem anywhere within fifty miles you’ll be smack dab in the middle of it. He’s used to it; in fact, we’re all used to it by now.”
“Well, I’m not. I want to come home.”
“Oops, hear that?” she said. “A customer just came in. I gotta run. Call me when you land, okay?”
I hung up and went back to the cabin to pack. There wasn’t much reason for sticking around. I’d drop David off at his dad’s and take Lili with me out to the airport. Beyond that, my work in Kona was done.
***
As usual, Lili and David climbed into the back seat for the ride to Pono’s. I’d come to accept my position as their chauffeur, but was glad my weird role as wedding planner/detective and stand-in parent was nearly over. Since I hadn’t taken a deposit on their wedding I probably wouldn’t see them again. When they turned eighteen, they’d probably just run down to the courthouse and keep their whacko families out of it. I sure wouldn’t blame them if they did.
I pulled in front of David’s dad’s place, but didn’t turn off the engine. “Lili, how about you sitting up front with me for the ride to the airport?” I said.
She locked eyes with David.
I went on. “You are still planning on going back to Maui today, right?”
They kept the stare going.
“David wants me to come inside for a few minutes,” she said.
“You can come, too,” David said. “I just need to ask him a couple of things, and then I’m heading back to Hilo.” His face lit up as if a fantastic idea had just popped in his head. “Hey, how about we go in and see my dad and then all three of us go out to the airport? It’ll be easier for me to pick up a ride there.”
“That’s great,” said Lili. “Then you and I can spend a little more time together.”
Not how I saw this going, but it was doable.
We got out of the car. David and Lili practically skipped up to the house; I lagged behind. Pono hadn’t struck me as the kind of guy who entertained frequently, but I hoped he’d at least offer us a cup of coffee. I had a feeling after last night’s bender he’d be needing some for himself, as well.
We kicked off our shoes at the door, and David walked in without knocking. Pono was right where we’d left him, sacked out on the sofa. The place smelled a bit less like beer and more like sweat than it had the night before, but other than that, everything was the same. The TV was still on and the tossed beer bottle was still in the doorway to the kitchen.
“Dad, get up,” said David. He went over and rousted his dad by wiggling his shoulder. Pono tried to shake him off, but David persisted.
Lili stood primly at the end of the sofa, seeming to take in the squalid surroundings for the first time. Was she finally putting two and two together and realizing the grumpy guy under the ratty afghan was her future children’s grandfather? When I contrasted beer-soaked Pono to Lili’s concerned pilot father showing up at my house to demand I help him find his daughter, it made me shudder. No doubt it did her, too.
“Dad, we need to talk,” said David. “Just for a few minutes. Then I’ll get out of your hair and let you go back to sleep.”
Pono writhed on the sofa. He was either trying to sit up or to get away from David’s insistent shaking. It was hard to tell. Finally, David gripped his dad’s shoulders and heaved him upright. Pono blinked in dismay, but seemed to accept his fate.
“Okay, Dad. I want you to tell us what you meant last night.”
“About what?”
“About Mom. About making a ‘deal with the devil.’ What’d you mean by that?”
Pono shook his head, as if dismissing the reference. “Nah, I was drunk. I don’ know nuthin’ about that.”
“Do you remember a woman named Charlene Cooper?” I said. “She was the midwife who delivered David.”
Pono’s eyes grew so wide I could see white all the way around his brown irises. His hands trembled as he gripped the afghan tighter to his body.
“Yeah, what about her?” he said.
“We were talking with her last night, and—”
“She’s a liar,” he said. He dropped his head for a second and when he raised it he said, “The whole thing was her idea. Like I said, that woman is the devil. I didn’ want to do it, but she made me.”
CHAPTER 32
We all were speechless after Pono’s rant. If Charlene Cooper had been his “devil” then I assumed his “deal” had something to do with her.
“What was her idea?” I said.
“To switch the kids,” he said. He sounded exasperated, as if he’d already been perfectly clear and he was annoyed to have to explain it further.
“Dad, you’re not making sense. What kids are you talking about?”
Pono ran his hands down his face. “What’d she say about me?”
I seized the opportunity. “She said you’d tell us everything. She said she was sorry and she’d take full responsibility. She doesn’t blame you at all.”
“Really? Well, good. Because, at first, I wanted nothin’ to do with it. I told her I thought it was pupule—crazy. A real bad idea. But she kept saying how it was best. ‘Everybody wins’—that’s what she said, ‘Everybody wins.’”
“Why don’t you tell us how it all went down?” I said. “From the beginning.”
Pono sighed and hung his head. “I didn’t do right by Malia,” he said. “I know that now. But, back then, I was mad with her, ya know?”
The air in the room seemed to heat up to near scorching as we waited for him to go on.
“She kept makin’ those girl babies, ya know? I mean, what could I do? I had that gardener job but I hardly made nothin’. What with paying the rent and puttin’ gas in my truck, there wasn’t much left for food and clothes and all the stuff you need for keiki. Especially girl keiki. After four girls, when she got herself pregnant again, I said, ‘That’s it. You give me a boy this time, or else.’ She thought it was funny, her making girls like that, but I wanted a boy and she knew it.”
He looked down at the beer bottles still lined up in front of the sofa. He had a look on his face like he wished he’d saved a few swallows for a time like this.
He went on. “The day Malia goes into her labor, I call the midwife. She comes over and tells me it’s gonna be quick, ya know? ‘Cuz Malia had all those other babies and she knows what she’s doin’. And sure enough, right away the baby came. Charlene comes out and she got her face all squished up, like she’s mad or somethin’. I ask her if I got my boy and she says, ‘Yeah.’ Then she says, ‘An’ don’t worry, ‘cuz I’ll handle the other one.’
“The other one?” I said. “What did she mean by that?”
“Hold on, I’m gettin’ there,” he said. “So, she tells me Malia had two babies—one girl, one boy. Malia’s a big wahine, ya know? Nobody knew she was plannin’ on having two. Anyway, Miz Cooper tells me, don’t worry about havin’ another girl. I’ve got a family all picked out for her. They’ll give her a good home, and I’ll make sure you get your hanai money.”
Pono’s eyes had been locked on David’s face, but at that point, he twisted his neck to face the wall as he finished his story.
“So, that’s how it went down,” he said. “Charlene found a home for the baby girl, and Malia and me got a little extra money for our ‘ohana.”
The pieces were falling into place and it wasn’t a pretty picture.
“You sold your child?” I said in a whisper.
“I didn’t sell nothin’. Charlene said it was—how’d she say?—oh, yeah, ‘customary.’ She said it was customary for people who got a hanai baby to give something to the parents. For mahalo.”
“How much?” I said. I was aware David and Lili were hearing all this. It troubled me to imagine what must be going through their minds.
“I don’ know. Few thousand, maybe five.”
“Five thousand dollars?” I said.
“Somethin’ like that.”
“What did Malia think of this arrangement?” I said. “Was she onboard with handing over her baby in exchange for some new kitchen appliances?”
Pono scrunched his face in confusion. “What you talkin’ about? I didn’t buy no kitchen ‘pliances. I had bills to pay.”
“Answer the question, Pono,” I said. “How did Malia feel about giving up her daughter?”
“She didn’ know,” he said. His voice was barely a whisper.
“Oh, come on. The woman gave birth and didn’t know she had twins?”
He shook his head. “Charlene gave her some kinda medicine to make her forget stuff. You know, to help with the pain.”
“And then she took the baby girl away before Malia saw it?”
“I guess.”
I was dumbstruck. I flicked my eyes to David and Lili. They looked like two kids fully engrossed in a video game. Blank faces, staring eyes.
The whole sick scenario was starting to come into focus. The hanai baby girl, the unsuspecting wife, the scheming midwife, and the desperate baby daddy.
“But last week, Malia figured it out, didn’t she?” I said.
He shrugged.
“I don’ know what she knew or didn’ know,” Pono said. “Charlene tol’ me not to worry. She said to meet her at the house and she’d handle it.”
“So, Charlene Cooper asked you to meet her at Malia’s?”
He nodded.
“When was that?” I said. I knew my questioning probably sounded like a police interrogation, but what the heck? Pono’s confession could definitely use a rehearsal.
“You know, last week. On Monday.”
“The day she died,” I said.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t s’posed to go that way, you know?” he said. “Charlene tol’ me she was just gonna talk to her. Help her see it was for the best.”
“But what happened instead?”
“I don’ know. By the time I got there Malia was acting drunk. Charlene said to get her out to the car. She said she’d take her to the hospital and get her fixed up. She said Malia pro’bly had gotten too much medicine in her and they’d help her at the ER.”
“So, you carried Malia out to the car?”
“Well, more like dragged her. Like I said, that girl’s one big wahine. And she wasn’t so happy to go.” He started to chuckle, then glanced over and saw the horror on David and Lili’s faces and snatched it back.
“What happened after you got her to the car?”
“Charlene says to put her in the driver seat. I think that’s pupule ‘cuz there’s no way Malia can drive like she was. Charlene say, ‘Just do it.’ Then she tell me to leave. Just get outta there. So, I take off.”
“C’mon, Pono. That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “You knew what might happen if you left.”
“No. I swear I didn’t. I thought Charlene was gonna help her get to the hospital. I didn’ know…” His voice trailed off. A sad ending to an even sadder tale.
My mind scrambled to come up with what to do next. David and Lili hadn’t said a word. In fact, they both looked like they were in shock. There was no use asking them for help, they needed help themselves. The first order of business was to make sure Pono told his story to someone with a badge before he began drinking again, or worse, recanted the whole thing.
I took out my phone and punched in three numbers.
“This is nine-one-one; what is the nature of your emergency: fire, police or medical?” The operator was a woman with a no-nonsense voice.
“Police.”
“What’s the situation?”
“I have a man here with eye witness information regarding the death of Malia Byers last week in Kealakekua,” I said.
This seemed to stump her. “Last week? I thought you said this was an emergency.”
“It is. He says the victim was murdered, and he knows who did it. He wants to make a statement to the police. But time is of the essence, because the witness may change his mind.”
“You’re calling from a cell phone, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Give me your location, and I’ll dispatch a squad car.”
I didn’t want to leave Pono alone while we waited for the cruiser, but David and Lili looked as if they were both about to pass out. I took them by the arms and pulled them out to my car.
“Are you taking us to the airport?” Lili said. She’d resumed the childlike tone she’d had when I first met her.
“No, we’re going to wait here until the police arrive.”
“Did my dad kill my mom?” said David in a hollow voice. “Is that what he said?”
“The police will be here soon. We’ll let them handle it.”
“No,” shouted David. “I want to know! Did he kill her or not?”
I almost told him that was the least of his worries, but stopped myself. It would be cruel. And besides, he’d figure it all out for himself soon enough.
CHAPTER 33
When the cruiser pulled up, I climbed out of my car to meet them. I led the two officers to the house, but when they knocked, Pono didn’t answer. A flashback of watching Charlene take the easy way out the night before shot a tingle of dread down my arms. I gripped the doorknob and barged in. The cops seemed to hesitate, but when we all saw Pono crashed out on the sofa, they followed me inside.
“Sir,” said the taller cop. “Sir, we need to talk with you.”
Pono mumbled and rolled over. I blew out a breath of relief.
“I need to leave,” I said. “I’ve got two kids in the car who need immediate medical attention.”
The shorter cop crossed his arms and said, “It’d be best if you stayed.”
“I can’t,” I said. “I need to get to the hospital. This man can tell you the whole story. But he probably should be taken to the station to give a formal statement.”
The taller cop smirked. “You telling us how to do our job?”
“No, sir. Just trying to save you some time.” I hustled back out to my car before the cops had a chance to stop me.
The hospital was on a hill about a half-mile away but it took fifteen minutes to get there because there’s no way to go there directly. I dropped the kids at the emergency entrance and parked the car. I found the admitting nurse and gave her a quick overview of David and Lili’s situation.
“They witnessed a suicide last night, and this morning they heard the confession of a man involved in the murder of the young man’s mother.” I didn’t mention the murder victim was also the young woman’s mother because, even though I’d heard it with my own ears, I wasn’t quite ready to accept it. “I’m pretty sure they’re in shock. I think the doctor will want to prescribe a sedative and order mental health counseling,” I said.
“Mahalo for the information, but let’s leave the diagnosis and treatment up to the doctor, okay?” she said.
“Just trying to save you some time,” I said.
I helped David and Lili get out their insurance cards and answer basic questions. When they were called in, I told them I had to leave but I’d be back as soon as I could.
Next stop, Shayna’s. Shayna’s remark about “messing up” was still rattling around my brain.
Her scary dog was nowhere in sight, but her equally scary daughter answered the door.
“Yeah?” she said. “What do you want? My mom’s not here.”
“Where did she go?”
“How should I know? She makes me tell her where I’m going every time I gotta take a pee, but when she goes out, she don’t tell me nuthin’.”
I stared her down. Sometimes silence is more effective than asking twice.
“I think she mighta gone to Edie’s. You know, the house across from my tutu’s.” I’d never thought of it, but Malia had been a grandmother. I wondered what she’d thought of her surly granddaughter with the piercings, tattoos, and toxic attitude.
I left the car where it was and jogged the five blocks to Edie’s. I hadn’t been able to work out in what seemed like week
s and the feel of my legs hitting pavement and my arms pumping was exhilarating. The past hour had dumped enough adrenaline in my system to run a marathon. As I ran, I looked to the west. I couldn’t see the ocean—too many houses and trees—but Kona is the site of one of the world’s most respected triathlons. How ironic that in the time I’d spent there my fitness routine had taken a full-on nosedive.
My cell phone chimed as I rounded the corner to Edie’s. I checked the caller ID. It was Farrah. I let it go to voicemail.
Edie’s door was open. She and Shayna were standing in the living room. I rapped on the door sill and they both turned. Shayna’s face looked like she’d been non-stop crying since the last time I’d seen her.
“Pali,” said Edie. “We were just talking about you and now here you are!” She had a big smile on her face; like the guest of honor had just shown up at the surprise party.
“I need to talk to Shayna,” I said.
“Sure, hon,” said Edie. “Why don’t we all just take a seat?”
I considered asking for privacy, but in Edie’s world, shutting her out would be tantamount to a punch in the gut. That line from the movie, “Dirty Dancing” came to mind: “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
Shayna lumbered over to the sofa and plopped herself square in the middle. Edie and I made do with the two uncomfortable wicker chairs opposite.
“I know you’ve been upset about your mom,” I said. “And I’m sorry to keep asking you questions. But what did you mean about ‘messing up’ when you went to your mom’s house that last day?”
Shayna’s face crumpled and, for a second, I felt a pang of guilt for picking the scab. But it was time for everything to come out. And, hard as it was, maybe I was doing her a favor. I had a hunch a lot of her anguish was the result of an incorrect assumption.
“I didn’t give her an insulin shot that morning,” she said. “I saw my dad’s truck there, so I turned around and left. I knew they’d be fighting and yelling at each other, and I didn’t want to deal with it. I figured my dad would leave in a little while and I’d go back over. But when I did, I found my mom…” She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. I wanted to hand her a tissue, but I hadn’t brought my purse with me.
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