Paradise, Passion, Murder

by Terry Ambrose

  “Lei, this is Fai Afa. My roommate.” And this time, when Consuelo raised her eyes to the agent, she knew her expression was pleading. Much as she was tempted by the opportunity to escape, she wanted more than anything to have this awful dilemma taken from her.

  “Is this girl threatening you?” Lei’s gaze seemed to bore into Consuelo’s, then she switched her gaze to Fai. Consuelo riffled through her choices mentally as her hand automatically stroked the Chihuahua snuggled up to her shoulder.

  “No. We’re friends,” Consuelo said. “Fai’s helped me a lot in here. Kept the bullies away.” This was perfectly true, and Fai patted Consuelo’s back in an approximation of friendly approval.

  “That’s right. No one messes with my friends.”

  Jadene approached. “I’ve noticed you every week when you come,” the skinny blonde said to Lei. Consuelo’s stomach turned at the girl’s shy act, so sincere and so false. “It’s great how someone important like you is taking care of Consuelo’s dog.”

  The two girls hovered nearby for the duration of Lei’s visit, taking turns petting Angel and making it impossible to get a moment alone. Lei seemed to be buying the other girls’ friendly act, and Consuelo’s stomach tightened at the thought of how her mentor would feel when she heard of the trio’s escape.

  Betrayed.

  Consuelo knew how betrayal felt. Her situation squeezed her like the tightening coils of a boa constrictor.

  Lei smiled at the other girls. “Can I get a moment alone with Consuelo? News of her family.”

  Consuelo had no family but her stressed-out aunt, who’d only visited once, but Fai and Jadene didn’t know that. Fai gave Consuelo a last glance over her shoulder, and they moved off.

  Lei leaned forward, petting Angel, who’d gone limp and fallen asleep under all the attention, and now snoozed in the crook of Consuelo’s arm.

  “Is there something you need to tell me?” Lei’s voice was soft and a fall of her curly dark-brown hair hid her lips from the prying eyes that Consuelo could feel on her back.

  “I’d like a different roommate,” Consuelo whispered. “As soon as possible.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Lei whispered back. Consuelo felt a weight lift. She wasn’t going to have to deal with this situation if she could just get Fai out of her room.

  It was an emotional wrench, as usual, when she said goodbye to Lei and Angel, but there was a little more spring in her walk as she left the visiting area. Maybe Lei could get Fai away from her.

  Fai caught her in the hall on their way to their room, hooking an arm around Consuelo’s bruised neck in a parody of friendship that the nearby correctional officer, a big mixed Hawaiian woman they called Aunty Marcy, didn’t react to.

  “How’s your family?” Fai asked, giving Consuelo a little push into their room.

  “Fine.” Consuelo tried to get some distance. The door was kept open except at night, and even then, the COs checked on the girls periodically through the wire-covered viewing window. Fai followed Consuelo in, crowding her.

  Consuelo had had enough. She whirled toward the bigger girl. “Leave me alone,” she hissed. “I said I’d go. I didn’t say anything to Lei, even though she asked me if I was okay. I kept your secret, and I’m going along with your plan. So leave me the hell alone. You keep hassling me, someone’s going to realize something’s up.”

  “What’s the problem here?” Aunty Marcy boomed from the doorway. Consuelo, hands on her hips, glared up at the big Tongan and didn’t look away.

  “Everything’s fine, Aunty Marcy,” she said.

  Fai took a step back, turned to face Aunty Marcy with a smile that showed all her straight, white teeth. “This girl. She keeps trying to borrow my panties.”

  Aunty Marcy gave a snort of laughter at the unlikely scenario. She watched a minute longer, but Consuelo just climbed into her bunk and reached for her notebook as Fai sat down at the little desk with one of her community college textbooks.

  Turned toward the wall, Consuelo opened her notebook and uncapped her pen. She had an idea of what she could do.

  Lei held up her cred wallet at the exit sally port so that the guard could see it. “I need to speak to the warden,” she said.

  The man nodded and picked up the phone. A few minutes later, a correctional officer opened the door. “Right this way, ma’am.”

  Lei wondered at what point she’d crossed that invisible age line into ‘ma’am.’ She followed the stocky CO down the hall. Efforts had been made, in this area at least, to soften the look of the youth facility. Artwork by the kids decorated the walls. An incomplete hand-painted mural gave a sense of something abandoned, as many of the kids were.

  Lei had taken a moment to put Angel back in the car with the windows down before returning to speak to the warden. She thought over her visit with Consuelo. There was no doubt something was wrong, and Lei hadn’t needed Consuelo’s whispered request for a new roommate to tell her it had something to do with the big Tongan girl and her haole sidekick.

  The warden was an older Caucasian man wearing Hawai‘i business-casual: a muted aloha shirt and chinos. A ring of keys and an ID badge bounced above his belt buckle.

  “I’m Grover Smith. How can I help the FBI today?” The man’s weathered skin crinkled around blue eyes faded by years of squinting. Sailor or golfer, Lei guessed as she shook his hand.

  “I’m here on behalf of Consuelo Aguilar,” Lei said.

  “Ah, our famous inmate,” Smith said. “What’s she done now?”

  Lei laughed politely. “As you may know from the media, I was the one to capture and bring her in. I’ve been—mentoring her, shall we say, and it appears that there’s a problem with her roommate.”

  “So you’re not here in an official capacity.” The smiley crinkles disappeared from Smith’s face. “The internal affairs of the youth facility are none of the FBI’s business.”

  “I realize that, of course.” Lei’s heart rate spiked with anger, but she made an open gesture with her hands, still smiling. Hard lessons in the past had taught her not to show emotions to these bureaucrat types. “I believe Consuelo’s being intimidated by her roommate. There could be trouble. I just thought I’d give you a heads-up that Wendy Watanabe, of KHIN-2, also has an interest in Consuelo and could pop by at any time. She’s told me she’s thinking of doing an in-depth piece on the facility.”

  Smith glared, hands on his hips. “You can’t blackmail me with media pressure. She gets no preferential treatment. It sets a bad precedent.”

  “There has never been, nor likely ever will be, another case like hers,” Lei said tightly. “She’s not one to complain, but she asked me to help her get another roommate. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it meant something serious was going on.”

  “I’ll take it under advisement. Now, if there’s nothing else…”

  Lei could tell he wasn’t going to budge.

  “No.” She spun on her heel and headed outside. There was no point in any further social niceties.

  At her truck, Lei petted Angel as she thumbed through the contacts on her phone to find Wendy Watanabe’s personal cell. She didn’t think she and the petite anchorwoman would ever be friends, but they’d come to a mutual respect for each other over several cases—and a shared interest in the brave teen who’d captured both of their hearts.

  “Texeira. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Watanabe’s voice was crisp.

  “I’m at Ko‘olau Youth Correctional. Consuelo’s got a problem with her roommate. Big Tongan girl named Afa. I’m going to look into Afa’s criminal background, but I thought you might be interested in the fact that Warden Smith blew off my warning of a problem and Consuelo’s request for another roommate.”

  “Jerk.” Lei could almost see the narrowing of Watanabe’s almond-shaped, sharp brown eyes. “I wasn’t kidding. I want to do a story on that
place.”

  “This might not be a bad time to poke around. I have a feeling our girl’s in trouble. She wouldn’t tell me more, but for her to ask for help….”

  “Yeah. I’m on it.” Watanabe hung up with a brisk click.

  Satisfied for the moment, Lei started her vehicle. “Gotta get back to the Bureau and run background on Afa and her friend,” she told Angel. “But it’s late. I’m sure tomorrow will be soon enough.”

  Consuelo started awake, her heart pounding. Fai was shaking her shoulder roughly.

  “It’s time.” The older girl thrust a handful of clothing at her.

  Despair nipped at Consuelo even as adrenaline hit her system. If Lei had tried to get her transferred, it hadn’t happened quickly enough. She climbed out of the bunk and changed into the nylon basketball shorts and tank top Fai handed her. The older girl had received a package yesterday, and gym clothing was allowed for when the girls had exercise time, so apparently Fai had obtained an extra set for Consuelo. The box had been opened by the COs, but they had missed the little extras Fai’s uncle had included.

  Both girls put the few things they wanted to keep into pillowcases; Consuelo packed the photo of Angel and the Canfield quote, a few old photos of her family, and her notebook.

  “Yeah, don’t you try to leave that notebook behind,” Fai hissed. “I don’t want you giving away any clues.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Consuelo said stiffly.

  The room was dim, the only illumination thin, milky moonlight coming in through the high window and an embedded night light the C.O’s used for checking on the inmates. Fai opened the box of her package and tore open a large loaf of cellophane-wrapped banana bread. Boxes were X-rayed for metal or weapons, but only visually inspected after that.

  Packages were also sniffed by scent dogs; the strong smell of banana bread must have thrown the dogs off too, because inside the loaf were two plastic vials, which wouldn’t have set off any detection equipment.

  “Now comes the tricky part,” Fai whispered. Consuelo could tell the other girl was nervous by the tremble in her voice. The Tongan girl unscrewed the pointed caps of the vials and squeezed the contents into the crack adjacent to the door lock.

  A combustible combination of acids, the chemicals began working as soon as they connected with each other. A thin wisp of toxic-smelling smoke wafted from the doorjamb.

  Consuelo hid her face, breathing through the edge of her blanket and shutting her eyes against the fumes. Her mind ticked over the steps she’d taken, and what she could do next. There hadn’t been much. A few minutes later, Fai grabbed her shoulder.

  “I think it’s ready.” With no interior handle, there was no way to open the door but to push. Fai pushed. The door gave a bit, but held.

  “I don’t think the acid ate all the way through the wood,” Fai whispered harshly. “Come help me.”

  The two girls ended up running and throwing their weight against the door. The remaining wood finally gave with a crack and squeal that sounded like a scream.

  Once out in the hall, Fai in the lead, they hurried to the room where Jadene was locked in with her roommate. Both of those girls were awake. Fai had a plastic key to their door, and unlocked it. At the last minute, Jadene and Fai turned on Jadene’s roommate, a sturdy local girl named Nani, and shoved her back in, locking her inside the room.

  “Bitches!” Nani yelled. She pounded and screamed, but the walls and doors were fairly soundproof.

  “We have to hurry now,” Fai said. They ran down the hall. As had been arranged with one of the C.O.’s who owed Fai’s uncle a favor, the door into the rec room was left unlocked. From there it was a simple matter to open the exterior door out into the yard.

  There were surveillance cameras in the hall, the rec room, and on the yard, but Fai’s uncle had also paid for the system to be down for maintenance. The girls trotted unchallenged across the yard, keeping to the shadows, to a chosen exit point in the shadow of one of the buildings.

  Fai squatted down and dug in the soil just beneath the chain-link fence topped in coils of razor wire. She produced a pair of heavy wire cutters. Consuelo felt her heart sink. She looked back around, her gaze desperately sweeping the dim yard.

  She’d never expected them to get this far.

  Fai began cutting the wire in a seam, Jadene prying the wire open further as she made each cut.

  Suddenly the lights went on inside the main cinderblock building, and a pulsing electronic alarm split the air.

  “That stupid Nani,” Jadene hissed. “I bet she got someone to come with all her carrying on.”

  Fai hunched her shoulders, throwing muscle into the cutting. “Almost there.”

  Consuelo looked back again, still hoping someone would stop them. One of the doors to the main hall flew open.

  “Halt!” an amplified voice yelled, but Fai had made the opening big enough. She wriggled through, tearing the fabric of her shorts on the sharp wire. Jadene whirled and grabbed a handful of Consuelo’s long hair, pushing her in front. “Get through there, bitch.”

  “No,” Consuelo cried. “Help! Help me!”

  Fai reached back through the hole and grabbed Consuelo, but she struggled harder, desperation giving her strength as she writhed and twisted in the other girls’ grip.

  “No! I don’t want to do this!” she yelled. Jadene finally let go and dove through the hole into Fai’s arms. The two older girls hit the ground, scrambled up, and ran for a black pickup truck Consuelo could just make out idling at the edge of the cleared area that marked the compound’s boundary.

  Consuelo fell to her knees and clasped her hands behind her head, watching the girls reach the truck, jump in, and speed off. The CO pursuing reached her and knocked her flat to the ground, cuffing her, then yanking her up roughly.

  “Where did they go?” The head night watchman, Keone, was a heavyset man. He’d always been someone she avoided. All the unplanned running had made his breath short, and he puffed cigarette breath into her face as he panted. Consuelo felt his rage at being made to look incompetent. She cried out as he shook her. “Tell me now!”

  “I didn’t want to break out! I tried to stay here. Please call my friend, Agent Texeira!” Consuelo cried.

  “I’ll call someone for you,” Keone said, and backhanded her so hard everything went black.

  Consuelo awoke on a gurney trundling somewhere. She tried to sit up. Panic surged through her as she discovered she was restrained at feet and hands. Every part of her was strapped down.

  “Help! Help me!” she screamed, thrashing. “Help!”

  “You just hush that noise.” The voice speaking to her was familiar—Aunty Marcy, who’d often been kind. “Calm down. You’re going to the infirmary.”

  Consuelo forced her muscles to relax as ceiling lights moved by overhead. Her cheek throbbed where Keone had hit her. Her scalp hurt from the other girls pulling her hair.

  “Call my friend Lei Texeira,” she whispered to the C.O. “Please. I left a note for her in my room. I was forced. I didn’t want to go with them.”

  They’d wheeled into the infirmary. “Just relax,” Aunty Marcy said. Consuelo yelped as the medic stabbed her in the arm with a needle. A few minutes later she slid into darkness again.

  Consuelo woke up to a dry mouth and pounding in her head. She sat up slowly, relieved not to be restrained, and looked around.

  As she’d expected, she was in the isolation unit. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen the inside of this little shoebox from hell. She’d got in a scuffle early on, and spent a few days in here. The worst thing about “the shoe” was not having her notebook.

  Consuelo hoped someone had found the note she’d left, tucked into her bedding, detailing the plan to get out, what she knew about Fai’s plans and family, and that she was being coerced.

  But Keone hadn’t seemed like h
e was listening, and she couldn’t tell if Aunty Marcie was either.

  She looked around. The cot was a single metal shelf covered in rubber that folded up to the wall. There was a toilet, and a sink beside it in one corner. A paper cup rested on the rim of the sink. The walls were padded with berber-style carpet, to keep inmates from injuring themselves and to deaden sound, Consuelo guessed. The only illumination to the roughly six by ten foot space was a wire-covered window near the ceiling, and a couple of embedded glow lights.

  Lying on the cot, Consuelo mentally reviewed the situation. If Aunty Marcie didn’t contact anyone for her, she could be stuck in here for weeks.

  She had to pinch herself on the arm to keep from giving in to the wave of hopelessness that swept over her at the thought. She’d made it through that dark time in the psych hospital by focusing on the things she had to live for, and that would stand her in good stead now, too.

  She might be all alone with hardly any family, but she had friends. Powerful friends. And she had information, too. She’d gleaned all she could about Fai and her gangster uncles. They were connected with the notorious Boyz organized crime operation that controlled the construction trade in Honolulu.

  If she could get someone to listen to her, she might be able to help get them stopped.

  Lying there, she thought of the book proposal her lawyer, Bennie Fernandez, had told her about a few weeks ago.

  “HarperCollins wants to publish your memoir,” the cherubic little lawyer had said, polishing his round glasses. “The conditions of you getting a reduced sentence include that you have to pay back all the property damage you caused. If you write the memoir, you might be able to achieve that, and still have a little something left over for when you get out of here.”

  “How much are they offering?” Consuelo felt a little queasy at the thought of having to put into words the complex reasons that had driven her to steal an airplane and begin a Robin Hood-style crime spree. Even though she hadn’t been involved with the destruction that had followed, she still felt responsible for that, and for the lives her actions had ended up costing. She’d been dealing with the whole situation by focusing on right now, surviving her life in prison. Some days it was all she could do to keep finding reasons to keep waking up in the morning.