by Toby Neal
“So we are the first police officers to talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“Tell us what happened.”
“We were at a Hui gathering. Just a small one, where we were learning to be team leaders for our patrol groups. Do you know about the Heiau Hui?”
Ferreira spoke up. “Yes, we’re aware. I hear good things about what you’re doing.”
“I don’t understand it.” Guinamo shook his close-cropped head of wiry black hair. “We were listening to our leader, Charles Awapuhi, when suddenly he pretends to be sniffing the air. ‘I smell a rat,’ he says. ‘I smell a piggy rat.’ Everyone starts looking around all confused, and then he points a finger at Brandon.” Guinamo looked at his hands again. “Mahoe, he’s my friend; we go back to small kid time. He stands proud. Doesn’t say a word. Awapuhi comes over, pokes him in the chest. ‘Who you been ratting to, boy?’ and Mahoe, he says nothing. Then Awapuhi punches him right in the stomach. Suddenly, everyone starts punching him, and one guy he even had a bat! I jumped in and started fighting, trying to get them off him, but once he was down, on the ground, Awapuhi called them off. “Nuff already,” he says. “We just want to send a message.” And they all walked off. I called nine-one-one for an ambulance and they came. I called his mom. I know her. She went through his pockets and found the phone with your number on it.”
“Why didn’t some officers respond to your nine-one-one call?” Stevens asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Did anyone besides you know Brandon was a police officer?”
“Yes. Plenty people knew. He wasn’t trying to hide it.”
“Are there any other police officers in the Heiau Hui?”
“Yes.” Now Guinamo looked down. “But I’d rather not name them.”
“Tell me more about the Hui, how Awapuhi runs things.”
“Until now, he’s been hard but fair. We all knew he was the boss, but this was the first time I saw him target anyone. Why Brandon?”
Stevens didn’t answer, enduring his guilt. He took down Guinamo’s contact information. “Can you send in Mrs. Mahoe, please? And thank you for sticking up for Brandon. Who knows? You might have saved his life.”
“I just hope he’s okay,” Guinamo said. “Least I could do for my friend.”
“Get those knuckles looked at,” Stevens said, as the young man stood up. “I think you might have cracked something.”
Mrs. Mahoe came in next. Stevens peered past her. “Is there a Mr. Mahoe?”
“No,” she answered shortly, taking a seat. “What was my son doing for you that put him in this kind of danger?”
“I’m so sorry for what happened, Mrs. Mahoe. Your son is a brave man. He’s a hero.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” She folded her arms over her considerable chest and narrowed her eyes at him. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“I’m sorry. I mean no disrespect, but I can’t discuss an open investigation. May I have the phone, please?” A long moment passed; then Mrs. Mahoe reached into the pocket of the capris and smacked it into his hand. “Thank you. What can you tell me about the Heiau Hui and their activities?”
“Don’t know much. I work at the Lahaina Luau. I’m a fire dancer.” Stevens blinked, trying to keep the surprise off his face, but she must have seen it, because she gave a tiny smile. “I’m very good at juggling flaming coconuts and pretty much anything else. Anyway, too busy to get involved when Brandon told me he was starting to work with them—but it seemed like a good thing, organizing to protect our heiaus. Now I’m starting to think they’re only a gang of thugs.”
“What do you know about Charles Awapuhi, the leader here on Maui?”
“I went to school with him.”
Stevens looked down, took a note as Mrs. Mahoe went on.
“He was always a little radical. Liked risks. Liked to push things. He got his first head tattoo in high school. Even then, he was declaring he didn’t want to have to live like other people. He did that tattoo knowing it was going to make it hard for him to get a job.”
“Why do you think he targeted your son?”
“Because he found out Brandon was reporting to you on the Hui activities.” Her eyes were hard. Stevens had to resist the desire to look away from her gaze. “I hope whatever Brandon told you was worth it.”
“It could never be worth what happened to your son,” Stevens said, and extended his hand to Mrs. Mahoe. “I’m so sorry.”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears as she took his hand in both of hers. “Brandon loves being a police officer. He thinks so much of you.”
Now it was Stevens who had to blink. “This is enough for now. We have enough to move on.”
Ferreira stood up and embraced Mrs. Mahoe. “He’s going to be okay,” the grizzled detective said. “Keep praying.”
As they walked down the hall, Stevens glanced at Ferreira. “We still have to remind ourselves the Hui isn’t the real problem.” They brushed through the automatic doors of the hospital. “They’re a problem, all right, but they arose as a result of the desecrations. If we can stop the looting and retrieve the artifacts, there will be no reason for the Hui to exist.”
“Unless they decide they want to take on another cause,” Ferreira said.
“Well, let’s hope this whole thing subsides when we get the looters and whoever’s paying them. I’ll coordinate the arrest warrant for Charles Awapuhi with Captain Omura. You get back to the station and keep an eye on things,” Stevens said.
“Right, boss.”
They peeled off to their separate vehicles.
Chapter 22
Lei woke up the next morning to the unfamiliar twittering of blackbirds in the California oaks outside. She was curled up next to her aunt, and for a moment she savored the feeling of safety, belonging, and love that Rosario’s nearness brought her. She’d gone to live with her aunt when she was nine years old, after her mother’s death, and had slept in her aunt’s bed for the first two years. She’d been unable to tolerate the anxiety of being alone.
The memory of her aunt’s condition crashed in on Lei, and she felt herself curling up tight against the pain of the oncoming loss. There was no doubt death was coming—it was all around Lei in the smell that filled the room.
Lei turned her face into the pillow to muffle the sound of her sobs. In spite of that, she felt her aunt’s hand, light and soft, stroking her hair.
“You’re here,” Rosario said. “You’re here.”
Lei reached out and put her arms around her aunt’s shrunken form. She pulled her close. “As long as I can be.”
Even as she held her aunt close, the reek of the IV and the smell of her aunt’s body rose up to make Lei’s stomach roil. She shut her eyes and weathered the waves, horrified that she could be having such a physical reaction to her aunt’s illness.
Finally, it was too much, and she let go of Aunty Rosario, getting out of bed. She hurried to the bathroom, shut the door, turned on the water full blast, and made it to the toilet just in time to vomit.
Weak and trembling, she rested her head on the cool porcelain and wondered what she could have eaten that was getting to her.
But maybe she was pregnant. The thought made her heave some more, just from pure terror. It was one thing to think it might be a good idea to let nature take its course. It was another entirely to deal with the real effects.
A knock on the door. “Lei? You okay in there?” Her dad’s worried voice.
“Yeah. Just ate something funny on the plane, I guess. I’ll be out in a few.”
She heard his footsteps pad away.
She stood up carefully, feeling another wave of dizziness and nausea, and turned on the shower. Under the fall of water, she took inventory of her body, running her hands down her arms to feel the familiar ridged lines from past self-injury, across her collarbone to feel the knot of scar left by a perpetrator’s bite, and around her breasts, which felt tender and sore.
; She’d worried she was pregnant before and been wrong, but that night a while back with Stevens might have done it—and if it hadn’t, it certainly hadn’t been for lack of trying. She smiled at the memory of how good that whole night had been. In spite of everything else, their love and passion were only growing.
She’d better get another one of those tests and see what was going on, and if something was, she’d have even more good news for her aunt, maybe enough to keep Rosario alive a little longer.
Lei scrubbed briskly, energized by the thought even as she quavered at the idea of not only dealing with bringing home Kiet but adding their own child to the mix when the baby was less than a year old. But maybe it was like Dr. Wilson had said, that two wasn’t much more work than one. In any case, no point in obsessing until she knew one way or the other.
Lei got dressed and met her dad in the kitchen. He handed her a mug of coffee. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” She didn’t feel able to say more. “What’s the plan for today?”
“I thought you and Rosario could sort all those pictures she took of you as a kid and put them in albums. I brought the photos down from the attic and bought the albums already.”
“Oh, Dad, that’s a great idea. She’s always been working so hard. She used to say she’d do this when she had time,” Lei said. Her eyes welled. “I’m so sick of crying already!”
“Just get used to it. It’s how we roll around here,” Wayne said, his face unashamedly wet. “I don’t feel right if I haven’t cried at least three times a day.”
She hugged his lean body, feeling his hard, tattooed arms come around to squeeze her. “Okay. I’ll just let whatever happens, happen.”
“That’s my girl.” He tweaked her wet curls. “Though you never have been good at that.”
“I think I’m getting better.”
“Well, here are the photos and albums.” He’d set everything out on the little square dining room table. “I have to get to the restaurant soon. I’ve been picking up Rosario’s work.”
“Can I take a quick run to the store before you leave?” Lei had dressed in her running clothes. “I have to pick something up.”
“Sure. Just hurry. They want me in by nine a.m. I’ll try to get her eating some breakfast while you’re gone.”
Lei jogged the several blocks to the pharmacy, feeling her angst lift with the movement of running. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” She’d learned that one from her father and knew it was one of the cornerstones of the twelve-step programs. That prayer had a lot of uses, including accepting that a loved one was dying—or that she might be pregnant.
It is what it is. Another good saying, one she owed to Dr. Wilson.
Lei bought a pregnancy test along with a bright bouquet of sunflowers and jogged back to the house. She put the flowers in water and scraped up her nerve to do the pregnancy test. The sooner she knew, the sooner she could share the news with Aunty, if there was any news to share.
She went into the bathroom and did her business on the stick. She shut the two sides of the plastic slide for the minutes required and got up to wash her hands. Finally, she looked at herself in the mirror, took a deep breath, and opened the slide.
“Blue,” she said aloud, and for a long moment couldn’t remember what that meant. She scrabbled around for the instructions, hands trembling as she read aloud, “A blue result indicates pregnancy. Congratulations!”
She looked up into her own scared eyes and said aloud, “I’m going to be a mama. Of two.” And clapped her hand over her mouth and gave a little scream. She didn’t know if the feeling surging through her was terror or excitement.
She went back out to the kitchen, picked up the vase of sunflowers, and took them in to her aunt.
“Aunty, I brought you something.”
“Oh, honey, I love them. So cheerful!” Rosario looked brighter today. Wayne got up from the chair beside the bed and the bowl of soft cereal he’d been coaxing Aunty to eat.
“Off to work,” he said, dropping a kiss on Lei’s head. “I’ll bring you home something for lunch.”
“Hold on a minute, Dad. I’ve got some news to share with both of you.” She made sure she had both of their full attention. Her mouth trembled as she said, “I’m pregnant.”
“What?” her father exclaimed. “I thought you said it didn’t work!”
Aunty Rosario clapped her hands. “I knew it!”
“Aunty, oh my God.” Lei felt her cheeks burning, and tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe it. I don’t even know how I feel about it really. I was just getting used to the idea of having Kiet, and now we’re going to have another one.”
“This is just the news I needed to hear,” Aunty said. “Come give me a hug.” Lei leaned down for that and then was caught up in her dad’s arms.
“I can’t wait to be a grandpa,” he said gruffly. “Take it easy, now, you hear? No more bombs.”
“Dad. None of your business,” Lei said, but she smiled and patted his shoulder.
“Call that husband of yours,” Wayne said.
“I want to tell him in person,” Lei said. “He’s got a lot going on right now, and I don’t want to distract him.”
“Well, I’ll be back in a few hours and will bring you girls some lunch. Have fun with the photos, and you really made my day.” Wayne kissed her on the top of her head and left.
Lei spent a pleasant couple of hours sorting the box of photos with her aunt, pasting them into the photo albums her father had bought with a glue stick. “Remember Girl Scouts?”
“How could I forget? Lei, the girl who already knew how to fix a meal from stuff she found in the woods and who chased off a bear with a stick before any of the grown-ups knew it had wandered into camp!”
“I liked getting a medal,” Lei said, smoothing the photo of her receiving her “Courage” merit badge. “I think that’s why I’m good at police work. You get to do stuff, and then you get promoted when you do good. The rules are clear, even though I don’t always follow them. I don’t think I would like civilian life. Too fuzzy.”
“Well, for someone who likes clear rules, you sure knew how to break them. Remember prom?” Her aunt held up a photo of Lei in a white dress uniform standing beside a scared-looking boy in a tux.
Lei had been surprised to be asked to prom at all. He’d been a shy boy who’d had a crush on her for years. She decided to go so as not to miss out on a high school ritual, and she’d worn her Reserve Officers’ Training Corps uniform, a high school training elective that focused on preparing college-bound students as officers for the army. “I was proud of being in ROTC. I didn’t see anything weird about it until I got there and saw everyone else was in dresses.”
“That boy had such a crush on you, but I don’t think he said a word all night.”
“He didn’t. I didn’t, either. It was a disaster. Really added to the rumors I was gay.”
“I didn’t know that was going on.”
Lei shrugged. “I punched out the girls who started the rumors. They stopped. Anyway, I’m glad I went to the police academy instead of the army,” Lei said, gluing in the final photo, one of her in uniform, graduating from the police academy. “I wonder what happened to the first nine years of my life. Now that we’re having our own family, I guess I wish I had a little more record of growing up.”
“I don’t know, Sweets.” Her aunt yawned, her hands fluttering on the spread. “You didn’t come to me with anything but a suitcase. I have a few baby photos of you I took and some that Wayne sent me before he went to prison.” She gestured to the dresser. “Top drawer. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a little nap.” And that suddenly, she was asleep.
Lei had to lean in close to see if Aunty’s bony chest was rising and falling. Very small movement, but it was. She got up and opened the top dresser drawer, taking out a small cardboard box.
&
nbsp; She tiptoed out of the room and sorted through the pictures, feeling the bittersweet squeeze of grief as she looked at her mother’s fresh, young, beautiful face beside her own: straight black hair beside curly brown. Lei’s eyes were tilted like her mother’s, but were larger and the golden-brown color her father and aunt shared. Her family tree was truly multicultural.
That blend would be even more mixed in a child she and Stevens would have. Would the child have straight hair or curly? Round eyes or almond-shaped? Brown, green, or blue? They’d just have to wait to find out, just as they would to see what baby Kiet ended up looking like.
Lei stacked the photos together and put them in the box just as her father returned. “Brought you your favorite,” he said. “Beef stew and poi rolls.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Suddenly her upset stomach rumbled with hunger. “That sounds perfect. Aunty just fell asleep.”
“The nurse is coming by in a few hours to do her daily care,” Wayne said. “How was the photo album project?”
“Great. It really seemed to take her back in time. She told me stories about when I came to live with her that I barely remembered. But I was wondering—do you know where any more photos might be, from my first nine years? With you and Mom?”
Wayne looked down as he served the stew from a round cardboard carton. “I’m sorry, Sweets. I remember Maylene had a baby book for you, but after I went to prison, I don’t know what happened to anything.”
“I don’t know either. At some point—after they took you away—we lost so much. Started living in cheap rentals with lots of other people. Mom was using drugs every day she could get them. I don’t remember anything in those rooms but my toys and clothes in one suitcase.”
“You know, we’ve hardly talked about that time before,” he said. “It hurts to hear how my screw-ups affected you.”
“Water under the bridge,” Lei said, as he handed her a bowl of stew. “I would like to have more pictures, though.”
“I wish I had them for you.” Wayne sat down beside her, folded his calloused hands. “Bless this food to our bodies, Lord. And bless my daughter and her family.” He smiled at her and dug in with his spoon. Lei followed suit, suddenly ravenous.
