JoAnn Bassett - Islands of Aloha 07 - Moloka'i Lullaby (21 page)

CHAPTER 30

I was back on Santa Monica Boulevard heading toward the freeway when my phone chimed. I couldn’t possibly answer it. What with trying to listen and follow the GPS lady’s commands, keeping up with the frantic LA traffic, and avoiding getting sideswiped by a guy with a death wish driving a black low-rider Honda Civic, I had my hands full. I hoped whoever was on the line would understand.

A few seconds later the phone pinged, alerting me I had a message. I pulled into a grocery store parking lot and called my voicemail.

“Miss Moon,” said a muffled male voice. “I hear you’re in town. If my check wasn’t satisfactory you could’ve just called. But since you insist on tracking me down like a bounty hunter, why don’t we meet at the house?” He gave me the address: 44 Spindrift, in Marina del Rey.

I punched the address into the nav system. After a few seconds, the exasperated-sounding GPS woman barked,
“Drive to highlighted route
,” and I took the next entrance to the San Diego Freeway south.

Marina del Rey turned out to be, not surprisingly, a pricey upscale neighborhood. The streets were lined with late 20
th
century odes to conspicuous consumption that, no doubt, gave Architectural Digest plenty to chew on. The houses faced a marina, and most of the homes sported million-dollar yachts or sailboats parked within spitting distance of the front door.

I pulled the Sentra a block away from Richard’s place to avoid being mistaken for the cleaning lady, and walked up. His house was a rather refined-looking glass and cedar-shake number, one of the least ostentatious of the lot.

He answered the door himself, and he was not in his wheelchair.

“You look downright hale and hearty for a dead man,” I said. I’d been practicing that line for the past few minutes.

“Do come in, Miss Moon,” he said.

He led me up a small flight of stairs to a living room with floor to ceiling windows that looked out on the sparkling waterway. A sailboat with a crisp white triangular sail glided by as if on cue.

“Beautiful view,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sure Amanda misses it.”

“I don’t have much time,” I said.

“Of course. I’ll get my checkbook.” He turned to leave.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh?” He cocked his head like a robin listening for a worm.

“I’d like to hear what really happened at George’s that night.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he said.

“Not really. Your note said you’d enlisted Lono’s help in your, as you say, ‘escape,’ but that doesn’t really add up.”

“Are you acting on your own behalf, or at the behest of the authorities?”

“On my own,” I said. “And, I want to be able to give a grieving friend of mine some answers.”

“Amanda?”

“Hardly. After you left, Lono—you know, the guy you paid to help you escape—asked his mother to hold the money for him, and then he took off. A short time later, he committed suicide. He hung himself. His mother believes he killed himself out of shame because he’d stolen the money, and to avoid going back to prison.”

By now, Richard’s face had become a mask of confusion.

I went on. “Are you aware Amanda told the police that Lono pushed you in the pool?”

“Well, good for her,” he said. “For once in her life, she told the truth.”

“He threw you in?”

“Well, it wasn’t as dramatic as all that,” he said. “It was more like he assisted me. It was dark, and I was concerned I might go into the shallow end and crack my head.”

“What were you doing?”

He let out an irritated sigh. “I needed to get out of there in a swift and discreet manner. Actually, I was quite pleased with my strategy: I’d fall in the pool, then they’d call an ambulance, and I’d bribe whomever necessary to file a false report of my death. Sometimes the best plans are the most simple.”

“But why all the subterfuge? Why not just tell Amanda the engagement was off, and go on your way?”

“Oh my dear, it wasn’t just Amanda I needed to elude.”

Now it was my turn to look like I was straining to hear that worm.

He went on. “I had to get away from George, and the feds he’d called in to hound me. After all these years, can you imagine? One little slip and he alerts the FBI.”

“What’s the FBI got to do with it?”

“You’ve never heard of the Art Crime Team of the FBI? They’re lunatic. I was facing decades in federal prison, along with losing everything I own to pay the fines.”

“Why did you agree to see me today? I could report you.”

“My dearest girl,” he said. “No disrespect, but I hardly think the federal authorities would take you seriously. I asked you here today because I thought I owed you money. I may be a crazy old man to go after a nubile young thing such as Amanda, but I am
not
a deadbeat.”

“What about Lono?” I said. “His death is on you. You set him up.”

“How so?”

“You gave him all that cash he couldn’t account for. Then, you made sure Amanda witnessed him pushing you in the pool before you faked your death, making him liable for manslaughter. He’s already on parole for another manslaughter conviction, did you know that?”

“Oh, my,” he said. “You make me sound so cunning. I may have heard some talk of him being on parole, but I certainly don’t feel responsible for his suicide.”

“But if you knew he was on parole, you must have realized he’d be sent back to prison if he was charged with your death.”

“Ah, good point. Perhaps he should’ve weighed that consequence before he had sex with my fiancé.” His lips drew up in a thin smile.

So, he knew.

I thanked him for his time and left. I sat in the Sentra for almost ten minutes before starting the car. I was not quite ready to go back and face my own consequences with Hatch. But then, I knew I never would be.

CHAPTER 31

Hatch was offered the job right on the spot. It seems they’d interviewed the other candidates earlier in the week, so they were in a position to make an immediate offer. He told me he openly discussed his desire to make captain ASAP with them, and they were impressed with his drive and his “healthy ambition.” They dazzled him with a sizable raise, moving expenses, and even relocation assistance in finding a house and shipping his truck to the mainland.

“So, did you take it?” I said.

“I told them I had to talk it over with my fiancée,” he said.

“I really don’t want to move,” I said.

“But babe, I’ll be making so much more money, we can live close to the water. Maybe Redondo Beach or even Seal Beach, if you want. I don’t mind commuting.”

“I just drove in LA traffic and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” I said. I hadn’t slipped; it was time to come clean.

“What? I thought you said you were gonna read your book by the pool while I was gone.”

“Yeah. Well, I didn’t.”

I told him the whole twisted story of Richard and Amanda and Lono, and how they’d betrayed each other in an intricate dance of lies and deceit.

“Speaking of deceit,” he said in a steely voice that put the GPS lady to shame. “Is that the only reason you came with me to LA?”

“What? You mean to talk to Richard?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t even nod.

“Okay, maybe I was a little sneaky about it. But I didn’t want us to have a fight. When I learned Richard was probably still alive, I had to check it out.”

“And you let me pay your way,” he said. “Even then, you didn’t tell me the truth.”

“What’s the big deal? I offered to get my own ticket. You wouldn’t let me. See? This is the fight I didn’t want to have before you went in for your interview.”

“Well, at least thanks for that,” he said.

“What do you want to do?” I said.

“I think you’ve already made your decision, Pali, and I’ve got to honor it. I still love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I started to twist the engagement ring off my finger, and he reached over and stopped me.

“Keep it. I don’t want it back. You said you love me; and there’s no need to rush things. Maybe after I’m gone, you’ll change your mind. I hope to God you do.”

I’d never loved him more than I did at that moment.

***

I returned to Maui alone. Hatch had gone back to our room and called LA City Fire to tell them he’d accept their offer, and he’d like to start looking for houses right away. The next morning they sent a relocation specialist to take him around town and show him some homes. I met her in the lobby as I was on my way out to the airport. She was early thirties, blond, with a nice figure and a wide Crest-strip smile. It looked like the big city fire department knew exactly how to keep their new hires happy.

As usual, Steve picked me up at the Kahului airport. He made a good show of hand patting and frown-face “Sorry’s”—so much so that I had to ask him to put a lid on it.

“But it’s just a moratorium, right?” he said. “I mean, you didn’t totally throw him over.”

“I might as well have,” I said. “He’s not gonna wait forever.”

“So, what is it with you?” Steve said. “You’d think with your job, you’d be all chomping at the bit to get married.”

“Yeah, you’d think so.”

***

Steve said he needed to make a quick stop at the Gadda da Vida on the way back. When we went in, I was shocked to see Farrah behind the front counter.

“What are you doing here?” I sputtered.

“I work here,” she said with a grin. “In fact, word on the street is I own this groovy joint.”

I ran behind the counter and gave her a tight hug. She hugged me back, and kissed my cheek.

“Where are the
keiki
?” I said.

“Down on the boat. They got sprung earlier than we thought. The doc said they’d both made awesome progress, and they were free to boogie. I’m going back down there now, but I wanted to be here when you got back.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Sorry about you and Hatch. Steve told me.”

“It’s okay. We’re just taking some time to be sure.”

“So, you’re not moving to LA?”

“No,” I said.

“Not ever?”

“We both know I can’t promise that.”

She checked the Fritz the Cat clock on the wall.

“Gotta boogie,” she said. “Have you heard? I’m the new poster girl for Dairy Queen.”

She pointed to her breasts, which were well concealed by the soft folds of her
mu’u mu’,
but looked impressive nonetheless.

“Hey,” she went on. “Since I’m now doing cow-duty, do you think I’d be a deity in India? You know, they’re totally into cows there. They’re like, gods or something.”

I assured her the people of India would love her, regardless.

Steve had quietly slipped down one of the grocery aisles after the first mention of lactation, but when Farrah called to him he hustled back. He said he’d be happy to take her down to Lahaina and asked if I wanted to ride along. I declined, promising Farrah I’d come down later to visit.

I went next door to my shop and got on the phone. I bought a ticket on the early flight to Moloka’i the next morning. I could’ve gone that afternoon, but I needed time to think.

***

George picked me up at the Moloka’i airport. I thought he’d send a minion, but he came himself in his black Land Rover. On the way to Malama’s I told him I’d talked to Richard and he’d confessed to faking his death, to rid himself of Amanda and to beat the federal charges for art forgery.

“Do you know where he is?” he said.

“I’m not sure,” I lied. I’d wanted to put his mind at ease about his long-time partner and friend still being alive, but I’m not a snitch.

“You know,” he said. “If I told the feds I have good reason to believe he’s alive, they could probably locate him in pretty short order.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because he besmirched our company name. He’s a liar and a cheat.”

“He made a mistake,” I said. “How about you? Haven’t you ever made a mistake?”

“Plenty,” he said. “But I didn’t drag my friends down with me.”

“He said he was sorry about that,” I said. I wasn’t sure if Richard really was sorry, but I was there to mend fences, so it didn’t seem that wrong to hammer in a few false nails.

“You’re right,” he said with a sigh. “And turning him in won’t do much to restore my reputation.”

“Yes. It’s probably best to just let it go.”

He paused for a moment. “But I hold him completely responsible for Lono’s death. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to forgive him for that.”

“Neither will I,” I said.

And that was the bitter truth.