Wedding Day Dead: A Murder on Maui Mystery (11 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wish you the best. For what it’s worth, I do think things will turn around for you.”

I stood. Wes said nothing nor did he stand to walk me to the door. I didn’t really expect him to. He didn’t know me, so why would my opinion mean anything to him? I left him sitting behind the desk with his receipts, staring off into space.

I exited Wes’ office and looked for Daphne. She was nowhere in the restaurant, so I figured she had gone outside to my car. I caught a glimpse of Shae behind the bar as I walked toward the front door. She looked worried.

“Is everything all right?” I asked.

“It’s fine,” she said.

“You don’t sound very confident of that. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I just feel terrible for what happened to Panos.”

I nodded.

“We all do,” I said.

“Have you talked to Hani?” she asked.

“Not yet.”

“I was just wondering how she was.”

“I’m sure she’s as torn up as you’d expect her to be.”

“I don’t know what I would do if I’d just lost my fiancé.”

I looked back toward Wes’ office. He was still inside, and I hoped far enough away that he couldn’t hear my conversation with Shae.

“Why do you think things didn’t work out between Panos and Wes? Did Panos really just disappear from this place?”

“He lost interest, like he usually does. He can make you feel like you’re the most important person in the world. Then he’s just gone.”

“So that’s what he did here? This restaurant was important to him until it wasn’t?”

“Once he moved to California, nothing on this island meant anything anymore.”

“Do you remember what time Panos left the party? Did he leave with Hani or Alana?

“I don’t know. I left around two in the morning. He was still here.”

“Who was he talking to?”

“He was outside when I left. He and Hani were arguing. She was screaming at him about something.”

I had a pretty good idea what the fight was about.

“I tried to steer clear of them. I don’t think they saw me,” she said.

“Where was Alana?” I asked, and I felt bad that I was now interjecting my own personal drama into the questioning.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see her.”

I picked up a cocktail napkin off the bar and wrote my phone number down.

“If you remember anything else, please call me,” I said.

I handed her the napkin.

“Do you think Hani will be okay?” she asked.

“I think so. But it will take time.”

I said goodbye to Shae and walked outside. Daphne was on the phone, listening to the person on the other line. She looked up at me as I approached.

“Thank you,” she said into her phone.

Then she pressed the end button on her phone.

“Wes is two months behind on the rent,” she said.

“Who was that on the phone?”

“I called the accountant for my family’s businesses. He collects the rent for this restaurant. Wes is two months behind.”

I didn’t think it necessary to remind her that technically Wes and Panos were behind on the rent.

“Once he hits three months, I can start the process of kicking him out,” she continued.

“Are you sure you don’t want to give him a chance to turn the business around?”

“Why should I?”

“If you kick him out now, you’ll get nothing.”

“I don’t give a damn about the money. I don’t appreciate him trashing Panos like that.”

“We didn’t expect him to be a fan. That’s why we came here. Remember? We need to determine if he had anything to do with Panos’ death.”

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this. It’s too hard.”

“I understand. I don’t mind continuing on my own if that would make it easier.”

Daphne looked back at the restaurant.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Wes comes crawling to me, begging me to forgive the back rent.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Do you want to interview anyone else today?” she asked.

“I think two is enough for one day. I probably should get home and write down notes from what we learned.”

I drove Daphne back to her house and headed to Harry’ Bar for lunch and a beer. I needed the drink.

X

The Surf Shop

D
aphne called me early the next morning and said she didn’t have the energy to go with me to interview Makani. I told her I understood and that I would call or e-mail later in the week with an update on the investigation. The truth was that I thought her absence would allow people to open up more. No one wanted to say anything bad about the deceased, especially in front of his sister. She also told me she and Kalena were leaving for California for a few days to attend the funeral.

Daphne gave me the address for a surf shop that Makani owned with his brother in Kihei. I put the top down on the convertible and set off for what I guessed would be an hour drive. The traffic in Kihei was usually bad since there was one main road that led in and out of that part of the island. It was a beautiful beach, and the weather was always sunny, so if I did get stuck in traffic, at least it would be in pleasant weather. I was actually a little apprehensive about interviewing Makani. He’d been thoroughly humiliated by Panos at the rehearsal party. I didn’t want to ‘pile on’ so to speak. However, Daphne identified him as a suspect, and I thought he was too. I couldn’t stop shaking the feeling that Panos would have simply slapped Makani if he confronted him on that boat. Makani didn’t seem to have the courage to hurt anyone, let alone a guy as large as Panos.

I drove past the surf shop twice before I finally guessed it was hidden in the back of a strip mall. The shop was tucked into a far corner, and the sign above the front door faced away from the street. I thought you’d either have
to accidentally stumble upon the shop or already know it was there. I couldn’t imagine they did much business there.

I walked into the store, and a little bell jangled to alert them of my arrival. A young guy, maybe college-aged, sat behind the counter in the back of the store. He read what looked like an extreme sports magazine. He didn’t seem to care that he had a potential customer because he never took his eyes off the magazine. I looked around the store. No customers were there. I walked up to the counter. The guy still didn’t look at me. I pressed my body against the edge of the counter and started to count silently in my head until he acknowledged my presence. I thought it had become a sort of contest of wills between the two of us. I got up to thirty-seven before he spoke. He still didn’t look at me, though.

“Can I help you?” he asked with zero enthusiasm.

“I’m looking for Makani,” I said.

“He’s out back on his break.”

I looked to the back corner of the store. There was an open door that I guessed led to a storage room. I assumed there was a door in the back of that room that would take me behind the strip mall.

“Do you mind if I cut through there?” I asked and nodded to the back room.

“Nope,” he said.

I didn’t know if he meant ‘nope’ he didn’t mind or ‘nope’ he didn’t want me to walk through the storage room. I thought about advising Makani to terminate this young man’s employment contract but then worried he might actually be a relative of his. I couldn’t figure out how else he could keep the job. I walked through the back room and saw an open door that led to the outside. I smelled cigarette smoke as I got closer.

I walked outside and saw Makani sitting on a white plastic bucket that was turned upside down. He was leaning against the wall of the building. He looked up at me as I approached him. I thought about making a comment regarding how cigarettes kill. Instead, I decided not to be a smartass and just smiled at him. Makani must have read my mind. He ground the cigarette out on the pavement.

“I actually quit several years ago but just started back,” he said.

I introduced myself and told him Hani had given me his name, which wasn’t true, but I wasn’t sure how else to start the conversation that wouldn’t immediately cause his deflectors to go up.

“How’s she doing?” he asked.

“Not well. She’s staying with her sister, so that should help some.”

“Alana was always there for her,” Makani said.

“How’d you two meet?” I asked.

“High school. We had several classes together. We ended up going to the same college.”

“And you dated all through school?” I asked.

“Yeah, but then I dropped out to open the shop with my brother. Work got kind of busy, and I spent less and less time with her. We just drifted apart.”

I wondered if that was the excuse he came up with or if it was just a better way of saving face in front of me. The version I got was that Hani simply got bored with him. I couldn’t blame her at the moment. This guy seemed like a deflated dud. He didn’t even stand to talk to me. He just kept leaning against the wall.

“Why did you come to the party?” I asked.

“To stop her from marrying that guy. He was wrong for her.”

“So you wanted her back?”

“No, I just didn’t want her to make a mistake with him. Everyone knew what Panos was like. He cheated on her constantly.”

“So you thought you were going to talk her out of marrying him at her own rehearsal party?”

“When else was I going to do it? I didn’t even know about the wedding until that morning. I tried calling her several times. I even went over to her house. I couldn’t find her until that night.”

“You really care for her,” I said. “It must have been hard to have seen her with Panos.”

“The guy was an asshole.”

“I wished he didn’t treat you like that. I’m sure you wanted to get back at him.”

Makani finally stood up.

“What do you want from me, man?” Makai asked.

“I told you. Hani asked me to come see you. She wanted me to see if you were okay.”

I could see Makani trying to decide whether or not he believed me.

“She said she looked for you after the party but couldn’t find you,” I said.

“Tell Hani I’m fine. I hope she feels better.”

Makani abruptly ended the conversation and walked into the shop.

I hated to admit it, but my interview with Makani had been a bit of a bust. I just wanted to take off and be done with it. I didn’t want to have to walk back through the shop to get to my car. I also didn’t want to have to take the long way down the backside of the strip mall, walk down the street, and then walk all the way down the front side of the mall to get to the back corner where I parked. So I headed into the storage room and made my way into the shop. The guy behind the counter was still absorbed with his magazine, but now I saw a new guy talking to Makani. They were about the same height and weight and had similar facial features, but while Makani projected timidity, this new guy had the air of a cage fighter getting pumped up for a pay-per-view event.

“Is this the guy?” the new guy said.

“That’s him,” Makani said.

The new guy walked toward me. I stopped in front of the counter. He got a few feet from me. It wasn’t hard to pick up his menacing tone.

“What do you want with Makani?” he asked.

“What business is that of yours?” I asked.

“He’s my brother. He said you were asking questions about that fool, Panos. You with the cops?”

“Not exactly,” I said.

“Then don’t let me see you around no more.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”

“That’s because I didn’t give it to you. Now tell me you understand what I’m saying.”

“Are you always this protective of your adult brother?” I asked.

Cage fighter brother said nothing, and Makani just stood in the background. I wasn’t sure if Makani was intimidated by me or his brother or maybe a stiff ocean breeze could make him shake in his boots. I was beginning to wonder what in the world Hani ever found attractive about this guy. Maybe he changed after she let him go. Maybe that rejection is what crushed his spirit.

“How did it make you feel when Panos made a fool of your brother at the party?” I asked.

“He said what that punk did. I told Panos he’d be sorry if he ever laid hands on my brother.”

“He didn’t lay hands on him. He just laughed at him. A lot of people laughed at him.”

“Panos got what he had coming to him, didn’t he?” the brother said.

“You saying you had something to do with that? It sure sounds like that to me,” I said.

“Adcock already came around here. He knows we had nothing to do with it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Adcock isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. And by the way, don’t ever threaten me again,” I said.

I was expecting a quick reply, but I didn’t get one. The brother just glared at me as I walked to the shop entrance. I halfway expected to be attacked from behind on the way out, but nothing happened. The bell jangled again when I opened the door.

No one said ‘goodbye’ or ‘have a nice day’ on my way out. They really needed to improve their customer service if they were going to stay in business.

I drove home and went straight to the backyard. Foxx and Michelle were in the pool. For a second, I thought I might have walked in on them going at it again, but I noticed they were too far apart.

“Hey, there,” I said.

They both turned to me. Michelle waved.

“How are things going with the investigation?” Foxx asked.

I told him about my conversation with Makani and his brother.

“I met the brother once,” Foxx said. “His name’s Kai, I think. Real hothead.”

“Yeah, he threatened me once or twice during the conversation.”

“Guys like that are all talk,” Foxx said. “The dudes who are quiet, those are the ones to look out for. Those guys end up on a clock tower with a sniper rifle.”

“Well, that would point to Makani as the number one suspect. I could barely get a word out of him.”

I related to Foxx and Michelle that I didn’t see what could have possibly made Hani interested in Makani. They didn’t have a good theory either.

“So what’s next?” Michelle asked.

“Not sure,” I admitted. “I’ve made my way through every name on Daphne’s list. I need a lucky break.”