I'm Kona Love You Forever (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series Book 6) (28 page)

“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.”

Th
e 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.

“The
y 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 help
ed 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, S
hayna’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 weeks 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.

“
Anyway,” she went on. “When Edie told me she OD’d on her insulin, I knew she’d tried to kill herself. All because I wasn’t willing to stand up for her with my father.” Her head was down and her voice so whimpery I probably wouldn’t have understood her if I didn’t already know what she was going to say.

“Your mom didn’t kill herself,” I said.

Shayna’s head popped up like a marionette’s string being yanked.

“What?” she said.

“Yeah, what’re you sayin’?” said Edie.

“I know for a fact your mom didn’t take her own life.”

“Then how come she’s dead?” said Shayna.

That was a
question way above my pay grade.

***

I helped Shayna walk home. I said she’d be hearing from the police, and they’d tell her everything in due time.

“Does David
already know what happened?” she said.

Since she was keeping score, I chose not to play. “I’m not sure what he knows. But the police will probably want to t
alk to the whole family at the same time.”

“
Are you telling me my mom was murdered?”

“I’m not in a position to say. But from the looks of things, that’s
a strong possibility.”

“The looks of what things?” she said.

Before answering, I considered how much I should divulge. “You know Charlene Cooper, right?”

“You mean, Auntie Charlene?
The midwife?”

I nodded.

“She killed my mom?”

“The police are trying to unravel what happened. But
, last night Charlene took her own life. Speculation is she did it to avoid dealing with her role in your mother’s death.” Whew. I could take the stage with that tap dance.

I made sure Shayna was safely inside her house and then
I drove back to the hospital. The woman at the information desk said both Lili and David had been admitted for observation. I asked if I could visit, but she shook her head.

“The police were here a few minutes ago
, but the doctor wouldn’t allow them in. Both patients’ rooms are posted ‘no visitors’.”

I drove down to the coffee farm to see Loke
one last time. I explained Charlene Cooper had used Loke’s daughter’s birth certificate to cover up the birth of a twin girl to Malia Byers.

“Malia never knew?” she said.

“That’s up for speculation. Charlene may or may not have told her, but the results were the same.”

“
So, that’s why Lili’s name was the same as my daughter’s?”

“I assume so,” I said.

Loke’s eyes drifted down, as if puzzling out a difficult math problem. “Wait, if this Lili is actually Malia’s daughter, then that makes David…” She didn’t finish.

I nodded.

“Oh, my God,” she said. “I can’t imagine what Lili must be going through. I’ll be praying for her. For both of them.”

We hugged
, and I went outside to make a phone call.

Farrah answered right away. “Hey you, what’s going on?
You on your way?”

“No, I’m still here in Kona. You’re not gonna believe what I found out.”

“You find out who the girl’s mother is?” she said.

“Oh, yeah.
And it’s a mess.”

“You can tell me all about it when you get back.
The reason I called earlier was to tell you Hatch is bugging out. He came in this morning and said he’s headed to the mainland.”

“When?”

“Like, soon. He said he’s pretty much ready to go.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “W
e could both use a little cooling off time. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to say anyway.”

“
Earth to Pali,” she said. “You’re not hearing what I’m saying.” She sucked in a breath; Farrah’s way of prefacing a dramatic tee-up. “He bought a one-way ticket.”

“What?”

“He’s moving. He asked if I knew the rules for taking a dog to the mainland. Like what shots they needed, or if they’d be quarantined or whatever. He’s taking Wahine and all his stuff and moving to Montana for good.”