Torch Ginger (19 page)

“Pretty simple setup,” Jazz said. “I’m going to use you for busing, stocking, cleaning. The customers order at the bar over there and take their food to the tables outside. You just bus the tables and keep things neat, and do whatever needs doing.” He led her over to the juice bar, where a bemuscled and ponytailed young man worked the blender.

“This is Dan. Dan, Lani. Show her the ropes.” He vanished through the clashing curtain of bamboo beads into the back.

“Hi.” Lei extended her hand to shake. She felt unexpectedly shy, blinking myopically through the reading glasses. In fact, they were keeping her from seeing, so she took them off and stuck them in a pocket of her apron.

“Hey, Lani,” Dan said with easy friendliness. “Come back here and I’ll show you where things are.” She slipped behind the bar for the rest of her orientation.

Many hours later she signed out with a wave to the helpful Dan. Her wig itched unbearably; the tattoos on her wrists were peeling from dishwater and her feet ached. She hopped into her stuffy truck with a sigh of relief just to be sitting, and turned on the engine and the AC. Her eyes wandered to the poster of Jay Bennett taped to the glove box, and she reached to rip it down—tired of his accusing eyes on her—when her cell rang. She picked up instead.

“Hello?”

“Yo, Sweets.”

“J-Boy. Calling to see how I survived the Health Guardian?”

“Yeah. Stevens wanted me to check in. Said I’m your ‘liaison’ with the task force from now on.”

“That’s right. Well, nothing much interesting. No new intel and my feet hurt. I dropped a lot of comments about being on a personal journey, searching for spiritual meaning, blah-blah. No takers. On the plus side, I learned how to make a spirulina smoothie with a protein booster.”

“I’ve gotta drop by and see you in action. Spirulina? What the hell is that?”

“Blue-green algae. Highly beneficial to the nervous system. Anyway, I did get invited to a drum circle at the nudie beach. I think Dan the juice bar guy is hoping I’ll take it all off and boogie.”

“You gonna go? Want a chaperone?” Lei had to laugh at Jenkins’s hopeful tone.

“Nah. I can handle Dan. Seriously doubt he’s even heard of the cult.”

“What did Jazz have to contribute?”

“He just lay low in the back. I hardly saw him. But all in all, it was okay as a first day. What’s happening with the Lisa Nakamoto case?”

“Not much. Fury is working it with Flea Arizumi. He’s looking to interview any of her connections.”

Alika was a friend of Lisa’s, and he’d been concerned about her disappearance. Good thing Lei was going running with him tomorrow morning or she might have had to turn him over to Fury as a lead.

Instead, she could talk to him herself and see what he knew.

Chapter 21

Tuesday, October 26

Lei stood next to her truck, stretching in the early morning. Light filled the air like gold dust, gilding the river mouth and illuminating the mountains across Hanalei Bay in a sharp demarcation. The beach was mostly clear, the debris from the flood having washed out to sea with a recent swell, and Lei couldn’t wait to get going. Keiki tugged at her leash impatiently, sniffing the air.

Alika’s black Tacoma pulled up next to hers, one of the only vehicles in the sandy parking lot. A two-man canoe was strapped to the sturdy pipe racks framing the truck bed.

“Hey,” Lei said.

Alika jumped out of the cab and beeped the door locked.

“Good morning.” He walked toward her, his golden-brown eyes alight. Before she could react, he pulled her in for a kiss. He knocked her ball cap off—and he tasted fresh, like minty toothpaste. Her hands moved up, learning the muscled contours of his body. She eased away, and met his eyes.

“Good morning to you, too.”

Alika took his time taking in her changed appearance. “What happened to your hair?”

“Going undercover. The hair had to go—I have to wear a wig.”

“You’ll do anything for your job. I respect that.”

A charged look passed between them. He stepped in close, bringing his hands up along her shoulders, stroking her neck, traveling slowly up to rub and caress her shorn head. It felt indescribably good.

One hand cupped her skull gently as an egg while the other wrapped her in close against him. She sank into his kiss as naturally as diving into the ocean. Lei felt a warm languor filling her veins with honey, a blissful mindlessness taking over. She couldn’t help contrasting the clash of her encounter with Stevens with the entrancement of Alika’s arms.

It seemed she craved them equally—salt and sweet.

Keiki butted her head against Lei’s thigh, breaking the spell.

“So. Let’s do this.” She scooped up the cap and put it back on.

“I had another idea. I’m missing practice with the club, so I borrowed a canoe for us to take out.”

“I’ve never paddled before.”

“What? Local girl like you? They didn’t raise you right over on the Big Island,” Alika teased as he whipped off the straps securing the canoe.

It took both their effort to lift the fiberglass shell, sleek and cigar-shaped, off the racks and carry it to the water. Alika went back and brought out the
iako
, or outrigger, a stabilizing contraption made of carbon-fiber plastic with an attached
ama
, or float. He clipped it into brackets on the hull. The sleek canoe was completely sealed, all of a piece, with adjustable molded seats flush with the top of the hull and recesses for their feet in a molded plastic interior.

Keiki whimpered anxiously. Lei shared her feeling as she looked at the tippy little craft.

“Oh no. Keiki counts on her run for exercise.”

“No one’s around. Why don’t you let her off the leash and we’ll paddle along the shore? She can run and keep up.”

Lei unclipped the leash, giving the dog the signal to sit. They launched the canoe, pushing it into the water and jumping in. It tipped precariously and Alika stabilized them with his paddle.

“Keep your weight distributed across both sides of the hull with your hands,” he instructed until she was settled in her plastic seat. He showed her how to dig deep on the downstroke and switch sides, and after some initial wobbling, Lei picked it up. She glanced back and saw Keiki sitting where she’d been told, looking mournful.

“Keiki, come!” She called, and burst out laughing as, instead of running along the beach, the dog leapt into the water and swam after them.

“She’ll get her exercise, all right,” Alika said.

They paddled along the shore just outside the wave line, the big dog’s head bobbing in their wake as she tried to keep up. Every twelve strokes on one side Alika would call, “Hut—ho!” and on the
hut
Lei was warned to change, and on
ho
she was supposed to switch sides. She sprayed Alika and herself with water and smacked the paddle into the side of the canoe, but she soon found a rhythm that made her shoulders burn with satisfying effort. Keiki finally figured out she couldn’t keep up and swam in, trotting along the shoreline with eyes on her mistress.

They paddled the length of the bay and drifted a bit at the end, getting their breath. Lei watched the light play through the clear water in dancing streaks, bouncing off the smooth, pale sand of the bottom.

“Whew, that’s a workout.” She plucked the sweat-soaked tank top away from her body.

“Jump in and cool off.” Alika stowed his paddle under an elastic strap and stripped his shirt off over his head. He lifted an iron bar that had been tucked up into a compartment in the hull and tossed it overboard. A length of nylon rope spun out behind it. The water wasn’t deep, only fifteen feet or so, and Lei could see the bar hit the sand on the bottom. “We don’t need to worry too much because the wind’s not up yet, but never get out of a canoe without an anchor.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” Lei gave a mock salute and stowed her paddle as he stood up, rocking slightly, and dove into the crystalline water. She didn’t have a suit on but decided her running clothes were fine. She stood up, and the canoe promptly pitched her into the water.

She came up spluttering, and Keiki barked in alarm from the shore, jumping in and making for Lei like a big black missile. Alika laughed, and they both dove down to find pebbles for Keiki to fetch.

Alika finally grabbed the gunwale of the canoe on the side with the outrigger and hauled himself up. Lei enjoyed the sight of his tanned back flexing as he lifted himself up and into the canoe. He sat in his seat and stabilized the rocking little craft with his paddle.

“Now you.”

Lei was able to eventually haul herself aboard, hooking a leg over the side and sprawling in her seat. She saw laughter in a flash of his gold-flecked eyes.

“Don’t say anything,” she warned.

“I know better. You’re actually doing great for a beginner.”

They paddled back to the pier and hauled the canoe up, boosting it onto the sturdy racks. Alika lashed it down.

“I’ve got something to tell you.” Lei bent and stretched her knotted shoulders. “Lisa Nakamoto’s been found.”

“She all right?” He leaned over, stretching beside her, muscled arms surprisingly limber.

“No. She’s been murdered.”

He stood up. A darkness passed over his face, twisted his mouth. He covered his face for a second with his hands, blew out a breath.

“I can’t believe it. What happened?”

“We found her body yesterday. The rain had uncovered it. Got a call late yesterday—a positive ID on her.”

“Oh my God. Shit like this just doesn’t happen on Kauai.”

“You’d be surprised at what happens on Kauai, sheltered boy. Lisa was into something major with that meth lab. It’s priority one to find Darrell Hines, the guy who you told me got her into it. The detectives on her case are interviewing all her friends and family, so I was wondering if you had any more information we could follow up on.”

“I may have a lead for you. Are you working her case?”

“No. I’m on another one that’s taking a lot of my time. But I’ll be able to get any intel you give straight to the team who’s on it. We’re also concerned about the rest of the cleaning crew. They must be in hiding.”

“I had a bad feeling about Lisa.” Alika turned and they headed toward the showers, Lei clipping the leash on to Keiki’s collar. “I knew she was into something over her head. I wonder if she tried to turn them in and they killed her.”

“Maybe.” Lei put Keiki under the shower. She rinsed the dog down while Alika showered under the other rusty metal spout. She handed him the leash as she got under the cold stream of water.

Done rinsing, she hung her head down and shook it, stood back up. Her cropped hair was almost dry.

“There—good to go. I think I’m getting to like having a buzz. So what was that lead you had for me?” She took Keiki’s leash and headed for her truck.

“I think my grandmother knows Darrell Hines’s mother,” he said, following. “I met the lady at my grandma’s. She might know where he is.”

“Pretty good tip. I’ll call that in right away.”

“Wish I could do more. Lisa—I can’t believe she’s gone. She didn’t deserve that.”

“Nobody does.” Lei lowered the tailgate for Keiki to jump in and grabbed a towel out of the back. “I’ll call Esther right away and check this out. I have something else for her to look into anyway.”

Alika reached over to rub her head. “I’m getting used to this. Okay, I’ll call you later.”

Lei could tell he wanted to kiss her again, but she turned away, hopping into her truck and turning the key. She headed back to the house, thumbing open her cell phone and calling Esther, who said she could fit her in later that morning. She then called Fury to tell him she was following up on a lead related to Darrell Hines.

She was relieved when he didn’t pick up—he couldn’t scoop the lead away from her to follow it up himself. Lei squelched a niggle of guilt. Yeah, Lisa Nakamoto wasn’t her case, but he’d shut her and Jenkins out so thoroughly they didn’t have any further leads on the robberies. So fair was fair.

She would also take the three stones out for Esther to “feel.” Who knew what the psychic
kahu
would be able to tell her from them.

Chapter 22

“Come see my teaching room.” Esther gestured for Lei to follow her. They went through the living room and down a set of interior stairs to a small chamber. High louvered windows let light in. The floor was lined with lauhala matting, and the walls covered in tapa cloth decorated with traditional patterns. One wall was covered entirely by Hawaiian musical instruments: several
ukulele
(miniature guitars) in various sizes,
ipu
(gourds) used for percussion, slotted bamboo
pu`ili
sticks,
poi
balls, various sizes and shapes of drums, and feathered
uli`uli
` rattles.

Esther went to a round fat cushion at the end of the room and sat cross-legged, her muumuu settling in graceful folds around her. She seemed in no hurry, gazing at Lei with impassive eyes. Lei could see the breadth of her calm forehead and boldly marked brows in Alika’s features. Once again Esther’s hair was braided into a crown around her head; this time a rose folded out of palm frond decorated the coronet.

Lei took out the ziplock bag with the three stones Jenkins had brought her from Jay Bennett’s remaining possessions.

“These are from the most recent disappearance site.” She poured the stones into the older woman’s seamed brown hand.

Esther set her hands palm over palm, the stones between them, in her lap. Lei sat back on her heels as the older woman’s eyes fluttered shut.

“We don’t use stones like these in our ceremonies.” Esther’s voice rang like a cello. “These stones are not from here.”

“I know that much. We think they’re from all over the world, being used to enhance some quality of a ceremony.” Belatedly she realized Esther wasn’t listening—her ear was tuned to something different.

“This is a dark place.” Esther’s eyes were still closed. “There are four torches.”

Lei bit down on her lip to keep from asking the questions that bubbled up.