Page 17

17

KATIE

Showing up on Haleakala in a pleated miniskirt and schoolgirl blouse would be plain stupid with the temperature at that elevation, so Katie begged Pono to stop by Target on their way to interview the witnesses at Haleakala National Park. She promised him a snack in return for a quick stop so she could buy some warmer clothing. At Target she bought a plain black pair of running tights and a tight-fitting, long sleeved spandex tee, along with a Spam musubi for Pono.

She used the store’s restroom and donned the layers beneath her skirt and blouse, glad she’d opted for black ballet flats as footwear that day. She took down her pigtails, too, and quickly braided her hair instead; she wanted to have a professional appearance when she conducted her first murder witness interview.

The helicopter carrying Lei, TG, and Dr. Gregory to the crime scene at the crater had left at approximately the same time as they had, and this was her first time riding in Pono’s big purple truck. She glanced at her mentor for the day, who’d devoured the musubi in a few bites. "This was always my dream, you know," Katie said to Pono. “Working up on Haleakala at the observatory.”

“Oh yeah?" Pono glanced at Katie, curiosity in his dark eyes. "Not too many jobs up on the mountain.”

"I don't know why Lei would've told you, but I majored in astronomy with a minor in computer science," Katie said. "I was hoping to get a job at the observatory on Haleakala after I graduated from University of Hawaii. Ever since we moved to the island when I was a kid, I’ve wanted to be up on the top of this volcano. Something about it calls to my soul.”

“Calls to your soul, eh?” Pono smiled at her enthusiasm and winked. “I hardly ever get up here—too much wear and tear on the vehicles unless I’m coming up the mountain for work. Not really on my radar. We’ve done a few trips up the crater as a family, though. Tiare’s hālau hula danced at the lookout one time.”

"I get the thing about wear and tear on vehicles,” Katie said; the smell of Stanley’s hot engine wafted through her open window. “Anyway, after I didn’t even get an interview at the telescope, I applied for the police academy on a dare. Never expected to like it so much.”

"And the rest is history," Pono said. “Their loss is our gain, sistah . Speaking of, did you have time to look up background on our photographer witnesses?”

“I did, yeah. Just quickly. Jeff Brian is a new island resident. Clean, no record here or in California, where he’s from. Randy Hollister is a longtime island resident. Also no priors.”

Close to an hour later, they were waved through the gatehouse of Haleakala National Park after showing ID and continued on to the first visitor and service area, where Ranger Mahili had told them the two witnesses would be stashed.

Pono pulled Stanley into the visitor center’s parking area and they got out. Sure enough, the temperature was at least twenty degrees cooler than down in Kahului. A chill, biting wind spun up the side of the crater to tug Katie’s hair out of her hastily constructed braid; she held her skirt down as the wind tried to flip it up. Once the gust had passed, she reached for her beloved tablet to use for notes or recordings during the interview.

There were visitors in the gift shop area as the female ranger, a woman with a leathery complexion seasoned by years in the sun, pointed the way once they showed their IDs. "Go on through to the break room. Ranger Mahili is waiting for you with the two men you want to interview."

Katie followed Pono down a short hall to a door saying ?Staff Lounge’ which he knocked on until it abruptly opened.

Ranger Mahili was a tall, broad Hawaiian man, dignified in his National Park Service uniform. He gave Pono the kind of backslap man hug that locals used in greeting, along with a spate of rapid pidgin as they reconnected; clearly, the two knew each other socially as well as professionally. Katie tuned that out, focusing her attention on the two witnesses sitting in chairs at a plain white rectangular table. One was young and cute, the other older and grizzled.

She advanced forward, extending a hand to the younger man. "Hi. My name is Katie McHenry. I’m an investigator with Maui Police Department.” No need to add that pesky ‘intern’ label to her title.

Pono was right behind Katie as she addressed the witnesses, with his own intro and ID. "Detective Pono Kaihale. We are here for statements about your discovery."

“And I’ll leave you to it,” Ranger Mahili said. “Pono, I’ll be in my office when you’re done to fill you in with what we’ve gathered so far.”

“Right on,” Pono said. “Talk when we’re done. ” The ranger nodded and exited.

Katie sat in a chair across from the young guy, and Pono across from the older man. She took out her tablet and held it up. "Do you mind if I record our conversation? It will help us with our investigation and potentially avoid you having to be brought back to the station for interviews."

Both men nodded, and Katie said, “State your names for the record, please.”

"My name is Jeff Brian." The younger man had navy-blue eyes behind metal-framed glasses and light brown hair in a fashionable cut. Dark stubble along his jaw added definition to what her friend Diana would have called a 'baby face,’ but he had brawny, sun-browned arms that hinted at a nice body hidden by the table.

"And I'm Randy Hollister," the older man said. "We’re both photographers. I brought Jeff up to photograph some different aspects of the crater today. We decided to start with the view off of Halemau?u Trail."

"When did you arrive at the lookout?” Pono asked, a pencil out to write in the old-school spiral notebook he carried for notetaking.

Randy did most of the talking, describing the times and series of events leading to the dispatching of his drone and the identification of a body. “It was Jeff who actually spotted the dead man. You should ask him more about that,” Randy concluded.

"I think Randy pretty much covered it. Did you have any questions for us, Investigator McHenry?" Jeff asked.

Katie liked the way ‘Investigator McHenry’ sounded. "Yes, as a matter of fact. What made you decide there was something odd about the seated man when you glimpsed him through your camera?”

"I think it was his stillness more than anything," Jeff said. "The body was faced away from us, and I could only see his legs. But the fact that he didn’t move, coupled with bare legs and feet, told me there was something wrong.” He shook his head slightly. "And this wasn’t the first time I saw something strange when I was out on a photography jaunt. Yesterday I was at La Perouse Bay. I saw something odd there, too. Suspicious.”

Katie jerked as if she had been zapped with a loose wire— had he seen Goodwin’s murder? Pono shot her a quelling glance and leaned toward the young man. "Tell us about that."

“Well, I went out there on the lava before dawn . . . when it was dark. I wanted to photograph the sunrise and some other attractions I had been told about by Randy here. While I was out there, as the sun rose, I saw someone on the lava was acting very strangely. I shot a few pictures of them poking around a rock outcropping.”

Katie’s eyes widened as she met Pono’s gaze—Jeff might have caught Goodwin’s killer at work! "Can we see them? Your photos?” She asked.

"Sorry. I don’t have them here. I downloaded them off my camera and they’re on my computer for editing. But I got shots of a person with long dark hair in a ponytail. Looked big but might have been a woman; the clothing was too baggy for me to tell. He/she was doing something behind a lava rock and then hurried off afterward. They were too far away from me to make out much detail. I would have gone out and checked to see what they were up to, but I wanted to wrap up my hike and go paddle out at the Cove in Kihei with my standup paddleboard. Get cooled off."

Katie grinned. "You SUP? So do I! Isn’t it a great way to enjoy the ocean?"

"Sure is." Was she imagining things, or was there an appreciative glint in Jeff’s eye?

"We are going to need those photographs," Pono said, the seriousness in his tone erasing their smiles. "As soon as possible, in fact. Investigator McHenry, why don’t you accompany Mr. Brian to his residence and get them for us?"

"That could be a problem. Jeff rode up to the crater with me," Randy said. "I’ll have to give him a ride back down to Pukalani Superette where he left his Jeep, unless you guys have some other way for him to get home."

"I can ride with the witnesses down the mountain," Katie volunteered quickly. "If that’s OK with you, Detective Kaihale."

"That would work," Pono said. "I need to get Ranger Mahili’s statement as well, so I can stay and do that if you can get a ride down the mountain with them.”

“That’s assuming you are not the actual killers," Katie said, and everyone chuckled politely.