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LEI

Detective Sergeant Lei Texeira sat at the wooden table under the monkeypod tree at her compound in Haiku, enjoying an evening meal with her family. Her husband Michael Stevens’s brother Jared, a Maui firefighter, had joined them this evening, along with her father Wayne and Stevens’s mother, Ellen. Her grandfather Soga Matsumoto sat beside her, finishing the last of his dinner.

The compound they lived in featured a high wooden wall with a motorized gate and an alarm system. Security was a priority after several attempts on their lives over the years. Their Rottweiler, Conan, lay on the porch nearby, relaxed but alert, his intelligent eyes ever watchful over the family.

Wayne and Ellen said goodnight and retired to the little ‘ohana cottage ringed in ti plants and red hibiscus beside the main house. Wayne’s restaurant, Ono Grindz, kept the couple busy enough to “fall asleep in a blender,” as Ellen put it. Stevens went into the house, taking his turn to supervise their toddler Rosie’s bath while their son Kiet did his homework.

Lei began to tidy up, enjoying a domestic chore far removed from the stress of her day-to-day as a homicide detective. She removed her brother-in-law’s empty plate from in front of him and stacked it with the rest. “Good day today, bro?”

“Any day without a fire is a good day.” Jared sipped from a Longboard Island Lager, leaning back in a folding chair set at the head of the picnic style wooden table. “I never knew, when I transferred to Maui from L.A., that the fires on this island would be so frequent and intense.”

“True, dat. And I’d like to add that any day without a murder is also excellent. So today was a good day, all around,” Lei said.

They’d had fish tacos from Wayne’s restaurant with a side of beans and rice and salad. Lei dished the leftovers into a plastic storage container and clamped on the lid. She passed the Tupperware to the elderly man beside her. “Take this home with you, Grandfather. You can have it for lunch tomorrow.”

“Don’t you need something to take to work?” Soga tilted his white-haired head, his dark eyes hooded in wrinkles. The octogenarian had moved to a tiny house on the property to live with them some time ago and was ever concerned that he wasn’t a burden on the family.

“No need for that tomorrow. We’ve wrapped up some cases recently. I’m hoping for a quiet day in the office to do paperwork,” Lei said. “I’ll take my partner Pono out for lunch at Ichiban in Kahului. Japanese food is our favorite.”

“Of course it is,” Soga said with dignity. He stood up, straightening his wiry body deliberately, and took the container. “Goodnight, granddaughter.” He met her gaze. “In this light, you look so much like your mother.”

Soga seldom referred to his only child. Maylene had died of a drug overdose when Lei was nine. Maylene hadn’t lived to get sober and see happier times and know her grandchildren, as her father Wayne had. A twinge of grief tightened Lei’s chest even as she smiled at the old man. “Thank you, Grandfather. I’ll take that as a compliment; she was beautiful.”

Soga nodded. He shuffled off at a careful pace across the lawn toward his cottage, carrying the Tupperware.

Lei turned and met Jared’s gaze. “Need a refresher on your beer?”

Jared shook his head. “One’s my limit these days. Body’s a temple and all that.” Jared, two years younger than Stevens, was tall and athletic, sharing physical traits of his older brother—but he was more of a risk-taker. Since moving to Maui, Jared had begun kiteboarding and had recently been invited by fellow firefighters to join a Brazilian martial arts school. “I’ve got jiujitsu tomorrow. Can’t let the guys throw me down without a fight.”

“Speaking of. I’ve got a supervisee who’s into martial arts, too.” Lei had recently been assigned to oversee a trainee investigator, still on probation. “Katie McHenry’s got way too much energy to be cooped up in an office. She’s wearing me out.”

“Got the kids settled; Kiet’s reading Rosie a story. And I know she’s outside the box, but we need Katie.” Lei’s husband Stevens descended the steps carrying a nonalcoholic beverage; he’d beaten a drinking problem some time ago.

Jared cocked his head curiously. “Who is this woman and why do you need her?”

“Katie’s great at computer research, better than anyone we’ve had as an investigator before. The departments on Oahu and the Big Island are already asking if they can borrow her.” Stevens sat beside Lei, adding, “Besides, you remember why she got tucked away on Maui with us.”

Lei rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

“I’ll fill Jared in.” Stevens shook his head a little ruefully. “I was helping out training at the Police Recruit Academy when Katie was going through basic. Every day she was up to something new. She was at the top of her class in everything: highest test scores, great shot on the range, excellent decision-making in tactical scenarios. But she also got lukewarm performance evaluations from the instructors. ‘Too carefree.’ ‘Gives attitude.’ ‘Doesn’t take authority seriously.’ Not enough to let her go, but enough to keep an eye on her.”

“Sounds a little like me back in the day,” Lei said with a smile. “I bet she was an ego problem for the male instructors.”

“She didn’t know how to moderate. She put three of her classmates in the hospital during self-defense instruction. I watched a couple of times, and Katie was ferocious: take-no-prisoners, always on the attack. One of the guys tried to nickname her ‘Taz’, after that ‘Tasmanian Devil’ cartoon character, but that didn’t last once she had a bout with him.”

“Yeah,” Lei said. “All those other poor recruits got their butts kicked.”

“But it was that shift on night patrol duty that got her reassigned,” Stevens tipped his bottle toward Jared. “About a month ago, with maybe two months left on her probation, she was out in a patrol car with her Field Training Officer, what we call an FTO. She spotted a guy who had been robbing people at ATMs bellying up to a machine. She jumped out of the patrol vehicle to grab him—while the car was still rolling.”

“Gutsy move,” said Jared.

“Yeah, except she was the one driving. Her FTO barely hit the brake before they plowed into a fire hydrant.”

Jared chuckled.

“Meanwhile she got the perp on the ground and cuffed as the patrol car rolled slowly past in the background, her FTO yelling out the window.”

“I would have loved to see that,” Jared said.

“The FTO didn’t think it was funny, but the arrest saved her from getting fired. She got to keep her job—but not on the street,” Stevens said. “Admin decided to fast-track her to detective because of her computer skills and keep her inside the building where she couldn’t hurt anybody.”

“What’s her story, anyway?” Jared asked. “Is she from here on Maui?”

“Katie’s from California originally. Her dad was a firefighter who got killed on the job.” Stevens exchanged a solemn look with his brother.

“Sorry to hear it,” Jared said. “That’ll put a chip on your shoulder.”

Such losses remained a painful topic for the brothers; when Stevens was sixteen and Jared fourteen, their firefighter father was killed in the line of duty. The tragedy had pulled their widowed mother into alcoholism. Ellen had recovered from addiction eventually and found new love with Lei’s dad, Wayne Texeira.

Stevens continued. “Katie was about ten at the time and had two brothers. Her mom decided to start over—clean break and all that. They had family on Maui, so she packed up the kids and relocated here. Got a good job at a resort down in Wailea and bought a house in Kihei.

“From there, Katie went to University of Hawaii at Manoa. She majored in astronomy, minored in computer science. Wanted to work at one of the big telescopes here or on the Big Island. She couldn’t find a job, though, so she tried out for the police department on a dare.”

“Anyway, she’s brilliant, strong . . . and a little quirky,” Lei said.

“Quirky?” asked Jared.

“She’s got a bright blue stripe in her hair. She said it’s part of this role-playing thing she’s into, where people dress up in costumes based on characters. I think she plays online video games too,” Lei mused. “She surfs or does standup paddleboarding, not sure which, and she also has a black belt in karate.”

“I get the picture,” said Jared, “and if I were single I’d be asking for her number—but why are you trying to sell me on this woman? You know I’m with Kathy.” Jared had been married to a police officer co-worker of Lei and Stevens for a good while.

“Well, Katie’s got a crush,” Lei said. “On a firefighter. And I’m wondering if you could help us find him.”

Jared’s blue eyes widened. “How?”

“He’s some guy she thinks is ‘hella cute.’ She heard his name is Matt. She spotted him standup paddleboarding.” Lei smiled at Jared. “Maybe you could help us figure out who this mystery guy is so we could pair them up.”

“I know a guy named Matt at one of the stations. He’s really nice, people say good-looking—but he’s married, and happily. If he’s her crush, it’s not going to work.” Jared sipped his beer thoughtfully. “What does Katie look like?”

“About my height,” Lei said. “Long black hair. Mom’s Japanese, dad was white.”

“She has beautiful eyes,” Stevens added, “kind of like Lei’s.” Her husband smiled at Lei in that way that made her heart speed up. Heritage that included Japanese, Portuguese, and Hawaiian had given Lei tilted brown eyes, full lips, a light dusting of freckles, and curly dark hair that was impossible to tame.

Jared cleared his throat; Lei and Stevens had been staring at each other a beat too long.

“I’ll give Katie the news that Matt’s married,” Lei finally said. “Meanwhile, know any nice, single, athletic guys that like video games? Maybe a boyfriend would mellow Katie out.”

Jared stood up. “I’ll be on the lookout. See you lovebirds at family dinner next week.”