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LEI

Later that day, Lei made her way down to Katie's Cave with two cups of steaming coffee in hand. She found the young investigator hunched in front of her computer, surrounded by stacks of glossy-jacketed library books. A soft blue glow from the monitor illuminated Katie's face in the dimly lit room. “Hey, Katie. Thought you could use this," Lei said, and placed one of the coffee cups on a clear spot on the desk. She glanced over to the mug area and started. “Oh. I see you brought a coffeemaker down here.”

“But I didn’t have time to make any fresh.” Katie looked up at her mentor, her eyes bloodshot. She took a long sip of coffee, and the warmth of the beverage brought color back to her face. "Thanks, Lei. I’ve been hard at it.”

“What have you found?"

“Well, first of all, the website’s gone. I didn’t have to try to take it down.”

“What?” Lei slid into a nearby chair. “What do you mean, gone?”

“Gone, gone. Not a trace.” Katie took another long swig from her mug. “Guess whoever created it took it down.”

“Can you find any trace of where it came from, or where it went?”

“Nope. All that was masked. Meanwhile, I’ve been researching the Hawaiian kapu system. I think it might be connected to our case."

“Is that what all these books are for?” Lei leaned forward. “ Kapu ? You mean the ancient Hawaiian system of rules and taboos, right?"

"Exactly," Katie nodded. "It was a complex code of religious laws and prohibitions that governed every aspect of Hawaiian society until it was abolished in 1819. Here's the interesting part: some of the punishments for breaking kapu were remarkably similar to what we saw in those videos."

Lei sipped her coffee, intrigued. "Go on."

"Well, for instance, some kapu violations were punishable by death. The methods varied, but they included strangulation, bludgeoning . . . and even being burned alive." Katie paused, her face grim. "Sound familiar? Except for that last one. And I hope we don’t have one of those!”

Lei felt a chill. "That's . . . disturbingly similar to our victims."

"There's more," Katie continued, shuffling through some books. "The kapu system was heavily tied to the concept of mana . Spiritual power. Breaking a kapu was believed to diminish one's mana , while enforcing kapu increased it. What if our killers believe they're restoring or increasing mana by enforcing these ancient laws?"

Lei rubbed her temples, processing the information. "It's a solid theory."

"A wide variety of violations brought a death sentence: a woman eating the wrong kind of food, a commoner letting the king’s shadow fall on him. They even had sort of a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card, sanctuaries called pu‘uhonua , or places of refuge. If the kapu breaker could make it to one of those before the enforcers caught up to him, they couldn’t touch him. The priests would require him to perform some form of penance, and at some point he’d be free to go.”

“Isn’t there a famous one of those on the Big Island?” Lei frowned. “I think I’ve heard of this before.”

“There is one that’s been restored there, but there were pu‘uhonua on all the islands,” Katie said. “Anyway, there are lots of illustrations that document Hawaiian culture at the time Captain Cook arrived in 1778. Pictures drawn by members of his expedition and artists on later explorations show people being executed, but they only show two methods: strangling them, or whacking them on the head with a club. That leaves me with a question.”

“Only one question?” Lei snorted. “Okay, what’s that?”

“Why was the killer using war weapons to perform executions? From what I can find out, those leiomano were only used in battle, and not for punishing kapu breakers or for sacrifices.”

“Okay, that’s an inconsistency,” Lei said. “Is that it?”

“No, I’m just getting warmed up,” Katie said. “You remember that picture I mentioned, the one that was in the paper that enabled me to identify David Steinbrenner by height?”

“Yeah, the group shot with the Kuleana team in it. Did you get a copy of the photo from the paper?”

“Even better, I got the original RAW files,” Katie said proudly. “I called the paper and got the name of the photographer. The development company hired him to shoot pictures at their big event. I called him, and he sent me a data file with all the RAW shots from that evening. I’ve been going through them.”

“Find anything?” Lei opened the pirate treasure lunch box and fished out a Rice Krispies Treat.

“I did! Most of the pictures are your standard boring event pictures. You know the kind: ‘Look over here and smile!’ But take a look at this.” Katie opened two pictures on the computer screen. “This one on the left is the picture we saw first, the one that was in the paper. Those are the three victims,” she said, pointing. “Besides them, we also have this picture of the expanded Kuleana team. This woman is the architect, the bald man is their computer guy, that woman is their social media whiz, and these two are investors.” Katie tapped the screen, pointing to another man on the far right. “Now, this last guy is interesting. He’s passing himself off as an environmental sustainability consultant for Kuleana. But he seems to be a jack-of-all-trades. He does weddings and blessings under a Hawaiian name, but he’s from NYC, doesn’t have any Hawaiian ancestors I can find, and he’s only been on the island about five years. He had a limo service for a while, but apparently ran it into the ground.”

“Pun intended,” Lei said. “You’d think our witness Beck Noble would’ve told us about these people. Taken a little of the heat off himself.”

“You’d think. Anyway, Roger Nettle is the guy’s name. He has no ties to the island at all, so it’s crazy he’s been able to pull off this cultural/environmental expert role.”

Lei peered closely at the man’s face. “Okay, so this guy is a fake. What are you thinking?”

“He’s more than a fake, he’s a scam artist. He doesn’t have any education, training, or professional background in environmental or cultural work.”

“Get me names on all of these people and basic backgrounds. And if this cultural and environmental expert is clean on the murders, he’s probably breaking some other law. Is that all you thought was off?” Lei asked.

“There’s more in this other picture.” Katie shifted to another photo. “This image is from a series taken right before that group shot. The pictures are candid, taken while people were getting organized.” The young intern enlarged the picture and pointed at three faces. “That’s victim number three, David Steinbrenner. That’s his wife, Helen—and the tall bald-headed guy next to her? That’s the group’s computer dude, Bill Wilkinson.”

“Got it. What’s wrong here?” Lei asked.

“Take a good look at Computer Dude.” Katie zoomed in, enlarging the picture.

“He’s got his hand on Helen’s butt!” Lei exclaimed.

“Yep. Right out in public and captured on camera, he’s playing grab-ass with the boss’s wife,” Katie said.

“Pretty rude, but what does that have to do with the case?”

“I don’t know, but it’s weird.”

“Hmm.” All of those people would need to be interviewed, but since Lei already knew Helen and had a rapport with her, maybe another interview with the widow would give backstory on the whole group as well as an explanation for the handsy photo. “Guess I’ll be having another chat with the widow,” Lei said. “Anything more?”

“Working on it, boss! In all my spare time.” Katie rolled her shoulders and reapplied her hands to the keyboard.

“Girl, you’ve given me a lot to work with already. I want to get out and talk to Helen Steinbrenner again and follow up with a talk to the scam artist you uncovered. Now you go home and get some rest. That’s an order.”

Katie pointed to a futon in the corner covered with a sleeping bag. “I’ll take a nap.”

“No. Get yourself on home and don’t come back until you’ve had eight hours.” Lei clapped a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “You can have my cup of coffee to help you get enough energy for the drive back to Kihei. An order is an order.”

Lei stayed to supervise as Katie shut down her workstation, then followed her protégée up the stairs. As they climbed, the transition from the cool, dim basement to the warmer, brighter upper floors was a physical relief. Yet the chill of their discoveries about kapu lingered, following Lei like a shadow as she mentally prepared to drive out to Helen Steinbrenner’s house on the west side of the island.

In the parking lot, she gave Katie a brief hug. “Thanks for all of this. Write up your findings after you eat something and add your notes to the case log. Flag Captain Omura on email about these additions. She needs to know the good work you’ve done for the team.”

“Okay. See you.” A little bounce came back into Katie’s stride as the intern headed for her car, and that made Lei smile. The kid was definitely earning her keep on this one.