Page 37

37

LEI

Hours later, hot, sweaty, and annoyed, Lei flopped into the driver’s seat of her truck. She grabbed a water bottle she’d wisely bought at the Minit Stop when they picked up coffee and hard-boiled eggs earlier. Both had been tempted by the sight and smell of fresh Spam musubi under a heat lamp but had helped each other resist temptation.

Now she wished she’d given in.

Lei gulped down half the water bottle in one go, but the cool liquid sliding down her throat did nothing to ease the heat of irritation simmering under her skin. The morning had dragged into the afternoon—and they were no closer to finding Ronald Mank—or whatever name he was going by now.

She glanced at Pono, who was leaning against the passenger door, staring out the window at nothing in particular, his own bottle of water dangling from his fingers. “You think we’ll ever see that bastard again?” he asked, his voice low and gruff.

Lei sighed, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of a forearm. “We’ve got the airport on lockdown. We’ve got people watching the docks and boat traffic. If Mank tries to leave the island, we’ll find him. But . . .” She trailed off, staring at the modest house they’d just spent hours tearing apart. The evidence they’d found was circumstantial, but not enough to convict Mank of anything.

The weapons collection had been their best find. Too similar to the murder weapons to be coincidence. But the fingerprints TG had managed to lift from the displayed items and wall were smudged and incomplete. Nothing else in the house stood out as a smoking gun. Hair samples and DNA had been gathered, but it would take time to run them through forensics.

Lei bit her lip. Was Mank the mastermind behind everything? Or had he been someone who knew too much and had vanished before he could meet the same bloody fate as the others?

Pono shifted, breaking her out of her thoughts. “The weapons are a start. But we’re still missing the why.”

“And we don’t have anything actually tying Mank to the bodies.” Lei drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “We need to figure out how he fits into all of this. Beck Noble’s our next piece of the puzzle.”

Pono raised an eyebrow. “You think Noble’s gonna talk?”

“He’s been on ice long enough to soften up.” Lei turned the key in the ignition, the truck rumbling to life. Lei lowered the windows so heat from the tropical sun warming the cab of the truck could escape. “Now that we know Mank’s been blackmailing him, he’s going to be looking to save his own skin. Let’s head to county lockup after we drop off the evidence we collected. We can try to shake something loose from the guy.”

Pono grunted agreement as they pulled away. The drive was quiet; both of them were running through the case in their heads. Lei kept circling back to the weapons on the wall. The whole display had a look of being staged, especially the missing spaces. Something about it seemed too neat.

When they pulled into the station, Lei parked the truck and killed the engine, glancing at Pono. “Let’s get the evidence to forensics and then head over to lockup. Time to see what Beck Noble has to say.”

They carried the evidence bags inside, handing them off to TG in the forensics lab and signing everything onto the log. Lei didn’t envy the crime techs; they had tedious but important work. TG and their forensics team would go over the weapons with a fine-tooth comb, comparing the ones they’d found at Mank’s with the ones from the scenes. Looking for prints, DNA, anything that might tie Mank—or anyone else—to the murders.

TG, who’d arrived before them, gave them a quick nod. “We’ll get on this right away. You’ll be the first to know if we find anything tying to the bodies.”

“ Mahalo ,” Lei said. She and Pono made their way out of the lab.

The county lockup was a short drive away, and they picked up a quick burrito at the Taco Bell drive through, Lei promising not to let Tiare know that Pono had gone off his diet. Eating gave them a chance to decompress.

By the time they reached the jail, Lei felt more centered, her mind focused on the task at hand: Get Beck Noble to talk.

* * *

Inside, they were led to a small, sterile interview room. Noble was fetched, and soon sat in front of them. The project manager was looking worse for wear: hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, and a sheen of sweat on his forehead. His eyes were wide with a mix of fear and desperation as he addressed them. “You’ve got to let me out of here.”

“Do we have to, though?” Lei folded her hands on the table. Pono stood to her right, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, his presence a solid, silent force in the room. Lei kept her voice calm but firm. “We know Roger Nettle was blackmailing you.”

“No. That’s not true.” A knee-jerk response from the witness.

Lei just stared at him.

Noble paled and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “How’d you find out?”

“We’ve got the financials. The trail you two left. You’re going to need to help us find him if you want any chance of getting out of this. There’s plenty to charge you with related to what you were up to with Kuleana.”

“I—I don’t know where Roger is,” he stammered. “I swear, I haven’t seen him since . . . since everything started falling apart. I was trying to keep Kuleana moving, but Nettle—he had me by the throat. I couldn’t do anything without him threatening to go public. I had to keep paying him.”

“And the murders?” Lei pressed. “Was that you, too?”

Noble’s face gleamed with perspiration. “No! No, I swear, I didn’t know anything about the murders. Roger was blackmailing me, and then people on the team started dying. But I swear, I didn’t kill anyone.”

Lei studied him for a moment. “Where is Nettle now?” she asked, her voice hard. “You must have some idea.”

Beck shook his head frantically. “No, I don’t know!”

“And now he’s disappeared. Did you take him out?”

“No!” The word exploded out of Noble as he lurched in the metal bolted-down chair. “I’m no killer.”

Pono moved forward to lean a hip on the table, his deep voice a comforting rumble. “We get it. You did what you had to do.”

“Yes. No. I mean, I paid him off! Because I had to. Nothing more.” Noble was panting with stress. “I want my lawyer, and I want to get out of here.”

Lei stared at Noble stonily. “This doesn’t look good for you.”

“Are you arresting me? If not, I’ve been in custody for two days now and I’ve asked for my lawyer. You can’t keep holding me and ignoring my rights.”

“What if it’s for your own protection?” Pono said. “Way I see it, you’re lucky to be out of the killer’s crosshairs. But okay. Do you have representation?”

“I called him before.” Noble picked at the grubby cuffs of his shirt. “Get me a phone.”

Lei stood up. “We’re not done with you, Noble. Lawyer or no lawyer.” She headed for the door. Once in the hall, she asked a uniformed guard to bring a phone in for Noble to use. She then instructed the guard. “Once Mr. Noble has called his lawyer, escort him back to his cell. Then call me as soon as he’s released.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

Lei reconvened with Pono once they were out of earshot. “I was hoping we’d get a little further with him.”

“Me too. We can arrest him for the blackmail and fraud on the construction project,” Pono said. “Weak sauce, though. We’ve about used up our time holding him.”

“So let’s use him as bait. Track what happens when his lawyer gets him out, then surveil his place and see if the killer shows up to finish him off. If not, that says something too.” Lei pushed off from the wall. “Let’s go back to the station and see if Katie has rustled up anything new for us, before our time is tied up in a stakeout of Noble’s place.” She took off down the hall with Pono in pursuit.