Page 9 of Pau Hana: Cat cozy Humor Mystery (Paradise Crime Cozy Mystery Book 5)

I’d runacross the beach for a swim, taken a shower, rubbed some lotion on my face and run a comb through my hair, but my reflection in the bathroom mirror confirmed my worst fears: I looked like what Aunt Fae referred to as “ten miles of bad road.”

Though I told him I’d had a bad day and needed space, Keone came to the K K office after his last flight anyway. He didn’t knock—just opened the door of the shack and frowned, framed in the doorway. “You okay?”

“In a word, no.” I sat hunched over my laptop at the old Formica table, going over notes I’d made from the recording of my interview with Lei.

“Need a hug?”

I checked in with myself. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I feel . . .” I struggled to describe what was going on.

“Fragile?”

“More like . . . frozen.”

“And a hug wouldn’t help?”

“I’m sorry, no.” I smiled, trying to take the sting out of it, but my lips wobbled.

“You want me to leave?” His voice was low, husky.

I mentally crawled out of the hole I’d been hiding in since I’d heard about the explosion, and really studied the man.

Keone was still wearing his “leave little to the imagination” white polyester pilot’s uniform with the gold braid and blue stripes. His coffee brown eyes reflected sympathy and tenderness.

How could I push away the one person who’d, brick by brick, helped me tear down the wall I’d been living behind for the past two decades? “No, I want you to stay. But I’m probably not the best company right now.”

He came inside and closed the door. “That’s okay. You want to talk about it?”

I paused. Did I want to talk about it? Or had I wallowed in guilt and remorse already enough that day and I’d much prefer to talk about anything other than the tragedy out on Halepua‘a Road?

I didn’t know, so I changed the subject. “I didn’t call Sophie this afternoon about the surveillance gig,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“No worries. She didn’t seem to think the homeowner guy was in a big hurry. I think she mostly wanted to see if we were interested in doing the job when it came up.”

“Good,” I said. “I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

We stared at each other for a moment. I’d run out of words. Just twenty-four hours ago we were snuggling on the bed a few feet from where I was sitting, and now I couldn’t come up with a single thing to say.

“You want me to start?” he said.

I nodded.

“You had nothing to do with what happened out there. With all your years in law enforcement, I know you know this. But just in case you need reminding, I’m reminding you. You can’t stop all the bad that happens in the world.”

I nodded, swallowing an enormous frog in my throat. I’d thought I’d cried every tear my body could produce for the foreseeable future, but lo and behold, I felt something trickling down my cheek.

“A little girl is gone,” I said in a barely audible voice. “A child, like I was after my parents’ accident—afraid and alone. Maybe that barbarian blew them up because I showed up out there. Maybe my being there was the match that lit the flame that went ‘boom.’ Dragoon was a weird, scary dude, Keone. I mean, I’m trained to recognize unstable behavior and signs of criminal intention. This guy had both written all over him.”

Keone approached and took the chair across from me. “You talked to Lei, right?”

“Yes. I had to give a statement because I was the last person—” I stuttered to a halt and covered my face with my hands.

Keone cleared his throat. “I get that. But what did she say about it?”

“About what?”

“About the possibility of a child being there?”

“I don’t know where you’re going with this.” I lowered my hands and gazed at my boyfriend. “She was there. I know she was.”

Mr. K shook his head and reached out as if he was about to take my hand, then put his back in his pocket. “I talked with Pono. He and Lei are on the same page on this. There’s a very good chance no child was ever on the premises.”

Lei’s partner at MPD was Pono Kaihale, Keone’s cousin. Of course, Keone would’ve done his homework about the situation before coming to see me. He went on. “There’s no report of a child missing anywhere on Maui. Keiki are valued here, Kat. Even kids with lousy parents are watched over by neighbors, teachers, and especially ‘ohana—extended family. If there’s no report, you can be pretty sure there was no kid.”

“But the UPS guy saw her. And I saw her little sandals.”

“Pono says the UPS guy isn’t sure.”

I swiped my cheek. The tickle from the tear track was beginning to bug me, but that wasn’t the only annoying thing going on here. “It’s been a rough day and I’m done talking about this. I should get going. It’s getting past dinnertime and Aunt Fae’s probably wondering where I am.”

“Okay, Trouble. But if later on tonight you want to talk, you’ve got my number. Don’t worry about the time. I don’t have a flight scheduled until tomorrow afternoon.” He got up and left. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one frustrated.

I closed up the office, got in Sharkey and drove back to New Ohia. I wanted to veg out with the cats. Thankfully, Aunt Fae wasn’t a chatty woman. I’d give her the quick version of events and she’d take it at face value. If she’d been in the Secret Service, she probably would’ve been known for her surveillance work but would’ve proved to be not so great at interrogation, and tonight, that was a good thing.

She’d likely ask where Keone was; she liked him almost as much as I did. But when I told her I needed space, she’d understand. I loved that about her. She had always accepted me the way I was, at any given moment.

I parked the car in the turnaround, reached the pretty double door and opened it. Unlocked, as usual. Our area was generally crime-free, now that we’d driven the gangsters out of town. I took off my Nikes, setting them on the shoe rack inside the entry foyer, frowning. There was an extra pair of slippers on the mat, an unfamiliar kind made of ropey material, like espadrilles.

Laughter greeted me as I stepped inside. I’d spent the whole day weeping and gnashing my teeth. Maybe a little levity would be a welcome respite if I could switch gears.

“Hey, Kat,” said Aunt Fae. “Look who’s here!” She threw an arm around Elle’s shoulders and pulled her in, grinning like they were frat boys at a kegger. Elle, wearing cutoff jeans and a skimpy top, had cheeks as pink as Aunt Fae’s. “Elle joined us for dinner after all.”

What had happened to my stolid Aunt Fae? As she liked to remind me, “You can take the woman out of Maine, but you can’t take Maine out of the woman.” And Mainers were likely to look a gift horse in the mouth and check its fillings, for good measure.

“Get over here, Katty Whompuss,” Auntie said.

Katty Whompuss?“Are you two drunk?” I put my hands on my hips.

“No, no, we’re just having a bit of fun. Elle made this lovely libation for us.” Aunt Fae lifted a blender half-full of pale green slush. To my knowledge, we didn’t have a blender. And if we did, Aunt Fae would’ve used it to make kale protein smoothies, not whatever it was that had turned her eyes glassy.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Elle said. “Fae invited me over for dinner.” She held up a hand and burped delicately.

“Yeah. I was there for that part,” I said.

“I tried to call but you must’ve been out of cell range. I left a message that Elle was coming over,” said Aunt Fae.

“Sorry. I didn’t check my messages. I’ve had a tough day.”

“I can imagine,” said Elle. “Fae filled me in. You were out at that property yesterday, the one that blew up this morning. That’s got to be really shocking. One day the place is fine and the next, it blows sky high.”

I nodded but stayed silent. Maybe our new neighbor would get the memo that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.

Aunt Fae picked up on it immediately. “Of course it was shocking. Clearly, Kat’s in need of distraction and something to eat. Now, let’s have some dinner and put all of that behind us for a while. I made a Mexican-ish food thing I saw on TV today. Chicken burrito casserole with black beans and red rice.” She clapped her hands together with a smile. “Come on, girls. Who’s hungry?”

As Aunt Fae had said, I really was in need of food and a distraction . . . but it wasn’t the casserole, the beans, or the red rice that ended my obsession about the tragedy that’d unfolded that morning. No, it was the margaritas. Turns out the tequila-fueled green beverage, favorite of Jimmy Buffett’s fans, was a temporary antidote to heartbreak.