“I meet with the Lieutenant tomorrow morning. I’m pretty damn nervous. It’s like I’m cursed or something.”
“What do you mean?”
“Shit happens to me. All my life. Something’s wrong with me that makes things happen.” The murmur of the surf and mellow slack key music failed to calm Lei’s racing heart. She felt something important almost breaking through the memory fog that plagued her. She rubbed her temples where a headache threatened.
“What a load of crap. Shit happens to all of us. Listen, we better get going-Roland says we have plans tonight.” They packed up and walked out to the parking lot.
“Oh my God, gorgeous!” Mary said, running her hand along the contoured wheel well of the new truck. The silver paint glowed opal. “Wish I could get one.”
“You already have a nice ride,” Lei said, gesturing to Mary’s red Mustang, a former rental car bought for a song.
“Yeah, but this sweetheart has muscle. I like a nice truck.” She put her hands on her hips. “Want to race ’em?”
“You brat,” Lei said. “As if you didn’t know I was already in trouble.”
Mary laughed. “Bet I beat you,” she said, jumping into the Mustang.
At home, Lei bounced up the steps of her little house, sorting her mail. Keiki barked from the back yard, eager to come in for dinner. She unlocked the door, deactivated the alarm, and noticed the envelope on the floor. Her pulse jumped. The stalker had pushed it under the door this time.
She went into the kitchen and got a fresh pair of gloves from under the sink, snapping them on as she returned. She picked the envelope up by the corner and took it to the cutting board, slitting the top with a knife to preserve any evidence trapped under the flap. She eased the trebly-folded note out and flipped it open.
A long hank of glossy black hair obscured the words on the page. Lei’s vision swam and she clutched the counter, taking a couple of deep breaths. She looked back down and eased the hair out of the way with the point of the knife.
I’M GOING TO ENJOY YOU A LOT MORE.
Lei felt bile rise in her throat, hot and stinging. She gulped it back, took a few relaxation breaths.
He wasn’t going to get to her in her own home. Her eyes fell on one of her orange notes tacked over the sink: Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway- Robert Anthony.
I’ll act anyway. She went to the dog door and unlocked it. Keiki streaked in and did a circuit of the house as she fished the cell phone out of her pocket.
“Pono,” she said when he answered. “He’s escalating. He might have a victim.”
“What? Whatchu talking about?”
“There was another note,” she said. “A big piece of black hair inside. No woman I know would let someone cut off a chunk of hair like this.”
“I’m on my way.”
She shut the phone and went back to the front door, putting the chain and deadbolt back on. Pono arrived shortly. He’d brought Jeremy Ito and Stevens with him. Lei introduced Jeremy to Keiki and led them back into the kitchen. Pono took a good look at her in the light, tipping her chin to look at her pale face.
“You need food, girl,” he said, and went to her fridge, poking about inside. He held up a withered lemon and a bottle of ketchup. “Nothing in here.”
Stevens examined the hair and the envelope at the kitchen table, putting on gloves Lei handed him. Jeremy looked on, his hands behind his back as though to keep them out of trouble, his lean young face intent. The kitchen light caught on their two bent heads, the rumpled dark of Stevens beside Jeremy’s black.
“There’s no evidence anyone has been hurt,” Stevens said. “The hairs look like they were snipped off. It could be a clipping off the floor of a barbershop.” He slipped everything into an evidence bag.
“I guess so,” Lei said, unconvinced. “It’s sure threatening though.” She sat down in one of the chairs. “Anyone want something to drink? I have beer.”
“Miller Lite,” Pono scoffed.
“Still on the clock.” Jeremy smiled, shaking his head. Pono flipped open his phone and speed-dialed the local Pizza Hut, ordering a large pepperoni with extra cheese.
“We were heading back to the station so we’ll take this in,” Stevens said. “Pono, you going to stay a while?”
“Got my pizza coming. You can come back by later.”
“What the hell is this?” Lei said, mustering up some indignation. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“What’s new on the Mohuli`i girls?” Pono asked, ignoring her.
“Still got some leads to check out off the cell phones,” Stevens said. “Lei, maybe you and Jeremy can run some of them down tomorrow. I have to do a conference call with the Oahu lab people analyzing what we sent over from the trash at the crime scene. I want to talk to all Haunani’s contacts again, see if any of them remembered anything more about this mystery man of hers.”
“Did you think anymore about the truck search?” Lei asked.
“Nah. If we get a hit on anyone else with that angle, we’ll revisit our witness. Right now we need to shake the trees and see what falls. I’m hoping for the search warrant on James Reynolds’s house today or tomorrow. I’ll be back later to spell you, Pono.”
“Bye,” said Jeremy as he followed Stevens out.
Lei put the chain and deadbolt back on behind them, turning to Pono, who’d finally taken off his Oakleys and set them on the table. They’d begun to make dents above his ears.
He rubbed his bristly mustache. “I’m hungry. That pizza better get here soon.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she repeated.
Pono shrugged. “This is how we look out for our own Big Island style. You think you’re the only cop to be stalked?”
“I don’t know-I guess not.”
“Well you’re not. One of ours gets threatened, we look out for each other. Even off the clock.”
He went in and sat on the threadbare couch in her little living room, put his feet up on the trunk she used as a coffee table, hit the remote for the TV, and began scrolling through the channels.
Lei flopped next to him, giving up. It wasn’t long before they were digging into the rich, stretchy goo of hot pizza. She hadn’t realized how famished she was until she felt herself begin to relax as satiety worked its way through her system. She sat back and belched behind her hand.
“Feel better?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know I was so hungry.”
“Girl, you looked terrible. And to come home to this…” He rubbed a finger over his lips.
“Thanks for coming over. I hope Tiare doesn’t mind.”
“She wouldn’t like me sleeping over. That’s why I got Stevens doing the night shift.” He leered, looking exactly like an ominous tiki god come to life. “Play it right, you might get more than a bodyguard.”
“Shut up.” Lei punched him in the arm. “I gotta go shower.” She hauled herself off of the couch and went in to the bathroom. Keiki followed and flopped outside the door with a whuff.
Lei just stood for a long time under the falling water. It felt wonderful to wash off all the nervous sweat from the day, to feel safe with her partner downstairs… to know she had some friends. She got out and pulled on her favorite old sweats from high school hanging from a hook on the back of the door.
An hour later, Stevens rang the bell. Lei let him in. His hair was wet, and his eyes were dark with fatigue.
“Second shift,” he said. He carried a small navy duffel.
“You don’t have to do this.” Lei trailed him into the living room. Keiki gave his pants a sniff as he passed.
“Good. I’m off home,” Pono said, getting up. “Don’t let her out.”
“What do you think I’m here for? Gotta keep the vigilante locked up. Yeah, I dropped the letter and hair off and logged them in for your case,” he said, turning to Lei. “Sure wish we could get some sort of break on it, but at first glance it’s clean: no follicles on the hair, nothing caught under the flap, no fingerprints. Cheap plain envelope and computer paper you could get anywhere. It sucks, but there’s nothing.”
“Sick son of a bitch.” Pono banged his beer bottle down.