“I think the boy was just collateral damage. He happened to be in the back of the salon when they were burning the acupuncture clinic. Just bad luck.”
“Yeah, but what if he ran away from the clinic, and that made the owners want to burn it? Did he threaten somebody? Did he know something? And how did he get here, anyway?”
“Good questions. You think up any answers, you let me know.”
I thought that if Norma or Treasure could tell us when Jingtao arrived in the United States we might be able to track him through INS, and I made a couple of notes. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Sampson called me into his office.
“Have a seat, Kimo,” he said.
My mind was racing through my recent cases. Was there a problem with one of them? I remembered my visit to Dr. Riccardi at the STD clinic. Maybe he’d complained? But that was foolish-because I’d simply reveal why I had gone there, and Mike would be the one to suffer.
“I’ve had a request for your services,” Sampson said. Today’s polo shirt was a light blue, with a penguin crest. “From Vice.”
I nodded. “I spoke to Lieutenant Kee this morning.”
“I’m worried that Kee is not telling you the whole story. I don’t like anybody holding out on my detectives-not even another lieutenant.”
My heart started racing again. Had Kee recognized me from the photo and just not told me?
“Do you know what it is?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want to know. But I told him that if he didn’t give you everything he’s got, then I’ll pull you off the assignment.” He smiled. “He’d like to see you downstairs as soon as you’re free.”
I stopped at Ray’s desk to tell him I was going back to Vice. “What do you think he’s holding back?” Ray asked.
I shrugged. “I’ll know soon enough.”
Down at Vice, Juanita was at her desk. “Back again. You just can’t stay away from us, can you?” She smiled. “The Lieutenant is expecting you. Let me tell him you’re here.”
When I sat across from Lieutenant Kee, he said, “Your lieutenant is a very persuasive guy.” He pursed his lips in a frown. “What I’m going to tell you is confidential.”
I was baffled, but I kept my mouth shut.
“A hustler used your name. We were running a sting in Ala Moana Beach Park, and he offered a blow job to one of my guys. He was jonesing for his next fix, and he was so strung out he didn’t realize that he already had a couple of rocks until we searched him.”
He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “He bragged that he’d had sex with a lot of important guys. He gave us a couple of names, among them yours. We weren’t sure whether to believe him or not; could have been the ice talking. He bonded out, and one of my guys made an appointment to meet with him the next day to get more details. He didn’t show for the meeting.”
I could feel the sweat dripping down my back, pooling under my arms. I was right; one of the hookers Mr. Hu had hired had recognized me. But that had been part of the power Mr. Hu held over me-the danger that what he forced me to do not only humiliated and degraded me, but could bring down my career.
The last time I went to Mr. Hu’s mansion at Black Point, the night that drove Gunter to take me to the emergency room, Mr. Hu had told me after the fact that he’d paid the man who had fucked me so brutally. But did taking part in the act make me as guilty as either of them?
“I wouldn’t dignify his allegation except that after you left this morning I was trying to remember where I’d heard that name before, the one your blackmail victim mentioned, Mr. Hu. This hustler also mentioned him.”
“Can you tell me the hustler’s name?”
Kee turned to his computer and punched in a couple of keys, two-finger typing. After a moment he said, “The guy went by the name Lucas.”
That was the name Mr. Hu had called the man he’d paid to fuck me. Kee turned back to me. “Recognize the name?”
I nodded.
“How did you come in contact with him?”
I sat there for a moment, collecting my thoughts, considering how much to say. “I met a guy through a gay hookup Web site, and I met Lucas through him.” I took a deep breath. I had to make it clear that I was not a guilty party. “I did have sex with Lucas-but I didn’t pay him for it.”
He nodded. “I have no evidence to the contrary, detective. If I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
DATING DRAMA
My father picked me up just after four and we drove out toward the airport. Gray rain clouds clustered over the tops of the Ko’olau Mountains, but down on the Nimitz Highway it was sunny and breezy. “I made a couple of calls for you. We need to ask for Jerry Kaneali’i,” my father said, pulling into a used car dealership.
“You know him?”
“Better. The boss and I, we went to UH together. Long time ago.”
As we were getting out of his truck, my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but I answered anyway. It was Dr. Phil.
“I’ve got a late shift tomorrow,” he said. “Want to catch an early dinner?”
I’d almost forgotten about Dr. Phil-our one date had been so long ago. But I didn’t want to get into all my romantic complications on the phone, and certainly not in front of my father. “Sure. Tomorrow would be great.” He had to be at The Queen’s Medical Center after dinner, so we made plans to meet at a steak house near the Aloha Tower.
The dealership was playing KINE, Hawaiian 105, in the background, and the two receptionists at the front desk wore fragrant leis of red carnations. Jerry Kaneali’i was a big Hawaiian guy in his late fifties, and he seemed pleased to see us. “The boss said to take good care of you,” he said, shaking my hand vigorously.
He led us around the lot, showing us the Wranglers he had, and he was just explaining the horsepower on a dark blue one when my phone rang again.
The display said the call was coming from Haoa’s office. “Hey, brah,” I said.
“Hey to you, too,” Sergei said. “How’ve you been? I had a great time with you last week-but you still owe me a tour of the bars of Waikiki.”
“Sure. When did you want to meet up?”
My dad was listening earnestly to Jerry explain about cylinders and torque. I was trying to understand, but I’d always just taken what I’d been given when it came to vehicles and I’d never paid much attention to what was under the hood.
Oops, I guess I was gay all along.
“I’m thinking Friday,” Sergei said. “You and me, having some fun.”
His voice was so loud that my father looked up. “Sure, that would be great,” I said. “I’ll talk to you Friday, okay?”
I hung up and said, “This one looks good. I’ll take it.”
“Kimo!” my father scolded. “We haven’t even gotten a price yet.”
“Don’t you worry,” Jerry said. “Like I said, the boss told me to take good care of you. Give you the special UH price.”
Yeah, I wanted to say, tell me another one. But I’d seen the sticker price on the Jeep’s window, and the figure Jerry quoted us when we went inside was a few grand less. I guess there’s something to be said for that old boys’ network after all.
There were a million pieces of paper to sign. My dad pulled out a check already made out to me in the amount of eleven thousand dollars, and I endorsed it over to the dealership as my deposit. I was in the middle of filling out the loan papers for the rest when my phone rang a third time.
“Sorry,” I said, seeing it was Mike. “I need to take this.”
I turned away from the two of them and said hello. Mike said, “Hey there, handsome. We said we’d get together and catch up. You free tonight?”
His voice boomed around the small room. I had to figure out how to lower the volume on the damn phone. I looked at my watch. “Sure. Say seven o’clock?”
“I’ll bring dinner. See you.”
I hung up, feeling red faced. We finished the paperwork and Jerry went off to get the keys. “Busy social life,” my father said.