O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series #5) (12 page)

I just wished
it would stop raining.

CHAPTER 14

Thursday morning
dawned gray with a thick cloud bank lingering on the horizon. I took a cup of
coffee and my cell phone out on the covered lanai and looked down on the city
below. Waikiki doesn’t wake up one eye at a time like Hali’imaile does back
home. It bounds into the day, with the
peep-peep-peep
of trucks backing
up and the metal-on-metal cacophony of Dumpsters being picked up and slammed
against garbage trucks. Buses idled at hotel entrances thirty stories below,
and rowers in outrigger canoes were already churning through the off-shore
swells.

First I called
Hatch. It was late morning in Montana so I was surprised when he picked up.

“Hey, Babe,” he
said. “I was thinking about calling you but I didn’t know if you’d be up yet.”

“It’s eight
o’clock.”

“I know, but I
thought you and your brother may have had a late night.”

“Jeff’s gone.”
It surprised me when my voice cracked a little. I cleared my throat and went
on. “Something came up at his work and he had to go home early.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, except
it’s
still raining. I can’t remember when we’ve ever had
this much rain in September.
But enough about me.
How’re you doing?”

“I’m great. I
love it here. I didn’t know places like this still existed. It’s clean and
green and, well, big. Everything feels new. Sometimes I get out there and it’s
like there’s not another soul around for miles and miles. ”

“Because there isn’t.”

“Yeah.
Gotta
love it.”

I felt
something catch in my chest; a little pinch that made me aware of my breathing.

“You aren’t
thinking of staying, are you?”

The pause was a
beat too long.
“Of course not.
I’m just enjoying the
adventure. We should come back here someday. You know, together. I’d love to
show you around.”

We went through
the required ‘miss
you’s
’ and ‘love
you’s
’ and then hung up. But the catch in my chest was
still there.

Next I called
Farrah. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“We’re good,”
she said. “Ono’s a little worried about the boat. Did you hear about all the
nasty stuff they’re dumping in the water down there?”

“Yeah.
Say, Farrah, Jeff had to go back to California today
and I was wondering if you and Ono might like to come over and keep me
company?”

The phone went
dead. At least I thought it went dead. After a bit, I said, “Farrah?
You still there?”

“Yeah.
I’m here. I’m just thinking.”

A few more
moments of silence and she said, “
Mahalo
for
the offer, but if you don’t mind I think we’ll take a rain check. Ono doesn’t
get to hang with
Tomika
very much and we’re having a
blast. But hey, why don’t you come here? I’m sure
Tomika
would love to see you again.”

Now it was my
turn to scramble for an excuse.

“Uh,
mahalo
, but I’ve already turned in my car so I’d
have to take the bus. It’s kind of a hassle in the rain.”

“
Tomika’s
got a car and driver. He can come and pick you
up.”

“Thanks, but I
think I’ll just stick around here and relax. When are you and Ono planning on
heading back?”

“Who knows? The
harbor’s a total mess and Ono says this storm’s not over with. We might be
stuck here for a while. Remember when I said this might turn out like ‘Gilligan’s
Island’?”

“
Tomika’s
high rise condo is hardly a grass shack. And I bet
you’re not talking on a coconut-shell telephone.”

“Yeah, but
we’re still a bunch of people stuck on a freaky-strange island,” she said. “You
gotta
admit this place is way weirder than Maui.
Yesterday I saw a guy hitchhiking out by
Ala
Moana
Park and nobody picked him up. Not one single car
stopped. ”

Time to change the subject.
“What’s happening with the
Gadda
?”

“Bea’s being
totally cool. She got some kids from the high school to help her. She says
having them around makes her feel ten years younger. They even showed her how
to text message.”

I started to
sign off, but Farrah interrupted. “Oh, before you go,
Tomika
wants to say ‘
aloha
’.”

There was a
rustle as the phone changed hands. “
Aloha
,
Pali
,”
Tomika
said in her distinctive sing-song voice.
“
Mahalo
nui
loa
for introducing our favorite boy to such a
nice girl.
I’m so happy for them.”

I stuttered out
a ‘me too,’ before saying
aloha
and hanging up.
Happy
for them
?
Had I missed something? In my line of work, ‘happy for
them’ has a more substantial ring to it than ‘happy they just met.’  

I watched as
the thick clouds moved in and then I went inside to read. About an hour later
my phone rang and I snatched it up, hoping Farrah had changed her mind about
dropping by. I checked the caller ID but it said, ‘Barb
Pt
Btwks
.’
Whatever
that was.
Probably a wrong number.

“
Aloha.
”

“
Aloha
.
Pali
?
Sorry to call when you’re
prob’ly
on your way out.
You okay to talk?” I recognized
Moko’s
island
cadence. Or at least that’s who I thought it was.

“It’s fine. Is
this
Moko
?”

“Yeah, sorry.
Should’a
told you
that. Anyways, you hear about Stu?”

“No, not since Tuesday night when I went to his house for dinner.”

“You
didn
’ talk to him or Natalie
yesterday?
Or today?”

I didn’t know
how to tell
Moko
it was probably a safe bet I
wouldn’t be putting Stuart or Natalie Wilkerson in my cell phone contacts list.
“No, I haven’t heard from either of them. Is everything okay?”

“He had an
accident Tuesday night.
Got taken to the hospital.
He
was okay and they let him go, but then today he had to go back in.” 

“He got in a
car accident? What happened?”

“Nah.
No car. He fell in the canal.”

“What? Start
from the beginning,
Moko
.”

“Okay, so Stu was
at this meeting with his boss. And then the next thing you know, they’re
fishing Stu out of the
Ala
Wai
Canal.”

“He fell in?” I
said.

“Looks like
it.”

“And he
couldn’t get himself out?”

“Stu doesn’t
swim. He never learned.” He chuckled as if an island-born kid who couldn’t swim
was some kind of joke. Truth is
,
I can’t swim either.

“So they took
him to the hospital?” I said.

“Yeah.
They got him out and the ambulance took him in to
check him out. He was a little banged up, but they gave him a few stitches and
sent him home.”

“Why is he back
in there today?”

“The cuts got
infected or something. He was here at work and he started yelling and acting
all
pupule
. You know, crazy-like.”

“What hospital
is he in?”

“Queen’s.
Up there on Punchbowl.
You
gonna
go see him?”

“Sure. Will you
be there?”

“I
gotta
finish up one thing here at work and then I’m heading
out.”

“Do you know
which room he’s in?”

“No clue. But
when the ambulance left here they had the sirens
goin
’
and all that. They probably took him to the ER.”

CHAPTER 15

Since Jeff and
I had taken the number 42 bus to get to ‘
Iolani
Palace just a few days before, I was pretty sure that was the one I should take
to the hospital. But just to be sure I looked it up. I mentally high-fived
myself when my phone showed the 42 bus route from Waikiki to
Ewa
Beach by way of
Beretania
.
The same King Street stop we’d gotten off on before would get me within a block
and a half of Queen’s Medical Center on Punchbowl Street.

I made it to
the King Street stop in twenty minutes. I had to stand in the aisle the whole
way because it seemed everyone in Waikiki had decided to take the bus downtown.
When I got off, the rain had turned to mist so the short walk to Queen’s was
pleasant. The hospital grounds looked like a park, with neatly trimmed lawns,
big trees and beds of colorful flowers.

The sliding
glass doors to the main lobby parted, and I walked up to a huge desk positioned
dead ahead. A sign on the desk said, ‘Information.’ A local woman of about
fifty was seated behind the desk wearing a bright blue
mu’u
mu’u
. She had a white
plumeria
blossom pinned above her left ear.

“
Aloha
,”
she said as I approached. “Can I help you?”

“
Aloha
.
I’m here to see my brother, Stuart Wilkerson. Can you tell me what room he’s
in?”

“He must have a
big
ohana
,” she said with a smile. “You’re the
fourth person to ask for him this morning.” She typed on her computer. “Yes,
he’s in the ‘
Iolani
Tower.
Room
412.
Do you know the way?”

“No, I’m from
Maui.”

“You came here
all the way from Maui? You’re a good
sista
. Okay,
here are the directions.” She held out a small slip of paper.

“Does the
computer say what his condition is? I’m not sure why he was brought in.”

“Sorry, I don’t
have that information. You can ask at the nurse’s station when you get to the
floor.”

“
Mahalo
,
” I said. I took the little paper
square from her and made my way to a bank of elevators.

When I got off the
elevator I looked around. The place looked like a well-run hotel, with dark
koa
wood floors polished to a mirror shine and pale yellow
walls with wood wainscoting running the length of the long hall. There were
hardly any people around, giving the place an eerie end-of-the-world feeling.

A male orderly
came down the hall pushing an empty gurney. “
Aloha
,” I said. “Can you
direct me to Room 412?”

“I just came
from there,” the guy said. “The patient’s been transferred to Intensive Care.”

“And where is
that?”

“ICU’s in the
Queen Emma Tower.”

I looked down
at the slip of paper in my hand.

“It’s close
by,” said the guy. “You know the elevators you used to get up here?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, go back
to the same elevator you came up on and take it down to the ground floor. Then
take a left from there and go up the ramp. Look for the sign for the Queen Emma
elevators. Go up to the fourth floor. When you get off there’s a sign that will
show you where the ICU is. You can’t miss it.”

 I thanked
him and made my way through a maze of elevators, ramps, and halls until I
finally got to the ICU waiting room.
Moko
was already
there, his head down. He looked up when I said his name.

“
Pali
.
Did you have any trouble
finding this place?”

“No trouble.
Just a lot of twists and turns.
Do you know why Stu’s in the
ICU?”

“Nobody’s
saying much. Natalie’s downstairs getting tea with the big boss. The nurses
said we’ll be able to go in and see Stu in a little while.”

“What
happened?”

“Good question.
Seems Stu’s got some kind of infection. They got all kinds of stuff for that
though, right? I mean, when he fell into the canal he only got a couple of
cuts.”

“Then why did
he get put in Intensive Care?” I said. I didn’t mean to beat up on
Moko
, but it was one of those kick-the-dog
kind
of things.

“Maybe this is
where they got the good antibiotics and stuff,” he said.

I let it go at
that.

After a few
beats I said. “How’s Natalie taking it?”

“Pretty good.
She’s worried, like we all are. But she said
Stu’s a fighter and he’ll be okay. He won’t want to miss work. To tell you the
truth, things have been
kinda
tense.”

“Tense between Stu and Natalie?”

“Nah, tense at work.
The big boss is jammed up over
somethin
’. They don’t tell guys like me what’s
goin
’ on, but everybody knows the boat yard’s in some
kinda
trouble.”

At that point,
a ridiculously good-looking guy came out of the men’s restroom on the other
side of the waiting room. His tight dark blue polo shirt outlined well-defined
pecs
and his knee-length cargo shorts put his tanned
chiseled calves on full display. I tried to not stare, but he offered a
fascinating counterpoint to an otherwise dismal setting.

Mr. Universe
took a seat one row away.
Moko
caught my eye and
discreetly tipped his head toward the guy.

“You know him?”
I said in a low voice.

“Yeah.
That’s Jason. He’s Stu’s best friend.”

“Why’s he
sitting over there instead of with us?”