Beside Still Waters (23 page)

             
“Why is that?” he asked, walking forward, senses alert.

             
“A gentleman from the crew who was there that day is here right now.  I’m sure he could help answer your questions, too.”

             
She turned and led the way into the room.  A man was standing by the table, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.  He looked at Jeremiah, his posture tense, alert, sizing the rabbi up even as Jeremiah was sizing him up.

             
“What a coincidence,” Jeremiah said.

             
“It’s rather amazing.  Al just got here.”

             
“Hello, Al,” Jeremiah said, struggling not to tip his hand while Marge was standing between them.

             
Al dipped his head briefly in acknowledgement. 

             
“I’m surprised to see you here,” Jeremiah said.

             
Al shrugged.  “I felt bad that I couldn’t visit her in the hospital.  After all, I was the one who gave her the life preserver.  I still can’t figure out what could have been wrong with it to make it sink like that.  Bad luck.”

             
“He brought me these beautiful flowers,” Marge said, beaming from ear-to-ear.

             
“That was nice of him,” Jeremiah said.

             
“It was the least I could do,” Al said.  “Besides, it’s not good for business when a tourist gets hurt.”

             
There was something about the way that he said ‘tourist’ that caught Jeremiah’s attention.  There was a certain level of vehemence, resentment almost bordering on hatred when he used the word.

             
“Well, I certainly had the tar scared out of me, but I wasn’t hurt, not really,” Marge said.  “Honestly, I wish everyone would stop fussing.”

             
Jeremiah shrugged.  “We just want to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

             
“I think we can all agree about that,” Al said.

             
Jeremiah stood there.  Was it possible he had misinterpreted the reason for Al’s visit to Marge?  It seemed unlikely.  He still hadn’t been able to pin him to the smugglers beyond a shadow of a doubt.  But that kind of proof was required by police and attorneys and jurists.  Jeremiah was none of those, but he was more than willing to be Al’s executioner.

             
He stared hard at Al.  Al just looked at him with wide, curious eyes.  He was a good actor, that much Jeremiah had to give him.

             
“So, what can I do for you, young man?” Marge asked Jeremiah.

             
Jeremiah answered, but kept his eyes on Al.  “I’m here to ask you a few questions about your accident.”

             
“Oh, but I already told everyone at the hospital, and answered questions for that nice representative from the cruise company.  I simply don’t know how that life preserver could have failed like that.”

             
“I’m not so much interested in the life preserver as I am something else.”

             
“Oh?”

             
“I’m trying to find out what happened to another passenger on the cruise.  Cindy Preston.”

             
And at the mention of her name, Al turned a shade paler.  Jeremiah lunged forward even as Al pulled his gun.

             
He knocked the gun from the other man’s hand and it went arcing through the air.  He heard Marge scream, but he didn’t have time to deal with her as he lunged forward and grabbed Al by the throat.  He swept the man’s legs out from under him and followed him down to the ground, putting his knee into Al’s sternum with enough force that he heard a rib crack.

             
Marge was still screaming and out of the corner of his eye he saw her move toward the phone.  The last thing he needed was security or the police arriving before he’d found out what he needed to know.

             
He turned his head just slightly.  “Sit!” he barked at her.

             
She froze like a deer in the headlights, staring at him in terror.

             
“This man came here to kill you so that you couldn’t talk to anyone anymore about that damaged life preserver,” he said.  “Now, sit down and be quiet while I get some answers from him.”

             
Marge gasped and sank down on the edge of the bed.  Satisfied that she would stay there, at least for a while, Jeremiah turned his attention back to Al.

             
“Where is Cindy?” he demanded.

             
“I don’t know!” Al sputtered.

             
“Try again,” Jeremiah said, putting more pressure on the man’s chest.

             
“How should I know?  I don’t even know her last name!”

             
“Did she see you, is that why you tried to kill her?”

             
“Yes, I had to.  She was going to ruin everything,” Al said.  “I rigged the life preserver.”

             
“And when you failed to kill her what happened next?” Jeremiah asked.

             
“I freaked out.  I was afraid someone would figure out what I had done.”

             
“And that’s why you came to kill Marge?”

             
Al nodded frantically.  “I didn’t want to, but she’s just a stupid haole and the cause is bigger than her, bigger than me.”

             
“And what about Cindy?”

             
“I don’t know!  I don’t know where she went.”

             
“She was kidnapped by your cohorts.”

             
Al shook his head fiercely.  “No one knew about her.  I didn’t tell.  I figured she was a stupid tourist, didn’t know anything, but when she recognized me on that boat from the night before-”

             
“The night before?” Jeremiah demanded, shaking Al hard.

             
Al nodded frantically.

             
“Where exactly did she see you?” Jeremiah demanded.

             
“On the north shore, at the resort site.  She could have ruined everything.”

             
Jeremiah’s mind was whirling.  Cindy hadn’t seen this guy retrieving drugs from the water at Pearl Harbor.  She’d seen him hours later on the opposite side of the island, but doing what?  Cause, he’d mentioned a cause.

             
“Tell me exactly what she saw you doing,” Jeremiah demanded.

             
“She saw us planting the bodies.  When she saw me on the ship the next morning she said she thought I was an archaeologist.  I told her lots of people had two jobs and we help out where we could.  I panicked, okay?  This is bigger than just me.”

             
Jeremiah was even more confused than he had been a moment before.  “So, she saw you planting the bodies at the resort site?” he asked, struggling to figure out what exactly that meant without showing his own ignorance on the subject and risking Al clamping down.

             
He took a stab in the dark.  “So, you tried to kill her.  Did you kill Uncle as well?”

             
Tears sprang into Al’s eyes.  “That wasn’t me, man.  That was Kimo.  I begged him not to.  Uncle was one of our biggest supporters.  He contributed so much money to the cause.”

             
“What cause?” Jeremiah asked.

             
And then he could see the dawning light in Al’s eyes as the other realized that Jeremiah knew far less than he thought and maybe he should shut up fast.  Jeremiah didn’t want to give him a chance to make that choice.

             
He slammed Al’s head hard against the floor.  The smell of blood filled the air as the skin on the man’s scalp split.

             
“Stop, please!” Al begged.

             
“The pain stops only when you’ve told me everything I want to know.”

             
Jeremiah threw a sharp glance at Marge who had started to edge toward the telephone.  “Stay put,” he hissed.

             
She nodded and seemed to curl in on herself.

             
“Hawaii for Hawaiians,” Al said.  “The tourists are ruining the islands and we had to protect them, particularly the north shore.  We had to stop them from creating that new resort.  Uncle contributed a lot of money, trying to get it shut down legally and then funding us as we sabotaged the project.”

             
“So, what went wrong?”

             
“Nothing worked.  Then Kimo had a great idea.  His cousin’s brother-in-law works for one of the archaeology firms on the island.  He knew that if enough bodies were found on the property they’d have to shut the project down, that the ground would be sacred.”

             
“I’ve been hearing about that on the radio,” Marge interjected suddenly.  “Everyone seems very upset.”

             
“So, you couldn’t find enough bodies on the site and you started planting bodies?” Jeremiah asked, beginning to put the pieces together.

             
“Yeah, but they have to be like, old.  So we did some research and then we dug them up from some different places around the island and we’ve been burying them there.  It was perfect.  But then Uncle found out and he went all pupule, telling us we had desecrated the bodies, that it was disrespectful.  We told him we would put them back once it was over, but he was furious.  He was going to tell the authorities.  He was going to ruin everything we had worked for.”

             
“So Kimo killed him.”

             
“Yes.  The cause is bigger than anyone, than everyone,” Al said.

             
“And Cindy saw you moving some of those bodies?”

             
“Yes.  Then when she recognized me...” Al drifted off.

             
“And you have no idea who kidnapped her?  Could it be Kimo?”

             
Al’s eyes bulged.  “She’s been kidnapped?”

             
Jeremiah nodded.

             
“I didn’t know.  And I never told Kimo or any of the others about her.  They couldn’t know.”

             
“I found drugs and money stashed in your kitchen,” Jeremiah said.

             
“Oh man, that’s the last of the money Uncle gave us.  He gave Kimo drugs, too.  I tell him they’re no good, but he never believes me.”

             
“So you don’t know anything about the drug trade around Pearl Harbor?”

             
Al shook his head and there was truth in his eyes.

             
Jeremiah felt like he had landed back at square one.  He had found Cindy’s would be killer, but he still had no clue who could have kidnapped her.  Anger flashed through him white hot and it was all he could do not to snap Al’s neck for having tried to kill Cindy. 

             
Instead he stood to his feet and turned to Marge.  “Don’t worry, I’m calling the cops.”

             
He dialed Kapono.  “You all patched up?”

             
“Just getting out of the emergency room now.  I told them they couldn’t hold me.  What do you have?”

             
“The name of Uncle’s killer and a conspirator in a massive grave robbing and sabotage ring on the north shore.”

             
There was silence for a moment and then Kapono said something in Hawaiian.  “You don’t mess around, do you?”

             
“No.”

             
“You’re just like her.  You’re on the island a day and you find more trouble than most do in a lifetime.”

             
“What can I say?  It’s a gift.”

             
“Did he say where they were keeping Cindy?”

             
“That’s the bad news.  These guys aren’t the ones that took her.”

             
There was more Hawaiian on the other end of the line.  “Okay tell me where you are,” Kapono finally asked.

             
Jeremiah gave him the hotel and room number.

             
“I’ll be there in fifteen.  And I’ve got something for you that just came in.”

             
“What’s that?”