Dark Lava: Lei Crime Book 7 (Lei Crime Series) (25 page)

Lei sighed. “
I love you. Let’s talk longer when you have more time.”

“
You said there was something else.”

“
No. I’ll tell you when I’m home. Stay safe.”

“
I’ll do my best.” He hung up and parked the truck in the sprawling lot. Inside the hospital, he bought a basket of fruit and flowers and charged it to the MPD reimbursement card he used for departmental expenses. Brandon Mahoe had been moved, and Stevens found him in a private room a few floors up.

Mrs. Mahoe greeted Stevens, setting down a lapful of crocheting. “
You came back.”

He held up the flower-studded fruit basket. “
With Maui Police Department’s best wishes. I don’t know how long I can stay, but I wanted to keep you company while I could.”

“
Thank you.” She appeared calmer, taking the basket and setting it on the wide windowsill. “They seem to think he’s going to be okay, but it’s hard to tell with head injuries.”

“
I know.” Stevens took a chair beside the bed. Brandon appeared as inert as before, the strong young body slack on the bed, his color yellowish. Monitors beside the bed beeped steadily. “Why don’t you take a break? Go make some phone calls, get a snack.”

She considered this a long moment and finally stood. “
I’ll go down to the cafeteria.”

“
Good. I’ll sit with him.”

She left. Stevens glanced over at the young man on the bed. It felt like he
’d been running full speed ever since he came back to Maui from Oahu, and this was the first moment he was sitting quietly, just being with someone. That made him remember Kiet.

He took out his phone and thumbed to a photograph of the baby. The boy
’s changeable eyes were open, his little face serious, that thatch of black hair comically upright like the crest on a bird. He’d taken the photo for Lei, and in all the chaos of the night before she left for California, he’d never shown it to her.

He texted the photo to her:
Kiet Edward Mookjai Stevens. It’s on his birth certificate.

Almost immediately she texted back,
Thanks. I wondered what he looked like. Cute! What color are his eyes? Is that gray?

To be determined
, Stevens texted back.
But probably brown, hazel, or green
.

He
’s going to be gorgeous.

Of course.

It felt good to have this moment, even sharing the trace of proud humor with her that he felt. He slid the phone back into his pocket, looked up, and was surprised to see Mahoe’s eyes were open.

“
You’re awake.”

“
Hi, boss.” Mahoe’s voice was scratchy, but his eyes looked clear as he gazed around the room.

“
How are you feeling?”

“
Fuzzy. Head’s sore.”

“
You were in a coma, and I thought you were going to be out for quite a while.” Stevens poured some water into a plastic cup from the carafe by the bed and held it for the young man to drink. Mahoe finished the cupful thirstily.

“
Gotta admit, you aren’t who I expected at my bedside,” Mahoe said. “Where’s Mom?”

“
She went down to the cafeteria for a minute. She’s been by your side every other minute.” Stevens handed the young man another cup of water.

“
You’ll be glad to know we’ve got a warrant in process for Awapuhi. Gonna pick him up as soon as the order comes through.”

“
Awapuhi?” Mahoe looked confused, frowning. He shut his eyes.

“
Yeah. Charles Awapuhi, the Heiau Hui leader. Your friend Mana Guinamo told us he saw the whole thing.”

Mahoe
’s eyes popped open and he tried to get up, falling back in agitation. “You mean he was the one who beat me!”

“
What?” Stevens felt his brows snap together. “He told us the whole story, how he fought the Hui leaders off to save you.”

“
He’s the one who did it!” Brandon’s face congested and his mouth worked. Alarmed, Stevens pushed him back against the pillows, restraining Mahoe gently.

“
Take it easy,” Stevens said. “Go slow. Take all the time you need.” He took his phone out and thumbed it to the audio feature. “I’m going to record this.”

Brandon
’s throat worked, and for a moment Stevens was afraid the young man was collapsing again, but instead tears welled in his eyes. “Mana’s been my friend my whole life. He really got into the Hui thing and was all excited I got involved. But then I overheard him talking with another guy—Red Toaman. Red and him, they been making trouble since we were in junior high. Anyway, I overheard them talking about ‘doing the Norwegian.’”

“
You mean the murder vic found in that Wailuku inn? You think he had something to do with that?”

“
Yeah, I do. Mana saw me, but I pretended I hadn’t heard anything. Later he confronted me when we were alone. Told me he thought I was a snitch for the MPD and told me to get out of the Hui. I told him no way. I cared about the cause. He attacked me.” Mahoe looked down at his hands. Stevens saw they were as bruised as Mana’s had been. “I was doing okay handling him until someone came up and hit me on the head. Then it was lights-out.”

“
Did you ever see who it was who hit you?”

“
No.”

“
Did you see Awapuhi anywhere around? Because Mana pointed the finger at Awapuhi.”

“
No, but they call Awapuhi ‘Kane’ for the Man. And when he and Red were talking about the Norwegian, I heard them say that ‘the Man wanted it done.’”

“
So why would he lie and point the finger at Awapuhi?”

“
To get you to arrest him, maybe. I don’t know.”

Stevens stood. “
We’d be arresting him for the wrong reason, and it would make it harder to get charges to stick later. I have to make some calls. Your mom is going to be back shortly.”

“
All right.”

Stevens pushed the nurse
’s button so they could come see that Brandon was awake. Stevens was already calling Omura with the latest developments as he walked down the hall.

“
I was just going to contact you to tell you the warrant is signed,” she said. “We have to change the charges. Go ahead and mobilize your team to bring him in, and that young man Guinamo, too.”

Stevens broke into a run as he got ahold of Dispatch to activate his team. His cell was ringing again in his pocket as he pulled the Kevlar vest out of the backseat of the
Bronco and shrugged into it.

“
Stevens,” he barked, the phone against his ear as he tightened the Velcro straps on the vest.

“
Michael? This is Esther Ka`awai. On Kaua`i.” The
kupuna
’s deep, authoritative voice stopped all movement.

“
Mrs. Ka`awai,” he said cautiously, checking his weapon, racking the slide, reholstering it. “This isn’t a good time. Can I call you back?”

“
No. It’s about the Heiau Hui. I was in touch with Lei a while back, and this morning when I called, she told me to contact you immediately with this information.”

Stevens got into the Bronco, shut the door, turned on the ignition, and blasted the AC. Pre-raid adrenaline combined with the hot vest was already ratcheting up his temperature. “
What is it?”

“
I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I’ve found out who’s taking the artifacts and why.”

Stevens went very still. “
I’m listening.”

“
The artifacts are being collected by a man who believes that’s the best way to preserve them. He’s hired those art thieves from Europe so it won’t get back to him. He’s a politician. Councilman Muapu.”

“
Mrs. Ka`awai. This is a very serious charge to be making. What’s your evidence?”

“
Councilman Muapu contacted me, asked me to be part of his Board of Five who will be custodians of the artifacts.”

Stevens knit
his brows. “Is there any evidence we can use? We can’t just bring in a man of his stature on your say-so, all due respect.”

“
I know where the artifacts collected on Maui are being stored. They’re at Charles Awapuhi’s place. They’re buried in his yard, behind the kukui nut trees.”

“
How do you know that?”

“
They called out to me and told me where they are. They want to be returned to their proper place at the
heiau
in Haiku.”

Stevens felt a chill from the AC ripple across his arms, raising the hairs. “
So there’s nothing hard we can use to search Awapuhi’s house and grounds?”

“
I thought you were on your way to arrest him.”

“
I never told you that.”

“
You didn’t have to. I’ll be prepared to testify against Councilman Muapu when the time comes.” She hung up.

Stevens
shook his head, blew out a breath. This was getting deep. First thing was first—execute the raid on Awapuhi’s house. Once the man was in custody for being involved in the Norwegian’s murder, he could search the house. Never mind telling anyone about Esther’s psychic tip with the location of the artifacts—he’d just go have a look and hope she was right. Stevens lifted the cop light out from under the dash, turned it on, and peeled out from the parking lot to meet his team.

Lei left her aunt sleeping after their conversation—it had seemed to relax her, truly giving her some peace of mind, while Lei felt wound up with so much tension she knew the only cure was a run. She left the bungalow and jogged around the semi-urban neighborhood, enjoying the sight of squirrels, crows, and live oak trees, letting her thoughts wander free-form over the case, her future motherhood, and her aunt’s confession. She left a message on Marcella’s voicemail telling her to call, and finally she cooled down, returning to the house and stretching in the little patch of front yard.

She
’d made a decision. She dialed a contact on her phone.

Marcus Kamuela
’s voice was surprised. “Lei! To what do I owe the pleasure? Is this about your art thief murder?”

“
No. It’s something else entirely—though I think Stevens has some developments over on Maui to catch you up on. I have a situation. A hypothetical situation.”

“
Okay.” His voice had gone cautious.

“
Remember how Bozeman’s phone number had turned up in my grandmother’s things?”

“
How could I forget?”

Lei paced, rubbing the pendant at her throat. She looked up at the sky, down at the cracks in the cement, over at the little house. The juni
pers beside the stoop were getting long; she should remind her dad about cutting them. “Suppose I found out how that phone number got there, and it implicated someone very close to me—who’s dying. Would that person be under investigation for obtaining Bozeman’s services?”

“
I need more information.” His voice was brisk.

“
This person is definitely dying.” Lei pressed the medallion at her throat, the roughness of embedded diamonds digging into her skin as she forced the words out. “Got a few days, maybe a week, to live. And as a sort of conscience-clearing deathbed confession, this person told me that, together with my grandmother who is now deceased, she obtained Bozeman’s services to kill Kwon.”

A long pause and then Kamuela gave a rough bark of a laugh. “
Never a dull moment with you, Texeira. I don’t see this moving forward at all with the district attorney. Why waste the state’s money prosecuting someone who won’t be alive for the trial? Not to mention the case itself—a dying person hired a hit man, now dead, to shoot a child molester. No one would touch the case with a ten-foot pole—no one benefits from it.”

“
What are you saying? That you don’t want to charge the dying person?”

“
That’s what I’m saying. Bozeman’s murder is closed. Kwon’s murder is closed. I got to put them in my solved stats, and I can guarantee the DA will not want to reopen either one just on a deathbed confession. Who would it serve?”

“
It would be the right thing to do,” Lei said, closing her eyes.

“
Well, I can run it up the flagpole, if you insist.”

“
I’d like to leave this up to your professional judgment.”

“
Then my professional judgment is, let sleeping dogs lie. Both cases are closed and tied up with a nice little bow. Prosecuting a deathbed confession is a waste of time and money.”

Let s
leeping dogs lie
. That phrase had come up a lot in Lei’s life, and she’d never been much good at it. Relief made her smile. “Thanks, Marcus. That’s how I would have handled it if this came across my desk, but I can’t be responsible for suppressing information like this. It just wouldn’t have been right to decide on it myself.”