Lana'i of the Tiger (The Islands of Aloha Mystery Series) (9 page)

CHAPTER
10

At six-thirty, Tyler burst
through the front door with such fury I nearly wet myself. I popped up from the
computer where I’d been furtively peeking at the FaceBook pages of my friends
back on Maui.

“Whoa there, cowboy,” I said.  “Take
it easy.”

“I can’t,” he said, snapping the
deadbolt to lock the door. He sounded out of breath. “I’m so pissed right now,
I…I…” He didn’t finish. Instead, he plopped down on the sofa and put his head
in his hands. I thought he might be crying, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

I waited at least a minute
before I said anything. “You okay?”

“No, I am definitely
not
okay.”

Another minute went by.

“You want to talk about it?” I
said.

“Not really.”

I’d had enough of the waiting
game so I started heading to the back of the house. People who don’t want to
talk generally want privacy, so getting out of his way seemed like a good idea.

“Where are you going?” he said.

“I’m going back to the kitchen.
I’m getting hungry.”

“Can I go with you?”

“Sure. Are you hungry?”

“Not at all. But I don’t want to
be alone,” he said. “I’m feeling like I may be a danger to myself and others.”

“Okay, come along. But let me
warn you, one false move toward the kitchen knives and I’ll take you down like socks
off a clothesline. And believe me, I can do it.”

“No reason to doubt you,” he
said. By this point, a slight smile had begun to play across his haggard face.

We got to the kitchen and I
pulled out some hummus and pita chips. He absentmindedly grabbed a chip and
nibbled on it.

“You won’t believe what I found
out,” he said.

I waited for him to continue.

“You want to hear about it or
not?” he said. He sounded a bit peeved I hadn’t responded to his tantalizing
opening line.

“If you want to tell me.”

“Deedee’s the one who called in
the vultures.”

“What?” I nearly dropped the
pita chip I was holding.

“It was Deedee who called the
gossip rags and told ‘em about us getting married over here.”

“Why on earth would she do
that?”

“Beats me. She’s always been
straight-up with me in the past, but now I’m not sure what she’s thinking.
She’s told me a million times how much she hates those guys tailing us when we
go out. It was her idea to put in a dozen security cameras all around our new
house. I can’t imagine why she’d want to ruin her own wedding with paparazzi.”

I shook my head. I’d intended to
simply show him I was listening, but he latched onto the gesture and ran with
it.

“Ah, so I guess you’re thinking
what I’m thinking,” he said. “You think she’s playing me. She’s more interested
in pumping up her underwear business than caring about me and what I want. You
probably think I’m an idiot for not figuring it out sooner.” His shrill voice
sounded like a guy who’d walked in on his wife playing Special Delivery with
the mailman.

“I didn’t say anything, Tyler.”

“No, but you’re thinking it. I
can tell.”

I willed my face to be a blank
slate. I’d had some practice with brides who’d asked for totally outrageous
things, like the one who wanted a circus-themed wedding. She wanted her guests
to wear red rubber clown noses, and she wanted the groom in a lion-tamer
costume, right down to the chair and whip.

“You are
so
right,” he
went on. “She’s been playing me for a fool since forever. I can’t believe how
stupid I was. The eight-carat diamond ring she had to have. The
forty-million-dollar life insurance policy with her as the sole beneficiary. She
even talked me into building a new wing on the house for her mother. And I
can’t stand her mother. The woman looks down on me because I’m a self-made man.
When Deedee was sixteen, she was primping for the Delta Cotillion. Me? I was parking
cars and getting my GED at night school.”

I maintained my blank face. No
way I’d weigh in on upper-class snobbery. I had no experience in that area
except for the few times I’d come across it when I’d coordinated some diva’s
wedding. But in those instances I’d been the hired help. I had a rule: the more
the client made me grovel, the more I jacked up the price. 

“You’re
so
right about
Deedee,” he kept going. “I’m a damn sucker. Why didn’t I see what she was? I
mean, I’ve always considered myself a pretty smart guy. I negotiate
multi-million-dollar movie deals with guys who own their own islands. And I
can’t recognize a gold-digger when I see one? I wonder how much the gossip rags
paid her to tip them off.”

I had a bad feeling his ranting
would go on and on if I didn’t cut in.

“Tyler, would you like to get
out of here and get some air?”

“Yeah, but the scum suckers will
just follow me if I leave.”

“Not if we play it smart.”

***

We came up with a plan to slip
away from the White Orchid before anyone realized we were gone. I pranced out
the front door, yelling to Tyler that I was taking his Jeep to get some beer
and I’d be back in five minutes. Of course Tyler wasn’t in the house. He’d
already sneaked out back to the greenhouse. I took a right at the corner, which
is the way to the grocery store. The paparazzi must’ve believed that Tyler was
still in the house, because when I looked in the rearview mirror no one was
following me. I doubled back and took a left at Lihi, the street that runs
along the back of the White Orchid property. I pulled to the side of the road. Tyler
slipped through the back gate and was at the passenger-side door so fast I
almost didn’t have time to get it unlocked.

“You driving?” he said.

“I don’t think this is a good
time for musical chairs. But if you want…”

“No, it’s fine. Where’re we
going?”

“I thought it’d be fun to catch
the sunset at Kaumalapau. Have you been out there yet?”

“Cow-ma-what? I can’t even say
it, let alone remember if I’ve been there.”

“Kaumalapau is the industrial
harbor here on Lana’i. Back in the pineapple days, the harbor bustled with
freighters coming in and out, loading up pineapple to take to ports all over
the world. Now the place is pretty quiet. Fishing boats leave from there now
and then, but mostly the only people down there are a handful of guys who fish
from the pier and the workers at the nearby oil storage tanks. But I’ve heard
it’s the best place on the island to watch the sunset.”

 “Sounds good.”

The Kaumalapau Highway—Highway
440—runs southwest from Lana’i City down to the harbor, about seven and a half
miles. The road is paved the whole way, which was good since I wasn’t familiar
with Tyler’s Jeep Wrangler. When we got to the entrance of the harbor, I pulled
onto a wide spot across from a collection of oil storage tanks and turned off
the engine. The only sound was the
shush
of waves breaking on the rocks
below and the wind whistling through the Jeep’s soft-top. By then, the sun was
hanging low on the horizon with a few puffy clouds scattered here and there.
Clouds were good because they promised a more beautiful sunset.

“This is the biggest harbor on
the island?” Tyler said. “It sure doesn’t look like there’s much going on down there.”

I nodded. There was a small
fishing boat tied up on the far side of the concrete pier, but other than that,
the harbor was deserted.

“I read this harbor was pretty
wrecked after Hurricane Iwa pounded it in 1982,” I said. “Then Hurricane Iniki
finished the job in 1992. The Army Corps of Engineers rebuilt it in 2007
because the Lana’i residents needed a harbor big enough to handle barges
bringing in goods.” I pointed to the far end of the harbor, where the pier
bristled on all sides with huge geometric white blocks. ““See those big white
things all around the pier? They’re made from formed concrete. There are more
than eight-hundred of them, and they weigh over thirty-five tons.”

“Whew,” said Tyler. “That’s a
lot of concrete for a harbor in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, but every inhabited island
has to have a working harbor. The blocks were specially-designed to deflect
wave erosion. Hopefully they’ll be able to repel the storm surge of the next
hurricane.”

“They look like huge jacks,”
Tyler said. “You know, like that game little girls play? My sister played jacks
when we were in grade school.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah, it’s a long story. And
unfortunately it doesn’t have a happy ending.”

We sat in silence for a few
minutes. The sun dipped lower and lower. It looked as if it was growing weary of
clinging to the sky and was ready to call it a day.

At the moment the sun slipped
below the horizon the sky burst into color. It began with a golden yellow, then
changed to coral, and then to vivid fuchsia. The grand finale was purple velvet
giving way to deep navy blue.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Tyler
whispered. “Kind of makes this stuff with Deedee and me seem trivial.”

“It’s not trivial, though, is
it? I mean, it’s your life. You trusted her and she let you down. Not a small
thing.”

We stared at the darkening sky.

 “Have you thought about what you’re
going to do now?” I said.

“I don’t know. I wish I could
wipe it all clean. You know, go back to the time when I was completely focused
on the Stony Jackson stuff and I hadn’t met Deedee. No matter what I do, those
tabloid vultures are going to make money off me. Fans love to watch celebrities
crash and burn.”

***

We pulled in front of the White
Orchid at about eight-fifteen. In the dark it was impossible to spot lurking
paparazzi, but since no cameras flashed as we made our way to the door it appeared
they’d given up for the night. Before I had a chance to snap on the light
switch in the great room, I noticed the red message light blinking on the
phone.

“Don’t get that,” Tyler said.

“I have to. It might be someone
calling to book a room.”

I played the message. It was
Darryl checking in with me.

Tyler stood stock still for
about half a minute. Then he spoke. “I guess I better head on up to the Lodge
and face the music. And anyway, you need to call Darryl back.”

“You know, you don’t have to go
back up there until morning. You’ve already paid for your room here for three
more days.”

“Thanks, but I’ll feel better once
I’ve dealt with it. Deedee will want to talk it to death. She’ll probably beg
forgiveness and swear it’ll never happen again. But you know, it’s like someone
turned a switch in me. I just don’t care anymore. I don’t care about what she
wants, and I don’t care what those reporters say. All I want to do is get back
to LA and back to work. No more girlfriends, no more red carpets, no more
setting myself up to be screwed over.”

“Slow down, Tyler. Are you sure
it’s completely over between you and Deedee?” Although I was no fan of Deedee
Diamonte’s, I still thought he might later regret making such a rash decision. “There
are always two sides to a story. Don’t you think you should hear Deedee’s side
of things? I mean, you guys have been living together for what, a year?”

“Going on two years now. But for
me, when it’s over, it’s over. It’s like a movie, you know? Once the bad guy’s
dead and the good guy gets the girl, it’s best to just end it. Roll the credits
and crank up the closing music. No sense dragging it out.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear you
feel that way. I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little upset when you guys
chose to get married at the Lodge instead of down here at the White Orchid, but
I like you, Tyler. And I was really hoping you and Deedee would enjoy a long
and happy life together.” I had no idea how he’d managed to stick with that
woman for two years, but I make it a point to not judge intimate partnerships.
I figure what goes on behind closed doors is usually a mystery to everyone but
the people involved.

“Thanks, Penny. I really appreciate
it. If you ever get to Hollywood, look me up, okay? He leaned over and gave me
a peck on the forehead. For a fleeting moment I panicked about saying good-bye
to the only friend I’d made on Lana’i. I wanted to confide in him and tell him
the truth. I wanted to tell him my name wasn’t Penny Morton. I wanted to relay
the whole story of how I’d been exiled to this lonely place and I desperately
missed my friends on Maui. I wanted to tell him that right after the holidays
I’d be sent to the mainland to testify against some scary guys, and I wanted to
go home for Christmas more than anything in the world.

But the moment passed.

After Tyler left I called Darryl.
He said he and Ewa would be back in two days, on Friday. I locked up and went
out the back gate toward Dole Park. I needed to check on things at my rental
house. I sniffed the misty night air. Christmas was just a week away.  The
lights on the big tree in the park twinkled gaily against the surrounding blackness.
With Tyler heading back to LA and Darryl and Ewa coming home, there was no good
reason for me to stick around. Wong wouldn’t like it, but I felt confident if I
kept out of sight I could definitely stay safe for the final few weeks until I
was called to testify.

I craned my neck to see the
blazing white star at the top of the Christmas tree. I took a deep breath and
smiled. Things were working out. I’d be home for the holidays after all.

CHAPTER
11

My rental house looked sad. With
no lights showing, no flickering TV and no car in the driveway, the place
looked like it’d been abandoned. And, in a way it had been. Ever since I’d gotten
the job at the White Orchid I’d only spent one night in the house. I went through
the dark kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I blinked in the bright light. All
I found in there was a yogurt with a November sell-by date and a half-empty
bottle of
shoyu
—soy sauce.