Forgotten Witness (18 page)

“Something like that,” Josie agreed. “But then I realize all she would have to do was Google me if she wanted to find me. She’d get a bunch of hits and send me an email.”

“Ah, so you’re someone. Lovely. But let me finish,” Stephen chided. “The heaven’s open, a chorus of angels sing, the sun shines, and you and your mum shop and lunch.”

“Everything except shopping. I’m not much into that,” she laughed.

“I met Sophia Loren once, you know.”

“Really?” This was a ridiculous tangent but she was game.

“Yes, indeed, I did. It was a beautiful evening in Rome. We were in the same restaurant. I crossed her path and was so taken with her magnificent bosom that I inadvertently spilled my drink. Sadly, not on her bosom.”

“And this has something to do with our current situation?” Josie asked.

“Please, woman,” Stephen complained. “Anyway, Sophia turned sideways so that I could get by. Which I did as gracefully as my divine body would allow. I said my thank yous, naturally. Those glorious breasts of hers brushed my chest. I went back to my table and ordered another drink.”

“The point being?”

“The point being, Josie, you simply must accept certain things. I will never have the pleasure of putting my hands on Ms. Loren’s bosom, but I was blessed to see said bosom up close. You were blessed to have your mum for the years you did, she can’t help you get the other years back. You may never know why she left, or why she’s in that place, so be satisfied with the glorious moment of seeing her up close. Like seeing Sophia’s bosom, you must not lament what could have been. Make the best of the situation, I say.”

“What is the best in a situation like this?” Josie asked.

“Bullocks!” Stephen exclaimed. “How am I supposed to know? But we’ll figure it out. You’ll stay with me and the girls. Certainly, that will lift your spirits.”

“No. I’ll be fine. Just get me back to the hotel,” Josie said. “But thanks for the offer.”

“A bad decision, if I may say so. Support is what you need, and I am here to give it. Free of charge and happily.”

“And why would you do that?” Josie asked.

“I do it because island life makes you batty and something as interesting as this is a wonderful diversion. I do it because there’s a chance you might forget that man of yours and come to me for comfort in the dead of the night. I do it because I have a soft spot for an honorable quest. I do it because now you are a Keoloko girl and no one messes with them.”

Stephen patted her knee and then threw open his door. He came around to her. The door creaked a bit when he opened it. Josie took his hand and stepped down. Even in flats she was taller than he was but it didn’t seem that way to her. The longer she knew him, the taller he stood. Stephen put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze.

“All right, then. Come on. The water’s going to get choppy, and I swear I cannot bear to be on that boat if there’s more than a ripple. As soon as I drop the keys with the harbor master, we’ll go home, pour a stiff toddy, and I’ll let you spend the rest of the evening wailing and swearing and weeping before I take you to your hotel if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t weep,” she assured him.

“May I suggest weeping is a more practical way to express yourself than putting your fist through glass.” He gave her one more squeeze then let her go as they walked toward the harbor master’s office. He opened the door for her. “The girls are dancing for an engineering convention. They won’t make much off those cheap bastards. You can gnash your teeth while they’re gone that way no one will ever know. Or, we’ll go to the show tonight and watch the girls. You’ll be enchanted. I guarantee it.”

Stephen dropped the keys, gave his thanks to the young man at the counter, and they were at the boat a minute later. Josie stepped from the dock to the deck while Stephen dealt with the tether. She wandered to the stern while she dialed Archer. As much as she appreciated Stephen Kyle’s help, it was Archer she needed to talk to. His phone rang four times. He didn’t answer. She left a message.

I found my mother.

Josie considered erasing it. There should have been some more eloquent way to make such a momentous announcement. Or maybe she should have kept it all business, reporting on the circumstances, offering a tightly worded strategy for the next hours and days but that was impossible. She had no strategy; she didn’t know what would happen in the next minutes much less days. Josie also realized that the message was exactly right since those were the words that had run through her mind when Emily looked at her. It had been so simple, so satisfying, during that microsecond of recognition and relief.
I found my mother
. Rage was what happened the second after that.

“Josie. Josie! Come here and put out your good hand, woman.”

Josie pocketed her phone and looked over the side. Stephen held the rope, ready to toss it. She caught it awkwardly and stowed it. He had hold of the chrome railing and was ready to swing onto the deck when the man from the office hailed them as he ran down the dock.

“Bloody hell. Now what?” Stephen stepped down. Josie put her hip against the railing as the man came up to her.

“Are you Josie Bates?”

“That’s me.”

“Got a message for you.” He handed her a piece of paper up and left with a quick wave and an even quicker ‘aloha’. Stephen got on the boat.

“Bad news?” he asked as he tried to look over her shoulder.

“It looks like we’ve got a date tonight,” Josie said.

“Ah, a three way. Lovely of you to include me.” Stephen moved about, still trying to get a look. “That note isn’t from Reynolds is it? Wouldn’t fancy a three way with Reynolds.”

“Nope.” She gave him the paper. “I hope you know where that place is because my newly found sister wants to bond.”

“
Where are you?” –
Josie

“Just across the Oregon border. Hardly a town, but there’s a place that serves good coffee. I’m running down a guy who took in Linda a few years back.” –
Archer

“Like Linda tells the truth.” –
Josie

“There’s always a first time. What about you and this girl?” –
Archer

“I don’t know. I’ll call after we talk to her.” -–
Josie

“What’s this guy’s name again? The one who’s hanging around?” –
Archer

“You mean the man who helped me find Emily? Stephen Kyle.” –
Josie

“Okay.” –
Archer

“He’s helping, Archer.” –
Josie

“I’m not worried. What’s he look like? Stop laughing, Jo.” –
Archer

CHAPTER 13

Stephen Kyle put on his Sunday best to keep their date with Amelia Francis. His head and face were freshly shaved, his nails were buffed and the faint scent of coconut and mango clung to him. A shark’s tooth dangled from a gold chain around his throat. There was another slim chain on his wrist and he was decked out in a purple silk Tommy Bahama shirt emblazoned with yellow hula girls that set off his white shorts.

Josie had changed into a short t-shirt dress and traded her gold studs for hoops, but still wore the flip-flops Stephen had given her. She felt better for the two hours she’d spent at the hotel. Showered and rested, she had searched the Internet for mention of Ha Kuna House and found none. Finally, Josie rested because there was no sense trying to devise a strategy before she heard what Amelia Francis had to say. She caught a cab back to Stephen’s house.

“Don’t you look elegant,” he crowed when she arrived. “Even the bandage on that hand seems chic.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Josie returned the compliment.

“I can already see the desire in your eyes and we haven’t even had our evening cocktail. Do try not to lose your head, Josie.”

“I’ll try to restrain myself.” She raised her voice when he went to close up the house. “I talked to Archer.”

“And what is he making of all this?” Stephen called back.

“He was pretty surprised. He’s going to stay where he is and run down the missing persons report for me on my mom. That will have an official description of her, times and dates. He’s also going to get a copy of her birth certificate and mine. That should be enough for Reynolds and anyone else who’s interested.”

“Ah, Josie, men at your beck and call. Between the two of us we should be getting your mum back to you in no time.” Stephen locked the last window and picked up his keys. “Malia! Aolani! Anuhea! Get your lovely rears in gear. Time to go. Chop. Chop.”

The girls came through the living room, Aolani giggling, Malia self-contained as always, and Anuhea after that. They looked like beautiful birds with their flowers and sarongs. Anuhea took the keys to the van, gave Stephen a quick kiss on the cheek, and said:

“Someone called about the Tiki bobble heads. A whole bunch of them were broken.”

“Thank you, dearest. I’ll see to it. Now, off with you. Josie and I are going out on the town.”

He watched long enough to see the van make the turn onto the main highway before he settled Josie in the Porsche.

“Let’s see what’s on the little blond girl’s mind, shall we?”

He stepped on the gas and they flew through the black Hawaiian night. Josie had no idea what Amelia wanted but she knew one thing: this was probably going to be the last smooth road she traveled for a while so she sat back and enjoyed the ride.

***

Eugene had thought to call the girl on Ian Francis’ phone one more time. He had been thinking about that for the last three hours while he worked on policy statements, made budget notes so Senator Patriota would appear to be well versed should he be asked why the Foreign Relations Committee spent three times what other senate committees did on administrative expenses. Of course, Eugene’s figures had nothing to do with reality since there was no reason that their spending should be so high. The trick was to make it all appear to be reasonable. Eugene had moved that phone – Ian Francis’ phone – from one side of his desk to the other. It bothered him like a bratty child would, sticking its tongue out, daring Eugene to pay attention.

He was grateful that Morgan had brought it to him. In fact, for a brief moment, Eugene was almost giddy with the thrill that Morgan had come to him, but now having the thing on his desk was making him nervous; in the same way the spotlight being turned on the NSA was making him uneasy; and the new rounds of declassification made him anxious.

Eugene glanced at the time. It wasn’t late, but he was tired. He tidied his desk. He sent an email to the staff reminding them that punctuality was expected. He sent a private email to the intern who was taking just a bit of a liberty by being too familiar with Ambrose. The last thing he did was pick up that cell phone, consider it, and then open his top drawer. It would be best for him to forget about this darn thing. In fact, in the morning he would send it back to the medical examiner’s office and have it placed with the body. No one would ever claim either the body or the phone. They would eventually be disposed of and Eugene would laugh at how he worried.

Yet before he could put it inside it rang.

Eugene dropped it.

The screen lit up.

It rang again.

Fingers shaking, heart racing, Eugene picked it up, pressed answer, put it to his ear, and heard:

“Daddy?”

***

The restaurant Amelia directed them to was a small neighborhood place called The Blue Hawaiian even though the clapboard was painted green. At one time it had been a family home but now there were tables on the front porch and tables in what had been a big living room. The walls blossomed with three-by-five cards on which people had written whatever came to mind: phone numbers, stick figures on surfboards, alohas from Sacramento to Boston, France to Australia. It seemed as if someone from every state in the union and every country in the world had passed through The Blue Hawaiian or else the staff made this stuff up during down times.

Tonight was not one of them.

When Josie and Stephen arrived the joint was jumping. Every table was filled, pork, fish, chicken and rice platters were flying over the heads of diners and landing on tables with record speed and with incredible precision; the plates were piloted by waiters and waitresses in khaki shorts, white t-shirts and sandals. There was music but Josie was hard pressed to figure out where it was coming from and curious about who had chosen the playlist. The Blue Hawaiian reminded her of Burt’s.

Josie and Stephen had arrived ten minutes early to familiarize themselves with the turf before Amelia showed up. When a half an hour went by and she still wasn’t there, they ate dinner each with an eye on the door. At nine-thirty they moved to the bar, a patch of real estate that passed for a lounge by virtue of the fact that it had four stools and a television mounted on the wall. Things were quieting down as they came upon the ten o’clock hour.

“I don’t think she’s coming,” Josie muttered.

“Then we shall hunt her down tomorrow, weather permitting,” Stephen assured her.

“I think we’re banned from Ha Kuna House, in case you’ve forgotten.” Josie took a taste of her wine.

“No pity party, Ms. Bates. I won’t have it. Besides, it’s not an easy crossing sometimes to get from Molokai. Perhaps Miss Amelia missed the ferry.”

He chucked her shoulder with his and got part of the smile he was looking for.

“I will admit it’s a shame we don’t have any way to contact her. It would have saved us a bit of time. We could have been doing some homework just to get the ball rolling. Still, I will admit to a bit more than normal curiosity about her given what you told me.”

Josie set aside her wine. She’d had more to drink since meeting Stephen Kyle than she’d had in the last six months. Between these two days, her trek to Washington and back, she was getting sluggish. She needed to pick up a volleyball game, a run, to sleep in her own bed – preferably with Archer. Truth be told, what she really needed was to wipe the world away for a while was to be lost in lovemaking with Archer.