Mahu (39 page)

“It almost goes without saying that I appreciate what you guys did for me tonight,” I said after the waitress left. “But I still want to say it. Thanks. I know Terri and Danny Gonsalves will want to thank you too. You’re a bunch of heroes, every one of you, and I’m proud to be your brother and your friend.”

They all looked down, not sure of what to say. The patio lights, which gave the terrace an other-worldly glow so late at night, made a low humming sound, punctuated by the occasional car passing on Kalākaua. “I never really knew what you did,” Haoa said finally. “I mean, I saw the cop shows on TV and I knew your job wasn’t really like that. I figured you sat around and ate donuts a lot, pushed paper, that kind of thing.” He shook his head. “Man, I’m glad all I do is work with plants.”

He looked up at me. “Dad said you might be coming into the business with him. I think that’s cool. Maybe the two of us can work together sometime, building and landscaping.” He paused. “I’d like that.”

I took a big drink of ice water to ease the swelling I felt in my throat. “If that doesn’t work out, I might be able to find something for you at the station,” Lui said. “You can keep your cool, work under pressure. That’s a good thing to have in my business.”

I smiled, and looked at Harry. “What about you? You got any job offers up your sleeve?”

“The only job description I’ve got to offer is friend,” he said. “And you’ve been doing that for about twenty years just fine.”

The waitress brought our food. Across from us, a single guy walked slowly along the beach, stopping to look up at the stars and listen to the waves. I thought about going surfing in a couple of hours. I said, “I appreciate what you want to do, guys, but I think now, more than ever, I just want to be a cop. Maybe it sounds goofy, but there are things wrong with the world, and somebody has to try and fix them. I’m not going to let anybody take that chance away from me, at least not without a fight.”

“Think the force will take you back?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know. But I’m not just going to walk away.”

It’s funny, I hadn’t really decided that until just that moment. I’d been so caught up in the task of seducing Wayne Gallagher, of putting him and Derek away, that I hadn’t thought past that night. Once I did, the answer seemed clear. I was still a cop, just like I was still a surfer and I was still a gay man. It was up to me to make a human being out of all those identities.

Haoa and Lui made plans to return the equipment to the station the next day, and Harry and I said our goodbyes and walked out together into the warm, fragrant night. “You feel good?” he asked.

“I do,” I said. “First time in a long time.”

“Good.” We walked along in silence for a couple of minutes. Somewhere a dog barked, and a cloud passed quickly over the moon. “Your brothers were definitely squirming in the van,” he said after a while. “It was kind of funny, or it would have been if we all hadn’t been so damned scared. And then when Gallagher found your wire, it was like somebody shocked them with an electric poker. Haoa jumped up, knocked back his chair, and lit out for the bar. Lui and me, it took us a little longer to react.” He shook his head. “I was going down that hallway and I heard the shot, and man, it just chilled my bones. I was never so glad to see anybody as I was to see you alive in there.”

We stopped at Ohua so he could head mauka toward his apartment. “I’m gonna walk for a while,” I said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

He gave me a shaka. “Take care.”

I gave it right back to him. “I will. Maybe we’ll get together sometime this weekend. You have any plans yet?”

“Tomorrow night, I’m having dinner with Arleen. We were going to talk about her taking some courses at UH, sharpen up her skills, maybe she could jump up to a programming job next time. Now maybe we’ll talk about job hunting. Who knows what’s going to happen with the Rod and Reel Club.”

I shook my head. Once again, Harry surprised me. “Not tomorrow, then,” I said with a smile. I crossed over Kalākaua and walked along the beach, listening to the gentle lap of the waves. Waikīkī
almost never sleeps, but this is about as close as it comes, just before dawn, before the surfers and the early shift workers and the second watch cops come on duty and the city starts to wake up. I hadn’t been out this late in a long time, and I liked it. It was like Waikīkī belonged to me, my private slice of paradise. You don’t get many chances to slow down, pay attention to everything around you, and I wanted to take this one. I picked up a piece of crumbled newspaper and put it in the trash, listened to the night birds calling and the sound of a siren somewhere in the distance. It meant that somebody’s life was falling apart out there, a fire or a rush to the hospital, an accident or a theft or maybe even a murder. That was bad. But I knew that there were people, like that little seven-year-old who watched her mother and her brothers and sisters murdered, who could find their way back. And now I knew that I was one of them.

We told our stories over and over again during the next couple of days, as my brother orchestrated the reports on his TV station, and those that followed on other stations and in the newspapers, to make me into the hero of the hour.

Derek was arrested in the early morning hours on Thursday, and not surprisingly, Uncle Chin stepped forward to organize his defense. It ha
d
made things a little touchy between him and my father, but they both believe
d
in making the necessary sacrifices for your family’s sake, so I th
ought
they’
d
come out of it okay.

It was interesting to see how the media treated Tommy Pang and Evan Gonsalves. From “a prominent Honolulu businessman” Tommy became “a local underworld kingpin,” a description I’m sure he would have relished.

Evan was officially cleared of Tommy’s death, though the department stopped short of calling him a martyr. Even though there was suspicion that he had been both a snitch and a blackmailer, a plaque bearing his name was ordered for the front wall at headquarters, where people often le
ft
memorial leis for officers killed in the line of duty.

I learned that Akoni had passed on to Peggy what Gunter had told me, that Derek and Wayne had been buying stolen Hawaiian artifacts and shipping them through the pack and ship, forcing Jimmy Ah Wong to forge the paperwork. He told me she wasn’t very happy that I’d been the one to break the case.

My suspension hearing was held on the Monday morning following Wayne’s death. I got up early and surfed for an hour, then went home and showered. I was about to put on my one good suit when I changed my mind and decided to wear my uniform. I was a cop, after all, and if I was going to end my career I wanted to end it in the uniform that had always made me proud.

Lieutenant Yumuri and Hiram Lin were waiting for me in that same conference room at the main station on South Beretania. There was another man there, too, a Lieutenant from the Special Investigations Section whom I recognized but didn’t know.

The DA himself was at the hearing, but Peggy Kaneahe was not. The Honolulu County District Attorney
wa
s a half-Chinese man with the unlikely name of Peter Furst, and he began by announcing that because of ADA Kaneahe’s personal relationship with me she had been removed from the case. He went on to apologize to me, personally, saying he had been unaware of the relationship, and that he was investigating to make sure that no department policies had been breached.

Hiram Lin beamed as if he was announcing a newborn grandson. Furst continued, “As a result of my office’s investigation, I have found that it was appropriate for the Department to suspend Detective Kanapa‘aka while his personal involvement in the criminal investigation was reviewed.” This was it, I thought. The beginning of the end.

“Further, we find that while he may have exhibited questionable judgment in the initial stages of the investigation, that his practices were sound and followed department procedures.”

I looked at Yumuri and, to his credit, he held my gaze for a minute, and then looked away. Despite his attitudes and problems, I d
id
n’t bear any grudges against him. He was a good cop and a good boss.

“In light of the publicity surrounding this case, and Detective Kanapa‘aka’s unique qualifications, an administrative decision has been made to reassign him. Lieutenant Sampson?”

He turned to the lieutenant from Special Investigations. He was a big man, broad-shouldered, with a salt and pepper beard. “I’m aware of your record in Waikīkī, Detective, as well as the good things Lieutenant Yumuri has had to say about you. I’ve requested that you be transferred to headquarters to work as a detective in my unit.”

He stood up and began to walk around the room. “Sometimes I think we’re fighting a losing battle out there. The criminals come up with new crimes every day, and it seems that every new crime that passes my desk is bloodier and more violent than the one before it. We need sharp detectives more than ever.”

He stopped and leaned against the round concrete column. “More is demanded of us every year. We’re not just here to chase the bad guys, but to help the good guys as well. I think your,” and he paused for a second, “sensitivity, to people who might not get a fair shake otherwise, will be important to us, and valuable.”

No one else was saying anything. “It won’t be easy,” Sampson said. “There’ll undoubtedly be units, and individual officers, who won’t think you ought to be a cop. That’s a battle you’ve got to be prepared to fight, although I want you to know I’ll be in your corner.” He paused. “You may not be comfortable continuing on the force given all your recent notoriety. I wouldn’t blame you if you decided it was time for a change in your life. I don’t expect you to make up your mind immediately, but I’d like a response within forty-eight hours. There has been a lot of pressure to get your situation resolved, and I want to be able to relieve some of that pressure.”

It was clearly my turn to talk by then. “I appreciate everything you’ve said, Lieutenant. You’re right, there are some things I need to change in my life. But my career as a detective is not one of them. I’d be honored to work with you, and I’m prepared to return to active duty as soon as you need me.”

Sampson smiled. “I needed you last week.” Then his smile died. “I’ve discharged my weapon four times in the line of duty, Detective. I can still remember each one of those times. I was walking past the Iolani Palace two years ago when I saw a man come out of the post office with a sawed off shotgun in his right hand. His left arm was around a woman’s neck. I identified myself as a police officer and told him to drop the weapon and let the woman go.” He looked at all of us. “He refused, and fired at me. I shot once and killed him.”

No one in the room said anything. Finally Sampson said, “It took me quite a while to get over that, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I felt. You may not know it, Detective, but you need a few more days, especially now that this hearing is over. Think about it, and then call me.”

I saluted him, and he saluted me back. I was a cop again.

Afterwards, Yumuri came up to me. “I expect we’ll continue to work together,” he said. “You know how I feel, but I believe there’s no discipline in a force unless we all agree to follow our orders. You shouldn’t expect anything less than that from me or the men in my command.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” I said.

After the hearing, I drove up to my parents’ house to tell them the news, as I had promised them. My father hadn’t gone to the office; he said he’d have been too worried to concentrate on anything. “Good news?” my mother said when she opened the door.

“I got my job back.” I leaned down and kissed her cheek. My father came up behind her. “They’re reassigning me to downtown. But I’ll still be a detective.”

“I knew they wouldn’t be able to let you go,” my father said.

“How about some iced tea?” my mother asked. “I’ll get some.”

“The lieutenant who would be my new boss told me there’s been a lot of pressure to resolve my situation,” I said, as my father and I walked into the living room. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Me? How would I know anything?”

I pointed to a framed picture of my father with the former mayor of Honolulu, an old friend from UH. “Just wondering.”

“I may have made some calls. Most people I know are old, like me. Not much influence any more.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” I paused. “I do appreciate it, you know, Dad. You going out on a limb for me with your friends. I know it probably wasn’t easy for you.”

“I collected a few favors over the years. Once in a while I use them.” He held up his hand. “Wait, wait, I know you. You want to complain. You want to do everything on your own, no help from anybody else. Well, you’re not the first of my sons I had to ask a favor for.”

He sat back in his chair and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Your brother Lui was not a good student, you know. He barely graduated from UH. And then he couldn’t find a job. I knew he was a hard worker, just not a student. You remember my friend Milton Gardner?”

I nodded. Gardner had once owned the TV station Lui manages. “I agreed to build a family room on his house, at cost, if he’d give Lui a job. I had to do most of the work myself, nights and weekends.” My father smiled. “Lui never knew about it. And if you tell him, I’ll deny it.”

“I know how to keep a secret.”

“Yes, I know.” He paused again. “You never knew Haoa was arrested, did you?”

“You mean before last week?”

“When he was seventeen, he and some of his friends from Punahou, from the football team, stole a car and went for a joyride, and crashed it. There was no question Haoa was the ringleader. Even the police could see that, from the way he acted with the other boys.”

“I never knew this.”

“We didn’t tell anyone. I knew old Judge Fong—I used to take care of his yard, when I was a boy. I rounded up the other fathers, and we made a deal. The boys worked that summer, for free, cleaning up the beach, and the other fathers and I chipped in and bought a new car to replace the one that was destroyed.” He shook his head. “It all came out all right in the end, but Judge Fong never thought the same of me.”