The Lava Witch, page 19
“And that person—once possessed—became a kind of god themselves,” said Kali.
* * *
For the duration of the ferry trip back to Maui, Kali tried to block the image of Makena in the nightclub, instead focusing on the old stories she’d learned, trying to see the connection—if there even was one—between the murder of Maya Holmes, the drug traffic, and the old legends.
By the time they reached port, she’d come to no conclusions. Instead of heading directly home, she drove to the hospital to visit George. She stopped in at the gift shop on the lobby level and bought the day’s tabloid newspapers to bring to him. When she reached his room, he was sitting up in bed, supported by a number of pillows. The television in his room was on; she saw that it was a popular show that explored the possibilities of past and present alien visitations to Earth.
George looked up at Kali as she came through the doorway, a large smile on his face.
“This is a great show,” he said. “I’ve never seen it before, but one of the nurses told me about it. The experts say that maybe the reason we see all these UFOs in the sky and in the water is because they’re from a civilization that’s keeping track of how we develop.”
“We might be in serious trouble, then.”
He looked up at the screen. “That could be. Maybe they think it’s not a good idea for us to go to Mars or back to the moon, and want to make sure we don’t do that. Maybe they think we behave so badly, we should all just stay home.”
“I think I’d have to agree,” she said. She walked over to the visitor’s chair and sat down, holding the newspapers she’d brought on her lap. “Maybe we’re some kind of entertainment to them. Could be the people who live on some other planet pay big money to take trips across the universe, then they just sit in their spaceships and watch us blow things up and spread our trash across every possible surface.”
“You mean like intergalactic tour buses?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm.” George squinted at the television screen. “I guess I’d rather find out they were getting ready to teach us something that would make us better.”
“Well, I’m all for that. I’ll volunteer to be on the welcoming committee if that’s the case.”
George grinned again. “Or maybe they’re out scouting for exotic snacks, and we’re on the tasting menu.”
She laughed. “How are you feeling?”
He held up his bandaged arms. “Some burns,” he said. “But nothing serious. I’ve been getting oxygen treatments, too. Because of the smoke. But I’m doing good.”
“I brought you some reading material,” she said. “Do you want me to put it on that tray next to your bed?”
“Thank you! Maybe you could put them on that counter by the television,” he said. “The nurses are going to feed me soon; that way I won’t spill anything on them.”
“How’s the food?” she asked. She saw that despite his smile, he looked weary.
“Pretty good. It’s nice to not have to cook for myself.”
Kali was struck suddenly by the thought of George being on his own. She knew he’d been a widower since she was a teenager, but she was so used to seeing him at his store, busy and surrounded by people, that she’d never given any real thought to what his life might be like beyond that. And now his store was ruined.
He was apparently thinking about his store as well.
“I heard the big window in the front break, and saw something come flying through and skid across the floor,” said George. “It landed under the shelves in the front, the ones where all the cleaning supplies are stacked.”
He closed his eyes, remembering.
“The fire investigator told us it was a homemade incendiary device,” said Kali. “It was pretty sophisticated, with some kind of super accelerant instead of the alcohol that’s usually inside.”
He nodded. “A Molotov cocktail, right? It sure made a big fire. But there’s some good news, too. My sons came over from O‘ahu and boarded up the store and met with the insurance people. It’s not as bad as it looks, except for the roof and one side of the store along the outer wall. The insurance is going to cover some improvements, like a new dairy case and flooring. I’m going to get some of that fancy vinyl planking for the floor—the kind that looks like wood but is easier to keep clean. The boys are staying to help with the repairs, and to make sure the contractors get things moving.”
“That’s great news, George.”
“And pretty soon, my good friend Detective Kali Mhoe is going to call me and tell me she’s caught the bad person who started the fire.”
“That’s my hope, too.” She looked him over, concerned. “George, I’m really worried that someone did this because I asked you to keep your ears open for any witch news.”
His face scrunched up as the gears of his mind turned. “That might be,” he said. “But you aren’t to blame for what other people do. I asked, but I didn’t hear anything.”
“Who did you talk to?”
“Just put the word out that I was interested in learning a little local herb-craft that might help me even up a score.”
“Did anyone approach you?”
“No,” he said.
Kali looked at the bandages on his arms, and felt a rush of responsibility. “I shouldn’t have asked you to do that. I’m afraid it looks as though the fire was directly connected.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Who knows? Bad people do bad things. It might be because I told someone to wait longer than they wanted to, or didn’t have the right brand of potato chips, or they just didn’t like the way I look. It’s not your fault, Kali. It’s just a dangerous world.”
A tall, young nurse came into the room, carrying a tray. She smiled brightly at George and nodded to Kali.
“Okay, George,” said the nurse. “You can flirt with the ladies after you’ve had something to eat. I brought you soup and a piece of chocolate cake. How does that sound?”
“That sounds pretty good,” he said.
Kali stood up to leave. “I’ll check in on you tomorrow. I’m going to arrange a special ceremony for you. Meanwhile, please let me know if there’s anything you need, okay?”
“Okay,” he said. “But I’m already getting a new floor and shelves, so I think I have everything. Except, if you see a UFO tonight, you have to break me out of this joint so I can see it, too.”
“I promise,” she said.
She took the stairs to the lobby level. As she was approaching the front doors, Mrs. Bailey came in, carrying a huge bunch of flowers.
“Those are beautiful!” said Kali, stopping to admire them.
“They’re from my garden,” she said. “I picked them for George.”
* * *
As she drove out of the parking lot on her way home, Kali thought of the pretty nurse and Mrs. Bailey with her flowers, fussing over George. She felt better, but not as good as she’d feel when she finally slapped handcuffs on whoever had thrown a fire bomb through the window of a kind old man’s store.
CHAPTER 32
Kali watched as Walter and Elvar maneuvered a wide, flat wooden dolly from the driveway to the space next to the burned hale in her yard. She’d cleared away the collapsed roof and the singed palm fronds, and taken down the frame that had once supported them. The sawhorses that had held the canoe had buckled, damaged by the flames. Now the burned canoe sat on the ground, exposed, looking desolate and unloved.
She stood to one side as the two men lifted the charred remains and placed it on the dolly. They secured it with several long bungee straps, pulled taut across the top of the canoe and hooked on either side to the dolly’s edges.
Walter glanced at her. “You ready?” he asked.
She nodded.
The two men slowly pulled the dolly and its sad burden through the thick grass and across the sloping yard. Each time it became bogged down, Kali helped lift it and move it forward.
There was little conversation. It took them nearly a half hour—even working together—to get the dolly to the small dock where the Gingerfish bobbed in the water. They’d waited until the tide was up and the water was just a foot from the surface of the dock. The bow of the boat was already facing out toward open water, so Walter jumped onboard, uncoiling a towline fitted with a hook on one end.
There was a blanket stretched across part of the boat deck. Walter pulled it away, revealing a raft made of narrow planks, altogether about two feet wider than the canoe. The raft was resting on small plastic float barrels that were attached to the bottom along each side, with a large, hefty eye hook on one end of the wooden platform.
Elvar joined Walter on the boat, and together they lifted the raft over the side and heaved it onto the dock. Next, they unleashed the canoe and lifted it from the dolly and onto the boat dock, resting it carefully on the float platform. After they had used the same bungee cords to secure it to its new resting space, Walter threaded one end of his towline through the eye hook, making a mooring hitch that could be quickly released.
When he was through, he, Kali, and Elvar stood at the end of the platform, surveying their work.
“Well, so far, so good, said Walter, “but now’s the tricky part. We’ve got to get this into the water behind the Gingerfish without flipping it over or the canoe coming loose and sliding into the sea.”
They considered the possibilities, settling on sliding it slowly on the short end, off the dock and into the water. Kali held her breath, her heart pounding as the end of the raft disappeared under the water, pressed down by the weight of the canoe, before popping back up above the surface.
Walter climbed back on board, double-checking that the towline was secure.
“All good,” he said. He looked up at the sky, then at Kali. “We should take advantage of the weather being relatively clear right now,” he said. “It’s going to get messy soon, so . . .”
“I’m ready,” she said. She looked at Elvar. “Are you coming out with us?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “I would feel as though I were intruding on something very private. I’ll stay here and make sure the line doesn’t get tangled as Walter pulls away from the dock. I can hold the end of the raft until the towline has played out.”
She smiled at him, grateful.
“Thanks, Elvar. For all of this. It’s kind of you.”
“It was my pleasure to help.” He looked at the canoe, at the blackened edges of the partially carved hollow, at the once-beautiful line of the prow. “I am sorry for this loss. I know this canoe had great meaning for you, and I hope the person responsible for its destruction will be found.”
She nodded. There was nothing else to say, so she climbed onto the deck. The boat’s engine rumbled to life, and Walter eased slowly away from the dock, allowing the towline to play out gradually. Elvar kept it from becoming twisted, and the little raft followed the Gingerfish out into open water. From the deck, Kali watched as Elvar’s figure slowly faded away.
After they were about a mile from the shore, Walter eased back on the throttle, and the boat slowed.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Do you want to go out a little farther?”
She looked up at the gray sky. The wind had picked up, and she knew the weather was going to worsen the later the day became.
“No, this is good,” she said. She slipped off her shoes. She’d worn her bathing suit beneath her clothes, and pulled off her shorts and sweatshirt, leaving them on the cushioned seat on one side of the deck. She climbed onto the stern and stopped for just a moment, then dove cleanly into the water.
Walter watched as she surfaced and began to swim to the floating raft, her long, sure strokes cleaving the water. She reached it, grasping one side. With one hand, she stroked the wood of the ruined canoe.
“Here you are,” she said, softly. “In the water, at last. This is where you were meant to be, out on the ocean. I’m sorry that I’ll never know the joy of sailing in you. I’m sorry that Mike couldn’t keep his promise to you.”
She loosened the caps on the plastic floats and removed them, then pulled on the mooring knot. The raft was free. She moved her legs, treading water, feeling the salt spray from the small waves splash against her lips, giving her a taste of the deep briny flavor of the ocean. The raft slipped away. She knew it was only a matter of time before the floats filled with water, and a large enough wave washed over the raft so that it sank beneath the gray, moving surface of the sea. Right now it rode the ripples, moving farther and farther away from her.
She watched for a few moments longer, then turned and swam back to the Gingerfish. Walter was waiting to pull her back up onto the deck. They sat for a few more minutes, watching as the raft was pulled away by the current.
Walter started the engine.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She turned and smiled at him.
“I’m okay,” she said.
Walter turned the prow back toward shore. For just the briefest moment, the heavy gray clouds parted, and a brilliant flash of sunlight lit the surface of the wide, rolling sea. Then the darkness moved back in.
* * *
That evening Kali sat on the front steps of her house, watching a small black cat slink through the grass next to the lanai in pursuit of something small. The cat belonged to someone in the neighborhood, though she hadn’t yet discovered who. It was supremely uninterested in the fact that Kali’s property was covered in the scent of a large dog, and came and went as it pleased. The cat had discovered that the low flowering shrubs that ran along the bottom of the house were inhabited by large, colorfully striped garden spiders, and had taken to hunting them.
Hoping to distract it from killing the harmless spiders, she called to the cat, but it ignored her. Looking past the feline, she saw that the space exposed by the burned hale was illuminated against the lighter sky behind it. She wrapped her arms around her knees, feeling an unusual sense of disconnection. Being besieged in a place that should have been a shelter against the outside world was unsettling. She thought of Justin and his mother boarding the bus, leaving behind what had become their home.
Her eyes swept the yard, confirming that the security cameras were still in place, and that an officer had been stationed at the end of her driveway. The footage the cameras had so far collected revealed nothing useful. Knowing they were there did little to comfort her; instead, she felt an even deeper sense of invasion.
She knew that the attack on George’s store was no mere coincidence. In her mind, she laid out the puzzle pieces: the rainbow tree, the drugs, the lava dust in the lungs of Maya Holmes, fire and mayhem at every turn, the legends of sorcery that were manifesting all around her. She shivered, then stood up and went inside.
CHAPTER 33
Kali reached across her desk to lift the buzzing phone. Charlie Holmes’s name was displayed on the screen. There was no chance for her to say anything. His breathless voice came across the line.
“I found it,” he said.
Kali tensed. “Found what?”
“Her laptop.”
A sense of elation washed over her.
“Where was it?” she asked.
“Where I might have never looked for it,” he said. “It was in one of her puzzle boxes.”
Kali frowned. She knew she’d looked through the jigsaw boxes herself, and that the SOC officers had done so before she’d even made a visit to the condo.
“Which box? They were all searched.”
“Not this one,” he said. “It was in my room, on top of some books piled on the floor near my desk. I didn’t put it there. The thing is, I don’t like those puzzles, and would have never had one of Maya’s jigsaws in my room to begin with. So when I noticed it today, I thought it was odd—but figured one of the police officers had put it there by mistake when they had finished looking around. Anyway, I picked it up to put it back in Maya’s room, and the box felt oddly heavy. When I took the lid off, her laptop was inside on the bottom, underneath all the puzzle pieces. She must have been trying to put it somewhere she thought would be safe.”
Kali felt her pulse quicken. If Maya had had the prescience to hide her computer, she must have been worried that someone might be after it.
“Don’t try to boot it,” she said. “We’ll send someone for it right away. What are the chances you know her password?”
“Pretty good,” he said. “We both had so many passwords to keep track of, just like everyone else these days, that we made a master list of the important ones. We each kept a copy. Bank accounts, logins for different things, and our access passwords for our personal computers.”
She tried to keep her excitement in check. It was still a long shot that there would be anything useful to find.
“Does your list include e-mail logins?”
He hesitated. “I’m not sure . . . I think her social media logins are there. I’ll check.”
“You’re my hero, Charlie,” she said. And she meant it.
* * *
The digital forensics team went to work immediately once they had the computer in their possession. In the office, Kali paced back and forth as she awaited a call from computer forensics investigator Olin Janosky. Several hours had gone by. She was jittery with the amount of caffeine she’d consumed when she heard the ringtone on her computer alert her to the incoming screen call.
“Aloha, Detective.” Janosky’s deep voice came across the computer speaker. He held up Maya’s laptop in front of the camera so that Kali could see it. “I have your digital artifact here. Lots of technical data on the desktop. I’m not an expert in the field of marine research and development, but some of what we found are hundreds of pages of code that may have some relation to that area of study.”
“Can you decipher it?”
“It’s in Python, which is a pretty common code language, but it’s been heavily encrypted. We’ll need a password, or a key in order to decrypt the pages. We’ll keep working on it. I assume it’s potential evidence?”
“It’s very likely something that the victim was working on, possibly connected to the research lab where she was employed,” said Kali. As quickly as the thought arose, it was replaced by another: It seemed odd that Maya would have those files on her personal laptop, rather than on her work computer.
