At 10 a.m. Lei pulled into the “Visitor” stall at Hilo High School. She’d put on jeans and a tank top and for once her hair was behaving. She hopped out of the car, slamming the door, and a chunk of rust fell out of the wheel well.
“Stupid granny car,” she muttered. She kicked the tire and it dropped more rust, this time on her athletic shoe.
“Lei!” Stevens called. She looked up, enjoying the way his long legs ate up the ground as he walked toward her. “I see you remembered to wear your civvies.”
“Hey,” she said, moving to meet him. “Nice change for me. Where do we go?”
“Check in at the office first. How’re you doing after your adventure last night?” Braced for teasing, she was almost undone by the concern in his voice. She blinked, slipping her hands into the tight pockets of her jeans. His card was still in there, and she let herself feel its fuzzy edges.
“Okay,” she said. “But it was scary.”
“You’ve got friends who will vouch for you at the station. I don’t think those charges will stick. But the whole thing must have been bad.”
“It was. I shouldn’t have gone out alone after the guy, I know that now, but at the time it just seemed so important not to let him scare me…” Her voice trailed off. She looked at the ground.
He reached out and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. It was so sudden she stumbled forward. Her hands were pinned at her sides, and she stiffened instinctively. As he continued to hold her, close but gentle, she slowly relaxed. His chin rested on her head. She closed her eyes, breathing in the warm smell of his shirt. Finally, he stepped back, clearing his throat.
“Let’s get going. I sent Jeremy to work on another lead since you were coming to this interview-don’t want to intimidate our witness with too many people.”
She nodded, wordless. His hug seemed to have melted something around her heart. She followed him into the school office.
They signed in and got visitor badges, and the vice principal showed them to a small study room off the main library area. Stevens got out his portable tape recorder, the file of photos, a notebook, and pen.
The vice principal returned a few minutes later with a petite Filipino girl. Her long, glossy black hair hung over her face and she peeked at them through the screen of her bangs. She flopped into the molded plastic chair with boneless grace.
“Hi again, Angela. Remember me, Detective Stevens? And this is Officer Texeira.”
The girl nodded, dark doe eyes flicking over to Lei and returning to Stevens.
“Is it okay if we tape this interview?” he asked. “Your parents gave permission for me to interview you.” She nodded, a shy bob of the head. Her earrings swung, a sparkle of silver.
“Okay. Last time we talked, you told me you had seen Haunani Pohakoa get in a black Toyota truck after school with an older man.”
She nodded.
“Please state your response out loud,” Stevens said, giving her an encouraging smile.
“Yes,” Angela said softly, her eyes still on him. Lei couldn’t help noticing how something about him made even a high school student respond with trust and confidence.
“When was this?”
“I don’t know. A week or two before they found them.”
“Did she say anything to you about this guy?”
“She called him her ‘secret admirer.’”
“Was there any student gossip about him?”
“Everybody was calling him Haunani’s sugar daddy,” she said with a giggle. The spiteful edge to it made the hairs rise on Lei’s neck.
“But nobody knew who he was?”
“No. That’s why I wanted to get a look at him,” Angela said. “I thought it must be someone other kids knew-somebody’s uncle or brother or something.” Was she really a friend of Haunani’s? Or more of an enemy?
“Did he pick Haunani up regularly?”
“I only saw the truck a couple times.”
“Did you ever see Kelly go with them?”
“No. Kelly and Haunani were just getting to be friends. I don’t think Haunani wanted anyone else to meet him. She wanted to keep him all to herself.” Again the silvery giggle. “So I walked across the street when he was picking her up so I could get a look at him, but he wasn’t anybody I know.”
Stevens slid the folder of photos over to her. Lei had folded the license information over so only the pictures were showing.
“Do you think you could pick out his picture?” he asked.
“Maybe.” Angela leaned over the photos, the swath of hair a black silk curtain hiding her face. She slid each printout to the side as she rejected it. She took her time, but in the end she pushed them all aside.
“I don’t see him.” Her eyes glittered defiantly. Stevens reassembled the pictures into a grid.
“Look again.” He set the photos before her, six on a side. She went through them again, shook her head.
“No.”
“Are you sure?” he urged. Lei felt the glare of James Reynolds’s eyes burning up at her from his photo on the top left. Angela cut her eyes to Stevens.
“He’s not here.”
“These are all the photos of men 25 to 45 who drive a dark Toyota truck with Hilo or outlying addresses. That’s what you told us. So what did he look like?”
“I’m not sure how old he was. Dark hair. And I think the truck was black.” A long pause. The only sound was Stevens breathing through his nose.
“What about dark blue or charcoal?” Lei asked, gesturing to the photos.
“I don’t know,” Angela repeated. “I thought it was black.” She stood up, gossamer hair swinging back over her narrow shoulders. “I have to go. My friends are waiting for me.”
Stevens put his hand on her arm, held her gaze.
“It’s important that you try to remember. Anything, any details. You don’t know what might be important. This man may have killed your friends.” Angela looked down, fiddling with the gold-plated logo dangling from her purse.
“I know. But he’s not here.”
“Okay. I may see you again if I get anything else. Here’s my card,” Stevens said, slipping it into the side pocket of her purse. “Call me if anything else comes to mind.”
She nodded and spun on kitten-heeled slippers to clip-clop out of the room. The door shut with a clang behind her. Stevens shuffled the pictures back into the folder and looked at Lei.
“Well? What do you think?”
“I believe her. She didn’t recognize him. I was so sure she would pick Reynolds out, and he does have dark hair. It’s too bad, would have made things easier. So, what is his supposedly airtight alibi?”
“Nothing too exciting. He was out with his wife, having a ‘weekend away.’ Left Kelly on her own at the house to take care of the dog. Kelly’s mom confirms they went to a bed and breakfast for the night, and when they got back, the dog was still locked in the house and hadn’t been fed or let out. They were worried something had happened to Kelly and started calling all her friends and the police.”
“What do you think?”
“I can’t believe a mother would choose her new husband over her daughter and cover for foul play. I know it happens, but I can’t get my head around it. So yeah, I believe them.”
“Believe it. It happens,” Lei said flatly. “Check it out.”
“Jeremy’s following up on it.”
They made their way back to the office, turned in the visitor badges. Stevens’s hand touched her lower back as they pushed through the glass door, and she felt the simple gesture zing up her spine. He squinted at her in the midmorning sun outside.
“Well? Are we going car shopping?”
“I thought you’d given up on that with all the drama that’s been going on. I know I did.”
“I’m still game if you are.”
“Sure, I guess.” She played it cool.
“Follow me,” he said, with a sweeping gesture.