“You did a good job out there today, Kimo. I just want you to know that I’m proud to have you on my squad.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant. That means a lot.”
“Jim, can we go yet?” Kitty said.
“Self-control, Kitty,” I said, sticking my head around the side of the curtain. “All things come in time.”
She jangled her bracelets and I laughed.
I found Fran, Eli and Caitlin Harding in the OR waiting room. As I arrived, a young haole doctor in green scrubs stepped out. “Mr. and Mrs. Harding?”
The Hardings jumped up and Fran squeezed Caitlin’s hand. “Cole came through like a champ,” the doctor said. “He’s going to be in recovery for a while, but the bullet missed all his vital organs. Kids bounce back fast.”
I could see the relief in the Hardings’ body posture. I introduced myself to the doctor and asked if I could get the bullet for evidence. He went back in the OR and returned a moment later with the bullet in an emesis basin, drops of Cole’s blood splattering the mauve-colored plastic.
“So small,” Fran said, looking at it. “To cause so much damage.”
I pulled an evidence bag from my pocket and transferred the bullet. I couldn’t be sure but it looked the right size to match the Chief’s Special Airweight that had been used to kill Hiroshi Mura and Charlie Stahl. Fortunately Jeff White wasn’t the crack shot his sister was, or there might have been greater casualties up on the mountain.
Just then, the KVOL news began on the TV in the waiting room. My brother’s station did a great job covering the fire, with aerial shots and commentary from the Battalion Chief. Ralph Kim, a reporter who had interviewed me a few times, did a stand-up with my brothers outside Uncle Chin’s house.
“Our own station manager, Louis Kanapa’aka, was one of the courageous rescuers who stepped into the blaze searching for the two small children and two teens who were lost on the mountain,” Ralph said. “Mr. Kanapa’aka, can you tell us what it was like?”
Lui’s tie was artfully askew, his black hair slicked down with sweat, a smudge of soot on his white shirt. Haoa stood beside and a little behind him.
“It was awful,” Lui said. “I have enormous respect for the members of the Honolulu Fire Department and Honolulu Police Department who braved the fire. My own brother, homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka, was one of the officers who captured the two suspects who set the fire.”
I braced for a recap of my coming-out story, but fortunately Ralph Kim skipped on to the history of the Whites and their ministry. “Birth records obtained from the state of Texas indicate that Jeff and Sheila White were brother and sister, not a married couple as they represented themselves. Gives a whole new meaning to the Church of Adam and Eve, doesn’t it, folks?”
He signed off and the coverage moved on. “Cole’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks,” Eli Harding said to me when the news was over. “We’d be honored if you and your brothers and the other officer who rescued him would be the guests of honor.”
“I think we’d all be pleased,” I said. “You just let me know the time and place.”
I took the bullet back to headquarters and dropped it at the ballistics department, then went back up to St. Louis Heights. My family was still clustered at Uncle Chin’s house. The gamblers were playing and Aunt Mei-Mei was cooking. Jimmy was in the back yard with a couple of my nieces and nephews, who were jealous of the role he’d played in the fire.
I called Mike. “I’m just finishing up here,” he said. “I’m starving. You want to get something to eat?”
“Why don’t you come back to Uncle Chin’s? There’s plenty of food and Aunt Mei-Mei keeps on making more.”
“I don’t want to intrude. It’s your family.”
“Intrude? You kidding? There’s a yard full of kids who will think you’re the biggest hero ever.” I took a breath. “And I’d like to see you, too.”
“On my way,” he said.
I took a plate of food from Liliha and settled down among my family, and when Mike arrived he sat beside me. It felt really good having him there. ????
I spent the day after the forest fire, a Friday, with Mike, making sure we had all our evidence in order, and on Monday I was catching homicide cases again. Within a few days, Sandra, Cathy and Robert reopened the Hawai’i Marriage Project, in new offices with better security. With the death of Wilson Shira his community group fell apart, and his widow issued a public appreciation to the police department for our role in bringing his killers to justice.
The Church of Adam and Eve closed down after Jeff and Sheila White were arrested. Both of them were in custody, awaiting psychological evaluations and eventual trial for the deaths of Hiroshi Mura, Wilson Shira, and Charlie Stahl. It looked like both would be behind bars for a long time.
The news implicated The Sandwich Islands Trust for their sponsorship of the Church of Adam and Eve, and Miss Emma Clark retired, putting Terri in charge as chairman of the board. She immediately began reviewing all the programs the Trust supported. The new job revitalized her and gave her a focus beyond Danny and just getting through the days.
Jimmy was pretty traumatized by his kidnapping and fiery escape. He remained with Aunt Mei-Mei and began seeing a psychologist and studying for his GED with a tutor. I was hoping that seeing him a hero on the news might have convinced his father to change his mind about Jimmy and invite him back home, but that hadn’t happened, and Jimmy didn’t think it ever would.
A couple of weeks later, I was back at The Queen’s Medical Center, in that same waiting room outside the OR. This time my mother, my brothers and my sisters-in-law were there with me, and it was my father on the table.
The doctors said this operation to reopen some blocked valves in his heart was routine, but it was still pretty tense there with nothing to do except imagine complications and loss.
I took a break and went outside. I was standing out on the sidewalk catching the sun when Mike pulled up in his truck. I looked around. “No fires here.”
“You’re always on fire.” He motioned me over to the open window of the truck, and we kissed. I didn’t care who was watching.
Then he opened the door and got out.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I came to sit with you. You told me your sisters-in-law were here with your brothers. I guess I ought to be here too.”
I felt like a sap, standing out there on South Beretania Street with my eyes welling up. Mike said, “If there’s H20 on the inside of a fire hydrant, what’s on the outside?”
I smiled. “Don’t know, but I’ll be you’re going to tell me.”
“K 9 P.” Then he put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Come on, let’s go in.”
And laughing together, we did.
