know existed.”
“ There's lovely accommodations the other side of the mountain range along the ocean. Don't worry on that score.” When they arrived, she began to see familiar sights. It was the area of the island where she had dived in the marine sanctuary and a haven for snorklers and scuba divers, Molokini island and its underwater crater just off the coast and Kahoolawe just beyond; in fact, she had seen Kahoolawe island in the distance and had asked about it, but the Hawaiian dive-master had said it was no place for diving, and she'd let it go at that.
“ We'll have to go in under cover of darkness,” she told him.
“ We? There'll be none of this 'we' stuff here, Jess. One FBI agent getting his ass canned for this kind of a stunt will be quite enough.”
“ I'm going with you, Jim. We've acted as a team this far, and this is no time to start acting any differently.”
“ Jess, this is something I have to do. You… you can walk away from it, return to D.C. tomorrow knowing you did a fine job.”
“ Not without Lopaka's head on a stick, no way. I feel as strongly about this damned, bloody case as you, Jim. You owe me. I'm going in, too.”
“ We won't be able to land a boat there. We'll have to do this frogman-style, Jess, and it'll be dangerous.”
“ What the hell do you call the Spout? And now you're planning to leave your diving partner behind? No way!”
“ Jess!”
“ If I don't go, you don't go.”
“ Are you absolutely sure?”
“ Absolutely.”
They came careening out of the mountains and around a cliff to come into view of the distant small island that was taboo to the Westerner, Kahoolawe, their next destination.
24
Man's nature is like a dense thicket that has no entrance and is difficult to penetrate.
The Wailea Sun Resort Hotel provided a place to catch one's breath, clean up and relax until nightfall, before they would attempt the dangerous landing on Kahoolawe. Jim had showered and rushed out before she was even settled, saying he had to coordinate things with the local authorities, see to it they were doing everything in their means to locate and apprehend Kowona, and seek out an underworld figure here who would see to it they had passage to Kahoolawe.
The time alone, waiting for Jim to return, was passed with her own showering and freshening up, and a brief nap after a call to room service for a cheese and wine tray to be sent up. She'd gone out on the balcony, put her feet up and after a few glasses of wine, had dozed against a pillow. When she awoke, native birds had roosted on the table and were sampling the cheese and crackers while the sky all around had softened into a cloud of lavenders and purples.
Night was descending rapidly now and she feared Jim had left her, believing she'd be safer left behind, the thought infuriating her. She lashed out at the birds, shooing them off. Then she quickly dressed in jeans and a pullover, and was about to storm out the door when the phone rang.
She grabbed for it.
“ Jess, it's me.”
“ Where are you, Jim9”
“ Take a cab and meet me at Nuekuela Point Wailea harbor. We've got passage.”
“ I thought you'd left me.”
“ Don't think I didn't give it serious thought. You realize if we're taken into custody by the local tribesmen, well, it'll be hell to get off the island, much less fax for help from Washington. You sure you don't want to reconsider, Jess?”
“ I've stopped thinking about it, Jim. Let's just do it. I've got to know where this Jack the Ripper is, and if there's a chance in hell we can bring him to justice, then I say we go for it.”
“ We won't have a scuba in from the boat either.”
“ Really?”
“ We're rafting in, inflatable.”
“ Terrific.”
“ And we'll have a guide.”
“ A guide? This is sounding better and better.”He remained cautionary. “It's not like any guided tour you've had of the much-visited islands, kiddo, so don't think it's like the little choo-choo ride through the plantation.”
“ Don't worry about me.”
“ Still, it's someone who knows the island.”
“ Sounds like one hell of a plus to me,” she replied with enthusiasm.
“ Name is Ben Awai. He trades with the locals, knows the village on Molokai where Lopaka grew up. How's that for a turn of good fortune?”
“ Has he been able to confirm your suspicions?”
“ Some, not all. Says Lopaka's people did move out to Kahoolawe, but doesn't know if our killer's out there or not.”
A glint of suspicion like the sliver of shadow and light that runs the gamut of a knife blade flashed along her consciousness before it faded. But she didn't allow her suspicious nature to sway her this time. Jim had wanted her to be less suspicious, more trusting of him.
“ I'm on my way, Jim, and don't you dare embark without me, you hear?”
11 P.M., Wailea Harbor, Maui
At the harbor where the cab let her off, she saw Jim coming toward her in the dark. The harbor lights were dim and pretty, reflecting off the water, more show than functional, creating paths for lovers to walk, not light for boatmen to work by. Still the harbor was thick with fishing boats and men unloading large caches of fish, carving them up over a worn, gray boardwalk long before stained and discolored with blood.
Jim hailed her and casually said, “Ready for that moonlight boat ride, honey?”
“ I can hardly wait, dear,” she replied, not missing her cue, realizing Jim feared one or both of them might be recognized and that their trip must remain clandestine.
He guided her down the pier, the calm Pacific lapping at the boats in the harbor, rocking them gently against their moorings. Ropes and lines swayed with the masts here and metal clinked so gently against metal that the effect was of a hundred crystal wine glasses chiming together.
A crescent moon blinked over the scene, the sea a watery blend of turquoise, jade and azure, like an unfinished oil painting, its colors running, except that this seascape was real. She carefully boarded the small craft that Jim had arranged for, nodding to Ben Awai, a thick-necked, barrel-chested Hawaiian with the familiar knatty, red-burnished hair and grinning eyes of his race. Ship's master here, Awai welcomed Jessica aboard with the economy of words she'd come to expect from his race, saying, “He mea 'ole.”
“ He says welcome aboard,” Jim translated.
The ship's master mumbled something in Hawaiian to the two crew members, also Hawaiian. The other two laughed and began casting off, wasting no time.
Jessica felt the comforting weight of her ankle holster and gun, knowing that Jim's own weapon was safely tucked into the small of his back below the dark green U of H sweatshirt he wore. “How well do you know these characters, Jim?” she whispered as the boat began its slow departure from port.
