I was baffled, but I kept my mouth shut.
“A hustler used your name. We were running a sting in Ala Moana Beach Park, and he offered a blow job to one of my guys. He was jonesing for his next fix, and he was so strung out he didn’t realize that he already had a couple of rocks until we searched him.”
He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “He bragged that he’d had sex with a lot of important guys. He gave us a couple of names, among them yours. We weren’t sure whether to believe him or not; could have been the ice talking. He bonded out, and one of my guys made an appointment to meet with him the next day to get more details. He didn’t show for the meeting.”
I could feel the sweat dripping down my back, pooling under my arms. I was right; one of the hookers Mr. Hu had hired had recognized me. But that had been part of the power Mr. Hu held over me-the danger that what he forced me to do not only humiliated and degraded me, but could bring down my career.
The last time I went to Mr. Hu’s mansion at Black Point, the night that drove Gunter to take me to the emergency room, Mr. Hu had told me after the fact that he’d paid the man who had fucked me so brutally. But did taking part in the act make me as guilty as either of them?
“I wouldn’t dignify his allegation except that after you left this morning I was trying to remember where I’d heard that name before, the one your blackmail victim mentioned, Mr. Hu. This hustler also mentioned him.”
“Can you tell me the hustler’s name?”
Kee turned to his computer and punched in a couple of keys, two-finger typing. After a moment he said, “The guy went by the name Lucas.”
That was the name Mr. Hu had called the man he’d paid to fuck me. Kee turned back to me. “Recognize the name?”
I nodded.
“How did you come in contact with him?”
I sat there for a moment, collecting my thoughts, considering how much to say. “I met a guy through a gay hookup Web site, and I met Lucas through him.” I took a deep breath. I had to make it clear that I was not a guilty party. “I did have sex with Lucas-but I didn’t pay him for it.”
He nodded. “I have no evidence to the contrary, detective. If I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
DATING DRAMA
My father picked me up just after four and we drove out toward the airport. Gray rain clouds clustered over the tops of the Ko’olau Mountains, but down on the Nimitz Highway it was sunny and breezy. “I made a couple of calls for you. We need to ask for Jerry Kaneali’i,” my father said, pulling into a used car dealership.
“You know him?”
“Better. The boss and I, we went to UH together. Long time ago.”
As we were getting out of his truck, my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but I answered anyway. It was Dr. Phil.
“I’ve got a late shift tomorrow,” he said. “Want to catch an early dinner?”
I’d almost forgotten about Dr. Phil-our one date had been so long ago. But I didn’t want to get into all my romantic complications on the phone, and certainly not in front of my father. “Sure. Tomorrow would be great.” He had to be at The Queen’s Medical Center after dinner, so we made plans to meet at a steak house near the Aloha Tower.
The dealership was playing KINE, Hawaiian 105, in the background, and the two receptionists at the front desk wore fragrant leis of red carnations. Jerry Kaneali’i was a big Hawaiian guy in his late fifties, and he seemed pleased to see us. “The boss said to take good care of you,” he said, shaking my hand vigorously.
He led us around the lot, showing us the Wranglers he had, and he was just explaining the horsepower on a dark blue one when my phone rang again.
The display said the call was coming from Haoa’s office. “Hey, brah,” I said.
“Hey to you, too,” Sergei said. “How’ve you been? I had a great time with you last week-but you still owe me a tour of the bars of Waikiki.”
“Sure. When did you want to meet up?”
My dad was listening earnestly to Jerry explain about cylinders and torque. I was trying to understand, but I’d always just taken what I’d been given when it came to vehicles and I’d never paid much attention to what was under the hood.
Oops, I guess I was gay all along.
“I’m thinking Friday,” Sergei said. “You and me, having some fun.”
His voice was so loud that my father looked up. “Sure, that would be great,” I said. “I’ll talk to you Friday, okay?”
I hung up and said, “This one looks good. I’ll take it.”
“Kimo!” my father scolded. “We haven’t even gotten a price yet.”
“Don’t you worry,” Jerry said. “Like I said, the boss told me to take good care of you. Give you the special UH price.”
Yeah, I wanted to say, tell me another one. But I’d seen the sticker price on the Jeep’s window, and the figure Jerry quoted us when we went inside was a few grand less. I guess there’s something to be said for that old boys’ network after all.
There were a million pieces of paper to sign. My dad pulled out a check already made out to me in the amount of eleven thousand dollars, and I endorsed it over to the dealership as my deposit. I was in the middle of filling out the loan papers for the rest when my phone rang a third time.
“Sorry,” I said, seeing it was Mike. “I need to take this.”
I turned away from the two of them and said hello. Mike said, “Hey there, handsome. We said we’d get together and catch up. You free tonight?”
His voice boomed around the small room. I had to figure out how to lower the volume on the damn phone. I looked at my watch. “Sure. Say seven o’clock?”
“I’ll bring dinner. See you.”
I hung up, feeling red faced. We finished the paperwork and Jerry went off to get the keys. “Busy social life,” my father said.
“It’s not like that. Mike and I are working on the arson at the shopping center.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I have three sons, remember? Your brother Haoa, he dated two, sometimes three girls at the same time, until he met Tatiana. Then, no more. Just her.” He looked at me. “Is it like that with you and Mike?”
My immediate impulse was to protest. “Mike? No, not at all. I hadn’t seen him for a year before the fire.”
“He’s a nice guy,” my father said.
Fortunately, Jerry came back with the keys to the almost-new Jeep before I was tempted to reveal anything uncomfortable about my relationship with Mike.
Jerry had rolled up the flaps so the Jeep was completely open, and I hugged my dad and thanked him again before jumping in. Cruising down the Nimitz Highway was so cool-my first new car, even if it had been gently pre- owned for a year or so before I got it. The sun was just setting, but the air was still warm and the breeze whipped around the inside, bringing the smell of salt water that I always associated with my best days.
I took my time driving back to Waikiki, enjoying the ride. I kept the radio on Hawaiian 105, not minding the traffic, the fantail palms swaying in the light breeze, the hills glowing with the reflected light. A wild bougainvillea by the side of the road was a bright purple accent in an otherwise green landscape, highlighted by the last rays of the setting sun. I pulled into my parking space just as Mike stopped on the street in front of my building. “New wheels?” he asked.
“Yup. My dad drove me down to the dealership to pick it out.”
“Pretty sharp. Give me a hand with the food.”
