to do a good job for Haoa. But it was next to impossible to find guys to work for him. I was bitching about it to this trick one night, and he said he could help me out.”
I saw Haoa and Tatiana look at each other, and once again I remembered that magnetism that drew them together. Did Mike and I have that, too?
“Trick?” Frank asked.
“A guy I met online,” Sergei said. “Stan. He puts security guys in all these big high-rises, so he said he knew what I was going through.”
I looked at Ray, and both our eyebrows raised. “You know Stan’s last name?”
Sergei shook his head. “Something Italian, I think. We didn’t trade business cards, you know?”
“We’ve been following someone in a different case,” I said to Frank. “Stan LoCicero. He owns a company called Mahalo Manpower.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Sergei said.
“We’ll talk about your case later,” Frank said. Despite his youthful looks and the goofy red hair, he had a way of speaking that commanded respect. “So this guy, Stan. How’d you move forward with him?”
“He said he’d send a couple of guys over, but I shouldn’t look too closely at their papers.” He looked at Haoa. “It was just when you were getting the contract for that industrial park by the airport, and you were pressuring me to find you guys.”
Haoa didn’t say anything, just stared at Sergei.
Sergei looked back at Frank. “So these three Chinese guys show up the next morning. They hardly speak English, but they look like they can work. I filled out some papers for them and sent them off to Naleo, one of Haoa’s superintendents.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Later that morning, Stan called. I thanked him for the guys, and he told me how it was going to work.”
Frank said, “And how was that?”
“I was supposed to short each guy’s pay, and give the difference to Stan. Oh, and he said I could keep a little piece for myself, too. For my trouble.”
Haoa’s rage was simmering, but Tatiana kept her hand on his.
“You have anything in writing from Stan?” Frank asked.
Sergei toyed with his puka shell necklace. “No contract. I just wrote a check to Mahalo Manpower every week, for consulting services.”
“You never questioned these checks?” Frank asked Haoa.
My brother shook his head. “We have an electric check writer and a stamp with my signature. When Tatiana started managing the accounts I got out of the habit of paying attention.”
“Mr. Baranov, I’m going to need something I can take to a judge,” Frank said. “We’ll wire you up. You’ve got to get something incriminating on tape if you want to walk away from this.”
“I can’t. I’m scared.”
“I’ll go with you,” Haoa said. That probably scared Sergei even more.
“How about this,” Ray said. “Stan knows Kimo, but he doesn’t know me. Suppose we say I’m your new boss, Sergei. And I’ve figured out what you’re up to, and I want a cut. I go with you to meet with Stan.”
“What do you think, Mr. Baranov? You’re not going to get a better offer.”
Sergei nodded. “Haoa and Tatiana didn’t know anything about what I was doing.” He turned to them. “I’m so, so sorry. You guys gave me a chance, and I fucked it up. That’s all I ever do, isn’t it? I just screw up, every time.”
Tatiana said, “This could be what turns things around for you, Sergei. You’ll put this jerk Stan behind bars; you’ll help all these people who are being victimized.”
It was touching to see Tatiana still believed in her brother. I wished I did, too.
While we sat there, Sergei pulled out his cell phone and called Stan, and did a pretty convincing job of explaining that his new boss wanted a cut. “Give it to him out of yours,” we heard Stan say.
“He wants more than I get,” Sergei whined. “He’s gonna call the cops.”
They arranged to meet at the Rod and Reel Club that evening at six. Ray and I made a plan to meet Sergei at five to get him wired up and rehearse their story. “You’ll keep tabs on your brother, Mrs. Kanapa’aka?” Frank asked.
“I’m not letting him out of my sight,” Tatiana said.
Frank turned his attention to Haoa. “You have a list of the employees you think don’t have proper working papers?” he asked.
Haoa nodded. “Six of them. All Chinese.”
“I want you to talk to each one of them, Kimo,” Frank said. “See if you can get anything out of them.”
“You’re going to need an interpreter,” Sergei said. “Most of these guys don’t speak more English than good morning, yes sir, and paycheck.”
“I’ll try, but it takes a couple of days to line up an interpreter,” I said.
“We don’t have a couple of days,” Frank said. “As soon as these guys get the idea that something’s up, they’ll be in the wind.”
“Aunt Mei-Mei speaks Cantonese,” Haoa said. “You could ask her.”
“And Harry speaks pretty decent Mandarin,” I said. “You round up the guys and bring them to the station. I’ll get Harry and Aunt Mei-Mei.”
Haoa, Tatiana, and Sergei left, and Frank said, “Before I let you out of here, I want to hear about your case.”
“It’s complicated,” I said.
Frank sat back in his rolling armchair. “I may be a federal agent but I can do complicated.”
I started with the arson and the prostitution, and finished up with the blackmail attempt on Brian Izumigawa. “It looks like this guy Stan may be involved somehow. We’re not sure yet.”
“Federal trumps local, you know,” Frank said. “I don’t want you to do anything on your case that might mess up mine.”
I wasn’t going to get into a pissing contest with the guy, because I knew I’d lose. “You’ve got it, boss,” I said.
INTERVIEWING THE ILLEGALS
The demonstration was still going on, and I recognized a guy I’d gone to Punahou with, as well as a couple of mokes, or local criminals, that I’d arrested a time or two. I nodded and smiled at everybody. Including my mother.
She was wearing a formal muumuu in a Hawaiian quilt pattern and carrying a sign that read Protect My Islands for My Grandchildren. It wasn’t a surprise to see her there; both she and my father are half-Hawaiian, and they’d brought us up to value that part of our heritage. I knew she’d been volunteering with Kingdom of Hawai’i; she said she wanted to make sure that native culture and traditions were maintained.
I stopped to kiss her hello. Ray hung back until I motioned him over. He and I had been working together for over a year by then, and he’d met my parents a couple of times.
“We just met your other son upstairs,” he said. I glared at him, and from the way he pursed his lips I figured he’d realized it wasn’t the right thing to say.
“Which son? Lui?”
“Haoa,” I said. “Oh, look, there he is.” I waved over Haoa, Tatiana, and Sergei. “Gotta go, Mom. Try to stay out of trouble.”
“Your mom some kind of civic activist?” Ray asked, as we hurried away.
“Long story. Goes back to 1892 and the U.S. taking down the monarchy.”
“Sounds like it’ll have to wait.”
When we got to the Wrangler, he said, “When we get back to the station, you ought to match up the pictures on the site to the list of names,” Ray said. “I’m gay friendly and all, but…”
