Poliahu's Payback: Detective Reef Kahili Mystery, #3

By J.M. Calverley

Jealousy, lies, old loves, new loves. People change even if they look the same.

Hawaii is known for golden sand beaches and turquoise waters but with winter, comes snow on the sacred mountain of Mauna Kea.

Detective Reef Kahili of the Hilo PD, along with Detective Kalani Rogers are investigating a suspicious death on the mountain. At first it looks like Poli`ahu, the snow goddess might have just caught him unawares. But behind what looks like an innocent and unfortunate death is a whole host of people who had a bone to pick with the dead astronomer. Could it have been murder?

Reef's facing jealousy as a possible motive in the case, and also unexpectedly, on the home front.

But what's a threat and what's not?

*** PLEASE NOTE: This book was previously published in Kindle Worlds and has been revised and reedited to reflect those changes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.M. Calverley
• Release date: Jul 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386791706

Book preview

Book Three

~ Detective Reef Kahili ~

Hilo, Big Island, HI

POLIAHU’S PAYBACK

J. M. Calverley

Poliahu’s Payback: J. M. Calverley ~ previously published under Kindle World license.

Second Edition: Poliahu’s Payback: J. M. Calverley: Detective Reef Kahili: Book Three with some characters and elements from the previous Kindle World removed.

All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

ASIN: 

Editor: Meg Amor

Cover Artist: Meg Amor

Published in the United States of America

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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Warning

This e-book contains adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. The author’s e-books are defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to two people in my family, my ‘ohana.

*~*~*~*~*

My dad, John Kirk.

He is a master storyteller and historian, and his talks are always so interesting. He collects fascinating facts and should have been a professor at university, teaching history or something that captured him, and his students. I can talk to him for hours about all sorts of things that interest us both. He’s always encouraged me to look at how people tick and to become involved in therapies that have shaped who I am.

His stories have stayed with me all my life and have shaped me as a storyteller. My most favorite letter I have ever received from Dad was when he and his partner Annette backpacked through India. He started writing me a letter in the morning at a local place they had breakfast. He was still there at lunchtime talking to local people and eating. And every so often, he would write bits and pieces of the day as it went along. At dinner time he was still there. It was a wonderful travelogue of a day that I know he thoroughly enjoyed, chatting to people about all sorts of things, eating good food, and just kicking back and relaxing.

He and Annette still travel all over, sea kayak, and ride mountain, and motor bikes. Annette really does make the best scones! And Dad still tells great stories.

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And

Leo Ray Jr. Amor

He passed away this last year in his twenty-first year and was my darling ginger and white short-haired tabby puss who looked like he had a touch of Oriental in him. He and Koko share much of the same personality. And Leo was the originator of the finger up the nose. If you can imagine someone getting a bud of pussy willow and twirling it around the inside of your nose—then you have the sensation exactly.

He was a really funny cat. And highly intelligent, he knew a lot of words and phrases, and had lots of opinions about everything. He traveled all over the world with me and was a seasoned traveler. I can see him in my mind’s eye, sitting on his Dad’s lap, peering out the aircraft window and not at all afraid. He left a big gap when he passed. 

*~*~*~*~*

Love you both very much.

Chapter One

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Kahili. I answer the phone, struggling to come awake, and reaching out my hand for Hibby, but she’s not in bed with me. Damn.

Dad, a shaky voice sounds on the other end.

I’m awake instantly. "Akuna. What’s wrong?"

There’s a dead person here. I th-think it’s Aidan Corbett. He’s in the snow. He sounds panicky and close to tears.

It’s okay, I’m on my way. Where are you? Although there aren’t a lot of choices if there’s snow. Which observatory? I ask instead.

I’m at the UH. My cell phone wasn’t working. I called on the phone here.

"Are you safe? Are you okay? Why aren’t you calling from inside?"

I just sort of panicked and got to the first phone I could think of.

No worries. You did the right thing. Are you okay? I ask him again.

Yeah. It’s just...he’s dead, he half-wails.

I’m trying to talk and get dressed at the same time, rifling through my closets for something warm to wear if I’m going up to the summit of Mauna Kea. We’re not exactly equipped for it here in the tropics.

Is there anyone else up there with you? How bad is the snow? Have they closed the road?

No. Bad. Yes. He can barely talk.

What are you still doing up there? Where were you when they were letting people know to get off the mountain? I ask, wondering why he didn’t listen to the rangers.

Um, I had a sleep, and I kinda missed it. I came up in the morning. I didn’t realize the rangers were going to shut the road down with the snow. His voice is becoming more and more high-pitched. I’m up here all by myself. It’s creepy.

Where’s John? I ask. He’s the astronomer Akuna has been working with up there.

He wasn’t in today. He and Annette went out kayaking at Kealakekua.

Okay. I’m on my way. Go inside and lock yourself in. Are you sure it’s Aidan?

Yeah.

Where is he exactly? What happened to him? Do you know?

"He’s half-buried in the snow up by the ahu."

Any blood or anything suspicious?

No... I hear him gulp, and he sounds puffy. The altitude up there can be tough on the lungs and body. With 40 percent less oxygen, the air’s thin.

I was gonna call you, let you know I was stuck up here but I forgot, sorry. He sounds scared and contrite.

It’s okay. As long as you’re safe and sound. That’s all that matters. You sure he’s dead?

Yeah. I could see my breath fogging up but not his. And I felt his neck, no pulse. I hear him shuddering down the phone.

Shit. I locate some fleece lined hiking boots that look like they were last used in New Zealand about twenty years ago.

Okay, I’m calling Auntie and Kalani. We’ll be up there as soon as we can, eh.

Thanks, Dad.

Okay, love you. I’m on my way.

Love you.

I hang up and call my partner Detective Kalani Rogers.

You sound wide awake, I say.

Yeah, Malia and I had a fight, so I couldn’t sleep.

Ah, shit, sorry, mate. We have a body on the mountain. It might just be a natural death but Akuna’s up there and scared to death. They’ve closed the road. Hibby and I can go up ourselves.

No, it’s okay. I could do with getting out of here. The walls are closing in. I’ll be at yours soon.

Thanks. See you soon. Just calling Hibby now.

She picks up after a few rings. Aloha, sweetie. Please tell me you’re offering me a booty call. I could do with some cheering up?

I laugh. Ah, no. Sorry, babe.

Damn. I thought my night had finally turned a corner.

Yeah, no, I say, using a good Kiwi saying.

Crap.

Yep.

What have you got? I’m just at a scene now. Car accident. I’ll be another hour or so, and I’m on my own.

Where’s Kyle?

Took a right break header at Isaac Hayes, clipped himself with his surfboard, concussion.

Only in Hawai’i.

Is he all right? I ask about her usual assistant.

Yes, just needs to rest for a day or two.

Well, got another doozy for you. And I fill her in about the situation with Aidan and Akuna.

For the love of all things holy!

I know. I’m sorry. You sound buggered, I say softly.

I am. This flu epidemic is awful. There’s perfectly healthy people dropping like flies.

Okay. I’ll call Kalani, we’ll head up there now. Come up when you can, and I’ll come and meet you at the visitor’s center. If the phone doesn’t work, I’ll assume a rough time for pick up and be waiting for you there. Okay, babe. Take it easy. I love you.

Love you too, sweetie.

We hang up, and I open a tin of something smelly for Koko who’s now up and complaining about my sudden departure from the bed and house.

Sorry, my girl. Got to go and get your brother. Love you. I kiss her black-and-white head, and she swishes her tail at me, glaring disdainfully as only a part Oriental cat can when I go out the door.

Kalani rumbles in on his classic Indian motorcycle and I eye up his clothes.

What are you wearing?

He’s all togged up like I am and looks um... Well, put it this way, we probably won’t lose him in the snow. The formfitting unusual green ski suit reminds me of a certain Kiwi lolly Mum likes. His Hawaiian Cook Islander face and jet-black curls stands out against the luminescent glow of the suit.

You look like a Snifter, I tease him.

What the hell is that?

A New Zealand sweet. Nougat chocolate on the inside, and that weird green in a hard candy shell on the outside.

Yeah, that’s me. All sweetness. He gives me a cheeky grin. "What are you wearing?" He looks me up and down.

Clothes. The selection was limited.

You said it. He laughs, giving my mismatched clothes an amused look.

Then he grins. Coffee?

Good thinking. I just rushed out the bloody door. Thanks. What happened with Malia?

The usual. She feels stuck here. She wants to go to the Mainland and thinks I’m being small minded and stuck in an island mentality of cruising through life. He flicks his eyebrows up at me in a sardonic look.

Problem? I say in disbelief. I came home to the island to get away from the frenetic onslaught of the Mainland.

Not from where I’m standing. And she wants kids. I’m not there.

I get it. Akuna might be my one and only.

Yeah, and you get him at the nearly grown-upstage. Bargain. Well, you know.

We both laugh. Akuna hasn’t been the easiest kid to have around but he’s improved out of sight from when I first met him. He needed an ‘ohana, a family to belong to, that loved and cared for him. He had his great-grandmother Mrs. Henry who was my adopted grandmother by association. A wonderfully warm woman but she was getting on in years and although still as sharp as a tack, he needed a younger generation of family as well. While I’m not a donor in any way to Akuna’s biology, he’s still my hanai son.

Hanai in the islands is an unofficial adoption—when blood family can’t or won’t cope with a child. And someone else steps in to offer them ‘ohana or a family. I met Akuna and what’s left of his family on my very first case I investigated here on the island when I came home. And despite driving me up the wall sometimes, he’s become part of my ‘ohana. Mum and Dad treat him like a grandson, and my partner Hibby was already his auntie.

What are you going to do about Malia? How do you feel about it?

"We’re about pau. It’s been coming for a while. I love her but I’m not in love. And we both deserve more than we’re getting. It’s just not going to be with each other. I’ll just have to work through it but I appreciate the ear."

Anytime.

The drive is fast and quiet, fog swirling at ground level on the Saddle Road, and barely any other cars about on this quiet, eerie stretch of road at this time of night. We turn right off the Saddle and climb to 9,000 odd feet at the visitor’s center. I stop the truck, and we kill time waiting to acclimate ourselves before going to the summit at roughly 13,000 feet.

We crawl up there. It’s hairy, and I white knuckle it with visibility close to a few yards in front of us. The whole top of the mountain is cloaked with a fresh blanket of pure white snow. No smog and dirt up here to sully it. Because of the mountain’s isolated location, extremely dry atmosphere, and stable air flow, it provides some of the cleanest, purest skies in the world for viewing the celestial heavens. With no urban lights and reasonable access, it’s the perfect spot as far as the scientific community is concerned.

Dotted about the lunar-like landscape are thirteen dome-like science-fiction-type observatories with the atmospheric baseline observatory on Mauna Loa. It always reminds me of old James Bond movies for some reason, with high tech laboratories hidden in lakes that drain, revealing concrete basins that hide sinister doings beneath them.

And it feels sinister with the eerie silence, and 4WD needed to get up here. Give me a warm Hawaiian beach with golden sand and aqua water any day. Stargazing at night, tropical beaches by day. The Big Island of Hawai’i has it all. But is not the tourist mecca O’ahu and Maui are, thank God. Like Kalani, I like my kickback, cruisy island lifestyle. I’m a waterman like Akuna, and it surprised me how much he’s taken to coming up here.

He’s been at the observatories, working on our master navigator Nainoa Thompson’s star chart and getting a good feel for the stars in any way he can. Karinthy’s six degrees of separation only extents to about three degrees here in the islands—if that. Dad has a mate Duke Lee who works for NASA. He was happy to get Akuna access to observe the heavens through the big telescopes and working with one of the astronomers and historians, Professor John Kirk, another Kiwi. We’ve gotten Akuna into the Wayfinder school too, and I have to say, he’s actually pulled finger.

Meeting Nainoa when we went to see the Hokule’a’s homecoming after her round-the-world voyaging journey was probably the highlight of his year—and ours—which had some pretty rough beginnings for him. Even in the last few months, we’ve watched Akuna grow up a lot. Not be such a pain in the ass. Be more confident and kinder. He still spits and hisses like a wild cat when he gets a fright but he’s a lot less spiky.

I’ll miss him when he’s away at school, and when he goes to sail on the Hokule’a. As a waterman I understand his need to go to sea, though. This being on a mountain doesn’t really do it for me. I feel—no pun intended—like a fish out of water up here.

When we finally get to the top, Kalani and I both heave huge sighs of relief.

Wouldn’t want to do that every day, states Kalani, shaking the tension off his shoulders.

Too right, I agree.

Akuna runs out to meet us. He looks like he’s not coping well. His eyes are wide and face stark.

Come here. I pull into my arms for a hug, and he’s trembling from head to foot. As he settles into me, his shoulders let loose. Chest heaving and his breath catching—he bawls his eyes out.

It’s okay. It’s a shock. You’re safe. I’m here, I say, over and over, soothing him, rubbing his back until he settles down a little, poor guy. He’s had a hard life.

Where’s Auntie? He snuffles into my shoulder.

She’s coming. She’s on another call. Show us where he is, and you go back inside. Keep warm. Make us a hot drink for when we come back in. Okay? We’ve got this.

Thanks, Dad, he whispers.

Kalani and I rug up properly and set off up the smallish hill to the summit. The wind has died down a bit, and it’s stopped snowing—for now.

Yep. Dead all right, I say, when we examine him.

What do you think happened?

Could be anything? But I don’t see anything suspicious. Do you?

Kalani shakes his head, while I stand with my hands on my hips looking around.

Let’s go back down and wait for Hibby. Get some information from Akuna and see if there’s anyone else about that might be of any help.

Sounds good, yeah. Kalani’s already heading back down the hill. It’s not too tropical out here, that’s for sure.

Did you find him? says Akuna anxiously, when we come in the door. 

You’re a magnet for dead bodies, my boy, I tease him.

At least I don’t create them. He scowls at me, the beanie pulled down so low, it nearly covers his eyes and his hands are shoved into the back pockets of his jeans. But his eyes are brimming with tears again. Whoops, too soon. I stop being a cop for a moment and be a dad, pulling him in for another hug.

Is he like really dead? he asks when he pulls back and scrubs at his cheeks and dripping nose with the heel his hand.

Yes.

Shit.

My thoughts exactly.

Could I have saved him or something?

"No, he was already gone when you found