Barking Sands by Chip Hughes

Author:Chip Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, PI Novel, Hawaii, surfing, serial killer
Publisher: Chip Hughes

fourteen

On Friday I spend the day in my office and then head home early to beat the afternoon Pali commute. I’m barely in the door when I get a call from Maile.

“Kai, I’m still on Kaua‘i. I’ll be late to the Van Ormes.”

“I’ll cover it,” I say, “like we agreed.”

“Could you go now?”

“Sure, I’m on my way.”

I put Kula in my car and drive into Lanikai—little more than a mile from Vivienne’s Kailua home.

I believe through my PI work I’ve driven every road on this island. I’m wrong. I’ve never been on the winding private lane at the end of Lanikai that leads to this hilltop estate. I climb until I can see those iconic twin islands—the Mokuluas or Mokes—that have replaced Diamond Head as the most familiar tourist-brochure image of the Hawaiian Islands. I pull up to a copper-patinaed gate depicting frolicking dolphins and enter the code Maile has given me. The gate swings open to a mammoth banyan and grass-pave driveway circling it. Beyond the banyan the sprawling home—roof covered with solar panels—overlooks those cozy twin islands on the turquoise sea.

I park and am greeted by a trim silver-haired man who’s no doubt older than he looks. Hawai‘i keeps kupuna—elders—looking young. Especially elders with money. I explain to Mr. Van Orme that I’m spelling for Maile until she arrives later this evening. He glances at my ancient Impala and looks skeptical. The teal paint is original but more than a half-century old. I assure him Maile will be along shortly. Mrs. Van Orme soon joins us. She’s also silver and well-kept like her husband and also looks skeptical.

Then I let the retriever out of the car. Kula prances up to the couple, his golden coat glowing in the afternoon sun. Their skepticism melts away. They hug and baby talk him like I’m not there. They forget themselves. Kula has that effect on people. I’m now in the Van Ormes’ good graces. Turns out they once had a golden retriever. Kula’s arrival brings back warm memories.

Soon Mr. Van Orme produces their luggage. I help him load it in their Tesla, he shows me how to drive the electric car—powered, he explains, by the sun—and we’re off. On the way, he lectures me on climate change, renewable energy, and a sustainable future for the islands. He’s a retired professor and his remarks easily fill the twenty-five-minute ride to the airport.

I return to Kula resting comfortably in their hilltop estate above Lanikai. I watch a pair of yellow kayaks paddling to the twin islands land on the sandy beach of the northern Moke.

My cellphone rings. It’s Maile.

“Coming to relieve me?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer. She tells me more about her case. “You see, Kai, Brittanie was the live-in caretaker of the Skye terrier named Precious owned by my client, Ian Boz. Brittanie stole the dog from Boz, for reasons he didn’t tell me.”

“The name Boz sounds familiar.”

“He lives in Princeville and owns a watersport rental business in Hanalei.”

“Bingo. I want to meet your client.

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