Dead in Pukalani (An Eddie Naku Maui Mystery) by R. Barri Flowers

Author:R. Barri Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, crime, suspense, mystery, police procedural, hawaii, detective, action adventure, private investigator, maui
Publisher: R. Barri Flowers

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The following morning, Naku strolled into his office, expecting Vanna to have made the coffee and otherwise be her normal gregarious self. Instead, he was surprised to see a man standing there with his arm around her neck and a gun pointed at Vanna's head.

"I thought you'd show up sooner or later, Naku," he said gruffly.

It took Naku a moment to recognize the man as Daniel Poouahi, a forty-something ex-schoolteacher. He'd lost his job two months ago after Naku discovered that he had been intimately involved with a seventeen-year-old cheerleader. It was her mother who had hired him to see what the girl was up to, as she had been acting strange.

Naku caught Poouahi and the girl making out in his car at a park, reported it to the mother, who then contacted the police and the school. Poouahi was still facing charges related to the inappropriate and illegal behavior.

"Are you all right, Vanna?" Naku asked, though he could see that she was scared to death.

She put on a brave face. "I'll live," she said, "assuming he lets me."

Naku furrowed his brow. He could tell Poouahi had been drinking. "Let her go! This is between you and me, not her."

"You destroyed my life," he voiced bitterly. "You had no right."

"I had every right. You were having sex with a minor. As a teacher, you exploited her and needed to be stopped. If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else."

Poouahi tightened his grip around Vanna's neck. "We loved each other," he claimed. "You can't help who you love."

"Maybe not," Naku said, inching closer, "but you can reject your feelings when you know they cross the line. Do you really want to make another mistake by hurting Vanna—or me for that matter? Is your life that worthless to you?"

Poouahi wrinkled his nose and staggered. "I just want everything to go back to the way it was."

Naku sensed that he didn't really want to do anything stupid, but still needed a push in the right direction before it was too late.

"Maybe it can," he told him, "but only if you let her go and put the gun down." He paused, waiting as Poouahi weighed his options. "Do it, Poouahi, and we'll forget this ever happened."

After a moment or two, Poouahi released Vanna. She moved gingerly toward Naku.

"Please, don't shoot me in the back," she said softly.

When she reached Naku, he smiled at her. "It'll be okay." He stood between her and Poouahi, hoping he wouldn't revert back to a vengeful-minded, gun toting scumbag. Stretching his arm out, Naku said, "Let me have the gun..."

Poouahi hesitated, before relenting and lowering the weapon, inviting Naku to take it. He gladly obliged. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"You did the right thing," he told him.

"So what happens now?" Poouahi asked tentatively.

Though the better part of Naku wanted to have Vanna call the police and report him for threatening her life, he decided the man was already living in a hell of his own making and would still have to deal with the consequences.

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