Finders Keepers by Walter Sutton

Author:Walter Sutton [Sutton, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Next Chapter

That afternoon, the gin mostly out of his system, Flash took a taxi to Salt Pond Beach to have a talk with Paul. The boy had called him, so that was progress. It would be a chance to find out what Paul knew about Peterson, which would be progress too. He sat down to wait for Paul at a picnic table looking out toward the ocean.

He considered Paul’s predicament. If the boy could get clear of murder and drug charges, that would be a big win. But Paul might be facing extrajudicial complications. Everyone on the island now knew that Mr. P. had a huge drug stash and forty-thousand dollars in small bills hidden in his house. The people who supplied the drugs to Kauai would hear the news too. A good chance those people, probably from Oahu, would be looking to make an example of Keanu and/or Paul.

“Hey, Flash. No beer?” Paul asked as he came up beside his mentor.

“Nah, too early for me.” Flash smiled.

“Yeah? That’s not what Auntie Mia says. In any case I’ve got my mom’s car, so I can drive you back.”

“That would be great.” Flash looked at the boy. “How you doin’?”

Paul was holding an orange cup with a plastic top and a straw sticking out the top. He slurped, went to the other side of the picnic table, put the cup down in front of him, and said, “Okay, I guess.” He slurped again, sat with his back to the ocean, both hands holding the cup, looking down at the tabletop.

Flash waited. The best ploy to induce witnesses and perps to talk to you was silence—just shut up and wait them out.

Paul looked up. “Janet says they might not prosecute. She could make some sort of a deal where they treat me like a minor or something cuz I just turned eighteen. I don’t know, but she said she was hopeful. That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is good, very good. If you don’t mind me asking, though, what did you tell them about Keanu?”

“Just like you said. I did the middle thing, path, whatever. I didn’t lie, but I couldn’t tell them everything I know. He’d be in the shit for sure if I did.” Paul smirked and shook his head.

Omertà—the Mafia code of silence—but Hawaiian style. Funny, maybe, but not so funny in this case, at least not so funny if the cops found out that Paul knew more.

On the other hand, the police weren’t likely to learn the whole story on their own. That would take digging, maybe digging hard, and Flash suspected that hardassed policing methods were out of bounds among the island family, especially when a revered judge’s eighteen-year-old grandson was involved. Flash wondered how the island family dealt with the really bad guys, the Peterson type, for example.

Flash asked Paul, “When do you hear what they’ll do?”

“Janet said they’re close, maybe a couple of days.”

“Good.”

Paul smiled and said, “Yeah. She’s a tough lawyer. I’m glad she’s on my side.

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