My Kind of Town
Vol. 1: The Honolulu Soap Co.
>>En route Hello, stranger
Back on his new BMW superbike, HPD Officer Quinn Ah Sun followed his long-lost cousin Lily down Wilder and then left at the light onto Punahou.
Lily signaled right and turned onto the H-1 onramp. Quinn slowed, waved and watched her go. And only because Quinn hated tinted windows did he note the faded gray sedan that followed Lily onto the freeway -- license plates FCC 396. He'd call it in. You never know what they might find. He hated tinted windows. Even the black SUV following the gray car onto the H-1 had tinted windows. What a bad fad. It ought to be illegal.
>> Easing into the traffic flow of the H-1 Ewa-bound, Lily turned up her car radio and had to smile. The song she heard was the new local remake of "Hello, Stranger" -- perfect timing for her amazing reunion with Quinn after 21 years. Lily liked the original Barbara Lewis hit, but this was better.
Frankie and Brickwood said it was by a new group, Mauka Showers. Lily loved Hawaiian music and believed in supporting the local music industry.
She'd definitely have to add this one to her CD collection. Lily was singing along happily with the last bars when Brickwood broke in and solemnly reported that a certain yellow car had just plunged off the Keeaumoku Overpass.
>> Quinn continued down to Beretania and turned right. On one hand, he was happy to have seen his cousin again. On the other, before he knew she was his first cousin, she had taken his breath away. Stopped for the light at Kalakaua, the gardenia scent of Lily's business card wafted up from his shirt pocket. The scent reminded him of Lily, and that was enough to turn the butterflies loose in his stomach again. Quinn keyed his radio to call in the plate number of the sedan.
But the radio crackled, and the dispatcher's dispassionate voice rang in his helmet earphone: "Officers in the vicinity of Cartwright Field, proceed immediately. Radio cell caller says a car just went off the Keeaumoku Overpass."
Which meant that once again HPD heard about a crisis from the Cellular Posse.
Quinn gunned the big bike around a Dr. Pepper truck pulling into the Foodland lot and keyed his helmet microphone: "Solo 27 responding. And while I have you -- could you run a Code 10 check on FCC 396? Something about it ..."
>>Lily speed-dialed her mother's number at the Capitol, but the line was busy.
No wonder. Her mother's boss was presumed inside the car that had just plunged off the Keeaumoku Overpass. And the whole world wanted to know about the health of the Democrats' best hope of keeping a resident in Washington Place beyond next year.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com