My Kind of Town
The coolest car
>> Queen's Medical Center
Exiting through the ER lobby, HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes was tempted to go back and visit Dr. Laurie Tang. Dinner at her condo tonight still seemed so far away, and he felt an urge to see her now. But he didn't want to come on too strong. Not yet. Technically, she was still Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka's girlfriend. But that was going to change if Gomes had anything to do with it. And he would.
Gomes waved a shaka at Freddie the friendly ER parking lot guy and ahead saw an old friend. "Eh, Mits!" he called.
Sgt. Mits Ah Sun was just attaching a blue light to the roof of his shiny black Mustang.
"Eh, Sherlock, good to see you!" Mits said warmly, shaking Gomes' hand. He nodded toward the car parked in the other lot reserved for police officers.
"I knew you was here."
Gomes' classic Barracuda, whose paint color had once been described by a CID brother as "stomach-flu green," was infamous in the department.
"What brings you over here?" Gomes said. "I thought Pali Momi, St. Francis West was your turf."
"My son," Mits said with two distinct tones of voice that Gomes recognized in an instant -- the tough cop who was pissed off that a fellow cop had been injured, the father whose worst fear had nearly come true.
"Quinn?! My God, what happened?"
"Took a .22 slug in the thigh last night. Lost a lot of blood, but they say he'll be back on that bike of his soon enough."
"Glad to hear that, at least," Gomes said. "What we need on the road is more solo bike guys and get rid of those stupid vans. We're all in trouble when you get cameras and computers doing police work."
"I'm with you," Mits said. "Hey, I'm already late for duty. Good to see you again, Sherlock."
"Give my regards to Quinn."
Gomes had to smile as the black Mustang's 8-cylinder engine rumbled to life. Maybe one day when he was Mits Ah Sun's age he'd get a hot new car. But for now, Gomes couldn't imagine anything cooler than this cherry 'Cuda 6-banger with real naugahyde seatcovers and 8-track stereo.
>> Makiki Heights
Roused at the ungodly hour of 11 a.m. by a call from that damned HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes, Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka glanced at the glass pipe and his nearly depleted stash on the nightstand. A to-do list was in order, and near the top of the list would be calling a stripper named Olga, Serena's contact. But priority one today was getting Gomes out of his life.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com