My Kind of Town
The Honolulu Soap Co.:
Sunday digest>> Hawaii Kai
It had been barely 15 hours since they'd left her home, but so much had happened in that time, it seemed like ages to Lily Ah Sun. She'd gone from fearing for her cousin Quinn's life (after he'd been shot defending Lily's maid, Rosalita) to despising the jerk (after catching Quinn kissing slutty Gwen Roselovich). At the moment, it would be fine with Lily if they went another 21 years not seeing one another.
And then Lily turned the corner onto her street and saw Quinn's pickup truck outside her home where he'd parked it last night. And she recalled how he had to help her up into and down from the cab, and how strong he was. And how they had stopped at Maunalua Bay to walk and talk in the moonlight, and it turned into a kiss, and how at that moment Lily knew that Quinn was everything she'd ever wanted.
Turns out he was just another man who'dfool around with any trashy thing.
>> Zippy's -- Vineyard
Fortunately HPD Sgt. Mits Ah Sun 's major at the Pearl City station was also a father of a cop, so he understood when Mits asked to take the rest of the day off to visit his boy Quinn at the hospital.
But first Mits had to retrieve the papers from Gwen that his niece Lily had thrown across the room when she saw Gwen with Quinn. That was the plan, to keep the cousins apart. But it was not the plan for Gwen to get in the middle of whatever Lily and Quinn were up to.
"Eh, Gwen, thanks for bringing the papers," Mits said. "What're they about?"
"A bunch of old newspaper stories, all about your family. Seems your niece was doing some genealogical research."
>> State Capitol
That was easy, Machiavelli Yang thought. Donna Gomes, the girl of Yang's dreams for Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka's gubernatorial campaign, jumped at the opportunity when Yang said he'd like to introduce her to the senator and have her attend the East-West Center gala with him.
What he didn't mention was that there would be media photo ops and lots of important people to notice the classy new lady on the senator's arm. Yang would quietly let the word out that the senator was seriously involved in a new relationship - local girl, small business owner, salt of the earth. And if that didn't nail down the Portuguese vote to go along with the Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Haole and Hawaiian votes, Machiavelli Yang didn't know what would.
Now Machiavelli just had to find the senator.
>> Zippy's -- Vineyard
Mits sat in his black Mustang, figuring out what the papers he received from Gwen meant.
Lily had obviously been at the State Library. And Mits was guessing that she and Quinn were both involved in this research. Since they accidentally met after 21 years, both had been asking why their fathers quit speaking. No good could come of that.
And it appeared that she'd found some telltale clues in the pages of Honolulu's two newspapers. Especially the item about his police revolver being stolen from his car while he was having a pau hana cocktails at Pearl City Tavern.
Or maybe, he hoped, that was a telltale clue only if you already knew the whole story of what happened in Waimanalo 21 years ago. And nothing, so far, had implicated Mits or his brother Sheets.
But Mits' greater concern was that Lily had learned about Clarence "Bobo" Ah Sun. No doubt she'd be asking questions about him. But Lily could never know the truth.
>> Queen's Medical Center
There was seemingly no reason for Quinn to be unsure around women. In fact, women grew dewy when he merely smiled. Handsomely hapa, standing 6-foot-3, Quinn was lean and muscular. Yet Quinn's uncertainty with the opposite sex was understandable to anyone who knew his history.
It went back to his mother. Flo Ah Sun was a decent mother to her son - until she abandoned 12-year-old Quinn and his father to become a professional gambler. At first Flo sent her son cards and money, but in his anger, Quinn sent them back. Evetually, the correspondence stopped. But Quinn's uncertainty with women lingered.
That's why the woman he'd pulled over for speeding was so amazing. When their eyes met he knew this was The Big One.
Then he'd taken her license and discovered it was his cousin Lily. At first he'd tried to fight the allure, but it hadn't worked for either of them, and now they were committed to a future together. Just hours ago she was here, kissing him as he'd never been kissed.
Dialing Lily's home, Quinn's heart was full of warmth.
"Rosalita," he said. "It's Quinn. Is she there?"
Quinn heard Rosalita telling Lily he was on the line. And then he heard Lily say, "Tell him he can go straight to hell."
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