My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center Choke hold
HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes was here on other business -- ostensibly to visit Serena Kawainui, but actually because he couldn't wait until dinner to see Dr. Laurie Tang. But he was delighted to run into EMS guys Vic Lipman and Yvonne Morales. They'd pulled Serena from Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka's Tow Car after she crashed it off the Keeaumoku Overpass and landed upside down on the first base line at Cartwright Field. This would save a phone call or three.
Gomes was asking about the crash when they heard the screech of brakes. A blue New Yorker taxi squealed into the lot tight on the tail of a teal BMW, which skidded to a stop. The taxi plowed into the back of the BMW, knocking it forward, and Gomes and the EMS pair had to scramble out of the way to avoid being hit.
Suddenly the Samoan cabbie was out of the car, running toward the BMW, reaching inside, grabbing the female driver by the throat, trying to drag her out through the window, swearing and calling her every evil-woman name in the book.
Lily Ah Sun tried to scream, but could only make muffled gagging sounds. She clawed at his arm, but he was huge, and she was helpless.
"Stop, police!" Gomes yelled. To no avail.
The guy now had the woman's head and shoulders out of the window. Gomes realized that his Glock mini-9mm was locked in the trunk of his Barracuda and was reaching for his keys when a woman screamed from behind:
"No, Quinn, stop!"
Turning to see who she was, Gomes glimpsed the damndest thing. A guy in a wheelchair, his right leg elevated and sticking out in front, an IV drip bag dangling above, sped silently from behind an ambulance toward the cabbie's blind side.
>> Arizona Memorial
Once Muhammed Resurreccion retrieved the colorful flower bouquet from his van, Commander Chuck Ryan noted, Muhammed didn't touch it again. A macho thing? Ryan doubted it. The flowers were now carried by Rosalita Resurreccion, who stood in line for the movie with her daughter Elizabeth, Muhammed and his driver "Sandy" about 10 people in front of Ryan.
Ryan had never before wanted to sniff a bouquet of flowers as much as he did this one. It had nothing to do with their aroma. The Navy intelligence officer wanted to look into the bouquet and see what else might be in there. When Muhammed had gone back to the van, he did more than just grab the flowers and go. But what?
When they were inside Ryan would try to find a seat next to Rosalita.
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