My Kind of Town
>> 2002 Wilder Opposites attract
It was, HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes thought, like the song about the alluring moves of a hula dancer, the one about keeping -- wink wink -- your eyes on the hands. Instead, Gomes was trying to keep his eyes on the eyes of Dr. Laurie Tang as she carried a pupu tray from her kitchen to the living area. Her casually clingy dress with spaghetti straps made eye-to-eye a challenge. As did the tight curves it covered. Was she even wearing a bra?
But he kept his eyes on hers as he said, "Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I know how busy you must be."
"Busy," Laurie said, standing before him. "But I try to have a life."
As she leaned over to set the tray on a circular table, her neckline fell loosely with gravity and Gomes couldn't help himself. He peeked. Hey, it was the detective in him. And this case was closed. Laurie was not wearing a bra.
Oh my. Gomes crossed his legs. He was a beer guy, but gladly took a long swallow of the white wine Laurie poured when he first arrived.
"Kendall-Jackson Riesling," she said, refreshing his glass. "How do you like it?"
"Good. Kind of tart but sweet."
"To me it's yin and yang wine. Complementary opposites."
Like a local Portuguese boy who joined HPD at 20 and an immigrant Chinese girl who went to med school at UCLA. Six feet and 200 pounds, five feet and 110. Catholic, Buddhist.
"Here's," she said, lifting her glass, "to complementary opposites."
"I'm all for that," Gomes said, making eye contact as they clinked crystal glasses. Those eyes were dangerous, almost black, but alive with light and energy, and they drew him in. Gomes sipped, set his glass on the table, reminded himself that he was here, first and foremost, on business.
"Dr. Tang," he said, reaching for a notepad in the pocket of his loose-fitting silk aloha shirt.
"Please, it's Laurie!" She sat in a chair to his left, backlit by the fading colors of sunset. "And I'll call you Sherlock."
He shrugged, opened the notepad. "I have to ask you about your boyfriend, Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka."
"Former boyfriend."
"As of when?"
"Yesterday. And it relates to why you're here." She took a sip of wine. "It was bad enough not hearing from him for almost a week. And then in the ER, I happened to get the girl who crashed Donovan's car. Just before the anesthesia kicked in, she said 'Please save the baby.' Later I got the whole story. My relationship with Donovan ended right there."
Gomes tried not to smile.
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