My Kind of Town
My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center If only...
On the way to visit their sons, the Brothers Ah Sun -- Sheets the businessman and Mits the cop -- met on the fourth floor of the circular parking structure. They sat behind the tinted windows of Sheets' Cadillac as he recounted his visit at the Honolulu Soap Co. from Mits' HPD colleague Detective Sherlock Gomes.
Sheets described the tour of the production chamber he'd given Gomes, and of his curiosity and obvious desire for new knowledge, and then about their conversation in Sheets' office.
"So you told him about dumping some bad soap at the Waimanalo pit?"
"He said I'd been seen two times driving by. That's why he came to visit. I figure if I come clean about that, it throws him off the scent." The scent of Bobo and the police .38 that splashed into the pit moments after their hanai brother did.
"I hope so, Sheets. I hope to God you're right. But don't count on it. Halawa and OCCC are full of guys thought they could outsmart Sherlock Gomes."
Both institutions are also full of guys who have a cop for a brother, Mits thought. Funny how that works -- the knowledge of good and evil in one family unit. Straight out of the Garden of Eden.
But the only way either brother had to worry about prison was if the Health Department investigators in space suits found his gun and pieces of Bobo in Waimanalo. Not much chance of that happening after 21 years in that toxic brine, but you never know. That's why Mits worried.
The sense of regret that had haunted Mits for 21 years swept over him again. That night in Waimanalo, it all happened so fast, and it was so unplanned, but surely he could have done something to stop Sheets.
The way they were raised, however, plantation style by their grandparents while their parents worked drop-dead hours at the family's Skyline Market in Pearl City, Mits honored his big brother, looked up to him and thought he could do no wrong. Until that night in Waimanalo, it had never crossed Mits' mind to challenge his brother. If only he had ... intervened ... so much would be different. The brothers and their families might still live just three doors apart. Bobo might still be waiting for his big showbiz break. Mits might still be married to Flo, the love of his life and the mother of his son Quinn.
Quinn and his cousin Lily would not be in love and trying so hard to discover why their fathers quit speaking 21 years ago. And guilt and fear would not be a part of every waking day.
But there was no going back, Mits reminded himself again. Unless Sherlock Gomes dragged them back.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com