My Kind of Town
Don Chapman
Feel her pain
>> Around Oahu
At the Full Faith Fellowship Gospel Tabernacle office on Liliha, no matter how hard she prayed, Fawn Nakamura's sense of dread had only grown during the afternoon. Even Pastor Cal's words of good faith and good cheer, reminding her to look on the good side because God does, had no effect. It was, Fawn knew, the Twin Thing. Something bad was happening to her identical twin Shauny. The disturbing call from Shauny's cell to their best friend Lily's answering machine confirmed it.
Fawn had experienced the Twin Thing before. They were so close, when Shauny burned herself with an iron in Pearl City, Fawn felt it in Makiki. The night Shauny lost her virginity, Fawn felt it. Which might or might not explain why, at 27, she was still a virgin. But hoping to change that soon, with Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan. Fawn had never taken comfort in a man's arms, but now the only thing that seemed to ease the awful sinking feeling in her stomach was the thought of being with him tonight. Unfortunately, he'd been busy interrogating the Philippine Muslim terrorist Muhammed Resurreccion at the Pearl Harbor brig on Ford Island, and had been out of touch all day.
Fawn, the Full Faith Fellowship office manager, was about to close up for the night when she heard an electronic "bong," indicating the front door was opening. A tall, handsome Portuguese gentleman entered, wearing a silk aloha shirt, slacks that had to be from Neiman's and tassel loafers.
"Fawn Nakamura?"
She nodded from her desk.
"Sherlock Gomes, HPD." He flashed the badge, handed her a card.
"Hello, Detective. My friend Lily said you'd be visiting."
"May I?" he said, nodding toward a chair opposite the desk.
"Of course, but I'm afraid I don't have any good news for you. Lily and I called everyone we could think of, and Shauny apparently didn't e-mail the photo of this Victor to anybody besides us."
"That's what I wanted to tell you. We have identified the man she had lunch with today at Turtle Bay as Victor Primitivo, the computer magnate."
Fawn took a sharp breath, covered her mouth with her hands.
"Long story short, two people saw them together, including a private eye hired by his wife. Unfortunately, when they left Turtle Bay the P.I. lost them. All we know is they turned toward Kahuku."
"They could be anywhere then."
"We've put out an APB for his vehicle. What I really need to know is if your sister gave any hints as to what they planned after lunch."
"None." The Twin Thing got worse.
In the hills above Kahuku, Shauny was just coming out of her drug-induced stupor, and as her senses drifted back she knew she was in trouble.
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