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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
A definite maybe
>> Honolulu
The reprieve from the Daren Guy story that the story about dozens of Hawaii residents slowly dying from silicone poisoning as their organs turned to leather brought Cruz MacKenzie -- and the journalistic jolt, this is a story! -- lasted only until he walked into his office and picked up the phone.
It was Nick Ornellas, the ex-Honolulu cop who these days was selling insurance on the Big Island. As the guy who sold Daren Guy a piece of the rock just hours before he was eaten by shark (so the official report said), Ornellas was as interested in the story as Cruz. Except he called it a case.
"No way," Ornellas said when Cruz told him about the possible Pet Shop/Wet Spot connection.
"It's a definite maybe. Plus, I remember Sonya saying that the boat looked familiar."
"If you're right, if Pet Shop and Wet Spot are one and the same, it makes you wonder what we'd find aboard."
"I know you've dismissed the concept, but I've been working on the assumption that Daren isn't dead from a shark, but that he maybe faked his own death. If that's the case, was it Daren who stole the boat? If so, that could explain how the fabric from his shorts got to Maui. Somebody disposed of it there.
"Or maybe they disposed of him as well."
"Jeez, I hadn't thought of that."
"Not as creative as I thought you were, MacKenzie."
"Har har. So where do we go from here?"
"If it's still afloat, the Coast Guard will find Pet Shop. They always do, unless it's on the bottom. This could be a case of piracy, and they don't like that."
"And if it's on the bottom?"
"Daren Guy remains officially dead by shark chomping, and we've been wasting our time. Rendered moot."
On the Big Island, at first Daren Guy enjoyed being back at the remote Pele's Bath. He walked along the beach, getting his land legs back, soaked in the steaming hot springs, jogged down to the beach and plunged into the cool blue water, just as he had done on more than one occasion with Sonya.
But now, as mid-day turned to afternoon and the sun dipped toward the horizon, Daren was starting to worry, which Sushi Leclaire had done from the start. Sonya, at the helm of Wet Spot and carrying Sushi's 12 Filipinas, should have been here by now. Daren and Sushi had plans, quite separate from one another, and could hardly wait to separate.
But what could be keeping Sonya and Wet Spot?
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com