Chapter 29

Friday morning before work,I went online to see what I could find out about who owned the property on Halepua‘a Road. The guy at the DLNR office had said that all public documents regarding land ownership in Hawaii were available online via the Bureau of Conveyances.

I navigated my way to the website, created a user account and accessed the Document Search Ordering system. When I found the form that would provide me with a name, I hit a wall. I had the road name, but no address and no parcel number. The name of the route, "Halepua‘a" was kicked back as "Insufficient Information."

How had the feds been able to locate the landowner? At the press conference they'd said the presumed occupant hadn't been the owner, but they'd left it at that. Clearly they had a lot more resources than I did for tracking down that kind of information.

It had been steadily raining since the afternoon before. At noon, I dashed between water-filled potholes to visit Opal at the store before my break was over; my evening had been taken up with helping Auntie and Opal get through the store's bookkeeping, then making sure Opal ate something and got into bed early.

Now, she was at the cash register wearing a bright yellow dress with a gold velvet shawl secured with a sparkly pin depicting a parrot. Her face was pale and her freckles stood out like paint, but she was trying to hide her worry behind an overly bright smile to match her lurid outfit. "Aloha, Kat," she said. "Cold out there, isn't it?"

As a New Englander, my notion of "cold" and the local residents' perception of it were miles apart. Today was simply wet. Cold didn't kick in until the temperature dropped to single digits.

"You're looking much better today," I fibbed. "How's business?"

"It's been pretty busy, which is good, since it keeps my mind off missing Artie. I heard on the weather radio that this rain might keep up for a few more days. If it does, the electricity will probably go out. That's always a concern out here when the rains come hard like this."

"Have you heard anything about when Artie will be released?"

"The doctor said he might be able to come home later today."

"Do you need a ride down there? Or did you find someone else to take you?"

Opal bobbed her head. "I'm fine bringing him home myself. Our truck has four-wheel drive if one of the streams gets flooded."

"Okay, but let me know if something changes." I gave her a quick, comforting hug, and ran back to the post office. The afternoon went quickly with everyone coming in to retrieve their mail and share predictions about how long the rain would continue. Older folks took the opportunity to reminisce about former storms.

"Last time it rained like this, we didn't see the sun for a week."

"I was here back in the 90s when the whole side of the cliff out by Black Sand Beach gave way."

"We've had rains so bad out here we couldn't get to Wailuku for weeks."

At two, Elle came in and asked if we had anything for her in General Delivery; we didn't.

"I've been working at home today, but I've got to go to Wailuku to pick up some monogrammed party items for Edith and Josie's event this weekend. In this weather I'd rather not go alone. Care to come along, Kat?"

My mind wandered when she mentioned "monogrammed." It hadn't occurred to me that the two ladies might combine their names into one hyphenated name. "Josephine Manahuli-Pepperwhite" would be a mouthful, for sure.

When I didn't answer, she pressed. "How about it? Can I talk you into riding shotgun with me to town, or do you need to stay here until after four? I have to pick up the napkins before five, so I'll need to leave soon."

Pua had her back turned to the counter, but she waved a hand. "Go on ahead. I can close up here. Again."

"Are you sure you don't mind closing the post office without me—again?" I put my hands on my hips. "Your lips say one thing, but your tone says another."

Pua shook her head "I'm in no hurry to leave—in fact, I may not be able to. My neighbor called and said the road to my place is washed out. I have no idea how I'll get home. Maybe I'll be sleeping here in the office tonight."

I assured her she wouldn't be spending the night with her head on her desk. "We've got an extra bedroom at our house and you're more than welcome. I'll call Aunt Fae and make sure the guest room is ready."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm worried about Sassy," Pua said, referring to her strident little white dog.

"Do you have anyone on that side who can go to your place and feed her?"

"That's not the issue. She has a self-watering dog bowl and an automatic food dispenser. I just feel bad leaving her alone, especially in this bad weather. She hates getting wet and thunder makes her anxious. I'm going to have to ask my neighbor to put down some puppy pads for her inside."

Sassy wasn't a pooch that had taken to me, unless you consider wanting to take a bite out of my leg as developing a special bond. But I remembered how much I missed Tiki when she'd been lost at Christmas; I knew what "pet parent guilt" felt like.

"Well, we'll have you stay at our house tonight. That's a done deal." I turned to Elle. "Any chance you could drop me off to handle an errand while we're in Wailuku? It's right by the hospital."

"Are you seeing a doctor about your injury?"

"No, I'm not going to the doctor or hospital this time. Opal is bringing Artie home on her own. I just need to check out something at an office near there."

"Sounds good. We can both get errands done, and I'd appreciate the company on the drive."

Rain poured down hard as we hurried out to Elle's white Jeep Grand Cherokee.

"Whew," Elle said as we climbed in. "Somebody better call Noah. We're gonna need an ark."

She drove the Hana Highway carefully around the "backside" as I had done yesterday. Her midsize SUV took the puddles in stride, but there were areas where the water was flowing across the highway with the force of a rushing stream. Late in the day most of the tourists would be gone regardless of the weather, but the torrential rain had probably kept them on drier parts of the island to begin with.

Elle eventually dropped me off at the building that housed the Department of Land and Natural Resources. I hopped out and promised to be outside waiting for her within twenty minutes.

"It might take me a bit longer than that to get back here," Elle said. "Stay dry until you see my car."

I sprinted across the parking lot to the DLNR office, where once again, Jason Ka'aohoe was sitting at the reception desk.

"Hi, Jason. Remember me? I was here yesterday inquiring about some property out in Ohia. I still need your help."

Although I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes, I didn't see delight. "Not sure what I can do to help."

I told him I needed to find the name of a property owner of a parcel of land. He started with his spiel. "As I told you yesterday, all of that's online now. All you have to do is?—"

I cut him off. "I searched online, but it doesn't work if you don't have a street address or a parcel number."

Jason leaned back in his chair. "You're talking a blind search, then."

"I guess I am."

"Well, that's different. Do you have map coordinates? Maybe an old deed? Or a satellite image?"

"Uh, I'm afraid I've got to check the ‘none of the above' box on that. All I know is the property is on Halepua‘a Road near the town of Ohia."

"Could you find it on a map?"

"Probably. I could get close."

"Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll pull up the map on the computer and you mouse around until you think you've got it. Then I'll overlay the parcel grid and we'll see what we get from that."

"Sounds good."

He tapped his keyboard for a few seconds. "Take a look at this." He motioned for me to come around to his side of the desk.

I was amazed at the detail of the satellite image. I could make out the roof of the Ohia post office and the Pahinuis' store, even the clubhouse roof at New Ohia and our place.

"It's more mauka than that," I said, proud of myself for using the local word.

He moved the mouse a bit further down the Hana Highway and inland. "More like that?"

"Getting warmer."

"Why don't you play around with it for a minute? I'm going to get my stuff from the break room. I need to lock up right at four." He offered me his chair.

"Thanks, Jason. I'll see if I can find it by the time you get back."

I cautiously shifted the mouse until I got to a spot I recognized, the clearing right before the turnoff to Halepua‘a Road.

Bingo.

The image had been taken before the explosion. The jungle canopy was an unbroken swath of bumpy greens and browns. No burned-out crater, no blackened foliage, no ash gray soot covering everything for a half-acre.

I closed my eyes and sat back in Jason's ergonomic office chair. If only we could freeze time like a satellite image. Before the destruction, loss, and pain.

I heard Jason's footsteps in the hallway; hopefully I was closer to an answer that would give me peace.