Chapter 42

Elle showedup at our door early on Monday morning. "Seven a.m.?" I yawned, straightening my pin-striped pajamas. "What's the emergency?"

"That was quite the weekend, wasn't it?" she said. "Want to go for a run and get rid of some of the bad juju from all the drama?"

I'd healed up almost completely from my rib injury, so I was eager to show Elle I wasn't the weakling she'd encountered on our previous run, even though wine the night before as well as pursuing a perp barefoot had left me a little worse for wear. "Sounds good."

I changed and met her in the driveway a few minutes later. We ran hard and fast for almost ten minutes without saying anything. My head began to clear, and my body remembered it used to like running and began to loosen up.

Elle slowed at last. "You remember me mentioning my ‘water thing?' Well, here's the story on that. When I was about four, I fell into the deep end of a swimming pool and nearly drowned. My brother, Navy, ran and got my mom. My family thinks it's funny that Navy saved his sister from a watery death. But since then, I've been terrified of water. I don't swim. Don't go out in boats. Don't even like to take baths. If it were up to me, I'd rather roll around in sand to get clean than take a shower. I'm like a chicken."

"Wow. I'm sorry. That must've caused some hassles now and again."

"It has, but like you, I figured out ways to hide it. So. Tell me about how you became uncomfortable with being touched."

I gave her a condensed version of my parents' fatal accident and the trauma of being ripped from the wreckage hours later.

"That's tough. But your Aunt Fae's been there for you ever since?"

We slowed to a walk, and I tried to hide my effort to catch my breath. "Yes. But I still struggle with getting closure on losing both of my parents at such a young age."

"I learned something when everything went sideways for me out at Schofield," Elle said. "Sometimes closure isn't the answer. Acceptance is."

I liked that. I didn't know how it might change my perspective, but it was a start. When we got home, I called Dr. Kinoshita, the psychologist Sophie had recommended.

That was also a start.

* * *

I tooka shower and went to work wearing my personally created uniform of dark pants and mostly-clean white polo shirt. I was about to go in the back door, when Pua came hustling over from Artie and Opal's with two coffees in hand.

"I got you Elixir of Life," she said. "Figured you'd need one after yesterday. Wanted to save you the trip."

Pua looked like she'd stepped from a page of Hawaii Vogue. Okay, there isn't such a thing as Hawaii Vogue, but if there was, she'd be in it. Today, she wore a pale green loose- weave cardigan over a cream top with pink capri length pants made from some kind of slinky fabric that hung wrinkle-free. Kitten-heeled slip-ons decorated her tiny, pedicured feet. "Did you want to tell me all the stuff that happened this weekend?" Her eyes sparkled; she clearly relished the opportunity to gossip.

"Sure. You missed a lot being stuck out at your house with the flooding." I summed up the major items that had gone on. "Maile, that's the girl's name, said the hermit took her because his own daughter died and she was a replacement." I got the back door of the post office unlocked and we went inside. I took my coffee and toasted Pua with it. "Thanks for this. Let's get those doors open. I'm sure the whole town will be stopping in hoping for the latest scoop."

Sure enough, the day went by with nearly everyone in Ohia coming in to pick up mail and talk story about the wedding, the return of the little girl in the window, my miniscule dress, and the crazed hermit who abducted both Aunt Fae and possibly the girl's foster mom. We had our hands full shooing everyone out at four.

After bidding Pua aloha for the day, I went to the K K office, changed into my swimsuit, and walked to the beach for a leisurely swim in Ohia Bay to detox from it all.

I couldn't help thinking of Elle's fear of water as I spotted a turtle bobbing in the waves nearby.

She'd never get to experience this.

Maybe we could both get better about our issues by helping each other.

I was at home waiting for Keone to call and let me know what had happened with Pacific Wings when Lei rang my cell. "I wanted to keep you in the loop about what's going on with Hugh Dragoon."

"Great. I'm sure much of what I've heard has been embellished by the coconut wireless."

Lei told me that fingerprint evidence put the hermit at the foster mom's house. "We matched his prints from the military. The Army isn't always cooperative with us, but this time we managed to convince them to send us his records. And get this, Dragoon was an explosives expert."

"Sounds right. That's how he knew how to detonate his place to smithereens and use the magnesium to raise the temperature of the fire to make sure there was no evidence left behind."

"Yes," she said. "Seems he stayed at Long's house after he put her in the shed. He said she owed him room and board since she'd treated him badly when he'd been placed with her as a foster kid. He's been charged with assault, kidnapping, burglary, and attempted murder. Of course, if Barbara Long succumbs to her injuries, he'll be charged with murder. Each of the charges he's now facing are felonies though, so if he's convicted, our hermit is going to be spending a good long time in prison."

"Anything else you can share?"

"According to the Army, Dragoon was discharged when his wife and young child died in a car accident while he was deployed to Iraq. He experienced medical issues which affected his job performance after that."

"Mental health issues?"

"I'm not at liberty to confirm or deny."

"Got it. Thanks, Lei."

I ended the call as the doorbell rang. I hurried downstairs and opened the door for Keone. He held a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bag of popped kettle corn in the other.

I smiled. "You come bearing gifts."

"I do." He waggled the bottle and jiggled the bag. "Maybe you and Aunt Fae are up for watching a movie tonight."

"Is the champagne to celebrate or commiserate?"

"Both. To celebrate you finding your lost girl and to commiserate me learning I've been written up for unauthorized use of company property. The promotion went to the girl pilot."

"Woman pilot."

"Yes. I'm sure she deserved it." He seemed unfazed.

"But you're still employed? Not being charged with felony aircraft hijacking?" I pressed.

"The other thing to celebrate. They're not happy I snatched a plane to get my mom to the hospital, but the owner understands that ‘ohana comes first."

"There will be other promotions. To quote a motto from the twelve-step program, you got to take life one day at a time."

"That's the only way to go, especially with my mom needing so much care right now."

"Well, come on in, Mr. K, and let's crack open that bottle. We have a lot to be thankful for."