THE FIND
All night long, Lu rolled around in her bed, tangling in her sheets. Her mind had taken on a life of its own, following every thought down dark crab holes. All thoughts became fair game, things that in the light of day seemed implausible now made perfect sense. A bad case of the night furies, her grandma would have said. She became convinced that Joni and Senator Fuchs were having an affair, and could not shake the feeling. Eventually, she moved outside to the lounge chair and watched the night sky.
Before dawn, when she couldn’t take it anymore, she picked up the phone and called Dylan. He was three hours ahead.
“Dylan Hall,” he answered.
The sound of his voice made her feel better already.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Lu? Is everything okay?” It wasn’t like her to call while away, so he was probably wondering what was up. She heard him rustling around, and imagined his tousled hair, freckles, green eyes. The way his mouth puckered up when he said her name.
“I’m fine, but things aren’t really going as planned. It’s been a crazy last two days.”
Anything she told Dylan was one hundred percent safe. Another thing she loved about him. “Tell me everything,” he said.
She didn’t know where to start. “For one thing, I’ve somehow become good friends with Matteo Russi, which was unexpected. He reminds me of you, or maybe you remind me of him. But that’s not the thing. The thing is that Joni Diaz has disappeared, possibly drowned, but they haven’t found a body yet. And then when Russi and I went searching for her yesterday, we found a skeleton in a lava tube. An older one. Then, on top of all that, I can’t seem to get it out of my head that she was having an affair with Senator Fuchs. Before she disappeared, she confided in me she was in love with a mystery guy, but sworn to secrecy.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Dylan?”
“Holy shit, are you for real?” he said.
“I know it sounds wild. The senator part is pure conjecture at this point, though. I’ve been up since two a.m. with the night furies driving me insane.”
“And you were worried about finding a story.”
“That’s the weird part. I feel like I’ve written a bunch of fluff. The hotel is amazing, but all I really want to do is a feature on Matteo Russi. To be honest, until this happened, all I’ve been trying to do is get his story from the war. Something big happened to him, I can tell. And he’s still hurting. He’s the most interesting person here if you ask me. Or was, until Joni up and vanished.”
“Classic Lu. Going for the human element. Haven’t I told you Sunset is not your thing? I see your byline in Life.”
“It’s even got me thinking about doing a whole series on World War II veterans. These men need to tell their stories—they’re just festering inside, eating away at their psyches. Maybe I can do them on the side, freelance.”
“Damn, I wish I was there with you,” he said with a softness to his voice.
“Me, too. You would love everything about this place. It’s rugged but refined, and fancy in an island way. But the best part is that it’s surrounded by the bluest ocean you’ve ever seen. Every which way you look is a photograph waiting to be taken. I wish you could meet Russi, too. You’d love him.”
“I’m leaving next weekend, Lu. I have my ticket and everything.”
Her heart swayed. “What?”
“Yep. Saturday. Will you be back by then?”
“I’m supposed to visit my Auntie H and my dad at the end of the week and fly home Saturday, but the police said no one can leave right now, so I don’t know. Weren’t you supposed to leave next month?” she said.
“Things changed.” After an awkward silence, he said, “I’d sure love to see you before I go. In case, well, you know.”
In that moment, she knew that whatever happened here, she’d figure out a way. She had to see him. “I’ll do my best to be there. I want to see you, too. And don’t think bad thoughts like that, please?”
“Just being real.”
Losing Dylan would break her. “The only outcome I’ll accept is you coming back in one piece. With a heartbeat.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will,” she said. “Look, I know this is bad timing, but I need a favor.”
“No promises, but shoot.”
“Can you find out everything you can about Senator Fuchs? Past history, history with women, indiscretions, that kind of thing. And be discreet.”
“Consider it done.”
“I knew I loved you for a reason,” she said, wishing she could give him a big hug and get lost in the smell of developing solution.
In the past, they threw around the word love casually, as one would an old football on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But suddenly, she felt self-conscious about having uttered the word.
“I love you, too, but I can’t remember why,” he said.
She could picture the lopsided grin on his face. Lu didn’t want to hang up, but felt a burning need to swim before she took on the day. “I have to go, but call me as soon as you find out anything. And wait for me, I need to see you before you go,” she said.
“I need to see you, too.”
Wingbeats in her heart.
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
The phone did not want to leave her ear, and she finally understood the meaning of a long goodbye.
After hanging up, Lu went straight to the beach. The sky was still dusky and the occasional dove cooed. If only she could feel so peaceful. This time, instead of leaning against a coconut tree, Russi was down at the far end of the beach doing push-ups in the sand. Shirtless. He didn’t acknowledge her until she was upon him.
“Hey,” she said.
He jumped up and dusted off his hands. “How’d you sleep?”
“Terrible. You?”
“I was up all night writing and thinking and remembering. Felt like I’d had ten gallons of coffee before lying down,” he said.
A thick layer of sweat made his skin shine.
“How long have you been out here?” she asked.
“Long enough to almost want to get in the water,” he said, out of breath.
“Seriously?”
“I said almost.”
“Oh, Russi. I wish I could help you.”
“Now is not the time.”
“What about just getting your feet wet. Little by little, expose yourself to what scares you. When I was younger and first started being tutored, I was terrified of books,” she said, laughing at the thought. “Can you believe that? Who’s scared of books? But I was. I know it’s because reading was so hard for me, and because I’d been embarrassed so many times reading in front of the class. Each time I opened a book, my hands got all clammy and I felt like throwing up. Our neighbor Auntie H had me carry around the book for a week, but I wasn’t allowed to open it. Then, the week after that, I could open it, but I had to keep my eyes closed. I was supposed to just feel the pages, and smell them.”
Russi put his hands on his hips. “She sounds like a real piece of work.”
“I remember thinking it was dumb, but after those first two weeks, I got really comfortable with the book. Suddenly, there was no pressure and it was this inert object that lost its power. Then the next week, Auntie H sat with me and she opened the book and read me the first line. Then we read it together, only a couple lines at a time. Little by little, I ended up dying to know what happened next. And by the end of the book, I was hooked.”
“What book?”
“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
“A good choice.”
“That book turned my life around. And if I hadn’t had someone there by my side, holding my hand very firmly, and guiding me along, I wouldn’t be here today. It takes guts, but it’s doable. Especially with help. I guess that’s my point. You don’t seem like the kind of guy who gives up easily. What if you just walk in up to your ankles, no farther?” Lu said.
He sized up the water, looked at Lu, then down at his feet, which were buried in sand. Then he surprised her by saying, “Ah, hell, you drive a hard bargain.”
Lu hooked her arm in his and they walked to the edge of the wet sand. The tide was low, and the surf had dropped considerably. They stood there for a moment, then Lu took a step forward. Russi hung back.
“Just one more step,” she encouraged.
His arm tensed, but he moved up so he was next to her. A small wave rolled up the beach and covered their toes in white, crackly foam, then retreated. “Did I ever tell you about my surfing escapades in Waikiki?” he asked.
“What? You’ve been holding out on me. You, a surfer? I don’t believe it.”
He held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor. My buddy and I used to go before the war broke out, every chance we could. I even had my own board, a beast of a thing, but I loved it. Some of the best times of my life out there, gliding over the water without a care in the world. I took Izzy one day—she was a real natural.”
“Did you surf after the war broke out?”
“Not at first. They barbed-wired-up the beaches. But after Midway, things relaxed a little. I spent every moment I could in the water. Which wasn’t a whole lot. We trained constantly when we were ashore.”
“What about Izzy? Was she from here?”
“No, she was navy. She’d tell you she was a secretary, but that would be a gross understatement.”
“What did she do?”
“Codebreaking. Top-secret stuff.”
Lu was impressed. “Women did that?”
“Hell, yeah. They were better than the men, from what I hear. But no one talks about it, it was all hush-hush. Still is, I think.”
Russi was hanging in there, stiff but still breathing.
“Now that would make for a great story. Do you know where she is now?”
He shook his head. “Last I heard she was still on O‘ahu. She married soon after the war and started teaching.” A wave came up and buried their feet, swirling up around their ankles. He stepped back a few feet. “When I left for China, we weren’t on good terms. It was all my fault. I was dumb as a monkey back then.”
“And after China?” she asked.
The scar on his face had reddened some. “After China I was in no shape to try to find her. I didn’t even know my own name for a while. I’ll leave it at that.”
Lu let the weight of his words sink in, as ten feet offshore a small omilu jumped, followed by a barracuda. There was a feathery texture to the water, where a school of fish swam underneath. He watched, too. Whatever had happened to Russi, happened in China.
“So, wait, you left Hawai‘i and never spoke to her again?” she couldn’t help but say.
“That about sums it up. I wrote a bunch of letters and never sent them. Tracked down her phone number and kept it on a piece of paper under my pillow, but could not bring myself to call. And then she got married. What was the point?” he said, backing slowly up the beach.
It was so easy to picture the war happening to the nameless, faceless masses. But when you stood shoulder to shoulder with someone who had been there and been inexorably changed, and you felt the pain seeping out from their pores, you better understood the magnitude. For every human involved, war had left its residue.
She could tell he was done talking; this time she took his advice and let it go. “Well, you did it. You got your ankles wet. How do you feel?”
He looked relieved. “Survival always feels good.”
“To celebrate, maybe I’ll let you win at chess later,” she said with a smile.
“Nope. Never. I’ll get you fair and square one of these days,” he said, punching her in the arm.
The old Russi was back.
After a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and a side of papaya, Lu downed two cups of dark coffee, and went off with Sheriff Rapoza and Russi to the lava tube. A layer of gauzy clouds kept the sun at bay, and they moved along faster, now that they knew where they were going.
“Any new ideas about who this could be?” Russi asked.
“There have been a few people unaccounted for along this coastline, but most were ocean related. Fisherman, swimmers, that kind of thing,” was all he said.
This time, they had two flashlights, and at the mouth of the lava tube they hunched over and entered the cool, dark tunnel. With the light, the cave felt less ominous, but the dank smell was still there. The bones were right where they’d left them. Lu had begun to wonder if maybe they’d made a mistake, maybe they were animal and not human. And maybe they were just some disturbing dream. But the minute the beam swept over them, all question evaporated.
“Auwe,” Rapoza said, squatting down for a closer look. “Human. And not too old.”
He asked Lu to hold his flashlight, and snapped a few shots from different angles. Beneath the bones, the reddish thing was definitely material of some kind. He pulled it out with a stick and held it up. Red and white polka dots.
“A swimsuit?” Russi said.
“Looks that way. The dry air in Puako is like a preservative, especially out of the elements like this,” Rapoza said.
“Can you tell if it’s male or female?” Lu asked.
He lifted the skull, weighing it in his hand. “My guess is female. See how the forehead is rounded? Tends to be less so in males.” He then pointed at the pelvic bone, to a curve on one side. “And the sciatic notch is usually broader in females. Like this.”
“What about how long she’s been here?” Russi said.
The it had suddenly become a she.
Rapoza stood up and stretched, yanking his belt up under his paunch. “That is harder to determine. Did you notice anything else when you were here?”
“It was too dark. We didn’t have a flashlight,” she said, looking over at Russi, who was shining his light in a crack under the bones.
He leaned over. “Give me that stick.”
Rapoza handed him the stick and he started poking at something, working intently to bring something up from inside the crack.
“What is it?”
“Jewelry, maybe.”
After a few tries, Russi held the stick up with a tarnished ring on its tip.
“Nice work, Russi,” Rapoza said, setting the ring in his open palm.
Delicate and finely wrought, a cowrie shell in tarnished silver sat in the beam of light. Russi turned and walked over to the skylight. Something was up. He looked pale as a sheet.
Lu went to him. “What is it?”
“I know this ring.”
“What do you mean?”
“You two okay over there?” Rapoza called.
“Affirmative,” Russi answered. He rubbed his face. “Fuck.”
Rapoza, oblivious to the new development, said, “All pau here. Let’s get going.”
Without a word, Russi brushed past Lu. She tried to hold on to his arm, but her hand slipped off from the sweat. “You need to tell him,” she hissed.
He stopped and turned, out of Rapoza’s line of sight. “I need to do something first. Promise me you won’t say anything until then, okay? I just need a couple of days.”
Since the bones had nothing to do with Joni, she agreed. “Fine, but only if you let me in on it. Maybe I can help.”
“Not this time, kid.”