Just as the women pulled into Sunny’s and Dede’s yard, Storm’s cell phone rang. It took her a few minutes to dig it out of her bag under the seat, and when she got to it, the caller had hung up. Storm looked at her missed calls. She had two, and the most recent was from Stephanie. The other was from Pua. Storm wanted to talk to both women.
“I’d better go,” she said. “Thanks for a great afternoon. It was just what I needed.”
“Me, too,” Sunny said, and Dede echoed her. “We’ll see you tomorrow for the second round.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Storm grabbed her packages, tossed them into the passenger seat of the VW, and called Stephanie.
Stephanie must have been sitting next to her phone. “I need to talk to you,” she said, her voice low and hoarse.
It was five-thirty, which still gave Storm plenty of time to get ready before Hamlin arrived. “I can be at Starbucks in ten minutes.”
Stephanie was sitting in a back booth when Storm got to the coffee shop. Storm stopped at the counter long enough to order an oat cake and a cup of the day’s brew.
Though Stephanie looked relieved to see Storm, Storm thought she looked even more haggard than she had at breakfast that morning. Her hair stuck out in brittle tufts and her skin was blotchy and rough. Her hands were wrapped around a frothy hot drink that looked to Storm like a latte, in the biggest size. The cuticles of her formerly manicured nails were chewed raw.
Even her eyes were bloodshot, and Stephanie wiped at one of them before she spoke. “I didn’t tell you some things.”
“I figured out the one about Nahoa.”
Stephanie drew a ragged breath. “That’s one of them. I’m kind of relieved, you know.”
“I don’t judge you. But it’s probably a bit hard on Ben.”
Storm had always thought it unfair that men could date or take second wives younger than their daughters. Let a woman try that and she’s excoriated. Stephanie and Nahoa had not only tried to be discreet, they’d convinced the hotel personnel that they had a real love affair going. Even Susan, the clerk who had relished passing on the gossip, believed in their affection.
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Storm said.
Stephanie’s eyes streamed and she blotted them with a paper napkin. She opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. Storm watched her throat muscles convulse in a swallow.
“We broke up several months ago. I still cared, though.”
“Sure, that’s normal.”
“He had a new girlfriend. I was trying to stay away and let him get on with his life.” Stephanie looked at Storm and blew her nose into the napkin. “I…I guess I loved him. I didn’t want to mess up what he cared about.”
“You called him after you broke up?”
Stephanie nodded. “I just wanted to see how he was doing.”
“Is that how Ben found out?”
Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “Marty told him.”
“When? You have any idea?”
“I’m not sure. A few days ago, I think.”
“And Ben told you about this?”
“He didn’t have to.” Stephanie’s eyes filled again.
“But he knows how Marty treated you, doesn’t he? He seemed sympathetic to the divorce.”
“He told me he doesn’t know what to believe anymore.”
Stephanie was tearing the napkin into shreds, and tiny pieces fell into her latte and all over the table. As Miles Hamasaki had taught her when she first started working with him in the law office, Storm waited for Stephanie to fill the uncomfortable silence. It didn’t take long.
“You saw Marty this morning,” Stephanie said. “He’s a strong, convincing man.”
“Yes. Did you know he came to my table and gave me a business card? He wants to meet with me.”
Stephanie’s eyes popped wide. “Don’t go.”
“I can’t hide for very long. He came up to me on the beach this afternoon, too.”
Stephanie made a choking sound.
“What’s he going to tell me?” Storm asked softly.
Stephanie covered her face with her hands, but Storm could hear her words. “I took money from him. He told me if I made a fuss about Ben being in the surf meet, he’d tell his lawyers and go to the police.”
“Did you?”
“It was mine, too. I worked hard and he kept all the money. I got two hundred dollars a month for all the household expenses.” Her voice broke with anger and emotion. “Two hundred lousy bucks. Groceries, clothes, school books for Ben. Marty kept a checkbook and paid the bills so I wouldn’t know how much money we had or where the accounts were.”
“How much did you take?”
“About eighty.” Her voice was muffled. She still hadn’t looked up from her hands.
“Eighty dollars?” Couldn’t be, Storm thought.
“Eighty thousand.”
“Oh.” Storm sat back in her seat. A few seconds later, she asked, “How’d you do it?”
“I worked in the office, answering phones and stuff. Remember?”
Storm nodded.
“Marty had a safe, a big one with a combination that only he knew. He kept a lot of cash in there, because some of the people he worked with couldn’t be paid on the books.” Stephanie took a deep breath. “He was starting to drink more. He met people he wouldn’t talk about, and callers hung up when I answered the phone. I couldn’t get hold of his cell phone bill, and I got more and more concerned. I started watching him carefully, you know, when he opened the safe. It took me a while, but I figured out the combination.”
“And you took eighty grand in cash?”
“Yeah, and we came here.” She dropped her hands to the table top and her puffy-lidded eyes met Storm’s. “You know everything now.”
Storm believed her. The woman looked wrung out. Storm reached out and touched Stephanie’s hand. “I might have done the same thing.”
Which was true. Before Storm was forced to move to O‛ahu from the Big Island, she’d sold zip-lock bags of pakalolo from a patch she’d cultivated in the cane fields. Hawaiian pot was a hot item in those days, and Storm had been ready to make a down-payment on an old Harley when Aunt Maile and Uncle Keone had intervened. They’d probably saved her life, but it took years of being a pissed-off, bitter teenager to realize it.
“Can he prove it?” Storm asked.
“He says the contractor who paid him will back up his accusations and talk to the authorities.”
“Do you think that’s true?”
“I don’t know what the money was for.” Stephanie paused. “But I doubt if it was legal, all in cash like that.”
“I doubt it, too.”
“But that’s not the problem.” Stephanie’s voice was sad again.
“Ben?” Storm said.
The miserable expression in Stephanie’s eyes said yes.
“You can’t control Marty,” Storm said. “He can use this emotional blackmail against you forever. He may have already told Ben.”
The look on Stephanie’s face was excruciating, so Storm wanted to say something positive and encouraging. “You have to stand up to a bully at some point.”
Stephanie twisted her hands together, and slowly nodded. “You’d better go talk to him. It’s better if we know what he’s up to,” she said.
“I think so, too.”