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When I let my breath out I realized I was still standing, and it was Andre Gardiner who was lying on the floor. Soralian dropped the gun he had fired at Gardiner and put his hands up. I ran over to him and grabbed it, then picked up the one that Gardiner had dropped. Then I yelled, “All clear in the house!”
Ray was at the door a moment later. “What happened?”
“Mr. Soralian made a calculated decision to change sides,” I said, as I pulled a pair of handcuffs from my belt.
Greg jumped up from his chair and hustled toward the back bedroom.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Soralian said. “Gardiner shot them all.”
“Hold that thought until we read you your rights,” I said.
I checked Gardiner for a pulse, but Taki must have been a hell of a shot, and Gardiner was dead. Yamashita grumbled about us calling the SWAT team out when they weren’t necessary, but I ignored him, and he left to tell his team to stand down. Ray called the Medical Examiner’s office to come take away Gardiner’s body, and a patrol car to take Soralian down to headquarters for booking.
I found Greg in the back bedroom, sitting on the bed with Emily under one arm and Sarah under the other. “You all right?” I asked.
“My blood pressure’s through the roof, but I’ll be all right, as long as these little ones are okay.”
“That was a pretty stupid thing you did,” I said. “Inviting a murder suspect to your house. By all logic you ought to be dead by now.”
“I didn’t know he was a murder suspect. You didn’t tell me.”
“Greg. It was an open investigation. You should know enough not to mess with one.”
“I thought he was going to fill in some details about the islands at statehood. I didn’t think he’d say anything connected to your investigation.” He clutched the two girls close to him, leaning down to kiss first one, then the other.
“The past is always present,” I said. “We’re going to need a statement from you. As soon as Anna comes back to look after the girls, call me.”
He nodded, and I walked back out to the living room, stripping off the hot vest. A couple of uniforms took Takvor Soralian away, and while Ray and I waited for the ME, I filled him in on my conversation with Gardiner. “How did you know he did it, not his father?”
“When he said that there was no statute of limitations on murder. If his father had killed LeJeune, that wouldn’t have mattered. You can’t prosecute a dead man.”
“But you can still charge one who’s living,” Ray said, nodding. “Did he say who killed the prostitute?”
I shook my head. “He said his father locked him in his room after he shot the Senator. And in his letter, Bennie Gomez said he didn’t do it, and he wasn’t sure which man had. But it was probably Gardiner senior, wouldn’t you think? He was the one who needed to protect his son.”
I looked at Ray. “Would you kill someone to protect Vinnie?”
“To keep him from harm? Of course. But if he committed a crime... I’m not sure. You never know how things are going to play out in life, you know? You try and raise a kid right, but sometimes...”
We had seen enough cases together of well-brought-up kids who had done something wrong. I’d seen it in my own family, and Ray had seen it in his, too. No matter what you do, it seemed, you couldn’t always protect everyone, not even from their own impulses.
We drove downtown. Ray got started on the paperwork while I went downstairs to the holding cells. I had Rory Yang bring Taki to an interview room, where I was set up with a tape recorder. Ray poured him a cup of the sludge that passes for coffee at the station and we got started.
Taki was a big, muscular guy, but he looked sad and kind of sheepish. I turned on the recorder and read him his rights for the record. He agreed to be taped and to answer questions.
“I knew Pika from the gym. We used to hang out together. One day he calls me up and says that one of his clients needs some muscle, could I come along? I said sure.”
“When was this?”
“Last week. Tuesday.”
He described riding with Pika to pick up Gardiner, then to Bernice Fong’s home. “Pika and me, we waited in the limo while Andy went into the house. When he came out with the old lady, she was talking all the time. How he needed to calm down and all. She said she would only go with him if he promised to behave.”
He laughed. “He kept saying ‘Yes, Aunt Bernice,’ but you could tell he wasn’t really listening to her or going to do what she said. He gave Pika this address in Kahala, and when we stopped at the gate Andy said to tell the man it was just Mrs. Bernice Fong to visit.”
He picked up his coffee and took a sip, then made a face.
“Yeah, it’s not Kope Bean,” I said. “Sorry.”
Pika shrugged. “Andy had me get out and open the door for Mrs. Fong, and she rang the bell. The old man came out on the porch, and kissed the old lady. Then Andy got out of the car.”
He took another sip of coffee. “The old man was kind of surprised to see him, not happy, you know? He said something like ‘I don’t have anything to say to you.’ Then Andy goes, ‘Well, I have something to say to you,’ and he pulls out the gun and motions everybody into the house.”
“What did you and Pika do?” I asked.
“We kind of looked at each other like, what kind of shit is this? But we both been around guns enough to know you don’t mess with them. We followed the three of them into the house. And then Andy starts in with, ‘Where’s the gun?’ It was kind of freaky, because, like dude, you’ve got the gun in your hand. But turns out there was this other gun he was asking about.”
“What gun was that?” I asked.
“They both went back and forth for a while, like what gun? And shit like that. And finally Andy says ‘I know my father gave you the gun I shot the sheriff with.’”
Ray and I looked at each other. “The sheriff?” I asked.
“Sorry, I was getting confused with that song, you know?” He started to sing in a bad falsetto. “I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot the deputy.”
“Back up, Taki,” I said. “What did Andy actually say?”
“It was the gun he shot the senator with,” Taki said.
“You ever hear him mention the name James LeJeune?”
“That’s the one. Didn’t recognize the name but I don’t get into politics too much. The old man said everything he had was at this warehouse, so Andy had us all go back to the limo. In the driveway the old man started arguing, said he had this gizmo around his neck that would track wherever Andy took him, and he’d better watch his steps.”
Taki laughed again. “Andy grabbed the chain around the old man’s neck and broke it, and tossed the gizmo into the bushes. Mrs. Fong told the old man he was really stupid. When we were back in the limo she tried to whisper something to the old man but Andy shut them up.”
“What happened when you got to the warehouse?”
“Andy told me and Pika to take Mrs. Fong and the old man into the warehouse. He stayed in the car for a minute to make a phone call. Then when he came in he sent me back out to the car to keep a lookout. I heard a gunshot from inside the building and I was ready to take off, but Pika came out then. Andy was right behind him, dragging Mrs. Fong by the arm. She was crying and he was yelling at her.” He looked up at us. “I get something for all this, right? You make things go away for me?”
“The Prosecuting Attorney is the one who makes the deals,” I said. “He’s going to need the whole story in order to know what he can do.”
Taki looked down at the table. “I hung out with some bad people in LA. I left there so I could come clean and start over again. But Pika knew that I could start a fire, and he must have told Andy. Andy offered me ten grand to light up the warehouse.”
“With Fields’ body inside,” I said.
“Taki said the old man was already dead. And Andy had a gun. I was afraid he’d shoot me if I didn’t cooperate.” He looked over at us. “That’s coercion, right? I had to do what he wanted or he’d shoot me.”
“That’ll be in the record. I’m sure the Prosecuting Attorney will take that into account. What happened after that?”
“Pika drove the limo down the block and we waited to make sure the building caught. Then Andy had us go back to Mrs. Fong’s house. Pika and me waited in the limo while he walked her up to her door. I couldn’t hear what he said but he was waving the gun at her like a crazy man. She turned and scurried into her house like a scared little rat, and he came back to the limo and said to take him home.”
Taki drank some more coffee, making a face again. “Andy had us come in with him and wait in the living room.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like it, man. I wanted to get the hell out of there, but Pika wanted the money. Andy came back a few minutes later with ten grand for each of us. He told us that if we said anything about what happened that night he’d hunt us down.”
He put his hands flat on the table. “You see, I didn’t have any choice, right?”
“What happened next?”
“Me and Pika went out and got drunk. I stashed most of the money and tried to forget about that night. Then everything was cool for a while. Pika called me up Wednesday and said he needed me to go with him again. I didn’t want to, but he told me Andy would come after me if I didn’t go.”
He shuddered. “He just shot poor old Mrs. Fong right there on her sofa,” he said.
“Who?”
“Andy, man. The old lady opened the door and the three of us walked in. I felt bad, ‘cause it looked like we dragged her out of bed. But she was really nice. She even offered to make us tea. Andy just told her to sit down. He said, ‘Sorry, Aunt Bernice, but I’ve been thinking about it and I can’t take the chance you’ll tell anyone what you know.’ Then he shot her, and we left.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “Yeah. He wanted to go out drinking with us but I was freaking out, and I guess Pika was, too. We dropped him at his house. He never even paid us for driving him.”
“How come none of the witnesses we have put Gardiner at the scene, either of the warehouse fire or Bernice Fong’s murder?” I asked. “All anyone saw was two bodybuilders.”
Taki laughed. “Andy thought he was some kind of ninja. He was all dressed in black, and he kept sneaking around behind either me or Pika.”
“Let’s talk about last night,” I said, thinking of Dakota’s shooting. “Where were you?”
Taki looked down at the table.
“Get it all out,” I said. “It’s like pulling off a bandage. It only hurts if you do it too slowly.”
“Quilting.”
“Excuse me?”
He looked up. “I belong to this quilting circle, all right? We meet on Thursday nights at the Kope Bean in Mililani. It’s not just women, you know. There’s a couple of other dudes.”
“Hold on. You’re telling me that last night you were at a coffee shop making a quilt?”
He nodded. “It’s this very cool Hawaiian group. We work from these old patterns and we make quilts that we donate to charity. I don’t like to tell people about it because it doesn’t go with the, you know, rest of the package.”
“I’m assuming you can give me names of people who will testify that you were there?”
“Yeah. But why? Nothing happened last night.”
“There’s this teenage boy who’s going to come live with me and my partner as our foster son,” I said. “He was at our house last night, walking the dog, when somebody in a dark car cruised past and shot at him.”
“Had to be Pika or Andy,” Taki said. “Not me. I’d never shoot at some kid, no matter how much somebody was paying me.”
I nodded. “How about this morning?” I asked. “How did Gardiner get in touch with you?”
“Pika must have given him my number. He called and told me he needed a bodyguard, and Pika wasn’t answering his phone. I wanted to say no. But I was scared of the dude.”
“Where’d you get the gun?”
“He gave it to me before we got out of the car. I didn’t want to take it. But he promised me another ten grand if I’d cooperate.” He looked at me. “I didn’t know who was in the house. I didn’t know about those girls.”
“One last question. Why’d you shoot Gardiner?”
“He was crazy, man. I knew if he killed you, the cops were coming down hard on the house, and if Gardiner didn’t shoot me a cop probably would. So I shot him.” He shuddered again. “That’s the first time I ever killed anybody, for real. First time I ever shot a gun not at the range.”
The Prosecuting Attorney and the public defender showed up, and I left the three of them to negotiate and went back upstairs. It was the end of our shift and I was exhausted. I sat down to recap with Ray and Sampson.
“You rush in where angels fear to tread,” Sampson said. “Why didn’t you let SWAT handle this?”
“Because it wasn’t really a hostage situation,” I said. “Gardiner had nothing to negotiate for, and Greg had nothing to give him. I didn’t know that Taki was going to turn on Gardiner—and he might not have if I wasn’t in there.”
“I’m with Kimo on this one,” Ray said. “We couldn’t take a risk with those two little girls in the house.”
“The papers are going to have a field day with this case,” Sampson said. “They’re going to dredge up the past, and a lot of people are going to be unhappy. I’m waiting for the first call from the chief.”
“Tell him about snakes,” I said, and both Ray and Sampson looked at me. “Why are we so freaked about snakes landing in Hawai’i? Because they have no natural predators. There’s nothing to keep them from reproducing and destroying the native wildlife.”
“Your point is?”
“We’re the natural predators for slime like Andre Gardiner,” I said. “Us, and every other one of the policing agencies here. We’re doing what God and Mother Nature intended us to do.”
Sampson shook his head. “I think I’ll hold off with the analogies.”
“Speaking of the other policing agencies,” Ray said. “Any word about our transfer to the FBI?”
“You want to go through with that?” Sampson asked.
“I do.”
I looked over at Ray. “I do, too. As long as there’s still a place for us back here at some point.”
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Sampson said. “You know as well as I do that assignments are based on qualifications and need. But I’ll fight to get you back.”
“That sounds like as good as we’re going to get,” I said.
Sampson looked at me. “What made you change your mind?”
“Dakota getting shot,” I said. “I’m tired of putting the people I care about in danger. I want a nice safe desk job for a while.”
Sampson laughed. “You think you’ll get that at the Bureau? And you really think you’d be happy if you did?”
“Worth a shot.” I looked down at the floor. “Mike and I, well, we’ve agreed to father a baby with a lesbian couple we know. If I’m going to be a dad, then I want to do whatever I can to take care of my family.”
“I’ll hate to lose you both. But I’ve had my eye on a couple of patrol officers who just passed the sergeant’s exam and I like the idea of training some new detectives.”
At the HPD, detective is an assignment, not a rank; you have to become a sergeant before you can move into homicide.
“But you’re not off my roster yet. Go home, get some rest, and come back here tomorrow ready for a new case.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant,” Ray said, and stood up. I echoed his thanks and we walked back to our desks.
“So,” Ray said. “Something new on the horizon.”
“It’s like Woody Allen said in Annie Hall,” I said. “If you’re a shark, you’ve got to keep moving or die.”
“I don’t think that’s exactly the way he put it,” Ray said. “But it works for me.” He steepled his hands above his head and began swaying back and forth as he sang. “Can’t you feel ‘em swimmin’ around. You got fins to the left, fins to the right. And you’re the only bait in town.”
“We’re sure a mixed bag of cultural references,” I said, laughing. “I guess that’s why we work so well together.”
“Guess so,” Ray said.