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AS I TOSSED ANOTHER spade full of dirt aside, Jackie spoke up again. "What if he buried a body here?"
"A body?" I said.
"Yes, maybe he killed the person the shack belongs to."
"Your imagination is running amuck, Jackie. Besides this is too small for a grave. I'm sure he only buried the money here."
"What are you going to do with the money?"
I stopped digging and leaned on the spade. "I'm turning over $750,000 of it to the police. They already know about it."
"But, you said there was another $250,000 that the police don't know about."
"Right, I haven't mentioned that to the authorities," I said.
"So, what are you going to do with the extra money."
"I'm keeping it," I said.
"But, isn't that stealing?"
"One could look at that way," I said. "But I prefer not to look at it that way. The owners of the money are all dead. It would only go to the State of Hawaii if I turned it over to the authorities."
"Let me see if I understand it then," Jackie said. "It belongs to the State of Hawaii, but you're keeping it. That still sounds like stealing to me."
"Look, Jackie," I said. "Douglas Shaw had great affection for me. I'm certain that if he were alive and had an opinion, he'd much rather I got the money than the State of Hawaii. After all the state is getting his entire estate on top of the $750,000."
"But you said he was a filthy predator and that you would never have slept with him," Jackie said.
"What does that have to do with anything?" I said.
"I'm not so sure he would have wanted you to have the money," Jackie said, "that's all."
"You're starting to annoy, Jackie," I said. "Can't we chat about something else."
"Like what? We are digging up the money after all."
"Well, how about this," I said. "Since you brought it up earlier, it has to be said. You look very hot naked as well."
Jackie grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment, even coming from another woman."
"Well, it's true," I said.
Jackie's grin faded, and she turned serious. "You aren't gay are you?"
"For fuck's sake," I said. "No one ever asked me that in my entire life until I arrived in Hawaii. Now you're the second person to ask me. No, I'm not gay. Not that there is anything wrong with it."
Jackie's grin returned. "All right then. I only wanted to be sure you weren't hitting on me. I prefer men and don't want you to feel that I am leading you on."
"For fuck's sake!" I said. "Are you trying to wind me up?"
Jackie laughed. "Yes, I was messing with you. Guilty as charged. And thanks for the compliment. There's nothing wrong with one woman complimenting another."
"True enough," I said. I started digging again. After removing another half meter of the earth, the spade struck something with the sound of metal on metal.
Jackie and I both got on our knees beside the hole I'd dug. We used our hands to pull more dirt from the hole, and we found a cache of green metal ammunition boxes. We pulled them out of the ground, one by one. There were eight of them. I flipped the latch on one of the boxes and pulled open the lid. The box was lined with a black plastic refuse bag. I opened the bag, and we saw that the box contained stacks of banded one hundred dollar bills.
"We found it," I said.
"I've never seen so much money at one time," Jackie said.
"Now that we've found it, there is something else we need to chat about," I said.
"What?"
I want to make you a proposal, but feel free to refuse it if you aren't interested," I said.
"Okay, let's hear the proposal," Jackie said. "But, remember I'm straight."
"You should be a stand up comic instead of wasting your life flying helicopters," I said.
"Okay, T. J., okay," Jackie said. "I'll shut up. Tell me what you're thinking."
"All right," I said. "How would you feel about a business partnership?"
"A partnership?" Jackie said. "You don't fly helicopters."
"No," I said. "But if we formed a partnership each of us might be able to steer business to the other. If I heard of anyone looking for helicopter transportation, I'd refer them to you. If you heard of anyone looking for a private investigator, you'd refer them to me."
"And you'd expect us to split all the profits?"
"No, that wouldn't be fair," I said. "I don't have enough to invest in your aviation company at the moment to make it a fifty-fifty arrangement. But, this is my proposal. I'd put $100,000 into the company account. You can determine what percent of your assets that represented. I'd receive that percentage of the profits as a return on my investment."
"And I could use the $100,000 for operations?" Jackie said.
"Yes, of course. You could use it as you please."
"To be honest, I could use a cash injection like that right now," Jackie said. "My business has been off for a while, and fuel prices have been through the roof. I've had no idea how I was going to afford to pay for the 2200 hour engine overhaul on my bird that is due in six weeks. But why would you want to go partners with me when you live in LA?"
"I'm planning to stay in Hawaii," I said. "I'm going to get licensed as a PI in Hawaii and start my own shop here."
"You are? That's great. I was already dreading you going back to the mainland. I think we'd make great friends. And I could help you with other cases when I'm not flying."
"Exactly," I said. "And, I was hoping that you might consider letting me have office space at your place for a while. Until I start getting clients, I can't afford to lease space of my own, and it seems you have the room for another desk."
"For sure, no problem," Jackie said. "I'd like that. I wouldn't even charge you rent."
"Oh no," I said. "I'd contribute to your monthly lease payments. That's only fair. Do you feel your other pilots would be all right with the arrangement?"
"Other pilots? What other pilots?"
"When we met you said you were the owner and chief pilot," I said.
Jackie laughed. "Chief pilot and only pilot, since dad retired. I tell prospective clients that to impress them."
I laughed at that. "I see, it's a marketing ploy."
"Exactly," Jackie said.
"Sounds like we can work a deal then," I said.
"Of course," Jackie said. "I'm glad you mentioned it. I'm excited about the idea."
"Oh, and one other thing," I said. "For helping bring Adam Morton to justice, and helping to recover the money, I'm giving you $25,000 of the money as a reward."
"Oh no, that's too much," Jackie said. "You can pay for the flying hours here, and that's plenty. You've been my first paying client in almost two weeks. I'll even give you another five percent discount for paying cash."
"No, I insist you take the $25,000," I said. "You've earned it. Also, I don't want you to think I'm taking this money because I'm some terrible greedy person. I want to relocate to Hawaii for some personal reasons, and I'm not flush with cash at the moment. I need a stake, and I can put this money to better use than the state would."
"Well, thanks, T. J., you're so generous," Jackie said.
"It isn't generosity, actually," I said. "It's only fairness. Like I said, you earned a bonus. You said you thought we'd become great friends. It seems to me we've already made a good start on that. And I'm always up for sharing my good fortune with my mates."
"Okay, T. J. you have to stop," Jackie said. "You'll get me all teary."
"Ahkay, no worries," I said. "Let's get this money into the hut. It's getting dark."
It took four trips to carry all the cans into the hut. There was no electricity, but we found a gas lantern that Morton had been using. We removed the money from the ammunition cans and counted it. We put $750,000 back into the backpack it had come from. There was $240,000 and change left over. I'd spent a few hundred on expenses before Morton took the money off me and it seemed he had spent some too. Still, I was happy enough for the haul we'd made. I found a nylon stuff sack that Morton had been using for dirty laundry and emptied it. I put the extra cash in it.
Afterward, we stacked the empty ammunition cans in a corner. Jackie found a torch in the hut and we returned to the hole. I tossed some refuse from the hut into the hole, and then we refilled it. If someone found the hole and excavated it, I wanted them to see it as only a refuse dump. We walked about 100 meters further up the footpath, and I tossed the spade into the bush. Then we returned to the hut.
"Time to call the police?" Jackie said.
"No, not from here," I said. "We'll go back to the hotel and call them from there. When they arrive, we'll tell them the story and turn over the $750,000. We'll tell how to find this place and Morton's body. With luck, the police will allow us to go to the station to give our formal statements in the morning. That will give me the chance for a catch up with the Honolulu police detective that's been on the case. He might want to come to Lanai tomorrow to wrap up his end of the investigation."
"Works for me," Jackie said. "I'll carry the backpack. Let's go get the Jeep."
I grabbed the torch, and extinguished the lantern. We walked to the Jeep and Jackie drove us back to the hotel. After arriving, we went to our respective rooms and tidied up. Once Jackie had returned to my room, I rang the police.
"Remember, if the police ask you about the money, we found it in the hut in the backpack," I said. "Don't mention anything about digging up the ammunition cans."
"Got it," Jackie said.
Waiting for the police, we continued discussing plans for our joint business venture.
