Rip Tides by Toby Neal

think we need a look at the dad’s financials, too. I have to get on a plane in an hour. I think you should get the dad’s financial information before you interview him. And if I can find the guy who actually killed Makoa on Oahu, we might have a much better idea of why.”
    “I’ll take you to the airport and find out who does the bookkeeping for Simmons Construction. I’ll visit there first before I go interview the parents again,” Pono said.
    “You might want to take Gerry or one of the other detectives,” Lei said. “That dad seems like the kind to lawyer up, or deny things were said without another witness.”
    Pono nodded. They both worked their phones on the way to the airport: Lei called Omura to update her on their progress, and Pono got the name of the bookkeeping firm that handled Simmons Construction’s books from Rory Simmons’s administrative staff.
    After Pono had the name, he hung up. “Now to get my next subpoena going,” he said.
    “You were pretty slick with that,” Lei said. “You got a stack of them pre-signed?”
    “I do. Won ’em from Judge Natides in a poker game,” Pono said. “He made me raise my hand and swear they’d be justified, but he trusted me enough to presign five of them. Can’t tell you how handy they’ve been.”
    “That’s why I like having you for a partner,” Lei said. “I never know what you’re going to come up with, and you pretty much know everybody.”
    “And you keep things interesting on our cases. Never a dull moment when Lei Texeira’s around.” Pono grinned.
    He dropped her at the airport, and Lei went through the check-in process with her weapon and small backpack. She didn’t call Stevens until she was sitting in the waiting area, her eyes on the great purplish bulk of cloud-wreathed Haleakala in the distance through the giant glass viewing window, planes and ground crews in the foreground.
    The phone rang and rang.

 
    Chapter 8
    S tevens met Jared in the cafeteria in the basement of the police department building. He clapped his brother’s tense shoulder in a half hug. “Didn’t take Mom long to disappear,” Stevens said. “Let me buy you a burger for spending your morning with her.”
    “Okay.” Jared pushed a hand through short, chocolate-brown hair. His eyes had gone gray-blue with frustration. “I thought she was going to go for the rehab thing.” They got into the straggling line at the cafeteria counter. Stevens made a brief throat-cutting gesture not to talk about it. The station loved nothing better than gossip, and he hoped to get his brother alone in a corner for a bit more of a war council rather than advertising their personal business in line.
    They got their burgers and a plastic basket of fries, and Stevens led his brother to a table in the far corner. He sat with his back to the room to signal he didn’t want company. The station was a friendly place generally, the cafeteria ebbing and flowing with on- and-off duty officers and support staff coming and going from one another’s tables.
    Jared picked up on this and hunched in beside Stevens, squirting mustard onto his burger from a plastic bottle on the table. “So anyway. The doctor met with both of us and went over her results. Mom seemed pretty shaken. Kept saying she was just a little run-down, needed some rest and vitamins. The doc said, “Yes, Mrs. Stevens, that and you need to stop drinking. And to stop drinking, you need professional help and medical support.”
    “I bet she didn’t like hearing that.” Stevens took a bite of his burger, narrowing his eyes.
    “Not one little bit. She acted all insulted, said she’d always had a weak constitution but she’d come here for the fresh air. Trying her whole delicate-flower act. The doc didn’t buy it a bit. Anyway, we went back to the reception area, waiting on some urine analysis results, when she said she had to go to the bathroom. The office told me the results were in, and it had been twenty