Black Jasmine (2012) Read Online Free PDF Page B

here.”
    “Hey. It’s Pono. Looks like there’s going to be a big cockfight this afternoon out by Giggle Hill.” Giggle Hill was a nickname for the WWII memorial park out in the lush East Maui area of Haiku, surrounded by jungle and abandoned pineapple fields. “Can you round up some uniforms? Let’s see who we can rope in and shake down. Get those numbers the lieutenant’s after.” Pono’s voice was tight with preraid adrenaline.
    “What time?”
    “Three o’clock.” It was now two p.m.
    “Yeah, I’ll speak to the shift commander. Call me when you have the exact location.”
    “Copy that.”
    Lei printed several more copies of Jane Doe’s face. Might as well show them around to whoever they rounded up at the cockfight. She closed the file, grabbed her jacket off the office chair, and headed for the shift commander’s office.
    Lei’s Tacoma bounced down a rutted dirt road, Pono clutching the dashboard and sissy handle. The fight was going to be in an empty field behind a grove of banana trees, someone’s abandoned foray into farming. Lei’s bulletproof vest, procedurally required on any kind of raid, restricted her breathing as she wrestled the steering wheel.
    “Hadn’t noticed before with that big jacket on her, but Jane Doe’s clothes are hookerwear.” Lei spoke in little pants.
    “Doesn’t every teen girl dress like a hooker?”
    “Maybe. That would put her on the wrong side of bad news, though. Might be a reason someone offed her.”
    They passed the banana trees and reached an open area marked by a ring of trucks. Behind them rolled several unmarked squad cars and the station’s Bronco. Lei pulled her Tacoma in behind another truck, and the others did the same, physically blocking in the rest of the vehicles. Adrenaline brought Lei’s heart rate up, but the tight vest restricted her breathing. Lei wished for the hundredth time that day that she’d remembered to pick up her little black stone, even though both hands were occupied.
    Her eyes flicked here, there, everywhere, scanning for threats as she put the truck in park. A raid like this was one of those situations where anyone anywhere could be carrying a weapon, and a seemingly low-risk operation could turn deadly.
    Pono gave the signal in the radio, and they all hit their sirens and lights at the same time, jumping out of their vehicles and running to the collapsible fight ring, a structure made of three-foot-high sections of heavy wire fencing.
    Lei had her zip ties out, and Pono worked the bullhorn as they ran toward the fight area, the other officers right on their heels.
    “Maui Police Department! Get on your knees and put your hands on your heads!”
    Of course, that wasn’t what they did. Lei was reminded of hitting the floodlight on the side of the house and surprising cockroaches covering one of Keiki’s beef bones—the way they’d scattered in all directions. At least fifty men and boys bolted for their vehicles, headed into the deep grass, or hoofed it for the bananas. Many of them stayed, though, holding cages, unwilling to leave their prize birds.
    The two cocks in the ring, oblivious of the human chaos, continued to fight. Lei was struck by their savage commitment, the height of their jumps, the whirl of red and black color like flamenco dancers in full swing.
    The owners of the two birds hadn’t moved, eyes intent, screaming at the birds. Lei grabbed one of them, a burly, bald Hawaiian in a Kirin beer shirt, and kicked the back of his knee so that he folded as expertly as a collapsible chair. He never took his eyes off the fight as she whipped his arms behind his back and bound his hands with a zip tie.
    She ran and did the same to the other man. Several other spectators, committed to the match, merely dropped to their knees and put their hands on their heads while continuing to cheer on the birds. She was putting a tie on the last one when the black cock got the upper hand.
    Lei looked up as Kirin Beer Shirt