Blood Orchids Read Online Free PDF Page B

a vague gesture that encompassed her sweaty hair, crumpled uniform and the hangdog teenagers at the booking desk.
    “You know what? Forget it. Good luck with the investigation.” Lei spun away, a hot prickle of rage sweeping up to her hairline, knowing she was over-reacting and no longer giving a damn. She stomped back over to Pono. “Let’s go, Pono. I think we missed a few.”
    Pono ripped the boys’ incident writeup off his pad, slapping it down on the desk.
    “Yeah, okay. Sam, can you finish this up? My partner’s out for justice.”
    Lei blew through the double doors and was in the Crown Vic revving the engine when Pono got in. She pulled out and laid down some rubber turning onto the busy avenue, roaring back toward town.
    “What’s up?”
    “Fucking Stevens.”
    “Turned you down for a date?”
    “Turned me down for the investigation.”
    “Asshole,” said Pono, rubbing his lips hard to suppress a grin. “So I guess you asked to be on the case.”
    “I have an interest,” she said. “And a lot to offer. But whatever. He’s a prick.”
    “For the record, did you for once think about how this would affect me if you got reassigned?”
    “Hey, you get along with everybody. It’d only be temporary.”
    “Well . . . if you feel that strongly you should go to the Lieutenant and ask.”
    “Maybe I will.”
    After a long pause, Pono turned the radio to the Hawaiian station. Slack key guitar filled the Crown Vic with soft rhythms.
    “Let it go a’ready. Otherwise you come stress out,” he said, leaning back with his trademark mellow. “Seems like those Chang boys we picked up are following in their grandpa’s footsteps.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Terry Chang. He was a real crime godfather around here. Got put away finally and some good citizen offed him in prison. Word is his wife is running things now. She’s not going to be happy with those boys drawing attention by getting picked up.”
    “Looks like they wanted to get to work building their rap sheets,” Lei said. She hit the steering wheel in frustration. “Those girls deserve more.”
    “Like what? You’re not even a detective yet.”
    “Something about this case—it’s like it found me. But whatever, it seems like you and Stevens are on the same page.”
    “I never said I agree with him, but I understand why he’s trying to get the best. This is the biggest murder to happen in Hilo in forever.”
    Lei had no answer, no way to explain her need to help—because what he said was the truth. They drove back through the industrial area, but the taggers were long gone. They continued on their normal route as late afternoon turned into evening.
    “There’s more to this than meets the eye,” Pono said eventually. “It could have gone down like people’re saying, with the girls going to party with some nasty icehead or something. But I like Kelly’s stepdad for this.”
    “Really?”
    “He’s squirrelly. Lawyered up for his interview today, and so far there’s no reason to.”
    “How’d you hear this?”
    “I have my sources.” Pono knew everyone, and the station was full of his ‘talk story’ moles.
    “Maybe he felt discriminated against,” she said, elbowing him. “It’s not easy being the white minority.”
    “He one stupid haole ,” Pono stated. ‘Haole’ meant Caucasian or newcomer, and the word wasn’t always complimentary in a state where only a third of the population was white.
    “Huh,” Lei said. “Hey, it’s trash day, early evening . . . maybe he put their trash out on the road already.” She typed the stepfather’s last name into the ToughBook computer screwed into the dash with her right hand while steering with her left. He lived in central Hilo, only a few miles away.
    “No need we go look. They always saying, do your own job. You so nosy, you going get us fired,” Pono lapsed into pidgin, cracking his big brown knuckles.
    “Not nosy. Pro-active. If that trash is out there, it’s in the