I went back to my desk. It was time to think about Evan Gonsalves, much though I had tried not to. He fit the description Lou had given us. I knew he had money problems, trying to support Terri in the style she was accustomed to, and I remembered Terri’s suspicions. And he’d known about the black tar bust and could have tipped off Tommy. The other connections we’d made were fuzzier, but possibilities, too.
Akoni finally got back just before the end of our shift. Apparently Melvin Ah Wong had discovered how his son Jimmy had been doing favors for Derek and Wayne, stamping papers with his father’s notary seal and forging his father’s signature. “Melvin thinks Jimmy’s just gullible,” Akoni said. “He doesn’t realize there was anything else going on.”
“That’s good,” I said. We started making copies of all the documents Akoni had brought for Peggy; it was more than likely there was a connection to her theft case at the Bishop Museum, to the smuggling of Hawaiian artifacts that she’d been investigating. While we were standing at the copier, I said, “Listen, I’ve been thinking about Evan Gonsalves some more. You know I know his wife?”
“Yeah, you went to school with her, didn’t you? The Clark’s girl?”
“That’s her. Anyway, she called me a while ago, upset that Evan seemed to have more money than he ought to.”
Akoni pulled the last pages from the copier. “How so?”
I shrugged. “Buying her expensive gifts, paying cash for things. He told her he was doing some security work on the side.”
“Lots of cops do it.” We carried the paperwork back to our desks.
“Yeah, but she was pretty sure he was lying. She asked my advice, and I said I couldn’t really get involved.”
“So where’s this leading? You think he’s the one killed Tommy Pang?”
“I wish to hell I didn’t. Terri’s birthday was last week, and Evan gave her a really nice emerald bracelet. She showed it to me-it came in one of those long, narrow jewelry boxes.”
It was like a light bulb went on over Akoni’s head. “Didn’t Derek say he saw Tommy give the cop a box like that?”
“Uh-huh.”
Akoni slumped back in his chair. “Man, I hate pulling down cops.”
“Me too. And I don’t want to do anything until we’re sure. I was thinking maybe we could take a picture of Evan out to Wayne and Derek, see if they can ID him.”
Akoni nodded. “You got one?”
“At home. I can bring it in tomorrow.”
We left the station a little later. I was too tired to make dinner, so I heated up a frozen pizza. When I finished it was about seven, and I felt so beaten down by everything that had happened I lay down to take a nap.
When I woke, my apartment was hot and sticky, even though the sun had gone down hours before. The fans did nothing but move the hot air around. I got dressed and went out for a walk.
There was something magnetic about the Rod and Reel Club, something that kept drawing me there even though I knew I should stay away. It was almost eleven, and even from a block away I could hear the music coming from the club, the strong bass line reverberating in my stomach.
I stood across the street for ten minutes or so, trying to figure out what I really wanted. I finally decided to settle for a beer, and went in. Fred was behind the bar again, and he gave me a smile with my beer. I was just about to look for a quiet piece of wall to lean against when I felt a hand on my ass. “So, you decided to come back after all,” a voice said in my ear.
I knew without turning around that it was Gunter. “Just for a beer,” I said, turning to face him. He pulled up a stool next to me, and we sat there at the bar and talked for a while. I guess about half an hour passed, until I saw a couple at one of the patio tables get up, and my heart rate sped up about a hundred percent.
It was Derek and Wayne, and I could tell immediately that their path toward the door would take them right past me. I turned my head so that Gunter was between me and them, and kissed him.
He was surprised, but it didn’t take him long to rally. We sat there at the bar and kissed deeply, and I felt my dick stiffen even though I was watching Derek and Wayne out of the corner of my eye. When they’d passed, I relaxed and leaned back.
“You sure changed your mind in a hurry,” Gunter said, smiling at me. He put his hand on my thigh.
“Sorry. I saw a couple of guys who are involved in a case, and I didn’t want them to recognize me.”
I thought Gunter could still see them over my shoulder, and I was right. “Not Macho Man and his Chinese love-child?” he asked.
“You know them?”
He took a deep draw from his Corona and then wiped his lips. “I tricked with Derek a couple of times, when he first got back from college. He used to come over here for happy hour by himself. Then Wayne showed up and suggested that I stay away from his boyfriend.” He opened the top two buttons of his shirt and showed me a half-moon shaped scar around his left nipple. “Powerful suggestion, don’t you think? I took him at his word.”
“Wayne cut you? Did you go to the police?”
“Do you really think the police care about two fags squabbling over a boyfriend?” He took another pull on his beer. “You trying to break up their little smuggling ring?”
All my synapses started buzzing, and I didn’t feel drunk at all. “Well, the case isn’t quite pulled together yet,” I said.
“I helped the little shits at first, before Wayne went crazy with his boy scout knife. See, Derek made some connections through trying to get his gallery set up, people who’d find some precious artifacts and then bring them in for resale. Of course, the background on some of those things was a little dodgy, and they had to be sold to the right kind of buyers. The place where I work, I see everything that goes on. The kind of things people have when they move in. You know who’s got taste and who doesn’t. I made a couple of introductions, made myself a few bucks on the side.”
“And it stopped when Wayne cut you?”
“The bastard has a temper! I was just fooling around with Derek one day, had my hand in his pants, nothing more, and Wayne went ballistic! I pulled out right after that.” He smiled. “In more ways than one.”
I remembered the case that Peggy had been working on, the missing artifacts from the Bishop Museum, and the beautiful pieces I’d seen in Derek and Wayne’s apartment. All the puzzle pieces seemed to be coming together.
“But enough talk,” Gunter said. “Kiss me, you fool.”
And I was a fool, because I did.
DANGEROUS CHARM
By the time I stumbled home the next morning, I felt raw in a dozen places. Sex with Gunter was nothing like it had been with Tim. With Tim, it had been slow and easy, building heat between us until it erupted like one of the volcanoes Hawai‘i is famous for. With Gunter it was athletic and arduous, sweaty and fast-paced, and ultimately no less volcanic. I could still feel the scrape of his beard against my thighs, strain in unaccustomed muscles, and the memory of the deep hunger he awakened in me.
I crawled into bed at first light but couldn’t sleep, so I went out to surf for about half an hour on my short board, catching a couple of good waves that challenged me, made me concentrate. It was good for me. I was able to shake out a couple of the cobwebs, and forget about my personal troubles and the problems with the case.
I can see why my Hawaiian ancestors were so attached to nature when I get up that early. It’s like you can imagine some god pulling back the night, revealing the day to you. Everything seems new and fresh, and the neon signs on the tourist shops are turned off, and there isn’t much traffic on the streets, and you can actually hear birds in the trees and the sound of the waves without the background of horns and screeching brakes and emergency sirens. Like it always does, the ocean rejuvenated and refreshed me, and enabled me to go on and face another day.
Before I left for work, I found a picture Terri had sent me from her wedding. It was a good, clear shot of Evan Gonsalves. I took it with me to the station, where I got a cup of coffee and wrote up what I remembered of my conversation with Gunter. I was sure Peggy Kaneahe would want to call him in to talk again about the art and artifact smuggling I was sure could be traced to Derek and Wayne, through U.S. Pack and Ship.