“Never mind,” he gave a long suffering sigh. “The point is, it looks like Linda and Jason were very close and they may have murdered the lawyer before he met Mr. Takahashi. Then the pair of them killed him and the brother and sister in law to pull the property and insurance scam and try to take custody of the youngest son to keep their scam under wraps. Poor kid probably would have had a tragic accident sooner or later.”
“Has anyone found out if he is definitely at the cabin?”
“Not yet. The L.T.C. said to let the local PD handle that bit, checking around town to see if he’s been in buying groceries, that sort of thing. There is too much tree cover for satellites to get a good view, so a drone is being sent in this afternoon, too.”
“I hope he’s there and they bring him in. And maybe they can get him to confess to everything he plotted with Linda Takahashi.”
“If our conclusions are correct, he’ll be coming up here to await trial and to act as a witness when Linda Takahashi faces the court for the rest of her misdeeds. Anyway, we thought you’d like an update. Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon!” He signed off, and I smiled. We were one step closer to getting complete justice for the Takahashi brothers and my heart felt lighter for it.
“Good news?” Mitch asked me, seeing my expression. “The best. Okay, how about me without my shark hat?” I took it off and went to pose for another picture with Neal.
“That’s not a shark, Daddy. That’s an alien! His name is Gantu!”
“Okay, without Gantu then. I’ll put him back on after.”
Mitch snapped the picture and then a passerby took one of all three of us, with and without our cartoon character hats. Then we strolled through the downtown, stopping by a small jewelry store showcasing handmade necklaces, rings and bracelets.
When told what we were after and sizing our fingers, the clerk looked thoughtful. “Actually, I have two rings that might work and happen to be your size. Um, I made them for a wedding show, so they weren’t for someone else or anything. They were for my His and His collection.”
“Let’s see them,” Mitch said, glancing at me. “It feels like fate has guided us through everything, and it’s been perfect so far.”
The clerk nodded and went into the back, returning with a small black velvet tray. Nestled on the tray were two identical rings.
“I know you said silver, and these are .925. As you can see they are inlaid with koa wood so only a thin band of silver shows at the top and bottom. The silver inlaid in the middle of the koa is also .925 and the carvings were done by hand. There’s maile leaves, plumerica, and an ocean wave in the very center flanked by stars.”
“Stars,” I repeated, looking at my mate. “That does seem most fitting.”
“Yes! “
“Those are pretty,” Neal commented, peering over the counter.
“We’ll take them,” I decided. Now I just had to get us at the beach park tomorrow afternoon before we went to the luau. I took out the card we were given for expenses, watching the woman’s eyes light up at the sight of the black card. While she rang us up and placed our rings in a box, I turned to Mitch. “Let’s wait to put them on until we’re at the beach. We can go to the beach park after lunch. It will make for beautiful pictures of the moment.”
Mitch smiled at me, his eyes soft. “You are such a romantic for a sword carrying, gun toting warrior.”
The clerk dropped the box. “Oh, sorry! That startled me. Did you say gun toting and sword wearing?” she asked as she bent down to retrieve our rings.
“Uh huh! Daddy is a policeman,” Neal told her proudly.
She eyed my hat dubiously. “A sword carrying policeman?”
“Mainly ceremonial,” I told her, “but if an enemy boarded our ship, we’d use those instead of blasters so as to not risk puncturing the hull.”
She looked mollified. “Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense.”
“He was recently promoted to a special branch and made an officer,” Mitch boasted.
She looked impressed, opening a drawer. “If you decide you want leis, this is my cousin. She hand makes them and this coupon will give twenty-five percent off. Congratulations on your marriage and your promotion.”
“Mahalo,” I said, taking both the rings and the coupon from her.
“Oh, here, I forgot to give you a bag.” She handed me a small paper bag with an elegant black script on it showing the name of the shop. I placed the box and coupon inside.
“Mahawloo,” Neal parroted, already on his way out the door.
“I knew I should have put his wrist strap back on!” Mitch said, chasing after him.
“It’s in your bag,” I called after him, as I turned to follow them out. “Neal! Stop and wait for us.” Neal thankfully screeched to a stop.
