Page 25 of Wrong Turn

Lei’s pulse picked up. Supporting the neighborhood patrol seemed perfect, now that she had Keiki to walk with. “Keiki and I can take a shift, for sure. How big is the area?”

Gregory took a map out from underneath the forms on top of the clipboard and showed Lei the streets they would be patrolling. “The police strongly suggested that we work in pairs.”

Lei reached down to pet Keiki’s broad chest. “Keiki and I make a pair.”

“You twoarethe perfect pair.” The older man smiled for the first time. Lei could see what a pleasant face he had when the stress around his eyes had disappeared; his wrinkles were those earned by good living and humor. The robbers had stolen a lot more than belongings from this couple.

Lei told them that Aunty Rosario would not be available for the neighborhood patrol because of her nighttime work at the restaurant, and her age. “My Aunty needs all the rest she can get when she’s home from work,” Lei explained.

“We understand. We would be snug in our beds too if we weren’t so worried about what could happen. We won’t sleep well until those perps are behind bars,” Liza said. “Having you and Keiki is the best signup we’ve had yet.”

Lei filled out the forms, and signed a waiver agreeing to call the police immediately and not engage with any criminals herself. “That’s very important,” Greg cautioned. “No matter how tempted you are to confront the robbers, the police told us not to. They were armed when they took us prisoner, in our own home. We don’t want any of our neighborhood patrol people getting hurt in this endeavor.”

“I understand,” Lei said. The couple said goodbye, smiling and waving, and left a map of the streets Lei and Keiki would begin patrolling from eight till midnight. Lei showed Keiki the map. “We better get a nap this afternoon, girl. We are going to need it for the graveyard shift.”

* * *

Liza and Greghad told Lei that the patrollers should be easily visible by wearing reflective clothing and carrying a lit flashlight. Part of what the neighborhood patrol was doing was prevention through warding off intruders, discouraging them from coming into the area at all.

But Lei had a different plan: she wanted to catch these guys in the act.

At eight p.m., she dressed carefully all in black: a turtleneck, hiking pants, and athletic shoes so that she could run efficiently, as well as a billed black cap that hid her face. She and Keiki set off at a slow jog.

Lei held a flashlight but kept it off; Greg and Liza had told her to keep the flashlight swinging back and forth but Lei did not obey these instructions. She carried pepper spray in her pocket and in a shoulder holster, her Glock, which she was licensed to carry concealed. The big Buck knife from Mexico was strapped around her ankle.

If she was lucky enough to confront the robbers, Lei was armed and dangerous.

Well. At least, Keiki was dangerous.

Beside Lei, Keiki trotted quietly in work mode, her eyes forward, her ears pricked, her nose sniffing, her body alert.

They moved steadily down quiet streets lined with the nineteen twenties bungalows built when San Rafael had been a sleepy suburb of San Francisco, not yet the bustling, busy town it had grown into. Old-growth oak and maple trees shielded the road, casting pools of darkness as the pair crunched across a few leaves. A night breeze lifted the brim of Lei’s hat and fluttered Keiki’s ears; an occasional car swished by.

All was quiet.

Their four hours of patrol passed relatively quickly. Lei waved to the brightly lit up, well-dressed couple in reflective clothing who replaced her on the patrol, and she and Keiki reentered Aunty’s house.

Lei had trouble unwinding afterward. She got online and researched the robberies, reading old police blotter reports and studying the pattern that the burglars had been following. There was a geographical element to it; the break-ins had begun to the south, and the burglars had been working steadily towards this area. They took jewelry, small antiques, cash, and portable electronics. “They must be fencing this stuff somewhere,” Lei muttered. “I wonder what the police are doing?” She couldn’t wait to have her own cases and dig into her own leads and ideas someday. “Find the outlet for these stolen items, and that could lead to the source of them.”

Maybe the police were investigating like Lei would have if it was her case; maybe all they needed to do was wait. Lei fell asleep at last, in front of her monitor, her head propped on her arms.

Chapter Sixteen

Classes had resumedfor Lei’s college program, and she muddled through the next day without enough sleep. Now, she and Keiki were on patrol again, and this time, she didn’t have the energy for jogging.

She and Keiki walked the quiet neighborhood, lit by pools of streetlight, and Lei sipped from a thermos mug of coffee. Her mind was occupied with the letter she had received that afternoon: the police academy on the Big Island had accepted her application.

Lei was excited, which created a little churn in her stomach, helping to counteract tiredness. She was also worried; not only was the date for her departure only two weeks away, but she would have to leave in the middle of the semester, not yet completing her criminal justice degree and taking incompletes on her classes. Worst of all, she would be leaving Aunty Rosario to face this threat from the robbers by herself, without Keiki for protection if she shipped the dog over with her. They would have to navigate the quarantine program for moving dogs to Hawaii. Maybe what she should do was go over by herself and bring Keiki to the Big Island after the robbers had been caught. “If they get caught,” she muttered. Keiki looked up at her questioningly, and Lei patted her head. “Never mind, girl. I’m sure we’ll catch them soon.”

Lei had been too stressed out by receiving the letter to talk to Aunty about the situation; it helped that Rosario was still at the restaurant when they’d left on patrol.

Lei was distracted, so she almost missed seeing a dart of movement out of the corner of her eye—but Keiki stopped abruptly, a growl rumbling in her broad chest.

Lei tweaked her leash and they fell back into a black pool of darkness cast by one of the sheltering oak trees that shaded the sidewalk during the day.

There it was again. . . a tiny flash of light, as if from a penlight, at the side of one of the bungalows only three houses down from Aunty’s place.

Lei was suddenly wide awake.

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