Page 30 of Shark Cove

The waitress came back, delivering two glasses of iced tea and a Kirin beer for Freddie. Lei ordered a combo plate of teriyaki beef and tempura vegetables and the men placed their orders as well. Once the waitress had left, Lei made eye contact with the 50-ish veteran, his thinning hair concealed beneath a grubby ball cap.

“We’re having a problem on Maui with missing girls, and we need any information we can get about where they might be ending up,” Lei said. “Have you heard any rumors about this?”

“Yep, I’ve heard some things,” Freddie said, puffing his chest with self-importance. “Remember that young guy from Lahaina? Keo Avila? The dude got out early for good behavior, and rumor has it he’s back to his old tricks.”

Lei frowned as her belly tightened with frustration. “How is that possible?” She addressed her question to Stevens. He shrugged, opening his hands in a helpless gesture.

“We just bust them. We can’t do anything about what happens after that, and the guy was working for the Changs.” He turned back to Freddie. “Where did you hear this?”

“I have my ways.” Freddie chewed rapidly and swigged his beer. “I’ve given up smoking, and nicotine gum isn’t cheap.”

Lei pulled out her wallet and extracted a bill, pushing it across the table. “We’re also picking up your meal and your beer. I hope you have something real for us.”

“Rumor has it Avila is operating a shelter for runaway teens,” Freddie said. “They call it the ‘underground railroad for runaways.’ I imagine some of those kids, the cute female ones, aren’t making it to where they want to go.”

“Where are you getting this?” Stevens asked sharply.

“I have my sources, just like you do,” Freddie shot back.

“We need more. An address. A contact. Something hard to follow up on,” Lei said.

“All I’ve got for real is a website on the dark net,” Freddie said. “From what I heard, a kid can find a place to crash by getting in touch through that portal.”

Lei’s eyes widened slightly; she’d not taken Freddie for someone that computer savvy.

Freddie looked down at his plate as the waitress delivered their food. Once again, they waited until she’d left, then Lei leaned forward. “I need to know how you found out about this.”

Freddie spread his napkin open on his lap and took a sip of beer, settling back in his chair now that he’d decided to share his gem of intel. “My nephew’s sixteen and has been in trouble a lot. My brother’s strict, and my nephew has threatened to run away a time or two. I dropped by to take the boy fishing and caught him looking at that site on his computer. He told me he’d heard about it from some other kids at school.” Freddie dug into his lunch.

Lei couldn’t get anything else out of him until most of his meal was eaten, but eventually he told her the name of the website. She looked it up immediately. Sure enough, the handle Runaway Railroad led to an entry portal page. “Pretty cheesy name.” Lei forwarded the site to her friend Sophie Smithson on Oahu to be followed up on.

“Whatever gets the idea across and is easy to remember.” Freddie wiped his mouth with his napkin and drained the last of his beer. He stood up. “If that’s all then?”

“Thanks, Freddie, I hope this lead pans out. A lot of young people are in danger right now, and you could be a part of saving them.” Lei smiled.

“I do what I can.” Freddie glanced out the window nervously. He flapped a hand to say goodbye, tossed his napkin down, and left.

Lei turned to her husband. “What was that all about?”

Stevens tilted his head, indicating a dark SUV trolling through the parking lot outside the restaurant. “Freddie doesn’t want to be seen with us.”

“I don’t blame him for that.” Just then, Lei’s phone dinged with a message from Sophie.

-What do you want me to do with this website link?

-I need you to find out anything and everything you can about this site, mainly who’s running it and from where. It might be linked to a missing teens case that MPD is sharing with the FBI.

-On it. No problem.

Lei immediately felt better. She dug into her meal with appetite. “It’s been a frustrating day so far, but it just might be getting better.”

“Eat up while I reach out to Keo Avila’s parole officer.” Stevens took out his phone. “Maybe we can pay that slimeball a visit.”

“I love you,” Lei said, around a mouthful of teriyaki beef.

“Good. I’m holding you to it.” Stevens’s blue eyes gleamed with pleasure.

The next morning,Harry and Malia headed straight into the headmaster’s office after seeing Kylie off to her classes.

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