Page 2 of Deadly Sacrifice

Hawaiians believed inmana, the divine force that flowed through all things. Was that the excitement he was feeling? Or was this the sensation of destiny being fulfilled?

This woman had once held power over him in her position. She’d been chosen with care as his first offering.

He remembered her dismissive tone to him in a meeting, how she’d sent him away with a flick of polished nails—nails that were broken, now, from her struggles.

The sky grew lighter, a glow emanating from behind the great hulk of the volcanomaukaof them. The sound of waves on the nearby reef was background music. Another gorgeous morning on Maui had begun.

The woman stirred as the drugs began to wear off. Turning on the video, Mu focused the frame on her face and torso. He hit Record before stepping to the side, out of the camera’s view.

The woman gazed around, blinking, confused. She spotted him, dressed in his costume for the sacrifice. She tried to tug her arms free. Her eyes widened in fear. He liked to see her terror and wished he had longer with her—but with day breaking, he had to complete the ritual and be gone before he was seen.

“This is the beginning. With your sacrifice, things will be made right. We will have the life we deserve, the life that has been denied us,” Mu said aloud through the voice distorter.

From behind the outcrop of rock, he reached around and grabbed the woman’s hair. He forced her head back, exposing her throat. She struggled and cried out through the gag. The muffled sound she made reminded him of a kitten in a cloth bag about to die. An early memory.

The shark’s teeth on the weapon bit into her skin as powerfully as amanoon the hunt. A fantasy he hadn’t let himself know he craved was fulfilled and he groaned aloud in satisfaction as the woman’s heart pumped, splashing blood over her body and the surrounding area.

All the while, a little red light blinked, recording her sacrifice.

2

LEI

Detective Sergeant LeiTexeira sat at the wooden table under the monkeypod tree at her compound in Haiku, enjoying an evening meal with her family. Her husband Michael Stevens’s brother Jared, a Maui firefighter, had joined them this evening, along with her father Wayne and Stevens’s mother, Ellen. Her grandfather Soga Matsumoto sat beside her, finishing the last of his dinner.

The compound they lived in featured a high wooden wall with a motorized gate and an alarm system. Security was a priority after several attempts on their lives over the years. Their Rottweiler, Conan, lay on the porch nearby, relaxed but alert, his intelligent eyes ever watchful over the family.

Wayne and Ellen said goodnight and retired to the little‘ohanacottage ringed in ti plants and red hibiscus beside the main house. Wayne’s restaurant, Ono Grindz, kept the couple busy enough to “fall asleep in a blender,” as Ellen put it. Stevens went into the house, taking his turn to supervise their toddler Rosie’s bath while their son Kiet did his homework.

Lei began to tidy up, enjoying a domestic chore far removed from the stress of her day-to-day as a homicide detective. She removed her brother-in-law’s empty plate from in front of him and stacked it with the rest. “Good day today, bro?”

“Any day without a fire is a good day.” Jared sipped from a Longboard Island Lager, leaning back in a folding chair set at the head of the picnic style wooden table. “I never knew, when I transferred to Maui from L.A., that the fires on this island would be so frequent and intense.”

“True, dat. And I’d like to add that any day without a murder is also excellent. So today was a good day, all around,” Lei said.

They’d had fish tacos from Wayne’s restaurant with a side of beans and rice and salad. Lei dished the leftovers into a plastic storage container and clamped on the lid. She passed the Tupperware to the elderly man beside her. “Take this home with you, Grandfather. You can have it for lunch tomorrow.”

“Don’t you need something to take to work?” Soga tilted his white-haired head, his dark eyes hooded in wrinkles. The octogenarian had moved to a tiny house on the property to live with them some time ago and was ever concerned that he wasn’t a burden on the family.

“No need for that tomorrow. We’ve wrapped up some cases recently. I’m hoping for a quiet day in the office to do paperwork,” Lei said. “I’ll take my partner Pono out for lunch at Ichiban in Kahului. Japanese food is our favorite.”

“Of course it is,” Soga said with dignity. He stood up, straightening his wiry body deliberately, and took the container. “Goodnight, granddaughter.” He met her gaze. “In this light, you look so much like your mother.”

Soga seldom referred to his only child. Maylene had died of a drug overdose when Lei was nine. Maylene hadn’t lived to get sober and see happier times and know her grandchildren, as her father Wayne had. A twinge of grief tightened Lei’s chest even as she smiled at the old man. “Thank you, Grandfather. I’ll take that as a compliment; she was beautiful.”

Soga nodded. He shuffled off at a careful pace across the lawn toward his cottage, carrying the Tupperware.

Lei turned and met Jared’s gaze. “Need a refresher on your beer?”

Jared shook his head. “One’s my limit these days. Body’s a temple and all that.” Jared, two years younger than Stevens, was tall and athletic, sharing physical traits of his older brother—but he was more of a risk-taker. Since moving to Maui, Jared had begun kiteboarding and had recently been invited by fellow firefighters to join a Brazilian martial arts school. “I’ve got jiujitsu tomorrow. Can’t let the guys throw me down without a fight.”

“Speaking of. I’ve got a supervisee who’s into martial arts, too.” Lei had recently been assigned to oversee a trainee investigator, still on probation. “Katie McHenry’s got way too much energy to be cooped up in an office. She’s wearing me out.”

“Got the kids settled; Kiet’s reading Rosie a story. And I know she’s outside the box, but we need Katie.” Lei’s husband Stevens descended the steps carrying a nonalcoholic beverage; he’d beaten a drinking problem some time ago.

Jared cocked his head curiously. “Who is this woman and why do you need her?”

“Katie’s great at computer research, better than anyone we’ve had as an investigator before. The departments on Oahu and the Big Island are already asking if they can borrow her.” Stevens sat beside Lei, adding, “Besides, you remember why she got tucked away on Maui with us.”

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