Page 9 of Deadly Sacrifice

“Sorry, bro,” Lei said. “Autocorrect.”

He snorted a chuckle. The phone on the desk between them rang and Lei snatched it up. “Texeira here.”

“It’s Phil Gregory. I’ve got news.”

“Putting you on speaker.” Lei hit the button for the speakerphone and hung up the handset. “Pono’s here with me. Go ahead. What did you find?”

“Got an ID for you,” Dr. Gregory said. “The victim from La Perouse is Cheryl Goodwin, Caucasian female, forty years old.” He gave them the home address of the victim.

“That was fast,” Lei said.

“Remember how we decided to open the ti leaf offering back at the morgue so we could check it carefully? The victim’s driver’s license was inside, along with a piece of brick. Like from a construction site.”

Pono rubbed his mustache with the tips of his fingers, frowning. “Sending some kind of message?”

“Yeah, a weird one,” Lei said. “Whoever did this is bold. The body was hidden, but not buried, and he gave us the ID. He wanted someone to find her after he had a chance to get away, and he wanted us to know who she was.” She tapped her pen on the top of her desk.

“And you’re correct in referring to the killer as ?he.’ The victim showed signs of rough sexual activity—there was bruising around her genitals, wrists, and mouth, so she was gagged and restrained, likely during the rape. No semen, so he wore a condom. I’ve taken blood samples because she might have been drugged. Sadly, neither Dr. Tanaka nor I found any physical trace on the body that wasn’t her own, or environmental from the crime scene,” Dr. Gregory said. “She never got her nails into her attacker, more’s the pity.”

“Whoever did this was careful,” Lei said.

“Yep. And one more thing,” the Medical Examiner said. “We found the murder weapon concealed underneath her body. It’s unusual. Ms. Goodwin was killed with a replica of an ancient Hawaiian weapon, a handheld club with shark’s teeth on the edges for slashing. We’ll do all the tests, but I’m confident that it’s the weapon.”

Lei and Pono exchanged a glance; her partner’s eyes were round with shock. “A Hawaiian war weapon?” Pono said. “Is it authentic?”

“I’ll let you guys work on determining that,” Dr. Gregory said.

“Sounds like shark’s teeth would create the wounds you described earlier,” Lei said. “Anything else?”

“We’ve photographed the head lei she wore and also thepa‘ucoveringaround her pelvis; it appears to be crudely hand-printed with traditional patterns. That’s all for now. I still have to do the autopsy, and I’ll check in with you about any unusual results after that.”

“Thanks, Dr. G,” Lei said, and ended the call. She looked across the desk at Pono. “We need to get that brick analyzed. Of all the things left behind, that and the murder weapon seem the most important.”

“Let’s sic TG on that brick,” Pono said. He was already on his computer, big thick fingers quick on the keys. “Looking up Goodwin now. Preliminary search shows she was a real estate attorney.”

“Maybe Katie can tease out more about the victim while we go to her home address,” Lei said. “I’ll ask her to do a deep dive on Goodwin’s background. See what we can find out about her.”

Pono gazed at the computer monitor, where photos the MEs had sent over on email were displayed. “Somebody went to a lot of trouble with the location, the weapon, and the way she was dressed and posed. It was all precontact Hawaiiana—from before the Americans and Europeans arrived here.”

“You’re right about the weapon and the staging. It’s bound to tell us something about the doer. Too bad Dr. Gregory couldn’t find any trace.” Lei scrolled through her phone, looking for Katie’s number. “Can you call TG about the brick?”

Pono nodded, brushing his mustache with his fingertips the way he did when something bothered him. He was staring at a photo of the woman’s body and the ti leaf offering positioned in front of it.

“Hey,” Lei said. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking . . . the native Hawaiian community is not going to like how this murder points to them.” Pono’s voice was low and heavy. His brows were drawn together.

“Then let’s work as fast as we can to solve this,” Lei said. “Hopefully we don’t find out that the killer is some activist gone wrong.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Pono said. He stood abruptly. “I’ve got the victim’s address. Let’s go.”

“I want to talk to Katie first,” Lei said. “This will be her first murder case, and I’m hoping her computer skills will give us an edge.”

7

KATIE

Katie swung backand forth in the gaming chair she’d brought down to the communal computer lab at the Maui Police Department. When she was assigned to do research investigation under Sergeant Texeira, she’d been given space in the seldom used lab rather than being housed in a cubicle in the ‘bullpen’ upstairs. She’d set out to make her station as optimized as possible.

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