Page 46 of Deadly Sacrifice

As the three of them were walking back to the helicopter, Sammy sidled up beside Katie.

“Did you really jump out of your vehicle to get a perp while you were on patrol?” he asked quietly. “And let the patrol car roll by you and crash?”

“Yeah, but Inailedthat jerk,” Katie said, slamming a fist into the palm of her hand. Sammy laughed as he walked away.

“This is how legends are made,” Pono whispered out of the side of his mouth to Lei, and she stifled a smile.

A little comic relief felt good after what they’d seen that morning.

29

LEI

On the flight back,Lei gazed at the ocean below this time, watching for the unmistakable spouts and dark silhouettes of whales. As her gaze scanned the deep blue water flecked with white foam, she ticked over next steps: meet with Captain Omura and update her. Input notes into the case file. Upload her photos to the file. Prepare to give death notification to David Steinbrenner’s widow, Helen, once his identity was confirmed by fingerprint match.

Katie elbowed her. “Did I do okay, boss?”

“You did. I liked how you had memorized Steinbrenner’s height and then measured the body to give us an early ID,” Lei said. “Pono and I need to go out to the west side where he lives and notify his widow, but we need a forensic confirmation first. TG will be taking fingerprints and comparing them to anything Steinbrenner may have on file.”

“Why can’t we just tell her based on his height and build?” Katie said. “I found some newspaper and other photos of Steinbrenner online that confirm he had gray hair and a lean build.”

“Because there are few things more horrible in life than being told your loved one is murdered. Going through that grief and then having it be someone else might be even worse. We always wait until we have forensics confirm. If Steinbrenner doesn’t have fingerprints on file anywhere, we’ll have to get his dental records and compare them to his remaining teeth.”

Katie shuddered theatrically, her eyes comically round behind her purple specs. “Ew. I’m guessing that’s Dr. Gregory’s area.”

“And you’d be right, though we’d have to be the ones to track down the dental records and get them admitted, with a warrant if necessary.”

* * *

An hour later,after the meeting with Omura, Lei and Pono were in their cubicles updating the case file. Lei’s cell phone chirped. Answering it with her Bluetooth, she listened, said “Thanks,” and ended the call. “That was TG, calling from Hana,” she told her partner. “He matched fingerprints, confirming the identity of the victim for certain. David Steinbrenner won’t be coming home.”

Pono rubbed his mustache briskly. “Not a surprise. I’d go with you, but it’s the soccer championship playoffs for our daughter. You think you can handle the death notification alone?”

“Sure. I’ll take Katie instead,” Lei said. “Got to break her in on the fun.” They shared a rueful smile as Lei turned to leave. “Tell Maile to go kick some balls.”

“I’ll quote you on that,” Pono chuckled.

Lei stopped by Stevens’s office on the third floor to let him know she’d be late getting home tonight. He shared a fancy suite with Kathy, Jared’s wife; the two were in charge of recruiting and training new hires.

“All the way to the west side?” Stevens teased. “Be careful on that road, Sweets.”

The road taken by most drivers going to the west side of the island was a two-lane highway that hugged the curves around the southern cliffs of the Lahaina Pali, bordering the ocean for several miles. It offered beautiful but distracting views of beaches, waves, and sunsets, as well as whales in season. While only twenty-five miles from Wailuku to Lahaina, the route could be a slow trip and residents considered it a long journey.

Stevens’s brother Jared still laughed about that, having moved from Los Angeles, where people commuted hours to work, and thought nothing of a fifty-mile drive to shop at a specialty store.

Lei leaned across the desk to plant a kiss on her husband’s lips. “Well, I could go the north way on that tiny road from Waihee.”

Stevens stiffened. “Go the long way, please. It’s safer.” A drive around the north end of the island would be fewer miles to get to Kapalua, but the route clung to the side of a steep cliff with no guardrails in many places and barely one lane in others. Car rental companies routinely told their customers to avoid it.

“I’ll be okay,” Lei said; her silver Tacoma pickup truck had all-wheel drive. “I hate the traffic around the Pali. If there’s an accident the road will be closed for hours. Don’t worry about me, I’ll have Katie for company. Maybe I’ll even be home in time for dinner.”

“I won’t hold my breath,” Stevens said. “Stay safe.”

* * *

More than an hour later,Lei and Katie drove toward the Steinbrenners' estate in the exclusive area of Kapalua on West Maui. Lei had enjoyed the drive with her intern around “the backside” of the island, though the narrow road was just as hazardous as she remembered.

A tall lava rock wall fronted the whole luxe Steinbrenner property, and though Lei hadn’t called ahead, the gate at the driveway was open.

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