HE AIN’T HEAVY
It was one of the very few meetings that Boy took by himself and without the counsel of his uncles and aunt present. It’s because this wasn’t that kind of meeting, it was something of a more personal matter that no one could be a part of. It was Aunty Rita who was able to locate the nameless assassin and bring him to the office, he wasn’t hard to find because he always made it a point to blend into the scenery at the most public places.
Besides, who sits off by themselves while dressed in black at the Mai Tai Bar? All aunty Rita did was give the stranger Boys business card which was plain white with an embossed phone number and address on it. On the back of the business card was written a time, which is when the stranger made himself present. Written below the time was a word, “Energumen” which the stranger figured to be a password by which he would be allowed to enter. Standing at the downstairs door was the massively built guard who recognized the stranger, “We’ve crossed paths before, but not directly,” Kealoha remarked.
“Energumen,” the stranger said, giving the password in a hushed tone, after which the guard opened the unremarkable door and let the stranger enter. The bird cage elevator let him out on the second floor, the place was empty and quiet and the stranger could hear his own footfalls.
“In here,” he heard the voice echo from within the confines of the office and found Boy sitting behind his large koa wood desk. “Sit,” Boy offered the chair in front of his desk, the stranger wasn’t at all nervous but he never thought that he would ever see the interior of the infamous and legendary office.
“This is where it all happens huh?” The stranger mused as he looked around.
“Yeah,” Boy confirmed. “So, we have a problem; Detective Roy Wong. You took out his benefactor or meal ticket or whatever you want to call it.”
“Who would that be?” The stranger was genuinely curious.
“Edmond Poli, the Hawaiian mob boss who went legit but not really. For a large fee Detective Wong made sure that HPD stayed out of Edmond Poli’s way, but when you killed him, Wong came here looking for answers.” Boy looked directly into the stranger's eyes and the stranger understood.
“Somebody gave you up?” The stranger asked point blank.
“Yes, but we have remedied that situation.” Boy leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Your contract was on Poli’s accountant, which you took out, but you ended up killing Poli as well.”
“Moral ambiguity,” the stranger shrugged. “The accountant had a wife who was pregnant, I wanted to help him but I made the mistake of thinking that even though I had a piece pointed at him that he’d be cool, but he wasn’t. He made a scene and I had to take care of him quick, he put me in a tough spot, I had no choice.”
“And the money Poli gave you?” Boy asked directly.
“Put it in a made up savings that the accountant's wife can draw off of whenever she needs it,” the stranger shrugged his shoulders and thought nothing of it. “I helped move her out of state.”
“How much is there to draw off of?” Boy was curious but he already knew the answer.
“Ten million,” the stranger stated as he held up ten fingers to Boy.
“So, why kill Poli in the end?” Boy needed to hear the answer himself even though he had it already figured out once the stranger mentioned moral ambiguity.
“He was clean on paper but he was really overseeing the human trafficking coming in and out of the docks. Besides, his old accountant got a picture text from his wife, it was her pregnancy test. It was blue.” The stranger sighed.
“You’ve gotta keep things a lot tighter than before, change your routine, the places you go to you know? I’m pretty sure that Emond Poli had a list of HPD people that were in his pocket. Detective Roy Wong might have just been the cream on the top, this probably goes a lot deeper.” Boy said.
“Alright,” the stranger replied.
“How are you handling the ghosts?” Boy asked out of concern for the strangers mental well being.
“Comes with the job, how are you handling yours?” the stranger got up from his chair the same time as Boy did and they exchanged a handshake and a hug.
“Be expecting a package in a few days,” Boy called out after him, the stranger just raised his hand in a gesture of acknowledgment.
….………
1989
Hau’ula
Victoria stood outside the Kealoha home and waited for Uncle Ivan to come out. It was the night of Kane and the air was deathly still but in contrast, the stars were brighter than they had ever been. She took in a deep breath and inhaled the aroma of thick lipoa in the air as it came up the road from the ocean. The smell brought back memories of the nights that she and Kahi would spend sitting on a thick blanket on the beach, talking about everything and nothing. That’s when she knew that her love for Kahi was unbreakable and that she would never leave his side, she remembers that night that he made her promise not to go before he did, “I could never live in this world if you were not in it, promise you won’t go before me?”
She promised and she held on to Kahi until she cried, afterward they walked back to the old house in Ka’u where they lay down to make love. Her memory was interrupted by the sudden presence of her uncle Ivan.
“Boy is learning the chants even as we speak, Tiny is really a good teacher,” Ivan said to Victoria.
“Uncle, when the time comes, when you feel it’s pono, you tell Boy that when I gave birth to him that there were two, there was Boy and his brother. Because of the craziness with Vernon during that time Kahi and I felt that it was a matter of safety that no one ever knows about this second child. He was taken by an aunt of ours and raised on ‘O’ahu and it was instructed that he grow up never knowing who he was. I always had a feeling that no matter how much I tried to lead Boy to a normal life, that this was going to be his path, and it is.………….it came true. It came true at the cost of his father’s life, but what I go to do tonight is for myself and for Kahi. I promised my husband that I would never go before him, but I never said anything about not joining him after.” Victoria’s eyes glowed with a hot revenge that was destined to burn the life of Vernon Holokauahi, or take it. It was clear that Victoria did not expect to return alive, she swore her uncle Ivan to a pledge. “When the time comes, Boy will piece everything together and figure it out, after that is all said and done, you can tell Boy everything.”
….………
Today
Ivan watched from up the street as the stranger left the door of the office and headed around the corner to where his car was parked. A short moment later a BMW 840 emerged from the driveway and on to Beretania street with the stranger behind the wheel. “Looks like it happened sooner than we all expected Victoria,” Ivan said to himself. “Should we tell him or let him come to his own finding?”
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