Tiki Beach Episode 4: Kat reaches out for comfort

And acts on the suspicious behavior Tiki is showing

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Episode 4:

Kawika reappeared carrying the stack of silken sitting pillows. He opened a large cabinet and stowed them inside on a shelf. “Thanks for all the help with Ms. Pearl,” he said. I told him where Pearl had been taken, and he nodded. “Yes. I’m on her access list, always. I was already notified. I’ll lock up the house. You should change out of that kimono and get home.”

I'd forgotten I was still wearing it. "Thanks. I'll check on Pearl first thing tomorrow."

"We all will." Kawika managed a smile. "At least we know she's getting the best care on Oahu."

I changed quickly in the guest restroom and, when I returned to the kitchen, gathered up Tiki and stowed her in the carrier. Getting her used to that had involved many hours of training, treats, and outright bribery. Curled up on her fuzzy pillow inside, she was now acting perfectly normal—the drama queen.

But my cat might be onto something bigger than any of us realized. We’d soon find out, when those tea samples were analyzed at Maui Police Department.

***

I drove the winding road to Hana in the dark, the air growing thicker with moisture as a light fog rolled in from the sea. Tiki curled up in her carrier in the passenger seat, occasionally letting out a mewing comment as we hit a guava in the road or I took a hairpin turn too fast.

Keone's cottage sat nestled in the shadow of his mother's much larger, sprawling plantation house, where the lights were still blazing. She was probably hosting family, or an impromptu community gathering. Ilima's home was unofficial headquarters for everything from hula practice to area crisis management, and tonight's events would certainly qualify.

But Keone's smaller place, perched beside it on a little knoll overlooking Hana Bay, beckoned with its quieter welcome. A single lamp glowed through the screened lanai, and his mother’s old orange tabby, Mango, dozed on the railing among potted orchids that Ilima insisted on "lending" him.

Tiki had fallen asleep and I didn’t want any hostility to get going between her and Mango, so I cracked the windows of my vehicle and left her inside.

The wooden steps creaked under my feet as I went up them, and sneaked past Mango carrying the baggie of tea leaf samples. The familiar scent of plumeria from the tree that grew on one side of the cottage wafted around us as Keone opened the door before I could knock.

“Hello, Trouble.” He was still in his pilot's uniform, the crisp white shirt unbuttoned to the navel to reveal his rather spectacular chest. That ridiculous shirt with its gold epaulets and navy braid was somehow unwrinkled despite a full day of flying. “Glad you changed your mind about coming over.” His warm brown eyes were gentle as they moved over my frizzing hair and stressed-out face. “Need a hug?”

“Heck yeah.” I loved that he still asked permission, though I’d come a long way from my touch-phobic early days in the relationship. I stepped into his arms and nuzzled his neck with a sigh, then kissed him. He looked, smelled, and felt like pure catnip for this feline lover.

Something I haven’t mentioned yet is that I’m a healthy six foot one in height. So is he, and that’s only one of the reasons that, as a couple, we go together as perfectly as bananas and peanut butter.

"You okay?" He asked at last.

“I am now.”

After several moments of hugging, snogging, and general relationship bliss, I stepped over the threshold into the little cottage. He closed the door behind me and I held up the ziplock bag, trying to ignore how my hand trembled. “I need you to take these tea samples to Lei at MPD tomorrow morning. She’s agreed to have the lab analyze them for us.”

“Done.” He took the plastic bag from me and set it on the nearby table.

Suddenly, a loud yowl made us jump—Tiki made her presence known, even from the car.

“Can I bring her in? She’s been really upset all afternoon,” I said. “I’ll keep her in the carrier so she doesn’t fight with Mango.”

“Of course.” Soon Tiki was inside, fed, watered, and back in her carrier tucked under the table. From there, she rumbled out a purr of satisfaction.

But I frowned as I addressed Keone. "Pearl's like everyone's auntie, you know? If someone hurt her..." I shook my head, rubbing my arms agains the ‘chicken skin’ goosebumps that had risen on them. “I want to know about those tea leaves, but I don’t. You know?”

"Hey." Keone tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my cheek. "Let's get Lei's lab results first. Then we'll figure the rest of it out. Meanwhile, I was about to eat. Have some of my homemade chili and rice. You look like you need a good meal.”

“Trying to get me to spend the night, Mr. K?” I followed him into the kitchen. “Because you already know the way to this woman’s heart is through her stomach.”

"Is it working?" His smile was more of a Cheshire grin as he took down a bowl from a nearby shelf and handed it to me. “Let’s eat.”

From the big house next door’s open garage, someone's ukulele started up, the music distinct through the open window. Several voices joined, singing a familiar local melody. Ilima was leading another impromptu gathering, helping the community process worry the pure Hawaii way.

Once we were done eating, we headed for the shower—together.

Sometimes a girl just needed her pilot, her cat, a roomy shower, and the peace of a small Hawaiian cottage (with live music) by the sea.

***

I was only a little fuzzy and frazzled from a fun-filled (if sleepless) night doing the No Pants Dance with Mr. K when I arrived at work the next morning. Our delivery guy, Chad, had arrived at the P.O. early and was honking the mail truck’s horn as I pulled into the lot at eight a.m. on the dot.

I was rather proud of myself for being able to make yesterday’s clothes smell ok with a laundry freshener sheet in Keone’s dryer.

“It’s time you left a few things here,” Keone had said, and I was still thinking on what he meant by that as Chad and I toted in the usual canvas bags and towering piles of mail-order boxes for sorting. The package delivery revolution had caught Ohia understaffed and unable to keep up most days, but we did the best we could.

My bright purple nitrile-clad hands moved on autopilot, sorting the mail delivery into our few and highly prized postal boxes. The familiar scent of paper, cardboard, and sniff-of-the-day tropical air freshener (today's surprise: guava) felt oddly comforting in their normalcy.

But nothing really felt normal after yesterday’s tea party gone wrong.

Pua Chang, my coworker, came in at nine several mornings a week so I could go off duty a little early. This was time I usually spent private sleuthing for K & K Investigations, my little side hustle with Keone. I’d be out at three p.m. today so I could follow up with all that had unraveled at Pearl’s house yesterday.

According to Kawika, who I’d contacted first thing in the morning (Pearl’s main health contact as her caregiver) she had made it through the night but was still in intensive care and being treated by neurological specialists.

This wasn’t the first time I’d been on tenterhooks (whatever the heck that meant!) about an elderly friend’s health status. So far, Keone and I had weathered serious crises with his mother Ilima (a terrifying stroke, mostly recovered) and Edith (heart episode, full recovery) and Opal’s husband Artie Pahinui (diabetes, partial recovery.) Maybe that’s what came of having friends in the over-seventy age bracket, but it didn’t mean I was ever going to like that aspect.

I replayed yesterday's tea ceremony in my head as I took a break from envelopes to stack boxes and fill out matching call slips for them.

Had Pearl seemed different? Worried about anything? No. Far from it. She’d been excited and a little mysterious, but that went with her theatrical side.

But maybe the stress was what had caused her collapse. Maybe the tea just smelled wrong to Tiki. How embarrassing if the lab at MPD turned nothing up from my samples! I’d never live it down. I could hear Lei teasing me now. “Remember the time Kat brought in those tea leaves her crazy feral feline decided she didn’t like?”

I cringed at this possible future outcome. “You better not be wrong about those tea leaves, Tiki,” I muttered. “My butt is on the line here.”

The back door bell chimed precisely at 9:00.

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