Tiki Beach, Episode 10: An unwelcome surprise

And Ilima meets her match in wills

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Episode 10:

Kawika led us down a short hallway lined with more photographs—Pearl with various dignitaries through the decades, Pearl receiving community service awards, Pearl standing proudly before her school when she was still teaching. Through it all, she’s never let her spinal injury keep her down.

The final photo showed a much younger Pearl, dressed in traditional costume, beside a handsome Japanese man, also in vintage cultural fashion. He had to be her husband, who had died decades ago.

The office was a small but well-organized space, dominated by a beautiful koa wood desk positioned to face a window overlooking the garden. Bookshelves lined one wall, filled with volumes on Hawaiian history, Japanese culture, and botanical references.

"The box should be in her desk drawer," Ilima said, moving toward the desk with purpose. “Pearl showed me where she kept it.”

Kawika hung back in the doorway, his expression troubled. "I should mention—someone was in here looking for something."

We all froze and stared at him.