Blood Orchids by Toby Neal Read Free Book Online Page A

girls’ injuries appear to be postmortem. The lab matched blood on the rag to Haunani Pohakoa. It doesn’t seem like there was much of a struggle, so hopefully they didn’t suffer.”
    “I guess that’s something.” Her stomach churned at the images that flashed through her brain. She took a relaxation breath.
    “I’ve seen a lot more of this kind of thing in LA. I told the DA my opinion on the case, which is that I don’t think the murder part of it was premeditated. I think he had his fun, and then decided they could ID him and he put them in the stream so he wouldn’t have to deal with it.”
    “What were they doing out at that campsite anyway?”
    “Got a theory. The one girl, Haunani Pohakoa, had a pretty regular pot habit.”
    “I know. That’s how I met her, picking her up for possession.”
    “Well we’ve started interviewing the kids she hung out with. Some of them said Haunani was getting Kelly into drugs. I think both girls were troubled, experimenting. But something fishy was going on with Kelly and her stepdad.”
    “How do you know?”
    “He wouldn’t say squat when we brought him in for another interview after you picked up the trash. He stonewalled with his lawyer, acted hinky. When we canvassed the neighbors they reported late-night fighting between Kelly and the parents, and Kelly ran away overnight more than once this last year. Before the mom married the new guy, Kelly used to be a happy, normal kid.”
    Lei struggled to focus on the present moment, taking a couple relaxation breaths, tightening her fist in her lap so the nails dug in, the pain anchoring her.
    I need to pay attention, she told herself. I need to stay with this.
    His words vibrated through her. She closed her eyes and it got worse: she saw the looming black of expanding pupils, felt herself slipping away to the place she went when things got bad.
    Stevens was patting her shoulder and Keiki was growling, a distant thunder, as she blinked, the room regathering itself around her.
    “What happened?” He frowned. “You okay?”
    “Sorry, I got distracted,” she said. She squeezed her fist. The pain answered, and her body was hers again.
    “It was more than that. Did you hear what I said? You were totally out of it there for a minute.”
    “Sure,” she said, racking her brain for what they’d been discussing. “Which part?”
    “The part about the girls meeting some older guy to go out,” Stevens prompted.
    “Right,” Lei said. She knew she was missing information. I can’t remember what he said that made me black out. What if it was important to the case? Her brain skittered around, but it remained a blank from when he had said Haunani had a pot habit. She would just have to look for clues, managing and hiding the “lost” moment as she had for years
    “Anyway, it looks like there’s some substance to that idea,” Stevens went on. “Haunani stopped buying from her regular dealer and started flashing some bling, a new cell phone, stuff like that. She told her friends she had a ‘secret admirer’ and he was taking care of everything she needed.”
    “Why would he need to drug her then? Was it for a threesome with Kelly?”
    “I don’t know. But there’s that witness in her neighborhood who talked about her being dropped off from a Toyota truck, and a student who saw her get picked up after school one day in a black Toyota truck. That’s the lead I want you to run down: possible sugar daddies with black Toyotas.”
    “Great,” Lei groaned. “You know how many black Toyota trucks we have in Hilo?”
    “Yeah, I know. Why do you think I’m here on a Saturday, eating crow and roping you in on this thing?”
    “Okay,” Lei said, not about to argue with this chance to help. “What else should I be looking for?”
    “We’ve consulted Dr. Wilson, the police psychologist, for a profile on the type of guy Haunani would be with. She’s thinking someone twenties- to mid-thirties, probably single, with a