Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Mia Ryan stared at the screen in front of her. The numbers didn’t make sense. Thinking maybe she was just tired and not seeing things correctly, she rubbed her eyes, to no avail. Half the previous night had been spent tinkering with her shower before finally getting it to work but she’d soaked herself in the process. She was running on little sleep and limited food. The three stops before this one, the last one on her docket for today, had all turned up accounting issues that she’d had to take extra time to solve so she’d been late coming to Lono’s Coffee House.
Mia opened her eyes again and stared at the screen. Nothing had changed. The numbers on the spreadsheet remained the same, goading her into questioning her own sanity. There was no way the line items could be this far off the mark. It had to be a typo somewhere or maybe even a lot of typos. Errors she knew she hadn’t made.
Scrolling back to the top of the sheet, Mia started down the columns of numbers one more time. She’d already double-checked the figures once, but she was willing to give it another try. Maybe she was just seeing things. Never hurts to triple-check things. And wasn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing something again and again and hoping for a different outcome?
Ten minutes later, her heart hammered against her ribcage. Mia leaned back in the chair and stared open-mouthed at the screen. She wasn’t wrong. The numbers weren’t wrong. Lono’s Coffee House was broke. More than broke. With these numbers, it was going under. But how could they be so different from last month? Numbers were her jam, and there was no scenario in which she could have been this far off.
Mia clicked on the screen and brought up last month’s spreadsheet. Staring at the screen, her mouth dropped open again as all the air left her lungs. “No…” these were not the numbers from last month. They couldn’t be. She’d balanced the books last month and Lono’s had made a healthy profit. Where had that almost ten percent growth gone? These numbers said the coffee house was…bankrupt. There wasn’t enough money in the accounts to pay the baristas salaries.
She frantically clicked back for several months. All these numbers were wrong. An unnerving queasiness rose in her stomach. No, not wrong. The numbers were right. But they were different to what she’d been shown. A thought suddenly dawned; this was a different set, a second set, of books. Akela, the owner of Lono’s was cooking the books. Mia’s stomach churned. She wanted to puke. Hiding the real numbers on these spread sheets while showing Mia something else entirely. But why bother? Obviously, she had someone doing her real books so why hire Mia at all?
Mia’s head spun. Akela was using Mia to legitimize the business. Mia had a good rep as the island’s go-to accountant for small businesses. Businesses sought her out to do their books. If Mia was working on the accounts then they couldn’t be falsified. Mia, as Akela’s accountant, helped keep up the front that the client wasn’t doing anything shady.
She stared at the screen as she contemplated her friendship with Akela Kahue. They’d come up together in the surfing world. Both had turned pro the same year, but then Mia blew out her knee. Akela had gone on to win some competitions. They hadn’t run into each other again until a couple of years ago, but the bonds formed during their teen years were strong. Especially since Mia had lost her parents.
Stunned, Mia just couldn’t accept this. Why would Akela do this? It certainly explained why she’d been so jumpy and out of sorts for the last while.
A bang against the shared wall with the front end of the shop brought her back to her current situation with a thump. The queasy sensation hadn’t eased, and now she broke out in a sweat. Mia wasn’t even supposed to be here at this moment. Thanks to all the other stuff she’d come across in her other clients’ books, she was running late. She should’ve been at Lono’s Coffee House a couple of hours ago. Instead, she’d walked in late and come right back to the office by herself. The computer was already up and running and didn’t require a password, so Mia had just opened the file. Or, rather, what she thought was the file. She glanced now at the name and realized it was slightly different from the file she usually worked on. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled.
Clicking the other file, her usual spreadsheet opened in front of her. Okay, these were the numbers she was used to working with. She bit her lip. This was a huge problem. That would teach her to worry about her plumbing. Now leaky pipes seemed like the least of her worries.
Another thump made Mia jump. “Shit,” she mumbled as she quickly went through the fake spreadsheet. She wasn’t ready to confront her friend just yet, if ever. The repercussions could be severe, even to the extent of jeopardizing Mia’s reputation. She needed time to play the whole thing out in her mind. Pulling a thumb drive out of her bag, she quickly stuck it in the computer and copied the alternate files. Were these the real numbers? Shaking her head, she dropped the small drive into her pocket and closed the file just as the door to the office burst open.
“Mia!” Akela Kahue stared at her friend in surprise. “When did you get here?” Her gaze quickly lit on the computer and then back to Mia.
That was all the confirmation she needed. The panic in her friend’s eyes make Mia’s stomach drop. She’d known Akela for way too many years not to recognize the look for what it was.
Guilt.
Deflect and deny were the two words at the top of her head. “A little bit ago. You weren’t around so I just came back here and got to work.” Mia gathered her things. “I’m finished, actually,” she said, standing up. “Everything looks great.” She prayed that the hollow feeling roiling her stomach wasn’t written across her face. “Any big plans for the weekend?” Anything to distract from the situation.
Akela glanced at the computer once again and frowned. “This weekend? No. No big plans. My little brother has football practice, so I need to take him to that.”
“How is Kai doing? Is his knee on the mend?” Mia came out from around the desk and started toward the door.
“He’s doing much better. The surgery was a success and he’s excited to be back on the field.” Akela’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Mia knew she was being watched closely for any sign that she had a clue about what was going on. Her grip on her bag slipped a bit, thanks to her sweaty palms.
“What about you?” Akela asked. “Any big plans?”
Mia snorted. “I spent last night fixing my shower. Tonight, I have a date with my washing machine, and I will probably spend all day tomorrow catching up on chores. I’m hoping to get over to Ohana’s and hang with the girls at some point, but I’ll have to see how it goes. You should join us.”
Akela gave a small nod. “That sounds like fun. I heard Moana is back in town.”
“Yes,” Mia said in an overly bright voice. “She was singing at Ohana’s last night, but I had to miss it.” She gave a small shrug. “The whole shower thing. Oh, the joys of home ownership, right?” She needed to get out of there before Akela got suspicious. “Anyway, gotta go. You know what Friday night traffic is like. I want to stop and pick up a pizza on the way home. I’ll text you if we get together at Ohana’s. Otherwise, I’ll see you next month.” She offered Akela a smile and brushed past the other woman.
“Yeah, see you.”
“Good luck to your brother this season,” Mia called as she left the office and walked rapidly toward the shop’s front door. Her heartbeat pulsed in her ears, and her palms were slick with sweat. She hit the door and was across the parking lot like a shot. Five minutes later she was steering out of the lot and heading home. Mia decided to order pizza once she got there and have it delivered. She didn’t think her knees would hold her any longer.
Thirty minutes later, she pulled into her driveway, turned off her car, and rested her head on the steering wheel, breathing steadily and trying to control her rapid pulse.
What the hell was she going to do? She didn’t want to cause trouble for Akela, but she wanted no part in whatever mess the other woman was wrapped up in.
She cast about in her mind for solutions but came up with nothing. Emery was working this weekend at Ohana’s. Should she ask her some hypothetical questions? As a cop, Emery would know how much trouble Mia might be in. But on the other hand, if she asked then she would be dragging another friend into this mess, and she didn’t want to do that. Besides, Emery would probably go arrest Akela. She was kind of a stickler as far as rules went, a trait Mia had always admired.
Mia hauled her butt out of the car and made her way inside her little house. She closed the door and leaned her back against it. The house was small and needed tons of repairs, but it always made Mia feel so proud when she walked through the door. This house was hers. Hers. Nothing brought her more joy.
She set her bag on the floor by the side table as she looked around the main living space. She’d decorated in a beachy vibe, so the furniture was white with throw pillows of varying shades of blue. The floor was a light wood and so were the coffee table and matching end tables. The space was a small but comfortable and it smelled like the flowers she’d cut this morning from the tiny back garden.
After changing her dress slacks and brightly colored gauzy blouse that made up her typical work attire for a pair of board shorts and a tank top, she went back out to the kitchen and placed an order for a veggie pizza. She had a craving for a large glass of wine and grabbed the stemless goblet to pour herself a generous serving. Hooking her foot around the leg of a stool, she hauled it away from the island that separated the kitchen from the living room. Letting out a long breath, she dropped onto the cushioned seat and took a sip of crisp cool wine. That was much better.
She tried to relax but her mind kept going back to what was on the thumb drive. How long had all this been going on? Was Akela okay? Why the hell would she get involved in this type of thing? She was a straight shooter, or at least she had been during their surfing days.
“Shit,” Mia mumbled as she went to her bag and retrieved the thumb drive. She unplugged her laptop and picked it up from the coffee table and then set it down again on the island. She resituated herself on the stool and opened the screen. No answers would come until she knew more details. Mia knew it was stupid to keep looking at the information, but she just couldn’t help herself. Curiosity was killing her.
Pulling up the files, Mia took a bracing sip of her wine and then dove in. She went back month by month to see where everything went wrong. Ten months ago. Lono’s Coffee was making money, and then eight months ago, something happened. Her friend had started taking out massive amounts of cash, way more than was coming in. “Why in the hell would you do that, Akela?” Mia murmured.
A knock at the door made her jump. Pizza. “About time.” She was starving. Closing her laptop, she hopped off the stool, went over to the door, and opened it. Akela stood on her front step.
“Oh…I was expecting a pizza delivery. What are you doing here?” Mia tried not to panic. Be calm . This was her friend. She’d known Akela since they were teenagers. No need to worry.
“You saw it didn’t you?” Akela demanded.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play innocent with me. I know you saw it.”
Mia frowned. “Akela, I…” she stopped speaking as the pizza delivery guy pulled into her driveway. “Why don’t you come in? Do you want some pizza?” Not that she wanted Akela to come into her home, her refuge, but what choice did she have?
Akela came in and moved out of the way. Mia dealt with the pizza guy and then went to the kitchen and got down a couple of plates.
“I don’t want pizza. I want the truth,” Akela demanded.
Mia set a slice of warm gooey cheese pizza on one plate. She tried to remain calm, but suddenly, she found herself angry. Exhaustion crept up on her and although she knew she should keep her mouth shut, she just didn’t have the patience any longer to deal with this bullshit, friendship aside.
She met Akela’s gaze. “Yeah, I saw it. You’re cooking your books and using me to make them look good. Thanks for that,” Mia snarled.
Akela pointed at her. “You shouldn’t have been poking around where you don’t belong.”
“Bullshit. You hired me to do your books. That’s what I did. Not my fault you’re crooked. You named the spreadsheet almost the same damn name. How was I supposed to know? You can’t blame any of this shit on me. This is all you, right down to the fake receipts and invoices you provided.”
All the color drained from Akela’s face and she burst into tears.
Mia stared. “Shit.” She plopped her plate on the counter, and then went and hugged her friend. “It’s okay,” she muttered.
This situation was a lot of things but okay wasn’t one of them. She had no idea how to help her friend fix this, but Mia knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
Akela stepped back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Mia reached over and grabbed a paper towel, then handed it to her. “Here. Sit and tell me what happened. How did you get into this mess?”
Akela sat on a stool and Mia took the one beside her. She reached for her plate and then took a bite of pizza while she waited for the other woman to stop sniffling. No point in not eating while it was hot. Mostly, she thought it was a good idea to have her mouth full so she didn’t yell at Akela for being fucking stupid and falsifying her business records. God, was this a felony or a misdemeanor? Didn’t matter. There was never a legitimate reason to create two sets of records. But Mia figured Akela must think she had a good reason.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Akela gave her a rueful smile. “I would be thinking it, too, if I were you. How could I do something so stupid?”
Mia tried to keep her face neutral, but she could tell by the look on Akela’s face that she wasn’t so successful. She bit off another large mouthful of her slice.
“Yeah, well it didn’t start off like this.” She played with the paper towel. “Kai needed surgery. The café was doing okay. You know what I mean. Doing okay enough to support us but not doing well enough to do anything crazy. Kai’s surgery was insanely expensive, but the doctor said it was necessary. I scraped together all I had but it wasn’t going to be enough, not to mention Kai and I needed to eat.” She let out a long sigh. “Bobby Kamaka came to see me.”
Mia froze. That was a name she never wanted to hear again. Her heart rate escalated, making it hard to draw a full breath. The pizza solidified into a rock in her gut. She tried to swallow the bite she had in her mouth, but it had turned to sawdust. She set the slice down, trying not to choke. This situation called for a healthy dose of liquid courage. Hopping off the stool, she hurried to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of wine, then a second glass, filled it generously, then refilled her own. She came back around the counter and sat down handing one to Akela.
“So, you know him then,” the other woman said as she studied Mia over the rim of her glass and then took a large gulp of her wine.
“Yeah,” Mia croaked out and then followed suit. “You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”
Akela nodded. “Bobby follows high school sports, and he knew Kai had…has talent. He also knew we weren’t in the best financial shape. He said if I let him use my basement at the store to host a few poker games, then he’d help me out with the surgery.”
Mia closed her eyes. She knew where this was going. “Fucking Bobby Kamaka is a pimple on the butt of a donkey.”
“Yup” Akela agreed. She rubbed her face. “It seemed like a small thing and I really needed the money. Kai…Kai was devastated about his knee. He’d always thought he would make the NFL. His dreams were shattered and I…I just didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’d have to wait about the surgery, that his season was over. Since our mom left, there’s only the two of us. I couldn’t be the one who killed his dream. He worked so hard for it.”
“So you said yes.” Mia sighed. Saying yes to Bobby was akin to opening the door to the devil.
“At first, it was just as he’d said. He held games in my basement a couple times a week, and he paid me a fee. By the time the surgery came around, I had enough to cover it.” Akela took another gulp of wine. “Kai came through with flying colors, which was great, but what I hadn’t counted on was the physical therapy he’d need to get back on the field. I mean, I knew he’d need therapy, but in order to play football again, he’d need twice as much. I…I just didn’t have the money and had no way to get it. I’d already begged, borrowed, or stolen everything I could.”
Mia’s stomach rolled. “What did Bobby do?”
Akela slumped in her chair. “He held more games in the basement. Then he wanted me to cater other games for him. He paid me double for the catering and gave me extra for the games, but it still wasn’t enough and I started getting nervous. Bobby kept coming into the café demanding I do more catering or close early so he could host a longer game. I finally told him no more. I wasn’t doing anything else. I wanted him gone. Kai was just going to have to take the extra time to get back on the field.”
Mia didn’t want to ask. Knowing Bobby and how he was, the answer was going to be rough. Finally, she said in a quiet voice, “What did he do?”
Akela started crying again. “He grabbed Kai and had two goons bring him to the café after it closed. She choked back a sob. “One of the guys held a baseball bat to Kai’s knee and Bobby said if I didn’t do exactly as he wanted, he would smash Kai’s other knee so he could never play football again and then he grabbed me, and said he might not stop there.”
“He threatened to rape you?”
She shrugged but wiped her face on the paper towel. “Not in so many words but his meaning was clear.” She chugged more of her wine. “He claimed he had people working in the police department, so if I reported him he’d know. Then he threatened to hurt Emery. He knew that I knew her, and he said if I went to her, he’d make sure to take her out.”
Mia reached over and hugged the other woman. “Oh, Akela, I am so, so sorry.” This was awful. Worse than awful. This was hell and there was no way out. Mia straightened. “I can guess the rest. That’s when he started to run the gambling money through the café’s books.”
Akela nodded. “He ran off a lot of my regulars by just hanging out. Everyone knows he’s bad news. No one wants to be around him.” She let out a shuddering breath. “Mia, he said he’d take me down with him if I did anything to put him in jail. I had supplied my place to be used for gambling, which is illegal in Hawaii, and now he’s cooking my books or, his accountant is.”
Mia didn’t think it was possible, but she felt worse. “Who is the accountant?” she asked dread filling every cell of her being.
“Donny Nakamura”
“Oh my God.” Mia thought for a moment she might actually be ill. The room swam. She took a deep breath and held it for a minute until everything righted itself and then she let it out.
Akela stared at her. “Your turn. How do you know Bobby and Donny?”
Opening her mouth was straight-up difficult. The whole nightmare had been in her rearview mirror for two years now and talking about it was going to bring it all back into focus, as if it had actually ever truly receded. Akela’s situation had brought the horror all the way back again and landed on her chest with both damn feet. She hated Bobby Kamaka and Donny Nakamura with a fierceness that scared her.
“I am pretty sure they killed my parents.”