O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series #5) by JoAnn Bassett

to tell you is we’re staying another day.  Ono says the weather
report looks gnarly and he doesn’t want to take the chance. He says if it was
just him, he’d probably go for it, but since I’m with him he wants to be extra
careful. Isn’t that cool?”
    “Very cool. But you can’t keep your room at the Royal
Hawaiian, can you?”
    “No, but we’re
not staying there anyway.”
    Since this was
old news, I let it slide.
    “We’re comfy
cozy down here in the Ala Wai Harbor,” she said, answering the question I hadn’t asked.
    “Good. Well,
let me know if you have time to see Jeff before he leaves. You said you wanted
to see him and he wants to see you, too. But if you and Ono are too busy, I’m
sure he’ll understand.” The guilt trip was the green monkey’s idea, not mine.
    “Oh, yeah. I so want to see him! Can we maybe have, like,
lunch tomorrow?”
    “I’ve got to go
to tea at two with my half-sibs, but maybe you could have lunch with Jeff
without me.”
    I looked over
at Jeff and he nodded.
    “Groovy. I’ll
tell Ono. He knows all the good places. Tell Jeff we’ll call him by ten to set
up a time and place.” I gave her Jeff’s cell number and we signed off.
    “I can’t
believe those two,” I said.
    The elevator
dinged and we got in. I punched the button for the penthouse and Jeff sniffed
the air like a dog catching a whiff of kalua pig.
    “What are you
doing?” I said.
    “Thought I
smelled monkey,” he said. “Pretty strong, too.”
    “Oh stop it.
But I wish she’d just be straight with me about what’s going on. I mean, the
old ‘can’t go home because of bad weather’ is completely lame. I checked before
we left and the weather’s going to be perfect for the rest of the week.”
    “Yeah, well,
one thing I’ve learned from being a scientist is things change. No matter how
solid things seem or how many opinions say otherwise, it can all go south in a
heartbeat.”
     
     
    CHAPTER 9
     
    As expected,
Monday morning dawned bright and clear, without a cloud in sight. At about
seven-thirty, Jeff and I drove up to Leonard’s Bakery on Kapalulu Avenue for fresh malasadas. Malasadas are described as Portuguese doughnuts but
Leonard’s are about a million times better than any doughnut out there, and
that even includes fresh Krispy Kremes . Leonard’s
filled malasadas have a center of the creamiest custard and every two months
they offer a different flavor. The September flavor was lilikoi ,
or passion fruit. My favorite. We got in line and Jeff
ordered a half-dozen, some with filling and some without. We got a couple of
coffees to go and went outside to sit on a bench out front. We averted our eyes
from the people in line who stared longingly as we stuffed still-hot malasadas
into our mouths and then licked our fingers clean.
    “These are even
better than I remember,” Jeff said with his mouth full.
    “I know. We
practically lived on these things when I was in college,” I said.
    After we’d each
polished off a cream-filled malasada and had started on seconds, an unshaven,
rather pungent man with a banged-up shopping cart brimming with personal
belongings sidled up to us. “ Aloha . You gonna finish that?” he said, pointing to Jeff.
    I looked down.
Jeff had placed his half-eaten malasada on the lid of the bakery box while he
took a sip of coffee.
    “Uh, I don’t
know. Jeff?”
    Jeff picked up
what was left of the malasada and looked at the guy. “You want this?”
    “Yeah. I haven’t had much to eat today.”
    “Well, it’s
still early,” said Jeff. He shot me a grin but I was too uncomfortable with the
situation to acknowledge it.
    “You know,
we’re just about through here,” said Jeff. “Why don’t you take the rest of
these?” He handed the guy the pink box.
    “ Mahalo ,” said the guy. “You got napkins in there? I
don’t like to get no sticky stuff on my hands.”
    I ran into the store
and grabbed a wad of napkins. The guy took the box and