Vacations Can Be Murder: The Second Charlie Parker Mystery by Connie Shelton Page B

airplane. We execute a procedure called autorotation. As long as
we have a reasonably flat open space it’s not difficult to make a
safe landing. And you can bet I practice it with every new aircraft
I get into.”
    He spoke offhandedly enough that I felt at
ease. Obviously, he knew what he was doing. The conversation turned
back to Mack and his problems while we finished the last of our
coffee.
    The sun was fully up when we emerged from the
Tip Top. Traffic rushed by, cars in a big hurry to carry their
owners to work. Drake guided his truck down Akahi Street, made two
or three short turns and pulled in at the police station. The
yellowed cinderblock structure looked just the same as the last
time I’d visited—was it really less than twenty-four hours ago?—but
there were very few cars in the lot and no women waiting on the
front steps.
    An hour later, we had Mack out on bond, and
were seated in his office. Although I had only met him briefly two
days before, he looked ten years older than I remembered. The
fluorescent office lighting cast a harsh glare on his face,
accentuating an underlying grayness in his skin. The furrows
between his brows had grown deeper and the outer corners of the
brown eyes drooped downward in resignation.
    The man was worried.
    He was clearly in no shape to fly tours, so
Drake offered to take the first one of the day. Melanie would
rearrange the rest of the day's schedule.
    Drake left to preflight the aircraft, and I
decided I better get to know everything I could about Mack Garvey.
Naturally, my first question was whether he even wanted my help. I
wanted to think that I could easily walk out, and spend the rest of
my week guilt free on the beach, but I still seem to have a soft
spot for a guy who's getting an unfair shake.
    "Drake seems to have a lot of faith in you,"
he told me wearily. "And it's a safe bet that Akito won't be
looking to clear me. He's already puffed up thinking he's solved
the case."
    "But, Mack, without evidence they won't get a
conviction. A decent lawyer would have you off in no time."
    "Yeah. That sounds good in theory, but there
are a few things you don't understand about life in the islands.
There's a good-old-boy system here that rivals anything I've ever
seen. If your last name isn't Fujimoto or Nakamura or ... well you
get the idea, then you ain't in.
    “A white boy like me, a haole, is a
foreigner. Doesn't matter that I've been here ten years, I'm still
the newcomer. Finding an attorney that would really go to bat for
me will be tough. Drake told me a little about your background. I'd
really appreciate anything you could do for me. I'll be glad to pay
you, reimburse your expenses, whatever."
    "I'm doing this as a favor to Drake," I told
him, trying to ignore his obvious prejudices. "Although you might
rather hire yourself a local investigator, someone who knows the
situation here better than I do."
    He sighed deeply. "That's about the same as
hiring a local attorney. There's only one PI firm here on the
island, and the guy is in really tight with Akito. No way he'd save
my skin.
    "Besides that, Charlie, no matter what the
verdict, just going to trial will cost me my business. Word gets
around. I'll lose all the contacts I've carefully built, those who
send customers my way. I can't afford not to be out there
flying."
    His voice cracked, and I stared down at my
fingers. The poor guy really was desperate.
    "Okay, then, let's get down to business. Tell
me everything the police have. Then tell me everything you know
that the police don't know yet." I had the distinct feeling there
was more to this story than Drake comprehended.
    Mack buzzed Melanie on the intercom, and
asked her to bring us coffee. He closed his door softly behind her
after she brought the two cups. I stirred two lumps of sugar into
mine, giving him a few moments to put his thoughts together.
    "The police believe the body was dropped from
a helicopter, because of the remote location. It was too far