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  “Let’s get a closer look at the surf and see if we can find a more secluded spot so you can take advantage of me,” she teased. Wolf grinned.

  “Let’s go!”

  They ventured down the steep stairs, using Caroline’s cell phone for a flashlight to navigate the sharp staircase and the sometimes sharp black rocks that sat near the silver surf.

  Even though Carl’s Cove was dark, the blood moon shone down, offering beams of light. Following the path lit by the moon it was easier for them to stroll along the beach rather than navigate the sharper rocks.

  They were able to find a copse of trees nearer to a picnic area which was secluded. No one seemed to be around for miles.

  “This is perfect!” Said Caroline, grabbing Matthew’s hand and pulling him toward the cloistered cluster. She leaned against the inside area of the trees that provided plenty of privacy and unbuttoned her shirt. She didn’t have on a bra. Wolf looked on while she opened it, inviting his warm hands inside.

  “I feel so naughty!” Caroline exclaimed. Quite shy, she’d never been the promiscuous type. But here, on a secluded beach with her husband, she found herself feeling rather amorous.

  Wolf cupped her left breast and began caressing her right nipple with his mouth. She gasped at the warmness of his tongue. Stroking her neck with his strong fingers, he brought his lips down on hers. Their tongues danced until they brought themselves to the edge of ecstasy before stopping. Not wanting to get caught with their pants down in case someone did come to this side of the beach, they both decided they’d finish making love in their hotel suite.

  “I’ll have you all to myself at the hotel—so I’m planning to do a little strip tease for you—you can pretend to be my secret lover I came on vacation to see.”

  “Sounds sexy. I can’t wait.” Matthew said to Caroline.

  “Before we leave though, let’s check out the abandoned sugar mill ruins the driver told us about. I want to see if I can take some pictures of it in the moonlight.”

  The couple made their way about one half mile along the surf and beyond the cluster of trees to the abandoned building. The blood moon shone down along a sliver of the building giving Caroline a chance to take some cool pictures of the shack. While she was clicking away, Wolf found litter someone had left along the beach.

  “I’m going back to that trash can we saw to throw this away before it gets pulled out by the surf.”

  “Ok, I’m going to get a little closer to take some more pics.” Caroline made her way toward the empty building while Wolf went off toward that garbage can.

  In the glow of the moonlight, Caroline glimpsed something shiny. It glimmered like a jewel. She walked toward it, thinking it might be a shell or something fun to take a picture of. It lay near the shack’s opening.

  She almost turned and left when she heard something that sounded like a thud. She didn’t think through running into some indigenous animal. She’d heard about the infamous hoary bat. She wouldn’t relish coming upon a nest of bats—birds—or anything that might be hiding out in the shack. But the glimmering of the object made her hesitate.

  She inched closer. The closer she got, the easier it was to make out. It looked like part of a shoe. A woman’s shoe. Was that a woman’s leg?

  “Hello? Are you all right?” Caroline said cautiously. She’d be the first to hesitate to interrupt two lovers looking for seclusion in the abandoned building, but something told her this wasn’t the case. The leg was too still. She inched further. Using her phone as a flashlight, Caroline gasped when she saw the woman’s gunshot wound. She let out a blood curdling scream.

  She turned toward the direction she knew her husband would be coming. “Matthew!” she cried out.

  A sudden force rushed out of the darkness, grabbing her arms and knocking her off balance. With the help of the light from her phone, she eyed two strong, veiny hands heaving her out of the way, causing her to tumble over. The figure bolted toward the back of the shack.

  ~ Chapter 4 ~

  Michael “Gage” Sheldon pulled his pants over his defined thighs. He buttoned his shirt over his chiseled Hershey-brown chocolate chest. The tall detective sighed then splayed his fingers through his thick, sepia-colored curls. A midnight appointment with a corpse was one he could always pass up.

  He had been on the force for almost eight years but still hated processing death scenes. There was never a good reason for murder. He’d moved back to Hawaii after twelve years as a Navy SEAL in San Diego. He’d been on too many missions where killings, military coups and untold violence were as common as palm trees on Hilo. He’d moved back because of the laid back Hawaiian lifestyle he remembered.

  But memories have a way of Cloroxing themselves. They come out much cleaner than we remember, he admitted to himself. As serene and beautiful as Hawaii was, each of the islands housed a dark side. How’s that for nothing much bad happens in paradise? A murder on Carl’s Cove in the abandoned sugar mill. The body was discovered by a couple. They said they saw a gunshot wound. Gage Sheldon was assigned as lead detective. He called his partner, Makoa (ma kō ah) Koskos (cause kōs), and told him he’d be on his way once he reported to the department to get all the details.

  Makoa’d grabbed at the phone so fast, he’d almost dropped it on his wooden planked floor. He was trying not to let the ringing disturb his wife, Irene. She was eight and a half months pregnant and he didn’t want to wake her. He knew how little sleep she’d been getting lately.

  The baby was pushing up and squeezing her ribs. She’d been to the doctor for the excruciating pain, but there was not much they could do. She couldn’t take pain killers in case they harmed the baby. All she could do was prop up about seven goose down pillows behind her back and around her body so she could arch—poking out her stomach as much as possible to give her ribs more room. She literally slept halfway sitting up with her head resting on all those pillows. He knew the little sleep she was getting at the moment, she really needed.

  “Is it as uncomfortable as it looks?” He’d asked her one day while she was surrounded by pillows, reading her copy of Susan Stoker’s romantic mystery, Securing Piper.

  “It sure is.” He’d looked on sympathetically as she’d rested her book on her belly then let out a long sigh. “It feels like the baby is trying to push up and squeeze my ribs as hard as he can,” She’d told him. “I know they must be black and blue, but an X-ray is out of the question. At least we know he’s gonna be strong,” she’d mused. “Sitting in this position is the only thing I’ve found that gives me a modicum of peace.”

  His mind snapped back to the present—a body found on Carl’s Cove Beach. After he got his marching orders from his partner, he made a mental note to remember to bring home an area rug he could put in front of his end table so his phone wouldn’t disturb Irene if he happened to drop it—not breaking or cracking the screen would also be a bonus. He quietly rolled out of the bed and went into their den to get ready.

  “How you say,” Makoa dapped Gage’s fist as they stood outside the squad car. The familiar greeting was in Pidgin—the slang Hawaiians used on the island.

  “How you say, Bro, what’s up?” He knew Sheldon was going to put his own spin on the Pidgin he’d been teaching him. Gage was a real soul brother. Tall, athletically built, Sheldon was single and popular with women. He was also one of the best partners Makoa had ever had. Makoa was glad Gage had finally gotten the lead detective position he’d been overdue for.

  “We’ve got a murder on Carl’s Cove, near the abandoned sugar mill,” Gage informed him as he walked over to the passenger side to let Makoa drive to highway 19.

  “Thanks for making sure I could leave the SUV for Irene just in case, Man.” Makoa appreciated how Gage had taken steps to assure Irene would have a comfortable ride in case she needed to make it to the hospital. Her mother was on 24/7 call to be her driver. But her mother had a small, older model car that didn’t have seats that reclined. And Irene had a gaggle of pillows in the
SUV for the ride to the hospital.

  “No problem, Man. Hey, you were saying earlier you’ll be glad for Irene when she finally has the baby. How’s she feeling? She still having a lot of morning sickness?”

  “No.” Makoa explained the problem she was having with the baby squeezing her ribs.

  “Unfortunately, there’s nothing the doctors can do about it. She can’t take any pain meds—she basically has to wait it out.”

  “Wow. That’s gotta be tough on her,” sympathized Gage. “Tell her I’m sorry she’s in pain and I hope she gets better real soon.”

  “I will, Man. The doctor said the only remedy is the baby moves or comes out. Of course we don’t want him coming early.”

  “I heard that. I’ll cross my fingers and toes that he’ll move off those ribs.”

  Gage stuck out both arms in front of him and crossed both his middle fingers over his index digits. “Got my toes crossed too.” He looked over at his parter as he glanced at his out stretched limbs. Both men laughed. They drove on the highway in silence for awhile before Makoa spoke again.

  “I can’t help missing my parents. Man, I wish they could be here. They would’ve loved to see me have a son.”

  “I wish they could be here too. Your parents—real special people. I’m not gonna say anything about them being here in spirit, or watching down on you and your family—I know how bad it feels not to have them in your life. Death sucks.”

  “Yeah, nothing I can do about it, but it does feel bad. It’s the one thing I hate most about life. I hate that people I love have to die.”

  “Me too,” Gage looked out the corner of his eye and saw his partner’s sadness. He wanted to get his mind onto something else.

  “Oh, man. I’ve been waiting to tell you this joke I heard on Youtube from this hilarious female comic named Chocolate,” he said, hoping to cheer up his partner. “Here goes:”

  Chocolate said—‘I want to say something about my Black brothas who keep gettin’ on America’s Most Wanted List.

  White women want ‘em,

  Black women want ‘em,

  Asian women want ‘em,

  Spanish women want ‘em…

  Hell, everybody wants them some Black men!’

  “She could sure add Hawaiian women to that list, couldn’t she Brotha?”

  Makoa broke up.

  Right on, Brotha!” Makoa gave Gage an emphatic fist pump. Then they pulled their fists back and burst their hands open. Spreading their fingers while their hands were raised, they both said, “Whoosh!”

  “Course we know you Hawaiian brothas got it goin’ on, too, Man. When it comes to the cool gene, any man can have it. Like you, Brotha. You got it in spades!”

  The handsome Hawaiian detective smiled at the compliment. He loved how Gage had coolness to spare and damned sure wasn’t going to apologize for strutting it.

  Makoa pulled into a parking lot slot then switched off the engine. He and Gage high-tailed it to the crime scene. The Hawaiian detective glanced up at the full moon, his honey colored skin cooled by the night air, breezing through his wavy black hair. Murder by Moonlight, he thought—that’d make a good title for a mystery novel, but it sucked for the real victim.

  They walked on the firm silky sand past the ocean’s surf—its crystal indigo color darkened by the night. As they navigated their way toward the police activity on this gorgeous beach, Makoa couldn’t help feeling like he was slap in the middle of one of those Susan Stoker novels his wife loved so much. He unpleasantly eyed the body; then instinctively scanned the full moon again—expecting it to be bright-white, but it wasn’t.

  It was covered in an orange—no—not orange—a decidedly red glow. He remembered something he’d heard on the radio about a red moon. No…not red—a blood moon. The DJ on the radio show Makoa was listening to a few days ago had explained Hawaii was a sweet spot for watching the upcoming blood moon, something about the naked eye being able to witness the Milky Way from Mauna Kea.

  Detective Kosko didn’t know much about all that as he glanced up at the blood moon once more before focusing his attention on the detective work ahead. His only thought was sardonic—blood moon—how appropriate. His steps slowed as they approached the murder scene.

  “The higher-ups are gonna want to know all they can about this one ASAP,” noted Officer Smith. First on the crime scene, he’d already taped it off. “Her Bentley is just up the road.”

  Gage shined his flashlight on the victim’s face and immediately realized why. Brianna Kamehameha. Hanale Kamehameha’s wife. The most powerful family in Hilo. They lived in a mansion almost as big as an island. You couldn’t miss her platinum blonde hair and too tight clothes. The black Bentley abandoned down the road was the clincher.

  All of Hilo had seen Brianna Kamehameha tooling around in her flashy car at one time or another. And everyone knew she was married to the heir of the Kamehameha throne. The family owned more than half the property on the island. They even owned The Forbidden Island—their own, uninhabited land. Detective Sheldon knew Hilo’s higher-ups were going to want to be informed about this.

  The public would panic at the thought of a mad killer running around—and one crazy enough to kill someone as prominent as Brianna Kamehameha. Best not jump to any conclusions, he reminded himself, even though he had an uneasy feeling. That aside, Gage knew like everything else, when it came to rich people, the higher-ups would want this murder solved yesterday.

  But he didn’t want his first case as lead detective to be one where he jumped to erroneous conclusions based on urgency. He made a mental note to himself. I won’t let the higher ups pressure me into properly solving this case by the numbers. He knew their breath would be hotter than a cow poke branding his detective neck but he wanted to handle this like any other murder case.

  Meanwhile, Officer Smith brought two witnesses to Detective Sheldon.

  “This is Matthew Steel and his wife, Caroline.” Gage extended a handshake to both.

  “Thanks for reporting the crime and for staying on the scene.”

  “They said they came upon the body while they were strolling along the beach earlier,” Smith told Sheldon.

  “Thanks, Officer Smith.”

  “Actually, my wife discovered the body. I came along afterward,” Wolf explained.

  “I think I might have come upon the killer,” Caroline told Lead Detective Sheldon. A shiver flew through her when she said it.

  “Did you get a look at him?”

  “No, he pushed me and ran out the shack.”

  “Did he hurt you? Do you need us to call the paramedics for you?”

  “No—whoever it was just startled me and knocked me off balance.”

  “I’m thankful you didn’t turn into another casualty,” said the Lead Detective.

  “So am I,” Matthew “Wolf” Steel put his arm around Caroline and smiled.

  Gage smiled. He liked the couple. They both seemed level-headed about what could have been a dangerous situation for them both.

  “Let me call my partner over so he can get more details about what you witnessed, Mrs. Steel.”

  “Call me Caroline.”

  “Caroline,” nodded Detective Sheldon. Makoa! Can you come over here a minute?”

  “On my way.”

  “This is Caroline and Matthew Steel. Mrs. Steel…er…Caroline found the body. She also may have come across the killer. Can you get down the details?”

  “Yes, Sir.” Makoa Koskos told Lead Detective Gage Sheldon. Detective Koskos gestured for them to follow him and led the couple away from the body, closer to the road.

  “Please tell me what happened Mrs. Steel.” Said Detective Koskos.

  “I was getting close to the sugar shack so I could take some pictures in the moonlight. We’re staying at the Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo and I wanted to see the blood moon. My husband walked a little ways off to dump some trash into a bin we saw near the picnic area so he wasn’t with me when I saw her. At first I didn’t
know if she had passed out or it even crossed my mind she might be making out with someone.”

  When she said that, she glanced at Wolf. He blushed ever-so-slightly. She continued.

  “When I got closer, that’s when I saw the gunshot wound. We called you guys right away.”

  “They told us to wait until the cruiser came,” Said Matthew.

  Makoa took down what they told him. He relished how detailed and calm they were.

  “Do you remember anything else, Mrs. Steel?”

  “Please call me Caroline.”

  “Caroline.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t. I didn’t get a look at…wait…I do remember one thing.”

  “Yes?” The detective said.

  “His ring. I had my phone…I was using it as a light. When he grabbed me—he had a big ring on his left hand. It was a silver and diamond horseshoe ring with a turquoise stone in the center of the horseshoe.”

  “Do you think you could describe it well enough for our forensic artist to make a sketch of it?”

  “Yes..I think I can. I remember it distinctly. With my phone lighting it up, it was almost like I took a picture of it in my mind.”

  “Excellent. Can you all come to the station tomorrow and give a formal statement? It’ll at least give us something to start with.”

  “Yeah.” She looked at Matthew. “We have a whale-watching tour scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We could come in after breakfast.”

  “Would 9 or 9:30 be too early?” Asked Detective Koskos.

  “9 would be perfect,” said Caroline. Matthew nodded in the affirmative.

  Detective Makoa Koskos thanked them both. “Do you all have your car here?”