The third Lahaina Mystery finds Helen, Ben and their sleuthing friends in the midst of another zany, dangerous, adventure, chasing down clues to a past crime, while desperately trying to prevent a present day murder.

The Right Time

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    Leaving Windy and Mambo safely inside the house Helen locked both doors and walked into town along the beach; a good time for creative thinking - a good time to find some answers. Why did someone break into her office and her home? What was the intruder looking for? Certainly this was no ordinary thief, but a person who desperately wanted to find something. But what? If he was after jewelry or art objects, not that she had anything of real value, he would have just broken into her home, not into her home and her office. So, what was the common denominator? Maybe Nacho and Justin could shed some light on all this – they seemed to have a straightforward uncluttered approach to life.

    Helen found them at Pineapples having a cup of coffee at one of the back corner tables. "Hi you two, I had a feeling I’d find you here."
"Hi yourself, Mrs. G. Were you looking for us?"
"Yes, Nacho, I have a little problem and I was hopping for some of your down to earth advice. Maybe something your mother taught you back on the plantation."
"Oh, yeah, the plantation. You mean when I was a slave? Jeez you are so deep into history, that I fear for your sanity."
"I was only jesting, my friend, I know you are from Philly, and I know you have a brother living there who’s named Nathaniel Plantrinette. Which reminds me, how is our investment doing?"
Justin spoke up. "That’s my brother’s department. Oki has invested the $30,000 that we sort of  'liberated'  from old Valdera, quite wisely. The market is down some, but we’re still way ahead of the game. Someday soon we’ll have to get together and decide what philanthropic thing we are going to do with all that money."

    Nacho reached for a chocolate donut hole, which he dunked into his coffee, and said: "Who would believe that we never meant to con Valdera? The whole caper was so weird that even I don’t believe it."*

    Nodding her head in agreement, Helen said: "Something else weird has happened, and I need some input from you two." She reached for the coffeepot, and continued: "Yesterday my office was broken into by someone who entered through the window and bled all over the place. He took nothing. Then last night, when Ben brought me home after dinner, there was an intruder in my house. He got away, and again took nothing. So, guys, what do you think?"
Silence reigned for a few minutes, then Justin said, "Who have you offended lately, Mrs. G.?"
"No one, Justin. You know me, and I’m the poster lady for polite."
Nacho mumbled something. "Speak up Nacho, you know you can say anything to me."
"Well, sometimes you are a little outspoken, Mrs. G. Not rude mind you, but, well, sort of opinionated. Frankly I like it – it’s refreshing."
"Okay. - Now, what could these two incidents have in common?"
More silence, then a sudden burst of genius from Nacho: "Something you are working on at work?"
Justin nodded in agreement with Nacho. "Right. Not a guy who is after the family jewels, but a guy who is after information – maybe something you’ve been researching. When the intruder didn’t find what he was after at RAPS, he tried to find it at your house."
"Not bad you guys, but I haven’t been doing any real research for months, I’ve just been keeping up with the usual requests for genealogy information. For the past few days I’ve been writing a story about Larry Windley, but that seems innocent enough."
"He the guy who got the bends, and dug up history?" Nacho asked.
"The very one, yes. He was a black coral diver."
"Ah, a soul brother."
"No, Nacho, the coral was black, not Larry. But you do have something in common with him - he was in a wheelchair too, after he recovered from the bends. To keep himself busy, he went on a quest to find historical information about Lahaina. Nothing sinister or worth stealing there, I’m afraid."
"What do you know about this guy Windley? Where is he now?|
"Larry died in a sailing accident in 1965. He and a friend went out on a small boat and never returned."
    Justin looked pensive. "Wow, that makes it seem very unlikely that the break-ins are connected to him." Helen nodded in agreement.

    Nacho put his hand over Helen’s, and said: "You take care, Mrs. G, I don’t want anything to happen to you. This is the first time since ‘Nam that I’ve settled down, made friends and become involved. You and Ben, and my man Justin here, are my Lahaina family, my fellow sleuths, so if you need protection or help in any way, just ask."
With that said, Nacho pushed his wheelchair back from the table, smiled, and headed off to work. Justin watched his friend skillfully wind his way through the tables and chairs, and said, "Wow, I never saw Nacho get sentimental before. I know how much he loves all of us, but he usually doesn’t come right out with it like that."
"I know, Justin, it surprised me too; I am honored to be a part of his Lahaina family."
    As she got up to leave Helen remembered something: "What have you decided about using the cabin in Aspen?"
"Oh, yeah, I meant to tell you. I talked to Ben and made reservations for mid-November, which is fine with Ben’s brother, since no one else is scheduled to be there. My brothers, Oki and Calvin are coming too, and maybe my cousin Randy."

    Keoni leaned on his grocery cart and laughed. "Ben and I only get into small trouble, we’re too old for the really memorable stuff. As for where you and I met, it was a couple years ago, in the Master’s Reading Room, when you first started working on Larry Windley’s stuff. I brought you a box of his personal papers that had been stored in my attic for thirty years."
"Now I remember - you and Larry were close friends who shared a beach house near 505."
"Yep. Those were fun days, the days when the trouble we got into was worthwhile. Did you ever finish putting all that info in the computer?"
"Yes. It took two years, but it’s done. Now I’m trying to write a story about Larry. Could I interview you some time?"
"Tell you what, Helen, phone that rogue you date, and tell him you two are attending a feast at Keoni’s place tomorrow night - we can talk about Larry then. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go catch something fabulous for your dinner. Come about 5:30. Ben knows the way."

    On the way home, Helen stopped at the VIC to tell Ben about their dinner invitation. "Ben, guess who I ran into in the grocery store." Ben rubbed his chin, and said, "Newt Gingrich?"
"No, although I think I saw him riding a bike, carrying a surfboard and wearing a Panama hat, but that was yesterday. Guess who I ran into today?"
"Keoni Sanford."

Helen looked dejected. "Swell, now you have taken up mind-reading! Or, more likely, Keoni told you all about it."
"Not Keoni - it was Mrs. Sylva. I ran into her just a few minutes ago, walking down Front Street with a heavy bag of groceries, so I carried them to her house for her. On the way I learned that the Kealoha’s are expecting their ninth grandchild, the Basket and Bucket restaurant is going to be closed for a few days while it is tented for termites, and that you were seen flirting with Keoni Sanford at Foodland."
"Funny, I didn’t see Mrs. Sylva at Foodland - I guess I was just too involved with my flirting to notice her. Seriously, Ben, I do have something to tell you – Keoni has invited us to dinner tomorrow evening."
"Oh my God! Do you realize what this means? Keoni is a fine cook; we have to head to the gourmet wine store and find a zesty, Zin or a perky Pinot, or whatever is touted to be the best – maybe a snappy little Shiraz from Australia. Let’s head out now!"

    An hour later, as they were putting the groceries away, Ben said: "You won’t believe what a fabulous cook Keoni is. He’s got a beautiful wife, a daughter who lives at home and two sons who are away at school. They’ve got a fabulous place near the beach. His younger brother Henry and his family live nearby."
"So, where is their place?"
"Olowalu."
Helen took a giant step over Mambo who was, as usual, right in the middle of things. "I’ve met Keoni before, you know. It was several years ago, when he dropped by my office with a box of Windley’s personal papers. He was a close friend of Larry's, and had kept that box for nearly thirty years."

    Ben detoured around Mambo, who was now spread out full length across the kitchen, and opened the fridge to put lettuce and tomatoes in the produce bin. "Why is Mambo here, spread out wall to wall? Never mind, don’t answer that, I know he’s doing it to get attention. Windy’s watching and I’m afraid she is learning annoying cat behavior from her notorious savior." Ben gave the elongated cat a nudge with his foot, and instantly found his sneaker the object of play. "Helen, get this clinging clown off my foot!"
"Mambo, behave yourself. Here, come and have a slice of Gouda."
Giving Ben a little nip on the ankle, Mambo, still in a devilish mood, hopped sideways and eagerly accepted his cheese snack from Helen.
"As I was saying before devil cat attacked me - what was in Windley’s box?"
"I know this sounds terribly irresponsible of me, but I honestly don’t know. After Keoni dropped it off I got so involved with all the information in the file cabinet, that I forgot all about the box. I think I shoved it under the desk – I’m pretty sure it wasn’t tossed out. My guess is that it got put into storage up at Hale Pa`i during the Pacific Rim Conference last year, when I had to clean up the Reading Room for an orientation meeting."
"Aren’t you curious about what’s in the box?"
"I sure am, especially now that I am writing the story about Windley. I’ll head up to Hale Pa`i first chance I get, and see if it’s there."
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