I'm Kona Love You Forever (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series Book 6) by JoAnn Bassett Page A

picked up two beautiful green and blue hand-thrown stoneware mugs with “Naturally Kona” embedded in the clay and pumped coffee into them out of the pot.
    “I hope you ’re a coffee drinker,” she said. “That’s pretty much all we have here.”
    “ Mahalo ,” I said. “I love coffee.” I didn’t ask for cream or sugar even though I never drink black coffee. I recalled a time when I’d requested ketchup at a fancy Honolulu steakhouse and the waiter had shot me a withering look while telling me they didn’t keep any on the premises.
    “I hope it’s still hot,” she said. “I made this pot an hour ago.”
    I sipped the impossibly dark liquid, preparing for the bitterness. It was surprisingly smooth. “It’s great. I’m sorry about being so abrupt earlier. I apologize if I seemed insensitive.”
    “ No offense taken. I just can’t believe after all this time the wound feels so fresh. You got kids?”
    I shook my head. “Maybe someday.”
    “Well, don’t wait too long,” she said. “ Ray and I have been trying for twelve years now. Right after I lost Lili, I couldn’t imagine going through that again. But Ray was very persuasive. After a year I stopped using birth control, but it seems my body won’t cooperate. Every month that goes by it’s like losing her all over again.”
    I nodded. Anything I said would probably only cement her earlier assessment of me as a tactless jerk.
    “So , what can I do to help?” she said.
    “I’m trying to figure out why my client has your daughter’s birth certificate,” I said. I explained the mix-up with Lili’s birth certificate and how she’d been using the wrong one all these years.
    “I have no idea. You said she’s hanai ? That she was raised on Maui?” Loke said.
    “Yes.”
    “Maybe there was a mix-up at the records office. You know, Lili was born at home but then they rushed her to the hospital as soon as the midwife determined she was having trouble breathing. I was pretty out of it, so I’m not too sure what happened after that. Maybe Lili’s paperwork got swapped with another baby born at the same time.”
    “That’s possible, but I had a friend at the Vital Records Office check on it and there’s no record of another baby girl born within a week of your daughter.”
    “And you’re sure the girl you’re talking about was born here in Kona?” she said.
    “ According to my client, that’s what her hanai mom told her.”
    “Then I can’t imagine what else could have happened.”
    We sat there, me sipping the amazingly good coffee, her glancing nervously around the shop. When she sneaked a peek at her watch, I stood up. “I really need to let you get back to work,” I said. “ Mahalo for your time. If you think of anything else, would you mind giving me a call?” I gave her my “Let’s Get Maui’d” business card.
    She looked down at the card and her eyes got shiny. “A girl my daughter’s age is getting married? It seems impossible.”
    “It will be impossible if I can’t track down her birth certificate.”
    “Do you think it’s a good idea?” she said. “I mean, she’s awfully young.”
    “They both are. But in my line of work I see a lot of couples. David and Lili seem to be one of those one-in-a-hundred couples you hear about who find each other early in life and it just clicks. I’m no expert but I’m betting they’ll be married forever.”
    She stood. “I wish I could’ve been more help,” she said.
    “I wish I could’ve been more sensitive,” I said.
    She leaned in and gave me a quick hug. “No worries. You’re fine, Pali. It’s just that some things are forever. Losing a child is like a tattoo on your heart.”
    ***
    I drove back to Kailua-Kona and found Hatch at a beachside bar. As we drove to the B & B he rattled on about how he’d met a guy at the bar who was studying for the civil service test to become a firefighter and how he’d encouraged him to go for it.
    I nodded and made appropriate