considered my next stop. There’s a
police station on the West Side—in the Lahaina Civic Center—but I opted for the
Wailuku station since it was closer to home for me. Besides, I’d met a couple
of the guys there when I’d gotten involved in a crazy proxy wedding last
winter, so I hoped I’d run into a friendly face.
Traffic
was light on my way down to the Hana Highway and from there I made it to
Mahalani Street in less than half an hour. I parked in back and went through
the familiar glass doors marked Maui County Police Department. The police
station was decorated in classic your-tax-dollars-at-work décor. Everything was
beige, with shiny tile floors, low fluorescent-lit ceilings, and a big glass
case displaying various awards and citations earned by members of the
department and local citizen heroes.
A
smiling receptionist sat behind a wide counter on the far side of the room. She
wore a wireless telephone headset with a black foam bulb near her mouth. I
assumed she was on a call since she was talking in a low voice and there was no
one else in sight. Her long black hair was pulled back and as she turned to
pull a file from a cabinet behind her I couldn’t help but notice the bright
blue scrunchie securing her ponytail. I shook off a shudder.
She
signed off from her call and turned to me. “ Aloha . Can I help you?”
“ Aloha .
I need to speak to someone about reporting possible criminal activity.” I’d
rehearsed that line while walking into the station.
“ Possible criminal activity? What exactly do you mean?”
Okay,
so much for my attempt at cop-talk. “I have evidence that indicates a missing
girl may have been abducted.”
“How
old?”
“Well,
it was left in my car last night. But this was the first chance I’ve had to
bring it in.”
“No,
how old is the girl ?”
I
had a strong desire to mutter never mind and flee. Were Keith and Nicole
right and I was overreacting? “Oh, sorry. She’s… I don’t know, probably
twenty-two, twenty-three years old.”
“Then
she’s an adult female, not a girl.” She glanced down as one of the lines on her
phone console started to blink. A second later it began humming an almost
soothing, chirr-chirr . She broke eye contact as she picked up the call.
As she questioned the caller, I wondered if maybe she was finished with me. Even
though it had been over forty-eight hours, it was starting to look like the
police didn’t consider a missing adult a big problem.
I
turned to leave. I heard her quietly say, “Hold please.”
I
was nearly to the door when she said in a much louder voice, “Miss? Please have
a seat. I’ll have you speak to Detective Wong.”
Glen
Wong was one of the few guys I’d met at the department. When a crazy wedding I
was involved in last winter had gone sour he’d questioned me for what seemed
like days, but turned out to be just a little over four hours. Not a hostile
guy, but definitely thorough and a bit aloha -challenged when it came to
dealing with the public.
The
receptionist gestured toward a row of beige plastic chairs. “It’ll be just a
few minutes. He’s on the phone.”
I
hate wasting time. I’d promised to call my potential client on the mainland by
five so I pulled out my cell phone.
The
receptionist saw me and wagged a finger. “Civilian cell phones aren’t allowed
in this building.”
“Not
allowed? Like they’re against the law?”
“You’re
not supposed to use them in here. Only lawyers or sworn officers are allowed to
make calls inside the building.”
“So,
normal people…” I waited for her to answer my implied question.
“We
don’t get a lot of ‘normal’ people in here.” She smiled as if she’d been
waiting forever to use that line on someone. “Civilians need to be at least
thirty feet from the building to make or receive calls. But if you leave, I’ll
have to alert the detective that you’re no longer on the premises. His shift’s
almost