It felt like an earthquake had hit.
“David, David, wake up.”
Chan opened his eyes. “What is it?
What happened?”
“You were talking in your sleep.” Kathy Sakaguchi, the county coroner, lay back on the pillow.
“What was I saying?”
“I don’t know. It was all Greek to me. Or Old English. Or Klingon.”
Chan managed a laugh. “I’ve never watched that Star Trek show, Kathy. I did study Greek and Old English in college, but that was like thirty years ago. I can’t remember any of it.”
“Then it was just plain dream gibberish.”
Chan laughed again. Pivoting, he sat up on the side of the bed.
“So what were you dreaming about?”
A twinge of guilt. “I, well, I was kind of cheating on you.”
“What?”
Kathy jumped out of bed and came around to sit by his side. She gave him an elbow. “What do you mean, cheating on me?”
“Actually, I didn’t get to the cheating part. Thank goodness. It was pre-cheating.”
Another elbow. “What happened?”
Chan shook his head. “It was so vivid.”
He told her about his dream, about Harry Fong and Jasmine Komine, trying to underplay what a beauty she was.
“So who are Harry Fong and this Jasmine?”
I was going to ask you if you knew them,” said Chan. “As far as I can recall, I don’t know anyone by either name.”
“Nope, don’t know them,” said Kathy. “And hey, I’m glad I woke you up when I did. Imagine this babe following you home. Hey, if I were here when you two walked in, there’d be big trouble.”
Chan looked at this woman who’d taken the place of his wife in his heart. The emptiness, ironically, had weighed so heavy on him since Elaine had died. And then Kathy appeared. The woman he’d known all through high school. A best of best friends of whom he’d lost track after graduation. She’d gone to school in California, med school finally. And then, miraculously, she’d wanted to come home to Hawai‘i, had applied for a position as assistant county coroner, and presto. They’d renewed that terrific friendship. And here she was.
Chan put his arm around her. “I know, Doc.
And I’d never fool around on you, knowing how you can handle a knife.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “That’s right, Lieutenant. And you know what I’d cut off first.”
“Whoa,” said Chan. “That’s pretty harsh.”
The two laughed and hugged.
“But really, these two people, this Jasmine Komine and Harry Wong. They seemed so real. I mean, I didn’t see Wong – he was a no-show. But Komine, it was as if I could reach out and touch her. I could describe her right down to those differently colored eyes, the way she styled her hair, the kind of body –”
“Hey, enough, David. I think we get the picture here.”
“Sorry, sorry,” said Chan. “I must know her from someplace.”
“Well,” said Kathy, “I vote you leave her there and come eat breakfast.”
It was wheat toast, dry, the way he liked it. He scrambled some eggs while Kathy made the coffee. Switching on the TV, the two sat down at the dining room table.
It was the top-of-the-hour news briefing. Chan lowered his coffee to the table, stood, and walked to the TV. He turned up the volume.
“Kathy, you seeing this?”
The story was of a massive fire near Ala Moana Shopping Center. The distinctively rainbow-painted walls of the Pacific Insurance building were engulfed in flames.
“Oh my God,” exclaimed Kathy. “Do you think that Jasmine insurance investigator woman is involved with this? “
“I have no idea,” said Chan. “But Pacific Insurance, in my dream. That’s real. And Gi Yu has her offices on the top two floors.”
“Who?”
“Gi Yu. She’s the granddaughter of Kang Yu, the man who started up and probably still runs the Korean syndicate in this state. When he moved back to Korea, he designated Gi as the new head. She seems to have moved the company into legit business ventures here. I think the grandfather pretty much feels she screwed him. The syndicate regrouped under two of Kang’s underlings. He must be pushing 90 at the point, but he still pulls the strings.”
Kathy took all of this in. She put her arm around Chan’s waist and hugged him. “And he’s the man you believe killed your father.”
Chan nodded.
Lanning Lee 