I didn't follow what he was saying.

"Are you threatening to kill me?"

He shook his head. "We're not the threat. You're now well-known by a group of thugs who have murdered at least five people-four of them women-here in the islands. They're associated with a drug cartel operating out of Southern California and Northern Mexico. The couple you were doing the wedding for...," he looked at me as if he was waiting for me to fill in the names.

"You mean Keith Lewis and Nicole Johnson?"

"Yeah, well those were the aliases they were using here in Hawaii. Turns out they're major players in a money laundering scheme for the Gato Negro drug cartel in Northern Mexico. Drugs are sold in the U.S. for American dollars. Then those dollars are used by our buddy 'Keith Lewis' to buy expensive real estate in Southern California. He turns around and resells the properties at a discount to get a quick sale and then deposits the proceeds in a bank account held by the cartel." Wong stopped, giving me a few moments to put the puzzle pieces together for myself.

"Anyway," he went on, "it's a great way to move large amounts of cash without throwing up red flags. Problem was, your guy got greedy. Wanted more than his fat real estate commissions. Our inside guy learned 'Lewis' pocketed over a half-million bucks that should have gone to his boss, one Juan Carlos Cardoza-Jimenez-head of the cartel. The middleman who'd recommended 'Lewis' to Senor C-J couldn't 'fess up that the guy he'd stood up for had bilked the boss. So, he came up with a way to force Lewis to give back the dough. He dreamed up a kidnapping, setting the ransom at the same amount Lewis had stolen. That way, he'd tip off 'Lewis' that he was on to him, and he could replace the boss' money and make things square before heads rolled."

"How do you know all this?" I said.

"Like I said, we got someone on the inside." He scratched the side of his head in a where was I? gesture. "But it didn't exactly go as planned. Seems when Lewis got wind of the ransom demand he thought it had come from the big guy himself-Cardoza-Jimenez. Which meant his life expectancy was down to days, maybe hours. So he throws the little bridesmaid under the bus and hightails it outta here."

"But that doesn't explain why you didn't investigate Crystal Wilson's disappearance. Why'd you stonewall me? Maybe we could've found her before they killed her."

"You have no idea how hard we all worked on this. I spent a fortune the department doesn't have on snitches and surveillance. We came up short."

"But why not tell the public? Don't you remember the Elizabeth Smart case in Utah? She was spotted by an everyday citizen on a downtown street. Why didn't you use the media-get the word out?"

Wong pinched his lips into a tight line. "I wish I could've. Unfortunately, I wasn't calling the shots here. It was the feds."

"Okay, now I'm even more confused."

"That bridesmaid-what was her name?"

"Crystal Wilson."

"Yeah, well, that wasn't her real name. She was an undercover agent for the Secret Service, planted at your bride's health club to befriend her. The feds had figured out the money laundering scheme and were ready to pounce, but they needed evidence. They sent your girl in to get something that would hold up in a U.S. court. We weren't getting much cooperation from the other side of the border."

"When she was grabbed, do you think the kidnappers realized she was a federal agent?"

"We're not certain, but from what we hear, we think they didn't know."

"Well, I know who pulled the trigger. He confessed to me. I can-"

"Mahalo, but we'll take it from here, Ms. Moon. This thing's already gotten ugly enough."

"I'm stunned. The U.S. government was willing to sacrifice a highly-trained Secret Service agent just to get evidence on a money laundering scheme?"

"This is big, Ms. Moon. It's the war on drugs."

"For the Secret Service agent it wasn't a war-it was an ambush."

I left the police station in a cop car. Wong told me I had two hours to 'get my affairs in order' and then I'd be relocated to a safe place until I could be called to testify before a federal grand jury. No telling how long that might take.

Two hours wasn't nearly long enough to say the good-byes I needed to say, or explain why I wasn't going to keep the commitments I'd made-like showing up at Sifu Doug's kung fu promotion ceremony later that day. But then, Crystal Wilson-or whatever her name really was-didn't even get two minutes.

We pulled up in front of my house and I went inside to pack.

CHAPTER 33.

I pulled out a dresser drawer and dumped a tangle of underwear onto my bed. How could I just up and leave? I had two weddings next month. I couldn't just disappear. My friends would alert the media, put up a reward and generally make Wong's life miserable if he stonewalled them.

I called Wong's cell. "This isn't going to work," I said.

"It will. We already have a story for you. You're going to the mainland to put on a big wedding. Tell your roommate and it will be common knowledge before noon."

At five a.m. I knocked on Steve's door.

"You awake?" I said.

"I am now. What's going on? You've been crashing around for an hour."

"I've got to leave. I got a call from a guy in Las Vegas. Big-bucks, but totally off-the-radar. He wants me to do a fantasy wedding for his latest showgirl trophy wife but it's gotta happen fast. I'm leaving this morning."

Steve bolted upright in bed. "What? That's nuts. Don't you have two weddings already on the books? How're you gonna do them all?"

"I'm handing those over to Maui Dream Weddings. This one's way bigger."

"Pali, something weird's going on. Is it Beni?"

"It's not Beni, and nothing's weird. I just got a late-night call. I've gotta go." I crossed the room and kissed his forehead. "Tell everyone I'll be back as soon as I can. Hopefully no more than a couple of weeks."

"Aren't you going to call me when you get there?"

"I might be too busy. Don't worry. I'll tell you all about it when I get back." I headed for the door.

"Pali Moon, stop right there. You aren't leaving this house without telling me what the hell is going on." By now he'd gotten out of bed and was following me.

"I can't. Look, you know I love you and I'd stop and chat if I could. But I can't."

I started downstairs and then turned and looked him full in the face. We stared at each other for a few moments. Then a flicker of understanding flashed across Steve's face. "Got it. I'll let everyone know you were suddenly called away. But do me a favor, okay?"

"If I can."

"Stay safe. Las Vegas has got some pretty rough characters."

"Yeah, well so does Maui." I said.

He nodded.

I finished packing and then wrote a quick note to Farrah explaining that I was leaving but I'd be back as soon as I could. I left the note on the kitchen table. Steve would deliver it along with the news of my good fortune in being hired to do a lavish wedding for a Las Vegas high-roller.

I dragged my suitcase with the gimpy wheel over to the front door. There was an unmarked cop car waiting for me two doors down. As I hefted my suitcase down the porch stairs I looked back at my little house. I'd always considered buying that house my greatest achievement. Better than making black belt or graduating from college. The thought of never seeing it again made me falter on the stairs.

I looked up. A ghost of a moon clung to the edge of the sky. And in the east, the sun was just starting to smudge the horizon with the promise of a new day.

EPILOGUE.

On a rainy November day, Agent Elizabeth Stanton Collins was quietly buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Her name has been chiseled into the marble wall of a federal law-enforcement building somewhere in downtown Washington DC, but I'll bet that's cold comfort to her family and friends.

Beni Kanekoa folded like a cheap card-table and confessed to killing Agent Collins. He claimed he'd shot her but he'd done so under duress: if he had refused to kill her, he would have been killed along with her by the drug dealers he'd failed to pay in a timely manner. Not that the judge adjudicating his case gave a damn about Beni's claim of duress. In the end, Beni was sentenced to a life sentence without possibility of parole for murder while in the commission of another felony-kidnapping. Nothing was said in the State's case about Agent Collins being a federal law enforcement agent killed in the line of duty, since the federal sting operation was still on-going. At trial, Beni did step up and do the right thing by giving testimony to the victim's bravery and poise, even in the face of death. Again, cold comfort to her family and friends, but her legacy became an unspoken inspiration to those fighting undercover in the seemingly never-ending war on drugs. I figure they need all the inspiration they can get. It must be tough to keep up morale when you're battling a sadistic opponent with unlimited resources.

And me? Well, I learned that Hatch's former fiancee was, in fact, murdered by the same drug cartel that murdered Agent Collins. He'd been right in begging me to back off. Not that I've had a chance to talk to him about it. Until the feds are finished with their investigation and are ready to bring charges, I'm in limbo. I'm living under an assumed name-which is kind of ironic since the name I normally use is also assumed-in an undisclosed location known only to the fine folks in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

I'd like to give you a hint of what's going on, but I've been told if I plan to stay alive until the grand jury convenes, the less said the better.

Look for all the titles in "The Islands of Aloha Mystery" Series:.

Maui Widow Waltz (Maui).

Livin' Lahaina Loca (Maui).

Lana'i of the Tiger (Lana'i).

And coming in 2013-.

Kaua'i Me a River (Kaua'i).

O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (O'ahu).

Aloha!

JoAnn Bassett.

http://www.joannbassett.com.

Other books by JoAnn Bassett:.

MAI TAI BUTTERFLY.

MAUI WIDOW WALTZ, The First book in the "Islands of Aloha Mystery" series.

Discover the latest titles by JoAnn Bassett at http://www.joannbassett.com.