The Bone Field Debra Bokur (novels for beginners .txt) 📖

with him it might have been suicide. Overdose of sleeping pills, something like that. A depressed, grieving mother unable to cope with the loss of her only kid.”

“That’s what I thought, too, so I didn’t press him. At the time, it didn’t seem important. I’d like to know the details, though.”

He did a search while Kali looked over his shoulder. It didn’t take long to find what he was looking for. He and Kali looked at the screen, then at one another. “Well, there’s a conversation starter for you,” he said. He hit the print command for the document displayed on his screen. The printer in the corner of the office whirred to life.

Kali rose and crossed to the printer, removing the waiting sheet of paper and folding it neatly in half. “Damn people,” she said, glancing at the folded paper. “This is exactly why I prefer the company of dogs.”

CHAPTER 29

Bill Bragden sat at the metal table in the interview room in the same chair that Abraham had occupied. Kali couldn’t help but compare them to one another. While Abraham had been confident and relaxed right up until the moment when the anchor charm had been introduced to the conversation, Bill looked gray and shriveled and sorrowful.

This time, Walter took the lead. “We’ve begun recording,” he said. “You’ve been advised of your rights. Let it be noted that William Bragden, aka Bill Bragden, has waived his right to an attorney.” He turned to Bill. “Is there anything you’d like to change about the information you shared with us when Detective Mhoe and I interviewed you at your home on Lna‘i?”

Bill shook his head. “I don’t think so. To be honest, I don’t know if I can accurately recall everything we spoke about.” Kali could hear the high level of stress in his voice.

Walter looked unimpressed. “Is that so? Well, we can start all over from the beginning if you like. Tell us again about your daughter and your son-in-law, and how you came to be living on Lna‘i.”

Hesitantly, Bill recounted his earlier story of arriving in Hawai‘i to visit his daughter and her husband, and of how quickly he found himself falling in love with the islands. His voice became thick with emotion as he once again shared the details of his daughter’s illness and his suspicions that her husband was abusing her. He ended his story with Matthew’s disappearance, then sat very still.

Walter waited a moment, but when Bill said nothing more, Walter leaned forward and tapped his fingers impatiently on the surface of the metal table. “Is that all?” he asked, his voice brisk.

Bill shrugged slightly and turned to Kali, as though imploring her to understand. She stared back at him, unsmiling. She reached across the table, handing him the sheet of paper she’d carried into the room.

“You lied to us about your wife,” she said. “You told us she was dead. There is no death certificate, nor is there a divorce decree. In fact, the last public record we have for Linda Bragden shows that she legally changed her name in 1999 from Linda Bragden to Linda Waters.”

Bill looked down, his sorrow palpable. “No,” he said. “I never told you that Linda was dead. I told you that I’d lost her, which is the absolute, embarrassing truth.”

“At the very least, you deliberately misdirected us in the middle of a police investigation,” said Walter.

“What could my personal failure as a husband and a father possibly have to do with your investigation?” asked Bill.

Kali watched him carefully, considering his words. “The Hina legend,” she said finally. “That’s why you told me that you try to greet the moon’s arrival each evening. Hina is your wife, stolen from you by Abraham Waters, just as Hina was stolen from the demigod Maui by the fierce eel god Tetuna.”

Bill looked at her, his eyes portals into the deep sadness he carried with him. Walter turned to Kali, listening.

“Tetuna kept a horde of fearsome sea monsters as his allies,” she said slowly. “To get back his wife, Maui had to go to battle against them, and then conquer Tetuna.”

“Yes,” said Bill, his voice faint. “Yes, Maui won back his wife, but I did not. And I believe that Abraham Waters was—and still is—a worse monster than Tetuna or any of his cronies. Waters preyed upon my wife in a moment of unbearable grief and darkness, when she was bereft. Linda has always blamed herself for Lily’s death, for not finding the right doctor with the right treatment—and also for the mistreatment we both know that Lily suffered at the hands of Matthew Greene. She blames me as well for not giving credence to Abraham’s supposed powers, or for not joining his followers in prayer for our daughter.” He looked from Kali to Walter, his gaze intense. “If it was Matthew that you found rotting in that field, then perhaps there is a God after all. I only wish that you had found Abraham Waters there, too.”

“She went looking for an answer,” said Kali. “Something larger and more powerful than her sorrow.”

“Yes. She longed for answers and comfort.” He looked down again, avoiding their eyes. “For some reason that I still fail to grasp, she found it in that horrible man and his horrible cult with its false promises of healing and redemption, instead of finding her solace with me.”

Walter glanced at Kali, waiting for some signal. She nodded.

“Did you kill Matthew Greene?” he asked, his tone even and without prejudice. “Or do you have any knowledge of who Matthew Greene’s killer may be?”

Without looking up, Bill shook his head no.

“For the record,” said Walter, “William Bragden has denied taking the life of his son-in-law, Matthew Greene, or possessing any knowledge of the person who was responsible for ending Matthew Greene’s life.”

Kali waited until Bill seemed to regain some measure of composure. “When did your wife become involved in Eden’s River?” she asked.

Bill looked up. “It