That sounded ominous. Leia paused and put her hand on her father’s arm. “Who was he, and what was he doing going out the back door?”
“I’ve never figured it out for sure. I didn’t recognize the man, so I know it wasn’t Westerfield. That same night we had some things come up missing from Queen Liliuokalani’s palace as well. I think the thief might have been the same. The camera didn’t get a good look at him. He had a stocking over his face.”
“I wonder if it could have been Moe or Logan. Describe his build and anything you can remember about him,” Bane prompted.
“He was a big guy. Broad shoulders, big feet and hands.” Akoni shook his head. “Sorry, that’s all. He was dressed in black and the stocking distorted his features. I couldn’t even tell what color hair he had.”
“Moe is a big guy. It could have been him,” Leia said.
“He was like a tank when he attacked me at the cave,” Bane said. “We’d better decide what to do with the artifacts we left back in the tree before those two come back.”
“I want to put them with the other things.” Akoni started down the path again. “I’ll go back after them when the police are gone.”
“No, Makua, we have to give them back. They don’t belong to you.”
He turned on his heel. “They don’t belong to anyone. How would you like people gawking over your poor remains three hundred years from now? It’s not right, Leia. You know it’s a disgrace to the bones of our ancestors. It’s bad for the mana in them.”
“I do understand, but sometimes we have to trust God to work things out.” Listen to her, what a hypocrite she was. Bane was right. Trusting in God was the last thing she’d been doing.
Akoni pressed his fingers at the bridge of his nose. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know what’s right and wrong in this situation anymore. But I can’t stash the artifacts anyway. I don’t dive. Koma took them to the ship for me.”
“I’ll go get them,” Bane said. “What ship?”
“The Spanish galleon.” He looked away. “The cave is right behind it.”
Leia wanted to pummel him. “You’ve known all this time where the galleon was?”
“I didn’t think anyone would ever find it, and the bones and artifacts would be mingled with the others who died there. The other boxes are in a small cave just off the ledge where the ship sits, and we planned to set off an explosive and seal the mouth of it.”
“That’s going to be hard to reach. We’ll need special air and equipment to work that deep. I bet Ron already has some lined up though,” Bane said. “I’ll go down after it.”
“How did Koma dive that deep? I got narced in just a few minutes.”
“He didn’t seem susceptible to it, but he’d been a diver a long time. He used to even free dive.” Her father looked back toward the tree. “It will take several trips to bring everything up. There is quite a lot.”
“I’ll go get it,” Bane said.
Leia shook her head. “You can’t do it alone. It’s not safe to dive alone, especially that deep.”
“Koma and his nephew did it,” her father pointed out. “It took them three trips, but he knew the area well.”
“It’s too dangerous. I can’t let him go alone.”
“I’ll go too,” Mano said.
“Your blood-sugar levels have been unstable,” Bane said. “I can’t let you go down.”
“We could do it right after my insulin shot.”
Bane was still shaking his head. “I think it was an hour after your shot you had your last reaction. You’re in no shape to do any diving right now.”
She couldn’t let Bane go by himself. It was too dangerous. Of all people, she knew just how dangerous it could be. “I’ll go with you.” Bane and her father began loud protests, but she held up her hand, then turned and continued down the trail. “You can’t change my mind. I’m going with him.”
Eva washed the ink from her hands. She liked her job at ARC, and today’s duties were her favorite—stuffing envelopes with a newsletter for a local business. Her neck and shoulders hurt though. She and Lani had stuffed lots of envelopes today. Probably a billion, Lani said. Eva thought her friend was right.
“What are you going to do tonight?” Lani stuffed her lunch box in her backpack.
“Maybe scuba!” Eva bounced on the balls of her feet. “Maybe Bane will take me. I’m going to ask him. And I want to see Leia. I had a bad dream about her.”
“Can I come?”
“You don’t know how to scuba,” Eva pointed out. She didn’t want to be mean, but it made her happy that she could do something Lani couldn’t do. Lani’s fingers were thinner and could stuff things easier than Eva could. At least Eva could scuba.
“I could learn.” Lani scowled and went toward the door.
Eva felt bad. She was being selfish. Jesus didn’t like her to be selfish. “I’ll ask Bane about it.”