Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

CHAPTER 16
Stephen parked his car in front of the old courthouse in
Wailuku, Maui. It was a charming, one story wooden structure
distinguished from others of the same era by the two columns
framing the doorway. The columns were fat and ornate and as
out of place as a formal gown at a luau. In the old days the
supports on the little courthouse must have looked
intimidating to the Hawaiians; today they seemed dearly
archaic in the shadow of the giant block of the high-rise hall of
justice. It was the high-rise that was Stephen and Josie’s
destination.
In a nod to the seriousness of their business, Stephen had
donned an exquisitely cut blue suit with only the faintest hint
of a grey pin, a white shirt, and red silk tie. The jacket had
been neatly hung in the back of the car for the short ride. He
retrieved it and then reached for a briefcase fashioned from
oxblood leather. Stephen pushed his sunglasses up his nose.
His hairless head shone in the Hawaiian sunshine, his
substantial figure looked almost sleek in his well-cut suit. He
clearly relished dusting off the bar ticket he had earned when
coming to live on the island. This was, he said, like getting
back on a horse.
“You clean up nice.” Josie gave him the once-over.
“I’ll wear a tux to your wedding and you will see just how
marvelous I can look. Then you’ll leave your man at the altar
and we’ll run away to Bora-Bora for a honeymoon. It will be a
luscious scandal.”
“If you come to the wedding don’t forget to bring the girls,”
Josie said. “Not that it wouldn’t be entertaining to watch you
dance.”
“We will all dance at your wedding, including your mum.
But first we have to spring her properly.”
They set off at a clip, across the lawn, into the building, past
the permanent demonstration site of the Ohana Council whose
members fought for Hawaiian sovereignty, and up to the third