The Bone Field by Debra Bokur (top e book reader txt) 📕

Walter nodded. “True dat. But find out what you can.”

“I’ve just texted Tua over at the Hana Cultural Center,” said Kali. “He’s going to meet me over there so I can show him the anchor charm.” She looked at Walter. “Care to join me?”

He grimaced. “Would love to, but I’ve got overdue paperwork that’s got to be dealt with before the end of the day. Let me know if anything interesting turns up.”

“Will do,” she said, draining the last of the coffee from her cup and rising from her seat. She gathered her belongings and walked toward the door, her thoughts far away, imagining how important the charm must have been to the dead man, and wondering why.

* * *

The Hana Cultural Center and Museum was a modest building on the Uakea Road above Hana Bay. It was located on the same grounds as the former Hana Courthouse, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and now used only occasionally for official business. Though the museum was only open to visitors for limited hours a couple of days a week, Kali knew Tua Kalani, the current director, who had been helpful to her on past cases.

Tua was waiting for her on the museum’s steps, waving as she pulled the Jeep into a parking spot. She saw him stand up and dust off the back of his trousers as she made her way across the grass.

“Aloha, Tua,” she called in greeting.

“Aloha kakahiaka.” He smiled as he said “good morning” and turned to open the door, standing aside so that she could enter. “Here to talk story today?”

“Maybe a little bit,” she said. “Mostly I want to show you something and get your reaction.”

He watched as she pulled out the plastic evidence bag and slipped the small anchor from inside. She offered it to him, and he took it, clearly intrigued.

“I guess this means you aren’t worried about fingerprints,” he said, grinning slightly.

“Already checked. There’s nothing. So please give it a close look, and tell me if it suggests anything to you.”

Tua walked across the front room to a door leading into a small office. There was a wooden desk in one corner. He moved a few items around until he’d uncovered an old, thick magnifying glass on a silver handle. He moved to the window, lifting the anchor with the fingers of one hand, holding the magnifying glass in the other. He studied the small metal trinket, turning it over carefully several times. He went back to his desk and located a heavy magnet, then played for a moment longer with the anchor.

Kali waited.

“Well,” he said finally, “it appears to be an anchor in design, as you’ve no doubt already determined; but it’s not made of any precious metal such as silver or gold. Gold, of course, would be obvious. Silver or silverplate would likely show tarnishing if it was of any age. The magnetization is very strong, as expected with steel. Watch.” He held the magnet above the anchor and it immediately became adhered to the magnet’s surface. “So not valuable, if that’s one of your questions.” He looked at her intently. “Though value, of course is entirely relative. Something may have great sentimental or other meaning, but no measurable market value. It may have a significance entirely removed from what it’s made of or sells for.”

She nodded. “What about the symbol?”

“Yes,” he said. Small wrinkles formed in his forehead as he frowned slightly. “Well, an anchor may mean many things. Security. A connection to water and the sea. It’s also a common Christian symbol, used to represent the Christ figure as hope and conviction in an afterlife.”

Kali tilted her head. “How about a fishing charm?”

“Those are very common, but usually we see fish symbols carved from stone. Jade is particularly popular with fishermen of Asian heritage.” He looked again at the anchor. “Fishing charms almost always have some device for attaching them to a net, though I can see that this one has a small hole between the two sides of the anchor at the top, through which a thin line or string might be threaded to secure it. There’s a belief among some fishermen that the power and beauty of the charm lures fish into the net. Blessings are sometimes performed to maintain or restore the charm’s power.”

“If you had to guess, is that what you’d assume this anchor to be? Some kind of fishing amulet?”

Tua shook his head. “Sorry, Kali. I’m not confident that it is.” He handed the small anchor back to her. “And it could be both a religious symbol and a fishing charm, used by a fisherman who was also a believer. I wish I could be more helpful. Can you tell me anything more about it to put it into context? Some kolohe making trouble?”

“No troublemakers right now. It’s part of a larger investigation, found in someone’s trouser pocket.”

He nodded. “Well, all I can say is that if someone was carrying it with them, it was likely to have been of personal significance.” He laughed suddenly. “Unless they’d just seen it on the floor, caught in the sunlight, and decided to pick it up and take it home.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Thanks for that.”

Tua grinned. “Always happy to help.”

They moved from the interior office toward the building’s front door. She waited outside on the lanai as he locked the door behind them, then followed him down the steps onto the lawn.

“You know, I think I remember something not unlike this anchor somewhere else. Over on Lna‘i, one of the ki‘i ‘i phaku carvings.”

She nodded slowly. “The ancient petroglyphs on the rocks down in the south.”

“Yes, they’re on a group of huge boulders as you’re driving toward the Palawai Basin. There are more up on the trail off Shipwreck Beach, but the one I’m thinking of is on a rock that also has carvings of a boat on it.”

“I remember that