Surfing Detective 04 - Hanging Ten in Paris

remembered Meighan telling me Scooter looked like he’d been drinking the night Ryan died. Then I became more convinced Scooter was telling the truth. And I kicked myself for not checking out Kim’s story that Heather had gone to the pharmacy that night. An internet search could have easily pulled up addresses and hours of pharmacies near 44 Rue de Écoles.
    The case was not about the two buddies ganging up on Ryan. I had missed some subtle clues. But I’d put the big pieces of the puzzle together. Soon all the little pieces would fall into place too.

epilogue

    I wish this case had a happier ending. My finding the killers of Ryan Song did not bring him back to his grieving parents. But the torment left their faces when I told them their son did not take his own life—that he had paid with his life for standing up for what he believed in. I assured them that his heartless killers would be brought to justice.
    I met with the Songs over a quiet dinner at their St. Louis Drive home. During the meal they thanked me.
    “When we heard about you from the college,” Mrs. Song said, “we knew that if anyone could prove Ryan didn’t take his own life, it was you.”
    I thanked them for their confidence in me.
    But what especially pleased me was the change in Mr. Song. When he rose from the table to say goodbye, he stood erect with a look of self-assurance in his eyes. He smiled through his pain with a smile that seemed to come from deep within his heart. Nothing could ever compensate for his loss, but he was no longer a broken man. His pride in his son, and himself and his family, had returned.
    Mrs. Song stood at his side when I bid them
aloha
. She too managed a faint smile as she waved goodbye.

About the Author

    Chip Hughes learned to surf in San Diego in the late 1960s. He earned a Ph.D. in English at Indiana University and taught American literature, film, writing, and popular fiction for nearly thirty years at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His non-fiction publications include two books on John Steinbeck and numerous essays and reviews.
    An active member of the Private Eye Writers of America, he launched the Surfing Detective mystery series in 2004 with
Murder on Moloka‘i
. The second book,
Wipeout!
, followed in 2007. The third,
K
ula,
in 2011. Other titles, in various stages of development, are underway. The series is published exclusively by Slate Ridge Press. More at http://surfingdetective.com.
    Hughes lives in Windward O‘ahu with his wife, Charlene, and two retrievers. He still surfs when time allows.