Caffrey Aloha

Chapter 1

And his most recent foreign language experience? The last several days there'd been a Hispanic construction crew arriving every morning as he left for work. June had hired them to remodel the bathroom in the loft Neal rented – a truly generous Christmas gift to her tenant. Unlike his kitchen, where the vintage appliances were charming, the bathroom had been the victim of a 1970s era remodel, complete with an avocado green sink. The work was almost done now, and it looked fantastic. Mostly Neal had stayed out of the crew's way, but he did overhear a few snatches of conversation in Spanish.

What a change from the years before he joined the FBI. In those days he'd picked up new languages and increased his fluency in the ones he already knew. He'd traveled extensively, experiencing languages in the cultures from which they sprang. He'd enjoyed being a citizen of the world.

But running from the law hadn't been fun, he reminded himself. He needed to stop thinking about those days, and focus on his paper instead.

Sunday evening. December 19, 2004.

Neal left the Aloha Emporium much happier than he'd been on Wednesday. His final papers and projects were all turned in, and his musings about growing rusty with languages had resulted in a brainstorm on Thursday night. He'd spent the entire weekend working on the murals he'd agreed to paint for the Emporium. By doing the work in their shop during business hours, Neal was able to spend substantial time in conversation with the employees, receiving an immersion into Hawaiian language and culture. No one was going to mistake him for a native when he got to Honolulu, but picking up the basics of a new language was a pleasure he had been happy to indulge in.

I've missed this, he thought as he pulled on his winter coat and trudged outside. Not that he could tell anyone, of course. The people in his new, law-abiding life would be concerned to hear he found something missing. They'd worry that he was getting bored, being tempted to return to his old ways.

He'd planned to walk to the subway station, but it was freezing outside. The rain wasn't quite sleet, but it was so cold it stung when it hit him. Seeing a taxi approach, he hailed it and slid gratefully into its warmth as he gave the driver his address on Riverside Drive.

"Mind if I play the radio?" the driver asked.

Neal shrugged and said without thinking, "I like music." A moment later he felt a twinge of regret as the song "Peace and Joy" filled the taxi.

Last December, Neal met former rock star Michael Darling, Grammy-winning keyboardist and composer for 90's alternate rock group Local Devastation. Michael had written a Christmas ballad, which Neal predicted would become a hit, and he'd been right about that. The song had been released right after Thanksgiving, and now it seemed like you couldn't turn on a radio without hearing it.

What he wouldn't have predicted a year ago was that everyone listening to the song would hear Neal's voice singing it.

Over the summer, Neal and his cousins Henry and Angela had been performing as a rock group known as Urban Legend, with the goal of getting signed by Masterson Music in order to prove that the company was cheating its clients. Neal had called in a favor from Michael Darling, and as a result Urban Legend had performed at a Local Devastation reunion concert.

By December, Urban Legend should have faded from the memories of most people, if not for that holiday song. Michael Darling had encouraged them to record "Peace and Joy" if they agreed to let it be included as a bonus track on the album of the reunion concert. The album had been released in time for the holidays, and now Neal constantly heard himself harmonizing with his cousins on the radio. There'd been no escaping the teasing from his colleagues at the FBI and at Columbia.