Carmen’s meticulously maintained six-bedroom house was set back on a quiet dead-end street near Aina Haina Beach. Behind decorative iron fencing, the gated property was beautifully landscaped, with croton and koki’o kea shrubs. A large oval swimming pool, surrounded by a tiled deck and designer lanai furniture, was situated on the makai side.
A middle-aged British butler named Smedley, sporting the traditional uniform, met us at the wide engraved oak door. He bowed a head of snow-white hair, wiggled his Imperial mustache, and escorted us into a magnificent high-ceilinged living room filled with handsome [expensive] furniture and a well-stocked corner bar Rey called “swanky” under her breath.
We took seats on a stylish sofa that had a retro look about it and waited for our host to arrive.
