My brother and I were on holiday in Hawaii. Not the tourist part, but a hidden hippie village where clothes are optional.

I’d planned to hire a car, but one was only available a couple of days after we arrived. Our accomadation was a 3hr walk from any food, save the (very tasty) homegrown organic breakfast served at the place we were staying.

So we spend the first day walking, talking and enjoying the scenery. We take a detour in the hopes of scoping out a local bike hire place. We find it just as rain starts coming down in earnest. It’s closed.

It’ll be late by the time we get back to the accomadation, but that’s fine. Phones have lights. Not a problem.

Later, we’re walking down a slim road lined with bushes and trees. It’s dark and still warm. We’re two hours from the accomadation, phone lights out, listening to music and stepping off the road each time a car passes.

It’s basically one tarmac road with a driveway every two hundred metres. A truck puts its blinker on and pulls over just ahead of us.

The driver asks us where we’re headed. We say up the road. He says he’ll give us a lift, he just needs to collect some stuff from a place he’s been staying. Nothing seemed dodgy, locals had already been very helpful and friendly.

We’re getting air, gripping the trailer, sitting in the back of this truck as it speeds through the jungle of trees. This driver knows the area.

We pull up to a house/castle. It’s a two storey house, with the flat stone facade of a fortress. It’s completely dark. Nobody is home so I’m already feeling this is off.

Driver says he’ll just be a moment. He heads into the house through the back, using his phone light. A dog starts barking. He’s not turning any house lights on. He brings out some basic bedding, we help tuck it into the back of his truck. Okay, he was staying here temporarily, makes some sense…

Then he’s on the second floor, still using his phone light, throwing things out a window, telling us to load it up! A wall clock shaped like a ships wheel. A drawer, like from a chest of drawers filled with random junk.

Nope. We left. Got the address and walked off into the darkness. Called the police for an hour, and the next day, but didn’t get anyone on the phone.

That’s the story of how my brother and i accidentally helped rob someone… We think.