This is the part of the mystery where Magnum, P.I., might say, in voice-over, “I know what you’re thinking.”
The evidence this week seemed to stack up: President Obama’s best friend buys a house on the commander-in-chief’s favorite Hawaiian island, two years before the first family departs the White House.
The beach-front estate, in need of some major renovation, otherwise seems perfect for a privacy-minded former leader: hidden from view by thick jungle, with the Pacific Ocean as his only real neighbor.
Down the road, some landmarks from Obama’s childhood: his high school, his mother’s former apartment, and even a few old buddies.
Mystery solved? Not exactly.
The White House on Friday denied rumors Obama was behind the sale of an $8.5 million spread on Oahu — the same location that in the 1980’s mystery series “Magnum, P.I.” was owned by the never-present and very rich Robin Masters and inhabited by Magnum and Higgins and the two Doberman Pinschers.
Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Obamas were not behind the sale of the estate, known on the sleuth show as “Robin’s Nest.”
In the series, Magnum — played by a mustached Tom Selleck — resided in the guest house when he wasn’t driving around the island in his red Ferrari solving capers.
The speculation began when local media outlets noticed the name on the home’s sales documents: Seth Madorsky, an associate of Marty Nesbitt, one of Obama’s longtime friends who join him on his annual holiday in Hawaii.
Madorsky, a Chicago lawyer, told CNN he represented Nesbitt and his wife in purchasing the property.
“Marty and Anita did not have any partners or co-investors in the transaction,” he added.
Nesbitt chairs the Barack Obama Foundation, which is currently in the process of selecting a site for the president’s eventual library. Hawaii and Chicago are both contenders.
The house Nesbitt purchased is situated on Oahu’s windward coast, in between a few of the Obamas’ favorite holiday spots.
Up the road is the Makapu’u Lighthouse trail, where Obama and his daughter Malia surprised fellow hikers in December when they showed up for a late-afternoon stroll. Further down the coast: Hanauma Bay, known for its snorkeling park, which the Obama family closes down most years for a day beneath the waves.
In the other direction is Obama’s favorite beach at the Bellows Air Force Station, and the posh community of Kailua where the first family has rented a home every year around Christmas.