by Kathi Daley
Kekoa frowned. “Why would he be hanging out with them?”
“I don’t know, but the fact that he was worries me. Komo knows a lot of people and I guess those guys have to eat like everyone else, so Komo might have been with them to establish a relationship. But Bobby suggested Komo may have met them because he needed someone to do a job.”
“What kind of job?”
“Something illegal. Something like murder.”
Kekoa shook her head. “No way.”
“Komo threatened, in public, to feed Blaze to the fishes if he didn’t stop poaching his customers.”
“I heard about that from one of the guys who hangs out on the surfing beach. And I do agree that saying that was probably unwise. But Komo is no dummy, and how dumb would he be to say something like that in a very public manner and then actually follow through with it?”
I hopped up onto the counter and sat down. “Pretty dumb, I guess. Still, it does seem like the evidence is stacking up against him. I understand why Jason wants to bring him in.”
Kekoa opened the drawer beneath the computer and grabbed her pack of gum. She handed me a stick before taking one for herself. “If you don’t want to make yourself nuts you should trust what you know. Do you really think Komo would kill a man?”
“No, I guess not.” At least I hoped not. I only wished I could be as certain as she was. I’d known Komo my entire life and I knew him to be a sincere and dependable person. I’d been busy lately and hadn’t eaten at his food truck for at least a month, but I couldn’t imagine that enough had changed in that time to turn him into a killer. “The only thing that makes any sense at all is that someone who knows about Komo’s beef with Blaze is setting him up, and Komo knows it and is hiding out. The question is, who’s doing it and why?”
“The why might be to cover up their own guilt, but I have no idea who that might be,” Kekoa said. “Maybe one of the other food truck vendors?”
“Maybe, but if I had a food truck and I killed a guy, I wouldn’t frame another vendor. Doing that would only draw attention to food truck vendors in general. No, if I killed a man and was going to frame someone, I’d choose a person who was as removed from me as possible.”
“That makes sense, but if not a food truck vendor then who?”
“I don’t know, but if Komo is being framed I think the person doing it will turn out to be someone removed from his everyday life.”
******
By the time I got off work I was tired and really wished I could just take a nap, but I knew Luke was about to be invaded by five seniors, so I went home, grabbed a quick shower, tossed some things in a bag because I was off the next day and would probably stay over with him, and left a note for Kekoa to call me. I was just attaching Sandy’s leash to his collar when Luke arrived to pick me up.
“Thanks for coming to get me. I could have driven, but it’s nice not to have to.”
“It’s not a problem. I just finished with my meeting.”
“How’d it go?”
“Well, the man I’m negotiating with has a small ranch with only a couple of horses at this point, but he seems knowledgeable and appears to have purchased high-quality stock. There are still a few details we need to iron out, but I think we’ll be able to work out a deal.”
I yawned. “That’s good.”
“Tired?” Luke asked.
“Long day. I hope I can stay awake long enough to discuss wedding plans with the ladies. I still can’t believe Janice is getting married. When she first announced she was joining a dating service I thought she was nuts, but she seemed to know what she wanted and she clearly knew how to get it. I hope it works out for her.”
“Me too. I don’t know RJ well, but I’ve had a few chats with him since he’s been dating Janice and he seems like a good guy. At first I was concerned the twenty-year age difference would be a problem, but he seems fine with it. In fact, he seems really happy.”
“I guess they’re proof it’s never too late to fall in love.”
Luke grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. The remainder of the ride back to his ranch was a relaxing one as we listened to music and allowed the serenity of the evening to chase away the frustrations of the day. Luke parked in front of the house before getting out and opening my door. I laid my head on his shoulder as we walked hand in hand up the steps and through the front door. Sandy ran up to greet Luke’s dogs, Duke and Dallas, who were in the middle of the happy dog dance. Once we entered the main living area Luke paused.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone’s been here.”
I looked around the room, which seemed to be undisturbed. “What makes you say that?”
“I specifically remember setting the alarm before I left. It was off when we came in.”
“Maybe Brody was here.” Brody lived in Luke’s pool house and often came inside to steal a beer or scrounge for food.
“Maybe.”
Luke let my hand drop to my side. He walked down the hall to his office. I followed behind, curious to see what he was looking for. He entered his office, paused, and looked around.
“Do you think someone was in here?” I asked. Brody would scrounge for food, but he wouldn’t disturb Luke’s office.
He glanced at his computer. It was on, although the screen was dark. Luke clicked it to reveal the desktop. “I’m certain I shut this down before I left.”
“Isn’t your computer password protected?”
“Yes. And my password isn’t an easy one to guess.” Luke frowned and walked over to the file cabinets. The first one he tried was locked. Luke accessed the key, which was hidden inside a book on one of the shelves. When he opened the cabinet, he said, “Someone has definitely gone through these files.”
“How? The drawer was locked. Even I didn’t know where the key was hidden.”
Luke opened the next drawer. “I don’t know, but the files have definitely been disturbed.”
“Brody?”
“No. He has the alarm code to the house but not the password to my computer, and he doesn’t know the location of the cabinet key. Someone else has been here. Someone with the expertise to hack their way into a password-protected computer and pick the lock on a file cabinet.”
I frowned. “Okay, why? Is there anything in those files someone else would even care about?”
Luke didn’t answer, which made me nervous. Was he hiding something?
I was about to ask Luke about the files when he received a text. He frowned as he read it. Then he slipped his cell phone back into his pocket.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“The man I met with today. He has a few questions and wants me to call him.”
“Should we call HPD about the break-in?”
Luke hesitated before answering. “No.”
“Why not? If someone broke in you should report it.”
Luke stood in the middle of the room. He took my hand and pulled me closer to him. “What do you see?”
I looked around. “Nothing.”
“Exactly. Nothing is missing. Nothing has been destroyed. The place hasn’t been ransacked. The computer screen was off, although the hard drive was on. I remember turning it off, but I certainly can’t prove it. An argument could easily be made that I turned off the screen and only thought I’d turned off the hard drive.”
“What about the file cabinet?” I asked.
“Locked. On the surface nothing appeared to be disturbed. If whoever was here hadn’t put the files back in alphabetical order I would never have known the files had been touched.”
“You don’t file alphabetically?”
“No. Chronologically.”
“So you won’t really have any evidence to offer the HPD that someone even was in the house in your absence?”
“Right. I’ve been out of the house all day. The break-in could have occurred at any time, so trying to determine who might have been in the area at a specific time won’t help either.”
/> I leaned against the corner of the desk. “What are you going to do?”
Luke logged the computer off. “We have guests on the way. I’ll check on the horses and then I’ll start the BBQ. Can you handle the salad?”
“Are you sure you want them to come? I can call to reschedule.”
“No. It’s fine. Whoever broke in is gone now. I’ll change the password for the alarm system and move the key to my files.”
I frowned. It seemed like Luke was taking the break-in pretty calmly. In fact, I thought he was a bit too calm given the situation. I’d be flipping out if someone broke into my condo and touched my things. Of course my things were such a cluttered mess, I’d probably never even know if someone had disturbed them.
After we left the office I followed Luke down the hall to the kitchen. The dogs were wrestling around in the main living area, which wasn’t uncommon, but it did cause something to occur to me. “Duke and Dallas,” I said. “Would they stand by and let a stranger enter the house?”
Luke frowned. “No, they wouldn’t. In fact, they’d most likely attack an intruder they didn’t know.”
I looked around. “I don’t see shredded clothing or blood or anything else that would indicate a dog attack. If the intruder made it all the way to your office, it must have been someone they knew.”
Luke glanced at me. The look on his face mirrored my own concern. “You have a point. Who would come here and snoop around in my files?”
“I don’t know, but maybe you should ask yourself what there is to find and who would have wanted to find it.”
Luke glanced back toward the office. “The paperwork in the cabinets mostly relates to the horses, although there are financial files, as well as files left from my days on Wall Street. Those are all old. Useless to anyone really. I only keep them because I’m required to for ten years.”
“You said you had financial files. Are you talking about your personal finances? Bank account numbers and such?”
“Nothing current. All my current banking records are on my computer.”
“You might want to take a few minutes to change all your financial passwords. I’ll start getting the food together while you do it.”
“Yeah.” Luke turned back toward the office. “That’s a good idea. My financial records are double password protected, but I suppose if someone had the skill to break into the computer in the first place they’d be able to get past my firewall. I’ll change the passwords, check on the horses, and meet you in the kitchen when I’m done.”
******
By the time the seniors had arrived Luke had changed his passwords, checked on the horses, grilled the steaks, and was ready to serve. Elva, Janice, Tammy Rhea, and Emmy Jean all settled around the table near the pool and sipped the sweet tea I’d poured while Luke served the beef and brought out the salad.
“Before we begin talking about the wedding I wanted to let you know I got us a lead in the Blaze Whitmore death,” Tammy Rhea, who was dressed in lime green capris and a bright yellow blouse, announced as soon as Luke joined us. “And it’s a good one.”
“Okay, what do you have?” I asked.
“It’s not a what so much as a who,” Tammy Rhea clarified.
“Okay, then, who do you have?”
“Ivana Whitmore.”
“Blaze’s wife?” I asked.
“Ex-wife. She doesn’t live on the island. She divorced Blaze for infidelity before he moved here, but according to my masseuse, who I just happened to have an appointment with this morning, Ivana is here right now and has been for the past several days.”
“And you think Blaze’s ex killed him?”
“No better reason to kill a man than out of a jealous rage brought on by infidelity.”
“Yeah, but Blaze was dumped in the ocean. That sounds more like premediated murder than a jealous rage.”
“Being dumped is what happened to the man after he died. We really have no idea how that happened, right?”
Tammy Rhea had a point. A good one. The person who’d disposed of the body might not be the same one who’d killed Blaze, and even if they were, the death could have been an act of rage even though the method of disposal was intentional.
“Okay, but why do you think the ex-Mrs. Whitmore would come to the island and kill her husband now? I don’t know how long ago they divorced, but I do know Blaze has been on the island since last November.”
“In a word, Raquel Kennedy,” Emmy Jean answered.
“And who is Raquel Kennedy?” I asked.
“Ivana Whitmore’s sister and Blaze’s most recent lover. Or at least that’s the rumor that’s going around. To be honest, I have no proof of it one way or the other.”
I guess I could see a woman killing over a love affair between her sister and her ex, but if it were me, I’d be more likely to do away with the sister, and I said as much.
Tammy Rhea grabbed Emmy Jean’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “The bond between sisters is a powerful thing that, in the end, no man can destroy. Take it from me, if Blaze was fooling around with his ex-sister-in-law, it would be Blaze who would ultimately suffer Ivana’s wrath for his cheatin’ ways.”
“If the man was divorced what he was doing wasn’t exactly cheating,” I pointed out.
“Semantics. If the man hooked up with his wife’s sister it was cheating, whether there’s an ex designation involved in the equation or not.”
The Southern sisters had come up with interesting clues. Unless Jason had solved the crime since the last time I’d spoken to him, I was certain he was going to want to hear about Ivana Whitmore and her presence on the island.
“Has anyone else heard anything that might relate to Blaze Whitmore’s murder?” I asked.
“RJ said Blaze Whitmore has spent time in prison,” Janice contributed.
“Did he know why?”
“He was looking into it for a story he’s doing, but when I spoke to him last night he didn’t have a lot of information, other than the fact that his stay was fairly short and he was pretty sure the conviction had to do with a white-collar crime. RJ thinks it might have been insider trading or embezzlement or something similar. Seems Blaze used to work as an investment banker.”
“Blaze Whitmore was an investment banker? Why on earth was he selling burgers here then?”
“I suppose if he was convicted of a crime he might have lost his license, although selling burgers doesn’t seem like the next logical choice. If I hear anything more specific I’ll let you know.”
I took a break to call Jason and fill him in on the leads the women had provided. As it turned out, Jason already knew about Blaze’s ex being on the island, as well as his time in prison. I seemed to keep forgetting my big brother was a cop, and a good one at that. He might tolerate my nosing around in his investigations, but he surely didn’t need my help.
“Okay, now that I’ve shared your leads with Jason let’s talk about the wedding,” I said.
“I spoke to RJ about having the wedding here and he’s afraid, and rightfully so, that people he knows at the television station are going to be hurt if they aren’t invited. What he suggested was that we elope as we planned and then come back to the ranch for a party with a very small group of friends later.”
“That sounds reasonable,” I commented. “As long as he can honestly tell the people at work that he eloped there shouldn’t be any hurt feelings.”
Janice nodded. “That’s what we thought. And RJ wanted me to emphasis that we want it to be a small party. He’d probably be happier if we skipped it altogether, but he knows I’d enjoy sharing my special day with friends. This will probably be the last time I get married.”
Probably? The woman was seventy-five after all.
“I think we can keep it to under twenty and still invite everyone who should be here,” Emmy Jean said.
“Twenty or less would be perfect,” Janice confirmed. “Are we thinking lunch? Because if we are, you should know RJ doesn’t process beef all
that well. Perhaps we could do fish.”
I sat back and mostly watched as Emmy Jean and Tammy Rhea took over the discussion. I’ve said this before and I’m sure I’ll have cause to say it again: The Southern sisters knew how to plan and execute a social event. They never seemed to be short of money, so I imagined they were well off, but if they ever did find themselves needing to raise funds they could certainly make a go of it as party planners.
By the time the seniors left, Emmy Jean and Tammy Rhea were in possession of notes outlining the date, time, menu, music choice, flowers, and colors for the affair. The idea of pulling together a party like this in a week left me feeling dizzy and I hadn’t even been asked to do anything other than get Saturday off from work, which shouldn’t be a problem because I had a ton of unused vacation time. Once we were alone, Luke and I headed out to the barn to check on the horses.
“I have to hand it to the sisters. They seemed to know exactly what Janice would like,” Luke commented as we walked across the property.
“They really do know their stuff. The entire time they were planning the party I kept thinking that if it were left up to me we would be eating burgers off paper plates.”
“An equally valid choice.”
I smiled.
“When I was a kid I attended an uncle’s wedding,” Luke told me. “The bride and groom arrived on horseback. They dismounted for the actual ceremony, but then, when it was over, they remounted and rode off into the sunset. I remember thinking that if I ever got married that was exactly how I’d want to do it.”
“On horseback? You must be kidding.”
Luke shook his head. “Nope. I’m quite serious.”
“In that case I think we need to break up.”
Luke laughed. “Why? Are you afraid you’ll fall madly in love with me, I’ll propose, and I’ll insist we arrive at our wedding ceremony on horseback?”
“Not even for a minute. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I can’t imagine being in love with anyone enough to agree to such a cockamamy idea. Now a wedding on surfboards at sunset…”
“When you were younger did you dream about what your wedding would be like when you grew up?” Luke asked. “Most little girls do.”