Murder of the Hula Dancers

by R. Barri Flowers

  "Interesting question," Fenkell said. "Once we find him, we'll ask him. Why don't you give me a description of him, and make it as complete as possible."

  Gena regarded Kent, remembering he had asked her to describe the suspect and she hadn't offered much. She told what she could in terms of his general build and what he may have been wearing, wishing she had paid more attention.

  "That's a start," Fenkell said, then gazed at Kent. "What do you have to add?"

  "Other than the fact that I believe the deceased is Jennifer Anderson, whom her boyfriend reported missing four days ago, not much."

  Fenkell leaned back in his chair. "So how did you and Ms. LaCrosse happen to come together on this?"

  "We were both on the beach," Kent said. "She ran up to me and told me about the body. I checked it out, confirmed the woman was dead, and called 911."

  "What's the name of your client?" Fenkell asked him.

  "Richard Mitchell," Kent said.

  "Have an address?"

  Kent gave it to him.

  "Pending the autopsy results, it probably does no good to speculate at this point," Fenkell said, "though I'm sure we all will anyway. Thank you for your time. We'll take it from here."

  "I still have a client who's paying me for information," Kent said. "I owe it to him to bring him up to speed on this."

  Fenkell furrowed his brow. "Can't stop you from doing that. Just remember, this is an official investigation and whatever you learn, don't keep it to yourself."

  "Agreed," Kent responded.

  Gena wondered if this would end up being a murder investigation. Or had the woman simply decided she didn't want to live for some reason?

  * * *

  Kent was happy when Gena took him up on his offer to go for coffee after the interview. Apart from unwinding after a bad start to their day, he welcomed the opportunity to get to know her a little better.

  The weather was perfect so they sat outside at the bistro.

  "You mentioned that you were once a marshal," Gena said.

  "Yeah," Kent replied, sipping his drink pensively.

  "And now you're a private eye. What's the story there you alluded to earlier?"

  Though he found it painful to delve into that part of his life, Kent realized that to learn more about her, he had to give more about himself. So he told her about his previous life, including the betrayal of his ex-wife.

  "It must have been really hard to have your wife turn on you like that with your partner," Gena said.

  "That's putting it mildly," Kent muttered. "Guess you have to find out some things the hard way and deal with it—though not always in the right way."

  She batted her eyes. "I don't think there is any right way to deal with bad situations."

  "Maybe you're right." Kent looked at her. "Tell me what went wrong in your life—apart from this morning."

  Gena sighed. "Not what, but who—"

  Kent listened as she spoke about a domineering and scary ex-boyfriend in Chicago and the best means she had for escaping him, if only for the short-term.

  "I'm sorry he put you through that," Kent said, though not sorry she ended up in Fortune Beach as a result. "Some men can be real asses."

  "Tell me about it," Gena said, sipping her cappuccino. "But it was better that I found out what an ass he was before things went even further."

  "I agree," Kent said. "Guess we really know how to pick them."

  "Looks that way."

  They both chuckled, though clearly there wasn't anything funny about the circumstances that had brought them to Fortune Beach. Not to mention the dead woman who brought them together.

  Afterwards, Kent dropped Gena off at the cabin where she was staying. Neither made any plans to get together again. But in Kent's mind that was a given, if he had any say in the matter.

  Right now, it was time to pay his client a visit and fill him in on the tragic news, in case he had not heard. Unless, of course, he already knew exactly what had become of his fiancée to prevent her from making it to the altar.

  * * *

  Gena had considered inviting Kent in to talk some more, enjoying his company. But she thought better of it. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to rush into anything just yet with Colin still fresh on her mind.

  Then there was the fact that she and Kent needed time to get past the idea that they literally met over a dead body. Not exactly the ideal way to begin a new relationship.

  Still, she was open to the possibility sometime in the future.

  Gena took a shower and then grabbed her cell phone and called her best friend Roslyn.

  "I was just thinking about you," Roslyn said.

  "How sweet," Gena offered, though unsure she believed a word of it. "Now what were you really doing?" She could only imagine what guy of the week her friend had hooked up with this time.

  "I'm serious," she said. "I ran into Colin yesterday and he asked about you..."

  Gena's pulse raced. Could he have found out where she was?

  "What did you tell him?" she demanded.

  "Absolutely nothing," Roslyn insisted. "He has no idea you're in Fortune Beach."

  "Are you sure about that?"

  "Positive. I think he believes you went to New York, since you told him you have friends there."

  "Good, let him think that," Gena said with satisfaction, knowing that the Big Apple was big enough for her to hide safely from Colin, had she actually been there.

  "Seems like he's moved on, in any event," Roslyn said. "He was with another woman."

  Gena was not too surprised, considering his wandering eye. "I pity her," she muttered. "But if it means he'll leave me alone, oh well..."

  "My sentiments exactly," Roslyn said.

  Gena told her about the dead ringer woman she found and the still mysterious circumstances of her death.

  "Sounds horrible," Roslyn said.

  "It was," Gena told her, the image of death still giving her the chills. "I almost felt like I was looking in the Twilight Zone mirror or something."

  "Maybe you had a sister you never knew about," Roslyn kidded.

  "I don't think so," Gena said. She was sure her parents would never have kept such from her. Even then, the chances of meeting this unknown sister randomly were like a trillion to one.

  "Better her than you," Roslyn made clear. "I don't know what I'd do without my best friend."

  "Hopefully, you won't have to find out anytime soon," Gena said.

  * * *

  Kent knocked on the door of the new house where Richard Mitchell lived. The newlywed couple had planned to live there after they were married.

  The door opened and he saw his client standing there, his face contorted with pain.

  "I guess you heard her body was found," Kent said.

  "Yeah, the sheriff told me. They want me to come and identify her." Richard rubbed his eyes. "I just don't understand it. How could something like this happen?"

  It was a question Kent very much wanted the answer to. "Mind if I come inside?"

  Richard stepped aside and Kent walked past the older, taller man. He spotted a glass half filled with alcohol on the table. He couldn't help but wonder if his client was drinking to escape the hurt. Or his guilt.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't come up with better news," Kent said sincerely.

  "So am I. Jennifer didn't deserve to go out like that."

  "No one does," Kent told him. "Do you know anyone who would want to kill her?"

  Richard's brows furrowed. "No, I don't. She didn't have any enemies. Just the opposite. Everybody who knew Jennifer thought the world of her—including me."

  At least one person may have thought considerably less of her, Kent thought. Maybe I'm looking at him.

  "Was Jennifer suicidal?" Kent asked.

  "No way!" Richard insisted. "She had everything to live for—not the least of which was our marriage and the family we planned to have. She wouldn't have given that up by killing herself."

  Kent was inc
lined to agree, based on what he had learned from others who knew her. Then there was the body itself and the circumstances of its discovery that gave him pause.

  He narrowed his eyes at Richard. "Well, there's no easy way to say this, but your girlfriend was either murdered, committed suicide, or her death was accidental. One or more will be ruled out soon enough. If there's something you haven't told me, now's the time to get it out."

  Richard ran a hand through his hair. "I've told you everything I know," he said. "Jennifer had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She's an excellent swimmer, so I don't see her drowning accidentally. It's almost as though someone targeted her by mistake—"

  * * *

  He sat at the bar drinking scotch while thinking less about the woman he killed and more about the woman who may have seen him close enough to the body to arouse suspicion.

  Who was she? Could he find her before she could put the authorities on his trail?

  Just then, he heard the news and looked up at a plasma TV as a reporter was talking.

  "An adult female's nude body was found on the beach early this morning. She was discovered by a jogger. The deceased has been identified as Jennifer Anderson, a thirty-year-old teacher. She disappeared four days ago, just one day before her wedding. The police aren't saying if foul play was involved or not. The autopsy report is scheduled to be released tomorrow—"

  He stared at the screen in disbelief. He'd screwed up big time. But he always cleaned up his messes. In this case, he would solve two headaches at once.

  He finished off the drink and left.

  * * *

  It's almost as though someone targeted her by mistake.

  Richard's words stuck in Kent's mind like glue. What if Richard was right? What if Jennifer hadn't been the intended target, but Gena was instead? Crazy as it sounded, the two were practically twins. As such, one could easily have been mistaken for the other.

  Maybe Gena's possessive ex fully intended to carry out his threat of making her pay should she ever leave him. Though she seemed confident he knew nothing of her whereabouts, Kent began to wonder if the asshole knew exactly where she was and had acted upon it.

  But could he have actually gone after the wrong woman?

  Kent didn't believe that was possible with someone Gena had been involved with. Especially since Jennifer would not have recognized him, thereby making it clear she was not Gena.

  But what if Gena's ex had hired someone else to do the dirty work? He could have acted on appearance alone without giving Jennifer a chance to identify herself.

  The more Kent thought about it, the more it seemed entirely plausible. When his cell phone rang, he answered, interrupting his thoughts.

  "Hey, this is Sheriff Fenkell. Though the official autopsy results won't be released till tomorrow, since you worked on the case I thought I'd let you know that the preliminary cause of Ms. Anderson's death is suffocation. Looks like we've got ourselves a murder investigation."

  "I'm glad you called," Kent said. "I think I know who's behind it and where the killer might be headed—"

  Kent was out the door and on his way to Gena's cabin. He wished he had gotten her cell phone number earlier. Now he could only hope he got there in time to prevent another tragedy.

  * * *

  Gena heard the knock on the door. She thought it might be one of the neighbors looking for their cat or something. Part of her even hoped it might be Kent. She had been thinking about him after their get-together and was curious to see if there were any real sparks between them without death getting in the way.

  She opened the door and saw a tall man standing there. His head looked freshly shaven and he wore a scowl.

  "Gena LaCrosse," he said in a cold voice. "This time there won't be a mistake..."

  Before she could wrap her mind around what he was talking about, Gena thought back to the beach and the dead woman. Suddenly she could envision this man as the one who had been on the beach. The killer!

  She tried to close the door, but he easily blocked it with his foot and forced his way inside.

  "Why are you doing this?" she asked unsteadily.

  He flashed a maniacal grin. "Figured you would have guessed by now. I'm here courtesy of Colin Murray. He hired me to take you out."

  "What—?" Gena's eyes widened with shock. Roslyn had convinced her that there was no way Colin could have known where she was.

  "Course I thought I had already done the deed," he said smugly. "Turned out it wasn't you after all, just some poor bitch who looked like you. Colin wanted you to pay the ultimate price for your betrayal. As it turns out, I was already looking for you on the beach this morning, so it's all going to work out for the best—for me anyway."

  Gena gasped as he pulled a clear plastic bag out of his back pocket.

  "We can make this easy, or we can make it hard," he said tonelessly, approaching her. "Which is it going to be?"

  "Go to hell!" she spat, determined not to give him or Colin the satisfaction of dying a horrible death.

  Gena tried to run away. She got as far as the steps when he caught up to her, grabbing her by the hair.

  She turned around and did the only thing she could at this point: fight for her life and scream as loud as she could.

  Though she hit and kicked him, he warded off the blows and forced the bag over her head.

  Immediately, Gena could barely breathe, though she tried to keep fighting. The thought of dying at thirty terrified her. She wasn't ready to see her life end this way, so that Colin won.

  But it seemed to be a foregone conclusion as she became lightheaded and heard the man say with frightening satisfaction, "Goodbye, Gena."

  She tried hard to keep breathing as her eyes watered and her chest heaved, but she was growing weaker by the moment. Suddenly, she heard the door burst open and watched as Kent rushed in. He immediately ran toward them, lunging at the man, who released her.

  Gena ripped the plastic bag from her head and gasped while trying to force air into her lungs. She watched with blurry eyes as the two men fought.

  Kent got the upper hand and ended up on top of her would-be killer, smashing his fist twice into the man's face, putting him out.

  Kent got up and rushed over to her. "Are you all right?"

  "I think so," Gena said, wheezing as air began to return to her lungs. "How did you know?"

  "I figured it out after I put a few thoughts together," he said. "Your ex is an asshole and wanted you dead—twice. Thank goodness I wasn't too late the second time around."

  "Thank goodness," she said to her hero. "In my book, you were right on time."

  Kent smiled and put his arm around her. "Folks around here tend to look after their own."

  "I can see that," she said, gazing into his eyes.

  Kent glanced at the man on the floor. "We'd better make sure he stays out of commission till the sheriff gets here."

  "Good idea," Gena said. The last thing she wanted was for Colin's hired killer to wreak further havoc on her life. Especially when it suddenly seemed so promising in Fortune Beach, where fortune had found a way to smile upon her just when she needed it most.

  She took solace knowing that Colin would get his just due. In the meantime, Gena felt grateful to be alive with a whole new reason to live. Kent Stanton had seen to that. She would find many ways to thank him and see where they went beyond that. Something told her it could be a very long way.

  * * *

  If you enjoyed Kaanapali Beach Paradise-Part 2 and Kill and Say Goodbye, check out some of the many gripping mystery, suspense, and thriller bestseller novels by R. Barri Flowers, in eBook, print, and audio, such as Dark Streets of Whitechapel, Dead in the Rose City, Justice Served, Killer in The Woods, Fractured Trust, and State's Evidence.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  R. Barri Flowers is an award winning criminologist and bestselling author of more than eighty books, including mystery and thriller fiction, relationship novels, young
adult mysteries, and children's books.

  Fiction titles include Before He Kills Again, Dark Streets of Whitechapel, Dead in Pukalani, Dead in Kihei, Forever Sweethearts, Fractured Trust, Graduate Circles, Killer in The Woods, Murder in Maui, Murder in Honolulu, Murdered in the Man Cave, Murder on Kaanapali Beach, Persuasive Evidence, Seduced to Kill in Kauai, State's Evidence, and Justice Served.

  Young adult fiction includes Count Dracula's Teenage Daughter, Danger in Time, Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay, Teen Ghost at Dead Lake, Out for Blood, and Summer at Paradise Ranch.

  The author has also written a number of top selling true crime titles, including Murder of the Banker's Daughter, The "Gold Special" Train Robbery, The Sex Slave Murders 1, 2, and 3, The Pickaxe Killers, Murder at the Pencil Factory, Killers of the Lonely Hearts, and Dead at the Saddleworth Moor.

  As a sought after expert on true crime, R. Barri Flowers has appeared on the Biography Channel, Investigation Discovery, and Oxygen television series.

  Follow R. Barri Flowers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Learn more about the author in Wikipedia and www.rbarriflowers.com.