“Yes of course. I should have known he’d also be a suspect. By the way, my mom is here. She came in last night. That’s why I couldn’t meet with you. Would you like to meet her, even though she’s probably not a suspect?”
I replied, “Yes.” I didn’t mention that her name was also on our list of suspects!
“Then I’ll arrange for a meeting with them, either this evening or tomorrow morning. Is it okay for me to join you?”
“Actually, it would better if you don’t. We’d also like to meet with them separately, maybe back to back, if it’s okay with them.”
“Does that mean my mom is also a suspect?”
“As I’ve said, there are lots of suspects. In fact, anyone who knew the victims, or knew of the blackmail, is a suspect. But don’t worry, they’re only routine questions. Can you set up the two meetings for us, back to back?”
Nick set up the meetings for us to meet with Lance Mann first, and right after with his adoptive mother, Susannah Mann. We were grateful and thanked him, and when he asked if he was still a suspect, we just smiled and said our goodbyes. His name was not going to be removed from our whiteboard just yet!
Chapter 40
Lance Mann, who was in his late fifties, was a very congenial person and seemed to be honest and to the point to all our questions. But he gave us a completely different story about his involvement with Anita Sinclair. And even though he seemed to be honest, we wondered which story was the true one.
This was his side of the relationship with our ex-client, Mrs. Anita Sinclair.
“I met Dena Davis on one of the sets at the studio with which we were both under contract. It was an immediate attraction, although not love where one wants to spend their whole life with that person. We began dating, but it only lasted six months.
“Just before we went our separate ways, Dena told me she was pretty sure she was about two months pregnant. She didn’t want to abort the baby because she said if something went wrong perhaps she’d not be able to have another child. So we discussed putting the baby up for adoption. She found a doctor in another state who said he’d take care of everything for her: the delivery and finding the perfect parents for the baby … for a very large sum of money!
“By the time the baby was born I had begun investing my money, which was only small at the beginning. The investment paid off, and very quickly, with the help of a friend, I was doing very well. Between the two of us, and with Dena’s parent’s help, we were able to meet the demands of the doctor. When Dena was in her sixth month’s pregnancy, I met and fell completely in love with Susannah, the one I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
“Since we were planning to get married, I told Susannah about the baby. She suggested we marry sooner than planned, so we could adopt the child. I had never met the doctor, because Dena and her parents had taken care of all the arrangements – but I knew all about him. To make a long story short, Susannah and I got married. After the baby was born we went to the doctor and threatened him. We told him we were going to the police and tell them we thought he was doing illegal adoptions. I say adoptions because we were almost sure he’d done others. He then agreed to a much smaller fee to let us adopt the baby boy. We paid him, because we wanted him to keep his mouth shut. We also told him that if he ever told anyone who the adoptive parents were, he would find himself behind bars. Maybe you’re thinking blackmail? We just considered it as security. He died a few years ago and as far as we know his lips stayed sealed.
“Dena and I were young and were struggling to make it in Hollywood. But she had a much better chance at it than I did. She had said that the other starlets made fun of her as symptoms began to show her pregnancy.
“After having the baby, Dena returned to the movie world. But everything had changed for her, because many knew she'd had a child out of wedlock. It’s not like it is today. Hollywood is different now and anything goes. She made a few more movies, but never got the lead, nor did she ever receive the recognition she hoped for. So she left the movie industry, met and married Donovan Sinclair, and as it appeared, had a happy life. He, from what I understand, came from a wealthy family. I don’t know if Dena ever knew that Susannah and I had adopted my own son or not. We never kept in touch. The pregnancy was just one of those things that happens to two people who were young and careless. I’m not happy about it, but it brought us a great son to love and take care of.”
I asked, “Why the name Nick Lang, rather than Nick Mann? You must have known it would cause lots of confusion and misunderstanding, especially for Nick.”
“Susannah and I had talked about it before we signed the adoption papers. We felt at the time, and it’s now been proven, that someday Nick would find out about me. Both Susannah and I always said that whichever one of us died first, the other person would explain to Nick who I was. We also put a letter in our safety deposit box explaining everything, in case we both died together. The envelope said it was not to be opened until both of us had passed away.
“Nick knew it was there, but with a solemn promise he said he would never open it up until after our deaths. As you may know, Nick is not a very inquisitive person. Only once or twice in all of these over thirty years has he asked us if we knew who his real parents were, or why his last name is different than ours. And that was when he was very young. I guess I just wanted him to have my real name. Why, I don’t know. Sometimes when you’re young you do foolish things. It will always be one of those unanswered questions.
“If you were to ask Nick why he hardly ever asked questions, he would tell you, ‘Because I know my father and mother have my best interest in their hands.’ That’s the kind of son he is: very trusting and loving to us.”
Before we ended our meeting, Kat asked him, “Did Dena Davis have any other children you know about?”
“She had one son, which was headline news for a few days. The headline was something like, ‘Millionaire and one time starlet become parents of a son,’ … or something like that. I was happy for her.”
I asked, “Do you happen to know the son’s name?”
“I do. It was in the paper a few times and a name not easy to forget: Bartholomew. Bartholomew Sinclair.”
We thanked him, and Kat and I agreed we liked Lance Mann very much, but that wasn’t a good enough reason to remove his name from our list of suspects.
Chapter 41
We had about twenty minutes before we were to meet Susannah Mann. We grabbed a quick cup of coffee, and in our conversation wondered if Anita Sinclair’s second son, Bartholomew, should be added to our whiteboard of suspects. He would make a good suspect, especially if he was a loving son and found out his mother was being blackmailed.
We decided to put his name on the board. We would investigate to find out where he was when the murders were committed. We also wondered if maybe Bartholomew Sinclair was the J. Doe that Detective Larry Chen was investigating. And we were curious as to whether Nick Lang knew he had a half-brother out there somewhere.
That was the first question we asked Susannah Mann.
“No, we never told Nick he had a half-brother, or who his birth-mother was, or is. We always said we’d tell him when he gets married and has kids of his own. But now there’s no need. He knows who his birth-mother is, and after we’re through here, Lance and I are meeting with Nick and are intending to tell him the whole story. He knows most of it by now, but we’ll go into detail and leave nothing out, including telling him he has a younger half-brother. We believe he’ll be pleased to know what we have to tell him, and finally find out who he is, and who his birth family is.”
Susannah Mann went on to tell us the same story of how she and Lance Mann met. She also told us about Dena’s pregnancy, the adoption procedure, and how they both decided to adopt the baby. It was just something they knew they had to do. Susannah said they’d originally talked about being married sometime in the future, but instead of waiting, they got married sooner than expected so they could adopt Nick a
nd raise him in a loving and caring home. They hadn’t known at the time they would not be able to produce their own child, and later felt God had blessed them with Nick. For Susannah, Nick was her one and only child.
We asked Susannah how long she had known about the blackmail. She said right after Nick’s best friend Oliver was killed, Nick told her a little about what Oliver was working on. The post office box number just slipped out of his mouth. He made her promise to erase it from her mind.
She said, “I don’t know why, but I went to the post office and asked about the number. I was told no such number existed, so I left thinking either Nick gave me the wrong number, or I’d heard it wrong. Since Nick asked me to erase it from my mind I never brought it up to him again.”
Susannah assured us she was not on the Big Island when any of the murders took place, and had friends who could verify her whereabouts at the time of the murders. We asked her if she knew where her husband was during those times. When she told us we probably knew the answer to the question, she had a little smirk on her face. Of course she was right. We believed her, and when we got back to our room we erased two names and added a new one. The two erased were Susannah and the mystery women who had checked the number at the post office, who just happened to be Susannah herself. Then we added the name Bartholomew Sinclair, the son of Anita and Donovan Sinclair’s marriage.
Chapter 42
Our friend Nadia was next on our list – a conversation we were apprehensive about having. Even though down deep we knew she was innocent, we still had to ask the questions. We came up with the idea that we would ask questions that concerned Nick, her fiancé. We were pretty sure Nick had told Nadia we’d met him and that we were working with the police department here on the Big Island. We’d also told him he was a suspect, and had asked him many questions concerning the murders.
We wanted to ask Nadia some of those questions, but not let her think she was also a suspect. We weren’t sure how she would react if she knew her fiancé could be a murderer.
We sent a quick prayer up asking the Lord for guidance as I pressed #5, which was her number on my cell phone and put it on loud speaker.
After the third ring, Nadia answered.
“Hi Nadia, Kit and Kat here. How’s things going?”
“Hi Kit, I’m fine. So happy you called. I understand you met Nick. He said he really liked the two of you and had a good time getting to know you both. He said you met his mother and father. Great people, don’t you think?”
Kat and I turned to each other with a bewildered look on our faces. We were sure Nadia’s tone meant that Nick had not told her that all three of them were suspects in our investigation.
“Yes, Kat and I met all three of them. You’re right, they did seem very nice. Did Nick tell you we’re going to stay a little longer over here to investigate a murder? We believe it’s probably connected to the case we were working on.”
I was curious to see how much Nick had told her.
“No, but he did say he was going to stay a few more days to relax and enjoy being with his parents. Maybe this will give you both a chance to get to know Nick better.”
This was our opportunity to slide very carefully into our questions without upsetting Nadia.
“Nadia, have you ever been over here on the Big Island? It’s very beautiful.”
“Yes, a few times.”
“When was the last time you were here?”
“Not too long ago, Kit. I went over with one of my friends. In fact, I happened to be over there when Nick’s friend, Oliver, was murdered, although I didn’t know it at the time. I was on the other side of the island; Hilo side.”
“And before that?”
“Once right after I first moved over here, and another time after Nick and I met. I hope you have a chance to be with him again, I just know you’ll love him almost as much as I do.”
“Kat and I hope so too, Nadia. We’ll make it a point to have breakfast or lunch with him before he leaves. Next time you talk with Nick, tell him we enjoyed meeting him, and will definitely make plans to meet with him again before we leave the island.”
“Will do, but as much as I love talking to the two of you I really have to go. I’m meeting a friend in about twenty minutes, and I’m only half dressed. Thanks for calling. Happy things are going so well for the two of you.”
We said our goodbyes and Kat went over to our whiteboard and erased Nadia’s name. Of course we would look into her times here on the Big Island, but we felt sure they would check out okay, although we were curious why Nick had told Nadia nothing about our interview with him.
We wondered if he was hiding something and didn’t want to get Nadia involved.
Chapter 43
Out of the blue, Anita Sinclair called on my cell phone. She said she was wondering about the murder investigation. She asked, “How about the young man you sent a picture of? Nick something or other.”
I said, “You mean Nick Lang?”
“Yes, that’s his name.”
“Mrs. Sinclair, we know Nick Lang is your son who you put up for adoption over thirty years ago. We also know you have another son by the name of Bartholomew. What can you tell us about him?”
She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke her voice became quiet. “I can’t tell you much. Up until a few months ago our relationship had been strained for about two years. Then out of the blue Bartholomew called and wanted to talk. It was right after my husband became ill. He had always been a good son. He was a great help during my difficult time with Mr. Sinclair’s sickness, and his passing.”
“Did Bartholomew happen to know about the blackmail?”
“Yes, I told him during the many conversations we had. My heart was breaking. He was such a comfort, and it just came out.”
“How did he respond?”
“He was furious. He vowed to get even with the blackmailer for putting me through misery all those years.”
“Do you know if he’s ever been on the Big Island of Hawaii?”
“I’m not sure. After all, I didn’t hear from him for over two years. Are you suggesting he has something to do with the murders you’re looking into?”
“No I’m not. I’m just searching out all possibilities.”
“Well, that is one possibility you can forget.”
“Perhaps, but like you said, you didn’t know anything about your son for over two years. And you did say he vowed to get even with the blackmailer for putting you through that misery. I’m just wondering if getting even would include murder.”
CLICK
There was no goodbye. Just a dial tone!
Chapter 44
I called Detective Larry Chen and asked if we could meet to talk about the investigation. He was agreeable and said he and Leilani would meet us for lunch the next day so we could compare some of our notes. That sounded good to us.
We walked around the grounds, went back to our room, got comfortable and called room service for our dinner. We relaxed and tried not to talk too much about the case. That was difficult, but we managed to do just that by playing cards on the lanai. We also watched a little news on the television before crawling into bed and getting our most-needed rest. It was needed not so much for our bodies, but for our minds.
About eleven the next morning Larry Chen called and said he and Leilani were just starting out, and would meet us in the lobby of our hotel in about an hour. We could then discuss where to go for lunch and compare our notes.
Forty-five minutes later Kat and I headed down to the lobby. Twenty minutes later, hugs were given all round as we greeted each other. Kat and I observed that the relationship between our new friends was moving quickly. They sat together either holding hands, or with Chen’s arm around Leilani. They looked so happy, like two people falling madly in love.
We decided to walk to the shopping center, which was a fifteen-minute walk, where there was a Thai restaurant. It was highly recommended, and after eating there we could see why.
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Most of the conversation at lunch was about Chen and Leilani’s relationship. It was more serious than we had thought, as marriage kept creeping into our conversation.
As interesting as it was, Kat and I wanted to talk about the investigation. We were hoping we would find out who J. Doe was. We were curious to know if it was a Jane or a John Doe, and if it was someone we knew or might have already investigated.
Chapter 45
After lunch we walked back to the hotel. While walking through the grounds with Kat the day before, we had found a small chapel away from all of the hustle and bustle of the hotel guests. It was cool and comfy. Chen hinted it would be best if Leilani didn’t meet with us, so we would be free to discuss the murders and the suspects.
The three of us were officially on the case. Leilani, of course, was not. Chen seemed afraid that leaving Leilani out might hurt her feelings. Being the great lady she was, she said she understood and to call her when we were through. And for us not to worry, because she was going to visit her sister Pualani.
Chen explained that Detective Sally Ann was no longer on the case. Her partner was back and they were assigned to a new homicide.
Kat and I took turns in sharing what we had found out from our interviews with Nick Lang, with Nick’s father, Lance Mann, and with his mother, Susannah, plus our phone conversation with Nadia.
Chen asked what conclusions we had come up with after talking to all four of them, and if we thought there was someone we could eliminate. We told him the only two we were certain had no part in the killings were Nadia and Susannah. We were sure of their innocence as they had great alibis. Anyway, we were pretty certain they had no involvement in the crimes, and although we hadn’t yet checked out Savannah’s alibi, it was on our calendar for tomorrow’s events.
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