Murder in Maui

by R. Barri Flowers

  He was less certain as to whether or not Racine would own up to the crimes. Or, as medical director of the Behavioral Health Unit, would he seek to use psycho babble to justify his actions; hoping to somehow lessen the severity of the punishment he faced by a jury of his peers?

  * * *

  On the third floor at Maui General, Leila and Seymour were accompanied by uniformed officers as they found Kenneth Racine making his normal rounds.

  He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw them approaching, brow furrowed. “What is it this time?”

  Leila had a feeling he already knew the answer. “Kenneth Racine, you’re under arrest for suspicion of committing multiple murders.”

  His rights were read and the suspect was handcuffed.

  “You’re making a big mistake,” he insisted.

  “You’ll have every opportunity to prove that.”

  Kenneth growled. “This is absurd!”

  Seymour got so close that their noses nearly touched. “I don’t think so. I see guilt written all over your face.” He motioned to the officers to take him away.

  “The press will likely be all over this one,” feared Leila.

  “When are they not covering a case made for the headlines?” Seymour’s eyes rolled. “Best we can hope for is to hold them at bay as long as possible while we continue to gather the evidence we need.”

  She saw that as a tall task, given that the media seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere these days. Still, Leila was more focused on catching a killer and making the medical practitioners, citizens, and tourists alike feel safe again in Maui.

  * * *

  Rachel held the search warrant in hand as they approached Kenneth Racine’s house in Kapalua. Not too surprisingly, it was impressive with a palm tree lined driveway. All that glittered was not gold, since the doctor had some serious skeletons about to come out of the closet.

  There was no indication anyone was home. Indeed, they had already been told Racine had been arrested at work. Still she went through the routine, shouting, “This is the police. We have a warrant to search the premise. Open up—”

  When there was no answer, Rachel made eye contact with Ferguson and the accompanying officers. She gave the go ahead to force their way in.

  They fanned out in every direction, looking for a .25 caliber firearm and shells in specific, but open to anything else that might be incriminating.

  “Lots of places to hide something you don’t want found,” commented Ferguson.

  Rachel nodded. “And sometimes it’s right under your nose.”

  He dug inside a bookshelf. “Not sure Racine’s that clever.”

  “That’s obvious, considering why we’re here in the first place.”

  After going over the place with a fine toothed comb, the news was not good. The murder weapon was nowhere to be found.

  * * *

  “No .25 caliber gun was located in the suspect’s house or car,” Ortega relayed bleakly.

  “Uh oh.” Leila made a face as they stood outside the interrogation room where Racine sat. “Maybe he’s not our man after all?”

  Seymour gazed at her. “I’m telling you that’s not an innocent man sitting there. What he doesn’t know about the murder weapon, he doesn’t need to till the time is right.”

  Ortega nodded. “See what you can get out of him before the lawyer arrives. Just make sure it doesn’t end up being thrown out of court.”

  “You ready for this?” Seymour asked Leila just before they went in.

  She met his eyes, reading his hunger for her. Or was she projecting her own feelings onto him?

  “Let’s go for it.”

  Inside the room, Leila remained standing while Seymour took a seat across from the suspect. He put a recorder on the table and turned it on.

  “So are we going to make this short and not so sweet, Kenneth?” Leila asked. “Or are you going to play hardball?”

  His nostrils flared. “If you expect me to confess to something I didn’t do, you’re both crazy.”

  “Actually, we’re perfectly sane. And I believe you are, too.”

  “Then you should know this isn’t going to work.”

  Leila sighed, but stayed in control. “We didn’t arrest you on a whim or prayer. We know you bought the gun used to kill the victims from an illegal gun dealer named Kurt Landon. And he’s willing to testify to that.” She’d gotten no such assurance, but hoped it would have the desired effect.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice shook.

  “Oh come now, Doctor!” Seymour said. “We’ve got you dead to rights and no amount of denying it will change things.”

  The door opened and a tall, thin man in his sixties entered.

  “I’m Leonard Fenkell, Dr. Racine’s attorney.” Behind glasses, his brows touched as he looked at the recorder. “You can start by shutting that damned thing off.”

  Seymour pushed the stop button. “We’re not violating your client’s rights. This is standard procedure.”

  “Not with my client.”

  “Whatever. We were just telling your client that he’s bitten off more than he could chew.”

  “Is that so?” Fenkell uttered curtly.

  Leila regarded him. “I’m afraid so. He purchased a gun and shot to death four innocent people. That’s four first degree homicides. There’s no turning back from the consequences.”

  “I didn’t do it.” Kenneth glared.

  “The evidence doesn’t lie.”

  “What evidence?” Fenkell flashed a look of skepticism.

  “How about the murder weapon?” Leila threw out, hoping they would soon be able to back it up. “We’ve got fingerprints I’m betting will match your client’s.”

  “All I did was buy the gun.”

  “Don’t say another word,” his attorney demanded.

  Kenneth shot him a wicked look. “Shut up! I’m not taking the rap for something I didn’t do.”

  Leila eyed Seymour quietly turning the tape back on. “Are you saying you purchased the gun for someone else?”

  He looked up at her. “Yes.”

  “Who...?”

  “Connie Nagasaka.”

  Leila exchanged glances with Seymour and back. “You’re telling us Connie is the killer?”

  “Yes!”

  Seymour cocked a brow. “Do you really expect us to believe that?”

  “It’s true, I swear. The whole thing was Connie’s idea. She was pissed Larry was sleeping with Liz. So was I. Connie begged me to get a gun and said she would make things right. I guess I was so consumed with rage, I went along with it, not thinking clearly.”

  Leila leaned forward. “Had your thinking improved any when Connie allegedly killed Douglas Brennan and Adrianne Pompeo, too?”

  Kenneth ran a hand across his mouth. “Yes, but it was too late by then. I was already an accomplice.”

  Leila’s irritation was growing. “So you figured it didn’t matter how many others died after the first two because your hands were too tied to stop it?”

  “I tried to talk some sense into her,” he claimed. “But Connie had her mind made up, once they pushed her too hard.”

  Leila nodded at Seymour; then turned to Kenneth and his attorney. “You might as well make yourselves comfortable. It’s going to be a long day.”

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  “Are you buying his story?” Ortega asked outside the interrogation room.

  Seymour looked through the window. “Could be the effort of a desperate man to try and save his own neck as much as possible.”

  Ortega looked at Leila. “What do you think?”

  “Well, we haven’t found the murder weapon yet. Could be he doesn’t have it. Maybe she does. Wouldn’t be the first time a woman and man partnered up to commit murder, no matter who pulled the trigger.”

  “You’d better get a search warrant to see if she has the gun, before she’s tipped off that Racine’s in custody and fingering her as the killer. She
might decide to toss it in the ocean or use it on someone else.”

  Leila sighed. “If Connie is the killer, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to go after anyone who got in her way.”

  Ortega’s brow wrinkled. “That’s what concerns me. Between the two of them, this has to stop now!”

  “I’m hoping it will.”

  Leila favored Seymour and could see the strain on his face. Could he see the same on hers?

  Connie Nagasaka was the next one to feel the heat and perhaps put the investigation to rest.

  * * *

  The doer was flipping through an investment magazine and thinking about nothing in particular, when something on the news registered.

  “Dr. Kenneth Racine, medical director of the Behavioral Health Unit at Maui General Hospital, was arrested for the murder of his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Racine, and three others in the medical field. The police aren’t commenting on what led up to the arrest. Or if other arrests will be forthcoming.”

  This unexpected turn of events threw the doer for a loop. What could the authorities possibly have on Kenneth to charge him with anything? Maybe this was merely a bluff to get him talking. Would he swallow the bait?

  Or would the whole thing blow over in a day or two?

  The doer decided it was best to err on the side of caution before the police figured things out and came knocking.

  It was obvious there was only one thing that could make the case for them. The doer couldn’t let that happen. Getting rid of the smoking gun would derail their investigation, regardless of what spewed out of Kenneth Racine’s mouth.

  The doer set about to locate the murder weapon.

  * * *

  Leila rang the doorbell of Connie Nagasaka’s house. With lights on inside and her car in the driveway, it was clear the suspect was home.

  “It’s the police,” she shouted, suspecting Connie had already heard about Kenneth Racine’s arrest. If guilty as indicated, she would likely want to dispose of any evidence that could tie her to the crime.

  Especially the gun.

  Just when they were ready to enter the house forcibly, the door opened. Connie stood there in a long, silk robe.

  “What is it?” she asked coldly.

  “We have a warrant to search your house.” Leila handed it to her.

  Connie bristled. “Whatever for?”

  “Evidence in relation to a murder investigation.”

  “I thought we had already been through this?”

  “So did I, but things change.” Leila regarded her sharply. “I advise you to stay out of the way and let us do our job.”

  Connie stepped aside and Leila went in, followed by Seymour and several officers.

  “Check everywhere,” Seymour ordered. “Particularly places you might not ordinarily think to look.”

  Leila watched the team fan out while keeping an eye on Connie. Could the woman actually be a multiple murderer working in tandem with the likes of Kenneth Racine?

  “This is a total waste of time,” Connie argued. “Hoping I killed my husband and his mistress won’t make it so.”

  Leila met her gaze. “Who said anything about your husband and Elizabeth Racine?”

  “Then who are we talking about?”

  “Are you aware Kenneth Racine has been arrested in connection with the death of his wife and three others?”

  Connie paused. “I heard about it. So?”

  “So he had a very interesting story to tell.”

  Connie remained poised. “I thought you dealt in facts, not stories?”

  “We do. And that includes checking out every new development, no matter how small.”

  Connie sneered. “Sounds like a perfectly good waste of manpower and taxpayer money.”

  Leila kept a straight face. “Probably, but that’s not our call.”

  Connie folded her arms and Leila tried to read her mind. She suspected Connie was strategizing should this not go her way. Or maybe even if it did.

  A female officer approached them, holding an item with a gloved hand. “Found something...”

  Leila looked with interest at what appeared to be a .25 caliber gun, as Seymour joined them. “Where?”

  “It was stuffed inside some tissue in a heating vent.”

  Leila glanced at Seymour and turned to Connie.

  “I have no idea how that got there,” she claimed.

  Seymour narrowed his eyes. “I have a pretty good idea. Connie Nagasaka, you’re under arrest on suspicion of murdering four people, including your husband, Larry Nagasaka.”

  Leila read Connie her rights while handcuffing her. “Looks like taxpayer money being well spent now.”

  Connie’s face contorted irritably, but she stayed mute.

  THIRTY-NINE

  “I’ve never seen the gun before,” asserted Connie. “I’m obviously being framed.”

  Leila stared at her in the interrogation room, unconvinced she was the innocent woman portrayed. But with the evidence against her purely circumstantial at the moment and a desperate Kenneth Racine fingering her as the killer, now was not the time to pass judgment.

  “The gun’s being dusted for prints. If yours show up, any credibility you have goes up in smoke.”

  Connie’s mouth tightened. “You won’t find my prints on the gun because I never touched it.”

  Leila peeked at the mirror with Seymour, Rachel, Ferguson, and Ortega on the other side before returning her gaze to the murder suspect. “According to Kenneth Racine, you two were in this together. He told us he bought the gun and you were the one who killed your husband, his wife, Douglas Brennan and Adrianne Pompeo.”

  Connie’s mouth hung open. “And you believe him?”

  “He seemed pretty damned convincing,” Leila responded for effect. “Why would he lie?”

  “Why wouldn’t he? Isn’t it obvious? Kenneth’s simply trying to save his own neck by trying to set me up.”

  “So you’re accusing him of planting the gun in your heating vent?” Leila asked.

  “It’s the only explanation I can think of.”

  Leila could think of another, but kept it to herself for now.

  “Were you lovers?”

  Connie batted her eyes. “Excuse me?”

  Leila colored. “It doesn’t seem that farfetched, since you were spending time together. Maybe that would explain how he could have snuck the gun in and hidden it.”

  Connie took a breath. “Okay, we had sex one time—when we were both feeling down about our spouses found dead together. It was a stupid thing to do and I regret it. Especially now that I know he’s responsible for Larry’s death and trying to make me the scapegoat.”

  “Are you sure you played no part in these murders, acting out of rage, jealousy, and desperation?” Leila asked.

  Connie held her ground. “Positive. I’m not a killer, no matter what Kenneth might have you believe.”

  * * *

  “We’ve brought Connie Nagasaka in,” Seymour informed Kenneth and his lawyer, hoping to shake things up between the competing stories. “Looks like there are some holes in your prior statements.”

  Kenneth scowled. “What holes?”

  “Well, for starters, Connie has denied shooting anyone. She says you planted the gun to cover your own tracks.”

  “She’s lying.”

  “Funny, but she accused you of the exact same thing.”

  “I think we’ve had enough of this,” his attorney insisted.

  Seymour dismissed him. “That’s up to your client.” He angled his eyes at Kenneth. “If you’d rather have Connie Nagasaka spill her guts and say you were the one to murder four people, that’s fine by me. And when you consider that you purchased the gun we believe was used to commit the crimes, you’re in a very weak position here.”

  “I’m not going to allow her to pin this on me,” Kenneth said. “Connie was the shooter in all four cases. She knows it and I know it. I’m willing to testify to that effect, or do anything I can to keep this
from getting any worse for me.”

  Seymour stretched his jaw. It was obvious the two murder suspects were determined to blame each other. He wouldn’t be surprised if both were actively involved in the murders.

  “You’re already way past that point,” he told him. “You’d better hope the gun has her prints on it and not just yours.”

  Seymour wasn’t hedging his bet in either direction.

  * * *

  At the crime lab, the results had come in on the gun.

  Leila stood beside Seymour. She wondered if it was possible this gun wasn’t the murder weapon. If so, it would make the case against both suspects pretty weak.

  “I have some good news and bad news,” Delfino said, scratching his pate.

  Seymour cleared his throat. “Let’s have the bad first.”

  “All right. There were no prints on the gun. So we can’t say who used it and when.”

  “And the good news?” Leila dared ask.

  “The gun is a .25 caliber. I test fired bullets and compared them to those taken from the victims. They had the same six lands and grooves with a right hand twist. They also had identical ejection and firing pin marks.”

  “So you’re saying—” began Seymour.

  Delfino cut him off. “Yes, this is definitely the murder weapon in all four homicides.”

  Leila gave a tiny smile. They had the weapon and the two killers. But which one pulled the trigger?

  As though reading her mind, the forensic examiner said, “I may be able to help you out on one other little matter... I told you it was possible through measuring electrochemical reactions from touching the metal that we might be able to isolate fingerprint patterns on a bullet, if lucky. Today was our lucky day. I was able to get a pretty good partial off a bullet fragment taken from Adrianne Pompeo. I put it in the computer to check for a match.”

  “What did you come up with?” Leila was eager to get the answer. “Or should I say who?”

  “The print belonged to Connie Nagasaka.”

  Seymour grinned. “Guess this definitely isn’t her lucky day!”

  “She’s certainly boxed herself in a corner with no escape,” Leila said. “We’ve just made the case for murder against Connie and Kenneth Racine; though it turns out he wasn’t the triggerman after all.”