“Oh, no. Our schedule is packed,” Tina said. “Absolutely packed. Simone would have to go alone.”
“You’re on vacation, right?” Degas looked confused.
“Yes, and we’ve budgeted at least 15 hours of sleep a day.” Tina smiled.
Simone elbowed her hard. “Degas, that’s really very sweet, but I—”
His phone rang again, and with an apology to her, he picked it up. “What is it this time, Tom. I…” Instantly, he paled. “What?”
Nora, Tina and Simone looked at each other.
“No. How… that can’t be possible. Are you sure? Haku was just… I met him this morning!”
They could hear rapid squeaks from the phone now. Simone squeezed Nora’s hand. Something bad was happening. She was sure of it.
“What do you mean escaped again?” Degas asked. “There’s no way that’s possible. I locked him up myself!”
Escaped? That didn’t sound good.
“Fine. Call the police, don’t touch anything. I’ll be right there,” Degas said. He was already sprinting away from them, but the trio followed him to his car got in.
He hung up the phone and gunned the engine of his Range Rover. “There’s something… something terrible’s happened,” he stuttered. “They found Haku. He’s… he’s dead.” His hands were shaky on the steering wheel.
“Dead!” Tina looked at him, horrified. “But.. we just saw him yesterday. This feels unreal.”
“How did it happen?” Simone asked.
“I saw him myself this morning,” Degas said. “We discussed the security plans, and I told him we’d talk about everything else tomorrow.” He gave a groan. “I can’t believe this. There must be a mistake. There has to be.”
“How did it happen?” Nora asked, insistent.
“They don’t know yet. They just found him at his desk, dead,” Degas said. “And… and Neo’s escaped again. So they say.”
“Neo?”
“The snake we caught at your cottage yesterday,” Degas said. “The contractors said he isn’t in his cage. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this.”
“Degas. Take a deep breath.” Nora placed a hand on his arm, and took a deep breath herself, which helped calm him down a little.
“You’ll stick with me, right?” he asked, almost plaintively. “The locals hate me. I don’t know how they’ll react. I don’t know how I’ll break this news to Elly!”
“Degas…” Simone looked at the others, unsure.
“Please stay with me,” Degas said. “I know this seems… foolish, considering we’ve just met, but I trust you three. You… you were some of the last people to meet Haku. I’ll pay you handsomely if you only—”
“We’ll stay with you,” Nora said. “As long as you don’t act ridiculous and offer to start paying us. We’re doing this as friends.”
“Right.” Degas nodded. “Right. Of course. I’m being stupid. I didn’t mean to insult you or to imply—”
“Degas. Deep breaths. Everything’s going to be all right. Are you even sure that Haku is dead? Sometimes… sometimes people can make mistakes.”
Immediately, Degas brightened. “Yes. Of course. That’s what this is. It’s a mistake. It has to be.”
But it wasn’t.
*****
They reached Haku’s cottage in half an hour, and a little crowd was gathered outside it.
“Haku took the cage into his cottage because we were wiring it up,” Tom, one of the installers of the security cameras said. “Now the snake is nowhere to be found and Haku is dead. He had puncture marks on his neck.”
“This makes absolutely no sense,” Degas said.
David, the police chief, looked shaken. “Poor boy,” he said. “My poor young boy.”
His deputy flipped the pages of his book, writing notes.
Turning to Degas, the police chief stuck a fat finger in his face. “You. This is all your fault. It’s your fault my son is dead. If you hadn’t had too much money and too many big ideas about building a zoo, this never would have happened.”
“I didn’t cause this!” Degas protested. “I can’t even understand it. I just can’t imagine Haku doing something as stupid as letting the snake out of its enclosure.”
“He told me he’d take it to his cottage until we were done,” Tom said. “He put it in the tiny cage and took it away. Didn’t he say anything to you? You met him at 9 am, didn’t you? He had the snake in his cottage then.”
“Well, I didn’t go into his cottage,” Degas said. “I met him outside, and Haku looked a little nervous. He told me something about…” A strange look passed over Degas’ face. “He was still upset about last night, with the parrot. He told me he felt sure that Akamai had done it.”
“That stupid parrot!” the police chief cried. “How can you care about the parrot when Haku is dead? Stop dragging Akamai’s name into this.”
“I’m just telling you what he said,” Degas protested. “Look, I don’t know how this is possible.”
“I do. My son was murdered by an animal,” the chief said. “We both know that your snake did it, Degas.”
Degas looked to the ground, utterly ashamed.
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyers about this,” the chief said. “That is, if I can’t book you for manslaughter or carelessness first! You better believe that I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Haku’s death is avenged.”
“It was an accident,” Degas said, still upset. “I don’t understand how it happened.”
“Haku even told me he was going to be extra careful with the cage since the snake had just escaped yesterday,” Tom said. “I don’t understand either. How could he be careless enough to let it escape?”
“Maybe he wasn’t,” Nora said. Everyone turned to look at her.
“What?”
“Maybe he wasn’t careless,” Nora said. “Something strikes me as odd.”
“What’s that?” Degas asked.
“Tom, you found the body, right?”
“I did.”
“Who else was with you?”
“Well, Terry and Lou were having a smoke right outside. They’ll tell you, I knocked on Haku’s door twice. When he didn’t answer, I tried the door and it was open. He was the first thing I saw. He lay slumped over his desk. I yelled, and all three of us rushed inside. But he was dead already. Bitten by the snake.”
“Right,” Nora said. “Where did you find the puncture marks?”
“On the neck,” Tom said.
“But there were no marks on his arms?” Nora asked. “He hadn’t tried to defend himself?”
“The snake moved fast,” the police chief said. “If it escaped from its cage, maybe Haku didn’t have time to defend himself.”
“Did you see the snake in the cottage?” Nora asked. “What was the scene exactly, Tom?”
“Well… I entered the cottage, and Haku was slumped over his desk. Behind him, he’d kept the cage on his bed, with a pile of clothes. The cage was open. The snake was gone,” Tom said. “The window was open, too.”
“The door, the door was closed though, right?” Nora asked.
“Yes.” Tom nodded. “I mean, it wasn’t locked, but it was closed. I knocked twice and then entered. It was open when I tried it.”
“Right. You mentioned that earlier. It’s clear, isn’t it? It’s impossible that the snake did this,” Nora said definitively. “There’s no way it could have happened the way we’re imagining.”
“What are you talking about?” the chief spluttered. “My son had the cage, the snake escaped and bit him. My son moved to the desk, perhaps to call someone, and he died slumped over it.” A sob escaped him, and he turned away, his shoulders shaking. “Oh, poor Haku. His mother… his mother will be devastated.”
“I didn’t even know you were his father,” Tina said sympathetically. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“I was his stepfather. He was estranged from the family for the last two years, but I love
d him still. Poor Haku!”
“Chief Kahane,” Nora said, “I really think you should consider opening an investigation. Haku was murdered!”
“She’s right,” Simone said. “If the snake had bitten him, he would be in too much pain to crawl to the desk. He would have died by the cage. Degas told us yesterday that death would be instantaneous.”
“Well, perhaps he was at his desk when the snake bit him,” Degas pointed out.
“Why would the snake do that?” Nora asked. “You said yourself that snakes are shy creatures. The cage was on the bed, by the window. If the snake had escaped, it would simply have slithered out the window without harming Haku. It would certainly not cross the room, creep up his chair, bite him on the neck, and then slither back across to escape via the window. It makes absolutely no sense.”
The chief’s face was turning red and then purple. “You might be right,” he said. “You might just be right.”
“If this incident were standalone, perhaps we could still believe it was an accident of some kind,” Nora said. “But take into account that Tutti Frutti was murdered just yesterday.”
“Who? What?” The chief looked confused.
“The parrot. Tutti Frutti?”
“That parrot!” the chief growled.
“The parrot’s death is definitely linked to your son’s,” Nora said.
She watched as the chief’s face contorted. He took a deep breath, and said, “I need time to think about this.”
Degas jumped up. “Time? What do you need time for? You need to go find Akamai and arrest him immediately.”
The police chief’s face was a study in contrasts - on the one hand, he had pain, on the other, fear. For now, it seemed clear - one of his sons had just died, but the other might be the murderer!
“There’s really no proof Akamai ever tried to hurt that parrot,” the chief said finally. “He had no motive, and he was with his friends.”
“Oh, but he did have a motive,” Nora said. “Haku showed us a video before he died.”
“A video?” The chief looked interested. So did Degas.
“Yes, it showed him and Akamai getting into a fight, and then Tutti Frutti attacking Akamai. Akamai sounded rather furious. You’ll probably find it at his desk. It’s labelled Tutti Frutti.”
“We’ve finished our search of the cottage,” the deputy said, “We still have to catalogue everything, but I’m sure I didn’t see any CDs in his desk.”
“What? There were a stack of them. At least ten CDs!” Nora exclaimed. “In the first desk drawer.”
“The drawer is empty,” the Deputy said. “I’m sure of it. If those CDs ever existed, they certainly aren’t here anymore.”
*****
Chapter 6
The Fiancé
“Haku!” A lone figure appeared on the edge of the horizon, a girl dressed in thin cotton shorts and a denim shirt. Her hair, tied in a hurried pony tail, unraveled as she ran toward them, tumbling around her shoulders. “Haku!” she screamed again, as Degas caught and tried to restrain her. Her shoulders began shaking, and she buried her face in his chest.
Degas stood stiff, patting her gently on the back. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Elly. He’s gone.”
“He can’t be gone. He can’t be! We met just yesterday. I danced with him!”
“I know.” Degas looked uneasy. “I’m sorry. So sorry.” He wrapped his arms around her, and let her wail, stroking her hair occasionally.
“There now.” The police chief stepped forward, and patted her on the shoulder. “Let’s not make a scene.”
Violently, Elly shrugged away from him. “Don’t you touch me. Haku hated you! He hated your whole family.”
Chief Kahane winced. “We had a rough few years. But I wouldn’t go as far as saying hate. At any rate, Elly, you don’t want to bring that up now, do you? We have a funeral to plan.”
“Haku wouldn’t want you there,” Elly said.
Degas gave the chief a look, then tried to lead Elly away. “Elly, come on. Let’s go get you a drink, okay? This isn’t the right time.”
“No.” She shook him off. “I need to see him. I need to see him with my own eyes.”
“Can’t do that,” Chief Kahane said. “This is a crime scene, and a family member has already identified him. So…”
“What family member? You?” Elly laughed. “Please.”
“I’m his stepfather,” Chief Kahane said. “I raised that boy, and I loved him. Some people don’t understand that bonds can be real even if they aren’t blood related.”
“Elly, really. Please,” Degas said. “Let’s go elsewhere, all right? This is just a terrible time.”
Looking more than a little angry, Elly reluctantly allowed Degas to lead her away. Nora and Simone came after them when Degas nodded, while Tina chose to go home, feeling uncomfortable in her damp wetsuit.
Elly seemed to be in shock. Her eyes were blank, gazing off into the horizon, and she let Degas lead her like a puppet back to his home. In the kitchen, Degas poured out some iced tea from bottles in the fridge, and handed each of the girls a glass.
Nora felt extremely uncomfortable. Grief like this was personal, and she almost felt as if she were impinging on Elly’s privacy. Yet the look Degas gave them said that he couldn’t possibly handle this alone.
“Elly’s parents?” Nora whispered to Degas, getting up to help him in the kitchen as he bought some coke out of the fridge.
“They’re touring Southeast Asia,” Degas said. “Won’t be back home for another three months, though now they might take the next flight back. I don’t think she has any other family here. I don’t know who she can call.”
“No friends?” Nora asked.
Degas looked uncomfortable. “The thing is… when she and Haku chose to work for me, a lot of the locals weren’t very happy with it. They saw it as them choosing money over their family. I guess she doesn’t have as many friends out here as she did before I showed up.”
Nora looked at him, wondering what it was he wasn’t saying.
Simone had her arm around Elly, and to Nora’s surprise, Elly was letting herself be comforted by a near stranger.
“I talked to him just… just today morning,” Elly said, letting out a little sob. “He was… he was just himself, you know? I don’t feel like he’s gone. I feel like he’s in the next room, that he’ll burst out any second and tell me it’s all a large prank. Can you tell me that, Simone? Please tell me it’s just a prank!”
“I’m sorry,” Simone said, helpless. The words were so useless, she thought. They couldn’t bridge over the pain Elly must be feeling. “I met Haku yesterday. He showed us some tapes at his cottage. I know… I know he loved you very much. He spoke about you with such respect.”
“I always wondered why he chose me,” Elly said with a sniff. “He was the tribal leader’s first born grandchild. He could have chosen any girl he liked. I was lucky he loved me.”
Nora would ordinarily have felt sympathy, but there was something about the way Elly said it that struck her as odd. Haku had been a good man, but not even his mother would say that he was particularly handsome, while Elly was the type of gorgeous woman that you saw on magazines and TV. She had a perfect body, silky hair, and even with her face puffed from crying, it was apparent that she had beautiful features. Perhaps Nora was being judgmental. After all, people tended to underestimate their own beauty sometimes. She looked up at Degas, puzzled.
As if he’d read her mind, Degas nodded at her to come over to the other side of the room. Elly was too wrapped up in her crying to notice.
“It’s a case of ugly duckling,” he said to Nora in a low voice.
Nora raised an eyebrow at him, and he took a long gulp of the cola before replying. “See, Elly… well, growing up, I told you I was friends with Haku, right?”
“Yeah,” Nora said.
“Elly was our friend as well,” Degas said. “Everything we did, we did together. Elly, at
the time, was plain ugly. She was gangly, had braces, and had enough pimples that the kids at school nicknamed her pizza face. I guess she never realized how she changed. Or maybe she did, and just stayed humble.”
Or maybe, Nora thought, she’d acted this way as a way to smooth over Haku’s insecurities. She thought about the look on his face when he’d showed her the video of Akamai. He’d been jealous in that video, and furious that Akamai had disrespected him. Even when he spoke of Elly, he’d talked as if he were talking of an angel, someone far out of his league.
Frowning, Nora wondered just what it was about Elly that gave her pause. The girl’s tears were real enough, and so was her sorrow. But underneath that, there was something else. Some other emotion Nora couldn’t identify.
Elly wiped at her eyes, and then looked up as Degas across the room.
“The snake did it, right?” Elly asked. “He was too careless while handling it, right?”
Degas shrugged, looking like he wanted to dodge the question.
“What is it?” Elly asked. “You’re hiding something.”
“We… we don’t quite know the cause of death yet,” Degas said.
“What do you mean?”
Degas took a deep breath, looked at Simone as if he needed support, then turned back to Elly. “We think it might be… something else.”
“Something else?” Elly looked very confused. “What?”
“We don’t know yet,” Degas said.
“Degas, he was 28. Haku was in his prime. If it wasn’t the snake that killed him, then what happened?” she asked.
Degas didn’t look at her. “We don’t know.”
“Was it…” She took a deep breath. “Was it an overdose? Is that what you aren’t telling me?”
“An overdose?” Nora asked. “I didn’t know that Haku did drugs.”
“He was clean the last two years,” Degas said. “He used to have a problem with them, but then he sorted himself out.”
“That could explain the puncture marks,” Simone said.
“Puncture marks?” Elly’s head swiveled as she turned to face her.
Death At The Zoo: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (A Murder In Milburn Book 5) Page 4