The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2

by John A. Broussard

  Celia nodded. “It became pretty evident. Shed heard Clay was trying to squeeze Pat out of the business, and she was trying to find out if he could do it, and exactly how he intended to do it if he could. Clays never been exactly forthcoming about any part of his life, never mind any underhanded schemes he might have been engaged in. So, as I said, I wasnt much help.”

  “What was her reaction?

  “I guess „disappointment is the best word to describe it. There was more than that.” Celia paused.“She knows shes dying, and shes desperate to protect Pat. She said Pat has given his lifes blood to his invention. For what its worth, Im sure she would have done anything to keep Clay from squeezing Pat out of the business.”

  *** Kay did not know what to make of Saul Epstein. Saul and Noelle had come by Ruths apartment shortly after Kay had received a phone call from Qual, while she was still filling in the last details of her interview with Ruth and Chet.

  Saul was about five-ten, with dark hair and a slender, brooding, olive-skinned face. A sudden smile could light it up and then leave behind it even more darkness and intensity. He spoke quickly, and in bursts. Kay had to sometimes stop and silently repeat to herself what he had said, filling in the words she had missed because of the rapid-fire delivery.

  Noelle, on the other hand, was blonde, with a model-like prettiness, well manicured, too made up, and exquisitely and expensively dressed. She gave an impression of shallowness. Kay, who guarded herself carefully against first impressions, almost slipped in Noelles case. Afterwards, she reflected on how easy it would have been to underestimate Noelle.

  “If theres anything we can do for Ken,” Saul said, “just name it. There's no possible way he could have killed Clayton. There was no reason for it. The police must really be screwed up around here to have ever arrested him in the first place.”

  “Thats where you might help,” Kay said.“The main reason hes been charged is because it was his gun which was used to kill Clayton. Did either of you see a gun, a long barreled automatic?”

  Saul seemed genuinely puzzled. “Where would we have seen it? I didnt know he had a gun. It doesnt sound like Ken to have owned one. He certainly never mentioned it around me. Of course I didnt see him very often. He lives in San Jose. We live in San Francisco.”

  Ruth came in to announce she and Sarah were going to the local mall to do some shopping. It was obvious to Kay how Ruth was trying to spare Sarah as much of the conversation going on as possible. Kay held up on additional questions until they had left.

  When they had gone, Chet reinforced Sauls remarks. “From what Ruths said about Ken, I cant picture him owning a gun.”

  “I can,” broke in Noelle, unexpectedly. “I saw it when we were helping to pack Ruths things.”

  “What happened to it?” Kay asked.

  Noelle shook her head. “I dont know. It was in an open carton when we left. We had most of the stuff boxed up, and Ruth said she could take care of the rest the next morning. So we went off to supper at a restaurant right around the corner from her old apartment.”

  “Who was there?”

  “Me and Saul, Pat and Andrea, and Ruth, of course.”

  “You didnt see the gun after that.”

  “No. Saul and I went home right from the restaurant.”

  “What about Pat and Andrea?”

  “They went back to the apartment. Ruth had some things she wanted to give them.” Noelle laughed. “Shed already wished off some white elephants on us.” Kay shifted to another topic. “Did you know Ken was coming to Hawaii?”

  “We sure did,” Saul said. “We heard about him answering an ad in a personals magazine. I didnt think much of the idea, but Noelle said it sounded romantic. We talked about it some. Heseemed to think the one hed written to in Hawaii–your partner, isnt she?–sounded awfully nice. He wanted to come over and see Ruth and Sarah anyway. His part of the business is just about wrapped up. There wasnt any reason why he couldnt take a vacation.”

  “Were looking forward to meeting Laura,” Noelle said. “She did seem quite nice from her letter. Ken said she sounded even better over the phone.”

  “She is nice,” Kay said. “Thats why were all so concerned about Ken.”

  Noelle made the connection and said, “I guess it is more than just defending a client.”

  ***

  Lauras impatience was showing. Leilani was trying to curb it.

  “Kay got in last night,” Leilani said. “Im sure shell be in soon. She has a ten

  oclock appointment with a client. Acting like a chained poi dog isnt going to get her here any sooner.”

  “What about Sid?”

  “Hes going to want to stay one or two days with his folks. Qual spoke to him while he was interviewing the Crosbys.”

  “Is there any news?”

  “Youll have to ask Qual.” Leilani checked a folder on her desk and pulled out a piece of paper. “All I know is he called Sid. He did say to give you this note when you came in.”

  Laura read the news about the possible witnesses to Kens vigil on the lanai at sunset. For the first timesince shed seen Ken turn white at the sight of the gun, Laura felt something she could only think of as a pang of optimism.

  *** The brief conference in Quals office when Kay arrived merely whetted Lauras appetite.

  “At least we now have a lot of suspects besides Ken,” she said.

  Qual and Kay both laughed at her sudden enthusiasm. “Dont overdo it, Laura,” Kay said. “Sure, Ruth might have done it, and Chet might have done it. Or they might have been in it together, but its still just „might. Remember, I havent done any checking for witnesses. Chet could have had a dozen people around him at work. Ruth could have been at the hairdresser most of the afternoon.

  “As for the Epsteins, their trip to their summer lodge over the weekend may be perfectly legitimate. They may have gasoline credit slips to mark the whole trip. Besides, we really dont have much in the way of motive for any of the four of them.” Kay had decided not to tell Laura or anyone else about Sarahs dubious parentage, feeling it could come out later if it was necessary to reveal it at all.

  “Theres as much motive for Saul as there is for Ken,” Laura said with some vehemence.

  “Shes right,” Qual said peering over his glasses at Kay.“Saul could have thought Clayton was getting Pat and Ken to go in with Clayton to buy him out.”

  “From what you describe about the way Clayton treated Ruth,” Laura continued, “she had more than enough reason to want to kill him. Or Chet might have been the one who did it for the same reason.”

  “Which is really pretty shaky,” Kay said. “Ruth had plenty of opportunity to kill him before this. Dont try to implicate Chet on the same basis. He might have been angry at Clayton for the way Clayton had treated Ruth in the past, but he really didnt know much about Clayton's treatment of her.

  “Enough,” Qual said, exchanging his reading glasses for bifocals. “Were just spinning our wheels. Besides, Ive got a twelve oclock luncheon appointment. Why dont you two carry this conversation out to lunch and let me know what youve come up with when you get back.”

  “Thats a good idea,” Kay said. “Lets go out to the Malalani and talk to the dolphins. We can eat lunch there.”

  “Lunch at the Malalani?” Laura asked incredulously.

  Kay laughed. “Theres a coffee shop there where the prices are only fantastic, not impossible. Ill treat you. In fact, if you can get a hold of Ken, Ill treat both of you. Since my spouse has been gone, I seem to have more money in my wallet than usual.”

  Chapter 20

  Ken was waiting for them in the lobby. As he greeted them, he remarked, “This place doesnt exactly bring back happy memories.”

  “After lunch, Im going to ask you to bring back some of those memories, happy or not,” Kay said.

  “Believe me,” Laura broke in, “youve come to the right person.” She then described Kens astonishing ability.

  Kay expressed her own astonishment
. “You had me fooled, too, Ken. I havent heard any of the tapes, but I was bothered by how well you reported some things you did.”

  Kay and Laura had decided beforehand to minimize both Kays and Sids investigations on Oahu and the mainland. Having some of Ken's friends now emerging as viable suspects would not sit well with him, and would be no encouragement for him to make any further revelations.

  Ken expressed surprise at hearing Saul and Noelle were in Honolulu and pleasure at Kays positive reaction to Sarah. Luncheon conversation, by tacit agreement, stayed away from the case. After lunch Kay proposed a restaging of Kens contact with Clayton on the evening of the killing.

  On the lanai, after having made the rounds from the bar to Room 333 and back down again, Kay checked out the time involved as she had written it on her note pad. “If we assume the waiter in the bar was correct, you left there at 6:45. It would have gotten you and Clayton to 333 by 6:50. Since you say you talked to him for only a few minutes, it would get you down here in time for the sunset, which was at 6:59. Can you give us an idea of how long you stayed here?”

  “The sun was showing the last little crescent of red when I arrived, and there was a green flash, not much of a one, but enough to be sure Id seen it rather than imagined it. I stayed for maybe five minutes, watching the pink begin to fade, and then I headed out to my car.”

  Laura smiled. “Youve got confirmation for your stop. The old couple you saw out here remembered you.”

  “Great,” Ken said. “Their testimony should help.”

  “It couldnt hurt,” Kays remark sounded completely noncommittal. “Lets go out to the parking lot, and see how long it takes.”

  “Did the couple say they saw me go out toward the parking lot?”

  Kay nodded.

  “But it wont help me much, since I could have just gone down the stairs, circled around the end of the hotel, and gone through the side entrance to the elevator. Which would have put me back upstairs by seven-fifteen really easily.”

  “Where would you have hidden the gun if you had?”

  Kens forehead wrinkled in thought. “It never even occurred to me. So we have to figure out how long it would have taken me to get to the lot, unlock my car, find the gun, and a coat or jacket or maybe a briefcase to hide it in, then come back to the hotel.”

  “The prosecutions going to argue you already had it in a briefcase ready to go, so lets eliminate the briefcase as a possible source of delay,” Kay said.

  The three of them walked out to the lot and Ken pointed to where the car had been parked. The lot had been comparatively empty, so he had been able to find a parking place close to the walk leading to the hotel. Laura and Kay both timed the walk and the return trip, allowing only a moment for pausing at the hypothetical automobile.

  Standing once more in front of 333, Kay and Laura agreed the walk from the lanai, to the car, to the room would have put Ken in front of the door at around seven-thirty.

  “Wont the prosecution argue I could have run down to the lot and back again?”

  “Uh-uh,” Kay said. “It would be too easy for us to point out you werent about to draw attention to yourself by doing any running if you were on your way to kill someone. Im really not sure were going to win on timing. The further we can get you away from the seven-o-five room service delivery and the phone call around then, the better. The time of death, according to the pathologist, cant be narrowed down to much less than a half hour. The prosecution can argue Clayton was killed after seven-thirty, or even as late as seven-fortyfive, though the latest report on the contents of Claytons digestive tract point to seven-fifteen or thereabouts.”

  “So what should we do?” Ken asked.

  “Follow Corkys lead.”

  “Corky?”

  “Sergeant Honda. She brought up something which could clearly demonstrate youre innocence.”

  “Whats that?”

  “How did your gun get to Hawaii?”

  ***

  “Howd it go?” Qual asked when Kay and Laura returned to the office. “Were making Emils job a lot tougher,” Kay replied, “but were a long way from proving Kens innocent.”

  Craig, who was sitting in Quals office going over their supper menu, spoke up, “You dont have to prove hes innocent. The prosecution has to prove Kens guilty.”

  Kay grinned.“Craig, we need someone like you around here to be our foil. You constantly confuse the theory of the law with the reality of the law. The moment someone is arrested and charged, it implies guilt, no matter what the law says. When the defendant is in the courtroom, the jurors are asking themselves whether hes guilty or not, not whether or not the prosecution is going to be able to prove he is. The defendants the focus of their attention. Whether we like it or not, he has to demonstrate hes innocent.”

  Craig shook his head and went back to his menu.

  “Kay and I have decided we should trace the guns arrival on Elima,” Laura said.

  Qual nodded. “Sid called while you were gone. Hell be back in the morning. He says he has a lot of interesting leads but nothing more than that. In the meantime, it wont hurt to see what we can do about the gun. Where are you going to start?”

  “We've got several private delivery services to check, but we're beginning with he Napua Post Office,” Kay said. “Were assuming someone knew Clayton was coming to Elima, and had at least one days warning. Express Mail from the major cities on the West Coast makes it in one day if the sender gets it to the post office before nine in the morning. The package can be picked up at General Delivery. Ive checked on delivery tines already.”

  “What about identification?” Qual asked.

  “Thats going to be a problem. The clerks are casual about it, since they dont have much choice. Any kind of phony ID would meet the requirements pretty easily.” “Its going to be a long tedious job,” Qual warned. “I know,” Laura said. “I also know its going to be worth it.”

  *** Raymond Nishida, the manager of the Napua Post Office, was proud of his brand new building. For years he had been trying to convince the US Postal Service the cubbyhole he operated out of was inadequate. Now, since he had gotten his wish, the new facilities were still barely able to meet the needs of a Napua and vicinity whose population was growing at a frantic pace.

  Even with special extended hours of service, the new facility was still overtaxed. Kay and Laura were impatient to begin the task of going through receipts, but knew Raymond was eager to give them a tour of the workplace still smelling of fresh paint. The duty over with, the two attorneys sat down at a work table and surveyed the six stacks of receipts.

  Raymond, a small intense looking person with bifocals which seemed much too large for his thin face, explained the nature of the receipts. “The sender makes out a label which includes four copies. The sender is given back a copy as soon as he delivers the package to his post office. The post office of origin keeps one copy. The destination post office keeps another. The recipient gets the copy which is affixed to the package.

  “ As I understand it, you want labels from packages weighing four pounds or more which arrived during that week. Those were fairly easy to sort out for you. Each label has the weight on it, and the stacks,” he indicated each one, “are in order from Monday through Saturday, according to when they were delivered to the customer.” He smiled. “Good luck! Call me if you need any help.”

  “ Phew,” Kay said. “Whod think a small post office like this would receive so much Express Mail? Lets get started, beginning with Saturday. Well pull out all the labels from packages of four pounds or more.”

  The Saturday stack alone produced twelve labels meeting their specifications. The week produced a total of one hundred and forty-six.

  “We can eliminate some we example.”

  “Yes, and some people I know.”

  The second sort reduced the number to fifty-nine.

  “Thats not bad,” Kay said. “I didnt think wed make such rapid progress. Now lets pull out the most likely ones,
general delivery or to people at hotels. Just put the others aside for the moment. We may have to go back to them.”

  “How so?”

  “Theres always a possibility of an accomplice, even though it may be only an unwitting one.”

  “You mean someone might have known the killer and have just innocently picked up a package for him?” Laura was quickly sorting out the slips as she talked, and Kay was double checking them.

  “Its possible. Even though its unlikely, we dont want to overlook possibilities. What have we got left?”

  “We've really cut it down. Now there's a total of eight: two of them on Saturday; one on Thursday; five on Monday.”

  “Lets see those two Saturday ones. Theyd be the most likely.”

  recognize,” Kay said. “Several companies, for Laura pulled them out of the stack of eight, and they looked at the addresses.

  One read: “Wolfgang Rutherford, General Delivery, Napua.” It had been signed for, quite illegibly, at 4:30, right at the time of the closing of the Post Office on Saturday. The post office of origin was San Francisco.

  Laura looked up from the label and smiled. “Ken couldnt possibly have been here to pick up the package. He was in Honolulu until five-thirty.”

  Kay said nothing as she handed Laura the label from the other package. It had been signed for by a hotel employee. The post office of origin was indecipherable. It was addressed to John Smith, c/o The Prince Kalanianaole Hotel.

  Kay avoided making eye contact with Laura.

  Chapter 21

  Qual, Kay, Laura and Sid had reserved ten oclock for a meeting in the conference room on Kens case, the day after Sids return from the Mainland.

  “If you want more suspects,” Sid said, “I can add some. First, we can safely rule out Andrea. She was being treated at a San Francisco hospital. Ive checked it out. Theres no doubt about it at all. She was there all day. Pat could have flown over and gotten back in time to pick her up the next morning. Andrea says she spoke to him at home on Saturday, but he called her. Conceivably, the call could have come from here, rather than from San Jose. Celia Lincoln, Claytons ex-wife, has no alibi for Saturday through Sunday noon. According to her, she was alone at her apartment during the whole time.”