“Motives?” Qual asked.
“Pats is obvious. Same as Kens. Celias isnt. She couldnt have hated Clayton too much, since she let him stay at her apartment in San Jose at various times, including the night before he left for Hawaii. Im checking into the possibility she might inherit something from him but, so far, Clayton doesnt seem to have had much to leave. Neither Pat nor Andrea knew who his attorney was, and I forgot to check with Celia about that. Ill give her a ring.”
“Did both Pat and Celia know Clayton was coming to Hawai'i…well ahead of time?” Qual asked.
“Celia did, and admits it. At least she knew far enough ahead of time to have been able to mail the gun and gotten it here by Saturday. Of course, it still doesn't explain how she could have gotten the gun in the first place. Pat admits to knowing Clayton was coming to Hawai'i.. Says he didnt learn about his plans until about midnight on Thursday, but it would still have given him time enough to mail the gun too.”
“How about you, Kay?” Qual asked.“Did any of the people you interviewed know Clayton was going to be here?”
“Saul and Noelle deny they did. Chet and Ruth say they heard Clayton was here from Ken, when he came over to see Ruth and Sarah.”
“So now were back to the gun.”
“There are private boats shuttling back and forth between Elima and Honolulu all the time, so it wouldnt be too hard to get a gun over here from there.” Sid made a note on his pad as he spoke. “We can check the weather for those days. If I remember right, the wind was whipping the froth off the white caps almost the whole week.”
“It probably wont matter,” Laura said, since Im almost certain weve run down the guns delivery.” She then added, with a nervous laugh. “There was a John Smith at The Prince Kalanianaole. Hes been there before, and the staff know him. Hes a Los Angeles businessman. I cant see where he could have any possible connection to Clayton.
“Wolfgang Rutherford is something else again. He came barreling into the post office just as the clerk was closing the door. Unfortunately, she cant describe him in any detail. Just remembers an agitated haole. Not especially short, not especially tall. She was in a hurry to leave, and didnt spend any time chatting with him. Just glanced at the ID. Couldnt even remember whether it was a drivers license or something else.”
“I hope she was at least sure of the sex of whoever picked up the package,” Sid commented.
Laura smiled and shook her head. “She thinks it was a man, but she cant be sure. Wont she be a great prosecution witness?” she asked, rhetorically.
It was Qual who voiced the concern which was on all their minds. “If it is the gun, and if the one who picked it up was the murderer, weve made some serious inroads into possible suspects. It just about eliminates the possibility of a woman being the murderer, even if the clerk wont swear it was a man. It certainly eliminates anyone who has an alibi for four-thirty on Saturday.” Before anyone could comment, Qual asked,“Do you really think it was the gun?”
“Im almost certain it was,” Kay said. “Nothing else showed up at the other post offices on the island which cant be accounted for. None of them get anywhere near as much Express Mail as Napua does, so they were fairly easy to eliminate. Private mail services didnt have anything significant, either. We called all the resorts, hotels, and bed and breakfast places for a possible Wolfgang Rutherford. Zilch.If were right, he would have come in Saturday and gone out the same day, all of which doesnt mean much. It was more to see if there might be a legitimate Wolfgang Rutherford. After all, we did find a legitimate John Smith.”
“Thats great work,” Qual said. “I think were finally beginning to get somewhere.”
“Laura deserves the credit,” Kay said. “Shes been doing most of the legwork, and theres been plenty of legwork to do.”
Laura smiled. “Thanks Kay. It is my case after all, in more ways than one.”
***
Corky reached absentmindedly for the phone as it jangled away.
“Who?” she asked the desk sergeant.
“Remy Amaral.”
“Did she say what she wants?”
“She wants to talk to the „big lieutenant. I think she means tall, not fat, which puts
the ball in Hank s court, and hes over in Wanakai. So you're moved up to center court.” “I think youre mixing your sports, but her names familiar, even if I cant place her.
Send her in.”
Corky recognized her immediately. The small, dark Filipina had been the one who
had discovered Clayton Heinickes body. Corky had questioned her at length the morning
the chambermaid had made the discovery and, despite Remys badly broken English,
Corky had found her to be a seemingly reliable witness. She had certainly not fallen apart
at the sight of the body with the blood caked on its chest and splattered on the carpet. At
the time, Remy had told Corky, with some irony, how she was used to bodies, having
been caught as a child in a lethal cross-fire during an attempted coup in the Philippines.
The surprise, rather than the actual body, had been what had bothered her most. “Was it the murder you wanted to see Lieutenant DeMello about?”
“Yes.”
“Is it something new?”
Remy looked nervously around the office, and Corky decided the story would have
to come out in its own way. She looked at Remy and said nothing.
“I have boy friend.” Pause. “He work at the hotel. Filipino boy.”
(Ill skip the name for now, Corky decided. I can always come back to it later.) “Repair shop. He work there. Work there every night.” Remy passed her tongue
along her lips, and looked around the tiny cubicle.
(And was working on Saturday night, Ill bet, and you just happened to be there,
even though you have the morning shift. Hmm!)
“He not want to come see the lieutenant, but I think he must.”
(At this rate, Ill have to go and see the Filipino boy myself.)
“He sometime come to floor three to see me.”
(Ill bet on that, too, and Ill bet theres some hanky panky going on.) “He not supposed to. Manager not like that.”
Corky broke in. “Do you mean Old Hook Nose?”
Remy gave a start, then smiled and visibly relaxed. Seeing her advantage, Corky
exploited it. “Nothing thats said in this office will go any farther.” While not exactly
true, there were ways of preserving witness confidences, especially if cases never came to
trial.
The smile widened. “Francisco is nice. He will help.”
(He may not have much choice.)
“Saturday night I was suppose to meet him on three floor.”
(Oh, hell, the linen room routine.)
“I not on duty. Celine is. She also take care of four floor at night.”
(And she promises to keep off of floor three when you meet your Francisco there.) “Francisco saw something strange.” Pause. “Man with heavy jacket. You know. Ski
jacket.”
(Shit! Doesnt mean much. The sea breeze at night can make a ski jacket feel mighty
comfortable.)
“What time was that?” Corky asked.
“Seven. Some time after seven. Fifteen minute, maybe. Francisco just got off the
elevator when man with jacket waiting for elevator down.”
“What did he look like?”
“Haole.”
(Double shit! Thats going to be the sum of the identification.)
“Nothing else? Height? Build? Hair color? Eye color?” Corky slowed down,
realizing she was overwhelming Remy.
Remy shook her head.
Somewhere theres the right question to ask,” Corky thought, then tried a tentative
one, “Why does Francisco remember him?”
“When Francisco got off, the man was pressing button for down elevator. The man
/>
had gloves.”
Corky frowned a question, and was providing her own answer when Remy added,
“Francisco say no one in Hawaii wearing gloves except he need for work.”
***
“Corky doesnt want us to talk to either Remy or Francisco, at least not until shes had a chance to get an OK from Hank.” Laura was having difficulties suppressing her excitement.
Qual had his hands in prayer fashion in front of his lips while blowing on them softly and thoughtfully.“Corky seems to be making all the discoveries,” Qual said. “Im sure glad shes on our si de.”
“Thats why its important not to let this get out. She says Hanks going to be pretty upset if he finds theres a steady leak of information from the station to here.” “He wants to hear the tapes Kay and Sid made, so Im going to pressure him to gi ve us whatever Corkys uncovered. So, if we slip, he wont be able to trace it back to any unauthorized leaks. One things for sure, hes not going to be happy about this turn of events. Hes convinced Kens guilty, and hes really the one who pushed Emil into filing charges.”
“Yeah, but basically hes a decent guy. If we can come up with good evidence demonstrating Ken's innocence, Hankll be the first one to admit hes wrong.”
Qual broke into a laugh.“Even nice guys dont like to be wrong. Keep it in mind, Laura. When are Saul and his wife getting here?”
“Theyre coming in on the eleven-fifteen from Honolulu. Ken and I are going to meet them. Sauls invited us out to lunch. Is a two oclock appointment for a conference OK?”
“Kay may be late for it. Sid and I can be there.”
Laura looked at her watch. “Its about time to go. By the way. Kens changed his residence. He felt two months in a hotel would be too dreary and too expensive. Hes renting a condo at the Seaview Arms.”
Qual said nothing, but just barely lifted his eyebrows.
“Weve talked it over,” Laura answered the unasked question. “Were just attorney and client until this is all settled.” She gave a small, uncertain laugh, and added. “Worse luck!”
*** After they had ordered lunch and passed the menus back to the waitress, Laura sat back to more fully inspect the newcomers. Ken and the other two were talking about Andrea and her illness.
“Shes getting paler and more fragile every day,” Noelle said. Noelle had been so openly approving of Laura there could have been no resisting her, even if Laura had not liked her immediately anyway.
“Pats being torn apart by Andreas illness,” Saul said. “I know hes not getting enough sleep. He drives her up to Frisco twice a week for treatments, besides worrying about her all the time. My God. The way he looks at her is terrible to watch. Hes suffering more than she is, and it doesnt do her any good. Shes just ever so much more unhappy because of his reaction.”
Laura could see why Ken disliked Saul. There was too much abruptness there, too much abrasiveness. Where Ken was quiet, Saul was loud. Where Ken tempered his opinions, Saul was always positive. Where Ken seemed so open about much of his life, Saul gave off an aura of secrecy and mystery.
“Hows his money situation?” Ken asked.
“His financial situation bothers him more than anything else,” Saul answered. “Hes been paying to find a suitable marrow donor, and it costs something like a hundred dollars apiece for the blood tests. The doctors are saying it may take tests of ten thousand or more prospective donors to find a suitable match.”
Laura made a quick mental calculation. “One million dollars, right there.”
Saul gave a vigorous nod. “Thats not counting the thousands of dollars hes spending for therapy. Hes mortgaged his house to the hilt, and sold about everything. He even held a garage sale and got rid of some of his furniture. Theres a leukemia society thats helping, but theyve got hundreds of cases already. Theres not much free money floating around.”
“Can we work out an advance for him, now we know were going to make it?” Ken asked.
Laura detected a strain of uneasiness in Saul at the question.
“Theres no reason why not, except Claytons death is going to tie things up for a while. Well have to find out how his will reads. Whoever is his beneficiary will have to either be bought out or brought in formally. So far, we havent even been able to find out who his personal attorney was. This can be a long hassle, especially if he died intestate.”
Ken seemed not to notice. “Ive approached Chet and Ruth for a loan for Andrea. Theyre quite amenable. I can come up with some.”
“Count me in,” Laura said. “Ive just been accumulating certificates of deposit. Some of them are maturing soon.”
Noelle spoke up. “Im sure we can do something, too.”
Laura caught Saul looking at his wife as she spoke. Laura tried but failed to interpret what was going on behind those enigmatic dark eyes.
Chapter 22
Qual dropped the four cassettes onto Hanks desk. “ Here they are,” he said. “Now how about some quid pro quo?”
Hanks eyes narrowed. “Sometimes I get the feeling around here my quids already been pro quoded.” Both Corky and Qual looked innocent and childlike.
Hank grunted and said, “Since Im not going to get any confirmation from either of you two, I might as well carry on the shibai. Possibly, just possibly, now mind you, we have another suspect in the vicinity of 333 on the night of the murder and at just about the right time. Emil almost had a tiger cub when I told him, but he said to follow it up.”
Hank proceeded to describe Remys testimony to Qual, who managed to make the proper sounds in the right places. “Corky and I went out to talk to Francisco Martine at his home. He wasnt exactly the most forthcoming person Ive ever interrogated.”
“You wouldnt be either, Hank,” Corky said, “if you had a wife in the Philippines and a woman in a local linen closet who was expecting to marry you.”
Hank nodded his agreement. “I think hes much more concerned about his life story getting to Remy than he is about the current affair getting back to his wife. I guess a bird in the linen closet is worth a lot more than one out in the bush. He finally did confirm what Remy said.”
“No better identification than what she said?” Qual asked.
“Nope. Except he thinks the guy wasabout his own height, and for a Filipino, hes pretty tall. Fiveseven, wouldnt you say Corky?”
“Thats right on the nose. His eyes are at my eye level.”
“So what have you got for us, Qual, besides the tapes. Im sure nothing detrimental to Cole.” The last came out with a touch of sarcasm.
Qual weighed the situation and decided Hank was in a mood to tolerate some banter. “Wed be happy to pass anything and everything along to you, but how can we when hes innocent?”
Hank gave another snort.
“Now we may just have a name for your gloved and jacketed suspect.”
Corky and Hank both sat forward, as Qual pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He handed it to Hank, saying, “How about Wolfgang Rutherford? Its almost guaranteed to be a pseudonym.”
*** Laura was hoping Kay would make it back from court in time for the conference. Shes better at judging people than anyone else I know, Laura thought, and Saul Epstein needs a lot of judging.
Qual led off the discussion. “Youre a lot better off than you were two weeks ago, Ken. Suspects are beginning to drop out of the woodwork.”
Laura never took her eyes off of Saul as Qual was speaking. Still, she could not even begin to penetrate into the hidden recesses.
“Anyone here know a Wolfgang Rutherford.”
There was something going on back there. Laura was absolutely convinced Saul had reacted to the name. Switching her glance quickly to Noelle, Laura saw nothing similar there. Both Noelle and Saul shook their heads.
“It was too much to expect,” Qual said, then described the suspect spotted outside the third floor elevator.
There was no reaction this time, Laura thought, but he may have been prepared.
Qual moved along to far mo
re dangerous territory.“Did Clayton approach you about joining with either Pat or Ken in a buyout?”
A smile broke out on Sauls face. “He did, several times. The closer we got to getting a clear road ahead of us with the business, the more he bent my ear about buying out either Ken or Pat.”
“How did you react?”
Saul laughed. “I led him on. I thought he was being ridiculous. I knew he would never get either Pat or Ken to agree, but I didnt say word one to him. I just let him rattle on. Actually, I didnt think he was serious about a buyout until about a week before he was killed. I think by then he was convinced he could talk either Pat or Ken into joining up with him. I guess I encouraged him in a way, since I told him to get either of their signatures on the dotted line and then Id listen to him. Im sure he got the impression I would go along, and I didnt try to change his mind.”
“Why not?”
“I knew I didnt have to. I know Pat and Ken, and I was certain neither of them would ever do anything like that. Besides, Clayton really made an ass of himself the last time I spoke to him. He told me something which completely destroyed his credibility.”
“What?”
“He said if I didnt play ball, I'd had it, since he already had an agreement from Pat and Ken to squeeze me out.”
***
“Im not much of a cook,” Laura said to Ken, whom she had just called, “but I do know how to open cans. How about dinner at my apartment tonight?” “Im something of an expert at fast food preparation myself. What time is the grand opening?”
“Supper is at seven. Come early. Ill supply the cans and the can opener. What are you up to?”
“Im back to my first love. Ive rented a decent computer and, at the moment, Im banging out some new programs. Its sure nice to be working again. It helps keep my mind off of other things.”
“I hope its the trial youre talking about.”
“What else?”
“Never mind. Ill have an apron handy for you.”
*** “ This beats the restaurant at The Prince Kalanianaole all to hell,” Ken said, as they cleared the table after the meal.
The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Page 14