“Victorine did say something that bothers me,” Hank said as his face took on a thoughtful expression.
“What?”
“No arm or hand wounds.” Corky's face took on a similar expression at the new information. “So there was no warning. No 'your money or your life' preliminaries. Whoever stabbed Anton caught him completely off guard, which sure makes mugging a less likely explanation.”
“ It's still the best explanation,” Hank said, putting aside the wallet and beginning to sort through the other items. “I kind of figured Anton might have been boozing and just didn't react in time. But then Victorine says he had one beer, at the most. Hell! The mugger must simply have caught Anton off guard.”
Hank counted out the coins. “Seventy-two cents in change, a set of keys, a not particularly clean handkerchief, a pencil stub, a Swiss army knife, a twenty-four-foot tape, and a couple of loose keys.”
“That's strange.”
“What's strange?” “These.” She held up the loose keys.
“What's so strange about them?”
“Do you have loose ones in your pocket?”
Hank shook his head.
“Neither do I,” Corky said. “What would you do if you did have some?”
“Put them on my ring.”
“Exactly. Why didn't he?”
“Probably just got them.”
“Right. Or maybe they weren't his. Maybe they were borrowed. Either way, I'd like to know what they go to.” “ You're grabbing at straws, Corky. I don't think we're going to get far with this case. Check out the Nikko Arms for possible witnesses. Since Harlan and the motel owner saw the elevator stopped on the fourth floor, that's probably the place to start. Don't knock yourself out on the case. We'll do enough to keep the chief happy, but my guess is whoever did it is in Honolulu right now, hanging around the elevators in the high rises.”
“Sounds as though you've really given up on Harlan.” “ Yeah. It has to be a mugger. In spite of what Jerry said, it's just too much to believe Harlan would have showed up right at the time and place he'd hired a hit man to do a killing for him. Oh, well. Feel free to talk to Harlan again. I'm off to the Big Island.” Hank got up and checked his watch. “Aw, shit! There sure isn't going to be much time to check out Anton's office.”
“I can catch it this afternoon.”
“Nah! You're going to have a full day as it is. I'll just give it a quick once over. Have fun interrogating Harlan.” Hank was leaving as he spoke.
Corky's voice followed him out of the office. “Cold Fish Harlan isn't going to tell us anything he doesn't want to.”
Hank was out of earshot as she added, “I'm going to take a lot closer look at those elevators before I do anything else.”
*** Corky was surprised to find the owner and manager spending his Sunday on the premises. “ I have my own apartment here,” Kurohara explained, lifting his head in emphasis to indicate he meant the Nikko Arms. “There's just as much to do down here on a Sunday as on a weekday. There's never any end to the work. Have you caught the murderer yet?”
“No. The lieutenant's not too optimistic about our chances. He thinks it's probably just a mugger.”
“Just a mugger?” Kurohara exclaimed in a pained voice. “That's all I need. A mugger prowling the elevators.”
“Could I take another look at those elevators, by the way? I want to check the inside of them.”
Corky was sure Kurohara hesitated before agreeing. “Of course,” he said. The lobby was empty except for the security man who was reading a magazine. When Corky pressed the button, the light went on above the right elevator indicating it was on the eighth floor. Counting the seconds, Corky estimated the elevator was moving at the rate of a floor every five seconds. The time from when the number one lit up on the panel to when the door began to open was an additional four seconds. Damn slow, she decided.
“ The elevators were completely renovated when I remodeled the building into condominiums,” Kurohara volunteered. “There aren't any major changes. They've provided excellent service.”
Corky expressed no skepticism at Kurohara's assertion, despite the markedly differing stories she had already heard from her small sampling of elevator users and her own impression of their snail-like speed. Instead, she surveyed the buttons. There were eleven floor buttons, including the lowest one marked “parking lot.” Floor one was marked “lobby.”
“How do these floor buttons work?” Corky asked.
“Why, you just press them,” Kurohara said, the surprise evident in his voice.
“No. I mean what activates them. It seems all you have to do is to touch them, and they work. There's no need to press.”
“Oh! I see what you mean. I really don't know. I never thought about it, but it seems to me most elevators work that way these days.”
“I guess I can always check with my husband. He's an electrician.” “Honda? Why, of course. He's Alan Honda, isn't he, of Alan's Electric. He's worked on these elevators.”
“Great! He should be able to answer any questions I have. I guess these other two buttons are just standard pressure ones with some kind of a spring under them.” Kurohara nodded. “One keeps the doors open. You have to keep your finger on it if you want to keep them open any length of time. The other closes the doors. That's for anyone who gets impatient. It works the same way as the open-door button. The stop button's different and has directions right on it. 'Pull to stop. Push to continue.' There's an alarm switch at the top of the panel, well out of the reach of small children, thank goodness.”
Corky looked around the elevator and glanced up at the ceiling. “What's that?” she asked.“It looks like a trap door.” Monday morning, when Hank and Corky were talking over her visit to the Nikko arms, Corky told Hank. “There's no question about it. Kurohara got really jittery when I asked him about the emergency door through the roof of the elevator.”
Chapter 7
“ So you're finally going to break away from the big city,” Sid said to his guests after they settled themselves in the living room's comfortable chairs. Though he was not about to say so, he was disappointed to see Lisa had worn pants rather than a skirt. Sid would have been hard put to determine her most attractive physical asset, but her long slender legs were near the top of the list. Since most of his encounters with her were when she was wearing her judicial robes, he had been rather looking forward to seeing those legs close up and uncovered.
“Napua's first and only bowling alley is relocating next door to our apartment. That's a rather convincing argument for us to look elsewhere,” Lisa said. Sid marveled at how much the stern-faced judge had changed since she had met Ron Crockett. Smiles came easily and far more frequently to a lovely face, which could seem so austere when looking down from the bench. Now, with her dark hair down, the sharp angles of her cheek bones seemed softer and even more attractive, the rich coppery skin even richer, and the green eyes had an even brighter luster. Ron had seemed an unlikely match at first for Lisa Raines, but the outgoing Crockett had unquestionably been a tonic for his more introverted companion. As Leilani had said about the blond man and the dark-haired woman, “They make a handsome couple.”
“ I tried to interest Lisa in some property way back when we first met,” Ron said. “Here I thought I was a pretty good salesman, but I must have shown her a hundred pieces of property without finding anything suiting her.”
Lisa smiled fondly at Ron. “I guess I'm just difficult to please. But Ron is a good salesman. He sold himself, even if he didn't sell me any real estate.” “ It's just as well you didn't find anything you liked in the acreage I showed you, Lisa,” Ron said, smiling back at her.“We've got the ideal piece now.” Turning to Sid and Kay, he added, “It hadn't really come on the market when I heard about it. Forbes Ranch is doing some retrenching, and we got in on the ground floor. It's about a half-mile up the ridge, a knoll looking out on pretty much the same view as here. The owners had it set aside a long time ago for a ra
nch house, but they never got around to building on it.”
Ron exacted a willing promise from Sid and Kay to visit the place, and the discussion shifted to suitable houses for the location, choice of contractors, landscaping plans and the gamut of topics associated with house building.
It was only after dinner, when the four of them were enjoying their coffee and brandy, and Kay had basked in the well-deserved compliments for the meal, before the subject of Wayne Harlan came up. Kay explained she was representing him and sketched in the details of the killing which both Ron and Lisa had read about in the Chronicle.
“ Sure do,” Ron said in answer to the question as to whether he knew Wayne. “I went around to see him right after I passed my real estate exam, but the only opening he had was in rentals. I wanted to be in sales, so I went looking elsewhere. Our paths have crossed a lot of times since. They're bound to on an island this size.”
“What's he like?” Kay asked. Ron shrugged. “I sure haven't had any problems with him. You know how cutthroat this business can be, but he isn't one of the throat cutters. He didn't need to be, since he's got a good sales personality, and he's just generally a good businessman. When he bought Elima Real Estate Corp, it was sliding down hill, but he pulled it out of its slump. He has, or had before he went into semi-retirement, a lot of energy. I'm not much for going out and getting listings, but doing so is almost as important as selling. Wayne seemed to enjoy beating the bushes for listings and really did well at it.
“ Speaking of the Nikko Arms, there's a good example of what he can do. He talked Norman Kurohara into giving him an exclusive on all of the rentals and sales there, including the new ones coming on when they're through refurbishing those two firedamaged floors.”
“I met him once,” Lisa commented. “Some business group gave a party. I don't remember the details. A grand opening of some kind.”
“Computron,” said Ron.“Yup. Computron was the name of the firm. The opening was about six or eight months ago.”
Lisa nodded. “I think I'd recognize him again, but I really can't remember much about him. I talked to his wife at some length, however. Former wife now, I believe.”
Even Sid showed his interest at this possible insight into Wayne's turbulent family life. “ She's a pleasant person. They're from Nevada. I've been there a few times, and we talked about the usual things.” Lisa smiled. “Come to think of it, the conversation was mostly about men and their failings. She said Wayne was like an elephant. He never forgets. I told her that was quite a contrast to Ron, who seems particularly skilled at forgetting.”
Ron grinned sheepishly. “Lisa's reminding me about yesterday morning. I had a sales contract all typed up and ready to go. I drove all the way across the island to Wanakai to get it signed before I remembered leaving it on the kitchen table.”
“ Did she mention anything in particular that Wayne remembered?” Kay asked. “As a matter of fact, she did. If Rissa has any outstanding quality, it's her readiness to go into life's intimate details with a stranger. She said she'd had an affair with another man back in Nevada and Wayne never let her forget it.”
“Which fits with what little I know about him,” Ron added. “He seemed kind of paranoid, even for a real estate broker.”
“What do you mean?” Kay asked. “ Like I said, real estate is a competitive business. There's always someone around to take a customer away from you if you aren't always on the alert. Well, in talking to Wayne, I got the feeling he saw customer raiders under the bed. That seemed to be his favorite topic of conversation, about how someone at some other agency had either crowded in and taken a customer from him or had tried to.”
Kay continued with her questions, pleased at the insight she was getting into the personality of her enigmatic client. “Did he ever mention Anton Figueroa?”
“He did a couple of weeks ago. I suppose he may have before, but this is the only time I really remember him saying anything about Anton.
“What did he say?” “ Nothing much, but what he did say was favorable, which rather surprised me, because I'd heard about the big fight between him and Anton at the Malalani. The subject came up about painting contractors, since I've got a great listing up on Kula Hill, a house that will sell for half again as much now I've finally convinced the owner to do some minor repairs and give it a good paint job. Anyhow, what surprised me was that Wayne recommended Anton.”
*** Corky got back to the station just as Wayne and Qual were walking up the front steps. “We can use the lieutenant's office. He's over on the Big Island today, so he won't be needing it.”
She watched Wayne closely as he read over the one-page statement which had been prepared for him. His face was expressionless. After having gone over it carefully, he picked up the ball point and signed the paper. Corky took the sheet, put it into Hank's inbasket, and began to ask Wayne questions about the incident he had just signed as being witness to.
Wayne appeared to be quite cooperative. He seemed no different when Corky brought up his previous relationship with Anton and expressed particular interest in the quarrel at the Malalani.
“I know it was a dumb thing to do,” Wayne said, then laughed. “I guess I'm a throwback to the male animals who go around raring for a fight during mating season.”
Corky said nothing and, after a pause, Wayne continued. “I was really sorry about the whole thing afterwards.” Corky's impression was he had indeed been sorry, not for having tried to kill Anton but for having failed in the attempt. Looking over at Qual's observant eyes behind the bifocals and a hint of a smile hovering on his face, she wondered if the same thought had crossed his mind as well.
***
“Sid?”
“Hmmmm?” Sid had just been drifting off to sleep.
“That was good kalua pig?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. Thanks.”
“Lisa and Ron really enjoyed it.”
Sid rolled over on his stomach, readjusted his pillow, and mumbled, “They said they did.”
“I wonder if we had enough dessert? Ron had two helpings.”
Sid turned his head in her direction. “Sure he did,” he said, his voice beginning to show his annoyance, “which just proves he liked it.”
“Maybe Lisa would have had two helpings too, if there'd been any left.” Sid rolled over onto his back and bunched the pillow under his head. “You're not really interested in rehashing the evening and the reaction of our guests to our hospitality. What's going on?” Unable to see Kay's expression in the dark bedroom, he could still picture those familiar features engrossed in thought.
“Do you really think Anton was mugged?”
“I should have known,” he said with a groan. “ C'mon, Sid. What do you think?” “I think Hank think's Anton was mugged, and what Hank thinks is what counts. Why don't you declare a truce? I know you're dying to do a lot more investigating, but if the police are willing to leave it alone, why don't you?”
“ I suppose I should. There's plenty else to do at the office. I've got two other cases I should be giving more attention to, and Wayne isn't pushing me to do anything as long as Hank isn't breathing down his neck.”
“Terrific. Now can we get some sleep?” Kay rolled over onto his shoulder and passed her hand down his chest. “I just can't think of anything else besides the Harlan case. Can't you come up with something to help take my mind off of it?”
***
“Alan?” “ What?” Alan glanced up from the complex looking electrical diagrams in an oversize volume he had sitting on his chest. He and Corky had gone to bed by eleven, early by their standards, and had been reading for the past hour. John Junior, full brother to Sid and Kay's Bluebeard, was sleeping in his favorite spot between the feet of the bed's occupants. Corky had just put down a book entitled The Adopted Child, turned off her bed lamp, shuffled her pillows around and stretched out.
“I just found out today you've worked on the Nikko Arms elevators.”
“Sure. Anything wrong wi
th that?” Alan smiled at the hint of accusation on Corky's features. “You make it sound like I've been having an affair behind your back.”
“Well, why didn't you tell me you'd worked on them?”
“Tell you? I've worked on the Uchima Market refrigerators, too. Should I tell you about that?”
“You should, if there was a body found in one.” Alan guffawed. “You sure take the cake, Corky. Just because someone gets stabbed to death in an elevator doesn't mean the elevator's involved. Have you got some sort of a wild booby-trap scheme worked out?”
Corky sat back up. “Do you know how those elevators work?” “ More or less. They're fifteen or twenty years old, but they were retrofitted when Norman remodeled the place, and some other changes were made after the fire. They're fairly easy to maintain. There's a lot of modular stuff. When something electrical goes wrong, there's a trouble-shooting diagram in the pit under the cars. All you have to do is to follow the diagram to locate the problem. Then you pull the sick panel and call the number into Honolulu. The company can usually get a replacement over on the next plane.”
“Aren't there a lot of cables and machinery and that sort of stuff to maintain?” “ Sure. The state has regulations about how often they have to be inspected and serviced, and there's a maintenance company on the island that's licensed to do the servicing. I know the guy who works for them and handles elevator maintenance. You must know him too. Skinny Vierra.”
“He's married to Mililani Vierra, the hula dancer, isn't he?”
“Skinny would love that,” Alan said with a laugh, “to hear he's known only because of his wife's hula dancing.”
“Well, she's been in the paper several times. I saw her once on stage. She can sure shake those hips. You ought to see her. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't.”
“What do you want to know about the elevators?” “ I don't know what I want to know. I just thought if I could talk to someone about them, someone who knows something about elevators, I might learn something that could help solve this killing.”
The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Page 21