The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2

by John A. Broussard

  “ I'm glad I'm an electrician, and not a detective. In my business, I know when I have a problem, and I usually have at least some idea about where I should start. Do you want me to run Skinny down for you?”

  “Would you?”

  “Are you going to be at the Nikko Arms tomorrow?”

  “Uh-huh.” “ I'll see what I can do about finding Skinny. If he's working on this side of the island, he'll probably be willing to go out there. If I have any luck, I'll leave a message for you with the security guard. I might even come out and give you a few pointers, providing I can get away from the job I have tomorrow morning.”

  “What are you working on?” “Uchima's refrigerators. I'll definitely let you know if I find a body in any of them.”

  Chapter 8

  “ What's the latest from Kay on the Anton Figueroa case?” Qual asked, replacing his reading glasses with bifocals. He and Sid had just finished putting the last touches on an appeal due for filing Monday afternoon.

  “ Mostly nothing,” Sid answered.“Hank's pretty well convinced it was a mugging, and I'm advising Kay to let sleeping dogs lie.” Sid grinned. “Which makes it almost a challenge for her to keep snooping. To add to it, Corky called this morning. She's putting in her last day at the Nikko Arms and wanted to know if any of us wanted to go along.”

  Qual chuckled at what he knew must have been Kay's reaction. “I take it Kay's accepted the invitation.”

  “Naturally. Laura's going along too. They're probably planning on spending their spare change for lunch at the Nikko Arms coffee shop.”

  “What are your feelings about Wayne?” “ Assuming he's ever charged, I'm glad I'm not the one who will have to represent him in court. If I did have to defend him, I'm convinced there would be a lot of surprises. He's the kind of guy who answers only the questions you ask, and if you miss important questions, you don't get the important answers that go with them. I just saw an old Spencer Tracy movie a few nights ago. It's Captains Courageous, where there's been an accident and Tracywho's one of the fishermenhas been thrown into the water. Everybody's worried about his drowning, and he doesn't even mention the fact that both his legs have been cut off in the accident. Harlan has the same quality.”

  Qual laughed. “You've painted a really grim picture. Does Kay share your view of Wayne?” “ Maybe not completely, but she isn't taking what he says at face value. Even so, she's eager to solve the crime. That's what bothers me. If Hank's willing to let it go as a random murder by a mugger, I'm only too happy to go along. And I'm sure Wayne would be just as happy to settle for that. The trouble is Kay's like a poi dog who's spotted a wild boar. She's determined to find out who killed Anton, and I get the feeling Laura is aiding and abetting her.”

  “ We might as well let them enjoy themselves. Wayne's given us a good-sized retainer. Finding the murderer will give him more than his money's worth.” Qual paused, then added, “Unless the murderer happens to have been hired by Wayne.”

  Sid mulled over Qual's comment then switched to another aspect of the case. “What do you think about what Craig told us concerning Anton?” “ It's really not much to go on. Craig added some more tidbits when we got home for me to pass along to Kay. Anton was a regular visitor at the Mad Hatter on Oahu. Craig knew about the place long before I did. It's a gay bar, and apparently was a pretty rough place at one time. Later, Craig ran into Anton a couple of times over here. Craig thinks Anton had changed a lot since he originally knew him in Honolulu. For one thing, Anton used to call himself 'Antoine' back in those days. Craig's guess is Anton was bi and probably always had been, but wasn't broadcasting it back in Mad Hatter days.”

  “Do you think his murder had anything to do with his Oahu past?” Qual shrugged. “It's hard to say. Passions can run pretty high, and memories can be awfully long, but it was all at least ten years ago. I just don't know.” He smiled and repeated his earlier comment. “I'm sure Wayne won't care who the murderer is, as long as we find whoever did it.”

  “Unless…” Sid trailed off.

  “Unless Wayne's the murderer,” Qual finished his sentence for him. “Is that what you were going to say?” “ Not really, but close. I know he couldn't have done the actual murder, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced he did hire someone to do it. I guess that's the real reason I'm glad I won't have to defend him. That's automatically murder one. Plea bargaining on a murder contract charge isn't easy. A trial could be a disaster. You know as well as I do juries aren't at all sympathetic to anyone accused of hiring a killer.”

  *** “ I didn't come up with much yesterday, since I had to be back here by noon to get Wayne's statement,” Corky said, holding the two keys in the palm of her hand, “but I'm going to make up for it today. The number one priority is going to be finding out what these go to.”

  “What makes you think they have anything to do with the Nikko Arms?” Hank asked as he leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. “ For one thing, I didn't find any loose ones in Anton's apartment. Didn't you say he had every key to the jobs, where he and his crew were working, labeled and hanging on hooks in his office?”

  “Yeah. He even had one bunch labeled 'unknown' hanging on the last hook.” “ If nothing else,” Corky continued, “Anton was neat. He wouldn't have let loose keys go unlabeled for long. These two strays just have to have something to do with whatever he was up to. The Nikko Arms is the most obvious spot.”

  “Well, good luck! I'm still holding out for a mugger, but don't tell Norman I said so. I hear the thought of a mugger has him absolutely terrified.”

  ***

  Norman Kurohara looked no happier on Monday than he had on Sunday. His first words to Corky were, “How long are the police going to be coming around?” Corky couldn't help but smile at the nervous little man's increasing nervousness. “We're not going to close the books on an unsolved crime, but if we don't come up with something by the end of the week we'll just start trolling instead of casting. Can you identify these keys?”

  Kurohara picked up one of the two keys. “It looks like one for the service elevator.” As he said that, he got up and opened a large cupboard door on the wall to reveal dozens of rows of keys hanging from hooks on a piece of plywood. As many more were hanging on the inside of the door itself.

  Taking off one with a large label attached which read 'Service Elevator,' he held it out to Corky along with the one she had given him. “These look identical to me. There's one way to find out, of course.”

  Corky nodded and took the key back. “I'll try it later. How about the other key?” Kurohara looked at it and shook his head. “It could be for one of the condominiums, but it isn't any of the ones we issued. It's a different brand. Of course, someone could have made a copy of their own key. It happens, you know. That's why we always change the locks when a renter leaves or a condominium is sold. So, I'm afraid I can't help you with that.”

  “That's OK, we're making progress. Now, if I could get a list of your tenants on the fifth floor, I'll get out of your hair for a while.” “ I can do better than that,” he said, reaching over for a stapled sheaf of pages on top of a small stack of similar copies. “This is an up-to-date list of all the tenants and owners. Lieutenant DeMello called and asked me to give you one.”

  Corky accepted the sheets, saying,“I hope this isn't a hint on his part for me to interview all the tenants.”

  “I hope it isn't too,” Kurohara agreed fervently.

  *** Corky had just stepped out of the manager's office as Kay and Laura were arriving at the Nikko Arms. “Perfect timing,” Corky said. “I'm just about to start doing rounds and can stand some help and company.”

  “Where to first?” Kay asked.

  Corky held up the large key.“The service elevator. This is one of two keys we found loose in Anton's pocket.” The key worked, and the three of them stepped into the large elevator. “Well, as long as we're in it, let's try it,” Corky said and pressed the button for floor five. Her ne
xt comment was, “Kurohara wasn't kidding. This is a slow oneeven slower than the regular ones.”

  Half way up, Corky checked her watch. “It's taking about twenty seconds per floor. We could have easily beat it up walking.”

  Laura laughed. “You might have, but I'd have been lagging behind before the third floor.”

  The elevator finally dragged itself to a halt at the fifth floor. Even the doors opened more slowly than in the passenger elevators.

  “Who are you calling on first?” Kay asked. “ We've got one Japanese name on this floor,” Corky replied, looking up from her list. “Number 507. I tried them yesterday, but no one was home. It's probably as good a place to start as any.”

  It was.

  *** Kay recognized the man who answered the door as being Japanese-Japanese. She had never been quite able to put her finger on the subtleties distinguishing the native-born Japanese from the myriad of Japanese she had gone to school with who had been born in Hawaii. The Japanese tourists were understandably easy to spot, since tourists of any racial or ethnic background had a different aura. It was just that, even after a long stay in Hawaii, the natives of Japan had something distinguishing them from the locally born Japanese. indefinably different about them

  Kay just hoped this pleasant appearing young man had a reasonable command of English. While Kay had spoken Japanese at home to her grandmother before entering school, most of whatever command of the language she had had back then had now disappeared. She could still on occasion catch the gist of overheard conversations but, beyond that, she was innocent of any knowledge of her ancestors' native tongue.

  Corky and Laura were also relieved to find that Hideyo Hirota was reasonably fluent in English. After introducing herself and her companions, Corky explained the reason for their visit to the smiling occupant of the condominium.

  “It was the accident on Saturday, was it not?” Hirota asked, as he invited them into the combination living room and dining room.

  Corky did not consider the term “accident” to be the most appropriate one to describe what had happened, but she wasn't about to correct him.

  When asked if he knew of a young Japanese couple who had been there when the corpse had fallen out of the elevator, Hirota's face lit up.

  The story came out in rather garbled fashion. After some backing up to fill in the details, it became clear the couple had been on the way to see him.

  “I am tourist guide for Japanese travel society here on Elima.” Some exploration on Corky's part finally established that Hirota was working for a Japanese travel agency. His permanent residence was in Napua, and his job was to meet Japanese tour groups coming to Elima and to guide them around the island.

  “ My nephew and his wife are that couple. They are on honeymoon. They were supposing to meet me here at quarter-to-twelve so we could go to restaurant where I had reservation. When they did not come by the half-hour later, I went out and went down to find them in lobby. That is when I see crowd at next elevator, and soon police come. We went to dinner.”

  In explanation for their haste to leave, he added, “Reservations not held for more than the half hour.”

  It was Kay who picked up on the trip down to the lobby. “What time did you go out to the elevator?”

  “Twenty minutes after twelve.”

  “Did you have to wait long?”

  Hirota shrugged. “Always have to wait long.”

  “Do you remember where the elevators were when you pressed the button?”

  Hirota had difficulty with the question, and Kay had to explain in more detail what she was asking. “ Left elevator on way up, so I knew I should have to wait. I knew also I would not miss them if they were waiting for the elevator downstairs. Right elevator on way down, but already passed this floor.”

  “Do you have any idea what floor it was at?” Hirota paused, then said, “Floor three, I think. Left elevator came down then, and I rode down on that. My nephew and wife were waiting there with crowd around other elevator.” He again shrugged and repeated what he had said earlier.“When police come, we left for restaurant.”

  Seeing Kay had finished her questioning and was mulling over the answers, Corky broke in and asked,“Could you give us the names of your nephew and his wife? Maybe we could interview them today.”

  “Would be very difficult. They are now back in Tokyo.”

  Chapter 9

  “ Alan's due by in an hour,” Corky said, looking at her watch as they left Hirota's apartment. They walked down the hall toward the elevators. “So we should have time to run down one other witness,” she continued, “a Mrs. Margaret Bowan. Afterwards I hope you folks are ready for a guided tour of the pit under the elevator.”

  “It sounds exciting,” Laura commented. “What are you looking for down there?”

  “I haven't the least idea, but it turns out Alan knows the island's elevator maintenance man, and he's going to show up too.”

  Kay looked skeptical. “Out with it, Corky. You've got something in mind.” “ Not really. But Hank's so convinced it was a mugger he wants to pretty much write off the investigation after today. Norman Kurohara, the owner, is just generally disturbed about the elevators. If that has anything to do with the murder, I sure can't see how it does. Still, you never can tell. Alan says it's ridiculous to think the elevator could have anything to do with the killing. I got him to talk to Skinny Vierra about it. Skinny didn't have much to offer, but he's the maintenance man who'll be by today to take us down into the pit.”

  Both Laura and Kay laughed at the intensity of Corky's expression, as she extended the list of reasons why she was checking out the elevators, and then went down the even more extensive list of reasons why she thought her search would not produce worthwhile results.

  “How about Norman Kurohara himself?” Laura asked.“Where was he when Anton was killed?” “ I checked him out on the first day,” Corky answered. “He has a regular routine. He gets to the cafeteria at twelve and leaves at twelve thirty. One of the cafeteria workers even told me what he had to eat on the day of the murder. She says he never varies the time he gets there and almost always eats the same thing. So he's pretty much in the clear.”

  It was Kay who went back to the elevator theme, “So you figure with so many people trying to steer you away from the elevators, they just have to have something to do with the crime. You must still have some guesses as to what happened.” Kay pressed the down button as they were talking.

  Corky pointed up to the emergency door in the ceiling as they stepped into the elevator. “That might have something to do with it. An elevator isn't exactly the best spot to kill someone. If you kill someone while the elevator is at a floor, how can you be sure no one's going to come along to use the elevator while you're in the process? If you do it while the elevator's in motion, how can you be sure you'll be getting off at an empty floor?

  “ With that,” Corky again pointed ceiling wards, “the killer could have stopped between floors and climbed out. Then I'm not sure how he could have gotten out of the elevator shaft. Or how he could have been sure the elevator wouldn't start up again while he was climbing out. That's why Alan's bringing Skinny Vierra along. Maybe if we can get a look at the elevator's machinery with him, Skinny might have some idea how it might have been done.”

  The elevator stopped at the fourth floor where they got off. “Or then again,” she added, “there may be some way to program the elevator to stop at the third floor and then have it go again automatically.”

  As they stood in front of the Bowan apartment after Corky had knocked, Kay said, “You think someone could have attacked Anton on the fourth floor, pushed him into the elevator and somehow set it to stop at the third floor?”

  “ Something like that,” Corky answered as she again knocked on the apartment door. “I know it all sounds pretty weird, but this will probably be my last day on this case, so I figure I might as well check out even wild ideas like this one. I sure don't know where else to star
t, or what else to investigate.”

  As she spoke, the door began to swing slowly inwards. Later, at lunch, Corky, Laura and Kay were in full agreement. They had never seen such fear, such utter and complete terror, as they saw on the face of Margaret Bowan at the moment when she opened the door to her apartment.

  *** It was Corky who took charge. Margaret seemed about to fall when Corky reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Her face was white, small drops of perspiration stood out on her forehead, and her pupils were so completely dilated the blue of the iris had virtually disappeared. Her fingers were tightly clenched, and the knuckles showed even whiter against the pale background of her hands. Margaret seemed incapable of speech, and her breath came in short sharp gasps.

  “ She's hyperventilating,” Corky said. “Find a bag of some kind.” By then Kay had taken Margaret's other arm, and she and Corky were leading the nearly collapsed woman to the sofa. Laura got her bearings and ran into the kitchen.

  When Laura rushed back in with a paper sack, Corky said, “Hold it over her nose and mouth. She'll push it aside when her breathing slows down. I'm going to look around.”

  Within moments, Margaret was trying to speak. “Pan…panic.”

  Laura had been the first to recognize the symptoms. “Panic attack?” she asked, and Margaret nodded her head and closed her eyes. Her rigid body relaxed slightly.

  Kay looked at Laura and shook her head. “I've never been around someone having one of these.” “ Neither have I,” Laura said, removing the bag as Margaret began to breathe normally,“but we had a tape in a psychopathology class where a young kid was shown having one. It's frightening for everybody.”

  “That's for sure,” Kay murmured. Margaret opened her eyes slowly and nodded. “That's when I first had them. When I was a youngster. I…I thought I was over them.” Her voice was strained, and the others said nothing, waiting for her to continue. As she spoke, she seemed to be more and more returning to normal. “Then I had my first one again about a year ago. Then none for a while. Then, after Noel left on this last trip to Chile, I began to have them again. Almost one a week.”