Hank grinned. “Mary Ann was my date at the senior prom.”
Mary Ann took a sip of the hot coffee, then said, “Hank and I went steady almost all of the last year of high school.”
“No kidding? Hank wasnt the one you used to talk to for hours on the phone when you were baby-sitting me and my brother, by any chance?”
This time Mary Anns smile was a full one. “Im sure it must have been. He was my one and only back then.”
“Wow! I picked up a lot of valuable information from those long talks. Sure hard to believe my social life owes so much to you, Hank.”
Hanks ears reddened. “Lets get down to business. Could you tell me exactly what happened this morning, Mary Ann?”
A suddenglint of amusement in MaryAnns eyes reflected the one in Corkys as she began. “Its all the fault of my darn car.”
Her expression changed as she recalled the mornings events. “It wouldnt start. It wouldnt even make a sound when I turned the key. So I started to call some friends who work at the hotel to give me a ride. But todays the day most of the shifts change, and they were all going on afternoons. So I decided to call Chichi.”
Corky, who had been taking notes, even though she had turned on the tape recorder, interrupted. “Was Chichi her real name?”
“Yes. Chichi Perreira.”
“Whats so strange about that?” Hank asked.“After all, Corkys your real name.”
Corky shook her head. “The things Portuguese mothers do to their offspring,” she muttered as Mary Ann resumed her narrative.
“I ordinarily wouldnt have called her, because the laundry room works different shifts than we do, and I knew today she wouldnt have to be there until nine. But she was happy to help out and came right over. She always was a real nice person. She told me she planned to go to work early, anyway, but I figured she just didnt want me to feel bad about asking.
“Well, I guess shed just gotten up when I called her and didnt have time to let nature take its course, if you know what I mean. So when were out on the highway, she says she cant wait until she gets to the hotel. Thats when she pulls off the road next to Shishi Gulch. I was kind of worried about not getting to work on time, so I kept looking at my watch.
“When she didnt come back after ten minutes or so, I thought Id better go looking for her. I found her, all right. Even then, I thought she just slipped and fell. I knew I couldnt do anything for her by myself, so I ran back to the road to flag down a car. The second person who stopped, some real estate lady, had a cellphone and called the police. I was sure glad when he got there.”
“Are you sure about how long Chichi was gone?” Hank asked.
“Oh, yes. It couldnt have been more than ten minutes from the time she started down the gulch to when I found her.”
“You know what time she started down?”
“Yes. Like I said, I was worried about being late. So I checked my watch when she left. It was twenty minutes to eight.”
“Was anyone else around when you stopped, any car parked on the highway nearby?”
Mary Ann gave her head an emphatic shake.
“Did you and Chichi ever ride together before?”
“Yeah. Lots of times. We used to carpool, back when I worked in the laundry. Even after I went to work in the restaurant wed give each other rides when our schedules matched.”
“Did she stop at the gulch any other time?”
Mary Ann again shook her head.
“Do you have any idea who might have wanted to kill Chichi? Any enemies?”
Mary Ann seemed surprised at the questions. “Everyone liked Chichi,” she protested. “She was always a lot of fun to be around.” Her voice took on a positive tone. “No one who knew her would have ever wanted to harm her.”
Hank decided not to press the point. “Guess thats it, then. Can you think of anything else, Corky?”
“Was she wearing any jewelry?” Corky asked.
Mary Ann smiled at the notion. “When you work in the laundry room, you dont even wear a ring.” In answer to the puzzled expressions, she added, “Youre bound to get your hands in soapy water sooner or later, and then a ring can work its way off pretty easy without your even noticing it.”
“No watch?”
“No.” Mary Ann paused. “Im pretty sure she had on some earringsjust some of those small studs for pierced earssomething like these.” Mary Ann reached up to her right ear and turned an ear lobe toward them to reveal a tiny imitation pearl.”
“Did she take her purse with her?”
“No. She left it in the car. Thats why I locked it when I went looking for her.”
Corky probed for another possible motive. “Do you think its possible Chichi saw the killing at the hotel and was trying to blackmail the murderer?”
Mary Anns eyes expressed her total astonishment at the possibility. “Oh, no! That just couldnt be. She would never do that. She would never do anything wrong. Not anything illegal, anyway.”
The two officers picked up on the qualifier in Mary Anns last statement, and Corky quickly made the most of it. “But she was doing something. Something wrong. What was it?”
Mary Ann stirred uneasily. “I guess now, since shes dead, it wont hurt to tell. She was meeting someone at the hotel. A man. I dont know who. I dont blame her.” Her voice rose. “Roderick Perreira is no good. He beat her up lots of times. I told her a long time ago to leave him, but she didnt want to because of the kids.”
Both Hank and Corky reacted to this new information which was so clearly contradictory to Mary Anns earlier statement how no one would have wanted to harm Chichi. They explored this new avenue, but Mary Ann could contribute nothing more. “Ill have a secretary type this up, and you can sign it,” Corky finally said.
“Would it be all right if I came back this afternoon?” Mary Ann asked.“I really should be getting to work.”
“Relax, Mary Ann,” Hank said. Ive already gotten in touch with the hotel manager. Hes giving you the day off, with pay.”
“Old Hooknose? Thats not like him.”
“Well, maybe he figures this is a special occasion.”
Chapter 8
The discussion following M aryAnns departure ended in a stalemate. “Its not too hard to figure out what happened,” Corky said.
“Oh, it isnt, huh? How about filling me in and saving me a lot of time?” “Sure as hell Chichi saw Onos murder and made the mistake of trying to blackmail
the killer. ”
“So you dont buy Mary Anns argument about how Chichi just wasnt the
blackmailing type?”
“People can become blackmailing types pretty darn quick when theres oodles of
money dangling in front of them.”
“You think she was dumb enough to go meeting a killer in a gulch? Why not meet
him in the open, right in the hotel lobby, if she was going to show her hand?” Corky mulled the notion over for a moment. “Well, maybe she set it up so if anything
happened to her, the dirt would come out.”
“So whyd he kill her then?”
“Maybe she just didnt get a chance to tell him about the precautions shed taken.”
Seeing the skeptical expression on Hanks face, Corky said, “OK, so who are you holding
out for?”
Hank motioned his head in the direction of the jail cells. “Why not him? The hippie
we caught in the gulch. Or one of his buddies we found in the van? One of them comes
along, sees Chichi getting ready to squat and clobbers her.”
“What was the point? She wasnt sexually molested. Theres no sign of a robbery.
She wouldnt even have been a temptation. No purse. No watch. Not even a ring. And
theres not enough rain there to keep a pakalolo patch growing, so she couldnt have been
killed to keep her from finding it. Whats left?”
Hank rolled those difficulties around in his mind, then went off in another direction
/> without conceding any points. “Maybe her husband got wind of the hanky-panky.” “Now youre really stretching it. Can you picture her agreeing to meet the old man
there? Or do you think he just happened to know shed have to go to the can today, just as
she got to the road near the gulch on the way to work?”
Hanks annoyance began to show. “OK, dammit! Get down to the hotel and find out
who the other half of the hankypanky was, and well bring him in. While youre there,
solve the Ono murder. In the meantime Ill work over the hippies.”
He stopped, then cocked his head. “You know Corky, I really am inclining toward
her boyfriend. When you stop and think about it, if she was going to meet anyone at the
gulch, it would have been him.”
“Youre missing the major flaw in your theory, Hank.”
“Whats the flaw?”
“Can you picture anyone picking that gulch with all those rocks and boulders and
dead keawe branches covered with three-inch thorns as a place for a rendezvousor a love
bed?”
***
Werner had insisted they go immediately to the morgue and perform the autopsy on
the most recent victim. With anyone else, Clyde might have demurred, knowing
paperwork was piling up on his desk, but the German pathologists enthusiasm was contagious. Besides, Clyde was not about to pass up the opportunity to do a second
postmortem with his renowned colleague. The form shuffling could wait. Again the autopsy went swiftly, as the German deftly handled the knives and saws
and clamps while Clyde and his assistant recorded his ongoing comments. It was not until
Clyde and Werner were sitting over their coffee and donuts at the nearby courtroom
cafeteria, when the latter began to expand on his analysis of what had probably happened.
The actual autopsy had been a record of facts; now came opinion, expert opinion, and
Clyde listened closely.
“No question the stone has the occipital bone into the occipital lobe crushed.”
Werner dipped his donut forcefully into his coffee, as though to illustrate the killers
motions. “Several blows,” he nodded sagely, reviewing his findings and earlier
statements. “Minimal, five,” he said, holding up his free hand and spreading out his
fingers to emphasize the number.
Werner continued to describe in detail the bone fragments involved, the areas in the
brain damaged by the stone, and the disastrous effects each of the blows would have
produced on the living woman. He listed the destruction of vision, of hearing, of motor
functions, of ability to breathe, the cessation of heartbeat, the irreversible flattening out of
the brain waves, and their final, complete disappearance. “Two minutes at most.” This
time he held up two fingers of the hand holding a soggy donut. “Perhaps much less.” Clyde followed the analysis closely, wondering why Werner didnt mention the
extensive damage to the frontal lobe. He knew Hank would have little interest in
Werners minute description of the victims demise, but would definitely want to know
whether the victim had been first struck from in front or in back. Taking advantage of a
mouth suddenly too full to even mumble, Clyde asked,“Is there any way of determining
whether the blow to the front of the skull occurred first?”
The mouthful of donut and coffee instantly disappeared, marked by a trail of lumps
down Werners throat as he choked and hoarsely replied, “No blow to front of skull.” Clyde looked puzzled and was about to cite the extensive injuries they had seen in
the frontal area of the brain, when Werner, his throat now clear and reaching for another
donut, said, with a dismissive gesture, “Counter cup damage!”
Clyde was more puzzled than ever, then suddenly the connection became clear. The
strange word was countercoup, and now Clyde could almost see the section in Werners
book where he had described the widespread effect of a heavy blow to the back of the
head. It had included the serious injury to the frontal lobe which could result from the
shock wave traveling to the front of the skull chamber.
“There is though one puzzlement,” Werner continued, ignoring both Clydes initial
mystified expression and the enlightened look which replaced it. “Facial abrasions are not
with a front attack consistent. I have such contusions frequently seen when one has the
victim gun struck.” Werner swept the new donut back and forth through the air, inches
from Clydes nose.
“Oh! You mean pistol whipping. Do you think she was pistol whipped?” Werner frowned and munched thoughtfully on his donut, washing it down with a
long swallow of coffee.“No.” The munching continued, the frown spread. “A pistol
strike would the nose fracture; the teeth would broken and dislodged, the mouth swollen
become. Here, are only the left and right zygomatic arches fractured. But from a fall
could this not be.” Suddenly his face lit up. “How was the body found?”
Clyde started to explain. Werner insisted he illustrate on a prostrate and imaginary
victim on the cafeteria floor. Heads at the other tables turned, as Clyde went through the
motions and as Werners voice rose in announcement of his discovery. “There were many
rocks, not so?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, her head was wedged between a couple of boulders.” “There it is! Of course. The killer strikes victim on back of the head,” the pantomime
continued with Werner again using a donut as a stone substitute, “she falls, he continues
her to hit, continues, and continues, and continues. But the rocks keep the nose and
mouth from touching the ground. There are no abrasions on the front surface of the face.
See! Ah! So it was a surprise attack. The first blows were not to the face. She was around
turned and from behind struck.”
Clyde was quick to accept Werners conclusion as a real possibility, even venturing
to admit how he, himself, should have thought of it when he was at the scene of the
crime.“I should have realized the facial bruises came from the way she had fallen.” Werner waved away the chagrined admission, stuffed an entire donut into his mouth,
washed it down with the last of his coffee, and said, “With tomorrows body, must you
me immediately call.”
Clyde decided there was no point in trying once again to convince his colleague
Elima did not have a murder a day.
***
Since the breakfast rush was well past, Corky managed to collar a waiter with
comparative ease.
“The Ono crowd? They were here this morning as usual. Youll have to ask Les
about which of „em showed up. Hes in charge in the dining room for breakfast, so he
keeps the big tippers for himself. Hes probably back in the kitchen talking story with
Carlton.”
The waiters prediction proved correct. The two women found their quarry, a tall,
thin haole with a neatly-trimmed mustache, sitting on a high stool next to a cutting board.
The kitchen supervisor was on the opposite side of the board trimming a chopstick with
an oversized Chinese cleaver. He remained where he was, seemingly engrossed in his
meaningless task, though actually intrigued by the questioning.
“Yeah. They all showed up around quarter-to-eight. The reason I remember is
because they werent scheduled to show until eight, so I had to shake some tourists loose
from their table.”
“Who was there?”
“The whole bunch. Mrs. Ono, Mr. Onos son and his wife, and Mr. Yamamoto. Even
the Neanderthal and the Ballerina showed up.”
Kay recognized the allusion immediately. Not bad, she decided, but I still prefer
Rhino and Panther. Seeing the puzzled expression on Corkys face, she explained,
“Theyre Nick Yamamotos two assistants, or so he calls them. Im willing to bet they
were actually Onos bodyguards.”
“Hell, I didnt even know he had any.” Corky was clearly disturbed by this oversight.
“Here I thought Id talked to everyone he brought along. No one I interviewed even
mentioned them. Theyll be number next on my list today.”
Turning to the waiter, she asked,“What time did the party break up?” “Sometime after eight-thirty. For sure by eight-forty-five, because I had a party of
eight seated there then.”
Kay broke in. “Did everyone leave at the same time?”
“Yeah. No, wait a minute. Mr. Yamamoto left while the others were still finishing up,
which must have been right around eight-thirty.”
“It fits, Corky. He was in his office when I got there about eight-twenty-five.” Corky picked up the questioning again. “You didnt happen to hear what they talked
about did you?”
“Uh-uh. They just kept chattering away in Japanese. The only word I know in
Japanese is arigato, and Im not even sure what that means.”
“So no one got up from the table until a little before eight-thirty?”
“Mr. Yamamoto did take off for a couple of minutes. I watched their table pretty
close so I can fill the water glasses and the coffee cups. Mrs. Ono can sure stow away the
coffee. Anyway, Im not sure what time it was, but he was only gone for about two
minutes. I suppose he had to go to the mens room.”
Carlton Chang, whom the others had forgotten, surprised everyone by speaking up.
“He came in here looking for Old…looking for the manager, whos usually around here
checking up on us in the morning. It was just before eightfifteen, Im sure, because right
afterwards my replacement dishwasher help showed up.”
The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Page 38