It was Kay who picked up the questioning. “Tell us everything happening from the time you left the airport to the time the police arrived at the Dyer home.”
There wasa touch of annoyance in OHearnes voice as he began, “After the clerk told me there was no chance of getting a taxi, I started walking toward the…”
“Time?” Kay interrupted.
The annoyance became more apparent, then OHearnes face cleared as he saw the reason for the question.“I guess time is going to be important. It couldnt have been much after four. The plane got in early. I…” He hesitated, and both of his interrogators looked expectantly at him. “…I went to the mens room, then went over to the ticket office. It was the only place open. So it must have been right around four. When I found out I couldnt get a taxi, I started off toward Kula Hill at a fast walk. I figure it must have taken me maybe fifteen minutes to get there.”
“You went straight there?”
“Yeah. Well, almost. I turned down the wrong street one block before I got to Opihi. But I saw my mistake right away, so I couldnt have wasted more than a minute or so.”
“Did you see anyone during your walk?”
OHearne shook his head.
“Any cars.”
Again, a shake of the head, then, “Wait a minute. There was a car parked on the street opposite to Opihi. I dont know the name of the street, but it empties out right across from where Opihi turns off from the main road.”
“Its kind of unusual for a car to be parked on the street on Kula Hill,” Kay commented. “Theres plenty of room in the driveways for guests cars, and garages are all double or bigger. Remember anything about it?”
“Uh-uh. Not much.”
“No one in it?”
“I wouldnt have been able to tell. Tinted windows.”
“Make?”
OHearne shrugged. “A big brute.” His typical unsmiling smile returned. “Something looking like it belonged in that fancy district. Recent model.” He paused.“Light color.” Another pause. “Thats stretching it. Im really not much sure about the color.”
“Any guesses about what time it was when you saw it?”
“I couldnt have been more than a couple of minutes from the Dyer house, and it must have been just about four-fifteen when I got there. I imagine the cops can tell you exactly what time they got there, which couldnt have been more than two minutes after I got into the house.”
“So the car was there sometime between four-ten and four-fifteen.”
“Sounds about right.”
Kay paused for a moment and looked over the notes she'd been taking. Drawing a line beneath them, she asked, “What time did you receive the call from Mrs. Dyer?”
Leonard paused.“It was early in the morning. Id say half-past-twelve or so…California time. I was asleep. As it was, I just barely made the plane.”
A tiny, shrill alarm went off in Kays head. There was something wrong with Leonards answer. At the moment she didnt know what it was, but she knew there was something wrong with it, and she knew shed come back to it.
***
“We might as well start at the beginning.” Sid had settled down behind his desk while Kay sat across from him with her notebook open.
“I take it the beginning is, „Did he kill Charlotte Dyer?”
Sid grinned. “Right on.”
“My guess is if he did, he wouldnt have any qualms about claiming he didnt.”
“I thinkhes telling the truth. He didnt hesitate one second when I asked him. He didnt twitch an eyebrow.”
“Exactly. I think weve got someone here whod have no trouble beating a lie- detector.”
“Well,” Sid commented wryly, “weve been lied to by professionals before, and I have to agree he could pass for one. So, on to the next question. Whats the evidence for and against his having killed her?”
“So far, no motive. Which doesnt mean much. The police will start dredging for one. As for opportunity, thats already pretty murky.” Kay reached for the police report and continued, as she opened it to the pathologists preliminary statement. “It says here the victim probably died as a result of „craniocerebral injuries.”
“Head wound,” Sid interpreted unnecessarily.“Which means she could have died immediately or lingered on for God knows how long.”
“Exactly. Well have to wait for the autopsy, and even then Clyde may not be able to fix the time much better than he does here. Hes guessing death occurred „no later than fourfifteen which is when the police arrived, but the blow, or blows, were inflicted „no earlier than three a.m.”
Sid exhaled loudly through his nose.“If OHearnes telling the truth about having an affair with Mrs. Dyer, it will open up all kinds of motives for the prosecutor to exploit. Worse yet, if he isnt telling the truth. Then hes going to have to cook up another explanation for being there at four in the morning. At this rate, were going to have one hell of a time convincing a jury Leonarddidnt kill her.”
“Theres one sure way to prove he didnt”
“Whats that?” Sids eyes narrowed.
“All we have to do is to prove someone else did it.”
Chapter 3
“ Any excitement while I was gone?” Sergeant Corky Honda, representing one half of the Napua PDs Homicide Division, was a slender, attractive Portuguese who had been working with Lieutenant Hank DeMello for some three years.
The desk sergeant reached for the stack of booking sheets as he answered her question, “I had a four day holiday myself, and the last thing I wanted to think about was police work. What did you do over New Years?”
“ Alan and I took Junior over to Honolulu to show him off to some of my relatives.” “Hey! Big event. I thought you only flew when you absolutely had to.” “Alan twisted my arm. Hes one of those rare husbands who gets along with his
mother-inlaw, and he promised her wed bring the grandkid over for the holidays. Going over wasnt bad, but it was the worst landing everand after hearing about the San Francisco crash. Ugh! So, now, Alans going to have claw marks in his hand for weeks. Serves him right for making me fly. Find anything?”
The desk sergeant had been flipping through the sheets. “The usual. Half-dozen fireworks violations. A tavern brawl at the Prince Kuhio. Some fender benders. DUIs aplenty. Ohoh! Heres some work for you. An “unattended death” on Kula Hill, Saturday morningNew Year s Day.”
Corky reached for the sheet as Hank DeMello entered the station. Over the years, the two of them had worked out an amicable relationship which on occasion still replayed some of their earlier battles over feminism. Both of them had made concessions: Corky by deciding she would never change her superiors nineteenth century views of the place of women in society; Hank by finally admitting Corky might be an exception to the rule, and was perhaps as competent as most men.
“Youre back just in time, Corky,” the Lieutenant said, waving her along, “Ive got a string of people for us to interview. Were going to get a chance to mingle with the uppercrust today. Most of them are Kula Hill people.”
“Charlotte Dyer,” Corky said, reading the report as the two of them started back to Hanks office. “ Did she live up there?”
“You really dont know much about Elimas high society, do you? Shes married to
Morton Dyer, a big wig at Hawaiian Harvest.”
“So far, Im batting zero,” Corky said, steering Hank over to the coffee machine. “I
dont know him either.”
Having poured herself a cup of the stations bitter brew, Corky settled into one of
Hanks secondhand chairs and waited for a briefing on Elimas most recent unexplained
death.
Hank settled back in his swivel chair, his hands behind his head.“Well, I guess it
isnt too surprising you dont know either of them. Theyve got a big house on the island,
but from what I can make out theyre seldom there. Hes off on business trips to the
mainland and the Far East, and she seemed to spend a l
ot of her time over on Oahu.” “So fill me in on the crime.”
“I just got back from the morgue. Clyde hasnt gotten to the final yet, but the prelim
was the damnedest thing.”
Corky sipped at the scorching coffee, saying nothing, knowing Hank would fill in the
details at his own pace.
“Clyde says Mrs. Dyer had the thinnest skull hes ever seen. From the looks of
things, she fell, hit her head on the base of a floor lamp next to a chair in her bedroom
and fractured her skull. It was a hairline fracture but it caused a lot of bleeding and then
brain damage, which finally killed her.”
“Was it the floor lamp, for sure?”
“Clydes not about to say. But he does admit she could have been hit, and it wouldnt
have had to have been much of a blow to fracture such a thin skull.”
“When did it happen?”
“Thats the problem. Clyde says its going to be tough as hell to fix time of injury.
Jerry found her at four-nineteen and she was dead then.”
“Jerrys sure?”
“Oh hell, yes! You know Jerry. Hes done so much traffic duty he can tell a stiff
from where he sits in his patrol car. Clyde says she was probably dead for ten or fifteen
minutes prior to that. He doubts hell be able to get any closer than four, plus-or-minus
fifteen minutes, and he insists on saying only 'probably.' According to him, head injuries
in general are a bitch to judge time on, and the one she had is going to make a time
estimate even tougher. “
“You cant go complaining about minutes, Hank. I can remember some homicides
where we couldnt tell time of death within days.”
Hank gave one of his characteristic grunts, sat up and started looking through the
papers on his desk. “Trouble is, this time, minutes are going to be crucial.” “Whys that?”
“Because our prime suspect may have an alibi if the time of the head injury is much
before four-fifteen.”
“Prime suspect? Gee, Hank, you mean youve got it solved already.” “I thought I did, until I got all this news from Clyde. The suspect is Leonard
OHearne. Jerry and Manny found him prowling through the house when they answered
the dispatch. It was one of those lucky calls where they were only a few blocks away
when the alarm went off at the security office. So they got there in something like two
minutes.
“At the time, it looked all cut and dried. She had this bruise on the side of her
forehead, and OHearne had set off the alarm when he opened the front door. It looked
pretty much like hed surprised her in her bedroom and hit her when she started to
scream. Of course, he claimed he knew her and was there at her invitation. And, later, he
says he was having an affair with her. It all smells.”
Corky shrugged as she glanced through OHearnes statement which Hank had just
handed to her.“So? Even if he did know her, he might still have quarreled with her and
hit her. Youve only got his word he just arrived.”
“Nope. Weve also got the airport desk-clerks word for that. He remembers
OHearne. Said he stopped at the desk at four a.m. and wanted to know if there were any
taxis around. You can guess what the clerk told him. Last he saw of OHearne, he was
hoofing it out of the airport. Sure as hell he didnt catch a ride at four in the morning. So,
even if he hurried, he couldnt have gotten to the Dyer home much before four-twenty.” “I see what you mean. It is cutting it kind of close. Holding him isnt going to be
easy.”
“Thats only part of the problem. I already charged him. Hes sitting back in a cell,
and guess whos representing him.”
“Smith, Chu, Yoshinubu and Correa.”
“You hit it right on the nose. And our prosecuting attorneys all set to drop the
charge.”
Corky shrugged and downed the last of her coffee. “So, let him. We can always pick
OHearne up later when we find out whats going on.”
Hank banged a fist down on his desk. “No way. I want him to put up bail so Ill be
damn sure he doesnt leave the island.”
Puzzled by his vehemence, Corky asked,“Why?”
“Because hes a killer, thats why. I can tell just by looking at him.”
Corky guffawed. “Hell, Hank, if I said something like that, youd claim it was just
feminine intuition. How do you know hes a killer?”
“Because I knew an MP in Nam who had a look in his eyes justlike this OHearne
character. One day during Tet, he got caught killing some unarmed Vietnamesejust for
the fun of it. It was hushed up, but he got his soon after that. Story was it was one of the
Cong who did him in. Im not so sure it was.”
Corky almost made another wry comment but caught herself in time when she
realized Hank was deadly serious.
***
Sid and Kay decided the OHearne case was sufficiently important to call a
conference. With Laura now at the other office, the conference included only Qual and
Craig, whos frequent presence at the office had made him something of an honorary
member of the firm.
“Have you had a chance to talk to Hank yet?” was Quals first question as they sat
down around the table in the conference room. “Talking to Hank” was often the first step
the attorneys took in a homicide case, since rapport with the police on this small, rural
Hawaiian island was excellent. Early in the establishment of his law office, Qual had
discovered how good relations with the police were foremost among the advantages of
law practice on Elima. They were something to be fostered. He had maintained good will
by cooperating as fully as possible in return.
Sid shook his head at the question. “I called, and he said to get back to him this
afternoon. He and Corky are going to make the rounds of Hawaiian Harvest to see what
they can find out about Charlotte Dyer. Im pretty sure hes trying to check out
OHearnes claim he was having an affair with her.”
“Do you think he was?”
“Hard to say. OHearnes kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. He had to
explain his presence in the house, so maybe thats the first thing he could think of. What
do you think, Kay?”
“What?” Kay shook herself.
Sid grinned. “Here we havent had the case for twenty-four hours, and Kays already
going into one of her trances. Do you think OHearne was having an affair with Mrs.
Dyer, Kay? Or maybe youve already figured out who the real killer is?” Kay smiled at Sids good-natured ribbing of her propensity for playing detective. It
was one of his qualities she had at one time resented, but now found more amusing than
annoying, especially since he had finally become almost resigned to living with her sleuthing proclivity. She shook her head. “I think the first thing were going to have to do is to find out how the alarm system at the Dyers home works. Doing so could tell us a lot
about whether or not OHearne knew her.”
Craig who, until then had been working on a grocery list in preparation for one of his
elaborate evening meals, looked up. “How could the alarm system tell you anything,
Kay?”
“If he knew her, how come he tripped off the system?”
“Maybe he had a key,” Craig suggested.
“Thats the question, Craig,” Kay said. “What kind of a system would go off if you
used a key?”
>
Sid broke in, “And, anyway, he claims he didnt have a key. According to him, she
told him the front door would be unlocked and the alarm system would be shut off.” “Wheres Mr. Dyer, by the way?” Qual asked as Craig, shaking his head, went back
to his list, and Kay frowned her way back into her own thoughts.
“Somewhere on the mainland,” Sid answered. “Hanks trying to run him down. From
what our client says, this was no open marriage with Dyer aware of what was going on.
He says the reason he came over is because Mrs. Dyer called him and told him her
husband was going to be on the mainland for at least another week.”
“Whats the prosecuting attorney have to say?” Qual asked.
Sid grinned. “Emils being his usual cautious self. He wasnt too forthcoming, but
my impression is he doesnt think theres much of a case. The final pms the key,
evidently, and Hank will have it on hand this afternoon when Kay and I go over to see
him. Youre coming too, arent you Kay?”
“What?”
The others broke into simultaneous laughter at Kay, who looked as though she had
just broken the surface after a long swim under water.
Sid repeated the question, this time with an undertone of annoyance. Kay smiled and said, “Yeah. Sure.”
“How about a hint, Kay?” Qual asked, in part to ward off the clash he could see
coming.
“Lets assume OHearnes telling the truth. Let's assume he was having an affair
with Mrs. Dyer. She found out her husband wouldnt be home for several days, she called
OHearne, and she invited him to fly out and told him the door would be unlocked. If she
was so all-out eager to see him, does it seem likely she would just have forgotten to shut
off the alarm?”
Craig, who had finally finished his list and stuffed it into the pocket of his shirt,
added, “And she certainlywouldnt have been eager to have the police suddenly show up
with her entertaining a special house guest. So you think someone got there first, killed
The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Page 52