“Uhuh. What I mean is hed sure as hell never give it back if he did kill someone for it.”
“That much Ill agree with.”
“See, Hank. Psychology pays off.”
Hank rose.“Enough of this highfalutin deduction. Lets call it a day. Maybe, with luck, it will be a quiet weekend.”
Corky drained her cup. Hank switched off the light, and they were just leaving the office when the explosion rocked the building and rattled the windows.
“What in hell was that?” Hank asked.
“I dont know, but Ill bet we just lost our quiet weekend.
***
Uncle Nate never changed. Now in his mid-fifties, he still had the same trim figure Kay remembered seeing so often in army uniform. The service had been good to him. Even though there had been war years, dating almost as far back as Nam, much of his army time had been served in Hawaii, a short bus ride from his parents home.
Uncle Nate had always made a strong impression on Kay, from the time of her first memories of him. Hed been born a maverick, some time after World War Two. Perhaps the name hed been given, the only American one among his siblings, had set the pattern. Where his older brother had been the traditional Japanese son, fluent in the language of his ancestors and even now still speaking a slightly unidiomatic English, Nate had been mildly rebellious andat least according to her parentsspoke Japanese badly. As for his English, Kay could testify to the fact it was indistinguishable from what was spoken by any other American army sergeant.
And Uncle Nate had doted on Brian and Kay. There was always a surprise for the pair of them when he came to town. And there were trips to the zoo, to the annual King Kamehameha parade, to Waikiki Beach and up to the top of Diamond Head. There were fishing trips out in Mamala Bay, something Kay could have done without, but which Brian counted the days to. And there were endless stories, about the places hed been to, the people hed met, about life in the army, about what he planned to do when his days in the service were over.
But most of all, Kay remembered Uncle Nates girlfriends, and the long conversations between Yoshito and his mother regarding the unsuitability of whichever happened to be the most recent one. There was always talk about finding“a nice Japanese girl” for Nathaniel, and Nate would always show up with everything but. Kay still had almost poignant memories of the lovely blonde haole Nate had gone with, and undoubtedly lived with for over a year. Sylvias hair had made Kay sick with envy. It was fine, almost platinum, and hung down below her trim waist. One day, Kay had been allowed to comb it. It was almost more than the ten-year-old could bear. She remembered looking at the straight-cut bangs of her own black hair in the mirror afterwards and going to bed in tears.
Etsuko had kept up her mother-inlaws tradition and “accidentally” invited staid and single Japanese women to dinner on days when Nate was due to sit at the family table. The efforts were wasted. Nate was still unmarried, and from what Kay had heard most recently, her uncle was still playing the field.
“Kay!” Nate gave her a bear hug the moment he entered the apartment.“I didnt know you were coming over. Your folks saved you as a surprise, didnt they? Youre just as beautiful as ever. Wheres that husband of yours? I have to remind him how lucky he is.”
The next hour was reminiscence, the breakingout once more of Brians letter, restaurant talk, and a rundown on all living relatives. Finally, Kay managed to get around to Richard Hanamoto.
“Rick? I sure do. We were close friends way back in grade school. Even before. And, do you know I was…” The door chimes interrupted, and Kay knew she would have to resign herself to postponing the search for Richard Hanamotos persona.
Kay had noticed Etsuko kept glancing at her watch. It took no great insight to realize dinner was approaching and depended only on the arrival of the last guest.
Kay decided immediately on seeing her, how Marcella had little in common with the prim, somber little girl of some twenty years before.
***
Kay couldnt remember a livelier dinner party, and there was no question but Marcellas personality was to a large measure responsible. Etsuko was extraordinarily talkative. Yoshito, who tended to be quiet among strangers, warmed to this young Japanese and more than held up his share of the conversation. As for Nate, he positively sparkled. Kay was certain she was now hearing of places and people shed never heard of before, not on any of the dozens of trips and expeditions she and Brian had been on with their uncle.
As for MarcellaKay scrutinized her. There was nothing remarkable about her looks. A five minute walk across the Manoa Campus would produce a dozen young Japanese women of comparable appearance. Five-five or so. Slender. Dark, short, straight hair. A nice complexion and fine white teeth. Pretty, certainly, though nothing beyond that. But, beyond that, there was somethinga contagious warmth and vitality. Ill bet everyone likes her, Kay decided.
All the same, Kay wasnt overjoyed at her presence. It was increasingly obvious there would be no monopolizing of Uncle Nate this evening, and tomorrow he would be leaving early for the mainland. Dessert was on the table and Kay was weighing her options when the phone rang. Her mother answered it. “Its Sid,” she said, holding the phone out to Kay who rose, went over to a chair and sat down, thinking as she did so how the last plane for Honolulu had already left Napua, so Sid couldnt be planning to come over that night.
“Hi. Kay?”
“Whats up, Sid? Dont go telling me you cant come over tomorrow.”
“Worse than that. Youd better get back over here first thing in the morning.”
“Why?”
“We just lost a client.”
“Dont be obscure, Sid. Who? What happened?”
“Somebody planted a bomb in OHearnes car and blew him sky high.”
Later, just before dropping off to sleep, Kay tried to recall her feelings when Sid had broken the news to her. There had definitely been relief there, which made her realize how little she had been looking forward to defending Leonard OHearne. ***
The explosion had happened in an apartment house parking lot, less than two blocks from the station. The caustic, bitter-sweet smell of the explosive still hung in the air as Hank slammed into the lot behind a patrol car flashing its blue light.
Two patrolmen were already gingerly approaching the smoking car, and curiosity seekers were beginning to gather, but staying at a considerable distance. Hank quickly took charge, had the areaincluding the wreck and several other cars with smashed windows and windshieldscordoned off, then tried to view the vehicles interior through the dissipating smoke coming out of the shattered window on the drivers side. Corky quickly checked the other damaged cars and was relieved to find no occupants. Two more patrol cars swept into the parking lot, and she waved the drivers to the perimeter of the cordoned area as she joined Hank.
“We wont need Clyde to pronounce on this one,” Hank commented. Leaning over the wheel, an almost headless corpse was splattered over a deflated airbag.
Corkys first impression of the bloody interior as she crouched down besides Hank was how the drivers left arm was twisted into a ridiculous position. Then she realized it had actually been torn loose from its socket and was hanging over the rear seat, tied to the body by only a fragment of flowery shirt. A closer look at the mangled corpse revealed the right arm was completely missing.
Hank straightened up, saying to Corky, “Get the men busy looking for possible eyewitnesses, then call in the license number. It looks like a rental, so we may have a job identifying thebody. There isnt much else we can do here until I get the scene-of-crime personnel to work. Ill get a hold of Clyde too.” Hank glanced at his watch. “Hes probably just sitting down to dinner.”
“Too bad for him if he hasnt finished it, because he wont have much of an appetite after dealing with this mess,” Corky said.
“Oh, hell! Clydes handled hundreds of corpses.”
“Sure, but most of those were in one piece. His biggest job this time will be getting all those parts toge
ther. Its going to be one enormous, gory, jigsaw puzzle.” ***
The morning trip to the airport had been arranged the night before. Uncle Nate had an eight-fifty-five to San Francisco to catch, and since planes flew every hour or so to Elima, he had volunteered to drive Kay. Knowing what Honolulu traffic was like, she was certain there would be more than enough time on the way to find out all about Richard Hanamoto. They had barely pulled out of the condominiums underground garage before Kay broached the subject.
Since they were almost immediately locked in the traffic on Kalekaua, Nate turned the rearview mirror so he could look at Kay while talking. “Sure, Rick and I were in the same class, way back as far as first grade. I cant remember much about him then. It wasnt until the fifth or sixth grades we started hanging around together. By high school, we were thick as thieves. We both got motor scootersyour grandmother didnt even know I had oneand we cut quite a swath.” Nate grinned up at Kays reflection. Traffic lurched forward a few feet, taking Nates attention momentarily back to the road.
“Even then, Rick was pretty big for his age, and he was doing all right with the girls. I wasnt far behind. At least a couple of times the cops took after us for speeding on Sand Island Parkway. We must have been quite a sight cutting off the road, cross country, with a couple of screaming girls behind us. Lucky we never got caught. Luckier yet we didnt break our necks.” A temporary gridlock at Ala Moana Boulevard brought the car to a complete standstill.
“Dad says you were manager of the team when Richard was playing for Aiea.” Kay made contact with the amused brown eyes in the mirror.
“Mm-hm. Rick was playing right guard on the team. The senior year, he was captain.” Kay was surprised to see Nate turn onto Ala Moana, but said nothing, assuming he probably knew the longer route would get them out of the traffic morass. Even so, she looked at her watch and wondered if he would make it to the airport in time for his flight.
“What was Richard like?” she asked.
“Like? Id say he was a helluva nice guy. But, then, I was prejudiced. I wasnt exactly a skinny runt back then, but it was nice to have old burly Rick along. We got into a few fights with some of the other kids, but Im sure we missed a lot of battles when the opposition got a good look at him.”
If anything, Ala Moana was worse than Kalakaua. When the traffic wasnt actually at a standstill, the movement was little more than a crawl. Backed up behind an enormous Dole Pineapple truck and trailer, they could see nothing ahead. Kay again looked at her watch. Nate settled back, seemingly unconcerned, and went on with his description of Richard Hanamoto.
“He never picked a fight, by the way. Maybe the best way to describe him is to say he was real easygoing. Maybe too easygoing. He never did much studying. Even less than I did.” Nate glanced up at the mirror as the truck ahead moved ten feet and came to an abrupt halt. “But he didnt really need to. He was bright, and caught on fast. I think his teachers thought he was just a dumb football player who was working at maximum capacity. They couldnt have been more wrong.”
“Did you keep in touch with him after high school?” Kay looked at the immobile wall of the truck and decided if Nate wasnt concerned about the time, there was no need for her to be.
“You know I joined the army the day after I graduated. Rick and I both showed up at the recruiting station first thing in the morning. But they turned him down. Color blind.” A long gap opened up on their left, but Nate took no advantage of it. Instead, he relaxed even more as he went on with his narrative.
“He was pretty disappointed, I guess. Ive never really talked to him about it. We didnt write while I was in the service. At least, he didnt. I dropped him a couple of cards. Neither of us were much into writing. But then I used to get back here every year or two and had long stretches of duty on Oahu and over on the Big Island, and we used to get together then.” The truck belched a black cloud of diesel smoke, then eased over into the right hand lane to the sound of protesting horns and turned off on Kalihi. The road ahead to Nimitz Highway opened up, and cars swarmed to take advantage of the opening. Nate simply eased the car along.
“Did he change much over those years?” Despite herself, Kay glanced at her watch. It was now certainly a toss-up as to whether or not Nate would get through security in time to make his plane.
“Some. Except then, he got married. He couldnt have been much more than twenty when he took the plunge. Nice gal, by the way. Then they had four kidsbing, bing, bing, bing. Hed been having a tough time, too. Being a football hero doesnt much equip you for any other kind of work. He didnt want to go to college, even though he had some good football scholarship offers at mainland schools. He did squat work on the cane plantations for awhile. Believe me, there are easier ways to make a living. Well, you know all about that. Your moms dad worked out in the fields all of his life.”
The wait to get on the Nimitz Highway seemed interminable. Nate sat back with his fingers intertwined and his hands on top of his head. “Next time I ran into him, he was working for Joe Demos over on the Big Island. I met him in Hilo. He was picking up supplies. He told me he did just about everything on the farm. It was heavy going but, as he said, „It beats planting ratoons all to hell.”
Finally, the traffic moved, and they were heading west on Nimitz at something more than a snails pace. Kay again glanced at her watch. Only a late plane will save Uncle Nate now, she thought. Aloud, she asked,“So Richard was hard up for money?”
Nate looked over at her.“Thats putting it mildly, what with a wife and four kids. Then he got some breaks. Macnut prices went sky high. Joe began to show a profit, and he moved Rick up to Personnel Manager and then to Vice-President. The last time I saw Rick he was driving a Lincoln Continental and looked like he was buying his suits from Brooks Brothers.”
Kay decided this was the time to move on to the big question. “Do you know why Im asking you all this, Uncle Nate?”
Nate caught her eyes in the mirror just as he slammed to a stop behind a motorcycle which had slid in between him and the vehicle in front of him. “I got the drift last night. You think someone else besides your client may have done in Charlotte Dyer.”
Kay nodded.
“But why do you care nownow hes dead? Arent you out of it?”
Kay gave a returning wry smile. “If Sid were here, hed tell you I cant resist playing detective.”
“Im afraid I cant help you much. Rick didnt have any kind of a temper. And I cant see him ever hitting a woman. But, then, you never know.”
“Could he have been having an affair with her.”
Nate paused for several moments. The traffic once more moved forward at something faster than the speed of a funeral cortege. Nate moved along with it. “I really dont think so. The last time I saw Rick was at the Hokkaido. We talked for a while. He showed me pictures of his wife and kids and seems to be a real family man.” Nate paused again as he tried to negotiate himself off the highway and onto the road emptying into the airport. The deafening noise of a low flying plane drowned out their conversation, and Kay wondered if it was Nates flight going by overhead. “Yeah. I think hes still very much in love with Jill, even after all these years. But, then, I suppose he could have been having a middle age fling.”
Kay decided she hadnt gotten much out of the trip and Uncle Nate had gotten even less, since his plane had long departed. “Do you have any idea when the next plane leaves for San Francisco? It looks like youre going to miss part of your convention.”
“Aw. Nothing important. Just some afterdinner speeches. I really thought Id spend another day with Yoshi and Etsuko. I havent had much chance to sit down and talk story with them lately.”
Kate tried to catch his eye in the rear view mirror, but Nate seemed to be concentrating unnecessarily on the approach to the terminal.
Chapter 10
Corky was reading the paper in her hand as she came into the lieutenants office. “This confirms it, Hank. FBI just faxed back the results of their fingerprint search. Its O
Hearne, all right.”
“That was record time.” “Maybe theyre getting more efficient. „Course, they had it in their in -basket first thing this morning, which was,” Corky checked her watch,
“… somewhere around five hours ago.”
“Still no eyewitnesses?”
“The usual. None of them actually there at the time. They heard the explosion and came running. The apartment house manager was one of them.”
“What did he have to say about OHearne?”
“Your getting ahead of yourself, Hank. We didnt even suspect it was OHearne until almost nine. The manager was already sound asleep when we got OHearnes apartment sealed off.”
Hank heaved himself up from his chair. “O.K. Thats the next order of business. Well check out the room and check out the manager.”
***
“Winston?” Nate looked over as he slipped into the comparatively swift moving traffic on the way to the public parking lot. “Sure. I knew Ricks kid brother. We used to spend a good share of our time trying to get away from himand usually succeeding. Now, Winston was completely different from Rick. He was always smaller than average, and never did amount to anything, at least not until he went into the army. He never did much better than his older brother in school, but with him it was because he just didnt have the smarts.”
“Army?” Kay asked, after protesting Nate should just drop her off at the terminal. He waved aside her protests and cruised the lot looking for a parking place.
“Yeah. Funny thing. Winston volunteered, and the army took him, even though he was a runt. I think, for the first time, Winston did something he felt his big brother couldnt do, and it did a lot for Winston. He even got into one of our hassles in the Middle East. Lebanon, if I remember right. But then, after he came home, he seemed to just drift. Rick paid for him to go to business school where he picked up bookkeeping and some accounting. Then Rick got him a job at Hawaiian Harvest. Last I heard, Winston had worked his way up to head bookkeeper. Either he changed a lot from when I knew him, or HH didnt much care who kept the books.”
The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Page 58