I drove to Harry’s after the funeral and grabbed a beer by myself. I asked the bartender if I could borrow a pen, and I wrote down some notes regarding everything I had learned about the case. I did this on my two previous murder investigations. It was a way to potentially discovering new thoughts and theories.
Charlotte first came to Mara after receiving two letters that threatened her life. She also thought someone may have tried to kill her by slipping something into her wine. She thought that may have caused her to fall asleep while in the tub. Unfortunately, Charlotte poured the rest of the bottle down the drain. Other wine bottles in Charlotte’s pantry were tested, and none of them had contained anything out of the ordinary. Charlotte indicated three potential suspects - her children, Mill, Bethany, and Joe. My initial reaction to Charlotte’s story was that she was an elderly woman who had too much wine to drink and simply fell asleep in a hot bath. However, the threatening note at the party changed all that. The killer, apparently no longer content with the subtle way of murdering Charlotte, struck her in the back of the head and then threw her into the swimming pool.
Mill and Jen provided alibis for each other. They claimed they were at home watching television. Bethany and her husband Barry claimed the same things. The alibis meant nothing to me. It was natural and completely expected for spouses to cover for each other. Maybe one of the spouses was even in on it, too. Joe Chambers claimed he was home alone. He had no alibi. Of course, that didn’t mean he did it.
Jen pointed out that Trevor Edelman might have murdered Charlotte. Trevor is the son of Millard Senior’s former partner. They had a major falling out for unknown reasons. Trevor owned a boat-building company that didn’t look like it was doing so well. I couldn’t see him rolling in money. Trevor confronted Mill because he felt the Chambers family ripped off his family and owed them a portion of the potential sales of the hotel. Trevor claimed he was at work, alone, the night of the murder.
Joe unveiled a new will that left him the entire estate. He even felt the need to show his brother a copy of the will at their mother’s wake. It was an unbelievably cold, callous, and insensitive thing to do. Did that make him a killer or just a world-class jerk?
Joe’s two witnesses for his mother signing the will were his prostitute girlfriend and a disgraced ex-lawyer. I know I keep referring to her as a prostitute. Does that make me judgmental? Probably. But this wasn’t a case of Julia Roberts with a heart of gold. If you end up as a prostitute in real life, chances are you’ve made some seriously bad choices in life. One could, at least, fairly judge you for the quality of your decision-making ability. I think it’s more than safe to say that if you’ve turned to prostitution, you’re capable of breaking the law in other ways. After all, Candi played a pivotal role in trying to deprive Mill and Bethany of their rightful inheritance.
Joe Chambers accidentally killed himself by overdosing on heroin in one of the Chambers Hotel rooms. His brother discovered the body but took almost ten full minutes to call 911. Why? Was he in a state of shock or was he trying to determine if Joe was really dead before he called for help?
The medical examiner’s estimate on Joe’s time of death seemed to clear Mill and Donna. A new thought popped into my head as I made these notes on the cocktail napkin. Perhaps Joe’s death was neither murder nor accidental. Maybe it was Joe committing suicide because he felt guilty over his mother’s murder. I quickly dismissed that random thought, when I remembered Joe’s part in crafting the false will. Anybody that was capable of doing that couldn’t have too much of a conscience.
Mill and Bethany lawyered up after the death of their brother. I couldn’t blame them. Two Chambers deaths in just a couple of weeks, and there were millions of dollars at stake. They knew the police were looking hard at them. Hiring Mara Winters was the sensible thing to do.
So where was I now that I had written down these notes? The answer - nowhere. No new ideas popped forth that were worth serious consideration. I knew I could re-interview Charlotte’s children, but I’d get in serious trouble with Mara, not to mention Alana. However, no one warned me against interviewing any of the grandchildren. I thought Mill’s twin boys might have already flown back to San Francisco, but Bethany’s daughter, Olivia, lived on the island. She’d started a wedding-planning company. Maybe she could provide some insight into all of this.
I ordered another beer and called Alana.
“Hey, anything interesting going on?” I asked.
“Nothing. What about you?”
“Same. Nothing.”
“Where are you at? I hear noise in the background,” Alana said.
“Harry’s. I’m having a couple of beers. Want to get together later tonight?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ll give you a call when I get off work.”
Alana ended the call, and I took another sip of beer. It was a fairly pointless phone call. I guess I could have sent her a text instead, but sometimes you just want to hear your lover’s voice.
Chapter 15
Olivia Williams
Olivia’s wedding-planning company was located in Lahaina. It was one of four or five businesses that occupied a small two-story building a few blocks back from Front Street. I entered the building and saw Olivia sitting behind a large desk. She was talking on the phone. The walls of her office were covered with colorful photographs of various weddings. I looked at several of them while I waited for her to finish her call. Some of them were taken behind various resorts in the area. Others were shot on the beach. Almost all of them looked like they were taken around sunrise or sunset. I heard her end her call, and I turned to her.
“Hello, there, can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, my name’s Poe. I’m -”
“I saw you at my grandmother’s funeral,” she interrupted.
“That’s right. My condolences for the loss of your grandmother and your uncle. It’s so sad.”
“Yes, it is, and thank you for attending the funeral.”
“It was no effort.”
“Well, what brings you here? Did you come by just to offer your condolences or are you planning a wedding?”
“Not exactly. Well, maybe, if all goes according to plan.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” she said.
I didn’t understand myself, either, but I’d gotten into the bad habit of making up these little stories on the fly to justify my presence wherever it was I found myself being. One of these days my imagination was going to fail me, and I’d end up falling flat on my face.
“Your grandmother told me about your business. She was quite proud of you by the way. I was wondering if you had any relationships with a jeweler. I’m shopping for a ring but don’t want to find myself in a store that doesn’t have the quality I’m looking for. I also don’t want one that might want to overcharge me.”
“Have you thought about purchasing online? There are quite a few excellent websites I could recommend.”
“I’ve considered it, but I think I’d rather be able to see the ring in person before making a final decision.”
“I completely understand. There’s one jeweler in town I recommend. He’s quite good, and his prices are reasonable. Do you know what kind of ring you’re looking to buy?” she asked.
“An engagement ring,” I said.
“I assumed as much, but I meant what kind of cut. Solitaire, emerald, princess cut…”
“I don’t know much about any of them. Is there a style you recommend?” I asked.
“You should consider the Asscher cut. It’s very beautiful. It’s a cut you don’t see every day. Unfortunately, you’re going to pay more for it, but if she’s a special lady…”
“Asscher cut,” I repeated to myself.
“I’ll write it down for you, along with the name of the jeweler.”
She reached into her desk drawer and removed a small pad of paper. Olivia wrote down a few lines and tore the top sheet off. I walked over to her desk, and she handed me the paper.
> “Thanks,” I said.
“And who is the lucky lady you intend on proposing to?” she asked.
“Her name’s Alana.”
“I don’t suppose you have a photo of her on your phone.”
I pulled my phone out and showed her a shot of Alana on the beach.
“She’s quite beautiful,” Olivia said.
“Yes, she is.”
“You seem like a clever man. A clever man would snatch her up before any competitors came knocking.”
I knew she was setting me up with the false compliment, but I couldn’t resist the bait.
“And why do you think I’m clever?” I asked.
“I saw you pick up the torn paper at the funeral when my uncles got into a fight. You were close to them, but you chose not to step in and stop them. You picked up the paper while everyone was distracted.”
There were numerous things I could have said or asked in response to her observation, such as “Why were you looking at me when you should have been watching them?” Instead, I said nothing.
“Your finance-to-be is the police detective on my grandmother’s case?”
I nodded.
“I believe my family’s attorney is supposed to be present when questioning is to be done,” she said.
“Technically, that’s right, but I’m not with the police.”
“And you just swung by to ask me about jewelers.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you really plan on proposing to her?”
“Why? Do you doubt it?” I asked.
“Because I’d be really disappointed if you made the whole thing up and were just using your relationship to get me to open up about my grandmother or uncle.”
“Are we putting all our cards on the table now?” I asked.
“Yes. Let’s.”
“I’ve thought about proposing for the last few weeks. I find myself searching online more and more for rings, but it’s not an easy decision. It’s quite nerve-wracking, actually.”
“One of very few disadvantages of being a male,” she said.
“I didn’t lie about the ring, but clearly it’s not the main reason for my visit. I did want to ask you about your grandmother.”
“At last, the truth. Why didn’t you just say so?” Olivia asked.
You might be thinking right about now that I must have been feeling like an idiot. The lady had clearly outsmarted me, but I actually found the conversation stimulating.
“I only knew your grandmother a few days before she passed. It certainly wasn’t enough time to get to know her beyond any superficial observations.”
“What were those superficial observations, if I may ask?”
“She seemed like a strong lady. She obviously had a lot of pride.”
“Obviously. What else?”
“She was stubborn, and the truth is she might still be alive today if she’d listened to my advice and not fired her security team.”
“Her death made you mad,” Olivia suggested.
“On multiple levels. It was pointless and cruel, and I’m determined to figure out who did it.”
“My parents said the police think someone in the family is responsible,” Olivia said.
“Only because your grandmother first made the suggestion. She thought someone drugged her wine.”
“Did they?”
“Perhaps. That part of the story is a bit farfetched, but I would be foolish just to dismiss it out of hand.”
“But you can’t prove it,” she said.
“No.”
“My grandmother was a complex person, but most people are. Being a grandchild, I only knew her from a narrow perspective. It was impossible for me to see her as others outside the family did.”
“Does that mean you know of no one who might have wanted to harm her?” I asked.
“I’ve heard of another man, someone named Edelman or something like that, who thinks he’s entitled to my family’s money.”
“Is there anyone else?” I asked.
“Not that I know of,” she said.
“Your grandmother never made any comments about someone being mad at her or threatening her in any way?”
“No, but I doubt she would have. Your superficial observations as you put it before, were quite correct. She was a strong lady, and she liked to project that strength at all times. She never would have admitted she was afraid of anyone or anything, especially to a younger member of the family. The truth is that I think you’re wasting your time. You’ll never bring the person responsible to justice.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because he’s already dead,” Olivia said.
“You’re talking about your Uncle Joe.”
“Yes, I saw him arguing with my grandmother the night of the party.”
“I don’t remember seeing you there,” I said.
“I was only there a short time. After the argument, I figured there was going to be serious family drama, so I left. I may have been gone before you even got there. I don’t know. There were a lot of people there.”
“What were they arguing about?” I asked.
“She walked in on him doing drugs - at her house of all places. He’d promised her that he was clean, but everyone knew he wasn’t. She told him she was going to fire him from the hotel and cut him off financially. She said she didn’t know of any other way to get him clean.”
“What was his response?”
“He just laughed at her. He said he knew she was bluffing, and then he said she felt way too guilty to ever cut him off.”
“Do you know what he was talking about?” I asked.
“No idea. My uncle and my grandmother had a very co-dependent relationship. She made excuses for him and gave him the financial support he needed to survive. He gave her the adulation she required.”
“It’s one thing to be a junkie. It’s quite another to commit matricide,” I said.
“You might be right, but I still think he did it. It’s not like he hasn’t been violent with other family members before.”
“Did he ever hurt you?” I asked.
“No, but my mother said he used to beat on her for years until my father came along and put a stop to it.”
“Did you ever personally witness him hurt your mother?”
“No, but it happened before I was born and when I was very young. It’s not something I think my mother or father would lie about.”
“I don’t think so either. Did you ever see him be violent to anyone enough where you thought he could be capable of murder?”
“No, I’ve been in L. A. the last fifteen years, though. I’ve only been back a year now, and I’ve spent most of that time trying to get this business off the ground. I haven’t seen my family much at all.”
I looked around the room again at all of the wedding photos hanging on the walls.
“Looks like you’ve done a good job of that,” I said.
“I’m getting there. Maybe I’ll be able to hire some help soon.”
I turned back to her.
“If you knew these things about your uncle, why didn’t you come to the police?” I asked.
“I wanted to. I went to my parents with the information, and they told me they’d look into it.”
“Do you know if they did?” I asked.
“I don’t know, honestly. I asked them about it again, and they said he was somewhere else the night my grandmother was killed.”
“And where was that?”
“They said he was with his girlfriend, if you can call her that.”
“If she wasn’t his girlfriend, then what do you think she was?”
“Now you’re not being honest with me again. Don’t try to be too clever. We both know what that woman is.”
“Sorry, but just for the record, I think Candi was his girlfriend.”
“Candi, I wonder if she spells it with a k to be unique.”
“Actually, she spells it with a c but it ends with an i.”
“Thanks for your time.”
“No problem. If you do get engaged, do me a favor and come back here for the wedding planning.”
“Of course,” I said.
I left the store feeling like I had gotten my butt stomped by Olivia. I decided to walk to Harry’s since it was only a few blocks away. The bar was only half-full when I got there. I slipped onto a stool at the bar and ordered a beer.
There was a lot of the conversation with Olivia that stuck out to me. The first thing was obvious. The lady was quite smart. Second, Joe was apparently physically abusive to women. He’d beaten on his sister more than once. Did that mean he was willing to hurt and ultimately kill his mother? Had her death been an accident? Could they have gotten into an argument at Charlotte’s house, and he pushed her? Perhaps he freaked out and fled, leaving his mother to drown in the pool. That didn’t explain, however, the deep cut on her head. That had to have been caused by her getting struck with a sharp object. It wasn’t the result of her falling down and hitting her head on the pavement around the pool.
The third observation was that Bethany and Barry Williams didn’t feel the need to report to the police that Joe had been in an argument with Charlotte during the party. I didn’t know why they protected him like that, especially considering Bethany’s past with Joe. You’d think she would be the first person to suspect her brother of violence.
The fourth observation was a rather small part of the conversation with Olivia but one I found potentially more interesting than any of the others. Joe had told his mother that she was too guilty to ever cut off his finances. What in the world did she have to feel guilty about, and how did that guilt relate to Joe? Did it - whatever “it” was - have anything to do with Charlotte’s eventual murder?
Blood like the Setting Sun: A Murder on Maui Mystery Page 15