“Because he killed Angela?” I asked, keeping my tone low and steady.
“After I talked to him, he was real angry. He said something to the manager and they threw me out. So I went down to the lobby and waited for him. He came down about ten minutes later looking like he was off the rails. I got in his face.”
He snickered as he gazed from me to Chance. “I can be kinda intimidating, you know? Especially for a prissy guy like him. But he called security. I only got in a couple of words before they threw me out, but that was the last I saw him that night.”
“But that wasn’t the last time you saw him. Was it?”
Joseph slouched back on the couch and looked skyward. He muttered something, then shook his head. “See? This is why guys like me can’t get away with nothing.”
Chance had finally moved away from Joseph to give him space. I watched Joseph, not saying a word. The right side of his mouth curled up, and then he shrugged.
“Instead of going back to Angela’s after security threw me out, I went to the ABC Store down the street. You can ask the clerk. I bought a six-pack, one of them mushy apology cards, and a teddy bear. Then I came back here. When I got up Wednesday morning, I went to work like normal, then took a break during my route and returned the box.”
“You bought a teddy bear? Is that it?” I pointed at the one on his bed.
He nodded.
“Do you have the receipt?” I asked.
Joseph peered up at me and frowned. “Why?”
“It would prove you’re telling us the truth.”
He pointed at a crumpled up strip of paper lying on the counter a couple of feet away.
I picked up the receipt, read it, and said. “Tuesday night. Eleven-ten PM. He’s telling us the truth.”
“It was for Angela. I thought maybe it would show her I wanted to make up. Be a good guy for a change.”
“Why didn’t you give it to her?” I asked.
“I couldn’t leave it at her desk, brah. If Skye saw it, she would’ve gone ballistic. She don’t go for any kind of personal stuff at people’s desks.”
“Were you surprised when Angela wasn’t at work?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t think nothing of it because Skye would call her in for meetings and stuff like that.”
“When did you learn she was dead?”
“When I went to her place to drop off the bear. I was gonna put it on her bed with the card, but there was cops all over the place. That’s when I heard. I just went cold inside, brah. When she died, so did part of me.”
My stomach clenched as the timing of our first meeting with Joseph sank in. “So when we met you on Wednesday afternoon, you already knew Angela was dead.”
“When I saw you guys, I thought you was a couple of cops come to shake me down. After you left, I bought another six-pack. That night, I went to see if that Brantley guy was at work. I was gonna ask him if he went to see her, but he got all belligerent. You know?”
Chance frowned and scrutinized Joseph’s face. “So you were in Club Mystique on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights?”
“No, brah. On Wednesday I waited in the lobby until he got off work. Then I followed him out to his car.” Joseph snickered. “He never saw me coming.”
“Is that when you hit him?”
He snickered again. “I hit him so hard he puked all over the side of his car. It only took the one punch and he started crying like a baby. He told me everything that happened. How it was a mistake. He said he always wanted to be one of them perfumer guys.”
“Was he just using Angela to get into the business?”
Joseph choked back a sob. “She was just a pawn—that’s what he called her. Angela wasn’t nobody’s pawn. He found that out when she told him she couldn’t see him no more ‘cause she was gonna marry me. She told him that.” Joseph stopped and choked back a sob. “That’s what got him the most. Not that she was dead, but that he lost his little game.”
“You said he confessed to killing her?” Chance asked.
“He told me he didn’t mean to do it, that it just kinda happened. Kinda happened? That’s BS. You don’t kill somebody and say, ‘It just kinda happened.’”
“And that must have made you furious,” I said.
An evil grin formed on Joseph’s face and he pursed his lips. “Yeah.”
Chance let out a deep sigh, and when I looked up at him, the line of his jaw was set. “Is that why you killed him? Because he wasn’t upset over what he’d done?”
Joseph shook his head. “No, brah. I did it ‘cause it felt good. It felt like the right thing to do for Angela. Each time I hit him, I told him it was for taking away her life. My life. It didn’t ‘just happen,’ brah. And I ain’t sorry I did it.”
Oddly enough, it was Joseph who volunteered to call the police. We waited until they showed up, then spent the next hour giving statements and dealing with the typical police escalation from first responders to detectives. It had been a long day, but it was barely three and we’d solved two murders. Thank goodness neither Chance nor I said a word about having broken into Stephen’s apartment. If we had, odds were we wouldn’t be dealing with our last bit of business—helping Grace out of her dilemma. We were sitting in the Ferrari when I asked him how he wanted to proceed.
He rubbed the steering wheel and gazed up at Joseph’s apartment. “As much as I hate to say it, we need to talk directly to Skye.”
“I agree.” Terrific, we were headed back to the spider’s lair.
The trip to Island Passion took only fifteen minutes, but it seemed like we caught nearly every red light, got behind every gawking tourist, and were snarled in lines of traffic behind every delivery truck on the island.
As the circular penthouse suite on top of the Ala Moana Building came into view, my skin crawled with apprehension. We had to do this for Grace. I kept telling myself that as Chance parked and we took the elevators to the top.
A young man sat at the reception desk inside the Island Passion offices. He was clean-cut and handsome. A perfect boy toy for the boss lady.
“We’re here to see Skye,” Chance said as he marched by the desk.
I hurried along behind Chance as he pushed through the door leading to Skye’s office. The poor guy at the desk only gawked and stammered as we strode past him.
Glancing over my shoulder, I said, “I’m with him.”
The young man made it out of his chair and scurried after us. Judging by how flustered he’d gotten, I suspected this was his first or second day on the job. Unfortunately, it might also be his last.
Chance followed the hallway straight to Skye’s office and stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. When I caught up to him, I peered around his shoulders.
“How did you get past Raymond?” Skye snapped.
“This guy?” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder at my shadow, who stood there looking as though he might pee his pants. “We walked past him.”
“Well, well,” Chance said. “How are you doing, Naomi?”
“Hi guys.” She stood with her knees flexed, her feet shoulder-width apart. “I see you made it out okay. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I did need to buy some time.”
“No worries,” Chance said. “Did you finish tidying up?”
Naomi winked at him and wrinkled her nose, but she still looked like a cat about ready to pounce on her prey. “Enough so that we’ll be in control of any narrative. Why are you here?”
Chance cocked his head in my direction. “McKenna has a business proposition for Skye.”
Everyone looked at me, so I stepped forward and prepared to give Skye my best pitch. It was, after all, about the only thing I could do to fulfill my promise to help Grace out of the mess she’d gotten into.
CHAPTER 47
I motioned for Skye to sit and lowered myself into the chair contraption opposite hers. The moment I sat, I felt the chill of the air conditioner blowing directly on me. Rubbing my hands on the material of my sh
orts, I noticed Chance and Naomi standing to the side like a pair of guard dogs. They were both on alert and exuding patience, acting as though they were waiting for a signal to spring into action.
“First off, Skye, you’re still looking lovely so late in the day.”
She regarded me with the same cool dispassion she might use when picking out something to eat at a fruit stand. “Get to the point.”
“That’s what I like about you. You don’t go in for a lot of BS. Here’s the deal. This whole thing with Angela Keating has turned into a public relations nightmare for you. I’m sure that’s why you’ve got Naomi doing things that could land her in jail.”
Naomi shrugged and held my gaze. “Don’t forget it was all three of us inside that apartment.” She didn’t appear concerned by my veiled threat.
“True, but you did use force to zip tie us.” Before she could respond, I flipped my hand nonchalantly. “We’re not here for revenge. This is what you would call a win-win opportunity.”
Skye folded her hands on the desk and leaned forward. Her tone was cool and casual. “If you don’t mind my pointing out the obvious, it appears I’ve already won. I have my product back. There’s no proof it was ever stolen.” She smiled at Naomi. “All is well in the universe.”
“Not exactly. Naomi may have gotten the evidence inside of Stephen’s apartment, but she didn’t get the photo Chance sent to Grace. We still have proof there was an attempt to create a knock-off. We also have proof the perfume was stolen by Angela, know it was the motive for one murder and was the catalyst for a second. I think you still have a massive PR problem. And that’s what we can help with.”
Skye sighed and gazed out the window toward the harbor. The view was no less impressive than it had been the last time. Sailboats bobbed in the water, their silver masts glistening in the sun. After a few moments, Skye sighed and turned her gaze back to me.
“How much do you want?”
I laughed. “Chance doesn’t need your money. And I don’t want it. You hired Naomi to help preserve your brand. Is that correct?”
“Your point?”
“You need someone with a passion for the fragrance industry and an in-depth knowledge of it. Someone who’s a marketing expert.”
Skye snickered. “You?”
I shook my head. “Her name is Grace Takahashi and she’s a marketing whiz. Right now she’s working as a grocery checker, but she handles their in-store displays.”
Both Skye and Naomi laughed, and I had to admit, even I felt a slight flush of heat in my cheeks over the recommendation.
Skye smirked at Naomi and said, “He wants me to hire a grocery clerk to improve my brand.”
“Hilarious,” Naomi said without the hint of a smile.
But I remained steadfast, Chance held his silence, and Skye soon realized I wasn’t joking.
“You can’t be serious,” she said.
“Give her ten minutes. If you don’t like what she has to say, you can send her packing and you won’t hear from me again.”
“Why should I?” Skye tilted her head to one side as she watched me.
“First off, your best possible solution is for this entire incident with the stolen perfume to never make the news. With the right spin, the theft will be splashed on the front page and your sales will suffer. Who knows how much? Are you willing to take that risk?”
“I have marketing people. If I hire another person, it increases my personnel costs. If she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, I’ve wasted my time and money.”
“Ten minutes, Skye. That’s all it takes to buy our silence. If you refuse, we leak the story ourselves and you start playing defense. Primal will go from the most anticipated product release to the most suspect overnight. Do you really want that?”
Skye looked up at Naomi, who shrugged. “It’s cheap insurance.”
“We all know what a savvy businesswoman you are,” Chance said. “You look at a problem from all sides before you make a decision. Give Grace ten minutes as a way to check out one more angle.”
“Fine. Send her in and have her bring a resume. Have her here in two hours.”
My jaw dropped. The bottom was falling out of my plan. “Not possible. Two hours is way too soon.”
“Those are my terms. I fly to the mainland tomorrow for a Monday meeting in LA.”
Chance put a hand on my arm and nodded. “Grace will be here.”
“Okay.” Skye took a deep breath, glanced away, then smirked as she looked back. “Whatever happens, you agree to keep your silence?”
“We do.” I felt like I’d just made a deal with the devil, but it was the only way.
As we passed Raymond’s desk, his phone beeped. His face scrunched up and he scurried back toward Skye’s office.
“You think he’ll get fired for letting the riff-raff in?” I asked.
“Could be. He didn’t make a very concerted attempt to stop us. How are we going to pull this thing off with Grace?”
“First off, we need to get her here. I think her car broke down again—either that or they repossessed it. She’ll need transportation.”
“I can drive her,” Chance said. “What worries me is whether you’ve oversold her abilities.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Grace impressed me with what she knew about the industry and the history of fragrances. She knew a lot of the same stuff as that surfing professor of Lexie’s.”
“Hey, don’t be knocking Colin. He’s a good guy.”
“You two will be best surfing buds pretty soon. I can see it coming. Anyway, let’s focus on Grace. First thing is I have to call her and give her a heads-up.”
I reached Grace and filled her in while Chance drove us back to the Sunsetter Apartments. Grace flipped out at first, questioning my sanity for arranging a job interview on such short notice and so late in the day. Finally, I gave her an ultimatum.
“Grace, this is the deal. Either you go in for this interview and nail it or you’re going to lose your apartment, your car, and probably your current job. What’s it going to be? A good future? Or are you prepared to live on the streets?”
“You can be a real jerk, McKenna.”
“It’s called tough love. In less than two hours, you can have your dream job, or you can start clearing out your stuff. It’s up to you.”
“Fine. I’ll do it. But you’re putting me under a lot of stress.”
“No, Grace. You put yourself under stress when you tried to join Danny’s bogus work-at-home scam. We’ll be there in ten minutes. Now stop complaining and start doing.” I disconnected the call and winced as I looked over at Chance. “Was I too hard on her?”
“We’ll know in ten minutes.” He winked and hit the gas, powering us through the tail end of a yellow light.
Not content to leave Grace to her own devices, I called Benni. When I told her about the deal with Skye, she sounded tentative, but sober. She said I’d find her at Grace’s apartment. When we arrived, Chance and I went to Grace’s, where I knocked and waited. A moment later, Lexie answered the door.
“Go away!” She slammed the door in our faces.
I glanced at Chance. “Uh oh. I think we’re in the doghouse.”
“Come on, McKenna.” He put his arm over my shoulder. “Let’s go find a couple of bones to chew on.”
Over the course of the next thirty minutes, we bantered back-and-forth about the intelligence of making a deal with Skye. I’d finally resigned myself to having blown Grace’s life when the screen door opened. Benni entered, followed by Lexie.
Where was Grace?
They stood next to each other and held their arms toward the front door as though they were announcing the arrival of royalty.
“Gentlemen, may I present the new and improved Grace Takahashi?” Benni smiled and looked to the door.
Grace entered. Even with her arm in a sling, she looked stunning. Her hair was tied back with a colorful scrunchy, her makeup was tastefully done, and she wore a tai
lored business suit with open-toed sandals.
“Holy smokes,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Chance said.
I crossed the room and hugged Grace. “You clean up really well. I’m impressed.”
“Let’s hope Skye is, too,” Lexie said. “How much time do we have?”
Chance checked his watch. “Just over an hour.”
“I want her there twenty minutes ahead of time,” Benni said. Her tone left no doubt she would inflict pain on anyone who failed her. “Lexie will go along and quiz Grace downstairs in the lobby. She and Chance will accompany Grace to the interview. Once Grace goes in, they return to the lobby and wait.” Looking at Grace, she said, “They’ll escort you home when you’re done.”
“What about you and me? What are we doing?” I asked.
“I’ve got another assignment for you. There’s one more mess of yours I have to clean up. And you’re going to help me do it.”
She and Lexie high-fived each other, then Grace.
Oh perfect. It was junior high all over again.
CHAPTER 48
The following evening, we assembled for dinner at Club Mystique. There were seven of us seated at a table for eight. The empty seat was for a mystery guest I hadn’t told anyone about—not even Chance, who was paying for this shindig. He called it our victory dinner. I saw it as a way for him to meet the challenge of spending even more than he had the last time we were here. By my count, his pro bono case for Grace was going to cost him upwards of a thousand bucks. Well upwards.
We began with pupus and umbrella drinks all around. After the drinks had been served, Chance raised his glass. “I want to propose a toast. Several, actually. First, to Grace, who killed her interview with Skye.”
I cleared my throat and shook my head. “Bad choice of words, buddy. Let’s just say she nailed it.”
Benni, Lexie, and Chance all shouted my name—and not in a friendly manner. I realized my own bad word selection. “How about we just go with she did really, really well. Her ten minutes turned into an hour. And now she’s flying to the mainland tomorrow morning to meet up with Skye for a Monday morning meeting.”
The Scent of Waikiki (Trouble in Paradise Book 9) Page 27