As Jack walked past the Sheraton Waikiki toward the Halekulani, he saw a group of tourists emerging from the lobby, proudly wearing what were clearly their first-ever Aloha shirts and smiled as he recalled his own first acquisition many years earlier. Then he entered the Halekulani’s quiet lobby and marveled at how peaceful a retreat it was from the noise and hubbub of Waikiki.
Katherine’s dress shop was strategically placed midway between the hotel’s famous restaurant, La Mer, and the lobby. When Jack walked in, Katherine was leaning over the counter, reading a magazine.
“I hope that’s a professional publication,” Jack announced with a grin.
“It is, sort of,” Katherine replied, holding up an issue of In Style magazine.
“Is that the current issue or one from your archives?”
“It’s about six months old, but I remembered seeing a dress in an old issue that fit the description of one that Georgia just asked me to make for her, and I found it in this issue. Now, I’m trying to figure out how to do it.”
“Sort of like painting from a photograph.”
“Yes, except that I can’t see a lot of the design detail, given the angle — you know, the structure and the seams and the sewing on the inside of the dress. And they’re what make it hang and look the way it does on the outside.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“I will, but guess what else I found in this issue?”
“What?”
“A photograph of Derek Reynolds’ wife Loretta at a Hollywood party. She’s very flashy. Look!”
sJack picked up the magazine and looked at the color photograph in the center of the page, one of several that had been set in a collage of photos taken beside someone’s pool at a Hollywood party. He noticed the features that Arthur had described and the thick mane of blonde hair. Loretta was an attractive woman, and Jack thought Derek must have made one hell of a case to persuade her to give up an acting career.
“Dave told me she’s flying in today to pick up Derek’s remains and take them back to Los Angeles for burial.”
“Do you think they’ll have a memorial service for Derek here in Honolulu?” Katherine asked.
“Arthur said he’d find out for me.”
“How was breakfast with Arthur?”
“Great. I learned a lot about Derek and Loretta and also about the Lane’s. Arthur really knows the Hollywood set.”
“Well, he’s been a very successful screen writer for a long time.”
“Yes, and he’s gotten to know a lot about their personal lives in the process.”
“I can’t wait to hear. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until tonight to tell me about it over Wiki Wiki’s. I have a customer coming in shortly and I’ve got to get some bolts of fabric out for her. Call me at noon, and maybe we can have lunch?”
“I will,” Jack said, now looking intently at the collage of photographs from the Hollywood party.
“What are you staring at?” Katherine asked.
“This other photograph from the party Loretta was at,” Jack said, pointing to the bottom left corner of the page. Unlike the photo of Loretta in the center of the page, this one did not have a caption identifying the people in it.
“Jack, this kind of Hollywood party collage appears in every issue. What are you getting at?”
“Look at that photo in the bottom left hand corner.
“It’s hard to tell. The faces are all crowded together.”
“What about on the left side of the picture, next to Loretta?”
“I don’t know. If I could see more of the face, maybe I could tell.”
“Can I borrow this magazine for a while?”
“Sure, just bring it home with you. I need it to make the pattern for Georgia’s dress.”
Jack closed the magazine, kissed his wife, and left the shop. The photograph he had asked Katherine to look at showed five people crowded around Loretta Reynolds, all of them holding drinks. The man standing next to her was wearing an ascot and holding a cigarette in his other hand.
Jack picked up the pace on his way back to the Royal Hawaiian. When he reached the lobby, he waved to Keno and asked him to get his Jeep out of the parking garage as quickly as possible.
Jack navigated the switchbacks and curves that formed the roadway to Kalakaua Avenue as fast as tourists walking in the same roadway would allow. He turned right and headed for the Diamond Head Canoe Club.
Ten minutes later, Jack jumped out of his Jeep in the parking garage and walked briskly toward the Club’s entrance. As he strode through the front door, he heard Gordon Grant’s booming voice growing louder as Grant walked toward him from the direction of the locker room.
“Sullivan, I’ve finished my morning paddle once again well before your eyes first felt the glint of the morning sun.”
“Not so this morning, Grant. I’ve been up for hours.”
“Are you feeling ill?”
“Of course not, early morning is the best time of the day to contemplate life and the challenges ahead,” Jack said with the first hint of a smile.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Gordon replied. “It gets me ready for the tidal flow of the business world.”
“Tidal flow, now there’s a metaphor I haven’t heard applied to the business world.”
“You see, my boy, I keep telling you that you must spend more time in the Kingdom of Neptune. Tidal flow is precisely the right word for the business world — ebb and flood, currents and waves, storms and calms.”
“Okay. Okay. Do they teach English in business school?”
“They teach poetry, Jack, particularly in contrast with the Old English they teach in law school.”
“Touche!”
“Are you headed out?”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t hesitate now. I’m counting on you. You’re my star pupil. I’ve told the entire Club that you are the future of our masters’ competition.”
“I won’t let you down, Gordo. By the way, are you ready for the Dillingham extravaganza?”
“I am and I’m looking forward to seeing you and your lovely wife at our table.”
“We’ll be there. And Gordon, watch out for those riptides at work this week.”
“I’ll be ready for any peril that comes my way because I paid my respects to Neptune on this fine Sunday morning.”
Jack walked past the lobby, through the bar, and onto the Lanai where he surveyed the Pacific. It was a good day for paddling, but he didn’t have time now. Just then, he heard the voice of the man he had come to see.
“Good morning, Mr. Sullivan, are you going out paddling?” Kulani asked as he walked out on the Lanai from the bar.
“No, I’m not, Kulani. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me.”
“Can I get you anything from the kitchen? I was just talking to the cook, and he’s got some Portuguese sausage and eggs on the grill.”
“It’s tempting, Kulani, but I don’t have time.”
“Too bad. I just had a plate of them, and they were ‘ono ‘ono,” he said, emphasizing the Hawaiian word for delicious.
“Kulani, I’ve got something for you to look at,” Jack said as he handed Katherine’s In Style magazine to the bartender.
“What’s this?” Kulani asked.
“I want to show you a photograph and ask you if you recognize anyone in the picture.”
“Which one?”
“Take a look at the photograph in the bottom left corner of the page and tell me if you recognize anyone.”
Kulani picked up the magazine and studied the photograph. After thirty seconds, he put it down and looked at Jack.
“I can’t say for sure, because his face is partly blocked by the woman standing next to him. But the guy on the left looks a little like the driver of the car that ran me off the road.”
“How can you say that if you can’t see most of his face?”
“Because he has one of those neck scarves on like men wore in old movi
es and the collar of his shirt is turned up and he has that same look, the one I saw in the car that night, looking over at me.”
“How about his hair?”
“I can’t tell because I really didn’t see it. The driver had a hat on, and it was dark.”
“Is there anything else about him that you recognize from that night?”
“No, Mr. Sullivan, but there is one other thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I have a feeling I’ve seen this guy somewhere else. I just don’t know where.”
“Have you seen him here in Honolulu?”
“Mr. Sullivan, I’ve never been anywhere but Oahu my whole life. If I saw him, it was here.”
“Did you see him here at the Club?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember. I work part-time at hotels when there are big conventions, and I see a lot of people.”
“But you think you’ve seen this guy someplace in Honolulu?”
“I do.”
“When do you think you saw him?”
“That look. That shirt. Even the way he holds a cigarette. I must have seen him recently to remember it all. I know I’ve seen a guy who looks like that, and it wasn’t too long ago.”
“Keep thinking about it, will you, Kulani, and let me know if it comes back to you.”
“I will, Mr. Sullivan.”
Jack called Katherine and confirmed that they would meet for lunch on the lanai at the Halekulani, then called Dave McNeil and said he needed to see him as soon as possible. Dave told him to come to Police Headquarters at one-thirty.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Jack met Katherine at Orchids, the restaurant on the lanai of the Halekulani, at eleven-thirty, and Katherine immediately knew that her husband was excited about something.
“What happened after you left my shop, hubby?” Katherine asked.
“I went to the Club.”
“And?”
“I talked to Gordon Grant.”
“And?”
“I talked to Kulani.”
“Jack, don’t make me depose you!”
“I won’t. I just wanted to see how quickly you’d figure it out.”
“What?”
“This,” Jack said as he held up the magazine Katherine had given him that morning. “It may be the key that unlocks the mystery to Derek Reynolds’ death.”
“How?”
“Take a look at that photograph of Loretta Reynolds at the party.”
“I already saw it.”
“I showed this picture to Kulani at the Club, and he thinks the guy standing next to Loretta looks like the person who ran him off the road the night after the cast party.”
“Why does he think that?”
“The ascot, which he described to the police as the kind of scarf men wore in old movies. The turned-up collar. The cigarette. The look.”
“He remembers all that?”
“Not all of it from the incident on the beach road out at Kailua. Some of it comes from seeing someone somewhere else on Oahu who looks like this guy.”
“Where on Oahu? For heaven’s sake, Jack, Arthur Fairbanks wears an ascot!”
“So does George Lane, as I learned when I had lunch at the Lane’s. But, to get back to your question, there can’t be too many places where Kulani has seen this guy or someone who looks like him. Kulani works at the Club most nights and at hotels when there are conventions.”
“Has he seen this person recently?”
“He thinks so.”
“So why do you think this photograph may be the key to the mystery?”
“Because the guy in this photograph was at the same Hollywood party as Derek Reynolds’ wife Loretta.”
“I’m not following you.”
“Loretta was very unhappy about Derek’s philandering in general and in particular with Hypatia.”
“Keep going.”
“In response, she was dating young actors and going to Hollywood parties with them.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because she reviewed all of the screenplays that Derek considered.”
“How sure are you of that?”
“Both Bob Street and Arthur Fairbanks told me.”
“And that’s important because …?”
“Because one screenplay she recently reviewed was a classic mystery along the lines of Alfred Hitchcock, in which the victim was poisoned. Right here in Hawaii.”
“And the poison was ‘Akia!”
“You got it!”
“Jack, that’s fine as far as it goes. But we know that Loretta wasn’t at the party where Derek was poisoned.”
“No, she wasn’t, but maybe the guy in this photograph was.”
“So you think they’re dating. But why would she murder her husband or, should I say, have him murdered? She’s hardly the only Hollywood wife whose husband is cheating on her, and there hasn’t exactly been a rash of Hollywood men murdered lately.”
“I sense from talking with Arthur that Derek gave Loretta plenty of reasons to be angry with him, not the least of which were the loss of her career and damage to her dignity. His affair with Hypatia may have been the last straw.”
“Why this particular affair?” Katherine asked.
“Maybe she thought Derek would actually leave her this time,” Jack surmised. “From all accounts, he was over the edge with Hypatia.”
“I thought you told me that Derek gave lots of people plenty of reasons to dislike him, including the Lane’s.”
“That’s true. In fact, coincidentally, the Lane’s have a similar motive and the means to do him in, and they absolutely had the opportunity because they were at the cast party.”
“How could they have done it?”
“They know all about Hawaiian plants, customs and rituals. And they grow ‘Akia in their garden.”
“The poisonous kind?”
“I don’t know, but there was an empty patch of freshly turned soil next to one of their ‘Akia shrubs.”
“Do you think they did it?”
“I don’t know. I do know they had a disastrous career experience with Derek earlier in their lives and a very negative reaction when they saw him in The Poinciana Hotel on the Saturday before the cast party. Hell, they checked out the next morning when they were planning to stay for five days. And when I had lunch at their place, they didn’t even mention their very recent trip to the Poinciana, even though they did tell me they visit the Big Island frequently.”
“Anyone else?”
“Yes, sweet one. Guess who else knows all about Hawaiian plants and flowers?”
“Who?”
“Jennifer Adams.”
“Of course, she buys tropical plants and flowers from that florist over in Kailua.”
“Yes, and he is very impressed with the deep interest she has shown in all kinds of Hawaiian plants, which extends to taking field trips whenever she comes to Oahu.”
“And the field where you found the poisonous ‘Akia is not far from that flower shop, is it?”
“No.”
“And she was at the party too.”
“Yes, and she had a loud argument with Derek the preceding Saturday evening at the Poinciana.”
“Which the Lane’s observed without being seen.”
“Exactly.”
“And her motive?”
“Jennifer vehemently dislikes Derek because of the way he treats her sister. Arthur told me that Jennifer believes Derek physically abused Hypatia.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know, but Jennifer thinks so.”
“So, what are you going to do next?”
“I’m going to lay out my evidence to Dave McNeil at one- thirty.”
“Who gets your vote?”
“Until I nail down the mystery man in that photo, I can’t really connect anything to Loretta or to him. And I can’t ignore the motives, means and opportunities that both of the Lane’s and Jennifer Adams had.”
&nbs
p; “So you’re reserving judgment until you develop more evidence?”
“Spoken like the insightful and careful lawyer you are, my dear.”
“Oh please!”
“Yes, expressed in very lawyerly terms. You can take the girl out of the law firm but …”
“Oh, Jack,” Katherine said laughing.
Realizing that they had not yet ordered lunch, Jack waved to the maitre’d, who smiled and dispatched a waitress to their table.
“I thought you’d never ask, Jack.”
“I’m sorry, Katherine. I just got wound up and couldn’t stop.”
“That’s all right. I’m proud of you and I have a feeling that you’re close. But no more talk about Derek until we finish our lunch.”
Katherine enjoyed an oriental chicken salad, and Jack a papaya mango salad, and they both drank glasses of pineapple iced tea. The turquoise Pacific filled their view from the lanai, and only a row of yellow hibiscus flowers, a sliver of grass, and a low green hedge of naupaka shrubs separated their table from the sea.
“What a spot! It’s like looking through a picture window,” Jack said, sipping the sweet tea.
“Yes, it’s just perfect.”
“So what do you think? Shall I go for it?”
“Absolutely. I doubt that the police have analyzed this case as well as you have.”
“You know, I don’t think they have, at least not yet. I think I’ve got something here.”
“I do too. I’ll pick up the check, Jack. You get over to see Dave.
“Thanks, baby,” Jack said as he leaned over the table to kiss his wife. “I’ll call you when I leave Dave’s office.”
“Good luck. But I do have one more question, Jack.”
“Shoot.”
“What’s the connection between the guy in this photo and Derek? Is it merely that you think he may be dating Loretta?”
“Elementary, my dear wife. Yes, I think he may be dating her but, more importantly, the guy in the photograph with Loretta is wearing an ascot and a shirt with a turned-up collar, just like the driver of the car that Kulani described to the police. And he’s probably an actor if he’s in that picture.”
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