We both declined, but accepted his offer of ripe apple bananas. I peeled one and bit into the soft flesh, the flavor delighting my taste buds. I walked over to the wastebasket and tossed the peel into the paper bag.
“We had lunch with Chen and Mina yesterday,” I said, sitting at the table. “We got arrested along with Mina. Chen escaped out the back somehow. Did the police tell you they found him?”
Russell nodded. I hadn’t seen the dog, but the rheumy look Nani had attributed to the black lab fit the description of this man’s eyes. His kids had lost their stepfather to a stabbing. His ex-wife’s brother was being held for the killing. Her other brother had been shot in the head, then stuffed into the trunk of a car that was then set on fire. Either he was good at hiding his feelings, or none of this had fazed the man.
“They came to tell me Chen was shot to death out in Mākaha. He always was trouble. But Mina knifing Kami’s new husband, that don’t make no sense. I always liked him.”
“I’m not with the police, Russell,” I said. “But I am trying to piece together what’s going on with your family, why this is happening. Was there a problem with how Kami’s new husband treated your sons?”
“Lennie and Oz? Never. Gabe loved those boys. He’s been raising them for the past six years. I have kind of a drinking problem, never could handle the parenting thing too well. I agreed with Kami. The boys were better off living with her and the new husband. No problems in that department.”
“What then, a problem with how Mina got along with the boys maybe?”
“Naw, Mina’s nice to everybody. It’s like I told the cops. Find out what Chen did to stir up trouble. Figure that out, and you’ll find out what happened all the way around.”
Back in the car, I pressed the cell button for Alika’s private number. He took the call on the second ring.
“Enjoy a good night’s sleep, Cacao?”
“Excellent sleeping weather. Nani and I had a short visit with Kami’s ex-husband, Russell.” I held my breath, waiting for the fireworks. Nothing. “You still there?”
“Yes. You talked to Russell. He told you Mina’s a saint, and Chen has always been a problem child. He and the ex-wife and the new husband all get along like a church choir humming a new Gospel tune. Everybody loves everybody else. Makes a great story, doesn’t it?”
“I detect a dash of cynicism in that comment, Alika. Since you already know everything I learned this morning, it means you’ve had more time to process the information. What do you make of the relationship between everyone else involved and the two young boys, Lennie and Oz?”
“According to the mother, her current husband treated the boys like his own. Never yelled at them. And the boys told a police woman they liked him as much as their first father. Did you get that?”
“If you’re asking if I understand what’s going on, the answer is no.”
“What I’m asking is if you understood what I said so far. There’s more. According to Mina, Chen said the new husband was abusing the kids.”
“You mean sexually abusing them?”
“That’s the way it reads in the statement Mina gave today. Chen got his younger brother so worked up about it, Mina decided to kill the man. He went over to the housing development and stabbed Gabe. Simple as that.” He gave me one of his fierce stares. “None of this is available for publication yet.”
“I understand.” I wouldn’t use any of this information until it was released. “Don’t tell me that’s the end of the story, though. Why was Chen shot?”
“One crime at a time, Cacao. I’ll keep you posted.”
I relayed the information to Nani. Then we headed over to a chop suey place in Kaimukī. I needed time to digest everything and come up with my next step. No one knew why Chen ended up with two bullets to the head. No one wanted to believe Mina killed his sister’s new husband. Now the kids, Lennie and Oz, were in the picture. That changed how I looked at things.
At the restaurant, the waitress brought us each a bowl of pork chop suey, two scoops rice on the side. She set a pot of tea in the middle of the table and glasses of ice water next to our plates. Then she slipped the bill under a saucer containing two fortune cookies before heading back to the kitchen. She had plenty of other customers waiting.
“Russell said Chen was the problem, not Mina,” I said. “If Chen talked Mina into killing Gabe Yuen, the sister would naturally blame Chen for her husband’s death.”
“You’re saying Gabe abused his stepsons and Chen got him killed out of revenge? Then Kami had Chen killed?”
“Okay, I agree it’s too farfetched. What about the ex-husband, Russell? Maybe he had something to do with it. What if he was the one abusing the boys?”
“I don’t think so,” Nani said. “I partied with him when he was plenty drunk. He never did anything strange to suggest he was perverted that way.”
“So we’re stuck on the same questions. Why did Mina get riled up enough to kill Gabe? Who killed Chen, and why? One of the “why” questions is answered, we just don’t know which one yet. According to rumor, someone was abusing the boys. For that reason, Gabe was killed. Whether he was the rightful target is yet to be proved.”
“Was Chen killed because of something he knew,” Nani said, “or something he did?”
“What are the chances Kami would agree to see me?” She was the only person involved in all this I hadn’t talked to yet. If she couldn’t give me something to work with, I was at a dead end. “You want to give her a call, explain you were one of her brothers’ drinking pals, and try to set something up?”
Nani agreed to call. Two hours later, we walked from her apartment to the building where Kami still lived with the boys. She led us to the living room and offered us cola or coffee, her voice sounding dull from shock. We both went for the cola.
“What’s your involvement in all this?” Kami asked, once we were settled.
I was prepared for the question. “Nani and I were with Mina at that karaoke place on Dillingham when the police barged in and arrested all of us. They held us for questioning, then released Nani and me. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still suspect us of having something to do with Gabe’s death. We want to make sure everything gets cleared up. But we also want to know what happened to get us arrested in the first place. It only seems fair.”
Whether Kami bought my story or not, she asked what it was we wanted to know. “I couldn’t send the boys back to school yet. They’re over at their grandmother’s for another couple hours. I don’t know if I can help you, but I’ll try.”
My list of questions was short, three to be exact. I only hoped the answers she supplied would be beneficial.
“I spoke with your ex-husband, Russell. He showed no animosity toward your new husband or to having Gabe help you raise his sons. In fact, he appeared grateful. Do you think he might be hiding his resentment and had something to do with the death of your husband or your brother, Chen?”
“First of all, Russell is not a resentful man.” Kami’s defensiveness suggested enabling tendencies. Or codependency. Maybe she was the one hiding resentment. But of what I couldn’t guess. “And second, there was nothing to be resentful of. Gabe and I raised the boys because Russell wasn’t capable of being a father to them. Alcohol was more important to him. He admitted it freely.”
Maybe Russell wasn’t sexually abusing the boys. But I had a hard time rationalizing his choice of alcohol over his children as not being child abuse. I didn’t think his drinking was the problem that led to two deaths in Kami’s family, though.
I had lumped all three of my questions together on purpose: Did Kami think her ex-husband hid his resentment? Did he have something to do with her current husband’s death? Did he have anything to do with her brother’s death? She wouldn’t answer all of them immediately. But they would flutter around in her mind. When I asked them again, something f
rom her subconscious might inadvertently spill out. I could wait.
“Kami, do you have any idea why Mina attacked your husband?” I asked, rephrasing the question as I often did for Nani when her mind drifted. It was another way of asking if Russell had something to do with the death of her current husband, without mentioning his name. Kami wasn’t willing to admit it, maybe even to herself, but Russell fit into this family crisis somehow.
“Mina said Gabe was abusing the boys. But that’s not true. Please excuse me.” Kami stood and walked down the hall to the bathroom.
She had defended Russell’s alcohol abuse; she defended Gabe against accusations of child abuse. I wanted to believe her on both counts. But I needed information that supported her defense of these two men she had married.
My cell phone rang. I dug it out of my camera bag and looked at the display screen. It was Alika. “Aloha. How may I be of service to you today?”
He laughed. “You always make my day, Cacao. I have something that might interest you. We got lab work back on fingerprints left at the car fire, mainly on the trunk. We have reason to believe Russell and Kami were both at the scene before the fire started.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, trying to wrap my mind around what he’d told me. “Why would Russell or Kami want to kill Chen?”
“Listen to me, Cacao. The only reason I’m telling you this is so you stay away from them. I know you already talked to Russell. I just don’t want you getting any ideas about questioning the wife. We don’t want her getting suspicious before we can make a case against them. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“You don’t sound too convincing. What are you doing right now?”
“Um, Nani and I are visiting one of her neighbors.”
“Damn. I’m on my way.”
Kami returned to the living room and sat at the far end of the couch. “Sorry, I’m taking nerve pills and have to make a lot of trips to the bathroom. Do you have any more questions before I go pick up the boys?”
“Only the last one I asked earlier. Why do you think Chen was killed?”
Her breath hitched as she started to speak. She grabbed a tissue from the box on the end table. She dabbed her eyes, possibly biding time to compose an answer. “He deserved what he got.”
Nani sat up straighter, apparently alerted by the change in Kami’s tone. I gave her a quick glance, hoping she would settle back and let Kami let out her feelings.
“Did he deserve to die because of something he did to Gabe?” I worked to make sense of that. Maybe she knew her new husband was abusing her sons. But after her brother killed him, she felt the need to defend her husband, regardless of his actions. Mina was being detained for Gabe’s death. That left only Chen to blame for Kami’s loss of another husband.
Kami stopped her show of dabbing at tears. “You could say it was because of something Chen did to Gabe. Now that I think about it, your words perfectly describe the situation.”
“Chen talked Mina into killing Gabe for abusing your sons. Is that why he had to die?”
“I told you, Gabe never abused my sons.” Kami pounded the couch with her fist. “He didn’t deserve to die. Gabe threatened to file a report with the police because of the abuse.”
Nani squeezed my fingers until the pain cleared my head. I silently thanked her. Kami had finally let slip what I’d patiently waited for, a reason.
“What are you saying, Kami? Someone killed Gabe for threatening to tell the police about the child abuse?” Was Russell the offender? Would he and Kami have killed Chen to keep him from talking? Trying to hold my voice steady, I asked, “Who did Gabe threaten to report?”
“I thought reporters were supposed to figure that kind of stuff out on their own.” Kami reached for the tissue box again, her eyes already shiny with tears.
She had been through so much in the past two days. I was surprised she had held it together this long. I stood and walked toward her, wanting to give her a hug. Kami needed to know she wasn’t alone in all this. But when she pulled a gun out of the tissue box, I froze in place.
“Something tells me…” She pointed the muzzle at Nani and me in turn. “You already know who was doing the abusing. Now you come snooping around trying to cause even more trouble for my family after everything is already settled. Why can’t you just leave it alone?”
“You aren’t going to shoot both of us, Kami.” I stood frozen in front of her. “If you put the gun down now, you won’t be arrested for anything.”
“Of course I’ll be arrested.” Kami raised the gun and pointed it at my head before lowering it toward my waist. Then she slowly moved her hand until the muzzle touched her right temple. “Who do you think shot Chen?”
My chest started to hurt. I realized I’d stopped breathing and gasped in a lungful of air. The sudden motion distracted Kami and she lowered her right arm. I lunged at the gun in her hand, twisting her wrist until she yelped. The gun slid to the couch. Nani grabbed it before Kami could react and set it on the window sill by the door. Then we stood staring down at Kami, who glowered back at us.
A determined knock disrupted the eerie silence. Nani went to the door and escorted Alika into the living room.
“We’re gathering quite a crowd.” Kami sounded like a party hostess. “I suppose you all know each other?”
“Yes,” I said. “Detective Ouelette is handling your case. Why don’t I fill him in on our discussion? Would that be okay with you, Kami?”
Still glowering, she nodded. Alika took a seat in the lounge chair by the window. The backrest hid the window sill where Nani had set the gun.
I decided to hold back on the gun incident. “Kami gave me permission to ask a few questions, Detective. She told me her husband, Gabe, did not abuse her sons. She said he didn’t deserve to die. He threatened to report the child abuse to the police. That’s where we were when you arrived. I believe she was about to tell us who Gabe threatened with the police report.”
“He didn’t only threaten,” Alika said. “We dug up the report. He filed it over six weeks ago. It didn’t go anywhere because he withdrew the complaint the following day. The closing notes state Kami talked him out of moving forward with any action.”
I looked over at Kami. “You have a tendency to support the underdog, don’t you?”
“If I didn’t,” she said, “who would?”
Her question left me at a loss for words. Alika studied the floor, probably not wanting to risk his badge with a daring answer. While we sat there, mentally hemming and hawing, Nani stood and walked over to Kami.
“If you defend the wrong people long enough,” she said, “there won’t be anyone in your family left alive to defend.”
Kami huffed at Nani’s remark. “What do any of you know about family loyalty?”
A nervous cramp seized my stomach. I had actually started to root for Russell, even with all his faults. “Who did Gabe name in the complaint that you felt a need to defend in the first place?”
“I have to pick up my sons.” Kami stood. “They are my entire family now.”
“No.” I blocked her from the door. “First, let’s discuss the gun you pulled on Nani and me.”
Alika was already on his feet when I pointed to the window sill. He took one look at the gun, then stared at me, waiting.
“Kami thought she could end everything by shooting herself.”
He keyed his portable radio mic and requested backup for an unstable domestic situation. Considering the circumstances of this entire case, that about said it all.
A blue and white police vehicle pulled to the curb minutes later. Kami was handcuffed “for her own safety” and escorted to the vehicle. Alika bagged the gun and secured the apartment before running crime scene tape across the front door.
At the curb, I leaned against his car. “Out with it, Alika, who did Gabe name? I
can’t believe it was Russell.”
“No, it wasn’t Russell.” He brushed me away from the fender. “Not that he was ever voted father-of-the-year. Mina committed murder because Chen convinced him Gabe was abusing his step-kids. But Gabe’s report threatened to reveal Chen had made sexual advances toward Lennie, the older son.”
I ran through the scenario. “Chen tricked Mina into murdering Gabe, to stop Gabe from revealing Chen’s abuse. Then the boys’ parents killed Chen for coercing Mina into stabbing Gabe. Two family members are dead, and three more will likely spend their lives in prison.”
Alika shrugged. “That about covers it. Detective Kadomo is rounding up Russell as we speak. Kami will have to be evaluated, but the little display you described was hardly a suicide attempt. I’m not sure Mina will end up in prison. A good lawyer could get him declared insane at the time of the murder.”
“What about the two boys, Lennie and Oz?” Nani asked.
Alika shook his head. “Probably end up living with Russell’s parents. Not the worst thing. What’s your final story going to say?” He and Nani turned toward me.
“I definitely won’t get my own byline for the murders, Alika. You and Detective Kadomo did a great job solving this case.”
“You helped keep us on track, though.”
“Sure, I know that. Have to watch your backs all the time. The paper plans to quote me in their story so I get some credit. They’ll also use a photograph I submitted, the purple scarf one. The news desk gave me an assignment to write the story of my investigation up to the arrests. They’ll run it at a later date. Then they want me to come up with a follow-up angle and write a series of stories connected to the original case. After doing my research, I’ll compile articles to shine light on the hidden perils of codependency and enabling.”
To me, the two went hand-in-hand. People needed to become aware of the inherent dangers. Not only to the immediate parties but their extended families, innocent or guilty.
Paradise, Passion, Murder Page 10
