Prospect for Murder (Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Cozy Mystery 1)

by Burrows-Johnson, Jeanne; June, Yasamine;

  I nodded, encouraging more detail.

  “The apartments have changed through the years. Most of the tenants are now students or boys and girls starting their careers in military service. I love watching them play volleyball. It’s almost as much fun as the baseball games we had on the plantation. Quite a show and it’s right outside my window.”

  “I’ve only met a couple of the tenants so far. Do you know Ashley Lowell and her boy Cory? She seems quite lovely.”

  “Oh she is. She’s a southern girl, from one of the Carolinas. We met when she came by to drop off my phone bill that was delivered to her mailbox by mistake. After that, she started bringing me her delicious spoon bread and we’ve exchanged bean dish recipes. Sometimes I bake cookies for them.”

  I nodded again and moved on to my real target. “What about Al, the handyman. How long has he been here?”

  “My Al? It seems like he’s been here forever, but I think it’s only been six years. He got injured while working for the government overseas. Then, I guess he floated around until he ended up in Hawai`i. He’s such a dear. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

  Not wanting to interrupt her flow, I mumbled “Mmhm.”

  “He might not seem the type, but he’s always doing something for me—watering my plants, taking me to the store, and to church. Why you’d think that boy didn’t have anything else to do,” she concluded with a laugh.

  “How nice that you go to church together,” I said, wondering how I could politely ask about the tenets of their religion.

  “Oh, yes. Being Portuguese, I was raised Catholic, you know. But when I fell in love with my Benny—who’d been divorced—we couldn’t get married in the Church. I had my personal faith and never really missed the Church itself. But after Benny died, I started going to a little Christian chapel that’s not far from here. If you’re looking for a church, Al and I would be glad to take you. The music is quite nice. They have a young couple who play the`ukulele and sing the old songs. It’s very uplifting.”

  “I’m sure it is. I…I have my own… faith…and do my praying at home.”

  Mrs. Espinoza nodded. “Like I used to. Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”

  At that point, bells rang on several driers and Mrs. Espinoza got up to put her laundry in a rolling basket. My washer dinged at about the same time, so our carts passed as I put my washing into the driers she had vacated. I strolled over to ask if I could help her fold her towels.

  “Thank you for offering, my dear. But I’ll be through in a minute. It’s good for my hands. I make an effort to put the exercises Emma taught me into most everything I do. It keeps my fingers limber.”

  “It’s so nice to have someone to visit with while doing the laundry. Back in my condo, I do a load at a time by myself. But this is so fast. You can do everything at once.”

  “That’s so true. I just realized, you must be that writer Pearl spoke of. She said you’re here for the summer—while some work is being done in your home.”

  “Actually, the work is being done on the condo upstairs from me. There was a fire, and, well, the smell is still rather strong. Since I’m doing some volunteering at the learning center down on Wilder, it seemed perfect to stay here for a couple of months. Almost a vacation…”

  “You’re in B406, aren’t you, my dear?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Well, I don’t want to say anything that will be upsetting to you,” she said, biting her lip. “But before you moved in, there was an unfortunate, accident…up there.”

  “Oh?” was all the response I could manage.

  “Yes, a young girl was looking at the apartment. Something happened and she fell down into the parking lot. It was a terrible tragedy.”

  I swallowed. “I see.”

  “It was upsetting for everyone here. Especially, my Al—I call him that because he’s like a son. It was his car she fell on, you see. And being the handyman…he had to handle…well, tidying things up.”

  “Yes, I can imagine,” I said trying to control the visceral response I was feeling. “It must have really affected him.”

  “You have no idea. He’s such a dear. He’d brought in my groceries and we were having a cup of coffee and some fresh malasadas when it happened.”

  I gulped. “He was with you at the time?”

  “Oh, yes. We’d come back from the big Foodland store on Beretania. I’d put on a fresh pot of coffee to brew while I put the groceries away. We sat down to talk about our minister’s Sunday sermon. We hadn’t been sitting there more than ten minutes when we heard a scream from the parking lot. One of the boys stationed at Pearl Harbor was calling the police by the time we went out.

  “It was terrible. Something I never thought I’d see again. After leaving the plantation, that is. I mean, every once in a while there’d be some kind of accident in the fields with the equipment. But this, this was worse. She was so young. I may not be a practicing Catholic anymore, but I can tell you I said a Hail Mary for that poor wahine.”

  At least there was someone who had cared enough to say a prayer and send kind thoughts to my grandniece on her passing.

  “It really seemed to upset Al. He’s been after me for Bible verses ever since then. I don’t quite understand the connection, but he’s been asking me about passages in Leviticus and other parts of the Old Testament. You know. Those rules about righteous living. They may have made sense to someone sometime, but I’m not sure what some of them mean.”

  I was stunned by what I had heard. There was little I could say in response, so I merely said “Oh” and nodded. This certainly explained the verse Al had marked. And his comments did indicate that he is a homophobe, albeit a confused one. But it would have been difficult for him to juggle Mrs. Espinoza’s groceries while dashing up the stairs to kill Ariel, and not have the woman notice something was amiss.

  By this time, my companion had finished folding her clothes and was preparing to depart. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate our visit, Mrs. Espinoza. Since my laundry is still in the dryer, why don’t you let me carry your basket to your apartment?”

  “Why, thank you Natalie, that’s most kind of you.”

  I left Mrs. Espinoza’s doorstep thinking about what I had to do—immediately pull the plug on consideration of Al Cooper as a person of interest in Ariel’s death. Obviously, he had no prior knowledge of her and had not met her while in the company of Mrs. Espinoza. No. If someone on the property was responsible for her death, either he or she knew Ariel from somewhere else, or there was a one-time interaction between them that resulted in her death.

  Since my washing was not yet dry, I sat back down and pulled out my cell phone. My first call was to Nathan. When he did not answer, I left a message alerting him that it did not appear that our single lead was a perpetrator of foul play in Ariel’s death. If I was right, it seemed unlikely that the Coroner’s office would delay in releasing Ariel’s body. That meant we would soon be able to finalize arrangements for her memorial and life celebration.

  Next, I tried to reach Keoni. All I got was voicemail for both his home and cell lines. Rather than delay notifying him about my latest findings, I left a message at his cell number.

  “Keoni, this is Natalie. I hope you haven’t invested much time in pursuing Al Cooper’s car buddies. I’ve just learned there’s no way he was involved with Ariel’s death. Call me for details, but it boils down to his being a knight in shining armor for a neighbor at the very moment Ariel fell to her death.”

  Finally, I called the cell phone number of Detective John Dias. He answered immediately. After I walked him through everything Mrs. Espinoza had told me, he informed me that he had completed his own investigation of Al Cooper.

  “The man seems to have a spotless record. In fact, he was injured while working as a private contractor for the Defense Department. Lo
oks like he has a reputation for being a by-the-book kind of guy. He may be a jerk about social issues, but he proved himself when he stopped a run-away vehicle from hitting a group of Guamanian school children.

  “With his straight-arrow convictions, it’s doubtful he’d be involved in anything criminal—especially a murder. With what you’ve just told me, I can’t see any reason for putting either Al Cooper or Mrs. Espinoza under the microscope.”

  “I agree, John.”

  “I appreciate every piece of information you’ve brought me. I think it’s time we need get a team out for a re-canvassing of the complex and the neighborhood surrounding it. Maybe that’ll help us locate Ariel’s missing belongings. Someone could have found her earring and phone and didn’t realize they had anything to do with the death at the apartments.”

  He said he would notify Marty Soli about our conversation and we terminated our call. The day was half over by the time I had completed my updates on Al Cooper’s alibi. It was too late to consider going downtown. Undecided about my next course of action, I finished putting away my laundry. Next I consolidated my to-do lists. Knowing I was likely to have visitors around the time of the memorial, I jotted down the groceries and supplies I should get. Next came more planning for Ariel’s memorial. I made my final selections of photos and other memorabilia for the gathering at Nathan’s home. Some of the pictures were in poor condition and would need to be scanned for enlargement and framing. After a brief look at yellow page listings, I found a downtown photo and frame shop that performed photo enhancement.

  Turning back to my foray into the land of detecting, I considered the tally of my accomplishments to date. It could be summed up by a single, large cipher! We still had no idea of what event or person might have been responsible for Ariel’s death. Fortunately, John Dias was continuing to pursue the two items of missing evidence—her earring and smart phone. I also knew that the methodical analysis of her calendar and contact data base being performed by other investigators could yield something of significance.

  Where did this leave me? After drawing another blank in my latest visit with Pearl Wong, I did not have a clue of what to investigate about these apartments. That might be reassuring to Keoni, John Dias, and especially Nathan, but I was not pleased. To calm my discontent, I turned to the Internet for a couple of hours.

  In looking up crimes that had occurred at the complex, I found references to a couple of auto thefts and a burglary ten years earlier. Obviously none of those cases had any bearing on Ariel’s incident, so I turned to Keoni’s project. To explore the development of Kaimukī further, I examined the local telephone directory for companies I knew began in the early twentieth century. Their web pages often offered About Us pages that discussed their roots and noteworthy events in their past. Much of what I discovered was interesting and might prove useful in future writing projects, but had no bearing on the Hewitt family.

  Without a firm direction for either project, I returned to cruising through the morgues of past issues that a few publications have digitized and offer on-line. As a journalist, I am grateful to pay a subscription for access to these materials. I wish more readers realized that with so many newspapers opting for electronic publishing, we’re all going to have to get used to paying for the privilege of getting news in this convenient format.

  For the most part, the newspaper articles and advertisements read like any from today: stand-alone pieces covering single events and promotions. However, after a while I realized there were several pieces focusing on the elementary school named for Queen Lili`u`okalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai`i. I learned that despite being frail, she had personally dedicated the school and helped lay its cornerstone. She had even attended its opening in 1912. Of greatest interest to me was the fact that each of these events had involved interaction with area residents eager to glimpse their former queen in the latter years of her life.

  Although I knew Keoni was joking when he had first mentioned royalty in conjunction with his family, I had found a royal connection to his neighborhood! And while I did not see how this tidbit of Kaimukī history could help preserve his family home, one cannot predict what a day at the archives might reveal. Therefore, after dropping by the photo shop in the morning, I would visit Henry at the archives to learn more about the revered Queen and the school that was named for her.

  Armed with new information, I would then go to the library to scan additional publications for references to the Queen making public appearances in the area. And while I was doing that, I could look for a birth announcement for Richard Bishop. It was not much, but at least I felt I now had a firm sense of direction for both my professional and personal research.

  CHAPTER 19

  Would you tell me, please, which way

  I ought to go from here?

  Lewis Carroll [1832-1898]

  I took a short lunch break and thought about how to make the most of what was left of the day. Having lost my inspiration for on-line research, I considered the fragmented state of my hardcopy notes on Ariel’s death. After consolidating them and transferring the results to my electronic files, I realized there was one vital line of inquiry I had neglected—Ariel’s potential roommate TJ.

  So far, all I knew was that the girls had known each other well enough to consider sharing an apartment. But I had never heard her name mentioned by Ariel and Nathan had said he had no idea who she was.

  Since he knew about my sleuthing, there was no longer any reason for me to put off involving him. I was lucky to catch him between errands so we could go over Ariel’s data base.

  “Natalie, I’m glad you called back. I was over at the mall getting some photos printed that I found on Ariel’s camera. They’re beautiful shots of windward O`ahu beaches, including a few from around here. I don’t mean to horn in on your assembling memorabilia for the life celebration, but I thought that making a montage of Ariel’s own photographic work would be a nice addition to your display.”

  I could tell he was about to break down again. “That’s a wonderful idea Nathan. You got my message, right? About Al Cooper having an airtight alibi?”

  “Yes, I don’t know how to express my thoughts about that issue. I wouldn’t want the wrong person accused, but now we’re back where we were at the beginning…with no obvious means for resolving how Ariel died.”

  “You’re right. Except for looking more deeply into the apartment manager’s family, I haven’t a clue about what else I can do to help solve the mystery of her death.”

  “Well, you know I don’t like you being on the premises of where she died. There are still two pieces of evidence missing and no plausible explanation of how she fell, but we know she would never have committed suicide. That leaves some bizarre accident…or murder. And if she was murdered, you could be in danger.”

  “I know that. I’m being very careful. You know there’s no way my archival investigations, or use of the Internet or telephone will arouse anyone’s attention. Besides, whoever might have been responsible for her death may not be here at the apartments.”

  There was no reason to set Nathan’s alarm to a higher setting than it was already, so I did not reveal that I feel I am being watched whenever I walk through the grounds of the complex. Flipping to the notebook page I had headed “TJ,” I plunged ahead and asked him to check Ariel’s computer contact data base for surnames beginning with “J.” I then asked him to check for anyone with a first name beginning with “T,” knowing that the “T” or the compound “TJ” could be a nickname wholly unrelated to her legal name.

  “Give me a moment to get to her bedroom. I’m in the kitchen, but l left her computer on when I was uploading some of those pictures I found.”

  While he got organized, we chatted about the photos I was assembling. Shortly, I heard the clacking of a keyboard, and then he gave me a list of five surnames under the heading of “J” and another three names unde
r the heading of “T” that showed no surname.”

  “Could you check one more thing? I haven’t heard back from John Dias and I’d like to know the numbers of her last couple of outgoing calls.”

  “Sure. Ariel’s cell phone bill’s right here. As I told the Lieutenant, I didn’t get a chance to look it over before giving him a copy. The last number Ariel dialed shows up several times.”

  I quickly wrote the number down. That’s it, Nathan, I wanted to say. That has to be TJ. I can already see that the number is not one you gave me from Ariel’s database.

  This would make sense if the girl was a new friend and Ariel had not yet entered her information into her computer data base. The number might be in the database of the missing phone, which might be a better record of Ariel’s current contacts.

  “That’s great, Nathan. I’ll follow up on these numbers and let you know what I learn.”

  “All right. That sounds safe enough—if the numbers aren’t for the local telephone exchange for Makiki. But I thought John Dias said his department would be looking into that.”

  “We don’t know if he’s had a chance to go through the records you gave him. And, after looking at the first three numbers in the entries you just gave me, it doesn’t look like they’re from this area of the city.” I did not mention that if a number was for a cell phone, it would not be based on the person’s neighborhood and there would be no way of knowing where they actually lived. “If they’re associated with someone at the complex, don’t you think Ariel would have simply gone to the person’s apartment.”

  “Well...I guess so,” agreed Nathan.

  We signed off and I sat quietly for a moment, deciding how to proceed. I had already circled the number I was certain was TJ’s. Sadly, there was a good chance that she did not know Ariel was dead. Like a lot of students she may not pay attention to media reports. Regardless of that possibility, if she was a new acquaintance, she might not have contact information for Ariel’s other friends—or our family. Not knowing what kind of reaction I might get to the news of Ariel’s passing, I decided to take a break and clear my mind before making the call. After drinking a tall glass of water and eating a couple of mints, I dialed the last number Ariel ever called. The phone was answered immediately.