“Come in,” she said. “I didn’t mean to keep you standing out there. I thought you were a bill collector. That’s pretty much the only people who come out here anymore.”
She held the door open and I went inside. It’s always tricky to negotiate around a ‘full-figured’ woman but I managed to pass by her without touching things that were better left untouched.
“Why do you want to talk to Mr. Salazar?” she said.
“I’m looking into what happened to my brother. I understand he was here at work when he had to be rushed back to the hospital.”
“Yeah. It was so strange. He came in that morning looking a little rough around the edges. You know, a bandage on his head and limpin’ a little. Mr. Salazar hadn’t come in yet and Mr. Wilkerson asked me to let him in his office.”
“Stu didn’t have keys to his own office?”
“No, not to let him in his office; he wanted me to let him in Mr. Salazar’s office.”
“Did you?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, why not? They were working on some kind of big thing. They’d told us that if they could make this thing happen the boat yard could get up and runnin’ again. We’ve been struggling ever since Mr. Wilkerson’s father died.”
She squinted as if her brain was working overtime. “So was old man Wilkerson your father too? Or are you just from the mother’s side?”
“No, Phil Wilkerson was my father.”
“Oh, sorry about that, too. I guess this hasn’t been a very good year for you.”
“No.”
“Anyway, Mr. Wilkerson goes into Mr. Salazar’s office and he’s in there digging around and I say, ‘You need me to help you find something?’ and he says, ‘Where does he keep his legal files?’ I thought it was real weird of him to ask that.”
“Why?”
“Because both of them have the same files. Everything the lawyer sends over he sends in duplicate. There’d be no reason for Mr. Wilkerson to think Mr. Salazar had something he didn’t have. The files are identical.”
“Unless they aren’t,” I said. “Did you give my brother Salazar’s files?”
“Didn’t have time. I was unlocking the file cabinet when Mr. Wilkerson started yelling that his leg had started hurting like ‘a son of a… you know.’ He actually said the whole thing but I try to keep the cussing to a minimum. This place has got way too much rough language flyin’ around. You know what I mean?”
I nodded and stared at her to encourage her to get back on track.
“Anyhow, Mr. Wilkerson sat down fast and pulled his pants leg up. He ripped off the bandage on his head and I could see he had a bad wound. It was all swollen and really red. I told him I’ll call 9-1-1. He said, ‘Please do’.”
She stopped and took a deep breath.
“You know, that was the last thing Mr. Wilkerson ever said to me, ‘Please do.’ Your brother was a gentleman, you know? Polite ‘til the very end.”
She seemed to be fighting back tears.
“Would you mind pulling the legal files for me?” I said. “Both of them. Stu’s and Barry’s.” I hoped her fond memories of Stu would extend to me and she’d cut me some slack.
“Why?”
“Because there might be something in there. Barry’s file was the last thing my brother wanted to see. The police are calling his death ‘accidental’ but I’m not convinced it was.”
“You don’t think Mr. Salazar had anything…” She covered her mouth with her dimpled hand but her eyes betrayed her morbid curiosity.
“I’m not accusing anybody of anything. I’d just like to re-trace my brother’s final steps and see what I find.”
“I used to read Nancy Drew books,” she said. “They were my mom’s. They were old but I still liked them. You ever read any of them? They were all mysteries.”
“I know. Classics.”
“Yeah, they were classy all right. That girl could figure stuff out that didn’t make any sense at all to me. She’d spy on creepy people and go into caves with bats in them and all kinds of scary stuff. But she always got her man. Or woman. Sometimes the bad guy was a woman.”
While she rambled on, she made her way into Barry Salazar’s office and unlocked his file cabinet. She pulled a large legal-size manila folder from the back of the top drawer.
Then she led me into Stu’s office and did the same.
“It would probably be better if you worked in here,” she said. “Unless it creeps you out.”
I assured her I’d be fine.
She plopped the two thick files on the desk. “I can’t let you take these with you, but you’re welcome to look through them.”
“What if Barry comes in?” I said.
“Ha! Like that’s gonna happen. Don’t worry about him. He’s gotta get past me to get back here and there’s no way I’m letting him pass unless he hands me a signed check. If by some miracle he shows up with my paycheck you’ll have plenty of time to hide the files. Just act like you’re here to pick up Stu’s personal stuff.”
“Mahalo,” I said. I extended my hand. “I didn’t get your name.”
“I’m Debbie,” she said.
“And I’m Pali.”
We shook hands and she left me alone with the last thing my brother wanted to see—besides Natalie.
CHAPTER 30
I didn’t find anything that jumped out at me until I got to the final pages of Barry’s file. There it was: an insurance document with the words, “Key Person Life Policy” written at the top. I skimmed the twelve-page document and found that the partners, Barrington Lloyd Salazar and Stuart Philip Wilkerson, each had a four million dollar life insurance policy with the boat yard business as the beneficiary. The policy was two years old which meant it had been purchased about the time Stu came to work at the boat yard. Oddly, there was no twin document in Stu’s file.
I went out to the reception area and asked Debbie if I could use their copier.
“We don’t have one,” she said. “Anymore.”
I must’ve looked confused because she went on. “Yeah, we had one up until about a month ago. Then we didn’t pay the lease on it and the Xerox guy came and hauled it away. You can’t believe how hard it is to not have one. Every day I got something that needs copying.”
I went back into Salazar’s office and wrote down the essential information from the policy. The name of the insurance company, the policy number, the date it had been issued, and so on. I would’ve taken the policy with me but I had a feeling that stealing from Barry Salazar wouldn’t be good for my continuing health and happiness.
I left the boat yard and drove back into town. I called Moko and wasn’t surprised when he picked up after one ring. After all, wherever he was, he wasn’t at work.
“I guess you’re not working today,” I said.
“No, I got bereavement leave. I don’t need to go back for a while.”
“Or ever.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Moko I know about the boat yard shutting down. I was just out there.”
He hesitated and then whispered, “I can’t talk right now. Can you meet me somewhere?”
“Sure. I’d like to run something by you. I’ve found what I’d call a ‘motive with a capital M’ in Barry Salazar’s office.”
“Mr. Salazar’s office? What were you doing in there?” His voice sounded troubled. Then he quickly changed to his local beach boy slang. “Wassup, Pali? You wanna meet up about what you gonna say at the service? Okay, I meet with you.”
I figured someone had come into the room and he was fabricating his alibi.
“How about at the hospital cafeteria?” I said.
“Nah, I hate that place. How about the L & L at Ward Center? We’ll get plate lunch, big city-style.” He gave a brotherly chuckle and hung up.
The L & L Drive In is a local favorite for ‘plate lunch,’ the quintessential Hawaiian carbo-load consisting of a pile of meat alongside mayo-drenched macaroni salad and a big mound of white rice.<
br />
I made it to Ward Avenue in Kaka’ako in less than twenty minutes. Moko was already there.
“So you know what’s happened out at the boat yard?” he said as soon as I got within earshot.
“Yeah. I just came from there. I met Debbie.”
“She still out there? What’s she doing that for? It’s not safe.”
“Why?” I said.
“It’s jus’ not.”
“Why do I get the feeling you know more than you’re telling me? Do you have anything you want to get off your chest about ‘the big boss’? Like, do you think maybe the big boss had it in for the little boss?”
“What? No. I didn’t say nuthin’ like that. I’m just saying that area isn’t good for a woman to be out there by herself. Lots of bums out there, you know? Like homeless guys. People who got nuthin’ to lose by stealing a purse or jackin’ your car.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that Barry Salazar had closed the business?” I said.
“Look, let’s get somethin’ to eat,” he said. “I’m starvin’.”
I considered pointing out that his family would also be starving if he failed to bring home a paycheck, but I figured there was no reason to embarrass the guy. Besides, he was family.
“Let me buy,” I said. “I insist.”
He ordered a double everything and I ordered a small portion of vegetable curry. Even so, he was scraping his Styrofoam container clean before I’d barely touched mine. Maybe that was because I was doing all the talking.
“Okay, here’s what I know. Stop me if you’ve got something to add or if you have a question.” I told him about going out to Natalie’s and her not being there. I said I found out Natalie’s sister spoke excellent English and she had a hunch Natalie may be having an affair. Finally, I rattled off what I’d learned from Wendi. I told him about the Good Samaritan seeing a guy in a baseball cap running away from where Stu had gone in the canal. Finally I told him Wendi had seen the police incident report and it listed Stu’s plunge in the canal as an accident due to ‘excessive consumption of alcohol.’
“Does that mean the cops aren’t going to investigate?” he said.
“Looks that way. Since Stu was drinking at a bar right on the canal, they think he simply made a wrong turn and took a header into the water.”
“But Stu can’t swim,” he said. “No matter how much he had to drink, Stu never got anywhere close to water. He hated boats.”
“But he was a member of the yacht club,” I said.
“Yeah, we all are. My dad got the whole family in when he joined. He paid for lifetime memberships for all us kids.” It seemed to dawn on Moko who he was talking to and he got flustered. “I mean, all us kids here on O’ahu. I don’t know about his kids on the other islands. It wouldn’t make sense to pay for them. You know, they’d probably never go there.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I can’t exactly see myself swapping yarns and tossing back beers at the Waikiki Yacht Club. It’s not my thing.”
“It’s not me and my wife’s thing, either. I can’t remember the last time I was out there.”
“But you could get in if you wanted,” I said.
“Sure.” He smiled. “Like I said, I’m a lifetime member.”
“You want to go there with me and wait for Jason? He’s coming in at six.”
When we got to the yacht club Moko had to flash his membership card to the ‘commander’ who managed the place. When the guy saw Moko’s last name, he offered condolences and told Moko his tab was on the house.
We both ordered Cokes.
“Want I should put a little rum in there?” the bartender offered.
“No thanks, man.”
“How ‘bout a wedge of lime?”
We went for the lime. The guy was trying hard to earn a tip.
We took a table in the corner and I continued the conversation from the L & L. I told him about Stu coming in on Wednesday morning and asking Debbie to get him some files from Barry’s office. Then I told Moko about finding the key person life insurance policy and how Barry would profit from Stu’s death.
He whistled. “Four million? Wow.”
“Yeah. That’s what I meant on the phone when I said Barry Salazar had a motive. With Stu dead, he’d have plenty of money to keep the boat yard going.”
Moko took a sip of Coke but didn’t say anything.
I went on. “What did Stu say when he came to work on Wednesday morning? He must’ve owned up to falling in the canal the night before. Debbie said he had a big bandage on his head.”
“The guys I talked to said he told them he’d had an accident,” said Moko. “We all figured he’d cracked up his car or something. He was a real crazy driver so nobody thought too much about it. I went in to ask him what happened but his office door was closed so I figured I’d talk to him later.”
“Debbie said when Stu started having the bad pain and she called 9-1-1 she didn’t think Barry had come in to work yet. Do you remember seeing Barry there when the paramedics showed up?”
Moko seemed to think about that for a moment. Then he said, “Huh. Now that I think about it, Barry wasn’t there. I followed the ambulance to the hospital so I don’t know when he heard about Stu. But he was at the hospital with Natalie that morning, remember?”
I remembered.
***
Jason came in to work at ten to six. When he spotted us in the corner he looked away, then seemed to think better of it and came over.
“Hey, Moko. How’s it going, man?”
Moko stood and the two men did an odd kind of surfer handshake. It involved fist bumps, wrist grabbing, and hand grips that would’ve never cut it at Homeland Security; but then, Hawaii’s almost five thousand miles from Washington DC, so who cares?
When their hand jive was finished, Jason leaned in and put a hand on my shoulder. “Pali, how’re you doing? Good to see you again.” The guy looked like he could use a good night’s sleep, but he was still ridiculously handsome.
“I’m fine. It’s been a tough week, but at least Stu’s out of pain now.”
Jason lowered his eyes and nodded.
Moko got up and excused himself to go to the men’s room. I asked Jason if he could sit with me for a minute. He glanced over at the bar and said, “Sure, what’s up?”
“You spent a lot of time at Stu and Natalie’s, right?” I said.
“He was my best friend. And I’m sort of between girlfriends right now.” He smiled as though to assure me he was hard at work resolving the situation.
“How many times did you go out there? You know, in a typical week.”
“I don’t know. Three, maybe four times a week.”
“And you and Stuart sometimes would go out, just the two of you, right?”
“Yeah, but Stu liked to be home. Have you ever seen his place? It’s like a mansion or whatever. Really nice crib.”
“Yeah, actually I was at his house for dinner the night he fell in the canal,” I said.
“Oh.”
“Since you were over there a lot, did you ever notice Natalie leaving for long periods of time? Or did she say stuff that didn’t make sense or act like she was hiding something?”
“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”
“There’s been some talk about Natalie having an affair. With a guy with the initials ‘BT’.”
Jason eyes widened as if he’d been gut-shot. “My best friend and his wife had the happiest marriage I’ve ever seen. Whoever said that is a liar.” A muscle in his chiseled jaw pumped like a piston. “I need to get back to work.”
He got up and abruptly turned and slammed into Moko who was making his way back to the table.
Moko held up his hands as if to say, ‘whoa.’
Jason stomped off toward the bar.
“What the hell was that?” Moko said as he sat down.
“That was a guy with a short fuse. And I think I just lit a match.”
CHAPTER 31
I went bac
k to the apartment and called Hatch. I caught him up on the events of the past day and a half.
“You know, Babe,” he said. “I’m not crazy about you getting in the middle of all this.”
“I’m not too crazy about it myself. But I feel I owe it to my new family. The cops aren’t even looking into it because they think it was just a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time.’ But I’ve got a pretty strong hunch it was no accident.”
“Well, be careful,” he said. “You don’t want to end up in witness protection again.”
“You’re right about that. I’m running out of islands.” I laughed but it wasn’t a ‘ha-ha’ laugh it was a ‘lord have mercy’ laugh.
“Would you ever consider moving to the mainland?” he said.
“Whoa. I may be running out of islands, but let’s not get drastic.”
“No, seriously. Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to see more of this country?”
“I saw plenty of it when I went to Homeland training.”
“That was New Jersey, in the winter, with the feds calling all the shots,” he said. “Doesn’t count.”
“Can we talk about this some other time? I’ve had a tough day.”
We went through the ‘love you; love you too’ ritual and then I hung up. I only had three more days. I wasn’t going to spend even ten minutes fretting about Hatch’s crazy notion of moving to the mainland.
***
My cell rang early Tuesday morning. “Are you up yet?” said Wendi Takeda. She didn’t wait for me to answer before she said, “I think I’ve got a lead on the Good Samaritan.”
I looked at the bedside clock. “Wendi, it’s five-thirty in the morning.”
“I know. But I couldn’t sleep. This is the kind of story that jump-starts a career.”
“You realize you’re talking about the death of my brother, right?”
“Sure. And I sympathize. But with every day that passes we lose momentum. And witnesses become less reliable. We need to find this guy.”
“I’ll meet you at Starbucks at six,” I said.
“Which one?” she said.
I wanted to get snotty and remind her how she’d been so patronizing before, but it was just too early for snotty.
05-O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? Page 16
