05-O'ahu Lonesome Tonight?

by JoAnn Bassett

“Okay, then. Let’s go.”

  I drove her down to the HPD precinct on Kalakaua Avenue. When we got inside, I did the talking.

  “We’re here to speak to someone about the death of Stuart Wilkerson. He died this week after he contracted—”

  “Oh yes, I’m aware of Mr. Wilkerson’s death,” said the desk clerk. She was attractive and smiley. As if the HPD wanted to show Waikiki tourists that even the Honolulu police oozed aloha. “Please have a seat. I’ll call a detective to come out to speak with you.”

  We sat down and within a minute a grizzled guy in a rumpled aloha shirt and high-water beige slacks came out to greet us. Where were the guys from Hawaii Five-O? I was hoping for Dan-O or McGarrett; instead we got the old guy from Law & Order.

  When the introductions were over, Detective Webber took us into an interview room. I smiled to myself as we walked down the hall to the windowless mirrored room. How many interview rooms had I been in during the last year? Four? Maybe five? I was probably the only wedding planner on the planet who spent more time in police interview rooms than wedding gown salons.

  I brought both Webber and Natalie up-to-date on what I’d found out. When I was finished making my statement, I asked if I could be excused to make a phone call.

  Natalie looked pained when I got up to leave.

  “Can I go too?” she said.

  “Just a few questions, Mrs. Wilkerson,” said the detective. “I’ll have you out of here in a jiffy.”

  I went outside to make my call. I’d been in enough police stations to know it was considered bad form to use a cell phone inside the building.

  I called Jason. It was almost three o’clock so hopefully he was up and getting ready for work.

  He answered and I said, “Jason, guess what? I’m pretty sure I know what happened to Stu.”

  “What?”

  “I talked to a homeless guy who saw everything. He remembered seeing someone in a Mercedes hat talking to Stu over by the canal and then he heard the splash.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Yeah. So it looks like I was right. Stu got pushed in. He didn’t fall. The cops are talking to Natalie right now.”

  “Cops? Where are you?”

  “We’re at the police station in Waikiki. The one on Kalakaua by the Hyatt Regency.”

  “Don’t leave. I’ll be right down.”

  ***

  Jason arrived ten minutes later. He skidded to a stop in the lobby. I was still cooling my heels waiting for the detective to finish up with Natalie. It had been almost an hour. I couldn’t imagine that Natalie had that much to say, but I knew that for some reason the police tend to ask the same questions over and over so I knew how these things went.

  “Where is she?” he said. He glanced around the room sort of wild-eyed. Like he’d dashed in there to get away from a relentless timeshare salesman in hot pursuit.

  “She’s still in the interview room. It shouldn’t be long now.”

  “Look, I gotta talk to somebody,” he said.

  “Here?”

  “Yeah. Ask if they’ll let me talk to someone.”

  What was I, his mother? “Ask them yourself, Jason. I’m sure the gal at the desk there would love to hook you up.”

  He strode over to the desk clerk and waved his arms around as he talked. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but after a minute, the aloha desk clerk nodded. She pointed to where I was sitting.

  “What’s going on?” I said when he plopped down beside me. Jason was one of those guys who looks even hotter when he’s riled up; and at close range he even smelled yummy.

  “Natalie’s in there filling them full of lies,” he said.

  I thought I’d misunderstood.

  “What? No, she’s clueless. She’s only here because I forced her. I found out about the guy in the baseball cap. You know, the one you said had a run-in with Stu that night at the yacht club? A homeless guy saw them out near the canal, and then the next thing you know, Stu was treading water.”

  “Wow. You don’t seriously believe that, do you?”

  That’s one of those questions you ignore or you’ll find yourself in an argument.

  “Look,” he said. “Did your homeless guy tell you he called 9-1-1?”

  “No. He said he didn’t have a phone. I still don’t know who called.”

  “Well, guess what? It’s gonna take the cops about two seconds to find out who did.”

  “So…?”

  “So it was me, okay? It was me. And now Nat’s telling them God knows what to pin this whole thing on me.”

  “You ever watch late night TV?” I said. “You know, old shows like ‘I Love Lucy’?”

  He shook his head. He seemed peeved that I’d changed the subject.

  I said, “Because, Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Jason was ushered back to an interview room before Natalie had come out of hers. I waited for a few minutes and then I went back outside to make another phone call.

  Wendi Takeda picked up after the first ring. “What’ve you got for me?”

  “You’re not going to believe this.” I filled her in on the sketchy information I’d gotten in the past couple of hours. It sounded ridiculous, even to me, but she managed to cobble together a tentative scenario.

  “Okay, so maybe the guy in the bar was a set-up. Maybe Jason pushed your brother in and then had second thoughts and called for help. He knew your brother couldn’t swim.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But our guy Norman said the guy he saw by the canal was skinny. He said it could’ve even been a teenager. Jason’s got the body of a beefed-up personal trainer. No way he’d be mistaken for a kid.”

  As soon as it was out of my mouth, the other shoe dropped. “Natalie,” I said.

  “Yep,” said Wendi. “Looks like it.”

  I waited for almost two hours for Natalie to be released. I figured if she was responsible for killing my brother, the least I could do was stick around so I could spit in her face.

  Natalie came out to the lobby smiling like she’d just had her nails done and was very pleased with the results.

  I stood and waited for her to say something.

  “Well, that turned into a nightmare,” she said. “Thanks for nothing.”

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” I left the question ambiguous. I’d have been happy to hear about what she’d said to the cops as well as anything she wanted to share about the night Stuart went into the canal.

  “I feel sorry for Jason,” she said. “He was just protecting me. The last thing I wanted to do was snitch on him, but what could I do? He must realize he really let Stuart down that night.”

  On the drive back to Natalie’s house, she told me what she’d told the police. She said Jason had called her that night. He told her Stuart had been drinking a lot and he’d gotten into a shoving match with the guy who owned the Mercedes dealership. Jason demanded that Natalie come down right then and there and drive Stuart home.

  Natalie told Jason she wouldn’t be able to come. After all, she was pregnant and she hadn’t been feeling well. She asked Jason to handle it. She told the police what she’d meant was for Jason to drive Stuart out to the boat yard so he could sleep off the booze and be ready for work early the next morning. She’d explained to the police that Stuart often stayed out there. But it seems Jason misunderstood what she meant by ‘handling it’ and instead of helping Stuart get safely to work, Jason threw the Mercedes guy out of the club. This made things even worse for Stuart. She figured the Mercedes guy was so angry at being tossed out of his private club that he stuck around and later pushed Stuart into the canal.

  “But,” I said to Natalie, “Jason said he’s the one who called 9-1-1.”

  “Well, that was the least he could do,” she said. “He probably heard the commotion and realized what he’d done.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, it made sense. Maybe I’d used my dislike for Natalie as a springboard to
leap to conclusions. She was snotty and most probably unfaithful, but if that was a crime the jails would be full of trophy wives.

  ***

  Jason called me on my cell as I was packing to go home. He asked if he could come over and I agreed. I figured he probably wanted to apologize for his role in Stuart’s death. I hadn’t expected to hear from him again, but it was kind of him to offer.

  When I answered the door I almost didn’t recognize the guy standing there. He looked ten years older and as pale as freshly grated coconut.

  “Jason, come in.”

  He sat down on the sofa with a heaviness that reeked of sorrow and guilt.

  “Can I get you anything? Soda? Water? I can go downstairs to the ABC and get some beer.”

  “No, thanks. I’m okay.”

  Far be it for me to point out he looked anything but okay.

  “I’ve got to talk to someone,” he said.

  “Didn’t you just spend the past two and a half hours talking?”

  He smiled a rueful smile. “Let me re-phrase that. I’ve got to talk to someone who might believe me.”

  He launched into his side of the story of how my brother wound up in the Ala Wai Canal.

  “Natalie called me about ten-thirty and asked me to let her know when Robert Torstrick got there. That was weird, because I didn’t know she even knew Bob. Anyway, she said she was worried Bob and Stu might get in an argument so would I give her a call so she could come down and get Stu if things got ugly. Sure enough, when Bob comes in he’s got blood in his eye. He goes over to Stu and starts giving him beef. I tried to break it up but the whole thing got physical, like that.” Jason snapped his fingers.

  “So, like I call Nat and tell her to get down there. When Bob knocked Stu off the stool I told Bob to take a hike. We don’t allow that kind of stuff at the club. It’s bad for business.”

  He shifted in his seat, as if getting more comfortable would make what he was about to say any easier.

  “Anyway,” he went on. “Nat tells me she’ll get there as fast as she can. But then she never shows. I kept the bar open past our eleven-thirty closing time hoping she’d turn up but…nothing. Stu gets up to leave and I told him to wait; I’d walk out with him. I asked if he was okay to drive and he said he was good. He even offered to take me home but it was late and my place is in the opposite direction from the boat yard so I said ‘no thanks.’ I’m on my way to the bus stop when I hear a splash and then yelling. I run back and I see Nat charging across the parking lot. I know it’s her ‘cuz even though she’s got her hair covered by a baseball hat she runs right over to her own car, you know, that red Mercedes convertible with the vanity plates.”

  “Did she see you?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “She was hauling ass and not looking anywhere but straight ahead.”

  He paused and rubbed his hands down his face. He looked like he was gearing up to say something either he didn’t or couldn’t believe.

  “So I call 9-1-1 and run toward the canal. But before I get there I see some old guy pulling Stu out of the water. Stu was coughing and swearing. I couldn’t believe it. That crazy bitch must’ve pushed Stu in. She knows he can’t swim.”

  “But you didn’t go help him?”

  “What more could I do? I’d already called for help and Stu was okay. I had no way of knowing if Nat was still hanging around. You don’t get it. She’s cold as ice. I know for a fact she owns a gun. If she thought I’d seen what she did to Stu, she’d go after me too. No doubt in my mind.”

  “You told all this to the police?” I said.

  “Yeah. Just now.”

  “Did they believe you?”

  “Probably not. But I’ve got an ace in the hole. I won’t play it unless she makes me. But if she makes me, then all bets are off.”

  “What is it?”

  “I know the truth about the baby.”

  “Natalie and Stuart’s baby?”

  He nodded.

  “The kid isn’t Stuart’s,” I said. It was a guess, but not a brilliant deduction or anything.

  He nodded again.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because it’s mine,” he said.

  Now if I’d come up with that it would’ve been a brilliant deduction.

  CHAPTER 35

  My mouth hung open for a good half-minute. I’m sure it wasn’t a pretty sight, but I’d forgotten how to make my jaw work.

  “Okay, I’m completely confused,” I said when I regained my faculties. “Natalie claims the guy who had the fight with Stu—the car dealership guy—pushed him in but you’re sure it was her?”

  I’d already secretly cast my vote for Natalie, but I could see how this was sizing up to be a he said/she said.

  “That’s the stand-off,” he said. “She played Bob Torstrick just like she played me.”

  “So Bob Torstrick is ‘BT’ on her phone,” I said. I didn’t expect Jason to know what I was talking about, but he chimed in.

  “No, that’s me.”

  “But your initials would be—”

  “It’s not about initials; it’s what she called me, ‘Boy Toy.’ Pretty sick, huh?”

  “Were you with Natalie on Sunday, the day Stuart died?” I said.

  “Huh? No way. I was home. I mean, my best friend died that morning. You think I was partying with his sick-o wife? No way.”

  “Look, you just admitted fathering Natalie’s baby. It doesn’t sound to me like you were that good a friend to Stuart.”

  His expression grew hard and he stood up. “It wasn’t like that.”

  I looked at the clock on the wall. It was after six. “Don’t you need to be getting to work?”

  “Hardly. That job’s over, dude. Nat’s probably down there right now spreading lies about me.”

  “Well then, let me buy you a drink and you tell me everything. Starting with how you came to father Stuart’s child.”

  ***

  We went downstairs and got a table at a sushi place. I should have been hungry but I wasn’t; I was too keyed up. I ordered a large hot saké. Nothing loosens the tongue like hot alcohol on an empty stomach.

  “Stu and Nat had been trying to get pregnant from the get-go. Stu used to brag that he was going to finally beat me at something—having a kid. But after months and months nothing happened. Nat figured it was her so she went to the doctor and they found she was fine. Stu used to laugh and say he was ‘having fun trying’ but I could tell it bummed him that month after month she never got knocked up.

  “Anyway, one day she asks me to come over. She says she’s got a proposition for me. I go because, although I was never a big fan of Nat, Stu was my bruddah. I’d do anything for him. I go over there and she’s all nice and gooey and she asks me how much do I love Stu and all that.”

  Jason raked a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I fell for her bullshit.”

  “She wanted you to sleep with her?”

  “I thought that’s where she was headed, so I tell her, no way will I do that. She sends me one of her famous looks and says—and I’m quoting her—You think way too highly of yourself, Jason. I shoulda shut down that bitch right there and then, ya know?”

  I nodded.

  “Anyway, she tells me that with Stu’s dad dying she’d love to give Stu some good news. To cheer him up. She asks if I’m a good enough friend to do that for him.”

  “She wanted you to donate sperm at a sperm bank?”

  “Not exactly. Nat wanted no trace. No record. She said she’d researched it on the internet and she knew how to do it at home.”

  “A Mason jar and a turkey baster?”

  “I only know about the jar part. I wasn’t there for the actual conception,” he said.

  “So how does this have anything to do with Stuart’s death?” I said.

  “After she got pregnant, she started blackmailing me. I realized what she’d done.”

  “Blackmailing you?”

  “Yeah,” he s
aid.

  “For money? No offense, but from what I’ve seen you don’t have as much money as Stu.”

  “Not for money. For sex. She said if I didn’t do everything she wanted, she’d tell Stu we were having an affair and the baby wasn’t his. She said she’d prove it with DNA after the kid was born.”

  “Oh wow. So how is the baby being yours your ace in the hole? It looks more like a ticking bomb to me.”

  “Because in a moment of passion—and believe me, with Nat those are few and far between—she admitted to me that she was sick of Stu. She told me when she married him he’d promised her the moon. He thought he’d be a very rich man when his dad died. But when that didn’t happen, she started looking around. And she found somebody else.”

  “Why would she tell you all this?”

  “She loved to torture me. As if making me perform like a trained monkey wasn’t enough. She got her jollies telling me cruel stuff to undermine my friendship with Stu. The bitch really knew how to turn the screws.”

  “Did she tell you the name of the guy she was having an affair with?”

  He laughed. “Oh honey, get out a pad of paper. You’re gonna have writer’s cramp before we get to the end.”

  “And you believe her?”

  “I don’t care enough to believe or not believe her. After all, she’s totally crazy. I just shut most of it out.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Stuart? I mean, how long has this been going on?”

  “Not long. Maybe a couple of months.”

  I thought of something but I rolled it around in my mind for a few seconds before saying it. “How do you know she was actually pregnant with your baby?”

  “Because she told me.”

  I gave him a look like a mother catching her kid with chocolate all over his face who claims he never even knew there was a Hershey bar in the house.

  “Oh, and she showed me the stick,” he said.

  “The at-home pregnancy test?”

  “Yeah. She waved that thing around like a fairy godmother or something. Stu even brought it to the club one night. It was disgusting.”

  “But the stick only shows she’s pregnant. Not who the father is.”

  Jason stared at the back wall without saying a word.