Dead and Gone

by John A. Broussard

  For the first time since she had been hired, Laura arrived at work after eight. Leilani was on the phone and waved hello to her. Sid caught sight of her as she walked by his door and shouted, “Be sure to see Kay. She has an assignment for you.”

  Hearing the greeting, Kay emerged from her office.

  “I was going to call Bill Kuroyama to ask him about common law marriage. Sid and I think Drina may have had reason to benefit by keeping Stanner’s death quiet.”

  “Bill would probably know all about that,” Laura said. “Do you want me to call him?”

  “Sure. It might be a good idea.”

  Laura could feel Leilani’s eyes on her and caught Sid looking at her through his open door.

  “You were right,” Sid called out. “It is like living in a fishbowl. Leilani’s dying to find out who you preferred.”

  “Leilani’s dying to find out?!?” Leilani exclaimed as she put the phone down. “You and Kay and even Qual haven’t been able to contain yourself.”

  Laura’s face reddened. “I feel like a pregnant guppy.”

  The three others laughed. Laura went to her office to call Bill.

  ***

  Kay and Laura spent a good deal of the morning on Kimo’s case. “Bill says there’s no such thing as common law marriage in Hawaii,” Laura said, “but where there’s issue, the parties involved are virtually considered to be married. Just about any law applying to a married couple, applies to a couple who’ve had children and are living together. The main exceptions, of course, are the bigamy statutes. He says he’ll be happy to give us leads if we have anything more definite to go on.”

  “That’s pretty much the way I thought it was,” Kay said. “Now all we have to do is to figure out how a wife would have anything to gain by keeping a dead husband out of sight for a few days. By the way, Corky called. The final results of the pm are in. Corky found Stanner’s dentist, and the teeth check out. The time of death is a long way from positive, but it clearly overlaps with the time of the accident. The blood on the street and on the truck were definitely his. At least that’s settled.”

  “Well, we’ve cleared up one mystery, but I’m not sure it’s going to benefit Kimo.”

  “There is something that will, though. Lyndon was definitely drunk at the time he was run over. Real drunk, according to Victorine.”

  “Great. That’s sure a big plus, but how could he tell from the pm. I would think after all that time the alcohol and everything else would be long gone.”

  “I wondered about that, too. Corky says they used the blood from the scene of the accident. Allowing for the addition of rainwater, they fed the figures on the particle count into the computer, and Victorine’s willing to swear Lyndon was really out of it.”

  “That sure gives me a good tack to exploit. If the accident victim was blind drunk, the jury won’t have a hard time believing he walked right smack into the side of the pickup.”

  Kay agreed. “I thought you’d appreciate the information. Are you working on any leads?”

  “Corky and I thought we had one. But, since the body has been identified, the lead has evaporated.”

  “What was it?”

  Laura described the interview with McMahon.

  “So you and Corky are convinced there’s hanky-panky going on at the real estate office?”

  “Yes, and I’m also convinced McMahon is pretty much aware of it. He may still be at the stage where he’s trying to kid himself, but deep down inside he knows what’s going on. But now the whole thing is just a side issue. I can’t see where it could possibly have anything to do with the accident.”

  “Maybe the office would be the wrong place to look,” Kay mused.

  Laura picked up on the notion immediately. “You mean she might have been having an affair with Stanner and not someone at work. It’s worth looking into, but I just feel it’s unlikely.”

  “What time did McMahon say she came home?”

  “He didn’t. I got the impression it was shortly after the police left.”

  “Hmm. It might still be a good idea to go by the real estate office and talk to her. Even if the chances of her being involved are remote, there’s always the possibility she may have seen something.”

  “That’s what I’ve been thinking too, so I was planning to talk to her just on general principles. Even if she doesn’t spend much time at home, she might have seen Stanner there at one time or another. Anyhow, I probably should check back with the others at the subdivision.

  “Now we’re certain who the accident victim was, maybe someone there will be able to tell us whether or not he’d been around before. Corky says the lieutenant will be going out to the Jacintos. I’m sure he’ll be dropping in on Drina and her mother while he’s out there. So, I’ll probably wait until I hear back from Corky before I go there again. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can make an appointment with Jill McMahon.”

  “Mind if I tag along?”

  “Mind? Just the opposite. I need all the help I can get.”

  “Fine. I’m free this afternoon. See if you can set up a meeting for then.”

  When Laura came back from the phone call, she said to Kay, “It’s all set, but I think I skirted the edge of the law in setting it up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mrs. McMahon was totally opposed to meeting with us. I dropped a few broad hints to the effect if she didn’t see us, she might have to see the police instead.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that, except you may have misled her in another way.”

  “How so?”

  “If Hank doesn’t get something positive from his interviews today out at Wiliwili Circle, she may get a visit from the police regardless of whether she sees us or not.”

  ***

  The first thing Laura thought of when she met Jill was her own relief of the previous evening knowing elaborate makeup was no longer de rigueur. For Jill, it was. Kay had the feeling this was one person who needed to have her face thoroughly scrubbed.

  Jill McMahon was probably in her mid-thirties, but the layers of rouge, powder, mascara and lipstick added years to her age. Above the painted face, Jill sported an unfashionable, and unnaturally blonde, bouffant hairdo. All that, and her tightly girdled figure, prepared Laura and Kay for a personality which was nowhere near as complex as the one they encountered.

  The real person came as a surprise. While perhaps as hard as her exterior, Jill was also shrewd, observant, and surprisingly cooperative. Her earlier refusal had convinced Laura interrogating Jill was going to be an uphill battle. It wasn’t. She gave them most of what they asked for, plus considerably more they neither asked for nor needed. Following the interview, Kay observed they had gotten some broken kernels of macadamia nut buried under a mountain of shells.

  The interview was conducted in a large room at one of several desks. Since Jill seemed to be little concerned about who might overhear what she was saying, Laura also felt comparatively unhampered by the lack of privacy. Explaining exactly who they were and why they had come, Laura asked, “Did you see anything strange or different when you got home the morning of the accident?”

  “Nope. Except the old man had gone to bed for a change. He usually waits up for me. He doesn’t complain, but I can tell what he’s thinking. I don’t know what he expected when he married me. I’m not about to stick around home and grub in the dirt the way he does.”

  Observing the long, manicured and carefully painted red fingernails, Laura could see Jill had clearly kept her resolution. “Was there anyone else around at the time you got there?”

  “Uh-uh. It’s a quiet neighborhood except for those damn chickens next door. I’ve about had it with those Filipinos. The roosters can’t tell headlights from daylight. Every time I pull into the driveway at night it sounds like Old MacDonald’s.” She paused for a moment. “Come to think of it, they weren’t too bad that morning. All the excitement must have set them off earlier. There was a light on in the house. So m
aybe they just figured it was high noon. Of course, they do their share of crowing even then.”

  “There was a light on in the Jacinto house?” Laura’s surprise was evident.

  “Yeah. That’s kind of unusual, come to think of it. I can’t remember ever before seeing one on so late. Maybe someone just had to go to the can about then.”

  “What time was that?”

  “One-thirty or so. I’m not sure of the exact time, but that’s not too far off.”

  “Whereabouts was it in the house?”

  “In the back.”

  “Any idea what room?”

  “I’ve never been in their house, but if the layout there is like ours it was in the kitchen.”

  “Any lights on in any of the other houses?”

  “None at the Hawaiians, and that’s about all I can see from our place. The young couple on the other side of the Hawaiians have a high hedge around their house. The last house in that direction is out of sight at the other end of the loop. Nothing at the house around the corner either, so far as I can remember. It was just generally a miserable rainy night with no one around.”

  “We think we’ve identified the person who was struck by the truck. He was six foot tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, about one hundred-and-sixty pounds. He had a tattoo of a dragon on his left shoulder blade. Do you remember seeing anyone like him in the neighborhood at any time in the past?”

  Jill shook her head. “You might ask the old man. I think he said something about a visitor next door a few months back, at the Hawaiians. They got into some kind of a hassle. The women and the man, I mean. I was only half listening, but it might be the same guy.” Her eyes narrowed. “You figuring it might not have been an accident and someone in the block was involved?” Before either of the attorneys could answer the question, Jill threw her head back and gave a strange piercing laugh. “If you are, you can sure write off my old man. He doesn’t even cheat on his income tax.”

  With no prompting, Jill started in on her relationship with her husband. And proceeded to describe in minute and graphic detail what was wrong with her marriage.

  Afterwards, Kay and Laura agreed Bill Kuroyama was apt to find an interview with Jill far more profitable than their own half hour spent with her.

  Chapter 17

  Craig and Qual were at the office when Laura and Kay came back just before quitting time. Qual was putting papers into his briefcase while Craig was checking off a grocery list.

  “How did the supersleuths do?” Qual asked.

  “We made a little headway,” Laura said, “but I feel like I’m walking uphill on some of the greasy mud the sugarcane trucks leave on the road.”

  “Cal called. He asked for you, Laura, but settled for me. We went over the possible knife wound with Victorine. The aortic arch on the corpse had been penetrated. Cal says there’s really no way of knowing whether or not it was a knife wound. Victorine will testify it might or might not have been one.”

  “Terrific!” Laura said. “Just the possibility of a knife wound will help. I’ll make the most of Victorine’s doubts.”

  “Cal figured you would. He says that’s one of the major differences between medicine and the law. A doctor wishes he could be more positive, an attorney hopes he can be more ambiguous.”

  Laura was only half listening as her thoughts raced ahead, mapping out the strategy for exploiting the possible knife wound. Could he have been dead when the truck hit him? Could it have been self inflicted? If not, who might have done it? There was no question but this new evidence, however uncertain it was, could change the complexion of the trial. She would have to find out how long someone could live with that kind of a wound, how far they could walk … or run.

  “You were quite popular this afternoon,” Qual continued. “Leilani left a stack of personal messages on your desk. I took the one from the Feds. They want to dicker on the trespassing charge. I think they’re ready to drop the whole thing.”

  Laura let out a sigh of exasperation when she came back to reality and fully comprehended what Qual had said. “I should have known they’d do that.”

  Craig looked up from his grocery list. “I would think you’d be pleased. Doesn’t it mean you’ve won the case?”

  “I would much rather have gone to trial. I think we could have forced them to open up the base to inspection. Damn!”

  “Careful,” Qual warned. “Your job is to defend the client, not to push his views.”

  Surprisingly, Kay took Laura’s side. “It would have been nice to have forced one of those self-important generals to testify under oath. With luck we might have gotten some of the military to perjure themselves.”

  Craig’s eyebrows went up. “Good heavens, Qual. It sounds like this place is becoming a nest of activists.”

  Qual chuckled. “We could do worse than be activists, as long as we do our regular jobs in the meantime. Get your client off, Laura, then we’ll file a petition with the courts anyway. Even if we don’t get the military reserve open to inspection, the newspapers will pick up the news, at least the ones in Honolulu. Sooner or later the army’ll cave in to public pressure.”

  Leilani, who had been closing down her computer and searching for her handbag while the conversation was going on around her, said, “I’d better give John a call and have him put the rice on. And, oh! I almost forgot. There’s a message for you, Kay. Sid phoned from the courthouse and said he was going home early to get dinner ready.”

  Half to herself, Laura said, “I guess there’s something to be said for having a husband at home to do the cooking and housework.”

  Craig grinned as he slipped the grocery list back into his pocket, and Qual broke into loud laughter, saying, “There is. Believe me, there is.”

  ***

  Putting down unfinished tasks was the most irritating part of her job, Laura decided. Spending half a day on Kimo’s case just got her nicely revved up, then she would have to spend hours handling a shoplifting case or a break-in.

  When she voiced her feelings to Qual, he agreed it was a problem. “Kimo’s new arraignment is tomorrow. Once that’s out of the way, pitch in and get all the minor stuff tidied up. Sid and Kay have both said they’d like to work on Kimo’s case. If the three of you can clear up the rest of the work, then you’ll all be free to give Kimo a full week before the trial starts.”

  Laura thought it was a good idea, and was only too happy to have the promised help. Even so, Kimo’s plight was never far from her mind. After the arraignment produced a first degree negligent homicide charge, it was difficult to think of anything else. Laura had fully expected the charge, since it was mandated for an accident which involved a death caused by an intoxicated driver. She was nevertheless appalled to think how twenty years of Kimo’s life could depend on how well or how badly she handled his case. The only bright part of the proceedings was that Judge Wong had not demanded bail. Kimo had again been released on his own recognizance.

  Both Bill and Emil called her, but Laura declined any further invitations for the duration. She had told both of them, “I’m going to be lousy company until Kimo’s trial is over. Call me after that.”

  That she never gave any thought to what she would tell either Bill or Emil after the trial was good evidence it fully occupied all of her spare thoughts.

  ***

  Another first: jury selection.

  Laura had hoped Kay would have been the one to come along for this part of the trial process, but Kay was in Judge Raines’ court with a trial of her own at the time. Laura had heard of Kay’s reputation as being a superb juror selector and, as she had said to Qual, “I need all the help I can get.” Laura now felt comfortable working with Kay, while Sid still made her nervous. Visions of the law professors again came to mind. Sid seemed to expect so much from her, while at the same time giving her little credit for what she knew or did.

  Except for the rare occasions when a tropical downpour swept over Napua, the walk to the courthouse from the law offices w
as always a pleasant one. Tree gardenias lined the streets in this older part of the city. Blossoming all through the year, they provided shade while the fallen flower petals gave off their fragrance when pedestrians crushed them underfoot. As they left the office, Sid was saying. “Remember, you have only three perempts, since this isn’t a murder charge. Best thing to do is to wait until all twelve jurors are selected and then see what you have.”

  Since she was well aware of the number of peremptory challenges available to her, and because she had already worked out overall strategy with Kay, Laura merely nodded at Sid’s statement. “There’s no good rule for jury selection in a DUI case these days,” Kay had said. “About all you can do is to see if you can ferret out anyone who’s been injured in an accident where a drunken driver was involved, or who’s had a close relative in one. It won’t be easy because the judge may not let you ask the question of potential jurors. On the other hand, you can file an objection and use it later as a basis for appeal, but you know how Qual feels about challenging judges. You’ll have to play it all by ear.”

  Laura could not quite see herself challenging Judge Wong, even with Qual’s approval.

  While she had spoken to Emil several times over the phone, they had not seen each other for almost two weeks. The impending jury selection kept her from being apprehensive at the prospect of meeting him again face to face. Emil’s smile further reassured her. Jury selection went swiftly. Judge Wong quickly winnowed out those who could justify not serving on the basis of their occupation or for similar statutory reasons.

  While the bailiff was responsible for accomplishing this task, inevitably many potential jurors suddenly remembered these excuses at the time of impaneling. The standard pretexts for not serving, the judge just as rapidly disallowed. It was apparent he took the notion of civic duty seriously and expected the average citizen to do so too. One middle-aged Filipino protested in badly broken English he could not really understand the language well enough to serve. Laura assumed the judge knew more about the man’s language ability than was evident, since Wong dismissed the excuse instead of the juror.