CHAPTER 33
Is there anything more frustrating than cooling your heels when you have no time to spare? At six-twenty I called Wong’s cell one more time. And, again, it went directly to voicemail.
“I’m at Kanekoa’s in Pukalani,” I said. “Call or text me with your ETA.”
The car was getting stuffy but the last thing I wanted was for a nosy neighbor to catch me loitering outside Doug’s house. No doubt the police had asked the neighbors to keep an eye out, and since nothing much happens in the sleepy bedroom community there was little chance I’d go unnoticed.
Then I got an idea. I got out and went to the house next door and tapped on the screen door. The plastic Crocs were no longer on the doorstep, and I hoped that meant her family had returned to O’ahu. A tiny elderly woman with Asian features scuttled to the door as if she’d been lying in wait.
“Aloha,” I said. “Are you Ami Tanaka?”
She regarded me with a sharp eye. “Aloha. And yes, that is my name. How can I help you?”
“May I come in?”
“What? You try to sell me something?”
“No, auntie. I’m sorry to bother you at dinner time. My name is Pali Moon, and I’m not selling anything. I’m a friend of Doug and Lani Kanekoa’s..”
She unlatched the screen and stepped back to let me pass.
“That was some kin’ of bad, eh?” she said.
“It was. It still is.”
We stood there for a few moments without saying anything, lost in our own recollection of the loss. The house didn’t smell as if dinner was on the stove. It simply smelled clean, like she’d lemon-oiled the ancient rattan furniture ten minutes earlier.
“What can I do for you?” she asked again.
“I’m trying to get to the bottom of what happened next door.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You a reporter?”
“No, auntie. I’m just a friend. Doug is my martial arts sifu and Lani was my friend. I don’t think the police have got the story straight.”
She looked down. “Okay. You come in and we talk story a bit, eh? I just put the water on to boil.”
She gestured for me to take a seat while she scurried off to the kitchen in the back. I took in my surroundings and it dawned on me that Ami’s house was the mirror image of the Kanekoa’s. Front living room with tile floors, dining area and kitchen behind, and a hallway with bedrooms and bath on one side. Although the houses were identical, they didn’t appear to be from the street since the builder had apparently taken pains to alter the front exterior so all the houses didn’t look alike.
When she returned with the tea tray I’d mentally organized the questions I had for her. We went through the requisite small talk—where I lived, if I was locally born and raised, her recent loss of her husband due to a heart attack—before I was able to pose my first query.
“I heard that Doug came over on the Sunday before and asked if the kids could stay with you. Is that right?”
Her eyes squeezed shut, and I was concerned she might be getting ready to cry. I felt the urge to pull back the question but didn’t. It was getting late and I felt tantalizingly close to learning something significant.
“Yeah, he asked me. I had my whole ‘ohana coming that week. It was my birthday, eh? I turn seventy-five and this the first year without my Kaito.”
It took me a moment to grasp Kaito must’ve been her husband’s name. For a second, I thought maybe she’d had something surgically removed.
I nodded.
She went on. “So, Doug comes over and I tell him, ‘Sorry’ but I can only keep the keiki one night. Look at this house. Three bedroom, and I got nine ‘ohana from Honolulu coming next day. Where I put everybody?”
She leaned in and poured the tea. “You take sugar?”
“No, mahalo.”
“Milk?”
“No.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “That good. Only baby drink milk, eh?”
She handed me the tea cup and I thanked her with a head bow. I’d sipped tea in Sifu Doug’s office enough times to have a nodding acquaintance with proper tea etiquette.
“What did Doug say when he asked about you taking the keiki?”
“He say he need some alone time with his wife.”
“Did he seem angry? Or upset?”
She gazed off to the right. “No, he seem troubled. That’s what I told police. He didn’t look mad. He was sad. There’s a difference.”
Big difference, I thought, but I kept it to myself. I glanced out the front window to see if Wong had arrived, but my car was still the only one out there.
“What did he say when you told him you could only take the kids for one night?”
“He say not to worry. He got a sista-in-law in Haiku who would take them. I guess the keiki want to stay here that week so they could be with their friends, but I couldn’t help. Now I’m sorry ‘bout it.”
“I’m sure Doug understands.”
“I don’ know, but he probably glad they weren’t here when it happened.”
That answered my next question so I moved on.
“What did you see or hear the day Lani died?”
“I already tell the police this.”
“Yes, and I’m sorry to make you go through it again, but some new developments have come up and I want to see if they make sense.”
“What new developments?”
“I’m pretty sure Doug didn’t kill Lani.”
She blew out a quick phht and waved a hand. “Course not. That all bullshit.”
I blinked at her earthy profanity. “You don’t think he did it?”
“No way. It’s not possible.”
“Why?”
“Because when he left that morning Lani was fine.”
“How do you know?”
“I see her. I’m putting out the garbage can in the street, you know? It’s Monday and that when the garbage come, and there she is in the front window. She wave at me.” Ami dropped her head and covered her eyes. Soon, her back twitched as if she were discreetly holding back sobs.
“I’m so sorry to make you go through this again. But you’re helping. You really are.”
She nodded and lifted her head. Her cheeks were tear-stained. “I love her like a daughter, you know? She a good girl and a good mother. I know she been sick, but that morning she look so happy. Like an angel.” She paused and shook her head. “And next thing I know, she is an angel.”
“Who do you think killed Lani?”
“Don’t know.” She bit her lip.
“But you have an idea, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“What did you tell the police?”
“I told them I thought it was the robber.”
“Because the back door window was broken?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see an intruder over at the Kanekoa’s that morning?”
“No. But I can’t see their back yard. They got a fence and bushes back there. You go see for yourself. No way to see.” She said it as if I’d accused her of not being a good neighbor.
I paused to give her a moment to collect herself.
“Who do you really think killed Lani Kanekoa?”
“I love her so much, you know?” She broke into inconsolable sobs.
“Your sister-in-law told me you think the police have it all wrong.”
“They do. No way Doug shot her.”
“How can you be certain of that?”
She squeezed her eyes closed as if trying to make a painful decision.
“I know about the suicide note,” I said.
Her eyes popped open. “You do?”
I nodded. “Doug sent me to find it in his office.”
“Ah, then you know.”
“Yes.”
She blew out a breath. “I heard the gun that morning. I thought maybe a car had backfired because it was only the one time. But then, I got to thinking I should check it out.”
I waited.
“When Doug came home I was pounding on their door.”
“What happened then?”
“He told me to stay there and he went inside. When he came out, he showed me the note.”
“Did you tell this to the police?”
She gave her head a barely perceptible shake. “No.”
“May I ask why?”
“If you read the note you know why.”
An ugly white Crown Vic pulled up outside leaving me to ponder the proverbial fork in the road.
CHAPTER 34
It was almost seven and starting to get dark. I finished up with Ami, apologetically made my way out, and dashed over to the Kanekoa house. Wong was waiting at the front door, arms crossed, face glowering.
“Didn’t I make myself clear about keeping me waiting?”
“But you’re an hour late. I was talking with the neighbor.”
“I can see that. Now, let’s get inside before someone sees us out here and calls the police.” In the shadowy porch it was hard to make out Wong’s face but I could hear the wry smile in his voice.
“Mahalo, but I don’t need to go in the house anymore, Detective.”
“What? You drag me up here, which means I’m missing dinner, I might add, and now you don’t want to go in?”
“Sorry. But I’m ready to make my case. Would you like to sit in your car or mine?”
He glanced at the Mini and mumbled we could use his car. He even opened the car door for me. I was half-expecting him to put a hand on my head as I ducked inside, but thankfully, he didn’t.
He held up his wrist and inspected his watch in the glow of the overhead light. “You have five minutes.”
I took a few seconds to decide where to begin and then I plunged in.
When I finished, Wong leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes. He stayed like that for what seemed like two or three minutes but was probably much less. I remained quiet.
He finally turned and faced me. “Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re telling me the victim had inoperable brain cancer and took her own life.”
“That’s correct.”
“With the alleged perpetrator’s handgun.”
“Yes.”
“And the ME didn’t find evidence of the tumor because the GSW obliterated it.”
“The autopsy report indicated a point blank gunshot to the head. I can’t speak for Lani, but if it was me, I’d probably aim for the place where I was having the most pain.”
“What about the broken glass in the rear door?”
“Lani didn’t want her family and friends to know what she’d done, so she staged a break-in before she went out to the garage.”
“You know we dismissed that intruder theory from day one.”
“I was pretty sure you had.”
“And you’re saying that on the day of her death, the victim called her husband and told him what she was planning to do and he came home and found her dead in the garage?”
“That’s a little fuzzy, Detective. At this point there’s no way to know what Lani said in that final call. But I firmly believe Doug Kanekoa was either at his place of work or on his way back to his house at the time of her death.”
“How do you know he didn’t come home and do the deed for her? You know, like a mercy killing.”
“Because there’s an eye witness.”
“To the murder?” His voice rose an octave on the last word.
“No, to the time Doug came home and found his wife’s body in the garage.”
“The neighbor?”
“Yes.” I pointed to Ami’s house.
“Why didn’t she tell us any of this when we interviewed her?”
“She claims you didn’t ask.”
Of course that wasn’t the whole truth. Ami and Doug had read the suicide note together and Doug had sworn her to honor Lani’s wishes. She’d agreed, thinking the fake intruder scene would suffice. When they accused Doug of killing Lani she’d had many sleepless nights, but her loyalty remained with the woman she’d loved like a daughter.
“I’m going to have to file a report on this, Ms. Moon. Detective Ho will want to reevaluate this case as a suicide and there will be a formal inquiry. Your pal Doug will probably get out, but the cause of death will be public record.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
“I don’t see any way around it.”
“What if I can get her doctor to sign an affidavit of her terminal prognosis?”
He shrugged. “That would go to motive, but a suicide’s a suicide. And that’s what will be stated as cause of death on the autopsy.”
“Can you give me one more day before you pull the trigger?” As soon as it was out of my mouth I regretted my choice of words. “I mean, before you bring this to Ho?”
Wong checked his watch. “You’ve got until eight pm tomorrow.”
***
I apologized for calling James during family time, but told him I had information that couldn’t wait. I briefly described my meetings with Ami and Wong and asked if we could meet in the morning.
“Are you nuts? Where are you? I’ll come wherever you are now.”
I fibbed and told him I was at home even though I was only halfway there. He said he’d be there within half an hour and hung up without saying, “goodbye.”
Lucky for me, Steve had gone out and Finn had left a message he’d be working until after nine. The house was eerily quiet except for the brisk trade winds rattling the palms like a bagful of chicken bones. I put on a pot of coffee. I chastised myself for craving caffeine when I knew it would keep me up all night, but then ruefully acknowledged that after the events of the day I probably wouldn’t sleep anyway.
James arrived looking like a man whose wife usually picked out his work clothes. He wore a stained and faded red t-shirt with a stretched-out neck and cargo shorts that not only had seen better days but probably had been made for a man fifty pounds heavier. As he kicked off his rubba slippas at the door, I couldn’t help notice one was brown and the other black.
“Sorry I didn’t take time to clean up.” Gone was the guy who’d treated me like an annoying gnat, replaced by a guy who looked like a kid coming downstairs on Christmas morning. “So, what’ve you got?”
I reiterated the information I’d just gone over with Wong. When I finished, James asked a few questions, and before long he knew everything I knew.
“So, that’s it,” he said. “I’ll file a motion tomorrow.”
“Not so fast. What about Lani’s wish to keep her cause of death secret?”
“What about it? I’ve got a client who’s been wrongly accused and enough evidence to back it up. Great work, by the way.”
If he thought an offhand “attagirl” was going to dissuade me from pressing him on the cause of death issue, he was sorely mistaken.
“Look, James, Doug was willing to go to prison for the rest of his life over this. I think before we rush in we need to consider the consequences.”
He looked beyond annoyed. “I smelled coffee when I came in. Can I talk you out of a cup?”
***
We stayed up until long past Finn came in. In fact, James left only a few minutes before Steve showed up at midnight. I was still sitting at the kitchen table when my bleary-eyed housemate stumbled through the back door.
“You shouldn’t be drinking and driving,” I said.
“I know. I grabbed an Uber.” He slurred the word, Uber, making it sound more like, Over.
“You want some coffee?”
We sat in the harsh glare of the overhead light as I shared the plan James and I had crafted and then meticulously gone over at least a dozen times. When I finished, he nodded.
“Happens all the time,” Steve said.
“Especially under the circumstances.”
“People think having a gun in the house makes them safer, but statistics show it’s quite the opposite.”
“Especially with people who’ve never f
ired a weapon before.”
“You sorry you told me?” he said. “I’m kind of known around these parts for having a big mouth.”
“I trust you. But I am going to make you do a ‘pinkie swear.’”
We locked little fingers, but when I looked into his half-lidded bloodshot eyes I was pretty sure he wouldn’t remember most of it anyway.
CHAPTER 35
Of course I first had to sell Detective Wong on the brilliant solution James and I had come up with. Then he had to sell it to Detective Ho, who in turn, had to get buy-off from the prosecuting attorney. I spent a nervous week waiting for phone calls and anticipating emails, but by mid-August it was done.
As is common in Upcountry ‘ohana like the Kanekoas, every victory is marked with a “come one, come all” luau, complete with a pig in the ground and two or three kegs of local beer. At the party Finn was off in a side yard talking to a clutch of Kanekoa brothers, including Doug, newly-released from jail but still bearing the somber aspect of a man in mourning.
I was watching a group of keiki playing tag when Doug’s brother, James, ambled over.
“From what I hear, nobody on this island was looking forward to prosecuting my brother,” he said. “I’d already lined up like a hundred character witnesses. And the state’s evidence was pretty much circumstantial.”
“Why didn’t they find any drugs in Lani’s system when they did the autopsy?” It was the one nagging question I’d yet to answer.
“Doug says she was totally righteous about drug use. She bought the stuff but never even considered taking it. He said that’s why he was so shocked when she killed herself with the gun. He figured if things got real bad she’d take an overdose. He never saw the other thing coming.”
“The kids think it was accidental?”
“Yep, that’s what everyone thinks. The ME even amended the autopsy report.”
“So the story is she was in a lot of pain and went to the garage to get the gun out of the house and she must’ve stumbled and it went off.”
“That’s what the neighbor said. In her sworn statement she said she saw Lani that morning after Doug left, and she heard the gunshot before he got home. No mention of the suicide note.”
“How is DJ taking it?”
Isle Be Seeing You (Islands of Aloha Mystery Book 9) Page 22
