No Time for Death: A Yoshinobu Mystery

by John A. Broussard

  I wasn’t sure whether the piece of information was reassuring or not.

  Chapter 11

  Lisa recognized Keiko Nishimura's soft knock and called to her to come in. “The bus with some of the jury panel broke down just outside of town,” Keiko announced. “We may not be able to start jury selection until eleven.”

  “Have you informed the attorneys?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes, I have, your honor.”

  “Fine. Just let me know when everyone's assembled.”

  Somehow, things broke down more often in Hawaii than they did on the Mainland, and repairs always took longer. Living here called for more patience, but it had greater rewards. Jon had probably wanted her to go to Washington DC. It was hard for her to tell. It was hard for Jon to tell, for that matter. He wanted so much to do what she wanted to do, she was sure he could have convinced himself Hawaii had really been his idea.

  She had caught him once, near the tag end of her law school days, reading “The Brethren.” And other books on the Supreme Court justices showed up in unexpected nooks and crannies of their apartment. But when she spoke about Hawaii, the books vanished.

  She, herself, was never clear as to why she had wanted to come to the islands to go into practice, but if advancement in her profession had been her goal, she couldn't have chosen a better place. Even though Honolulu was a fast growing metropolis, it still had a small town quality about it. Within the professional groups, reputations traveled fast, and her skills as an attorney were soon recognized.

  Lisa joined a small firm and handled a few criminal cases with ease and dispatch. But her first medical malpractice suit brought out her real talents. Lisa's various courses in biology and her voluminous reading in the field pointed her in that direction. She not only won the case, which involved a very substantial settlement for her client, but she found she thoroughly enjoyed the research it involved and the following trial scene. The head of her law firm was delighted, and had reason to be. In large measure because of this young, brilliant attorney, the establishment grew, and fast.

  Offers from other law firms came, sometimes subtly over a luncheon, sometimes directly by letter. She discussed the offers with Jon, and they agreed with the notion, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” She was happy with her colleagues, moved rapidly into full partnership, had a hand in hiring additional attorneys—and the flood of requests, which they were receiving from both doctors and patients to represent them, made it possible for her to pick and choose cases.

  Jon and Lisa had long before wrestled with the problem so many lawyers faced sooner or later. “Will you defend someone you know is in the wrong?” Jon had asked.

  Lisa's answer had been a simple one. “That's what I like about malpractice suits. I know there's no danger a plaintiff with a reasonable case won't be represented. There are plenty of attorneys out there eager to accept cases like that on a contingency basis. And the doctors are all insured, so you can be sure the insurance companies are going to see they get the best defense possible. I'm going to take only those cases where I'm representing the side I think deserves to win.”

  “And I take it you realize there's an advantage to your client because of that?”

  “Why, of course,” Lisa had said with a smile. “I didn't take all those courses in psychology for nothing. If I'm convinced my client's in the right, it's going to make me a much more effective counsel than if I didn't feel that way.”

  The years in Hawaii were delicious. And it gave Lisa immense pleasure to provide things for Jon she knew he had always wanted, but had long ago dismissed as unattainable. She took two months off, and they traveled around the world. The sounds, the sights, the discoveries were intoxicating.

  Both of them disliked driving, so they rented an apartment halfway between her law firm and the University of Hawaii campus. Jon began to write during her absences at court and at her office. It was a long and elaborate essay expressing his philosophy of education. They both knew it was utopian, both knew it would never be published, and both enjoyed discussing every paragraph and sentence. Lisa soon became aware the pages were really a distillation of what Jon had done for her. But there was no way he could put all the love he had felt for his pupil on paper. And they agreed love had been an essential ingredient in what he considered to be an example of a superbly successful attempt at education.

  His conviction of success reached its peak one day when she arrived to find him waiting impatiently for her. His feelings were so strong as he handed her a letter which had just arrived, she was more concerned for him than for the contents of the letter. Reading it, she was astonished. Her name had been submitted to the governor for possible appointment to a judgeship. She was being asked to see the appointments review board for an interview.

  Jon agreed with her the offer was the result of many unrelated factors coming together. The average age of judges in Hawaii was surprisingly high. The governor had been criticized for his lack of female appointments of any kind. A minority appointee was essential, and a person of mixed racial background was even better.

  “Being a registered Democrat when there's a Democratic governor in office doesn't exactly hurt, either,” said Lisa.

  “There's another factor, too.” Jon said.

  “What's that?”

  “You know your law.”

  ***

  It was the Sunday before jury selection, and I'd about given up trying to find time to talk to Joyce Joaquin when she wasn't busy. But she came in that Sunday, special for a client, and had a no-show. I was at the office, mainly to get all my paperwork out of the way, because I knew I wouldn't have time for much of that in the coming week. I was only hoping after that week I'd be back at work with no worries beyond what to sell to the next prospect.

  Joyce and I were the only ones there, so we got to gabbing.

  Unlike Reggie and Lyle, she didn't spend much time complaining about either Dale or his successor. “As far as Dale is concerned,” she said, “there's no use beating on a dead horse, or a dead horse's ass, for that matter. And I'm going to talk to Chrissie, tomorrow. I can't really believe she's pushing sales in Kimmie's direction, but if she is I'll fry her tail.”

  I was ready enough to take Joyce at her word. She didn't strike me as someone who'd hesitate to call a spade a spade, or a chiseler a chiseler.

  As for the day of the killing, Joyce couldn't offer much. She hadn't been to the office that day. Most of the morning she'd been alone at home and had spent the time cleaning the house. “Believe me, it was a mess,” she said. Around noon, she'd decided to treat herself to some shopping.

  “My old man begrudges me every suit and dress I buy. But I've told him you don't go selling million dollar condos while wearing levis. He works in the plantation warehouse all day and doesn't own but a half-dozen pair of trousers. That makes him think I only need the same number of skirts. There are some things a man just can't understand.”

  She'd made the rounds of the shops from about noon to almost four, and then had gone home in time to put the rice on. “Guess I wasn't the only one out spending hard earned real-estate dollars. I saw Kimmie driving by the restaurant where I was eating lunch at one o'clock. I'll bet she was heading for one of the fancy dress shops.”

  When I checked in with Kay, I told her this was the most dismal interview of all, at least so far as results were concerned. But I repeated everything Joyce told me.

  Kay let out a war hoop. “Hell, Ron!” she said. “You may have hit the jackpot.”

  Chapter 12

  Sid, Kay and Scott Ikeda were waiting for Judge Raines and the first potential juror.

  Kay was finding it difficult to talk to Ikeda. Sid was doing somewhat better, and was carrying on a desultory conversation which included comments about the weather (there had been the same beautiful, sunny, dry weather for six weeks), sports (Sid had a minor interest in baseball, Ikeda had none), the county council (Sid was repelled by most of the members of that political body, the counci
l having confirmed by an overwhelming vote Ikeda's earlier appointment as assistant prosecuting attorney).

  Keiko Nishimura finally came back from informing the judge the attorneys were present, and Lisa Raines followed shortly afterwards.

  Kay had decided to let Ikeda jump first. The usual routine followed. Lisa made it a point to question each potential juror. She was quick to dismiss anyone who protested on virtually any grounds. Kay had talked to her about jury selection many weeks back, and Lisa had said she preferred to have a willing jury. “It helps them to stay awake,” she'd said.

  The selection went quickly. Kay had a standard set of three questions. Ikeda had a half-dozen. By the time twelve jurors had been selected, neither side had any rejections for cause and neither had used any of their available peremptory challenges. There were five young males, one male in his fifties, five Japanese women whose ages ranged from forty up, and Jay Joules.

  Jay Joules was a name Kay had picked up from a local conservation group. After talking for some time with her informant, she had become convinced Jay Joules, a retired geologist who was now devoting all of his energies to environmental causes, would be ideal from their viewpoint. The only question in her mind was how much they should sacrifice in order to keep him on the jury. After Kay got the information, she wanted to go all the way to keep him. Sid was uneasy about putting all their money on one number. Kay asked for a brief recess and Lisa granted it.

  “There are too many Japanese women,” Sid said.

  “The important thing is to keep Jay Joules,” Kay insisted. “I don't care if we get eleven women and him. We've already decided women wouldn't really be all that bad.”

  “Ikeda will think he died and went to heaven if you end up with that kind of a ratio.”

  “So much the better. He'll let Jay ride then.” When they went back into session, Lisa asked Kay if she was satisfied. Kay said yes.

  Turning to Ikeda, the answer was five preempts, dropping the young males.

  Sid whispered to Kay. “It was too much to expect.”

  Kay's face was expressionless, as she whispered back. “I'm going to just let him have his fun.”

  The replacements were one young male, two middle-aged males, a Filipina in her twenties and an older woman whose ethnic background neither Sid nor Kay could identify.

  Lisa turned to Kay who indicated she had no quarrel with the new composition.

  Ikeda felt otherwise. The young male was dropped. The replacement was another young male.

  Sid smiled and whispered. “Ikeda's not having much luck.”

  “He's wondering what we're up to.” Kay said.

  Ikeda plodded away, his luck improved, and he still had one perempt left. Kay had used none of hers. The jury was now eleven women and Jay Joules.

  Kay said to Sid, “I'm going for it.”

  “We're satisfied with the selection, your honor,” she told Lisa.

  Ikeda was puzzled, then dropped Jay.

  Sid heard Kay say, “Shit!” and he hoped Lisa hadn't caught the expletive. As soon as Jay was replaced by a young woman, Kay used all twelve of her preempts. The final jury was five men under forty, two retired males, and—surprisingly—four women well under fifty. The fifth woman was close to fifty and was the one eventually chosen to be the foreman. She was a tall, very thin haole. The ethnic distribution was one third haole, a third Japanese, and a third mixed. Sid preferred this jury to the original one. Kay missed not having Jay Joules.

  As she said afterwards to Sid, “We have to be careful not to sell Ikeda short. That was a shrewd move. With one man on the jury and eleven women, Jay was almost sure to have been selected as foreman. Any man would have been influential. And Jay Joules could have been more than that. He could have been the deciding factor.”

  ***

  It was sure nice to hear from Kay this afternoon. She said the morning's jury selection had gone better than expected. She's still after me to keep up my investigations. I can't see I've done much, but she thinks I have. I suppose that's what counts. I wish she weren't quite so tight lipped about what my interviews are doing for my case. I talked to Sid about it again, and he keeps insisting that's the way Kay works. If she's on to something, she won't even tell Sid until she has it completely figured out. “The best thing you can do,” said Sid, “is to give Kay all the information you can get.” So I decided I'd go all out in talking to Kimmie. That's why I invited her to lunch.

  For someone who can seem so shy when she doesn't know you, Kimmie can sure be a yakker when she does. She kept up a steady barrage of chatter at lunch. I'd finished my meal and she had just barely started on hers. Most of lunch was spent with her talking shop. She talked all around the subject of Chrissie, however. And I can't say as I blame her for that. Kimmie's got trouble coming. As we were leaving to go to lunch, I’d seen Joyce going into Chrissie's office.

  The grim look on Joyce's face could mean only one thing. She's out for blood. Chrissie had better have a good explanation for the deals she's handed Kimmie, because the rest of the office is boiling over. I sympathize with them but, like I said, I'm not about to choose sides—at least, not as long as I need character witnesses from both sides.

  Kimmie's rattling on slowed down considerably when I tried to find out what she was doing on the Saturday of the murder. She said she'd spent all day in her apartment.

  Even if Joyce hadn't told me about seeing Kimmie in the shopping district at one, I wouldn't have believed Kimmie. She wasn't looking me in the eye when she said it. Not that I believe the old jazz about not trusting people with shifty eyes. It's just that she'd been making eye contact with me right along, and then she couldn't look at me. That tends to make one suspicious.

  And she made a big point of telling me Chrissie had come by to see her before eleven and had stayed there until about two. It all came out without any prompting on my part. I made it a point to remember the times, because Kay always seems to put a lot of emphasis on that.

  When we got up to leave, I couldn't resist asking her how come she was so friendly with Chrissie. “I always understood she was pretty mad at you, since she figured you were the reason her marriage broke up.”

  I wasn't too sure what kind of an answer I was going to get to my question. But I would have bet my savings it wasn't going to be the one I did get.

  “I broke up the marriage, all right. But Dale was the one who was angry about it, not Chrissie.”

  ***

  Jon and Lisa did their best not to get excited. The newspaper said there were six candidates in the running for two judgeships. All of them had been endorsed by the Hawaii Bar Association with “excellent” ratings, so they knew that would not be a factor. They looked at the faces and names of the candidates. The qualifications under the photos were brief and, in at least one instance, badly garbled.

  “You're the youngest,” Jon said. “But I don't know if that's good or bad.”

  “There are three other women,” said Lisa, “and that's not good. I imagine the governor will select one man and one woman. That gives me a one in four chance.”

  “But all three of the women are Japanese,” Jon said. “And the benches in the state are already overstocked with Japanese.”

  “Yes, but the Japanese are his main supporters. He can't afford to alienate them.”

  “Works out fine, then. He can appoint you and a Japanese male, so then he keeps everybody happy.”

  “But the one Japanese male is much too old. The governor can't select him. And besides . . .”

  “And besides, we'd better stop speculating.”

  The days passed, and she did stop speculating since she had a particularly difficult case to handle during that time. She was so engrossed she didn't hear the phone at first. When she answered it, she was still giving most of her attention to the brief in front of her.

  The firm's telephone operator was saying, “It's the governor.”

  The words that followed were the most pleasant she had ever heard. �
�I'm very pleased to tell you that, after a great deal of consultation with my advisors, I have appointed you to the vacancy left by Judge Tanaka's retirement.”

  The telephone operator had alerted the office to who was at the other end of the phone conversation, and doors had begun to open all along the hall. Lisa just caught a glimpse of two of her colleagues who were waiting by the reception desk to hear the latest word. She held up two fingers in a victory sign as she rushed past them, ran down the stairs and caught the first passing taxi. A phone would never do. “And I'd never last the four blocks if I ran.”

  When they pulled up in front of the apartment, Lisa knew instantly what the ambulance was doing there.

  On the way to the hospital Jon regained consciousness briefly. She told him about the judgeship, because she knew he wanted to hear it. But, to her, it now all seemed so unimportant. The specialist waiting in the emergency room shook his head. “I'm very sorry, but he's had a truly massive heart attack. I know you weren't aware of it, but he's been coming here for the past dozen years. He's been suffering from angina, and he insisted you not be informed about it. The medication has helped, much longer than I thought it would. He's an amazing man.”

  Lisa nodded. She couldn't ask the question. The doctor knew what she couldn't ask. “It will be hours, at the most. I doubt very much he will last until nightfall.”

  It wasn't hours. She had time to hold his hand. He smiled. She forced one in return. She kissed him. He raised his hand to the oxygen mask. Lisa looked at the nurse, who in turn looked at the doctor. The doctor shrugged and nodded. With the mask removed, Lisa bent down close to his lips. Even so, she could barely make out what he was saying.

  “Don't just be a good judge. Be the best judge.”

  Chapter 13

  Kay had been prodding me to approach Chrissie.