No Time for Death: A Yoshinobu Mystery

by John A. Broussard

  “Any indication on your part you have a temper, any sign you could possibly contemplate killing anyone, will work against you and could conceivably convict you. Remember, the jury is not going to decide your case solely on the facts. Their gut reaction is just as important, maybe even more so.

  That bothered me. I had to remind myself about what Qual had said, that the jury system was still the best form of justice. I needed lots of reminding about that.

  “And dress up. Only attorneys and defendants wear neckties in Hawaii, and the jury expects it of them.”

  “I've got a nice Sunday suit. I'll wear that.”

  Sid sat back and relaxed, “Believe me, it's a relief to have a clean-shaven and presentable defendant for a change. My last case was an old hippie left over from the sixties. He insisted on keeping his shoulder-length hair and untrimmed beard. Then he showed up wearing big gold earrings, a dirty sweatshirt and cutoffs. With that get-up he expected me to convince the jury he hadn't been peddling dope when he was busted.” Sid shook his head in disbelief at the memory.

  I grinned. “Maybe I can't do anything else, but I can sure look respectable.”

  “Right,” said Sid. “Kay's going to need every bit of help she can get in this case.”

  It wasn't the happiest note to end the training session on.

  ***

  Even after all this time, Lisa still felt a twinge of embarrassment when she saw Sid Chu. The kiss she'd given him, after she'd officiated at his marriage to Kay, was not exactly a sisterly peck. Fortunately, the celebration going on at the time pretty well covered up her dismay at her own behavior. And Sid didn't seem to mind a bit.

  Jon would have said, “You're a passionate person. Don't fight it, enjoy it.”

  Jon, Jon, Jon! Twenty years couldn't simply be forgotten, even though Jon would have been the first to urge her to forget.

  Her gaze flicked quickly away from Sid to the other men in the courtroom. She smiled to herself as she watched the unprepossessing and impossible Scott Ikeda calling the next prosecution witness. She suddenly remembered her father's comment at an animal auction, when a particularly scrawny bull was driven into the sawdust cage in front of the bidders. “All he's fit for is to attract flies.”

  The males among the spectators were not exactly choice. And the ones on the jury were already slouching in boredom, even though the morning session of the first day was only half over. The first of the patrolmen who'd testified had seemed alert and intelligent. Was that what she was looking for? Alertness and intelligence. If she really knew what she wanted, she wouldn't have to look. She could just place an ad on one of the numerous websites featuring matchmaking.

  –Judge. Female. Widow. Thirty-seven. Hawaii. Unwilling to relocate. Hobbies: Reading, orchid growing, good conversation. Seeks male for friendship and possible marriage. Must have the following qualities: ? ? ? ?.–

  Her eyes drifted toward the defendant. Not bad, she thought. He's neat and reasonably attractive. And he doesn't seem anywhere near as nervous as he was at the arraignment. I can't see anything wrong with him except he may have killed someone. She almost laughed aloud at the thought.

  Poor Lisa, her thoughts continued. Jon was convinced I had strange tastes in men when I chose him. He'd really be amused how the man I'm most attracted to in a crowd of fifty or so is someone being tried for murder.

  Ikeda's questions addressed to the witness brought her attention back to the matter at hand. She looked at the composed Corky who had just been sworn in and suddenly remembered what she'd heard about her. Corky had the reputation of being a femme fatale. She never seemed to be at a loss for a male roommate, and was known to have had a string of them. At Kay and Sid's wedding, Corky had arrived with a handsome, smiling young electrician who was quite obviously infatuated with the slender policewoman.

  Lisa gave Corky an appraising look. She's certainly attractive, and alive. I can see why men would be interested. But do they come to her, or does she go to them? There's one way I can find out.

  Chapter 15

  After the morning session, Sid and Kay told me they were both surprised to see Corky Medeiros show up on the witness stand.

  “Ikeda had her listed,” Kay said, “but it's standard practice to list a lot of witnesses you really don't intend to use. And he couldn't have expected Corky to really do much more than tell us what Hank was going to cover later and in much more detail.”

  “I think Ikeda isn't anywhere near as confident of winning as I originally thought he was,” Qual said, pulling a piece of paper out of his briefcase. “He's added another witness at the last minute.”

  Kay looked at the sheet and shook her head. “That's ridiculous. Dale's ex-wife isn't going to help his cause any. If anything, just being an ex-wife will help to make Dale look less like a helpless martyr. Do you have any idea what he's going to do with her?”

  “No idea,” said Qual.

  “Maybe he decided to fight quantity with quantity after seeing our list,” Sid suggested.

  “It's especially puzzling after what she told Ron.”

  I agreed. What she had told me was puzzling enough in itself.

  The last afternoon before the trial began I'd been waiting for a chance to talk to Chrissie privately. The office had pretty well cleared out, but she was closeted with a client. Annie was out at her desk, and I decided it might be a good time to talk to her while waiting for the customer to clear out of Chrissie's office.

  It was sure nice to see Annie had made a hundred-and-eighty degree turn as far as her attitude toward me was concerned. The day I came to work after the killing, I'm sure she was convinced I'd murdered Dale. I got the impression she was afraid to turn her back on me. But now, and I think it was chiefly thanks to the long interview she had with Kay, Annie not only thought I wasn't the killer, but told me so directly.

  Annie didn't have much to offer, otherwise. Her, Andy, and the kids had been gone all day Saturday. They'd flown over to Maui to see some of Andy's relatives. She said the reason she'd taken Saturday off was because Dale had told her he wouldn't need her. Saturday morning was when she usually helped him with his paperwork.

  “He told me the day before he wasn't feeling so hot, and probably wouldn't be in himself. He did look kind of rocky. It must have been the leftovers of the flu he had the week before.”

  The customer came out of Christie's office right about then, and I moved on in. Chrissie wasn't exactly overjoyed to see me. I know she expected me to give her a bad time about what she'd been doing for Kimmie. I also knew Joyce Joaquin had been in again the same morning to give her what-for on the subject. And when I was going out to lunch, I could hear Lyle's voice booming through Chrissie's office wall. He sounded even less happy than he usually did.

  So I guess she was a bit relieved when it became obvious I wasn't going to bug her about that. She told me how sorry she was about my having to stand trial. Then she piled on the platitudes, and they came in a mixed bag. She knew I wasn't capable of murdering anyone. She realized more than anyone what a bastard Dale could be. She wouldn't fault anyone for clobbering him. She thought I had the patience of Job to have put up with him for so long. And so it went.

  She wasn't as eager to talk about her own relationship with Dale. I'd kind of expected her to go into the “wife and family abandoned scene,” but she was mostly non-committal. She said she hadn't seen Dale for at least two weeks prior to the murder, so there wasn't much I could ask her about that.

  What surprised me was how defensive she got when I asked her about what she'd been doing the afternoon of the murder. Her answer, after a lot of talking around it, was what she'd told Kay a long time before–that she'd been home from noon on with her kids.

  When she finally came out with that, I asked myself, “What happened to Kimmie?”

  ***

  Kay's questions to the second patrolman had been a repetition of the ones she'd posed to the first one, without asking him for an opinion concerning time of death
, or the emotional state of the defendant at the time the patrolmen arrived.

  Both Sid and Kay considered Corky to be an unexpected bonus. As Sid had pointed out to Ron, Hank DeMello was going to want to stick entirely to the facts. Corky, on the other hand, wouldn't hesitate to express her feelings. And Kay knew she had at least some sympathies for the defendant.

  Ikeda was evidently unaware of Corky's feelings and only managed to antagonize her by trying to push her in a direction she didn't want to go.

  As he had done with the patrolmen, Ikeda had her describe what she had found when she arrived at the scene of the crime.

  Corky brushed-in essentially the same picture the two patrolmen had painted. She made it a point to add that the patrolmen had done a good job, keeping the witnesses at the scene, not disturbing any of the evidence, and moving the curiosity seekers attracted by the police car away from the building.

  Sid marked up points for her. It never hurts to give your subordinates a public pat on the back.

  “You are assigned to the homicide squad. Do I understand that correctly?” Ikeda asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How long have you been attached to that department of the Elima police force?”

  “Three years, approximately.”

  “You've seen many victims of murder during those three years, I take it?”

  “Yes.” Corky was eyeing her questioner closely.

  “How would you describe this murder, Sergeant?”

  “I'm sorry. I'm not exactly sure what you mean.”

  “Perhaps I should state the matter this way. How did this murder compare with some of the others you've seen?”

  “For Chrissakes,” thought an exasperated Kay. “What a transparent ploy.”

  Corky's reaction was mild annoyance which came through in her answer. “Unpleasant. But then, all murders are unpleasant.”

  “Do you consider this to be a particularly brutal one?”

  “I should object,” thought Kay, “but I think Ikeda's going to end up tangled so badly he'll just quit.” She could see the judge looking at her, half expecting an objection.

  “All murders are brutal.”

  “But isn't crushing the skull of a sleeping victim especially vicious?”

  “Whoopee!” thought Kay. “I expected him to get tangled, but I didn't think he'd start tying knots.”

  But Kay was bothered by the judge's repeated looks in her direction. Ikeda's question was completely outrageous. Lisa must be thinking I'm an idiot not to object, but she'll see why I haven’t as soon as I get a crack at Corky.

  The duel continued. Corky parried every thrust. Finally the prosecutor gave up and turned the witness over to Kay.

  “As the prosecutor indicated, is it possible the victim was asleep or perhaps unconscious at the time he was attacked?”

  “Not only possible, but very likely. I don't see any other explanation for his hand being like that.”

  (Good for you, Corky, Kay said to herself.)

  “So a complete stranger might have committed the crime, since the victim might have been totally unaware of his or her presence. Is that correct?”

  “Objection, your honor. Counsel is leading the witness.”

  “Your honor. I'm merely asking the witness to explain the consequences of a fact established by the prosecutor—namely that the victim was asleep or unconscious at the time of the attack. Furthermore, I believe a leading question is permissible during cross-examination.

  There was the faintest of smiles on Lisa's face. “The prosecutor's statement that the victim was asleep does not make it a fact. And the basis for his objection is well taken, though he may not have given it proper justification. You are forcing conclusions upon the witness. Please confine yourself to what the witness has observed and not to speculations concerning what opposing counsel assumes to be fact.”

  (I'm not sure, but I think I won the round. And I'll bet Ikeda's face is red. Kay thought before continuing with her questions.)

  “Were you one of the arresting officers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did the defendant offer any resistance?”

  “None.”

  “Could you describe how he acted?”

  “Surprised. Disturbed. He protested very strongly.”

  “He claimed he was innocent, I take it?”

  “Yes. All the way to the station.”

  “Did you participate in his interrogation at the station?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did he at any time admit to having killed Dale Matthias.”

  “No, he did not.”

  “Did any of the police question other suspects?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who were the other suspects?”

  “Dale Matthias's wife, Willa Matthias, and his former wife, Chrissie Matthias.”

  “Would you tell the jury what Willa Matthias said she was doing between 12:45 and 1:45 on the afternoon of the murder?”

  “According to her, she was sitting in King Kamehameha Park talking to Reggie Kaufman.”

  “And Reggie Kaufman is the witness who reports seeing the defendant at the scene of the crime?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what did Chrissie Matthias say she was doing between 12:45 and 1:45.”

  Corky turned to the judge and asked if she could consult her notes. With the judges’ approval, she opened her notepad, then replied, “She said she was visiting a friend, a Kimmie Uchida who worked in the same office as Dale Matthias, from 12:00 to 1:30. She then went home and was with her children the rest of the day.”

  “Why were these two women suspected?”

  “It's almost standard to assume if someone is found murdered, a spouse or ex-spouse is the one most likely to have committed the crime.”

  This is dangerous, but I'd better ask it and get it over with. “Did you interview any suspects other than the defendant, the wife and the ex-wife of the deceased?”

  “No”

  Ikeda was straining at the leash when Lisa gave him permission to reexamine. Given the opportunity to do so, he was almost breathless.

  “Don't all arrestees make the representation that they are innocent?”

  “Some do, some don't. And some are innocent, by the way.”

  Oh, oh, Kay thought nervously. If she keeps that up, Ikeda will ask she be declared a hostile witness. Ikeda shifted ground, and Kay felt a certain amount of relief.

  “Please explain to the jury why you did not avail yourself of the opportunity to interview any other potential suspects.”

  Corky smiled and said. “I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Lieutenant DeMello was in charge of the investigation, and he makes the decisions concerning who should and who should not be interviewed—and why.”

  Chalk up another one for you, Corky!

  ***

  The morning session lasted almost three hours, and it wasn't until Judge Raines adjourned for lunch before I realized I hadn't shifted once in my seat. My bones were aching.

  Sid and Qual joined Kay in making an evaluation of how the morning had gone.

  “Why'd you ask that last question?” Sid asked. “Ikeda picked right up on it. He's bound to ask Hank the same question he asked Corky, and you know what Hank's going to say.”

  “I want the jury to think about it for the next hour or so. They'll be wondering why the police were so quick to arrest Ron. Some will come up with the answer Hank's going to give. But some may decide the police weren't really doing all they should have done.”

  “What answer is the lieutenant going to give?” I asked.

  Kay smiled and tried to imitate the gruff bass I remembered when the lieutenant arrested me. “It seemed so clear Ronald Crockett had killed Dale Matthias we didn't feel any need to examine other suspects.”

  I made a face.

  “Am I still on this afternoon?” Sid asked Kay.

  She nodded, and I looked puzzled.

  Sid must have seen my expression because he said, “Ka
y gets too brittle around Hank. And he gets kind of hostile when he's questioned by a woman. Basically he's a nice guy, and he's doing what he thinks best. More than anything else, we don't want him to get his back up.”

  Well, I'm paying these attorneys, so I'd better go along with whatever they say. But I know if I'd been in charge, I'd have torn the lieutenant to bits. After all, he arrested an innocent man.

  Chapter 16

  “Sorry Hank,” Corky said. “You're going to have to eat a lonesome lunch, today.”

  “What's the story? Your boyfriend blow all his fuses and have to quit early?”

  “Almost as good as that. I'm having lunch with a judge.”

  “So Wong's taken a shine to you?”

  Corky laughed. “Nope. Not Lester Wong. It's Lisa Raines. She wants to talk to me about something, and who am I to turn down a chance for a free lunch. I sure as hell wouldn't get one from you. And I doubt she's going to ask me to toss for it afterwards, like some people I know.”

  The luncheon recess was a two hour one, and Lisa had suggested a small cafe on the other side of Napua. She was about to call a taxi, but Corky offered to drive.

  Corky had never eaten in this particular restaurant. She was pleased at its quiet, clean atmosphere. The proprietor was Cambodian. Lisa's reception indicated she came here often.

  From the outset, Lisa insisted on a first name basis. “We're not in court, now,” she said, with a smile.

  The food was delicious. For the most part, they ate in silence, enjoying the exotic flavors. Corky had coffee after the meal, and Lisa ordered a green tea.

  “I don't drink much coffee at home,” Corky said. “Alan likes tea. And when he makes it for himself, he brews me a cup too. I don't have the heart to refuse, though I'd really prefer coffee.”

  “You seem happy with him.”

  “I'll say. He's the best yet.”

  “I was introduced to him at Kay and Sid's wedding. He seems to be a very pleasant person. How did you meet him? Did he search you out? Or did you search him out?”

  Corky giggled. “You'll have to get Alan's version of that. To this day he claims I seduced him.”