Dead Before A Rival Page 11

  Yet there was a thread of sameness, though Qual knew the sameness was no attribute belonging to either Francis or Chauncy. It was a quality of Quality Smith’s.

  ***

  Sid ran into Hank just outside the County Courthouse. “Laura’s trying to get in touch with you,” Sid said. “I didn’t have time to get the details, but you may want to revive Marshal as a possible suspect.”

  Hank gave his usual “bad news” grunt. “Talk about a dead end. That lush can’t tie his shoelaces, nevermind pull a smart crime like this one. I’ll call her when I get back to the station.”

  “How is the Cain case coming, anyway?” Sid asked. “I’ve been so busy with other matters the last couple of days, I’ve hardly had time to think about it.”

  Hank laughed humorlessly. “I’ve been too busy with it to think of much else. Chief Yamada had me in to bring him up to date. First time he’s ever shown so much interest in a homicide. I couldn’t figure out what he was driving at. You know how he is. Has to go all around the barn a couple of times before he’ll try the door. Finally, after a half hour of sparring, it turns out Joanna Forbes called him and is upset because the murder hasn’t been solved. Just the name, Forbes, has Yamada quaking in his boots. The long and short of it is he wants me to come up with an arrest, and soon.”

  “Are you going to move on Rouse?”

  “Can’t. The prosecutor won’t budge. I can’t really say as I blame him. I need more evidence. Any kind of evidence.”

  “It seems simple enough. Start tightening the screws. If he has to come down to the station a few times, you should get your wish.”

  “Listen who’s talking. What’s the first thing he’ll do if I bring him in?”

  Sid grinned. “Yeah. He’s not some poor bush-hippie hauled in for growing a couple of scrawny pakalolo plants. He’ll show up with a lawyer.”

  “Knowing that, I thought I might work it the other way around. How about you going to lunch with Dr. Rouse?”

  “Oh, ho. You want me to do your dirty work for you.”

  “Nothing dirty about it. You aren’t his attorney. You’re still working on the Marshal DUI. Sure as hell you’re justified in having a natural curiosity about what happened to Cain, since you were there when it happened.”

  “I tell you what. I’ll call Qual when he comes in tonight from the Big Island and ask him if he’d be willing to do some gumshoe work for you. He already knows Rouse fairly well. We do owe you a favor or two.”

  Hank looked pleased. “Think he’ll do it?”

  “It’s possible. I think he’s about caught up on most of the pressing stuff he’s had lately. There is one problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He hasn’t shown much interest to speak of in this case, and it’s hard to get him to work on something he isn’t interested in. He says that’s what he likes about being senior partner in the firm. He can pick and choose. The only reason he volunteered to interview Francis Forbes was because he was going over there, anyway. I’ll do what I can. Just remember I’m not promising anything.”

  ***

  “Where’s Laura?” Sid asked when he had settled down in Kay’s office to tell her about his encounter with Hank. “I want to hear the details about the Honolulu trip.”

  “You must have just missed her at the courthouse. She got a hurry call from Judge Raines’s clerk. Lisa Raines is getting some sort of award from the Bar Association and she has to shift some of her court appearances around. Laura had an arraignment for this afternoon.”

  “What was all this about Marshal? Did she have a chance to tell you anything?”

  “As far as we’re concerned, it’s mostly downers. Feinberg was friendly and forthcoming. Mostly he was more than happy to see us take the case. His advice was to keep Marshal sober in the courtroom.”

  Sid gave out with a Hank DeMello type grunt. “That much I could figure out myself. Was there anything else?”

  Kay told him about the cryptic comments Marshal had made to Feinberg.

  “Think there’s anything to that?” Sid asked.

  “I’m not sure, but it’s worth looking into. I am sure Hank will be wanting to ask Marshal some rather pointed questions.”

  “Don’t be so sure. Hank is so convinced Rouse did it, he may not want to look elsewhere.”

  “Well, if he doesn’t ask the pointed questions, I will.”

  “I never had any doubts about that. No doubts at all.”

  “I almost forgot. We’re eating out tonight.”

  “It had better not be at the Malalani. It will be months before we get our tax refund.”

  “Nope. This will be gourmet, all right, but best of all it’s free.”

  “Craig?”

  “Right. He’s celebrating.”

  “What’s he celebrating?”

  “Qual’s return. After all, he’s been gone a whole day.”

  Sid laughed. “Now if you were as devoted to me as Craig is to Qual, I’d feel as though I really had it made.”

  Chapter 17

  “Are you feeling OK?” Kay asked, startled by the way Qual looked. Never much concerned about his appearance, Qual seemed even more disheveled than usual and was pale and drawn.

  Qual smiled. “Must be jet lag.”

  Sid, Qual and Kay were sitting in the large front room while Craig was putting the finishing touches on the dinner. Several unwritten rules were in force. No one was allowed to enter the kitchen while Craig was cooking. No one was to either drink or eat anything prior to the serving of the meal. Absolutely no legal matters were to be discussed during the course of the dinner. Craig had tried unsuccessfully to extend the last of these prohibitions to include pre-dinner conversation. It worked well enough during the meal, since the diners invariably became preoccupied with the excellent food, but the attorneys were far too immersed in their daily activities to merely engage in small talk while waiting.

  Craig leaned his head out of the kitchen and said, “I would have invited Laura but I expect she’s spoken for.”

  “That’s for sure,” Kay said. “I think it’s Bill Kuroyama night, tonight. It was Emil a couple of nights ago. Also, I think there’s a mysterious third man in the wings someplace. Our Laura is developing quite a following. It makes me long for the good old days when I was single and fancy free.”

  “Count your blessings,” Qual said. “Those days may look good at a distance, but would you really want to go through all the turmoil again? Isn’t it like the war veterans looking back on all the fun they had and forgetting how miserable they really were most of the time?”

  “You’re painting a mighty grim picture, Qual,” Sid said. “I’ve never heard of singles life being really seriously described as warfare before. That’s usually a notion that’s played with in some humorous, magazine article.”

  Craig, who was standing in the kitchen doorway using a wire whisk on something in a bowl, gave vehement assent to the picture Qual had painted. “It’s worse than warfare, Sid. It’s like a mass, gladiatorial combat. Never, never would I ever want to go through it all again. I’m a veteran who remembers how miserable the war really was.”

  Qual shifted the conversation. “How’s the house coming?”

  “Terribly, terribly slowly,” Kay said. “Gil warned us this was the stage that would be almost as slow as the finish work at the end. The rain interrupted the first pour of concrete. He’s hoping they’ll be pau with this part by the end of the week.”

  “Did Laura find out anything new over on Oahu,” Qual asked.

  Kay quickly summarized what Laura had told her.

  “It doesn’t sound like much,” Qual commented.

  “That’s what I thought,” Kay said, “but Laura seems to have done well by herself. You should see the really nice gray suit she bought over there.”

  “Oh, oh!” Sid said, “I suppose you got the name and address of the shop.”

  Kay laughed. “Relax, Sid. They’re out of my league.”

&nb
sp; “You mean Laura was extravagant?” Craig asked, then commented, “Good for her. Spending money unwisely can be a pleasant experience and good for the soul.”

  “I get the feeling she had some other pleasant experience while she was over there. She speaks highly of Stanley Feinberg.”

  Sid shook his head. “I can’t understand how anyone can fall for someone at first sight. It just doesn’t make sense.” Not waiting for comments, Sid decided the time might be propitious to bring up Hank’s request. “On something else, Qual, Hank was talking to me today about the Cain case. How did the interview with the Forbes kid go? Did he have anything to offer?”

  Qual shook his head. “I’ll report in to Hank in the morning, but I’m afraid Francis couldn’t add anything to what we already know.”

  “Did he have anything to say about Rouse’s behavior on the Honolulu cruise?”

  “Uh-uh. Francis had some exams coming up and spent most of his time studying. There aren’t many students who would go on an ocean cruise carrying a stack of school books and actually cracking them. He really doesn’t know Rouse all that well.”

  “Does he scuba dive?”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t ask.”

  Kay was puzzled by the reply and showed it. Qual’s specialty was his meticulous questioning of prospective witnesses. She knew Hank would be equally mystified at this strange gap in the interview.

  Qual smiled uncomfortably. “I don’t know how I slipped up on that. All the driving must have gotten to me. Getting around on the Big Island is like being back on the Mainland.”

  Sid decided the moment had come. I know he’ll refuse now, Sid thought, but maybe after we’ve eaten he’ll have mellowed, and I’ll try again then.

  “Hank has run up against a wall. Rouse is just not cooperating at all, so Hank was wondering if you might do a little leg work for him, perhaps invite Rouse out to lunch and get him talking about the Cain case.”

  “Sure. I’ll give David a call first thing in the morning.”

  ***

  Qual had always liked David Rouse. One incident, especially, had brought forth Qual’s admiration. In the late-eighties, when the fear of AIDS had driven virtually every dentist to wearing a face mask, David had not done so even though his assistant was one of the first dental workers to put one on while working on a patient. His curiosity piqued, Qual had one day asked him why. David’s answer had been, “I’ve been in this business for a good many years, so I figure I’ve caught just about anything a patient can give me by breathing on me. I suppose I could use the standard excuse most dentists use—that the mask is to protect the patient—but I can’t be that hypocritical. Actually, with all of the hysteria, I’ve come around to something like that, but I make it a point to ask the patient first if they want me to wear one.”

  Qual had also been to lunch with David a year or so before the current luncheon. David’s daughter had been arrested for shoplifting, and David had envisioned a court trial. As it turned out, and as Qual had predicted, the shopkeeper changed his mind and dropped the charges on his own. The daughter was now in college on the Mainland, presumably having learned her lesson from this brush with the law. Rouse had never forgotten the advice and encouragement Qual had given him back then.

  After placing their orders, Qual decided on the direct approach. “As I told you on the phone, we’re representing Marshal in his appeal of his conviction. There’s also something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “I can guess. The Cain killing. Lieutenant DeMello is breathing down my neck, so much so that I’ve been toying with the idea of having you represent me.”

  “All of which puts me in an awkward position. I told Hank I’d report back to him. I can hardly do that if you hire my firm.”

  David laughed. “The lawyer’s dilemma! Why don’t we do it this way? I’ll answer every question you ask, and you can pass any or all of it along to the captain. I really have absolutely nothing to hide. I’ll hold off on hiring you until arrest seems imminent.”

  “Fair enough,” Qual said with a smile. “I only wish all of our clients and our potential clients could see the lawyer’s dilemma so easily.”

  “I’ll answer the big question before you ask it. I didn’t kill Bart Cain. I didn’t like him. I guess that was obvious enough. I didn’t dislike him enough to kill him. In my fifty years on this earth, no one has ever fallen into the category of someone I’d want to kill. Besides, Joanna was already beginning to tire of him.”

  David paused. “I imagine that’s the next question. What about Joanna? Well that’s one of the reasons I wasn’t eager to answer the lieutenant’s questions. I’m convinced he wouldn’t believe much of what I told him. On the other hand, I think you will at least give me the benefit of the doubt. You see, I’m in love with Joanna. I really don’t need her money. I’ve done well over the years, and I have a lot of sound investments, mainly in real estate. I’ll have my accountant send you a financial report, so you won’t have to just take my word for it.

  “I’ve known Joanna for a long time, and I was a close friend of her husband’s. In fact, I knew Mark long before I met her. She almost went to pieces when he was killed. I think I’ve helped her to pick up some of the pieces, but she’s still fragile. She went through a long bout of psychotherapy, and I think she’s on the way back to recovery finally. That’s another reason why Lieutenant DeMello had better look elsewhere for the killer. No matter how I felt about Bart, I never would have done anything to him for fear of what his death would have done to Joanna.”

  “How’s she taking it?”

  “That rather surprised me. My first concern was for her, but she really didn’t seem to need any help. At first I thought it was shock. You know how some people just can’t show their grief in the middle of the worst of tragedies, even though they’re torn apart inside. It wasn’t true with Joanna. After the initial moments, she took it calmly, and there was no sign of disbelief or denial of what occurred. Which convinces me even more that she’d pretty much cooled toward Bart.”

  “Do you have any idea who might have done it?”

  “I didn’t until the day before yesterday. That’s when Lieutenant DeMello told me a scuba bottle was seen in my stateroom on the Jomark when it was berthed in Honolulu.”

  “So?”

  “There was no bottle in my room. Since I know who the only person is who would have gone in there, I think I now know who killed Bart. It was Dolph. He lied to remove suspicion from himself.”

  “Why do you think he killed Bart?”

  “I’ve wondered about that, but I have no idea. They worked together for a month or so, so maybe something happening back then would account for it.”

  “Is there anyone else you suspect?”

  “I haven’t given it much thought since I realized Dolph was the killer. At first I did suspect Captain Silva, but I now realize that was ridiculous.”

  “Captain Silva?”

  “Yes. I saw him coming out of Bart’s stateroom right after we anchored off of Waipa Falls. It didn’t mean anything to me at the time. After I heard Bart’s death was no accident, I assumed Silva had tampered with the diving gear.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Hank that?”

  “I told you. The lieutenant is not in a receptive mood when he talks to me. I don’t blame him. With Dolph trying to frame me, I can see where the lieutenant is so convinced I’m the killer he’s not going to believe anything I say. If anything, my telling him something like this might convince him even more that I’m trying to shift the blame off onto someone else. That’s why I was so pleased to be able to talk to you. You may not believe me either, but you’ll listen to me and think about what I tell you.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “Suspects? Not really. The motive is what stumps me.”

  “Sam?”

  “I can’t see how. She has the mechanical ability of a two-year-old. I had to change the light bulb in her reading lamp for her a while back because she di
dn’t even know it had to be screwed in.”

  “Marshal?”

  David laughed. “Have you ever seen him completely sober? It seems to me we have a ‘how many drunks does it take to change a light bulb’ joke coming up. The answer is two. One to change the bulb and the other to hold the bottles.”

  Qual joined the laugh, then asked, “What about Francis?”

  David seemed startled. “I suppose we’d have to consider him too. I can see what you’re driving at. These people might all have something to gain by Bart’s death, namely money, which would provide a motive.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Unfortunately for the lieutenant’s purposes, their motivation would be even less than mine. As you must know, the Dalquists are independently wealthy. They don’t need Joanna’s money, and her will leaves all of her wealth to Francis and Lee Ann, her daughter. I know, because I witnessed it. As for Francis, specifically, Joanna is too devoted to him to have ever jeopardized his patrimony for the likes of Bart. To make it even stronger, Mark had some special proviso in his will which guaranteed Francis and Lee Ann a munificent income no matter what Joanna did. I’m not clear on what it all consisted of, even though I signed that will too—as a witness. Jeff Bentley handled Mark’s and Joanna’s wills, so he can give you all the details. Anyway, Francis had even less reason to kill Bart then Sam or Marshal.”

  “How well do you know Francis?” Qual became especially attentive.

  “About as well as anyone knows him. Certainly a lot better than Joanna does. She’s always been overprotective. I imagine part of the overprotectiveness is because Francis was so sick with encephalitis. Whatever the reason, she still thinks he’s a twelve-year-old. Since Mark died, she’s centered a lot of her emotions on Francis. I know she seems cold to most people, but she really isn’t. What amazes me is how Francis has never seemed to mind being showered with so much maternal concern. I had a little training in psychology, and I’ve tried to help Francis, but sometimes I think he’s as cold as Joanna appears to be. He really has a protective shell about him.”