Dead and Gone Read online

  “He was so glad to be home again, after almost seven years away,” Leilani began, the tears at the edge of her eyes, the plumeria blossom in her hair drooping in sympathy. The others soon became aware she was talking about her nephew, Kimo Stanner. She had raised him with her own children after her sister, his mother, had been killed in an automobile accident.

  “What happened?” Sid asked.

  Leilani repeated what she had told Qual. “He was coming home last night after visiting one of his friends. It was raining really hard, and he got lost in the Highlands Subdivision. His windshield wipers stopped working, so he couldn’t see very well. Then someone ran out, right in front of his pickup. Kimo called the police as soon as he could find anyone at home. They came out right away. Then they arrested him for driving under the influence.”

  “What about the person he hit?” Kay asked.

  “Kimo says he killed him. He just knows he killed him.”

  “What do the police say?” Sid asked.

  “They say they don’t know.”

  “What!?” Sid said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know, but there wasn’t any body there by the time Kimo and the police went back to where the accident happened.”

  ***

  “You’re it, Laura,” Qual said later, as he pushed a folder across his desk to her, “I’m sure since Judge Wong has caught up on all of his court cases, he’s not going to engage in any bargaining. So this will be your chance to show your talents as a trial lawyer.”

  Laura felt her stomach lurch, drop, recover, turn over and drop again. The folder with “Kimo Stanner” written on the tab did nothing to reassure her. “But you people know so much more about what to do,” she protested, “and Leilani is going to be really upset if you turn this case over to a newcomer. I’ll be glad to help. I’ll do all the research, but I can’t go taking over a case that’s going to trial—just like that. I’ve been here less than a month, and besides …”

  Qual grinned as he interrupted. “Sorry, but we’re pushing you into the water. You’ve got to learn to swim sooner or later, and this is as good a time as any. Besides, in a way, the rest of us are newcomers too. None of us have had a trial with Judge Wong presiding. That’s not all. The most we know about the acting prosecutor is the talk Sid and Kay had with him over lunch last week.

  “So everything’s as brand new for us as it is for you. What’s really important is you know Kimo. You were practically raised with him. He’ll feel a lot more comfortable with you, and he’ll tell you things he’d never say to the rest of us. Getting the client’s trust can be almost as significant as the trial itself.”

  “Can’t I just work with him and have Kay or Sid take the case into court?” She was unmistakably pleading.

  Qual could not resist laughing at the tone of her voice, even though he remembered what it was like to be a new lawyer with case number one looming up ahead. “There’s no room here for an attorney who’s afraid to take a case to trial. I’ve seen some like that. I’m not going to let you become one of them.”

  “Believe me. I’m one of them. I’m absolutely terrified.”

  “You’ll get over that. We’ll give you all sorts of support along the way. One of us will sit with you during the trial, and you can always get out from under if things look too desperate. There’s no need for me to say that, though. I know you can do it.”

  Laura appreciated the stroke, but was still feeling weak. “I wish I knew I can do it. Did you tell Leilani you’re turning Kimo’s future over to an attorney who’s never been in court as anything else but an observer?”

  “Nope. She told me. She was in a short while ago and asked me to please put you in charge. You have no greater fan than Leilani. That’s really saying something, because she thinks the rest of us are damn near perfect attorneys. So, now that that’s settled, let’s go into the details.”

  “Settled? It may be, but my stomach isn’t.”

  ***

  Qual reached across the desk and flipped Kimo’s folder open, saying, “Let’s start with Wong, as much as we know about him. He’s been on the bench here for only about two months, and has been a plea bargainer’s dream. He’s had very few cases go to trial and has accepted just about any reasonable offer in order to avoid court cases.”

  “You mean he’s as scared as I am?” Laura asked, trying to see some humor in the inevitable. “It should be a great trial.”

  “Not quite,” Qual said with a smile. “He just had one hell of a backlog left over by old Judge Schreiber whose place he took over. The first thing he did was to cut the docket down to sizable proportions. So, about all we know about him is he’s as efficient as all hell, maybe even more so than Judge Raines. That’s saying quite a lot.

  “Between the two of them, they’re making Elima’s Circuit Court the envy of the rest of the state courts. They’ve got cleaned up dockets, and both of them are raring to go on new cases. I think you can see why, from our viewpoint, how that isn’t necessarily all good. When criminal cases are backed up for months, prosecutors and judges are much more apt to accept a plea bargain, just to keep from cluttering up the calendar any more than it is already. Wong doesn’t have to do that anymore.”

  Laura groaned. “Leave it to me to come in just when he’s through accepting pleas. What else do you know about him? How does he react to DUI’s?”

  “That’s a good question, and it’s the way you should be thinking. He’s tough, but probably no more so than most judges are on drunken driving these days. He’ll have to give a six-month jail sentence for a DUI guilty plea, since that’s automatic as you know. Both Leilani and Kimo definitely want to avoid that. So Kimo will be pleading not guilty and you’ll have to ask for a trial.”

  Laura groaned again.

  “The first chance you get,” Qual continued, ignoring her reaction, “talk to Bill Kuroyama. Invite him to lunch. He’s the Kuroyama part of Fessenden and Kuroyama. He’s a nice guy. He had a DUI before Wong a few weeks ago. I’m sure he’ll be happy to fill you in on what happened. Also, he should know a lot more about the acting prosecutor than we do. Bill is definitely worth talking to, and see Kay and Sid about the prosecutor if you haven’t already. They had lunch with him last week and can tell you more about him than I can.

  “The main thing you’re going to have to do is to work Kimo over, and I mean really work him over. Make him tell you everything that happened, how much he had to drink, what the police said—everything! Then make him go over all of it twice more. Tape the interview. At least one of us will listen to it afterwards, and I promise we’ll be critical as all hell. When you go into court, you have to know more about your client than he knows about himself.”

  “That won’t be hard. About all I know about myself right now is I wish I’d quit law school and joined the air force.”

  ***

  The first night after Laura had reported to work, she was the major topic of conversation between Sid and Kay, immediately following discussion of the new house they were planning.

  Both of them were feeling pleasantly tired from an extra set of tennis they had played that afternoon. The Civic Park was close to the office, and Sid and Kay took advantage of its nearness two or three times a week. Almost equal in their skill, they pushed each other into strenuous games. Today’s match had been even more strenuous than usual.

  Kay was sitting in the recliner with John Samuel, their neutered tom, purring up a storm in her lap. Sid was stretched out on the couch. Sheena, their tortoise shell tabby, was trying to find refuge there from Bluebeard, her one remaining offspring. Bluebeard was bouncing across the back of the couch, then jumping down and dancing sideways down the length of Sid’s supine form. Desperately chasing his own tail when it occasionally came within his field of vision, the young cat tumbled off onto the floor. Undaunted by the fall, he came roaring back up to reenact the performance. Sheena crawled up closer under Sid’s chin.

  “I talked to Gil Iwamoto,” Si
d said, as he tried to give Sheena some protection from her frenetic son. “He says he’ll be happy to submit a bid. He’s even going to go out to the building site. Maybe the three of us can take a run out there tomorrow. He needs a copy of our house plans, so we can take them along with us and give them to him then.”

  “Gil Iwamoto? Isn’t he just a hardware supplier? How can he bid on building a house? Doesn’t it involve grading, and termite spraying, and pouring concrete, and all that sort of thing?”

  “He does it all the time. He says he’ll take charge of the whole thing from the ground up, including trips out to the site during construction to check on the contractor. In fact, bidding on home construction is his major specialty now he’s in business for himself. He’ll give us an estimated cost on building materials and contact at least three different contractors and ask for their bids. He’ll even provide some of the supervision an architect’s ordinarily supposed to give.”

  “Isn’t all this going to be awfully expensive?”

  Sid shook his head. “Gil gave me a preliminary estimate. It’s a lot less than Ron Crockett says he can get for the commercial property we own here in town. Ron sure knows his real estate. I’m glad he convinced us to hold onto that chunk of land until we were ready to build. The value of town property has really gone sky high in the last few months.”

  “It would be nice to work with Gil. I’d just as soon help him out since he now has his own hardware business. How’s he doing?”

  “He’s swamped. Working twelve hours a day. He says he had his doubts about starting out on his own. He’d saved up over the years while he was manager of Aloha Hardware. When they collapsed after he quit, they left a vacuum behind for just the kind of service he likes to provide. A lot of builders, who never even bought from Aloha, are coming to him. Gil’s pretty modest about his success. He says he’s doing so well because he’s a local boy.”

  “I’m sure there’s a lot more to it but, then, it does pay to be a local boy sometimes.” And speaking of local boys, how do you think our local girl is going to do?”

  “Laura? She’s sure looking a lot better these days than she did at her interview. She must have bought herself some new clothes. Getting rid of that fifties hairdo is what made the biggest difference.”

  Kay laughed. “You men are all alike. You judge men on ability and women on appearance.”

  Bluebeard had finally discovered a particularly tasty button on Sid’s shirt. The discovery induced a comfortable bout of nursing, accompanied by a contented spreading and contracting of claws. Sheena eyed her half-grown kitten with distaste, turned her back on him, and curled up even farther under Sid’s chin. Sid eased her down so he could talk without choking.

  “You know as well as I do a woman’s appearance is important. If she goes before a jury looking like a hippie castoff, she could lose the case right there.”

  “C’mon Chu. That’s a gross exaggeration. Just because Laura’s not the most stylish person in the world doesn’t mean juries are going to fault her for that. If anything, the locals probably will recognize her as one of their own. The important thing is how well she knows her law. You went over your burglary case with her today. Was she any help?”

  Sid’s tone was grudging. “She seemed to know the stuff pretty well, but she’s fresh from hitting the books.”

  Kay grinned. “In other words, she knew more than you did.”

  “Well, I haven’t had a burglary case in months.”

  “Sure, and she’s never had one at all.”

  ***

  Laura, Sid and Kay went to lunch together on the Monday after Qual dropped the Kimo Stanner case into Laura’s lap.

  “Qual said you might be able to give me some idea about what the new prosecutor is like. Believe me. I need all the help I can get.”

  “He’s O.K., as far as I’m concerned,” Sid said, without reacting to Laura’s additional plea, “but I’m prejudiced. After Scott Ikeda, anyone doing the prosecuting would look good. You missed an incredible creature in the prosecutor’s office.”

  “What surprises me,” Kay added, “is how the county finally got someone as good as it did. In the past, it was almost as though the mayor and council were out to get the worst possible attorneys to be prosecutors. I have to agree with Sid. Scott Ikeda was the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel.”

  “I hate to admit it,” Sid continued, “but Ikeda’s at least partly responsible for the improvement in the prosecutor’s office. He, and his influential family, strong-armed the council into raising the prosecutor’s salary to a decent level. It did my heart good to see Ikeda get the boot before he collected his first wages under the new pay scale. Also the special election to replace the mayor and the two councilmen who are headed for jail was a big help. I’m not too sure the new mayor knows what she’s doing, but at least the developers and the Ikeda types haven’t bought her out. Those two women who got elected to the council seem to be intelligent and honest, something that’s a novelty for that body.”

  “I think Sid’s upset we had an election where all the women who were running won,” Kay said. “That’s why he’s so chary with his praise.”

  “What happened to Ikeda?” Laura asked. “I really couldn’t make heads nor tails out of what the Chronicle said about his leaving the job.”

  Sid and Kay both laughed. “That’s because Ikeda’s uncle owns the Chronicle,” Sid said. “He didn’t want to tell the full story. He was trying to give the impression Scott was the one making the decision to go back to school. What really happened was Ikeda demonstrated his total incompetence as a trial lawyer. Both Wong and Raines petitioned the State Supreme Court for an appointed master to look into his past performances. Ikeda was so bad the master recommended he go back to law school for further training, and the Court’s disciplinary committee upheld the judgment. After all that, I doubt Ikeda will even stay in the islands, never mind try to get his old job back.”

  Laura was uneasy at the thought of Ikeda’s fate. She voiced her feelings.

  Sid broke into a grin on hearing Laura’s continued misgivings. “Don’t worry about that. No way could you do as bad a job as Ikeda did. He was not only inept, he seemed to work at it full time. It was almost as though he came into the courtroom with the intention of offending the judge. I’m sure Qual has told you, several times, ‘Don’t offend judges.’”

  Laura mustered up a grin in return. “Being inoffensive is something I can manage. I wish the rest of the proceedings were as simple. What’s the new prosecutor like? I’ve heard you talking about him, but I didn’t pay much attention since I didn’t expect to face him for a long time to come. What do you know about him?”

  “Really not much,” Kay said. “He’s a local who graduated from Wanakai High and went on to Sid’s alma mater, Columbia Law. He got good grades, practiced on Maui for a couple of years, and specialized in corporation law. We’ll have to check with some of our friends over there to find out how he did.”

  “Wanakai High? I must know him. That’s where I went. What’s his name?”

  “Emiliano Bautista.”

  “Emil Bautista! I do know him. He was a senior when I was a freshman—a tall, scrawny, pimply-faced kid. He wore glasses and carried books around all the time, and was valedictorian of his graduating class. All I can remember of him was how his voice was scratchy, and he looked and acted like a creep. He’s a third or fourth cousin of mine, or some such thing.”

  Sid gave a whoop of laughter. “Are you ever in for a surprise. He’s still tall, and that’s about it. He must wear contacts these days. If he’s a creep, you’d better tell Kay, here. I think she has the hots for him.”

  Kay smiled. “Marriage didn’t cure Sid’s jealous streak. He thinks I want to crawl into bed with every handsome man I see. Emil is handsome, though, no question about that. He’s also about as far from being a creep as you can imagine.

  Laura shook her head. “I can’t believe ten years would make much difference. Yo
u can’t imagine how awful he was.”

  “Well, you’ll have a chance to find out how much he’s changed,” Sid said. “Make an appointment with him to talk over the Kimo case. Emil seems really approachable. Unlike his predecessor, he even speaks plain English. The only thing I can see wrong with him is he doesn’t seem to be aggressive enough to be a prosecuting attorney. Since we’re sitting across the aisle from him, that’s really all to the good. I know he’ll be willing to see you.”

  “Be sure to check out those great eyelashes,” Kay added.

  Chapter 3

  Kimo still could not believe what had happened, even though it was now almost three days since his arrest. He had hardly slept. He had wanted to drink a couple of beers to relax, but didn’t dare to. Driving his new purchase no longer held any pleasure for him. On the contrary, he was hyper cautious. Today, he had walked the half-dozen blocks to the attorney’s office rather than drive—something he would never have even considered doing before the accident.

  Now, Kimo had an additional reason for being unhappy. He had been unable to share Leilani’s enthusiasm when he heard Laura Correa was going to be his attorney. Laura, he remembered as being a noisy and aggressive tomboy, someone wearing torn cutoffs or old dresses. Invariably she sported a pair of bruised and dirty knees.

  The businesslike and attractive female who shook his hand and waved him to a chair was a pleasant surprise.

  “I’d have never recognized you, Laura.”

  She grinned. “I probably wouldn’t have recognized you either, Kimo. It’s been a lot of years. Almost eight, isn’t it?

  Kimo nodded. Laura looked at him appraisingly. Kimo had definitely changed. He was much taller, six-feet or more, and much slimmer than she remembered. Laura’s last memory of him was of a roly-poly teen-ager whose only interest was cars. His Hawaiian mother had provided the dark skin and soft features; his haole father had been responsible for the somewhat incongruous blond hair.