Dead Before A Rival Read online

  Kay was beginning to suggest the Hixon case was perhaps not an exact parallel to Marshal’s predicament, since the real murderer had been apprehended before the end of the trial, when Sid emerged from below. Kay could tell from his look he would have scant enthusiasm for defending Marshal Dalquist. The sound of the luncheon gong interrupted any discussion which might have followed.

  ***

  The pupus more than measured up to Kay’s predictions. Sid quickly forgot his slight queasiness and was pleased to see seafood predominating. The poached mahimahi was fresh and perfectly cooked. The opihi, a shellfish which Sid ordinarily ignored, were excellent. Sampling the sushi, Sid was convinced ten or more varieties of sea creatures had gone into their making. Shrimp, lobster, octopus, and crab appeared in various dishes, but there were unfamiliar marine ingredients as well. It was difficult to just sample. At least a dozen different salads surrounded the fish dishes.

  Kay joined him with a plateful of her own. “Now, won’t you admit it was worth while coming along?”

  Sid grinned. “I’d feel better if the floor didn’t move around quite so much, but I do have to agree that this is quite a spread. Seeing you eating fish convinces me the food is even better than I thought.”

  “You’re beginning to have an impact on me, Sid. I have to admit mahimahi tastes much better now than it did before I met you.”

  “That’s because good company makes everything taste better.”

  Kay laughed and pointed her chin to where Fe was standing surrounded by Bart, Jeff and Marshal. The four of them were laughing uproariously. Bart had just picked a raisin out of his salad and tossed it successfully into the small pocket made by the thread halter restraining Fe’s large breasts. “Think the food those guys are eating is tasting better because of the company?”

  Sid joined her laugh. “I think the company’s keeping the men in the crowd from appreciating their food, probably keeping them from even thinking about food.” Lowering his voice, he added, “When you have a chance, turn around slowly and see someone who’s definitely not enjoying the food. Maybe it’s the lack of company that’s doing it to her.”

  Kay turned to go back to the food table and caught a look of pure hate on the face of Joanna Forbes who was watching the laughing foursome. Phew! Kay thought. I’m glad I’m not the one on the receiving end of that glare.

  Chapter 4

  Even without the forbidding and foreboding look on her face, Joanna was not an approachable person, at least not from Kay’s viewpoint. Watching Joanna relate to other people, Kay finally decided there was a strong element of personality clash between herself and the boat’s owner.

  Kay recognized a brittleness in herself that had run her afoul of other attorneys, which did not bother her, and even judges, which did. Kay reflected Joanna fell into the class of people whose similar brittleness clashed with her own. It might be fun having her on the stand as a hostile witness, but I’m sure glad I don’t have her as a client, Kay decided.

  On his way back to the table, Sid was joined by Marshal, who had left his group to replenish his drink, and David, who was finally showing signs of exhaustion from being the steady recipient of Sam’s monologues. Marshal had quite evidently settled for drinking his lunch. While Sid and David heaped up their oversize platters a second time, Marshal showed little interest in the magnificent spread, finally selecting a large stuffed olive on a toothpick to go with his drink. He then weaved his way back to join the two men still in rapt conversation with Fe. Irrelevantly, Sid noticed Marshal had a streak of black grease on the inside of his wrist.

  David commented favorably on the largesse he and Sid were sampling. Sid agreed. “This looks like the buffet lunch at the Malalani.”

  David nodded. “Joanna never believes in doing anything except in a big way. She’s had money all of her life and has come into even more since Mark died. For her, money is something to be spent. I’ve never been what you’d call poor, but I always have to stop and think before I pull the bills out of my wallet. Joanna doesn’t. In fact, I’ve never even seen her handle money. It’s all checks and plastic, and she never looks at prices.”

  “I remember some pretty lean days in law school,” Sid said, “and I guess I’ve never gotten over them. It’s hard for me to think of what it would be like to have so much money you never really had to give it any thought. Kay and I are building a new house, and every decision we make starts off with the question, ‘How much is it going to cost?’”

  “Exactly. Such a question would never even occur to Joanna if she saw something she wanted. If she wants it, she gets it.”

  Sid detected an undercurrent in David’s voice, an emotion it was impossible to pinpoint.

  Kay had not had time to tell Sid much about David after she had seen her dentist at the boat dock. She had said she considered him to be a good dentist and, just generally, an agreeable person. “Qual was the one who told me about him. He thinks David’s the best. What I like is he doesn’t seem to be one of those dentists who looks for things to do. And the best part is he doesn’t talk your ear off while he has both hands in your mouth. I can still remember old Doc Hirakawa who used to ask me all about school while he was tightening my braces. I was starting college before I found out he didn’t expect any answer and didn’t listen to any of my mumblings anyhow.”

  Beyond those few words from Kay, Sid knew little about the dentist. At first, David Rouse had seemed rather quiet. Part of his taciturn quality might simply have resulted from what appeared to be a self delegation to remain in Sam’s company. She had kept up an uninterrupted flow from the moment they had emerged from their limo. At the moment, Sid saw her move in on the noisy foursome and silence them with her continuing monologue.

  Sid could not resist. “Sam’s quite a talker, isn’t she?”

  A flicker of a smile crossed David’s face. “I have to admit a person would never feel alone around her. Don’t let all her rambling talk fool you, though. She’s listening while she talking on and on. If you ever want to find out anything about the interplay in the household, Sam’s the one to talk to.”

  That’s a curious reason for seeking out anyone’s company, thought Sid, except maybe for a detective—or a lawyer.

  The object of their discussion was rapidly decimating the group she had joined. Fe was the first to fall away, ostensibly to replenish her plate which in fact had hardly been touched. Jeff left in hot pursuit, while Bart’s basic restlessness sent him off somewhere into the stateroom section. With a glassy-eyed and definitely unsatisfactory Marshal as her sole audience, Sam seized upon Kay who was unfortunate enough to have wandered into the range of her voice.

  Sam held up a forkful of a pinkish-fleshed fish, saying, “We had the most interesting person on board the tour ship, a Colonel Wexford.” Kay expected some reference to the food Sam was holding, but the Colonel, rather than the fish, was the focus of Sam’s interests. “He was British, stationed in India during the parturition. The stories he told about those people were unbelievable.”

  Unbelievable or not, Kay was treated to a second-hand version of their customs, attitudes, behavior and fate as originally seen through the eyes of the amazing Colonel. Unlike Fe, Kay found her full plate made it difficult to use food as a reason for escaping the torrent of words. Instead, she tried to redirect the flood to something of at least passing interest. During one of Sam’s rare pauses to take a breath, Kay commented how she was surprised to see David Rouse, her dentist, among the guests.

  At the mention of the name, Sam’s unfocused eyes sharpened. The river, which had been flowing randomly and unchecked and over odd-sized boulders, suddenly narrowed into a deep and sharply delimited ravine. “Joanna will wake up one of these days. Bart Cain is just part of her change-of-life. He’ll disappear from the scene one of these days, and she’ll finally begin to appreciate David.”

  The stream broke loose from its confines almost immediately and once more overflowed the banks. “Colonel Wexford told me that �
��“The voice faded from Kay’s consciousness. At the other end of the lounge she could see Joanna in a deep and whispered conversation with Kerwin. The young Hawaiian was looking unhappy and shaking his head. It was obvious Joanna was becoming increasingly insistent. Kerwin finally nodded, clearly reluctant, and started back down the corridor to the staterooms. Joanna suddenly caught Kay watching her. Her face broke into a tight smile, and she came over to ask Kay how she was enjoying the cruise. Sam continued talking, having captured David Rouse’s attention as he was walking by.

  ***

  “Did you ever see so much choice of wines?” Sid had reached his capacity for the tempting food and felt as though he had gone considerably beyond. He had finally been swept up in a group consisting of Kay, David and the indefatigable Sam. The question had been whispered to Kay and somehow managed to penetrate the torrent.

  Neither Kay nor Sid particularly enjoyed hard drinks, but both found wine to be seductive. Sid raved over the imported Rhine he had been sampling. Kay was caught up by the delicate flavored chablis. Their mellowed state made even Sam’s uninterrupted chatter tolerable.

  “This reminds me of when we anchored at the mouth of the Gandhis. We were supposed to go ashore in Balderdash—you know that country where the natives are always starving or being drowned by monsoons. Well, the ship’s captain had a famous Hindu restaurateur provide the food. The captain thought it would be nice to have a change from ship food, but he made the mistake of hiring a bunch of Muslins to serve the meal, and a lot of it was pork.

  “Well you know Muslins don’t eat pork. I guess they’re not supposed to get near it. It’s some kind of a tattoo as far as they’re concerned. Colonel Wexworth said that back when the British were in India that that’s what caused the Sheep Boy rebellion. You’d have thought the captain would have known better. Well, there he was with a hundred-and-seventy-five passengers, and hundreds of hot dishes getting cold. He ended up by getting the ship’s crew to do the serving, and he even pitched in himself. My, but he looked furious, like Captain Ay-rab in the fish story.”

  The steady flow transfixed Sid. Kay, having skipped the pre-dinner drink, felt herself less mesmerized and went off to try at least a small portion of one of the salads she had not yet tasted. Captain Silva, who was at the table ladling food onto his plate, smiled in frank appreciation of Kay’s bikini clad figure. “This sure beats commercial fishing out at the reefs around Midway. The food’s much better and the company’s a heck of a lot more attractive.”

  Kay grinned mischievously, “The women have something to look at too on this cruise.”

  The captain returned her grin. “If I had it to do over again, I’d go into the cruise-ship business and hire Bart just to entertain the ladies. I suppose I’d soon be having problems with jealous husbands, and then I’d probably lose him. That’s what he started as, here in the islands, by the way.”

  Kay raised her eyebrows while she hunted around for the vinegar and oil to garnish the green salad she had ended up heaping on her plate.

  “That’s where Mrs. Forbes found him, on one of the cruise ships. She talked me into hiring him. It didn’t take much talking, since she pays my salary. As I was telling your husband, it doesn’t take any smarts to be a crewman on this boat. Well, even before the trip to Honolulu with him as part of ship’s complement, Mrs. Forbes had already figured she needed him closer to home. It wasn’t too long afterwards I hired Kerwin, who has half of Bart’s looks and four times his brains.”

  The captain’s voice had hardened as he continued to talk about Bart. Suddenly, as though for the first time becoming fully aware of the topic, he changed the subject. Kay felt that, with a little prompting, she could have kept him talking about Joanna’s handsome suitor. Later, she wished she had.

  ***

  The slight motion of the ship, the after effects of the sun, the one drink before the meal, and the several glasses of wine during it—to say nothing of the generous amounts of food he had eaten—made Sid uncharacteristically drowsy. Kay had once more been swept up into Sam’s audience, and Sid left Kay listening, or appearing to listen, to Sam’s unbroken prattle, taking himself topside to find a lounge chair in the shade of the tarpaulin.

  The voices were so low he could barely tell the sex of the speakers whose whispering had awakened him from his nap. Even though his back was turned to them, he was reasonably certain one was a man and the other a woman. Afterwards, when he thought about it, he could not be absolutely certain. The words, picked up by the rising onshore breeze and drifting across the broad expanse of the rear deck, were difficult to discern. He felt as though the muffled sounds were part of the formless sexual dream he had been having.

  “You’re going to have to do something about him.” The male voice.

  “He can’t help it. He’s still so young.” The female voice.

  “If you won’t do anything, I will.” The male voice.

  “No…“ The female voice drifted off, as the sound of new voices, Sam’s above all, came closer and closer up the ladder from the lounge.

  Sid would have rolled over to see who the original speakers were, but became aware he had an erection which he was afraid would show through his trunks. Too embarrassed to turn over immediately, he waited for detumescence to rescue him. By then, the crowd on the rear deck had made it impossible for him to identify the original speakers.

  Chapter 5

  Bumptious Bart was the one who announced their destination as the boat got underway. “Anybody for scuba diving?” he asked. “The next stop is Cook Reef. I’m going in as soon as we get there. How about you, Davey boy?” he asked of David.

  David said nothing, merely shaking his head.

  “You’ll get cramps going in so soon after eating,” said Joanna.

  “That’s a myth, Joanna,” David cut in before Bart could respond to the admonition. “For centuries mothers have warned their children to stay out of the water after eating, but there’s nothing to the notion. A nap about then might be better for you, but swimming or diving won’t do you any harm.”

  Again, Sid was pleasantly surprised at the almost total lack of vibration as the powerful engines first pushed the Jomark through the blue water and then lifted the bow of the craft to planing speed over a sea now beginning to show a slight chop. His stomach, which had made its presence known while they were at anchor, now settled back down.

  If I could afford a boat like this, maybe I wouldn’t mind going out every so often, Sid thought, stretching out in his chair. Catching sight of Fe lying down on a mat and glistening with oil in the afternoon sun, he slipped into an elaborate fantasy involving a crew of Fe look-alikes and a long ocean-cruise with himself as the only male aboard. He caught Kay’s eye and was instantly grateful minds could not really be read, though Kay had an uncanny facility for accurately guessing the contents of his thoughts.

  Deciding she was really getting too close to successful mind reading, Sid got up and wandered down to the forward deck where Bart was laying out his gear preparatory to diving. Bart was eager to answer Sid’s questions about a sport Sid had never had any inclination toward engaging in.

  “There’s really nothing much to it,” Bart began. “You don’t even have to know how to swim very well. ‘Course it helps if you do. Fins make it all feel different. If you’re just going into shallow water for a few minutes, about all you need is the mask, tank and harness with regulator. Now, I’m going down about seventy-five feet, so the equipment has to be more elaborate.”

  “How much does the oxygen tank hold?”

  Bart grinned. “Most people figure that’s oxygen,” he said, holding up the tank and halter. “It isn’t. All it is is air–compressed air. If you go down real deep, say a couple-a-hundred feet or so, then you have to have lots more oxygen. Otherwise, pure oxygen is just dangerous. Air works fine. The biggest problem isn’t too little air, it’s too much air. You have to learn to keep breathing out as you come up to the surface. That’s where keeping your h
ead pays off. If you panic, there’s a tendency to hold your breath.” He illustrated the point he was making. “If you did that while you were coming up, your chest would expand and explode. That could be kind-a nasty.”

  Sid agreed. “What about the bends?”

  Bart made a dismissive gesture. “Aw, there’s always a lot of talk about that. It comes from nitrogen getting into the blood. If you come up slow there’s no danger. It’s only if you go down below a hundred feet or so that you’re going to have any effects here.” Bart tapped his forehead.

  “Isn’t that what they call ‘rapture of the deep.’”

  “Yeah. Before they knew about it, some of the first divers would go way down, and the first think you know they’d start acting like they’d been boozing. Some of them just swam off and never came back. I saw one of those early movies showing one guy, with a big grin on his face, passing his regulator over to a fish swimming by. That was long ago. We’ve learned a lot since then, and now scuba diving is safer than snorkeling. You should try it someday.”

  Sid wondered what his long dead ancestors, who had never seen any water deeper than what was in a wooden wash bucket, would have thought if they had known one of their descendants dove down seventy-five feet into this strange and frightening blue body of liquid. He knew what they would have thought.

  He shook his head, both in agreement with his ancestors and in disagreement with Bart’s suggestion..

  ***

  Cook Reef was about ten miles south of Napua Harbor and something under a mile from the shoreline. According to the oceanographers, there had originally been a low extension of Elima here which had served as the nucleus for the coral. It had eventually subsided. The coral had kept growing, reaching up for the blue sky and tropical sun as its foundation gradually sank further and further into the murky depths.