The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2 Read online

“When?

  “Have you spoken to them?

  “How did you find out?”

  A long pause.

  “Can you get over here right away?

  “Ill see you.”

  Lauras face had become as pale as Kay had ever seen it. “It's Ken,” Laura said. Kay waited.

  “One of his partners, Clayton Heinicke, has been found shot to death in his room at the Malalani. Ken went there Saturday and had a drink with him in the lounge.”

  “I dont see what his having a drink with his partner has to do with anything.”

  “But they quarreled, right there in the bar. Hes sure others heard them and saw them quarreling. In fact, the waiter even told them to quiet down.”

  “Even so…”

  “Ken went up to his partners room with him, which is why Ken thinks he was probably the last one to see Clayton alive. Or, at least, he suspects the police are going to think he was.”

  Chapter 7

  “ Well if you have to have a murder, this is as good a place to have one as any.” The speaker was Lieutenant Hank DeMello.

  Tall, his dark black hair graying slightly at the temples, Lieutenant DeMello looked like a person of authority. Even his slight beer-belly made him look more mature and authoritative. At least he thought so.

  Sergeant Corky Honda would never have admitted it to him, but she shared his view, which she had first heard voiced by Toni, Hank DeMellos wife. Corky liked Hank, even though she considered his attitude toward women to be at least a century out of date, and she seldom hesitated to tell him what she thought of his attitude. Corky was a slender, attractive brunette, of medium height and just as Portuguese as the lieutenant, but married to a hapa-haole Japanese. Kay, who knew her well, had asked her why she had taken her husbands name. Corky had answered with a question, “How many cops have a chance to have the same name as the biggest selling car in the world?”

  The room was small for a world class hotel, but the original developer had assumed the room would be used sparingly when the ocean, the beautiful weather, and the more luxurious amenities of the hotel beckoned. While small, the room was richly appointed. The carpet was a silvery gray, with a deep pile, and this was the first item Corky commented on. “He sure messed up the carpet,” she said, as the scene-of-crime personnel carried on with their work. “At least the manager wont be complaining about a few chalk marks,” she added, “not with all the blood soaked in it already. Id hate to have to pay for the cleaning its going to need.”

  Clyde Victorine, the pathologist, who looked enough like the lieutenant to be his brother, glanced up from the corpse at the two police officers.“It was close range, and no twenty-two,” he said. “The bullet went clean through. It should be somewhere around there.” He waved in the general vicinity of the bed.

  “Youre right about the caliber,” Hank said. “Its a big one. Youre also right on its location. We found the bullet already,” Hank said.“It was under the night stand.”

  “Which fits, then. If he was standing at the door facing the killer, then you found the bullet in just about the right place.”

  “Anything else you can tell us at this stage?”

  “Not much. Hes been dead a lot more than twenty-four hours. He died right where he fell, and he died instantly. Theres no indication he was moved. The bullet passed right between the ribs, through the heart, probably the left ventricle, and out through the back, taking part of a rib with it. The exit wound is massive, which is what youd expect with a heavy caliber pistol at close range. It was probably a forty-five, and the flash burns on his shirt indicate the muzzle was just inches away.”

  Corky looked at the body and turned toward the door.“Do you think someone could have shot him from the open doorway?”

  “Its quite possible. In fact, Id say its quite likely. The impact of the bullet would have knocked him over away from the door. A forty-five, fired inches away, would have picked him right up off his feet.” Victorine stood up, removed his plastic gloves and made unnecessary brushing motions on his trouser knees. Surveying the corpse again, he emphasized, “Thats just about where he would have landed if hed been shot while standing at the doorway.”

  “We found the shell just inside the door,” Hank said, “so its position fits too. And Im damn near positive its a forty-five shell.”

  “Was he a jewelry dealer or some such thing?” Victorine asked, as he began putting the tools of his trade back into a square, foam lined case.

  The lieutenant shook his head. “No sign of a robbery. Plenty of money on him. Nothingseems to be missing. Maid says the „Do Not Disturb sign was on the knob when she unlocked the door. Adds up to someone knowing him, knocking on the door, shooting him when he opened it, reaching around for the sign on the inside knob, putting it on the outside one, shutting the door and getting the hell out of there.”

  “Theres only one thing wrong with your scenario, Hank,” Corky said.

  “Whats that?”

  “If the door was open, why didnt anyone on this floor hear the shot?”

  *** Laura had had no difficulties in convincing Qual, Sid and Kay to be in on the interview. They decided to hold it in the new conference room. It had just been added onto the firms suite of offices when the only other business sharing the building moved to new quarters. Laura introduced Qual to the shaken Ken. Even in his present condition, he reacted positively to the middle-aged, affable Qual. All five of them sat down around the small conference table.

  Ken was the first to speak. “Im not sure how much Laura has told you about me, but I imagine the most important thing to do is to tell you what happened after Laura dropped me off at my hotel. It was after tenthirty when we got there, wasnt it Laura?”

  Laura nodded.

  “I was beginning to feel some jet lagby then. I hadnt slept well the night before, and Id had no sleep on the plane. Then there was a two hour layover in Honolulu which didnt help, since all I did was pace the airport. Eleven oclock here is one A.M. in San Jose. When I got to my room I saw the light flashing on my phone, so I knew there was a message for me. I decided to shower before bothering with it.

  “I knew the call wasnt from Laura, since Id left her only a few minutes before, and I also knew it wasnt my ex-wife, because she didnt know I was going to Elima before going to see her and my daughter. Since I dont know anyone else in Hawaii, I figured it had to be one of my partners calling from San Jose. In which case, I knew it would be too late to call them back. I was tempted to not even bother with the message after my shower, because I was about out on my feet after all the hot water. I guess the only reason I did check it out was because the flashing light was so annoying. Now, I wish Id let it annoy me.” He shook his head in chagrin.

  “So I checked out the message. As I expected, it was one of my partners, Clayton Heinicke. Only he wasnt in California, he was at the Malalani, and he insisted he had to see me. I was so bushed I really couldnt think straight when I called him. He wanted me to come right over, something I wasnt about to do, especially since he wouldnt explain what it was he felt was so important. He said hed come to Hawaii special to see me and had to leave on the first flight out on Monday. So I compromised. I had a reservation on the first plane to Honolulu on Saturday and had planned to stay over there until Monday. I told him Id change my return flight and be back here by late afternoon on Saturday.”

  Ken smiled for the first time. “I kind of wanted an excuse to come back and see Laura again before Monday. Thats why I was so ready to change my plans, and thats why I gave in so easily. I came in on the five-thirty, rented a car, and called him up. We decided to meet in the Palm Court Bar in the Malalani.”

  Kay cut in. “Was he sober?”

  Ken nodded.“Clayton was a heavy drinker, but he spaced out his drinks. In all the years Ive known him, I never saw him drunk. I never heard of his being drunk, either. When I got there, he ordered drinks for the both of us.Im a one drink man, myself, and it had better be a weak one. A doctor I went to onc
e said theres something about my stomach that reacts adversely to alcohol. I didnt need him to tell me so, because I get a gut ache if I have more than a beer.”

  Kay smiled. “Which brings me to the next question I was going to ask you.”

  “Was I sober?” Ken gave an answering smile. “Absolutely. I just barely touched my drink. Even under the best of circumstances, I probably wouldnt have drunk more than half of it. When Clayton started in telling me why he wanted to see me so badly, I couldnt possibly have gotten even a half-glass down.

  “Maybe I should explain something about the company first, so youll see why I reacted the way I did. There are four of us, and were equal partners. The contract was drawn up so any of us could pull out at any time and get back our original investment, which was ten thousand dollars each. There were safeguards to allow plenty of time for the remaining partners to pay off. There was also a provision where any three of the partners, if they agreed to do so, could buy out the fourth partner. The price of the buyout would be the original investment put up by the fourth partner, ten thousand dollars, or a fourth share of the market value of the company at the time of the buyout, whichever was higher.”

  Laura was taking notes, Kay was sitting quietly, saying nothing. Both Sid and Qual were looking questioningly at Ken.

  “I know the next question. The market value of the company at this moment is a minus figure. Weve put off some of our major creditors, and thats the only way weve been able to keep our heads above water. The reason I mentioned the arrangement we had is because Clayton wanted me to join him and Saul Epstein, another partner, to squeeze out the fourth partner, Patrick Crosby.”

  “Why should Clayton have wanted to do that?” Qual asked.“Didnt his proposal mean hed have to pay out thirty-three-hundred dollars just to saddle himself with a bigger share of the debts.”

  “Thats the rub. Right now, the corporation is in the red, but six months to a year from now, the company will likely be worth millions.” Ken proceeded to sketch out the invention and its possibilities.

  “So Clayton wanted to divide the big money three ways instead of four,” Sid said. “Right?”

  “Right. Only, it was more than that. I think he figured hed never get a majority of us to agree to selling the company, something he wanted to do the minute we got a substantial bid from any big corporation. With one of us gone, it would have been much easier for him to get the majority he needed to do just that.

  “So money was his entire interest,” Sid said.

  Ken nodded.“He didnt approach me with the money angle at first. Maybe thats what upset me the most. He gave me a big song and dance about Pat needing the money right now, and how we could sweeten the pot for him if I wanted to, and the whole future of the company really being a gamble, and so on, and so on. What he was trying to do was all too transparent.

  “I finally confronted him with his hypocrisy, and thats when he blew up. I accused him of greed, pure and simple. We got pretty loud, so much so the cocktail waiter came over to hush us up. The Palm Court isnt your local tavern, as you probably know. It quieted Clayton down some, and I began to see there was no point in arguing. I got up to leave, but he insisted something could be worked out, and he asked me to come up to his room. I went, even though I knew there wasnt going to be any working out of anything.”

  “Did the two of you leave the lounge together and go up to the room together?” Laura asked.

  “Uh-huh. Almost as soon as we got to his room he began to drop hints about how, if I didnt go along with the scheme, hed approach Pat and squeeze me out instead. He said hed already heard from Pat since hed arrived in Hawaii, and he even implied Pat was willing to write me off. I didnt wait to hear anything more. I cant remember being so mad at anyone in my whole life as I was at Clayton when he began talking that way.”

  “What time was it when you left?” Laura asked.

  “Im not sure. It must have been right around seven. On my way back to my car I stopped to look at the spectacular sunset from the big open lobby at the Malalani, so I guess we could check the time out by the time of the sunset. I guess I was trying to see my problems against the perspective of the universe. It helped. I simmered down quite a bit. The cool breeze off the ocean may have helped too. I was dressed for the Hawaii you read about in the brochures, so I could feel the wind. I went out to the parking lot shortly after the sun dipped below the horizon.”

  “Did you talk to anyone after you left the room and before you got into your car?

  “No.” Ken shook his head emphatically. “I was in no mood to speak to anyone. There were some people around though. There was an old couple at the rail looking out over the ocean. I overheard them talking about the sunset. There were a lot of people in the lobby, and there was a young couple crossing the parking lot with tennis rackets when I was unlocking my car. They looked hot and sweaty, so I imagine they were coming from the courts rather than going out to them. I definitely didnt talk to anyone, and no one spoke to me.”

  “What did you do the rest of the evening?”

  “I stewed. I drove straight back to my hotel, cleaned up and went to dinner. I was giving serious thought to calling you and asking you out, Laura, but I knew Id just be bad company.” The smile returned. “I wanted to impress you, and I knew I was in no mood to make a favorable impression on anyone.

  “So I ate alone, and not much at that. I kept thinking of what I should have said, and having whole conversations with Clayton. I convinced myself I shouldnt have lost my temper. It began to seem to me how Clayton couldn't really have been that bad, and how a reasoned argument could have gotten him to give up his scheme, and on, and on.”

  “Did you call him later from your hotel?” Qual asked.

  “Yes. I gave him a ring right after I finished supper and then later around nine. I didnt get an answer either time. I tried again yesterday morning, about eight-thirty. His phone rang, but still no answer, so I assumed hed gone out. Then I got the idea I should try and get in touch with Saul and Pat to hear their side of the story.

  “Well, there was no one home at Sauls. Pat has an unlisted phone hed put in a while back. His wife is chronically ill, and he didnt want her disturbed. He didnt even leave his phone number with any of us. I called his mother in Ohio, and she didnt have his number either. Actually, I think she did, but her memorys failing fast so she probably forgot she had it.

  “I even ran down our one employee, a part time secretary-receptionist, on the off chance she might have the number. She didnt have it either. The phone company was no help, since it was not only an unlisted phone but also one of those special ones where even the phone company isnt to call. Then I thought of contacting the San Jose PD, which shows you how disturbed I was, but I it was noon by then and I finally gave up trying to contact him.”

  Ken paused, and posed a rhetorical question, “How many times do you have to call someone who doesnt answer before you get concerned?

  “I really didnt get concerned until after a dozen attempts at phoning Clayton. I even called The Palm Court on the possibility Clayton was down there drinking. He wasnt. Finally, about nine-thirty Sunday night, I asked the Malalani Hotel clerk to check his room.

  “Phew! You should have heard the reaction. I got a long speech about the inviolable privacy of the guests. In spite of the sermon, I persisted, and the clerk had someone go by Claytons room. Thats when they told me there was a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, and how even the president of a Swiss bank couldnt get them to go into the room or even to knock. So I decided Clayton was with a woman, either in the room and ignoring the phone, or off to her digs. I gave up finally and went to bed.”

  “Was the call to Clayton your last call?” Qual asked. “It was the last one last night,” Ken answered.“I woke up early this morning. I knew he had a reservation on the sixthirty plane, and I was determined to catch him before he left. So I called at five-thirty. The clerk said Clayton had a wake-up call in for five-fortyfive, and she wasnt about
to call him one second earlier.

  “So I called again, right on the dot. The clerk put me on hold, and then all hell broke loose. I could hear some excited voices in the background, and the clerk blurted out that Room 333s occupant was dead. She even said, „murdered. I imagine she caught hell from her supervisor for saying that. She wasnt the only dumb one. I hung up without leaving my name, which wasnt exactly the brightest thing to do under the circumstances, since my hotel will have a record of the call.”

  “Have the police contacted you?” Sid asked.

  “No, but Im sure theyll be able to trace me. Its just a matter of time. I thought of going down to the station voluntarily, but then I decided to talk to Laura first. It took a good share of the morning for me to make up my mind to do that. In the meantime I tried calling Saul, but didnt have any luck. I called the office and left a message on the answering phone describing what had happened. When I did get around to calling Laura, she persuaded me to come here.”

  “Ill go to the station with you,” Laura said, and turning an anxious face to the other attorneys asked, “Could one of you come along, too?”

  All three nodded. Kay said, “Let me do it. I have a break in my schedule this morning.”

  Laura was relieved to hear Kay volunteer. She felt Kay was probably the only one who would really understand why she needed someone else along during Kens interrogation.

  Chapter 8

  Qual and Sid had followed the others out into the reception room. Leilani looked inquiringly at them. After Laura, Kay and Ken had departed, Qual quickly sketched out what had gone on in his office. Leilani shook her head over the unwelcome news.

  “ I told Laura not to get involved in those personals, but he did seem like a nice man.” She continued shaking her head at the thought Laura had ignored her advice and was now suffering the consequences.

  “Im going to check out The Palm Court,” Sid said, “just in case. If it comes to a trial, the cocktail waiters bound to be called as a witness by the prosecution. Id better see him before we get to the trial stage and while his memorys still fresh. I should be able to get over there this afternoon.”