Lana'i of the Tiger (The Islands of Aloha Mystery Series) (18 page)

I got out and dutifully locked
the doors. I wished I had access to a computer so I could check the value of
the Shelby online. I wasn’t sure, since I no longer hung around with hardcore
car buffs, but I figured if Willie’s Mustang turned out to be an authentic
late-sixties Shelby GT 500 it could be worth forty, maybe even fifty-thousand
dollars.

But that was for another time. I
needed to mentally switch gears and concentrate on getting to the bottom of
Deedee’s murder. I owed it to Tyler to not leave him in the lurch if it turned
out my statement could exonerate him. On the other hand, I wasn’t going to blow
my cover if it turned out he had blood on his hands. I made myself walk in my
stooped posture toward the Lodge entrance and managed a stiff little bow for
the uniformed doorman holding the door open for me.

I nodded at the desk clerk as if
we were old acquaintances. Once I was out of sight of guests or staff members, I
clipped down the hall to the housekeeping services office. When I got to the
door, I knocked.

No answer.

I knocked louder. It was
inconceivable that Kate hadn’t heard the first knock, since her office isn’t
much larger than the handicap stall in a women’s restroom, but maybe she was on
the phone or something.

I waited. Nothing. I tried the
door knob. It was locked.

“
Quieres
Miss Kate?” said
a voice behind me. Even with my measly three semesters of high school Spanish,
I remembered that
quieres
meant,
do you want
.

I turned. A woman about the size
of an eight-year-old was standing behind me, arms folded across her chest. She
wore a Four Seasons housekeeper’s uniform, a beige aloha-print tunic and dark
brown pants with sensible crepe-sole work shoes. 

“Yes. Do you know where I might
find her? I had an appointment to meet with her, but unfortunately I’m a bit
late.”

The woman smiled a thin smile
but said nothing.

“Can you tell me where Kate might
be right now?”

Still smiling, the woman bobbed
her head and turned and started heading down the hallway.

What the heck?
I
followed.

I saw a housekeeping cart parked
at the end of the hallway. It was outside a guest room with the door propped
open. The woman went inside. I stepped up to the doorway, but didn’t go in. A
few moments later, the woman reappeared with a second housekeeper in tow.

“You need to speak with Kate?”
the second housekeeper said.

I nodded. I don’t know why I
didn’t say anything. Maybe I was afraid I’d scare her off like I’d done with
the first one.

“She is not here.”

The first woman whispered
something to the second woman. Whatever she said, it didn’t sound like it was
in English.

“Mattie want to know if you
looking for work,” she said.

“No. I need to talk to Kate
about something else.”

The first housekeeper seemed to
catch the word ‘no’ and whispered to the other one again.

 “Mattie say this is good job.
No problem. We happy here.”

I smiled and nodded at Mattie.
“Tell her I’m sure the Four Seasons Hotel Corporation appreciates her vote of
support, and I’m sure she’s a valued employee. But I’m here to see Kate about a
different matter.”

Both women looked flummoxed.

I bulled ahead. “Do either of
you know Stella, the housekeeper who found the dead woman the other night?”

At the words ‘dead woman’ both
women quickly did the sign of the cross.

So, it seemed Mattie understood some
English, after all.

“We do not know about that,”
said the second woman. “You talk to Kate.”

“Well, do you know what room the
dead woman was staying in?”

The woman who’d spoken wrung her
hands but didn’t answer. She lowered her eyes and stared at the floor. Mattie,
taking the lead of her co-worker, did the same.

I thanked them for their time
and headed back the way I’d come.

The guy at the front desk
assured me the housekeeping supervisor was still on the property. “Do you want
me to page her?”

“
Mahalo
, no. I’ll wait.”

***

I sat in the lobby seemingly
engrossed in the latest issue of
Town & Country
magazine. Each time
someone entered I’d slide the glossy publication in front of my face and peer
above the pages to see if it was Kate. I hoped my goofy old lady get-up was
disguise enough to confuse the local cops but I knew there was no way it would
fool Detective Wong.

At noon, Kate appeared at my
side.

“I hear you’re waiting to talk
to me,” she said.

“I am.”

She glanced at the front desk. “Let’s
go to my office.”

When we got to her office she
used her key to get in and then she locked it back up once we were inside.

“Is everything okay?” I said.

She gave a derisive snort. “Hardly.”

“What I mean is, I see you’re
locking your door. Are you concerned about your safety?”

“No, it’s not that. The
corporate people will be here any time now and I don’t want to be caught
unaware.”

“Ah, then I’d better get right
to it. Were you able to talk to Stella?”

“Yes, she’s home. She’s still
pretty upset.”

“Did you ask if we could talk to
her?”

“Yes. She didn’t seem eager to
do it, but she knows I’m covering for her. But why do you want to meet with
her?”

“Okay, here’s my plan,” I said.
“I’d like to interview Stella and then stand in for her when the Four Seasons suits
show up. I’m pretty sure they won’t question
my
immigration status.”

“But why would you do that? You
could get in a lot of trouble.”

“For what? Impersonating a
foreigner? They’ll have no reason to doubt me if what I’m saying matches what Stella
saw the night of the murders.”

“But I’m still wondering what’s
in it for you?”

“It’s a long story, Kate. If
you’ll go with me to Stella’s, I’ll tell you about it on the way over.”

We walked outside and I unlocked
the Shelby. Kate took in my peculiar choice of ride and shot me a quizzical
look but she didn’t say anything as she slid into the passenger seat.

“Buckle up,” I said. “This thing
knows only one speed—warp.”

We shot out of the lot and down
the driveway, turning heads as we went. I loved the feeling of power after a
month of feeling utterly powerless. But I wasn’t so drunk on muscle that I’d
let myself forget to take side streets.  Wong probably had every cop on the six
major Hawaiian Islands keeping an eye out for me.

***

“So what’s going on?” Kate said
once she’d given me directions to Stella’s.

I told her as much as I could in
the eight-minute ride. I was a friend of Tyler Benson, the primary suspect, and
he’d named me as someone who could at least partially corroborate his alibi but
I didn’t want to go in and give a statement until I was sure Tyler was
innocent.

“I’m not following you. Why do
you care if he’s guilty or innocent?” 

“I care a lot. You see, I’m kind
of in a bind with the police myself.”

“What’d you do?” She eyed me
with the look you give a kid who’s just confessed to spending the afternoon in
the principal’s office.

  “I didn’t do anything. Well,
not exactly. I mean, I can’t give you all the facts, but the gist of it is the federal
government wants to move me from Lana’i to the mainland for my own protection. They’ve
got the police looking for me. And since I don’t want to go until I’ve figured
out whether Tyler’s guilty or innocent, I’m in hiding until I can figure it
out.”

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t look
convinced. “I’m assuming this move to the mainland has something to do with
your deceased husband? Like he was in a top-secret military unit or something and
there have been threats?”

Why did everyone assume my
‘husband’ was the only one with enough balls to get me in big-time trouble?
“Yeah, something like that.”

“How horrible for you. So you
think Stella can tell you if your Mr. Benson is guilty or not?”

“I think if she knows how to
tell time she can.”

CHAPTER
23

We rode the final couple of
blocks in silence before pulling up to a plantation-style house only a few
streets over from my rental house. It was eerie how most all of the homes in
Lana’i City looked the same. Each is essentially a square box with clapboard
siding and a pitched roof. They usually have a front porch. There are three
steps up to the porch level and then a front door smack dab in the middle with
a window on each side. The main difference in the houses is the paint job. Some
are white, some yellow, and some are distinct colors like spring green or aqua
blue. The other distinguishing feature is the landscaping in the yards. Some
houses boast elaborate gardens in full floral display while others get by with just
a small patch of grass and one or two croton bushes.

Stella’s house fell somewhere in
the middle between the best and the worst on the block. It was painted light
beige with dark green trim around the windows. We got out of the car and I
could’ve sworn I saw a face disappear behind a pulled-aside shade.

“I’ll go first,” said Kate.

 I followed her up the sidewalk.
Out of the corner of my eye I spied a Maui County police cruiser turning the
corner and slowly making its way down the street toward us.

“Kate, I’m sorry, but…” I nodded
toward the police car and Kate stepped aside. I hopped up onto the porch ahead
of her.

“Are you okay?” she said as I
cowered behind a porch pillar. The cruiser slowly slid by the house. Kate
turned and shot the cops a smile and a wave. 

“You’re right, it looks like
they’re out looking for somebody,” she said. “But don’t they know your car? It
kind of stands out.”

“I borrowed it from a friend. I
don’t have a car.”

“Oh.” She knocked on the front
door and it was immediately opened by a short woman who looked a lot like the
two housekeepers I’d met earlier in the hallway.

“Hello, Stella. Nice to see you
again,” said Kate.

Stella shot Kate a tentative
smile and stepped back to allow us to enter her home.

“Do you mind if I speak to
Stella in Spanish?” Kate said to me. “Her native language is actually Tagalog
but I’m a little rusty. We get along pretty well in Spanish.”

“I took a couple semesters of
Spanish in high school but I doubt if I’ll be able to understand you,” I said.

“No worries. I’ll translate.”

Stella gestured for us to sit on
the sofa. She took off for the kitchen, which was in the same place as it was
in my rental house. It was odd to see the same house with totally different
furnishings. Even though Stella’s house was sparsely decorated, the hardwood
floors gleamed and there wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen. I’d have to spend three
hours getting my house that clean, maybe four.

Stella came back with a tea
tray. She set it down and silently served us each a cup of tea. I was anxious
to learn what I could about Deedee’s murder, but neither Kate nor Stella seemed
in any big hurry to get on with it.

We sipped our tea.

Finally, after what seemed like five
minutes, Kate posed a question to Stella in Spanish.

It must have been something
about the murder because Stella’s face went from placid to stricken in the few
seconds it took for Kate to finish the sentence.

 Kate turned to me. “I asked her
if she’s willing to answer some questions about the last night she worked at
the Lodge,” she said.

Stella regained her composure
and murmured her consent.

Kate asked Stella a question
that seemed to confuse her and Stella asked for clarification. After a few
minutes of back and forth, Kate turned back to me.

“You wanted me to ask if she
remembers what time it was when she went into the room. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, she said she’s very
certain of the time because she had a housekeeping trainee with her and she was
trying to stay right on schedule.”

“And what time was it?” I asked.
My palms were sweaty and I feel my pulse begin thumping in my neck again.

Kate asked Stella the question.

Even with my very limited
exposure to Spanish I could clearly make out Stella’s answer:
a las ocho
.
Eight o’clock.

***

I left Stella’s house armed with
enough information that I felt ready to face the security guys from the Four
Seasons. Kate said she’d get me a uniform. I felt confident I’d be able to
convince them I was shell-shocked Stella, the maid who’d come upon the grisly
murder scene.

“Thank you for doing this,” Kate
said for about the tenth time as I emerged from her office wearing the beige
aloha tunic and brown pants. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you.”

“No problem. You’ve already
repaid me by helping me get the information from Stella. Now when I tell the
cops that Tyler was with me at the time of the murders at least I’ll know I’m
helping an innocent man.”

Kate showed me to a small
conference room adjacent to the lobby. “Good luck,” she said before she opened
the door. “I hope you realize how much I appreciate this.”

The Four Seasons security
executives turned out to be two guys who looked like they’d just graduated from
cop school. Black suits, white shirts, dark blue ties and shiny black lace-up
shoes. They scowled as I entered. The duo didn’t appear to be at all thrilled
about catching a case in Hawaii.

“Paul Treehorne from Four
Seasons Asset Protection,” said the first guy as he stood up. He leaned across
the conference table and stuck out his hand.

“And I’m Eric Latham. Also from
Asset Protection,” said the second guy standing to mimic his partner.

I hesitated before shaking their
hands. Normally, I would’ve grabbed their hands quickly and looked ‘em in the
eye, the way I’d been taught in Homeland Security training. But I was
impersonating a housekeeper. Grip and grin wouldn’t be her style. I kept my
gaze focused downward as I limply grasped each man’s hand in turn.