Hibiscus Homicide (Maui Mayhem Cozy Mystery Book 4) Read online

  I sighed. “I sent Reese over to the ex-wife’s house. And no, he didn’t commit a break-in. He was invited.”

  “You sent Reese?” Pako reached an even higher note than in his already high-pitched voice.

  “Yes. Theresa hit on him at the memorial service. I thought I told you about that.”

  “So the kid was the one then?” Pako didn’t need for me to tell him the ‘who.’

  “Yup.”

  “I still don’t know where the hibiscus charm comes in though. He must have something to do with it, but why was it on the ground outside? And where’s the charm bracelet?”

  “The kid didn’t have it?”

  “Nope. Reese scoured his room but no coconut.” I let out a breath. “We have to find a way to prove Stevie was at the crime scene to get him to confess as to what went on there that day.” I was sure he was the catalyst to the mystery unfolding.

  One thing was for certain, the hibiscus charm was his. Or he had bought it for Nani, but hadn’t given it to her yet.

  My intuition nudged me. “What does the report say Nani’s birth date was?”

  “Hang on.” Paper shuffled. “It was three days after her murder.”

  Aha! It was to be a birthday present.

  “We’re on to something, Pako. You gotta bring him in for questioning and make him confess.” Most nonprofessional criminals broke under pressure, especially if they suspected that the police were on to them. “Even if Stevie wasn’t responsible for the murder, or murders, he knows something. I bet you he does.”

  “Well, I need more hard evidence before I haul him in. Without actual proof to threaten him with, he wouldn’t be inclined to spill a damn drop. I can’t very well say ‘somebody went snooping in your bedroom and found you have a fetish for pink hibiscuses,’ now can I?” Yeah, he made an animated voice for that part.

  Dang. Sometimes playing by the rules sucked. He was right though. Pako would never be able to divulge that we did an unauthorized search for evidence. That would not be given a pass. Plus, we didn’t have the evidence in hand. Only Reese saw it.

  We needed to find a way to draw out the confession from Stevie another way.

  “Pako, let’s do one of those bluffs we’ve done on occasion to draw out the perp.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “We can use the knowledge of the charm bracelet as bait.”

  “And what if he wasn’t the one who stole it?” Party pooper.

  “It had to be him. Who else would’ve been naïve enough to take it when there was so much evidence that Nani wore that thing almost all her teen and adult life?”

  Surely Lane or Elisse wouldn’t have been so foolish. Even if Lane loved Nani to the point he wanted a keepsake, taking her bracelet would’ve brought attention to it, and he’d know that.

  Stevie, on the other hand, might’ve not been thinking clearly after witnessing his father shooting the woman he was crushing on. Or if he was the one who killed her, that would’ve put him in a state of shock, and walking around like a zombie, most likely.

  From observing him at the memorial service, he seemed a kid driven by emotions. He wore his anxiety like clothing, displayed conspicuously for all to see. Doubt he handled stress well. He’d be susceptible to siphon a confession from, should he think the police already had evidence to the fact.

  I heard someone yell Pako’s name in the background. “I gotta go. Something’s up. I’ll call you as soon as I can talk again.”

  Sounded like a crisis. And probably not anything to do with malasadas.

  “Okay. Bye.”

  While Pako handled his emergency, it was time for me to figure out a plan.

  Chapter 12

  I decided to pay Elisse a visit. There might be something useful she could tell me about her nephew and ex-sister-in-law.

  I tried calling ahead but her voicemail kicked in. After waiting another hour, I called again. Same thing. Hmm. Elisse normally returned calls quickly. If she couldn’t talk, she’d text message that she’d return the call as soon as she could.

  No text this time.

  Since I had to do my marketing today, I figured I’d just cruise by her house to see if her car occupied the driveway. She lived nearby the market so it wasn’t out of my way.

  It took another hour before I slammed my front door and jumped into my SUV. Just as I strapped myself in, my cell phone rang.

  “Your client Elisse Wilder is dead,” were Pako’s first words out of his mouth. “I just got back to the office and have paperwork to fill out but thought you’d want to know.”

  Oh my god. That was the emergency? I was stunned. “How? What happened?”

  “Looks like suicide. There was a note; a confession.”

  “Confession about what?” I could only guess, but I had a feeling what it might be.

  “Killing her brother.”

  I was speechless. A part of me still couldn’t believe my client capable of a heinous crime, and to a sibling, no less.

  “Looks like she overdosed on opiates mixed with alcohol,” he continued.

  “Prescription or over-the-counter?” Not that it really mattered but it could.

  “Over the counter.”

  “Was the suicide note handwritten or computer printed?” If the prior, it would more likely be a suicide unless done under duress.

  I can tell you this, even if somebody had me at gunpoint I wouldn’t write that note since they were going to kill me anyway. Let them figure out how to make the suicide look more authentic. Without the note, it wouldn’t be so cut and dry.

  But some people would write that note even if they knew the perp would kill them anyway. They’d just be making it easier for the culprit to get away with it. I wouldn’t give the creep the satisfaction.

  Then again, one never knew exactly what one would do until it actually happens. Easy to say what we’d do hypothetically. Anyway, hope I’ll never have to find out!

  If the note was computer generated, then someone else being involved was highly probable.

  “Printed on an inkjet.”

  That opened it up then.

  “Hers?”

  Although it would be stupid on the perp’s part, they could’ve preprinted it and left it after they killed Elisse. A smart perp would’ve printed it on the scene since the police—at least Pako would—check to make sure the deceased wrote and printed it herself.

  “Yup. Checks out.”

  “How about the file? Does it show up on her computer?”

  “We’ll know when the techies hack into it. Did I not mention that I just got back from the scene?” Pako sighed.

  I wanted to laugh. Just little impatient me.

  “So what do you think, Pako?” Did he believe the suicide angle?

  “Got lots of questions. Not sure the ‘guilty conscience’ suicide confession sits well with me. I’d say there might be some hanky-panky going on.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I think too.”

  Yup, I’m swaying toward the latter, especially since as far as Elisse knew, the police were currently deeming Kyle’s death a suicide. Also, she and Kyle had been in disputes over their family estate. Didn’t seem as though she’d kill him, then feel so remorseful that she’d take her own life soon after. If she wanted him dead to obtain control of the property, why would she give all that up now? Like Pako said ... ‘doesn’t sit right.’

  “What are some of your other questions?” I asked.

  “For starters, if she killed her brother after he killed his wife, chances are she took Nani Wilder’s bracelet. We didn’t find any trace of it at her house, so she either dumped it or she didn’t lift it.”

  “Why would she even take it?” Another head-scratching moment.

  “Yeah, that’s another of my questions. What significance did Nani Wilder’s bracelet have for her? And if she didn’t take it, then who the hell did?” Looked like Pako was scratching his head too.

  I still think Stevie took the bracelet. H
e was the only one that made sense. Especially after finding out about the pink hibiscus sticker.

  “Now why would somebody want to frame Elisse Wilder with her brother’s murder when it’s still considered a suicide?” Pako wondered out loud.

  “Yeah, it has to be somebody who knows the police are sniffing around other possibilities to Kyle’s death.”

  That left everyone but Lane. Pako nor I had talked with him yet, so he didn’t know we were investigating that angle. Everyone else did though.

  “Can we rule out anyone at this point?” Eliminating some would make our lives easier. Well, at least mine anyway. Too many suspects cluttered my brain.

  “The suspect on the bottom of my list is Olivia Turnbull. I doubt she’d kill Wilder’s wife to get at him. And how would she get a hold of his gun? For that matter, it’s most likely that Wilder killed his wife, then as he was messing around in the shed, somebody killed him.”

  “Yeah. If Elisse didn’t do it, then the perp gave away the fact that Kyle didn’t kill himself.”

  What a blunder that was. If someone other than Elisse did it, he or she might’ve gotten away with it had they not pinned it on my client. One thing was for sure, whether it was Elisse or not—foul play buried Kyle.

  “I think you can also put Yvonne on the bottom of the list,” I suggested. “I see no motive for her in all this.”

  “Yeah, she’s on the bottom too.”

  “To me, the main suspect would be Stevie,” I said. “Even if Lane would have a motive for killing Kyle, I can’t see why he’d murder Elisse.”

  Killing Kyle to avenge Nani would be plausible, but offing Elisse just to cover his tracks would be a seriously screwed up individual.

  “If he was afraid that we’d connect Kyle Wilder’s murder to him, he might do it to throw us off his tail.” I’m sure Pako had come across that sort of thing in his many years on the force; otherwise, he watched it on some cop show. Ha!

  “We’ve got to setup that trap, Pako. How else are we going to figure out who did this? It all boils down to who’s got that bracelet.”

  “They’ve probably gotten rid of it by now.”

  “Just the fact that we know about it though”—and the charm too—“will make them nervous.”

  “You might be right. It’s all we’ve got for now anyway, until final reports come back from forensics.”

  “We should start with Stevie. He’d be easily spooked.” That kid would shake, rattle, and roll over if he’s the perp and bites the bait.

  “You have something in mind?” Pako’s tone rose.

  “I’ll tell you about it when we meet. You want me to come over to your office?”

  “I gotta get this paperwork filled out, then I’ll come over to your place.”

  I suspected my chow-down-driven friend liked to drop by more for the mouth-watering goodies I always had on hand than for my convenience.

  “See you soon.”

  Click.

  Before I could set my cell phone down, it chimed again. This time with a text message.

  ‘I got bad news. Meet me at Kyle Wilder’s residence.’

  Chapter 13

  Not a good way to start out a conversation. People blurting out they had bad news made me cringe the way The Shining did when Jack Nicholson axed the door, peeked his head in and said ‘Here’s Johnny.’

  ‘What is it, Reese?’

  ‘You’ll know when you get here. Can’t talk now. Hurry!’

  Less than a second later, another chime.

  ‘And don’t tell anybody. This is vital!’

  Why would Reese want me to meet him at the Wilder place? And why was it a secret? Did Reese take it upon himself to play Watson and uncovered something?

  He said ‘bad news’ though. What kind of bad news could he possibly have? Bad news for us with this case? What the heck did he mean by ‘bad news’?

  Reese didn’t want me to tell anybody, but his text made no sense, and the ‘bad news’ part made me furrow that space between my brows.

  Why would he care who I told? He knew this was an investigation and whatever he found would certainly interest Pako. And Pako should know about it.

  Hmm. What to do.

  Okay, I’ll send Pako a text message at least letting him know I’ll be at the Wilders’ estate since we were to meet later. In case I’m detained, he’d know where I was and could meet me there instead of my home.

  Sorry, Reese, but I can’t find a justification for not telling somebody where I was going to be, so that part I can’t keep to myself. I won’t tell anybody the rest of your message so that’ll have to do.

  Besides, what if this was a trap? What if Reese sent that message under duress? I’ll be damned if I was going to walk into it without a backup. Yeah, maybe I watched too many thrillers but it was a possibility, right?

  My life was NOT a movie. I didn’t get to pick in advance how my stories will end, and surely, my ending could very well not be happy should I be thinking these things don’t happen in real life. They sure do happen. Bad things happen every day. It already happened to my family.

  Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to let Pako know where I was headed.

  ‘Just to let you know, I’ll be at the Wilders’ estate. Call me when you’re done.’

  I hit the SEND button.

  * * *

  I decided to play it safe and parked off premises so I wouldn’t be spotted approaching had Reese not been the one hitting the ‘SEND’ button on his text.

  Walking between the trees, I gained access to the backside of the house without being exposed in plain sight.

  Since Reese wouldn’t be able to get into the house without a key—unless he broke a window or jimmied a lock—he’d be loitering somewhere outside. Hmm, maybe he bribed Jemma into teaching him how to commit break-ins. Gawd, I hope not!

  But if ...

  Before I could finish my thought, I heard a noise behind me. Just as I turned to see what it was—

  “You shouldn’t have snooped where your nose didn’t belong.” The gun pointed at my navel took my glance instantly away from Theresa’s face.

  “W-w-what have you done with Reese?” My voice quaked as though a volcanic eruption shimmied the earth beneath my feet.

  “You’ll see soon enough.”

  She seemed as nervous as I was—well okay, maybe slightly less since she was the one holding the gun—which made me think she’d been an amateur at all this.

  “Did you kill your ex-husband and his wife?”

  “Walk,” she said, ignoring my question. “That way. Toward the back of the shed.” Theresa motioned with her gun for me to get a move-on.

  “And no, I didn’t kill Nani.” Her voice echoed behind me. The echoing was probably my eardrums vibrating from my fear of what plans she had in store for me.

  “But you did kill Kyle.” Not mentioning him in her previous admittance, she as much conveyed it.

  “Sort of.”

  “Sort of? What does that mean?”

  “He might’ve been on the verge of death already. I just made sure of it.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “He was on the ground, hurt and passed out. He might’ve climbed on the stepstool to reach for something, or maybe it was to hide the gun, but he lost his balance and when he fell, he hit his head on the generator.”

  So that’s where his concussion came from.

  “I leaned him against the wall of the shed and put his hand around the gun with his finger on the trigger and squeezed it for him.”

  “Why would you want to kill your ex-husband?”

  “I had to finish him off to make it look like a suicide; otherwise, my son would go to prison if the truth was ever found out.”

  Ah, so she did it to save her son. Stevie had killed Nani.

  “You did it to protect your son? But Kyle was also trying to protect Stevie and covering up for him. He might’ve even been willing to say he killed Nani.”

  Her voice went co
ld, “He deserved to die anyway.” Revenge for divorcing her for Nani, no doubt. “And there was no telling if he’d get away with covering up for Stevie. I couldn’t take that chance and had to ensure Kyle took the fall for Nani’s murder.”

  As we round the bend of the shed, in the distance, past the herb garden, my eyes caught sight of Reese sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back. Tied, no doubt. Stevie Wilder stood watch on him.

  Reese didn’t look hurt, thank god, just scared. Like I was.

  “Why’d you kill Elisse then?” I asked. “That negated the suicide angle.” I wanted to keep her talking. Plus, I needed to hear it all.

  “After the phone call I received from some police detective’s associate, I panicked.” Okay, the sarcasm in her tone obviously meant she deduced it was me. “If they were going to interrogate Stevie, I figured the police might’ve suspected something more. Further investigation would lead to my son. And me.”

  I stopped in my tracks. “You’re not going to get away with this.”

  Theresa edged the gun toward me, egging me to move on. After a few paces, I stood next to Reese.

  “Sorry, Ginger. I got caught.” His reddened face frowned up at me.

  I wanted to ask him how and what the heck he was doing to get caught, but I left it alone for now. Should we survive this, I’ll pry that story out of him, but a more pressing concern was staring me in the face at the moment. Oh, and in the gut.

  “You won’t get away with killing us,” I reminded her. Even if I stated that boldly, my body quivered as though I were packed in snow. “My detective friend knows I’m here and he’s on his way.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Check my cell phone. You’ll see my text message.” Thank god I did that. But I hope Pako gets done with his reports in time. He may get here too late!

  Theresa made no effort to confirm. Seemed she believed me or else didn’t care.

  “Mom, let’s tie her up and hide them. We’ll be long gone before anybody finds out. We can’t kill any more people. It was wrong to kill Aunt Elisse.” Stevie was about to cry.

  “I only did it to protect you, sweetheart. Do you want to spend your life in jail?”