= Caught in the Act
  A Kay Yoshinobu Mystery
  by John A. Broussard

It had been a rugged day for Sid Chu. As a fellow attorney, Kay Yoshinobu knew what his six-hour session in court dealing with reluctant and hostile witnesses had been like. In contrast, her day had involved little more than routine paperwork, while the usually insistent phone had been remarkably quiet. Even receptionist Leilani Pak hadn't brought in any importunate clients demanding immediate service. 

On the way home, Kay twisted the rearview mirror so she could see her passenger's face. Smiling, she said, "I tell you what, Sid. Once we get home, I'll mix you a drink and you go sit and watch your favorite news lady. I'll whip up a special treat for you in the meantime. We'll pick up a movie for after dinner. Then we'll just sit back and relax for the evening. How's that sound?"

Sid shook himself out of a reverie -- he'd been reliving the day's worst moments, trying to improve his questions, and just generally deciding he'd done a horrendously bad job as defense counsel. Catching Kay's smiling eyes in the mirror, he managed a tired grin. "You know what, Kay? I'm going to take you up on that. God, what a day!"

As Kay was putting together the ingredients for a mushroom and bacon quiche, she could hear the first of the national news -- the usual world disasters. It was shortly after the local announcer came on that Sid shouted to her, "Didn't you have one of our street ladies as a client sometime last month? A Candice Thatcher?"

Kay peered into the living room as she slipped on a pair of oven mitts. "Right on the first, wrong on the second. Her name was Audra Thackeray. The Thatcher woman was one of Bill Kuroyama's clients. I lucked out. It was a clear case of entrapment with my "street lady," as you refer to her. My case never went to trial. But Bill didn't do so well. If I remember right, he pleaded Candi down to a month -- county time. She should have been out at least six weeks ago."

"She was. But she didn't have much time to enjoy her freedom. Come and look."

The screen was alive with activity, shifting from Joannie Hashimoto, the anchorperson, to the yellow-taped area where a pair of medics were wrestling a stretcher through the narrow door of a house. The blanket over the form told the story all too clearly. Joannie's sultry voice announced, "A suspect was found at the scene of what the police have already labeled as a homicide. We should have more to report regarding the incident on the ten o'clock news."

Interest in the proceedings almost resulted in a burned supper. Rescued, it brought kudos from Sid and considerable satisfaction from Kay. Even so, the news vied with the meal.

"Did you know Candi Thatcher?"

Kay shook her head as she cut herself a second helping of the quiche. "Not directly. Most of what I know about her came from Bill and his office. We compared notes because both cases were the result of the orthodontist convention that met here. Candi and Audra were working out of the same escort service."

Momentarily, interest shifted back to the meal. "Ono!" exclaimed Sid as he savored another mouthful of Kay's production. 

"Thanks." She agreed -- in Japanese and English -- it was ono good.

"What service was that?"

"Warm Hearts, Inc. The company was busted, mostly because of what Candi spilled to get her sentence reduced. It was a high-class operation, an Oahu transplant. Don't you remember? Lauritz Nedstein was involved."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was running the outfit. Had quite a stable. But he hasn't been convicted, has he?"

"Hardly. A big Honolulu legal firm is representing him. They got a long delay. His trial won't be until fall, but the bail was plenty. Five figures, if I remember right. I think the judge resented the high-handed techniques of Nedstein's counsel. You know. Big city attorney appearing in a small town judge's court and all that."

The movie following the meal made them temporarily forget the local incident. Kay's had been a good choice -- an adventure film they both enjoyed. When it ended, though, Sid switched on the late news. A recap of the earlier report was followed by a shot of the station where the suspect, hands behind his back, was being helped none too gently from a police car. In spite of his attempts to hide his face, Kay recognized him.

"Nedstein!" she exclaimed. At that moment the phone rang, and since she was nearest to it, she picked it up. Sid paid little attention to what followed, especially since Kay was doing more listening than talking.

"Who was that?" he asked absently after Kay had hung up.

Amusement in her voice, she answered, "Lauritz Nedstein, himself, no less."

That caught Sid's full attention. "He's calling from the station?"

"Yes. We're the recipients of his one call. He's mad as a hornet that they held him so long without letting him call out. He wants us to represent him. By us, I mean you and me."

"What's wrong with his attorneys? The ones who sprang him on the earlier charges?"

"Exactly what I asked him. He doesn't think much of them. Maybe he figures the judge will be more favorably disposed to a local firm. Also, he saw both of us at the Hixon trial and he thought we did a bang-up job. He wanted us to come down there right away. I told him there was nothing we could do tonight, but that at least one of us would be there first thing in the morning. I gave him the usual advice."

"Don't tell the police anything without having an attorney at your elbow."

"Right you are. Let's go to bed. It looks like a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Shower, first."

Kay grinned. "OK. But just remember, we have to reserve some energy."

* * *

Over breakfast, Kay filled Sid in on as much as she knew about both the victim and the suspect.

"According to Bill Kuroyama, Candi was a disaster rushing off headlong to happen. She really started rebelling in her early teens. Her father was a sanctimonious, self-righteous fundamentalist and her mother was someone with plenty of money in her own right who spoiled the kid rotten from the word go. Quite a combination. Candi ran away several times. On her last escapade she managed to survive Honolulu for a while. Nedstein discovered her after she turned eighteen, and he convinced her to go to work for him."

"And Nedstein?"

"A first class S.O.B. from what both Bill and Audra had to say about him. He came from a wealthy San Francisco family and probably could have done well in the legitimate business world, but he apparently gets his kicks from operating along the borders of the law ... and beyond. When the going gets too hot for his escort services -- he's had several of them here on Elima, on Oahu and on Maui -- he closes them down and starts up under a different name, or with someone else to front for him. This time, he's in really deep. He has a federal rap hanging over his head as well as a state one. When I last spoke to Bill about it, he told me Candi's testimony could put Nedstein away for years."

"Oh, oh!"

"I know. The prosecutor didn't have to look very far for a motive, and since Nedstein's already been arrested, the police must figure he had the means and opportunity as well. We'll see."

* * *

As Kay unpacked her laptop/recorder, she looked across the table at their client, who was uneasily watching the proceedings. She decided the glimpse she'd caught of him on TV hadn't done him justice. "He doesn't look much like a murderer," she thought. "But, then, he doesn't look like a pimp, either."

Lauritz Nedstein, in fact, was considerably younger than either Kay or Sid had expected. Somewhere in his late twenties, slender, a long narrow face topped by a head of dark hair. His brown eyes were intelligent and very alert. "When can you get me out of here?" he asked before they had had a chance to sit. 

The attorneys had agreed beforehand that Sid would do most of the questioning, so he answered the question. "We can't. Not until you've been formally charged, and then there will have to be a bail hearing. Depending on the charge, we may be able to arrange bail, but it's going to be stiff."

"I can cover it."

Kay was impressed with how little their client seemed to be bothered by the seriousness of his situation. His irritability seemed to spring mainly from his enforced stay in the station jail overnight and the prospect of being there yet a few more hours. Sid's next words convinced Kay his mind was working in the same direction.

"You don't seem to be aware that a murder has been committed, and the police are saying they virtually caught you red handed."

A disgusted sigh greeted Sid's comments. "Yes, I know a murder has been committed. I also know that she was dead when I got there."

"OK. That's a good place to start. Why were you there?"

"I was there because she called me. That's why."

"And you went over to her house even though she had a restraining order against you?"

"Sure. She said all was forgiven. She wanted to talk to me. Wanted to take back what she said to the police about me. So, naturally, I went over. That whole case rested on her say-so. Wouldn't you have gone to see her if you'd been in my place?"

Not necessarily the wisest thing to do, Kay thought, but understandable. But was he telling the truth? It seemed unlikely Candi had been planning to back down on her testimony. Kay made a mental note to ask Bill about that. She broke in with her own question. "You say she called you?"

Nedstein's gaze shifted to Kay. The length of the appraisal made her wonder if he was evaluating her in terms of his traditional business. The answer, when it came, was an abrupt, "Yeah."

"You didn't by any chance record her call?"

"No."

"Too bad. But we can subpoena her phone records, and that will prove she made the call and that it wasn't you who called her."

Nedstein begin to fidget. "Actually, I didn't answer her when she called."

Kay said nothing as she waited for an explanation.

"She called first. I didn't answer. She just left a recorded message asking me to call her. I get a lot of calls, and new ones coming in would have copied over hers. Anyhow, I did call back."

"You threatened her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but she still wanted me to come over. Insisted she wouldn't testify against me. It was pretty obvious she wanted some quid pro quo."

"Blackmail?"

"I guess you could call it that."

Kay avoided looking at Sid, but she knew he was thinking what she was thinking. "This one's a loser."

Their feelings must have communicated themselves to their client, since he began to fidget even more. Sid broke the silence. "This is important. Describe exactly what happened from the time you spoke to her to the time the police arrested you." 

Nedstein insisted that Candi had been dead when he walked into the house following his drive across town to her home. He'd knocked. She hadn't answered the door. He'd tried it. It was not only unlocked but was also ajar. He'd gone in and found her lying on the living room floor with a kitchen knife stuck in her back. He'd checked to see if she was still alive. She wasn't. He started to call 911 on his cell phone only to have the police come in while he was punching in the number. 

"How do you know she was dead?"

"I just knew she was. Her shirt was all bloody. She wasn't moving."

"Did you touch her?"

"No!" The answer was vehement.

On the way back to the office, it would have been difficult to decide which of the two attorneys was the most pessimistic about the case. Kay was the first one to voice her thoughts. "If Candi recorded that call, then Nedstein's dead in the water. I'm sure what he admitted he said is only a small part of what he actually did say."

Sid nodded. "At first, I thought the fact she called him rather than the other way around would work in his favor. Sure as hell it won't now, not with that return phone call of his. His restraining order stated that he wasn't even supposed to call her. Period."

Kay managed to shake off the gloom by the time she got back to her office. Sid followed her and slumped down into one of the chairs as she settled down behind her desk, pulled forward the traditional yellow legal pad, and asked, "Who do we investigate first?" 

"Here we go again. There's absolutely nothing you like to do better. Well, let me clue you in. We won't have to investigate Nedstein. The prosecutor's office will examine him and his background inside and out. Then they'll have to give us whatever they dredge up. So, I guess after the police report, the victim is what you're going to want to start with."

"Right," Kay said, while writing Candi Thatcher in large block letters at the top of the page. "Start naming them off."

A sigh was Sid's answer, but he pitched in. "Her folks. Maybe they should be first."

Kay shook her head even though she wrote down "parents," leaving a space above in which she wrote, "Cal Lim."

"Why the pathologist first?"

"C'mon, Sid. You know as well as I do that pathologists can tell you a lot about what the live person was like. Besides, we know Cal well enough that he'll be willing to pass along anything he's found out. I just hope he's had time to do a prelim. Next?" As she spoke, she was adding to the list.

"Bill Kuroyama," Sid said. 

"Right on. He worked on her case for months, so he should have a lot to tell us about her." 

"And didn't they do some kind of psychological testing before they accepted her plea?" 

"Hey, Chu, you're red hot today. As a matter of fact, they did. And this time with a psychiatrist, no less. He comes over from Oahu, one day a week. Can't remember his name, but Bill will know it."

"Probation officer."

"That one I remembered. But I've got an even better one. Audra."

Sid looked puzzled at first, then said, "Oh yeah. The call girl you defended."

Kay's eyes narrowed. "Let's call her a client."

Sid grinned. "OK. The client you got off on a bum rap."

* * *

As it turned out, Cal was unavailable. After reading the police report, though, Kay was impatient to talk to him. 

"Take a look at this," she said to Sid after she'd had a chance to digest the document Leilani had brought in and dropped on her desk. Sid had almost forgotten about the Thatcher homicide, as he'd returned to his office and immersed himself in an especially complex embezzlement case he was handling. 

He looked up at her as she passed the papers over to him. "Do you think we've got a case?" he asked.

"If I were going to go solely by the police report, I'd give up right now, tell him to plea bargain and settle for anything we can get."

Sid had started reading, commenting as he went along. "Phew! She called the police and told them Nedstein called her, threatened her and was coming over in violation of the restraining order. Their patrol arrived twelve minutes later, and he was on his way out of the house then. They arrested him for violating the restraining order. That's when he told them that she was in the house -- dead -- and that that was the way he found her. One of the officers went into the house and -- Jeezus! She was still alive!" 

Sid flipped through to the back page. "Officer Matthew Souza." He read the name aloud. "He's an old-timer. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. Says she died just as he leaned over to see if she was breathing. Well, Kay, it looks like we'd better get Nedstein to plead, no matter what else you find out."

"Even so. I'm going to do my best. For sure I'm going to ask Cal about that police report."

Kay hadn't been too optimistic about managing to see Cal Lim immediately, since he was also a general practitioner at the Napua Medical Clinic, with a full schedule there in addition to his part-time appointment as pathologist for Elima County. Today, the chances of immediately getting in to see him were reduced even more, since he had flown off to Oahu to consult on an autopsy in Honolulu. Estimated return time was still unknown, according to the Clinic's harassed receptionist.

Moving down the list, the parents turned out to be readily available. They were reluctant to talk to attorneys they felt were defending their daughter's killer, but finally agreed to a brief meeting. Kay decided she was fortunate to have spoken only to the mother, though she'd heard a voice in the background indicating the father was contributing to the conversation. Hoping things would go more smoothly with only one attorney -- and a woman at that -- doing the interrogating, she easily convinced Sid to stay behind and catch up on his embezzlement case.

Jollene Thatcher was a small, slender woman with a decidedly soigne look. Kay always considered her own interest in clothes to be somewhat less than that of the average woman of her acquaintance but, even so, she could recognize and appreciate haute couture. Mrs. Thatcher epitomized the concept. Though it was early afternoon on a Hawaiian Island where relaxation and informal dress were the norm, here was a woman, probably in her early fifties, whose appearance could have passed muster at the most expensive and exclusive fund-raising in any East Coast city. Kay was appreciative as well as surprised.

Leon Thatcher seemed out of place next to such splendor. A short, dark haired, balding male -- at least in his late sixties, dressed in dark trousers and white shirt -- he would have made little impression on anyone except for his strange intensity of expression. Quick introductions indicated the wife would be the spokesperson, since Leon Thatcher merely nodded in acknowledgement of Kay's presence. So Kay centered on Jollene -- making it clear that she represented Lauritz Nedstein, that by law he had to be presumed innocent, and that her job was to defend him.

A skeptical look prompted Kay to add, "I've defended many individuals accused of crimes, and have found that some of them actually did not commit the crimes they were accused of -- sometimes to my surprise."

"So you think this Nedstein person didn't kill Candice?"

"I don't know. He swears he didn't. I try to keep an open mind, and that's why I would like your help. I'm sure you would want the person who killed your daughter to be apprehended. If Lauritz Nedstein didn't do it, then what I find out here today might help to locate the real killer."

Kay heard Leon snort as Jollene asked, "And if he is the killer?"

"Let me very frank with you. I will do my best to defend him, and the court will have to decide whether or not he's guilty."

Strangely, that answer seemed to mollify Jollene. There was no way of determining its impact on Leon.

Encouraged, Kay said, "Frankly, I have no way of knowing at this stage of the investigation what I need to know, but if you would just generally tell me about your daughter, perhaps something you say will be of help. Or maybe it will guide me toward asking the right questions."

"I'm sure there are some things you know already. Others you'll find out soon enough. We adopted Candice when she was just a baby. I ... we couldn't have children of our own, but we weren't sure of that until we'd been married several years." Jollene turned an equivocal glance in Leon's direction before continuing. "She was the sweetest child imaginable."

It soon became obvious that Kay had struck a responsive chord. Soon the photo album was out, and Kay had to admit that the pictures were ample testimony to a fortunate childhood for Candi. Beautiful dresses, at least two different ponies, endless dolls, a dozen birthday parties, vacations where the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore loomed in the background, and an entire collection depicting a European tour with Candi always featured in the foreground. While Jollene expatiated on her child's qualities, Leon said nothing, simply fixing the two women with his intense gaze.

When Kay finally managed to bring Jollene up to Candi's late teens, the tone changed very little. Yes, Candi had become a handful. She had run away from home, but she had kept in touch while on Oahu and they had been able to persuade her to come back within a week without resorting to the authorities. The second time she left home had been for a much longer time, and they had used a private investigator to track her down. She had returned home then, but only with the greatest reluctance. The last time they had been unable to do anything about it because by then she had turned eighteen. 

Since it sounded as though her informant was going to stop there, Kay prompted, "And what about her recent problems?"

Jollene again gave her husband an ambiguous look. "She called when she was arrested, and we hired Attorney Kuroyama to represent her. We -- I -- paid her bail, and I was paying her rent on that house where...." For the first time Jollene began to weep. 

Kay felt there was little more she could learn at this point, and it was obvious the silent husband wanted her out. He showed her to the front door. Just before closing it behind Kay he said, in a low voice filled with anger, "Candice was evil, through and through."

* * *

A call to the Clinic brought good news. Cal had twenty minutes open that afternoon as a result of a cancellation, and Kay decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

The small, bald-headed pathologist, whose English smacked of Charlie Chan movies, had long ago demonstrated to Sid and Kay that he was both competent and efficient. Best of all, he was always cooperative. Today he was no different.

"Prelim done. Assistant will provide more details, and I will finish this evening after work here. Cause of death seems indisputable. Knife wound in back penetrating left ventricle."

"Is it possible that the person who stabbed her didn't get any blood on himself or herself?"

"Possible, yes. Especially since knife not removed. Most of the blood went into the body cavity. Her shirt also absorbed much of the external bleeding. It's unlikely killer would not have gotten at least a few drops on him." Cal paused, smiled and added, "Or her. Unlikely, but -- as I said -- possible."

It would be a plus, Kay thought, if she could get Cal to say that the killer was unlikely to have escaped unstained, since the police had found no trace of blood on Nedstein. "How long could she have lived after being stabbed?"

"Had the knife been removed, she would have died within seconds. With the knife left in place, it would have been minutes, but not many. Very difficult to estimate. Certainly no more than five minutes, most likely much less."

Kay could see herself stressing this point in her defense of Nedstein. That Candi might have been stabbed five minutes before the police arrived on the scene was a slender reed, but she had to cling to something. What Cal told her next left her wondering whether she had now discovered a life raft or a gaping hole in the side of the boat.

"You may be interested, Kay...." Cal started to say as his nurse knocked to announce the resumption of his schedule.

"Yes?" Kay prompted as she rose to leave.

"She was about a month pregnant."

When Kay broke the news to Sid, his response was surprisingly lukewarm. "Nowadays, that doesn't mean much if you're looking for a motive for murder. Nedstein is single, and wouldn't much care. I suppose a paternity suit would be an annoyance. Some married man? That's possible, but it's a pretty dramatic way of getting out of an embarrassing situation. My guess is that Candi would have been willing to settle for the price of an abortion plus an additional amount for the inconvenience -- assuming, of course, that she knew the father's identity."

"I'm inclined to agree the pregnancy may not be significant," Kay replied after some thought. "If Cal's estimate is right, then the date of conception is a week or so after she moved into that house. I haven't talked to Bill, yet, but I would guess she wasn't about to pass up any trade just because she was on probation." Checking her watch, she stood up. "Speaking of Bill, I have to see him right about now."

Bill Kuroyama was primarily a divorce lawyer who also handled criminal cases on occasion. Of average height, he wasn't especially attractive, but he had a nice smile, got along well with both Sid and Kay, and just generally had a good reputation as a trial attorney. Kay got down immediately to the matter at hand, after only the briefest of preliminaries.

"I don't envy you defending Nedstein," Bill said. "I never met him, and I don't want to. Candi's description of him was enough for me."

"Did he physically abuse her?"

"Yes. And he threatened her when I was representing her. That's when we got the restraining order. In a way, neither of us was especially upset when she got that month's sentence. She felt safer in jail than on the outside, as long as he was around."

"Hmm. Do you have first hand knowledge of that?"

"You mean, did he phone, and was I privy to the conversation? Nope. The prosecutor won't call on me to testify, since all I know about Nedstein is secondhand information, mostly from Candi."

Kay smiled. "That's some relief. Let's move on to Candi. What can you tell me about her?"

The smile received an answering broad grin. "Other than Nedstein, it's hard to believe that Candi had any enemies. Certainly not men. You know the old myth that prostitutes really enjoy sex? Well, that happened to be accurate in Candi's case. And that can be a big plus in the trade when a woman doesn't have to fake it. Men were definitely attracted to her."

Kay decided to take a chance with the next question. "Were you?"

Bill laughed aloud. "You bet. But I value my legal standing more. No way will I ever engage in any hanky panky with a client. Besides, Candi didn't have much to offer besides sex."

Bill went on without prompting. "She wasn't really too bright. If you check her school record, she passed only because she didn't cause any trouble. Even so, she didn't make it through high school. I talked to the parents, and her mother insisted it was because she skipped so many classes. Well, you didn't have to know Candi very well to realize she didn't have much upstairs. The school psychologist classified her as 'dull normal.' I suspect that means he agrees with me."

He paused for a moment. "If you want an overall description of Candi, I would say she was a pleasant, easy-going, rather dull person. It's hard for me to believe that even an asshole like Nedstein would have killed her. In fact, I can't picture anyone ever getting mad enough at her to kill her."

"I guess that gives me a fairly good idea of what she was like. One more question. Do you think there was any possibility that Candi would have been willing to withdraw her testimony against Nedstein?"

"Hard to say. I don't think it would have been difficult to persuade Candi to do anything. But she was really afraid of Nedstein. I'm not sure she would have even listened to him. Just run like hell if he approached her."

"By the way. She was pregnant."

"Not surprising. Third time for her. Her mother paid for the first abortion when she was fifteen. Nedstein paid for the second one when he recruited her. If you think it has some significance, think again. Pregnancy was just a way of life for Candi. A minor inconvenience."

Other matters took Kay's attention and time away from the Nedstein case for the remainder of the day. With Sid in court most of the afternoon, she had no opportunity to sound out his opinion until they sat down at a restaurant that evening. 

"So far you seem to have agreement on both Nedstein and Candi," Sid commented. "He's an arrogant bastard who didn't hesitate to beat her up. She was dumb enough to put up with it. I would say the only surprising thing was that he would kill her, since it sounds as though he would have been able to talk her into withdrawing her testimony."

"That sounds like a good argument, but I doubt a jury would buy it. Even though she was afraid of Nedstein, she was also afraid of getting any more prison time. That possibility certainly loomed if she reneged on her testimony. What I'm wondering about is that pregnancy. I know that doesn't necessarily mean much these days, but I can't help but wonder about whether or not that might have been a factor leading up to her murder."

"Bill's right," Sid insisted. "It was evidently a small matter as far as she was concerned. She may not even have been aware of it, since it was still early. And if she was aware, she probably didn't bother to tell anyone. Were you thinking blackmail?"

Kay shook her head. "From everything I've seen so far, Candi was just not the blackmailing type. I doubt she even considered the possibility of carrying the pregnancy on to full term. But I still think it's important to find out who the father is."

"Suppose it's Nedstein."

"Then we have to bite the bullet. It would be evidence against him, and we'd have to turn it in to the prosecutor."

Sid couldn't resist needling her. "Either way, you lose. If he isn't the father, you would still have to notify the prosecutor and he could use that too -- claiming jealousy on Nedstein's part as an additional reason for the murder. I can hear him now insisting that even pimps can be jealous."

"I'll worry about it tomorrow. Let's see what kind of desserts are on the menu."

As occasionally happened, Sid and Kay found a madhouse waiting for them in the office the next morning. Clients, faxes, voice mail, and Leilani -- who reminded both of them they had court appearances within the hour. It wasn't until after lunch that Kay got around to calling the prosecutor's office for permission to run a DNA test of the embryo Candi had been carrying. The answer she got floored her. Sid came in at that moment and, noticing her expression, said, "You look like you've misplaced the winning lottery ticket. What happened?"

"Candi's body is already cremated."

"What? That can't be. Cal just finished the autopsy yesterday."

"It can be and is, unfortunately. The parents picked up her body yesterday afternoon, took it to the mortuary and the funeral director cremated it last night. They said it was Candi's wish that, in case of her death, she be cremated immediately."

Kay hadn't fully recovered from her dismay when she stopped by the state office building to see Candi's probation officer. She had had some brief contacts with James Saunders before, enough to be on a first name basis, but actually knew little about him and had never visited him at work before. Looking around her, she decided she hadn't missed much. Two rusty file cabinets, much the worse for wear; an old metal army surplus desk, overflowing with papers; a computer, which looked like a collector's item; an office chair that seemed almost too rickety to sit on; and two straight back chairs with cracked plastic seats -- all contained in a ten by ten room with bare walls painted landlord green.

Saunders himself looked as ill-used as his surroundings. Average height, balding, with pronounced bags under his eyes, passing for fifty, probably forty. He did manage a near smile. "Welcome to my humble quarters, Kay." He took a manila folder off the top of a shaky stack and handed it to her. "That's what I have on Candice Thatcher. Not much, as you can see."

Kay glanced through the file and decided this was an understatement. There was little more there than the form assigning her to the probation office.

Looking sheepish, Saunders interrupted her thoughts before she could speak. "I could give you a long spiel about how the state's judicial system is underfinanced, understaffed and overworked but I won't, except to mention that the probation office is at the bottom of that barrel. Candice reported here every Tuesday morning. Theoretically, I was supposed to make random visits to her home. I went once, the day she moved in."

"Impressions?"

"Blah. She was pretty, in an infantile sort of way. I suppose some men would have considered her sexy, but I couldn't see it. There just wasn't much upstairs."

"Any evidence that she continued her trade while she was on probation?"

"Her release was on the condition that she look for legitimate work. She went through the motions, but I can't imagine anyone hiring her. I wouldn't have trusted her to wrap hamburgers. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of her regular johns showed up once the word got around that she was out and available."

It was early afternoon before Kay got back to the office to find Sid with some relatively free time and a willingness to listen to her self-flagellation over the cremation.

"What disturbs me most," she said, looking off into the distance, "is her parents' claim that Candi wanted immediate cremation."

"A lot of people feel that way. Why is that so strange?" 

"Because from what I know about Candi so far, it's hard to see her giving any thought to her mortal remains ... or to a profound thought of any kind."

"You're going to talk to her parents about it?"

"You bet. But I've got an appointment with her psychiatrist in about an hour. This is the only day of the week he's on the Island, so that will have to come first. Any chance I can talk you into going along?"

"Me? What for? You know how I feel about psychiatrists."

Amused at the vehemence, Kay replied, "He's an older Japanese male, and I know what that means. Women are women, as far as they're concerned, and they can't take them seriously in any other context. This guy might be different, but it won't hurt to have a man along."

"I guess it's nice to know I can serve a useful function." The tone of his voice reflected part amusement, part annoyance.

"Now, Sid, you know you already serve a useful function."

Kay's first thought as she entered Dr. Paul Takahashi's office was its remarkable contrast to James Saunders's office, especially since the psychiatrist occupied it only once a week. The koa-paneled walls were carefully decorated with tasteful watercolors, interspersed with the expected diplomas and other testimony to Dr. Takahashi's training and experience. The desk consisted of a beautiful and highly-polished wood that Kay didn't recognize, and its almost bare surface spoke of an orderly mind ... or at least an efficient secretary. Only a silver triptych, with the portrait of a woman about his age flanked by two teen-aged girls, sat on the desk. The mandatory couch occupied one corner of the large room, and three comfortable leather-upholstered chairs faced the psychiatrist who, after briefly shaking hands, sat back in his own luxurious, high-back swivel chair.

Takahashi's physical appearance also presented a striking contrast to that of the probation officer. Tall, for a Japanese, he was impeccably dressed in an expensive suit. Kay rated him as, if not handsome, at least rather good-looking. The gray hair -- which actually added to, rather than detracted from, his appearance -- reinforced her estimate that he was in his mid fifties. After the briefest of preliminaries, he said, "As I told you over the phone, I'm as bound by doctor/patient privilege as you are by attorney/client privilege. That Candice Thatcher is now deceased obviously makes a difference, but I'm not sufficiently au courant with the ethical procedures under such circumstances to simply open her files for inspection."

Sid didn't wait for Kay to respond. "You are aware, I'm sure, Doctor, that when the case comes to trial we'll be able to subpoena your records." 

Kay was only too conscious of Sid's underlying antagonism and began to wonder if it had been such a good idea to bring him along.

Takahashi shrugged. "My pre-sentencing report is already on file with the courts."

Before he could elaborate, Kay broke in. "Did you do any interviews with Candice after that?"

"Yes. Part of her sentencing was that she was to have two sessions at my office to determine whether or not she should be released at the end of thirty days. My further recommendations were included in the conditions for that release."

"And afterwards?"

A headshake was the answer.

Sid asked the next question. "Did you take notes of your interviews?"

"Of course"

"And these are available in your reports?"

Another headshake accompanied by a smile. "The courts require only the filling in of a form and a brief evaluation of the individual."

Kay sensed where Sid was heading, reached a hand out and pressured his arm while saying, "Perhaps you could just give us a general evaluation of Candice, something I'm sure you must have included in your reports."

"Certainly. She was a rather immature person. Three brief sessions provide little basis for in-depth analysis of her personality but, just generally, I would say she was a pleasant, agreeable individual. I would imagine that most men would have considered her to be pretty. That, along with what I would regard as rather easygoing traits, would probably have accounted for what I understand was some measure of success in her chosen trade." 

The remainder of the interview, which went on for another quarter hour, did little beyond heightening Sid's distaste for the doctor.

"Why so eager to get his notes?" Kay asked the moment they'd left the office. 

"Because he's hiding something, that's why."

"I agree, but he could easily fake the notes. We might very well get something we don't want, such as a long diatribe against Nedstein. Maybe even a statement on her part that Nedstein threatened to kill her." Kay shook her head. "Takahashi on the stand won't do us much good. If he's hostile, he could do us a lot of harm. I'm going to start doing some research into hearsay evidence and how it relates to a doctor/client relationship after the client is deceased."

Since Kay had already established good rapport with Audra Thackeray, her former client, she opted to do that interview on her own. To her surprise, the suggested meeting place was Napua Community College's cafeteria.

Audra was tall, dark-haired, half-Hawaiian, half-Caucasian, in her early twenties. A scar running across her left eyebrow marred an otherwise pretty face. As she placed her food on the table opposite Kay, she smiled, saying, "I'll bet you never thought you'd see me on a college campus."

Between samplings of her salad, Kay answered, "I was surprised, but I shouldn't have been. You did fine in high school, probably a lot better than most of this crowd." She gestured with her head the rest of the crowded cafeteria. "What are you taking?"

"Bookkeeping, and I'm doing pretty well at it so far." She seemed somewhat embarrassed as she went on. "Do you remember Kalani Chen, the Napua Fast Cab driver? He was at the court hearing, and I introduced you." 

Kay had a vague memory of shaking hands with a tall, slender Chinese-looking male. She nodded.

"Well, we're living together, and may go into business together, too. He's got a little money set aside, and he says Napua Fast Cab is in need of some competition. I'll handle the paperwork and dispatching while he takes care of the cabs and drivers. We already have three cars and a half-dozen drivers lined up. We launch off at the end of the quarter."

"Kalani Chen?" Kay asked. "Wasn't he...."

Audra interrupted. "Yes. He used to steer customers to me back when I was freelancing, but there'll be none of that with AK Taxi Service. I've had enough of the trade." She passed a finger over her scar as she spoke. "Kalani and I have talked it over. From here on out, we're staying well inside the law -- not outside of it, not at the edge of it."

Having finished her salad, Kay decided it was time to move on to the reason for the meeting. "What can you tell me about Candice Thatcher?"

"I didn't know her very well. In fact, the only time I ever talked to her much was once when we were doing a threesome with a Dallas orthodontist. He wanted us for a whole night, then got so drunk he passed out almost as soon as we got to his hotel room." Audra smiled at the memory. "We checked out his wallet. He had over six hundred dollars in it, so we split it two ways. We figured he'd just think he'd given it to us. We didn't really roll him, even though he had a solid gold necklace with a gold cross and a Rolex that would have brought four figures from Uncle John. But he'd have known he didn't give us those items! Might have decided to call in the cops when he woke up and found them missing.

"As it turns out, he didn't come back to life until late the next morning, happy as a clam. Couldn't remember anything, but he assumed he'd come a half-dozen times. He was so pleased, he even took us out to breakfast and paid with plastic, never even noticed his cash was gone.

"But to come back to Candi. Well, like I said, he'd hired us for the night, so Candi and I sat around and watched television on the off chance that he'd wake up and want to get what he'd paid for. That's when she told me something about herself. Not much, though."

Kay looked over the edge of her cup of decaf and said nothing, assuming it was best to let Audra go her own way.

"Her folks have plenty of money, at least according to Candi. Or her mother does, anyway. Candi said she got bored and took off from home a few times but they always ran her down and brought her back."

"So she didn't get along with them?"

"Not with her Dad, that's for sure. She hated him."

"Was she afraid of him?"

Audra shook her head. "She told me she remembers him spanking her when she was little, and her Mom came in the room. She can't remember what her mother said to her father, but he never touched her again."

"Did she say how she felt about her mother?"

"Not really. I got the feeling that Candi didn't care about her one way or the other. Whenever Candi wanted anything, her mother would get it for her, but I guess she couldn't give Candi what she really wanted."

"Which was?"

Audra slowly piled her dishes on her tray and pushed it aside before giving a strange answer to the question. "You aren't going to believe this, I know, but Candi enjoyed sex. I remember reading some old book which said that whores really enjoy screwing. Well, that's just plain bull ... except for Candi."

It occurred to Kay at that moment that what Audra was saying was virtually a replay of what she'd heard from Bill Kuroyama.

"And I guess it paid off for her," Audra continued. "Nedstein told me that more guys asked for repeat performances from her than from any other call girl he'd ever had working for him. Maybe that's the other side. Not only did she enjoy her work, but she seemed to be especially appealing to the johns for some reason or another. It wasn't that she was any more willing to do special tricks or anything like that. Somehow, she just seemed to draw them like a magnet."

"Sex appeal," Kay commented.

"You know, I've heard that said about a lot of women, but Candi is the only one I ever met who really had it. I think she could have gotten any man this side of gay to go to bed with her."

* * *

Once the table was cleared and the dishes packed away in the dishwasher, Sid knew what to expect. Kay brought over her dispatch case, emptied the contents on the table, put on her reading glasses and said, "Time to sum up."

"Nedstein?"

"What else? Ninety percent of my work time for the last week has been on that case, but I still don't have it organized in my mind."

"OK. I'll forgo the TV news, since I know you won't leave me in peace as long as you're working. But, so far as I can see, Nedstein is the murderer."

"You've got a lot of company. I talked to the arresting officer, Hank DeMello, just briefly in court today. He's convinced."

"But willing to listen?"

"Oh sure, but I'll have to have something definite for him. So far, it's only the names of the people we've interviewed. I can't even provide him with a list of suspects. But at least I know a lot more about Candi. The consensus is that she was definitely not very bright. Probably functionally illiterate. I spoke to her high school counselor who says Candi should never have been allowed into high school. She got nothing out of it. Missed classes regularly, and it wouldn't have made much difference if she'd been there all the time."

Two hours and several sheets of scribbled-on legal paper produced little more than Sid's final remark on the case. "Let's face it, Kay. If it isn't Nedstein, then it's one of Candi's clients and, from what I can see, that seems to include about half of the adult male population of Elima."

Kay pushed her reading glasses up into her hair and her notes away from her. "My head's swimming, but I refuse to think about it anymore until we're back at the office tomorrow." 

Her refusal held until two in the morning when she sat straight up in bed, waking Sid in the process. His sleep-laden voice asked, "Wassa matter."

"The cremation! I forgot to talk to the Thatchers about it. First thing in the morning."

Sid groaned, rolled over and was almost immediately asleep. Kay's mind was too filled with possibilities. It was after three before she dropped off.

At breakfast, and later on the way to work, Sid made some attempts at broaching the topic of the Nedstein case, but Kay was non-committal. Knowing that his partner lapsed into this uncommunicative mode when she was completely immersed in a case, he dropped the subject. His own thoughts went off on the embezzlement trial, where jury selection was due that morning.

The look on Kay's face when Sid arrived back from court at noon told him the good news. She beamed. "Nedstein's innocent, and I think I can prove it. I asked Hank to do a little inquiring for me, and he should get back to me any minute. Fortunately, things were quiet at the station this morning."

"Fill me in."

"Do you remember I woke up at two this morning thinking about Candi's cremation."

"I sure do. I remember it all too clearly."

"Well, I called the Thatchers this morning. After a lot of hemming and hawing, she said it wasn't her idea. She admitted that Candi had never spoken to her about it."

"Leon!" Sid exclaimed.

Kay grinned, "That's exactly what I thought. It wasn't. It was someone in a position to be very persuasive, however. Someone who could convince the Thatchers that that was what Candi wanted."

"The psychiatrist!"

"Right. Paul Takahashi, himself. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out why he wanted Candi cremated immediately. Even if he wasn't the father of the child, he may have thought he was. No way could he afford to take chances. And it all fits. Who could have persuaded her to make that phone call to Nedstein? He probably loaded her down with all sorts of garbage. That she had to confront her fears. That he, Takahashi, would be there to protect her. 

"Once Nedstein called back and said he'd be right over, that was Candi's death warrant -- signed, sealed and delivered. To be absolutely safe, he then convinced her to call 911 and tell them Nedstein was on his way. The moment he saw Nedstein pull up in front of the house, he stabbed Candi -- and as a doctor, he knew exactly where to place the knife -- then went out the back."

Sid shook his head. "There's just one minor problem, Kay. You don't have a single, solitary bit of evidence to back that up. And there's also one major problem. That wasn't one of his regular days, so he's over on Oahu that day. He would have had to fly over, kill her and fly back again. Not only does that mean he undoubtedly has an alibi over there, but he couldn't have avoided being recognized by attendants who see him on his weekly visits to Elima."

"The flight business is easy. The State of Hawaii pays the fare for his visits, and they contract with only one of the airlines that connect Elima with Oahu. I've already called and verified that Hawaiian Airlines is the line they've used for the last three years. So Aloha Airlines is the one Hank's checking on. I would guess a lone Japanese male with a different name came over on one of the early afternoon flights and returned to Oahu on a late afternoon one." The phone rang at that moment. Lieutenant Hank DeMello identified himself, and Kay punched the button on the speaker phone.

The voice booming out said, "You hit the jackpot, Kay. A Yoshito Yamaguchi came over on the one-thirty that day and returned on the six-ten. Paid cash. We have a tentative identification based on photos of Paul Takahashi from one of the stewardesses on the early flight and a very positive one from a steward on the second flight." A sound of laughter. "He spilled coffee on Takahashi, so he's not going to forget him in a hurry.

"Back on Oahu, Takahashi sent his secretary home that day with the word that he wanted to work in his office uninterrupted all afternoon. Honolulu PD has already picked him up and read him his rights. He panicked. Absolutely denied he flew over. 

"Oh, I almost forgot. There's a bonus. Takahashi, under the name of Yamaguchi, also came over right around the time we figure Candi got pregnant. Anyhow, HPD reports him as being indignant as all hell. Threatening to sue. They never told him they have proof of his flights over, so he keeps on insisting he was in Honolulu when she was murdered and that he's never been over here except on scheduled days. Warrants are out to search his house and car. A bloodstained jacket would be nice, but we won't really need it." 

Sid nodded in agreement. "Hank's right. They really won't need it."

JOHN A. BROUSSARD was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1924 and received his AB from Harvard and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He taught at the college level for twenty years. John has recently sold about a hundred short stories; in addition, his first two books, MANA and DEATH OF THE TIN MAN'S WIFE (which features series character Kay Yoshinobu and is slated for eBook release from HandHeldCrime/Coffee Cup Press), appeared in 2001. John also reviews for Bibliophile and I Love a Mystery; his website may be found at http://www.fictionwritings.com/.

Copyrights (c) 2002 John A. Broussard

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