Chapter Five
A young and attractive women walked boldly into one of Honolulu's seedier downtown hotels. The lobby walls were chipped and badly in need of repair. The air was humid and stagnant due to the lack of air conditioning. The only relief came from several large ceiling fans. The manager noticed the woman enter and move toward the elevator. Normally, he wouldn't have paid her much mind. The hotel was the stage for a whole host of elicit activities ranging from adultery and prostitution, to drug dealing, and it paid to mind one's own business. However, the woman's short, tight dress, spiked heels, and erotic perfume caught his attention. He was so aroused by her that he failed to notice how she carefully kept her face hidden from him. The elevator doors opened and she disappeared from sight. Arriving on the third floor, the woman slowly walked down the hall and stopped before room 355. She knocked once. It was answered by a tall, well built man wearing a white dress shirt and gray slacks.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting for over an hour in this rat trap!" He stepped aside, allowing her to enter. He slammed the door shut and watched silently as his companion paced around the room. "You didn't answer my question," he reminded her as she lit a cigarette.
She turned to face him, "I was taking care of business, lover." She exhaled slowly and remarked, "You did a good job taking care of Linda, I was impressed."
The man smiled and said without remorse, "It was easy, but a waste if you ask me. I was thinking."
"I didn't ask, and you're not supposed to think!" The woman hissed back, stabbing her cigarette into a nearby ashtray.
The man ignored the rebuff and asked, "What possessed you to pick this dump?"
"It's a fantasy of mine. The first part." She stepped toward him and, undoing a single button, allowed her dress to fall away. She stood before him in the nude and sank slowly to her knees. The man quickly helped to undress himself, and after a time, dragged her off the ground and threw her on the bed. The woman wore a blank expression as he made love to her, and after it was over, the man lay exhausted next to her.
"Good God girl! You are great!," the man uttered. The woman rose and went into the bathroom for a moment. The man sat up in bed as she returned to the bedroom. He reached for his cigarettes but noticed the pack was empty. "Hey, babe, let me have one of those dammed filtered cigarettes you smoke."
The woman moved to a table on the far wall and reached into her bag. She turned in one fluid motion towards her lover, her arm outstretched. The man's eyes widened in shock as he noticed the suppressed automatic handgun leveled at him. "What the hell—?" he asked in disbelief.
"This is the second part of my fantasy." She fired twice hitting him in the chest. She watched impassively as he died. Putting her gun into her bag she removed a change of clothes. She quickly donned ripped jeans and a baggy shirt and tucked her hair into a cap. This done, she walked calmly to the elevator and descended into the lobby. She made her way out the front door and to her car.
The next morning, a contented Rita awoke and watched her husband sleep. Sunlight streamed through the windows casting shadows on the hard wood floor. "Sam, wake up," Rita said finally.
Chris slowly opened his eyes, "Huh? What?"
"It's time to get up, Sam. We're not in a hotel anymore, and we don't want to be late for breakfast. It wouldn't be fair to Mariko." Rita moved off the bed and to the bathroom. Chris quickly jumped up and followed her into the shower. Ten minutes later, Rita and Chris found themselves seated around the Yokahana breakfast table. Their kitchen was a whirl of activity as Mariko rushed to get the children ready for school. Yoshi paid the chaos no mind as he chatted with Rita and Chris and drank his coffee. His guests were used to a much quieter and more peaceful morning. Rita rubbed her stomach absently and knew their peaceful mornings were quickly coming to an end. In a few short months their baby would be born.
"So," Yoshi asked Rita and Chris as he kissed his kids goodbye. "What do you have planned for today?"
"I thought we'd go into town," Chris answered, "Rita wanted to get some shopping done."
Yoshi nodded, "That sounds good. Mariko might—" His beeper went off, and he glanced at the number. "It's my Captain." Picking up the phone he called his office and listened to his Captain in silence. He's eyes narrowed and finally he said, "Yes, sir, I'm leaving right now."
"What's wrong?" his wife asked.
Yoshi glanced from his wife to his guests and back again. "This case keeps on getting more and more interesting. Pat O'Day, Martin's head of security, was found shot to death in a downtown hotel room. He was just identified. I better get over there."
The murder of Pat O'Day left Chris and Rita even more perplexed. Were the two murders connected? Could O'Day have killed Linda Jensen? If so, was his death an attempt to silence him? There were no answers. The only common element was John Martin. They arrived at the shopping center Mariko recommended to them, but neither felt like shopping. Instead, they found a small cafe and tried to make sense of O'Day's death.
"My gut tells me O'Day killed Linda Jensen, but I don't think he acted alone. He was working for someone," Chris stated.
"It's possible," Rita allowed. "O'Day could have been killed to keep him silent, but why bother? He couldn't go to the police. It's almost like somebody is trying to implicate Martin with each murder."
"If he's being setup, then it's like you said, the worst attempt we've ever seen. The only thing that links Martin, so far, to the murders is that he knew the victims." Chris rose and walked toward a pay phone.
Rita followed and asked, "What's up? Who are you calling?"
Chris explained, "We need to get some information about John's recent business dealings. I told you John always seemed a bit shady even back in college. I'm wondering if he still is."
Chris called two friends. The first was a college friend, an investigative reporter who lived for many years in Hawaii, and the second was a DEA agent. The reporter knew of Martin and had two interesting tidbits about him. In 1991 Martin was investigated by the IRS and SEC for tax fraud and possible insider trading. At one point, the FBI was called in, but before the case agents could investigate, the charges were dropped. All files were sealed and classified secret. The second incident took place two years later. A business partner of Martin's was found bound and shot in the back of the head. The perpetrator was never found. Chris thanked his friend and then contacted the DEA agent he knew.
The agent was much less forthcoming but suggested that Martin might be involved in narcotics. A CI (confidential informer) who was working deep undercover inside a Chinese gang heard rumors that an American businessman was assisting the gang with its importation of drugs to the U.S. However, before he could learn who the American was, he was killed. Chris wanted to know why DEA suspected Martin, but the agent refused to answer. It didn't really matter. Chris learned what he wanted to know.
"So, Doc," Yoshi asked the Medical Examiner, "what did you find?"
The doctor looked up from his notes, "Well he was shot twice, in the chest. The bullet was a 9 mm. Time of death was midnight or a bit before. Also, he had sex shortly before he died. That's about all I have for you, sorry." Yoshi nodded and thanked him. He sensed he was close but not close enough. Was this the last murder, he wondered, or were there more to come?