Chapter 3

"There are no security cameras in the grand ballroom itself," the hotel manager explained. "However, I can get you all the footage you want of the parking lot, the main entrance and the lobby."

"Why no cameras in the ballroom?" Steve asked, trying to hide his irritation at the news.

"We host a lot of high profile events," the manager said, selecting his words carefully. "Many of our guests prefer to control the narrative themselves."

"He means they don't want to take a chance on any bad behavior getting caught on tape and sold to the press," Danny said.

"I wouldn't have used those exact words, but yes," the manager acknowledged.

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "Are there a lot of things going on here that people are trying to keep hidden?"

He understood the island's wealthiest citizens operated under their own set of rules but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"I assure you," the manager said, "If there was any illegal activity going on I would call the police immediately. What we're talking about is more along the lines of business meetings that require a great deal of discretion."

"And rendezvous of a more personal nature as well?" Danny guessed.

The manager nodded. "Sometimes."

"Was Richard Easton looking for any 'discretion'?" Steve asked.

"No." The manager shook his head adamantly. "Mr. Easton was a very easy client to deal with. Everything was very much above board."

"Good to know," Steve said. "Can you go ahead and pull up whatever security footage you have and I'll send an officer to take a look."

"My pleasure," the manager said. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."

"I can provide a few more bodies if you need help with the questioning," Duke said as he and Jadon approached Steve and Danny in the lobby. "There are a lot of people to get through in there."

Before Steve could gratefully accept the offer Catherine approached with a concerned look on her face.

"What's up?" Steve asked. "Is the family ok?"

"They're holding up as well as can be expected," Catherine said. "But there's one odd thing that probably needs looking into. Richard Easton's sister Cara, the one who was helping her father give CPR when the paramedics arrived, her husband Jacob was supposed to be here tonight but there's no sign of him. It may be nothing, but he's recently been involved in a business dispute with Richard Easton."

"What's his name?" Steve asked.

"Jacob Malcolm Marcus," Catherine replied. "He told Cara he'd been delayed on a business matter earlier but he was supposed to meet her here hours ago and never showed up."

"How bad was the business dispute?" Danny asked. "Bad enough he might want to kill his brother in law over it?"

"The family doesn't think so, but the fact that he isn't here is strange," Catherine said.

"Duke, can you do some digging and see if you can find Jacob Marcus?" Steve requested. "And Jadon, I need you to go to the manager's office and look at the security film. There's nothing from inside the ballroom but I want to know who came and went immediately before and immediately after the murder."

"It might not mean anything," a young, clearly nervous member of the wait staff named Keiko told Chin. "We get all kinds of weird requests from the people throwing these parties." She bit her nails. "Mr. Easton was always very nice to me." Her voice quivered. "It might not mean anything."

"Any detail, no matter how small it seems, can be important," Chin said with a level, encouraging tone he hoped would help put the young woman at ease. He knew she was in shock, anyone who witnessed someone murdered right in front of them would be, but he needed to get as much information as possible if they were going to solve this crime quickly.

Keiko took a deep breath. "Right after he got here Mr. Easton pulled me aside and asked me to book a room for him. Not one of the suites. Just a regular single room. He wanted one as close to the ballroom as possible."

"Was that an unusual request?" Chin asked.

"Not getting the room," Keiko said. "A lot of our guests do that. So they have a place to …you know … conduct private business."

"Gotcha," Chin said.

"But Mr. Easton wasn't like that at all," Keiko hurried to say. "He'd never asked for a room before. And besides, most of the time people ask for a suite or something fancy up on the top floor. Mr. Easton was very clear he wanted a room on the ground floor, as close to the ballroom as possible. And he said I should make sure to get two keys."

"Two keys?" Chin asked. "Did he say why?"

"No, but right as the guests started to arrive I saw him give one of them to a woman in a long, flowy white dress. I couldn't see her face because of the mask. But there was a man with her. He was wearing a mask too. It was a jester I think."

"And you saw both of them talking to Mr. Easton?" Chin asked. "Did they appear to be arguing?"

"Not arguing exactly." Keiko twisted her hands in her lap. "But there was definitely tension."

"Thanks. You've been a big help," Chin told her. "I'm gonna need you to describe those masks to a police artist, ok?"

Keiko nodded. "I hope you find whoever did this. Mr. Easton was a very nice man.."

"I certainly don't want to say anything bad about him," a man wearing a slightly ill-fitting tuxedo and holding a mask shaped like a golden lion told Kono. "Especially considering the circumstances." He glanced toward the still curtained off area of the ballroom from which the body had recently been removed. "But Richard Easton took no prisoners in the business arena. There's no question he made more than a few enemies along the way."

Kono cocked an eyebrow. "Are you one of them?"

"Me?" The man chuckled lightly. "Hardly. I'm not a big enough fish to swim in the same pond as Richard Easton."

"Yet you're here tonight," Kono pointed out.

"I'm a professor at UofH," the man said. "I sit on the advisory board of the education arm of the Easton Foundation. I'm here strictly as window dressing." He indicated his clothes. "The tuxedo is a rental. Probably one of the few in the room."

"So what makes you think Richard Easton made enemies in his business?"

"I get invited to a lot of these things," the man said. "I've heard people talking. Some of these business types," he waved his hand towards the people surrounding him, "They talk in front of me like I'm part of the furniture."

Kono understood exactly what he meant. She'd experienced it herself many times. People who, by virtue of their wealth and status, feel so untouchable they say anything they want in front of people they view as 'lesser' without fear of repercussions.

"Anyone specific who seems angrier than the others?" Kono asked.

"I heard a couple of men from Winston PetroChem complaining pretty loudly earlier," the man said. "One of them even talked about calling a friend at the SEC and filing a complaint."

Kono typed a quick note into her phone.

"Listen, I don't want you to get the wrong impression," the man said. "I've known the Eastons for many years. I've been on the advisory board since Richard Sr. was running the foundation. They're good people. But large scale philanthropy like they engage in requires a lot of money. And the best way to keep that money flowing is to keep the Easton Corporation going strong. Without the business, the foundation would falter. And Richard will never …" the man paused. "Would have never … let that happen. He was as charming in his personal life as he was ruthless in the boardroom."

The four task force members met in the center of the room and took a few minutes to compare notes.

"He was well-liked for the most part," Kono said. "But there were some people who had come out on the bad end of a few business deals that might be worth looking at more closely."

"I've got a forensics team on the way to search the room I told you about," Chin said. "And the server is sitting with a police artist to get a picture of the masks the two people she saw Easton hand a key to were wearing."

"We're gonna need to start letting these people go soon," Danny said. "They're starting to get restless."

"As long as we have all their names and details they can go," Steve said. "But tell them to make themselves available over the next few days in case we have any questions."

As Steve's phone rang Danny turned to Chin and Kono and said, "Let's start putting together a list of people who need a closer look. Business associates, anyone with a personal grudge, and let's not overlook the brother in law."

"That was Duke," Steve said as he hung up the phone. "He found Jacob Marcus. He's in Queen's Medical Center. He was brought into the ER an hour ago with a stab wound."

TBC on Friday

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