Death in Paradise Read online

  “I need a shower and some sleep,” Jessica answered.

  “Do you want to stay in my ohana, or do you want to go to Dad’s?”

  “I appreciate your offer. I may take you up on it later. But for now, I want to go to Dad’s.”

  The sisters left the airport and headed north on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway to their father’s bungalow at Aloha Village Resort. Hawaiian slack key guitar music played softly in the vehicle during the drive. The sisters didn’t say a word to each other as they headed toward Aloha Village. After about ten minutes of silence between the two, Pua looked at Jessica,

  “You don’t think he did it on purpose, do you?”

  Jessica shook her head.

  “No. If he was still drinking, then I might consider that a possibility. Plus, I got an email from him before the accident.”

  “What did it say?”

  “He asked me to call him and that it was urgent.”

  Pua looked at Jessica again. “Urgent?”

  “He said he had a problem with a neighbor who wouldn’t go away, and he wanted to talk about it.”

  “Mr. Lau,” Pua muttered, as she shook her head.

  Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “Mr. Lau?”

  The SUV came to a stop as Pua had parked in front of their father’s bungalow and turned off the engine.

  “One day when I was having lunch with Dad. His lawyer called, and Dad mentioned a Mr. Lau in the conversation. He was agitated when he got off the phone. He said the guy wanted to buy Aloha Village and kept making lowball offers. He said hell would freeze over before he would sell it to that guy.”

  Jessica nodded and asked, “Did he ever say anything else about this Mr. Lau?”

  Pua shook her head as she opened her door to get out of the vehicle.

  After Jessica had gotten her suitcase out of the back of the SUV Pua said, “I’ll pick you up later for dinner. I have something else we need to talk about then.”

  Jessica nodded and asked, “You want to come in for a little bit?”

  Pua’s eyes began to well with tears, “I can’t go in there yet, and besides, I have a showing I need to be at soon.”

  Pua hurried to get back in her Mercedes before she started to cry.

  4

  Hale

  As Jessica walked up the steps of the lanai that lead to the front door, she could feel her father’s presence. Even though he wasn’t there, she felt his spirit, and a warm feeling rushed over her as she walked through the front door. She felt the mana to her core. The house was neat, like he always kept it. The decor was typical Hawaiian style, with rattan wicker furniture and a canoe paddle hung on the wall in the living room. The front door had a Mako shark carved into it. Since the mana of the shark was important in Hawaiian culture, her dad figured it was a good omen for the place.

  Mike Murphy was a no-frills kind of guy who loved Hawaii and its culture. But the one thing in his life he’d spared no expense on was his starburst-blue ’69 Road Runner with a 426 Hemi sitting in the garage. He called it the BOAT, which stood for Bust Out Another Thousand. He was always installing some expensive new speed part to make it go faster. No doubt Mike Murphy was Kona’s fastest grandpa. He was a racer at heart. It didn’t matter what it was—cars, canoes, airplanes—he had to have a fast one.

  The bungalow had two bedrooms and a huge bath with an emerald-green granite countertop and matching floor-to-ceiling tiles. Early Hawaiian garage sale was okay for the rest of the house, but you would have sworn the bathroom was from the presidential suite down the road at the Hilton. But unlike the Hilton, the bungalow’s jalousie windows allowed the cool ocean breeze to circulate throughout the house, with a smell of salt in the air that Jessica could taste.

  She rolled her suitcase into the guest bedroom closet and fell backward on the bed. Too tired to put her things away, she wanted to take a nap before she saw her younger sister Jasmine. After she had lain there a few minutes, she realized something had been missing in the living room. Even though she was exhausted, her curiosity forced her to get up and go back into the living room. She looked around the room for a few minutes realized there were no photos of her mother anywhere in sight. Jessica thought it was strange but went back to bed and decided to let it go until after she had some sleep.

  5

  Jasmine

  Jasmine was the youngest of the three sisters, and her father’s right-hand man. He’d always thought of her that way, since boys had not been in the cards for the Murphy ohana and Jasmine ran Aloha Village for him when he was away. She had been at the beach all day, and filled in for the lifeguard who’d called in sick.

  The day before, a shark had swum in close to shore and hung out in the small bay for an hour before it swam away. No one had seen it since, but Jasmine had told all the resort’s guests to stay out of the water for at least twenty-four hours.

  Once satisfied the shark had left the area for good, Jasmine removed the shark signs from the beach. It was almost the last thing she had to do before going to see her older sister, Jessica. But first, she had to inform all the guests that they could go back into the water.

  Grayson Roderick, a stockbroker and first-time guest visiting from California, thought someone should have killed the shark at the first sighting, so as not to interfere with his snorkeling plan for the day. He’d complained when Jasmine had informed him that wasn’t happening. She’d kindly reminded him that the shark was in its natural habitat and that it was them who had encroached. Mr. Roderick had grumbled something about going to Florida next time and walked away.

  Jasmine thought she should have encouraged him to go to Florida next time, but bit her tongue. She was always friendly and professional with the guests, even the ones who should have been allowed to swim with the sharks.

  Jasmine knocked on the door of her father’s bungalow and waited. When Jessica didn’t answer, she used her master key to open the door and stepped into the living room. Her father’s golden retriever, Comet, waited behind Jasmine until she opened the door, then he shot around her and headed for the master bedroom still looking for Mike.

  Jasmine heard the shower running in the back of the house and yelled out to Jessica to make sure she didn’t startle her.

  “I’m in the shower. I’ll be out in a minute,” Jessica shouted back.

  Jasmine was hungry and checked the fridge while she waited for Jessica to get out of the shower. As usual, there wasn’t a thing to eat. Her father never kept much food, if any, in the house. He always liked to go down to the resort’s restaurant, the Marlin House, to eat and talk story with the guests. Comet came out of the bedroom and looked at Jasmine, perplexed. He didn’t understand why Mike wasn’t there.

  Jessica came out a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around her. She hugged Jasmine and kissed her on the cheek. When Comet saw Jessica, he whined and jumped in the air, and spun in circles to let her know how much he had missed her. It had been two years since the last time Jessica had been home. She reached down and scratched Comet behind the ears just the way he liked it.

  “How you doing, honey? Here, come sit by me on the couch.” Jessica motioned to Jasmine as she headed toward it. Comet thought the invitation included him too, and he jumped up on the couch.

  Jasmine sat down and turned toward Jessica, “I keep hoping this is a nightmare I’m trapped in and I’ll wake up from it. It doesn’t seem real, though. I never thought about Dad leaving us until he was much older, and certainly not by accident. Maybe shot by a jealous lover or something.” She grinned as she wiped the tears that started to flow. Jessica hugged Jasmine as tears streamed down her face, too.

  Jasmine said, “Pua called me after she dropped you off and said she’s taking care of all the arrangements for Dad. She’ll be back here at 6 p.m. She also said she’d talk to you about something important later at dinner. I’ll give you a heads-up, I think she’s sick. One of my girlfriends I paddle with is a nurse at the Kaiser Clinic in town and acts weird now whenever she sees
me. I sense something is wrong with Pua, and my friend can’t say anything because of privacy laws. I’m worried about her. Please ask her what’s going on for me, would you?”

  Jessica pulled her arm back from around Jasmine’s shoulder and pivoted toward her and said, “Let’s not read anything into it. After I talk to her, I’ll let you know what’s up.”

  Jessica sat back on the couch and Jasmine curled up next to her, like she had after their mother died when she was very young. As Jessica softly stroked Jasmine’s hair, she asked, “Where did the photos of Mom go?” Jessica had her arm around Jasmine’s shoulder and could feel her muscles tense when she asked the question.

  “Dad’s girlfriend, Simmy, that’s what happened. The woman’s a complete nut job if you ask me. She was jealous of Mom’s photos and asked Dad to take them down, but he refused. So one day, when he was out surfing, she removed them and wouldn’t tell him where she hid them. I don’t know what Dad saw in her. She was always accusing him of running around with other women.”

  Jasmine paused for a minute. “The woman was a scary kind of jealous about Mom’s photos. I think Dad was planning to breakup with her but kept prolonging the inevitable drama that would surely follow once he told her goodbye.”

  Jessica lightly squeezed Jasmine’s shoulder. “We’ll find every last one of Mom’s photos and put them back up. Now, let’s get ready to go down to the Marlin House and see what’s up with Pua.”

  6

  Marlin House

  That night, the three sisters met for dinner at the Marlin House, they were greeted by lit tiki torches at the entrance and a breathtaking view of the ocean before they entered the restaurant. The Marlin House had eight foot tall hand-carved tikis on each side of the front door.

  The foyer was a sizable, round room for dinner patrons waiting for a table. It easily held twenty people and showcased three blue marlins mounted high above on the wall outside the dining room. The biggest one was a world record holder and weighed thirteen hundred pounds.

  Jasmine and Jessica arrived first and grabbed a table in the back of the restaurant. Jessica didn’t like surprises, so she always sat with her back against the wall, and Jasmine didn’t care either way. That night Bruddah Robert was played soft Hawaiian melodies on a twelve-string guitar, and his wife Lehua danced hula. It reminded Jessica of the Hawaiian music she had grown up with and how much she missed it after moving to the mainland years ago.

  Twenty minutes later, Pua showed up late as usual with Kainoa, her twelve-year-old son. Born with autism, Kainoa was quite a handful sometimes. Pua didn’t drink, but she had every reason to. Most of the time, Kainoa was pretty well behaved out in public, but once in a while he had emotional outbursts characteristic of autism and people would stare. And Pua would give them stink eye right back plus interest. She may have been a diva, but she was a good mother. Kainoa had played hard that day at school and decided to lie down in the booth next to Auntie Jessica. In less than five minutes he had fallen asleep.

  Sam Stewart got up from his table across the room and walked over to offer his condolences to Mike Murphy’s daughters. He wore khaki shorts, a Tommy Bahama shirt and a pleasant smile. His hair had a wisp of grey in it, and he sported a scar on the side of his neck that a pirate would have been proud of.

  “I heard the news down at the harbor earlier today. And I’m so sorry for your family’s loss. Mike Murphy had more aloha than anyone I know, many people will miss him.”

  “Mahalo, Mr. Stewart. These are my sisters, Jessica and Pua,” Jasmine said, as she motioned to each as she said their name.

  “Please call me Sam. Nice to meet you ladies. I’m just sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

  Pua and Jessica nodded in agreement as they both shook Sam’s extended hand.

  “If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

  Jessica smiled, as she took a mental picture of the tanned, handsome man looked directly at her.

  He smiled ever so slightly, then returned to his table, and glanced up to meet Jessica’s eyes once more as he sat down to finish his dinner.

  Pua looked at Jessica and Jasmine, her eyes wide.

  “Do you know who that guy is?” She could barely contain the amazement.

  “All I know is he stays here from early November to late April or early May. But unlike a snowbird, he’s from Southern California,” said Jasmine.

  Pua whispered, “He’s one of the richest men in the world. He’s the CEO of Stewart Industries and worth about seven billion dollars. I recall seeing him on the cover of Stinking Rich Magazine not that long ago.” The three sisters laughed as they tried their hardest not to look in his direction.

  Jasmine felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She checked to see who called, there was a text a long message from the hotel front desk.

  “Crap, I have to go,” Jasmine said. “The front desk clerk says there’s a problem she needs me to handle. Someone’s demanding to speak to the manager. I’ll be right back. Don’t eat all the lilikoi pie without me.” She smirked as she hurried off.

  “No worries. I’m training for Ironman, so I can’t have any right now,” said Pua.

  After Jasmine walked away and Jessica was sure she was out of earshot, Jessica turned to Pua. “Okay, cards on the table. Since when are you training for a triathlon, and what’s going on with you?”

  “What do you mean, Jess?”

  “Jasmine told me earlier that she thought you might be sick and were keeping it from her. Are you okay?”

  “I’m not training. I’m just not eating sugar anymore,” Pua said, looking away for a moment.

  Pua could never beat Jessica at poker. Her older sister knew all her tells—plus she was an expert interrogator. Jessica looked Pua straight in the eye. “You know lying to me is not a winning strategy, right?”

  Pua stirred her coffee, looking down at the table for a minute before looking back up, her eyes full of tears.

  “Jasmine is right–I have breast cancer. I found a lump about six weeks ago and just got the test results back three days ago.”

  Jessica reached across the table and held Pua’s hand, and caressed it. The tears welled up in Jessica’s eyes too now. The waiter was approached the table but made a U-turn when he saw the two of them crying and hugging each other.

  “I know you and I haven’t been close, but I have a favor to ask, Jess. And it’s not an easy one either. I need you to take Kainoa if I die.”

  Jessica nodded, then said, “You know I’m not exactly mother material, right?”

  “Yeah, I know, but he’ll be fine with you. I’m not the mother of the year, and he’s survived so far,” said Pua.

  They both laughed and wiped away their tears with a fresh pile of napkins Michael had quietly brought to the table earlier.

  “We have one more thing to talk about, Jess. You know how Dad was a great engineer?” Pua asked.

  Jessica took a deep breath and exhaled, she sensed the bad news wasn’t over yet.

  “Yeah.”

  “The other side of the coin is he was never great at being a businessman. He always felt sorry for people, and he made bad business decisions over the last five years. So because he had such a big heart, the bottom line is–Aloha Village is almost broke.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s sell it,” Jessica said .

  “We can’t. I called Dad’s attorney to get the ball rolling, and he said there’s a problem. But he wouldn’t elaborate on the phone. He said if we come to his office tomorrow, he’ll explain the situation. I have to meet with a client tomorrow, I can’t get out of it. Some rich guy who’s only on the island for one day and wants to see a house I’ve been trying to sell for almost two years. I can’t blow him off, the potential deal is too important. Besides, if I close this deal, I’ll make enough money for you to take care of Kainoa until he’s an adult if I die.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jessica said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  She knew Pua always had a flair
for the dramatic, but this time the danger was real, so she agreed to see the lawyer herself the next day.

  7

  Jennings

  Jessica sat in the small foyer of the Kona law office alone and waited for her dad’s lawyer to return from lunch. The secretary said he should be back any minute. Jessica passed the time by looking at photos of her and her father on her phone, taken on her last trip to Kona. She thought about the conversation they’d had about her moving back to Kona someday, after she retired from the LAPD.

  She snapped back to the here and now as Mr. Jennings walked through the office door. He was short, fat and about two hundred years old–just like Pua had said.

  He hobbled into the room and motioned her to follow him into his office and have a seat in the dark leather chair. Between the two of them was a big mahogany desk with a stack of papers, which the old lawyer picked up and shuffled through to find Mike Murphy’s will.

  “Are Pua and Jasmine coming?” Mr. Jennings asked Jessica.

  “No, Pua’s too busy with some big real estate deal and Jasmine has to run the resort, so it’s just going to be me and you today.”

  “Jessica, your father left you, Pua, and Jasmine the Aloha Village Resort. He didn’t leave much cash to go along with it. He had all his money tied up in the infrastructure of the property, and it’s on the verge of bankruptcy. The good news is, your father controlled the master lease on the land underneath the resort. Selling it won’t be a problem when the time comes, if you want.

  “But there’s a catch. If you and your sisters want to sell the resort, you’ll have to renew the master lease first. That’s the only way you’ll get any money out of it. Mr. Lau, the owner of the Ming Resort next door, has made three lowball offers to buy the Village. He knew your father was nearly bankrupt. And he also knew the landowner trust wouldn’t renew the master lease of the property if your father didn’t bring the resort’s buildings up to code.