Dennis Pride looked sullen. Which wasn’t surprising. He’d looked sullen ever since Sherry’d thrown him out. Even before Sherry’d thrown him out, actually. Dennis had a sullen nature, which projected okay with his rock band, but kind of sucked for everything else. He compensated with a winning smile, a handsome face, and the ability to charm the birds out of the trees. The fact he was still married, still employed, and not in jail were minor miracles, and a testament to the abilities of his attorney.
“I don’t understand,” Dennis griped.
“It’s perfectly simple,” Becky Baldwin said. “Cora Felton wants to ask you some questions. I’m here as your attorney looking out for your rights to make sure you don’t get in trouble with your answers.”
“Why does
she
get to ask me questions?”
“You mean since she has no legal standing?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s actually kind of nice. She has no legal right to ask you questions, and you have no obligation to answer. We’re in my office
instead of the police station. No one is taking anything down. You can’t get into trouble, particularly since I won’t let you. On the other hand, you may hear some things that might help. Cora?”
“All right, hotshot, here’s the deal. I’ve uncovered a witness who saw you and the dead man leave the Country Kitchen at the same time on the night of the murder.”
Dennis’s eyes were wide. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the wonderful opportunity you had to kill the detective. So good, it’s hard to believe you didn’t do it. You still are claiming you didn’t do it, aren’t you?”
“What are you saying?”
“Great minds think alike. It seems you and the dead guy were following the same person. Does that ring a bell?”
“What is she talking about?” Dennis demanded from Becky.
“I’ll give you hint,” Cora said. “He’s Japanese.”
“Are you just going to sit here and let her do this?”
Becky shrugged. “She’s telling a story. She’s not telling the police. She’s just telling us. You can deny it, but for the moment, I’d like to hear it. Wouldn’t you?”
“Sure you would,” Cora said. “Tell you what. We’ll talk hypothetically. A great big parenthetical hypothetical around the whole thing, so nothing you say can be used against you. Now, if you were following someone that night, who might that be?”
Dennis looked at Becky. “Why are you doing this again?”
Becky frowned. “It’s a little complicated. Here’s the deal. I’m doing this because she doesn’t think you’re guilty. The police don’t either, but they have to act on the evidence. At the moment, it’s important they don’t get it. Our best shot—and understand this is not from the legal point of view—our best shot at clearing this up is telling Cora everything you know, so she can come up with a witness who helps you, instead of one who fries your ass. Like this one.”
“Now then,” Cora said. “You were pretty drunk when you left the Country Kitchen. You came to my house and told me you thought
you were being followed. I don’t buy that for a minute. That was just a ruse to get to see Sherry, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?”
Dennis frowned. His face twisted. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“You remember being in the Country Kitchen. Sitting in the bar.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you leave?”
Dennis looked at Becky.
“It’s hypothetical, Dennis. Just tell her.”
“Because he left.”
“Who?”
“The Japanese guy. Son of a bitch.”
“Why were you following him, Dennis?”
“The creep. Trying to pick up Sherry in the bar.”
“Sherry wasn’t there, Dennis.”
“The other night. Sitting there. Getting her drunk. Good thing he let her go.”
“So you were keeping tabs on him, to make sure he didn’t hassle Sherry?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Little ironic, don’t you think?” Dennis glared. Cora said, “Never mind. You were in the bar with Hideki and Aoki and his wife. You followed them out to the parking lot. Reiko and the two men had a fight. They took off in their cars, and you followed.”
“Yeah.”
“What about the detective? Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not sure. I’m not sure of any of this. You ask if I saw the detective. No, I didn’t. At least, I don’t remember seeing the detective. Hell, I didn’t even know there
was
a detective.”
“But you saw the others leave?”
“The guy and the girl. The one guy just stood there watching.”
“I thought they all left together.” Cora grimaced. “I don’t mean
together
. In two cars. But at the same time.”
Dennis shook his head. “No. He just stood there.”
“Are you sure?”
“I almost ran him over.”
“Okay. So when you pulled out of the lot. Was there another car between you and them?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How about behind you? Was there a car behind you?”
Dennis frowned, then nodded. “Yeah. Son of a bitch. Had his brights in my mirror.” He pointed at Cora. “I
told
you I was being followed.”
“He wasn’t following you. He was following the car in front of you.” Cora’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God! That must have been Hideki! Hideki left with Reiko! You followed them, and the detective followed you.”
Dennis shook his head. “No. I followed the man who had drinks with Sherry.”
“He left with his wife?”
“He left with the woman.”
“You’re saying
Aoki
and Reiko were in the car you followed?”
“If that’s their names.”
“And the detective followed you?”
“
Someone
followed me.”
“And it wasn’t Hideki, because you nearly ran him over?”
“If that’s his name.”
Cora took a breath. “Dennis. You had a lot to drink. Both men were there that evening. You might have got confused.”
“Now, at this point,” Becky Baldwin said, “I think I might step in here. It’s one thing for him to make a statement. It’s another for you to cross-examine him on it.”
“He’s wrong.”
“That’s exactly what I can’t have. He says one thing, you say another, and suddenly we’re in that gray area where we don’t want to
be. I think Dennis has cooperated all he can. I’m certainly going to talk to him some more, but for the time being, you’re through.”
“Okay. I just want to be perfectly clear. As far as Dennis is concerned, the Japanese man who left with the Japanese woman was the
same
Japanese man he saw having drinks with Sherry the night before.”
Becky cocked her head. “Hypothetically?”
“Yes, hypothetically,” Cora said irritably.
“I think he’s made that clear.”
“I’m glad it’s clear to you. Because I’m confused as hell.” Cora got to her feet.
“Remember,” Becky said. “This is totally off the record. You’re not sharing any of this with Chief Harper.”
Cora flashed her trademark Puzzle Lady smile. “Trust me.”
“I don’t understand,” Chief Harper said.
“Me either.”
“If Dennis followed Aoki and his wife the whole thing makes no sense. I mean, it makes sense Dennis would follow
him
, since he was the guy drinking with Sherry. But why would the
detective
follow him? Detectives aren’t hired to follow wives’ husbands. They’re hired to follow wives’ lovers.”
“No kidding. I remember when my husband, Henry, thought I had a thing for that jazz pianist—”
“Please! You think Dennis was right?”
“Good question. Dennis was drunk enough to mistake a closet for a men’s room. On the other hand, when it’s a guy after your girl, men have a surprising internal radar system. I would expect Dennis to get the right guy.”
“So if Aoki left with his wife, where was Hideki?”
“Not
leaving with Aoki’s wife. Which must have been frustrating.”
“And why was the detective following Aoki instead of Hideki?”
“Maybe wasn’t hired to follow Hideki. Maybe he was hired to follow Mrs. Yoshiaki.”
“So, who hired him?”
“Mr. Yoshiaki.”
Harper frowned. “I don’t like it. You think your wife is stepping out, you put a detective on her, sure. But when you know she’s going to be with you most of the time, why do it? Particularly when you know the guy she’s stepping out with. You put the tail on him. Then he’s only around when it matters.”
“I understand your theory. But say that’s what happened. Aoki’s coming here with his wife. Hideki’s sniffing around. Aoki doesn’t like it and puts a tail on him. Hideki notices the tail, freaks out, and kills him. Aoki’s not pleased, but remembering the old adage, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, he hires another private detective and puts him on the case. Hideki immediately kills him, after first carefully framing himself for the crime.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No kidding. The only way it works is the way we doped it out. Hideki kills the first detective. Aoki knows it, but Hideki’s covered his tracks so well there’s no way to prove it. What to do? Well, if the cops can’t get him for a murder he did commit, he’ll frame him for a murder he didn’t. Aoki hires a second private detective, prepares a sudoku and crossword puzzle that names Hideki, takes his wife and hangs out in the Country Kitchen until Hideki shows up. He leaves with his wife. The detective follows. He takes her home to the bed-and-breakfast, drops her off. Goes out and confronts the detective. Says he has some instructions for him. Drives to the Tastee Freez, where he proceeds to do him in with a samurai sword.”
“That Dennis stole from an antique shop,” Chief Harper said ironically.
“Exactly,” Cora said, ignoring the sarcasm. “Which he stole from the backseat of Dennis’s car earlier that day by smashing the window.”
“You say he dropped off his wife. No one at the bed-and-breakfast saw his wife coming home alone.”
“Which means no one saw her, or she helped him do it.”
“Helped him frame her lover?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“I’ll say. In this case, stranger things happen every day.”
“At any rate, he drives the guy to the Tastee Freez, and dispatches him with the samurai sword, carefully leaving the clues that will point to Hideki.”
“The puzzle and the sudoku?”
“Right.”
“And how does the puzzle get torn off the sword?”
Cora’s eyes flicked. She recovered, said, “It tears off when he thrusts the sword in the body.”
“And he doesn’t notice?”
“Or Dennis pulls it off when he finds the body in a drunken stupor.”
“Dennis?”
“Dennis had blood on his hands. We’re assuming the murderer put it there to frame him. But what if he actually stumbled over the body?”
“Is there any evidence that he did?”
“Aside from the blood? Of course not. I’m just saying there’s a lot of explanations for the torn puzzle. I wouldn’t get too hung up on it.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t, would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t. We know the puzzle goes with the sudoku because the one refers to the other. Without the puzzle, the sudoku is meaningless. In terms of the clue. The puzzle was there to begin with. How it got detached is beside the point.”
“Uh-huh,” Harper said. “And in this theory, Aoki kills the detective, leaves the puzzle and the sudoku to frame Hideki, but he puts blood on Dennis to frame him also?”
“You don’t like that theory?”
“I hate that theory.”
“Good. I hate it too. Aoki never did anything of the kind. He’s my client, so he’s innocent. Anything that indicates he isn’t must be wrong.”
“You believe that?”
“Hell, no. I’m not a lawyer. I’m an investigator. I’m working for my client. But if he’s a killer, I’m not interested in covering it up.”
“So you think he did it?”
“I have no idea who did it. We’re laying out theories here. Based on this new information.”
“What new information?”
“The gospel according to Dennis. We’re taking his story at face value, and saying, if that’s true, what happened?”
“And your theory is your client framed Hideki?”
“No, it’s not. That’s a terrible theory. Based on a horrible premise.”
“What premise?”
“That two people committed the crimes. That one person killed the first detective, and another person killed the second. When that happens in a mystery, the writer is usually taken out and shot. On the other hand, the theory Aoki committed both crimes is worse. He hires one detective, doesn’t like the job he’s done, so he kills him. He’d like to frame it on Hideki, but he’s not prepared. So he
gets
prepared. Hires another detective, and carries out the frame.” Cora made a face. “Pee-ew! No way that works.”
“Yes, but we don’t know the facts.”
“No kidding. What works best is if Aoki hires the first detective and Hideki kills him. What doesn’t work is Aoki hiring the second detective. Unless he’s hiring him to frame Hideki, like we said, which gets into the whole two separate murderers bit.”
“What if Hideki hired the detectives?”
“Why?”
“To keep tabs on Aoki’s wife. Tip him off when she was alone.” Cora considered. “I like it.”
“You think it’s right?”
“No, I think it’s wrong. But I admire the deviousness of your mind. The husband doesn’t hire the detective to keep tabs on his wife. The lover hires him. A wonderful variation. Just the right nuance.”
“Then why don’t you like it?”
“Give me a break. The husband notices he’s being followed and kills the guy?”
“No,” Harper said. “The husband notices his wife’s being following and kills the guy.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? He doesn’t want anyone following his wife.”
“Why not?”
“Are you being irritating deliberately?”
“It’s the facts that are irritating you, Chief. You say this guy killed the detective for following his wife. That doesn’t cut it for me. I can’t imagine him doing it. And if he did, I can’t imagine she wouldn’t know about it. This is a husband and wife we’re talking about. Surely this is the sort of thing that would come up in dinner conversation. ‘By the way, I killed the detective your lover had following you. Pass the salt.’”
“I just said what if Hideki hired the PI. I didn’t say what if Aoki killed him.”
“You think Hideki hired him
and
killed him?” Cora shrugged. “I suppose that’s one way to get free service. Keep hiring PIs and bumpin’ ’em off before they get paid. You’d think after a few of those, the PI’d want his money in advance.”
“No fair. You’re sitting here ridiculing every idea.”
“Because none of them work, Chief. You got a bunch of bad ideas kicking around. It’s not like you can pick one and say, ‘That works.’ Nothing works. Every idea you throw out is going to be bad.”
“How about
you
throw out some ideas and let
me
ridicule them?”
“I thought I did. And they all stink. The idea Hideki hired the detectives is ridiculous. The idea he hired one and Aoki hired the other
is even more ridiculous. The idea Aoki hired both of them is better, but not much. I could see him hiring the first one. I can’t see him hiring the second. Unless he hired him to kill him to set up Hideki.” Cora considered. “What about his wife?”
“Huh?”
“You’re leaving her out of this. But what if she’s the driving force?”
“She hires the detective to follow herself?”
“To follow her
husband.
To let her know what
he’s
up to. To keep him away from her and Hideki.”
“She hired both detectives and her husband killed both detectives just to put her in her place?”
“You enjoy ridiculing, don’t you, Chief?”
Harper grinned. He was in a much better mood by the time Dan Finley called, pleased as punch, to say he’d found the car.