= A BODY, MORE OR LESS
  A Kay Yoshinobu Mystery
  by John A. Broussard


Attorney Kay Yoshinobu could tell from her colleague's face that he was a bearer of bad tidings...for her.  Sid Chu was grinning from ear to ear as he stepped into her office.  "Your cousin strikes again, Kay," he announced.  "Freddie Yoshinobu just put through his one allowed call from the station."

Kay pushed her reading glasses up into her hair and sighed, "What is it this time?"

"Burglary.  Beyond that, he wouldn't say.  You do have to give him credit.  I'll bet the police caught him red-handed but he isn't about to say word one until he has you by his side.  What's with you Japanese, anyway?  What happened to that vaunted law-abiding quality you people are so famous for?"

"Third generation, Sid.  Freddie's joined the rest of the Americans: God-fearing and crime-ridden.  He's got snake tattoos on his arms and rings in his eyebrows.  It's all about to break his mother's heart, to say nothing of driving my Dad wild.  If Freeloading Freddie wasn't his brother's kid, he wouldn't lift a finger to help him, but family's still family for Dad."  As she spoke, she picked up her briefcase and headed for the door.

Sid's parting words were, "Give him my best, and tell him he should have been born Chinese. Then he'd have a tong to belong to and wouldn't have to waste his time operating as a loner."

Freddie greeted his cousin with an enormous smile.  The orange jump suit, the stark interrogation room - to say nothing of the charge hanging over his head - seemed to make only a minor impression on him.  Kay didn't return the smile.  As she had many times before, she still couldn't help but wonder at the charm of this innocent looking twenty-two year old delinquent who could pass for sixteen, and who had a long record running back to age eleven.   Even so, there seemed to be something different about him this time.  There was a hint of uneasiness that even his jauntiness couldn't completely mask.

Exasperated, she unpacked the tape recorder, sat down opposite her client, hit the play button and said, "Start at the beginning."

"Sure, Kay.  The cops picked me up outside in that new subdivision, you know, Puupuu Heights.  That was last night around nine-thirty or so.  They claim I'd burglarized a house."

"Freddie!"  Kay's voice was sharp.  "No game playing.  This is the third time you've come up on a felony.  The chances of my getting you off with just a short stretch in Kulani like last time are minuscule as it is.  If you won't tell me the truth, and all of the truth, then it's hopeless, and I'm not going to defend you.  Now: do you want to start over?"

Freddie immediately looked contrite.  Kay remained skeptical, as he went on.  "It did look easy.  I didn't think anyone was home, so I decided to try a window.  I happened to have a glass cutter and a suction cup along and..."

"Where did you learn that trick?  Oh, never mind.  I know.  Prison's a great teacher.  You picked up that skill in Kulani."

A wide grin spread over Freddie's face.   "Sure.  Actually, it's real easy to do.  It only takes a few seconds.  All you have..."

"Skip it.  I don't need instructions in B and E.  So you reached through, unlatched the window and went in."

"Right.  It's a big house.  Used to be one of the model homes there.  I went in through a bedroom window in - I guess it's the west wing - and saw a watch on the nightstand.  I was using one of those pencil flashlights.  So I stuck the watch in my pocket and was looking for something else small - I wasn't about to lug around one of those forty-six inch TVs or anything like that - when I heard a snort from the other end of the house.  You know, the kind of noise some people make when they're sleeping and really let out a snort."  He made a valiant attempt at imitating the sound.

"I took off like a scared rabbit.  Right out the front door.   I was about to run out to my car--it was a couple of blocks away--but when I didn't see any lights go on, I figured whoever was home hadn't heard me.  So I decided I might as well take a shot at the next house over.   I tried to open the first window I came to - one on the living-room side.  You know, sometimes people leave a window unlocked.  Sure enough, this was one of those."

Kay was watching her client's face and could see some of the earlier uneasiness coming back.  Freddie shifted his gaze, stumbled over a few words, and then went on; "The cops came roaring up about then.  So did the old guy from the first house I'd gone into.  The sneaky character hadn't turned on a light because he was carrying a flashlight.  He must have heard me go out the door and called the cops.  Anyhow, they frisked me and found the watch.  I wouldn't tell them anything until I had a lawyer."  Pride filtered through as he made the last statement.

"Freddie!"  Kay's tone hadn't softened.  "You're leaving something out.  Did you steal something else the cops didn't find?  What is it you aren't telling me?"  Though the room wasn't particularly warm, Kay could see drops of perspiration forming on her cousin's forehead.

The entire tenor of his voice changed.   "Is everything I tell you confidential?"

"You've been in court almost as much as I have.  You know that all lawyer-client conversations are privileged."

"Absolutely everything?"

"There are exceptions, but I don't think they should concern you.  If I thought you might do harm to yourself or to others, then I'd have to reveal what I knew.   Or if you told me about a bomb ticking somewhere ready to go off, I'd definitely pass that information along to the authorities."

Freddie shifted uneasily.  "Yeah, but I don't want to get blamed for planting the bomb."

Kay smiled in spite of herself.  "Once we get it defused, I'll defend you.  Now what's going on?"

"I actually went into that second house. I crawled through the window."

"So?"

The uneasiness increased.  "The cops didn't know I'd been inside, because they caught me when I'd already come out and closed the window behind me."  He paused, and Kay waited.

"The first thing I did when I got in was to turn on the penlight, and the first thing I saw was a body lying on the rug.  A knife was stuck in the guy's chest."

* * *

"And you believed him, Kay?"  Sid was shaking his head as he looked across his desk at his law partner.

"I know.  I know.  He's a professional liar.  But I'm convinced he's telling the truth about this."

Sid snorted.  "He's conned you.  I'll lay you odds there's no body there.  He's just using this in the hopes of getting off.  Muddying the waters, that's what he's doing."

"He's not that clever.   And he really doesn't have anything to gain by lying.  Anyhow, I've contacted the police and convinced Hank DeMello to let me into the house.  I figured I'd have to go to a Lieutenant, at least, to get the OK.  The place is for sale and there's no one living there.

"Hank told me to meet Sergeant Tanaka there in an hour, along with the real estate agent who's handling the property.  He said he'll even send out the scene-of-crime crew when they get through with their investigation of that Prince Kuhio Tavern brawl.  He's already alerted them to the fact that they may have a homicide on their hands."

"What a waste," Sid muttered as Kay checked her watch and headed out.

* * *

The real estate agent was already there when Kay arrived.  The surrounding area was stark - a development that had gone through bankruptcy shortly after the two model homes they were standing in front of had been built.  The one in which Freddie claimed there was a body consisted of a more modest version of its next-door companion.

The agent, a middle aged, short, blonde haole, who identified herself simply as Reggie, asked why Kay and the police needed to get into the house.   Kay said that there'd been a burglary in the neighborhood and they had reason to suspect the burglar might have entered this house as well.  She also suggested that they wait for the police before entering.  She then spent most of the intervening time listening to a sales pitch as Reggie gradually convinced herself she had a potential customer.   "This is a really nice house.  Less than six months old.  No problem about showing it to you.  I had to come by this morning, anyway, to do an inventory and to put the lock box on the door."

"Lock box?"

"Right.  It's this gadget."  She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a metal object the size of a large deck of cards attached to a metal ring.  "See," she said, pointing to a slot in its surface, "any real estate agents who have an interested client can use their plastic card to get in once this is hooked on the knob.  It also keeps a record of who came in and when."

"So anyone with a regular key could get in as long as the lock box isn't in place?  Is that correct?"

"Right.  The owners are getting a divorce, you know.  That's why this is such a great buy.  People are like that.  All they want to do is to get shed of their assets even at a loss, so they're willing to accept any reasonable offer - maybe an unreasonable one if you're really interested.  I know the neighborhood doesn't look like much now since the developer went bankrupt, but there's a new one coming in.  And all those sites," she gestured in the general direction of bulldozed lots that showed few other signs of construction, "will be built out before the end of the year.  This will be a great place to live.  And values are definitely going to appreciate."

Kay kept trying to shift the spiel to the item of major interest to her "Were the couple here recently?"

"Yesterday, as a matter of fact.  They were supposed to move out all their personal stuff.  The rest goes with the house.  That's why I have to do the inventory today.  Some of the furniture is really lovely.  Just wait till you see it."

"What were their names, by the way?"

"Mark and Ginny Trooper.  They've been here only a few months.  Bought the place when they arrived.  He's an accountant for that big national accounting firm, Cottrell and Meyers, that specializes in independent audits.  I guess they just keep moving their employees around, but he figured this was going to be here permanently.  Too bad.  It was a good buy when they bought it, but now they're going to have to let it go for even less than they paid for it."

"And you say they were here yesterday?"

"Ginny was.  I had planned to come over early yesterday afternoon, and we'd agreed I'd do the inventory then and pick up her key.  Well, at the last minute, I had a client call who wanted to see a commercial building for rent downtown, so I just dropped by to get the key."

Kay became immediately alert.  "Did you go in the house?"

A head shake was the answer.  "Ginny was just coming out with a bundle of clothes.  She wanted me to come in to celebrate over the last pot of coffee in the house, but I just didn't have time.  You know property is going like crazy these days.  It's the last of the buyer's market.  You should jump at the chance on this piece of property."

Before Kay could get the woman back on track and explore any further in the direction she wanted her to go, a police car arrived and Sergeant Tanaka emerged.  Within moments Kay became acutely aware that the Sergeant was even more skeptical than Sid about the body story. At least he was quiet about it; he chewed away on a toothpick and stood behind the two women while Reggie unlocked the door.

Entering through a narrow hall, they stepped into the living room where Freddie had told her the body was located.  There was a couch, several chairs - including a recliner - a coffee table, two bookcases and an oversized television set.  But no body.  Kay heard an amused sniff behind her.  Reggie, unaware of the real reason for the visit, was eager to show Kay the rest of the house. Apparently thinking that Sergeant Tanaka might also be a prospect, she urged him to come along.  Though still well furnished, the house had a vacant appearance,.  The walls were almost barren of pictures, the bookcases were only half filled, and no knickknacks adorned the coffee table or the sideboard.

Once the tour was complete, the Sergeant, without removing the toothpick, said, "No need for me anymore.  You ladies can go ahead with your inspection."  His departure was interrupted, however, by the arrival of the scene-of-crime personnel and Kay's sudden memory of something Freddie had said.

She turned to the real estate agent and asked, "Was a living room rug supposed to be part of the inventory?"

Reggie checked her list and answered, "Ginny didn't say one way or the other.  It does look a bit unfurnished, though, doesn't it?" she added, as she surveyed the expanse of bare floor.

One of the arriving officers, overhearing the conversation, said, "We can check to see if there was one.  Fibers generally get left behind from rugs."  It was obvious he was as eager to go on with his work as Sergeant Tanaka was to leave.  The latter sighed, took out another toothpick to replace the mangled one in his mouth, and rolled his eyes while the officer went down on his hands and knees and begin to examine the joints in the polished flooring.  Lifting the footrest of the recliner, the officer signaled to the Sergeant.

"Got something here, Sarge.  Blood spatters.  Some on the floor, some on the bottom of the foot rest."

Kay beamed.  Reggie looked baffled.  The Sergeant shrugged, saying,  "So someone cut a finger or a toe.  It may not even be human blood.  May not be blood at all."

"I've seen enough blood in my day to know it when I see it.  And it'll be easy enough to find out if it's human - even the blood type - right here."  He opened his work case, took out a strip of heavy paper with circular spots on it and, after dissolving a scraping in a tube of liquid, he placed a drop on one of the spots.  "Definitely human.  O blood type.  There's enough here for a DNA test, but that's for the lab to do, of course.  It'll be a while."

He called to one of his subordinates and, between the two of them, they managed to lift the recliner.  The real estate agent began to protest and the officer, looking over his end of the burden, said, "Sergeant Tanaka will give you a receipt.  Meantime, we'll need to really go over this place, so it will have to be taped."

Reggie's protests now became vociferous.  Tanaka looked up from his receipt book and reassured her. "It will only be a day or so, then you can have the house back.  I'm sure this is all a false alarm."  Kay glared at him but said nothing, deciding to do some further questioning of the agent once the Sergeant and the other police had left.

Standing next to Reggie's van, Kay continued to hear about what a fantastic buy the place was before she could finally break in.  "Do you have the address and phone number of the owners?"

Reggie froze.  "I'm sorry, but I have an exclusive on this property.  It's actually illegal for a buyer and an owner to try to bypass an exclusive agent."

At first Kay simply didn't understand what the protest was about.  Once the reason for the sudden change in demeanor become clear, Kay managed to reassure Reggie.  The agent, though still somewhat grudgingly, gave her the requested information on Ginny Trooper.

"What about Mark?"

"He was going back to the Mainland and didn't have an address yet.  Actually, I haven't seen him since he signed the papers last week.  But I'm sure Ginny would know where he's staying if he hasn't left already."

Kay could almost feel the light bulb going on over her head.  "You wouldn't by any chance have some idea about why they were splitting up, would you?"

"I'm just not into things like that.  They were pretty mad at each other, though.  And I got the impression, from what Mark said when he came into the office to sign the papers, that Ginny was two-timing him.


"I'm not really sure what you and the police are looking for, but Mark couldn't be responsible for a body with a knife in it.  He's just a little guy.  Not much taller than me. Oh yes, he said he didn't want anything more to do with her or with the house.  Told me to sell it for whatever I could get.  So, if you're willing to make an offer, I'm sure they would both be willing to consider it, perhaps come up with a counter offer you'd find..."

* * *

The expression on Sid's face, as he listened to Kay talking to Hank DeMello about the results of the scene-of-crime findings from the previous day, clearly indicated his feelings.

"Kay, Kay, Kay!  You just can't stop detecting, can you?"  Sid's tone of voice carried the full force of his exasperation.

An absent-minded smile was Kay's answer as she hung up.

Sid kept shaking his head.  "Absolutely all you have is the word of a known liar that there was ever a body there."

"On the contrary, Sid.  There's lots of circumstantial evidence.  There's the blood for one.  For another, Mark Trooper - that's the husband - has mysteriously disappeared.  At least Ginny Trooper claims she doesn't know where he's staying.  And it looks as though she has a boyfriend.  Now, if I can find out whether or not Mark has type 'O' blood, that might be enough to make Tanaka get rid of his toothpick and get busy."

Reaching for her briefcase and starting for the door, she added, "Bail hearing coming up for Freddie.   Hank says they should have a preliminary report from the lab shortly, so maybe I can kill two birds with one stone."

Freddie's concerns occupied Kay's mind as she walked the short distance to the station.  Freddie was in for an unpleasant surprise, though Kay wasn't convinced the news was really bad.  Yoshiro Yoshinobu, his father, had finally drawn the line.  No bail money.  Kay was certain she could have persuaded Judge Schreiber to allow reasonable bail, but now there was no point in pulling out all the stops, especially since Freddie might actually benefit from an indeterminate stay in one of Napua town's not particularly comfortable jail cells.

The presence of Tanaka chatting with the desk sergeant when she arrived brought her concentration back to the missing body problem.  At sight of her, the toothpick came out.  "You may be interested to know that Mrs. Trooper came in this morning."

From the expression on the Sergeant's face, Kay knew she was about to suffer through a gloating session on his part.  "She says her husband is right here in town.  Gave me his number, and I called him.  He's alive and well."

"Did you find out their blood types?" Kay asked.  "And what did Mrs. Trooper say about the missing rug?  Or did she deny that there ever was one?"

Tanaka's blank expression was a sufficient answer to her questions.  Kay turned and went off to the interrogation room where Freddie was waiting.  His charming smile faded when Kay announced, "No body, Freddie.  Want to try again?"

"I swear there was one, Kay.  Do you think I would have stampeded without picking up anything if there hadn't been one?"

Kay conceded the point, though Freddie's original claim rang true enough and didn't need this additional protestation.  "And the body was definitely lying on a rug?"

"Absolutely."  Freddie nodded his head vigorously.  "Blood all over him and the rug."

"Maybe we better start at the beginning again, Freddie.  Why did you pick these houses in the first place?"

Freddie relaxed, showing every indication of enjoying a discussion of his trade.  "For one thing, there aren't any other occupied houses nearby.  Most neighborhoods have a nosy neighbor who enjoys watching the street more than TV.  That wasn't too likely there."

"Why did you pick the one you went into first rather than the one with the body?"

"Bigger.  There was bound to be more stuff lying around.  Besides, when I checked it out, I was pretty sure no one was home."

"Why so?"

"I looked through the garage window and there was only one car there in a two-car garage.  It makes sense that the family was out for the night in the other one."

Kay failed to see how that necessarily followed, but asked, "So you did the same thing at the second house?"

Freddie broke into a broad grin.  "I sure did.  There was one car there, too.  I figured I couldn't be wrong twice in a row."

Again the logic escaped her, but this was just possibly a bit of useful information - though not particularly helpful for Freddie's case.  "You didn't happen to notice the make of the car, did you?"

"I can't be positive.  One of those Japanese compacts.  White.  Honda or Toyota -  something like that."

The one thing Kay knew for sure was that the Troopers' garage had been empty when the agent had given her the guided tour.  Between Freddie's visit and the following morning, someone had driven the car away.  Beyond that, there wasn't much information to be gleaned from what he was saying.  The remainder of the story showed little change from his original version, but his sanguine expression did change visibly when Kay broke the news of Yoshiro's decision regarding the bail money.

The assistant prosecutor asked for the typical bail amount for someone who was unlikely to flee.  Kay asked for half as much.  Schreiber met them half way.  It made little difference for Freddie's fate, since he was unable to come up with even a token amount.  For the first time that Kay could recall, he seemed actually crestfallen as the guard reattached the manacles and led him back to his cell.

* * *

Kay didn't look up from the telephone book, having located a number, placed her finger on it and reached for the phone.  As she was punching the buttons, she finally glanced across her desk at Sid and answered the question she knew he had been dying to ask, "Someone has to find out who that dead man is.  Sergeant Tanaka isn't about to stir himself to do any investigating."

"Who's Murphy?" Sid asked when she hung up, having heard her side of the conversation.

"He's the next-door neighbor, the one whose house Freddie burglarized.  He's willing to talk to me, so I may be able to get some idea about who went into the Trooper house yesterday."

"So now you're looking for someone with blood type 'O'?"  Sid was looking amused.

"The lab confirmed that it is 'O'. and they're sending a sample out for DNA testing.  What's especially interesting is that the scene-of-crime officer confirms that there was a rug on the floor just recently."

"Any prime victims?"

Kay's answer, as she started on her way back to the subdivision was, "Just remember, Sid, Ginny may have had a boyfriend."

Wendell Murphy, knowing that Kay was representing the burglar, wasn't exactly pleased to have this particular visitor.   "That damn hoodlum not only stole my wife's watch and god knows what else, but it cost me seventy-five dollars to have that window replaced.  I'll take time out from work to testify against him.  That's for sure.  And I hope they throw the book at him."

Kay's explanation for her visit, carefully couched, somewhat mollified the short, bald headed man.  And her questions got him to thinking.  "Oh,  I get it," he said.  "You figure he had an accomplice.  Someone who cased the house first.  That could be.   I came home shortly after dark.  Busy day at the lot.  I own the Toyota dealership in town, and stopped by the drive-in on the way home."  He reached into his shirt pocket, whisked out a card and handed it to her in one automatic motion.

"Did you see anything different going on next door?"

"I didn't know either of them except to wave and say hello.  'Trooper' wasn't it?  Funny name.  Jean or Jeannie was what I heard him call his wife.  I saw the 'for sale' sign last week.  They weren't much in the way of neighbors, but I had no complaint.  Thought at the time that new ones would probably have a dog and noisy kids."

"You were home alone, last night?"

Murphy nodded.  "Wife's staying in town with her mother.  The old lady claims she had a stroke, but she's just faking it.  Healthy as a horse.  But Tillie still keeps being sucked in, even after all these years.  You'd think she'd know better."

Kay managed to bring him back to the previous night's events.

"As a matter of fact, there was a car parked out front of their house when I got home.  But it was pretty dark by then.  Can't tell you much about it.  Black, I think.  Not sure of the model except that it was one of those big gas-guzzlers.  Damned if I can understand why anyone would want one of those monsters."

"Could it have been one of their cars?"

"Nope.  That's for sure.  He drives a Honda.  CX.  Good mileage.  Not as good as a Toyota in the same class, though."

Kay had to restrain herself as Murphy went on to compare his neighbor's car with Toyotas, to the detriment of the former.  She finally broke in and asked about the color.

"White.  So is hers.  BMW convertible."

It took a good half hour before Kay finally extracted the information she was looking for, and that turned out to be comparatively unhelpful.  Murphy didn't know how long the strange car had remained out front, since he had turned on the television as soon as he had arrived home and had gone off to bed by nine.

A call to the real estate agent proved more fruitful.  She had seen no indication of a car, suggested that it might have been a potential customer scouring the neighborhood for good buys, and pointed out that the house wouldn't be on the market for long.  A prospect had already made an offer and Ginny had been in to sign off on a counter offer.  What the agent said next blew Kay's current theory right out of the water.

"She brought in her next husband-to-be, by the way.  I think if he had his way, he'd buy out Mark's share and keep the house.  He has an eye out for investment, that guy.  Knows the location is a gold mine.  But Ginny says there are too many bad memories attached to it and just wants to get out from under.  You know, if you're still interested, you can always put in your own offer.  I'm sure..."

* * *

"That's got to be it," Sid said the next morning as he sat down in front of Kay's desk.  "We're supposed to be running a law office, you know, not a private-eye agency specializing in locating non-existent bodies."

Kay was staring out the window as he spoke, then swiveled her chair to face him. Her voice was completely positive. "There was a body there, and it's still around someplace.  If it's not the boyfriend's body and if it's not the husband's, it has to be someone else, and I'm convinced it's the driver of that car.  It was there at just about the right time.  I've checked with Freddie and he didn't see it."

"Give it up, Kay.  We've got more than enough work piled up ahead of us without this nonsense."

Kay broke into a smile.  "OK.  I'll make a deal.  One more attempt, and if that doesn't work, I'll forget the whole thing - or at least quit chewing on it."

"What are you going to do?"

"What I should have done in the first place.  If we have a body, but don't know whose it is, then we should be looking around for someone who's missing.   This is a small island.  It's possible that was a rental car, and I'll look into that too, but my guess is that we're going to find that some local resident is missing and that his car is too."

"That's two attempts, not one," Sid said glumly.

Kay's smile widened as she reached for the phone.  "That's one attempt, but it'll involve three phone calls.   Number one to Mark Trooper's employer."

Sid held up a finger to mark the first call.  Listening to just her end of the conversation, he could make out that she was trying to find out which firm Mark had been auditing.  He marveled at how she finally inveigled someone to pass along the information.  She grinned and held up two fingers before punching in a new set of numbers.

The smile she gave Sid as she spoke over the phone indicated she had found what she was looking for.  He could pretty well tell what she'd discovered, and she was quick to confirm his suspicions.  "Their bookkeeper hasn't shown up for work in the past two days and  - guess what?  His car is a black Lincoln Continental."

"Last call coming up."  It was quickly completed.  "Hank's convinced I'm on to something.  He'll put Toothpick Tanaka to work on the files and the phone."

Sid shrugged and went off to his own office.  The rest of the morning was a quiet one until just before noon, when he heard Kay calling to him.  As he stepped into her office, she grinned and said, "Sounds like good news.  Hank was laughing, anyway, and said he would have Tanaka call me right away to fill me in." At that moment the phone rang.  "Whoops!  There he is."  Kay pushed the speaker button.

There was no indication that Tanaka was chewing on a toothpick.  What he had to say was presented in a thoroughly formal manner.  "Lieutenant DeMello has requested me to tell you that we now have Mr. and Mrs. Trooper in custody.  She's confessed to helping dispose of Jeremiah Cottle's body.  He was an employee of the firm where Mr. Trooper had just conducted an independent audit."  The next statement came out with obvious reluctance.  "I checked with Mr. Cottle's doctor, and his blood type is 'O'."

The rest of the information was sketchy, but Kay was quick to fill in her version of the details for Sid after hanging up.  "Cottle was embezzling money and Mark Trooper found out about it.  I think he was blackmailing Cottle, but he'll deny that, I'm sure.  He says Cottle showed up drunk and belligerent.  They quarreled.  In self-defense, he says, Mark picked up an envelope opener and killed him.

"Since he couldn't handle the body alone, he called on his wife for help.  He drove Cottle's car out to where they met.  I would guess he told her he'd give her something extra in the divorce settlement if she helped.  So they drove back to the house, her in her BMW, him in Cottle's car.  They piled the body into the Lincoln.  Mark drove it out to Suicide Point with her following.  When they got there, they pushed Cottle's car over and into the sea and then drove back to pick up Mark's car.

"They could very easily have gotten completely away with it.  It's unlikely the car would ever be found in that deep hole and, even if it was, there would have been no reason to connect it or the body to Mark.   Freddie's attempt to burglarize their house before they got rid of the body "proved their undoing," as they say in the classics."

Sid sighed.  "Now can we get back to work?"

"Well, you should know that the last time I talked to Freddie, he said he's almost positive there was a second body in the room."

"What?"  Sid sat up straight in his chair.

Kay guffawed.  "Just kidding Sid.  I promise it will be motions and affidavits and memoranda for the rest of the day."


JOHN A. BROUSSARD was born in Cambridge, Mass in 1924 and graduated from Harvard and the University of Washington. He taught on the college level for twenty years and wrote non-fiction and reviews before turning to fiction; he's sold about sixty short stories recently. John's first novel, a fantasy called MANA, was published in November by Pulsar Books.  His series characters Kay Yoshinobu and Sid Chu, who made their debut on HandHeldCrime, will appear in their first novel, "The Death of the Tin Man's Wife" in January 2001.  It will be published in e-book format by Shyflower Press.  You can find more information at www.fictionwritings.com.

Copyright (c) 2000 John A. Broussard