= Murder, Cut and Dried
  A Kay Yoshinobu Mystery
  by John A. Broussard


"You won't have to do any investigating on this one, Sherlock." Sid flipped the police report across Kay's desk. She pushed her glasses up into her hair and grinned at the flamboyant gesture.

Sid Chu and Kay Yoshinobu were partners in a small Hawaii legal firm specializing in criminal law. Sid had long ago realized that Kay's notion of providing adequate defense for a client invariably entailed lengthy investigation. Therefore, he felt a certain satisfaction with the present case.

"It's cut and dried."

"How so? Brief me." Kay waved a hand at the report. "I'm not in any mood to wade through this at the moment."

"Ralph Kamaka walked into his partner's office. They argued about money. Ralph got mad, picked up a golf trophy from Jack Monahan's desk and slammed it into his head. Jack's dead and Ralph has confessed. There's even a witness. Case closed."

Kay's curiosity had gotten the better of her. Flipping her glasses back down, she started skimming through the report even before Sid finished talking.

"Where's your witness, Sid? The only thing I see here is the secretary saying she heard the quarrel. She didn't see the actual killing. In fact, she left before it happened."

Sid wasn't to be deterred. "So what? She agrees with Ralph. He walked in and fought with Jack. Read on! The security guard insists there was no one else in the building, and no one came in after the secretary left until the cops arrived. You know, I don't think you'd believe it if you actually saw a crime happen right before your own eyes."

"Well, you know as well as I do that every day people confess to crimes they've never committed."

Sid was beginning to be annoyed. "C'mon Kay, what better proof do you want? Do you think Jack hit himself on the head?"

Kay's amusement showed. "My in-basket's empty and you aren't due in court until next week. We've got time to do a little interviewing. Let's see. You should be questioning the security guard. After all, we're going to have to set up a defense for Ralph--temporary insanity maybe--state of mind at the time of the murder? I'll talk to the secretary. And what about the usual suspects?"

Sid snorted. "The wife? That's a dead end. Jack just got a divorce."

Kay smiled. "Don't you think divorce might possibly mean they weren't getting along?" Before he could answer, she went on. "I'll check her out. And while you're getting a complete story from Ralph and working out his defense, I'll check out Ralph's wife too. Maybe we can work up a good description of her husband's distraught state of mind."

"I can't believe it. We're going to end up inspecting the crime site, aren't we?"

"You better believe it. Since it's almost lunchtime, we can make a quick stop at Smitty's on the way."

"Well, all I've got to say is if you can get my client off on this one, I'll treat you to a fancy dinner at the Malalani."

Kay grinned, stood, picked up her combination purse and brief case, and headed for the door. "You're on, Chu. I can taste the steak and lobster tails, already."

* * *

Among the many advantages of being attorneys on a small island was the ease with which Sid and Kay could get access to a crime scene. There were no papers to sign, no bureaucrat's permission to obtain. All that was needed was a quick call to the prosecutor's office. A bored police patrolman accompanied them, broke the seal on the office door, opened it and waved them in.

The anteroom of Quick Mortgage, Inc. was hardly sumptuous. A chair and desk with the usual contents, including a computer and printer, sat in the middle of the room. Two large file cabinets and a trio of Naugahyde office chairs completed the picture and pretty much filled up the space. Behind the secretary's chair, two doors led to inner offices, one marked Jack Monahan and the other Ralph Kamaka, with no titles attached to either. Sid pointed out that someone sitting at the desk could easily have heard a quarrel in either office. Kay nodded but seemed lost in thought.

The patrolman shrugged and waved them on when Sid indicated they wanted to enter the victim's office. It was evident money had not been lavished on the furnishings in Jack Monahan's office, any more than it had been on the reception area. Two visitors' chairs, a small, two-drawer file cabinet, a swivel chair and an almost completely bare desk were about the sum of the small room's contents.

The photographs Sid had brought from police headquarters filled in the details of a scene where chalk marks would have made little sense. The victim, slumped over in his chair, had been sitting with his back toward the desk, facing the window and a view of the Pacific. The cause of death, a vicious blow to the head, was evident from the photo showing the hair matted with fresh blood.

Another photo was of a large golf trophy lying on the floor. It wasn't difficult to deduce what had happened. With his back turned to his assailant, Jack Monahan had probably not realized the blow was coming, and certainly had felt no pain.

"Fingerprints?" Kay asked.

Sid leafed through the report. "Ralph's--all over the trophy. He says he held it with both hands, and I can believe it. Death was almost instantaneous." Sid then added with a grin, "You figuring someone else was holding on to the trophy, too?"

Kay shrugged. Sid was annoyed at the lack of response. He knew from experience it meant Kay's mind was working at hyperspeed and she wasn't about to share her speculations. Looking back at the report, then scanning the photo and surveying the room, Sid concluded the visit had been a waste of time. He suggested Smitty's was waiting, and after that the security guard would also have to be interviewed before starting his two o'clock shift.

* * *

Sid had made arrangements to meet Alfonso Perera at the restaurant after lunch while Kay was off questioning the secretary.

Alfonso was a short, dark-haired, and of some kind of mixed ancestry which Sid didn't even try to unravel, knowing his own inability to spot ethnic background in Hawaii's melting pot. Alfonso was surprisingly cooperative, considering all he was getting out of this was a free cup of coffee. Sid supposed, though, that a murder in his building was something to talk about in a job that at best had to be incredibly boring.

Alfonso rattled off the essential details with only a minimal amount of prodding, his speech laced with pidgin. "I get on at da usual time. Right aroun' two--a few minutes befoah. Mick always like get off early, and he take off like one shot. Nevah get many visitahs dat day. I no gotta keep track of 'em till afta five. Mostly I give out information like, you know, what floor da manager's office stay. People nevah tink fo' read da directory by da elevatahs. Anyhow, after five, visitahs gotta sign in. An' dey gotta check wi' me, an' I call whoever dey say dey goeen see."

"Anyone come by for Quick Mortgage?"

"Yeah. I 'member 'cause she da only one who come afta five. Hoh, one nice lookin' wahine, dat! I nevah know her name, but she wen sign da book. I can show you wen I go on. She say dey expecteen her, and Quick Mortgage say for let her come up. Musta been sometime around six. She stay maybe one hour den leave just befoh Mr. Kamaka show up."

"The police say there was no one but Monahan and Kamaka in the building at the time of the killing."

The security guard nodded, took a long gulp of coffee and now seemed even more relaxed than he had been at the beginning of the interview. Sid signaled for refills and Alfonso continued. "Yeah. Da offices empty fas' right around closin'. It's pau at four-thirty for mos' of 'em, five for da rest. Quick Mortgage's secretary was workeen late. She leave maybe five minutes befoah Mr. Kamaka call me fo' say Mr. Monahan make stay dead. He say he wen' call 911 and da cops comeen. It no can be more den a couple minutes latuh wen' one squad car pull up."

There was a pause as he finished his second cup. "You can ask 'em if they find anyone else hidin' out in da building, but I bet one barrel of coconuts only Kamaka and Monahan still in da place aftah Sally leave." He paused, then gave a short laugh. "No counteen me, of course."

"Did you notice anything different about Kamaka when he showed up?"

"Fo' shua! Look like get da devil rideen on his flip-flops. He nevah even look my way, an' he usually say hello, at least. Sometimes he like stop an' talk story. Nice guy. I no can believe he evah kill anyone. But den, you nevah know."

"What about the secretary?" Sid checked his notes. "Sally Richards. Know anything about her?"

"Sally? She one o' dem Christian fundamentals or whatever you call 'em. You know. Long, muumuu-type dresses. Frilly stuff around da neck. Hair pulled back so tight look like her eyes bulge. Actually, if she would wear sometheen decent and fix herself up a little, she no would be half bad. Bye 'n bye, she kinda act like she readeen da Bible less an' maybe lis'neen to Meestah Monahan more."

Sid's ears perked up, and he looked questioningly at the security guard.

"Yeah. Monahan one randy old goat from what some o' da uddah wahine in da building say. Maybe he prongeen Sally and she like it. I swear she start weareen a little make up and maybe one tighter dress, 'cause I notice da uddah day, get one nice pair of tatas. Yeah. Come to tink of it, Meestah Monahan mighta been getteen some o' da'."

Sid left his card with the guard and asked him to call if he remembered anything else.

* * *

Kay's Buddhist background hadn't prepared her for so thorough a Christian household. Sally Richard's apartment living room sported as decorations a portrait of Jesus welcoming little children with open arms and another of him looking heavenward. In addition, a richly bound Bible sat in the middle of a coffee table, flanked by a variety of pamphlets exhorting repentance and warning of the imminent second coming.

Sally was herself an unostentatious addition to the spartan surroundings. Her dress was a shapeless, flowery garment. Her hair was brushed back and tied with a white ribbon. Her shoes were sensible brown oxfords. Her soft, tiny voice seemed an appropriate accompaniment to her outfit.

Moments into the interview, Kay realized Sally had been profoundly shocked by the death of Jack Monahan. It was hard to determine whether the shock was simply the result of closeness to a violent death or if it was due to something more. Accepting an offer of orange juice, Kay began the interview by requesting a description of the activities on the fateful day.

"It wasn't very busy. I mean, we didn't have many people drop in. But I was busy, even more than usual. I had a half-dozen contracts to type up, and I knew I'd have to stay late. Mr. Monahan said he would wait until I finished so he could sign them."

Kay was intrigued at the nervousness of the interviewee. She certainly didn't consider herself threatening, and yet Sally kept fiddling with her dress, shuffling the tracts around on the coffee table, and even moving the Bible once or twice as though seeking reassurance from its presence and feel.

Hoping to get Sally to relax, Kay shifted the topic to items far removed from the day of the slaying. "How long have you been working for Quick Mortgage?"

Sally's nervousness seemed to abate. "Eight months, I think. Yes. It will be eight months this coming weekend."

"Did you like the job?"

"Oh yes. Very much. I'd only done temp work until then, and I hated it. You have to learn every job all over again, and it makes you feel so unsure of yourself. It was so nice to be able to go back to familiar surroundings every morning with forms I knew and a computer program I didn't have to master each time."

"And your bosses?"

The subject stirred up some of the earlier anxiety, and Kay noted that Sally--after some thought--mentioned Ralph Kamaka first.

"I don't see very much of Mr. Kamaka. He calls himself the door-to-door salesman, because he looks up possible clients and visits them at their homes or offices. Sometimes he doesn't come to work for two or three days at a time. He's always very nice when he does come in."

Kay waited. The pause lengthened. Finally, Sally broke the silence after moistening her lips. Kay could tell that what followed had been carefully thought out.

"Mr. Monahan was very nice too. Very helpful, especially when I first went to work there and didn't know anything about the mortgage business. He was very helpful," she repeated.

For the first time, Sally avoided making eye contact as she answered Kay's questions.

Kay now knew which way the wind was blowing and decided to steer a different course for the moment. "Could you describe what happened that day before Mr. Kamaka arrived?"

Sally's reaction was more of the same--a long pause. Kay groped for something more innocuous."Who were the visitors that day?"

"Hell," thought Kay as she watched the distraught Sally, "no question is safe." Before Sally could answer, Kay tried again. "Why not start at the beginning of the day?"

That seemed to help. A recital of the mail delivery, a young couple eager to float a loan, a brief visit at noon by a golfing partner who persuaded Monahan to go to lunch with him. Kay took down his name. The afternoon visitors were the problem. There was only one. She arrived shortly after six, visited Monahan for about an hour and turned out to be no less than Mrs. Kamaka. Kay felt as though she'd been following a thin vein that had suddenly become the mother lode. She was still unsure as to how to go about mining it. Instead of trying immediately, she moved quickly to the crucial moments.

"What time did Mr. Kamaka arrive?"

"Seven-fifteen. I'd just finished the last contract."

"That was after Mrs. Kamaka left?"

"Oh, yes. Just a few minutes after."

"Then?"

"He rushed in without even saying hello. That wasn't like him. He went right into Mr. Monahan's office. Almost immediately, I heard them quarreling."

"Are those actually tears in Sally's eyes?" Kay was wondering.

Sally looked away as she continued. Her voice had taken on a strange intensity as though she were reliving the moments. "I--I didn't want to listen. I covered my ears at first, then I decided it was just too much. I picked up my purse and rushed out. My work was done, there was no need for me to stay and listen to that...." She reached down to touch the Bible. "The police called a few hours later, just before I was going to bed, and told me Mr. Kamaka had killed Mr. Monahan. I couldn't say anything at first, but I finally agreed to talk to them the next morning."

Kay was convinced Sally was telling the truth, but she wasn't sure it was the whole truth.

* * *

Sid's appointment with Ralph Kamaka that afternoon went far more smoothly than most interviews with clients charged with a crime. Kamaka was clear, consistent and surprisingly calm, considering what he was saying to Sid. There were no substantial differences from what he'd told the police. He had discovered earlier that Monahan had worked out a scheme to get out from under the partnership and to take most of its assets with him. His own stupidity at not having the original agreement checked carefully by an attorney was his own fault, but he had trusted Monahan. They had been in the navy together, had become good friends, and he couldn't believe Monahan would cheat him.

"The reason I found out was I received a phone call from our banker. He said he'd send me the details. I've known him for years. Goes back to grade school. He'd spoken to me earlier about his suspicions, but I didn't take him seriously. Then, when I got home that day, I found an e-mail from him with all the gory details. I just went out of my mind. I had all my assets tied up in the company, including a second mortgage on our home.

"Even so, I still couldn't believe it, so I went out to his house--the banker's house--to talk to him about it. I didn't trust myself to drive, I was so angry. Instead I called a cab. He pretty much convinced me. From there I went to the office and stormed into the building. I guess Alfonso--the security guard--must have thought I was going to a fire. Same with Sally. I flew by her into Monahan's office, slammed the door and started to tell him in no uncertain terms what I thought of him."

Sid could feel the rekindled anger in the air.

Kamaka took a deep breath and continued. "Maybe I wouldn't have lost my head if he hadn't just laughed, swiveled around in his chair with his back toward me, and acted as though I wasn't even in the room. It was then that I picked up the trophy and smashed it down on his head. It took me a while, maybe several minutes, to fully realize what I'd done. When I did, I went out in the reception room to tell Sally to call 911, even though I knew he was dead. She'd left, so I called them myself. Then I called Alfonso to tell him the police would be coming. When they got there, I told them just what I told you."

Sid had been scribbling on his legal pad and rolled his eyes at the last remark, thinking, "If only suspects would learn--lawyer first, confession afterwards, not the other way around." Aloud, he said. "OK. We start with that. We can plead you not guilty and use temporary insanity as a defense. Get me all the information you can on Monahan's scheme. That will help to explain your actions to a jury. We'll hire a psychiatrist to examine you, and he'll go much deeper into your state of mind at the time. I know you aren't expecting to walk away from this, but we may be able to get you minimum security for a comparatively short time."

Ralph gave Sid a questioning look.

"Twenty years, with a seven minimum. You've never been in trouble with the law. We were able to get bail without having to move mountains. So, with luck, good behavior and lots of character references, you could conceivably be out in two or three--but don't count on it."

Ralph nodded and seemed relieved. Sid felt a pang of guilt at having perhaps sounded too optimistic. Then he wondered how someone could feel relieved by the prospect of any time in prison.

* * *

It worked out very nicely. The timing of Sid's interview of Mr. Kamaka at the office gave Kay an opportunity to talk to Mrs. Kamaka alone.

Somewhere in her late thirties, Charm Kamaka certainly lived up to her name. Dark haired, carefully made up, slender and with an excellent figure, Charm radiated not only sexual appeal but also a contagious pleasantness that immediately brought an answering smile to Kay's face. Kay soon found this attractive person housed a disarmingly honest personality as well.

"I don't believe it," Charm said, as they sat down to the coffee she had brought out, unbidden. "Ralph would never, never kill anyone, no matter what the provocation. I don't have any explanation for what happened, but I'm willing to absolutely swear he didn't kill Jack. He couldn't have killed him. I don't care what the police say." She paused. "Now, maybe in self defense.... Maybe it was just an accident."

Kay recognized a dead end when she saw it. She nudged Charm off into the obvious direction. "Why did you go to Quick Mortgage that day?"

There was no hesitation on Charm's part. "Jack and I had a thing going. Not a very serious one. I've had one or two affairs before, but Ralph and I have a pretty solid marriage." She shrugged.

Kay was taken aback by the sudden and unabashed confession. "Did your husband know?"

Again, a shrug. "I doubt it. I guess he would have been angry if he had found out.... Oh! I know what you're thinking. No. I'm absolutely sure he knew nothing about Jack and me, maybe about the earlier ones, but not Jack and me. You can tell about things like that. Whenever he talked about Jack there wasn't the least sign he knew. Besides, we--Jack and I--met only twice before, at an apartment owned by one of Jack's golfing friends."

"And that day at the office?"

Charm was amused. "Jack knew I was thinking of breaking it off with him. In fact, I'm almost sure that's why he wanted me to come to the office when it turned out his friend's apartment wasn't available--to do some persuading. Anyway, that's what he tried to do. He pulled out all the stops, used every argument imaginable to keep the affair going. He was pretty persuasive, at least to the point where I decided I might as well have a farewell fling. I didn't know how very much of a farewell it was going to be."

"You made love in the office?" Kay considered herself fairly sophisticated, but sex in a business office was not her idea of a good time. The idea appealed to her even less following Charm's answer.

"Sure," she laughed. "Standing up with my back to the door."

Kay's mind raced. "Where do I go from here?" she wondered, and asked out loud, "Weren't you concerned that your husband might show up?"

"No. He doesn't go to the office much. Anyway, he was supposed to be in Kipukanui that day. As it turned out, the client cancelled at the last minute. Even so, I'm surprised he went there at all that day."

"Did the security guard recognize you?"

Charm shook her head. "I don't see how he could have. I'd never been to the office before, not even to visit Ralph. I did sign the visitor's book, but no one would have been able to read the signature."

"What about the secretary?"

"Oh, sure. I introduced myself to the poor, drab creature. She announced me to Jack. I didn't have to wait long," she added with another of her contagious laughs.

"Did you tell him you were breaking off with him?"

"No. I intended to call him and tell him later. All he could think of when I started to leave was to go another round, but I'd had enough. He wasn't half bad, by the way."

Kay looked at the sparse notes she'd been taking. Everything was checking out. Charm seemed almost totally incapable of lying. The question now was whether or not Ralph had the same inability.

* * *

The golfing partner was Sid's assignment for the following morning.

Cedric Marshburn was in his early forties, grey haired, and might have looked distinguished except for the ruddy nose and spidery veins on his cheeks indicating too friendly an acquaintance with the bottle. The impression was reinforced by his offer of a drink which Sid declined, somewhat repelled by the thought of anyone starting to drink so early in the day.

Marshburn seemed disappointed by Sid's refusal, started to put the scotch back into the cabinet, changed his mind, poured a generous portion into a glass, squirted in some soda and added an ice cube.

"Yeah. Too bad about old Jack. Well, I guess he wasn't that old. Maybe in his late forties. I never thought when we went to lunch that that would be his last meal. Guess he didn't think so either. Cheers." He downed the contents of his glass in one long gulp.

"Did he seem any different at lunch?"

Marshburn frowned, then shook his head. "Can't say. He mentioned having something lined up for the evening, but then that wasn't much different from his usual talk. If Jack got as much as he claimed he did, he would have died of exhaustion in his teens."

"Did he mention any names?"

"Nope. Much as he liked to brag, I can't remember his ever naming names." Marshburn rattled the ice cube. "Sure you won't join me?"

Sid again declined, and Marshburn returned to the cabinet to fill the glass, not bothering to add anything else to the liquor this time.

"And he was going right back to the office after lunch?"

A nod. "I walked back that way while we were making plans for golf this weekend. Left him at the door to the building. That must have been around one-thirty or so."

"Do you know Ralph Kamaka?"

"Just to say hello. He was never around the office much."

Sid decided he hadn't added a great deal to the sum of his knowledge...but knew he would have achieved even less if he had arrived later in the morning. He excused himself as Marshburn headed back to the liquor cabinet.

* * *

Kay's visit to Jack's ex-wife found yet another attractive and almost equally frank woman waiting for her. It occurred to her Jack Monahan must have had an extraordinary appeal to this type. A few minutes' conversation with the former Mrs. Monahan, however, convinced her Jack's interests, if not appeal, were much broader than that.

"The problem with Jack," Monica Monahan explained without being asked, "was that he couldn't walk down the street without turning around and following the first likely female that came along. I just got tired of it after a while. Looking back at it, I'm amazed I put up with it as long as I did--almost four years."

"Did he have any enemies?"

Monica grinned at the question. "Only husbands."

"Do you think Ralph Kamaka was one of them?"

The grin widened. "I wouldn't have been a bit surprised. I met Ralph's wife. Jack was probably hot after her from the moment he laid eyes on her. And, believe me, he had a real smooth line. After all, he conned me into marrying him, and I'm not fresh from the boonies."

"So you feel Ralph Kamaka killed your former husband?"

"No reason to think otherwise, is there? He confessed, didn't he?"

"When was the last time you saw your ex-husband?" The answer surprised Kay, but Monica's total lack of embarrassment surprised her even more.

"The night before he died. He came by to get some papers signed. Then he wanted to stay the night, so I thought, 'What the hell!' Besides, it was nice to know I could just boot him out first thing in the morning--which I did."

Kay decided that Jack Monahan must have been quite a guy.

* * *

Later the next day, though Kay had had her suspicions almost from the beginning, a break occurred in the case. A call came through for Sid which she took, since he was in court on another case. The security guard identified himself.

"Mr. Chu say fo' call him if I tink of anytin' else. Well, I tink of sometin', but maybe it no so very important. When Kamaka start tru da door, he turn around and look out to da street. I almost shua he stareen at da woman who jus' leave da buildin'. She cross da street and was getteen into her car. You know, I no tink he was acteen funny till ri' den. Dat's when he rush by me and head fo' da elevatahs."

Kay could barely wait for the call to end. When it did, she phoned Sally. The phone was a poor substitute for being there, watching body language. Even so, after much hesitation, Sally went over the scene of the quarrel. Yes, she had to admit she couldn't remember Jack Monahan's voice, only Ralph Kamaka talking loudly. No, she hadn't been in Monahan's office after Charm Kamaka's departure. She'd been too busy trying to finish the contracts.

When Sid returned, he found a triumphant Kay insisting the two of them immediately confront the Kamakas. She still saw some blank areas, but was now convinced the case was due to have an ending far different from what Sid had anticipated.

Charm was clearly puzzled. Ralph seemed less so. Kay did the talking.

Addressing Ralph she said, "The security guard tells us you recognized your wife leaving the vicinity of the building. Did you?"

Ralph immediately denied he had. Charm broke in. "Why deny it, Ralph? I saw you turning around just as you went into the building. You couldn't have helped but see me. And I'm sure you must have recognized that robin's egg blue Toyota of mine. How could you possibly miss it?"

Ralph's expression indicated the turbulence he was suddenly facing. "I was upset because I knew then you'd found out about the money." His face suddenly showed he regretted having said what he had. Nothing in his earlier confession had indicated any concern about what his wife might have thought about the money.

"What money?" Charm asked.

"The money Jack was going to cheat us out of. I figured I'd forgotten to close down the computer, that you'd come home and seen the e-mail from Lester Silva about the money and then rushed off to Jack's office to confront him. I still wasn't completely convinced he was going to bankrupt us, but I was afraid you might have gone there to tell him off. You know how frank you can be. As I was going up the elevator, all I could think of was the damage you might have done by confronting him."

Charm still looked puzzled.

Ralph tried to explain himself more clearly. "I had visions of you storming into his office, calling him all sorts of names and just generally making it impossible for me to convince him he should think twice about the scam he was trying to pull." He smiled grimly to himself and went on, "I guess I was naive, but I thought maybe I could appeal to our friendship, our old navy days and all that. And then when I burst in, I...."

Charm threw her head back and guffawed. "You found him dead and thought I'd killed him, so you confessed to the police. Ralph! Ralph! You are a character! I knew nothing about the money, and I would certainly never have killed him over something like that."

Kay's eyes widened at the exchange. Without waiting, and while the others were still trying to digest the revelations, Kay punched in the number of police headquarters on her cell phone. Heads turned toward her as she was connected to a lieutenant she knew. "That's right," she was saying. "Get out to Sally Richard's apartment right away. She's the secretary in the Kamaka case. She needs to be questioned about the case. I only hope she doesn't do something foolish before you get there."

Putting the phone back into her brief case, Kay stood up and headed quickly for the door, Sid tagging behind her. He hesitated as he heard Ralph say to Charm, "If you didn't go to Jack's office about the money, why did you go there?" Kay pulled Sid out of the house before he could hear Charm's answer.

* * *

On the way back to the office, Kay's cell phone rang. The familiar voice of the lieutenant said, "She's OK. She says she has something important to tell me, but wants you to be here when she does."

"Smart gal," Kay said, looking over at Sid. "Call an attorney before you confess."

Surprisingly, the confession was not difficult in coming, but Sally's tiny voice stayed right at the edge of breaking.

"Jack--Mr. Monahan--told me he would marry me as soon he got his divorce, and I believed him. I didn't know any better. I'd never been with a man before Jack. Then, when he actually got the divorce, he began to act differently. I was going to confront him that evening, when Mrs. Kamaka came in. Well, I heard them making love in the office. There was no mistaking the sounds.

"The minute she left I went in. He was grinning and humming a tune. I started to tell him what I thought of him. He just laughed, swiveled his chair around and looked out the window. It was then I told him I was pregnant. He didn't even bother to turn around to look at me. Instead, he started singing--and I can hear his every word, even now. The song went, 'If it's a girl, you can bounce her on your knee. But if it's a boy, send the bastard out to sea.'

"I've heard of blinding rage, and that's when I felt it. I picked up the trophy while he was starting on the next verse and crashed it down on his head as hard as I could. I knew immediately I'd killed him. I dropped the trophy, turned around and went out to my desk. I was just about to call the police when Mr. Kamaka came rushing by and went into Jack's office.

"That was the most horrible thing of all. I expected Mr. Kamaka to come out to tell me Jack was dead. Instead, I heard him raising his voice and quarreling with him. I told you the truth," she continued, addressing Kay. "I wanted to think Jack might still be alive, but I knew he couldn't be. I covered my ears to shut out the sound, then ran out of the office and out of the building.

"My mind was in complete confusion, and it wasn't until the police called me, told me Jack was dead, and asked me to come by the station that I realized what had happened. I assumed Mr. Kamaka thought Mrs. Kamaka had killed Jack, and he had decided to take the blame. It was the only explanation that made any sense."

There was a long pause. Then Sally added, "I would never have let Mr. Kamaka go to trial. Believe me. The only reason I was waiting to confess was because I wanted to punish Mrs. Kamaka. And then I began to realize I was really no different from her."

* * *

Sid seemed to be paying even more attention to the road than usual as they were driving off to the Malalani for dinner. Kay was regaling him with her planned defense of Sally.

"You know, Sid, this is going to be a slam dunk. I'm going to move for a quick and speedy trial so she can be pregnant for all to see."

"What makes you think she's not going to get an abortion?" Sid asked, still staring at the road.

"Aw, c'mon, Sid. Can you picture her getting an abortion? No way. No, she's going to be obviously pregnant and sitting there for the jury to see what Monahan did to her. I'll call a minimum of witnesses. The Kamakas, of course. And we'll find some excuse to put the banker on, to paint a full picture of Monahan's character. And maybe the golf buddy and the security guard to round out the portrait of Monahan's womanizing. No need for psychiatrists or any kind of expert witness. The trial won't last a full two days."

Sid grunted.

"And then I'll put Sally on the stand at the very last. I can see her now up there telling the story the way she told us. Can you hear her little girl voice singing that navy ditty off key? Why the whole court will be in tears, including judge and prosecutor. Maybe me too. How do you think the jury will react?"

"They'll probably want to strike off a medal for her." Sid's face was expressionless.

"Right! They'll for sure find her guilty of nothing more than involuntary manslaughter. Judge Schreiber will give her a year in minimum and may even go for probation. After all, she's going to have a baby to take care of."

Sid sighed dramatically. "Why not have Sally tell the judge she'll name it after him?"

Kay was lost in her own thoughts. Then, as they pulled into the Malalani parking lot, she said, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Sid."

"Yeah? What?"

"When you get your next cut and dried murder case, be sure and let me know."


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 2001. It will be published in e-book format by Shyflower Press. You can find more information at www.fictionwritings.com.

Copyright (c) 2001 John A. Broussard