House of the hanging jad.., p.9
House of the Hanging Jade, page 9
Marcus wore a wide smile. “Can we make more after school?”
I nodded. “I’ll go pick up more fish after I drop you all off.”
We set off, the kids talking happily in the backseat. It was nice to see Marcus happy and excited about going to school. I would have to tell Liko—he would be thrilled for Marcus.
My thoughts darkened as they turned to Liko. I wondered whether he would give in to Barbie’s charms or do the right thing and continue as nothing more than Marcus’s tutor. Barbie could be captivating, but I had also seen that she was capable of willingly causing great pain to her family. And Liko, who didn’t have a girlfriend, could easily give in. Barbie was pretty, petite, lively, and gregarious—just the combination that Liko would find attractive. I decided to talk to him about Barbie again that evening.
But Barbie had other plans. She came home early, in time for dinner with the family, with an announcement. Orchid Isle Wellness had won a coveted award, an “Ono” Island Favorite. The wellness center had been voted by residents and visitors to be the best provider of wellness services on the Big Island and this meant the Jorgensens would be hosting a celebration.
Lars took her by the elbow and drew her to the small dining room near the kitchen. They probably didn’t realize I could hear their entire conversation.
“Barbie, you shouldn’t be throwing a big party so soon after Doug’s death. It’s in poor taste. We don’t even know who killed him yet.”
She scoffed. “You think I don’t know you did it?” she hissed. “You think I don’t know how jealous you were of Doug? Of my relationship with him?”
“What?” he spluttered.
“You’re just lucky I’ve protected you. So far. We’re having this party, Lars.”
“What are you talking about?” he whispered loudly. “I didn’t kill Doug! I couldn’t care less what you were doing with him! I just couldn’t stand to see the kids being hurt. You’re nothing but a selfish—”
“Dad!” Marcus’s voice could be heard coming from the other end of the lanai. “Dad! Want some poke for dinner? I made more after school.”
“We’ll continue this later,” Lars said curtly.
“We certainly will.”
I ducked into my room until I figured Lars and Barbie were both gone, since I didn’t want them to think I had heard their argument. I hoped they would both eat the poke. I knew Justine wouldn’t, but it was important to Marcus that his parents enjoy the meal he had made.
And they did. Lars came into the kitchen after dinner and thanked me for helping Marcus make the poke. Barbie followed him several minutes later, exclaiming that Marcus had made the best poke she’d had in a long time. I was thrilled for him.
Barbie stayed in the kitchen for quite a long time, discussing her plans for the award celebration.
“We’ll be inviting everyone from the office. Let’s see . . . that’s Lars and me, the other doctors and their significant others, the massage therapists, the receptionists, the nutritionist, the office manager. Let’s plan for forty people. I’d rather have too much food than not enough. Can you come up with a menu for me?”
I nodded, reaching for a pen and paper.
“I’d like to serve a mix of healthy and decadent snacks,” she began. “You know, crudités, bruschetta, yogurt dips. And then a selection of savory, rich hors d’oeuvres for the people who prefer that sort of thing, and of course, small desserts.”
I wrote furiously, trying to keep up with her wishes. “I’ll put a list of pupus together and you can let me know if it looks okay,” I told her.
She wrinkled her nose. “Pupus,” she repeated. “I never liked that word.” She waved a hand in the air. “English works just fine for me.”
I ignored her slight jab and told her I would have a list for her in the morning.
Marcus came to see me that evening as I sat on the lanai on a large daybed with a book and a cup of tea. “I just wanted to thank you for helping me and James. We sold out of our poke at school today and almost nobody else did. We raised a lot of money for the school too.” He smiled at me shyly.
“I was happy to help, Marcus. You’re a talented cook. Anytime you want to help me make a meal or want help doing it yourself, let me know.”
He nodded and walked away. Liko wandered by just a short while later. “I hear the poke you and Marcus made was a big success.”
“That’s what he told me. I hope he gains some confidence from this and starts to make some more friends. He made another batch for dinner. There’s some in the fridge if you want it.”
“I ate already, but thanks. I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re helping him just as much as the tutoring is.”
“Thanks, Liko.” He wandered off and I was left alone with my book again. I clicked off the lamp glowing next to me, set the book aside, and spent the next few minutes being mesmerized by the moonlight rippling on the waves. I let my mind empty of worries about the Jorgensens and allowed the serenity of the evening to seep into my mind.
It was getting late. I wasn’t tired yet, so I walked slowly down the length of the lanai, unable to take my eyes off the moonlit black water, listening to the insects nearby and the waves shooshing into the rocky shoreline just a short distance away.
At the end of the lanai I turned mauka and walked slowly past Marcus’s room and toward the front of the house. As I turned the corner toward the front door, I stopped short when I saw someone stealing out the door and whisking down the breezeway under the veils of hanging jade. I froze and flattened my body against the wall, my heart pounding and my breath caught in my throat. Was it all going to happen again? Was tragedy going to strike this house once more? Was I watching a murderer steal away in the night?
As the figure stepped onto the path between the breezeway and the guesthouse, soft light from one of the landscaping lamps illuminated the person’s face.
Barbie.
I watched as she made her way to the side of the guesthouse that was facing me. I remained on the lanai, hidden in the shadows. Barbie knocked quietly on the door, glancing around behind her as she waited for admittance. The door swung open and Liko appeared in the doorway. She ducked under his arm and the door closed behind her.
I groaned inwardly and pleaded silently with Liko, as if he could hear me. Don’t do it! Don’t destroy this family! My heart broke for Lars and the children as my anger toward Liko and Barbie increased quickly from a simmer to a rolling boil with each furtive step I took toward the front door.
I crept silently into the front hall, hoping everyone was asleep and my footsteps would be unheard. But they weren’t. Lars appeared in his office doorway as I slipped past.
“Kailani? Why are you sneaking around?”
I resented the implied accusation and forgot about feeling sorry for Lars. “I wasn’t sneaking anywhere. I went out for a walk and I didn’t want to make any noise going back to my room.”
“Oh. Goodnight, then.”
“Goodnight.”
I went straight to my room. I didn’t want to be around when Lars went up to the master bedroom and discovered that Barbie was missing.
But I knew it when it happened. Not long after I curled up in my den with a good cookbook, I heard the front door slam. Lars must have gone off in search of his wayward wife.
I couldn’t concentrate on my book any longer. I went to the kitchen for a drink of water and was startled when I heard Justine’s voice.
“Kailani? Can I have some water too?”
I examined her face closely. She looked exhausted. “Of course,” I answered. “Is everything all right?”
Standing there in her pink pajamas, her hair in a ponytail, she suddenly looked very little and vulnerable. Her face crumpled.
“I can’t sleep,” she whimpered. “I’m so tired, but I’m afraid to sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep since Dr. Doug died.”
I pulled her to me. Her small body sank against mine and she began to cry. “All I want is to stop being scared.”
I held her at arm’s length and looked in her bloodshot eyes. “Justine, don’t you worry. The person who killed Dr. Doug was a stranger, someone who will never come back to this house because he knows the police are looking for him. He was probably just a petty thief who thought he could get lots of good things from such a magnificent house. And Dr. Doug surprised him, that’s all. That thief is scared to death to ever come back here. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
“Are you sure?” she sniffled. A glimmer of hope shone in her eyes.
“Of course I’m sure,” I told her, hoping my voice sounded confident. “I want you to go back to your room and get some sleep now. You’re perfectly safe in this house—I promise. Do you think your dad or your mom or Liko would ever let anything happen to you or Marcus?”
“No.”
“See? There’s nothing to worry about. Now scoot and get some sleep.”
She smiled at me and hugged me around my waist. “Okay. Thanks.”
She drank her water and scampered down the length of the lanai. I had a feeling she would sleep well that night.
And as long as I believed my own words, maybe I could sleep well too. And I fell asleep rather quickly after that. I didn’t hear whether Lars or Barbie came back into the house.
The next morning, I was making breakfast when Lars appeared in the doorway. He looked exhausted, his eyes ringed by dark circles, his mouth thin and pinched.
“Can I get you some coffee?” I asked.
He rubbed his hair with one hand. “Sure,” he mumbled. “Have the kids left for school yet?”
“No. I expect them to come in for breakfast in just a few minutes.”
“Could you tell them I had to leave early for a meeting and I said to have a good day?”
“Sure.”
He left and I could hear him closing his office door quietly behind him. I relayed his message when the kids came in to eat. Justine looked rested, her eyes bright. Neither she nor Marcus seemed to realize their mother had disappeared during the night. After they left for school, I knocked tentatively on Lars’s office door. “It’s Kailani.”
“Come in.”
“Would you like something to eat, Lars?”
He was sitting in his swivel chair, looking at the framed shirts on the wall behind his desk. He spun around slowly to face me.
“No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”
I turned to go, but he called me back. “Kailani, I know now why you were being so quiet when you came in last night. I’m sorry I accused you of being sneaky. You knew that Barbie went out.” It was a statement, not a question.
My heart went out to him. “Yes,” I answered quietly.
Suddenly he pounded his fist on the desk. “If I just knew where she went . . .”
I was shocked. And torn. He didn’t know where she had gone. Should I tell him what I knew? But what if he—not a stranger in the night—really had killed Dr. Doug? What if he harmed Liko? What if he harmed Barbie? She might be behaving badly, but she didn’t deserve that.
I decided not to tell him where Barbie had been.
I returned to the kitchen and was preparing a plate for Barbie when she appeared in the doorway, looking fresh and perky as always.
“Good morning, Kailani! Have you got that list of hors d’oeuvres for me?”
I had forgotten all about the list. “I’m working on it. I thought I might try a couple new things today to see if they would work at the party,” I lied.
“Great!” she answered brightly. She helped herself to the plate I had prepared for her and took it to the lanai.
Liko came into the kitchen shortly after Barbie left. “Hey, K! Got anything to eat?”
I looked daggers at him. “Find something yourself.”
He looked hurt. “What’s the matter?”
“As if you don’t know.”
“You know?” he whispered.
I nodded, scowling.
“Just let me tell you how it happened.”
“Spare me the details.”
“I’m sorry, K. Does anyone else know?”
“If you mean Lars, no. I haven’t told him. Yet.”
“Please don’t say anything. I don’t want him to be hurt.”
“You’re considering his feelings now? Now that it’s too late?”
“He’s my friend.”
“I wonder if he would feel the same way if he knew how you spent last night.”
“Have you seen Barbie?”
“She’s on the lanai.”
He headed toward the back of the house, away from the lanai. Maybe he was already having regrets. I hoped so.
Barbie came into the kitchen shortly after. “Have you seen Liko this morning, by any chance?”
I was standing at the counter with my back to her. I didn’t turn around. “He came in here a while ago and I don’t know where he went after that.”
I spent that day cooking to chase away my stress. I made an elaborate meal for dinner, as well as chicken stock and vegetable stock to freeze and several desserts that could also be frozen and served at Barbie’s party. I drew up the list of additional foods for the party and made two new appetizers for her to try.
When they came home from school, Marcus and Justine were happy to see that I had spent the entire day cooking. I had replenished the supplies of homemade snacks that they liked.
Not one to be deceived, Justine spoke up. “What’s the matter, Kailani? Are you okay?”
I smiled fondly at her. “Everything is going to be fine, Justine. Don’t worry about me. I just felt a little stressed out, that’s all.”
She returned my grin, but I noticed Marcus looking at me with concern. He took a snack and looked over his shoulder and gave me a brief, worried look as he left the kitchen.
That night after dinner, Marcus and Liko sat on the lanai doing math homework when the doorbell rang. Justine ran to answer it.
A moment later there was a tap on my shoulder as I stood doing dishes. I jumped, startled. Geoffrey stood behind me, grinning from ear to ear.
“Geoffrey! You scared me! What are you doing here?” I sounded as annoyed as I felt.
“I was just in the area and I thought I’d stop by and see what you’re doing.”
“I’m working,” I told him curtly.
“Want to take a break and go for a walk?”
“I really can’t, Geoffrey.”
“C’mon, take a walk with me. I won’t keep you out long.”
I sighed. “Geoffrey, I really don’t have time. Why are you so far from Kona, anyway?”
He winked at me. “Okay, you caught me. I just wanted to see you.”
I took a deep breath and put my hands on the counter. “Geoffrey . . .” I began slowly. “I thought I had made it clear that we are not dating anymore.”
“But why not? I came all the way to Hawaii to show you that I’m willing to go where you want to be. That should count for something,” he whined. “And you’re not dating anyone else, right? So deep down you must miss me.”
I knew then that Geoffrey wasn’t going to go away. I needed to do something to make him leave, so I lied to him.
It was a decision I would live to regret.
Chapter 11
“Actually, I am dating,” I said breezily.
He looked at me intently, his eyebrows raised and his mouth hanging open. “You didn’t tell me that,” he said in an accusing tone. “Who is it?”
I had to think fast. “Liko.”
“That Hawaiian guy? Kailani, you can do better than him. He barely has a job.”
“He works here. He tutors Marcus. And the only reason he doesn’t have a job in the school system is that the state doesn’t have the money right now for the subject he teaches.”
“Which is?”
“Hawaiian language and culture.”
“Seems like the state would find the money if that’s something they wanted the kids to learn.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Geoffrey.”
“How long have you two been seeing each other?”
“Since around the time I came back from Washington.” My lie was growing.
“Didn’t take you long, did it?” he sneered.
“Geoffrey, please. I don’t really want to discuss it.”
“Why did you lie to me when I asked you if you were dating him?” I had forgotten our conversation that night in Hawi.
“I just didn’t think it was any of your business. And I still feel that way. I really don’t want to talk about it.” I had to change the subject.
“I’d like to meet him.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“We’ll see.”
I shuddered. I didn’t know what to expect from Geoffrey anymore. He made me uncomfortable and nervous. “Geoffrey, I think you should go now.”
He gave me a hard look. “Okay, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I intend to find out more about this Liko of yours.” He frowned and turned to leave. My first thought was that I needed to find Liko and apologize for creating this mess.
He and Marcus had apparently finished doing homework, because neither of them was on the lanai. I found him in the workout room in the guesthouse. He looked angry.
“Liko, we need to talk about something.”
He scoffed. “You talking to me again? What do you want? No lectures, please.”
“I’m not here to lecture you. I’m sorry about that. I was just thinking of Lars and the kids, that’s all. We can talk about it later if you want, but I’m here to tell you that I told a lie about you and I want you to be aware of it in case it comes up.”
He looked at me, obviously puzzled. He said nothing though, and I continued after hesitating a moment.
“Geoffrey was just here. He scares me a little. He wants to get back together and I told him no. He was insisting, so I told him you and I were dating. I’m really sorry,” I finished lamely.
He cocked his head and smiled at me kindly. “That’s okay. From what you’ve told me about him, the guy’s a little crazy. I’m glad you told him that. Maybe now he’ll leave you alone.”
“I just wanted you to know in case he ever approaches you and asks if it’s true.”
