The Honolulu Murder Files

Chapter 12

Suspect #6.

The Lawyer.

Marcus and I used to have fantastic sex. Sweaty, passionate, rock your world type of sex. I hadn't started out thinking it would go that direction though. Quite the opposite. The proposition of a   one night stand, I took him up on his offer to meet him at a famous hotel on the North Shore, Turtle Bay. We met at the hotel's main bar on Friday night and then proceeded to his room. 

The views were stunning, ocean front mere feet below the lanai, or balcony. We had an instant attraction so it was easy to shed clothes and do what we did. And do it we did. I ended up staying the rest of the weekend with him, going home on Monday before dawn so I could make it to work. From there, we had a relationship. Boyfriend and girlfriend. 

Seeing Marcus in his office now is weird. Knowing he is a suspect makes me wonder if he regretted breaking up with me. Had he been pining away all this time and I hadn't known?

"I need to see the reports first before we can take legal action. We have to know what the insurance company is doing."

He is on the phone, discussing what I assume is business. Always a hard worker, he put too many hours into his job. That was the catalyst for our breaking up. 

"We can win the case....we just need to....yes. Yes sir, I understand. Ok. Thanks."

He hangs up and exhales, blowing out air from his lungs forcefully. I recognized that sound distinctly. Marcus would do that with me when he was extra frustrated, which on occasion would happen. Especially when I interrupted him doing work at his place. 

"Fuck me. There is no fucking way we can win this if I do what he wants."

Opening a new tab on his laptop, he begins typing. I move directly behind him so I can see what he is doing. He is making a spreadsheet with tasks to complete on the case. The title to the page was 'Jackman Family'. I took it a family had sued the hotel for something. It rarely happened but about once or twice a year and usually for something that could be settled out of court. This though, sounded much more serious. 

I begin to look at his desk and catch a glimpse of his desk drawer open on the side. Was that a picture of me? I bend down to see better and indeed it was me! He has a framed picture of us from a day at the beach. My heart lurches. Why has he kept this? I didn't keep any pictures of us together. I had to move on and in my mind, that meant discarding things from my ex's. Maybe that was weird, but it worked. 

Next to the picture was a name scrawled onto an envelope. The letter must have been important because the postmark was from months ago, before I died. 

 The recipient was Lila's husband's name. 

🩸

Detective's Keele and Jones interrupt Marcus as he was working, some 30 or 40 minutes after I had joined him in his office. They were nonchalant as they have been in every interview and this put Marcus at ease. Visibly so. Sitting in chairs in front of his desk, they begin to ask general questions about the nature of our relationship beyond working together. 

What comes next though, I wasn't prepared for. 

"Tell us, why did you take out life insurance on Leilani?" Detective Keele asks, his voice flat.

Silence overtakes the room as Marcus looks shocked. 

"Oh God." He finally says. "I forgot all about that..."

"You mean to tell us you completely forgot that you had taken out life insurance on our victim?"

"Well yes! That's exactly what I'm saying. It was a joke we had between us. We promised to take out insurance on the other one night."