The Honolulu Murder Files

Chapter 24

At this point I'm all in to find out what the detectives know. There is only one suspect left according to their murder white board. And they aren't in a hurry to interview her. For now, they are on their respective office phones talking to people in different departments. I could go visit the suspects one by one, and spy on them, but being here seems more pressing. 

"Ok. So your sure that you know the parole officer? He's an ex cop huh. Interesting." 

"Give us time to go back and re-talk to witnesses from that morning. Yes....then I'll call you back."

Both conversations were probing for answers. They hung up and exhaled. Detective Keele takes his pen and begins jotting down notes from the phone call. He looks at detective Jones. 

"Kalu's parole officer is an ex cop from Chicago. He was a captain on a gang squad. But he quit his job early, took an early retirement. I have a feeling that there is something there that is connected to our suspect. I don't know why, or how. But something."

"Dang. That is weird. Why retire early then move all the way here to become a parole officer? It pays shit and the job has terrible hours. Why not just live off of your pension?"

Detective Keele stands and grabs a coffee cup from the pitiful coffee station by the door. He starts to fill it with burnt smelling liquid. 

"Well, one reason could be cost of living. It is expensive as hell to live here. You know that. I need to run him in the data base. See where he is living at. What did you find out?" He asks detective Jones.

Raising to stand, detective Jones follows suit with the coffee. They must really need it to subject themselves to drinking the swill. 

"I talked to the other Jones in forensics. He is still trying to piece together partials from the rooftop. Apparently they have so many prints that they can't keep up. But, he did find a partial matched to her next door neighbor, Rachel. It was fresh enough to warrant us reexamining the witnesses. The ones who saw people going upstairs."

"Was that the hikers? The ones who told patrolmen they had gotten up at three am?" 

"Yep.."

Detective Keele takes a large sip of the steaming liquid. 

"Alright. We can go there with a photo of the neighbor. See if it was her they saw go upstairs using the rooftop door. I'd like to talk to the building manager again. The one too busy to talk more. Find out why the lobby cameras were inoperable that morning."

They both start typing on their computers with multiple tabs open. I wonder what Rachel was doing up on the roof? She is deathly afraid of heights. When we would hang out on our balconies and drink, she would always stay far from the railing. She had an irrational fear of falling. Ironic isn't it. My death could have come by her hands and it would have been her worst fear for dying. 

Maybe it wasn't her. 

🩸

"Did you know that Lila is listed on company emergency contacts for both Tio and Marcus?"

"Say what?!" 

Detective Jones nods and shows his screen to detective Keele. There it was. Just as he said. Listed under both emergency contacts for their HR files. I wondered how they obtained this information. Lila wouldn't willingly give this up. 

"Yep. I am going over the files we have that we took from the lawyers office. Marcus. He had a copy of everyone's. Not sure how this was a legal issue...but who knows."

"All be damned. Why is she their emergency contact? Tio has his grandmother and Marcus must have parents or someone else he could have listed."

"Marcus did  list someone else, the year before. He listed our victim, Leilani. But he must have changed it since they broke up."