A Moonlit Murder Read online

  A Moonlit Murder

  The Maui Mystery Series

  §

  Kay Hadashi

  A Moonlit Murder: The Maui Mystery Series.

  Kay Hadashi. Copyright 2018. © All Rights Reserved.

  This story is a work of fiction. Character names and attributes, places, and situations are completely fictitious, products of imagination, and should not be considered real. Information related to current events should be considered common knowledge and can be easily found in real life. Historical situations, stories, and characters are completely fictitious and should not be considered reflective of actual historical events.

  Cover art by author. Original cover image from pixabay.com

  This story contains information about the production and distribution of both legal and illegal drugs. Some details have been fictionalized, and while plausible within the confines of storytelling, the author has made a point to alter much of the information about hospital pharmaceutical inventory and stock.

  This story is meant for pleasure reading only.

  For more information about Kay Hadashi Novels

  https://kayhadashi.com/

  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kay-hadashi

  https://www.amazon.com/Kay-Hadashi/e/B00CP5B78M

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Prologue

  Wearing vinyl gloves and surgical masks to keep potent drug residue out of their bodies, two men used tiny measuring scoops to fill small plastic packets with powder. Once all the packets were full and sealed, they packed those into four sandwich bags. Then they turned their attention to the teddy bear that sat on the table with everything else.

  “Okay, how do we kill a teddy bear?” one asked, examining it closely for hidden seams. Finding one, he used a pocketknife to cut open the stuffed bear. He pulled out the polyester pillow fluff, the bulk of it rolled into a sheet of spun fiber batting. After wrapping the sandwich bags in the batting, he stuffed that into the chest of the teddy bear and packed more pillow fluff around it.

  “Dude, dogs will totally sniff that at the airport,” his accomplice said.

  “That’s the idea.” In a heavy sweat and unable to breathe through the sweaty mask, the one in charge tore his mask off and tossed it aside before going back to stuffing batting into the teddy bear. “Our little Miss Mayor Kato will be taking this to Oahu for the big meeting of political minds next week. When the airport dogs find this in her suitcase, the cops will think she was trying to smuggle the stuff. Then, bam! Off to prison. No more Melanie Kato as mayor, or as fancy surgeon here on Maui.”

  “They won’t put the mayor in lock up, dude.”

  “Maybe not, but they won’t let her continue being mayor or play doctor. They’ll use shovels to scoop up the last of her rep and toss it into the garbage truck. One way or another, I’ll make sure of that.” Wiping sweat from his forehead, he laughed. “And the same goes for her sidekick friend, Trinket.”

  “What you got against the lady, anyway?” the friend asked. “I mean seriously, that witch has been a thorn in my side since we were teenagers. But why do you hate her so much?”

  “I know her better than anyone. Every secret, every thought, every desire.” The man began sewing up the back of the bear. “All holier-than-thou, galloping around the island on her high horse. Big crime fighter, working with the police. Big shot surgeon pretending to save lives, big shot military brat with her stupid medals. And that dopey gold medal she keeps at the house. Big deal, I say.”

  “She’s trouble, if you ask me. Just walk away and leave her alone.”

  He used his knife to cut the thread and tossed the needle down. Done with the teddy bear, he turned his sights on his friend, unhappy about being told what to do. Taking the man by the shirt, he yanked him close. “Don’t ever tell me what to do, understand? Make yourself useful and clean up all this stuff.”

  ***

  The only part of West Maui Medical Center Ozzie Simpson knew was the Emergency Room, where he went occasionally after a bar fight or beach brawl to get a few stitches. This time, he walked straight through the lobby into the rest of the hospital. Following the signs to the far end where most of the clinics were located, he carried the teddy bear on one hand and a small slip of paper in the other. Spotting a pair of hospital security guards coming his way, he stopped at a waste can near the elevators to check the clinic office number. Once the guards were past him, he continued on his way.

  At least until a little girl broke free from her mother’s hand and ran to in front of him. “Look, Mommy! He has a bear just like mine!”

  Ozzie had to stop dead in his tracks to not trip over the kid. He tried nudging her aside, but she continued to block his way, only trying to grab the bear he now held out of her reach.

  “Janet, leave the man alone. He probably wants to give that to someone.”

  “But Mommy. It even has a bowtie like mine!”

  He used the back of his hand to impatiently sweep the girl aside. “Get lost, will you?”

  The girl’s mother took her by the hand. “Come along, Janet. Leave the man alone.”

  “He wasn’t very nice, Mommy.”

  As the mother and daughter continued in the opposite direction as Ozzie, he could hear the mother explain how some people just weren’t nice. “All the same things that mothers everywhere tell their little brats.”

  Finding the ‘Clinic for General, Vascular, and Thoracic Surgery’, he checked his notes one last time to get everything right. It was an obituary that he read, along with a small newspaper article, about the death of a man that had been in a car accident the week before. He chose this one specific name, not because the dead man had been a patient at the hospital, but because of the doctor who had cared for him. He also knew that doctor would not be in the clinic that day, perfect for his needs.

  Once he was in the clinic, he was stunned by how well decorated it was, with a carpeted floor, comfortable chairs, potted tropical plants in every corner, and a large aquarium teeming with fish. He felt so out of place that his advance to the receptionist stalled for a moment.

  “May I help you, Sir?” the receptionist asked.

  “Oh, yes. I’d like to see Doctor Kato, if she has a moment?”

  “She’s not in the clinic today.” The receptionist’s eyes flitted to the teddy bear for a moment. “Would you like to leave a message for her?”

  “Well, that’s too bad,” he said, playing up the sorry sound in his voice. “I’m from the Moore family. We’re so appreciative of Doctor Kato’s help with our father, we’d like her to have this little bear.”

  The receptionist broke into a smile. “We generally don’t accept gifts.”

  “That would be a shame. I think she has a little daughter. Maybe she would like it?”

  “Maybe this once,” the receptionist said. Allowing the man to leave it on the counter, she got a slip to take a message. “Your family name was Moore? Would you like to leave a message with the bear?”

  “Just that we appreciate her help so much with our father.” He tried to leave but the receptionist called him back.

  “And your name?”

  “Oh, uh, Roger.”

  With that, he bolted for the door, hurried down the busy corridor, and hit the exit a
t a gallop.

  Chapter One

  “Where are your parents?” Melanie asked Josh when checking the baby’s diaper.

  “It’s their day off, remember?”

  “Day off? Since when am I paying both of your parents double minimum wage to be our nannies, even though I still seem to be the one doing all the diaper changes, bathing, and feeding whenever I’m home?”

  “Want me to do it?” he asked.

  “I don’t mind doing it, but at this point in time, your parents are making almost as much as I am, but without getting up in the middle of the night, and they get two days off every week.” Holding her breath, Melanie got rid of the used diaper and began the baby’s morning bath.

  “One good way of changing that,” Josh said.

  “I know. Just hire a real nanny.”

  “What was wrong with the last one that came for an interview?”

  “Well, first, she was twice as old as your parents, moved half as fast, and I’m not entirely sure she could see well enough to drive.”

  “If you’re going to be picky…”

  “Josh, I’m not being picky! I just want somebody reliable to take care of the kids while we’re at work, okay?”

  They continued to bicker over what they wanted in a nanny, essentially the same as what each other wanted. Once the bath was done and Chance was fed, she dressed him in a onesie. Picking him up, she started for the other end of the house.

  “We’re going out for a while. Where’s that stupid teddy bear?”

  “What’s wrong with the teddy bear?” he asked.

  She continued her search of the most likely places a child’s toy might be stashed. “I’m getting rid of it.”

  “Why?”

  “That thing has been way more trouble that what it’s worth. Ever since I bought it home, it’s been one thing or another.”

  “Like what?” Josh asked, standing akimbo, watching her search the living room couch.

  “Your father has caught a cold. Thérèse has stubbed two of her toes while carrying the thing around. And the baby has been making poo faster than a Soylent Green factory.”

  “That’s all?”

  “We’ve been fighting nonstop since I brought it home, even more than usual. Now, where is it?”

  “Thérèse has it in her room. Who gave it to you?” he asked.

  “It was a gift from a patient’s family. I get the idea they’re not planning to pay the bill, and offered the stupid bear as payment.” She stomped off toward their almost four-year-old daughter’s room. The girl was playing with a wooden jigsaw puzzle. “Tay, where’s that bear?”

  The girl pointed to a place next to her pillow on her bed.

  Melanie got the bear in her free hand. “Sweetie, Bigfoot needs to go away.”

  “His name’s Bignose. Why’s he gotta go?”

  Melanie crouched down. “Bignose is sort of bad luck.”

  The girl winced with one eye. “How come Bignose is bad luck?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not an expert on bears. But ever since he came to live with us, silly things have been happening to everybody. The baby got sick, and so did Grandpop. Grandmother isn’t feeling well, either. And your toes.”

  The girl picked at a Band-Aid on a little toe. “I got stupid toes now.”

  “They’re called stubbed toes, but yes, you got those while playing with the bear.”

  “Bignose gotta go to jail?”

  “No. I bet another kid would like Bignose, and he’d like living at that house better than here.”

  “Gotta gonna go now?” the girl asked.

  “Yep. Maybe you should kiss him goodbye.”

  “Not gonna bring him back, huh?”

  “Nope. Bignose will live at someone else’s house from now on.”

  “Gonna bring Chance back?”

  Melanie smiled, knowing she had won the war of wits between her and her daughter for a change. “Definitely bringing Chance home. We all love him, right?”

  Thérèse nodded but winced again. “Even when he smells icky.”

  Melanie felt the outside of the diaper. “I just gave him a bath. I can’t smell him. How did you know he went poo again?”

  The girl shrugged. “I dunno.”

  Melanie peeked into the back of the diaper. “He hasn’t done anything.”

  Thérèse went back to her jigsaw puzzle. “Pretty soon.”

  It was Melanie’s turn to wince as she watched something happen inside the diaper. “How do you always know he’ll make poo right before he does it?”

  “He tells me.”

  “Sweetie, it’ll be a few more months before Chance starts to talk, and he won’t have much to say for a long time after that.”

  “I think he thinks it to me. He can think me when he’s hungry, too.”

  “Other than a clean diaper, does he want anything else?” Melanie asked, as she changed the baby’s diaper again, Thérèse watching.

  “Go for walk. Can I go, too?”

  “Momma and Chance just want to go for a walk by ourselves, okay? But we’ll play your new jigsaw game later.”

  ***

  Half an hour later, Melanie sat on the park bench playing with her six-month-old son, Chance. After peek-a-boo, some bouncing, and a few arm-flinging infantile jumping jacks, she had run out of games to play with him. Not only was she bored, even the baby was yawning. Taking off his hat, she applied more sunscreen.

  “Yep. There’s only so much peek-a-boo that can be played before both of us get tired of it. But guess what? Tomorrow will be a big day in your life. You know what happens tomorrow?”

  The baby smiled and made a noise, or burped. It was still hard to know with Chance. She put his hat back on.

  “Well, now that you’ve asked, you’re going swimming in the ocean tomorrow for the first time ever.” She turned him around to face the beach only a short walk away. “That ocean. Pretty big, huh? But you don’t have to swim across the whole thing tomorrow. I’ll give you a few years before I expect that.”

  Starting a new game, she lifted him into the air and lowered him again. Doing it again, she hurried the thrusts until giggling turned to crying, and the game was done. Making a nest of baby blankets on the bench next to her, she put the baby down and popped open a golf umbrella for shade.

  She had brought Bignose, the teddy bear, with them. Picking up the stuffed bear, she straightened his bowtie and fluffed some of his fur. She set him at the far end of the bench. “Don’t worry. Somebody will find you.”

  Just when she felt she could doze off, a couple walked up to her.

  “Darling little baby,” the woman said. She was about Melanie’s age, in her forties, as was the man she was with. “What’s his name?”

  Melanie moved the stuffed bear and made room on the bench for them to sit. “Chance. A little unusual for a name but it fits him.”

  “We’re the Steinhoeflers,” the man said, reaching past his wife to shake Melanie’s hand. The wife was busy admiring the baby. “I’m Allen and this is my wife, Millie. Actually, she hyphenates and goes by Gubler-Steinhoefler. Try filling out forms with the name of Millicent Gubler-Steinhoefler.”

  “More of a sentence than a name,” Millie said.

  “But not a prison sentence, right?” Allen said, putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders. They both chuckled as though it was an inside joke.

  “Hi. I’m Melanie, and you already met this little guy. Those sound like German names?”

  “Very,” the husband said. “We’re from Iowa. Still a lot of old German settler and farmer names in Iowa.”

  “Same with Japanese and Filipino names here in Hawaii,” Melanie said. The wife asked if she could hold the baby, and Melanie allowed her, but kept a close eye on her. “Are you here on vacation?”

  “Isn’t everybody?” the wife asked.

  “Everyone we meet is from somewhere else,” Allen said. “We’re on our honeymoon.”

  “Well, as far as honeymoons go, it’s
hard to beat Maui,” Melanie said. “What have you seen of the island so far?”

  “Mostly just the hotel room. We just got here yesterday.”

  In the past, Melanie would’ve blushed over the insinuation. As it was, she was still distracted by the spat with her husband just before coming to the resort grounds across the highway from her home. Even though it was a Saturday, she had four surgeries to do at the hospital later in the day, leaving her with little hope of mending things with Josh. The last thing she wanted to hear about right then was lovey-dovey stuff about someone’s honeymoon.

  “We’re lucky just to be here,” the wife said.

  “We won this trip on a game show,” the husband said, finishing the idea.

  “That’s pretty exciting, to win a trip like this,” Melanie said.

  “It is for us. We decided to call it a second honeymoon. The trip organizers put us in this place over here.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. What town in Iowa are you from?”

  “Ames. Right smack dab in the middle. Have you heard of it?”

  “Home of Iowa State University, right? I think they’re the Cyclones?”

  “Hey! We have a fan in Hawaii?”

  “Maybe a minor one. When I was in high school, I got scholarship offers from several Midwest colleges. I remember getting recruitment letters from Iowa State to swim on their team and be in their pre-med program.”

  “But you went somewhere else?” the wife asked.

  “Joined the Air Force.”

  “How did that work out? Did you still get to go to medical school?”

  “Worked well. Eventually I got my training in San Francisco. Now, I work at the hospital just down the road. What do you guys do?”

  The wife put the baby back onto his little nest of blankets. “It truly is a small world. Allen was on ISU’s swim team. Now he’s in sports and recreation venue maintenance there.”

  “Millie is boasting. I’m just a glorified groundskeeper.”

  “Do you work, Millie?” Melanie asked.

  “I work as a bookkeeper at The Bauernhaus Restaurant.”