Unknown Victim Page 4

  She picked up the egg again and held it in her hand. Brown, it was just like every other egg she’d ever held, solid but inherently fragile. The yolk would be yellow, the white still clear and thick. All she had to do was give the side of the egg a couple of solid whacks on the rim of the bowl and empty the shell. The second egg would be just as easy to deal with. All that was required after that were a few quick whips with a fork.

  “What’s wrong with me?” She looked at the egg cradled in her hand. “Why can’t I crack these things open?”

  She put both eggs back in the bowl, and put them away in the fridge.

  “Forget it. Toast will be good enough.”

  While she waited for the bread to turn colors, she looked for coffee. Finding none throughout two searches of the kitchen, she had no other choice than to boil water for the black tea she’d found.

  Sitting at the kitchen table with her pad of paper and pen, she continued with her list of things that needed attention.

  “Okay, the kitchen isn’t a disaster. At least there’s no wildlife in here to kill. But I need to turn on burners first before getting out food if I want to eat breakfast before it’s time for lunch.”

  The butter was soft by the time the toast was done getting its suntan. She ate that while the teakettle whistled, and she poured water into her tea mug. Before she could take a second bite, there was a knock at the front door.

  “I thought nobody was supposed to be around today?” she muttered as she went to the door. Then she remembered she was still in her pajamas. With a side trip to the bedroom, she put on a robe. She was just getting to the door when there was a second and more insistent knock.

  Instead of opening the door, she spoke through it. “Yes? Who is it?”

  “Me!” a man said cheerfully.

  Gina cinched her robe belt tighter. “Me who?”

  “Felix!”

  “Okay, but who’s Felix?”

  “Are you Miss Santoro?”

  “Yes. You know me but I don’t know Felix,” she said.

  “Maybe you can open the door?”

  There was no peephole to look through, and the closest window didn’t give her much of a view of the man. Opening the louvers a little more made some noise, which Felix noticed. He smiled at her from his position on the front porch. He looked harmless enough, not any bigger than her and a decade older, so she opened the door. Keeping one foot behind it, she looked out at him. “Good morning. May I help you?”

  “Were you expecting a cat?” he asked her with one of the largest smiles she’d ever seen.

  “Cat?”

  “Like Felix the cat?”

  “Who?”

  “You know, Felix the cat from the cartoons?” he said.

  “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about and my breakfast is getting cold.”

  Felix looked hurt as she tried swinging the door closed. He got his own foot in place before he was shut out. His clothes were simple, just an old T-shirt and baggy trousers. She guessed he was one of the Filipino workers Millie had told her about. “I guess no one knows who Felix the cat was anymore.”

  “My breakfast?” Gina said insistently to remind him she had better things to do than discuss cartoon cats that may or may not have something to do with the man on her porch.

  “Yeah, first of all, you shouldn’t allow homeless dudes to sleep here.”

  “What homeless guy?” she asked.

  He pointed to a man slowly walking away. Gina wasn’t sure what she expected a homeless man to look like in Hawaii, but he seemed as grubby as any back in Cleveland. A shaggy mop of dark hair, loose trousers, shoes that looked too big for his feet, and a windbreaker were all she could see of him. On the back of the windbreaker were stenciled the words Oahu Cable. Gina wondered if that was a local cable TV provider or a manufacturer of wire and cable.

  “One’s not so bad, but pretty soon you got a whole village of them camping out here.”

  “Where was he?”

  “Sleeping here on the front porch. I told him to get lost and not come back.”

  She watched as the man crossed the narrow bridge. She felt a little sorry for him, that he’d been woken so early and chased off. “Thanks, I guess.”

  “There was a cat hanging around.”

  “A real one?” she asked.

  He laughed at her joke. “Real one. Black. I chased that off also. Stray cats and homeless people are much different from each other.”

  “How so?” she asked.

  “If it comes back, don’t feed it. Once you get one, others show up.”

  “Kind of an impolite attitude, isn’t it?”

  Felix did an ‘aw shucks’ thing with his foot. “Maybe.”

  Being a little superstitious, something she’d learned from her mother, Gina didn’t like the idea of a black cat hanging around the house. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”

  He picked up a shopping bag and held it out to her. What was odd were that his hands were black. “My missus wants you to have something.”

  “Okay. Tell her thanks. What is it?”

  He held the bag closer to her. “We made more pomegranate jam this morning. Some avocados in there, too.”

  Gina opened the door all the way. When she looked inside the bag, there were a half dozen jars of black jam and several avocados. “I’ve never had pomegranate jam before.”

  “Da best kind!” he said enthusiastically. “Save some for later because they have a short season. Not all year, you know.”

  “You’ve already been making jam this morning?”

  “Peeled the things last night and cooked the stuff this morning. Feel ‘em. Still warm.”

  She held a jar in her hand. “But it’s Christmas morning. You didn’t have anything else better to do?”

  “We knew you came from so far away, and we figured you might be a little lonely. We had a bumper crop of pomegranates, so we brought you some.” His cheerful expression wrinkled into worry. “Maybe not so good as a welcome gift. Probably shoulda put a ribbon.”

  “No, it’s great! I’m just surprised to meet someone so early. Thank you very much.” She stepped back from the door to let him in. “I have tea, if you’d like some?”

  Felix looked at the walls and flicked light switches up and down as they went to the kitchen. When she handed him a mug of tea, he seemed to take up a position against the countertop as though it was his preferred place. Not knowing what to do with him, Gina started on her toast again.

  “Do you work here at the estate, Felix?”

  “Didn’t Millie say anything to you?”

  “She dropped me off, told me to learn my way around the estate, and left. Why?”

  “I’m the head caretaker of the gardens. Have been for many years. Now you’re my boss.” He scratched his head in thought. “I’ve never had a boss before. Come to think of it, I’ve never had employees.”

  “Either have I.”

  “You’re so young. How long have you been a landscaper?”

  Gina poured both of them more tea water. “It might be time to share some secrets. This is my first real job in landscape, so I might be relying on you for a lot of help.”

  That didn’t seem to faze him. “What other jobs you have before landscape?”

  “I was a police officer.”

  That renewed his smile. “Lady cop! For how long?”

  “Not too long.”

  “Didn’t like it?” he asked.

  “Not enough to stick with it. I’m hoping I like landscaping and gardens better.”

  He mimicked shooting a gun with his free hand. “Ever shoot a bad guy?”

  Gina took her dishes to the sink. “No, but I almost shot a priest.”

  “Priest?”

  “Yep. The priest for my parish, as a matter of fact. But I missed him and shot the Virgin Mary instead.”

  The color seemed to go out of Felix’s face as he muttered something in Filipino and crossed himself several ti
mes.

  “It’s okay, Felix. As my sister says, it was only a flesh wound. The Virgin survived.”

  He set his tea mug aside. “Okay, maybe better to talk about something else. What colors do you want for wall paint?”

  “I need walls before they can be painted,” Gina said.

  “I’ll be putting up the wall paneling this week. What colors do you like?”

  “It’s supposed to be historically accurate, so you better talk to Millie about that.”

  “I doubt they care. If they don’t like what we pick out, they can repaint the place,” Felix said. “I have brushes and rollers. We just need to get the paint.”

  “I know nothing about painting walls. Millie gave me a credit card to use at the store. I just don’t know how to find the neighborhood hardware store.”

  “Not too far, but a long trip on the bus.” He smiled again. “I’ll bring everything I have tomorrow.”

  Gina found the list of things in the house that weren’t working properly. “Maybe before putting paint on walls, a few other things can be fixed? The toilet doesn’t work so well, and I’ve noticed some of the outlets don’t have electricity to them. Can anything be done about that?”

  Felix scratched his head. “We just replaced all the wiring. I’ll double check that. But the toilet has to stay.”

  Gina’s hope deflated. “Why?”

  “The family wants to get this place listed as a historical site, and they need to keep everything as historical as possible. “That’s why the bathroom and kitchen fixtures are sort of, well…”

  “Old?”

  He nodded.

  “I don’t care what the outside of the toilet looks like, but can all the other stuff that makes it work be replaced with something from the Twenty-First Century? Or at least from the second half of the Twentieth?”

  Felix got a little notepad from his pocket and made some notes. “I’ll fix it on Monday.”

  It wasn’t much, but having a proper pot to use would make a difference. With that in mind, she showed him her list of what needed to be fixed. At least he was cheerful about it and hadn’t come on to her. In fact, he was like a big brother she’d never had.

  “But I thought you were responsible for the garden work crew? Will you have time to work on the house?” she asked.

  He nodded again. “Plenty of them to work on the gardens. I’ll be helping with the house. Any other problems with the house, and you come straight to me, okay?”

  “Only if I can make dinner for you and your wife tomorrow night?”

  “No need for that,” he said. “She’ll probably send something in a basket for you.”

  Felix seemed ready to leave, now that they had an agreement ironed out. She showed him to the front door.

  “Felix, do you know why the stove takes so long to get hot? Do I need to put in a new fuse or something?”

  He looked worried. “Don’t change the fuses! The stove is 220, but the plug is only 110. Only half the electricity, so it gets only half the hot. To boil water, just use one burner at a time.”

  “I can’t just put in a bigger fuse?”

  “Only if you want to burn down the house. That would make the Tanizawa family mad.”

  “I would think so.” She watched as he slipped his feet into old rubber slippers he’d left on the porch. “Do you know when I’m supposed to get a new roof?”

  “Before the next time it rains.”

  Gina was charmed, or maybe amazed, with how easily Felix was able to answer questions without really answering them. “What should I do if it rains?”

  “Put out pots and pans to catch the leaks.”

  Chapter Four

  It was noon before Gina had put away her clothes, tried all the windows to see which ones worked, and inspected the house for what needed to be fixed. After a cheese sandwich, she dressed in the coolest clothes she had brought. With sneakers on her feet, her phone in a pocket, and a yellow pad and pencil in her hands, she went on an inspection tour of the estate.

  Gina followed an old double track of packed gravel, something that looked like it had been a road, or at least a driveway in the past. It came from the little bridge they’d used the night before, and made something of a circle around the perimeter of the estate grounds. Millie had emailed her a simply-drawn map of the estate, which Gina had printed before she came. The estate had a long triangular shape, about ten acres in size. The border of it along one side was the Manoa Stream, which came down a ravine from the lower slopes of mountains. The other side of the property reached to the crest of a ridge. The bottom end just barely touched on a street, and that had been marked on Millie’s map as the ‘future entrance’. About six hundred feet north and uphill from there was the upper boundary of the property, a straight line that reached from the stream to the ridgeline.

  Soon she was out of the shade of the tall trees and palms that surrounded the house. She was already discovering the grounds were something of a palm display garden, with several different species. Some were short and stout, whiles others reached high to catch the sunshine, waving in the steady breeze that had started. Standing in an open area where she had a view of most of the property, she tried to take in the size and shape of the estate.

  “That’s one heck of a big chunk of land,” she muttered, scanning the forested uphill slope with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. “I bet they could get a million bucks for this from a developer.”

  The sun was high then, directly overhead, and Gina wished she’d worn a hat. A pair of helicopters flew over, dark colored with heavy droning engines. A few bees flew about, looking for flowers in the brush and weeds. The noise of the city not far away was dampened by the sound of the wind in the trees and the rustle of palm fronds. With the steep mountains in front of her, and the lush green trees all around, it was a scene that she’d never seen before.

  She snapped a couple of pictures and sent them to Ana.

  The double-track was crowded along both sides with vines and shrubs, not the usual blackberry brambles she was used to seeing at home. It followed the base of the ridge, which had flat-topped trees growing on the slope. Looking at one more closely, she found giant spike-like thorns along the stems. She referred to a plant guide of the tropics.

  “Okay, I know what that is. That’s called kiawe, a type of mesquite. The ancient Hawaiians used that for firewood. Those thorns look nasty.”

  Along the other side of the driveway was the occasional fruit tree, with colorful fruits ripening in the sun. Papayas and mangoes were along the way, with orange and lemon trees, and an old avocado tree closer to the house. There were even a few banana plants, long past their bloom or fruiting.

  Startling her was something darting across the driveway. Catching only a glimpse before the little brown creature ducked between rocks, she wasn’t sure if it had been a long skinny rat, or a squirrel of some sort.

  As she hiked uphill, further along were trees with twisting branches that looked like oaks. Seeing a few red bottlebrush flowers on them, she found those on her chart, the ohia tree. Palms were mixed in here and there, some with clumps of dates hanging below, others with green coconuts in them. Still others didn’t do much except rattle their fronds in the steady breeze. Keeping an eye on the area below her to the left, the main part of the garden, she decided to follow the trail up the ridge to as far as it went.

  After several minutes of climbing up the steep grade, she found a stone cairn, mostly fallen over. Looking at her little map again, she figured that was the top corner property marker. Just beyond and wrapping around the cairn was a heavy wire fence, rusted and partly fallen over as though it were old. Lifting the stones that she could, she stacked the cairn again. Without a gate there, she either had to climb the rickety wire fence to continue following the trail up the ridge or find another way. Looking off into the scrub and weeds, she saw what looked like an old stone wall, and wondered what that had to do with the estate, if anything. While she was there, she used
her phone to take pictures of the area again.

  “I can look at that stuff some other time.”

  With the sensation that her skin was burning in the sun, and already getting thirsty, Gina turned around. From that height on the ridge, she’d be able to get a good look at the layout of the property. Instead, something else caught her attention.

  “Oh my god.”

  She got her phone and started snapping pictures, not of the property below her, but of the view in the distance. She sent several to her sister and mother before putting her phone away. She used her hand as a visor to take in the view.

  “That is one heck of a big ocean out there.”

  Gina decided on the spot that she’d eat her lunches there on days off.

  Getting started again, she went back downhill to the shade of the ravine. Soon, she found an old bamboo fence, most of it broken and in pieces, strewn about and sections burnt as though they’d been part of campfires. It was there that she found a rock walkway, just flat stones in the ground that followed a meandering course through more weeds and shrubs. Some of the plants looked almost as if they belonged there, and had they been pruned, might’ve been pretty in the setting with giant boulders here and there. Beyond that were giant shade trees, mounded on top like gentle hills. It was below those that the stream flowed, the property line on that side of the estate. Checking her little hand-drawn map again, she had found what was left of the Japanese garden. According to the map, beyond there were buildings that belonged to the university.

  “Okay, that means the koi pond should be just over here,” she said, turning in a new direction. She followed the stone path that seemed to be more serendipitous than organized.

  Getting waist-deep into weeds and shrubs, she found where the bees were coming from. The ground she was standing on was dry, but if she went any lower, she’d be in muck. Of everything out in the sunshine, that was the greenest area she’d found, and had the most flowers blooming. With a simple outline of boulders in a kidney shape, Gina figured that was the old koi pond. Between the bees and the sunburn that had started, she’d had enough of the afternoon sun for one day. Following the tiny trickle of a stream that connected the old pond to the Manoa Stream, she soon found the luxury of shade. Finding a spot to sit on a smooth rock, she took off her sneakers and soaked her feet in the cool water.