making trouble for.”
“How about the documents? You remember what they were?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t look that closely. I think a lot of them were from the Big Island. I remember there were photocopies of some property deeds. But they weren’t originals, so it’s not like you could use them to transfer ownership.”
We gave up thinking and went back to searching. Under a pile of Edith’s clothes I found three large koa wood bowls, and I only recognized that they might be valuable because my mother collected them. I had a feeling they were worth a few thousand bucks apiece.
Stuck in a corner of the desk, where it might have been overlooked, was a business card for Adam O’Malley, an attorney from the law firm of Fields and Yamato in downtown Honolulu.
Why did Aunty Edith have his business card? Was she a defendant in a law suit, or a plaintiff? Perhaps O’Malley had written her will or was handling some property transfer. I slid the card into my pocket.
Ray called for a crime scene tech. With luck, the burglar had left behind a fingerprint that might give us a lead on Aunty Edith’s killer. Leelee came by to check on us while we waited, the baby still crying. Ray said, “You need a hand changing him?”
Leelee looked at him like he was crazy. Ray put his fingers up and squeezed his nose, and Leelee said, “Oh.”
“I did a lot of babysitting as a kid,” he said. “Come on, show 52 Neil S. Plakcy
me the diapers.”
“Better you than me, brah,” I said under my breath, as Leelee led Ray back to her part of the house. Ryan Kainoa, a vampire-pale crime scene tech with long black hair pulled into a ponytail and shoved under a baseball cap, showed up while they were gone, and I explained what we were looking for.
Ray returned as Ryan was dusting for fingerprints. “That girl needs help,” Ray said. “She had the wrong kind of diapers, and she didn’t even know how to change them right.”
I didn’t know what to say. As a cop, I can do a lot of things, but changing diapers is outside my realm of expertise.
Ryan found a lot of fingerprints, but most of them looked the same, probably Aunty Edith’s or Leelee’s. Before we left, Leelee came back into Aunty Edith’s room, this time without the baby, and asked if there was any kind of victims’ fund that might compensate the family for Edith’s loss.
“She give us her Social Security every month for food and diapers,” Leelee said. “Now we got none.”
“You talk to the Department of Human Services?” I asked.
“They have programs to help people with kids.”
“They say Dex make too much money. But he don’t give me hardly anything for the house or the baby, playing pai gow . That where most of the money goes.”
Pai gow is a Chinese gambling game played with dice, popular in unsanctioned casinos in Chinese communities. I was surprised that a haole like Dex played pai gow but figured his money was good as anyone’s.
I looked around the room, thinking. If Dex didn’t give Leelee enough money to live on, that was between them. It wasn’t something the police could get involved with unless she wanted to sue him for child support. I spotted the three koa bowls on the desk and got an idea.
From what we could tell, Edith had no family beyond Leelee, which meant that the bowls now belonged to her. If I could get MAhu BLood 53
her some cash directly, she wouldn’t have to tell Dex, and she’d be able to buy what she needed.
“You willing to sell these bowls?” I asked, holding one up.
“Just buss up old bowls,” she said. “Nobody pay for dem.”
“I might have somebody who would. You going to be around this afternoon?”
“Where I go?” From the house, we heard the baby cry again.
I went outside and called my mother. “You know anybody who wants some big koa bowls?” I told her about Leelee and Aunty Edith.
“I can’t say without looking at them. Would you like me to come down there?”
“That would be
“How about the documents? You remember what they were?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t look that closely. I think a lot of them were from the Big Island. I remember there were photocopies of some property deeds. But they weren’t originals, so it’s not like you could use them to transfer ownership.”
We gave up thinking and went back to searching. Under a pile of Edith’s clothes I found three large koa wood bowls, and I only recognized that they might be valuable because my mother collected them. I had a feeling they were worth a few thousand bucks apiece.
Stuck in a corner of the desk, where it might have been overlooked, was a business card for Adam O’Malley, an attorney from the law firm of Fields and Yamato in downtown Honolulu.
Why did Aunty Edith have his business card? Was she a defendant in a law suit, or a plaintiff? Perhaps O’Malley had written her will or was handling some property transfer. I slid the card into my pocket.
Ray called for a crime scene tech. With luck, the burglar had left behind a fingerprint that might give us a lead on Aunty Edith’s killer. Leelee came by to check on us while we waited, the baby still crying. Ray said, “You need a hand changing him?”
Leelee looked at him like he was crazy. Ray put his fingers up and squeezed his nose, and Leelee said, “Oh.”
“I did a lot of babysitting as a kid,” he said. “Come on, show 52 Neil S. Plakcy
me the diapers.”
“Better you than me, brah,” I said under my breath, as Leelee led Ray back to her part of the house. Ryan Kainoa, a vampire-pale crime scene tech with long black hair pulled into a ponytail and shoved under a baseball cap, showed up while they were gone, and I explained what we were looking for.
Ray returned as Ryan was dusting for fingerprints. “That girl needs help,” Ray said. “She had the wrong kind of diapers, and she didn’t even know how to change them right.”
I didn’t know what to say. As a cop, I can do a lot of things, but changing diapers is outside my realm of expertise.
Ryan found a lot of fingerprints, but most of them looked the same, probably Aunty Edith’s or Leelee’s. Before we left, Leelee came back into Aunty Edith’s room, this time without the baby, and asked if there was any kind of victims’ fund that might compensate the family for Edith’s loss.
“She give us her Social Security every month for food and diapers,” Leelee said. “Now we got none.”
“You talk to the Department of Human Services?” I asked.
“They have programs to help people with kids.”
“They say Dex make too much money. But he don’t give me hardly anything for the house or the baby, playing pai gow . That where most of the money goes.”
Pai gow is a Chinese gambling game played with dice, popular in unsanctioned casinos in Chinese communities. I was surprised that a haole like Dex played pai gow but figured his money was good as anyone’s.
I looked around the room, thinking. If Dex didn’t give Leelee enough money to live on, that was between them. It wasn’t something the police could get involved with unless she wanted to sue him for child support. I spotted the three koa bowls on the desk and got an idea.
From what we could tell, Edith had no family beyond Leelee, which meant that the bowls now belonged to her. If I could get MAhu BLood 53
her some cash directly, she wouldn’t have to tell Dex, and she’d be able to buy what she needed.
“You willing to sell these bowls?” I asked, holding one up.
“Just buss up old bowls,” she said. “Nobody pay for dem.”
“I might have somebody who would. You going to be around this afternoon?”
“Where I go?” From the house, we heard the baby cry again.
I went outside and called my mother. “You know anybody who wants some big koa bowls?” I told her about Leelee and Aunty Edith.
“I can’t say without looking at them. Would you like me to come down there?”
“That would be
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