House of the Hanging Jade (19 page)

I spent another sleepless night, worrying about the kids. I had grown so fond of both of them that I couldn't stand the thought of them being distraught over this turn of events. Besides the divorce, there were the two bodies that had been recently discovered at their home. The kids were under a tremendous amount of stress.

It was time to take them out for ice cream again, so I decided to meet them at the bus stop after school the next day and whisk them off to Hawi for a treat.

But I didn't get the chance.

The next morning after the kids left for school the police came to the house looking for Lars. Akela let the two officers in and asked them to wait while she went to get him.

He walked out, dressed as usual in an aloha shirt, board shorts, and bare feet. “How can I help you, officers?”

They had come to arrest him for Dr. Doug's murder.

I
stood in the hallway listening as they charged Lars with the murder and read him his rights. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Barbie had come down and she stood off to the side, watching and listening. I was shaking and my breath was coming in ragged gasps. Akela was standing next to me. She put her arm around my shoulders. She couldn't have known why I was so upset.

“Don't worry, Kailani. You'll be able to keep your job,” she soothed, misunderstanding my reaction.

“He didn't do it,” I choked. “They can't arrest him.” Akela hugged me closer.

I heard Lars instructing Barbie to call his lawyer. She went to his office as the police led him away. I stood in the hallway, watching him go, my anguish plain for anyone to see. Lars smiled at me ruefully, as if trying to keep my spirits up, when it should have been the other way around. I should have been trying to buoy him, but instead he was thinking of me.

Barbie came into the kitchen just a short time later. She sighed. “How am I going to break the news to the kids? This is horrible!”

But as it turned out, she didn't have to tell the kids anything. They had heard about their father's arrest from kids at school whose parents had texted them the news. Word had gotten around quickly. And since Lars was able to post the huge bail following his arraignment, he was home by the time the kids got home from school.

As soon as they came through the front door he took them into his office and closed the door. I knew he would be able to answer some of their questions, but not the most important one: What would happen if he was put on trial for murder? I fervently prayed the charges against him would be dropped before it ever came to that, and I hoped he would be able to allay the kids' fears as well.

When the kids came out of the office, Barbie was waiting for them on the lanai. She wanted to know what Lars had told them, and they related the conversation to her. Apparently, she was satisfied with the responses he had given to their questions, because she told them not to worry and to go do their homework before she went upstairs. Asking them to do their homework under the circumstances seemed unreasonable, but they pulled out their books and sat down.

A short time later I took drinks out to them. Liko was sitting at the table, trying to help each of them with their assignments, but it was obvious that not much work was getting done. They seemed unable to concentrate and kept going over the same problems again and again. Liko was patiently explaining how to do each problem, but clearly the kids' thoughts were far away from school and homework.

Finally, Marcus pushed his books away and put his head down on the table. Justine reached over and took his hand in hers. “Don't worry, Marcus. Nothing will happen to Dad. I just know it. He would never have done such a thing,” she said in her high-pitched voice.

I could have hugged Justine for the faith she had in her father. Marcus looked up at her and nodded. “I know. It stinks, that's all.” He stared straight out at the ocean for several moments, then pushed away from the table. “I'm going for a walk,” he announced.

“Can I come?” Justine asked.

“Next time. Right now I just want to be by myself.”

Justine seemed to understand. She gave him a little wave as he walked toward the front door. He didn't wave back. Poor kid. He was devastated.

Liko asked Justine if she'd like to go for a walk with him instead, but she shook her head. “I just want to go to my room, I think.” She left and Liko sighed.

“Looks like I'm not going to be earning my paycheck today.”

“Maybe you'll earn it just by being a friend, not a teacher.” He nodded and headed out to the guesthouse.

I went back to preparing dinner and Marcus returned from his walk about an hour later. “I need a drink,” he said, pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher in the fridge. “It's hot out there.”

“Where did you go?”

“Up to the main road. That reminds me. A guy was up there and he said to give you this.” He handed me an envelope with my name scrawled on the front. I recognized Geoffrey's handwriting immediately.

“Where was he?” I asked sharply, reaching for the envelope. Marcus looked startled.

“Uh, just up by the road. Do you know what's in it?” he asked, nodding toward the envelope.

“No, but I'm sure it's nothing.” I put the envelope in my apron pocket to read in private later. “Did he say anything else?”

“No, he just said he had seen me coming out of our driveway and he knew I lived at the Jorgensen house. Then he asked me to give the letter to you.”

“Was he just parked up there?”

“Yeah. Sitting up there in a beat-up blue car.”

“If you see him again, do me a favor and come right back here and tell me. I'd like to talk to him in person.”

“Why?”

“Just because,” I replied noncommittally. Marcus seemed to realize I didn't want to talk about it.

“Okay.” He took his water and left the kitchen.

I slipped the envelope out of my pocket and stood staring at it for a long moment. I couldn't decide if I should open it. Maybe I should just call the police and tell them about it. But what if the envelope had something completely innocent in it? What if it held an apology for the way he had been behaving? I decided to open it myself and then call the police if necessary.

My hands sweating, I drew out two photos. The first was a photo of Geoffrey and me, taken at the restaurant in Washington. We were both smiling. I remembered the night the photo was taken. We had just catered a private party for a congresswoman and her staff, and only the restaurant workers were left. We were all cleaning up the dining room, joking and laughing. It seemed a thousand years in the past. It was a past in which Geoffrey still seemed to be living.

The second picture made my blood run cold. Taken from a distance, it was a shot of Lars and me in his car in the driveway the day we had gone to Hilo. He was holding my hand to his lips. Anyone else looking at the grainy photo might not realize right away that it was Lars and me, but I knew immediately. How had Geoffrey gotten such a photo? The hairs on my neck started to prickle.

He was still watching me.

Could I show the photo to the police? I dared not. What if it got back to Barbie and she used it against Lars in their divorce? It could damage the outcome of the case between him and Barbie, to say nothing of his reputation for being a faithful husband while Barbie cheated on him.

Could I show the photo to anyone? Not Liko—he didn't know about my relationship with Lars. Not Lars—I didn't want to scare him. Not only that, but it was the last thing he needed with a charge of murder hanging over his head. I was faced with the unpleasant thought of having to keep the photo to myself. It was just between Geoffrey and me, and Geoffrey knew that. He knew exactly what he was doing.

But it was more than that. I was faced with a gnawing fear that Geoffrey was never far away. Leaving a note saying I was going for a short walk before dinner, I went up the long driveway and stood for a moment where Lars's car had been parked when the photo was taken.

I looked around, trying to figure out exactly where Geoffrey had stationed himself when he took the picture. Across the road was a large field covered with tall grass that swayed in the light wind. There was no house on the property, though I assumed the land belonged to someone. Cows that probably belonged to a nearby ranch moved slowly around the land, munching here and there on the grass. Of course, I had noticed the property every time I went in or out of the driveway, but I had never really paid much attention to it. I walked across the road and stood in the grass, my hand shielding my eyes from the sun, and scanned the field before me. My gaze was drawn to several trees that grew far from the road. They looked like
kiawe
and monkeypod trees; they had large canopies, and some of the more shade-loving cows congregated under their leaves. Suddenly I knew where Geoffrey had been perched when he snapped that photo.

I walked toward the trees, picking my way carefully through the grass and around piles of lava rock. As I got closer to the grove of trees, the cows started to get restless. They mooed at me, obviously displeased by my trespassing. They moved away in a herd, leaving the spaces under the trees empty for me. I walked under the canopy of a monkeypod tree, noticing that the cows had eaten the grass almost down to the ground. I didn't know what I was looking for, other than some evidence of Geoffrey having been there.

And I found it. Lying next to the tree trunk was a small round piece of black plastic. A camera lens cover. I didn't need a fingerprint analysis to know whose it was. I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

It was getting close to dinnertime, so I had to hurry back to the house. I would have liked a little more time to look around Geoffrey's hideout, but I didn't want to serve dinner late. I promised myself I would return.

I didn't meet anyone on the way back to the house. Dinner was on time, and no one was the wiser after my trip to the property across the road. Or so I thought.

Around 10:00 that night I was in my room leafing through cookbooks, trying to relax, when my cell phone rang. Since it was so late, I worried that something was wrong at my parents' house. I answered without even looking at the phone screen.

“We should meet so I can get my lens cap back,” came the voice on the other end. Dueling emotions began battle immediately—relief that it wasn't my parents calling, and an icy fear that Geoffrey knew I had visited his tree.

“You saw me over there?” I blurted. It was somehow more frightening to know he had been watching me than if he had appeared in person under the tree with me.

“Of course. I always know when you go somewhere, even if it's just across the road.”

“What do you want?”

“Just to let you know I'm thinking about you.”

I hung up. I raced out to the kitchen and rummaged through the drawer where I kept Detective Alana's card. When I found it, I called him right away and left a message on his voice mail. Then I went back to my room, where I was unable to sleep and finally got up and made myself a pot of coffee. I drank it on the lanai, thankful that the security system was armed for the night and that I didn't have to worry about Geoffrey showing up.

My lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with me. My stomach was in knots and the bags under my eyes shared my tale of exhaustion with the rest of the household.

Barbie noticed it at breakfast, after the kids had left for school. I had hoped to see Lars, but he had left early for a meeting in Kona. I marveled at how he could get any work done with his future on the line.

“Kailani, are you feeling okay? You don't look so good.”

“I haven't been sleeping well,” I answered. “If it's okay with you, I may just rest this afternoon.”

“Of course it's okay with me. I'll order out for dinner and you take the rest of the day off. You'll get sick if you don't take care of yourself. Maybe tomorrow you can come up to my office and we'll see what we can do for you there. Do you think a massage would help?”

“I don't know. I've never had a massage.”

She looked shocked. “
What?
Never had a massage?” She shook her head, as if I had committed an act of depravity. “We're going to do something about that first thing tomorrow. You can come up to Waimea with me and we'll get you fixed up with my best massage therapist.”

I thanked her and dragged myself through the morning, finally dropping onto my bed after lunch. I hoped to be able to sleep for a while. I was queasy and felt a migraine coming on.

Thankfully, though, the sun was beginning its descent over the Pacific when I woke up feeling much better and with only a trace of a headache. It wasn't dark in my room yet, but the shadows were lengthening outside my windows. My first thought was that I hoped I would be able to sleep again that night.

I stepped groggily into the kitchen and found Marcus and Justine bustling around getting utensils and serving dishes.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked.

“Hi, Kailani. Mom ordered takeout and we want to make it look nice,” Justine answered. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks. Can I help?”

“Nope,” Marcus replied. “We're doing this so you don't have to. Why don't you sit down at the table on the lanai and we'll serve tonight?”

I was touched by their thoughtfulness. I sat down and waited for them to join me.

“Where's your mom?” I asked when they sat down.

“She's still at work. She had this delivered and said she'd eat later.”

“Is your dad here?”

“No, he's staying in Kona for dinner,” Justine answered. Marcus gave me a quizzical look.

“What's wrong, Marcus?”

“Nothing,” he answered. “Don't you want to be here with just us?”

“Oh, it's not that,” I said hastily. “I just wanted to make sure that anyone who wants dinner gets it.”

“Liko said he would have dinner with us too,” Justine said. And as if on cue, Liko walked onto the lanai.

The four of us had a lighthearted meal, even in the face of the kids' feelings about the divorce. We talked about school, the kids' friends, and favorite weekend activities, staying carefully away from any mention of murder, accidental death, and stalkers. I think we all appreciated the relaxed atmosphere.

I was in the kitchen when Barbie came home shortly after we finished dinner. “Kailani, I've made an appointment for you tomorrow morning with my favorite masseur,” she said excitedly. “How are you feeling?”