“What’s he done? Lady, that is what David Chan will get out of the guy who just plugged your hubby. Either he will get it his way, or I will get it mine. That guy better pray the Lieutenant gets the info first, ‘cuz I’m in a real bad mood right now, and I just might kill the asshole myself. Either that or settle for beating the holy hell along with everything that comes alphabetically after that outta him.”
I looked at Mr. Kim. I could see he was about ready to explode. He was 100% into his full-blooded Korean temper right now. I thought maybe Mr. Robertson was lucky to already be dead at that moment.
David came back in panting. “He outran me. Got over the edge and into the ocean. That guy can swim. No way I was going to catch him. How is he?” He pointed to Mr. Robertson.”
“Dead,” I said.
Turning to Mrs. Robertson, David asked, “What do you know about all of this?”
I said, “Before Mr. Robertson died, he said that whatever is going on, Mrs. Robertson here doesn’t know anything about it. The last words were that it was all on him.”
David went over to the phone and called for forensics and the meat wagon.
Mr. Kim exhaled sharply. He was barely containing the rage. “Your husband, ma’am, is responsible for the deaths of people I care a lot about. Think real carefully. You got the slightest idea what is going on?”
Mrs. Robertson looked totally discombobulated. She went to a sofa and sat. We followed and sat too. David joined us.
“This, this is all so strange to me,” she said. “Believe me, if I knew what was going on I would tell you.”
“And you never saw that guy who plugged your husband?” asked Mr. Kim.
“No, no, I swear. This is the first time I’ve ever seen him.” She broke down and began to cry again. Mr. Kim threw his hands up in the air. David patted her on the shoulder. I went over to the coffee table and got her some tissue.
At that moment the crew arrived. Danny Williams was one of the officers.
“Lieutenant Chan,” he said. “We were able to ID those two people killed today. Apparently they’re members of the West German swim team. There’s been some kind of international competition going on over at the University of Hawai‘i for the past week. Their coach showed up wanting help finding them.”
“Well, that’s good news,” David said. “Gentlemen, let’s find out what hotel they’re staying at. The shooter who just jumped into the water must be part of that team.”
David called the department again. Most of the teams were staying at the Ala Moana Hotel.
We drove back to town. Mr. Kim wanted to sit in the back. It was clear he was still boiling. I would not have wanted to be that guy on the West German team.
Mr. Kim said, “So Robertson does lots of business with Germans, just went to Germany, and these guys are all on the German swim team. This whole racket stinks.”
“Yes,” said David. “Some kind of business dealings, but what?”
“And that part Japanese girl,” I said. “She’s on a German swim team?”
David said, “Lanning, there are Japanese people in Germany.”
“Yeah,” said Mr. Kim from the back. “They’ve been buddies before.”
Most of the team members for every country were out and about doing touristy things. Luaus, shopping. The manager took us up to the German team rooms. There were four. We went to the first. David knocked to see if anyone were in. Nothing. The manager let us in.
It was a mess. Clothes and soda cans and pizza boxes all over the place. They were probably all college-aged.
“Stop. Don’t touch anything,” David cautioned.
“Someone’s tossed the hell out of this place,” said Mr. Kim.
I said, “But these are young people on vacation. Wouldn’t you expect their rooms would look like this?”
“Nope,” said Mr. Kim. “There’s young kids messy, and there’s hunting for something messy.”
We went to each room. All of them were in similar disarray.
* * * * *
The Case of the Strong Swimmer, Chapter Six: All the Swimmers Are Strong (A Lieutenant David Chan Mystery, 700 words)
Lanning Lee 