After he knocked, Chan waited for what he considered a decent length of time. Then he knocked again. Much louder this time.
A little girl came out of the apartment next door just as Chan announced himself as being with HPD.
“She can’t hear you,” said the little girl.
“She?” asked Chan.
“Yes, Dr. Komine. She’s not home.”
Chan nodded. “Uh-huh, I see. How do you know that?”
“She has real weird hours,” said the girl. “She comes and goes at all hours of the day and night.”
It sounded like something she’d heard someone else say. A little too adult a statement.
“What do you mean?” asked Chan, curious.
“Well, sometimes she wakes me up in the middle of the night because she’s coming home, and sometimes it’s because she’s going out. She’s a doctor, you know. Doctors have weird hours.”
“I see,” said Chan. “You wouldn’t happen to know Dr. Komine’s first name, would you?”
The little girl cocked her head to one side. Chan almost expected her to say the woman’s first name was ‘Doctor.’
“You’re the police, aren’t you?” said the little girl. “Don’t you know everything?”
Chan had to smile at this. “Well, no, I’m sorry, I know a little less than everything.”
The little girl smiled. “So almost everything.”
Now he had to laugh. “Well, maybe even less than that.”
“Really?” She seemed somewhat alarmed. Chan thought about his own daughter, Sarah, who’d been murdered by the Yu syndicate.
“Yes, really,” he said gently. He squatted to be nearer the little girl’s eye level. “So do you know her first name?”
“No,” said the girl, shaking her head. “I just call her ‘Doctor Komine’.”
Chan nodded. “I see. Are either your mommy or daddy home?”
“I don’t have a daddy. My mommy’s at the store.”
Standing up again, Chan thanked her for her help. Was she old enough to be left home alone, coming outside to talk to strangers? “Do you think your mommy will be home soon?”
“There she is,” said the little girl, pointing. “Mommy! The policeman is here.”
Chan turned around. A woman who looked older than she was came up the walkway carrying two large bags. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“I hope so, Ma’am,” said Chan, introducing himself and showing her his badge. “I’m looking for Doctor Komine.”
“Oh, yes, she keeps really weird hours. Comes and goes at all times of the day and night. I guess that’s the life of a doctor.”
“Right,” said Chan.
“He doesn’t know her first name,” the little girl said.
Her mom put down the bags. “You don’t?” she asked Chan.
“No Ma’am,” said Chan. “I’m following up a lead on a case, and I only know her as Doctor Komine. And even that’s thanks to your daughter. What is her first name.”
“Oh geez,” said the woman. “I don’t know. I call her Doctor Komine, too.”
Chan, momentarily deflated, simply nodded. “Well, would you happen to know what kind of doctor she is?”
The woman thought about this, then, “Ah, geez, no, I’m sorry. I think maybe it’s not the medical kind of doctor, though. I think it’s more like a professor, maybe at Hawai‘i University. Like I said, we hardly ever see her. I’m so sorry.”
“No problem, Ma ‘am,” said Chan, trying not to show his disappointment. “Thanks for your help.”
He turned and headed toward the parking lot.
“Can I tell her something if I see her, Mr. Chan?”
Chan thought about this, then came back and gave the woman his card. “Please, if you do see her, give her this and ask her to get in touch with me as soon as she can. It’s urgent.”
“We will,” the little girl chimed in.
“Yes,” said the woman. “Although we hardly ever see her.”
“Right,” said Chan. “She keeps weird hours.”
The woman and the daughter smiled and nodded in unison.
Chan headed back to his car. As he slid into the driver’s seat, a call came over the radio from his partner.
“David, this is Chin. Are you there, over?”
“Chin, I’m here. What is it, over?”
“The coroner,” said Kelso. “She’s trying to get ahold of you. I think it’s about that body from the fire yesterday, over.”
Lanning Lee 