Not expecting anyone to answer at this point, Chan rang the doorbell of Dr. J. Komine’s apartment anyway. Much to his surprise the door did open, and even more astonishing, Chan came face-to-face with the woman of his dreams. He stood still, his mouth wide open.
“Excuse me?” said the woman with the body that looked like one of a watersport enthusiast. Her arms were muscular, her legs as well. Chan thought she must have not an ounce of fat on her. An image of his softening stomach flashed through his mind.
The woman spoke again. “Are you all right?”
Chan tried to speak, but the shock of seeing this figment of his imagination in the damn good-looking flesh made him think about his relationship with ghosts, how he wasn’t quite sure he communed with them, or if they were the product of alcohol and fatigue.
Finally, words came out of his mouth. “Do, do I know you?”
The woman cocked her head to one side and took a long look at Chan’s face.
“Well, I don’t think we’ve met before,” she said, “but if you tell me who you are, maybe I can make a connection.”
“I, ah . . . are you Dr. Komine, Dr. J. Komine?”
“Yes, that’s me,” she said. “And you are . . . ?”
“Oh, yes, sorry about that. I’m David Chan.” He pulled out his badge. “I’m with the Honolulu Police Department.”
“Oh my! I hope I haven’t broken any laws?”
He didn’t know if this was meant to be humorous. “Well, that depends, Doctor. What does the J stand for?”
“Jasmine. My name is Jasmine Komine.”
Again Chan stood transfixed, as though he might be seeing a ghost when he was sober now and not as tired as might be by the end of this bizarre meeting.
“You look as if you’ve seen the proverbial ghost, Lieutenant. Please come inside and sit down.”
Chan followed Jasmine Komine into her living room and sat on the sofa as directed.
“I think you need some tea,” she said. “I’m just having a cup. Let me get you one.”
She came back with tea for the two of them. “Drink some of this, Lieutenant. I hope it helps.”
Chan put the cup to his lips, but he could not sip for staring at the woman’s face.
“Are you taking a mental photograph of me?”
Chan put the cup back down. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m sorry Doctor Komine, but I am having one of the strangest moments I’ve had in my entire life.”
She smiled. It was like the sun coming out and warming him all over. He reminded himself to call Kathy immediately after this meeting.
“I hope by strange you mean good strange and not Twilight Zone strange.”
Chan shook his head again. “You won’t believe this. I certainly don’t. But I’ve dreamed about you twice in the last couple of days.
She gave him a look of pleasant surprise. “Huh. Well, now there’s something I don’t hear every day. Do tell me more, Lieutenant.”
And then something more pressing than the dream pushed that discussion aside.
“Doctor, do you have an office in the Pacific Insurance Building?”
“Why yes, I do. I hope that’s not some kind of crime.” She smiled at him again. Butterflies began fluttering around in the general area of Chan’s too-soft tummy.
“You don’t seem upset about that,” said Chan. “The building burning down.”
A look of alarm replaced the smile on her face. “Burning down? My office? When?”
“Why yesterday, Doctor. You didn’t know about it? It was all over the news.”
“Well, I, no, no I didn’t hear anything about it. I don’t have a TV, and I was over at my other office at Hawai‘i University all of yesterday. I only go to the Pacific Insurance office when I have a meeting with a client.”
Chan was still trying to process this. “So when did you have your last client meeting?”
“The day before yesterday. I have two more this week, this Friday. That would be the next time I’d be going there.”
Chan took this all in, nodding as if everything were being processed the way a normal human being would. But the jumble of thoughts still had not smoothed out.
“There was a body found in your office. It was a woman. We thought it was you.”
Now it was Jasmine Komine’s mouth that opened wide. Finally, “A body? Me? Why?”
“Well, it was burned so badly we couldn’t tell anything other than that it was female. I mean, she was found in your office. What else would we assume?”
She sat there nodding, then sipped some tea. Chan took a sip of his as well.
A door opened. “Hey Babe, I – ” a man emerged from what Chan assumed was the bedroom.
He’d never had what he would consider to be something like a heart attack, but as a very strange feeling welled up in him, Chan thought this might be the big one.
The teacup fell to the floor as Chan keeled over on his side and the lights went out.
Lanning Lee 