“What were you doing exerting yourself so soon after hospitalization? By the way, have you heard from the health department yet?”
“No. I assume they’re operating on aloha time.”
“Well, I’ll take you back to your house right away. Let me get my keys.”
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go; I couldn’t leave Michael and Kurt on the beach, wondering.
“Actually, Calvin, could I have a drink first? I would love to sit out on that lanai and just have a glass of tap water.”
“Of course. I should have thought of that.” Calvin reached into a cabinet for a glass and filled it at a sink set into the kitchen island. I watched it unblinkingly; nothing was dropped in, so I took a sip. “But why are you out, anyway? Don’t you know your father’s in the hospital?”
I thought quickly. He could suspect that my father was poisoned, but he wouldn’t know for sure. “Yes, I took my father in hours ago, but he’s fine-just a migraine headache. The MRI didn’t indicate a stroke or anything like that. I got out of the house because he likes to lie in absolute dark and stillness; Tom is there with him, anyway.”
“Headaches can be a sign of trouble,” Calvin mused. “Maybe he’s got something else, a kind of influenza, perhaps.”
“I don’t know. How I wish you’d been here earlier, when we sent my cousins to look for you. You would have known exactly what to do.”
“This is a change of direction for you.” Calvin smiled at me, as if pleasantly surprised. “When we met, you wouldn’t give me the time of day!”
“Calvin…” I paused, trying to look humble. “I’m sorry that it took my father’s sudden illness and the fact that Tom and Uncle Hiroshi can’t always be there to realize how much we’ve all grown to depend on you. Ever since you’ve arrived, you’ve only wanted to help us. Why, you’re practically part of the family.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Are you sure you don’t want a real drink to take outside? Oops, I just remembered that you shouldn’t. It’s not good for your recovery.”
I dropped my gaze, thinking how glad I was the recorder was on. He’d just given an indication he knew that what had poisoned me was a serious drug, rather than overgrown food bacteria. I needed more to get a warrant for his arrest, but if he was this loose already, and continuing to drink, our interview should be a snap.
Calvin stepped outdoors with a fresh drink for himself, and we retreated to the ocean-facing lanai.
“I just can’t get enough of the ocean,” I said, angling myself so I was facing the direction away from the part of shoreline where Michael and Kurt were presumably hiding.
“Yes, I know what you mean,” he said, following my gaze. “That’s why, despite the unrelenting hours, I’m still with the Kikuchis after three years. The whole environment here is just so gorgeous that I really enjoy times like these all the more.”
“The stone underfoot is really nice,” I said. “Is it lava rock?”
Calvin glanced down, and must have caught a glimpse of more than the pavers, because he said, “Whoa! What happened to your feet?”
“I must have gotten cut on the rocks.” My alibi was solid, thanks to the fact that I really had suffered some cuts and scratches coming in from the ocean. I’d been too stressed to notice when it was actually happening.
“I’ll say. We need to go right back in and clean that. You might want to take a Vicodin for the pain. There’s a vial of it in Jiro’s bathroom.”
“I don’t take painkillers. I’m kind of a health nut that way.”
“But I noticed…yes, you are limping! You must at least clean the cuts and bandage them.”
“I’m really not that badly off,” I protested, thinking that perhaps my father really had been correct about Calvin having Munchausen’s-by-proxy.
“You’ve got to clean the cuts!” Calvin’s voice was rising, probably loud enough for Michael and Kurt to hear. And based on that, I made my decision.
“OK, then. I’ll clean them up myself in the powder room, and then I’ll come out again and we can chat.”
“Excellent. And while you’re in there, I’ll look for a pair of flip-flops, or as they call them here, slippers.” He laughed.
I left the kitchen door open as I followed Calvin in and up the stairs.
“I’m going to let you use Jiro’s bathroom; it was just cleaned. You’ll see that as well as a deep bath with a hand spray, there’s a Toto toilet with the built-in-bidet. We get a lot of raves about that from the ladies.”
“I bet,” I said faintly. “Isn’t there a powder room downstairs?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t have any first-aid supplies or painkillers. And like I said, the bath is perfect for cleaning your feet. Don’t worry about using it; the cleaning lady will be in tomorrow morning.”
I locked the bathroom door and looked around for hidden cameras; when I found none, I relaxed. The bathroom truly was beautiful, with a large window facing the ocean, through which I could make out the lighted outline of Four Guys on the Edge . There were Japanese antiques and modern glass everywhere, including a massive Dale Chihuly vase with a single spray of helicona.
I turned on the hot water in the tub, and opened the sink’s mirrored medicine cabinet to look for band-aids. There was a pharmacy’s worth of drugs inside: everyday painkillers and the Vicodin Calvin had mentioned. My eyes lingered on the other vials-Zoloft and Paxil and Rohypnol, which I knew was a sedative sometimes used by rapists.
I wished I knew some trade names for lithium, but I didn’t, so I decided to tuck one of each pill in a toilet paper wrapped bundle, which I inserted into my wetsuit top. I’d have all the pills evaluated later on by my father and Tom.
“Are you OK in there, Rei?” Calvin’s voice, a few feet away, made me jump.
“Sure. I just decided to follow your recommendation and soak my feet a few minutes.”
“Of course. I brought you a robe, too, in case you want to slip into something more comfortable.”
Struggling to look pleased, I unlocked the door and took the classic blue and white yukata and slippers that he handed me.
“You found the band-aids all right? There’s also a triple-antibiotic ointment.”
“I did. Thank you so much.
“I’ll be downstairs, cutie.” He winked at me.
The things I had to put up with in the name of investigation! I shut and relocked the door and settled back down at the edge of the tub. This was also a Japanese import; a special kind of tub with a stainless steel lining, and a control on the outside that could heat the water to a spa-like temperature. But the regular tap water was hot enough for my purposes, and I planned to be out soon.
The tub had already filled about five inches, and as I settled my feet in with gratitude and moved to turn off the faucets, I heard a knock at the door. Maybe Calvin had brought me a face cloth. I opened the door to find Michael standing there.
“I got in through the open kitchen door, after we’d made sure you’d both gone upstairs. We thought everything was happening outside the house, cutie.” Michael’s whisper was clearly sarcastic.
“I was. But I did need to clean my feet and…” I pointed downstairs in horror. “He’s down there, Michael! How are you going to get away?”
“We know where he is. Kurt’s hiding downstairs while I’ll stay up here in the bedroom area.”
“We could change the questioning to here, then!”
“Not a good idea from a legal perspective. Get back out to the beach and we’ll join you when we’re done.”
“OK, don’t get yourself worked up. I’m on my way out.”