“I’ll only leave after you both are outside.” Michael slipped down a bedroom hallway just before Calvin’s voice floated up from downstairs.
“Rei? Are you finished?”
“No, the water’s just so soothing. I’ll be out in a few more minutes.”
As I locked the door again, I put my feet back in the tub and began opening a band-aid, and I noticed something red floating up from the drain. I leaned closer, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like a piece of fabric-no, it was a band. A terry-covered hair band, the kind girls used to secure ponytails or braids.
Braids. A picture flashed into my mind of Charisse, the last time I’d seen her, with swinging braids tied in red. The band I was looking at was soaked, so it was a little darker than the one I’d seen her wear, but I was willing to bet that once it dried, it would be the same tomato hue.
37
THE RED HAIR band bobbed in the water before me, and like a sad echo, I remembered what Hugh had said about Jiro’s unprosecuted crime in Japan.
As I stared at the band, my own memories surfaced too. I remembered the black Mercedes S-class speeding out of Kainani the morning I took my first run, with two men in front and a woman in back. Charisse was late to the coffee shop that morning. And I also recalled Kainoa complaining that Jiro and Calvin sometimes came to the coffee shop, angling to pick up Charisse.
I’ve been to Kainani. I have a friend there. Charisse had smiled when she’d told me this, that very morning. A day later, she’d been absent from work, and the fire had flared out of control. The next day, arson investigators found her burned body.
Without thinking, I reached out to touch the hair band and discovered that some of its fibers were tangled in the underside of the trap. Maybe the trap had also caught some of Charisse’s hair.
I knew that I shouldn’t move the band, but nor could I allow it to be washed away. Still, I had to empty the tub. I carefully turned the stopper on the drain so the water didn’t rush out too quickly. My intent was to let the band settle back down in its hiding place, protected until the police could come.
After two minutes all the water was gone, and my feet were clean and bandaged. Still, there was sand on the bottom of the tub, and I worried about the cleaning lady working hard the next morning to get rid of it. I wet a towel and carefully wiped the surface until it was spotless, then dried it. As I worked, I heard a thud and a dragging sound. I was on instant alert, thinking about Kurt. Had he moved against Calvin?
I dropped the wet towels in a hamper made from an old Japanese basket and stepped out of the bathroom on to the soft, white carpet. I glanced down the hallway where Michael had gone and saw an unmistakable trail of sand. I couldn’t allow it to stay, no matter what might be unfolding downstairs.
I turned back to the bathroom to pick up another towel, dampened it, and began to clean up the sand.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped because Calvin was standing right behind me; apparently he’d walked up the carpeted stairs without making a sound.
“My…the sand.” He’d caught me off guard, and my words came out before my thoughts were aligned. “I’m sorry that I dropped some sand.”
“All the way there?” He pointed toward the bedrooms, where I’d last seen Michael go. “Where were you going, and why haven’t you showered and dressed in the yukata I brought you?”
He sounded like a bossy little boy; I would have rolled my eyes and snickered if we’d been by the pool. But I couldn’t do that here, so I turned my lips into a smile that I hoped looked helpless and endearing.
Calvin shook a finger at me. “Rei, I told you before, it’s time to take off that wetsuit. I brought you that robe to wear.”
“Calvin, that’s not…that’s not proper! You know how old-fashioned my father is!”
I’d barely gotten the words out before Calvin slammed me against the wall. Now I was regretting how I’d joked about his muscles, because I’d underestimated his capabilities. I wondered how long Michael would hide before he came to my aid.
“Your father doesn’t know you’re here-anyway, he’s still at Waianae Clinic,” Calvin said. “When I telephoned Tom just now to double-check, that’s what he told me. And that’s where he was going, because apparently there’s a complication.”
“A complication?” I caught my breath, hoping either Tom or Calvin was bluffing. But if there had been a real complication…No, I told myself. My father is in a safe place, with a good doctor.
“Tom said he thought you were out swimming and was quite worried you didn’t come back,” Calvin said. “He has no idea you’re in this house. Nobody else does, either.”
He was smiling an odd smile, and now my heart was working overtime. Tom knew I was here, but I remembered how I’d drilled him not to do anything until he got the call to come. Perhaps he thought I was still on the boat. Who knew what he thought; it was just unfortunate I had no way to contact him. Michael could; that was the only hope, but then Michael wasn’t about to leave the house until I did.
“Calvin, I’m so sorry about the sand. May I borrow your vacuum?” I tried to wiggle my shoulders away from his hands. I had to get an excuse to get away from him.
“The game’s up, Rei.”
“What game?” I spoke loudly. “It sounds as if you’re threatening me.”
“You’re completely alone now.”
“Of course I am.” I was measuring distances-eight steps down the hall to the stairs, but his short, solid body to get past. Ten steps in the other direction, to the bedroom where Michael had gone.
“I’ve taken care of your boyfriend. And the other one, too, the guy with no hair. It amazes me how many fellows these days want to look like chemotherapy patients.”
“How…?” I was unable to finish the sentence. Despite Kurt’s strength, I couldn’t believe he could have physically triumphed over Michael or Kurt, let alone both. Had he forced them to poison themselves or shot them with silencers? Or was he bluffing?
“Do you want to know what happened to them?”
“Calvin, I’m afraid I don’t know-’ I switched tactics midstream. “Yes, I was swimming with Michael and one of his friends before the riptide carried me out, and if they’ve come to find me, that makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m sorry if they entered without ringing the bell…”
“They certainly didn’t.”
“Well, I suppose you better tell me what you did with them, then!” I spoke up for the benefit of the mini tape-recorder. Maybe it would be the only way to tell the story…But no, I couldn’t think like that.
“Jiro ran into the bald one in the entertainment center, and got him under control with one of his toys. After we got him bound and put away, we got Michael.”
“What kind of toys are you talking about?” I asked.
Calvin released one hand to reach into his cargo shorts and pull out a black rectangular object that looked like a slightly large razor. Not a razor-a stun gun, the weapon that was easy to buy, and legal almost everywhere.
“Did you use that on Charisse, too?” I asked.
“Didn’t need to. That was…well, an accident after a good time was had by all. A shame, but nobody would ever have thought anything more about it if it wasn’t for you.”
“An accident, maybe, but you chose to move her body and burn it.” I kept my eyes on the stun gun. Was he going to use it on me, too? I wondered if the wetsuit would offer me any degree of protection.
“What do you think we should do, call the ambulance and say our favorite stupid girlfriend got hurt?” Calvin answered sarcastically. “Hey, as you know, I’m under orders to keep Jiro calm and out of trouble.”
“First, do no harm. Isn’t that the first line in the Hippocratic Oath? I should know; my father has it framed in his office.”