Death by Trial and Error (A Legal Suspense Short) (8 page)

He imagined she was interested in any ongoing
homicide cases for the department. "Yeah. The Suzette
Higuchi-Bordeau case."

"What's your interest in it?"

"Her sister hired me to look into it," he
said.

"And you're seeking Ortega's permission to
run with it?" Leila asked.

He smiled. "Not exactly. But I do need to
talk to him, so..."

"So I'm slowing you down. I get it." She
smiled. "I would say don't be a stranger, but something tells me
you won't be."

Naku wondered if she was coming on to him,
then decided she was only being polite. "I promise I won't step on
any toes," he told her, though he wasn't sure it was a promise he
could keep.

"I'll believe it when I see it," she
responded, before stepping aside.

When he reached Ortega's office, Naku found
him sitting at his desk. The fifty-something lieutenant was medium
build with receding gray hair and blue eyes. He was talking on the
phone, clearly preoccupied. A few raps on the door got his
attention. He waved him in.

Ortega cut his conversation short. "Guess Ms.
Higuchi took my advice," he said.

"Yeah, she showed up at my office," Naku told
him.

"Did you take the case?"

"I did." He paused. "I have to admit, though,
I was a bit surprised that you sent her my way, considering it's
still an active police investigation."

Ortega smiled. "Maybe I figured that since
Ms. Higuchi is beautiful, well-to-do, and divorced, she'd be right
up your alley, Naku."

"She is," he conceded. "But, then again, we
are talking about her as a business client and not someone to take
to bed."

"Who says the two can't go hand in hand?"
Ortega said, and grinned lasciviously. "Have a seat." He waited for
Naku to sit in one of two tattered chairs in front of the desk,
then got up and closed the door.

Ortega sat back down. "You're right. The
Higuchi-Bordeau case is currently being investigated by the
department."

Naku met his eyes. "So why have me run a
parallel investigation?" He assumed there was a valid reason other
than trying to enhance his love life.

Ortega leaned forward. "Suzette
Higuchi-Bordeau is a friend of a friend's. I want this case solved
one way or the other. My detectives will do their best to bring the
killer to justice but, frankly, we're spread a bit thin and I don't
want to see this one dragged out. Since you're pretty good at what
you do, I figured that tackling it from a different angle might get
results a bit quicker."

"I see," Naku said. It made sense to him, all
things considered. And he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the
mouth. "What have you got on the case so far?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," Ortega said glumly.
"The slugs pulled out of the victim came from a .45 caliber
semi-automatic pistol. I'm guessing the firearm wasn't registered,
but we're trying to locate it. As far as identifying the killer,
surveillance cameras at the shopping center where the murder
occurred just show a grainy image of someone who appeared to be
running away from the scene of the crime, apparently wearing a
hoodie. We can't determine if it's a male or female. We're still
reviewing security cameras from nearby businesses to see if they
show anything useful."

Naku leaned back in the chair. "What can you
tell me about the three men who were questioned about the
crime?"

"They were acquaintances of Higuchi-Bordeau
and her criminal defense attorney husband, Patrick Bordeau. They
witnessed the shooting and have been cooperating with us.
Apparently, they followed Higuchi-Bordeau from her home to the
shopping center parking lot on Old Haleakala Highway. According to
them, she received a phone call from someone prior to going to meet
with the other victim, Tucker Matsumoto. The shooting took place
shortly after the men arrived and parked nearby."

"Did the call come from Matsumoto?" Naku
asked.

"Not according to Matsumoto. He claimed he
was just there picking up a few items from the shopping center when
he spotted her car."

"Do you believe him?"

"Not really," Ortega said. "But if he was
there for something illegal, he sure as hell isn't going to admit
to it. In any event, we traced the number to a burner phone."

Figures
, Naku thought. "So it's
possible both she and Matsumoto could have been set up."

"Maybe," Ortega said. "Or maybe one or both
were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Naku rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Just like
the men who followed her there, but somehow managed to come out of
it unscathed."

Ortega frowned. "I've thought about that,
especially since none of the men have a clean rap sheet. Bordeau
represented two of them—Shawn Wilkerson and Rex Lee—on illegal gun
possession charges." He passed Naku a sheet of their records, which
included mug shots, and then handed him a third criminal record and
mug shot. "Clark Oldham has a record for dealing drugs. And
Bordeau's also the attorney for Matsumoto, a smalltime illegal gun
dealer, who faces similar yet unrelated charges. So far, there's no
indication that any of the men at the scene of the crime, including
Matsumoto, were the shooter. With nothing to hold them, we had to
let them walk."

Naku studied the rap sheets and then looked
up. "How's Matsumoto doing?"

"He'll live," Ortega said as though that was
a bad thing.

"You think he was the intended victim?"

"Not necessarily. Maybe the shooter was
gunning for both of them. If Matsumoto was the intended target,
given his criminal activities, Mrs. Bordeau could've been killed to
eliminate any witnesses—assuming the shooter was unaware that the
three men were watching the whole thing unfold from another
vehicle. Right now, we have to assume that Higuchi-Bordeau was also
targeted, if not the primary target. By the way," Ortega added,
"she had a loaded .32 caliber pistol in her purse, but it hadn't
been fired."

Naku silently mulled that over.
Why would
she need to carry a gun? Did she have reason to fear for her life?
If so, what or who was she afraid of?

"Have you questioned Patrick Bordeau?" he
asked, assuming this had been the case.

Ortega nodded. "We asked him to come in and
he did. He answered all our questions without the presence of an
attorney, other than himself."

"I'm sure you know that my client thinks he
was responsible for his wife's murder," Naku said.

"Yeah, she mentioned that more than once,"
Ortega acknowledged. "Unfortunately, Bordeau has an alibi for the
time of the shooting."

"Which was...?"

"He was working at his office. It checked
out. His secretary vouched for him."

Naku couldn't argue with the alibi, unless he
was to assume that the secretary was in on the murder as well. He
saw no reason to go down that road at the moment. However,
murderers weren't always at the scene of the crime. It was just the
opposite in many instances, with the ringleader clever enough to
stay far away, but close enough to smell blood.

"What about the substantial insurance policy
he supposedly had on his wife?" Naku asked. "And the fact that he's
allegedly heavily in debt. That gives him two possible reasons to
want her out of the picture."

"We're looking into both of them," Ortega
said. "But, as you know, these things take time to sort out. Right
now, there's no evidence that Bordeau was involved in his wife's
murder for profit. The man is a well-respected attorney, and it
seems like there's no shortage of low-life's with high earnings
seeking his services."

"All the more reason why he may have
orchestrated his wife's murder," Naku said. "He could easily hide
behind his career and let others do the dirty work for him."

"So prove it and make my job a helluva lot
easier," Ortega said bluntly.

Naku accepted the challenge, for better or
worse. He stood up. "If you get anything from the security cameras
or anything else relevant to the case, let me know."

"Will do," Ortega promised. "And if you run
into any problems that don't involve breaking the law, I'm here to
help."

Naku made a note of that, wondering if he
could truly count on him, even it if meant stepping on the toes of
police detectives working the case. "Mahalo," he told him, before
leaving.

* * *

Naku got in his car and called his office.
"Hey, Vanna. So what do you have for me on Suzette
Higuchi-Bordeau?"

"Hang on, let me pull up the info... Mrs.
Higuchi-Bordeau was thirty-seven when she died. She and Patrick
Bordeau had been married for ten years. Before that, she taught
grade school, but retired to become a stay-at-home-wife to an up
and coming attorney. I couldn't find anything to indicate their
marriage was in trouble."

"That's not the type of thing that would
necessarily be plastered all over the internet," Naku said
wryly.

"Probably not," Vanna concurred.

"But her sister believes the marriage had
problems," Naku said. "And since she's paying us, we'll have to
assume all was not right behind closed doors till proven
otherwise."

"I can't argue with that," Vanna said. "After
all, I've been down that road twice, with no one the wiser that my
marriages were a total disaster until I was practically signing the
divorce papers."

"Well, Higuchi-Bordeau never got that
chance," Naku said. "Someone took her out before she could walk
away from Bordeau—if, in fact, that was her plan."

"And I'm confident you'll get to the bottom
of it," she said.

Naku chuckled. "I'll certainly try. Did you
come up with a connection between Higuchi-Bordeau and anyone else,
other than her husband and the men who were at the scene of the
crime?"

"Not yet, but I'll keep looking."

"So will I," Naku said, and then caught up on
some prior business issues with her before hanging up.

He headed home as he pondered his latest
investigation. At this point, he could only wonder why Suzette
Higuchi-Bordeau was killed and who might have done it or been
responsible for it. He fully expected to get to the gist of it one
way or the other. After all, this was how he made his living and he
never liked to come up short, if only to earn his pay.

He turned into the driveway of his Craftsman
bungalow on Ipukula Way in Lahaina. It had come on the market just
when he was looking to get out of his last house right after he
left the police force. This one had appealed to him for its charm
and the location—not too far from the hustle bustle of Front
Street, yet still peaceful, laidback, and close to his office. He
also liked that the backyard contained a number of fruit producing
trees, including mango and papaya.

After entering the front door, Naku headed
across the hardwood floor of his Great Room and went straight to
the kitchen. There, he opened the refrigerator and took out a beer.
After guzzling down a generous amount, he changed into a tee shirt
and shorts before heading to his exercise room for a workout.

Later, he called Gayle and got her voicemail
after several rings. He figured that meant she was still pissed and
didn't want to talk to him. It was something he would have to live
with, while hoping they could at least stay friends at the end of
the day.

In the meantime, he had a case to keep him
occupied and a dead woman whose sister wanted to keep her alive, in
a manner of speaking.

* * *

The following morning, Naku decided to pay
Patrick Bordeau a visit at his office in Kahului, where the
island's main airport and the Kahului Harbor were located.
Bordeau's office was in a complex on East Wakea Avenue.

Naku took the stairs to the second floor and
spotted the print on a door, which read: The Law Office of Patrick
L. Bordeau. He opened it and went inside.

A young woman with short blonde hair sat at a
desk in the lobby. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm here to see Mr. Bordeau," Naku told her,
noting from the name plate on her desk that she was Tanya
Johansson.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but it is important that I speak to
him," he stressed.

Just then, a salt and pepper haired, tall,
trim, well-dressed man came out of an office. He seemed
preoccupied, but stopped in his tracks as his deep blue eyes locked
with Naku's eyes.

"He would like to talk to you, Mr. Bordeau,
but doesn't have an appointment," the secretary said
apologetically.

While her boss considered this, Naku seized
the moment and stuck out his hand. "My name's Eddie Naku."

Bordeau gave him a wary look, but shook his
hand. "How can I help you, Mr. Naku?"

"I'm a private investigator looking into your
wife's murder..." Naku watched as surprise—or perhaps it was ill at
ease—registered on his face.

Bordeau sucked in a breath and turned to his
secretary. "Hold my calls." He regarded Naku. "Why don't we go into
my office and talk?"

Naku followed him into the large office with
a big window that overlooked palm trees and a pond. Bordeau closed
the door and rounded on him.

"My wife's death is a police matter!"

"It's also an unsolved case, and sometimes
private detectives can achieve better results," Naku pointed
out.

Bordeau's thick brows drew together. "Who
hired you?"

"Your sister-in-law, Kathryn Higuchi."

"I should have guessed as much." He bristled.
"So Kathryn decided to hire an investigator to look into Suzette's
death? Well, I'm afraid you're just wasting your time and her
money."

"Maybe," Naku allowed. "Or maybe not. The
point is, your wife is dead, and her killer is still at large. I
would think you'd want to move heaven and earth to bring such
person to justice."

"Of course I would." Bordeau's face softened.
"I've already told the police everything I know."