House of the Hanging Jade (14 page)

“You need some sleep.”

“I'll get some as soon as tonight is over.” I smiled at her and made my way out to the guesthouse, passing Marcus and Justine on my way. They were standing next to Lars, talking to a few of the guests. They waved at me. They both looked very nice, Marcus in a suit and Justine in a cute navy-blue organza dress with a wide black belt, but they seemed bored. When the guests moved away, they whispered something to Lars and came to find me.

“We're so bored,” they complained, confirming my suspicions. “When is everyone leaving?”

“When the party's over,” I answered with a smile.

“I want to go swimming,” Justine said.

“I just want to go to bed,” Marcus admitted. “I hate wearing a suit.”

“I think every man here probably hates wearing a suit,” I told him.

“Can we help you?” Justine asked.

“I'm afraid you'd better not,” I warned. “I don't want to get in trouble if your parents think I asked you to help.”

“But we'll tell them we wanted to help,” she whined.

“Sorry. Just try to enjoy yourselves until the party's over. Have some food before it disappears. Marcus, there's
poke
on the table.”

He set off in that direction with a smile. Justine followed him, her little feet teetering in her high heels. I hoped they wouldn't go in the kitchen and catch a glimpse of their mother outside. I wished suddenly that I had kept them out by the pool. I walked after them quickly.

Luckily, Barbie was on the lanai when I passed through. Liko was there too, watching her with an angry look on his face as he set a tray of hors d'oeuvres on the long dining table. I walked over to him and inclined my head toward the kitchen. He followed me.

“Everything all right, Liko?” I asked, reaching into the refrigerator for two more pineapples that were hollowed out and filled with chicken salad.

“K, I found out something.”

“What?” I asked warily, knowing what he was going to say.

“I saw Barbie with another guy.”

“I'm sorry, Liko. I saw them too,” I blurted out.

“Why didn't you tell me?” He sounded hurt.

“It was just a little while ago, and I didn't see you until just now. To be honest, I don't know if I would have told you even if I had seen you.”

“Why not? You know Barbie and I have a relationship.”

I sighed. “Liko, why don't you come back here tonight when everyone is gone? I can't really talk about it right now. I have a thousand things to do.”

He stayed in the kitchen after that, hiding out from the guests. Each time I went in there, I found him cleaning dishes, folding linens, wiping down counters, and doing much of the work I would have had to do later, after the guests left.
He must really be distraught.

The last person to leave was Dr. Rutledge's wife. A frown marred her pretty face. “I can't find my husband anywhere,” she told Lars. “Have you seen him?”

Lars shook his head. “Maybe there was an emergency at work?”

“What emergency?” she scoffed. “Some golfer with a twisted back? A tourist with a bad case of sunburn? No, this isn't the first time he's disappeared from a party.”

Lars just looked at her, apparently at a loss for words.

“Do me a favor, will you?” she asked. “If you see him, tell him to find his own way home. And thanks for the party.”

Shaking his head, Lars kicked off his shoes and helped himself to a heaping plate of food while I started to clear dishes, napkins, glasses, and utensils from various tables and surfaces across the huge space. I sent Liko to help Akela begin the cleanup process in the guesthouse kitchen and the courtyard surrounding the pool. It was going to be a long night.

I left the lanai briefly to take a stack of dirty dishes to the kitchen and Barbie was standing next to Lars when I returned. When I caught a snatch of their conversation, I ducked back into the short hallway by the kitchen and listened, feeling guilty but unable to tear myself away.

“Where were you earlier?” Lars asked her curtly.

“When?”

“When I went looking for you during the party. I couldn't find you anywhere.”

“I was mingling. That's what people do at parties. Why were you looking for me?”

“I didn't know where you were.”

“Well, I was around somewhere,” Barbie answered breezily.

“You sure about that? I looked everywhere.”

“Lars, if you have something to say, just say it.”

“As a matter of fact, I do have something to say. Dr. Rutledge's wife couldn't find him, either. I thought you two might have been together.”

“That's ridiculous.”

“Is it? She couldn't find him, I couldn't find you. This house isn't so big that people can just go missing in it.”

“Maybe I was in the bathroom! How am I supposed to know where I was at the exact time you went looking for me?” she retorted shrilly.

“I know you sleep around, Barbie. That's your business. This marriage has been a sham for years. But don't even think about misbehaving in this house, where the kids might see you. They deserve better from their own mother,” he hissed at her.

“Let go of me, Lars,” she warned in a low voice. Lars made a scoffing sound and I could hear him stalking toward the front of the house. I stayed where I was.

“He's gone,” she whispered. “What a hothead.”

I froze. I was so embarrassed that she had known I was there. I moved to step out onto the lanai, preparing to apologize, when I heard Liko's voice, low and quiet. I stepped back quickly. She hadn't seen me, after all.

“Barbie, why were you with that other guy?”

She sighed. “Liko, I'm just not the sort of woman to be tied down. Lars has never understood. In fact, if he finds out about you and me, he'll fire you on the spot. I'm afraid he and I are just going to have to come to some kind of agreement.”

“What about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are we still going to see each other?”

I could hear soft noises, but I didn't stay to hear what else they might have to say to each other. I couldn't stand it anymore. Liko was making a fool of himself. Couldn't he see that?

Not wanting to run into Liko or Barbie on the lanai, I went all the way around to the back of the house, down the huge circular staircase, and through the family room. Marcus was in there, watching television.

“Hi, Marcus. Glad the party's over?”

He nodded sleepily, not paying much attention to me or the television. I hurried out to the pool area and guesthouse to see how the cleaning was going.

“We're just about done out here,” Akela said in response to my question. She looked around, as if suddenly realizing Liko was missing. “I wonder where Liko went. How are you coming with cleaning up the lanai?”

“I hit a speed bump,” I answered. “Barbie is out there and she's deep in conversation—or something—and I don't want to disturb her. Or them.”

Akela's eyes widened. “Who's she with?” she asked eagerly. A little too eagerly. I immediately regretted having told her about Barbie.

“I don't know,” I lied. “I just didn't want to go out there and make a lot of noise with dishes and utensils and stuff if she's trying to have a conversation.”

“Do you need help cleaning up the kitchen?”

“No, Liko actually did a lot for me earlier. Go to bed and get some sleep. You've earned it. And thanks for all your help tonight.” She looked grateful to be done. Giving me a little wave, she turned and walked toward the family room.

I returned to the kitchen the way I had come. Marcus had apparently gone to bed and the family room and lanai were deserted. I finished the cleaning and went to my room. My muscles ached. I was too wound up to sleep, so I sat in the den watching an old black-and-white movie on television when someone knocked on my door. I froze for a moment, my mind suddenly filling with images of Geoffrey and of Dr. Doug's body. I opened it cautiously, wondering who would want to see me so late in the evening.

It was Liko. He looked at me sheepishly as I stood aside to let him in. “Sorry I didn't help you finish the cleaning up,” he said. “There was something I had to do.”

“Yeah, I already know what you had to do.”

His eyebrows shot up. “How did you find out?”

“I saw you and Barbie. You'd better be very careful, Liko. One of these days Lars is going to see you two.”

“We're careful. You won't tell him, will you?”

“I should, but I can't bring myself to do it. You're my friend and I don't want to see you lose your job. What are you going to do if he finds out?”

“He won't find out.”

“How could you want to be with her after you
knew
she was with Dr. Rutledge?”

“I don't know, K,” he answered, rubbing his hand over his eyes. “It's like she has this spell over me. Over him too, I guess. There's just something about her . . .” he trailed off.

“But doesn't that bother you?”

“Sure it does.”

“Did you ask her about it?”

“No. We don't talk about those things.”

“I just don't want to see you get hurt.”

“Don't worry, K. If I do, I have no one to blame but myself.” Then he changed the subject. “Hey, have you heard from Geoffrey?”

I shook my head. “Maybe he's finally gotten the message.”

He arched his eyebrows and looked at me intently. “I doubt it, K. You stay clear of him and let me know if he comes around or tries to bother you.”

“Thanks, Liko. I appreciate it.”

After Liko left I climbed into bed and finally was able to fall asleep. I was so exhausted from the party preparations and serving and running around that I slept soundly and woke up late the next morning. I had left breakfast in the refrigerator for anyone who was up before me, but it looked like no one had been in the kitchen. I made a big pot of coffee and padded out to the lanai, which was so quiet and peaceful after the previous night's noise and activity. I breathed the salt air deeply and stretched, then settled down at the long table. I didn't want to read a newspaper or a cookbook or a novel. I just wanted to relax and stare out at the bright blue Pacific Ocean as it undulated in the sunshine.

I sipped my coffee and let my eyes roam over the view, from Maui in the distance to the waves crashing into the lava rock below the house. Then I glimpsed something white against the black rocks. I squinted so I could see it better, but I wasn't able to see it very well. Probably a dead fish that had washed up onto shore.

Above me I could hear a chair being moved around. There was silence for a few minutes, then a shout. It was Barbie. I couldn't hear what she was saying.

I figured it out a moment later, when she came clattering down the stairs and raced out onto the lanai, where I was still enjoying the view. But my quiet time had ended.

“Hurry, Kailani! There's someone down on the rocks! Come with me!”

“What? Who? How can you tell?”

“I could see from my room.”

“I don't see anything from here,” I noted.

“See that white thing?” she asked, pointing at the dead fish I had seen a few minutes earlier.

“That fish?”

“No! It's a person! I can see the arm from upstairs! We have to call the police!”

“I'll do it, Barbie. Why don't you go get Lars and he can come down there with us?”

“Lars isn't here. He left early this morning to run errands.”

“How about Liko, then?”

“Okay.” She ran off in the direction of the guesthouse, her thin robe fluttering behind her. I dialed the police and waited for Barbie to return with Liko. When they came running, the three of us hurried toward the water. We moved quickly, but gingerly. The rocks were sharp and none of us had appropriate shoes on.

Liko was the first to reach the shoreline. He stopped short and Barbie and I almost ran into him. He stared down the steep trail to the water and pointed.

Dr. Rutledge lay in front of us, his arm flung over a rock. The tide had gone out, so the doctor's body was fully out of the water, his clothes drying in the warm sunshine.

Barbie gasped and started to sway. I took her arm and helped her to sit down on the rocky ground. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth, tears coursing silently down her cheeks.

“I knew something bad was going to happen,” she whispered, her eyes wide. Liko scrambled down to the place where Dr. Rutledge lay and felt his wrist. He glanced up at us and shook his head, then turned the body onto its back. Barbie cried harder. “Liko, don't,” she called. “I don't want to see his face. Please.”

Liko looked at me, as if asking for advice. “You'd better not touch him, Liko, until the police get here. They'll want to have a look at him.” Barbie stared at me as if she couldn't comprehend my words.

Liko climbed slowly up the hill to where I sat next to Barbie. She was surprisingly quiet, but tears still ran down her cheeks and her nose was running. She wiped it with the sleeve of her robe. Liko put his hand on her arm.

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head from side to side slowly. We could hear sirens in the distance. What would the police do when they found a second person dead at the house? I shuddered. Could this one have been an accident? Who knew Barbie and Dr. Rutledge had been together?

Liko knew because he had seen them. Dr. Rutledge's wife suspected something was going on and mentioned it to Lars. Though Lars confronted Barbie, I didn't know for sure whether he believed that she was mingling or possibly in the bathroom while he was looking for her. He had seemed angry. I had no idea whether anyone else at the party knew about Barbie and Dr. Rutledge.