Suspect #9.

The Valet.

The next suspect was lounging on a stool in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel. He is a valet and one of the only ones who knows celebrities and pop culture. I used to love hanging out with him on my lunch breaks, but hadn't talked to him for a few months. Word among the staff was he took off after news of my death. 

"Reggie, man, how was the trip?"

Reggie forces a smile and nods.

"Alright man. It was alright."

"The detectives come to see you yet? They are going around to all the staff who knew Leilani."

He scoffs, "Not yet. And why would they? I haven't really talked to her in forever."

He wasn't lying. The last time we really talked beyond saying 'hi' was many months ago. We had a falling out of sorts after I found out he was gay. Not by my hand though, but by his. I never found out why he stopped asking me lunch. I assumed he was embarrassed. Only because he used to have me pick up girls for him. Little did he know but I had no issues with anyone being gay. 

By now I figure he has told everyone so there was no need to shy away. The staff at the hotel are all a good bunch when it comes to diversity, we employ all types and even abilities. In the kitchen they have two guys who have down syndrome and in the front desk one of the staff is a brilliant woman with autism. They all fit in quite nicely. 

Reggie takes out his phone and begins to scroll. I float behind him to check out what he is looking at so intently. An old news story is on the screen and I am in it. It was from a surfing competition years ago, and I had been interviewed.  My long sun kissed hair was sleek and I had a deep tan. He appears to be staring at me, not reading the story. 

As confused as I am, I feel like Reggie is hiding something. I just had no earthly idea what.

"Hey Reg, you are needed in the bosses office."

Reggie gets up and begins to walk downstairs to the basement area. His boss is the manager of the guest parking. I never had to interact with him though as it's not considered a head position like other managers in the hotel. Valet got the proverbial shaft if you ask me.

"Reggie. Detectives from HPD are coming down to interview you. Do you want me to be here in the office for it or do you want to go it alone?"

His manager was a nice guy. I like how he asks him if he needs backup. Being there for your employees is an overlooked quality. 

"No, I'm good. I have nothing to hide."

His words are nice but his face says otherwise. Maybe we'd find out something new. Or maybe he would be cleared. I was here for either outcome. 

🩸

"Tell us how you knew Leilani."

Detectives Keele and Jones were back at it, day 7 after my death. They were sitting poised as they always were in interviews, casually asking questions. Reggie was a trapped bird in a cage. 

"Well from here, obviously. I met her at work."

Detective Jones scoffs.

"We knew that part, but how well did you know her? Was she a friend?"

"Of course she was. You guys are tripping, I know you know how I knew her! You are detectives!"

Detective Keele's eyebrow shot up and he does something he usually never did. He smiles, ever so slightly. Then he takes the lead on the interview. 

"You're smart Reggie. I give you that. What do you think we know?"

"Well....I think you know I used to hang out with Leilani at lunch time and that we were quite close for a good few months."

"Yep, we know that. What else?"

"And you probably know that I stopped talking to her a few months back."

"We asked around and found that out, yes."

"I didn't kill her though."

Detective Keele opens his small notebook and begins to scribble some things. The silence is deafening in the room.

"I didn't!"

"I don't know if you did or not. What we do know is you left on a vacation to the Grand Caymans abruptly six days ago, the day that Leilani died. We talked to your boss and he said it wasn't a planned vacation. You used sick days actually. Can you tell us why?"

Reggie shifts in his chair. He doesn't have a desk to hide behind like all the other suspects so he looks extra vulnerable, crossing and uncrossing his legs. 

"I left because it was so horrible. Is that so hard to believe? That I needed to get away to deal with my emotions?"

The detectives look at each other and unspoken words are exchanged. 

"Did you ever go to her condo? On these lunch dates?"

"No. I've never been to her place." Reggie retorts, emotion brimming in his voice.

"But that's not quite true is it? You were there. On the morning of her death, before her body was taken away actually. Why did you go to her building right after she had fallen?"

Reggie's face turns bright red. If I still had my body my face would the same shade. Why was he there as I lay in the street??

"Reggie...why were you there?"

"I didn't kill her!! I was there to see a...friend."

"A friend? Someone who lives in her building?"

"Yes..." He eventually squeaks out.

What was he hiding? I could feel it in the air, something was hanging, like a china bowl about to fall off a shelf.

"Now is the time to tell us."

Reggie exhales loudly and holds his head in his hands. 

"He wouldn't want me to say anything. His girlfriend doesn't know about us."

"It's ok. If you weren't there to kill Leilani we aren't interested in anyone that you may be dating on the side."

I wish he would just say it, the suspense is killing me, all over again.

"Leilani's next door neighbor, her friend Rachel's boyfriend. I am seeing him. Romantically."

🩸

Shock is still something I can feel as a spirit. Shock that rivals what it was when I was alive. Rachel's dedicated long term boyfriend was bisexual. And he was cheating. She was home all the time, how could she possibly not have caught them? He worked at night too, sleeping during the day. If Reggie was meeting him at the condo building as he said they were, he was incredibly lucky they never got caught! 

Right now, he softly cries in the the chair, rocking slightly as the detectives watch him. I knew they were analyzing the situation and preparing for their next moves. 

"Reggie, we don't have your prints in the building anywhere. I don't think you killed Leilani. And the outside cameras show you pulling up outside and standing there for a bit before leaving. No trace of you earlier in the morning."

"I am telling you the truth, I didn't kill her. I was only there to see him. To see Mark. That was it. I saw the body but it had a towel over it. I didn't know it was her....until someone at the scene recognized her and said it was Leilani."

He began to sob and I feel bad for him. This was actual grief. Even after our falling out. 

"I was so upset when she found out I was gay, I stopped talking to her. I thought she was disgusted by me. But she was such a good person, she was so nice to me. And she....she was not who I thought she was."

"Who did you think she was?"

"I thought she told everyone about me. But she didn't. Someone else did."

🩸

The detectives leave and I stay with Reggie. There was more to find out, and I wanted to make sure he would be ok after the intense interview. He has just picked up his phone to make a call to someone.

"Hey." He says, fiddling with the laces on his Vans shoes.

"No. I'm not with Mark, I'm at work. I just talked to detectives with HPD. Yeah...at work. They came to talk about Leilani."

I can't hear who he is talking to except that it is a faint female voice on the other end.

"They saw me on video from the condo building entrance. No, they know I wasn't there when she died. But they did get me to tell them why I was there!"

Reggie nods and grunts along to the voice as she talks for a bit. 

"I had to tell them. Or they would have thought I was there to kill her! No. I don't think they will tell Rachel. I hope not. No."

He fiddles with his shoes more and the feeling that he is still hiding something returns.

"There is no way that they will know about that. You guys kept things on the dark web right? Well then you should be safe! Rachel....yeah....I don't know about her though. Could she have hired someone to do it? She was so mad at Leilani for saying no."

More nodding then he wraps up the conversation.

"If it wasn't Rachel it had to be the blonde. She was there."

Did he mean Lila?

~ This book is Copyrighted by K E Jennings and only available on Wattpad. if you are reading this on another site, it has been stolen without permission or monetary payment to the said author. ~

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