"Boss, you want a burger or a hot dog?" 

Detective Jones pokes his head around the corner into the homicide office. 

"Neither. We are going to Morimoto's for dinner in about an hour!" Detective Keele says, shaking his head at the junior detective. 

"Yeah but I'm hungry now. And food is free.."

Detective Keele grunts and chuckles. No doubt lamenting at the youth of his partner. He watches what he eats for the most part, from what I have noticed observing them. I suspect his wife has something to do with it. He listens to her advice and actually takes heart. Lots of husbands don't. 

Grabbing a marker, he stands and walks to the white board. My murder board. He jots down the name of the last person they interviewed, James. He adds lots of lines around his name. Dark web, plotting with my neighbor and adds a few large question marks. Then he adds spider like lines towards Rachel and also her boyfriends name. 

"Mark..." He mumbles. 

He adds a large question mark by the name as well. His gut was telling him something. I'm not sure what exactly, yet. Detective Keele has decades of experience and he has hunches that shouldn't be ignored. I trust him. 

"You still like the boyfriend for something else?"

Detective Jones has come into the office, hot dog in tow. A glob of mustard starts to fall and he lifts it to the mouth and takes a bite.

"I don't know why. I just have this feeling. He knows something. We might need to have a tail on him, we don't have enough for a subpoena. His alibi checked out. He was at work."

"Can do. I'll get a unit on it. The higher up's really want this solved. I guess a reporter was sniffing around this morning. It's all over the office."

Detective Keele grunts loudly. 

"Don't let anyone pressure you on a case. Ever. You have to keep your focus on the evidence as it comes to you."

"I got it boss. My focus lately has only been on this case. In fact, I called the doctors again at the mental ward and they let me know that Tio has been more lucid and he has been talking about a 'Lila'. I think that is the same HR Lila from our suspects."

Detective Keele turns his head around quickly. 

"Oh really?! What was he saying about her?"

"Not sure in detail...just that he was speaking a lot about a Lila. I think if they will allow us, we could go visit him. See what he says."

"We can...if he isn't drugged up. If he is really lucid then it would make sense and hopefully he would let us know more. I still think Lila has a huge motive. And her position in all of this makes me wonder.."

Taking the last bite of hot dog, detective Jones wipes his hands on the napkin he was holding and throws it into the trashcan on the floor. 

"Makes you wonder what?"

"Makes me wonder if she is connected to more than one scandal here."

🩸

The detectives finished talking in the office and are now walking in the evening breeze towards Morimoto's. They have theorized that Lila has her hands in all sort of unsavory things, and it isn't a stretch too far to say that Kenny knew things that she did. The issue was proving it. They planned to surveil Lila and Kenny unofficially, which hopefully would prove fruitful. 

Waikiki was in full swing with tourists buzzing around. Dinner smells were coming from all directions, carried on by the wind to entice you. I can smell everything, but my stomach doesn't exist anymore, so there was no actual point to it. The living though, they were all in heaven. 

"Man, nothing is worse than walking around hungry in Waikiki at dinner time." Detective Jones laments.

"You just ate a hot dog! How can you be that starving already?" Detective Keele asks. 

"Maybe I'm growing?" 

"Growing out is more like it! Vanessa likes you a bit plump?" 

They bantered as good friends, which makes me smile. I like their working relationship and how they can in effect, hang out, after working hours are over. Though detectives jobs were to be always available. 

"Please tell me you won't get the nastiest stuff tonight..." 

"I'll get the best. Always the best." Detective Keele laughs. 

They turn to go into the hot spot for Asian food. Honolulu has many but none this good. The staff recognize them and usher the duo to a prime table by the large windows overlooking the beach. 

"Drinks are on the house gentlemen. Welcome back." A slim waitress says. 

"It's a sake night for sure.  This case is stressing me out." Detective Jones says. 

"That sounds good. I could use a drink. Our wives are coming to pick us up anyway, no use worrying about DUI."

They had made a 'date' for dinner, I liked it. 

Perusing the menus, they have the look of concentration. There was a lot to choose from here. I used to come on date nights with Marcus. Inevitably though, I would order the same thing. Always had to be the garlic shrimp. Not too much fat and calories but full on flavor. 

"I think I'll try the garlic shrimp. What are you getting boss?"

I smile at detective Jones's selection. Man after my own heart.

"Roast duck. Half portion. I'll bring the rest home to the wife. She adores it."

"My wife knows better to expect leftovers!"

"And it shows..." 

They both laugh as the sake comes to the table. 

"Ahh thank you...this is just what we needed."

The waitress pours two small cups full and takes their dinner order before leaving them to talk more. I love watching the human side to the detectives. The non working side. It's hard to see unless I follow them home, but this night is proving to be perfect for this. I only wished I had known them somehow while alive. It's odd, wishing for things after you are dead. There is a mournful side to it. But you know you can't do anything anymore. Not in the physical realm anyways. 

"Boss, do you think maybe we have yet to meet the actual killer? Maybe he or she is one of the few we still have to interview..."

"It is possible." Detective Keele says. "Quite possible."

🩸

Waves lap along the beach as night has fallen over the city. Music is loud in spots, spilling out over the sidewalks from restaurant bars. This is the golden tourist hour. The time where couples get drunk and younger folks party. The homeless are out roaming around too, in the shadows. It is illegal to sleep on the beach or the sidewalks or tables along the Waikiki strip and police do give tickets for this. 'Sit Stand Lay' ordnance it is called. As cruel as that seems it is all for the tourists. They don't want to walk past homeless while on their expensive vacations. 

Detective Jones and Keele have finished dinner and are taking a stroll while they wait for their respective wives to pick them up. 

"I had a thought just now. Say that our victim did know about the videos being taken of her, maybe she blackmailed them?"

Me? Blackmailing my coworkers? He must have drank too much at dinner. 

"You are drunk Jones. There is no way Leilani knew of the surveillance on her."

The voice of reason! 

"Ok, but say she did..."

"If  she ever did...she would have been receiving some sort of compensation for it. Something, like better parking at work, a raise, money deposited into her account. Then the surveillance would have stopped. That is how blackmail works."

"Yeah, I can see what you are saying. I'm sure you are right. She didn't know. It just seems so crazy that she has had so many stalkers. I have never encountered that many for one person before. Not even working with battered women on the street as a beat cop."

Detective Keele frowns. 

"I know it seems crazy, and it is, but it's also showing us something more. For the life of me, I can't say what yet. But I am going to find out. Then we will nail the killer. I am sure of it."

"The killer knows we are on the trail. We have interviewed twelve people. Whoever they are, they are surely sweating it." Detective Jones says. "I was reading that women usually kill in less messier ways than men. They don't often stab but prefer to shoot someone for instance. I don't know if pushing someone off a roof is considered messy or less messy."

"The act is not messy at all. But the after effect....I can't guess if a man or a woman did it."

I don't know anything about the criminal psyche so I have no thoughts on the gender of the killer beyond what I know from my friends and colleagues and what they have hidden. But I did feel that they were close to the precipice of solving it. You could feel it. Detective Keele especially felt it.

"Ahh, there is my wife! I see her up ahead. And I think I see your old truck."

"Yep, that would be our rides. Get home and rest up. Drink water. Tomorrow is a full day." Detective Keele says.

"You can say that again."

~ 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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Fun Hawaiian Fact: Portuguese immigrants introduced Hawaiians to the ukulele in the 19th century. It didn't originate in Hawaii.