Mahu 8 - Accidental Contact and Other Mahu Investigations by Plakcy Neil

Author:Plakcy Neil [Neil, Plakcy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE BURNING WOMAN

“I thought she was sleeping,” the woman said. “But… oh, my God, Detective.” She began crying.

“Call me Kimo. There wasn’t anything you could have done,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

Her name was Cathy Quinn, and she was a pretty blonde haole in her mid-thirties with a healthy tan and an athletic physique. We were sitting in a small conference room next to the pool at the Waikiki Stars resort, a new property sandwiched in between the big hotels on the mauka, or mountain, side of Kalakaua Avenue, the main drag through Waikiki.

Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, I could see Ray talking with the medical examiner’s team outside, and a couple of beat cops blocking access to the pool area where Cathy Quinn had discovered the body of a dead woman on a lounge chair.

Our victim was a haole woman in her late sixties or early seventies, slim, with an unruly head of fine white hair. About five-six or so, she could have been any of a thousand elderly tourists crossing a visit to Hawai’i off their life list.

One of the hotel maids appeared at the door, bearing a tray with paper cups of coffee from the hotel café. Cathy and I helped ourselves.

I sniffed, and then took a sip. It was pretty good, better than we had back at headquarters, where Ray and I had been going over paperwork when the call had come in from the Waikiki Stars.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what happened.”

Cathy clutched her coffee cup, though she didn’t drink. “I got up this morning around six,” she said. “I guess my body’s still on mainland time. I came down to the pool and saw…that woman…sleeping on a lounge chair at the far end of the pool.”

“It’s okay,” I said gently. “Then what?”

“I started swimming my laps. I did twenty, and then I got out and lay down on a lounge.”

“Any idea what time that was?”

“It usually takes me a half hour, so it was probably six-thirty, six-forty-five. The sun was just coming up, and I dried off pretty quickly. Then I went back to my room.”

I nodded. “And then?”

“I was on my way out a couple of hours later and I saw her, still on her chair. Her skin was starting to burn. I was worried about her so I tried to wake her.” She started to shake. “But she wouldn’t wake up.”

I put my hand on her shoulder again. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through.”

“I screamed, and a guy in a hotel uniform came running. I pointed at the woman and then he took over.”

“There’s no lifeguard at the pool, is there?”

“No. It’s all posted. Swim at your own risk.”

“Did you see any hotel employees while you were at the pool?”

She pursed her lips and thought. “No, I don’t think so. It was pretty early.”

I thanked her and she left, clutching her untouched coffee cup. I walked out to the pool, where the ME’s techs were taking the woman away.

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