Mike arrived five minutes later and they went down to the lobby to access Omar’s private elevator that went from there exclusively to the Penthouse. Heather pressed the button for the intercom. A woman answered and after a minute she evidently got instructions to unlock the elevator for them, because the doors rolled open.
“This is creepy,” Mike said as they stepped inside the plush cubicle.
Lucifer had been silent and had ignored Mike studiously and totally. Now he gave out an angry squall.
“We’re just checking to see if Michelle’s at Omar’s place,” Heather said to comfort the cat. “Then we’ll take you home.”
Mike gave Heather a raised eyebrow look, but didn’t say anything. She’d told him a little bit about Michelle’s cat the night before.
The elevator doors opened into the entrance foyer of Omar’s apartment.
The penthouse took up the whole top floor of the building and the view from the floor to ceiling window was spectacular. They were facing the living room and across the expansive room they could see the entire panoramic view of the Waikiki coastline. It was disconcerting, knowing that a woman had fallen down from that height. Wendy had experienced several horrifying seconds to contemplate her death.
A side door opened and Heather could see into a room that looked like an office or study, with several computers and a wall of file cabinets. A woman was coming toward them from that room. Heather had seen her several times before with Omar. One of his so-called witches. She was beautiful, of course, like all of Omar’s pet witches who stayed with him. Beyond her, Heather could see Omar sitting in the office with his back to them in front of a giant-screened computer.
“Hi,” Heather said when the woman came up to them. She introduced herself and Mike. “We need to speak to Omar.”
“I’m afraid he’s busy right now.”
Heather sighed with annoyance. “Can you just go and ask Omar if he has seen Michelle this evening, or if she came up here?”
“Who’s Michelle?” the woman said.
A witch with a B, Heather thought. Of course, she had to be aware of Michelle if she’d been around Omar or any of his witches for any length of time.
“We need to speak to Omar,” Heather nodded in the direction where she could still see him through the office door.
“I’ll go ask him. But he’s been here all evening, and we haven’t had any visitors.”
They watched her go into the office and talk to Omar. He turned sideways and said something in response, so Heather had a good glimpse of his side profile.
The woman came back. “He’s talking to someone about business and can’t come out right now, but I asked him. He said he hadn’t seen Michelle today.”
“Thank you,” Heather said. She led the way back to the elevator.
When they were inside Heather put her finger over her lips and shook her head, indicating that they shouldn’t speak. She was afraid Omar might have a listening device inside his private elevator, so he could hear what people were saying as they came and went from his place.
Mike nodded.
They took Lucifer to Michelle’s place in silence, and then went to Heather’s apartment. She felt like she was bursting with the news, and when they finally got inside she said. “That guy up there isn’t Omar. I‘m calling Rod in Japan.”
When he answered she said, “I went to Omar’s place with my friend Mike. A guy was there. He acted like he was too busy to speak to us, but Rod, it wasn’t Omar. It looked like him, superficially, but I’m absolutely sure. I think Omar took Michelle somewhere and has a double up there in his penthouse, impersonating him. I’m putting us on speaker, so Mike can hear.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t Omar?” Rod asked.
Heather turned to Mike. “I’m asking Mike. You saw Omar last night down by the pool. What do you think?”
“I only saw him in the dark last night, and just in side-view tonight, when he was relaying the message that he hadn’t seen Michelle. I’m really not sure, but doesn’t Omar have kind of a hooked nose? The guy tonight looked a lot like Omar, but his nose was straight and short.”
Heather nodded, “Exactly what I noticed. Also, Omar has these big eyes that are almost black in color. This guy we saw tonight had real Asian eyes, with epicanthic folds. I could tell, even in side view, because the lids pooch out. You know, the lids that almost cover the eyes and make that upward slant. Omar doesn’t have that typical Chinese distinction. And besides, even though he was sitting in a chair, he didn’t seem as tall as Omar. Omar’s about six’ four or five. This guy appeared shorter.”
“I got that impression too, now that you mention it,” Mike said. “He was careful not to turn and look at us, full face. I can’t be sure, but he didn’t have the same demeanor I noticed last night. Omar is commanding, domineering. This guy seemed more passive. I got the feeling that if it was Omar, he would have given us an arrogant, haughty stare.”
Heather laughed. “Exactly. He could have turned, even if he was working, to look at us. It would have been more natural than completely ignoring two people who came to see him. We were only about twenty-five feet away from him. I think he was afraid to show himself fully and reveal that he’s just a manikin, posing for Omar. ”
“This is serious,” Rod said. “If Omar has someone in his place, like a body double, that means he isn’t in the local vicinity. He might have left the islands altogether for some reason. If he was in Hawaii, he would just come home at night.”
“Damn,” Heather said. “Doesn’t he have to be on parole, or monitored, and show up at certain times for the police while he’s out on bail?”
“He might not have to for a couple of
