I turned at the sound of Apikalia’s voice and saw her standing just outside the main entrance. Apikalia is of Hawaiian descent, which I suppose is obvious given her name. She’s around fifty, about Alana’s height, and she has black hair that falls just below her shoulders. She was dressed in khaki pants and a dark-blue polo shirt with the name of the animal center on the breast pocket.
“We just got the new sign in earlier this week. I was going to invite you up here for the surprise,” she continued.
“It’s beautiful. That’s why you asked me for a photo of Maui the other day.”
Apikalia had told me it was for a mural they wanted to create for the lobby.
“I’m glad you like it,” she said.
“I love it.”
Mental note number two: Double the size of the check I’d already intended to write, which I realized was the whole point of the sign. Sometimes we’re all okay with being blatantly manipulated.
“Not that I mind, but it’s a little early for a visit. Your questions must involve one of your investigations,” she said.
“Good guess and you’re correct.”
“Come on inside. We can talk in my office.”
I followed Apikalia into the building. She locked the door behind us since the place wasn’t officially open for a couple more hours. I could hear a handful of dogs barking in the back.
“I don’t know how you get used to being around that much barking all day long,” I said.
“You learn how to tune it out, believe it or not.”
We walked inside her office, which had a colorful collection of photographs of dogs and cats on the walls. One of the photos was of Maui and it was the same one that was featured on the outdoor sign. Let the manipulation games continue.
“What’s this investigation you’re working on? I’ve always been intrigued by them,” she said.
“A recently discovered murder that actually occurred several years ago.”
“Is this about that body they found on north Maui.”
“The one and the same. A man found human remains when he was walking his dog. To be more precise, he told the police that he let his dog off the leash and the dog found the bones. I met with the man yesterday, but I noticed something strange when I went to his apartment.”
“What was strange about it?”
“I didn’t see any sign that he owned a dog. He also told me that his dog was being neutered, but I called all the vet clinics and none of them have a record of the dog.”
“That is odd. Why would he lie about that?”
“Good question. He obviously had the dog at some point since I think the police would have noticed if he didn’t have a dog when they interviewed him by the human remains.”
“You think he might have dropped the dog here?” she asked.
“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me. The man’s name was Daniel Davis.”
“Was? Did something happen to him?”
It was a slip of the tongue and I instantly regretted saying it.
“He had an accident early this morning. He drowned while surfing.”
“That’s terrible.”
“That’s where I was right before I called you. Alana got the call about the drowning. She wanted me to help ID the body since I’d recently met him.”
“Let me see if I can find his name in our database,” she said, and she rotated her body toward a desktop computer.
I watched as she typed the name Daniel Davis into the search bar.
“Yes, we have a record of him. He adopted a black lab from us about a week ago. He brought the dog back the very next day.”
“Do you know why?” I asked.
“No, we don’t make a note of that, but I could make a few guesses. Sometimes the dog can be wild, and they don’t want to take the time to train it. Maybe the spouse didn’t know the person was adopting the animal and they demand they return it. Sometimes they don’t check with their landlord first.”
“Yes, it could be any of those reasons. Does it say if the dog was neutered or not?”
Apikalia looked at the screen again.
“Yes, he was neutered months ago. I don’t know why Mr. Davis would have told you that his dog needed to be.”
“What was the date the dog was adopted?”
Apikalia told me and I recognized it as the same day the remains of Eric Ellis had been found.
“Does it say the time of day Daniel returned him?”
“Yes, we log the time and date. It says here he was brought back to the center at eleven-thirty in the morning. So, technically, he had the dog less than twenty-four hours. The dog’s still here if you know of a good home for him.”
“Not off the top of my head but I’ll ask around,” I said.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“No, you’ve been very helpful. Thank you.”
“Good, but I’m not sure how that can help with your investigation.”
“Believe me when I say that it did.”
It was obvious what had happened. Daniel Davis had adopted the dog for the sole purpose of having it find the body the next morning. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d dragged the dog to the body and shoved Eric’s arm bone into the dog’s mouth.
I made another mental note to ask Alana to follow up on something for me. Daniel had been enticed to lie for some reason and I assumed that reason was probably money. That meant there would be a paper trail of some sort. Hopefully, it was one that we could follow.
I drove home and completed my morning routine of swimming in the pool and jogging around the neighborhood. Afterward, I took Maui on a long walk and told him that his photo now adorned the sign of the animal center. He reacted the way I thought he would. Total and complete indifference. In fact, he was more interested in a bird that had landed on the road several
