“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far.”
I walked past Detective Parrish and climbed into my car.
“Have a good day, Detective. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to drive home in my fancy car.”
I started the engine and backed out of the parking space. Detective Parrish watched me the entire way until I turned out of the lot and made my way down the road. I drove a short distance and then turned into the parking lot for a coffee shop that I’d frequented with Alana. I parked the BMW in the shade of a tree and pulled out my phone. I dialed Alana and she answered immediately.
“Hey, there,” she said.
“Can you do me a favor? Can you find out everything there is to know about Ronan Huff and his disappearance? But be quiet about it. Don’t let anyone know you’re looking.”
“Who is he?”
“Mele Akamu had him killed around twenty years ago. He’s connected to Eric Ellis’ murder somehow.”
Alana promised me she’d look into the case, so I put the car in gear again and drove home. I spent the rest of the day not doing much of anything. It was nearing five in the afternoon when Alana called me.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Sitting by the pool and listening to your dog snore under my chair.”
“Can you make it up to Harry’s in a couple of hours. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Who?”
“His name’s Nathan Buckley. He’s a retired detective. We overlapped by a couple of years at the department. He retired well before I made detective.”
“He investigated the Ronan Huff case?” I asked.
“Yes, and I promised him free drinks at your bar if he told us what he knew. Nathan is one of the good guys. If there was anything to find regarding Ronan Huff, then I guarantee you he found it.”
“I’ll see you there at seven, and I’ll tell Foxx to break out the best bottle of scotch.”
“Sounds good.”
I got to the bar about thirty minutes early and brought Foxx up to speed on my conversation with Daniel Davis’ co-worker, the loan shark named Popcorn, and my ability to get into Mele Akamu’s safe. I also told him about my still-forming theory that the motive for the Eric Ellis murder had started years before.
Alana arrived right at seven, followed by retired Detective Nathan Buckley a few minutes after that. I guessed his age at around eighty. He was of average height and weight, which I was sure was because most people on the island eat healthy food. That’s not hard to do given all of the delicious fresh fruit to be found.
Alana greeted Detective Buckley at the door and led him over to the bar.
“Poe, Foxx, this is Nathan Buckley, one of the department’s most distinguished detectives,” Alana said.
“I don’t know about that,” he said, and he shook our hands.
“What can I get you to drink, Detective?” Foxx asked.
“Please call me Nathan, and is it possible for you to make me a Manhattan?” Nathan asked.
“You just became Poe’s new friend. That’s his drink too,” Alana said.
“No wonder you married the guy. He has good tastes,” Nathan said.
“I try my best,” I said.
“What would you like, Alana?” Foxx asked.
“How about a dirty martini?” she asked.
“A dirty martini it is,” Foxx said, and he started mixing our drinks.
Nathan Buckley turned to me.
“Alana says you have an interest in an old case of mine.”
“That’s right. The Ronan Huff investigation. What do you remember about it?” I asked.
“I remember everything, especially since I reviewed my old files after Alana called.”
“First, who reported him missing?” I asked.
“A neighbor of his. She was babysitting Ronan’s son and she called the police when Ronan didn’t come home.”
“Where was Ronan’s wife?” Alana asked.
“She’d died in a car accident a few weeks before. It was all very tragic,” Nathan said.
“Did you have any suspects?” Foxx asked, and he handed Nathan his Manhattan.
“We had one, a very good one. Mele Akamu,” Nathan said, and then he took a sip of his drink. “Excellent Manhattan.”
“Thank you.”
Foxx slid Alana the dirty martini. Then he handed me my Manhattan.
“Thanks, Foxx,” I said.
“Let me guess, you weren’t able to pin anything on Mele Akamu because she had a solid alibi,” Alana said.
“Her son swore she was with him, but we never thought she did it herself. She had plenty of people who would do her dirty work for her,” Nathan said.
“Was there a reason why she would have wanted to kill Ronan Huff?” I asked.
“Word on the street was that he’d stolen from her.”
“But no body, no case,” Alana said.
“It wasn’t hard to guess what happened to him. Ronan Huff and the murder weapon were dumped in the ocean,” Nathan said. “That’s what makes this new charge so strange. Why would she have buried that other guy in a field, especially after she’d gotten away with the other murder?”
“We share your suspicions,” Foxx said.
“This man, Ronan Huff, was he associated with Stan Cross in any way?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. Stan wasn’t much of a player back in those days,” Nathan said.
“The boy that Ronan left behind, what became of him?” I asked.
“He didn’t have any other relatives, so he got put in the foster care system. I kept in touch with him for a few years because I felt so bad for him. He got lucky and got adopted by a family.”
“What was the boy’s name?” I asked.
Nathan told us.
I turned to Alana.
“Now we know who killed Eric Ellis,” I said.
33
Your Honor – Part 2
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “There are things you know and there are things you can prove.” That’s a line that’s been uttered in many cop shows and it fit my situation perfectly. Although I felt satisfied that I knew who’d killed Eric Ellis and why, I couldn’t prove it. Everything was circumstantial evidence. I also didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to trick the killer into revealing themselves as I had in
