The Influencer, page 3
part #10 of Professor Molly Mysteries Series
By the time I pulled up to my house, the rain had ceased, leaving the street steaming in the sun. Mr. Ladd—Tedd Ladd, as I now knew him to be—was in his carport, hosing off the tires of his truck.
I parked in the garage and walked down to the rental unit to say hello. He’d seen me pull in, so it would seem antisocial if I just ignored him and went inside. I was also curious about two things: Was he in fact the formerly-famous cartoonist who had signed my book decades earlier? And did he have any idea Mr. Henriques had been snooping around inside their house?
“Looks like we have a new water feature,” he remarked. I followed his gaze to the graveyard that backed up to the edge of our properties. A vast, shimmering lake (or so it seemed) was studded with the tops of gravestones.
“I happened to notice your car wasn’t in the carport earlier today,” I said. “I was a little worried. Because of the flash flood warning. They say to avoid driving long distances. You know, turn around, don’t drown.”
“You just drove somewhere,” he retorted.
“Yes. I went to Mass this morning. St. Damien’s is less than half a mile away. I actually could’ve walked.”
“Mass, huh? Whatever gets you through, I guess. Anyway, looks like we’re all safe and sound. So nothing to worry about.”
“OK, great. Well, have a nice Sunday.” I turned to go back to my house.
“Jandie wasn’t feeling well,” he said.
I turned back around.
“We went to look for a drugstore. You know. Female stuff.” Ladd gestured vaguely at the front of his cargo shorts.
“Well, next time, if she needs some ibuprofen or a heating pad or something, she can come over and borrow it,” I said.
“It’s no big deal,” Ladd started winding up the hose. “She’ll be fine.”
“Good. I’m glad. Okay, you both have a great day.”
“How’d it go?” Emma said when I walked in. “I saw you talking to the husband. Does he know Mr. Henriques went into his house?”
“I wish he really had stolen his stupid fish,” I said.
“Who stole whose fish, what?”
“Nothing.”
“Eh, your hedge in the back is looking kinda raggedy, yeah?” Emma said. “Is Kaycee still doing your yardwork?”
I went over to the window and saw that the back hedge could in fact be described as raggedy.
“She’s supposed to come by today,” I said. “In fact she’s supposed to be here now. I don’t know what’s going on. She normally does good work.”
Kaycee Kabua was a Mahina State agriculture graduate who had started her own landscaping business. She had been doing Emma and Yoshi’s yard and Emma had recommended her to me. It seemed to me Kaycee’s work had been slipping lately, but I didn’t want to say anything that would make Emma think I didn’t appreciate the referral. Besides, if Kaycee was having any personal issues, I didn’t want to make things worse for her by talking her down to Emma.
CHAPTER 7
WHEN KAYCEE STILL HADN’T made an appearance in my backyard an hour later, I moved from annoyance to worry and decided to call her. But when I went out to the back lanai where the reception is better, I spotted her on the other end of the yard, behind the rental unit. Fair enough, she was supposed to be looking after both properties. Although it struck me that since the new tenants had moved in, she seemed to spend a lot more time on their side of the lot.
When she saw me walking toward her, she put down the long-handled implement she had been poking into the trees.
“Eh professor,” she said.
“Aren’t you hot?” I asked. She was wearing a hoodie, with the hood fastened so tightly that only her eyes and nose were visible. Kaycee was in her twenties but still cute in the way that babies are cute, with plump cheeks and round, dark eyes.
Kaycee shrugged.
“The little fire ants like drop down the back of your neck, that’s why.”
“Oh. Is it better to come by when it’s cooler?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well. Do you think you’ll be able to get to the other part of the hedge today?”
A single hedge ran along the back of the property, separating the backyards of 25 Uakoko Street (where Donnie and I lived) and 25b (the rental unit) from the cemetery beyond. The hedge behind the rental unit was neatly-trimmed and free of weeds. Our side, by contrast, looked like it had gone on a three-day bender.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Kaycee was a Jandista (a fan of Jandie Brand) so I could understand why she’d linger close to Jandie’s house, trimming leaves while hoping to catch a glimpse of her idol.
“Sure, I’ll get to it today. Eh,” She cleared her throat and looked around. “the wife went missing or what?”
“Not that I know of. But if you see anything out of place, please let me know.”
“Okay Professor, will do. Eh, no worries, I’m gonna get to the other side today, even ‘em up, make ‘em look nice, yeah?”
When I got inside, Emma was sitting at the dining table with her laptop open, drinking wine out of a mug and reading the news.
“More rain coming,” she said. “That’s not gonna be good. Not gonna be able to paddle for a while.”
“Why not?”
“A bunch of cesspools are gonna overflow and it’s all gonna run into the ocean. All the farm runoff too.”
“Thank you for reminding me why I never go into the ocean.”
“We’ll get you out there one of these days.”
“Nope.”
“Oh, I emailed Pat about da kine. Cartoon guy.”
“Heard back?” I asked.
“Not yet. I gotta finish up this report, and get some grading done, and then I’m done for the day. I know, I’m a heathen for working on Sunday.”
I tidied up the kitchen and then folded laundry until Emma was done. Laundry doesn’t count as work in my mind, because I don’t get paid to do it.
“Finally.” Emma closed her laptop and pushed up from the couch. “Time for happy hour.”
“What was taking so long?” I opened a new bottle of wine (my cheap and cheerful red blend, not Donnie’s fancy Sangiovese) and filled two repurposed furikake jars.
“Stupid online class. Right on,” Emma said as she took a small jar. “You got the Mahina stemware.”
“Yeah, I don’t see the point of an actual stem on your glass,” I said. “It just makes it more prone to tip over.”
“Want to go outside?” Emma said. “I’ve been indoors all day.”
“Okay. Let me check and make sure Kaycee’s finished up.”
“Why?”
“I told her to work on the whole hedge and not just the part near the rental unit. I don’t want her to think I’m checking up on her or don’t trust her to do her job properly.”
“You don’t trust anyone to do their job properly,” Emma said.
The hedge was evenly trimmed, giving Emma and me a clear view into the cemetery from the back lanai. The twilight had an unusual reddish tinge to it. The air hung close and heavy. I felt mosquitos lurking nearby, sniffing for a gap in the repellent I’d doused myself in.
“Your hedge looks good,” Emma said. “Kaycee does good work, yeah?”
“Once you can get her to stop lingering around hoping to catch a glimpse of her idol.”
“Give her a break, Molly. It’s not like we get a lot of celebrities in Mahina.”
“Conform in Speech, and Dress and Thought,” I said, “And you’ll Be Promoted When You Ought.”
“What is that from?” Emma asked.
“Safety Worm. Tedd Ladd’s cartoon character,” I said. “Safety Worm is like an amoral Jiminy Cricket for careerist office workers. There’s a second line. Speak the Truth and Have Your Say, and You’ll Get Two Weeks’ Severance Pay. Wow, I hadn’t thought of that in years. But it came right back. It’s been lurking in my subconscious this whole time.”
“Catchy,” Emma said. “You should put that in your email signature. It would be perfect for you College of Commerce guys.”
“Do people even get severance pay anymore?”
“You okay?” Emma asked.
“Mr. Henriques and Kaycee have both noticed Jandie’s gone,” I said. “It’s not just me.”
“How did the husband seem when you talked to him?” Emma asked. “Did he seem nervous or like he had a guilty conscience?”
“Not at all. He seemed smug and dismissive.”
“He goes out in the middle of a storm, comes home by himself, hoses off the car, no trace of the wife,” Emma said.
“He claimed she was inside,” I said. “Or implied it, anyway.”
“Uh huh. Do you believe him?” Emma asked.
“Emma, I don’t want to get sucked into some Rear Window-type voyeuristic obsession with my renters.”
“In Rear Window, there was an actual murder,” Emma reminded me.
“He said she wasn’t feeling well. She has ‘female trouble’ apparently.”
“Couldn’t ask for a better opening,” Emma said. “We’re female.”
“It’s already dark. I don’t want to do anything dumb after dark.”
“Tomorrow then,” Emma said.
“Fine.”
CHAPTER 8
THE NEXT MORNING, EMMA and I were in the kitchen, packing up a “Feel better” package for Jandie Brand. Or rather, I packed while Emma noodged me. She would say “supervised.”
“Okay, we’ve got ibuprofen, caffeine pills, eyeshades, and a bottle of wine” I said. “I don’t know about the heating pad, though.”
“What’s wrong with the heating pad?”
“Something chewed through the cord. Ew, what’s living in my closet and chewing through things?”
“Look, there’s mold on it,” Emma added.
I dropped the heating pad into the garbage can.
“Lemme call the house.” Emma dialed the phone.
“If we’re just doing all this to call Ladd’s bluff, Emma, I don’t know that we need—”
Emma waved her arm to shush me.
“No, I wanna go home, and make sure my doofus husband and my idiot brother haven’t burned the house down. Oh, hey, Jonah. Howzit. Yeah, good. Good. She’s fine. Listen, I’m gonna come by real quick an’ grab the heating pad. It’s...you did what?”
Emma leaned her elbows on the kitchen counter and planted her free hand on her face.
“No, Jonah, it’s not. It’s a terrible idea. Lucky you never get electrocuted...oh yeah? Well you deserved it. I’ll just use the hot water bottle. Yeah, the red one...what do you mean it doesn’t work? Never mind, I’ll be right over. Don’t go anywhere. In fact, don’t do anything. That’s right, I do mean stand still and hold your breath till I get there.”
I barely had time to finish a cup of coffee before Emma was back.
“You must’ve been lucky with traffic.” I took the hot water bottle from her and placed it into the gift bag “This looks fine. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing’s wrong with it. My idiot brother didn’t realize that even though it’s called a hot water bottle, you still gotta heat the water up yourself before you put it in. Ready to go?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Emma and I squelched across the wet lawn to the rental unit. The rain had cleared but the ground was saturated and soggy.
“Emma, do you think Jandie’s really sick?”
“You think her husband’s lying.”
“No. Yes. Maybe. Fifty-fifty. I don’t know. OK, look. If he’s telling the truth, then we’re being good neighbors.”
“And if he’s not, we’re on our way to visit a murderous psychopath who just killed his wife.”
I stopped.
“Should we go back?”
“Nah. He probably already saw us out the window anyway. Come on.”
“There are so many places to hide a body around here,” I said. “Lava tubes, rivers, a whole ocean—”
“There’s a whole freakin’ cemetery right next door, don’t forget,” Emma said.
The door of the rental unit opened as we approached it. Tedd Ladd was unshaven and looked gaunt.
“Eh, good morning,” Emma said. “We brought over some things for your wife.”
“For Jandie? Why?”
“You mentioned she wasn’t feeling well,” I said.
“Lady troubles.” Emma elbowed me, which reminded me I was holding the gift bag.
Ladd held the door open just wide enough to reach out through the crack.
“I’ll make sure she gets it.”
“Maybe we can come in and help her set up the hot water bottle,” Emma said. “They’re tricky for some people.”
“No thanks. We’re fine.” Ladd tried to push the door shut, but couldn’t. Emma had placed her foot over the door stop, and she was wearing hiking boots. She’d planned ahead for this, apparently.
“Why don’t you want us to come in?” Emma challenged him.
“Emma,” I said, “we can just go...”
Ladd stepped back and Emma and I fairly tumbled into the living room.
“She's not here.” Ladd crossed his arms and looked at the floor. “I didn’t want to tell you. The truth is, I don’t know where she is. You might as well come in.”
We stepped inside and he closed the door behind us, which made me a little nervous. Right away I saw the aquarium Mr. Henriques had been talking about. It was huge, occupying the entire length of the counter that separated the living-dining area from the kitchen. The emergency generator had been moved inside from the carport and sat underneath the counter, apparently ready to rescue the aquarium if the power went out.
I walked over for a closer look.
“Lovely aquarium.” I know little to nothing about aquariums. I wanted to check for water damage on the countertop without being obvious about it. The aquarium was lovely, in the usual way aquariums are. It contained waving greenery, a swarm of tiny electric-blue fish, a clump of fleshy anemones, and a couple of those things that look like flat lemons swimming around. Sitting on the bottom was a brown lump with a ridge of lacy spines and a grouchy expression. The countertop seemed free of water damage. So far.
“I can watch it for hours,” Ladd said. “I think my next addition will be a snowflake eel. My sources tell me you can find them in the tidepools in Pohaku.”
I knew which tidepools he was talking about. They were right outside the Maritime Club. Emma was a club member. I don’t know whether Ladd knew this, or whether he was angling (ha!) for an invitation from her, but Emma didn’t say anything.
“So what’s going on with Jandie?” I asked. I thought that would be his cue to invite us to sit down, but he didn’t. Instead the three of us stood and stared at the aquarium. It looked like something that belonged in a hotel lobby, I thought. It was completely out of place in a little rental house. Still, I found myself staring at it.
“She went out, and she hasn’t come back,” Ladd said. “I don’t know anyone here, so I didn’t...Jandie’s a free spirit, and I don’t want to seem overbearing. She would hate it if I called the police just because she happened to be out of cell phone range.”
“There’s a lot of places on the island that are out of range,” Emma took out her phone. “You been checking her posts?”
Ladd rubbed the back of his neck.
“Of course I have. I mean, not in the last five minutes.”
“This one’s timestamped this morning. Mahina rainbow.” Emma held out her phone for Ladd to see.
Ladd took the phone from her, shook his head, and handed it back.
“That’s a pre-scheduled post. She took it a while ago.”
“Is it usual for her to go out on a photoshoot overnight?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“She’s never done it before without letting me know first. Is there anything dangerous she might not know about?”
Emma strolled over to the living room couch and plunked down on the couch. I followed her over, and Ed Ladd followed me.
“Mr. Ladd. Edward. May I call you Edward?” Emma said.
“Ed’s fine.”
“Ed, this is a beautiful island, which is probably why you came in the first place. But what a lotta newcomers don’t realize is there’s a million ways to die here.”
“Emma,” I said, “I don’t know whether—”
“Molly,” Emma interrupted me, “he asked if there’s anything dangerous here. An’ it’s good he asked, cause lots of tourists don’t ask the right questions.”
“I wouldn’t call us tourists necessarily—” Ladd said.
“They assume the whole island chain was designed by Disneyland safety engineers or something,” Emma went on. “Until someone gets swept out to the ocean, or drops into a lava tube, or falls off a cliff while they’re hiking—”
“Emma!” I shook my head.
Ladd held up his hand.
“No, I asked. I need to know.”
“Hey, at least no get poisonous snakes,” Emma reassured him.
“I believe you mean venomous, not poisonous,” Ladd said. “A poisonous snake can only hurt you if you try to eat it. But I take your point.”
Emma’s lip twitched dangerously. She does not like being corrected.
“Well we should go.” I went over to Emma and pulled her up from the couch by the elbow. “So try the fire department first, they’re good with rescuing hikers. Or just call 9-1-1 and let the dispatcher decide. Better Jandie gets mad at you for being concerned than have her stuck at the bottom of a ravine with a broken leg and no one to help her. Okay, bye, let me know if you need anything.”
