"Broussard, John A - Gone Missing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Broussard John A)

The trip back was uneventful. Corky's second round of pills had reduced her usual terror to mild anxiety. She didn't even need to talk to Leilani, who lost herself in the latest issue of the in-flight magazine.

Hank made it a point to sit in on the interview at the station along with Leilani's mother. Mr. Johnson had been unable to get off from work. Corky decided it was just as well. Still feeling the effects of the pills, she struggled to clear up the incidents of the past two weeks.

A clerk knocked and summoned Hank from the room as Leilani was explaining. "Stan said he was going to the Mainland. So we drove to the airport. I decided I didn't want to go back home, because I knew Dad would be mad about my leaving with Stan. I saw him at the window when we left. So I took a plane to Honolulu with Stan. He went on to Los Angeles, and I decided to look up a friend on Oahu."

Corky's head was still fuzzy, but she knew there were a lot of questions she should be asking. Leilani went on without prompting.

"She moved and I couldn't find her, so I stayed at the YWCA."

"Where did you get the three hundred dollars that were in your purse?"

Leilani looked over at her mother, then said, "Stan gave me some money when he left."

Corky thought that unlikely, but didn't press the matter. "There was a blood stain in the pickup. Was that your blood?"

Leilani nodded. "I was filing my nails when Stan had to jam on the brakes." She held out her hand, palm down, to show a healed, three-inch gash in the web between her thumb and index finger.

Corky's respect for Leilani's intelligence was now extended to Leilani's skill at manipulating the truth. She looked across the table at the tall, rather ungainly girl, and asked, "Why did you wait so long to write a letter to your folks?"

And suddenly, while Leilani was hesitating over the answer, the pieces began to fall into place. Streetwalking competition in Oahu was rugged. Leilani had little to offer in looks, and perhaps not much to offer in experience. Money was running out. And Stan was hardly the type who would have given her any large amount, if any, when he left. Nor did Leilani seem like someone who would have taken the news of their breakup lightly. The steering wheel was devoid of fingerprints. Before Leilani could answer the previous question, Corky asked, "Can you drive?"

Leilani's mother broke in, with a broad smile. "Leilani's been able to drive ever since she was a little thing. She used to sit on her father's lap when she was only four and steer just as nice as you please."

Leilani glared at her mother. Corky shook off the last remnants of the pills. Almost every piece was in place. Leilani had driven to the airport. Stan had never been along. The blood was to send the police off in the wrong direction. And the money had about run out.

At that moment, Hank entered the interrogation room. "Sergeant," he said, addressing Corky and ignoring the other occupants, "A badly decomposed body was just found at Noe-noe Point, washed up by the waves and wedged into the rocks. There's enough left to show a snake tattoo around the neck. And there's a fishing knife sticking in his chest."

Corky, Hank and Mrs. Johnson turned to look at Leilani.

A pause. "He tried to rape me," the girl blurted out.

Hank's expression was grim. "His money belt was still on him--empty."

Leilani looked at each of the others, then said, "I want a lawyer."


JOHN A. BROUSSARD was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1924 and received his AB from Harvard and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He taught at the college level for twenty years. John has recently sold about a hundred short stories; in addition, his first two books, MANA and DEATH OF THE TIN MAN'S WIFE (featuring series character Kay Yoshinobu), appeared in 2001. He also reviews for Bibliophile and I Love a Mystery; his website may be found at http://www.fictionwritings.com/.

Copyright (c) 2001 John A. Broussard