"Broussard, John A - Kay Yoshinobu - Death On Watch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Broussard John A)

= DEATH ON WATCH
A Kay Yoshinobu mystery by John A. Broussard


"I didn't kill him. I never killed no one. I don't even own a gun. Never shot one in my whole life."

In his short sleeved orange jump suit, scrawny Mark Watkins didn't look like a murderer and most certainly was not typical of his generation - at least not on the surface. There was no spiky hair, no nose ring, not even a tattoo showing.

But, then, Kay Yoshinobu had been practicing criminal defense for enough years to know it was a mistake to trust to appearances or to believe clients without independent confirmation. Flipping through Mark's file, she quickly ascertained that he had been born in Hawaii - not here on Elima, but on Oahu. He was definitely a haole, probably of northern European ancestry, and the lack of pidgin in his speech indicated he had probably gone to one of the large urban schools in Honolulu.

The school record was about what could be expected. Mostly failure, several suspensions and finally his dropping out in his third year of high school. His criminal record was even more predictable - with disorderly conduct and contempt of court charges, break-ins, brief incarcerations, and a current DUI and suspended license. No indication of violence, however, no sign that he had ever been armed with so much as a pocketknife.

"But you did confess to the burglary," Kay said, looking up from the records.

Mark shrugged. "Sure. I walked in and picked up one or two things. But I didn't kill the guard. No way. He wasn't even there when I checked out the security station. I do lawn work and trimming for a couple of people in Paradise Ranch, including Lofton. That's how I knew I could make out at his house. And I knew the night guard goes on a drive-through check at two in the morning and the route he takes. So I figured I'd slip through with the card I use for work while he was gone - maybe around two-fifteen to be sure he was out on patrol - then pick up what I could from Lofton's and be out of there long before he came back on watch."

Kay was familiar with the gated community of Paradise Ranch, a hundred or so expensive homes on acre-size lots scattered through a large development still stagnating from the local recession. A hotel administrator going off to work had found the guard dead at four in the morning. The burglary was detected four hours later. An anonymous phone call to the police led to the discovery of some of the loot in his parent's house and Mark's consequent arrest on a burglary charge. The murder charge quickly followed when it became obvious that Mark had entered the development at about the time of the killing. The clincher had been when the police found the murder weapon under his car seat.

Later, talking to Sid Chu, her law partner, Kay wondered aloud as to other possible suspects. Having settled down comfortably in Kay's office, Sid ventured the opinion that Mark was guilty as all hell. In spite of his skepticism he added, "You're not likely to get anywhere with her, but it won't hurt to check out the guard's wife."

"Thanks for the suggestion, but Benjamin Franco wasn't married. He did have a live-in girlfriend, though. The police questioned her, of course, but who has an alibi for two o'clock in the morning?"

"Did the police check anyone else?"

"The only close relative Franco had was a brother." Kay searched through the file on her desk. "Aaron Franco. Owns an auto repair business. Married. Two young kids. No police record. His wife vouches for him being home in bed all night. I guess that's some kind of an alibi, but hardly airtight.

"They spoke to the security manager, too." Kay pulled a sheet of paper from the file. "Philip Solage. He's also married. But his wife's visiting on the mainland. He's the one who gave the police a pretty good fix on the earliest time death could have occurred."

Sid raised an eyebrow.

"He got a call from Franco around two-ten to report that his truck wouldn't start and he wouldn't be able to make the rounds."

"You mean that's what Solange says."

Kay shook her head. "It's more than that. He was asleep when the phone rang. He says guards at company sites have to call in, in case of emergencies. He doesn't bother to answer the phone most of the time - just listens to the message - because what may seem like an emergency to the guard usually isn't one at all.

"Anyway, Franco said on the machine that he was about to do the security check and found his truck wouldn't start, so he wanted to know what to do. Solage says he finally decided to call him back and tell him to forget the patrol for that night. The police have the tape with Franco's message, and it checks out."

"I guess that pretty well does tell us that Franco was alive at two."

"Fits pretty close with the preliminary autopsy report, too. The body was found at four, examined at four-thirty, and the estimate is that he was dead between one and three hours.

"Solage's kids are all grown and gone, so we have only his word for it that he was home at the time, asleep. The police didn't consider him as much of a suspect, though. Employers don't usually get rid of employees by shooting them. He also vouched for Franco. Says he passed their security clearance test with flying colors. No police record, and he'd lived here all his life.

"Oh, yes. Something else. You'll love this. The police of course questioned Leonard Lofton, the guy whose house was burglarized. His story's a bit different from Mark's."

"Don't tell me. Let me guess. He claims a hundred thousand dollars in jewelry were stolen - all heavily insured of course."

Kay laughed. "You surprise me every so often, Sid. Actually, he says it's a hundred twenty thousand. And Mark swears he never found any jewelry. Never went into the bedroom where the Loftons were sleeping because he was afraid to wake them up. Lofton claims the jewels were in the guest bedroom, if you can believe that. Anyhow, that's something for him to fight out with the insurance company - especially since the police recovered all the stolen items except for the jewels."