Poe's First Law: A Murder on Maui Mystery

what else was she going to say?
We walked to the front door and rang the bell. Samson answered a few moments later.
“Good morning, Ms. Winters, Mr. Rutherford. Mrs. Akamu is expecting you.”
He led us to the back of the house where we found Mele Akamu in her normal seat by the fire pit. This time Samson stayed within earshot. Was there a reason for that? I didn’t know.
“Well, Mr. Rutherford, what do you have to report?” Mrs. Akamu asked in her calm and measured voice.
I could have danced around for a while and told her about my interviews with Lee Walters and Gracie Ito, but what would have been the point? A picture is worth a thousand words, as they like to say.
I removed my phone from my pocket and pulled up the photo Gracie had emailed me. I stepped closer to Mele Akamu and handed her the phone.
“You specifically told me that Samson didn’t locate Eric Ellis. It seems that you were wrong. Either Samson lied to you or you lied to me,” I said.
Mele Akamu glanced at the phone a moment. Then she handed it back to me. Her expression never altered one bit.
“Would you have taken my case if I’d told you what Samson did to Eric?” Mrs. Akamu asked.
“Probably not.”
“Then why are you asking me an insignificant question? I told you what I needed to tell you.”
“Sorry, but I’m not buying that as an excuse.”
“Who gave you that photo? I assume it was Gracie Ito.”
“She told me that Eric had a meeting with you the night he disappeared.”
“There was no meeting, I assure you. Eric might have been coming here to see me on his own. He never arrived.”
“Forgive me if I have a hard time believing you,” I said.
“Let me ask you a question, Mr. Rutherford. Why would I have ordered Eric’s death after having him beaten? Why not just kill him from the start?”
“Perhaps he refused to get the message, despite your butler’s considerable skills in hurting people.”
“A fair argument, but that’s not what happened,” Mrs. Akamu said.
“Is it possible your grandson ordered his death?”
Mrs. Akamu laughed.
“No one would have followed it. Nothing happens around here without my direction.”
“Yes, but Tavii is a member of the Akamu family. He will be the one to inherit the crown, so to speak. Maybe someone wanted to stay on his good side.”
“Tavii will only inherit what I allow him to inherit, and no one on my staff would be foolish enough to believe otherwise. That is true today. It was true five years ago.”
“Why did you fire Lee Walters but not hurt him too?” I asked.
“You have made some progress interviewing people. Good. I always liked Lee and I didn’t think he had anything to do with Eric’s plan to blackmail me. Still, one must be careful. I couldn’t take the chance by allowing him to continue under my employ. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, cut your losses. Lee made the wise decision that it would be better for him to pursue a new path than try to come after me. I would think that my compassion for Lee would have convinced you that I didn’t have Eric killed. If I was that ruthless, why kill one and not the other?”
It was a good point, but I said nothing.
“One more thing,” Mrs. Akamu continued. “Allow me to put forth a hypothetical story. Let’s suppose that there was another man under my employ who tried to betray me. Let’s also assume this happened many years before Eric’s disappearance. Perhaps I had one of my men rid me of this betrayer. Maybe I also had them take this individual and deposit him in the ocean several miles from shore. After such a successful endeavor, why would I then be so foolish as to bury Eric’s body on the island where it could eventually be found? Do you think that little of me, Mr. Rutherford?”
“Let’s move on to something else,” I said.
“Good.”
“Gracie Ito informed me that she overheard Eric arguing with a man on the phone the day he died. She said Eric called this person Stan, but Eric refused to tell her who he was and what the argument was about. Do you know anyone by that name?” I asked.
I saw Samson look at Mele Akamu out of the corner of my eye. She obviously did know Stan. Would she admit it, though?
“Ms. Ito said nothing else about that phone call?” Mrs. Akamu asked.
“No, only that Eric raised his voice, which she claimed he rarely did.”
“That is true. He was always calm, at least around me. It was one of his qualities that I admired,” Mrs. Akamu said.
“Do you know this man?” Mara asked, finally getting into the conversation.
“Yes, I know him. His name is Stan Cross. He thinks he’s a business competitor of mine,” Mrs. Akamu said.
“He thinks? I don’t understand,” Mara said.
“Stan Cross has been after me for years. He’s never gotten close. I always suspected that Eric might have tried to sell the information on my business to him. Mr. Rutherford just confirmed that.”
“Yet Eric was arguing with this man. Perhaps he changed his mind about working with Stan Cross,” I said.
“Or they were arguing over the price Stan would pay Eric. That’s the more likely scenario. Stan is well known for making promises he doesn’t intend to keep. I would have thought Eric would have known that,” Mrs. Akamu said.
“Is Stan Cross still in business?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Akamu said.
“If Eric originally agreed to sell the information to him but then backed out, it would be a powerful motive for Stan Cross to have killed Eric,” I said.
“It could also explain the discrepancies of how the body was disposed of,” Mara added.
I was about to ask for Stan Cross’ whereabouts when I heard the backdoor to Mrs. Akamu’s house open. I turned and saw Detective Josh Parrish and four uniformed police officers walking toward us.
Samson, the elderly butler, started for them. Did he intend