Poe's First Law: A Murder on Maui Mystery

she had of value was the jewelry. The necklace and bracelet were the most expensive items, but she wore them every day. She couldn’t very well sell them without Guy noticing.”
“She offered them up and also suggested you cook up the fake robbery? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about your little gambling addiction?” I asked.
Bret looked away.
“Oh, you didn’t tell her. That’s interesting. Bad assumption on my part.”
Bret turned back to me.
“Lucy loved me. It wouldn’t have mattered.”
“I know you don’t really believe that. Otherwise, you would have told her. Did she ever tell you about the times Guy hit her?”
I studied Bret for a reaction. I got one, but it wasn’t a look of anger. Instead, it was confusion.
“Another interesting reaction. She didn’t tell you, which probably means it didn’t happen.”
“What difference does that make? It doesn’t mean he didn’t kill her,” Bret said.
“No, it doesn’t. Still, it’s intriguing. I don’t know the statistics, but I’d imagine that a man who’s willing to shoot his wife might have raised a hand to her sometime before that. Why did she cheat on her husband?”
“What do you mean why? She hated him. She thought I could make her happy.”
“Why did she hate him?”
“Because he cheated on her. She told me that he’d had an affair before they moved to the island. They were separated for a year, but then she took him back.”
“They lived on the island for a few years. What changed? Did she suspect he was cheating again?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“With who?”
“She didn’t know. She said she started monitoring his email. She checked his text messages and calls too. She even installed software on his phone so she could track his movements.”
“But she still didn’t know who he was cheating with? Maybe she was wrong.”
“She swore she wasn’t,” Bret said.
“Okay, so she thought he was cheating, and she jumped right into your bed to get even.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Here’s what I think happened. She finally came to the conclusion that she’d guessed wrong about the affair and she felt guilty for giving you the jewelry – jewelry that her husband had given her for their wedding anniversary. She came to you and broke off the affair. You got mad and you’re the one who killed her.”
“That’s crazy. I never would have hurt her. We were going to move back to the mainland together. I’d already contacted a real estate agent about selling this house. You can check with the agent if you don’t believe me.”
I looked around the yard and then turned back to Bret.
“I don’t see a ‘For Sale’ sign anywhere.”
“That’s because I decided not to go through with it after Lucy was murdered,” Bret said.
“Did Lucy give you the four-digit code to her front door?”
“No, why would she do that?”
“Have you ever been in her house?” I asked.
“A few times when they asked me over for dinner.”
“Wow, you ate dinner at the man’s house, and the entire time, you’re sleeping with his wife.”
“That was before the affair. I never went back after we started up.”
“Was Lucy scared of anyone?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, was she scared of anyone? Did she ever tell you about a fight she had with someone, maybe at work or someplace like that?”
“No, never.”
“Were you the only one she ever had an affair with?”
“How should I know? I didn’t ask.”
“No, but you suspected, didn’t you?”
Bret looked away again.
“You know something, Bret, you’re not very good at hiding your emotions,” I said.
Bret hurled an insult at me, one that I don’t intend to mention here since it was so vulgar. I will say that as far as insults go, it was entirely predictable, and I felt a little disappointed that he hadn’t come up with something more original. I know, I know, that’s strange of me.
I reached behind him and undid the triple knot.
“It may take you a while, but you’ll eventually work yourself free,” I said, and I stood.
He insulted me again, which was an exact repeat of what he’d said a moment before. I was tempted to mention that, but I managed to restrain myself. My ability to be a smartass does have its limits.
I turned from Bret and walked back to my car. I climbed inside and started the short drive to Oleen Akamu’s apartment. With any luck, she wouldn’t try to beat me with a piece of lumber.

19


The Art of the Bluff
I got to Oleen’s apartment in Kihei about twenty minutes before Foxx did. It gave me time to mentally prep for the interview. Like many things in this investigation, it seemed like Oleen’s actions came down to two possibilities. She either saw Mele Akamu and Samson murder Eric Ellis or she didn’t. You may be inclined to think that I assumed she hadn’t seen it. I didn’t. The truth is that I didn’t know what to believe. I thought there were compelling arguments that could be made for either possibility.
That said, if she was lying about it, then it wasn’t hard to figure out her motivation. Tavii had hurt her and she wanted her revenge. Taking out his grandmother and destroying the family business was a good way to do that. She also had to know that he was finished as a politician.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about something Samson had said to me earlier in the day. He’d told me that Tavii and Oleen relied on Mele Akamu to take care of them. Oleen apparently didn’t have money of her own, so Samson couldn’t figure out why she was willing to go as far as she apparently was.
It’s one thing to be broke in your youth. It’s quite another to be willing to walk into poverty in your forties, which was the age I guessed Oleen was. The last thing someone at that age wants to do is live in some crummy apartment when they’re used to living in a large, well-appointed house.
None of this is to say that I was surprised that