Mele Kalikimaka Mr Walker (14 page)

The early morning crowd was about half the dinner team, all chewing away to the rattle of knives and forks, sipping coffee while some read newspapers. Norton had some more cereal, plus a stack of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and bacon with coffee and toast. There was no mad hurry so he took his time eating, then after one last cup of coffee caught the lift back to his room.

Feeling even better now, Les changed into a clean pair of blue shorts and a light blue Quiksilver T-shirt Tony Nathan had given him as a bribe for taking the camera case to Hawaii, then settled down to wait. He was sitting at the table, flicking through the contents of the mailer again, deep in thought about things that weren't his business, while Wilson Pickett was boog-a-looing out of the radio, when a soft knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Just a little apprehensively, Les stuffed the photocopies back in the mailer then walked over and answered it.

‘Are you Les Norton?'

Les nodded and muttered a very slow, almost inaudible. ‘Yeah.'

‘Andriana told me to come round and see you. I'm Mitzi Moonkiss.'

Mitzi was wearing blue denim shorts and a loose-fitting orange top, split across the neck to reveal one beautiful brown shoulder. She was carrying a denim
overnight bag and came up roughly to Norton's chin. She was Asian, with crimped blonde hair, a sweet pink smile and the deepest, most beautiful brown eyes Les could remember seeing, tinged slightly with blue liner. Her figure was firm with a cute little pair of boobs and a pair of dainty little Nikes and white socks sat on the bottom of the two lovely brown legs that glowed from sunshine and body oil. No matter what, Mitzi was one beautiful girl and not a day over sixteen. Norton stood framed in the door, giving her any number of once up and downs.

‘Well, can I come in?'

‘Yeah,' nodded Les, with awkward enthusiasm. ‘Yeah, sure. I'm sorry.'

‘You're not expecting someone else, are you?' Mitzi asked politely.

Norton shook his head and closed the door. ‘Put it this way, Mitzi,' he said, watching her shapely backside going to the bedroom, ‘I certainly wasn't expecting
you
. Anyway, I'm Les, Mitzi. Pleased to meet you.'

Mitzi delicately accepted Norton's hand and his gentle handshake. ‘You too, Les. Andriana's told me a few things about you.'

‘All good I hope,' smiled Les.

‘Yes, all good,' smiled Mitzi. ‘Very good indeed.'

‘Well, that's… good. Isn't it?'

‘Yes.' Mitzi continued to smile. ‘I suppose you could say that.'

Les pulled a chair out; Mitzi placed her overnight bag on the table then sat down with her back to the sundeck and crossed her lovely brown legs. Still a little lost for words, Les kept giving Mitzi once up and downs
that almost made his mouth water. In fact, it was all Norton could do to keep his eyes off her. Bloody hell, he thought happily. Andrea's sent me round a young hooker. They're not generally my cup of tea. But, Christ! No wonder those rich mugs pay a fortune to get in the cot with these ones. She's bloody gorgeous. Les gave a little chuckle inside. Well, good on you, Andrea. And I'll bet this is on the house too. Looking at Mitzi's legs and smouldering eyes Les felt like eating her there and then, starting with her dainty little fingers and working his way down to what you could bet would be ten dainty little toes. Still, he thought, no need to go like a bull at a gate. I got all day yet.

Mitzi seemed to sense Les staring at her. ‘You did say you weren't expecting someone else?' she said.

Les shook his head and laughed quietly. ‘When Andri-ana said she was sending someone round to keep me company, I was half expecting Monroe. You'll be a lot easier to get in the car than him.'

‘Actually he drove me round to your hotel.'

‘Monroe doesn't drive just Andriana around?'

Mitzi shook her head. ‘Not that I live far from here. Just over in Kapahulu.'

Les nodded slowly. ‘Right. So how do you like working for Andriana? Or Ms Hazlewood.'

‘It's good,' replied Mitzi. ‘I like her.'

‘And how do you like being a working girl?'

Apart from the sweet smile, Mitzi's Asian face was still somewhat inscrutable. Then even the smile seemed to fade. ‘How do I like being a what?'

‘A working girl.' Les made a gesture with his hand. ‘You know. An LJ. A sausage roll.'

Mitzi stared expressionlessly at Norton. ‘I don't quite understand what you're talking about. I'm Ms Hazle-wood's accountant.'

Norton looked at Mitzi, looked out the window for a split second, then looked back at Mitzi. ‘Right! Yes. Of course. You're the accountant.'

Mitzi continued to stare at Les. ‘What exactly did you think I was?'

‘Think?' Les blinked once or twice while his mind started tap-dancing at a thousand miles an hour. ‘Well. The… the marine architect.'

‘Marine architect?'

‘Yeah. You know. Andriana's got that… those boatbuilding interests. You're her accountant. You should know what I mean.'

Mitzi nodded very slowly. ‘I think I know what you're talking about.'

‘Well. I've got a mate… a friend, back in Australia, who's building a yacht. Andriana was going to get this girl… Kia… to drop some plans off for me to take back.' Les looked at his watch. ‘She said if she wasn't here by eight-thirty she couldn't make it. I thought you might have been her… running late.'

Some expression returned to Mitzi's face. An impassive blink. ‘Oh. I see.'

‘I thought you might have been an accountant anyway.'

‘Why's that?'

Les pointed to Mitzi's face. ‘I can see the marks on the bridge of your nose from your glasses,' he said weakly.

Mitzi subconsciously massaged the top of her nose. ‘Actually, I had to do some reading this morning.'

‘Yeah. Right.' Les clapped his hands together. ‘Well, now that we've got that sorted out, can I get you something, Mitzi? You don't mind me calling you Mitzi, do you? Ms Moonkiss sounds a bit… you know?'

‘Mitzi's fine,' she nodded.

‘I've got no coffee. And I think it's a bit early to start hitting the turps. Would you like some fruit juice?'

‘Thank you, Les. That would be very nice.'

‘Coming right up.' Les gave Mitzi an oily smile and retreated to the bathroom.

Shit! How about that, thought Les, as he got some ice from the fridge. She's an accountant. Trust bloody Andrea. I knew she'd pull some kind of a trick on me. The cheeky little bastard. But what a good sort anyway. Andrea must've got her straight out of school. And if she's just a pen-pusher, I wonder what those other girls must look like in the flesh. Les mixed up two glasses of juice and went back into the bedroom.

‘There you go,' he said, handing Mitzi a glass. ‘I call these “purple people eaters”. They're not bad.'

Mitzi took a delicate sip. ‘Yes, they're lovely. Thank you.'

Norton sat down opposite Mitzi and decided it might be an idea to stop perving on her. He'd already nearly made a dill of himself and Mitzi was obviously a very cool and intelligent young lady. A little respect now would be well in order. ‘So what did Andriana tell you about today, Mitzi? All she said to me was she was sending someone around to keep me company. But I am over twenty-one. I don't need someone to hold my hand.'

‘Andriana said you'd hired a car and you were taking
a drive over to the North Shore. She told me to see that you got there okay and take you out for dinner afterwards. Then we could both go and have a few drinks later, if you wanted to.'

‘Sounds all right to me.' Norton's smile was warm and genuine. ‘And thanks very much for going to the trouble.'

‘It's no trouble.'

Les was rapt. Just going out for the day with Mitzi would be sensational. And you never know — if he behaved himself there was a chance he might get another lash before he left. ‘You got any places in mind?'

‘Oh, a couple.'

‘Rightyo!' Les took another sip of fruit juice. ‘So how long have you been Andriana's accountant?'

Mitzi stared impassively at Les for a moment. ‘Oh, for a while.'

‘So you'd know a fair bit about Andriana… Ms Hazlewood?'

‘A bit. Yes.'

‘Then why don't we drop this Andriana Hazlewood sheizenheimer, and call her Andrea.'

A wry smile crept across Mitzi's inscrutable oriental face and flickered in those two beautiful brown eyes. ‘Yes. Why not,' she nodded slowly with a quiet laugh.

‘Right,' Les smiled back, happy now that they seemed to be on more even terms. He took another sip of fruit juice. ‘So, tell us a bit about yourself, Mitzi. But before you do, there's something I've got to ask you, if you don't mind. How old are you?'

‘I'm twenty-seven. Why?'

Norton picked his jaw up off the floor and put it
back on his face where it belonged. ‘Oh, nothing,' he just about mumbled. ‘You don't look anywhere near it, that's all.' What else could Les say?

Mitzi originally came from a small town in Korea called Yinchee, before moving to Seoul so she could attend university. She finished university in San Francisco, where she met Takushi's two sons. She moved to Hawaii because she had relatives here and it was old Takushi who introduced her to Andrea. Mitzi had been with Andrea since day one and knew everything about her, including what Andrea had told her about Les. Naturally she knew exactly what Andrea was up to, how much she was worth and how she was covering her arse. She also knew that the bubble was going to burst eventually, especially with Andrea's Godfather gone, and had advised her it was about time she got into something else. For her own good as well as everybody else's. Les reiterated about how he knew Andrea, how he came to be in Hawaii and told Mitzi pretty much what he'd told Andrea, pointing to the mailing bag with the photocopies sitting on the table. Mitzi was trying not to let on too much, but being a woman she had to have a bit of a gossip, and once again, Les was a shoulder to lean on and an ear to chew, as well as seeming to be a likeable, easy-going sort of bloke. However, judging by the way Mitzi spoke about Andrea at different times, Les could see that as well as having a sort of admiration for her, she genuinely liked Andrea and the way Andrea treated her and others and was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing. After a couple more cool fruit juices, Mitzi seemed to be warming up to Norton even more.

‘You know, Les, Andrea's a shrewd businesswoman. But at times she can be so damn vague.'

‘Vague? How do you mean, vague?'

‘Blasé might be a better word. I mean, she just carries on in the middle of all this like it's some sort of joke. It's almost as if she gets more of a kick out of stirring people up than she does from the money she's making.' ‘Andrea's always been a bit of a stirrer,' smiled Les. ‘Maybe she's just got things on her mind. The cops and all that.'

‘Forget the cops for the time being. Andrea wants to watch her back.'

‘You mean all the killings?'

‘Exactly,' Mitzi nodded quite worriedly. ‘They're starting to get scary, Les. But Andrea just says, “No worries. It's all sweet.” Or, “I've sweetened it all up.” Or something like that.'

‘That'd be her,' Les smiled again. He looked at Mitzi over his fruit juice for a moment. ‘What do you think of all these murders? Have you got any ideas who the bloke… the guy, is?' Hello. Here I go again, thought Les. Sticking my big silly head in. I must be a frustrated bloody detective.

Mitzi shook her head, blowing air out over her lips. ‘I don't know, Les. It's weird. Really weird.'

‘Why's that, Mitzi?'

‘Well. Because I come from the same village as all the girls, I've had to go down and identify the bodies, then get them sent home. Which is no big deal. I'm just an accountant who happens to come from the same place. And between the local cops and the marines, no one's pushing it all that much. Except —'

‘Mick. The Aussie cop.'

‘Yeah. Actually, he's an all right guy. Anyway, one day I ran all the girls' names up on a computer, and as well as being strong the guy knows all the girls' movements, where they live… and he must be able to speak Korean.'

Norton's ears started to prick up. It might have been the frustrated cop in him. Maybe it was the fifty grand. ‘Tell me more, Mitzi,' he said avidly.

‘Well, you must know how we Koreans have names like “Yik Ah Sun”, or “Roh Lan Kim”. I used to be called Mit Mu Kow, but I got sick of every yo-yo calling me Mitzi Moo Cow.'

‘Yeah, I can sort of dig that, Mitzi,' chuckled Les, shifting his eyes to the ghetto blaster for a second. ‘I sometimes think all Korean politicians are named after old rock 'n' roll songs. You know, Doo Ron Ron, Sha Na Na. Wop Bop Bop. Sorry if I'm being a little culturally insensitive there, Mitzi, old sausage. But they do.'

‘Yeah, I know what you mean, Les.' Mitzi returned Norton's smile. ‘But so far all the girls, except for that damn black one, have been killed in alphabetical order.'

‘Interesting,' Norton nodded slowly.

‘And you know what the next initial is, Les?' The big Queenslander shook his head. ‘H. For “Hazlewood” or “Hayden”. Take your pick. There's a Ho and a Han on the books, but they've gone back home. I reckon the next name on the killer's list is Andrea.'

‘Shit! You could be right, Mitzi.'

‘I'm sure I'm right. There's more to this than some kook marine that's murdering the girls.'

‘That's what I reckon.'

‘I wouldn't be surprised if the Yakuza was behind it. They're ruthless enough. Takushi's gone and there's a lot of money involved. Plus they got all these weird rituals and things.'

‘It's a thought.' Norton drummed his fingers on the table.