“Jolar!” Ramos’ voice boomed. “It’s good to see you! I don’t know if you remember me, but I was at hula class the Saturday that you and that other guy started.”
“Klora, yes. I do remember but I also remember seeing you in passing when you came to visit Commander Gundar and Lieutenant Commander Sachuu.”
He looked pleased about that. “Well, I for one have heard great things about you from them both and I’m sorry to interrupt your honeymoon, but they said you were the closest and had intimate knowledge regarding the case.”
“I do indeed.”
He gestured for me to follow him. “We’ve put him in interrogation room five so you can get a good look at him and ask him any questions you might need to officially.”
“Mahalo.”
There was a window beside the door leading to interrogation room five. I paused to look through it, knowing it was one way so he couldn’t see me.
“That looks almost exactly like him, but it is not,” I told Ramos.
He looked taken aback. “That’s what he told the uniforms who brought him in and kept insisting when I tried talking to him. The Captain figured getting one of you to question him would make him ‘fess up.” he ran a hand through his hair. “And you’re absolutely certain.”
“His eyelashes are longer and fuller and his eyes are rounder. I will speak to him. He is likely to be a relative.”
“Or one of those doppelgangers always on social media.” Seeing my confused look, he explained, “Unrelated people around the world who are identical to strangers somewhere else. They post group photos after finding and meeting.”
That sounded…intriguing.
He opened the door for me to enter and I could almost taste the confusion and worry in the air.
“Finally!” he said as he saw me. “They told me they were getting one of you guys and I thought, cool. You’ll have the tech to be able to confirm I’m not whoever they said his name was.”
“Do you have a brother?” I asked.
“Yeah, why?” His eyes widened. “Shit! Is this what it’s all about? After Dad bailed him out the last time, he swore he’d fly straight. He’d not gotten into any more trouble since that we knew of, so thought he’d kept his word.”
“Your name?”
“Keanu Ito and my rascal of a brother is Jason Ito. I’m his younger brother by a year but people always mistook us for twins growing up. Well, and after, too, I suppose, seeing as I’m here and he’s not.”
“Jason Ito,” I repeated, glad to finally have the real name of the fake lawyer. Or was he a real one? “Did he become a lawyer?”
“He went to law school but failed the bar three times. Last I heard, he was getting a real estate license and setting up shop in South Carolina after following some girl back to the mainland.That was fifteen years ago and we’ve not heard anything much since except for cards on our parents’ birthday and anniversary, and of course, at Christmas.”
“Please submit a DNA sample. I will have it run at the center for immediate results, and that way they will be able to release you.”
“What’s Jason done?”
I looked at him soberly. “I do not know if you're familiar with the case of Linda Takahashi?”
He shook his head. “I don’t follow the news if I can help it. Too depressing.”
I looked at him sympathetically. For good or ill, he was about to feature in some corner of the news thanks to his older brother. “Jason impersonated her lawyer for the past decade after the real one was murdered and buried on property he helped her scam from her nephews.”
His eyes widened. “He killed someone?”
I nodded.
“Is she pretty? He got into trouble for some minor identity theft during college, but Dad got the charges dropped after making restitution for what he’d spent taking out credit cards. I can’t imagine him actually killing someone, though.”
“This was after Linda Takahashi’s brother and sister in law died in an accident that is now looking extremely suspicious, and her husband went missing shortly after introducing her to Jason.”
Keanu’s face was ashen. “Well, shit. Um, his last Christmas card was one of those where you take a picture of yourself for the front of the card. It had a small caption underneath it which said Elkwood Lodge, Pinecrest, South Carolina. I don’t know if he was there on a trip and decided to use the photo of himself in front of the fireplace or if he owns the lodge, or what, but maybe someone around there knows where he might be.”
