Jessie closed her eyes, hoping some clever idea would pop into her head. None did. She opened them again.
“So, as of now, we have no credible suspects in the murder of a woman who was potentially killed because of her immigration status. All while the media is likely spinning itself into a frenzy and the chief of police is personally invested in having this one solved.”
“That pretty much nails it,” Sam agreed. “Other than those minor details, everything’s going great.”
“Don’t say that, even sarcastically,” Jessie scolded. “You’ll jinx us. We don’t need any more complications.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Alina Arturo felt guilty.
Normally, she arrived to work early. But because of unexpected traffic on 3rdStreet, she was running late. By the time she got to the front door of the Tanaka house, it was 1:12, well past the planned 1 P.M. arrival time.
She knew that the Tanakas wouldn’t care. Yuki was a sweetheart and David, though rarely around, was always pleasant to her. They would understand, especially since she was making a special trip to clean the house on Sunday instead of Monday. Alina usually came on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but the couple was hosting a dinner party tonight and Yuki had asked if she could come a day earlier than usual to help set everything up.
Alina put her key in the lock and turned it. It was already unlocked. She was surprised. While Beverly Grove was a nice, upscale community, it wasn’t immune to crime. Just last week while walking the Tanaka’s schnauzer, Mitzi, Alina had run into Tania, another housekeeper friend who was pushing a stroller with twin babies. Tania had mentioned that a house three blocks over suffered a home invasion robbery. Alina had mentioned that to Yuki later that afternoon, so she was well-aware of the potential danger.
“Hola!” she called out as she entered the foyer and locked the door behind her. Of course, both she and Yuki spoke solid English, but this was the game they played. They were each trying to become passable in the other’s native language, so every day, they would trade a word for the other to learn. Alina had hers ready and wondered what Japanese word Yuki would share. There was no answer.
“Konnichiwa!” she shouted, hoping that might get a response. Yuki didn’t reply but Mitzi did, barking loudly from what sounded like the dining room.
Alina walked in that direction. As she did, she noticed muddy paw prints on the hardwood floor. They were everywhere. Alina found it odd. Yuki wasn’t one to let Mitzi traipse around like that, leaving marks everywhere. She was very fastidious and wouldn’t have just waited for Alina to arrive and clean everything up. She would have done some of it herself and texted Alina a heads up about the extra work. Plus, it hadn’t rained in months so Alina wasn’t even sure how Mitzi could have gotten so dirty.
When she got to where the hallway connected to the dining room, she was surprised to find Mitzi there, cowering at the edge of the entrance where the hardwood met the carpeting. The little dog was filthy, her silver fur matted with mud. When she saw Alina she barked again, then bared her teeth.
“What happened to you, Mitzi?” she cooed, trying to calm the distressed pup.
She walked over slowly, extending her open hand to remind Mitzi of her scent and let her know she posed no threat. But the dog popped up onto all fours and skittered away into the dining room. Alina followed, frustrated that she would have to chase the animal down in order to clean her up. This mess would take extra time that she didn’t have.
When she entered the dining room, she saw that the carpet was basically ruined. Muddy tracks were everywhere, especially leading under the dining room table, where Mitzi had taken up refuge. As Alina approached, she noted something weird.
There was a single plate on the table with something flat in the center of it. When she got closer, she saw that it was a card of some kind. There was also some kind of stain on the chairthat corresponded to the plate. She moved around the side of the table. Then she froze.
She understood what she was seeing but her brain wouldn’t allow her to accept it. Someone was lying on the floor beside the chair, with some kind of cord wrapped around their torso. It was Yuki.
For half a second, Alina thought she'd passed out. But then she saw all the blood. It had pooled around Yuki and was especially thick near her chest and neck, which appeared to have multiple, gaping holes.
She managed to process it all in a flash. The paw prints she’d mistakenly thought were mud. The cords that must have loosened, causing Yuki to topple over. The wounds that were unsurvivable. She started to scream. Hearing that, Mitzi resumed her barking. The sound of their mutual horror echoed throughout the house.
CHAPTER NINE
Jessie undid her seatbelt, ready to hop out of the car as soon as it came to a stop.
Sam was driving and had used the siren and cherry light from the moment they exited the Central Station garage until they pulled up here at the Beverly Grove home of David and Yuki Tanaka.
Just twenty minutes ago, they had been reviewing more of Maria Cain’s e-mails. That was when the call came in from Captain Parker: there was another victim, along with a green card left on a plate next to the body. Apparently the officers from Wilshire Station knew to call HSS immediately upon arriving at the scene because they’d heard about the Cain death on the news.
Jessie had been so focused on their investigation that she hadn’t paid attention to the media frenzy. But now, as Sam rounded the corner onto the Tanaka’s street, she got a sense of just how intense the attention was.
This morning there had been two news vans outside the Cain house. Now, in addition to all the assembled law enforcement vehicles there were four news vans parked along the street near the Tanaka’s home. Two radio crews were there as well. Jessie even saw an SUV emblazoned with the TMZ logo.
She wondered if this increased interest was because of the nature of the crime. Unlike Edward Cain, who worked in finance, David Tanaka was a big-time studio executive. Crimes with a connection to the entertainment industry always seemed to draw extra attention.
“Damn,” Jessie muttered as they came to a stop just down the block from the house. “I forgot to grab my disguises from my car before we left.”
Sam looked over at her in bewilderment. “Jessie, we’re well past that. When you ran to the restroom before we left, Jamil and Beth showed me some of the coverage online. Everybody already knows you’re involved. Between that and the immigrant angle, people are frothing at the mouth. And that’s before we account for the entertainment industry element. There’s no hiding on this one.”
That answered her question pretty definitively, though not in a way she liked.
