Sujata Massey - Shimura Trouble

“Calvin, that’s not…that’s not proper! You know how old-fashioned my father is!”

I’d barely gotten the words out before Calvin slammed me against the wall. Now I was regretting how I’d joked about his muscles, because I’d underestimated his capabilities. I wondered how long Michael would hide before he came to my aid.

“Your father doesn’t know you’re here-anyway, he’s still at Waianae Clinic,” Calvin said. “When I telephoned Tom just now to double-check, that’s what he told me. And that’s where he was going, because apparently there’s a complication.”

“A complication?” I caught my breath, hoping either Tom or Calvin was bluffing. But if there had been a real complication…No, I told myself. My father is in a safe place, with a good doctor.

“Tom said he thought you were out swimming and was quite worried you didn’t come back,” Calvin said. “He has no idea you’re in this house. Nobody else does, either.”

He was smiling an odd smile, and now my heart was working overtime. Tom knew I was here, but I remembered how I’d drilled him not to do anything until he got the call to come. Perhaps he thought I was still on the boat. Who knew what he thought; it was just unfortunate I had no way to contact him. Michael could; that was the only hope, but then Michael wasn’t about to leave the house until I did.

“Calvin, I’m so sorry about the sand. May I borrow your vacuum?” I tried to wiggle my shoulders away from his hands. I had to get an excuse to get away from him.

“The game’s up, Rei.”

“What game?” I spoke loudly. “It sounds as if you’re threatening me.”

“You’re completely alone now.”

“Of course I am.” I was measuring distances-eight steps down the hall to the stairs, but his short, solid body to get past. Ten steps in the other direction, to the bedroom where Michael had gone.

“I’ve taken care of your boyfriend. And the other one, too, the guy with no hair. It amazes me how many fellows these days want to look like chemotherapy patients.”

“How…?” I was unable to finish the sentence. Despite Kurt’s strength, I couldn’t believe he could have physically triumphed over Michael or Kurt, let alone both. Had he forced them to poison themselves or shot them with silencers? Or was he bluffing?

“Do you want to know what happened to them?”

“Calvin, I’m afraid I don’t know-’ I switched tactics midstream. “Yes, I was swimming with Michael and one of his friends before the riptide carried me out, and if they’ve come to find me, that makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m sorry if they entered without ringing the bell…”

“They certainly didn’t.”

“Well, I suppose you better tell me what you did with them, then!” I spoke up for the benefit of the mini tape-recorder. Maybe it would be the only way to tell the story…But no, I couldn’t think like that.

“Jiro ran into the bald one in the entertainment center, and got him under control with one of his toys. After we got him bound and put away, we got Michael.”

“What kind of toys are you talking about?” I asked.

Calvin released one hand to reach into his cargo shorts and pull out a black rectangular object that looked like a slightly large razor. Not a razor-a stun gun, the weapon that was easy to buy, and legal almost everywhere.

“Did you use that on Charisse, too?” I asked.

“Didn’t need to. That was…well, an accident after a good time was had by all. A shame, but nobody would ever have thought anything more about it if it wasn’t for you.”

“An accident, maybe, but you chose to move her body and burn it.” I kept my eyes on the stun gun. Was he going to use it on me, too? I wondered if the wetsuit would offer me any degree of protection.

“What do you think we should do, call the ambulance and say our favorite stupid girlfriend got hurt?” Calvin answered sarcastically. “Hey, as you know, I’m under orders to keep Jiro calm and out of trouble.”

“First, do no harm. Isn’t that the first line in the Hippocratic Oath? I should know; my father has it framed in his office.”

I saw a strange expression cross Calvin’s face-a mixture of anger and shame. I’d broken through, reminded him of what he’d once hoped to be. In that moment I brought up my free hand and smashed his nose, sending him rearing backward as I broke out of his weakened, one-handed grip.

I ran the three steps to the bathroom, but Calvin had recovered and was on my heels in no time. As I struggled with the flimsy lock, he pushed his way in and I was left with no recourse but to jump atop the toilet, reach toward the towel cabinet where I grabbed up the Chihuly vase and flung it straight at his forehead.

Calvin collapsed on the bathroom floor as blood spurted everywhere.

“Calvin-san? Daijoubu?” A high-pitched male voice called from downstairs, asking Calvin if he was alright. Jiro! Now I remembered what Kurt had said about seeing an Asian man in the house. Maybe it had been Jiro, whom I’d thought was on Maui, but really had never gone. And now I think I understood why Calvin wanted me out of the wetsuit and into a robe: I’d be Jiro’s entertainment, before they bumped me off.

Calvin was knocked out, but my problems were far from over. I locked the bathroom door and dragged Calvin’s limp body in front of it, to make a barrier that would delay Jiro a few minutes longer.

Sliding the bathroom window open to the second-floor lanai, I saw the waiting sailboat again. How I’d hated the boat, but now I longed to be on it. I wondered if Parker or Karen had the binoculars trained on the house. Probably, but since I was inside, they couldn’t know what was happening.

Well, there was one thing I knew about sailing. I reached back through the window to the light switch near the bath, which controlled an overhead chandelier. I flashed it on and off in three rhythmic sets of three pulses, the set in the middle longer to form an old-fashioned S.O.S. signal.

I still had to evacuate, and going down the lanai seemed a good choice, although there was no waterspout or trellis to serve as a support. Come on, I told myself, commandos do this kind of thing all the time. But as Kurt had implied to me, I couldn’t carry my weight; I was as soft as the towels I’d used to dry my feet.

The towels! I went back to the floor and grabbed up the heap of clean towels that had scattered when I’d thrown the urn. As I square-knotted the towels together, I noticed they were bamboo, not cotton, and could only hope they would be more flexible and strong than cotton. Soon I’d crafted a rope about twenty feet long; it wouldn’t get me all the way down to the ground, but close enough to make the jump safer. I used the same square knot to tie one end of the towel-rope securely around the lanai railing and had just climbed over when I heard the bathroom door crash open. I glanced toward the lush garden below me and, seeing nobody waiting there, slid.

My landing was good, with knees bent and feet and hands straight on the ground. I came out of the crouch fast and collected the last two towels, which had torn off the bottom of the rope when I’d jumped.

I melted against the side of the house, knowing that in seconds Jiro might look out the window for me. What would he think, that I’d run for the beach, or the main road?

The reality was that I had to find Michael and Kurt, as quietly and quickly as possible. I tried the kitchen door and found it had been locked. I hurried around the house, debating whether I should cut and run, coming back with the police for Michael and Kurt, but I couldn’t imagine them deserting me. I’d find them, and then we’d leave.

As I rounded the side of the house by the driveway, a slight sound caught my ear-it sounded like the purring of an engine. The main garage door was locked shut, but when I ran around the structure I found a second doorway sized for people, not cars. This door was unlocked.