Carol Clark - Burned

“He should,” Janet declared as she fluffed her short red hair with her pencil. “Some sick person would be willing to pay a lot of money for it. At least it’s all going for a good cause.”

“He told me he’ll make the decision at the ball.”

Janet shrugged. “More drama. Who knows? Maybe his big last-minute decision will drum up more excitement that night. I’m sure the auctioneer will milk it for all it’s worth.”

Regan nodded. “He wants to see how much the other lei goes for first.”

“Naturally,” Janet replied in her deadpan voice. “It all comes down to money, doesn’t it, Regan?”

“A lot of things do,” Regan agreed. “Nobody had seen Dorinda with the shell lei before, huh?”

Janet shook her head emphatically. “Nobody. People have been stopping at my desk, which I should rename Grand Central Station, to talk to me about Dorinda. Everyone remembers the floral leis she usually wore that matched the flowers in her hair. She thought she was Carmen Miranda. If you ask me, it got to be a bit much. She was always in costume with the ‘tropical’ outfits she wore. Always had to put on a show. Sometimes I just wanted to tell her to calm down and hang loose-we’re in Hawaii, after all.”

She’s calm now, Regan thought. But I doubt poor Dorinda is resting in peace. It doesn’t seem as if there’s anybody who is too choked up about her passing. “She really hadn’t been here that long,” Regan commented.

“Long enough to make her mark. She started in the middle of October when the renovation was complete and the new Coconut Tower and Ballroom had just opened. Will thought it would be a good idea to start a newsletter for guests. Dorinda applied for the job, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

“You said Dorinda got on people’s nerves. Can you give me any examples?”

“Sure. To start, I’ll tell you how she got on my nerves,” Janet pronounced. “Pull up a chair.”

“Yes, thanks,” Regan answered as she obediently grabbed one of the chairs by the door and brought it closer to Janet’s desk. She sat down and fished her notebook out of her purse.

“You going to take notes?” Janet asked.

“If you don’t mind.”

“Be my guest.”

“Thank you. So you were saying…”

“Right. Dorinda. She was a piece of work. Some of the girls who work in the clothing store out there stopped by this morning. Now don’t get me wrong. People are sorry she’s dead. But nobody’s going to miss her too much. For example, she’d breeze in here to see Will and treated me like I was the hired help. I guess I am the hired help, but what the heck was she?”

Regan nodded sympathetically.

“Who knows where she got her attitude?” Janet continued as she shrugged her shoulders. “The girls from the shop were saying that when Dorinda first got here, she acted friendly and asked millions of questions. She got together with them a few times for lunch and drinks. But then she’d break lunch dates at the last minute. And not return phone calls. It was as if she realized they couldn’t do her much good. It seemed to be her pattern with people who worked at the hotel. She plied everyone for gossip and information about life around here and then dropped them when she’d gotten all she could out of them.”

“Do you have any idea about her private life?”

“She was here a lot at night covering the parties and taking pictures. And I know she was always angling to get herself invited to parties and openings around town. I don’t think she had any sort of boyfriend.”

“A waitress in one of the coffee shops told me she was a real flirt.”

“That she was. I saw the way she’d act with Will. She’d breeze past me and then saunter into his office with a big smile. I don’t think he bought into it, but he was stuck. He’d signed a six-month contract with her and wanted to make it work.

“Did Will ever mention anything about firing her?” Regan asked quickly.

“No! But I know Will. He couldn’t have been happy with people’s reaction to Dorinda. He wanted someone to bring people together with the newsletter, not alienate them. I shouldn’t be talking about Will. All I’m saying is yes. Dorinda was a flirt, and she was attractive.”

Interesting, Regan thought. I’ve had the feeling all along that there’s something Will is not telling me. “Did you read the article she wrote for the magazine Spirits in Paradise?”

“No. That reminds me: Now I have to find somebody else to take pictures at the ball.” She jotted down a note on a Post-it on her desk.

Business is business, Regan thought. “Apparently Dorinda walked home every night. Did you know that?”

“Yes. Her apartment is not too far from here, in Waikiki. She took the path along the beach. When it rained, she was always looking for someone to give her a ride. I did once. She barely thanked me. And I live in the opposite direction.”

“I wonder what the story is with her apartment now.”

“Her cousin is on his way here to clean it out.”

“Her cousin is coming here?” Regan repeated.

“Yes. He called after you left before.”

“Where does he live?”

“Venice Beach, California.”

“Oh, really. I live in the Hollywood Hills.”

“Well, he’s flying in today, and Will’s parents will be here in the morning.”

“Will’s parents? He mentioned he was looking forward to his wife coming back this weekend.”

“He was and she is. That’s the problem. She’s been gone since before Christmas, and when she gets back tonight, she’ll hear all this good news. Like her mother-in-law will be arriving in no time flat. Not that Will’s mom isn’t a nice lady but…”

“I understand,” Regan said quickly.

“I’m glad you do because I don’t think Will’s wife will.” Janet laughed. “Poor guy. He has so much going on. He’s got to get through this ball. He’s going to put his parents up in a room here.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Regan said.

“You wouldn’t believe what a good idea it is. Of course that means I’ll be dealing with Mama Brown. And I have to work this weekend at the ball.”

“Things will be busy,” Regan commented.

“They sure will.”

“Janet, did you ever hear that Dorinda was afraid of the ocean?”

“No. But as they said on the news, she did like to sit on the jetty at night. It can be so beautiful and peaceful sitting in the moonlight. I told her more than once to be careful out there by herself. She never listened. She said it calmed her down after a busy day. The currents are strong. Maybe she slipped and fell.”

“Maybe,” Regan agreed as she jotted down a few notes. “Janet, you see a lot of what goes on around here.”

“I hear it, too. I feel like the president of the complaint department.”

“Do you know of anyone who would have wanted to hurt Dorinda?”

“Plenty of people felt like strangling her, but not killing her. I think you know what I mean.”

“I suppose I do. Dorinda started working here just after the renovation was complete, and Will said that the problems around the hotel started soon after that. I know she’s not here to defend herself, but I wonder if she could have had anything to do with the trouble at the hotel.”

“Hard to say,” Janet responded. “We hired a lot of new employees at that time.”

“Could I get a list of those people?”

“Sure. I’ll have that ready for you in a few hours. I really don’t think Dorinda could have been behind the trouble. She would have had to sneak around, and she couldn’t help but make her presence known. When Dorinda was in a room, you knew it. Some of the problems we had originated in the kitchen. Some in the public bathrooms. Some in the guest rooms. Whoever is behind it must have a master key. I suppose Dorinda could have gotten one. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens now that she’s gone.”