Unknown Victim by Kay Hadashi (classic books for 11 year olds .TXT) 📕

Kenzo that comes around to work on the house, and Felix is putting up the wallboard inside while his crew works on the farm.”

“By the way, what they’re doing is called fieldwork. Felix is the foreman, and you’d be the project manager. The owner of the place is known as the farmer.”

“Thanks. I’ve never worked on a farm,” she said. “How do you know so much about farming?”

“Felix and I did fieldwork on a farm as teenagers after school to earn a little money. He made a career of it, but after a few summers of stoop labor, I knew I wanted something else in life.”

“And that was to become a police detective?” she asked. She knew her father’s life story of how he became a police detective, and a few other family friends that were on the force back home, but it was interesting to hear about Kona’s life in Hawaii.

“Among some other ideas. After college, I tossed my name onto several waiting lists for career training.”

“How’d you decide on police work?” she asked.

“Easy. Process of elimination. The police academy was the first place to offer me training, with a job at the end.” He pretended to look at his notes again. “Tell me about living in the house. Why here before it’s even been rebuilt and not in an apartment somewhere?”

“More money in my pocket. I get to live in rent-free in the house for the duration of the contract. Plus, just last night, I got a pickup truck from Millie Tanizawa to use. With each passing day, things get a little better.” She chuckled. “Except for finding a dead body on the front porch.”

He jammed his thumb in the direction of the old Datsun. “She gave you that thing?”

“Yeah. I think it’s as old…historical as everything else around here.”

“You have a Hawaii state driver’s license?” he asked.

“Not yet. The only place I’ve been is the hardware store.”

“As a resident, you have three months, and then you get a ticket. Are the vehicle’s license tabs current?”

“I…” Gina felt her face flush red with embarrassment. It was an easy ticket to write to a driver with expired tabs, and she’d already been driving it without checking. “I’m not sure.”

Detective Kona went to the old pickup and looked closely at the tab on the rear plate. “Good for six months. Don’t let it expire.”

Gina wanted to make a wise crack about being an adult, and how the vehicle was a loaner, but she kept quiet about it.

Kona seemed to switch gears with his thoughts. “About Flor and Florinda. They’re a married couple?”

“That’s the impression I got.”

“Do they wear wedding rings?” he asked.

“I haven’t noticed. I guess my investigative skills are a little rusty.”

“More like your skills as a gossip need some fine tuning. They never mentioned their last name?”

“Not that I’ve heard. Why? This is starting to sound like a formal interview.”

Kona took a deep breath through his nose, shook his head, and looked out at the farm again. “No, just curious.”

“There’s something I’m still curious about. Did you ever ID the body?” Gina asked.

“His fingerprints aren’t in the local or FBI data bases.”

“Which makes him a law abiding citizen,” Gina said.

“And never had a federal job that required a background check.”

“What about the smear of blood on the pocketknife that we found in his pocket?” Gina asked.

“We?”

“Officer Iosefa and that blonde?”

“That blonde’s name is Officer Davis.”

“Good for her. What about the blood?” she asked.

“Not a match to his. I’m having an officer check the emergency rooms for anyone that might’ve come in with a knife wound consistent with what that pocketknife might inflict. You got a problem with blondes?”

“Only with the pretty ones. She has an accent like she’s not from Hawaii originally?”

“She’s from LA. That’s where she did her academy training. Why?” he asked.

“No reason. Just curious.”

Kona grinned at her. “It sounds like there’s more to it than that?”

“Kinda got under my skin.”

“Her specifically or blondes in general?” he asked.

“Both.”

“Anything else you want to know about her?”

“No, I think I’ve pushed my luck far enough for one day.”

Detective Kona chuckled and shook his head as he went to his car.

Chapter Twelve

By Wednesday morning, the dead body on the front porch had been forgotten, at least by most of Gina’s work crew. Once again, Clara made a wide berth around the front porch on her way to the back door of the house. She seemed especially upset about something, and Gina needed to know if it had to do with the job.

“Everything okay, Clara?” Gina asked, cornering the girl in the kitchen.

Clara slammed closed a cabinet door. “Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You seem upset about something. Is everything okay with your job?”

“It’s fine, okay?”

Gina took a step back when Clara got a kitchen knife and began slicing vegetables with a butcher knife. She thought that as long as she had someone’s attention, or at least a private audience without too many other people asking questions, she got out her phone and found a picture.

“Clara, we found this bottle cap the other day. Someone thought it might be a Philippine brand. Is that brand name familiar to you?”

Clara looked surprised with only a glance at the picture. “Why are you asking me?”

“Well, the others are sort of busy.”

Clara stopped with the knife and glared at Gina. “I’m not busy?”

“Of course you are. I keep forgetting to ask Flor and his wife. Do you know if it’s a Philippine brand?”

“Yeah, from the Philippines.”

“Is it a soda?”

“Tuyo Beer. Where’d you find it?”

“It was in the pocket of that man the other day,” Gina said. It was more of a test than to answer the question.

Clara visibly shuddered, and missed the celery stick altogether when she took a swing at it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Clara said, going back to work at the cutting board.

“You seem nervous. Is there something about that brand of beer?”

“Unusual here in Hawaii to find that beer. Not very good at all. Very cheap. Nobody drinks it.”

Gina decided to