Page 55 of Deadly Sacrifice

It was after five when she arrived at the Steinbrenners’ home. The gate was open, as it had been on her last visit, and Lei frowned at the sight. She parked and knocked on the door; in a moment, it swung open.

“Detective, hello. Thanks for texting me. I was able to cancel dinner plans with a friend to make time to talk with you,” Helen said. “Please come in.”

They walked through the house and sat on the back lanai, watching the sunset turn the skies to the west afire with orange and pink captured in the clouds snagged on the peaks of the West Maui Mountains.

“Can I offer you anything? Iced tea, water?”

“No thanks, I’m good. I wanted to follow up on a few things that have come to light since we talked,” Lei said. “How are you holding up?”

“I was okay until I heard the news about that awful website on the news. Just the thought of it made me ill. I hope the media has the discretion not to show the pictures.” Helen sat abruptly and reached for the box of tissues, still on the coffee table from Lei’s visit with Katie. “It’s too horrible.”

“I’m so sorry. So far they’re behaving themselves, and the site has been removed. Have the press been bothering you?”

Helen dabbed her eyes. “I had David’s administrative assistant reroute all incoming calls to the company offices on the mainland. The people who need to get in touch with me personally have my cell phone number.”

“That’s good. Now what about my previous question?” Lei was a little surprised at how much she genuinely cared about this woman. “How are you holding up?”

Helen sighed and leaned back, crossing her legs. Her natural beauty shone as her face was bare of makeup and she wore a simple cottonmuumuu. “I’m surviving. It’s still so hard to believe David’s gone. I spend time on the phone with my therapist every day, and my sister will be here soon. She’s staying long enough to help me pack everything up to move back to California. This is a lovely island, but Maui has lost its charm for me.”

“I can understand that. Meanwhile, you should keep your gate closed and locked at all times. We could also have an officer do extra drive-bys.”

A sad smile crossed Helen’s face. “That won’t be necessary. I didn’t have anything to do with the development. I’m afraid I’m just the trophy widow.” She looked out to the golden light on the mountains. “This is such a beautiful place. Horror doesn’t belong here.”

“I agree. I love my island, and I’m doing what I can to make it safe for all its people,” Lei said. “Now. Are you ready to tackle some questions?”

“Please, go ahead.”

“We’re going to be interviewing all the people who were involved with the Kuleana project, even peripherally.” Lei pulled out a picture from a manila folder she’d brought in—an 8x10 enlargement of the picture that was in the newspaper. She handed it over. “Do you remember this?” she asked.

“I do. It was the night the company had a big dinner to announce the project here. They rented the whole luau down in Lahaina, flew in all the bigwigs, invited important people here on the island. This looks like the picture that was in the newspaper,” Helen said.

Lei had printed out several of the photos Katie had used to identify the extended group members, and she pulled the one with the whole group out of the cluster and slid it over to Helen. “Do you know these people?”

“Yes. I met them at the kickoff party, which is where these photos were taken.”

“Can you identify them by name?”

Helen took her time but named Goodwin, Kleftes, Wilkinson, Noble, and Nettle. The others she shook her head over. “I met them at the party and saw them here and there but can’t remember their names.”

Lei nodded. “Okay. How did your husband feel about these people on the team? Did he have any issues with them?”

“Not that I knew of. I did get the feeling he was pretty annoyed with Roger.” Helen pointed to the tall man with salt-and-pepper hair. “Roger was an anthropology expert or something. Was supposed to be helping with the locals. You know.” Helen shot Lei an embarrassed glance. “Smoothing things over culturally. Handling any environmental issues. Well, Roger was always asking more money for this or that survey, poll, or marketing attempt.”

“I see.” Lei made a note; Helen had identified the trumped-up “cultural expert” that was actually a con man, according to Katie. Her pulse picked up. This guy might have motive. It was thin, but something. “Can you remember anything specific Roger Nettle did that your husband complained about?”

“Roger Nettle. He went by ‘Kahuna.’” Helen’s voice dripped contempt. “What a poser. What is it they say in Texas: ‘Big hat, no cattle?’ That’s him. Knows all the right words but there’s no substance behind them. Ask him a question and he’ll nod, really serious, and say, ‘Great point. Let me get back to you on that.’ I can’t imagine why they hired him in the first place, much less kept him on the job. I always wondered if he had some dirt on someone—David, or one of the others—and used that to stay employed. I asked David; he called Roger a ‘necessary evil’ but wouldn’t say more.”

“Dirt. You mean like blackmail?” Lei asked.

“Yes, exactly. Why would the group keep paying someone who’s incompetent?”

“Interesting,” Lei said. “Anything more specific?”

“No. Like I’ve said, David tried to keep the office outside our home.”

“And what about this guy?” Lei pointed to Wilkinson. “What did David think about him?”

“Oh, Bill.” Helen’s full lips tightened but all she said was, “David told me he was a good tech guy.”

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