I found parking close by and silently thanked the parking gods or goddesses, then threw in a prayer for Jim for good measure.
I rang the bell. A heavily pregnant woman wrapped in a red kimono answered the door. She was all of about four feet tall. Okay, maybe five feet, but barely that. The baby extended from her abdomen as though she had slipped a basketball under her kimono. Her pregnant belly was much more pronounced than mine had ever been, even when I was nine months along.
Maybe she’d have a boy. Could the old wives’ tale be true, about boys extending outward and girls curling around?
“Hi, sorry to disturb you. Are you Kiku?”
She nodded, resting her hands on her belly.
“I’m Kate Connolly. Did you have an appointment with Investigator Galigani today?”
“Yes,” Kiku said with a heavy Japanese accent.
“Unfortunately, he’s in the hospital. Open heart surgery.”
Kiku’s face creased with the appropriate amount of concern one usually displays when hearing about someone else’s misfortune.
Should I go so far as to say Galigani sent me?
Before I could decide, Kiku opened the door and motioned Laurie and me inside.
Her apartment was small. We entered straight into the living room. I could see into the tiny kitchen. There was a door to the left, which I assumed led to the bedroom. The place was sparsely decorated in soft feminine tones, and I could tell by the couch and the paintings that she had expensive taste.
She motioned me toward the sofa. I sat down, placing Laurie’s bucket next to me.
Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to bring Laurie along. But this woman was pregnant. She couldn’t be a murderer, right?
Kiku admired Laurie. “Beautiful baby girl. Big blue eyes!”
“Yours will be beautiful, too. When are you due?”
“Soon. Soon.”
We smiled at each other as Kiku reached out and stroked Laurie’s little foot. “Tell me, was labor difficult?”
It seemed odd that for nine months all I had thought about was Laurie’s arrival and the upcoming labor. Stressing out about how I would handle everything. And yet now, one month later, I had hardly given labor a second thought.
I looked at Kiku’s pregnant belly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s really not that bad, not like you’re imagining. But I had the epidural, so I guess some people would say that’s cheating.”
After opting for pain relief during labor, I justified my choice by comparing the epidural with modern transportation. If someone said to me, “Women have been having babies without any pain medication since the beginning of time,” my response was, “Yeah? And they also walked everywhere, because they didn’t have a car. Now we have cars and pain medication. So, guess what? I had the epidural and we drove to the hospital.” People didn’t bring up the epidural after that.
“Tea?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Kiku waddled to the kitchen. I dug out my notebook from Laurie’s diaper bag and reviewed my notes.
The note “next time interviewing suspect bring own water” stared me in the face.
Oops.
I’d forgotten to pack water. Writing things down didn’t help if I didn’t read them in time. When was my memory going to come back?
I glanced around the living room. Kiku appeared to be living alone.
Could she have been Brad’s other woman? She was short, whereas Michelle and Svetlana were both tall. Kiku was definitely in their league where looks were concerned. Her dark hair shone brightly and her complexion was flawless. Svetlana and Kiku were both immigrants. Maybe Brad had a weakness for . . . what? Accents?
A baby on the way?
Could it be Brad’s?
If he’d been expecting a child with Kiku, it would give him a strong motive to leave Michelle. Galigani suspected his murderer was the other woman, but could five-foot Kiku have killed him? Shot him, maybe. But ditch his body in the bay? How? Could she have had the strength? And why? Lover’s tiff?
And with Brad dead, what motive would she have had for murdering Michelle and Svetlana?
Although the women were not dumped, only Brad. Did this mean two murderers?
Kiku reappeared with a tray of green tea and ginger snaps.
“How long have you been in the country?” I asked.
“Two years.” She propped her legs on the chair across from me, her movement constricted by her large belly. “Hard to stay on my feet.”
“I know.”
My feet had swelled so much during my pregnancy that I’d had to purchase size eight shoes, an entire size larger than usual, and never mind the style. They were shoes that not even my grandmother would have worn, but boy, were they comfy.
I watched Kiku delicately sip her tea.