When we last saw our heroes, Remington, suffering from a concussion, had just met the man he believes was hired to kill Muriel Dawson- and whom he thinks might be responsible not only for Harvey Dawson's death, but his and Laura's "accident" with the Jeep…
Laura was brushing her hair before the bathroom mirror when she saw Remington approach from the bedroom. He slipped his arms around her waist, being careful of his bandaged left wrist. "Feeling better?" she questioned.
"Much," he admitted. "Remind me to try that cure next time I have to jump from a moving vehicle."
She smiled at his reflection in the mirror. "It works in other instances as well, you know."
"I'm sorry, Laura," Remington said in a somber tone. "I know I've been acting like a crazed fool - "
"Well, you've put up with my craziness on occasion," she pointed out, turning to look at him. "I think I can handle it. What's next on the agenda, sir?" she asked giving him a psuedo-obedient grin.
Remington looked surprised. "You're willing to continue with this?"
"Lead on, Mr. Holmes."
It was his turn to grin now. "Now that reference I know." He gave her a long, considering look. "But I'll wager that Watson never looked quite so delectable," he commented. Taking her arm, he pulled it through his. "Very well, the game's afoot, then. Let's see if Mr. Riansi has located us another means of transportation, and ask a few questions about his cousin's whereabouts on the night of Harvey Dawson's death."
"You're still convinced that Dr. Sutani is the man you heard talking to Dawson?" she wanted to know. "You *do* have a concussion," she reminded him.
"I didn't when I overheard Harvey Dawson plotting with Petanu Sutani to kill Dawson's wife," Remington pointed out, closing the door of the bungalow behind them.
Laura had to admit that he had a point as she joined him on the path.
"You're all right," Muriel Dawson sighed, causing them to turn and greet their neighbor. "Thank goodness. You *are*, aren't you?" she questioned nervously, taking in the bandage on Remington's forehead and still-wrapped left wrist. "I heard from one of the maids that you had an accident. You've both been so supportive since - well," she paused, lifting a handkerchief to her eye to catch a tear, "since Harvey died, the idea of something happening to you-"
"We're fine, Mrs. Dawson," Laura quickly assured the woman as one of the hotel maids came along the path from the direction of Mrs. Dawson's bungalow. "How are you?" she asked, trying to turn the distraught woman's thoughts away from Remington and Laura's condition.
The maid arrived. "Mrs. Dawson. Please. Dr. Iwani told you to remain in the bungalow-"
"Dr. Iwani?" Remington asked. "Then Dr. Sutani isn't your physician?"
Muriel Dawson seemed to go a bit pale. "Doctor- Sutani? Petanu? I didn't know he was back on the island." She turned to look at the maid. "Lelani-?"
"Come along, Mrs. Dawson," the maid said, gently turning Muriel toward her own bungalow as she told the Steeles, "Dr. Iwani gave her something to make her sleep. She's very confused right now. She had managed to sneak out of the bungalow before the doctor arrived and he was concerned about what she might try to do in her sorrow."
"Do you need some help?" Laura offered, stepping forward as though to assist Lelani.
"No. I think I can handle it. Thank you anyway."
"Lelani, you must tell me the truth," Muriel was saying as Lelani led her back down the path to disappear around a corner into the lush tropical growth.
"Apparently the good doctor's being on the island was a surprise to Mrs. Dawson," Remington noted. "The question is - was it a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant one?"
"Maybe his cousin can answer that question for us," Laura suggested thoughtfully, her gaze still on the now empty path toward the Dawson bungalow. "Shall we?" she asked, slipping her arm through Remington's and turning toward the path that would take them to the hotel.
She felt Remington giving her a confused look. "It sounds as if you're getting into the spirit of this, Laura." He glanced behind them. "Did I just - miss something?"
"Whatever makes you think that?" Laura replied. "I'm just doing as I promised I would - trying to help."
"Ah, but whenever you suddenly turn co-operative, I get the same feeling that I used to get whenever a con would go awry," he informed her. "Cold chills and a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach."
"Nonsense," Laura said. "That's just the concussion."
He was still giving her an uncertain look when they caught sight of Timaru Riansi as they entered the hotel lobby.
The hotel manager smiled at them. "Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Steele. Feeling better, I hope?"
"Ah, indeed yes," Remington informed him with a smile. "Much better."
"Excellent. I have located another vehicle for you to use during the remainder of your visit to the island," Mr. Riansi said. "The white Ford in the parking area. The license number is on the key." He held up said keys. "If you wish, I would be more than happy to provide a driver, since your arm is injured, Mr. Steele-"
Laura, who took the keys from him with a smile, cut his offer short. "I'll drive," she told the manager.
"Speaking of my injuries, Mr. Riansi," Remington began, "I'm curious about your decision to call Dr. Sutani to attend to mine instead of calling Dr. Iwani, as you did for Mrs. Dawson."
"Dr. Iwani is elderly and is not taking new cases," Mr. Riansi explained. "He was Miss Everson's doctor before she left the island, and she asked for him."
"Because she wasn't aware that Dr. Sutani had returned to Paradiso Island?" Remington questioned. "Did Mrs. Dawson know Petanu Sutani?"
"It is a small island, Mr. Steele. Everyone knows everyone." Mr. Riansi gave a soft, nervous laugh. "Dr. Sutani has been retained as the hotel physician. It is not often we have need of a doctor, of course -"
"Unless someone has an 'accident'," Remington pointed out, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"He's your cousin, isn't he?" Laura asked.
"Yes. But again, many of us are related in some way, by marriage or birth."
Remington nodded knowingly. "It's a small island. Why did Dr. Sutani leave the island to begin with?"
"He could not study medicine here. He went to Hawaii to do so."
"And what kind of relationship did he have with Muriel Everson before he left?"
Mr. Riansi's face became resolute. "I think you should ask Petanu about that, Mr. Steele. It is not my story to tell."
Remington backed the smaller man up against a column. "If I find out that you covered up for your cousin causing our accident, you'll have a story to tell, Mr. Riansi."
Without another word, Remington turned and left the lobby, with Laura right behind him.
Outside, Remington paused long enough to get his bearings before heading directly to the white Ford Mustang convertible that was sitting nearby. Laura, about to stop him, glanced at the keys in her hand, only to verify that his instincts had been correct: this was their "new" transportation. She got behind the wheel, and started the engine, and then pressed on the brake pedal several times to make sure it was working. Seeing Remington's look, Laura shrugged.
"Never hurts to make sure," she told him. "Okay, where to now?"
"I think we should stop by the hospital and pay a visit to Dr. Petanu Sutani."
***
Paradiso Island's "hospital" was a small building that looked barely large enough to contain a clinic. A sign in front of the building announced that it had been built and funded by the "Everson Foundation", but Remington barely glanced at the words as he and Laura passed by on their way inside.
A short, elderly native gentleman with a fringe of white hair greeted them. "May I help you?" he questioned.
"We're looking for Dr. Sutani," Laura explained. "We're staying at the Resort, and had an accident earlier today - Dr. Sutani visited us and suggested that my husband come in for a further examination."
The man examined them carefully. "Ah, yes. Mr. and Mrs. Steele. A pleasure to meet you," he said with a smile as he extended his hand. "I am Dr. Iwani. I have heard a great deal about both of you from Muriel Everson."
"Ah, Dr. Iwani," Remington said, smiling. "How fortuitous that we should meet. May we ask you a few questions about your colleague, Dr. Sutani?"
"He has not been back on the island for very long," Dr. Iwani explained, looking confused. "Until his return, I had not seen him for almost twenty-five years."
"How long ago did he return?" Laura questioned.
Dr. Iwani considered the question. "A week, perhaps. His return was very sudden. His wife of twenty years died recently, and Petanu decided that it was time to come home."
"Do you know why he left in the first place?" Remington wanted to know.
"He received a scholarship to a university in Hawaii," Dr. Iwani explained. "You are certainly thorough in your vetting of a physician, Mr. Steele," he said.
"Just being cautious," Remington responded. "What can you tell me about Dr. Sutani's life in Hawaii? Was he ever in any trouble?"
"Not that I was ever aware of. He did not keep in touch with many of us - for personal reasons, I've no doubt. Too painful, I would imagine," Dr. Iwani mused softly.
"Painful?" Laura repeated.
Dr. Iwani's gaze moved past them to something down the corridor, and his expression became distant. "If you'll excuse me, I have patients to see. Dr. Sutani is just down the corridor."
Remington turned to see Dr. Sutani standing in the corridor not far away, and touched Laura's arm to draw her attention from the departing back of Dr. Iwani. "Mr. Steele," the younger doctor said, approaching them. "Changed your mind about the examination?"
"Apparently," Remington answered.
"This way, then," Dr. Sutani said, leading them down the corridor to a door that had "Dr. Petanu Sutani" painted on it, along with several initials. "I'm pleased that we're meeting again, Mr. Steele," he said, opening the door. "It will give us a chance to finish our earlier conversation."
"Excellent idea," Remington agreed as he stood with Laura before the doctor's neat desk. "I have a few questions."
"Ask them," Dr. Sutani said, spreading his hands in acquiescence. "I will answer them as best I can."
"Why did you leave Paradiso Island twenty-five years ago?" Remington questioned.
The doctor looked thoughtful as he turned to gaze out of the window to the street beyond. "I was in love. Madly, passionately, as only an eighteen-year-old young man could be. We'd known each other for all of our lives, I always knew that we were meant to be together."
"What happened?" Laura questioned.
"She left. Without any word, any warning. One day she was just- gone. Her father told me that she'd asked him to send her away, to get her away from me."
"It was Muriel Everson, wasn't it?" Laura asked.
Petanu nodded. "Yes. I didn't want to believe it. I mean, I had always thought she felt the same way about me. But her father said it was all a lie, that Muriel had simply been bored here on the island and I was a distraction- until I became too serious about her."
"He's the one who paid for your education, isn't he?"
"Mr. Everson said that he felt guilty about Muriel's actions in leading me on and then running away, and offered to send me to Hawaii to the university. Everywhere I looked here, I saw her. Staying would have been impossible. So I went. Shortly after I arrived, I met another young woman - " he picked up a photograph of a lovely Polynesian woman. "Kailani. She was kind, gentle, loving. And her father was the head of one of Hawaii's largest medical schools." Petanu gave them both a look. "I know what you're thinking. That I married her for that reason." He shook his head, gazing at the dark eyes of the woman in the photograph. "No. She needed me. And I loved her. Not as much as I loved Muriel, but it was enough to last twenty-five years."
"Then she died," Laura noted.
"Ah, you've done your homework," Petanu said. "Yes. Suddenly. An aneurysm in the brain. I noticed something in the paper about Muriel having married and planning to visit Paradiso on her honeymoon."
"So you came back here planning to get revenge on Muriel," Remington said quickly.
"Revenge?" Petanu repeated, frowning.
"I heard you and Harvey Dawson talking on the afternoon before he died," Remington said. "Plotting the cold blooded murder of Muriel Everson Dawson."
Petanu sat down heavily. "I didn't want revenge on Muriel, Mr. Steele. I loved her. I've always loved her. And even though I thought she'd cast me off, that didn't change. I only wanted her to be happy. When I heard that she'd married and was returning here to Paradiso, the last thing on my mind was coming back myself to cause problems for her. But there was something about the photograph of them in the newspaper. Something about Harvey Dawson which troubled me. I have a friend on the police force in Honolulu and I asked him to do some digging into Dawson's background."
"And you found out about his checkered past," Laura surmised.
"Yes. But I couldn't just come back here and jump back into Muriel's life by telling her that the man she'd married after all these years was a fraud and a con man. So I came back to the island quietly, asking people who knew what had happened to keep my return a secret from Muriel- for awhile, at least. I arranged a meeting with Harvey Dawson and led him to believe that I was willing to kill Muriel because I had hated her father for some long ago wrong he'd done me."
Laura spoke. "You were setting him up."
"I planned to tell Muriel about it when she came down to the beach that night. But she wasn't there. Dawson was. I'd been waiting in the water for her to come down. When Dawson arrived, he told me to go up to the house and kill her there. I told him that I wasn't going to kill her, and that he should leave Paradiso Island before I went to the police with what I knew about him." Petanu closed his eyes tightly as he recalled the events of the previous evening.
"Dawson grabbed me, shoved me under the water, trying to drown me. Suddenly, the pressure stopped and I stood up to find him gasping, laying on the sand. I'm a doctor. I knew he was having a heart attack - and yet I just stood there."
"You didn't try to save him?" Laura questioned.
"No. God forgive me, no. I didn't. Then I heard someone on the beach and dove back into the water, swam to a little cove where Muriel and I used to meet when we were younger - " he covered his face with his hands.
"You were going to tell us this earlier, weren't you?" Laura asked.
"Yes. But Mike Inoue arrived, and I didn't want to involve him."
"If you did nothing wrong, why worry?" Remington asked.
"Because I'm a *doctor*," Petanu pointed out. "I'm supposed to *save* lives, not let people die simply because I think the world would be a better place without them." He took a deep breath. "And I didn't want Muriel's first word of me after all these years to be as I was being arrested for criminal negligence."
"You have access to medications which could kill someone, making it look like a heart attack, don't you?"
"I didn't kill him, Mr. Steele," Petanu insisted. "Not the way you mean, anyway." There was a knock on the office door, and Petanu drew in a deep, cleansing breath before speaking. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Inspector Inoue. "Mr. Steele. Mrs. Steele. Am I interrupting?"
Petanu sighed. "No, Mike. Come in. I think it's time that we had a talk."
"I was going out to see you, Mr. Steele, after I finished here. It seems that you might have been correct about Mr. Dawson's death after all."
"He is?" Laura asked, her look of surprise changing to one of bemusement.
"I am?"
"There was evidence that the brakes on your Jeep were tampered with - causing your accident." Remington smiled, feeling vindicated by the news. "And the chemical screen has been completed on Mr. Dawson's body. There was a trace of a medication which Dr. Tomaki tells me can cause a person's heart to fail within half an hour of being administered."
"Half an hour?" Laura repeated. She and Remington exchanged a look. "You *were* right," she realized. "She is a good actress."
***
Laura and Remington stood within listening distance of the rear of Muriel Dawson's bungalow, within eyesight of Inspector Inoue. All three were intent on listening as there was a knock on the front door of the house.
"I'll get it, Mrs. Dawson," Lelani called out.
"Is Mrs. Dawson accepting visitors?" they heard Petanu ask.
Footsteps from the bedroom of the bungalow heralded the arrival of Muriel. "Petanu? Oh, you *are* here! Oh!"
From his angle of view, Remington could barely make out the scene inside as Muriel Everson Dawson threw herself into the doctor's arms, not seeing the pained look on his face. "I'm here, Muriel," he agreed. Glancing at Lelani, he said, "Would you mind? I'll be here for awhile."
"You'll be here forever," Muriel declared as Lelani left the bungalow.
Petanu moved closer to the rear of the house, Muriel seemingly attached to his arm. "I don't plan on leaving Paradiso again if I can help it," he agreed. "I heard about what happened, Muriel. I'm sorry."
Muriel looked confused for a moment. "Oh, you mean Harvey. Yes, it was tragic, wasn't it? Such a shock. But none of that matters now. You're back. And we're together. Just as we always planned to be."
Petanu took Muriel's hands in his. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Muriel questioned, her voice rising slightly. "What do you mean?"
"There are some people who think I was somehow responsible for your husband's death. And they might be right."
"No. You didn't do anything. You couldn't have. You're the kindest, gentlest man that I've ever known," Muriel insisted, her palm against his cheek.
"That's just it. I *didn't* do anything," Petanu insisted.
"I don't understand, Petanu," Muriel sighed. "What are you talking about?"
Petanu placed his hands on her arms and held her away as he spoke. "Muriel, when I heard you'd married, I had a friend do a little background check on Harvey Dawson," he admitted. "Muriel, he wasn't a very nice man."
"What?"
"He was a con man. He'd been married to other women, using other names. Some of those women are dead. The women were always wealthy - and Dawson either inherited their money or scammed them out of a large portion of that wealth." Muriel blinked at him, as if she still didn't understand.
"Why didn't you come to me? Tell me that I'd made a horrid mistake?" she wanted to know.
"I couldn't. We hadn't seen each other in so long- I didn't want to be responsible for destroying your happiness in that way. So I talked to Dawson without your knowledge." Muriel's eyes widened at his words. "He wanted me to - he was willing to pay me to - to kill you," Petanu explained so quietly that Remington had to strain to hear the words. "I wouldn't have done it. I just wanted to get enough evidence to prove what he was up to. On the night he died, I was supposed to meet you on the beach and do the job. But I intended to tell you the truth, to convince you to come away with me."
"Why didn't you?" Muriel asked.
"You weren't there. Dawson was. He wanted me to come up here and do it- I told him no, that he was going to leave the island and never come back, told him what I knew. He - tried to kill me. To drown me. Then he started having a heart attack - and I didn't do anything to help him."
"You were surprised. And he had just tried to kill you," Muriel added, sounding as if she were trying to find excuses. "Besides, there was nothing you could have done to save him. It wasn't your fault."
"I'm a doctor, Muriel. I'm supposed to *save* lives, not just stand around and let people die!" Petanu exclaimed.
"I know, darling," Muriel said. "But don't you see? There was nothing that you could have done for him."
Petanu captured her hand as she stroked his cheek. "What are you saying?"
"I knew about Harvey's past. Oh, not when we married. I was blinded by his charm and the way he made me feel. But a friend of mine recognized him from a photograph and wrote me about one of his other marriages. So I decided to beat him to the punch, as it were."
"Muriel, what did you do?"
Her face took on a strange expression, a combination of fear, slyness, and insanity. "I gave him something. At dinner. I slipped it into his drink. And then I made an excuse about not feeling well so that he would have his heart attack alone on that beach. I had no idea that you were down there, waiting for me. Oh, Petanu, if I'd known - "
"You killed him?"
"For us. So that we could be together," she insisted.
"You didn't know I was here," Petanu pointed out.
"It doesn't matter. Nothing matters now except that you *are* here and we can be together."
Petanu pulled her hands away from his shoulders. "No, Muriel. We can't be. I'm sorry."
Behind Muriel, Remington, Laura, and Inspector Inoue approached to put an end to the scene …
***
"You won the bet," Laura told Remington once they were back in their own bungalow, sitting on the back veranda, enjoying the quiet of the island evening.
"Hmm. So I did."
She snuggled against him. "Poor Petanu. All those years, in love with a woman who was insane and never knowing it."
"It's the real reason that her father sent her away," Remington nodded. "He saw how unstable she was and wanted to protect his own reputation as much as the islanders." He settled back, keeping Laura close. "I hope this has been a lesson to you, Laura."
"A lesson?"
"About taking me for granted. Perhaps next time my instincts say something's wrong, you'll believe me."
"Oh, I will," Laura promised. After she broke down completely, Muriel had confessed to having sabotaged the Steele's Jeep to keep them from digging around too much and finding out what she'd done.
"Now, about that bet. Seems to me that I recall something about a fan dance?"
"Now?" Laura asked, looking at him.
"No time like the present," Remington noted.
"But I don't have any fans."
He looked thoughtful, and then slipped away from her to vanish into the lush undergrowth beyond the pathway.
"What are you doing?" Laura called out.
He emerged a moment later with two large leaves, and held them out to her. "Improvisation. These should do."
Laura took them, and smiled. "They're larger than those fans were," she mused, and then rose from the chair where they'd been sitting moments before. "Give me five minutes," she told him, disappearing into the house with a flourish of palm leaves and a smile that revealed her dimples.
Remington lifted his half filled glass of wine toward the doorway in a silent toast, and smiled as well.
The End