Free Murder on Easter Island by Gary Conrad Page A

onto her lap. “Tuck that in your carry bag — it could come in handy one day.”
    When she fingered the pistol and realized what he’d done, she grimly said, “Let’s hope not.”

Chapter 11
September 19, 2014
    D aniel and José sat at a table for lunch at the El Tiberon restaurant, which overlooked the small but beautiful Pea Beach in Hanga Roa. Salvador Diaz had been cracking the whip, and they, along with the investigators he had brought with him from Chile, had investigated every square inch of the sixty-three square mile island. Like all the other days, Daniel had gathered up all sorts of data, which was of little or no use to the overall goal of finding the killer.
    As he cut into a tasty nanue fish, a local favorite, Daniel asked, “Any news from your side?”
    José lowered his voice. “Well, there’s an interesting rumor floating around.”
    “What’s up?”
    “Seems Diaz has a prime suspect,” José said.
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “I’m not. We should know more in the next week or so, but he’s honing in on Roberto Ika. Do you know of him?”
    “No,” admitted Daniel.
    “He’s a little old man in his seventies who has a history of mental illness; I believe his diagnosis is paranoid schizophrenia. In other words, he’s crazy and thinks everyone is out to get him.”
    “Besides that,” José continued, “he was one of the protesters who occupiedthe Hangaroa Eco Village and Spa in August of two thousand-ten before being forcibly evicted the following February. The protest occurred because my people believe they were cheated out of the ancestral land the hotel is sitting on. The protest, as you might have guessed, fell on deaf Chilean ears. Unfortunately for Roberto Ika, this makes him an easy target, one Diaz’s supervisors would approve of.”
    “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Daniel said. “First of all, the evidence is clear that our killer is someone who is physically strong. No way a seventy-year-old man could overwhelm each of the twenty-seven victims, most of whom are younger than he is. And there are the fingerprints. As you know, there are no matches with anyone on the island. Nothing about this fits.”
    José nodded agreement. “Of course you’re right, but Diaz wants someone behind bars to restart the flow of money into Rapa Nui. And he’ll stop at nothing, even putting an innocent man in jail.”
    “That doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Daniel said. “By the way, do you have family on the island that might be affected by this?”
    “Not any more. I was an only child, and my parents and grandparents are all dead.”
    “It’s the same with me. I’ve got no living family.”
    “Well, then,” José concluded, “we have something in common. Any girlfriends back home?”
    “No,” admitted Daniel, “how about you?”
    “I could only wish. When I returned from Chile after my training at the police academy in Santiago, the one Rapanui woman I was interested in got tired of waiting and married a local man. On this island, good Rapanui women don’t grow on trees.”
    “I imagine Rapanui women might say the same thing about Rapanui men,” Daniel said.
    José grinned at the dig and grabbed the check. “I need to get back to work. Before we go, tell me, how are things going with Crazy Tiare?”
    Daniel was surprised to find himself offended at José’s words. “She’s not crazy at all, and she has been a great help in teaching me Rapanui. We’ve been meeting every evening for lessons at her home. After only a couple of weeks I’m already getting a pretty good handle on conversation. Besides that, she’s a smart as a whip and seems to have some intriguing ideas about the killer.”
    “Anything worth repeating?”
    “Not just yet, but tonight she is going to share with me some of the history of Rapa Nui. I believe it will be interesting.”
    “Good luck,” José said. “You’ll need it to sort out the truth.” He threw money on the table