Free Diagnosis Murder: The Death Merchant by Lee Goldberg Page A

to save him the trouble of asking it.
    "Danny seemed like a wonderful guy," Steve said. "But everybody's got enemies. He must have had at least one."
    "Just the shark," she said.
     
    It was a little after 2:00 A.M. when the sirens woke Mark Sloan from a deep sleep. He immediately became aware of the light flickering on the other side of his closed drapes and the smell of something burning.
    Mark got up, went to the window, and parted the drapes. A house on the beach was consumed by fire, flames licking out the windows and spitting embers into the night sky. Fire men were dousing the raging fire with multiple streams of water, but the house was a lost cause. The best they could hope to do now was stop the flames from spreading to other properties.
    The phone rang. Before he answered it, he knew it was Steve. And he knew what he was calling to tell him.
    Ten minutes later Mark and Steve were both dressed and hurrying across the parking lot toward the police line, where officers held back the distraught neighbors and a few hotel guests shaken from their sleep who came to watch Danny Royal's house burn.
    After this latest incident, Steve figured he and his dad would be the only guests left in the Kiahuna Poipu Shores tomorrow.
    Sgt. Kealoha spotted them immediately and waved them past the officers.
    "Guess we won't be needing the HPD big boys after all," Kealoha said bitterly.
    "I think that was the idea," Steve replied, noticing a grim smile on his father's face. "What are you smiling about?"
    "This is a message," Mark said. "The killer knows we weren't fooled and that an investigation has begun. He's telling us that he's not going to sit back and let us come after him. He's going to make it as difficult for us as possible, leaving nothing but scorched earth behind, literally and figuratively."
    Kealoha whistled. "The fire tells you all that?"
    "This fire," Mark said. "And the other one."
    "What other one?"
    Just then, Kealoha's cell phone trilled, but he didn't make a move to answer it. Instead he stared at Mark with a look that fell somewhere between awe and disbelief.
    "The restaurant, of course." Mark said.
     
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    Mark and Steve didn't bother to go see the Royal Hawaiian burn; instead they went back to their hotel rooms for a couple hours' more of sleep.
    They met for breakfast at a little after 8:00 A.M. and, as Steve had predicted, the hotel seemed even emptier than it had the previous morning. More guests had left and no one new was checking in.
    The news that Danny Royal's body had been found and identified was in the paper, but there was no mention of any police investigation.
    "I wonder how the killer found out," Mark mused aloud.
    Steve looked up from his stack of pancakes. "About what?"
    "That his ruse failed. The only ones who knew Danny Royal's death was actually a homicide are the two of us, Ben Kealoha, Veronica Klein, and the medical examiner," Mark said. "Then again, news might have leaked when Ben asked the Honolulu Police Department to send a tech unit over here to crack Danny's safe and hack his computer. Anyone hearing about that could infer that an investigation had begun. Or perhaps Kamalei was involved in Danny's murder, and our questions spooked her."
    Steve set down his fork and tossed his napkin on the table. He was about to say something when his dad, lost in thought, spoke again.
    "There's another thing," Mark said.
    "There always is," Steve said wearily.
    "Maybe the killer burned down Danny Royal's house and his restaurant to send two messages. One to us, and one to someone else— a warning about what happens to people who do what Danny did. Or was doing. Or was about to do."
    Steve looked at Mark. "What are we doing?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "I mean, why are we investigating Danny Royal's murder?"
    "Why do we investigate anything?"
    "I know why I do it," Steve said. "It's my job. But I'm on vacation here, and I'm not on the Kauai Police force, and this is their case."
    "That never