Diagnosis Murder: The Death Merchant by Lee Goldberg

sitting ramrod straight in his chair. "He came here with nothing and rose to become a pillar of the community."
    "I've always wondered," Steve said, "what's it take to become a pillar?"
    "He ran a successful business and took an interest in the community," Brewer said. "He gave money to local charities, donated services, promoted tourism, and was a member in good standing of the Chamber of Commerce."
    "So basically, it's something you buy," Kealoha said.
    "It's also about character, Sgt. Kealoha," Brewer said.
    "And Danny had plenty of that," Steve replied, spreading the passports out like a poker hand. "At least half a dozen of them we know of so far."
    "Mr. Brewer, you said Danny came here with nothing," Mark said. "What did you mean by that?"
    "When he came here four years ago, he rented the Outrigger House property from us," Brewer said. "It was a poorly run restaurant that went under and defaulted on its mortgage payments, so we assumed ownership of the property and furnishings. Mr. Royal rented it all from us to start his own restaurant, slowly fixed the place up, and once the business took off, we sold the building to him."
    "When did he open his account with you?" Mark asked.
    "Shortly after he started renting the Outrigger property," Brewer said. "We deducted his payments directly from his accounts."
    Mark took out a pencil and began taking some notes on a legal pad. "What was his balance?"
    "When he first opened the account?"
    "Yes."
    "About nine thousand dollars," Brewer said, referring to some documents in front of him.
    Kealoha covered his mouth as he yawned. Steve didn't know if it was because he was bored or because he'd been up all night at the two arson scenes. It was probably a little bit of both. Suddenly, Steve felt a yawn coming on, too.
    Mark made a note on his pad. "Did Danny take out a loan with the bank to pay for the improvements he was making in the restaurant?"
    "No," Brewer said, "He paid for that himself."
    "Where was the money coming from?"
    "I understood he had some family money or something," Brewer said. "The account shows that, for the first year or so, he received regular transfers of eight to nine thousand dollars every month."
    "From where?" Mark asked.
    Brewer referred to the paperwork again. "Numerous banks on the mainland and abroad."
    "When you say abroad ," Steve asked, "would you be speaking of the Cayman Islands?"
    "One of the banks involved was situated there, yes," Brewer said.
    Kealoha snickered. "And that didn't raise any alarm bells with you?"
    "Sergeant, if I got alarmed every time we received a transfer from a Cayman Island financial institution, I'd have to shut down the bank," Brewer said. "It is not uncommon for people of substance to put money there to avoid excessive taxation."
    "I'm confused, Mr. Brewer. I thought you said Danny started from nothing," Mark said. "People with nothing don't usually have accounts in the Cayman Islands."
    "Perhaps what I should have said was that he didn't initially bring much capital into his business and that he lived modestly at first. As his business grew, he increased his investment and assumed debt accordingly," Brewer said. "He was a patient and careful man when it came to his money and ours."
    "We heard he'd owned some restaurant franchises in New Jersey," Steve said.
    "He might have worked in the restaurant industry before," Brewer said, "but I was always under the impression that this was the first business of his own."
    "You don't check these things out before you loan a guy money?" Kealoha said. "Because if that's the case, I'd like to borrow some money before I leave."
    "I don't know anything about his previous business endeavors," Brewer said, "beyond the fact that no red flags showed up when we checked his credit."
    Mark glanced at the handwritten note on Danny's recipe card. "Have you ever done business with anyone named Jim Lowe?"
    "The name doesn't sound familiar, no."
    Mark asked a few more questions, Kealoha yawned a few