The death of the Canon sisters was big news. They were from a well to do Kama'aina family and were groomed all their lives to take over the family estate and their holdings.
Each married and had children but remained living on the estate. It was a life of ease and creature comforts for years to come. However, on one strange day, when a sudden storm swept up the streets and byways of Honolulu, the Cannon sisters climbed into their father's 68 Buick and drove from their estate in Manoa all the way to Wahiawa. With no explanation and no reasonable cause, they drove the Buick into the dark murky waters of Lake Wilson where it sank to the bottom. The authorities would later say that there was no sign of foul play and that when the car was pulled out of the lake, the four sisters appeared as if they were going for a drive. Their phones and wallets were in their pant pockets and each of their purses lay next to them on the seat or on the floor at their feet. It was hard to imagine considering the kind of people the Canon sisters were but it was undeniable.
Suicide.
............
I was at a church sitting in one of the pews in the very back row. I wasn't here for a case, it was the job. It was taking a toll, it was wearing on me like they said it eventually would. Some people in my world unload by drinking or indulging in other vices. Others in my world just continue killing. Before it got to that, I had to talk to someone. Someone who would hear me out and not judge me, why not a priest in a confessional? Luckily I found a father Kaneshiro who agreed to hear my confession. In what I call God's phone booth is the ever-present aroma of rose scented candles. Every time I smell it I think about my aunt Dorothy's house at the old Mayor Wright housing. Her entire living room and the kitchen was filled with Catholic overkill.
"Forgive me, father, for I have sinned," I could feel it coming on like a flood, it was welling up inside me and I wasn't sure how it was going to come out. I kept telling myself that If I cried I had to be silent. I couldn't let the whole church hear me. "I can't recall my last confession, it's been years father, years."
Suddenly the confessional door opened and father Kaneshiro stood there, "I didn't recognize you at first but once I heard your voice, I knew it was you."
He had me a disadvantage because I had no idea what he was talking about or who he was other than the priest who was taking my confession. "You don't recognize me because I don't look the way I did when we were growing up."
He could still see that I was clueless so he gave me one last hint, "Other than yourself, I was the only other kid in Karate class who got yelled at from sensei all the time."
"Keith Kaneshiro?" I mused hoping I got it right and I did.
"In the flesh, or the vestment that is," he laughed.
"Well, alright," I chuckled. "So much for taking over the family fish market! Are your folks still around?"
"No," Keith replied. "After they died that was pretty much the end of the store. My brothers didn't want to continue so we each took our share and lived our lives. This, as you can see is my path."
Who would have thought I'd run into my childhood Karate classmate in a church of all places? Meeting Keith was a nice surprise, however, I couldn't make my confession anymore. Not to him anyway. What I did do was take him to lunch so we could catch up on old times, an hour later, I would end up having to kill him.
.............to be continued
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