EXCERPT: Kill Brother, Kill Sister
In this post, I’m quoting a key section from Kill Brother, Kill Sister. Here we’re focusing on the chaotic sequence that accompanies Scotty’s return first to Hawaii and then to Alaska. At no point is Scotty well-served by this process. One phrase says it all: candy bars, yogurt, and Twinkies. Knock yourself out, kid.
Scotty “Mackay’s plane from Majuro arrived in Honolulu at 6:45 a.m. on March 21. He had a busy day ahead of him. First, a visit to Kuakini Hospital; there, a pediatrician examined him and pronounced him fit to continue his journey to Alaska. Next was a twelve-minute drive for a brief visit with his father, still under house arrest at the Ilikai. Steve Goodenow was there to supervise. Then he was off to the Family Court, where the adults in the room would once more make decisions for him.” [COMMENT: Not a perfect reunion, then?]
Family Court
“The Family Court was in the Ali’iolani Hale, a historic structure first conceived as a Hawaiian palace. At front was a gilded sculpture of King Kamehameha, who sanctioned its construction. The first cornerstone was laid in 1872, but the building had long since given up its royal heritage. Scotty was perched on the hardwood benches outside the Family Court; he snacked on candy bars, yogurt, and Twinkies. Inside the courtroom a crowd of lawyers debated his fate. Lawyers representing his father conveyed Neil Mackay’s wishes. Mackay said he would like to wait “for a day or so” to let Scotty “settle down,” and then they’d return to Anchorage to resolve their legal problems. Lawyers representing Scotty, and the State of Alaska, argued otherwise.
“By the end of the session, Judge Paul Kokubun decided to send Scotty on to Alaska. The five-year-old was whisked back to the Honolulu Airport and shuttled onto a Western Airlines jet bound for Anchorage. Steve Goodenow was with him, still there to supervise. Jean Sullivan was also there, now a fixture of Scotty’s entourage.
“The game is over,” Brook Hart declared. “Scotty is on his way back.” [COMMENT: Of course, the game wasn’t over. The reunion that Neil Mackay wanted was still forming in his imagination.]
(Willis’ Managed the Bldgs)
Scotty Arrives Anchorage
“Scotty arrived in Anchorage the same day (March 21). His father, right behind him, arrived the following day, newspaper reporters watching his every move. Father and son would each go their separate ways. Scotty, Goodenow and Sullivan were met by Bob Wagstaff ’s law partner, Collin Middleton. In Bob Wagstaff ’s temporary absence in Washington, D.C. on other matters, it was Middleton who presented the investigator with court papers handing over Scotty’s custody to the Willis. Steve Goodenow quickly complied. Middleton drove them out to Eagle River for the handoff. With them was Jean Sullivan, who was to spend the night at the Willis home, bridging the gap between Scotty’s disparate realities.
“The Willis house was to be guarded around the clock, at Neil Mackay’s expense, by Loomis Security. Carolina Willis, now more than ever, feared someone would try to kidnap the boy. She didn’t rule out his father. Way out in Eagle River it took at least forty-five minutes for police to respond to an emergency call. [COMMENT: A reunion — or a hostage situation?]
“Back at his hotel, Steve Goodenow met Bob Pfeil for the first time. Robert Pfeil arrived in a separate car and Collin Middleton suggested the three of them go for a drink. Goodenow thought it a good idea; at the very least it paid to be social with the boy’s uncle, who’d worried about him the entire time he was missing. The Pfeil family would later visit Scotty. Would find that he was “different” after returning from Majuro. He was more reserved. Had trouble sleeping.
(Courtesy Honolulu Advertiser)
Indigent or Concealing Assets?
“Scotty’s father arrived the following day, still facing contempt of court charges for removing Scotty from Alaska. Then there was the matter of the $500,000 bond Mackay was to post while he awaited his hearing. No visits with Scotty, his lawyer was told, until he posted that bond. The trouble was, Mackay had told the Hawaii courts he was indigent. Doug Baily felt he might be concealing his assets.
“Considering that, Baily moved to deny Mackay all custodial rights. The judge agreed. Judge Moody hammered home his point. Neil S. Mackay was prohibited from contacting Scotty or the Willis’ unless he made an application through the court. Mackay’s agents were to turn over Scotty’s clothing and property to his paternal aunt and uncle. The Willis’ could also consult with a court-approved doctor, who’d further examine Scotty. [COMMENT: A pre-reunion checkup is just another term for good medicine.]
“For his part, Mackay attorney David Talbot insisted that Neil Mackay had not violated the Court’s orders. In Talbot’s telling, he hadn’t violated the Hawaiian courts either. Mackay, he said, was a fit parent. Scotty had a Constitutional right to live with him. Talbot’s arguments fell on deaf ears. It only got worse.
(Courtesy Fairbanks News-Miner)
Trust Issues
“By the time Judge Madsen returned to the case, on March 28th, Bob Wagstaff was also back. “I don’t trust Mr. Mackay,” Wagstaff told the judge. “I don’t trust Mr. Talbot. There’s a current arrest warrant for Mr. Talbot in Hawaii for his contempt of the Hawaii court. And Mr. Mackay will do anything to secure custody—legally, illegally—of Scotty. The Court has no choice but to take the strongest measures possible.
“Talbot countered that the current security arrangements were sufficient and then added that the people guarding the Willis home were a danger to Scotty. ‘I have seen Scotty handling a Loomis Security guard’s shotgun,’ he averred.
“Scotty was not playing with the shotgun of the Loomis guard,” Wagstaff shot back. “That is an extremely misleading exaggeration to the Court.”
And so it went. The reunion was back to what it always had been: a shouting match.
The Book: Kill Brother, Kill Sister
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Copyright Leland E. Hale (2026)