Mari & Ilna: What can I say? I'm enjoying this adventure every bit as much as I was on day one. Maybe more.
REAL Worlders-thanks for all the enthusiastic support. You guys are the best.
Closer and Closer
"Did they get any information from the postmark?" Catherine asked as she took a seat beside her uncharacteristically shaken best friend.
Steve shook his head. "Just that it was mailed from somewhere on the island."
What was supposed to be a fun girls' night out had morphed into something completely different when Carrie returned home from work to find an envelope in the mail containing a brittle, yellowed copy of a brief article about a homeless man found dead on the beach in California, the victim of what was determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The date on the newspaper indicated that the death had occurred nearly a decade ago.
She called John immediately, followed by Steve, and then Catherine.
Steve and Danny arrived first and immediately took custody of the envelope and sent it to the lab. The preliminary report showed nothing remarkable about the envelope. The flap was self-sticking so there was no DNA from saliva. The postmark indicated it was mailed from Honolulu. There were multiple sets of fingerprints on the outside of the envelope, which the technicians were working to identify but assumed belonged to postal workers, but no prints on the article itself or the inside of the envelope.
Max was on the phone with a contact in the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office to see if he could track down an autopsy report while Danny tried to reach the detective who had handled the case to see if he had any details to share. Chin and Kono were interviewing Rose Kapahu again, this time armed with a tape of Commander Davidson's voice.
Steve was reviewing every detail of the last few weeks with John and Carrie, looking for something concrete they could use to press charges. Catherine, after dropping off Angie with Joseph and Elizabeth, joined in.
They were gathered in Steve's office. Carrie and Catherine sat side by side on the couch, Catherine's arm supportively around her friend. Steve leaned against the front of his desk and John paced from one end of the room to the other, insisting it helped him think better.
"Davidson may be a meticulous guy but there's no way he could skulk around for weeks and never slip up once. We have to be missing something," John insisted, his fists balled tightly at his side. "I'm gonna say it one more time … give me five minutes alone in a room with him and I'll get the truth."
"Hang on there, Captain Caveman," Carrie said, "We're not even sure Davidson is our guy."
John stopped in his tracks and looked at her incredulously. "Who else could it be?"
Carrie took a deep breath. She knew John's concern was bringing out his baser instinct to protect the woman he loved using brute force, but she was determined to keep that part of him in check as much as possible by appealing to his logical, methodical naval officer side. "I have no idea, but it seems to me that recently whoever it is is more focused on you than me."
John's hands went to his hips. "It's obvious. Davidson wants me out of the picture so he can have you all to himself."
Carrie shook her head. "I'm just not sure it's him. He seems to be getting settled on the island now and he's making new friends. He's not nearly as clingy at work as he used to be when he first got here."
"We saw him twice in the last week off base," John spat out. "When we went for a walk in the park and then night before last he turned up at that little Mexican place where we were having dinner."
Carrie exhaled deeply. "That's true." The more time she spent with the commander the more she saw him as just an extremely awkward, socially inept man approaching middle age and looking for company. She didn't want to believe he could be guilty of stalking her and trying to ruin John's career. Still she didn't know him very well and had no way of knowing what he might be capable of.
"I'm not taking sides here," Catherine said as squeezed Carrie's hand, "But didn't you tell me Commander Davidson waited for you outside the locker room the other day to tell you something that could have easily waited until the next day?"
"Yes," Carrie acknowledged. "But what does this article about a suicide in California have to do with Davidson having a crush on me? I was halfway around the world when that man died."
John did the mental calculation. "I was too."
"I wonder where Davidson was stationed at that time." Steve pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to one of his contacts at Pearl. As he waited for a response Chin and Kono made their way across the bullpen and entered the office "Any luck?" he asked.
"She couldn't definitively identify the voice," Chin reported.
"Couldn't say it was him but also couldn't say it wasn't," Kono added. "We might have better luck if she could hear the voice live instead of on tape."
"We'd need a warrant to get him in a lineup for that and no judge is gonna give us one on what we have evidence-wise," Steve replied. His phone buzzed with an incoming text and he glanced at the screen before putting it back in his pocket. "Davidson was TAD at Naval Air Station Fallon ten years ago."
"Nevada!" John said triumphantly. "I knew it."
"That's not California," Carrie pointed out.
John threw his hands up. "It's sure as hell California adjacent."
"The LAPD is gonna fax us everything from the case file," Danny said as he entered the office. "But they said not to expect too much. As far as the detective I talked to could remember the body was never identified."
"Did they save a copy of the fingerprints, or better yet take a DNA sample?" Steve asked hopefully.
Danny shook his head. "No. But the good news is they also didn't cremate the body. It's buried in a state-owned cemetery."
"Let's start working on an exhumation order," Steve said. "If there's nothing in the files when they arrive to help us ID this guy we need to get the body out of the ground and figure out who he is."
"What can I do to help?" John asked.
"You can take your wife home and relax." Steve took a seat behind his desk. He knew John would want to be involved every step of the way, and he understood why, but he simply couldn't allow that. "I'll call you as soon as we know anything."
"But I want to… " John started but Steve cut him off.
"This is our job." Steve said patiently, knowing he'd be acting the same way in John's position. "Let us handle it."
"Catherine is helping and it's not her job anymore," John argued. He wasn't sure why he was dragging Catherine into it but he hated feeling helpless and was grasping for every straw available.
Steve cocked an eyebrow at his friend. "Is that really an argument you want to make with me right now?"
"Probably not," John admitted with a half smile.
Carrie stood up, crossed the office and wrapped an arm around her husband's waist. "Come on, babe. Let's get out of here and let these people do what they do best."
"Listen to your wife." Steve grinned as he pulled out his phone. "Also, I'm gonna have HPD station a unit in front of your house until further notice."
"That's not necess … " John stopped dead at the look on Steve's face. "You know what, how about if I just shut up and let you do your job."
The corners of Steve's mouth turned up slightly. "That sounds like a good plan."
"I know neither of you like feeling like you aren't actively attacking a problem," Catherine chimed in as she moved to hug both Carrie and John goodbye, "But in this case you really do need to let the team handle things. You couldn't be in better hands."
"I know," Carrie smiled before tossing, "Don't let it go to your head, McGarrett," over her shoulder.
"Seriously, guys," Steve said confidently, "We got this."
THE END (this storyline will conclude next Friday I promise)
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