A.N. – Hawaii Five-O belongs to CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks to "Book 'em Again" for the name of the governor's wife.
Thanks to "jodm" for reviewing this for scientific accuracy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Pray, Eat, Remember
A cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he fought hard against dizziness and the sharp pain twisting his gut. Part of him longed for death. There was nothing left to empty from his stomach and dry heaves had left him very weak. His tie long ago discarded; his damp shirt, unbuttoned halfway, clung to his back as he curled into a question mark on the hard tile floor. He heard an insistent knocking at the door.
"Paul? Paul, darling, are you okay?"
Getting no intelligible answer, Patti Jameson grew more frightened. Having just returned from a last minute trip to the mainland, this was hardly what she expected to find greeting her at home. "Paul, I'm calling Mark right now."
o-o-o
Thirty-five minutes had passed since Mrs. Jameson's frantic phone call to Dr. Mark Grey, personal physician to the governor of the state of Hawaii. With the help of a couple of security guards, Paul Jameson had been retrieved from his bathroom, cleaned up and tucked into his bed. After some anti-nausea medication and a mild sedative, the governor was much more comfortable and was dozing off and on. That is after a significant shouting match with his doctor, who wanted to admit him to Queen's Hospital immediately.
On the surface, it looked like a straight forward case of food poisoning. But Dr. Grey left Washington Place with three vials of Jameson's blood to be tested for something more sinister and his mind made up to phone Hawaii Five-O. This was just too much of a coincidence after the governor's early Thanksgiving dinner with a group of ambassadors from China, all of whom were conveniently vegetarian. Only Jameson had consumed the turkey.
Patti Jameson sat at her husband's bedside praying that the worst of it might be over.
o-o-o
"Williams, Five-O"
Danny had drawn the short straw and was manning the office for the Thanksgiving holiday. The young detective's brow wrinkled as he listened to the physician's report of his visit to the governor's mansion and his resulting suspicions.
"You were right to call us, Dr. Grey. I'll get in touch with McGarrett," Danny responded. "Please let us know when you get the results of the blood work and keep us up to date on the governor's condition."
Dan hung up the phone and sighed. What a mess! Steve had been personally responsible for security at the dinner that day and all had appeared to have gone well. If the governor had been poisoned, McGarrett's professional reputation would be ruined and Five-O would also take the hit. He steeled himself, redialed the phone and was soon connected with his boss.
"McGarrett"
"Hi Steve; Danny. Just had a call from Dr. Grey; the governor has taken ill, and he thinks that he may have been deliberately poisoned."
The head of Five-O had just returned from an afternoon jog. Clad in running shorts, sweatshirt and headband, he toweled the moisture from his face as his mind snapped into full alert.
"My God, Danno, I was just with him an hour ago!"
"They're testing his blood, Steve, and they're going to get back to us. Must have hit him pretty fast."
"Okay, I'm on my way in. Get help from HPD. I want the entire kitchen staff questioned. And call Che, we may need him."
"On it, Steve. I'll see you soon."
Steve replaced the receiver, adrenaline now pumping through his system. He hated to spoil the holiday for the hard-working officers at HPD, not to mention Che Fong, who would be spending a rare day with his whole family since his son and daughter were home for Thanksgiving. But the day had already been spoiled for the Jamesons and he needed to get to the bottom of this.
o-o-o
The interrogation with the caterers hadn't revealed much, except that the head chef had prepared a fresh farm turkey rather than one from a commercial grocer. Armed with the name and address of the farm, the two top cops drove to the small farm in one of the poorer sections of the island. The place appeared deserted.
"Here he is," Danny called out to his boss as a second car pulled into the yard.
A familiar figure exited the car and, joining the other two men, quickly got down to business.
"What have you got?"
Che Fong was uncharacteristically dressed in jeans, sneakers and an old comfortable aloha shirt, having rushed out of his home on short notice.
"Thanks for coming out, Che," greeted McGarrett. "This is where the governor's turkey was purchased. We were going to question the farmer, but no one is around. Thought that you could have a look at the birds and take some samples."
Samples of what? thought the forensic scientist as he surveyed the surroundings. "I'll see what I can do," Che replied, not really sure where to begin.
"Hey, over here!"
The two older men followed Dan's voice around the back to a pen filled with several turkeys. Some were strutting around and others sat listlessly in the muddy corners. The smell was less than pleasant, but to Che the stench was more than an annoyance, it was evidence.
"Get me a bucket," Che requested, looking in Dan's direction.
Puzzled, but wanting to get away from the turkey pen, Danny left to see what he could find around the other out buildings.
The scientist and the senior detective continued to observe the birds. "This one appears to be ill, Steve," Che said, squatting down to get a closer look at one of the docile hens. While he was studying the hapless bird, a large angry tom zeroed in on the small man, puffed himself up and charged. Steve swiftly positioned himself between predator and prey and made a grab at the large white feathered male, frightening it away seconds before it connected with its intended victim.
"Thanks, Steve…" Che began as he stood up, only to be interrupted by a sharp cry of pain. Danny!
Steve was out of the pen in an instant with his gun drawn. "Danno!"
Danny appeared at the far end of the yard, in the constrictor-like grasp of an enormous man. The slight detective could barely breathe and he looked like a rag doll against his captor, his feet dangling several inches above the ground, a bucket hanging limply in his hand.
Instant recognition filled McGarrett's mind as he remembered his own painful encounter with this giant. Benny Apa!
"Let him go, Benny, we just want to talk!" Steve commanded, trying to keep his voice as gentle as he could and re-holstering his .38. Strong as he was, Benny had the mind of a child.
"Mmmister McGarrett," Benny stammered, suddenly dropping his hostage without warning. Danny hit the ground hard. After catching his breath, he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position then gingerly stood as his aching body protested.
"He was stealing a bucket," Benny slowly explained. "Mr. Reeves left me in charge. I can't let nothing happen while Mr. Reeves is away."
Ignoring the charge of stealing, Steve asked about the turkeys and Benny's face lit up with pride.
"Aren't they something, Mr. McGarrett? I take good care of them."
"I'm sure you do, Benny, but some of them look sick. We're here to find out why," Steve responded.
Danny had limped back to the pen and began helping Che gather soil and excrement samples in the bucket.
"We'll need to borrow your bucket for a while, Benny, but you have my word that it will be returned," Steve promised.
"Okay, Mr. McGarrett. Mr. Reeves won't be back 'til tomorrow. I can't let nothing happen while Mr. Reeves is away," Benny repeated. "I gotta take care of the turkeys."
With Benny sufficiently placated, they three visitors made a hasty retreat.
"I'll let you know what I find, Steve," Che called out as he climbed into his car with the foul smelling bucket.
"Thanks, Che, the sooner the better," Steve answered opening the driver's side of the Mercury. Danny eased his way into the passenger's side, noticeably more slowly than usual.
o-o-o
Back at the lab, it didn't take long for Che Fong to identify a foreign chemical in his soil sample and salmonella bacteria in the turkey droppings.
"That's right, Steve," Che explained over the phone. "This compound is commonly found in fertilizer, the kind used on sugar cane. It probably got into the soil through contamination of the ground water. The turkey farm is downhill from a large commercial cane plantation, and the runoff would naturally flow toward the farm."
"Is that what caused the governor's illness?"
"Not directly. Exposure to the chemical weakened the turkeys' immune systems, causing them to become sick from bacteria that they can normally fight off. The bacteria reproduced rapidly in the weakened bird. The governor was probably infected by the same bacteria if the meat was undercooked or the preparation area wasn't kept clean."
"Thanks, Che. I think you can get back to your family now."
"Glad to help out, Steve. I'll have someone from HPD return the bucket to the farm."
As soon as McGarrett hung up the phone, it rang again. Danny shifted uncomfortably in the white leather chair parked in front of his boss's large desk and gave the tall detective a pleading look. Still sore from his encounter with Benny Apa, the young man really wanted his shift to be over so he could spend the rest of the holiday relaxing and recovering.
"McGarrett," Steve tersely answered after snatching up the receiver. "Oh, thanks, doctor, that's great news. Give him my best." After completing the call, he filled in the details for his second-in-command. "That was Dr. Grey. The governor's lab work confirms Che's findings. It was salmonella."
Danny sat up straighter, suddenly concerned. "Will he be okay?"
"Yes, the worst is over. He should be just fine in a few days. Now, how about if I treat you to Thanksgiving dinner?"
o-o-o
Seated in a booth of a favorite diner near the beach, Steve eyed his bruised dinner guest carefully. "Sure you're okay, Danno?"
"Fine, Steve. But I hope I never tangle with Benny again," Danny said rubbing his sore ribs. "It's like going up against a wild bull."
"Believe me, I understand," Steve replied sympathetically, just as the waitress arrived with their order: two turkey sandwiches, coffee for Steve and a beer for Danny.
Steve unconsciously recoiled at the aroma of the entrée, the events of the day still too fresh in his mind. "Wait a minute, where did you get this turkey?" he asked bluntly.
"Fresh from the grocery store yesterday, sir," the puzzled waitress answered. Then her handsome customer relaxed and smiled up at her in his relief. "Thanks, honey," he replied in a gentler tone. "Happy Thanksgiving!"
Danny chuckled at the exchange, then grabbed his sandwich and dug in. Both detectives ate their fill, enjoying each other's company and thankful that the man they were sworn to protect was on the mend.
Pau