Mari & Ilna—You two have become real life friends, there to share both the good and the bad times. I adore you both!
Sandy—I'm running out of superlatives. So I'll just say here's to the most well-appointed handbasket going.
REAL Worlders-you guys are the absolute best. Thanks for all your enthusiastic support. Please include your favorite movie quote in your review. I LOVE hearing stuff like that.
Here's Lookin' At You Kid (1/1)
"Hey Chin, what do you remember about the perp's girlfriend," Steve asked as he flipped through the file in front of him.
"C'mon, Cuz, this is an easy one," Kono encouraged.
Chin searched his memory as Steve, Catherine and Danny watched him closely. "The nicest thing I can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly," Chin said victoriously.
"Yes. Steel Magnolias. Nice." Kono reached across the conference room table and high-fived her grinning cousin.
It was two weeks until the start of a high-profile murder trial and the Five-0 team was re-familiarizing themselves with the details of the case before beginning individual trial prep sessions the next week with the prosecuting attorney. The investigation had been long and grueling and the details of the case were as grizzly as any the team had ever investigated.
Garrett Yohe, a small time criminal from the big island, was released from prison six months ago after serving fifteen years for his part in a bank robbery that ended abruptly after the thieves realized one of the tellers had pressed the silent alarm.
In the ensuing chaos a security guard and a female customer were wounded. As the police sirens got closer Yohe's cohorts grabbed the money from the teller drawers and fled while he was in the back with the manager attempting to get into the vault.
No one else was ever arrested and Yohe never named his accomplices. Instead he spent fifteen years plotting his revenge and the minute he was released he put his plan into action. He began systematically killing, in the most gruesome ways possible, everyone involved in the robbery that ultimately cost him of fifteen years of freedom.
After a long week working on a new case that involved human trafficking the last thing any of the team wanted to do was spend time reviewing gruesome case notes and bloody pictures but it needed to be done. Following leads, solving crimes and arresting criminals was only part of their job. Testifying successfully in court and assuring the guilty party was convicted was just as important.
And they took it very seriously.
But taking it seriously didn't mean they couldn't find certain coping mechanisms to get through the tough cases more easily.
Today's coping mechanism of choice was playing a game that involved responding to every question asked with a famous movie quote.
The first person who failed to come up with an appropriate quote would pick up the dinner tab for everyone at Sidestreet.
"I would have gone with stupid is as stupid does," Danny shrugged.
"You can never go wrong with Forrest Gump," Catherine nodded approvingly. "But I think Chin's was a better choice for this particular situation."
"I agree," Steve chimed in.
"What do you know?" Danny turned and pinned Steve with a glare. "Every quote you use is from A Few Good Men."
"That's because there is a quote for every occasion in that movie," Steve volleyed back.
"Says you," Danny grumbled.
"It's kinda true," Catherine said with a teasing smile. "But you know why you don't believe it?"
Danny froze.
He let out a small sigh.
He crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes..
He threw a mock glare at Catherine. He couldn't believe he made such a rookie mistake and let her back him into a corner so easily.
"I think the question is to you," Chin said with barely disguised mirth.
"You know why you don't believe it?" Catherine repeated in a sing-song voice.
"Because I can't handle the truth," Danny snarled the most famous line from the movie as the others all burst out laughing.
"Exactly," Steve replied then winked at Catherine while Danny scowled at them both. "Moving on, I'm sure we'll need to explain why the DNA results from the first death case weren't run against the national database for nearly two full weeks."
"That's a lab issue," Danny said. "Let them explain their own screw ups."
"It wasn't really a screw up," Catherine said. "Max thought the HPD sent it in and they thought he did. You know what happened there, right Kono?" Catherine lobbed her friend a softball.
"What we've got here, is a failure to communicate," Kono grinned.
"Cool Hand Luke. I'm impressed," Chin nodded. "Where are we in nailing down the timeline of Yohe's movements right after he was released from prison? We could never turn up enough to arrest an accomplice but he had to have help staying hidden for three weeks, didn't he?"
"It doesn't matter what I believe," Steve grinned at Danny, going back again to A Few Good Men, "It only matters what I can prove."
"Are you through talking," Danny huffed.
"Well your problem isn't me talking," Steve responded with a sly grin, "Your problem is you not listening."
Danny stared at his partner incredulously.
"Captain Phillips," Catherine nodded approvingly. "Good work."
"Thanks," Steve grinned. "Never let it be said I'm a one trick pony." He flipped to the next page of the file. "We have the testimony of the woman who turned him in locked down. What did he think was gonna happen when he abandoned her in some flea bag motel at the docks and took off without her?"
"No one puts Baby in a corner." Catherine pumped her fist triumphantly.
"Dirty Dancing," Kono smiled. "Always a strong choice. Still her testimony alone might not have been enough if his ex-cellmate hadn't decided to rat him out. Of course he did look up the guy's wife as soon as he got out. Guess he learned a lesson about counting on the guy whose wife you stole, huh?"
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Chin raised his arms in triumph. "The Godfather II. That gives me an automatic win and immunity for the rest of the game. I am eating on someone else's dime tonight."
"How is that even fair," Danny asked disbelievingly.
"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth." Catherine looked into the blank faces of her colleagues. "Into the Wild," she smiled. "It was on in the background last week when I was doing laundry. My point is … the Godfather rule is unassailable. It's an auto-win."
"I would think someone from New Jersey would appreciate that rule," Steve smirked.
"Hardly," Danny chuffed. "My beloved home state has a bad reputation when it comes to the mafia. But trying to convince people of that is like whistling against the wind."
Catherine's eyes lit up. "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? Just put your lips together and blow." She pumped her fist. "To Have and Have Not. And I worked it into the conversation without a question so that's another immunity for me. It's down to you three."
"I think you're making these rules up as you go along," Danny complained.
"Same rules we've always used," Catherine grinned. "Now let's wrap this up. I'm hungry."
"Me too," Kono nodded. "And that's a bad thing because I promised myself as God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
"Ha," Catherine bark laughed. "Gone With The Wind. And another immunity because there was no question on the table."
"That one's a stretch," Danny argued.
"Stop being a sore loser," Kono smirked. "It's down to you and Steve."
"We need to make sure we get the letters his mother gave us the first time we visited her house into evidence," Steve said. "I'm sure the defense is gonna argue we didn't have a warrant. We'll need to be very clear on that."
"No worries. We're on solid ground," Chin assured him. "She offered them up voluntarily."
"He spilled his guts in those letters." Steve shook his head. "Apparently it's true what they say … A boy's best friend is his mother."
"No … " Danny argued. "No way. I don't care if it is a Psycho quote and that is one of my favorite movies of all time. You set yourself up and that's not allowed."
Steve grinned. "You're absolutely right."
Danny saw where Steve was headed just a beat too late.
"How was it again he explained those letters when we interviewed him?" Steve asked.
Danny looked at the grinning faces of each one of his teammates in turn. They all knew perfectly well what was revealed during the initial interrogation of Garrett Yohe. They'd had quite a laugh at the time and were now watching him expectantly.
The little voice in his head was telling him to just go ahead and do it and continue the game.
He took a deep breath.
He opened his mouth to speak then stopped.
"You know what," he said as he closed the file in front of him and stood up. "I'm not gonna do it."
"Oh come on," Catherine smiled. "You know you wanna."
The taunting look on Steve's face almost broke his will but he stayed strong. He wanted to win, and to force Steve to pay for dinner for the team, but there were some things he wouldn't do.
"No. Absolutely not. I would rather pick up the bill at Sidestreet than use a quote from The Notebook to win this game."
"If that's what you want," Steve smirked. "But I missed lunch so… "
When they initially interviewed Yohe they were floored by his explanation for why he wrote detailed descriptions of his crimes, in letter form, to his mother. He claimed it was his way of dealing with the reality of what he was doing. He had never been a violent man but fifteen years of sitting in prison changed him. So every time the guilt and horror built up he needed a release. He dealt with it by writing to his mother.
All Danny had to say is 'Every time the feelings got too strong I wrote another letter' and the game would go on.
But he knew Steve would never let him live it down.
It wasn't worth it. If it was any other rom-com maybe. But not that one. Not The Notebook.
"I'll meet you there," he said as stood up and headed for the door. "I have to stop at the cash machine on the way."
As he walked down the hall he could hear the good-natured laughter of his colleagues.
He knew for a fact that Steve watched Frozen at least twice with Grace. It might be hard to work a snow related question into a case in Hawaii but Danny knew one thing for sure. Next time they played he was sure gonna try.
THE END
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