CHAPTER 2

CJ and Matt stepped off the elevator at the office at 8:00 sharp the next morning. Chris already had the coffee started. Matt told her that they had a new client and that he and CJ would most likely be going to Hawaii for the case.

"Oh, I see. So you need your wonderful secretary to go along with you, right?" She smiled at the boss.

"Well, I wish you could, but we need you here to hold down the fort. Unless you can get Murray to answer the phones for us." Matt loved teasing her about her fiancé, Murray Chase who was the head of Houston Industries. A couple of years earlier Matt had turned over the conglomerate for Murray to run as a money maker for charity. Matt was much happier, Murray was happy, and lot of people were being helped by the charities it funded.

"Somehow I don't think he can make time to do that, Houston."

"Besides, if you went with us poor old Murray would be lonely, now wouldn't he?" Matt gave his secretary a hug and then he and CJ went into the office. As his wife pulled up the information on the email address that they had received from Mike the night before, Matt poured coffee for them both and stepped over the back of the couch to sit next to her.

"Okay, let's see what we have here." CJ clicked a couple more keys. "This is one of those free email addresses, and it belongs to Alyssa Forte. Now let's see." She worked the keyboard a little more. "I'm coming up with an address for an Alyssa Forte in Honolulu, which sounds right from what Mike told us."

"Uh huh. What else can we find about her?" Matt watched as CJ's fingers danced across the keyboard. He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "Did I ever tell you how sexy your typing is?"

CJ burst into laughter. "Oh, my God! Mattlock William Houston! You've got to be kidding me. That has got to be the worst pick up line I've ever heard."

"Guess it's a good thing we're already married then, huh?" He nibbled on her neck.

"Okay, do you want information on this girl or do you want something else? Because even as talented as I am, I can't do both at the same time, cowboy." She gave him a kiss.

"Information now, something else later?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Oh Lord, the newlywed routine again." Uncle Roy walked into the office and over to the bar, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Morning, Uncle Roy. Glad to see you, too." Matt tilted his head back to look at his uncle.

"Guess I'll work on the project unless you've got something else for me." Roy stepped over behind the couch.

"Works for me. CJ and I may be headed to Hawaii today. We've got a blackmail case going on and the blackmailer is there."

"Okey dokey, just let me know if you need me." He walked on into Matt's office and closed the door.

"Are you ready for the information now – or the something else?" CJ grinned at her husband.

"Decisions, decisions. Uh, well, let's see…" He rubbed his chin like he was thinking about the question.

"NNNNT! Too late, you're getting the information. Alyssa Forte lives at 5861 Alani Street. I'm not showing an employment record, sooooo, she might well be in a certain kind of service industry if you get my drift."

"That would fit with what Mike told us." He copied down the information on a notepad and checked his watch. "I don't think McGarrett would be too happy with me if I called him right now. So, I'll call at 11:00." He leaned back on the couch and thought for a minute. "If we take off from here at 12:00 our time, it will be about 5:00 our time when we get to Honolulu which would be 2:00 their time."

"Congratulations, I knew you could do it." CJ patted him on the shoulder.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Can you find out anything else about her?"

"Well, let's see. Oh how nice! She has a Mugbook page." There were a couple more keystrokes. "Uh huh. Well, I think I see what got Mike interested. He hasn't changed much since college." Matt leaned forward to look at the picture. "I believe they're big enough that you don't really need to lean forward to see them, Matt." She gave him a look.

"Just trying to be thorough, dear." He grinned at her. They read through the posts that were on Alyssa's page and neither was impressed. "Yep, looks like she's definitely in the service business." Matt thought for a minute. "I'm going to go ahead and call the plane crew and get the bird ready to fly." He pulled out his phone and called the airport and walked out onto the patio. After he got done with that call, he called Mike Patrillo. "Hey, CJ and I got started on your case this morning. We've been getting some background information on Alyssa. It looks like we'll be heading that way later on today. Just thought I would give you an update."

"Okay, Houston, I appreciate it. Let me know how it goes." Mike sounded extremely worried, and he had good cause Matt thought.

"Alright, I'll let you know as soon as we've got something." He hung up the phone and walked back inside.

"I've been doing a little more digging here. Looks like our assumptions about Alyssa's line of work were right – she's been convicted five times: three in Nevada and twice in Hawaii."

"Okay." He sat down on the couch and thought for a few minutes. "You know, Paul said the plane would be ready in an hour. We might as well go ahead and leave then, what do you think?"

"We might as well; we need to be on the ground there to accomplish anything else. Guess I better pack my bag." CJ stood up and suddenly became dizzy. Matt saw what was happening and jumped up to ease her back down on the couch.

"Hey, easy now. Are you okay, babe?" He noticed she was looking a little pale.

"Yeah, I'm fine, guess I just stood up too quick." Although she tried to make light of it Matt was still worried.

"Maybe you better stay here. I can take Uncle Roy with me and you can go home and get some rest." He gently brushed his thumb across her cheek.

"Yeah, right! And leave you in Hawaii with Miss BigNBusty there? No siree ain't happening." She stood up, more slowly this time and started for the stairs with Matt right behind her.

"You do know that would never happen don't you?" He followed her downstairs.

"What?" She turned to look at Matt.

"Me and Miss BigNBusty as you called her. I would never do that to you." Matt was dead serious.

"I know." She gave him a big hug and kissed him. "I was just joking, Matt."

"Well I'm not, CJ." He kissed her, a long, slow scorching kiss. "You're it as far as I'm concerned."

"Just because Mike did what he did doesn't mean that I think you'll do the same, Matt. We've known each other too long and too well for that to ever happen. And I also know that you're a man of your word – that goes back to the Cowboy Code, right?" She smiled up at him. Matt and Vince Novelli's son Tony were big buddies, and ever since they met, Tony had wanted to be just like Matt. He listened to every word Matt said about the "Cowboy Code", a list of do's and don'ts for cowboys – like you never go back on your word.

"Not just that, CJ. I meant every word of those wedding vows. And I take it seriously."

"I know you do, hon and I do too. Now," she picked up the suitcase that she kept at the office. "Let's get packing. Maybe if we're lucky we'll have time to get some of Mama's lasagna. Man that sounds good right now!" She moved to the closet and started pulling out clothes, as did Matt.

Within ten minutes they were packed and ready to go. They went back upstairs, and Matt stuck his head in his office and told Uncle Roy they were leaving, then they both told Chris that they were heading to Hawaii and she just gave them a big smile and sigh. "You two try to have some fun while you're there – and make sure to give Mama a hug for me, okay?" Murray stepped off of the elevator.

"Are you two going to Hawaii?" He walked over and gave Chris a peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, we've got a case going on that's leading us there. Of course Mama's cooking isn't a bad perk, either." Matt put his arm around CJ. "You two try to behave yourselves while we're gone okay?" He winked at Murray and he and CJ stepped into the elevator and were gone.

Forty five minutes later, Matt and CJ had just been cleared for takeoff. As he taxied to the runway, Matt looked over at his wife who was all smiles. He returned her smile and then expertly piloted the plane into the air.