Thanks to anyone who to reviewed, favorited, or followed the story over the past couple of chapters. This is my first Hawaii 5-0 fanfiction so your encouragement is much appreciated :0)

Not Your Fault

Chapter Three

Four Weeks Later

Katie frowned as she listened to Melissa talk, mostly rant, about her boyfriend, Danny.

They sat across the table from one another in the peaceful courtyard of the Tinderbox coffee shop, a ten minute walk from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki Beach. The courtyard was shaded from the mid-morning sun and was a welcome relief from the unusually high September temperatures which had hit the island; the warm breeze swept through the stone archways at the multiple entrances and ruffled the palm trees and the sprays of tropically colourful flowers which bloomed in the raised flowerbeds.

Melissa's rant came to an abrupt halt, "I saw that," she exclaimed raising an eyebrow at her, a slightly hurt expression danced across the young woman's pretty features, "you frowned."

Katie blushed as she stirred the cream into her coffee, her teaspoon clinked delicately on the sides of the oversized fishbowl they called a mug. "Sorry," she offered up apologetically. She genuinely hadn't meant to offend Melissa by being negative about her relationship; well, not out loud at least. Inside she was mentally screaming.

"They're not all the same, you know. Danny's..." she paused as a small smile tugged at her plump pink lips, "different. He's kind and strong and understanding. You should see him with his daughter; overprotective father doesn't even come close."

This was the fourth time in as many weeks that Katie and Melissa had met up outside of their support group. Katie wasn't quite sure what they were yet, friends or acquaintances, and whilst she was still cautious of letting anyone get too close she couldn't deny that she wasn't enjoying her company. It had been a long time since Katie had had anyone to really speak to and once they had veered the conversation away from anything too personal she had found herself opening up and the conversation flowing.

She had lost touch with most of her friends shortly after she had gotten married to Jim. They had gotten married the October after she had graduated from High School and it was realistic to assume that she would of lost touch with a few of them anyway. The hardest loses were her best friends though; those had hurt. It had been her fault; she had pushed them away out of embarrassment and self preservation when they started to ask questions after one-too-many bruises and poor excuses. Eventually the invites to dinner and coffee and the mall dried up and it wasn't until later that Katie realised how truly alone she really was. They'd never liked Jim and they couldn't stand to hear their friend constantly defending him and make excuses for him. They knew who he was and what he was long before she did.

She bristled, "he's a cop," she blurted before her brain could stop her.

"Yeah," Melissa agreed nodding her head as an edge of annoyance seeped into her voice, "and he's a damn good one. He got himself stabbed trying to protect me from my crazy ex."

Katie recoiled as her eyes watered, she didn't want to lose Melissa as a friend, or whatever she was. She shook her head, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

Melissa sighed heavily. "Yes you did, and you should talk about it. About whatever happened. You've been coming to the group for a month now and you've never once uttered a word of what brought you there." She smiled letting Katie know that she was forgiven, "anyone would think you just came for the free coffee."

She let out a watery laugh, "that coffee sucks, you know that?"

Melissa grinned as she took a sip of her frothy cappuccino; her smile faded and she began to look thoughtful as she placed the cup back on the saucer. "Seriously though, you should talk about it. It used to eat me alive that I wasn't being completely honest with Danny and when he got hurt it was the worst. To see him hurt because of me," she shook her head, "maybe I should've walked away but I never thought Frank would find me here. I honestly thought that Danny would be mad at me when he woke up in that hospital bed; I could've gotten him killed and then Grace would've grown up without a father. But he wasn't. He wasn't angry at all that I'd kept that from him." She shrugged as though still trying to figure out his reaction, "I guess he sees people hurt everyday and he just knew that it wasn't my fault, that I was just trying to survive."

Katie wiped the lip of her mug absently with the pad of her thumb as she listened to Melissa. She knew Melissa's story; it hadn't been hugely dissimilar to her own. She had married too young to an older man who quickly became too controlling. Melissa had been stronger that Katie was though, several hospital visits later Melissa had accepted defeat and walked away whereas Katie had stayed and remained the physical and verbal punching bag for her husband's angry outbursts.

"Do you think he'll look for you?" Melissa asked.

She felt her stomach do an awkward somersault. "I don't think so," she replied softy.

"I didn't think so either," she gently reminded her.

"I just...I can't imagine that he would bother."

Her response seemed to pacify Melissa as she nodded and quickly changed the subject.

"Have you given any more thought to surf lessons?" she asked with a smile. "We should really try and blend in."

Katie looked at her in disbelief, "blend in with that accent? Okay, New Jersey" she quipped putting on a hammed up Jersey accent.

Melissa burst out laughing, "You sound like a bad Sopranos remake, one that went straight to DVD."

"I'll take that as a complement, I was thinking more straight to TV. Seriously though, I still want to try it."

Melissa clapped her hands together in excitement, "Excellent, I mentioned it to one of Danny's friends. She used to be a professional surfer and she was saying that the waves at Kawela Bay would be perfect for newbs like us. I'm thinking that we find a date that suits us all and then we can head up there; if the whole surfing thing falls through then at least we can get a girly day at the beach instead."

She smiled at Melissa's enthusiasm, envying the way that Melissa could flit from talking about something so serious to something so carefree and wondered if she would ever be able to do that. Melissa was so keen to leave the past in the past, taking the steps that she needed to in order to move on with her life; and here she was not even able to verbalise hers. She might quietly disapprove of Danny but she couldn't deny that her friend was happy and that her eyes lit up whenever she spoke of him; Katie knew from her own experience that that joy simply couldn't be faked.

It had been a few days since she had met up with Melissa for coffee and Katie was delighted that the unexpected heat wave had ended. The weather was breaking with a dramatic lightening storm which was thundering and forking over the darkness of Mamala Bay as the heavens opened. It was the first time that the weather here had reminded her of home and she watched from the balcony of her apartment above the diner as the road outside had become a river of rainwater which overburdened the drains. It wasn't until 3 am, long after the storm had finished its ragging, when she finally fell asleep on the couch.

She woke suddenly to pounding on the front door. Still half asleep she untangled herself from the thin nylon blanket and without thinking hurried to the source of the banging and flung open the door. That was when she found herself nose to chest to Commander McGarrett. She felt the blood drain from her face and her head spun. She recognised him instantly from their meeting in the diner almost a month ago; his eyes were downcast studying an iPad he had clutched in his hand and he had a serious look on his face. There was no escaping what this man did for living today, the right side of his blue t-shirt was tucked haphazardly into the top of his cargo pants exposing not only his badge but his holstered gun.

"Katelyn Connelly?" he asked looking up from the tablet, his eyes widened in surprise as soon as he saw her. "Katie? You're the waitress from downstairs." He stated. "I remember you."

She gave him a silent nod.

"I don't know if you remember me, I'm..."

"Commander McGarrett," she finished for him, "I remember." Her voice came out weak and raspy; her heart thundered in her chest.

"Well, I'm sorry to disturb you but I'm investigating an incident," he gave her a small smile and subtly eyed her up in down, "Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable if we went inside?"

She glanced down and her face flamed as her sleepy fog lifted completely; her navy and pink paisley sleep shorts and cerise vest left little to the imagination. She turned and walked a few steps to grab her cardigan from the hook in the hallway and quickly shoved her arms inside and wrapped it protectively around her thin frame. When she turned back she was surprised to see that the Commander had taken this as an invite to come in and he was now loaming over her expectantly in her narrow hallway, the front door now closed behind him. She took a step backward away from him and into the living room. He followed.

"As I said, I'm investigating an incident, I'm speaking to anyone who might have seen or heard something."

She nodded as she gazed wide-eyed at him; nervously stretching the cuffs of her cardigan.

He flipped the iPad around so that she could see the screen. She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. The screen displayed an image of an elderly man, his skin pallid and rubbery and his eyes grey and staring into the abyss. The image of Jim's face flickered in her mind and her knees buckled.

The Commander caught her by the elbows and gently lowered her to the sofa behind her.

"Wow, easy there. You okay?" he asked quickly turning the screen on the iPad black.

Her eyes flickered up at him even as he crouched down in front of her, looking at her in concern.

"He's dead?" she asked tearfully. "Mr Keyes is dead?"

The Commander looked surprised, "you knew him?"

She wiped her eyes with the corner of her sleeve and nodded, "a bit," then shook her head, "not really. He comes into the diner a lot, he's a regular."

Steve stood up and slide onto the sofa next to her, "can you tell me what you knew about him? Anything that you can tell me might help me find who did this to him."

She looked at him in shock. "He was murdered?"

He nodded.

She shook her head, her forehead crinkling in confusion, "why would someone want to hurt him? He was nice. He said his wife died last summer, Netta, I think he said her name was. He comes into the diner a lot; he said he only came in because he never learned to cook." She shrugged, "we all figured that he was lonely and just wanted the company."

"Was he always alone? Did he ever meet anyone there or ever bring anyone?"

She shook her head again, "no, not that I ever saw."

"Do you remember when the last time you saw Mr Keyes was?"

She thought for moment, "it was Tuesday."

"And he came into the diner?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't working. I was coming home in the afternoon and he was outside the florists next door talking to Koali, she's the owner."

"Koali Kalama?" he clarified.

"I think so."

"Is there anything else you can remember about him?"

"Just that he was overly generous with the tips that he left us. The first time that I ever waited on him he left me a $10 tip for a coffee and a soup. I thought he'd made a mistake but he was adamant."

"Okay and I need to ask; did you hear anything or see anything unusual last night?"

"Why?"

The Commander sighed, "Mr Keyes, his body was found by the dumpsters in the alleyway downstairs."

Katie let out a squeak of surprise, "outside?"

"I'm afraid so. Do you remember anything?"

"No. It's usually pretty noisy around here anyway, but last night with the rain and thunder, it just made it worse."

Steve smiled reassuring at the young woman, "you've been a big help. If I've got any other questions I know where to find you."

Steve exited Katelyn Connelly's apartment and stepped out into the bright sunshine. He squinted before settling his aviator Ray Bans over his eyes and jogged quickly down the steps to join the rest of the team who were currently huddled behind the police tape cornering off the crime scene where Mr Keyes body had been found.

"Did you guys get anywhere?" he called out to them as he approached. He was met with various negative grumbles and he nodded in agreement.

The crime scene was worse than useless, there were no CCTV cameras anywhere and any evidence that the killer may have left had long since been washed away in last night's deluge; that, coupled with the fluctuation in temperature, meant that they wouldn't be able to get an accurate time of death until Max had done the autopsy. The killer had however left behind what they believed was the murder weapon, a moss coloured silk tie used to strangle Mr Keyes before it had been shoved into his mouth.

"The neighbour I spoke to knew him from coming into the diner," he informed them as he thumbed behind him in the vague direction from which he been. "She described him as being 'a nice old man, who couldn't cook and who tipped too much'."

"He tipped too much?" Danny asked as he rocked back on his heels. "That's what we're got to work with?"

"Afraid so; Kono, can you do a financial background check on Mr Keyes and see if anything unusual comes up? This guy was retired so look for any substantial money coming into or leaving his account."

"I'm on it, Boss." She replied.

"Chin, can you get over to the vic's home address and see if you can find something. Anything."

"Beth is on her way over, Danny, if he was a regular customer of hers we'll need to talk to her," he trailed off as a baby pink Volkswagen Beetle pulled up.

"Speak of the devil," Danny declared as he sauntered in its direction.

Beth was clearly upset as they took her statement; she obviously had had a soft spot for the older gentlemen who had frequented her small cafe with alarming regularity. Despite this she was still unable to provide any new information about him from what they already knew.

In the end they had left armed only with her staff records so that they could contact her employees in the hope that they might be able to provide a new lead. So far this case was looking like a complete bust; Steve just hoped that either Kono or Chin was able to turn something up in their part of the investigation.