Chapter 3
Chin parked his car and jogged up the Palace steps, computer printout in hand. He entered the Five-O office suite, greeted Jenny and returned to his desk. Opening his desk drawer, he pulled out the sack lunch his wife had packed for him that morning, hoping to get in a few bites while he studied his list of possible suspects. He unwrapped the sandwich and chuckled to himself.
Ah, peanut butter again, Chin thought and he smiled at his vision of the morning routine in the Kelly household. With eight children to feed, lunches were made assembly-line style and sometimes Chin felt like he was child number nine.
Scanning the list from the HPD computer, he began crossing off the names of those who were currently in prison. Then he eliminated those who were out on parole but resided on one of the other islands. For the names that remained, he closely studied the specific charges, looking for those that dealt with heroin. Now he was down to just six names. He copied the names and addresses into his notebook and quickly finished his sandwich before leaving his cubicle.
"The boss still here?" Chin asked Jenny, nodding toward the closed door to the large office.
"He is, Chin," replied the petite secretary as she glanced at the buttons of her office phone. "He just got off the phone."
"Thanks," Chin said. He approached the door and knocked respectfully. Then at his boss's invitation, he entered the office.
"What have you got, Chin?" Steve asked.
"List of probables from the iron brain. I narrowed it down to six most likely. Want me to check them out?"
"Let's both go," said Steve as he grabbed his shoulder holster and jacket.
o-o-o
Sam walked across the campus after his morning class and headed toward the small rented house where he lived. The lecture had been a blur; it could have been delivered in Chinese, for all he knew. He moved as if in a trance, nearly colliding with a couple of coeds who were chatting as they walked, but skirted around them at the last second.
Once home, he entered his room, threw his books on the bed and cursed.
"What's with you?"
Sam looked up and glared at his housemate Gil McCarthy who was standing in the doorway.
"Pete's dead, man! He wanted to jack up the price and we got into a fight. He must have hit his head on a rock." Sam's voice became shaky as fear and guilt threatened to overtake him. "My God, I killed him. What are we going to do? I killed him, Gil!" Sam sobbed.
"That does present a problem," Gil said in a low voice. "We had Pete over a barrel so he made a good supplier."
Sam stared at Gil, wide-eyed and speechless. He was incredulous that Gil talked about Pete as if he were discussing a piece of machinery.
"Look, what did you do after he bought it?" Gil asked.
"I…I panicked, Gil! I didn't know what to do. I grabbed the money and then pushed his body over the cliff and into the ocean." Sam couldn't believe that he had actually said it out loud. His admission gave the deed a new reality from which he could no longer hide.
Gil digested the news and thought for a few moments. When he looked back at Sam, a hard smile slowly spread across his face and his eyes narrowed.
"Don't worry about Pete, man. You did the right thing; you covered your tracks. There's no way they'll trace this to you." Gil thought some more and continued. "Hey, it'll look like a suicide - great thinking!" Gil laughed at the convenient disposal of what could have been a big problem.
"We just have to figure out what to do next," Gil continued. "We'll need a new man in the chem department. We have a lot of customers who are counting on us and time is running out!"
o-o-o
The two older detectives had just finished visiting address number five and were on their way to number six. At each address, they had questioned the resident parolee and checked out his shoe size. No eleven narrow so far.
"This is like looking for Cinderella!" Chin commented, frustrated with the lack of luck.
"And which one of us is the handsome prince?" Steve asked wryly.
Chin gave his boss a pained look and shook his head. "Just one left."
They pulled up to a rundown one-story house in one of the poorer neighborhoods.
They could see movement inside – someone was definitely home.
"Okay, Chin, you cover the back and I'll take the front. Be careful," instructed Steve.
Chin quietly made his way to the back of the structure. From his position, he heard his boss pound on the door and call out "Harry Chang, it's Five-O, open up!"
A sudden racket from within the house was followed by Harry Chang's bolting out the back door. Chin quickly grabbed the lanky young man and held one arm behind his back.
"What do you want, old man?" Harry shouted angrily as he squirmed against Chin's grip.
"Just need to ask you a few questions, son, so calm down! Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?" Chin said just as the lead detective appeared in the back yard.
Steve took a close look at Harry's face, which bore several nasty bruises.
"Looks like you've been in a fight," Steve said. "What size shoe do you wear?" he asked glancing down at the young man's dirty sneakers.
Harry looked down at his feet, then back up at the tall detective. "Eleven narrow," answered Harry, genuinely confused by the strange question. "Why?"
Steve exchanged glances with Chin. Now we're getting somewhere, he thought.
"Where were you between ten last night and three this morning?" Chin asked.
"Emergency room. As you noticed, I was in a fight," Harry replied defiantly. "Took ten stitches to close up a cut on my arm, and this isn't helping!" He glared at Chin angrily.
Chin loosened his grip slightly.
"Come on, Harry, you get a free trip downtown while we check out your story," Steve said. "Are you going to cooperate, or do we have to cuff you?"
Harry knew that he didn't stand a chance against the two larger men so he went quietly while the two detectives escorted him to the big Mercury.
