Chapter 4:
Steve had finished up with Max and got back with Chin and Kono. With the evidence Max brought forward with one of the deceased also recently having a family member pass away, and Kono's information a store gave her about the customized etchings on the lighters, they had landed a possible suspect.
"28 year old Julien Bernard." Kono said as she swiped on the tech table back in their offices. "He purchased the lighters with the etchings on them and his name fits the engravings. . .JB."
"Yeah. Records say he lives, or rather lived, with his mother. . .who passed away recently." Chin added.
"How recent?" Steve asked.
"Um. . ." Kono typed on the table. A few moments passed before she spoke again. "About a month ago."
"When the fires started. . ." Steve said with his mind wandering.
"Well, we can deduce that his mother's death was his stressor." Chin murmured.
"Yeah. . ."
"According to his past records, he was in and out of the hospital as a kid. . .a lot. Like. . .every 6 months or so for something minor. . .stitches, sprained wrist, broken welts. . ."
"Looks like the mother was in and out of the hospital, too." Kono paused. "Oh, and with HPD."
"What?" Chin asked.
"Domestic violence. . .a lot of domestic violence. . ." Kono murmured as she scrolled down the records.
Steve tilted his head. "So. . .kid was beaten a lot. . .bad home environment. . ."
"And it looks like he underwent several psych eval's when he was young. He kept on being tested as they moved and his parents kept filing for divorce and going on and on with custody battles. . ."
As Kono finished, Steve looked over at Danny, who sat on the edge of the table.
Danny gazed at the screen in thought. Divorce. . .custody battles. . .wow.
"If this is our guy, we definitely know where his behaviors stemmed from." Chin said.
"Yeah, no kidding." Steve murmured. "Any history with fire?"
"Now that's the weird part. . .usually with serial arsonists, you can count on their childhoods being littered with permanent records of some kind. . .especially pertaining to fire. But. . .there's nothing here." Kono said.
"Hmmm." Chin hummed. "Weird."
"Yeah. How odd. . .you mentioned his mother passed away recently?"
"Yeah, about a month ago." Chin repeated.
"Was he living with her?" Steve asked.
"Let's see. . .current residence for him. . .and. . .for her. . .yep. They were both living down Booth Road at the time of her passing."
Steve nodded. "Okay. . .okay. . ." He paused. "We know of any friends or family in the area?"
Kono shook her head. "No. . .he didn't really have friends and family's all back on the main land."
"Is he employed?"
Kono tapped on the table. "Yes. It looks like he works at Jimmy's, a local cafe."
Steve nodded. "Okay. Let's give them a call and then head over to his house."
"We can ask neighbors if they've seen anything suspicious." Chin offered.
"That would be good. Okay, let's call Jimmy's." Steve said.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Steve sat in Danny's Camaro, petting Danny as the gorgeous, petite golden-blond tabby sat in his lap. He gazed at a door to a house as he stroked Danny's soft coat. "There's the place." Steve murmured as his gaze went from the door to the windows that were visible from the road. "No signs of life from the house. . ." He paused. "Slightly expected, since it's the middle of the day."
Danny stood up and looked out the window.
"Yeah. . .Kono and Chin are further up the block asking questions. I told them to look as casual as possible. Since he has access to the house."
Steve hesitated. He picked Danny up and set him in the passenger seat next to him. He opened the car door and stepped out. "Okay, Danny, stay here." Steve murmured as he shut the door to the Camaro.
Danny hissed. How dare you. I'm going, whether you like it or not. Danny jumped from his seat and out of the partially open window.
Steve walked quickly towards the house's front door.
Danny quickly followed Steve at his heels.
"Danny!" Steve murmured. "Go back!"
Danny hissed. No way, you animal! I'm coming and that's final.
Steve sighed. "Fine, but if you get into trouble, you can't say that I got you into it." He murmured.
Danny continued to follow him. Yes, yes! I get it! But if either one of us is going to be getting into trouble, it will be you.
Steve smiled as he glanced at Danny and continued up the steps to the porch. "Alright. . ." Steve paused at the front door. "I guess I could knock. . ." He brought his fist to the door and gave it several loud knocks. He looked around and listened for signs of movement in the house. When he didn't hear anything, he reached to the door knob and tried the handle. He sighed as it jiggled, but did not open. "That would've been too easy." He murmured with a smile as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "And while it would be easy to just kick the door in, we don't want to leave evidence of break in's to possibly scare him into hiding."
Danny watched him as he opened his wallet and pulled out a single credit card. He folded his wallet and shoved it in his front pocket. Danny tilted his head as he watched Steve placed the card at the door's crease near the lock.
"If I. . .can just. . ." Steve paused as he jiggled the card in the door slot. Relief swept through him as the door clicked. "Sweet! We're in!" He murmured as he opened the door.
Danny scampered in quickly out of the heat of the Hawaiian sun. The house felt cool to him. He looked around. It looked very empty. Probably sold the furniture to keep rent for the month. . .but why is it still so cold? He looked up at the air conditioner controller panel. It was set to 65 degrees and it was on and going throughout the house. A/C on even though he's not here? Way to jack up the utility bill. . .and at 65 degrees? Danny looked over at the pictures on the walls. Still has family pictures on the wall? He moved closer to the wall and saw the pictures were defaced. Every picture with the man and his parents, the parents were defaced.
Steve closed the door and followed Danny. He looked around, too. He stepped into what looked to be like the kitchen. "Hmm." He hummed. A few cabinets. . .no oven. . .and. . .a mini fridge. . .man must've downgraded to pay bills. Steve thought as he looked at the very small set up of the dining area; a simple table and a folding chair.
Steve turned around in the kitchen and walked out towards the rest of the house. He walked down the hall and came to a door. A room? Steve tried it. When it opened, he was met with darkness. He looked beside him and saw a switch. He flipped it and saw in front of him a path of stairs leading down below the house. A basement? Steve took a couple steps down and continued down.
Danny turned from the pictures as he heard Steve open a door in the hall. He ran down the hall and to the now open door with Steve disappearing down the steps. He let out a small meow.
Steve turned and looked behind him at the top of the stairs. "You coming?"
Danny wasn't sure. Sure, they needed to search the house, but. . .a basement? This place is so freaky.
"Well, I'm going." Steve said as he continued down the steps.
Danny sighed and followed Steve down the steps to the dark basement. They both stepped on the cement ground and looked around. It was one room and it was full of metal shelving units with boxes upon boxes sitting on each shelf.
Steve stepped more and more into the room. His hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he walked around one shelving unit.
Papers, pictures, and maps were littered all over the room. They were taped to the shelves and the wall near to where the shelves were placed. Red, blue, green, and black ink covered the papers.
"What is this?" Steve wondered out loud as he looked closer at the writing on one of the papers.
Danny looked at the papers. Whatever it was, it didn't look good.
Danny glanced over the papers as Steve took out his phone and started taking pictures. This is crazy. Plans for bigger fires? And a get away plan to move to the states? This is insane! Steve finished with the pictures and looked around. "This is crazy." Steve murmured as he looked around.
Danny whipped around as he heard very soft footsteps upstairs.
"I'm going to send these to Chin and Kono." Steve murmured as he tapped on his phone.
Danny went up to Steve and tapped his leg. Buddy, come on. Someone's here.
Steve looked down at him. "What?"
Danny was desperate. He sprinted towards the stairs, moving around the shelving units with boxes stacked on them.
Steve furrowed his brow as Danny disappeared around the shelves. What's gotten into-Steve didn't have time to finish his thought as he was hit along side his head and everything went black.