I know I make Rachel to sound really cold and horrible in this one, but I do actually like the character (Sorry Rachel!) It's all for the story! Thanks so much for all the reviews, I'm pleased you're all enjoying it so far. Poor Danny though, right!? Hold on to your hats... :D
H-5-0
Danny was expecting the call.
As soon as he'd flicked on the small flat screen television in his office when they got back, it had dominated all the news channels - the Island Slasher had struck again and had abducted his first victim. The reports, as he'd predicted, focussed heavily on the fact that Grace Collins had been taken from the very same spot that the only survivor, Alison Du Pont had disappeared from twenty four years earlier. 'Experts' hashed out and examined the reasons they thought were behind this chilling so called decision made by the killer, and Danny forcefully hit the mute button when the mention of 'anniversary' came up, throwing the remote onto his desk with a clatter.
Stupid news reporters. It hadn't even been confirmed that this was the Island Slasher! And if it was, well, all the exposure was just feeding the fucking maniac's ego anyway, not to mention scaring the general population.
Shortly after, his cell jingled with Jon Bon Jovi's It's My Life and Danny frowned at the unknown number on his screen.
"Detective Danny Williams."
"Danny? It's... it's Alison."
Rubbing a weary hand over his face, Danny closed his eyes. "Alison. Are you alright?"
"Yes... no... I heard on the news that a woman's been taken, and that she was abducted from Ala Moana Park Drive... like I was. Is that right?" Alison asked a little panicky. Danny leaned forward and rested his elbow on his desk, his free hand massaging the headache threatening to explode right behind his eyes.
"It is, Alison, but... you can't assume anything. It's too early to make any assumptions-"
"What if he comes after me?"
He couldn't deny that that thought had crossed his mind, but the truth was, Alison Du Pont didn't fit the Slasher's basic victim profile now. And if he did go after her, Five-O and the HPD would be waiting for him.
"Alison-"
"I'm scared, Danny... What if he takes me again? I can't go through that again... You have to get him, you have to keep me safe, please," she pleaded and Danny pinched the bridged of his nose. He was doing all he could, but he knew how scared she was and found himself promising all that and more.
When she finished the call, Danny rummaged around in his drawer for the large bottle of Tylenol he kept there, and knocked back three with a gulp of cold coffee just as Kono stuck her head in his office to tell him the results of the forensic analysis had come back.
The grit found at the scene on Ala Moana Park Drive only confirmed that the vehicle used in the abduction had recently been into the rainforest, but the rain that night had washed away anything that could have pointed them in the right direction, and with over thirty percent of Oahu forested; they were still at square one. The tire tread in the clay proved that the vehicle was a popular Ford Transit van, one of hundreds currently owned on the island.
Nothing else of use was found at the scene, and searches in the rainforests, on the ground, from the air and even (with thanks to Catherine) thermal satellite imaging, so far hadn't shown up anything either.
Three days later, a second woman, Laura Mamala went missing. Aged eighteen, the trainee tattooist disappeared after an evening shift in downtown Waikiki. Same circumstances; her car was left locked, the time she finished was eleven PM, and a witness mentioned noticing a dark transit van parked in the area moments before. The abduction site was not a duplicate of one that had been used before, like the previous one, and that quickly put paid to the idea of the Slasher maybe playing a sick game of nostalgia.
Mere hours after, it was confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that this was the Island Slasher when Grace Collins' body was found, mutilated and cut up with more than thirty knife wounds, dumped near the Waahila Ridge State Recreation Area four miles away. According to the ME, Max Bergman, she was missing her liver.
A heavy silence filled the Five-O offices as they listened to Max's autopsy report. The results of which revealed that the poor girl had suffered horrifically in the hands of her captor. Disturbing photographs flashed up on the viewer showing her pale flesh sliced open with gaping wounds...
"A good proportion of the wounds were superficial, and would not have caused her to pass out or bleed to death," Max said quietly, clearly affected by the sheer brutality of the murder. "The fatal wounds were ones to her throat, chest and inner thigh, where her femoral artery was severed in two. Her liver was removed post mortem."
Danny closed his eyes and leaned forward, hands on the table, elbows locked. Any of the fatal knife wounds would have ended her life quickly, but the hours of torture before that... He felt his stomach roll and swallowed hard.
Mr and Mrs Collins were still in a state of shock, and Danny couldn't even begin to imagine what they were going through...
...Not for real. Because his daughter was still alive, not dead, not lying in a pool of her own blood on the cold stone floor of a storage locker...
He shook his head, silently berating himself for acting selfishly. This was not about him.
"Kono, interview the witness again," Steve said after a moment. His face reflected the stress they were all feeling, and he roughly rubbed his hand across his mouth. "Chin, talk to the tattoo studio employees and owner, me and Danny will go talk to the family."
Danny's head popped up at the sound of his name, and he quickly nodded and stood up straight. He silently handed the car keys over to Steve without being prompted, and got a quick flash of concern in return.
"Don't, Steve," he warned softly, "Just don't."
Existing only on snatches of sleep plagued with harrowing nightmares, (that now included a disturbing variation where Grace was taken and mutilated to death), and copious amounts of coffee, Danny was riding the very edge of his sanity. All his energy now was focussed on this case, and he just couldn't find it in himself to argue with Steve over who was driving his car, or much of anything for that matter.
Steve, thankfully, let him be. For now.
H-5-0
The drive to Kuliouou, where Laura Mamala's parents lived, was quiet and pensive. Steve was becoming increasingly concerned for his partner. Since his birthday, Danny had become a little more subdued, but then, the whole team had with the horrific case they were working on. But with Grace's kidnapping, and Danny still trying to work through the demons in his head, it seemed to be hitting him harder.
Steve didn't like the pale skin, the dark circles under his eyes through lack of sleep... his friend was exhausted and emotionally drained, but at the same time, Danny was determined to push himself to the brink to catch the bastard that was abducting young women and slicing them up
It was who Danny Williams was. A dedicated and committed cop, with a tenacity that bordered on obsession, but it made him damn good at his job. And Steve had relied on that more than once.
Still, it was unsettling to ride in the car with Danny and not even talk. His friend wore his heart on his sleeve, and a quiet Danny, where Steve couldn't read him, didn't sit well with him at all...
"Isn't it your weekend with Grace soon? If you want you could come over to the house... I could take Grace swimming, we could barbeque..." Steve trailed off quietly.
Danny heard the question, but his mind was deliberately focussed on the case. The mention of Grace's name felt like a sharp punch to the gut and he fought to stop himself gasping in pain. It didn't surprise him that Steve knew his visitation schedule, or rather the arrangement he'd had before Rachel had taken it away, and a small tug of regret pulled at him, because he knew how much his partner doted on his little girl, and how much Grace loved her Uncle Steve.
He turned to look out of the window when tears threatened and swallowed roughly over the lump in his throat, eyes darkening when he realised where they were – Summer Street, where Rachel lived, and suddenly it was easy to push everything aside and concentrate on the investigation at hand as Steve drove past the two HPD cruisers and into the driveway of Mr and Mrs Mamala.
"Next time I have Grace, we'll take you up on that, Steve, okay?" Danny murmured and got out of the car leaving Steve behind before he had a chance to hear his answer.
"Okay," Steve whispered into the empty car anyway.
The Mamala's had a huge house, and it reminded Danny of his ex-wife's just down the road. They had two daughters, Laura and ten year old Emily. Both parents were lawyers, and partnered a practice in Honolulu, and they'd set up Laura in her own apartment, while she took a year off school to enjoy and experience life (which included leaning to be a tattooist, apparently), before she went away to the mainland to study law.
While Steve talked to the parents, Danny asked permission to say hello to Emily. She was so much like Grace it made Danny's heart ache. Long brown hair, brown eyes...
He sat down beside her on the patio, under the shade of the palm trees. Emily was feeding lettuce to her pet rabbit, a white fluffy creature with a pink nose and a voracious appetite.
"Hi, my name's Danny, I'm a police officer," he said softly and pointed to the rabbit. "Who's that?"
"His name's Flopsy." Emily turned big brown eyes towards him, "Are you gonna find my sister?"
"We're gonna do everything we can to find her, yes," he answered sincerely. The ensuing silence of the garden was only interrupted by the constant munching of lettuce, and murmurs coming from indoors. Danny reached out to gently stroke the rabbit.
"My daughter's about your age, and she has a rabbit called Mr Hoppy," he smiled fondly. Emily gave Flopsy another leaf.
"Hey, maybe Flopsy and Mr Hoppy could make friends."
"Maybe," Danny nodded. "Hey, d'you know if your sister made any new friends recently?"
Emily shook her head. "No, only her friends from the tattoo studio. That place is so cool," she gushed pulling up the sleeve of her frilly yellow t-shirt. A temporary henna tattoo of a simple dolphin adorned her upper arm. "Laura did this for me, she's so good..."
And then huge tears welled in her eyes and her face scrunched up. Danny pulled her close and comforted her while she cried until her mom came to take her.
Steve held out his hand and pulled Danny to his feet. "Chin's just texted me. Alison Du Pont's in your office."
"What?" Danny frowned. "Is she okay?"
"I don't know. C'mon," Steve said, thanked Mr and Mrs Mamala for their help, and promised to do everything possible to find Laura before leaving.
~o~
"There's another girl been taken?" Alison rushed out as soon as she saw Danny.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Danny verified, although it had hit the news already. "Are you alright? Can I get you some water?"
She sat down and shook her head. "I'm just so scared, Danny. I heard that poor Grace Collins' body has been found."
Quietly nodding, Danny leaned a hip against his desk and folded his arms. "Is there anything you can remember about where you were taken, Alison?" he asked softly. "Anything, however small, could help..."
Pulling her lower lip between her teeth, Alison frowned in frustration. "I can't. It was so long ago." She lifted a hand to brush back her bleach blonde hair, and Danny's eyes caught sight of an old scar on her shoulder when her shawl slipped. It was quickly hidden again when her arm was lowered. "Just... dark and damp and musty. I remember the music, the same music and..."
"What about the van? Can you remember how long you were in the van?"
"No... no, wait. The song, it, maybe, repeated nine, ten times, I think. I'm just not sure. I just remember it being played over and over again..." she said.
"What about when the van stopped? Did you go any further on foot?"
Alison stared at him, and Danny frowned slightly unable to read her. "You okay, Alison?"
"Um... yeah, ah... yeah. When the van stopped, he made me walk a little while and the ground was uneven. I remember stumbling... God, how could I have forgotten that?"
"No, it's alright, this is good, Alison," Danny promised and stood up. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
She watched him hurry into another office and talk to Officer Kalakaua, presumably giving her these new details. Two minutes later, he was back.
"Come on, I'm taking you home," Danny said and escorted Alison safely out of the building.
"I like your car," she smiled as they hit South King Street. "It suits you."
Danny laughed, "It does, huh?" He saw his favourite pretty surf shop sign girl and waggled his fingers at her when the Camaro pulled up at the lights.
"Why does Commander McGarrett drive it?"
The tone of Alison's voice harboured a touch of hostility, but the question just made Danny chuckle harder. Why indeed did Steve insist on driving his car? At least he wasn't the only one that actually wondered that.
"That, my dear, is the sixty four million dollar question," he said. "And one I'd sorely love to know the answer to myself."
Alison waited until the Camaro disappeared around the corner after Danny had dropped her off, before reaching into her Tote bag, pulling out her cell and calling for a cab. She didn't live in this neighbourhood... she didn't want anyone knowing where she lived, not even Detective Danny Williams.
Back at Five-O headquarters, Kono had inputted the new information into the computer and was standing frowning at the results.
"Kono?"
"Danny. So, I calculated the time Alison said she might have been in the van, with a typical speed limit, and the search area is still pretty vast, and that's providing the Slasher is leaving the bodies close to where he takes them to kill them," she said pointing at the Honolulu Forest reserve thinking about where they'd found Grace Collins' body.
"It's all we have to go on."
"Well, this has narrowed our potential search down a little. I'll get details on known bunkers, hideaways in the reserve within walking distance of any roads."
"Thanks, Kono," Danny nodded as he studied the map. "Where's Steve?"
"Danny, I need to use your car!"
Steve's clipped, frustrated voice preceded him through the doors. Kono pulled a face and left Danny to his partner.
"Chicken," he hissed at her when she darted into her office. "Steven. What's up? Someone nicked your secret stash of grenade shaped gummies?"
"Some bastard has let the air out of all my tires," Steve growled and held his hand out. "Keys!"
As the head of Five-O, Steve had made a few enemies on Oahu and it wasn't the first time this had happened to his truck, and certainly couldn't be the last; opportunistic lowlifes out for a little revenge. Danny had suffered the same treatment once or twice too, and he really couldn't find it in himself to feel sorry for them if Steve ever caught the fuckers responsible. Holding the keys up, he snatched them away when Steve reached for them. "Where're you going?"
"Danny-"
"Hey, I only ask because I'd like to get home sometime today, alright?"
"Okay, c'mon, Max says he has something for us," Steve rolled his eyes and held out his hand again. Danny gave him the keys.
"Why is it that I never get to drive my car, huh?" But Steve had already turned and was half way out of the door to have even heard the question. Danny huffed and hurried after him. "I hate him. I hate him so much..."
H-5-0
"Max," Steve greeted when they walked into the ME's office.
"Ah, gentlemen. This way," Max nodded. They followed him to where Grace Collins was laid under a sheet on an examination table. Danny's steps slowed and he took a deep breath.
"On closer examination of the body, although I did not find any fingerprints, I did find particulates under her fingernails, and on her feet. I have sent the samples to be analysed."
"You couldn't have told us this over the phone, huh?" Danny asked a little abruptly. Max merely nodded.
"Of course, Detective, but this is not why I called you over here," he answered. Steve frowned at Danny, who just rolled his eyes. Max ignored them, "If you'll direct your attention to the back of Grace's wrist-"
And there was his daughter's name again, associated with these horrific murders... Danny swallowed down the bile that suddenly filled his throat.
Max picked up the limp wrist and twisted it. There were faint red pinprick marks, almost like a rash. He ran a gloved finger over the area. "This is a contact dermatitis which occurs when the skin is exposed to a substance or chemical that causes an allergic reaction, often generating a red rash such as you can see here."
Both Steve and Danny leaned in closer. "You have any idea what caused it?" Steve asked.
"I have determined that Grace Collins came into contact with Passiflora tarminiana, a species of passionfruit, which, you may or may not know, is considered an invasive species in the rainforests of Hawaii," Max said, and then added helpfully, "The yellow fruits resemble small, straight banana's, hence it's more common name of banana passionfruit, and the seeds are dispersed by frugivorous animals. By far the most important disperser in Hawaii is the feral pig, which eats the fallen fruit and then passes the seeds intact. Because their home range is typically one to two square miles, pigs contribute more to the peripheral expansion of Passiflora tarminiana patches than long distance dispersal."
"So, you're saying the pigs eat the fruits and shit the seeds within a certain area?" Danny said waving a hand loosely in front of him, and when max nodded, he asked, "Why didn't you just say that then?"
"I thought I just did," Max blinked confused. Danny rolled his eyes.
"So, can this rash tell us exactly where Grace was taken?" Steve needed to know.
"Unfortunately not, but Passiflora tarminiana grows most rapidly in full sunlight, and only tolerates some shade as the growth is severely restricted at relative light intensities of less than two percent. So, may I suggest you start looking for gaps in the forest canopy where the sun is allowed through, where these plants will thrive," Max finished.
"Thanks Max," Steve nodded. It was a little more, another small piece of the puzzle that would hopefully close the net on this bastard. He pulled out his cell as he and Danny made their way back to the car.
"Yeah, Kono, research a species of passionfruit called Passiflora tarminiana, and find out where there are concentrated growths in the forest reserve close to any roads," he instructed.
"Copy that, boss," Kono said and signed off.
Danny's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out and stared at it. Just looking at the name on the screen made his head start pounding again. He hit ignore and shoved it back into his pocket.
"Wrong number?" Steve asked.
God, he wished... "No, Rachel's weasel lawyer," he muttered and climbed into the car, not even bothering to argue about the fact that Steve still had his keys.
"Is everything alright with her and Grace?"
Christ, what a loaded question. Nothing was alright. Not with Rachel, Grace, the whole situation... "Yeah, just legal shit Rachel thinks I have time to waste on right now," he said bitterly. It was almost right, apart from the bit where he never wanted to deal with it, because it meant signing away his rights to his daughter.
"Anything I can help with?"
Can you turn back time, Steve? Can you stop Peterson from kidnapping Grace? Stop him from making me shoot Stan? Can you reason with Rachel to not take Grace away from me? Can you make my daughter not be afraid of me?
The questions whirled around his head like a merry-go-round, making him feel sick, but in the end he just shook his head, hardened the walls around himself and simply said, "No, you can't."
H-5-0
