Hello, everyone :)
Here's a short chapter, initially a part of previous chapter. I decided to split them, for obvious reasons.
I'm confident I'll be able to update at least one more chapter in the next couple of days.
Once again, enjoy! :)
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Chapter 7: Ain't No Rest For The Wicked
"To be honest, I didn't see this coming." Kono said to her cousin Chin as they wrapped up another case, handing off the accomplice to the murder of Navy Lieutenant to the fellow officers.
"Me neither, cuz. But it is, what it is." He admitted. "Let's make sure Steve doesn't do anything stupid."
They turned around to get back in the house where a few minutes ago surprised the murderer and her accomplice while they were packing their bag, most likely ready to find themselves a new place to live, far away from Hawaii. Little did they know that they would not have made it out of the house.
Chin and Kono turned around to corner only to see a handcuffed woman, who was completely out of her mind, shouting and screaming around her. She should have known that it was in her best interests to stick to the right to remain silent as they saw Steve having a tight grip on her arm, leading her out of the house. He usually was squared away, but everyone around them could sense that he was slipping. The blood in his veins had been boiling. Even more after he found out that a young man with a promising career in the US Navy was murdered out of passion.
The woman who right now claimed that she loved him so much, put a single bullet in him. Only because he left her to pursue his own professional career on the sea. She confronted him about his decision and did not like the outcome. The situation got heated and only a moment kept her from pulling out the gun from her bag. Poor sailor did not even realize that it was his own gun aimed at him.
One shot changed many lives in one moment. The parents lost a child. A simple woman became a murderer. Her best friend became an accomplice, when he with no hesitation agreed to help her move the lifeless body. It was not right. It was not fair. And that is how it worked in this world.
Steve tried to keep his mind concentrated on something else, less harmful. But it did not work as his mind shifted to the early morning encounter with the stranger in Joe White's house. One case might be wrapped, but there was still one waiting to be figured out.
"Steve, you alright?" Chin asked as he approached his boss, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm good" Steve shook it off. "It's just… this case. Hell, everything what's going on right now is…" He did not know how to properly finish the sentence.
"I know. Believe me." Chin gave him a sympathetic look and stepped away.
Steve took care of all the necessities and went over to Kono, Chin and Sergeant Lukela, who were standing on the sidewalk and talking.
Steve ordered Kono and Chin to meet at the headquarters while he would quickly make a stop to take a look at Danny who was supposed to rest due to the head injury he sustained in the morning.
"Steve!" Duke called after him as he was about to get into his truck. He stopped, listening to what the Sergeant had to say. "I've been doing some cleaning in the attic and-"
"You've been cleaning?" Steve asked slightly amused.
"Okay, my lovely wife was." He admitted. "But we… she found some old photographs of your family. Your sister, John and Doris. Even your grandparents. I honestly don't know when or how they got there but she asked me to ask you if you could come and pick them up."
Steve looked at Duke, alarmed by the sudden mention of his family. The death of both of his parents still hurt him, although recently it turned out that one of them had not been dead. There was not a moment he had not wished that his parents were still alive. And although one of them actually was alive, it did not feel right. It did not feel the way he expected it would. "Sure, I'll stop by." He answered after he realized that Duke had been waiting for the answer longer than necessary.
Duke nodded and turned to his men, ready to close the case officially.
Steve drove over to his house to check on his partner. After finding Danny sound asleep on the couch and making sure that everything was alright, he drove to the palace to meet with the two cousins.
Wrapping up the last details together, he sent both of them home, giving them the rest of the day off as they deserved it.
He made himself comfortable in his chair in the office. His mind wandered over to the unknown woman again. He still wondered if she had any connection to Wo Fat. But what would Joe White have to do with him? Maybe nothing. And maybe he was a part of some large web he could not figure out yet. It would not surprise him. All those years he was aware of the fact that his mother had been alive and well.
But the woman herself intrigued him, not that he would admit it to himself. He would have never though that she was capable of outpowering a grown-up man. He could only guess how many more stunts like this she could pull off, but he hoped he would be able to prevent her from that.
Remembering Jenna, the woman for whom the connection to Wo Fat became her death sentence, he prayed he would get the chance to get to her first.
Steve had been hanging out in the headquarters for two more hours before he decided that there was no reason to hide in there. He remembered what Duke told him that day and decided to give him a call if he would be at home in twenty minutes. Finding out that Duke is already at home, he took the keys to his truck and drove over to Lukela's house accompanied by classic rock music playing on the radio.
He knocked on the door and Duke opened almost immediately, a box in his hand. Steve assumed it was what he came for in the first place, but he could not miss the amazing smell of home-cooked dinner that escaped out of the house through the door.
"Hey there, Steve." Duke greeted. "Here it is. Hopefully, you'll know what to do with it."
Steve nodded in response, looking over at the box Duke held up for him to take. Steve thanked him and was about to turn around to leave when Duke stopped him for the second time today.
"Steve, why don't you join us for dinner? There's enough of food, you can take some for Danny too." Duke invited him. "And we have a friend staying over, I'm sure you two will get along together just fine." He added.
Steve raised eyebrows at Duke's straightforwardness. He wanted to say that he was in a hurry, but the words never came out. The real thing was, he admitted to himself for once, that he could use a distraction, to help him ease his mind for at least a moment and to enjoy a fine dinner.
"Sure, why not." Steve agreed. "I'll just put the box in the car."
Duke nodded and retreated in the house while Steve threw the box on the passenger seat. On the way back to the Lukela's house he sent a short message to Danny, informing him that he would be home soon with dinner. He put the phone back in the pocket and closed the front door behind him.
When he came in, everyone was already in the dining room.
"Aloha." He greeted as his eyes wandered over to Duke's wife first. He broke into the smile upon seeing the petite native woman and went to kiss her on the cheek as a greeting.
But just before he could get to that, he could not help himself and his eyes darted over the set table and landed on the supposed visitor, Duke told him about just minutes ago.
Upon seeing the woman, his smile froze and in the next second it was replaced by a cold deadly look. He was sure the woman standing on the other side of the table was identical to the one from the morning. It was the same woman who had been standing in the middle of Joe White's living room. The same woman who run away and left his partner unconscious on the ground.
His hand subconsciously went over to his hip. The next second, the SIG had been aimed straight at her, daring her to make one wrong move.
Steve, same as Nick, were both completely unaware of their surroundings. They missed the older woman's scream and the horrified look on her face as well as Duke's request to calm down and put the gun down.
There went 'getting along just fine'.
