Chapter 8
"Mrs. Davaut, I'll bet that you can guess what one of Hawaii's leading industries is, can't you?"
Angling her nose upward, she responded, "I would suppose that it's pineapples or something…" Her attitude was uncaring and confused about why Steve McGarrett would be making such dull conversation.
Pacing his office commandingly, Steve announced, "Tourism. As Head of the State Police unit, I am sworn to protect that part of our economy, ordinarily, and Hawaii's people by whatever legal means I have. But today I am going to ask one tourist to leave our lovely state, and that's you."
"Leave? Me? Well, I never!"
Steve stopped making circles around his office and prodded her, "The night of the Governor's party, you couldn't wait to leave. What changed? Why are you still here?"
Coolly, she replied, "My friends here have made me feel quite welcome. There's no one in California for me now. And I have come to enjoy it here."
Steve interrupted angrily, "I'm sure you have! I know all about your daughter and Dan Williams. You know exactly what you're doing to him just by being here, and I submit that that's the only reason you're staying. You DO realize that he's in the hospital, as we speak?"
Smiling quickly, "Is he really?" Then covering for herself, she hid her smile and looked down. Dropping her act of ignorance, she surrendered to participation in the conversation and the reality of the situation to which he referred, saying "If he can't take a little bad publicity, then maybe you'll see that he doesn't deserve this highly-placed position."
Charging at her with all the determination of a bull taunted by a red flag, McGarrett pointed his finger at her, saying, "What I see is a bitter lady with a grudge and the willingness to hurt someone in whatever way she can, physically or emotionally, for something for which he was not responsible."
Sternly she began, "You don't know whom you're protecting, Mr. McGarrett. It was his fault that my daughter spent 15 years in a vegetative state, not knowing night from day, or her mother's touch, or her father's loss…." She started to cry. "Dan Williams is responsible for all of that, and he has no right to be comfortable or happy or healthy…or to hold the high position he has in your organization!"
Her tears turned to laughter now as she said, "Besides, you can't be accusing me of putting him in the hospital. I did absolutely nothing to hurt him, not physically anyway."
"And Dan Williams did nothing, not physically anyway, to hurt your daughter. There is no evidence against him that he is to blame for your daughter's condition, and yet you talk to the Governor, and you go to the press to ruin his reputation and maybe his career. Where is your evidence against him? Where does it say that he didn't have a right to end a relationship honestly and expect that your daughter could handle that as an adult? Where, Mrs. Davaut?!"
Now cowering under the powerful anger of the tall, dark-haired man, whose steel was showing brightly in his every expression, Genevieve gathered all her fiber to stand up to make her case in her best well-to-do manner. "I say again, Mr. McGarrett, there is no evidence against me."
"We'll see. I'd be happy to make my accusations in a more formal setting. Call yourself an attorney. If we get to that point, Mrs. Davaut, you'll wish you had just left Hawaii of your own free will when you had the chance."
"And, by the way," Steve McGarrett continued, "As far as Dan Williams' character, I happen to know him better than you ever will, Mrs. Davaut, and he will not be removed from his position of authority on my team. The only reason you even struck a nerve with him is his level of compassion and his tendency to accept blame even when it is undeserved. But know this, Mrs. Davaut: he has courage and strength. He has faced down more evil in his lifetime than you ever will in yours…, except when you look in the mirror."
Genevieve Davaut reacted to that decisive jab by turning to give Steve McGarrett a wicked, malevolent look, then lifting her chin high in the air to express her offense. She could see the distaste with which he had uttered the cruel words, but recovered quickly and said, "No matter now. The press is having a field day with his past, and after it's all over, maybe he won't be so powerful in the end. Just desserts." She turned to walk toward the big office's door.
McGarrett stopped her, "Oh, but just one more thing, Mrs. Davaut…."
"What is it now, Mr. McGarrett?" she replied, without turning around, but her eyes perked up, and she listened intently to McGarrett.
"If you stay here in Hawaii, there will be a conversation that will have to take place between myself and the San Francisco police about possible charges in a poisoning some years back. Regarding evidence against you in that charge, I can produce, in fact, not one but two witnesses to that event. I would be more than happy to make the arrest myself and entertain requests for your extradition back home to face those charges."
After reflecting a few quiet moments, Genevieve Davaut turned to evilly eye Steve McGarrett once more. "Now I really must go."
Steve McGarrett raised his eyebrows high and agreed, "Yes, you really must."
As Genevieve Davaut reached the office door, it opened from the outside and in walked Dan Williams. Both Steve and the lady were more than shocked to see Danny there.
"Danno, what are you doing here? You shouldn't even be released from the hospital yet…." Steve implored.
Moving slowly but putting up his hand toward Steve to forestall any panic from his boss, "I'm alright, Steve, really."
Closing the office door behind him and turning toward Genevieve, Dan Williams unemotionally acknowledged her presence. "Mrs. Davaut, what are you doing here?"
Genevieve Davaut turned to glance at McGarrett, then looked straight into Danny's face. "I was summoned."
Danny looked at Steve with concern, then back at Mrs. Davaut and continued, "Well, as long as you're here, I want to express my sympathy to you over Amy's death. I didn't know she had passed away until the newspaper article came out yesterday."
After a delay, "Thank you," was all she could say, and then she looked down and away. Steve McGarrett was gratified to see some shame in the woman in the face of Danno's graceful expression of sympathy.
Coming to stand steadfastly in front of her to command her attention, Danny put both hands in the pockets of his suit pants as he said, "Mrs. Davaut, since I have the opportunity, I want to tell you something."
"Well, talk quickly. I'm afraid I'm leaving for the mainland as soon as I can get a flight. What is it?" she asked coldly.
Steve McGarrett also waited for what Danny was going to say. Was he going to slam her for the pain—physical and emotional—she had caused him? Something in him hoped so. He also hoped that whatever it was, it would be healing words for Dan Williams.
"I've never thought that Amy meant to kill herself. I really believe more today than ever that she only meant to scare us—me, you, and her father. I don't think she would ever have intentionally caused her own death—or caused you all the pain you have suffered for years."
"Why do you say this to me now? Now, that she's dead?"
"I thought it might be a comfort to you. I've had a lot of time to think about it, and I have thought about her, and grieved for her, and for you."
"You don't know grief, Danny! I'll never have peace, knowing all she could think about those years ago was you. Did she think of me, her father, all the love we had given her—that we could have still given her? No, just you. That's all she cared about."
Danny felt his previous will to be gracious melting away and snapped at her, "Ohhhhh! So that's why you hate me! Not that you blame me for Amy's death, but that she seemed to love or need me more than she loved or needed you! Now the truth comes out!"
Genevieve Davaut stared wide-eyed at Dan Williams and seemed immoveable. "Apparently, Danny. Otherwise, she would still be here today, living a full life, as you are." Suddenly, the tears burst from Genevieve's eyes, and she was inconsolable.
His heart softening, Danny said, "Look, she was eighteen. Through the years, I've seen a lot of death on this job, including suicide and people lost too young for no good reason. We'll never really know what was happening in Amy's mind. But I thought it might matter to you that she really did know she had a lot to live for, other than me."
Knowing an embrace from him would not be welcomed or comforting, Danny stood there quietly and painfully waited out her emotional catharsis, as did Steve.
After some moments of seeing her tears were not drawing the intended sympathy from her onlookers, she sniffed and said dismissively, "Well, I won't bother you again, Da… , I mean, Mr. Williams."
Steve added boldly, "I should hope not."
With that, Dan Williams opened the office door, and Genevieve Davaut walked out of his life, forever.
As he closed the door behind her, Dan started walking unsteadily toward the white chairs in Steve's office. Steve recognized his weakness and quickly rushed over to give him a hand so he could sit down.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked of his friend.
"Yeah. That just took more out of me than I expected," as he leaned back on the chair's tufted leather and closed his eyes for a moment. "Steve, why was she here, anyway?"
"I decided she needed a little more convincing to leave the islands. I approached it my way, and you approached it your way." Smiling admiringly at Danno, he said, "I think you took the wind out of her sails. That took a lot of guts."
"I just hope it's over. It's over for Amy. I'm sorry that she's dead, but I'm not sorry that she's out of that limbo she lived in for so many years. It's better for her mother this way, too—maybe she can get over the pain now and remember her daughter from when she was alive and vibrant. And maybe I can move on, too…"
Danny's demeanor took on an ominous tone. "Unless the Governor has other plans for me…." He cast a gloomy glance at Steve, who glanced back with an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry. I'll talk to him again. He'll settle down. We may not be the most politically astute members of his administration, but I think he'd have a hard time getting rid of us."
"Not 'us' Steve. Me."
"Danno, you're not going anywhere."
Danno smiled.
Steve cajoled Danno. "C'mon. Let's take you home—again. And no comments about my driving!"
PAU
4
