Certain parties are killin it with their chapters lately. I wanna say we're all nuts...but...your stories are fabulous! (you know who you are!) I feel like I mighta left a few whoppers in here, so if anything stands out...let me know. :-)
"Look, we gotta do better than this." Lou paced in front of the large glass window, phone in hand. "McGarrett is looking for some answers. Now. Not yesterday, man."
Silence except for the turn of his heel on the floor. He stopped and stretched, one hand on his hips. He hadn't competed in the Mudder, but he was already beat. Hours on his feet and too much time under the fluorescent lights made him crazy. He wanted to kick back with a scotch and a cigar. Forget this day ever happened.
"You have a name? Wait - it's an alias? You have an address? Someone came forward? Great. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He grinned. They were close. HPD had someone from the Mudder at the station, spilling their guts. By morning, they'd have the broad in custody.
/././
"Well, what we do know is this." Lou lowered his voice. "This chick is nuts."
Chin took his phone and scrolled through the information as Lou gave him the rundown.
"She's competed in Mudders all across the mainland, Chin. And when they kicked her out for unsportsmanlike conduct, she created a new identity and kept right on truckin." The big guy leaned against the cool wall, watching the restroom door. Their fearless leader would emerge any second now. "So do we flip a quarter to see who tells Steve?"
/././
"Meet Hazel Adams." Lou showed Steve the old mug shot. "She's been arrested for aggravated assault four times. Charges stuck two of those times. Anger management classes and community service apparently haven't helped."
"What?" Steve leaned toward his colleague, raising his voice. "She hasn't done time? Are you kidding me?"
Lou tried to keep his voice steady, hoping not to escalate Steve's outburst. "She must live near some lenient judge because - no - she hasn't done any jail time."
"What was she doing at the race?" Steve was livid. "How could she even enter?"
"She entered under an assumed name. She has more than one fake ID. The girl was prepared for anything. She hasn't been back to her apartment." Lou continued, moving out of Steve's way as he began to pace. "She joined a group of breast cancer survivors on the island. And yes, she faked cancer too."
Now Steve was really pissed. "Seriously? She's gonna wish she really had-"
Chin put a hand on Steve's back. He flinched away.
"Ms. Adams has been officially banned from the Mudder." Chin stepped into the conversation. "Most of her arrests have occurred at the challenges in two different states. One of them happened at her daughter's school when another mom insulted her kid's artwork."
"She has a kid?" Steve reacted like they were speaking in a foreign language.
"Had - the kid's father won full custody six months ago. That's when she became Amy and moved to Hawaii." Lou flipped through pictures of her ID and credit cards. "They found these at the place she was renting."
"And she had to come to my island. All so she could be in the Mudder?" Nostrils flared and hands fisted at his side, Steve could barely contain himself.
Chin realized he was stating the obvious, but couldn't help himself. "She appears to be quite obsessed."
"Now that's one hell of an understatement." Lou let the faintest snort escape as he exhaled loudly.
Steve walked a few feet away, staring blindly out the window, hands on his hips. He didn't see the carpet of lights spread out below them. Instead, he thought about his best friend being shoved in the mud. The image stuck there in his mind's eye like gum on his shoe. He shook his head, coming back to them a little. His next words were mostly for himself.
"Danny got in her way. Of all the dumb luck..."
Steve's gaze drifted back towards Danny's room. He wanted to rush in there and tell him everything. But his partner had kicked him out and he wasn't about to piss him off more tonight. He needed his rest, and getting riled up was no good.
Chin sensed his distress. "I'll fill Danny in as soon as he wakes up again."
"No, Chin. He needs to relax. I don't want him thinking about this Hazel person all night. Save it for the morning. The nurse said he'd probably be out for a while after what she gave him anyway. His little outburst with the white board didn't go unnoticed."
/././
Chin and Kono stood at the smart table, trying to keep their voices low. Steve had shut himself in his office, refusing to talk to anyone. They were worried.
"Kono, he won't listen to me. And Lou is still with Duke."
"I already tried, Chin."
"Try again."
"Danny kicked him out." Kono stated this fact like it was the key to everything.
Chin nodded, both hands on the table like he needed the support. "I know. He threatened to hit him with the white board apparently."
"The nurses had Steve escorted out when Danny's heart rate increased." Kono closed her eyes and shook her head. "I thought coming back to the office would help. But now he won't stop with the video. He thinks he'll see something we didn't."
"He feels guilty, Kono."
"Tell me something I don't know. That I don't feel." She looked away.
"None of this is your fault."
"I was right there." She was so close to crying.
"So was I." Chin sighed. "This is all on that girl. And we'll find her. It's only a matter of time."
"I keep hoping someone from her team will come forward."
"No one seemed to know her. Including the group she was registered with. She's new to the islands. The address she gave at work is a fake. Her whole identity is a sham. We only found her because some of the info she gave the event coordinators was correct, so she'd get her paperwork."
"She did all this so she could be in the Mudder? I just can't wrap my mind around that, cuz."
"Obsession comes in many forms, Kono." He motioned toward Steve's office. He was still hunched over his desk.
"Tell me about it." She shook her head.
Chin pulled his cousin in for a sideways hug. "Go and work some magick. Get him outta here for a few hours."
/././
Steve looked out into the bullpen. Chin stood at the table, searching through an array of videos obtained by HPD from the Mudder and areas surrounding the event. They were hoping to catch a glimpse of the suspect and her vehicle on traffic cams too.
He watched Kono approach her cousin, shooting the occasional glance his direction. They were nowhere near subtle.
Chin had yet to say anything to him since coming back from the hospital. He and Kono were trying to hide the fact that they were talking about him. They were being secretive and he didn't like it.
He wanted to demand they tell him everything they knew. A mug shot and a few aliases weren't enough to satisfy him. He needed Hazel Adams in the rendition room faster than yesterday.
But right now, HPD had taken the lead with the investigation. Lou was running point for Five-0. He still hadn't returned from conferring with Duke, so what Steve could find out was limited to whether or not the big guy answered his phone. Which he was not doing at the moment. Calls went straight to voicemail.
They'd given him space, and he was going to hang himself with the video. He could not stop replaying it.
Danny hadn't made a sound. He'd fallen forward and had appeared stunned. He was moving on instinct, trying to right himself. Didn't seem like he even had time to wonder why before he went under.
And the girl kept going.
He found himself watching her only. At first trying to catch a glimpse of her face or some other identifying feature. Then he focused on the way she moved. Maybe that would tell him something about her. Did she have training? Had she been in the military?
She was a steamroller.
Focused. Oblivious. Determined. Selfish. Exacting. Cold. Calm.
His brain kept rattling off adjectives.
He heard Kono enter the office, but he ignored her.
/././
"The video..." Her voice drifted. "You're watching it again?"
Kono already knew this. She tried to keep her tone soft, light. She didn't want him to know they were spying on him. But how could they fool him?
The expression on his face was a combo of so what and back off. Her watery eyes punched right through his wall of stubborn indignation.
He turned back to the screen, and with a few clicks of the mouse, the display was blank again. Just his simple, plain desktop. No horror show of their friend.
When he looked back to her, he shrugged. "Yea, I just keep thinking..."
"That there's something you coulda done?"
He closed his eyes and flicked the monitor off.
"Wrong place, wrong time. I know. You can say it a million times, Kono."
"Danny will be fine, Steve. Isn't he being discharged tomorrow?"
"If he follows the doctor's orders."
She nodded and went on with her light scolding. "Watching the video won't help anyone. That girl has problems."
"I know, and you can say it a thousand more times. Won't change the facts."
"No, it won't. And watching that video won't either. Come on, let's sneak into the hospital and visit Danny. I know you wanna." A playful smile from Kono and a nudge dissolved some of the tension.
"Alright." He couldn't help but smile back. Kono was contagious.
"First we gotta stop by the coffee shop. I need some caffeine." Her hand covered a yawn and she laughed. "I bet you know what everyone on Danny's floor likes."
Steve's mischievous grin reached his eyes for the first time all day. "Of course. It's called opposition research, rookie."
Arm in arm, they headed outside.
Chin sat in his darkened office, watching them go. Mission accomplished.
