Chapter Nine "How to Save a Life"

"He will do one of two things: he will admit to everything, or he'll say he's just not the same, and you'll begin to wonder why you came."~The Fray

Late Sunday afternoon, with the help of HPD, 5-0 had arrested everyone Rex Rossi said was involved with Hadley. Beckett helped with processing and questioning them. They were still trying to find out who the elusive woman was and where to find her.

"Someone has got to know who she is," Steve said as he came back to the main room after another interrogation.

"Don't we know who she is?" Danny said.

"We think we do," Kono said. "But we have nothing solid to connect her."

Steve rubbed his forehead, his face scrunching.

"You were very impressive," Danny said.

"What?" Steve asked.

"You didn't kill a single person today. I'm proud of you."

"If you're not careful, I'll strangle you."

"You'd have to go through her first." Danny motioned toward Kono.

Steve looked at her for a second, then waved dismissively. "It's not worth it."

"Good choice, boss," Kono said.

"Has anyone heard from Max yet?"

"He called a little while ago," Chin said. "He wants to see you."

"Of course he does. Why can't that man use a phone?"

"He doesn't trust them, remember?" Danny said.

"All right, Danny you go see what he has to say. I'm going to find out about the house."

"Sure." Danny looked over at Kono. "You want to come?"

"Go ahead," Steve told her. "I think we're gonna call it a day here."

Kono got an evil look in her eyes. "I'm gonna put my feet on the dashboard."

Steve looked confused and Danny started laughing. No one bothered to explain and Danny and Kono left.

"Don't ask me, brah," Chin said, when Steve gave him a curious look. "Since those two got together, they've invented more inside jokes..."

"Yeah," Steve said. "See you tomorrow."

"Yep. Hey, Beckett, you hungry?"

H-5-O

"Who was on the phone?" McKenzie asked after Kyle finished yet another tense conversation.

"No one," Kyle lied again.

"So you were talking to yourself?"

"No... It's nothing you need to worry about."

McKenzie let it go. She knew she should probably keep asking, but she didn't really care to know. She wanted it to be nothing. If she didn't make a big deal of it, maybe it would be.

When her own phone rang, McKenzie jumped. She had been so deep in thought that the welcome noise was startling.

"Hey, what's up?" she answered.

"Hey. I got the house cleared," Steve said. "And Danny and Kono are going over to talk to Max, so we should have word on that soon too."

"Great. You want us to meet you over there?"

"Is Kyle with you?"

"Yeah. He ended up falling asleep in the hallway last night."

"Sounds like there's more to that story. I'll see you in a few minutes, then?"

"Yeah. I love you."

"I love you too."

McKenzie hung up and turned to Kyle. "We can go in the house now," she said.

"Oh," Kyle replied. "That was quick."

"That's kind of how they operate." McKenzie pulled on her shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops, brushing off sand as she went. "The house isn't far from here, so we can just go straight there."

Kyle followed her back to the car and they soon arrived at their parents home. The sun was starting to go down as they pulled up. The neighborhood was quiet as it always was. Things seemed just a little too normal with the absence of caution tape.

Steve's dark blue pick-up pulled up shortly after McKenzie and Kyle arrived. The three of them stood out on the sidewalk. Steve handed McKenzie the keys. She took them without a word and headed up the sidewalk.

Steve looked over at Kyle who seemed to be trying to decide whether to follow her or not.

"What happened last night," Steve asked.

Kyle shrugged. "I sat down to think. Then I fell asleep."

"So she found you in the morning?"

"Yeah. Then we had toast. I'm sure she'll tell you the rest." Kyle then started toward the house. The door was standing open as McKenzie had left it.

Steve went to sit on the porch. It wasn't that he thought McKenzie and Kyle needed space, but he didn't know if he wanted to deal with this after the day he had. As he sat against the house, he watched the sun disappear.

Out, brief candle, he thought. Steve had read Macbeth.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" Steve started at the sound of his father's voice. Jack laughed, swinging back and forth on Michelle's porch swing.

"You know I'm not really here, don't you, son?" he said.

Steve could only stare and wonder what was going on.

"This is a dream," Jack clarified.

"But I'm not sleeping." Steve found his voice.

"Yes. You are. You were really tired after the last couple of nights. I know what that's like. Crime doesn't sleep, so how can justice?"

"If you're just a dream..."

"I'm a projection of your memories."

"I've been talking to Eisner too much."

"No you haven't. The question is: why am I here?"

"How should I know?"

"I suppose you wouldn't. It's your subconscious, after all."

"You never talked like that."

"So get to the point already."

"I don't know what it is."

"You want to know why I lied to you?"

"I already know."

"You want me to tell you it's not your fault?"

"No. Wait. What did you mean, by 'ironic'?"

Jack grinned. "Now you're getting it."

"What's ironic?"

"You sitting here while she's going through the house looking for ghosts. Don't you remember? Finding my blood on your trophies?"

Steve felt his breath catch. "Yes," he said.

"What's ironic is that you can't do anything while she goes through the same things you did."

"But can't I do something?"

"I don't know. I'm dead, remember?"

Steve felt like he was falling. "Dad?"

"Steve." Jack's voice sounded like it was carrying through water.

"Dad!"

Steve's eyes flew open and it was dark. He was alone on the Carpenter's porch.

"Hey." McKenzie's voice broke the silence.

Steve turned his head to see her standing in the door.

"You okay?" she asked, coming closer and putting a hand on his shoulder.

He met her eyes and in a voice that was more of a breath said, "No."

McKenzie slid her arm the rest of the way around his shoulders and sunk down beside him. She kissed his jaw and pressed her face against his neck.

"I know," she whispered. And that was all she said.

H-5-O

When Danny and Kono arrived at the morgue, Max looked at them with something like incredulity.

"Hey, Max," Danny said. "What's up?"

"Detective Williams. Officer Kalakaua," Max said. "I have finished my examination of Mr. Carpenter. Cause of death was certainly one bullet to the chest. Mrs. Carpenter's autopsy is almost finished. I will have her results in the morning."

"So will the bodies be released after that?" Kono asked.

"Yes," Max replied.

"Thanks," Danny said. "You'll call us when that happens?"

Max hesitated. "Yes," he said quickly, then turned and disappeared into his office.

Danny and Kono exchanged an amused look and headed back outside.

"Do you ever get used to him?" Kono asked.

Danny shrugged. "Not exactly. But nothing surprises me anymore."

Kono gave him a curious look as she got into the car. "Why do you say that."

"You want me to make a list?"

"I'm serious."

"Yeah. It was just something Steve said the other day that got me thinking. Of course, I haven't exactly thought about it since; we've been a little busy."

"What was it?"

"Well, actually, he didn't say a whole lot of anything, but I brilliantly deduced what he was thinking about. Apparently, he and McKenzie have been talking about kids."

"Really? And that made you think what?"

"I guess after the divorce I thought Grace was it."

"What do you think now?"

"I think you should tell me what you think."

"Right... I suppose it's about time for this conversations, anyway."

"I didn't know there was a specific time for it."

"I said 'about'. Actually, I'm glad you brought it up. I always thought I'd have a couple of kids. You know, if I found the right man."

"That's a big if."

"Not really."

"See, this is why I say nothing surprises me anymore."

H-5-O

"It must be late," Steve said, looking at the sky.

"It's only nine," McKenzie replied. "Were you sleeping?"

"Yeah... I dreamed I saw my dad. Right there." Steve nodded toward the porch swing. "It's funny because I never dreamed about him before."

McKenzie nodded. "I had a dream about my dad last night. Well, it was more of a memory. It was when he told me Kyle was gone."

"You remember it?"

"Yeah. I was mad. He was supposed to take me fishing."

"That wasn't the reason."

"No. It was symbolic. He broke every promise he ever made."

"So are you ever going to forgive him?"

"I'm trying. It's not gonna happen just like that."

"Where is he anyway?"

"He took my car back to my place."

"He's staying with you?"

"Well, I guess."

"Do you want him to?"

"I don't know. Sort of. Not really."

"He can stay at my house, if that's better."

"I... Yeah. If that's okay."

"I wouldn't have offered if it weren't."

"Thanks. And that was a nice use of the subjunctive mood there."

"I'm sure that's a compliment."

"You should know."

"You don't make your kids learn that stuff, do you?"

"I correct them if they use the indicative mood in place of the subjunctive."

"It's sad that I actually know what you're saying."

"Well, now you and Danny can have intelligent conversations."

"About English grammar."

"Exactly."

H-5-O

Kyle looked out the passenger window of Steve's truck as they pulled up to the beach house. As they got out of the truck, he looked around. Though it was dark, he could hear the ocean and see the palm trees.

"This is really nice," Kyle said. "I can see my sister will be well taken care of."

Steve hesitated a second before closing the door and locking the truck. "People keep saying that."

"What? Don't you believe it?"

They reached the front door and Steve opened it and reset the alarm system once they were inside.

"It just seems so final," Steve said. "And believe me, she can take care of herself."

"You're probably right. But that doesn't mean she wants to."

They fell silent and Kyle started looking around the living room. At first he saw the sparse decorations and tattered curtains. But as he began walking around, he saw pictures on shelves and end tables. Most of them were of McKenzie and Steve and a few other people Kyle didn't know. Looking closer he saw pictures of Steve's family.

"You don't look much like your dad, do you?" he asked.

Steve pulled a picture from behind the one Kyle was looking at. "No," he said, pointing to a blonde girl. "Mary Ann looks more like him."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"In all fairness, you don't know a lot about me."

"Okay. How old is she?"

"Thirty-two. She lives in LA."

"You close?"

Steve paused, not sure how to answer. "We're working on it."

Kyle nodded. "I hope that works out for you."

"For what it's worth, Kyle, I respect you for being here. Mary didn't come to our father's funeral."

"Wow. Why not?"

"I believe her words were, 'something came up'. But I kind of understand."

"You do?"

"Yeah. My dad wasn't as... involved as yours."

"And I took mine for granted."

"You had an amazing father. I only knew him for a few months, but he treated me like family from the beginning. I thought..." Steve trailed off, not wanting to finish even thinking the sentence.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Nothing," Steve replied quickly. "Come on; I'll show you upstairs."