Chapter Ten: The Beast

When Chin parked the car on Forrest's property, he was pleased to see that Detective Frank Kamana of HPD had things well in hand. Kamana gave a few orders to the HPD officers guarding the perimeter before giving the two Five-O detectives a slight smile as they approached the scene. "Glad you're here. This is a weird one."

"Who discovered the body?" Danny asked.

"Got an anonymous tip," Frank answered while he led them over to Sito.

Chin moved carefully to avoid getting pricked by the thorns. The body was lying on a tarp, hidden under some very large rose bushes in the middle of an even bigger garden. "Definitely strange. This doesn't seem like a place where someone would discover a body out of the blue and just phone it in."

Danny knelt down by the body. "We'll have to see what Doc says, but it looks like he was shot execution style. And he's got a nasty bump on his head, too. Are there any connections with Forrest and organized crime?"

"None that we know of. I asked and he's got a couple disorderly conduct charges and a DUI on his record. But those are from years ago. He's gone quiet ever since his accident."

"Accident?" Chin asked.

"Leon Forrest. You've never heard of him?"

Chin looked over at Danny who just shrugged.

Frank sighed and explained, "1970 season. Rainbow Warriors vs. the Bull Dogs. Things are looking bleak for the home team when Forrest intercepts the ball and runs sixty yards for the winning touchdown."

Recognition of the past event shone in Danny's eyes. "I remember that game. And if I remember correctly, it was the last game Forrest ever played."

"There was an accident; he burned his face or something. It was a shame. We all thought for sure he was going to be something in big leagues, too."

Not a big follower of college football, Chin tried to get the conversation back onto their dead body. "So how did a former college football star end up with the body of one of the Dragon's hit men in his garden?"

"Fertilizer," Danny deadpanned. Then turning serious, he added, "Maybe he went down a dark path when his playing days ended. Couldn't handle life without football. I've seen it happen to others. But we won't get anywhere just speculating. We should spread out and see what we can find."

Chin let Danny take the house and he pulled on some gloves to examine the exterior. Experience led him to the garbage cans. If Forrest was the murderer and had thought hiding the body in the garden was sufficient then perhaps he was also naïve enough to think throwing away evidence would also do the trick. It didn't take long before he was proven right.

Looking up, Chin spotted Che coming out of the house and waved him over.

"Got something?"

"Blood. You find anything?"

Che nodded. "There was someone else living in that house. Different hair in the bathroom, two sets of fingerprints."

"Another man?" Chin asked as he gestured for a photographer to take a picture.

"No, the hair is a woman's."

Reaching down into the can, he grabbed the bloody cloth then pulled out an expensive but ruined evening gown. "Could be the owner of this."

Bagging the dress, Che said, "I'll have the boys look for more bodies. I hope we aren't dealing with a serial killer."

Chin shuddered at the thought while Danny stepped back outside. "There's no sign in the house that Forrest left on an extended trip. We should move everyone back and catch him when he returns."

Alia breathed deeply as he stepped off the boat and onto the island of Kauai. She had done it. She had finally done it. She was free. She was away from Oahu. She had left her family. She had escaped the Dragon's men. She was finally free. Or was she?

Kauai. So many things had happened here. It had been Rono's and her playground. The place Rono's plane had taken them to escape it all. The place where they had married. The place where Rono had died. As she glanced around at the familiar surroundings, she was struck by the thought: was Kauai the place where this had all started or the place where it had all ended?

The truth was that she didn't know the answer to that question, but she did know where she had to go to find her answer.

Free. Leon was free. Free of the girl and her problems. Free to simply go and forget about the world that didn't care one iota about him.

He was tired when he pulled into his driveway. He was so used to living alone that being in such constant contact with another person had exhausted him. But as he stopped the car, he got the sense that something was different. Was that a car parked on the other side of his house? He stepped out of his truck to find out.

"Freeze!"

"Hands up!"

"Don't move!"

The commands all jumbled together but the sight of police officers with guns drawn surrounding him left Leon with no doubt as to what they wanted him to do. Raising his hands, he tried to figure out what this was about. Had the man who attacked Alia filed assault charges against him?

After frisking him, a detective said, "You can put your hands down. My name is Dan Williams and I'm with Five-O. Are you Leon Forrest?"

Leon met the detective's eye and was surprised to see that he didn't react to his scars. "Yes."

"Is this your home?"

"Yes."

"When did you leave?"

He didn't like Williams's tone. He didn't have to put up with this. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"Murder, Mr. Forrest."

Leon laughed. "You've been listening to children's stories. Don't you know that they tell tall tales?"

Williams remained still. "You are under arrest for the murder of Akane Sito. We found his body on your property."

"What? This must be some sort of joke!"

"The dead body in your garden says otherwise." Then, after cuffing Leon's hands in front of him, Williams said, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

"Yes…no. Yes, I understand, but, no, I didn't kill anybody. I don't even know who this Sito guy is."

A heavier Chinese man stepped forward and showed him a picture. "Do you recongize this man?"

Leon reacted before he realized that he shouldn't have. Now he was going to have to tell the truth. Or at least a version of the truth. He was going to have to be careful in order to keep his promise to Alia. "I've seen him, but I didn't know his name." He was searching for words; he knew that he must look so guilty to the cops. "I was walking around my property when I found this guy tresspassing. I confronted him about it and he attacked me! I knocked him out, but he was alive when I left him. I swear! I didn't kill nobody!"

The two detectives conferred for a moment before Williams asked, "Can you show us where the fight took place?"

Leon nodded. A few minutes later, he found the spot. But Williams made them all stand back and spoke to another cop had had followed them. "Frank, call Che and tell him we need him back out here."

Williams pointed to an area where the undergrowth was clearly disturbed. "You fought there."

"Yes," Leon said. "And when he went for his gun, I hit him with that stick."

"And then you shot him?"

"No! No, I didn't shoot him. I promise you, he was alive when I left. I figured he'd wake up, and leave."

The Chinese detective was exploring off to their left when he called out. "Danny, gun."

Williams pointed. "Is this yours?"

"No, he had it." Then realizing that they would think him a liar when they discovered his prints, he added, "But I touched it. Once that guy was unconscious, I picked up the gun and threw it into the bush."

"And these other prints?"

"Prints?"

"Footprints. Your story just has you and Sito at the scene. I see at least four separate sets of footprints."

"Five," the other detective called out.

"Thanks, Chin. Did you see anyone else?"

Leon inwardly sighed in relief. This was the first bit of good news he had heard since he came home. "No, they must be from whoever came along after and killed him."

Williams stood silently for a few moments, studying the scene. Then, turning back to Leon, he said, "That's quite a story, Mr. Forrest. We'll see what the evidence says. In the meantime, I need you come with us."

After the cops put him in the back seat of squad car, Leon was finally able to think. Someone had set him up. And the only person who could corroborate his story was deathly afraid of the cops finding her. He may have gotten rid of Alia, but she was still making a mess of his life. He should just tell that detective about her. But he couldn't. For some reason, he couldn't betray her trust. For in spite of his best efforts, he cared about her too much.