At exactly 8:00 the next morning, Officer Robertson escorted Jeff Burnhart into the Five-0 offices. Mr. Burnhart looked around and though not exactly nervous, he seemed to be a little impatient or something. Steve wanted to find out what that 'or something' could be.
"Mr. Burnhart, nice to meet you," Steve emerged from his office to shake the man's hand. A brief nod to Officer Robertson had the rookie hanging back by the door but not leaving yet. "I'm Commander McGarrett. This is Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua."
"I brought the files that you requested," Burnhart held out a flash drive.
"Thank you," Chin took the flash drive and headed to the smart table.
"What do you know about George Davila?" Steve asked the man as he led them all over to the smart table. "How long has he worked for you?"
"Only about two weeks. He's actually just a temporary hire as my usual guy had knee surgery and expected to be gone about six weeks."
"Did you run the usual background checks on him?" Steve inquired.
Burnhart nodded, "Of course; everything came back clean. I thought if he worked out okay serving as doorman, I'd see if he was interested in a position in the company."
"Island Securities," Steve clarified. "You do quite well with your company, from the sounds of things."
"I've worked hard at it," Burnhart sounded defensive. "We have a lot of good accounts, and it's taken a lot to get where we are today. I won't let anyone ruin that."
Kono tilted her head, "Why do you say that?"
"I... Just forget it. It's just a phrase," Burnhart seemed flustered all of a sudden. "If you have what you need, I should be going."
"Actually, I'd like to ask you a few questions," Steve told him. "Like why would someone want to burn down your house?"
"I really don't know," Burnhart shrugged as his gaze traveled quickly over the three task force leaders, Officer Robertson at the door and the office in general.
Kono's eyes rose as she met Steve's look. Steve's eyes narrowed as he looked at Burnhart. His voice was deceptively calm as he reigned in his anger, "See, I really don't believe you. I think you know more than you are telling us, and I'm getting tired of the run around. My partner almost died saving your child. It's time you came clean with us."
Burnhart sighed, "Don't get me wrong. I'm very grateful for Detective Williams' actions in getting everyone to safety and most especially for saving Ashley, but..."
Robertson took two steps farther into the room as Burnhart started to pace. He kept an eye on the obviously upset man, not knowing what he might do.
The Five-0 team watched as Burnhart paced and flung his hands around in a way that rivaled Danny's. He rubbed his hands down his face and apparently came to some sort of a decision. The team just watched and let him speak when he was ready.
He sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat, "I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a man calling himself Angel. He said he had a proposition for me. When I met with him, he offered me one million in cash."
"What did he want from you?" Chin wondered. "And did he give you a last name?"
"No," Burnhart shook his head. "He only called himself Angel and said that was all I needed to know. He had a list of people that he wanted me to hire, no questions asked and no background checks. He didn't even want them on the payroll. He said he would take care of that. All he wanted was for me to assign them wherever and whenever he wanted."
"Do you still have that list of names?" Steve asked.
"No, I never even looked at it real closely. When I refused, he shoved it into his pocket."
"What did he say when you refused?" Kono questioned.
Burnhart gave a rueful smile, "He was not happy. He kept trying to persuade me. He even upped the amount he would pay me for each time I followed their directions. It took about five minutes before I could get him to leave."
"Did he threaten you?" Steve asked though he was pretty sure he knew the answer to the question.
"Not outright, really. He said I was making a mistake and that I'd be sorry. That was the last I heard of him until..." Burnhart stopped and had to regain his composure.
"Until the fire," Kono supplied.
Burnhart nodded, "The day after the fire. I got a phone call. He didn't say his name, but I recognized his voice; it was him. Angel. He said something about it being a shame that I lost my house and how lucky I was that no one was hurt. Then he just hung up."
"Have you heard from him since? Another call? A Visit? Anything?" Steve was sure that if he hadn't already, he'd hear from this Angel again soon.
"Yes," Burnhart sighed and looked at the floor. "Yesterday afternoon I got another call. He said I would get one more chance to accept his offer and I better take it, or someone might get hurt. He told me not to tell anyone, but..."
"But what, Mr. Burnhart?" Kono's voice was gentle and she tried to get more information from him.
"But I had already set up this meeting with you guys, and I don't think I can do this on my own. I was going to handle it myself, but if he can get into my house and burn it down, what else can he do?"
"You did the right thing in coming to us," Steve assured him. "We need all the information we can get on this guy. Where's your family now?"
"We're staying at some friends' house right now. They're about to leave on a month long trip and offered their house to us to use until we can find something for however long it takes to rebuild our house."
"I'm going to get some HPD officers to keep an eye on you." Steve told him.
"No need," Burnhart smiled. "I own a security company, remember? I've reassigned some of my people just in case. And, don't worry, they are all people that have been with me a long time and I trust completely."
Steve wasn't entirely happy but agreed, "Okay, that will do."
They were interrupted by a ping from the smart table. Chin looked it over and smiled, "We've got something. I ran facial recognition on George Davila and got a hit. His name is really George Kingston. He's had some minor run-ins with the law but no felonies."
"At least none he's been caught for," Kono pointed out.
"How'd he get through my background check?" Burnhart wondered. "Even with a false name, we should have caught on."
"I'm guessing this Angel person has someone in his organization with some high level skill in forgery, identity theft and probably even computer hacking to get this cleared with no hits." Chin speculated.
"Mr. Burnhart," Steve pointed at the man. "I want you to go about your day as you normally would. Keep your security alert around your family, and let us know if you hear from Angel again. If he calls knowing that you met with us, just tell him that we asked you come in for some follow up questions."
"Okay," Burnhart straightened and Steve finally could see the strength of the man. "If you don't get this guy in the next day or two I might send my family to the mainland until it's resolved. I don't mind fighting my own battles, but I don't want my family in the middle of this."
"We'll keep you updated," Steve shook his head and nodded at Robertson to escort him out of the offices.
"Well," Steve turned to Chin after Burnhart was out of sight. "What do you make of his story?"
"Makes sense," Chin shrugged. "Island Securities holds a lot of high profile accounts that would be very tempting to the criminal element. The Yakuza would love to get their guys into some of these places. Can you imagine them having a free pass around the security at the docks with all those cargo ships coming in?"
"Let's check it out," Steve directed. "Kono, give Kamekona a call, and see if he's heard anything about Angel."
"Will do, Boss."
The team worked until lunch when they decided to take a break and take Danny some lunch, too. Steve was feeling more confident that they were getting closer to solving the case, but in the back of his mind, he had a tiny sense of impending doom. He shook his head and passed it off as lack of sleep.
