A/N: Happy Friday...almost Saturday! It's been a day, I'm sorry this took so long and it's so short. More next week I promise!

Thank you all so much for reading! I'm so grateful that so many of you Five-O fans are still around and are supporting this story! I can't thank you all enough for the comments and encouragement! More to come soon!

Chapter 12: Art Class

Danny and Steve took a cab back to the ship and made a quick B-Line back to their room. They found Toast sitting on the balcony with his laptop and a stack of paper. Carl was with him.

"So what have you found for us?" Steve asked as he exited his room and Danny followed.

"Surprise, Surprise, Kenneth Monkeith and Richard Rosswell are not on this ship. At least not in the records," Toast said sarcastically. "I'm waiting for word back from Jerry and Eric. They managed to get me the last names for your Ken and Dick, which will make their searching much easier, but they are slow going back in the office as well. I'm hoping they can get us mug shots at the very least from their previous cases. Until then, we're blind to the danger, so to speak and you and Danny have to do the old fashion detective work. The rest of my searches have come up empty, except for George and Phoebe. Charlie has gone down to the art space to gather some samples and will be bringing the instructor up here for questioning. She's probably your best lead right now."

"Rachael is a good girl, from Rome. I doubt that she has anything to do with this," Carl added. "But she will tell you everything she saw, and it will be truthful. I trust her."

"She checks out as far as I can tell," Toast continued as he turned the laptop around for Steve and Danny to look at. "I have a feeling that Phoebe and George wanted to get caught. Their identities were very easy to crack and if George is as good as he says he is, based on what he told Chin and how hard it's been to find Ken and Dick, they shouldn't have popped up as quickly as they did."

"Not fast enough to say any lives," Danny said with a huff as he leaned against the partition. "But they seem to be cooperative enough. And I don't want to see her have the baby in prison."

"We'll help them out, if their info pans out for us," Steve said authoritatively.

Danny nodded and tried to hush his partner. The balcony was now quite crowded and open to the air, but Danny wanted to move the conversation inside as the balconies above and below them could have harboured open ears. "We should move this inside. You don't know who is listening out here," he added to make his point clear. "Anyone could be listening and our covers will be blown."

"Maybe a little gossip would be good for us," Steve said thoughtfully.

"We've already had the mass hysteria talk, no gossip! Could you not go absolutely insane on this ship, please?" Danny asked as Charlie exited the room he was sharing with Toast and a young woman followed him anxiously.

"This is Rachael," Charlie said to the gathering as pleasantly and cheerfully as he could muster.

"Hello," the young woman was shy and timid, but her appearance was tidy, except for her painting apron and her shoulders bore the emblem of the cruise line.

"We'd like to ask you some questions if you don't mind," Danny said and motioned toward the other room.

She nodded and was lead away.

"Did you find the stuff?" Steve asked before he followed his partner and the woman.

"I believe I have, but I don't have the equipment here to safely test it," Charlie answered and pulled a plastic biohazard evidence bag out of his kit; which was disguised as a camera bag.

"I'll take it to your people on the wharf, and they can take it back to Oahu and your team there," Carl offered.

"Thank you," Steve said with a slight bow and then followed Danny and the young lady. "I think you've earned some rest, Charlie," he added just before he disappeared into the room and slid the balcony door closed.

"Yeah right," Charlie laughed and followed Carl as he left through the nearest door.

In their state room Danny and Steve introduced themselves more formally and then stood before the young woman as they motioned for her to sit in one of the only chairs in the room.

"By now you should know that we aren't actually guests of this cruise line," Danny said as he watched her nervousness grow. "I'm detective Danny Williams, this is my partner Commander Steve McGarrett and we belong to the Governor's Special Task-Force in Hawaii. You're not in any trouble but we believe you can help us with out investigation," he explained and sat down on the edge of the bed before her. "I want to assure you that you are safe with us."

"We believe that the incident that occurred several night ago, aboard this ship, began with and altercation that may have taken place in one of your art classes," Steve added and saw the realization and knowledge come into her eyes as she nodded.

"She's dead, isn't she?" Rachael asked fearfully.

"Unfortunately, yes, she is, and we believe that the poison was administered in your class," Danny answered. "Can you tell us who was involved?" He asked as he saw fear come into the young woman's face but there was also knowledge. She knew what had happened and it showed.

"Mario Costanzo, he's one of the primary coordinators for the recreational events and classes on the ship. It's his job to make sure everyone on the ship has a good time and that you're never bored onboard. He was there to paint with us, he's very good, and he bumped into her with a full pallet of oil paint. We tried to clean it off but she left in a huff to change and I haven't seen either of them since," She explained. "He's still working, but he hasn't come back to the art classes."

"And would he have had access to your paints prior to the class?" Steve asked.

"Yes, I suppose," she answered. "But the paint he was using wasn't what we were using in the class that day. It was a water colour class. Charlie found the oil paints in the garbage, not the same brand we generally use either. Mario must have brought them himself. Generally that kind of stuff isn't allowed, but because he's a coordinator I would assume that he had access to the inventory in the warehouse that stalks the ships and could get around rule and regulations."

"He could have mixed the poison even before the ship sailed and stashed them in the art room for the opportune moment," Danny said as he looked to his partner.

"Oil painting classes weren't going to happen until the return voyage," Rachael piped in again. "We do teach them but they were going to be a three day course as we sailed back to the mainland."

"He would have waited had he needed to," Steve said. "But acted when the opportunity arose."

"Do you know much about him?" Danny asked.

"He's a flirt," Rachael answered. "But I think you need to be very sociable to head up the activities on the ship. He participates in a lot of them so it wasn't odd for him to join the class. People on the ship know who he is and why he's here. That's his job."

"Who does he hang out with, if you don't mind me asking," Steve questioned as he took the other chair and finally sat down.

The young lady's eyes fell to the floor and she looked almost ready to cry.

"Are you all right?" Steve asked with a concerned anxiety as he looked to Danny for help. "Was it something I said?" He asked.

"Did Mario kill Maria?" She asked as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"At this time we cannot be certain," Danny answered as formally as he possibly could.

"Maria was the kindest, sweetest, most genuine person I'd every met. Everybody loved her, and she was completely smitten with Mario. They loved to dance together late into the evening, after the dinner service was over. They were an absolutely adorable couple, and she was so happy."

Danny and Steve exchanged looks of concern as the young woman spoke.

"Am I going to be safe here?" She asked once she'd stopped crying. "Mario will know that something is up," she said as a deep, desperate fear started to set in. "He's too involved not to."

"We can fake and additional poisoning to see if he returns to the scene to clean up his mess," Steve said as he perked up.

"We better do it soon, and get her off of this ship, ASAP. We're not going to put anymore lives at risk," Danny said and Steve was shocked that he had agreed to it.