As they approached the Reid's block, Danny's phone began buzzing. His lightened mood evaporated in a split second as he answered. "Grace. Are you okay? Is everything alright?" His voice was tight and strained.
"Hi Daddy. I'm okay." She replied quickly. "I just missed you, that's all."
Instantly the detective's expression changed once again. "Aww, I miss you too, Monkey. More than you know, I promise you that." There was a softness in his voice, one he reserves for only his daughter. "Are the doctors taking good care of you there? Giving you all the Jell-o you could hope for, hmm?"
Grace giggled. "Yeah, Dr. Reynolds is really nice. She played cards with me earlier."
"Dr. Reynolds huh?" Danny replied, surprised. He listened intently as his daughter explained proudly how she beat the doctor at go fish.
As he parked the car down the street from the house, Steve gave his friend a smug grin.
"Okay, I gotta go Grace. I'll see you after dinner though, right?" They exchanged I love yous and goodbyes as Steve cut the engine.
"So." Danny let out a breath. "The plan is we sit here waiting for Brown to show, then?" He hoped to get the conversation on task, therefore avoiding more ribbing from his partner about the doctor he denied giving a second thought to.
Of course, his hopes were misguided. "Nice try, partner." Steve gloated. "You're lucky I'm about to call Lou, or I wouldn't be letting that one go."
"Ha, lucky. Sure." Danny mumbled to himself with a sigh as Steve dialed the former SWAT captain.
"Ya, Lou. You get anything from the delivery van's GPS yet?" Steve's tone had gone back to all business.
"Yeah," their newest team member confirmed. "This guy's intelligence just gets deeper. The last place he went before the hospital was a drug store on Kukui Street. And I spoke to the store clerk. She said he paid cash for hydrogen peroxide and nail polish remover among other things."
"Another bomb." Steve concluded. "To rig the house, maybe?"
"Except, he crashed the van with all his newly acquired purchases inside." Danny reminded them. "This guy really is a winner." He sighed.
"Did the store clerk give you anything else Lou?" Steve asked. He was starting to feel like their leads were thinning out, and it was pissing him off.
"No, said he seemed nervous, distracted. He wouldn't look her in the eye. Barely said two words to her."
Grover reported to his boss.
Danny shook his head. "No, of course not. You don't plan to blow up a school, a hospital and crash into a bus full of kids and walk around with your head held high."
"So he may be brainless, but he's got a least a little but of a conscience." Steve added. "Thanks Lou. Head back to HQ and check in with Chin. Danny and I are on sitting on the Reid house now."
"Will do." Grover agreed and hung up.
"Okay," Danny sighed, taking stock of what they had so far. "The good news is, we've now accounted for all his supplies, so he won't be making any bombs any time soon."
"Yeah, but the bad news is we haven't figured out where this guy is." Steve countered.
They let the weight of the case sit in the air between them for a few minutes. They sat in silence for about twenty minutes before Steve caught movement coming from the backyard.
"Hey, out back. You see him?" He asked shortly.
"Yeah, I got him." They exited the car with precision and tactical superiority. "I know, I know you already told me but tell me again, Steve." Danny whispered in a rushed tone.
"The house is empty. We got Mr. Reid and his son to a secure location." His tone was serious. Steve would not make light of Danny's intense need to keep parents and their children safe.
"Then let's get this bastard." Danny was focused, ready for action.
Steve silently signalled the plan and each man flanked one side of the house trailing to the backyard.
Danny spotted him first. The guy was wearing an oversized sweatshirt and ball cap, but the description fit perfectly. "Five 0! Stay where you are and put your hands up!"
The man jolted behind a heavy shrub between the house and the fence when Danny yelled.
"He's headed your way," Danny communicated to his partner. He heard a scuffling of branches, some garbage cans and some yelling before the sound that made him go running. Three shots rang out, one right after the other.
"Steve!" He scrambled around the patio furniture to get to his friend. "Yo Steve!" He yelled again as he rounded the corner of the house to the narrowing between it and the fence. The scene was evident in front of him. The overturned cans, the smashed pottery. Finally his eyes laid on the broken fence through to the neighbour's yard. "You okay?" Danny spoke hurriedly.
"One block over, Danny." Steve's heavy voice finally came through the radio. "Cut him off on Pulaa!" His voice was short and hoarse as he ran.
Danny quickly got to the street and headed around the corner in anticipation of their suspect.
Seeing an opportunity, Danny grabbed a basketball sitting in the driveway of one of the houses he ran past. He concealed himself behind a parked minivan and waited. Hearing the perp's steps get louder and harder as he got closer, Danny jumped out and hurled the ball as hard as he could at the exact right time. He nailed their guy right in the gut, causing him to double over and fall to the ground with the sound of the air being knocked out of him.
He was still coughing as Danny moved him into a position to cuff him. "Not a basketball fan? That's a shame." He spoke facetiously as he cuffed the man.
From behind him Danny heard his partner's approach. "Nicely done." Steve stopped beside them and caught his breath quickly. "But you couldn't have waited for me?" He couldn't help but tease.
"Wait? For what?" Danny played along. "For you to tell me to book him, is that it?" He forced the guy to his feet and gave him a shove in the direction of the car. "Like I somehow need your approval to do it?" there was definite attitude in his tone. "Because I do not need that, thank you very much."
Steve rolled his eyes and let out a breath. Rather than continuing to argue, he made the responsible choice to bite his tongue and head to the car.
"Brah! What's this all about?" Their man interrupted, finally catching his own breath enough to speak up. "I didn't do it, I swear!"
"Oh, that's original." Danny snorted, holding the low life by the back for a second. "What's next huh? You gonna tell us you were just borrowing all that money and valuables from the Reids and that you were going to return it all?" He pulled the guy around so he could get a clear view of the man's face.
"Steve," he called to his partner up ahead a couple seconds later.
McGarrett though, wasn't interested in any more of Danny's attitude. He acted as if he hadn't heard his name and kept walking.
"Hey! The Incredible Sulk! Will you turn around already?! We got a problem here!" The short tempered man kept going. The arm not holding their suspect was flailing away as he yelled.
It only took a few seconds for Steve to realize humouring his friend was the fastest way to get him to calm down. "What's your problem?" He asked as he turned around, hands resting on his hips in a miffed stance.
Danny didn't miss a beat. "Besides you, right now?" He jabbed intentionally. "Take a look at this guy, would you?"
The Commander obliged, and quickly realized why there was a problem. "You're not Joel Brown." He spoke directly to the detained man. "He's not Joel Brown." Steve repeated, this time looking at Danny.
"Poignant, as usual." The detective ribbed. "C'mon." he began moving the man towards the curb for a sit down.
"Yo, man I didn't steal anything from nobody named Reid, okay?" The mystery man was desperate to clear his name.
"Then why'd you run from us, genius?" Danny interrogated.
The defeated man looked between the two officers before replying to the one sitting next to him. "I was just uh, watering the plants. Plus, I'm a rebel heart, brah. Someone tells me to stop, I go." He shrugged. "It's just the way I roll."
Danny laughed unabashedly at the man's statement before standing up and speaking to Steve. "Okay, while the resemblance in their intelligence levels is uncanny, uhh.." he trailed off, waiting for the man to fill in the blank.
"Oh! It's Devon, man." The guy finally caught on with a smile. "I'd shake your hand, but uhh," he motioned to the fact that his hands were cuffed behind his back.
"Yeah, we'll get right on that." Steve sighed impatiently.
"So while Brown and Devon here probably have about three brain cells between them, that's their only connection." Danny sighed.
"So can I go now?" Devon asked them expectantly.
Detective Williams glanced at his partner before nodding. "Sure, just stay out of other people's yards, buddy."
"Will do, Boss." He faked a serious face. "Next time, I'll make sure I empty my watering can before leaving the house." He laughed, thinking he was in the clear.
"Uh," Danny shot a confused glance at Steve. "Did he just say..?"
"Public urination?" Steve finished the thought. "Yeah, I think he did."
"Okay," Danny stepped back to pull the man up from the curb. "You want to make up for missing it last time, or..?" he smirked at his friend.
"Book 'em, Danno." Steve ordered confidently before started back towards the Camaro once again.
"Let's go brainiac." Danny pushed the man to walk ahead of him and followed suit.
Once they arrived at HQ, the partners threw their low life new friend in a holding cell before returning to the bull pen to be briefed by Chin.
"So it turns out, our man Brown was in the rehab program offered by a homeless centre in downtown Waikiki until just a few months ago. The woman I spoke to oversees the program. She said Joel completed the program and was doing what he could to turn his life around." Chin explained in detail as the three men stood around the smart table.
"Sure, until he decided to steal from his employer and try killing him and his daughter." Danny added his two cents.
"Okay, did she mention any friend he may have had, or even a sponsor or something?" Steve vied for as much information as possible.
"She said he and another patient, Kimo Ano were pretty tight. They hardly talked to anyone but each other." Chin kept going. "She also said when he did speak to others at the centre, it was always something about 'having a plan' and 'soon they'll see'."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like the manifesto of a whack job plotting a bomb attack at all." Danny huffed sarcastically.
"Any contact information for Ano?" Steve asked. "Maybe he's Brown's help."
Chin typed an address into the screen on the table and swiped a map up for everyone to see. "This is the address on file, but Ano left the program a few weeks ago. He couldn't quite kick the habit, apparently. So his counsellor said she doesn't know where he ended up."
"Okay, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll still be there." Steve voiced. "Feel like two stake outs in one day, partner?" he asked turning to his shorter friend. Although there wasn't any doubt among them that he wasn't really asking.
"Oh, sure. 'Cause the last one went so well right babe?" Danny smirked.
Steve sighed, shooting his partner a look before turning to Chin once more. "Call Kono and check on the kids, okay. And then see if we can get any financials on Brown. We may get lucky and be able to trace him that way."
"You got it." Chin started tapping and typing as Steve and Danny walked towards the door.
"Oh, speaking of getting lucky," Danny let out a slightly mean spirited giggle. "Have you heard from your girlfriend since she left this morning? You know, when your already limited time got cut short by this case, uh, oh and your mother?" The grin on his face was positively devilish.
Steve shot a clear glare that couldn't mean anything besides certain death for its recipient. "Lost your umbrella again I see." He huffed as they left the Palace in pursuit of their next lead.