Chapter 20 - Kelly has flashbacks
"Anything?"
"We found the boat." Torres said, turning against Kelly who still had her back towards the gang, her eyes looking out over the wide open sea. "It's quite close to the harbor, but the people are still on it. We've kept it under observation and no one has gone onto it or left it, so Kris has to still be on it. My men are waiting for your orders."
"Let's take pictures of it and ask the others and see if they know the boat." Kelly said quietly, still facing the window.
"Done, I got the pictures right here." Torres said, and for the first time since he came 10 minutes ago Kelly turned around to face him instead of staring out the window. Kelly immediately walked up to him, took the envelope with the photos out of his hand and looked them over. Telescopic lens, good quality.
"Great. I'll drive around and talk to the others and see if they recognize it. Meet up here in two hours and make a plan?"
"Sounds like a good idea. I'll keep you informed if there's any change from the boat."
Kelly nodded and gave Torres a quick, grateful smile before looking over and Sandra and Janet who were sitting in the couch. No words were necessary, just a small twitch with her head and the two of them immediately followed her out to her car, Sandra getting into the front seat and Janet sitting down in the middle of the backseat, leaning forward between the two front seats.
"Okay, first we go to Kona's and see if she knows anything about it." Kelly said, letting the car roam to life and headed out into the light traffic. Everyone sat quiet on the way there, completely lost in thoughts. Just a couple of hours ago, they were all so happy that they had finally finished the case and were able to actually have some vacation, but they had really bad luck with this vacation thing. They never seemed to actually get any, instead they were just always pulled into more trouble every day. The bad guys were always there and the could never just leave the angels alone for some reason.
Kelly stopped the car outside Kona's place and the trio walked inside to find Kona sitting on her regular chair behind the table, as usual. Nothing ever seemed to change around here. She looked up as she saw the trio walk inside and she leaned back in the chair, looking at them with raised eyebrows and crossing her arms over her chest.
"I thought we done?"
"We thought so too Kona." Kelly said. "But obviously not. Kris has been kidnapped. Would you just take a look at these pictures and tell me if you recognize the boat?"
Kona sighed loudly as she took the envelope from Kelly, pulled up the pictures and looked through them, while nodding.
"I do recognize them. I don't know owners name but he be some big shot from Greek or somewhere there. There always be men trying to steal our islands. I make a few calls and find his name."
"That would be awesome, give me a call when you got their names or meet us at our place in two hours."
Kona nodded before waving her hand, a simple gesture to make the three girls leave. She had to make sure that her customers got well taken care of, and them having to sit in the waiting area was not what she had in mind. Bad business.
Kelly, Sandra and Janet once jumped into the car, Kelly driving to their next stop. They all still stayed in silence, no one really knew what to tell the others and they were all thinking about the case anyway. Sometimes being lost in silence can be a good thing, it gives you time to clear your mind and let you focus on the job at hand. Kelly drove the car without really thinking about it, she knew where she was going and driving a car was like walking – she was so used to it so it just came natural without her having to think about it too much. Instead she let her brain wander away to old times such as when Kris was still pretty new in the agency, and Dave Christopher, along with the muscleman Ovie Gerson, had been killing blondes along the beach where Kris lived. The Sand-castle Murders was what they called them, and Kris had been freaked out. It was so close to home, she knew one of the girls that got killed and then she got attacked herself. Kelly still remembered how shook up Kris was the night after being attacked in her own home.
Kelly put down a cup of tea on the table in front of Kris, who was sitting in the couch. She had changed into another robe since her other one had ripped about an hour ago, and since then Kelly and Sabrina had helped her clean up the mess in her house, and just now sat down in the couches with some tea to make sure Kris calmed down. Kelly sank down next to Kris in the couch and slipped an arm around her waist, making Kris look up at her instead of looking down into her lap which she had been doing the last half an hour.
"You alright?" Kelly asked carefully as Sabrina slid down in one of the armchairs.
Kris gave Kelly a small smile before sniffing quietly. Her tears were on the edge of breaking and Kelly could see it. Kelly pulled her closer and Kris let her head drop down onto Kelly's shoulder, sniffing towards her neck as her tears begun to fall, gently running down Kelly's shoulder.
"I'm scared Kelly. He really surprised me, I… I wasn't prepared for that. I was just sitting down to read and he came crashing in, from nowhere. I thought I'd be safe in my own home but obviously not… Now I just feel unsafe and I don't know where to hide to be able to feel safe…"
"It's alright Kris, it's alright to be scared. People breaking into your own home suddenly makes everything ten times more personal than it could've possibly been before and it's alright to feel scared and unsecure. I'll stay with you here or you can come with me to my place if you want, maybe it won't make you feel better but there's at least always safety in numbers." Kelly offered, smoothing Kris' hair as she talked.
"I don't want to run. I don't want to leave my house cause if I leave my house I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back here. It's like falling off a horse, you have to get back up in the saddle right away so you don't get scared next time you get up. If I leave my house now in fear I'll have a harder time coming back here when everything is over."
"Then I'll stay here tonight with you." Kelly smiled gently.
"I would like that." Kris smiled, sitting up and meeting Kelly's eyes. Kelly's hand which had been in Kris' hair slid down and she cupped her chin in her palm.
"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe and the four of us will get whoever did this. Sabrina called Charlie and Bosley and informed them of what was going on and we'll have breakfast at Bosley's little place in the morning and see if we can talk it over. Let's have a cup of tea and then try and get some rest? It's starting to get late."
Kris nodded as she gave Kelly a hug before grabbing a hold of her cup with steaming hot tea. The three of them drank quietly and soon Sabrina left for her own place while Kelly borrowed a t-shirt from Kris and crawled down in the spare bed while Kris said her good nights and disappeared into the bedroom.
It didn't take long at all before Kelly was abruptly awoken by Kris' piercing scream. Jumping out of bed she ran into Kris' bedroom, only to find Kris alone, sitting up in her bed with a tear drenched face and shaking hands. Kelly let out a sigh in relief as she realized Kris had had a nightmare, whereupon she hurried into Kris and pulled her into a tight hug. Kris immediately flinched at her touch, but upon realizing it was just Kelly, she hugged her back and nuzzled her face down in the bend of her neck.
"It's alright Kris. You're not alone and you're unharmed. It was just a dream. I'm here, it's alright." Kelly whispered while rubbing her back gently, feeling the heat radiating from Kris' body. She was steaming hot. "Don't worry, everything will be okay. Everything will be okay. I'm here."
Back then, Kris had showed emotions, and plently of them. Kelly remembered those nights so well, Kris was often tormented by nightmares during her first years in the agency, dreaming about being chased, people shooting, people breaking in or other things that was likely and possible to happen in their line of work. She had been thinking many times about leaving, she kept saying that being a detective was not for her if she couldn't handle the stress and if she would be scared all the time, but Kelly and Bosley had managed to talk her into staying. She had grown into it and every time something happened that scared the bejesus out of her, she had grown stronger and learned from it, learned how to control it and adapt it to her advantage. She had quickly grown stronger than Kelly ever thought was possible for this scared little Piglet as she had been, and she was so proud over just how far Kris had come in her transformation.
And now it was lost. Gone. The strength to always fight on no matter what happened was not there. No fire, no spark, no strength, no energy.
"Kelly."
Kelly shook her head slightly as she heard her name mention, and she suddenly remembered that she wasn't alone in the car. Looking to her side she saw Sandra look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Kelly asked confused.
"I thought we were going to Leilani's?"
"We are."
"You just drove by her entrance."
Kelly looked up in the rearview mirror and realized Sandra was right. She had been so lost in thoughts that she hadn't noticed that the entrance to Leilani and Billy's house was coming up, and she had obviously driven right past it. Sighing loudly she took a right in the next crossroad and turned around to go back to where she came from.
Janet and Sandra sat silent, they didn't need to ask Kelly what was on her mind, they already knew very well that nothing else but Kris could be on it at the moment, and it was not surprising. Kris had been the main thing on Kelly's mind the last months and they all wished they could do something to help that but they had no idea what to say or do to make everything better. It just seemed like a lost cause trying.
Driving up to The Sako's, Kelly parked the car outside and the trio walked in, finding Leilani sitting in a couch with the two boys, Kekipi and Ori in her lap. She was reading them a book, and all three of them appeared to be very much into the story, not noticing the trio walking in. It took Leilani a couple of minutes before she could feel that someone observered her, and looking up she jumped slightly, startled, as she saw the three angels.
"Kelly, Janet, Sandra, what are you doing here?"
"We need your help." Kelly said shortly, whereupon Leilani nodded.
"Kekipi, Ori, would you go to your daddy outside for a minute?" Leilani told her boys, them nodding right away and jumping down from her lap. Kekipi, the older of them, took his baby brother's hand and the two of them hurried outside to find their dad to play with instead.
"What's going on?" Leilani asked, going straight to the point.
"Kris has been kidnapped by a boat, and being held out there. Weneed to find out as much as possible about the boat before we go out there and try and get her back." Kelly said, showing the pictures of the boat to Leilani as well, and she nodded familiar.
"Yeah, I know the boat. It belongs to Dru, I don't know his last name. He's travelled here from Greek and is now out to take part of the underground business of Hawaii, but as far as I know he hasn't been doing too good. I know he's been doing some fishing, both legal and illegal. I can't tell you much about him nor the boat though, I'm afraid."
"Well, at least you have a name, that will help us a lot." Kelly said gratefully. "We will all meet up at our place in about an hour, and form a plan from there. I will try and get a hold of Sammy and get Hollis to find out how the boat look like on the inside. I'm sure he'll be able to do it. Before sundown, we should have Kris out of there and wrap everything up. I want my vacation, and I want it now."