The Shallow Grave of Secret Longing
Chapter 29
Okay, here's your lame Christmas present. I want to sincerely thank you all for your comments, alerts and favorites. Even though I'd probably still write, it wouldn't be even a tenth as much fun and rewarding without your feedback. You guys rock!
Not a whole lot of Steve in this chapter but he'll be more present in the next. Mistakes are, of course, inevitable considering Imaginary Beta is such a lazy bitch. I'm sorry if the timeline in this one is confusing.
Disclaimer: Don't own them or anything remotely connected to the show. Hoping that this year Santa will correct that oversight. Must be my potty-mouth that put me on his 'bad' list. Ninja cats have earned a permanent place on mine. A piece of my furniture is starting to look like a vaguely 'sofa-like' pile of shredded fabric.
*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*
When to Be Afraid
Last night:
They were just ahead of him now. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the box-cutter as his thumb slid the little lever that advanced the blade. He could hear them talking. Is that English?
"Brah, that dude's crazy. I knew it wasn't a good idea to do this!"
"Shut up Rabbit. I don't wanna hear your whiney-ass cryin'! You're as bad as Jimmy and Timmy being afraid of that fat old cop."
"Benji, he's not a fat old cop! I saw him run at us instead of the other way! What kind lolo does shit like that? Dude's tatted too. Maybe he broke out of Halawa or someting? Could be a murderer or one o those meth freaks, he's skinny like that. Those guys all had their brains fried and don't know how to be scared o stuff they should be scared of when they're tweakin'!"
"Rabbit, you're hupo. Even crazy as Kip is, she wouldn't take in a meth addict. Besides," said Benji with an evil grin that was pretty much lost in the darkness, "doesn't your mom have tatts?"
"Yeah, but only like a bird or a butterfly or sometin' on her shoulder." defended Rabbit. He may not have the 'Mother of the Year' but she was the only one he had.
"Naw man, I seen that one on her ass and that other one on her . . . "
"Shut up Benji! You can't talk about my mom like that! I'm gonna kick your 'okole!"
There was the sound of a tussle; twigs snapping and foliage being crashed through along with angry and/or effortful grunts and the dull thud of fist on flesh.
Benji was bigger but Rabbit, (as his name actually implied), was faster. They thrashed around on the soggy forest floor as their struggle flung wet clumps of rotting vegetation and mud. As their, mostly ineffective, punches were traded neither of them noticed the man standing at the edge of the little clearing; moonlight reflecting off the blade in his hand.
…..
It was after two A.M.
As the sound of Hakoda's ancient vehicle faded into the wet distance, Kip looked at Howard with sad resignation on her face.
"I think he's gone this time." she said, not knowing why the disappearance of a man who was nearly a stranger upset her so.
"Maybe he'll be back." said Howard, smoothing his hand gently across her back and giving her what was intended to be a one-armed hug but before he even had time to react, Kip had her face buried against his chest and she was sobbing.
To say he was startled was an understatement. He'd known Kip for years and had never seen her cry like this. Not even when Joey left, not even when Malu had been killed in that accident during the storm.
Howard himself had been the one to tell her of the death of her beloved husband. He and Malu and a couple others had been out with a backhoe at the edge of town when it happened. They were trying to reinforce the earthen dam that had been keeping the village from being swept away by flash floods that came down from the higher valleys. As the two stood with their shovels near the machine, there was a simultaneous crack and flash. Both had been violently thrown to the ground. Howard had survived but the lightning strike had instantly killed his best friend.
There were no tears even then but he'd never seen someone look so desolate. Only a few months before, via a phone call from the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office, they'd been told of Joey's death. Malu had related to his friend that Kip didn't even cry when she'd gotten the news. She denied it had ever happened and talked about Joey coming home as soon as he worked out his problems
Malu had been very worried about his wife. As far as Howard knew, even to this day, she'd never acknowledged the death of her son and still expected him to return to his home on Lanai.
Everyone in town knew of her reaction, (or lack of it), to her son's death. After awhile, they just sort of backed away from the woman who'd been their mainstay in medical emergencies for so many years. The only time they came to her now was in the most dire of circumstances. She'd been abandoned by pretty much everyone except himself and Hakoda. Crazy or not they'd both loved her for many years; only their respect for Malu keeping them from pursuing their interests. Well, that and the fact that Malu could kick their asses with one hand tied behind his back.
Why was she crying now over someone she'd met barely a month ago? He couldn't do anything but hug her to him as warm tears soaked into the front of his shirt.
….
What the hell? he thought as he stood listening to the commotion. A sudden strobe of lightning lit up the two youths rolling around on the forest floor as they tried their best to beat the crap out of each other.
Dizzy and disoriented, he let the box cutter drop to his side. These aren't hostiles. This isn't the desert!
They were just two of the punks from that fight in front of Howard's store. Fuck! Where was he and why is he standing here watching those two imbeciles roll around in the muck? He looked around himself and saw only moonlit forest; leaves shiny and dripping reflecting fragments of cold blue light that leaked through the canopy above.
As Benji rolled on top of his adversary, he caught a glimpse of someone standing in the shadows and watching them. With a loud squeal of fright, he jumped to his feet and backed away eyes wide and mouth moving like a goldfish. Rabbit sat up to face his now terrified opponent. As he regained his feet he could see that Benji still stared at something behind him.
Whirling around to see what it was, Rabbit saw his worst nightmare. There stood the tattooed man staring at them silently. He held something shiny at his side. If only they hadn't dropped the rifle in their frantic flight through the forest.
To his credit, Rabbit did not wet himself. Benji wasn't as lucky. The big youth was too distracted at the moment to even feel the warmth that soaked into the front of his pants.
…
Late today:
"Do you know where he went?" asked the man who accepted the offer of a paper towel to finish wiping the sticky disgusting stuff off his watch. On the chair next to him sat a one-eyed cat who seemed to be fascinated by what he was doing.
"Sorry detective. He left here a couple days ago and didn't say where he was going." said Kip as she took a sip of tea and smiled sweetly. The little haole didn't look like a bad sort but if Ua Kane hadn't wanted to be found . . . well she wouldn't spill any information until she had a chance to talk to her friend. She'd do her best to keep him out of sight for now.
…
He knew she was lying. Though the old woman didn't seem a bad sort, maybe just a little eccentric, she was definitely concealing something. Steve still had to be around somewhere. Danny knew he'd just have to be patient and bide his time, she couldn't hide him forever.
"How did he seem when he left?" he asked as he took a sip of the hot tea she'd finally talked him into. No doubt to make up for the overly enthusiastic greeting committee, he thought.
"What do you mean?" she asked, a line forming between her dark eyes.
"His state of mind; was he upset or preoccupied; that kinda thing."
Kip's mind flashed to her last contact with the tall man. 'preoccupied' wasn't even close. His eyes had been dull and vacant. He looked like he'd given up . . . on everything.
"He was a little quiet maybe but he wasn't very talkative to begin with." she fudged.
"Yeah, that sounds like Steve." confirmed Danny as he took a sip of the herbal tea. It was a little bitter but it was relaxing.
Kip actually felt bad for the man who sat across from her. She'd caught the despair in the blonde detective's voice. He looked exhausted as well.
"Maybe he'll come back on his own." she offered, "Maybe he's just not ready to go home yet."
Danny looked up from the stoneware cup he'd been absently staring into, startled by his lapse in attention. The old woman's dark eyes looked kind and her face reflected only sympathy. She's still lying though.
"Maybe" he said tiredly. "If you see him, please tell him his ohana misses him and wants him to come home. If he doesn't want to talk – that's fine; we won't make him. We just want him to be safe."
Now, Kip felt really bad. Detective Williams looked so sincere and . . . so sad. She knew how it felt to wait for someone to come home; someone who was lost, someone who'd been damaged like the old dog. Sometimes, trust was almost a foreign concept for those creatures. She knew very well about such things.
"Thanks for the tea." said Danny as he pushed back the old wooden chair and stood up, his back popping loudly as the vertebra realigned. Looking toward the window over the sink, he could see that it had started raining again. Crap! His shoes were just finally beginning to dry out.
"Would you know where I can get a ride to the other side of the island? It doesn't look like I'm going to be leaving any time soon. At least not until I find Steve."
"There aren't any taxis here but you can probably get Howard over at the hardware store to give you a lift after he closes for the day. Just give him a couple bucks for gas." Standing to go toward the ancient pink rotary-dial phone in the living room, she called over her shoulder, "I'll contact him. Be right back."
While he waited, he looked down at the puzzle that covered nearly half the table. It would be a hard one to assemble. Most of the pieces had to be nearly the same color; either parts of dark sky or dark ocean. The boat portion had already been completed.
It was obvious there'd been two different assemblers sitting on opposite sides of the table. One side had a chaotic pile of unsorted pieces while the other side had smaller piles sorted by subtle shades of color and pattern. Someone with a thorough and analytical mind, (not to mention a very strong OCD streak), had sorted those.
He smiled . . . Not leaving yet . . . I can wait her out.
"Howard says he'd be happy to give you a ride." said Kip as she bustled back into the room. "You can take my umbrella. Just leave it with him; he'll bring it back to me."
She handed him the umbrella; thankfully a plain one. It wasn't patterned like her shirt or something like Gracie's Hello Kitty umbrella that matched her pink and white lunchbox. That stupid cat had its face on everything. He idly wondered if there was Hello Kitty toilet paper too.
"Thank you for your hospitality Mrs. Maluhia." he smiled.
"Just call me Kip, everyone else does." she smiled back. In spite of the little haole being 'the man', she liked him. He must be a good friend to Ua Kane if he'd come all the way out here.
We should all have friends like that, she thought, people willing to travel miles to find us when we're lost.
They'd almost gotten to the front door when she exclaimed, "Oh, hang on! I have some rain boots that might fit you. Those nice shoes are going to be ruined if you have to walk back to town through all this mud."
Before he could even say anything, she was off to what he assumed was the bedroom and he could hear the noise of things being tossed about in her search. Her voice muffled as though she had her head in a closet, he heard "I know they're in here somewhere."
As he waited, he looked around the small living room. From the woman's décor, a Hello Kitty umbrella wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Riotously bright Hawaiian print drapes and lime and turquoise walls almost made him squint. The little house seemed cluttered and chaotic but, unlike his own rat-hole of an apartment, there was actually no dust to be seen. He'd noted the only neatly arranged part of it was a display of family photos on a bookshelf by the door. He stepped closer to pick up one of the framed images - a picture of a man in uniform. Sitting next to it was another photo showing someone in uniform. He could tell they'd been taken many years apart. Separated by a Plexiglas box holding what looked to be a purple heart and a couple of ribbons he didn't recognize, very like the ones displayed in Steve's office, there were also formal portraits of what looked to be the same two individuals.
Out of one smiled a sturdy looking man with dark skin and a patch over one eye. The other showed a slightly lighter skinned young man – a boy really - with even features and a bright smile. He assumed they were father and son. The boy looked more like Kip.
…..
Last night:
"Don't kill us! Please!" begged Rabbit in a panicked voice.
"Not gonna kill you. What are you doing here?" said the low quiet voice from the shadows at the edge of the tiny clearing.
"We didn't mean it!" he babbled, "I mean Benji didn't mean it. He wasn't even aiming at you. He just wanted to scare Kip into making you go away. Honest!"
Benji only stood mutely frozen beside Rabbit; the stain on the front of his pants remarkably visible under the cold light in the clearing.
They stood staring at one another, hunter and hunted. Both frightened but for very different reasons.
"Give me the knife." ordered the tall man. When neither youth moved to obey, he said in a loud growl, "Now!"
Benji looked about to passout. Rabbit quickly unsheathed the knife that hung from his comrade's belt and with shaking hands, extended it hilt first to the frightening apparition.
"Do you know where we are?" asked the apparition.
"Uhh yeah, we're just north of town. It's only about a twenty minute walk in the daylight." answered Rabbit, puzzled why the man didn't recognize where they were. He wasn't from around here but still . . .
"Lead us there." he growled again.
"Ookay. Come on Benji." he said turning to his still frozen friend who only looked at him blankly. Great, two zombies, thought the orthodontically challenged youth as he grabbed the oaf's arm and started off in the direction of the village.
…..
Later today:
Danny trudged back to town from Kip's cottage. It seemed farther than his trip out there. He skirted around what seemed ocean wide and deep pools in the rutted dirt/mud road.
Thankfully, the galoshes were only a little too big and though his feet slightly slipped around in them, he knew he was glad to have them. His budget certainly wouldn't allow for another replacement of loafers. He'd already wrecked two pair in the few months before Steve left by following his fearless leader into whatever dire situation he'd flung himself into.
He dejectedly wondered what the future held for his friend; if Steve would ever overcome his demons. Of course he will . . . he's Steve, he told himself. The man is the bravest and most determined guy he's ever met. This is just temporary. He'll return to Five-0 and Danny, as usual, will be there right behind him to protect his back . . . right?
Somehow managing to banish the doubt as foolish and feeling a little better after the self-administered pep talk, he hopped another gargantuan puddle. He looked up to find he'd reached the edge of town.
The hardware store was easy to locate. There actually wasn't any way to miss it. There were only eight or nine businesses on the street. From where he stood, he could make out the coffee shop, a small grocery store, a feed store, and a tractor/machinery repair shop. There were a few smaller shops that didn't so obviously exhibit their purpose without closer observation.
He hopped up onto the wooden sidewalk and after only a few more steps entered the compact hardware store to find a balding man at the register putting packets of screws and hinges into a bag for a customer.
The clerk looked up and smiled, "You must be Detective Williams?" he greeted as if there was any doubt the blonde stranger in the long sleeved shirt and dress slacks could be any other.
The two shook hands in greeting, Howard saying, "Just let me close up and we can leave."
"It's not five yet," said Danny glancing at his recently slobbered-on watch, "You don't have to lose business because of me."
"No, it's okay. Pretty much everyone in town has been in here already today. Seems everybody's found an excuse to come in and browse." laughed Howard.
"Why's that?" asked the detective, ears tuning in on possibly useful information.
"Oh, local gossip."
"What's gone on here in this teeming metropolis lately that's got everyone's attention?" asked Danny, hoping it only sounded like a casual question.
"Nothing much really. Just a couple of local kids stayed out all night in the rainforest and got everyone worried. Well, everyone but their parents anyway. Those little punks have never had much supervision and it shows."
"Sad." opined Danny as he began to fiddle curiously with a screwdriver/ratchet/flashlight thingy in a display on the counter that had a sign stating a price of six-ninety-five each. It was actually pretty neat. If he had any extra cash, (which he seriously doubted), when he left here, he'd buy one.
"Stupid kids had the misfortune to run into a wild boar, probably the same one that tried to eat Houdini."
"Houdini?"
"Uhh . . . Kip's rabbit. Got chewed up last time he escaped and lost most of one ear. Anyway, the kids staggered back into town this morning covered in blood; some of it theirs and some of it the pig's."
"Did they kill it?" asked Danny, horrified that such creatures even existed in the same state as his Gracie.
"Uhh, don't umm . . . don't know for sure." stammered Howard, looking somewhat uncomfortable as though he regretted relating the story in the first place.
"Exciting stuff." said Danny, not missing the man's discomfort.
"Yup, those critters can be really dangerous."
Watch goats, wild boars . . . what's next, Godzilla? thought the detective with a small shudder. He remembered Steve's and Chin's tales of the wild pigs that roamed the islands. He'd thought they were only trying to scare an ignorant haole but maybe not.
"How bad were they hurt?" he asked trying to put the potential danger to his baby out of his mind.
"Not too bad. Benji had a couple deep cuts on his head and face and another couple on his legs. He bled like a stuck pig though. Keanu . . . uhh Rabbit, only had some minor scrapes. They looked scared shitless." smiled Howard
"Bet they won't wander off again for a while."
"Woudn't count on it. Those little punks aren't the sharpest tools in the shed and stupidity has a pretty long shelf life." laughed Howard.
"Well, lucky beats stupid I suppose. At least now they'll know when to be afraid."
*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*
Quotes regarding stupidity are attributed to Frank Zappa and uhh, maybe Napoleon or Dolly Parton, can't remember.
References to wild boars were not stolen from a recent episode. The critters were already roaming around in my head before I even saw it.
If you'd like to do a gift exchange, remember that sign over my desk: 'Will Work for Reviews' - They make nice gifts to emotionally needy writers.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! (You can substitute the celebration of your choice if you like.)
