EPISODE 6 "Ko'olauloa" (North Shore of O'ahu)

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer began, speaking into the microphone as Kono sat on her surfboard, rising and falling with the water beside an older man with thin white hair and blue eyes. "Welcome back to the Coral Prince Surfing Championship here at the world famous Pipeline. How about a big hand for all of our competitors? On the water are some of our finest champions both past and present. We got Ty Samson, Rex Richardson and Kono Kalakaua…"

"I miss this, Kono," the man, Ian, said to her with a smile. "Being out here with the people who mean the most to me. This is where I want to be."

She smiled softly at him. "I think your fans couldn't agree more."

"And now ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce the man behind the brand.

It's lan Adams." the crowd cheered.

"Let's give them a show," Ian

"Whoo!" Kono shouted as Ian paddled towards the wave, standing on his surfboard. "Whoo! Go, lan."

A gunshot rang out and Ian was propelled backward off of his board and into the wave.

Mitch was eyeing Kono while Steve talked to H.P.D. She looked distraught, her face pulled into a tight and solemn frown as she stood beside the sheet covered body.

"I want this entire beach on lockdown. Nobody leaves until we give the order, okay?" Steve told the officer. "Thank you."

"This place is crazy," she heard Danny mention. "All these people, you'd think it's the Super Bowl."

"It is the Super Bowl," she said, offhandedly, her eyes never leaving Kono. She hated to admit it, but she was worried about her younger friend. "It's Hawaii."

"She's right. The Coral Prince Championship is our Super Bowl," Steve affirmed. Mitch rolled her eyes at him.

"Grace keeps asking me for surfing lessons," Danny told them. "I told her no chance."

That drew her eyes to him. He was usually for anything that had even the smallest chance of making Grace happy. But he didn't want her surfing? It was Hawaii. Even Mitch was learning to surf in their downtime. She found herself having more and more since avoiding Steve in the off-hours. It meant a lot of time at the beach, a lot of time for Kono to give her surfing lessons. She could tell Kono wanted to ask what was up with her and Steve, but she didn't press. Mitch couldn't help but be thankful for that.

"You got something against surfing now?" Steve's eyes narrowed on his partner.

"I don't have anything against surfing," Danny held up his hands. "I have something against sharks, skin cancer, anything involving my daughter wearing a bikini."

"Lifeguards, sunscreen and one-pieces, Garden-State." Mitch shot down his protests in the order they arose.

"You gonna let that go or am I gonna have to state calling you 'The Big Apple'?" he quoted with his fingers.

"I will punch you in the throat."

Steve shook his head, a smirk on his face as his partners bickered. It was good to hear their banter. She'd been unusually short and hostile towards him since Sunday and he wasn't sure he understood why. It didn't look like she was about to tell him either.

Chin cut the show short. "Hey, it's confirmed," he told them. "Victim's lan Adams. He's the CEO of Coral Prince, the biggest surf brand in the world. He was riding a wave and took a shot to the chest. So far nobody has seen or heard where the shot came from."

"Well, that's easy," Danny said. "It's a nationally televised event. Right?" he shrugged, gesturing around them shortly. "We gotta have cameras on. Something panning the crowd?"

"No, all the cameras are pointing to the water for the competition," Chin shook his head. "We're interviewing the other surfers in case lan wasn't the target.

Mitch frowned. "What was the surf report this morning?" she asked.

Danny held his hand out to the side, giving her a bewildered look. "Can I ask what that has to do with anything?" Mitch waved her him in a universal motion for 'shut-up' as the other two men answered.

"Yeah," Chin said. "Five to eight swells from the west. Light trades."

"All right, that would put the peak about 50 yards out, right?" Steve assessed.

"Yeah," Chin agreed.

"Moving target, bullet hit center mass," Mitch shook her head. "No way that that's a lucky shot."

"Trained sharpshooter?" Chin asked.

"Maybe," Mitch hummed, eyeing the terrain. It depended on a lot of things. Someone familiar with the area, learned with a gun but not necessarily trained could have pulled it off. "But whoever did the shooting, the mark-"

"-was definitely lan," Steve finished her thought and didn't notice the way her face pinched in annoyance.

"This is gonna be hard on Kono," Chin looked over at his cousin, standing closer to the shore amid the mass of cops.

"Why is that? She know the vic?" Danny said.

"Yeah. lan signed Kono to a Coral Prince Contract when she was about 15," Chin revealed. "He was really like a second father to her. She was actually riding for the team when she blew out her knee." He looked at them. "But instead of dumping her after that lan covered everything: surgery, rehab, all of it. Even though he knew she was never gonna compete again."

"You all right?" Mitch asked as Kono came to stand beside her.

"Yeah," she nodded, but she didn't look 'all right'. "I wanna go to the Coral Prince House talk to the team, get statements."

"We can cover it for you," the men offered but she shook her head.

"No," she said determinedly. "I want this one."

"I'm going with her," Mitch muttered, looking at none of them. No way she was letting Kono go alone on this. Steve nodded, though she was already following after Kono, not bothering to wait for his response or permission.

Chin's eyes narrowed in confusion at the way she almost stomped off and the slightly annoyed, but mostly put-out shake of Steve's head when she didn't recognize him. Danny sighed as the women left and shook his head. Something was off between those two and it was throwing off the entire team's dynamic. So he said, "I hate it when rich people get killed," instead, drawing attention away from Mitch's absence.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"They got something that everybody wants," Danny said as the three of them began to walk off the beach and over the H.P. D. officers and then after Michelle and Kono up to the Coral Prince house to talk with Ian's assistant and whoever else they could get any information out of.

"Yeah, money."

"Which means plenty of suspects."