The night before the wedding, Steve stayed with Danny after both promised not to overdo the bachelor party. Sara had some doubts about that because two of Steve's former comrades were part of the group and Chin Ho had flown in to attend the wedding. She herself enjoyed a spa evening at the Hilton Hotel with Mary and Grace and a Navy friend while Kono, who had accompanied her cousin, babysat Joan.
On the morning of the wedding day, a hairdresser and stylist came to Steve's house to style and dress up Mary, Joan, Grace, and the bride. The wedding was planned to start at three, at one-thirty the four drove to the beach in Mary's rental car. Their clothes and flowers were waiting for them there in the tent, everyone was still wearing casual leisure clothes. The men would meet them there.
When they got out of the parking lot at Sherwood Beach and walked towards the dressing tent, a flash of light caught Sara's attention. Grace almost ran into her when she stopped abruptly and shielded her eyes with her hand to see better.
"Everything okay?, asked the girl, but she didn't answer, instead she focused on the far end of the parking lot, trying to see more. Then she continued to the tent. Mary released the tarpaulin to close the tent.
"Grace, my phone is in the big blue bag you're carrying."
"Sara, you're getting married in less than an hour. Don't you have to do anything better ... "
"Grace, my phone," Sara repeated. The girl obviously understood that she was serious and handed the cell to her after a moment. Grace watched her dial a number.
"TSA Hawaii."
"This is Lieutenant Commander Sara Anderson, US Navy. Can you please check if a Jesse Kettler from Columbia, South Carolina has landed on the island in the past few days."
"Just a moment, ma'am", she heard the man type and mumble something. Then he answered: "Ma'am, a man of that name landed on the island with Hawaiian 591 on Monday afternoon. Is there anything else I can do for you? "
"No thanks." Sara pressed the end of the call button.
Before realizing her legs were shaking, Mary had pushed her into a chair. "Easy. We don't want to risk you falling now. What's happening?"
She swallowed several times, then Sara asked: "Grace, can you please bring your Dad and Chin here?"
"Sure." The girl looked at her worriedly for a moment, then hurried out of the tent.
Steve stood in a group of men next to the flower arch, under which he and Sara were about to say yes. He had welcomed the guests and seen from a distance that his fiancee had already arrived. But somehow he just couldn't get rid of a strange feeling. This increased when Grace came out of the tent and ran towards them.
"Danno, can you come over please? And Chin?"
Her father turned to her. "Are you sure? Chin and me? "
"Yes, Sara said you two. Are you coming?", she urged.
Steve intervened. "Grace, are you all right? I..."
"Yes,we're, Uncle Steve. If only the two gentlemen could go a little faster, you could get married on time ... ", she continued to push.
"Uh, how ..." Steve managed to get out when his two friends turned away and followed Danny's daughter into the dressing room.
Sara was still sitting in the chair, her phone in her hand, as Danny peeked carefully through the entrance. "May we come in?"
"Yes, please." She pushed herself out of the chair.
"What's going on?" Danny asked when the two men were standing in front of her. "You look worried."
She flipped through the photos on her phone, then held the device out to the men. Chin took it. "Who is this?"
"The man on the photo is Jesse Dean Kettler. He calls himself JDK. He is forty-six years old and his tax form says he is a photographer. Papparazzi and Stalker would be more correct. He's also on my mother's payroll."
Danny also looked at the photo. "Okay. But how do you come up with that right now? For my terms, we shouldn't be in here now so you can put on your wedding dress."
"You are right, Danny. When you arrived, did you see the red impala in the back of the parking lot?"
"Yes?"
"Kettler is leaning against this with a camera with a telephoto lens. I just called TSA, he's been on the island for five days. "
"But how does he know you're here? Or about today's event? "Chin asked.
"After I moved here, I had to adapt certain things. My driving license, insurances, and so on. Also notify the trust fund manager. And the court. Something has leaked somewhere."
"The court?"
"Yes. With his presence, Kettler violates a restraining order. It has been in existence for eight years and is registered in almost all states because I travel regularly."
"So the man shouldn't be here at all?" Danny made sure.
"Exactly."
"At what distance does the order apply?" Asked Chin, who had meanwhile pulled his own phone out of his pocket.
"Five hundred meters. I suspect that my mother sent him here to launch a few headlines about her unfaithful daughter, whom she didn't invite to the wedding. And possibly a few other stories. "
"If he's been on the island for five days, he has had plenty of time to take photos and gather information," Danny added.
Chin had made a phone call. "Sara, there will be two patrol cars here in five minutes and the colleagues will arrest the guy. I have notified a friend in the crime lab who will immediately take care of all the memory cards that we find on Kettler, as well as his notebook. At least for the next twenty-four hours, he is guaranteed not to take any more photos, they will keep him in custody. "
"Thanks, Chin."
"Nothing to thank for. Until the HPD is there, we'll take care of it. "
"But be nice to him in God's name." The men looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "No, I didn't go crazy. But my mother pays his lawyers. It took a lot of effort to get this order, if you arrest him now, everything has to be meticulously following the law."
"We'll take care of it." Danny followed his former colleague to the tent entrance, where he turned again. "Does Steve know about this JDK thing?"
Sara looked down. "No. I registered the order long before we met again. And the man has stuck to it for the past few years. So far it had not been necessary."
"Okay," Danny just nodded. Sara had no problem understanding what he wanted to say.
Steve listened to the conversation with one ear as he watched the two men come out of the tent and head for the parking lot. Sirens approached, then he saw two HPD cars come to a halt behind the trees. He was about to start running when Grover stopped him. "Hey, that's not your business here today. There are enough competent people up there, you take care of your guests."
"But..."
"Nothing 'but'. The big Steve McGarrett also has to let go. Nothing 's gonna happen to your wife-to-be. "
A few minutes passed, then Chin came back to them.
"What the hell was going on, Chin ?!" he snapped. "What did Sara want? What is the HPD here for?"
"We only drove out an uninvited guest. Everything okay. Come down Steve, otherwise you will get a heart attack before you even said yes. "
"Easy for you to say..."
By now in the tent Mary had changed and Sara was just pulling up the zipper on Grace's dress. The girl turned in front of the mirror. "It just looks great. That you now can take care of that... "
"Grace, I can't help the men, not physically. But I know Steve only works with the best, so they can do it. I trust him and them."
Grace hugged her spontaneously.
"Knock Knock. There's a man here," came from the closed tent entrance.
"Come in, Danno," Grace called. Her father stuck his head in, then he spotted his daughter.
"Wow. Monkey, is that you? Can I still call you monkey? You look so grown up. I'm speachless. The dress is great, "he speaked.
"Thanks, Dad," Grace said blushing. "Did you get rid of the guy?"
"Yes. The guys from HPD put him into lock-up. We quickly found four memory cards, two cameras and a notebook. But the HPD takes care that his hotel room is being checked too. Everything goes to Eric at the lab, who looks at the things and calls us."
"Thank you, Danny," Sara said softly, she could hear her voice trembling. She saw Grace go to her father and they talked in a whisper. The girl jabbed her elbow in his side and he took a step towards her.
"Sara, I ... know from Steve that your brother-in-law who should be your bridesman couldn't come. And that you wanted to do it alone. With the incident now ... If you feel safer when someone walks next to you ... I would do that ... "
"Danny, I don't know if I can ask that from you ... We didn't get off to a good start, and now, after such a short time ..."
"It would be an honor for me," he said.
For a moment they just looked at each other. Then Sara nodded. "Thank you. Can you wait outside, we still need about ten minutes? I don't really want to get married in this outfit, "she pointed to her T-shirt and casual trousers.
"Course. I'm right out here. See you soon."
The women helped Sara in her wedding dress while Joan sat quietly in a corner and watched. "Wow," Mary finally said as she hooked the zipper on and closed the belt. Then she straightened again the flowers Sara wore on her hair instead of a veil. "The dress is actually really simple. But with you in it and this glitter belt ... My brother is really having more luck than brain. Joanie, come here, here is your basket. You know, the leaves just on the edge so that Sara doesn't slide, right? "
"Yes, mom."
"OK. I'll go ahead and give the signal that we're ready to start."
Don't forget your review ;)