CHAPTER 11

Chin and Danny hovered over the smart table, going over the evidence from the crime scene. In front of them were the victims' belongings. The first pile, the one they assumed had belonged to Ivan Monroe, their first victim, yielded a set of keys to a rental car and a mobile phone. Inspecting the phone, they found nothing useful in its contents. They moved on to the second pile, presumably belonging to their second victim, Staff Sergeant Owen Perry.

In Perry's case, there was a ring. Just your average silver ring. There were no inscriptions on it, so for now, it was deemed useless to their investigation. There were no keys, but there was a phone. Danny opened the phone and looked through the contacts list. There wasn't a single name that matched the ones stored on Monroe's phone. Sighing, he started scrolling through the recent calls made and received by the phone. It was quite a short list.

"Hey Chin," Danny said.

"Yeah," Chin said, looking up from where he was inspecting the third pile of belongings.

"I've got Perry's phone here. There's a number in here that he called four times, two days before his death."

"Interesting. Whoever he called may have been the last person to hear from him," Chin said.

"Yeah, except none of the calls connected," Danny said, disappointed.

"What's the number?" Chin said, typing into the smart table.

"808 555 1724," Danny replied.

"Huh, so it's local then," Chin said before shaking his head when the search came back empty. "No dice. It's a burner phone."

"Have you found anything in your pile to identify our third victim?" Danny asked.

"Not yet. There's a necklace and a pamphlet for hiking trails on the island. No phone, no wallet," Chin answered.

"For all we know, this could all just be random stuff picked up by our killer. It might not even be related to the victims," Danny said.

"Yeah, you're right. Hopefully the lab will come back with something we can go off," Chin said.

Danny sighed. Chin looked at him thoughtfully, knowing that sigh had nothing to do with the current case. Just one look at the Detective told Chin everything he needed to know.

"It will be okay," Chin said.

"What?" Danny said, frowning at Chin. "Of course it will. The lab will give us the evidence we need and we will catch this guy."

Chin looked at Danny incredulously. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Danny shook his head. "No, I don't."

Chin sighed, not able to believe Danny could be that obtuse. "Steve."

Danny returned his attention to the artefacts scattered across the table. "We are not discussing that, Chin."

"You don't have to say anything. I'll just do all the talking," Chin said with a small smile.

Danny sighed and relented. "Fine. It's not like we have a murderer to catch or anything."

Chin crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed Danny. "Look, we've all seen it. If you didn't say anything, Kono and I were going to draw straws. It's a sensitive subject, but it needed to be brought up. We've all seen how…distant he's been lately." Danny looked disbelievingly at Chin. "Yeah, just because he's your partner, doesn't mean we don't care about him too."

Danny met Chin's eyes meekly. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Not a problem. We get it. Anyway, you know Steve. He's a very private person and he likes to think he hides his emotions well. He's not used to having people looking out for him and his wellbeing. He probably feels like he's being smothered. You spent a lot of time getting him back on his feet after he got out of the hospital. I know that wasn't easy for both of you. You were a mother hen and he just wanted to be left alone. But, miraculously, you both survived it."

"But that's not the problem…"

"No, the problem is that you let your words portray your feelings. You are worried about him. We all are…Danny, Steve knows that you trust him, that we all trust him. Nothing will change that, not even words. We know he would never intentionally put us in harm's way either. He's just mad that he's had to admit he is having trouble."

"Except, I didn't even let him say that," Danny said miserably. "I just kept getting angrier and angrier the more he tried to explain."

"Well, when he gets back, you two can have a nice long talk and you can listen for a change," Chin said with a huge smile.

"He's not going to want to talk to me, Chin. He thinks I don't trust him, so why would he trust me?" Danny said, the sadness in his voice very evident.

"Trust me, Danny. He will talk to you. It might not be today, but soon. He will come around," Chin said certainly.

Suddenly, a thought dawned on Danny. "Kono?"

Chin smiled. "She's probably giving him a similar pep talk right about now."

"You two are evil," Danny said, his lips lifting slightly.

"We try our hardest," Chin said with a small chuckle.

Steve and Kono joined Chin and Danny at the smart table. Chin and Kono exchanged small smiles, while Steve and Danny ignored each other. Well, more like Steve ignored everyone, getting down to the case immediately.

"So, Malory Winters didn't have much for us. She said she sold the house to a young man with light brown hair and grey eyes. He offered to complete all the paperwork for her, given her dire condition," Steve stated.

"I'm not sure if 'dire' is the correct word to describe her, boss," Kono said with a sly grin.

"Kono!" Steve said warningly.

"What did we miss?" Chin asked, curious.

"Nothing," Steve said quickly as Kono sniggered. "Anyway, she agreed to sit down with a sketch artist, so hopefully we will have an image soon. What did you guys find out?"

Chin looked at Kono, his eyes telling her they would be talking later. "Not much. In what we assumed to be the pile belonging to Perry, we found a phone. Two days before his death, he called the same number four times but never actually connected. We ran a search on the number, but it's a burner. The problem is, we don't really know if these items even belong to our victims, so we could just be guessing."

"Okay. Maybe once the lab has finished processing the evidence, all of this will make more sense," Steve said as he rubbed his temples. "There's not much to do until then, so I suggest we take an early lunch."

The team agreed. Danny, Chin and Kono watched as Steve marched to his office, presumably in search of some painkillers for the headache he would claim he didn't have. Once the glass door shut, the trio moved to the break room.

"Spill it, Kono. What happened at the hospital?" Danny said.

Kono smiled. "Mrs Winters, or should I say, Ms Winters, hit on Steve."

Chin and Danny looked at Kono in shock before bursting out laughing. Danny came up for air first. "How did he react to that?"

"His face turned bright red. She made him sit in the chair closest to her and she kept eyeing him like he was a slab of meat. Then she practically invited him to come back later. To say he was uncomfortable is an understatement. I have never seen the boss so out of his element," Kono said, her smile growing as she explained.

"I wish I was a fly on the wall for that," Danny said as he held his stomach, gasping for air.

Kono's face suddenly grew serious. "Please don't tell him I said anything," she begged.

"Why? Did he threaten to hang you off a roof?" Danny asked.

Kono shook her head. "Not in so many words."

The trio began laughing again, but stopped abruptly when they noticed Steve standing in the doorway with an amused expression on his face.

"Should I ask?" he said.

Kono's face held a deer-in-headlights expression while Chin and Danny tried to straighten their faces to look serious. Steve's eyes went from Chin, to Danny and finally landed on Kono. His eyes narrowed and his blue eyes darkened. Kono swallowed nervously.

"You told them, didn't you?" Steve asked quietly. Kono wasn't sure if he was trying to contain his rage or not.

"They asked," she said, knowing the excuse was pitiful.

"Alright, Kalakaua. Just remember, what goes around, comes around," Steve said before turning around and walking back the way he had come.

Kono turned to Chin and Danny desperately. "What does that mean? Is he going to kill me?"

Chin and Danny just looked dumbfounded. Luckily for Steve, none of them had noticed the smile tugging on his lips as he left the break room.

Revenge could be so, so sweet.

It was a little after two o'clock in the afternoon when they finally heard some news from the crime lab.

"Hey Charlie," Kono answered her phone while waving the three men over.

"Hey Kono," Charlie Fong replied.

"You got something for us?" Kono asked.

"I do. We processed the DNA from the…um…skin patches. As far as we can tell, the skin came from two people; your first victim, Ivan Monroe and your second victim, Owen Perry," Fong answered.

"Excellent. We can assume they were murdered by the same person," Chin surmised.

"We also ran the blood from the chair. It was a match to the first victim, Monroe," the lab technician continued.

"Was it only Monroe's blood?" Steve asked.

"Yes, Commander. The samples were pure and indicated only one victim," Fong replied.

"That doesn't make any sense. There was no evidence on Monroe's body that he was restrained," Steve muttered, loud enough that the team could hear him, but not Fong over the phone.

"What about the photo I sent you? Did you get an ID?" Kono asked.

"No, nothing. There wasn't a match in any of the usual databases, but I am expanding the search. Hopefully we will come up with something soon."

"Was there anything else?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, we found some fingerprints on those photos. The prints are running through the system right now. I'll send it over as soon as I get a hit," Fong said.

"Thanks, Charlie," Kono said.

"No problem. Sorry there wasn't more for you," Fong said as he hung up.

The team was silent as they processed the new information.

"Okay, so we probably found where Monroe was killed. Apart from the skin patches and the photo, there is no evidence that Perry was also killed there," Danny said.

"Yeah. Maybe the killer didn't have time to clean up before going after his next victim," Chin suggested.

"So, we are missing another primary crime scene. And the gun that Perry was shot with," Kono summarised.

"But, we may have a suspect. It looks like Fong found a match to the prints from the photos," Chin said as he opened the email that just arrived from the forensics technician.

"Woah," Kono said as a picture of their suspect filled the screen.

"Yeah," Steve agreed as he looked at the picture on the screen. "He matches the description Malory gave us of the homebuyer."

"Ano Kapule, twenty six years old, no known address," Chin summarised.

"Hm. Maybe this kid likes living in other people's homes without their knowledge," Danny said.

"Look at his record. A few breaking and entering's, two cases of animal cruelty, including skinning a guinea pig alive," Kono shuddered as she read it out loud. "He's currently out on parole."

"Definitely sounds like he could be our guy," Chin said. "Maybe he graduated from guinea pigs to humans."

"Call this guy's parole officer, Kono. I want to know where this kid hangs out," Steve said.

Kono immediately called the parole officer. After a few minutes, they had a location; the local skate park.

"Let's go," Steve said and the team followed him out the door.

The team arrived at the skate park just after three o'clock. The sun was high in the sky and the beautiful weather had apparently brought every young man with wheels to the park, which made it difficult to identify their suspect through the crowd.

"Let's split up," Steve ordered. "Chin, Kono, you guys take the east end. Danny and I will take the west. We'll meet up in the middle, unless we find our man."

Steve and Danny split off from Chin and Kono and went about searching for their suspect. They passed several groups of teenagers in silence, their eyes scanning the crowds for anyone that matched the description. Suddenly, Danny stopped and pointed over to his right.

"Is that him?" Danny asked.

Steve squinted in the bright light. "I think so."

They approached a short young man, wearing a lime-green helmet and a skateboard under his left arm.

"Excuse me," Steve said. "Ano Kapule?"

"Yeah, that's me," the young man said, turning around with a smile. As soon as he saw the badges on Steve and Danny's belts, his smile faded. "What can I do for you, officers?"

"We have a couple of questions for you," Danny said as Steve stood with his arms crossed intimidatingly.

"Okay, what about?" Kapule said.

"Have you ever been to 3 Kalaka Place in Kailua?" Danny asked.

Ano Kapule shook his head. "No. I don't think so. Why?"

"Why?" Danny mimicked, smirking at Steve. "Why? Because we found your prints at a crime scene, that's why."

"What crime scene?" Kapule asked, frowning.

"A murder," Danny said simply.

"Look, I don't know anything about a murder," the short man said, his eyes going from one partner to the other.

"Sure you don't. How about we just—"

Danny was interrupted when the young man suddenly made a run for it. Danny sighed. He had been expecting it, but he had just hoped, for once, that the suspect wouldn't run. He groaned loudly when Steve took off, following the suspect without backup, as per usual. Reluctantly, Danny followed the pair across the road and down the street. As he ran, he called Chin and Kono, informing them of the direction they were chasing the suspect. They responded and would be following by car.

'Why do they always have to run?' Danny thought as the distance between himself and Steve increased and eventually he lost visual completely.

Steve's boots hit the pavement hard as he pursued the suspect. The young man was a fast runner and Steve had to dig into all his reserves just to keep up. The young man then jumped onto his skateboard, apparently only just realising his possession of the mode of transport. Steve groaned as he increased his effort to keep up.

Steve thought about getting his gun out and shooting the guy running away from him. However, he would only do that if it was a last resort. Besides, the guy wasn't armed. At least, he thought he wasn't armed. In the distance, Steve could hear the distinct sound of sirens and instinctively knew that Danny had called Chin and Kono.

Steve kept running. He could just see the skateboarder in the distance. As long as he kept visual, he would be able to follow. The man skated to the left and Steve lost sight of him for a moment. When Steve rounded the corner himself, he skidded to a halt, frowning when he saw it was a dead end. There was a solid, concrete wall blocking the way forward. To his right was a small set of stairs that led down to a small lake.

Panting to catch his breath, Steve glanced around, hoping for some sign of where the suspect may have disappeared to. He took a few steps towards the stairs and turned when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his partner approaching, having evidently followed him to this point. It warmed Steve's heart to know that Danny would still back him up, even if Danny didn't trust him. Steve knew he needed to clear the air between them, but right now was not the time for it. They had a suspect to find.

"Hey, where did he go?" Danny's voice echoed off the concrete wall.

"I don't—" Steve started

"LOOK OUT!" Danny yelled a just moment too late.

Steve turned at Danny's shout, only to have someone in a lime-green helmet and on a skateboard collide with him. In an attempt to maintain his balance, Steve took a step backwards. His foot missed solid ground and caused his entire body to fall backwards down the stairs. In a last ditch effort to remain upright, he grabbed the shirt of their suspect and both men tumbled down the stairs and into the lake with a loud splash.

Danny rushed forwards and stopped at the top of the stairs. The water in the lake was disturbed, but he couldn't see his partner or their suspect. A moment later, Steve's head popped up, taking a deep breath before swearing colourfully. Steve reached his hand back into the water and pulled what looked like a drowned rat, but was actually their suspect, out of the depths of the dirty water. The young man sputtered as Steve dragged the man out of the water and onto the concrete at the base of the stairs.

"Steve?" Danny's timid voice came from above Steve.

Steve looked up at Danny with a scowl. "Book 'em, Danno."

Danny smiled as he jogged down the steps, pulling his handcuffs out of his pocket as he went. He knew it wasn't fair to laugh at his partner, but watching his badass partner crawl out of a muddy body of water after having fallen not-so-gracefully down some steps, was not something Danny would get to see ever again.

"Are you alright?" Danny asked as he handcuffed their clearly shaken suspect.

Steve spat out some water before sitting on the step next to their suspect. "Yeah. Just peachy."

Danny yanked their suspect so he was sitting on his bottom. Steve glared at him as he rubbed his left wrist. Danny saw the movement, but chose not to say anything. Their previous conversation was still looming in the back of his mind.

"Why did you run?" Danny asked, looking down at their suspect.

"You're Five-0—"

"And what does that have to do with anything? We were just asking you some questions," Danny said.

Kapule shrugged and apparently decided to invoke his right to remain silent.

"Look, Ano. We found your prints on the pictures of two dead men in a room where one of those men was most likely murdered. You also match the description of our suspect. The fact that you ran from us says to me that you are guilty," Danny said, squatting down to eye level with Kapule.

"Or, you could tell us that you didn't murder two people and tell us who paid you to go into that house," Steve said.

Danny turned to Steve, raising his eyebrows. Steve just shrugged at Danny. Kapule glanced between Steve and Danny, clearly torn.

"I want a lawyer," Kapule said.

"Fine," Steve said as he stood up and shook off the excess water like a dog.

"I am so glad we decided to take your truck today," Danny said as he surveyed the two dripping wet men with a grin.

Steve just glared and walked up the steps, his shoes squelching with every step. Danny chuckled as he heaved their trembling suspect up to his feet and followed Steve up the steps. At the top of the stairs, Chin and Kono were waiting, trying to keep their grins in when they saw their boss. He just stomped, well, squelched, angrily past them without so much as a backward glance.