Chapter 1: Waipahu

Juliet turned this way and that in front of the mirror. It was stupid, but maybe he'd recognise it and maybe that would make him smile. She liked making him smile. She liked making him do a lot of things.

"Well now, don't you look the perfect princess," commented Kumu from the doorway.

Juliet surveyed herself with not one but both eyebrows raised. The soft grey netting of the wimple and shimmering silver surcoat did nothing for her Saxon complexion. If anything, it just made her incongruously dark eyes stand out more. Olivia de Havilland may have had dark eyes too, but at least she had the brunette's English Rose skin, perfectly arched eyebrows, and ruby lips to go with them. The best she could do was a bit of powder and lipstick. "I'm not a princess, I'm a maid," she retorted.

"I thought covering the hair was a married women thing?" Kumu wondered aloud. Her expression in the mirror conveyed an entirely different reply.

"I wouldn't know about that: I just googled the character," groaned Juliet, frowning at the jarring contrast of yellow and black stripes down her sleeves. Ugh! She hated it! She looked like a bloody wasp in armour!

"Uh-huh," smirked Kumu. She had spotted the DVD in the cinema room a few weeks ago. "So, should I expect to see you tomorrow or…"

"I'm sure I'll be around at some point," shrugged Juliet. "Unless another client pops up, I have nothing to do but estate work tomorrow."

"Oh really. Nothing?" Kumu queried, innocently.

"He has a bar to run; I have an estate to run," she replied, glaring at her friend through narrowed eyes. "We're busy adult people. We can't spend all day in bed like teenagers!"

"Just all night," added Kumu, with a laugh.

"Kumu!" Juliet gasped, trying to sound as scandalised as she felt she ought to feel.

"It's been two months," Kumu reminded her. "How many of those nights have you spent alone?"

"Some," Juliet shrugged. "I don't know how many exactly. Sometimes I have work. Sometimes he does. We don't exactly have ordinary nine to five jobs, either of us!"

"And when work has not gotten in the way?"

"I sleep better when he's next to me," Juliet shrugged again. "We both do."

"Well, you know…"

"It's not about that," Juliet scolded, though she smiled as she spoke. "Not just about that, at least. I just… I feel like we've wasted so much time. Me because I refused to let myself be happy again, and him because he was worried how Magnum would react!"

"Was it wasted, though?" Kumu asked her. "You two didn't start off like most other couples, taking time to figure out who the other person is and whether or not you can trust them. You'd already done that. So, in a way, that time wasn't wasted."

"Okay, but still: our lives might both have been so different if we'd got together back then."

Kumu sighed and leant back against the doorframe with folded arms. "That's true, no doubt," she agreed, "but does that necessarily mean you would be the better for it?"

Juliet glanced her way in the mirror again. "What do you mean?"

"Let's say you and Rick became an item back then: do you think you would have lasted? Would you still be together now?"

Juliet opened her mouth to reply, then remembered the point in time she was talking about, and the way she had felt about him. Then she remembered to stop getting distracted and answer the question. "You may have a point…"

"Then again, assuming you did make it that far," added Kumu, "what would you have done when your visa ran out?"

Juliet tipped her head to one side and pursed her lips in thought. If they had made it that far, marrying TC or Magnum would have been just utterly out of the question. Maybe she would have married him instead, but then they would always be wondering if what they had was real, or just a product of desperation and misplaced chivalry. And Robin wouldn't have given her Robin's Nest. And if she hadn't married him? Would Magnum still have made the same plea to Robin? Would refusing to marry Rick have broken them?

"You walked the path destiny laid out for you," smiled Kumu. "It had its trials and challenges, but what life doesn't? You're stronger for having faced them. There will be more to come too. Hopefully, lots more. Hopefully, you'll face them together."

"I can think of one or two challenges I'd be happy to face with him, Kumu, but lots…"

"Will take a long time," finished Kumu. "A lifetime, if you're lucky."

XXXX

The bar buzzed with the sound of live music, laughter, and the sheer exuberance of having survived the past two years almost. An array of witches and wizards, ghosts and skeletons, werewolves and vampires, and monsters of all manner of myth, filled the dancefloor. They were currently doing the Timewarp. From his spot behind the bar, Rick chuckled at a skinny, berobed youth with "WIZZARD" on his hat trying to follow the rest and failing miserably.

"Orville, why is there a dog dressed up as a pirate's chest with too many legs in our bar?"

Rick looked round to see TC, eyeing said dog suspiciously.

"See the badge on the lid of the chest," Rick replied, nodding in the direction of the dog, who sat watching the skinny wizard with his tongue hanging out. "He's a service dog. And he's not a pirate's chest, he's The Luggage. See the kid at the end of the row there? This is his first proper Halloween party, and he would not be here without that dog. Look at him, enjoying himself! He's never danced that dance before, and he's still having trouble keeping up, but he hasn't let it stop him! He's having fun!"

TC nodded and smiled. "Good for him. Anything we should be keeping an eye out for?"

"Well, the dog does most of the work," shrugged Rick. "Just keep an eye out if the crowd gets a bit too much and they get separated. If the dog comes up to you – he's called Buster, by the way – he wants you to follow him, not pet him. It means he needs help."

TC gave a single, decisive nod. "Duly noted. The others here yet?"

Rick shook his head. "Shammy's not due for another hour or so. Thomas says he has a case. If he does, it's one Higgy knows nothing about. She's said she'd be here around now, and Kumu is coming with her."

TC tutted and sighed. This thing between his brothers was going to take more than a little time to fix. The closer Rick and Higgy got, the further away Thomas drifted. He knew why. He'd just hoped Tommy would have found a way to be around them both by now. Higgins alone he seemed to have no problem with. It was Rick he was avoiding.

"Dude, I know. I'm sorry, but what can I do?" Rick shrugged. "I can't switch off my feelings and magic things back the way they used to be!"

"I know, brother, I know," sighed TC, patting him on the shoulder. "It ain't your fault. We don't choose who we fall in love with. Problem is, just like you can't switch off your feelings, he can't switch off his. Give him time. He'll come around."

"Yeah, with a baseball bat!" Rick scoffed. He leant down on the bar. "I can't give her up, TC. I won't. Not even for Thomas."

"He knows that. He wouldn't ask you to," shrugged TC, frowning, hoping he was right. "And Tommy ain't gonna come at you with a baseball bat or anything else: he loves you. Might not show right now, but he does. You're still his brother."

"Brothers fight," sighed Rick, looking down at the bar with a frown. "They fall out."

"They forgive each other too," TC reminded him.

"Not always," he replied, staring at the smooth surface like it could open up and swallow him if he just blinked. This was what he had been afraid of. This was why he had done everything he could to hide his feelings, once he realised what they might mean. Back before Juliet had been a regular part of their little group, trying to impress her or charm her had been as easy as breathing. Trying had. Succeeding had obviously not. That had been then. By the time he realised that little crush was quite a lot more serious, things had already become, well, complicated. They only got more complicated as time went on. If only he'd had something more sensible to suggest than bearer bonds and hidden spy gadgets. He huffed out a wry laugh, shaking his head.

"What?" TC frowned, watching his brother through narrowed eyes.

"Bearer bonds," he shrugged, looking up to see TC's face turn into a mess of utter confusion. "Why'd I have to pick something stupid, like bearer bonds, or her necklace, which even I could see was important to her."

TC threw his hands up in surrender. "Orville, what the heck are we talkin' about here?"

"Do you remember when we first really started getting to know Higgy?" Rick asked, watching TC. "Not when we first met her, but when we first kinda started to see below the surface, after she helped us with Nuzo's murder."

TC considered this. A memory surfaced. "Wait, are you talking about the tuna thing?"

"Yeah, the tuna thing," nodded Rick. "If I hadn't been such an idiot then…"

"Dude, don't do that! Come on!" TC groaned. If Rick was going to rehash every mistake he had ever made, and every opportunity he had ever missed, this was going to be a long night. "Past is past. Let it lie."

"Yeah, but…"

"No! No buts, Orville!" TC held up a warning finger. "Let's say you had hit it off with Higgy back then. What exactly do you think would have happened?"

"Well, I…"

"Bearing in mind who you both were back then," TC added, folding his arms.

Rick's eyes slid to the side, then dropped.

"Exactly," scoffed TC. "You're together now, and you're both on the same page. That's what matters."

"Yeah, but us getting together now has hurt someone I care about," he pointed out. "Back then, maybe it wouldn't have."

TC sighed. He didn't want to have to say this. "Either way, one of you was gonna get hurt. Then, who knows? Maybe things would have gotten awkward between you and Higgy, and she never would have helped Thomas so much, or gone into business with him. Maybe she might not even have stayed. You think of that?"

"Maybe she would, though," shrugged Rick, turning his attention back to the various little chores that needed doing behind the bar. "Maybe she'd have stuck around. Maybe things would have been a little awkward for a while, but we'd have gotten over it and things would have ended up right back here, only without Tommy falling for her too."

"Or maybe all that happens except you both still fall in love with her, only now she ends up with Thomas instead," shrugged TC. "Orville, you gotta let that go! We could go over maybes until the next time it snows here and we still wouldn't know the truth! You can't change the past! Stop wishing you could!"

TC stopped, aware that his friend was no longer listening. Instead, Rick's attention was fixed on something, or someone, behind TC. From the look on his brother's face, TC was in no doubt who that person was.

"There's one other thing I really wish I could go back in time and change right now," he said, without shifting his fixed gaze. "I really wish I'd worn that stupid costume!"

TC raised an eyebrow and sighed. He turned and leant back against the bar. There was Higgy, shining like a star in a night sky of vampire cloaks and skeleton costumes, smiling back at Rick like he was the only other person in the world. Beside her, Kumu rolled her eyes at TC.

TC turned back to his brother. "Orville, if you don't stop grinning like an idiot and get your ass over there, I'm gonna go ask the band to play that Bruno Mars track from your playlist."

Rick didn't blink, but he did swipe at TC's shoulder with a free hand. "Don't you dare. I got plans for that!"

Nevertheless, he ducked out from behind the bar and hurried over, dodging tipsy partygoers. A tall vampire was asking Jules if she wanted to dance when he reached her.

"That's very kind, but I'm very much spoken for," she was saying, without looking at the vampire once. "Sorry. Better luck next time."

The vampire spotted whom she was watching, recognised his host for the evening, and slumped a little, trudging back into the melee in search of someone more available.

"My Lady Marion, what a surprise," grinned Rick, bowing and lifting her hand to his lips. "I kinda wish you'd warned me."

Juliet chuckled. "But then that would deprive me of the look on your face when you spotted me, my love. I don't think I'm going to forget that for a while."

"I don't think I'm going to forget you ever," replied Rick, tracing the edge of the wimple with one hand. "Especially not in that outfit!"

"Good," smiled Juliet, running her hands up and down the open edges of his shirt. A hand slipped around her waist. "It's not the easiest get-up to get into!"

"Want some help getting out of it later?" Rick asked, drawing her closer as her hands slid up around his shoulders.

"I thought you'd never ask," she grinned, kissing him.

"I love you, Jules" he murmured against her lips. "I love you so much."

"I know. I love you too. Don't ever doubt that, Rick."

Kumu nudged TC. "I think they'll be a while. What does a girl have to do to get a drink round here?"

TC laughed. "Yeah, I hear ya." He stepped round to the other side of the bar and got Kumu her usual tipple. "Here. On the house, sister. How long did it take to get her into that thing?"

"Not half as long as it took to persuade her to go out in it!" Kumu chuckled.

"Seriously?" TC gawped. He looked from the two lovebirds to Kumu and back. "Higgy could wear an old sack and he'd still think she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Universe!"

Kumu laughed at that. "Ain't love grand!"

"Ain't it just!" TC agreed. His face dropped as he recalled another person for whom love was decidedly not grand. Love was something else entirely. Something that rhymed with one of the more popular Halloween costumes. "You see Tommy?"

Kumu shook her head. "Not since this afternoon. Said he was gonna go over some old case files."

TC tutted and shook his head.

"He'll come around," sighed Kumu. She tipped her head at the two still wrapped in each other's arms and now gently swaying to the music. "I can see why he doesn't want to be around them when they're together, though. Once they're past the honeymoon phase, it'll get easier."

"Yeah, but how long will that take?" TC shrugged. "It's called a honeymoon because it's supposed to last one moon cycle: that's one month!"

"It'll take as long as it takes," shrugged Kumu, sipping her drink. She had long ago learnt to accept the vagaries of the human heart. "You can't put a time limit on these things."

The song ended and, apparently, set a time limit on the little bubble the pair had been inhabiting. Hand in hand, they meandered over to the bar and rejoined the group.

"Aloha, Kumu," said Rick, wrapping one arm around Kumu's shoulders.

"Oh, now he notices me!" Kumu chided. She looked around him to Juliet, whose fingers still intertwined with his. "He liked the dress then!"

"Oh, he definitely liked the dress!" TC cut in, eyebrows raised.

"Shut up," Rick scoffed. The fact TC had managed to pick out the exact song playing in his head when he caught sight of Jules had reminded him his brother knew every track on that playlist. He wasn't happy about that, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Still: the memory of TC's face when he remembered some of the songs on there, knowing who they were about, was almost worth it.

TC opened his mouth to reply, then stopped and frowned over Rick's shoulder. The others turned to look, and saw a man and woman pushing through the dancers, searching all the vampires and ghosts they could find. Juliet cast a glance at Rick. He nodded, releasing her hand. They each homed in on one of the searchers, listening and leading them back to the bar.

"This is June, she's looking for her son Anthony," Higgins reported, introducing the woman to the others at the bar.

"And this is Kyle," added Rick, introducing the man. "He's looking for his daughter, Maria."

"They should have been home two hours ago," June explained. "Anthony's seventeen, Maria's sixteen. They have a curfew and they've never missed it before."

"They're not answering their phones either," added Kyle. "Either of them. Any app we could use to locate their phones has been turned off. That'll be Maria: she's a computer genius. She gets it from her mom. She was a cyber ops specialist."

"I'm pretty sure they could just switch the phones off for that, dear," smiled June, patting Kyle on the shoulder.

"Was?" Kumu frowned, glancing from one parent to the other. "You're not together?"

"Oh no: we are," June assured her. "Kyle and I met at grief counselling. Anthony's father died in a bank robbery. He was a security guard."

"Then your children are step-siblings, not actual siblings," Higgins confirmed.

Kyle nodded. "They were so young when we met, they've practically grown up as siblings though. If they're together, they'll look after each other at least."

"Why did you come here, looking for them?" Rick asked, the weight of the situation drawing his brows down from their usual, jovial, posts.

"They'd heard about the party here," Kyle shrugged. "Anthony wanted an extension on his curfew for Halloween and Maria, of course, wanted one too. They've been inseparable for years."

"Yes, we just never thought they'd do something like this when we said no," added June. "I mean, surely they'd know we'd notice if they were out this long!"

"Besides their phones being off and their not being here," began Higgins, "have you any other reason to suspect something bad has happened to them?"

June shrugged. "I don't know. Not that I can think of. But why would they be gone so long without letting us know they were alright?"

"Maybe they're back home already," soothed Rick. "They could have been headed back there as you headed down here."

"We have a one-year-old daughter," replied Kyle, shaking his head. "We asked our neighbour to look after her while we came down here. She would have called if the kids came home."

"What about you, Kyle: can you think of any reason something may have happened to them?" Higgins asked, turning to the father. "Anything at all?"

A thoughtful look passed over Kyle's face, then he shook his head. "I'm a pharmacist. I have access to thousands of dollars of medical supplies. Probably way more on the black market! But there are easier ways to force me to hand those over."

"A kidnapper might not think so," frowned Higgins. "Is that the only thing?"

"That I can think of, yes," nodded Kyle.

"You got any photos?" TC enquired.

Kyle tapped at his phone a few times and brought up a family group photo. He passed it to TC, who showed it to the others.

"Send me that, please, TC," requested Higgins, pulling out her own phone. "Listen, June, Kyle: my professional partner and I are private investigators. Let us do the legwork for you. You go home and look after your little girl. I'll need your details and your children's phone numbers for now, and as much as you can tell us of their movements over the last few days, especially today."

June and Kyle looked to each other, sharing the kind of semi-telepathic conversation some couples seem able to have, and nodded. Higgins tapped a text to Magnum into her phone. "La Mariana ASAP. Bring my laptop. New case. Missing teens."

"Come on," said Rick, patting Kyle on the shoulder and indicating the door behind the bar. "I got an office through there for doing paperwork in. It's quieter. You can talk it over in there."

XXXX

I know what you're thinking. That I'm being selfish. I don't know: maybe I am. I just think I'm better out of their way, just now. I love them both: I really do. Higgy in a different way, apparently, and that kinda came as a shock the first time I worked it out. I knew I didn't feel great about her dating Ethan, but I put it down to just wanting to look out for a friend. I didn't trust the guy: he was her doctor! Then she got kidnapped and, well, everything that happened with that was a bit intense, but when she threw her arms around me after Hamler and his son were dead… Well, then I realised I didn't want to let go, and not just because she was a friend and colleague.

I should have spotted it sooner though. I'm a private investigator and they're two of my best friends. Ever since I found out about them, I've been going over it in my head. Not just the three days they were back on the island, but everything, all the way back to that time she pointed out how much the dogs got on with him, and not me. Things like the way he calls her Jules, but nobody else here does. Things like that clumsy pass he made at her with a dead tuna behind him stinking out the guest house. Things like the way she put her arms round him when Ice Pick got arrested again.

Way too many things. And I don't need to add more to the pile right now. I'll get past it, I hope. I can take being around Higgy okay, but this'll be the first time I've been around Rick in weeks. I shouldn't be this angry with him. I know. I know, but I can't stop it. I'm trying: honest! And if I'm around him, he knows me well enough to know when I'm angry, and that's just gonna make him feel worse. I know he feels guilty about this whole mess, as if anything he could have said or done would have made things turn out differently. I know that: I don't need TC to tell me. But what TC doesn't get is that me being there will only make things worse for everyone. I'll feel worse because the two of them together is a constant reminder. Rick'll feel worse because he'll see that it still affects me. And Higgy? Well, she'll probably just want to smack our heads together, and I don't blame her! To be honest, I'm kinda surprised she hasn't already, though I get the feeling she might be under orders.

Still, what's a little discomfort when a couple of kids are missing? Higgy never mentioned anything about police, but either there's some reason the parents haven't got them involved yet, or there's some reason they think they need our help. I'll find out which when I get there. Ten to one, they've just snuck out to some party or other they don't want their parents knowing about. I mean: who hasn't done that, right?

XXXX

There was barely room for the four of them in the tiny office when Magnum arrived, and Rick immediately rose to leave. "I oughta go help TC at the bar. It's a little busier out there than expected."

"You shouldn't have to…" Juliet began, but Rick shook his head.

"My call, Jules," he murmured, "and it is busy out there."

Magnum stepped aside to let Rick leave, avoiding the glare Higgins was levelling at him. He sat down in the chair his brother had vacated, handed Higgins her laptop, and introduced himself to the couple across the small desk. It didn't take long for them to fill him in on things. By the time he did, Higgins already had their kids' phones' last location.

"Ah," intoned Higgins, her face studiously neutral as she turned the laptop to Magnum. "That's interesting."

"What?" June pressed, leaning forward to try and see the screen of the laptop. "What is it? Where are they?"

"Can you think of any reason why Anthony or Maria might want to go to the Kalihi transit center?" Magnum asked, looking from one parent to the other. "Any reason at all?"

"Could they have been meeting friends there," suggested Higgins.

June and Kyle looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I work near there," offered Kyle. "But if they'd been coming to me, there's a stop right outside the pharmacy that they would have had to pass to get to the transit center."

"What does that mean?" June asked. "Has somebody kept them on the bus until they got to the transit center then turned off their phones so they can't be traced?"

Higgins glanced at Magnum. As stoic as his expression was these days, now more so than usual, she had spent long enough working with him to pick up the tiny nuances in the flicker of a glance that came her way to read the thoughts behind it. She looked back to June and Kyle. "It is a possibility, and one that we'll look into, you have my word. It's not the only possibility, though, nor even the likeliest. While it is true that switching off your phone at a travel hub like this would help disguise its progress from there, there are plenty of reasons why one would wish to do so. On top of that, there are other things we can try to track your children further. The security cameras will tell us a lot. I have to ask, though: has there been any trouble at home recently? Anything the two of them might want to escape from for a while?"

"No more than a sleep schedule dependent on a one-year-old," shrugged June, shaking her head.

"Do they have any new friends that might be a bad influence on them?" Magnum suggested, confirming to Higgins the way she had guessed his mind was heading.

"Not that I know of," answered June, shaking her head again.

"Nor I," agreed Kyle, putting an arm around his wife. "You think they did this deliberately?"

"To stop you following them," nodded Higgins. "I think it's likely, yes. What bus would they most likely have taken to the transit centre?"

"They could walk downhill a bit and take the number two bus," replied June, "or numbers ten and then one. The number ten stops near our house."

"And when was the last time you saw them in the house?" Magnum enquired.

"Just after dinner, around six o'clock," Kyle shrugged. "They went off to their rooms to do some homework."

"Okay, I'll cross reference the earliest busses they could have taken to get there and that should give us a time window in which to watch for their arrival."

"We'll find them," Magnum assured the couple. "Don't worry."

"He's right," nodded Higgins. "Go home. Look after your baby girl. Try to get some sleep."

"I'd rather stay here with your husband for a while, just in case, if that's alright," said June. "The kids always dress up as vampires and ghosts: if they show up here, I'd be more likely to know them under the makeup."

Juliet carefully unfroze her face. That was a first! Why did it have to happen with Magnum sitting next to her? "Oh! I'm sure that would be fine," she trilled, smiling her politest smile and trying to ignore the fact her voice was decidedly higher than usual. "He's not my husband yet, though: we've only been dating two months. We haven't even really discussed that..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," June apologised. "You just seemed so… together. I know it's old fashioned of me, but between that and you being English…"

"No, no: it's fine, um," Juliet frowned. "Rather a long story and nothing to do with the case, though. I'm sure he and our other friends won't mind keeping you company for a while: we were planning on having our own little gathering here once the crowds had moved on."

XXXX

The drive to the transit centre was a relatively short one, but Magnum was irritatingly quiet throughout. Higgins tried to draw him out with theories and hypotheses. Even blatant assumptions! Nothing garnered anything more loquacious than the most perfunctory of unsophisticated, monosyllabic rejoinders. Something was bugging him. It might be the case. It might be whatever he had claimed to be busy working on tonight. It might be something else entirely. Still, he was usually okay when they were working, and Rick had kept himself prudently out of the way, even though she maintained he shouldn't have to. There had been nothing, that she could think of, to set off this batch of silent treatment. Nothing except maybe June's assumption of her and Rick's marital status. That might do it.

The transit centre came into view and they found a space to leave the Ferrari. It wasn't the first time they'd had to rely on the security cameras of the centre, and Magnum led a bee line to the guard shack.

"Aloha, Hugo," he called, raising a hand in greeting.

The burly security guard looked round from his multiple screens and nodded back to Magnum and Higgins. "Aloha, Magnum. Aloha, Higgy. Who are we after this time?"

"Two teens," replied Higgy, glancing over the screens. "They're out after curfew. Parents don't know where they are, or even when they left. They're not answering their phones, and this is the last place they pinged to. They would have come in on either the one or the two between these times." She handed a scrap of paper to Hugo. "At least, that's our best guess right now."

The guard looked down at the times. There were two sets of numbers, one for the number one route, and one for the number two. "Yeah, I can pull those up. No problemo."

"Thank you, Hugo," smiled Higgins.

"Anything for a beautiful lady like yourself," grinned the guard.

"Careful, Hugo: Higgy's off the market now," joked Magnum, but there was a hint of sharpness in the words.

"Off the market?" Higgins raised her eyebrows. "What am I: a piece of meat?"

"Who's the lucky guy?" Hugo chuckled, setting up the playback monitor for them. "He must be something special to win your heart, Higgy: I'd wager there's not a man on the island who wouldn't want that honour!"

"Oh, he is," sighed Thomas. "The best."

Juliet's eyes were still on her partner, wondering, when Hugo nodded and slid his chair back.

"All set," said the guard. "You know what to do."

Trawling through security camera footage is boring at the best of times. At least they could fast forward from one bus arrival to the next though. They were on the fourth number one bus when Magnum called stop.

"There they are," he continued, pointing out two teens with backpacks.

"You sure? It's not the best angle," hummed Higgins.

"Look at the guy's shirt: it's the same one Anthony has on in the photo," Magnum argued. "The girl's got an Alice band like the one in the photo too. One on its own is helpful, but both? Plus, general description wise, they match the kids in the photo too."

"Okay, I'll grant you that, but we've still got half an hour before the phones are switched off.

"I got an idea," mused Magnum. "Hey Hugo: bring up the bus pass office from this time spot onwards."

"Don't you think they'd already have bus passes, Magnum?" Higgins sighed. "Our clients told us they use the busses frequently."

"Yeah, but they might go there to find out what busses are due. There's a route map online, but those things are difficult enough to read on a computer screen, never mind a phone!"

"Here it is," nodded Hugo. "And look: there's your wayward teens!"

Magnum nodded. He watched as the two teenagers turned and walked out of shot. "What stands are in that direction, Hugo? What busses stop there?"

Hugo pulled up a map of the transit centre on his computer monitor and looked from it to the monitor showing the teens turning away. "Stands six and five," he replied. "Five isn't in use right now, but six is. Two busses stop there, both are headed for Waipahu."

"Can you pull it up for us to confirm?" Higgins requested.

Hugo nodded and did so. Sure enough, the two teens turned up at stand six. Their rucksacks came off and Maria fished two packages out of hers, handing one to Anthony.

"Hey, Hugo," Magnum began, tapping the frozen screen over the tell-tale packages. "Is there a place near here that sells prepaid phones?"

"No, but I know one they'd have passed on their way," replied Hugo. He turned over the scrap of paper Higgins had given him and scribbled something on the back. "Here."

Higgins took the paper and nodded her thanks. Leaving Hugo to return to his usual duties, she passed the paper to Magnum. "If they stopped on the way to buy prepaid phones, and appear to have fully laden rucksacks…"

"Yeah, we're not dealing with a kidnapping here," nodded Magnum. "These two are runaways, no question."

"Well, there is one question," Higgins pointed out. "What are they running from?"