Chapter Two – Familiar Faces

"Well-behaved women seldom make history." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Honolulu Police Station, an hour later…

"I told you that I worked for the governor."

Chicago Police Detective Harper James was leaning against one of the desks in the Honolulu Police Department's bullpen and watching closely as her boss and the Captain of the HPD spoke animatedly over the speaker phone with Hawaii's Governor Jameson. She was still wearing her stripper's outfit, but one of her guys from Chicago PD had at least graciously offered her his jacket to wear over the skimpy costume. Swinging her eyes back in Danny's direction, she quipped, "And I told you that I am impressed. Twice now, I believe."

"But you did not apologize for not believing me." Danny pointed out, relaxing in a nearby chair and propping his feet up on a detective's desk.

"No, I did not."

The look on her face told Danny that an apology would not be forthcoming anytime soon, so he muttered, "I can't believe you frisked me."

Obviously irritated by her lack of control over the situation, Detective James shot back, "And I can't believe you haven't stopped talking yet. You have talked non-stop since I slapped the cuffs on you. Do you ever shut up?"

"No."

Harper gave him a strange look and then turned to her partner from the undercover operation at Club Halo as she asked, "Can you see if you can get me a change of clothes from somewhere? I left my bag in the van."

"Yeah sure," Detective Ed DeLuca of the Chicago PD agreed, hauling himself out of the chair he was sitting in, "we got nothing better to do right now anyway."

The team from Chicago was getting antsy as they waited around for all of the bureaucratic red tape to be straightened out by their bosses. And Harper James was not a patient woman.

"This is ridiculous," she fumed, beginning to pace around the bullpen. "We've got a cop killer sitting in a room down the hall and none of us can touch him." Looking back at Danny, she asked pointedly, "And where the hell is your boss? Why wasn't he with you?"

"He and our other partner were at a secondary location doing their own undercover work," Detective Chin Ho Kelly informed her patiently, seeming to appear out of nowhere. "The Wilson Crips gang is one of the largest on the island and we were trying to cover all of our bases." When he realized that the redheaded detective didn't really seem all that interested in his explanation, Chin simply smirked and stated, "He'll be here momentarily."

"Great," Harper mocked, glancing back at where the big wigs were arguing in the Captain's office.

Exchanging a knowing look with Chin, Danny changed the subject by asking, "So, Chicago PD, huh? I'm from New Jersey, so I know all about the northern winters. And let me tell ya that it is much better to be here in February than back there."

"We're not on vacation," she pointed out. "We're here to take that scum bag back to Chicago, book him, and let him face a jury of his very outraged peers."

"Of course you are," Danny agreed, "but you gotta admit that you wouldn't be able to pull off that outfit back in Chi-town without freezing off some very important parts of-. . ."

Danny stopped talking when Harper icily flashed her green eyes at him and he held up his hands in surrender. Not to be deterred, he asked, "How long have you been undercover at Club Halo?"

"Two weeks."

"You got Kai Akino to trust you that quickly?" Chin asked in surprise.

"Well, they didn't have a real selective hiring process," Detective James informed them, "basically I had to show him my boobs and we were good to go."

"Sounds like some dates I used to have back in Jersey." Danny quipped and smirked. And for one split second, the tough-as-nails lady detective broke free from her professional façade and spit out a laugh as she shook her head at him. Encouraged by this new response, he asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Can I stop you?"

Leaning forward and pouring on the charm, Danny flirted, "Where did you hide the gun?"

Harper scoffed at him and rolled her eyes as her partner returned to her side. . .sans a change of clothes for her. . .and said, "The consensus around here is that they don't keep any women's clothes hanging around. They offered up a prison jumpsuit, but I honestly don't think those guys are too eager to see you cover up."

She looked over at a nearby desk where detectives from the Honolulu Police Department were making no effort to conceal their enjoyment at having a scantily clad member of the Chicago PD in their midst. Sighing dramatically, Harper asked, "Remind me again about the upside of working with guys?"

"You're not seriously going to interview the suspect dressed like that, are you?" Danny asked, giving her another once over.

"If I have to," she told him and then muttered, "If I ever get into the interview room." Shaking her head, the three men could see the anger rising up within her as she gestured toward their respective bosses and hissed, "Kai Akino killed a cop! A decorated member of the Chicago Police Force." Turning to Danny and Chin, she added, "I can't believe your governor is forcing us to have a pissing contest over a cop killer!" Heading toward a nearby hallway, she muttered angrily to herself, "And I can't believe I am still wearing this ridiculous outfit!"

"Where are you going?" Ed called after her.

"To find my clothes!" she told him haughtily as she stormed her way down a random hallway in the precinct.

"Fiery temper on that one," Danny commented with a goofy grin, "I've heard that about redheads…"

"Hey, show some respect." Detective DeLuca snapped at Danny, surprising him. "The cop that got killed? He was her partner...Detective Samuel Norval."

"Oh." Danny said quietly, the grin fading from his face. "I'm sorry."

"We almost had Akino back in Chicago, man," DeLuca continued, looking back at the hallway his partner had just disappeared down, "but he ran. Six months we spent looking for him. Some of the higher ups wanted to give up, but there was no way Harper was going to rest until Sammy's killer was behind bars. In Chicago. And she can be pretty persuasive when she wants to be."

"I believe it," Danny agreed and then asked, "But isn't it a conflict of interest for her to be investigating her partner's murder? I mean, how'd she get on this job?"

"She's got some connections." Ed smirked, as if Danny had just stumbled upon an inside joke.

Taking the bait, Chin asked, "What kind of connections?"

"Ever heard of Mickey James?"

"Police Superintendent Mickey James?" Danny asked in surprise and then added sarcastically, "Yeah, I've heard of Chicago's top cop. Who hasn't?"

"She calls him daddy."

"Damn." Chin and Danny both said at the same time.

But before they could say anything else on the subject, the door to the stairwell slammed open and Commander Steve McGarrett hurried into the bullpen followed closely by Officer Kono Kalakaua.

"What's going on?" Steve demanded, coming up to the trio of police officers, "Where's Akino?"

"He's in custody," Chin informed them quickly, "Kai Akino is not the problem."

"So what is the problem?" The Commander asked, looking around in confusion.

"I am the problem," came a female voice from behind them.

All five police officers turned around to see Detective Harper James walk back into the bullpen, still wearing her ridiculous outfit. But at that moment the rest of the world could have faded away because those emerald green eyes of hers were fastened solely on Commander Steve McGarrett.

And his eyes were locked with hers, a stunned look frozen on his handsome face.

Moving further into the bullpen, Harper kept her eyes locked on Steve's as she commented, "But then again, I've always been the problem. Haven't I, Steven?"

"Steven?" Danny mimicked, looking from Steve to Harper and then back to Steve as he asked, "You know her?"

"Know her?" Steve repeated, suddenly recovering his powers of speech, "I used to be married to her."