Mari & Ilna-you're the best.

McRollers-thanks for reading.

This one is especially for Mari who requested a mini-case fic for her birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, partner!


Swing for the Fences (1/1)

"What have we got, Duke?" Steve asked as he and Danny ducked under the yellow police tape surrounding a property hidden deep in the forest on a remote part of the island. "You were kinda vague on the phone."

"That's because this is one you have to see to believe," Duke said as he led them towards a large, run down shed-like building. "We have one dead. Thirty-five year old male. Local moonshine runner. Patrol officers found him floating in his own still early this morning."

"It's the heat and all the sand," Danny grumbled as he side stepped a puddle left by the overnight rain storm. "It makes people crazy."

The three men entered the shed and were immediately confronted by the largest still any of them had ever seen.

"What in the …" Danny looked up towards the top of the towering piece of machinery that could only be reached via a ladder. Near the bottom of the still Max and his team were kneeling around a dead body. "Who is this guy and how much moonshine is he making?"

"His name is Noa Noma. He took over the business when his father died a few years ago," Duke said. "We'd heard rumors recently that he was expanding the business and trying to muscle out some of the competition."

"Is that why the officers came out this morning?" Steve asked.

Duke nodded. "Sort of. We've had a few reports over the last week of people getting sick after drinking some of the local moonshine."

"What's so unusual about that?" Danny asked. "I'd say it's more of a miracle when this stuff doesn't make people sick considering it's usually brewed in something made with rusty old parts from a local junkyard."

"Ignore him," Steve told Duke. "He's just crabby because he missed breakfast."

"You might be glad you did when you hear the rest of the story," Duke said. "After a week of getting nowhere with the investigation because no one who got sick was willing to admit where they bought the 'shine, we finally got lucky. Fifteen people ended up in the hospital with severe abdominal distress after a going away beach party last night. The guy who threw the party gave us Noma's name."

Danny placed his hand under his nose to block the smell. "Somebody killed him for making bad moonshine?"

"Not exactly." Duke shifted uncomfortably, clearly not anxious to tell the rest of the story. "When the officers knocked on the door Noma's wife, Sarah, said he was on the mainland for business and had been there for several days. They asked if they could see the still to check for contamination and she gave her permission. Once they saw what they were dealing with they called for ATF backup. While they were waiting for agents to arrive they climbed the ladder to look inside the still. That's where they found Noma."

"You mean he was dead in there? And they were still bottling the stuff? And that's what was making people sick?" Danny felt his stomach begin to roll.

"Looks like it," Duke replied. "Apparently one of his employees, a man named …" He consulted his notebook, "Niko Kalea, has been looking after things and filling orders for the last few days not realizing Noma's body was floating in the tank."

"The bacteria from the decomposing human flesh is what has been causing people to get ill," Max said as he joined the conversation. "Actually, they're lucky the alcohol in this tank is so potent or they would have been even sicker. Some of the bacteria was killed off distilled alcohol. As the body started to bloat …"

"I don't need the specific details," Danny cut off the medical examiner.

"How long has he been in the still?" Steve asked.

"Impossible to tell until I get back to the lab, Commander," Max said. "I'll let you know as soon as I run some tests."

"Okay." Steve took a long look around the shed searching for signs of a struggle or anything that might give them a clue as to how Noma ended up in his own still. "First thing we need to do is talk to his wife."


"I just can't believe this is happening." Sarah Noma perched on the loveseat in the living room of her small, isolated house wringing her hands and fighting back tears. "He was in the still. I didn't know." She looked at Steve and Danny with large, damp eyes. "I told Niko to go ahead and do whatever he needed to do. I swear I didn't mean to make anyone sick."

"When was the last time you saw your husband?" Steve asked.

"Three days ago," Sarah said. "We had a little birthday celebration before he left for the airport. He turned thirty-five today and we knew we'd be apart so we celebrated early."

Steve looked around the room for anything that appeared out of place. "Just the two of you?"

Sarah nodded. "Noa didn't have a lot of friends. We would have normally invited Jack Swigart. He and Noa have known each other forever. But he's out of town."

Danny jotted down the friend's name. "What exactly was your husband traveling to the mainland for?"

"For business," Sarah replied softly. "I'm not sure… what I mean is …I don't know exactly what that entails. My husband handles that end of things. I have nothing to do with it."

"But you know he sells illegal moonshine," Danny said, more of a statement than a question. "It would be hard to miss with a still that size 50 yards from your front door."

Sarah looked down. "Yes, I knew," she admitted. "Noa was always honest with me about his family's business. Right from the day we met."

"And when was that?" Steve asked.

"Seven years ago." She sniffled. "I was working at a bar on the beach in Encinitas. One night Noa stopped in for a drink and we started talking. Pretty soon he was coming in every night. After I got off work we'd walk on the beach and talk for hours. He told me he had left Hawaii because he didn't want to sell moonshine like his father. He wanted something more. I believed him."

"What did he want to do instead?" Danny asked.

"He wanted to be a professional surfer," Sarah said with a smile. "And he could have been. He was really good. I used to go to his competitions whenever I could. He was right on the verge of hitting it big when his father died."

"So why come back and take over his father's business?" Steve asked. "Why not just keep doing what he was doing?"

"Noa was a few years older than me," Sarah said. "He was in a big hurry to get married and start a family. He said that if he took a year and built up his father's business a little he could sell it and make enough to give us a good start in California. He begged me to marry him right away so he could prove how committed he was to building a future together."

"But his father died three years ago," Steve pointed out.

"I know." Sarah wiped a tear off her cheek. "It took a little longer than we expected to get things ready to sell. But about a month ago, Noa let people know he was ready. We were planning on being back in California within the next month or so. He was getting out of the moonshine business. He was just waiting on the right buyer. We were planning on having a baby."

"Can you think of anyone who might have had a reason to kill your husband?" Danny asked.

"I'm not naive," Sarah said. "I know running moonshine isn't a business where you make a lot of friends. But Noa ran an honest operation and everyone respected that. Except for one guy. Ewe Onaona. He lives on the next property and he and Noa were always butting heads. He even came over here with a shotgun a week ago waving it around and threatening to kill Noa. You should talk to him."

Steve and Danny exchanged a look.

"Don't worry. We will," Steve promised her. "In the meantime, is there anyone we can call to come and be with you?"

Sarah took a deep breath. "I'll be fine. Just find the person who killed my husband."


"You and Kono work your sources and see if anyone has any information on who wanted Noma dead," Steve said as he and Danny headed off to interview Ewe Onaona.

"Got it." Chin's voice said through the car's speakers. "Anything else?"

"Run a complete background check on both Ewe Onaona and Sarah Noma," Steve replied. "Including financials."

"Any special reason you want to look into the wife?" Chin asked.

Steve adjusted his sunglasses. "Just covering all the bases."

"I'll let you know as soon as I have anything," Chin said.

Steve turned the car into a mostly hidden driveway. "Thanks."


"I don't care what his wife thinks," Ewe Onaona said angrily. "I didn't kill nobody. I didn't like Noma. He was an arrogant little punk. But I didn't kill him."

"So you didn't go to his place last week and threaten him with a shotgun?" Danny asked.

"Well … yeah … I did that. But I was just tryin' to scare him. I wouldn't have really done it."

"Because you're such a fine law-abiding citizen," Danny said sarcastically.

"I make moonshine," Ewe said. "Just like my makukane and kupunakane. I'm not gonna deny that. It's been the family business for generations. But I never killed anyone and I never would. I'm not violent."

"You have three arrests for assault," Steve pointed out.

"I get a little out of hand when I sample too much of my own product." Ewe shrugged. "But that's just my buddies and me blowing off steam. Just a few random bar fights. I run an honest business."

"When was the last time you saw Noma?" Steve asked.

"The day I went down to his place with my shotgun," Ewe said. "But he was alive when I left and I haven't seen him since. I swear."

Danny looked out the window and noticed that the top of Noma's still was visible through the trees. "What did you go down there for in the first place?"

"He was undercutting me on price," Ewe spat out. "Not just me, everyone moonshiner on the island. He was trying to put us all out of business. Then when we were gone he would have tripled his price."

"We heard he was ready to sell his whole operation and move back to the mainland," Steve said.

He and Danny both noted the look of genuine surprise on the man's face.

"Really?" Ewe said. "I hadn't heard that. Though I certainly wouldn't have been sad to see him go."

"Would you have had any interest in buying him out?" Steve asked.

Ewe snorted a laugh. "I may have had the interest but I don't have the money. I would have never been able to afford an operation like his."

"Who would have been able to pay his price?" Danny asked.

"You want to talk to Jack Swigart," Onaona said. "Him and Noma were tight. If anybody knows who was in line to buy the place it'd be him."

"We heard he's out of town," Danny said.

"I don't think so," Ewe replied. "I just saw him yesterday. He's the one you should be talking to."

"We'll do that," Steve said. "In the meantime, don't plan any trips. We may need to talk to you again."


"This is all just so hard to believe," Jack Swigart said as he ushered Steve and Danny into his modest house in suburban Honolulu. "I just talked to him last week."

As they looked around both men thought to themselves that this didn't look like the house of a man who was close friends with a moonshiner.

"How well did you know Noa Noma?" Steve asked.

"We were close." Jack motioned for Steve and Danny to take a seat then sat down himself. "We went to school together. I think we bonded over the fact that both of our fathers…well, let's say they operated on the fringe of society."

"So your father was a moonshiner too?" Danny asked.

Jack nodded. "He inherited a small farm when my grandfather died but he wasn't the type to get up early and put in long days. He went looking for an easier way to make money and discovered he had a knack for making moonshine. Unfortunately, he also had a knack for drinking away the profits so we never had much money."

Danny took note of the diploma's hanging on the wall. "You weren't tempted to follow in his footsteps?"

"Never." Jack said adamantly. "I don't have the temperament for it. Accounting may not be an exciting profession, but at least I don't have to look over my shoulder constantly."

"But you stayed friends with Noa even while he was running his father's operation?" Steve asked.

Jack Swigart smiled softly. "It's hard to turn your back on someone who's been your friend your entire life. Noa was a great guy. He had a really big heart. I used to beg him to get out of the business. I even offered to help him find an honest job. He said it was in his blood and he couldn't do anything else."

Danny looked confused. "We understood that he had given it all up and was trying to be a professional surfer until his father died and he had to come back to the island."

Jack chuckled lightly. "Who told you that?"

"His wife."

"Noa started working for his father when we were fourteen and he never stopped," Jack said. "He moved to California because his father had a deal going with some local bar owners. His goal was to expand operations to the mainland and Noa was spearheading that. In fact, he's been building on the contacts he made there ever since he took over. He has every intention of going ahead with his father's plan."

Steve and Danny exchanged a look.

"So he wasn't looking to sell?" Steve said, wondering why Sarah Noma was so sure he was.

"Hardly. He was looking to expand," Jack said.

"According to one of his competitors he was undercutting everyone on price," Steve said. "Any idea why he'd be doing that if he wasn't preparing to go out of business?"

Jack cocked an eyebrow. "You've seen his still, right?"

Steve and Danny nodded.

"Well, he built two more just like it on a piece of property he owns about 10 miles from his house. He was ramping up production like crazy. A more efficient distilling process allowed him to sell at a lower price."

"Then when he put all his competition out of business he'd raise the price," Danny suggested.

Jack shrugged. "The law of supply and demand. I'm not saying I agreed with everything Noa did, but I understand why he was like he was. He knew it would catch up with him someday and he accepted that."

"What can you tell us about his personal life?" Steve asked.

"You mean Sarah?" Jack rolled his eyes. "Noa had a real blind spot when it came to her. Let me guess, she gave you some line about love at first sight and how they were inseparable from the moment they met."

"More or less," Danny confirmed.

"Maybe for him but I find it hard to believe she was ever that sentimental," Jack said. "Noa was extremely shy. Not the type who knew how to talk to girls. He never had a girlfriend all the way through school. So I was surprised when he called me one night from California and told me he'd met a woman. He said she was gorgeous and they'd spent every night together for over a week. I was scheduled to come for a visit a couple of weeks later and told him I couldn't wait to meet her. I was genuinely happy for him."

"So what happened?" Danny asked.

"As soon as I got to his apartment it was clear she had moved in and made herself at home," Jack said. "I went to put my stuff in the guestroom, where I stayed every time I visited, and the closet was stuffed with brand new women's clothes and shoes. Most still had the tags on them. The living room was overflowing with shopping bags. It seemed obvious to me she was after his money. I tried to tell him but he wouldn't hear a word of it. She was the first woman who had ever paid him any real attention and he wouldn't hear a word against her."

"Sarah says he begged her to marry him," Steve said.

"After she told him there was no way she could come back to Hawaii with him unless she had a ring on her hand," Jack said.

"Do you think she knows the details of the business," Steve asked.

"Every single one," Jack said. "She likes to play the clueless wife, but don't let her fool you. She's the one pushing the expansion. She had big plans for the business. Noa didn't tell me this outright but I get the feeling she wants to diversify into other products."

"Such as?" Danny asked.

"I'm not sure but probably nothing legal," Jack said.

"One more thing," Steve said as his gaze landed on several suitcases piled in the corner of the room. "We were told that you were out of town and that's why you couldn't attend the pre-birthday celebration Sarah threw for her husband before he was scheduled to leave town."

"I'm going to Amsterdam for six weeks on business," Jack said. "I was scheduled to go a week ago but there was a snafu with my visa. I'm leaving Monday instead."

Steve glanced at the airline tickets laying on the coffee table. "Did Noa know your trip had been postponed?"

"I told him last time we talked," Jack said. "I knew he was getting ready to go to the mainland and we talked about maybe getting together for a birthday drink before he left but I never heard back. I figured he just got busy finishing things up before he left."

"Can you tell me exactly when that conversation took place?"

Jack pulled out his phone and scrolled through the call log. "Eight days ago."

"Thanks," Steve said. "You've been very helpful."


"The cause of death is definitely drowning. The only other significant injury on the body is this line of bruising along the lower abdomen and by itself it would not have been fatal," Max said as he, Steve and Danny looked down at the bloated body of Noa Noma on the autopsy table.

"Maybe he was leaning over to look in the still and got pushed in?" Steve suggested. "Could that have caused the bruising?"

Max nodded. "Quite possible. The moonshine would have incapacitated him at a much faster rate than plain water. Whatever the exact circumstances, the victim has been deceased for seven days, possibly eight," Max said confidently.

"Are you sure?" Steve asked. "His wife said she had breakfast with him three days ago."

"Only if she ate breakfast with a corpse," Max stated matter of factly.

"Wouldn't the amount of alcohol in the tank make it hard to determine an exact time of death? The guy was practically pickled for crying out loud," Danny said.

"Indeed," Max nodded. "The effect of 80 proof moonshine on a submerged human body is fascinating. It changes the cellular structure of every organ. I'm thinking of writing a paper on the topic."

"So how can you be so sure he's been dead a week?" Danny asked.

"I've consulted with experts in the field and relayed his condition to them. I've also checked all the relevant research. And then there's this." Max reached into a small bin near the victim's head. "He was wearing a Fitbit. It was on his ankle so the killer must have missed it when they stole his wallet, watch, and phone. It stopped working exactly seven days ago. I'll have to do some further testing to see how long the device would continue to work if submerged but I'd say we can confidently set his time of death as one week ago."

"Let's go back and talk to Sarah Noma again," Steve said. "She has a lot to explain."


"I'm here at the second property Noma owned," Kono said over the phone as Steve and Danny headed back to Sarah Noma's house.

"Did you find two more stills?" Danny asked.

"Yep. Along with ten acres of marijuana plants."

"I think we just figured out the area they were expanding into," Steve said. "Document everything then head back to HQ. We'll meet you there."


"Looks like we might wrap this one up in time to have a relaxing Friday night," Danny said as they pulled up in front of the Noma residence just in time to see Sarah loading several suitcases into her trunk.

"Going somewhere?" he asked as he and Steve got out of the car.

"I can't stay here," Sarah said, her voice quivering. "I'm afraid that whoever came after Noa will come after me next. I'm going to stay with a friend on the big island."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Steve said. "We may need you close by to answer some more questions. You were the last person to see your husband alive."

"Other than his killer," Sarah said, as both Steve and Danny noticed that for the first time she let her mask slip and they caught a glimpse of someone much more cold-hearted than the image she had put forth in their earlier interview.

"When did you say the two of you had his pre-birthday celebration?" Steve asked as he carefully scanned the immediate area for weapons.

Sarah studied him carefully, trying to ascertain what he might have found out. "Three days ago," she answered, knowing she was penned in by the response she'd given earlier.

"That's odd." Steve took a few steps towards her car. "According to the medical examiner your husband has been dead for a week."

Sarah froze momentarily. "Your medical examiner is wrong. There's no way you can tell how long a body has been dead when it's floating in moonshine."

"Been doing a little research, have you?" Steve's hand moved almost imperceptibly towards his weapon.

"Only since this morning," she stammered.

"Were you aware your husband wore a fitness tracker?" Steve asked as Danny moved into position so they had Sarah Noma boxed in.

She scoffed. "Since when? He didn't care about his health."

"Thirty-five is a big birthday," Danny pointed out. "Maybe it got him thinking."

Steve looked on the front seat of the car and spotted a familiar document. "You don't need a passport to go to the big island."

He could see the exact second Sarah Noma knew she'd been caught and started assessing her options.

"Don't do it," he said. "It'll be worse if you make us chase you."

"I don't care," she spat out. "I'll do anything to get out of this crappy house in the middle of these bug filled woods. What's the point in making money if you have nowhere to spend it? He promised me we'd move back to California but he kept putting it off. He didn't have the drive to take this business to the next level. I do. But I'm sure as hell not gonna do it from this dump."

Steve and Danny looked at each other and smiled. 'Nothing like a Friday afternoon confession,' they thought.

"Sarah Noma, you're under arrest." Danny began to read her her rights as he placed her in handcuffs while Steve called for a patrol car to transport her.

As soon as he hung up his phone dinged with an incoming text. After looking again to make sure the situation was under control he stepped away, read the text, and smiled. 'Just wrapping up the case now,' he typed. 'I'll be home in time for dinner. Can't wait to see you and the kids. Love you.'

THE END


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