Chapter 2

The next morning, everyone was in Five-O headquarters by 7:30. No one had coordinated the early meeting, but each team member had the same habit of letting cases get to them and none of them had been able to stop thinking about the case the day before. They had spent hours researching and throwing ideas around, and even though they had a good idea of who the other two gang members were, their motive was still elusive.

"Let's start from the beginning," Steve said, standing around the tabletop screen. "The gang. What do we know about them?"

"The body is Max Vang, 20, worked for Waianae Pizza as a delivery driver. He still lives with his parents; his dad is Hmong and his mother is Japanese," Kono read off her tablet. "We think the other two guys are friends he knew from high school, Patrick Kahue and Jack Wright, both locals."

"I'm not convinced it's a gang," Danny said. "It's three guys! Three boys, almost. They're not even 21."

"21 is old in gang years," Chin pointed out. "And the boys do have ties to the Yakuza."

Danny gestured angrily with his arms. "There's no one on this island that doesn't have ties to the Yakuza. It's just kids being idiots."

Lou was leaning against the wall, listening. "Danny, I don't know that they were idiots. I think they know something we don't."

"Their only tie to Yakuza is their friends from school," Steve brought up. "I haven't seen anything serious. Some shoplifting charges from their juvie record don't really prove gang involvement."

"Kahue has a juvenile assault charge against another kid from the neighborhood. There was speculation that it was gang-related, the victim had some associations to the Latino gang in the area." Chin was paging through Kahue's file, still searching for a lead.

Steve was pacing around the room, looking out the windows as he thought. "Chin, you didn't hear anything from guns and gangs?"

"Kahue was the only one on their radar, they had a file on him from a couple months ago, he had some conversations with a low-level Yakuza member. They dismissed it when nothing else happened."

Steve nodded, trusting the accuracy of the gang division's legwork. Kono pulled something up on her tablet, then digitally swept the report onto the big screen with her finger. "Take a look at this," she said.

"Emma Frasier bought her home from a short-term vacation rental service. They bought it six years ago from the estate of Taylor Inoshi." Chin's eyebrows rose.

"Inoshi?" He asked, coming closer to read the report. "As in Kaito Inoshi?"

"His son."

"Who is this Kaito Inoshi? I've never heard of him? Steve said, also coming close.

Chin glanced at Kono, giving her a cue to explain. "Inoshi is an old school gangster from the sixties. Kaito died in the nineties and his crew pretty much went to ground under his son Taylor's leadership. I hadn't even heard that he passed away."

Steve folded his arms over his chest. "That explains the tempered glass. Inoshi probably retrofitted the house with bullet-resistant windows."

"So the house has a connection to the mob, not the victim." Chin said, pulling up more records from the house.

"Who says?" Danno asked, "Maybe Frasier knew what she was getting into. Steve, you said it yourself, she handled the gun like a pro. Maybe she was in on it?"

"I didn't see anything in her background," Kono said. "It's just...normal. Nothing weird."

"And she hired three men...why? To frame them? No one needed to know, she could have just sat on the money herself." Steve pointed out.

"Well, how did the intruders know to target the house?" Danny began, "They would have-"

Grover cut him off. "Back up. We don't even know what is in the house to begin with. Maybe the robbery has nothing to do with the gang,"

Kono nodded, splaying out the pictures she had taken inside the house earlier. She picked through them, analyzing each one. "There's nothing here to take." She concluded. "Frasier didn't have any fancy electronics, expensive art, nothing..."

"You're right, it doesn't add up." Steve ran his hand through his hair, revealing his confusion. "Three men who have no ties to the neighborhood show up with guns in the middle of the night to rob a house with nothing in it? The only way it makes sense is if there are gang ties."

Chin frowned. "What gang? It's too disorganized for Yakuza, and you said Inoshi's gang died with his son Taylor."

The room lapsed into silence as the team members shuffled through papers, stopping every once in a while to look something up in a database or check a record. Steve was gathering paperwork into a file, reading and organizing as he went. finally, he let the stack of paper drop to the table and jammed a finger into it. "I want to know more about Emma Frasier. Go even further into her background. Kono, can you send me her work address? Danny, let's go for a ride."

McGarrett pulled up outside a floral shop in downtown Honolulu. "This doesn't seem right. She's a florist, but she makes enough money to own a house ten minutes from downtown?"

"Rich parents?" Danny suggested, getting out of the car and slamming the door. Steve just shrugged and checked his phone again before walking into the boutique.

A woman in her seventies was standing behind the counter, surrounded by stands of leis and tasteful flower arrangements. "How can I help you gentlemen?"

"I'm Commander Steve McGarrett, Five-O. We're looking for Emma Frasier?"

"Oh, goodness. Are you here about what happened yesterday? So tragic. Emma was going to come in, but I told her to stay home and recover."

Steve glanced at Danny. "Right now her home is a crime scene. Any other ideas where she would go?"

"Oh dear; no, I don't."

"But she does work here?" Danny clarified.

"Yes, of course, just Emma and myself. Doesn't take much to keep this old place running. She's such a dear. Oh, my name's Lily."

"Really?" Danny asked before he could stop himself.

The old woman chuckled. "Short for Liliuokalani."

Steve started to explain, "The Hawaiian queen who-"

Danny cut him off, "-who was the last true Hawaiian ruler and was deposed in a government-backed coup. I've heard of her." He stared at Steve saucily before turning to Lily and cordially adding, "It's a beautiful name."

"Thank you."

Danny rocked back on his heels, a twitch that came up whenever he felt like he was getting nowhere in a conversation. "When did Miss Frasier start working for you?"

"Oh, six, maybe seven months ago? My granddaughter left for college on the mainland and the very next day, Emma called about a job. She didn't have any experience, but the timing was too perfect. She is such a nice girl, and so teachable."

Steve cocked his head to the side. "So you didn't know anything about her background, but you still hired her?"

"I didn't know nothing, she had a reference from some company she had worked for on the mainland. I interviewed her, and we got along swimmingly." The woman said indignantly. "She is fantastic with customers, and with the flowers, and she has such a kind philosophy."

Now Danny was indignant. "You hired her because of her philosophy?"

Lily glared at him. "She is a special soul, grateful for everything and everyone around her, and every opportunity. I don't know why anyone would want to harm her. Perhaps when you talk to her, she could teach you a lesson."

Steve smirked. "Thank you Auntie. If we have any other questions, is there a good number to reach you?" Lily handed him her business card and a plumeria that she plucked from a plant beside her. She handed it over with a small smile.

"Best of luck to you, gentlemen. Give my best to Emma."