Chapter 8

The sun had set by the time Steve arrived back at the station. It was normally a ten-minute drive, but sometimes Steve used those six miles to control his emotions. While many athletes say running is a transcendent experience, to Steve it was descendent. With each footfall, he pounded his stress, fears, and emotions into the pavement and left them behind.

The six miles usually went pretty fast, but Steve found himself walking the last half mile to HQ, because he had been pushed to the breaking point already today, and once was enough.

Danny's car was in the lot, and he sighed in relief. It was days like this that made him miss his days in the SEALs, when even if you didn't talk to the guy next to you, there was still a guy next to you. He walked into his office and could see Danno already looking through some digital records, two coffees steaming next to him. He shrugged out of his third dirty shirt of the day, and pulled on another tee as he joined Danno at the digital table. "You looked into Carli Foster?"

Not missing a beat, Danny replied, "Yup, got her records there. Went to UCLA and was a computer science minor. Was born in Nevada, not-so-small town that's a suburb of Vegas. Most of her background matched what she told us. I tried to be more careful about what I was looking at in LAPD, in case there was someone watching. I checked her police academy graduating class, it checks out. I didn't know how to get any other information without throwing up flags. LA's a big department, but if someone is watching for info queries it would be pretty easy for them to trace the packet…" Danny trailed off at Steve's subtle puzzlement. "That's what Jerry told me, anyways."

"That did seem like some pretty confident tech speak from the guy whose cell phone is five years old."

Danny rolled his eyes, but Steve's jest was calming for them both, a sign that both of their heads were on straight again. "Any sign of a Scott?"

"There are about a hundred 'Scotts' in LAPD, and without more specific search parameters that's all we can get. Jerry is checking social media, but so far he has not been able to find anything."

"What about anyone taken down in a UC case?" Steve murmured, mostly to himself.

"Checked that, there's another 87 that are named Scott or are connected to someone named Scott." Danny said.

"So, nothing." Steve was taking all of the information in, absorbing it before he got back in the game.

"It's gotta be someone close to her. She called you Scottie, that's a nickname."

Steve nodded steadily. "Deeks said Mia Hastings filed the police report. Did you pull her jacket?"

"Amelia Hastings, Sergeant. She's been with LAPD for seven years; she has been a supervisory officer for about 40 officers over the past two years. Carli Foster included for about four months before she…disappeared."

"I want to talk to her."

"It's midnight there. In LA." Danny, always the pragmatist. "We need to make sure she's safe here."

The two men worked through the night, checking every loose end they could think of in their case. They ran down the men in the gunfight earlier, scoured intelligence for any more potential Ito allies, and ran down the backgrounds of the three boys who had robbed the house. By five am, Danno was asleep in his office chair and Steve was finishing up a third time through everything they had. He leaned back in an office chair, testing the springs as he gazed at the full whiteboard before him.

Kono was walked in around 5:30 AM, fresh off the beach. "You're here early."

"Late," Steve grunted back. "You're early. How was it?"

"All the good spots were blown out, so I went to Waikiki and it was already infested. Five in the morning, and the tourists are out in droves. It's like they don't know how to sleep in." Kono tied her wet hair back and bent over Steve's shoulders, glancing at the file in his hands. "Mia Hastings," she read. "Who's she?"

"From what I can tell, she's Frasier's…Foster's…Emma…She was Emma's supervisor in LA. I was just about to call her. I just…can't figure out if she was in on it or not. I don't know anything about her life in LA, or the danger she's in, or who the hell Scott is."

"Whoa, Steve, slow your roll," Kono said rubbing his shoulders lightly. "Start at the beginning. You taught me that."

"Wait, you're here; who's on Emma's security."

Steve could tell she was tired, and probably had not gotten any more sleep than himself. "Duke sent guys over. Why are you waiting to talk to that LA cop?"

"I don't know who we can trust in their department."

"What does your gut say?" Steve sat silent, still staring at the file. "It's saying she's fine," Kono answered her own question. "So, call her."

Steve set down the file and sighed. "Wake up Danny, will you?" Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed and listened to it ring.

"Hello, this is LAPD Sergeant Hastings."

"Sergeant Hastings, I'm with Honolulu police department and I have some questions about a missing persons case you filed last year."

"I'll give you the information I can. What did you say your names was?"

Danny and Kono (both yawning) were listening in as Steve put it on speaker. "I didn't. I'm reaching out in confidence, and I want to ensure that our conversation will be kept as such."

"I'd like some record of who I'm disseminating information to. Also, if you are Honolulu PD, you are aware that the most information I can give you is only what is on the public record, without further judicial instruction." Steve rolled his eyes.

"We're trying to protect a witness's identity and believe that our case has its roots in LA."

"What is your name, officer? I'm afraid I can't help you without some of your skin in the game as well."

"Steve McGarret, Five-O."

"Thank you, Officer McGarret. So why are you interested in Carli Foster?" Her tone was professional, but curt.

"How do you know Carli?" Steve knew there was no way he could avoid her question for long, but he would get as much information as he could before shutting down.

"I served as her sergeant for a year. When she stopped showing up for work and couldn't be reached, I filed the report. Why would you like to know?"

"Do you have any suspicion or ideas about why she went missing?"

"Are you going to tell me why you're interested?"

Kono, exasperated, took the phone out of Steve's hands. "Look, we're on her side; we're just trying to keep her safe." Steve grabbed her wrist gently as they both realized what she had revealed.

"Carli's alive?" The voice said quietly, "And she's in danger?"

Steve gently took the phone back. "Like I said, we're keeping her safe. We think there may be a threat to her that somehow involves LAPD, and that's why we were trying to keep it quiet."

"Well, hell of a job you did there." Both sides lapsed into silence before Hastings spoke again, "I never could figure out why she disappeared. She did the UC paperwork on some big busts, but didn't have any effect on the legal cases. She was pretty well shielded from all of that. Most people in the precinct think she watched traffic cams and security videos all day."

Danny's hands kneaded his forehead, trying to wake up the brain cells that had taken their chance to rest in the short hour he was asleep. "Anything from inside the department? Complaints?"

"No, everyone loved Carli. She was pretty quiet, but everyone that knew her liked her."

"Did she make complaints against anyone?"

"Not that I remember. If she was in danger, why wouldn't she come to me?" Hastings, still processing the news, went quiet for a second. "I was technically her supervisor, but she worked pretty independently. It was more like we were just coworkers."

"What about her personal life?"

"I'm not sure. I just saw her at work and happy hours and that kind of thing," she said. The Five-O team looked around at each other…the only thing they were getting out of this conversation was more dead ends. Hastings continued, "So…she's in Hawaii? Carli?"

"Yes, but until we can talk to her more, we need that information to stay between us."

"Because she's in danger."

"Right. But she's under HPD protection."

"But you can't talk to her?" Hastings asked.

Steve clenched his jaw in frustration. "Sergeant Hastings, thank you for answering out questions. We'll call you if we can think of anything else." He hung up the phone before she was able to replay and stared at Danny and Kono. "Nothing," he huffed. "She gave us nothing."