"The patrol car that took Danny was in an accident. Danny's gone," Duke informed Steve and the rest.
"Gone? What are you talking about?" Steve demanded.
"I'm not exactly sure what's going on either, Steve. A car passing by saw the patrol car crashed against a tree. There were only 2 officers in the car. No Danny." Duke continued.
"Okay.. okay Duke, Get CSU in here, check the house for prints, DNA, anything. And you let me know any updates you get from the accident. I want to know what happened. The rest of you do as I asked and keep me updated." Steve affirmed.
He walked around the house trying to get any clue of what had happened that night. Surveying all the entry points to the house, Steve could not find any signs of forced entry. He went into Grace's room, it was a stark contrast from the living room. Grace's room was neat, aside from the ruffled bed. No signs of struggle here. Good, Steve thought. So was Rachel's room, though, everything was in place.
...
"Junior! What do you have?" Steve came in, his steps reverberating through the headquarters.
"Nothing yet. CCTV footage from the parking lot showed Danny left here before 8.30 p.m. last night. His GPS shows he went straight home. And his phone records, he had an outgoing call to Rachel at around the same time he left which lasted 5 minutes. His GPS data showed he left to go to Rachel's house at around 10.20 p.m." Junior explained.
"Wait, that's 20 minutes before the 911 call came in, right?" Steve recalled.
"That's right. The journey to Rachel's place from his takes about 13 minutes."
That's not good. The unaccounted 7 minutes between the time Danny arrived at Rachel's place and the 911 call, though unlikely, still gives Danny enough time to commit the crime, Steve thought.
"But get this, at the same time that he left for Rachel's, he received a call from an unknown number that traced to a burner phone. And he received another call from the same number again at 10.38 p.m., just before the 911 call. I'm thinking whoever was making this call may be involved in this incident. I don't believe Danny did it" Junior reasoned.
"Maybe, but that doesn't explain why Danny would confess and then assault HPD officers and run off." Steve whole-heartedly hoped that Junior was right but he had to remain level-headed and investigate thoroughly in order to clear Danny's name.
"How are the HPD officers?" Junior asked, remembering the accident.
"They're banged up but okay. Their account of what happened is not helping Danny's case, though. Apparently he attacked the both of them to try and escape, causing the accident." Steve sighed. "Right now, our best bet at figuring this out is for Rachel to pull through and tell us what happened."
Right at that moment, Tani entered through the doors. "Hey, Tani, how are Charlie and Stan?" Steve called out.
"They're okay. Stan is obviously shaken to hear the news. Charlie doesn't know anything yet, we figured that would be best for now. I assigned two HPD officers to watch them in the meantime." Tani recounted.
"Okay, good. Rachel's still in surgery so while we wait for more news from Lou, we need to get to work searching for Danny and Grace. Junior search traffic cam footage near Rachel's house around the time of the incident. Also, Tani check CCTV footage around the site of the accident, see where Danny might have gone."
"On it, boss," Tani and Junior chorused.
...
Danny was exhausted. His head was heavy with pain and his left rib was beginning to bother him. He was a mess both physically and mentally. Rachel and Grace were in danger thanks to him. He was grateful that Charlie, at the very least, was probably safe with Stan. Danny didn't know how long he had been walking when he came across a convenience store. He entered the store and took some medical supplies and water. Surveying the place, he realised there were no other customers around. He walked up to the cashier and put the things on the counter. The young man behind the cash register looked warily at Danny's bloodied appearance as he packed the things in a plastic bag.
"You okay, brah?" The man asked.
Danny took out his gun and pointed it at the man. "You got a car? Huh? Give me your keys. Don't do anything stupid or I'll shoot. You understand?"
"Okay. Wait, wait. Please, don't shoot." The man was petrified. Reaching into his pocket he took out his keys and handed it over to Danny. "Here are my keys, silver car down the back. Please don't shoot."
Danny grabbed the keys and the plastic bag on the counter and hurried out of the store. He found the man's car and started the engine. After driving away from the store for about 20 minutes, Danny stopped at a deserted road. He looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror and it was bad. The gash on his forehead had stopped bleeding but it was red and raw. Danny took out the bottled water he had bought and started washing away the dried blood on his hands and face. He winced as the wound on his forehead stung. Wiping his face, he applied some antiseptic on his wound.
Danny closed his eyes, resting his forehead on the steering wheel. His thoughts wandered to the events that had happened in the last 2 hours. It had seemed like forever but in reality, he had received the call from Emilio just under 2 hours ago. Since then he had confessed to stabbing his ex-wife, assaulted 3 HPD officers, caused an accident, escaped custody, held an innocent man at gunpoint and stolen a car. He knew his actions incriminated himself even more but he decided to place his trust in Steve and the team. That they would clear his name. He couldn't just sit idle as he was held in custody by HPD which was why he escaped. He needed to be out there looking for Grace. What scared him the most, though, was that he had no idea how to do it. He hadn't even heard of this Emilio guy before today, which meant he didn't have a single clue how to find him.
...
"Steve, HPD got a call about a stolen vehicle. The owner of the vehicle was working at a convenience store about 30 minutes away from the accident site by foot. They sent me the CCTV footage from the store," Tani played the footage to show Steve what she had found. It was clear that the man pointing a gun at the worker was Danny. "The car doesn't have a GPS tracker but HPD has sent out an APB on the car."
Steve heaved a sigh, "Okay let me know as soon as they find him."
Steve's phone rang, he looked at the caller i.d. Lou. Steve hoped it was good news about Rachel because he had had his share of bad news for the day. "Lou! I could use some good news right about now. How's Rachel?"
"I'm sorry, Steve, they're still working on her. I take it the investigation is not going well? You found Danny yet?" Lou asked, not hiding the worry in his voice.
"No, well not really. CCTV just caught him holding a man at gunpoint and stealing his car. I don't understand Lou. He's doing things out of character. Why wouldn't he just come to me? He knows I'll have his back no matter what. The way he has always had mine. I'm afraid if he goes too far, there's nothing we can do to help him," Steve revealed.
"Steve, I'm certain he has his reasons. If he could come to you, he would have. Don't worry, Steve, we'll get our boy and Grace back soon," Lou prayed that he was right.
...
A/N: Badass Danno is by far my favourite Danny which is why this story was born in the first place so sorry if the plot is a little slow going. Chapter 3 got way too long so I had to split it into 2. We'll find out what happens to Grace soon, I promise. Hope y'all are enjoying the story thus far!