Stairway to Heaven - Chapter 2
The sound of chopper blades brought Steve out of his thoughts and he looked up to see a rescue chopper nearing the top of the mountain. Slowly the winch made it down and the first technician and equipment was on their way down.
He shook himself out of the memory and began climbing once again. He was making good time, but wanted to see the crime scene before the body was moved. Steve slowed his ascent and glanced back at the site where he had fallen. He hadn't thought of that incident for years, but it was so clear in his mind. He could still hear the fear in Kami's voice. Much of what he knew about that day was told to him by Kami and Cale… after he finally was allowed to leave the house after he had been grounded… for what still seemed like forever.
"Steeevvveeeeee!" Kami yelled after his friend and rushed to the guard rail to see where Steve had vanished.
All six kids looked down in shock.
"You killed him," Cale suddenly yelled and took a swing at Dorian.
It was a weak slap and only made Dorian look up in anger. "It was his fault... I didn't mean to... why did he jump..." the older boy looked down the mountain side and was just as stunned as the others.
"We need to get help," Kami called out after he turned back to the other boys.
"We go, you stay here," Dorian said and motioned for his three friends to follow him. "We'll call for help," one of the older boys called back at them.
Kami and Cale watched the kids making a hasty retreat. "You think they will send help?" Cale asked with a low voice.
"No," was Kami's short answer.
"What are we gonna do?"
"We need to get to Steve," Kami explained his plan of action. "If he's hurt... Cale, what if he's dead?" Kami suddenly couldn't keep the tears from rolling down his cheek while thinking about his best friend.
"He's not. He's fine," Cale said and looked down the mountain. He shuddered thinking about his friend falling down. "How do we get down there?"
"Steve has a rope in his pack. He said just in case," Kami told Cale and opened Steve's backpack he had put on the ground when they all had sat down for their break.
The two boys tied one end to one of the poles holding the rail and threw the other down the side.
"How long is it?" Cale wanted to know.
"Hopefully long enough. Listen, I go down first, you stay up here, OK?"
" 'K. Be careful," Cale said and watched Kami carefully climbing down the mountain slope. But after a few feet he was already swallowed by the thick undergrowth.
Steve was once again drawn out of his memories by his buzzing phone. He saw it was Danny and placed the phone on speaker, stopping to rest while taking the call.
"Yeah, I'm looking for Sasquatch," Danny's voice said. "Have you seen him?"
"Very funny, Danno. What have you got?"
"Not a lot yet. We met with Mrs. Keaki as she was leaving for work. She works second shift in Dietary at Queens so I'm sure she has provided some nutrition to you at one time or another," Danny explained and was only half joking. "Her husband worked construction for the state. He was also on second shift. She's upset but she will help all she can."
"Mrs. Keaki knew of her husband's past and knew he had been under suspicion for armed robbery several years ago but she said once he told her about it they had never mentioned it again," Catherine added. "She said he has cleaned up his act and hasn't been in any trouble."
"Did she mention anything odd in the last few days?" Steve asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Danny began. "A couple of nights ago they both got home from work around midnight and there was a pickup parked across the street. They hadn't been home five minutes before Ricky got a phone call and went outside. She said she looked out the window and saw her husband get into the truck. When he opened the door, the interior light came on and she could see the driver had a beard and was wearing a baseball cap, but she said she hadn't seen him before."
"Could she get a good look at the truck?"
"Dodge Ram – white," Cath replied.
"Good job. Let's see if Chin can match the make of truck to any of Keaki's known associates."
"When Ricky came back in, she asked him what was going on and he said it was a problem with work and not to worry… it was no big deal," Catherine added.
"Apparently it was a bigger deal than he thought," Steve replied. "Can you head over and talk to some of the people he worked with? And do a check for white trucks?"
"That was our next stop," Danny said. "Oh, she also said they are avid hikers. Never been to the stairs but they have always wanted to do that. She couldn't believe he went without her. How's your walk in the woods going?"
"It's not the woods, Danny," Steve said with a chuckle. For his friend everything with vegetation was 'woods'. "It's great, Danny. You're missing out."
"Really? I get to spend the afternoon with the cute new girl and you get to visit a dead guy. I win. Ow! That hurt."
Steve grinned when he heard Catherine say, "That was a very sexist remark!"
"Steve, she used her knuckles on my arm," Danny whined.
He couldn't help but smile. "You deserved it. Cath, if you want to file a harassment report, I'll have one sent from HR."
"No need," she sweetly replied. "I took care of it myself."
"I bet you did. Keep me posted."
"Will do. Be careful."
Steve put away his phone and glanced at his watch. He had been walking for just over two hours and would soon reach the summit. He could already see activity and recognized Max Bergman as one of the people working. He wasn't surprised to find Max on top of the mountain, given the man's affinity for spelunking and rappelling into caves. It only stood to reason that he would love to winch down to a crime scene.
"Commander!" Max called when Steve reached the site. "It is good of you to join us. How was your trip up? Certainly not as thrilling as mine," the ME said, his smile speaking volumes at his barely contained excitement.
"Mine was uneventful, Max. No sign of foul play on the way up." Steve glanced at the site. "So what can you tell me? Do we have a time of death yet?"
"Yes, of course. Based on Mr. Keaki's liver temp and lividity, our victim died between seven forty five and eight thirty this morning."?
Steve looked at his watch and calculated. "It took me just a little over two hours to get here, but I took my time. He would have had to leave before six to avoid being seen by the guard down below. But if he left much earlier than that, he would have climbed in the dark, which isn't the smartest thing to do. I would guess that he was killed shortly after he reached the top. Did he have a flashlight with him?"
"None has been found," Max replied. "No cell phone either." Max picked up a sealed bag. "But we do have this," he said and handed the knife to Steve. "I bagged and documented it so that it would not be further contaminated. There's blood on the blade as well as on the hilt."
"And… there's a fingerprint," Steve observed the bloody print. "Have you—"
"- sent it to Detective Kelly? Yes, we have. But I can already tell you that the blood is not Mr. Keaki's."
Steve looked at the body sprawled next to the three-sided metal building which had been 'decorated' with graffiti. "There's no blood," he said.
"There is not," Max agreed, then lifted the man's right hand, showing the palm. "Except from where he gripped the weapon."
"Do you have a cause of death?" Steve asked, glancing around the site, seeing no blood anywhere except on the knife itself.
"I have a likely cause of death," Max stipulated and kneeled next to the body. Steve mimicked him on the opposite side and watched as the ME turned the victim's head. Behind his left ear, they could see a swollen, purple bruise.
"Blunt force trauma?" Steve asked.
"Presumed," Max hedged. "I will know more once I get him to my office."
Steve nodded then stood as his phone rang. He again put the call on speaker. "Chin, what have you got?"
"Well, the print came back to none other than Mr. Keaki."
"In other words, our victim may be the perpetrator?"
"Looks like a lot of blood on that knife, Boss. Any blood trail?" Kono asked.
Steve looked at Max for confirmation but told them, "Negative. Max said nothing has been disturbed." One of the CSU techs joined them and Steve asked, "What do you have?"
"We dusted but found nothing. The trash in the building has been bagged but I doubt it pans out for anything. Dr. Bergman, we are ready to call the chopper as soon as the body is ready for transport."
"Steve, do you need Mr. Keaki for anything further?"
"No, go ahead. Chin, did you get all that?" Steve walked around the perimeter, checking for anything out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, doesn't sound like much to go on."
"I'm checking on the truck," Kono told him. "Haven't found anything yet."
"It may be nothing," Steve admitted. "I'm going to double check for blood on the stairs down."
"You do know..." Chin said. "You could hitch a ride back on the chopper."
Steve grinned. "Yeah? Where's the fun in that?"
Five minutes later, the phones of all the team members began dinging, indicating a text. Upon checking their phones, they had to laugh upon seeing the photo. Commander Steve McGarrett had posted a "selfie" of himself standing on top of the Haiku Stairs, grinning from ear to ear. The accompanying text said, "Bet you wish you were here."
- - - H50 - - -
Steve made good time on the way down but watched closely for any sign of blood on the steps. While the blood on the knife had set and was no longer wet, it still had looked fairly recent. There had to be blood somewhere other than on Keaki's hand. Still watching his surroundings, he answered his phone.
"Chin, anything?"
"Yes. I remembered that people who hike the stairs usually park in the neighborhood about a mile away to keep from being caught. So, we sent HPD to check for Keaki's car. They found that and also a white Dodge Ram parked right down the street. They ran plates for all the surrounding cars as well. The truck and another vehicle parked there miraculously happen to belong to the two other guys who were suspects in the robbery six years ago."
"That's rather an odd coincidence," Steve replied.
"And you know how I feel about coincidences," Chin added. "Kono has done some digging into the robbery, so I'll let her fill you in."
"Hey, Boss. Only one item was stolen – an artifact supposedly dating back to Kamehameha's time that was valued at around 80 grand. It was a statue of a goddess and was taken from the home of Mr. Enaku Makai. The statue simply disappeared; no record that anyone ever tried to fence it. I checked out Makai and learned that he passed away a couple of weeks ago."
"And this gets even better," Chin added. "The owner of the white truck is Raymond Mahoe, who happens to be Makai's sister's son."
"What evidence did they have against these guys?" Steve asked.
"Circumstantial," Chin replied. "The uncle said Raymond and his friends had been hanging around, but there was no evidence they were there at the time of the theft. These guys were young at the time – police split them up trying to get them to talk but none of them ratted. Their stories all matched and they stuck by their alibi stating they hadn't stolen anything."
"And yet, two weeks after the old man's death, all three of them meet on the same street."
"Which means if they all went up the stairs, two of them left the mountain," Chin replied.
"Yeah. It appears so. But I'm going to guess that at least one of them is bleeding. Although I haven't seen any evidence of that."
"Where are you, Steve?" Kono asked.
"Almost to the lowest platform," he replied. "I'll call Danny and Cath for pick up."
"OK, see you soon," Chin replied. "I'm pulling all I can on Mahoe and the other guy, Dennis Johns, but so far, they have been under the radar for the last several years. All appear to be model citizens. Danny and Cath checked both of their houses and no one was at home."
"See what you can find," Steve told him. "Talk to you soon." He ended the call and then called Catherine's phone.
"Hey, handsome!" she greeted him. He grinned, hearing Danny making barfing noises in the background.
"PDA," he heard Danny yell.
"Hi, Cath. I need a ride. Didn't know if you both wanted to swing by or if you are near headquarters, you can stop and get my truck and bring it over."
"Yeah, sure, I can do that," she told him. "We were just heading back to the Palace after checking out a couple of houses. I assume you've heard from Chin?"
"Yeah, sounds like our boys got back together this morning for a reason. Kind of odd that it is right after Makai died."
"Yeah, a little suspect, isn't it?" Danny said after Catherine placed the call on speaker. "You almost down?"
"I'm at the first platform," Steve said, stopping to look at the scenery around him. "Cath, I should be in the parking lot in half an hour to forty-five minutes."
"Got it. See you soon."
"See you tomorrow, Danny."
"Later, Steven."
Steve remained on the platform for a few moments longer, enjoying the breeze and the view. This portion of the trail was rocky but trees were sparsely growing down below on one side of the mountain. He glanced around, and then his attention was drawn back to the right. At this angle, on the descent of the mountain, he saw something blue down below. The only way he would have seen it on the way up was to turn around to look down. Steve dropped his backpack to the ground and pulled out the binoculars. The blue he discovered was a shirt… and he could make out that it was splattered with red. Other than that, through the brush, he could see an arm. Steve assumed the blood was from a knife wound, but he had no way to verify that fact other than going to the body. And there was also the possibility that the guy was still alive.
He dropped the binoculars back into the pack and pulled out his rope, tying it off on one of the metal railings. He threw the bundled rope down and watch with satisfaction that it unrolled to its full length.
Steve looked down the slope and calculated how to best go down. The path here was fairly easy down one side of the mountain so he swung over the railing ready to hold the rope and drop to the ground. For a moment he thought about calling in his find before going down, but he decided he would call when he reached the body.
Steve checked the security of the spring catch and the rope and then grabbed it and jumped the short distance to the ground beneath the stairs. His feet had barely touched the ground when Steve saw a shadow from beneath the platform.
The steps in this area were built up above the base of the mountain, so there was enough room for someone to hide underneath. It was clear that no normal hiker was lurking in this place, so Steve let go of the rope with his right hand and reached for his weapon.
But it was already too late, he was struck in his left temple and fell backward. Steve was dazed from the hit and lost his footing, he dropped his Sig which skidded to a stop somewhere beneath him. He tried to stay on his feet but the momentum from when he stumbled backwards and the downward slope let him crash onto his back.
For a second he was unable to draw in a breath and Steve struggled to see where was up and down. He was still in movement, sliding down the mountain. Before he could do anything to change his position and try to stop his descent, he jerked to a stop when his right foot tangled in the rope.
Steve groaned in pain when his leg felt like it was ripped off. The worst pain coming from his ankle that took the brunt of his weight when he came to such a sudden stop.
Steve looked around for his gun, but was unable to locate it. He had no idea where it had landed. He attempted to right himself despite the pain in his ankle and the hammering in his head. Steve knew he was in a vulnerable position and his attacker would have no problem finishing him off.
Suddenly the rope that was still keeping him from sliding further down, went slack and Steve's downward slide began once again.
Steve tried to grab at the scrubby plants or whatever came in his path on his way down, but only managed to turn so that he wasn't still toppling head first. He felt a searing pain when his side impacted with a jagged boulder. Unfortunately it didn't stop his uncontrolled fall down the mountain. Steve had given up on the hope that this was a slide down the mountain, he was falling and rolling more than slowly sliding.
He gained even more momentum the longer he fell. Every impact on the unforgiving ground littered with little rocks and roots, caused new bruises to form. Finally he landed hard on another bigger rock, which, yet again, took his breath away. He jerked to a stop when the rope caught on something up the mountain, most likely on one of the roots he had had close contact with just moments ago.
Steve lay there on his stomach, half-way on the edge of the boulder, panting for breath, looking at the mountain below him. Before he could move to a more secure position he felt the rope give way and he grabbed desperately for the edge of the rock to stop his fall.
His dusty hands couldn't find purchase on the boulder's smooth surface and he slid and toppled once again downward.
And this time he didn't stop until his head connected with the base of a tree.
- - - H50 - - -