"Any news, love?" Steve asked as he entered the office.
"Nothing yet," Jenny replied. She looked anxious. "How's Danny?"
"He's all right," Steve assured her. "Shaken by the phone call, but he's safe now. Well," he added, "apart from the nurses who are chasing him." To his relief, Jenny laughed.
"That's our boy," she agreed. Steve carried on into his office.
He knew that Chin and Kono were out chasing down any potential sightings of Mrs Shem, but he felt that he ought to be doing something more. Picking up Shem's file, he started reading the background notes, hoping to find a clue there as to where the mother might be.
It was pretty turgid stuff and scant on details. Shem's father had been in the military and one night while home on leave had driven his car off a cliff while drunk. Mrs Shem had claimed he was being bullied which had made him drink and that he was depressed. The army had examined the claims of bullying but had found nothing to substantiate what Mrs Shem was saying. In fact, the findings were more in the other direction – Shem senior had been a bully and few people were sad to see the back of him. The young William Shem had had problems throughout school, made few friends and had little or no academic abilities. He joined up when the draft for Vietnam arrived and that was when he had had the first out of control incidence with a weapon.
There was little in the file that Steve didn't already know. He was disappointed but not surprised. Sighing, he put it aside and the phone rang as if on cue. It was the Governor.
"Steve, what's this about Danny deliberately shooting to kill that sniper yesterday?" Jameson demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Steve responded. "You know that Danno was injured yesterday before he could take down the sniper. He was sent up there to stop Shem from murdering any other innocent people. He had to take the shot that was presented to him. Did I want Shem dead? No. Am I sorry that he died? No. He was holed up in that bunker with enough ammunition to kill a large part of our police force. I can only too well imagine the outcry had we not stopped him when we did." Steve knew that flack was an inevitable part of his job, but it really annoyed him when the bleeding hearts implied he was a blood-thirsty murderer and it annoyed him even more that this label was now being pinned to Danny's chest.
"It's on the news," Jameson replied. "That Michelle Patterson is as good as saying that no attempt was made to talk Shem down and that Danny was sent up there with orders to shoot to kill."
"Governor, I thought you knew better than to believe anything that Ms Patterson says," Steve retorted. "I already had a run-in with her this morning. She said much the same thing to me."
"Normally, I don't believe her," Jameson replied, his tone tight. "However, she says she is going to interview Shem's mother live on the news and that Mrs Shem was right there and heard you give the order to shoot to kill."
"So that's where she is!" Steve snarled. He was beyond furious. He was so angry he felt like he could explode at any moment. He took a deep breath so that he didn't say the first thing that came into his mind, which was less than complimentary to the Governor. "Sir, Mrs Shem might have been out at Diamond Head yesterday, but she certainly did not hear me order Danno to shoot to kill because that is an order I did not give. She was not standing at the command post for more than a few minutes so was not in a position to hear any orders. She is as mentally unstable, in my opinion, as her son was."
"Be that as it may, and I'm not doubting your word, Steve, but this woman is out to sully Five-O's name and reputation."
"There is an APB out for Mrs Shem's arrest at the moment," Steve replied. "I plan to implement that APB right now."
"Her arrest?" Jameson gasped. "What for?"
"Danny received a phone call this morning threatening his life," Steve replied tightly. "We believe it might have been made by Mrs Shem, as she was threatening to kill the person who killed her son yesterday." He made a disgusted sound. "As you are aware, the newspapers carried details of the hero who shot the sniper."
"It won't look good if you arrest her live on camera," Jameson warned, as though Steve wouldn't have thought of such a thing.
"I agree," Steve replied. "I hope we can avoid that. I need to go, sir. Goodbye." He barely waited for the Governor to reply before he hung up.
Furious beyond belief, he swept out of the office. "Jenny, get hold of Chin and Kono and tell them to get down to the TV station. That Patterson female is going to interview Mrs Shem on TV. Warn them that we don't want her arrested in front of the cameras if we can possibly avoid it. This whole situation is getting out of control and I don't want it splashed all over the media!"
"On it, boss," Jenny replied and reached for the radio.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX
"She's not in the station, Steve," Kono reported. "We've searched the whole place." Behind Kono, the station manager looked smug.
"Where is she?" Steve demanded of the man, stepping up close to him.
"Not here," he replied, not troubling to hide his amusement that they had outwitted the great Hawaii Five-O.
"You do realise that I can arrest you for perverting the course of justice?" Steve hissed quietly, all too aware of the cameras that were recording this confrontation. The station manager paled.
"You can't do that," he blustered and Steve raised an eyebrow.
"This is an arrest warrant," he declared, holding the piece of paper up. "I know my officers showed it to you. Now tell me where Mrs Shem is and perhaps I won't arrest you. You have 10 seconds." He met the other man's eyes. "Nine." Their gazes locked. "Eight." The other man swallowed. "Seven." Steve tucked the warrant into his jacket pocket. "Six." He smiled slightly. "Five." He reached for his handcuffs. "Four."
"They're at Michelle's house in Aina Haina," the manager blurted.
"Address!" Steve snapped and the man stuttered out the address. Without a single word, Steve turned and headed for his car. Chin and Kono hurried to get into their own car and followed Steve towards the residential area.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The nap had revived Danny again and he was feeling rather silly for the way he had reacted to the phone call earlier. He ate some of the lunch that was brought to him and then turned on the TV, determined to stay awake for a while longer. He hated sleeping so much and decided that he would try and do without his next lot of pain meds. The sooner he could be back on his feet the better.
It was time for the news and Danny decided that was more likely to keep him awake than some dreadful soap opera. He never watched daytime TV except when he was side-lined from the job. In point of fact, he seldom watched TV at all.
Predictably, the first headline was about the incident the previous day. "A sniper on Diamond Head was killed by a police marksman yesterday afternoon." The anchor suddenly looked gleeful. "We have an exclusive live interview with the sniper's mother coming right up." He glanced towards another camera. "Michelle."
The picture switched to a rather nice beach scene. Danny instantly recognised it as in the Aina Haina district. Michelle Patterson smiled coyly into the camera and Danny made a face. He couldn't understand her appeal, pretty girl or not. She was so clearly just out for what she could get for herself. Truth could go hang.
"Thank you, Jeff," she simpered. "I have with me Mrs Shem, the mother of the sniper from yesterday afternoon, William Shem." The shot changed slightly to encompass the woman that Danny had met the previous afternoon. "Mrs Shem, let me start by saying how sorry I am for your son's death."
"His murder, you mean," Mrs Shem responded. "He was murdered by the police, by Officer Danny Williams in fact." Danny winced at the words.
"Your son had a history of mental illness, did he not?" Michelle asked.
"Yes, and he didn't get any help," Mrs Shem replied. "My poor boy didn't know what he was doing and the police made no effort to talk him down from there. They just shot at him and then sent a marksman to kill him." She burst into tears.
For a moment, Michelle said nothing, simply patting Mrs Shem's hand and passing her a tissue, trying – and failing, Danny thought – to look compassionate. "Are you sure the marksman was sent to kill your son?" she asked gently.
"Oh yes," Mrs Shem replied, the tears magically drying. "I heard Steve McGarrett tell that Danny Williams to shoot to kill! He murdered my son! The papers are crying him a hero because he was shot. Well, he was shot because my son was trying to protect himself! Williams deserves every ounce of pain he has! I hope he dies from his wounds! He deserves to suffer, the way my boy suffered!" Mrs Shem was completely out of control. Spittle flew from her lips as she screamed out the words.
In a tone that Danny thought most people would see as calming, but he saw as provocative, Michelle said, "But the police deny those claims, Mrs Shem. Surely McGarrett wouldn't give that order?"
"I heard him!" Mrs Shem insisted. "Williams was ordered to kill my boy!" She looked directly into the camera. "I hope Williams can live with himself, knowing that he murdered a sick boy!" She glanced back at Michelle. "It may not be very Christian of me, but I hope that Williams suffers for what he did! Prison is too good for him! He deserves to die!"
That appeared to be slightly more than Michelle was prepared for her witness to say. Her eyes opened wide with the first genuine emotion Danny had seen during the interview and she seemed lost for words. However, she swiftly recovered. "Thank you so much speaking to me at this difficult time," she soothed. "Now back to the studio and Jeff."
"Thank you, Michelle," Jeff replied, looking smug. "Now for the rest of the day's news…"
Danny was no longer listening. He switched the set off without being aware that he had done it. He had just been publicly accused of murder by the mother of the man he had shot and killed the previous day. While Danny knew he had been acting within the law, it was extremely unpleasant. He knew there would be a huge backlash from this. The other news outlets would pick up on it and his reputation would be dragged through the mud. How was it that Michelle Patterson had managed to make the mad William Shem out to be a poor victim? Mixing lies and truth always made things more difficult for those who sought only the truth, but it worked very well for Ms Patterson.
The door to his hospital room opened and Bergman came in. Danny knew at once that the doctor had seen the broadcast. "Don't say it, Doc," he pleaded. "I'm fine. I need to get out of here." He threw the covers back and sat up, wincing at the pain, but Bergman had anticipated the move.
"You're going nowhere!" he declared firmly. "You were shot and required surgery yesterday afternoon," he reminded the young man. "You lost a lot of blood and you're staying here until I decide you're well enough to go home. I'll sedate the daylights out of you if you try to resist."
"Then that's what you'll have to do!" Danny retorted. "I can't stay, Doc. My reputation is worth nothing thanks to that woman. I have to give my side of the story to the media now, to try and refute her allegations."
"No. I mean it, Danny. You're staying here, like it or not. If I have to get Steve here to make it an order, you won't like that any better! Sedation and restraint is only the start of what I can do to keep you here." Bergman knew how upset Danny must be – he felt upset himself and he wasn't the one being accused of murder. "Don't even think of signing yourself out AMA, either." He pushed a bit harder against Danny's good shoulder.
"The only way I'm staying here is if you get me committed!" Danny shouted.
"That could be arranged!" Bergman shouted back. Before the situation could deteriorate any further, he pulled a syringe from his lab coat pocket and shot the contents into Danny's IV. The outraged detective let out a bellow of objection and started to struggle against the doctor, but in vain. Within a few moments, the drug was coursing through his bloodstream and he felt his wits sliding away. As Bergman situated him properly in the bed once more, Danny made one more abortive attempt to get up, but his head wouldn't lift off the pillow. As he slid into drugged slumber, he was vaguely aware of a hand grasping his wrist.