This time, he was determined to act like a detective, not a scared rabbit. He left the card where it had fallen and called for a lab team. He doubted if there would be any prints on the card apart from his, but he knew he had to make sure. Then he made the phone call he really didn't want to make, but had to.

"McGarrett." Steve's voice had the clipped quality that Danny associated with Steve's attention being on something else.

"Steve, it's me," he said.

"Danno?"

"Steve, I just received some flowers," Danny went on. "Um – I don't think Mrs Shem was behind the threatening phone call."

"Are you all right?" Steve demanded.

"I'm fine," Danny assured him. "It was the card that carried the message this time." He was aware that this conversation was disjointed, but he was trying to be dispassionate about this, despite the erratic hammering of his heart, his shaking hand and the urge he had to throw up.

"Danno…" Steve said, but Danny had to get this out before he fell apart and started acting like a victim.

"The card reads 'it's your funeral'." He swallowed. "The bouquet is of lilies."

"Sit down, Danno," Steve ordered. "If you aren't already sitting, then sit down!" Steve himself was on his feet, alarm coursing through his veins. "I'll call for the lab team…"

"I already did that," Danny assured him. There was a pause. "I'm sitting down now," he concluded. From the way his knees had been trembling, Danny thought it was probably just as well that Steve had told him to sit. Falling down would not be pleasant.

"I'll be right there!" Steve promised. "Don't let anyone in!" The phone crashed down.

As he hung up his phone more carefully, Danny glanced ruefully at his still-open front door. Anyone could have walked in on him. He really had to do better than this. He was not a victim; he was a cop and he had to start thinking like a cop. He vowed there and then to take no more pain pills, regardless of how sore his shoulder was. He needed all his wits about him until this crazy person was caught.

There was only one snag – they didn't know who they were looking for.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

By the time Steve arrived, Danny had called the flower shop and asked who had paid for the flowers. They had been paid for by cash and no name had been given. It had been busy that day and the owner of the shop was not entirely sure who had paid for them – there had been a young man and a young woman in about the same time but he couldn't recall who had bought what. Any further investigation would have to be done in person, perhaps with photos to aid recall or a police sketch artist to make a drawing.

Steve arrived about the same time as the lab team. He studied the note for several moments before handing it over to the lab team for closer examination. He took in the flowers before turning to Danny, who was resting on the couch. "Are you all right?" Steve asked.

"Yes, I'm okay," Danny replied. "The note just shook me up a bit."

"It's allowed to do that," Steve told him. "We thought that Mrs Shem had made the phone call; it would seem from this that perhaps she was innocent in that respect. However, we can't rule her out altogether. We need to question the person who sent the flowers."

"They were ordered today," Danny told him. "This morning about an hour or so after I was released from hospital." He glanced at his boss. "Just after the next main news was broadcast, showing me leaving the hospital." To both Steve and Danny's mutual disgust, the TV station that Michelle Patterson worked for had still had a camera in situ at the hospital, waiting for Danny to be released and it had been broadcast as part of the regular news bulletin, along with a recap of the previous events. Jenny had told Steve all about it. Steve had wondered how his secretary knew, but Jenny never revealed her sources.

"In some ways, that doesn't narrow things down, does it?" Steve commented wryly. "A good chunk of the population of Oahu saw you leaving hospital." He sat down. "Still, a good chunk of the population have no motivation to do you harm."

"Well, we hope not at any rate," Danny agreed. He was feeling calmer now. This was familiar territory; he and Steve verbally working the case, putting up theories and feeling their way through them. All that was missing were Chin and Kono and they arrived shortly after, concerned for their friend, and relieved to find that he was all right.

"I'll take the flowers with me, too," Che Fong told Steve as the lab team packed away their gear. There hadn't been much for them to find.

"Thanks, Che," Steve replied. The heady scent lingered in the still air of the apartment and Kono moved to throw open the lanai doors and let in some air. Steve closed the door behind the lab team and returned to where Danny was still sitting. "We'll get some protection down here for you right away," Steve told his detective. "Don't go anywhere without them. We'll catch whoever this is, Danno, don't worry."

"All right, Steve," Danny agreed.

"Chin, I want you to go over to the flower shop and question the owner again. See if you can get a description of the man and woman he served," Steve ordered. "Kono, I want you to go and talk to young Mrs Shem again. See if she has an alibi for this." He gave the big Hawaiian a hard look. "I want to be sure that her alibis are indisputable. I want eye witnesses for her at each of the times Danno has received a threat."

"Sure thing, boss," Kono agreed. He patted Danny gently on his uninjured shoulder. "See ya later, bruddah."

"Take care, Danny," Chin advised and the two of them left on their errands.

For a few moments, Danny watched Steve restlessly pace the length of the small living room. "Steve, this isn't your fault," he offered at last. "We thought it was Mrs Shem. She seemed the logical suspect. She had threatened to kill me."

"I shouldn't have taken the logic at face value," Steve replied. "I should have looked more closely. I'm sorry, Danno. I placed you in danger quite unwittingly and it shouldn't have happened."

"But I'm fine," Danny responded. "Nothing happened and you've moved to stop anything happening. Steve, you're only human and I'm fine."

The pacing stopped and after a moment, Steve sat down beside Danny. He placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know," he agreed, softening. "I promise I'll do better to keep you safe, aikane."

"I know you will," Danny agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take long for a guard to arrive from HPD and Steve stayed with Danny until the man was in place. Danny went to lie down on his bed for a while after Steve left and ended up taking a nap. When he woke, he felt better, but cooped up. He remembered his desire to walk on the beach and found appropriate shoes, collected his guard and they set off.

One of the advantages of his home was that the beach was just across the road. The HPD officer was not keen on Danny exposing himself to danger, but since Danny was technically his superior officer, he didn't put up much resistance. He was, however, a very tense shadow, sticking as close as he could without actually wading in the ocean.

Even that short excursion was tiring for the recovering detective, but he felt he had blown the cobwebs out of his brain. The pain medication had worn off and his shoulder was throbbing, but Danny felt more like himself. He was ready to help Steve think through this case to find whoever was threatening him. While it felt good to know there was someone else looking out for him, it was also good to realise that he was now thinking clearly and was able to take on some responsibility for his own safety again.

He was beginning to feel hungry, but Steve had said he would be over and would cook for them both, so Danny contented himself with some fruit to tide him over and turned on the TV. There was nothing on that grabbed his attention and so he took a book and went to sit on the lanai.

There were advantages to being a couple of floors up in an apartment building and one of them was the view. The other was the fact that access, despite the lanais, was harder for crazed criminals. Most were not willing to climb up a building to kill someone. Rappelling down from the roof was another option, but somehow Danny didn't think that was likely in this case. So far, all he had had were threats and while he didn't take them lightly by any means, he was beginning to wonder if that was all this person intended to do. Still, he had to pay attention to his own safety until this nut was caught.

The book was not holding his attention either he realised and put it aside. This was why he hated sick leave, he reflected. He wanted to be out doing things, but he wasn't fit to do that and he couldn't concentrate on reading or watching TV. He led an active lifestyle and sitting around was not high on his agenda. Wandering back inside, he decided that he would put some clothes on to wash and then perhaps he would feel able to just sit down.

He had just switched the machine on when the building's fire alarm started blaring. In all the time Danny had lived there, it had never gone off before, apart from the regular tests. This was not a test, he guessed, as it did not go off after just a couple of seconds. Slipping on shoes, he headed for the door. The HPD officer was nowhere in sight.

For a moment, Danny paused, but the alarm was shrieking and he knew he had to get out. It was probably a false alarm, but you never knew. He hurried down the stairs, meeting a few of his neighbours. Most of them were still out at work at this time of the day.

There was no sign of the HPD officer outside the building either. Danny was worried now; had something happened to him? He headed over to the fire safety point and glanced around. People were converging on the building, drawn by the pulsating alarm. Danny knew he had to stay alert and stay with the people from his building, but he was concerned about where his guard had gone. Was the man all right? Was he inside, making sure the building was cleared? Distantly, Danny could hear the sirens as the fire department drew closer.

Something round and hard suddenly poked into his back, just under his right arm. "Don't move, don't do anything stupid and don't shout for help," advised a male voice. Danny glanced over his shoulder, seeing a strange man standing there. The object against his back was clearly a gun. "I'll shoot randomly if you try anything," the man went on. "Now, nice and calmly, come this way." He tugged on the sling and Danny winced. He had no option. The crowd of people gathering around the building was growing and it was all too likely that random shooting would kill and seriously injure quite a few of them. Danny had no idea what kind of gun the man was holding, but he couldn't take that chance.

He turned and walked quietly away.