Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Hawaii Five-0.
You Owe Me
Part 2
By
N. J. Borba
"Give me your keys," Steve demanded as he marched toward the Camaro.
Danny did his best to keep pace with the long-legged man. As they crossed the pristinely manicured front lawn toward the parking lot, Danny shook his head. "No."
"No?" McGarrett was practically fuming, but he did his best not to take it out on his friend. "Come on, Danny. Give me your keys," he didn't halt his pace until he was standing beside the vehicle. "Look, I can run back up to the office and ask Chin for his keys and he'll give them to me. Now save me some time, because I'm leaving to question our suspect one way or another. You can either come along or let me go alone. Your choice."
"Some choice. Of course I'm not letting you go alone," Danny protested. "But I think it'd be better if you didn't go at all. I can handle it, Steve," he offered. Danny eyed the unrelenting man. "If you show up and start mouthing off to Harrington things could get ugly."
"Things are already well past ugly, Danny," Steve's self-enforced mellow tone was barely keeping his emotions at bay.
"Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions?" Danny spread his hands against the car's roof. "You need to take some deep breaths and think this through. Yes, it looks a little bad for Harrington at the moment. But to be honest those pictures were not very damning," he bravely spoke those words, though he took a slight step backward, fearing he might have to avoid the swing of McGarrett's fist. "A hand on Catherine's shoulder, no big deal," he carefully continued. "And a hug? That can also be innocently explained away. I think."
Steve's jaw twitched and his head shook. "What have you done with Danny Williams?" he asked. "Because you are not the same guy who recently told me that we shouldn't allow Catherine to take any job in a male testosterone heavy environment," he threw the words back at his friend. "And something else about rabbits?"
"Correct, yes. That was me speaking," Danny admitted to those accusations. "But you see I momentarily failed to remember that Catherine currently works, and has for what, fifteen or so years, around a lot of male testosterone? So, I was wrong. I can admit that. I think I was just being a little overly critical with everything going on between Gabby and me at the moment. But that's beside the point. The point is that maybe, just maybe, you're wrong about Billy."
Taking a second to try and calm himself down as Danny suggested, Steve finally nodded. "Yeah, sure, I could be wrong," it pained him to say those words. "But right now he's the strongest lead we've got and I'm going to talk to him. So, keys?" he held a hand out.
Still not sure it was the best idea; Danny opened the passenger side door, slid into the seat and then unlocked the driver's door.
As Steve entered the car and took the keys his partner offered, he glared at the man. "Really, you trust me so little?"
Danny shrugged. "Just didn't want to run the risk of you taking off on me." They were on the road in seconds, barreling toward Honolulu's downtown core. "I take it you know where you're going?" Danny asked his friend. All he got from Steve was a non-committal shrug. "Of course you know where you're going, how stupid of me to ask. I imagine you memorized Harrington's address the second Catherine agreed to take the job."
Steve didn't deny or confirm his partner's assumption. The remainder of their relatively short drive was made in silence. Downtown was fairly empty late on a Sunday afternoon, only a few cars and people around. They approached the eight-story apartment building that was situated on a large corner lot, and Steve drove just a little bit faster as he maneuvered through the parking garage. Once inside they took the elevator and Steve led the way until they stopped outside of unit 7G.
"What did you do, map the route here?" Danny tried to joke as Steve pressed the door buzzer.
Billy opened the large steel door and greeted his guests with a curious glance. "Commander?" he stood there in a pair of gray sweatpants, white t-shirt and socked feet. "I'm sorry to say you're not the person I was expecting to see. Detective Williams," he nodded a welcome to the man standing beside Steve and then motioned them inside.
With a critical eye, Danny perused the interior of the place without moving around much. The décor was modern, steel, concrete and granite, sparse. "You're watching the Jets game, huh?" Danny asked, noticing the players on a large screen TV in the living space. He couldn't deny feeling slightly jealous that he wasn't doing the same thing at the moment.
"Jets are winning, but I'm a 49ers fan," Billy replied cordially. "Grew up in San Francisco," he mentioned, watching the men with a serious stance. "Not to be rude, but I assume you two didn't stop by to talk about football," he observed.
"Who were you expecting to see just now when you opened your door?" Steve questioned. "Catherine, maybe?"
"No," Billy's head shook. "I saw Catherine this morning. I showed her the office space I found for us."
Steve was actually relieved by the fact that Harrington had just openly admitted to that information. It didn't lend well to Steve's case against him, though. He took a deep breath, trying to keep in mind that he'd served with Billy and always believed him to be an upstanding officer and genuinely nice guy. "We found a woman's body washed ashore this morning," he decided to play his hand.
"You need my help with a case?" Harrington concluded.
"No," Danny replied, scrolling through the pictures on his cell until he came to the one of their victim. He held it up for Billy to view.
"Lieutenant Cathleen Dugan," Steve supplied her name, realizing, not for the first time, how similar the woman's name was to Catherine's.
Billy glanced at the picture on Danny's phone, the image of her dead body at a crime scene. "Cathleen's dead?" he swallowed. "Jeez…" the man stumbled backward a little and leaned heavily against the arm of his sofa.
It was not the sort of reaction Steve had been hoping for. In fact he felt more than a little ashamed that he'd been hoping for the man to react blatantly guilty. Over the years working in the military and in law enforcement he'd come to think of himself as a pretty decent judge of character. He'd seen people lie before, plenty of times. Some of them were fairly good at it, but Billy seemed genuinely distressed by the sight of the woman's dead body. They were Navy men, not a lot got to them. But seeing a friend hurt or dead - that got to them.
"According to some digging, you knew her?" Steve wasn't entirely ready to dismiss the man. There were still too many similarities and unanswered questions for him to let his guard down with Billy. "You worked with her," he pointed out the obvious.
"Yeah, we were in Kabul together and on the Enterprise for a while. Catherine, Cathleen and I, we… we were all friends. Or at least, friendly. I mean, you work so closely with people you start to become, closer," Billy explained.
"And how close were you and Lieutenant Dugan?" Danny asked. "You dated?"
Harrington nodded. "It wasn't much of a relationship. A few dates, a diplomatic military ball when the Enterprise was docked at Beijing back in 2010." He could tell that the line of questioning was more than just simple information gathering. "Are you considering me a suspect in her murder? Because I was here this morning, most of it anyhow. As I said before I wanted to show Catherine around the place that will soon be her home away from home," the man smiled.
"Right," Steve nodded. He didn't mention the possibility that their meeting could've been a rather convenient cover to throw the police off. And it didn't go unnoticed that Harrington seemed quick to think he was a suspect. "Our medical examiner estimated time of death roughly between 10pm and midnight last night. Where were you then?" Steve realized Max hadn't actually confirmed that, but he'd go with Max's educated guesses over a lot of other people's facts any day.
"I was home by about nine last night after dinner out with a friend," the man answered without protest, or call for a lawyer. "I ended up falling asleep on the sofa shortly after midnight. Spent all night sleeping there and have the sore neck to prove it," Billy concluded.
"Anyone to verify that alibi?" Steve pressed.
"No, sir. I slept alone last night," Billy answered.
Danny noticed the way Harrington slipped into military mode as he spoke to Steve. "Maybe because your girlfriend was sleeping in the ocean," he alleged.
Billy remained relaxed in the wake of their questioning. "I'm telling you both, she was never what you'd call a girlfriend," he sighed. "Look, a few years back I gave her a contact for a job on the mainland. My friend, Martin Chase. I've known him since grade school back in California. He's an Architect at the firm on Merchant street. I suggested he could use an in-house engineer and he agreed. He ended up hiring her. Cathy and I haven't even seen each other in nearly two years, not since she left the Navy."
"Funny isn't it, how women keep leaving the Navy because of you," Steve couldn't help allowing some of his suspicion to squeeze out.
"Commander, with due respect," Billy was careful to look Steve in the eye as he spoke. "I had nothing to do with Cathleen leaving the Navy. She left because her mother got sick and she wanted to return to Oahu in order to help take care of her. And Catherine left the Navy because of you, not me. She wanted to be on this island full-time to be closer to you. I figured you knew that."
Steve stood down a little, suddenly feeling petty about the entire conversation so far. He knew that Dugan's death, thus far, had yielded no signs of foul play. And she deserved an honest investigation, not a witch hunt. "Do you know anyone who might have wanted to hurt Cathleen Dugan?" he switched tactics. "Did she ever make any enemies that you know of? Any other ex-boyfriends that might have wanted to hurt her? We know she was admitted to the ER several times in recent months."
A small smile momentarily graced Billy's chiseled features. "Cathy was a bit accident prone. She could trip over her own feet," he noted with a hint of laughter. "She grew up on Oahu but she told me she'd always been afraid to try anything like surfing. Cathy managed to break her wrist once just by jogging on the beach and tripping in the sand, came down hard and caught herself with one hand."
Despite his best effort to not think of Harrington as a suspect, Steve was noticing way too many things to write him off. The dodge of his questions. The blame being thrown back on to the victim. "You mentioned she and Catherine were friends?"
"Like I said before, we all served together on the Enterprise," Billy reiterated. "I was only there for a few years but Cathy and Catherine served together for close to five years. Cathleen was in engineering so they weren't attached at the hip or anything. They weren't best friends by any means, but yes they knew each other."
"Do you know where Catherine is now?" Steve asked.
"No, I don't," Billy's answer was swift. "Maybe she had to go to work. I'm not her boss yet," Harrington bit down on the last word. "Commander, if I can help you in any way with Cathy's investigation, please, let me know."
That last bit of arrogance had Steve reaching for the envelope of pictures in his back pocket. "Actually, Billy. I was wondering what you can tell me about these?" He handed over the two most important ones in which Billy's hands were in contact with Catherine.
"Are you having me followed, Steve?" the former Navy Lieutenant asked.
Again Steve noticed the way Billy answered a question with a question. The arrogance of his tone. The instant defensive nature of his posture. "Someone sent those to me, so I was about to ask if you were having Catherine followed?"
"Why?" Billy shrugged. "What point would I have in following Catherine?"
Danny could see the anger brewing just beneath Steve's cool exterior. "Here's an interesting reason that just popped into my head," he offered. "Let's say you wanted to get shots of the two of you in some sort of compromising position, and then you send them to Steve to make him jealous. Maybe that leads to him and Catherine breaking up so you can move in on his territory," Danny concluded. "But that's just one theory."
An audible sigh escaped Billy Harrington's lips. "I thought going to you was the right thing," he addressed Steve directly. "I figured if I was up front about the job for Catherine we could all be adults. But now I see I was wrong. I don't like being wrong about people, Commander. You always struck me as a decent guy but… those pictures show me being friendly with a friend. I really want to make a go of this business and I know having Catherine on my side will make that happen. And if you want to know the whole truth, she shrugged off my hand and my hug and told me we needed to keep things as professional as possible. I admire that about her, I've always admired her honesty and candor. But I guess I'll have to tell her the job is over because the last thing I want is to cause trouble. I swear," he declared. "And if there's a way I can help with Cathy's case then my offer is still there."
"Thanks," was all Steve managed to get out before promptly directing Danny toward the exit. They didn't speak until they reached the car. Steve sat in the driver's seat again and ran a hand over his head. The hand moved to the base of his neck and massaged the sore muscles there. "That didn't go very well."
"I don't know what to tell you, babe," Danny sighed. "He seemed very agreeable, eager to offer up any help. Okay, he was a little quick on the defensive, but that could be explained away as you hounding him. I mean it's possible I did have him pegged wrong," he glanced at his friend. "But you don't look convinced," Danny observed.
Steve shook his head. "I'm not sure what to think," he said to his partner. "Every time I tried to think of Harrington as a bad guy my gut told me otherwise. And yet I still feel like something's not right, Danny," Steve relayed his confusion.
"A woman is dead so, yes, something is definitely not right," Danny pondered. "Unless it was just an accident."
"There is always that possibility," Steve replied as he put the Camaro in gear and exited the parking garage.
Danny had to smile. "But I doubt it's the possibility we're rolling with."
"You doubt correctly," Steve concurred.
000
Catherine opened the door and smiled to see her visitor. "You tracked me down."
Steve couldn't help let his eyes roam the curves that were emphasized by the slinky blue dress she had on. He didn't want to admit he'd traced her cell phone to discover she was at her place rather than his, or that he'd had that feature permanently installed on her new phone since El Condor had snatched her. Steve hadn't wanted to just call either. He actually preferred to disappoint her in person if at all possible. "Catherine, I…"
"By the look on your face," she cut him off and glanced out the front window where she spotted Danny sitting on the passenger side of his own car. "I'm guessing we're not going to make it to dinner tonight," Catherine concluded. She'd kind of been expecting that outcome, but it was still a letdown. "I have to say you've gotten good at wiggling your way out of dinner dates," she smiled but could immediately see he wasn't in a joking mood.
He reached out and twirled a lock of her hair with one finger. "You did something different."
Her smile returned, clearly touched that he'd noticed. "I just curled it a little."
"I like it," Steve sighed regretfully, knowing he'd have to leave her again in a few minutes.
"An officer and a gentleman," Catherine quipped.
His shoulders raised slightly in a half shrug. Steve took her by the hand and guided her over to the sofa where they sat down side-by-side. "It's my job to notice details, when things are out of place or people or lying," he commented.
"And the moment is ruined," she sighed, though not overly dramatic. Catherine loved his analytical mind, but some days she wished it could be more thoughtful than logical. "What's going on? Do you need some sort of favor for a case?"
"No. Well, maybe," he revised. "I need to talk to you about Lieutenant Cathleen Dugan."
"Dugan?" Catherine questioned, finding that an odd name to come up. "What about her? We served on the Enterprise together for a while; she also dated Billy. Do you think he's going to ask her to work with us, too? Maybe have a little three-way ex reunion of sorts?" she joked. Again she noticed that Steve's face revealed nothing humorous. "That was a joke," she clarified. "Hey, what gives? You seem really out of it right now. If it's about dinner, it's okay. I know work comes first."
"She's dead, Cath," he tried to deliver the news as gently as possible but there was never a good way to tell someone a friend or even an acquaintance had died. Steve explained further about how they'd found her body and everything. He watched as her whole body sagged upon hearing the details. "You okay?"
"I honestly didn't know her that well," Catherine's tone was soft, filled with sorrow. "Still, she was one of us."
He nodded. Military service had not just been a job for either of them; it had been a way of life. And those they'd served with had become family. Even the most distant co-worker could be considered a sort of cousin in the larger family view of the service. "Is there anything you can tell me about her?"
"We didn't work together much, she was in engineering. But it was a small ship," it seemed funny to say that considering the massive size of an aircraft carrier. "We obviously ran in to each other a lot and she and Billy saw each other a few times after he and I were together. Then her mom got sick, breast cancer. Cathleen mustered out to take care of her. I got an email about six months ago saying her mom had passed. I sent flowers and a card. I always meant to go visit her but… time slips away," she lamented regretfully.
Steve kept hold of her hand, gently squeezing it. "So you didn't know if she was dating or seeing someone recently?"
"No, but you might ask Billy. I think they kept in touch," she said.
"Yeah, about that…" Steve sighed. "Listen, Cath, you're going to hear about this eventually, probably the next time you see Harrington. I wanted to be the one to tell you that I, Danny and I actually, questioned Billy in regard to Dugan's death," he let her know.
"Questioned?" she mulled that term over for a second. "As in you thought of him as a suspect?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure," Steve conveyed.
Her moth hung open for a moment until her eyes narrowed. "How could you possibly think Billy had anything to do with this?" her tone held a small degree of exasperation. "Steve, come on. Have you lost your mind? Billy is not a bad guy. If you're really still having trouble with the two of us working together just say so."
"Cath, that's not it at all. Okay, maybe it is a little," he struggled with telling her the truth, but decided she should be completely informed. He presented the envelope of photos he'd received earlier that day, spreading them out across the coffee table and silently imploring her to check them out. "I don't want to believe Billy had anything to do with Dugan's death, but there's some weird stuff going on here including these photographs of you and Billy."
She picked up one of the pictures and frowned. "This is… these were taken at the new office space Billy found for us. That was just this morning," Catherine looked Steve in the eye. "Did you have me followed?"
"No, Catherine, I swear. Someone sent these to me at Five-0 headquarters about an hour and a half ago."
Her fingers gripped the photo a little tighter. "And you think it has something to do with Billy? Why would he do that? Send you pictures of him and I. That makes no sense," Catherine maintained.
"Well, Danny actually has a pretty realistic theory to support it being Harrington," he saw the look of disgust cross over her face. "Catherine, I'm sorry, but hear me out. Please? I honestly don't know who's doing this," Steve was beyond frustrated as he thought back to a few years ago when he'd been secretly sent envelopes containing the contents of his father's tool box. "All I know is that you and Cathleen have a mutual connection to Billy Harrington."
"By that reasoning, she and I shared a mutual connection to everyone who served aboard the Enterprise with Billy," she countered.
"Okay, you have a point there," he had to admit. "But how many of them shared a name similar to Catherine or Cathleen? And how many of them had a relationship with Billy Harrington that was more than work related?"
"The name thing…" Catherine replied. "The relationship thing… those could both just be coincidental."
"And the photographs of you and Billy?" he asked. "Is it coincidental that they showed up just about the same time as Dugan's death?" he could see her starting to cave to his reasoning. "You know, Chin has a saying. Coincidences usually take a lot of planning."
With her eyes aimed at the photo again, Catherine felt a shiver rake her body. "Should I be worried?" Catherine finally picked up on what was really bothering Steve at the moment.
"I don't know," he was getting tired of hearing those words. Steve hated not having answers, especially when it involved the potential danger of someone he cared about.
She dropped the picture back onto her coffee table with the others and curled up beside him. One hand reached out to rub his stubbly cheek. "Steve, those pictures," Catherine waved a hand at them. "There wasn't anything going on this morning between Harrington and me other than work." she stated. "He was really excited to show off the office space he'd found and he hugged me. But I told him it was inappropriate. I made that very clear to him and he seemed fine with it."
"Yeah, he said the same thing," Steve was buoyed by her honesty.
"Well," she shrugged. "I guess that means we did a good job of rehearsing our story so we'd get it straight for you," she grinned.
"Not funny, Catherine," he tried to stay firm but her impish grin caused him to cave. Steve leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss against her lips before he got to his feet. He gathered the pictures and stuffed them back in his pocket. Then he held a hand out for her, helped her stand. "I'm going to figure this out, Catherine. I don't want you to freak out about these photos, but you should be cautious," he warned.
"I will be," she walked him to the door, their fingers intertwined. "I'm guessing you have to go back to work tonight?"
He nodded. "Hopefully Max will have something for us soon, I told him to let me know no matter how late. I'm really sorry, Cath." His hands moved to cup her face. "Honestly, I did have something planned for tonight."
"No worries," she let him off easy again. "But it's gonna cost you."
"I kinda figured," he nodded.
Catherine bit her bottom lip as they stood face-to-face, neither of them wanting to open the door and end their close contact. "Are we okay?" she finally asked, worried that he was still caught up in thinking about the pictures of her and Harrington.
"Absolutely," Steve squashed her doubts with another kiss, one that lasted longer than a few seconds. He felt bad again for leaving her, especially when he'd planned a very different evening for them. "Are you going to stay here tonight?" he asked.
"It sounds like you won't be home till late so…" she nodded. "I think I'll stay here, throw on some sweats, maybe watch a movie, sit here alone and be lonely," she concluded.
"My place has an alarm system," Steve replied.
"Alarm systems can be tricky to cuddle with," she joked. "Besides, my place has me," Catherine added. "I can take care of myself."
A small sigh escaped but he agreed, "I know you can. Just be sure to lock the doors, front and back, including your garage door, which I know you have a tendency to leave open at night or even when you're not here during the day. And…"
She nodded along with his litany of items. "And make sure the windows are closed and locked," Catherine added. "And sit in the middle of the living room fortified by all of the pillows and blankets I can find, and my weapon, and soup cans for throwing, and be sure to wear the helmet I used during my very short time with the Diamond Dolls," her brow raised in a questioning manner. "Did I forget anything?"
"No one likes a smart ass," Steve waged a finger at her, his other hand on the doorknob.
"You must," she shot back at him.
He opened the door, stepped on to the porch and scanned the street. Steve turned back to Catherine who was standing in the doorway. Both his hands went to her waist and he drew her in, hugging her for a long moment. "You're wrong, Catherine," Steve whispered in her ear. "Work doesn't come first. You do," he assured her.
000
"Thanks for waiting," Steve said as he got back to the car.
"No problem. How's Catherine?" Danny asked with open concern. "She staying here tonight?"
Steve nodded as he watched the house for a few seconds longer. "Yeah. She's good; a little worried." The porch light went on and he smiled when her garage door was lowered. He reached out and tapped his phone then waited for an answer.
"Kelly here," the man's voice greeted them.
"Hey, Chin, have you got anything new?" Steve asked.
"I found out Dugan left the Navy two and a half years ago to move in with and take care of her sick mother here in Honolulu."
Danny's head bobbed. "Billy confirmed that," he shared a glance with Steve.
"Catherine, too," Steve concurred.
"Well, her mother passed away six months ago and there doesn't seem to be any other family. Father died when she was ten," Chin revealed. "About the time of her mother's death is when Dugan appears to have taken up wind surfing. I found out she doesn't own a car but she did purchase a bus ticket to Waimea Bay Friday afternoon. However, there are no records of her staying at any local hotels. I'm checking all public Waimea Bay security cameras from Friday and Saturday, so far there's no sign of Dugan on any of them."
"Anything else about her life before the trip north?" Steve inquired.
"I know she's been working steadily since she moved back to the island," Chin offered. "And no suspicious withdrawals or deposits according to her bank records from the past year. Not much there yet. But I ran our lobby camera back to get a look at the guy who delivered those pictures of Billy and Catherine. Looks like a courier service. Noticed a logo for a place called Belmar Deliveries on the guy's jacket. I was just about to look them up."
"Nice work, Chin," Steve replied. "Do me a couple of other favors. See if you can track down anyone at the ER that treated Dugan those three times. If there was abuse going on I want to know about it. And see if you can verify that Harrington was at his place last night. Danny and I are on our way to talk to Max, see if Dugan's body can tell us anything more. And I'm going to leave these pictures of Billy and Catherine with Fong. Maybe he can pull a print or at least tell us where they were developed."
"Sounds good. I'll get right on it," Chin disconnected.
They stepped in to the autopsy lab ten minutes later. Their victim was positioned on her stomach, upper back exposed, lower covered. "Max, tell us what you know," Steve implored.
"I can start by telling you that your victim does not appear to have been restrained in any visible manner," Max stood beside the body. His white lab coat was covered by a dark work apron. "At least not in a way that left marks," the ME added. "As you know, sometimes the bad guys are clever and use soft materials to mask their bindings"
Steve smiled softly at Max's bad guy remark. "Did you find any foreign material residue on her?"
"Unfortunately, no," Max disappointed them. "If there was any it was washed away by the ocean," the doctor pointed out. "I can confirm she was in the water for approximately twelve hours as I previously concluded. I also know that your victim died from lack of oxygen, which led to cardiac arrest and therefore stopped the flow of blood to her brain. All of which was brought on by an excessive amount of water intake to the lungs," he concluded.
Danny rolled his eyes. "You mean she drowned," he said.
"In layman's terms, yes," Max concurred.
"Do you think it was an accident?" Steve asked.
Max's head shook, "It seems unlikely given the presence of GHB in her blood stream."
"GHB?" Danny scoffed. "I really wish criminals could be original. And whatever happened to good old Chloroform? That stuff was rarely ever detected in the blood stream."
"You are correct, detective Williams. That's due to the fact that it is so rapidly eliminated from a body's system," Max reasoned.
"Can we get back on track here?" Steve broke in. "This is looking more like a homicide," he realized. Part of him had hoped they'd discover, as Billy had pointed out, that Dugan was truly just clumsy and had accidentally drowned due to a wind surfing accident.
"Commander, I also discovered something interesting I thought you should see," Max lowered the cover over their victim's backside and directed their eyes southward to the small of her back. Very low on her right side there was a dark line-drawing. "The mark is approximately one and a half inches long and appears to be a bird of some sort. My guess is a dove, given the general characteristics. Stout body, short neck, slender bill with fleshy cere."
With narrowed eyes, Danny aimed his gaze at Max. "Okay, I'll ask. What is a cere?"
"Cere is the term for the waxy structure which covers the base of a bird's bill," Max recited as if he were reading an encyclopedia.
"And you got all that from a one and a half inch bird drawing on a dead woman's tushy?" Danny sneered.
"Actually, I made an assumption based on the fact that the mark looks very much like the symbol used on Dove brand soap," Max explained himself.
Danny's head made a slight side-to-side motion. "So our victim was killed by a soap company? Thanks for solving the case, Max," he turned to Steve. "We should deputize this guy."
"I know you are being facetious, detective," Max didn't allow the comment to bother him much. "I was simply using the Dove soap bar logo as an example."
"So she has a tattoo. How is that helpful?" Steve wondered, trying to move things along again.
"Correction, commander," Max held one finger aloft in order to make his point. "The mark is actually a brand."
"A brand?" Danny eyed the doctor. "We're not talking soap again, are we?"
"I think he means like what they do to cattle?" Steve guessed as he eyed the mark closer.
"That's precisely what I meant," Max lent a smile to the man's keen wit. "Despite the fact that salt water can actually help heal some wounds, I was able to discern that the branded area had barely been able to heal before being exposed to the salt water. Judging by the rate of healing I'd say the brand was adhered sometime within the last forty-eight hours."
Wearing a dubious look, Danny eyed Steve. "Do you really think this might be our killer's calling card? Who brands humans?"
"I've never heard of any killer with this specific signature," McGarrett returned. "But branding of people has a long history, most notably in slave trade," he saw Danny wince at that realization. "But it shows up in modern day; organized crime, street gangs and prisons. Some people do it purely for decoration like a tattoo. But it seems a bit odd that the killer might use a sign typically associated with peace."
"Are doves ever seen as anything but peaceful?" Danny wondered.
"Not that I'm aware," Max replied. "I know in China, specifically, the dove represents peace and long life. I also know that doves mate for life and are incredibly loyal. They work together to build a nest and raise their young. They're dedicated and honorable. They are the epitome of love."
"Love," Danny's voice was laced with cynicism.
"Now there's a motive for murder," Steve concluded.
000
"Harrington's alibi seems pretty tight," Chin announced as Steve and Danny entered the Five-0 offices.
"How so?" Steve wanted more details.
Chin showed them a security image still of Billy on the main screen. "The building where he lives has about two dozen security cameras at various points in the building. All apartment entries are digital card readers rather than your traditional lock and key. Entry data has him arriving home at 9:07pm last night and not coming out again until 9:32am this morning. When I checked his cell phone log I noticed he only made one call last night, to his father's number in San Francisco. The next call wasn't until this morning at 9am, to Catherine."
Steve sighed. "That's when he asked her to meet him at the office building."
"So we're all in agreement that he checks out?" Danny looked to Steve more so than Chin.
"It would seem so," McGarrett gave in as he realized that they clearly needed to focus their investigation elsewhere. "We've got a woman branded, drugged and drowned all within a forty-eight hour time period. She's got a definite connection to Billy and Catherine. Seemingly no enemies, no signs of anything out of the ordinary in her life. And then some random pictures of Catherine and Billy show up. A dove brand…" he trailed off. "And no real suspects."
"I hate to be the one to say this," Danny ventured. "But sometimes cases don't get solved."
"Not this time," Steve shook his head defiantly. Despite the fact they had little to go on, he wasn't giving up. "Dugan served her country for twelve years. She was a friend of Catherine and Billy. She deserves to find justice for her death. I'm going to do my best to make that happen," Steve declared.
"Well, I found fifteen functioning security cameras in Waimea Bay," Chin let them know. "Fifteen times a twenty-four hour period means we have over three hundred hours of security camera footage to sift through," he announced. "I could use some help."
With a nod, Steve pulled over a stool and sat beside the tech table. "Hey, Danny…"
"Yeah, I know. Three buckets of coffee coming right up," Danny replied.
000
"Don't go in there," she groaned.
Catherine rolled her eyes at the young woman walking down a long, dark hallway on her TV screen. The channel she'd stopped on three hours ago was running a non-stop Halloween movie marathon. Somehow Catherine was already sucked in to her second horror flick. "You cannot be that stupid," Catherine said as the actress on screen reached for the closet door handle. She shook her head, not ashamed that she was talking to a movie character that couldn't hear a word she was saying. "Where do bad guys hide, genius?"
The red-headed woman on the TV opened the closet door and was bombarded by a knife wielding maniac.
A blood-curdling scream emitted from the woman's mouth but was soon silenced.
"They hide in closets, you idiot," Catherine said as she took a bite of her second chocolate cookie. "I tried to warn you," she sighed. "Now you're bleeding all over the white carpet."
The ringing of her cell phone caused Catherine to twitch and drop her cookie.
"Okay, maybe enough with the scary movies," she punched the mute button on her TV remote and grabbed the phone. Catherine smiled to see the goofy picture of Steve flashing on her cell's screen. "Hey, are you still working?" she greeted.
"Yep, helping Chin search through hours of security camera footage," he relayed. "You want to come help us out? This is just your sort of specialty."
"Thanks for the not-so-enthusiastic offer," Catherine could hear the tiredness in his voice. "Honestly, if you'd asked me a few hours ago I would've gladly helped you rather than sit here and rot my brain on Halloween slasher flicks," she conveyed. Helping find out what happened to Dugan would've been worth it, but a glance at her watch caused Catherine to use her free hand to shut off the TV completely. "I didn't realize how late it was. I have to work tomorrow. I should be in bed."
"Sure, mention bed when I can't be there with you," Steve lamented. "You're a cruel woman."
"Sorry," she sighed, resting her head against the back of the sofa. "Have you found anything more about Cathleen's death?
"Not unless you know anything about human branding," he replied. "Was that anything you ever heard about in the Navy? An alternative to tattoos?"
Her nose crinkled. "The only time I ever saw anyone branded was in Afghanistan. Some of the extremist there would brand their kill count on their wrists, somewhere visible for everyone to see," Catherine recalled with a heavy heart. There were so many things she'd seen during her three tours there that she wished she could wipe from her memory. That was probably why she so easily mocked ridiculous horror movies.
"You're right. I almost forgot about that," Steve remembered. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to bring those memories back for you. You should go to bed. Without me," he relented.
She smiled; always comforted by the knowledge that he understood the things she'd been through, because he'd lived them as well. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"How about dinner?" he offered.
"Hmm," Catherine mulled over the idea for no more than a moment. "Given your bad track record with dinner dates, how about I cook for us here? If you can show up, great. If not, at least I won't have to get all dressed up two nights in a row for nothing. Say seven?"
"Deal," Steve agreed. "I'll call if something comes up."
Silence hung between them for a while after that, neither of them wanting to hang up.
"Good night, Cath," he finally said.
"Night," Catherine whispered. The call ended and she frowned at the blank screen, feeling foolish for missing him already.
A muffled clang caught her attention, causing her head to turn toward the TV. Remembering she'd turned it off Catherine glanced around the house.
She clutched her phone and grabbed the gun off her coffee table. The one thing she'd actually followed through on was keeping her weapon close at hand. The clanging noise sounded again and she crept across the room. Trying not to think about the ridiculous movie she'd just been watching, Catherine entered her kitchen and edged toward the back door. After hearing the sound a third time she slowly unlocked and opened the door. A step was taken down the back stairs, then two, her gun held close to her side.
"If anyone is back here you should know I'm armed," Catherine warned in a firm tone.
The bush to her left rustled softly and she spun around on one heel to face it.
"I'm serious," she spoke to the darkness. "This is private property and you need to…" her words were cut off by a sudden yelp from across the yard. Catherine spotted movement near her back fence, some sort of shadow moving speedily.
She took off to chase it.
To be continued…