Chin gazed at his computer screen, but his mind was miles away. After days of working on one case or another he was utterly exhausted. Sleep was hard to come by in his line of work, but recently it had been worse than ever. Steve was out of action, and that directly led to Danny being on the sidelines too. The Hawaiian native understood Danny's actions completely, and held no resentment for it, but Chin and Kono could only achieve so much on their own.
The beeping of his laptop distracted him from his musings, and he clicked on the file that he had just received from HPD. It was all the recent transactions of the credit card belonging to a Dominic Eastwood. Most of the data was inconsequential, buying a coffee or a newspaper maybe, but then something caught his eye. Two weeks ago $500 had been withdrawn in Sacramento, California. The next transaction, dated eight days ago was at a cafe in Honolulu.
"Kono!" He called out to his cousin, who came running to his office.
"You found something?" She asked, barely suppressed eagerness in her voice.
"Yeah. Eastwood is on the islands." He looked back down at the screen, searching for the most recent data. "Ten minutes ago he paid for something in Waimanalo. We could go and pick him up?"
"And ask him what? We have no idea if he even has any connection to the case, let alone this whole conspiracy theory. With nothing to go on, there isn't much we can do." Kono sounded defeated, but Chin knew she was right. Even if they did pick him up, what could they possibly do?
"Did you find anything?"
"Not much. He has no previous convictions of anything, not even a parking ticket. The guy is spotless. Normally I'd say he was a ghost, but if Steve knew him in the past then..." She trailed off.
"Then he must be real," her cousin concluded. "Could be a stolen identity. Or maybe just two people with the same name?"
"Who both happen to be the same age and come from the same place?" Kono shot back sarcastically. "No, this is the right Eastwood, though you might have a point with the stolen identity. Either way, I'll give Danny a ring. Keep him in the loop."
With that she left Chin in peace, and he struggled to find the heart to search through yet more files to find out anything and everything about Eastwood. Once again he cursed their luck with their boss getting sick. Steve was the best lead they had on this case, like it or not. Whoever was behind the murder and house raids was clearly toying with the ex SEAL, the cryptic clues were evidence enough of that. All they could do for the moment was hope that they would be able to catch a break.
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"I'm getting sick of this you know."
"Literally."
"Not funny Danno. I need to get out. Do things."
"Steve, you can barely stand up. I refuse to be your crutch just so you can waltz around the islands chasing criminals. Now shush. You're meant to be sleeping and I'm working."
"On what?" The ex SEAL was bored enough that he would take paperwork over the endless sitting.
"Case notes that HPD have submitted. Seeing if anyone picked up anything special at the crime scene."
"Any luck?"
"Nope. Sleep," he commanded, knowing it would make no difference.
"That's all I've been doing."
"I know. It's been the most peaceful day I've had since meeting you." Steve really couldn't deny that that statement was probably true.
"Well good for you. Can I go now?" He was sounding slightly like a petulant child.
"No."
"Come on Danno, I can take care of myself. I'll only go to the office, I'll be safe there. No need to worry," he tried to reason with his partner, but he wasn't hopeful.
"'No need to worry?' Yeah, tell me that again when your doctor is chasing me down the street with a baseball bat. I am sworn to keep you grounded here until you get better, ok babe?" Steve just huffed, dropping himself heavily back down on the bed. As if being sick wasn't bad enough, he had to contend with being stuck in Danny's apartment.
The silence splintered when Danny's phone buzzed noisily, demanding his attention. As the detective picked up he saw his partner's head perk up in interest. Anything to distract from the endless boredom.
"Hey Danny, it's Kono," a voice greeted him cheerfully.
"You're in a good mood," he observed. "You've found something?"
"A Dominic Eastwood, so far as we can tell, came to the islands from California about a week ago. We're getting onto the airlines to try and find out when and how."
"Do you know whereabouts he is at the moment?"
"About quarter of an hour ago he was in Waimanalo. We would have picked him up, but..." She trailed off, and Danny understood.
"You had nothing to go on. It's alright. We can always get a hold of him again later. Find anything on him?"
"His record is spotless. I've just found that he owns a business in California, I'm trying to get a look at their books now." The Jersey native pondered this for several moments, trying to make a link.
"Alright, well call me if you find anything."
"Will do," Kono said, ringing off. Danny dropped his phone back on the desk and continued to tap away at his key board. Each time his fingers hit a key, Steve became more and more impatient. It only took a minute before he snapped.
"Are you going to tell me what they said or not?"
"If you ask nicely," Danny said, not looking up from his work. He had decided that as punishment for making him worry he was going to be doing all he could to drive Steve insane. Besides, it was fun.
"Something heavy is going to be flying at your head in a minute unless you're careful," the bedridden man warned. His face was distinctly unamused.
"Do you gravitate towards violence, or is just an accident?" Steve's face darkened even further, and Danny decided that for the sake of his health and ongoing life, he should come clean with his partner. "Alright. They found your friend. He did leave the islands, but he returned roughly a week ago. He runs a company in California."
"Anything else?"
"Not yet. Have a little patience Steve, they're doing the best they can."
"Let me out and I can speed everything up. I can talk to Dominic, see what he knows. You need me in on this case Danno, don't deny it." The Jersey native shrugged, trying to pull off a blasé attitude. "At the office, nothing is going to go wrong. I'll be good, I promise." He winked and smiled pleadingly. Danny felt himself falling for it, and hated the thought.
"No! I know you. You think you're indestructible, but one day McGarrett, you're going to have to realise that you're as mortal as the rest of us. If you go to the office, you'll catch a lead and then go running after it like a bat out of hell. I've seen it happen. There is no way I'm letting you out of here until you're better, because I just know that as soon as I do, nothing will be able to stop you again until this case is over." Danny paused to draw in breath, whilst Steve was looking at him in mild surprise. "What?" He snapped irritably when the ex SEAL didn't look away for several moments.
Without responding, Steve dropped back on the pillows and faced the other way, cutting Danny off completely. The Jersey native was beyond confused. He hadn't meant to offend his partner at all, but his stress had led him to bottle things up until he exploded.
"Steve?" No reply. "I'm sorry?" It was more a question than an actually apology.
"I'm not upset," came the eventual response. Steve sounded drowsy again, his words slurring slightly.
"Do you need anything?" Danny was still confused as to what had just happened. Maybe this whole case was taking more of a toll on the ex SEAL than he would like to admit.
"No." His voice was clipped, and he said nothing further. Uneasily, Danny returned to his work, when suddenly an idea came to him. Opening up Google, he typed in the name Dominic Eastwood. The first result that popped up was a link to the website of a company that called itself the Easter Trading Corporation.
"Easter," he muttered to himself. This looked like a promising lead. This was no doubt exactly what Kono was trying to hack into at this very moment, but he felt the urge to have a look himself. There was an entire page on the site dedicated to the manager, complete with a highly flattering picture of a man with bright blue eyes and gelled back blonde hair.
'Dominic Eastwood,' the page read, 'originated from Hawaii, and lived there until he was 22. It was during this time that Mr Eastwood met Joseph Tyler, and together they began to plan the foundations of Easter Trading. Moving to LA in late 1993, Mr Eastwood became the CEO of the company, buying out his partner Mr Tyler.' This part sparked the detective's interest. He made a mental note to ask Chin and Kono if they had found anything about Joseph Tyler. It might be unrelated, but it was worth looking into.
Scanning the rest of the page, he saw nothing else that seemed worth noting. Glancing over at the still form of his partner, he tried to judge from his breathing whether he was still awake or not. After several moments of inactivity, he stood and stretched, grabbing his phone and wandering outside. The air was warm and humid, but it was much brighter. All of his curtains had been closed for Steve's sake; Danny had ascertained that his brain felt like it was on fire.
Breathing deeply, the detective soaked in the fresh air, relishing in the clean breeze. Inside his flat was too stuffy and claustrophobic.
His mind was racing in circles, stress and fatigue weighed heavily on him, and he could almost feel his blood pressure rising. He was worried about his partner, concerned as to what effect this case would have. Beyond that, there was the usual worry of the case itself, that someone else would get hurt, be it a stranger or one of his friends. He panicked that he had let his daughter down and that she would never really forgive him for missing her childhood.
It was all too much. Someday soon, something would have to give, because he couldn't cope with this for much longer. So he leaned against the rail and watched the world moving around him. He worried.
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I don't really know where most of this chapter came from. I knew where it had to end up, but the bit in the middle was just spontaneous rambling. I hope it turned out ok. The action is coming. I promise. Either next chapter or the one after.
I know that the gaps between updates are becoming ludicrous, I'm really sorry. I'm doing my best.