The Beginning
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The character of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Former Detective John 'Johnny / Jack' McGarrett, Detective Meka Hanamoa, Amy Hanamoa, Billy Hanamoa, Mary McGarrett, Doris McGarrett, Frederick 'Fred' Doran, Victor Hesse and Anton Hesse do not belong to me, I'm merely using them for entertainment purposes.
The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle ' Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved, becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what male Danny could have been like if everything in his life had gone the way he wanted. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.
The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to using her maiden name once her divorce had gone through). Her parents also are amiable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's even more of a sweetheart now.
The characters of Duncan Taylor, Danni's ex-husband and Grace's father, Captain Kai Hookano, Detective Rory Clements, Detective Bryan Keawe, Detective Russell Kaiwi, Detective Oscar Alika, Lieutenant Aaron Akuna, Barbara Dunn, Special Agent Walker Humphries, Chief Medical Examiner Abigail 'Abbie' FitzGerald and Wanda Clarke however do belong to me so please do not use without permission.
Thank you.
Author note
Welcome to Chapter three of 'The Beginning'
Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter and reviewed or followed or made it into a favourite. I really appreciate it, especially as I know that a story like this one isn't going to be everyone's cup to tea. I am enjoying writing it though, turning male Danny, a character who I truly love, into a female is actually a great deal more challenging then I initially thought it would be. I think it will be worth it in the end, especially as this is part one of what will be an ongoing saga.
I have plenty of ideas in my mind which I would like to explore and this Rewrite saga will give me the opportunity to do that.
Official story summary
When Danni Williams moves to Hawaii, all she wants to do is to keep her head down and survive the time she has to stay there. The last thing which she expected was to meet Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, a man who seemed more intent on getting her blown up and finding out everything about her life then he was about following proper police procedure. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it.
Chapter Summary
Danni and Captain Hookano don't exactly see eye to eye…
Official Romances mentioned in the story
Detective Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Michael 'Mike / Mikey' Landon / Carys 'Rys' Landon (Mirys)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danielle 'Danni' Williams (Dunni)
Mentions of past John 'Jack / Johnny' McGarrett / Doris McGarrett (Joris)
Hints of Steven 'Steve' McGarrett / Danielle 'Danni' William (McDanni)
Hints of Steven 'Steve' McGarrett / Catherine 'Cath / Cat' Rollins (McRollins)
Hints of Ryan Moore / Danielle ' Danni' Williams (Rynni)
Romances mentioned in this chapter
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danielle 'Danni' Williams (Dunni)
Mentions of past John 'Jack / Johnny' McGarrett / Doris McGarrett (Joris)
Warning
This story features a female Danni Williams in place of a male Danny Williams. Although in some of the stories which I publish, male Danny does exist, this is a story where he does not.
If this is not your cup of tea then please hit the back button.
Secondary Disclaimer
I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep into this story, I always do my best to edit the story and to double check it before uploaded one of my works but sometimes mistakes do creep in, this might also include me accidentally using an English word in place of an American word as my brain, being English, doesn't always pick up on it being incorrect.
The places which I have mentioned are either made up or have been obtained from google including any areas or addresses. One day I hope to go to Hawaii in person but until then I'll have to make so with using my imaginations to build the places in my mind.
Saga
Part one of the Rewrite Saga
Chapter Three
Showdown at the office
Danni shook her head slowly in disbelief, her eyes fixed on the empty doorway which McGarrett had just strolled confidently out of. Her thoughts were jumbled, racing through her head at a speed which made it hard for her to focus on the issues at hand. She had to try and make sense of the past twenty minutes or so of her life and what she had just witnessed happening right before her very eyes.
Somehow along the way she had lost control of the situation though she couldn't quite figure out how it had happened or even why she had allowed it to happen and yet somehow it had.
It should have been a simple matter of getting Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett to leave her active crime scene. The same scene which he had admitted, to her face, that he had broken into with little to no regard to the sheer havoc he was causing by walking around the house without any gloves on, touching things and doing god knows what else.
The minute she had found him in the garage was the minute she should have evicted him or if that had failed, arrested him instead of being blindsided by a feeling of pity for him and what he had been through. Sergeant Pittman had always warned her that her compassion which it came to people and the fact that she was in touch with her own emotions due to her upbringing, would cause her issues one day when it came to the job and it appeared, that like on so many other things, he had been right.
Danni bit down on her lower lip, reminding herself to pick one mystery at a time to try to work through. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the one which was troubling her the most.
Why had McGarrett quoted the police oath over the phone to the Governor of Hawaii?
Steve McGarrett wasn't a police office, that much she knew for sure, he was a Lieutenant Commander Navy SEAL who worked in the Naval Intelligence Unit on classified missions. She had seen his background and she knew there was no Police training in his past and felt confident enough to say that he would have no real idea on how to run an active Police Investigation so how exactly could hers and Meka's crime scene suddenly be his crime scene like he had announced to her, without any prior warning first?
The whole situation made no sense to her and it seemed rather suspect in her eyes.
Even if by quoting the Police oath at the Governor had made McGarrett into an Office of the law, then John McGarrett Homicide case would still belong to her and to Meka. It was Captain Hookano who allocated the Homicide cases to the individuals and the partnerships who worked in his department and he had chosen her and Meka because they were quite frankly the best team who he had working for him and he needed results on the case and a conviction that would stick
There would be no way that anyone who actually wanted a conviction would hand the case over to John McGarrett's, newly declared officer of the law, son who had never run or even worked on an investigation in his life. If they did then the Defence attorneys would be celebrating before the case even saw itself front of a judge for the first initial bail hearing, hell they would probably send the department some bottles of champagne and fruit baskets to thank them for making their job so much more easier than it would have been otherwise.
McGarrett was far too close to the situation to be objective and Danni doubted that he would be able to be impartial either. She was a veteran of nearly ninety closed cases and even she couldn't have been impartial if it had been her father's death she was investigating. She would want answers and she would have done anything she could to get them. Something she had the feeling that McGarrett would do as well.
If McGarrett was now in charge of the case then they could kiss the chances of Hesse being convicted and going to jail, goodbye.
Danni breathed out slowly, bringing her hand up to her neck and gripping the back of it, digging her fingertips into the tense muscle to try and ease the pressure before she ended up suffering from a headache.
McGarrett had mentioned in the phone call something about a task force but as far as Danni knew there had been no talk or gossip about anything like that being set up. Especially one which was linked directly to the Governor herself. Danni wasn't on speaking terms with many of the other Detectives in the department but she always made sure that she listened in on their chatter when she was seated at her desk or grabbing a drink in the break room so she knew that she was fairly up to date with everything which had been going on but nothing like this had come up.
Danni knew of at least four Detectives in the department at current times who would jump if the opportunity of moving away from their current jobs, especially if that move happened to include a promotion for them and all of the perks which came with it. The fact that her friend Lily Nichols who worked on the dispatch department hadn't mentioned anything to her about it when they had gone for some drink the previous Wednesday which also pointed to there being no official news on the taskforce. Lily had befriended Danni in her first week on the job and had made sure that she was kept in the loop on things which she needed to know. She would definitely have told Danni about an opportunity like this one and bugged her about it until Danni gave in and applied for it.
The only explanation which made any sense to Danni was that the taskforce was something which was so brand new that no one on the force was actually aware of its existence yet.
No one except McGarrett who the Governor had clearly sought out once she had heard that he was returning to the island and offered the head role to him. Perhaps the taskforce was something which the Governor had decided to set up due to 2011 being the start of her campaign year, it wouldn't surprise Danni if the other woman wanted to show the citizens of Hawaii that she valued their safety so they would vote her back into office for a second term. If that was her reason behind setting it up then why had she asked a Lieutenant Commander from the Intelligence Unit of the Navy to lead the taskforce? Why not have a Detective from the island who was actually trained in the way Police investigations had to be conducted to be the head. Was it because of Hawaii's link to the military that made her do it?
It baffled Danni.
She continued to nibble at her lower lip, moving her hand away from her neck as she finally looked away from the empty doorway to look around the rest of the garage, her heart sinking as her mind continued to whirl.
Whatever this taskforce was, it certainly wasn't going to concern her in anyway. After the encounter she just had with McGarrett, it would take nothing short of a miracle for her to be selected as a team member, especially with him in charge of it. The most she could hope for now was that one or two of her main tormenters in the office would be chosen and transferred, finally giving her a much needed respite and hopefully, finally, cause everyone to start leaving her alone.
She shook her head and forced herself to push the thoughts away.
The only thing which she had to focus on now was whether the John McGarrett Homicide investigations was still hers and Meka's case to solve. If it was then she needed to concentrate on that and continue to work on the various leads.
McGarrett hadn't told her to leave his father's house but at the same time he hadn't exactly told her to make herself comfortable and to carry on with what she had been doing. She didn't even know whether he was still somewhere in the house or whether he had taken the toolbox which he had been so obsessed over and headed back over to the hotel he was staying in to look over the contents because based on his reaction, she highly doubted there were just tools in it.
She frowned, her mind fixing on the toolbox. What was it about it that had been important enough for McGarrett to break into the crime scene to take it with him and when that mission had failed due to her, he had gone on to call the Governor and accept a job position just to give him the authority to take it?
She breathed out nosily, what she needed to do now was to head back to the office and speak to Meka about what had happened here before they both went to speak to Captain Hookano to see whether he could shed some light on what had happened.
If it turned out that McGarrett had somehow played her and that she and Meka were still the lead investigators on the case then she would have no choice but to arrest him for obstruction and tampering with evidence which given what he had already gone through, was something she didn't particularly want to have to do.
God, she hoped that this was still her crime scene and case otherwise all of the hard work which she and Meka had put into it over the past three days; the countless, long nights they had spent pouring over the numerous CSU reports and photos looking for something they had missed, reading the Medical Examiner reports even though the contents of what had been done to John McGarrett had turned her stomach, the background checks on John and everyone in his life while Grace slept peacefully in her room, the leads they had run down and various conversations they had with the people in his life, and, on top of that, the case files which she had to make up from scratch due to the inferior one which they had been handed in the first place, would have been for nothing. All because of one arrogant Navy SEAL with a cell phone and the Governor's direct private office number on his speed dial.
Danni's eye narrowed as her thoughts moved away from the tool back to focus on Steve McGarrett, a strong wave of frustration and dislike hitting her.
What the hell had the Commander been thinking in the first place when he had come to the decision to break into an active crime scene and contaminate what was inside. She refused to believed that he wasn't aware of what the proper protocol was when it came to running a crime scene, Hell, everyone and their grandmother, were all so called experts now due to the countless of TV shows which gave them a rough idea of how a crime scene was run, none of them realising that it was just for show and not what real life was like. A fact which left her feeling weary, especially when those same people landed on the jury panel for one of their cases.
Apparently though Commander McGarrett believed that he was above the same procedures which governed the mere mortals like herself and instead he had simply waltzed in with no gloves on as far as she could tell and decided to start touching and moving things around. If he had moved the tool box then it stood to reason that he had touched and moved other things as well. It was unlikely that she would know off the top of her head what had been moved which meant that she would have to take new photographs of the rooms and compare them to the original photographs taken by CSU during their initial sweep of the property which would take time which she didn't have to spare. She would have to check the database as well to see if Commander McGarrett's fingerprints were listed and if they were, send them over to CSU so they could eliminate him as a suspect in his father's murder since a Jury would now suspect him if they found out that his fingerprints, fingerprints which shouldn't have been there, were in the rooms.
Danni's hand curled up into a fist at her side, her eyes drifting close as another wave of anger washed over her. What she should do at that moment in time was to search through the rest of the house for McGarrett and then once she found him, punch him around the face for his interference which had done nothing but make her job all that harder. She knew that punching him wouldn't do much good in the long scale of things leaving her with nothing but a sore hand probably, but she had the sneaky suspicion that it would definitely make her feel better in the short term, of only to see the look of shock which she was sure would come to his face at her actions.
She took another few, deep breathes as she cast her mind back to the yoga classes which her sister had dragged her to on a weekly basis and allowed the simple action to relax her, some of the tension and rage she had been holding onto, slowly easing out of her.
Losing her temper in an already strained situation wouldn't do her any good. What she needed to do was lock away her emotional response to what had happened and instead focus on being rational and logical like Sergeant Pittman had taught her and use her common sense which was screaming at her to be sensible and to focus on the problems she could deal with.
The first thing she needed to do was to see whether Captain Hookano was in his office and to then have that meeting with him and Meka about what had happened. Normally she preferred keeping away from the other man since he did little to hide his disdain for her but this situation needed his input, especially if involving him meant that they could get the case back from the new taskforce.
Danni didn't give a damn about Commander McGarrett or the Governor of Hawaii or the small, secret club which they both appeared to be in which meant that the Commander could just call her up when he wanted to and get whatever it was he wanted. That aspect wasn't any of her concern. What was her concern however, was finding Victor Hesse and bringing him in for questioning and then putting him away so that she could focus on the other things in her life which were far more important to her such as her daughter, her friends and her family.
There was no point at that moment in time in stressing herself out over the Commander when it was unlikely that they would ever meet each other again after today.
Still, even knowing that she couldn't fully shake off her annoyance at how McGarrett had gone about doing things.
Surely even he could see how irregular and unprofessional it was to take a case midway through an investigation when the team who were running point on it were actually making good headway on it and building up a strong case for the prosecution to use against Hesse in court. Danni knew that they were slowly getting closer to finding him and bringing the case to an end. She and Meka knew exactly how Hesse had done things from start to finish, all that was left was to double check their conclusions with one another, obtain an arrest warrant from the judge who was on duty and begin the hunt for Hesse, grabbing a team of uniforms to back them up while they searched.
She would take great pleasure in arresting the son of a bitch when they found him, that much she knew for certain, though giving Meka's connection to the victim she would let him take the arrest.
Danni reached up, running her hand down her face with a sigh before she pinched her lower lip, a thoughtful look coming across her features. She needed to get back and speak to Meka while she knew where he was. This case was just as much his as it was hers and she knew just how invested he was in solving the case and getting John McGarrett the justice which he deserved.
She sighed, moving away from the black car and began slowly walking around the garage, her eyes moving over everything as she continued to think. She wondered how Meka would take the news when Danni broke it to him.
Would he get pissed off and get that constipated look which he sometimes wore when he wanted to punch something hard or would he simple shrug and shake the news off like he often tended to do towards things which he couldn't change? It was difficult to know exactly how the older man would reach but what she did know was that it was a conversation which she wasn't greatly looking forward to and wanted to get out of the way as soon as possible.
"There's nothing of interest here." She murmured to herself with a shake of her head before she twisted around on the spot and headed over towards the door. She opened it and slipped out, pulling it closed quietly behind her. She glanced around the kitchen out of habit before walking through it, stopping in front of the study door.
She couldn't hear or see any sign of the Commander but she knew well enough that her not being able to locate him didn't meant anything. The Commander was a man who had been trained for years by his superiors to become a deadly fighting machine, an aspect of that training would be learning to become almost invisible to his enemies eyes. The Commander could have been directly behind her, watching her, and she wouldn't know that he was until he chose to speak or reveal himself to her. The thought that her own extensive training would probably be useless against someone like him was an unnerving one if she allowed herself to consider it.
Danni frowned to herself, mentally scolding herself for letting the man affect her before she went through the door and into the study on her way to the living room where she had left her bag. She came to a halt as her eyes landed on the tall, already familiar figure of McGarrett which answered one of the many questions which had been buzzing around her head.
He stood in front of the chair where his father had been tied up and where he had spent his final few moments, staring down at it with a blank, unreadable expression on his face. He could almost have been made from stone he was so still.
Danni watched him for a second, swallowing down the feeling of pity which came across her at the sight in front of her before she averted her eyes, struck with a feeling that she was trespassing on his remorse and grief. She looked past him, her eyes landing on her cell phone which was still resting on the desk surface from when she had taken the photo of the palm print and been distracted by the noise.
Setting her shoulders, Danni moved quietly across the room, her eyes flickering over to the Commander once, he made no movement but she was willing to bed that he was aware of everything which she was doing. She picked her cell up and turned, heading quickly out of the study and into the living room, coming to a stop beside the chair where she had dropped her bag. She took a moment, to check the safety was on her gun before she placed it into her bag and picked the bag up, shouldering it. She breathed out silently as she ran an absent hand down the front of her dress making sure it was straight before she nodded to herself.
There was nothing more she could do in the house at present time.
Decision made, Danni turned and took a step towards the front door before her brain registered the fact that the Commander had followed her out of the study, into the room and was now standing directly in her path to the exit.
She stilled, watching the tall man carefully to see what he was planning on doing. She was a good read of character and she could tell that McGarrett was no longer a threat to her but she had learnt the hard way that regardless of what her instincts said, she still had to remain vigilant at all times. Humans were unpredictable, especially after suffering a devastating loss like the Commander had.
Danni tilted her head as the Commander finally spoke, breaking the silence between them, noting instantly that the previous aggression which had flavoured his voice when they were in the garage was gone as though it had never existed in the first place. Now he merely sounded professional and calm though Danni could detect a concealed, undercurrent of exhaustion to his voice.
She found herself wondering when the last time he was managed to have a proper night sleep was, probably not for three days at least since the death of his father. He had probably gone through the call and the situation countless of times in his mind, running through different ways he could have handled it which would have resulted in his father being saved from what had happened to him.
Men like the one in front of her would have been taught to survive on nothing more than catnaps taken in the worst places on earth but even that couldn't hold back the bodies need for sleep forever. The Commander would end up crashing and he would crash hard when he did at this rate if someone didn't step in to take care of him and to make him listen to some reason.
Danni blinked, momentarily surprised at the pity and concern which she felt for the Commander. Concern, which she reminded herself firmly, was a waste of time considering how little they would see and interact with each other in the future.
"I didn't expect you to still in the house." He told her as he reached up and ran his hand through his short dark hair, the simple action causing some of the strands to stick up, making him look more approachable and easing some more of the tension in her which had flooded her after their encounter. "I would have thought that you would have stormed out of here the first chance you could now that I've taken the case away from you."
Danni's eyes narrowed at the comment and the assumption which the Commander had just made about herself. She bit down on the urge to respond to him with a sarcastic comment, knowing that if she did then he would know that he had gotten beneath her skin. Her older brother Nathaniel had taught her to never show her hand or what she was thinking to anyone until she knew them and that was what she needed to do here as well.
Instead of replying, she merely remained silent, regarding McGarrett with what she hoped was a thoughtful expression as she mentally counted to five in her mind, allowing the wave of annoyance she had felt to disperse before she spoke, her voice coming out as quiet and steady.
"Considering I left my bag in here which contains my car keys, I think it would have been a pretty stupid move on my part to, what did you say again, storm out of here without them, don't you think." She remarked, making the comment into a statement rather than a question.
She saw his eyes narrow slightly in a thoughtful manner before he nodded at her, acknowledging the sense in her comment. She expected him to say something more but instead his eyes dropped down to the bag she was holding, his eyebrow quirking up slightly as though he was surprised by it.
He probably was, from Danni's experience, men and women who were in the military tended only to carry the bare personal essentials they needed with them at any one time, they certainly wouldn't have a large bag which would fit in as much as Danni's could. If she had known him better than she would have explained to him that her bag was this size because she carried around a CSU pack made up for situations like this and often had several files with her as well, but she didn't say a word, merely meeting his eyes when they rose to meet her again, the blue gaze showing nothing of what he was thinking.
"I'm going to need all of the files and the evidence which you have for this case Detective." He informed her calmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. An action which caused Danni's eyes to drop to his muscles involuntarily before she forced her gaze back up, hoping against hope that he hadn't noticed her slip.
She met his gaze directly, tilting her head slightly to the side and wondered whether there had been anyone who had been in his life who had said no to him or disobeyed ones of his commands.
She felt her mouth curl up into a small smile as she made the decision that right now was as good a time as any for the Commander to realise that not only did his rank not get him everything which he wanted exactly when he wanted it but also that his rank held absolutely no sway over her.
He might have been a part of the Navy but Danni was a Police Detective who had earned her stripes in the streets on New Jersey, working on cases which made the John McGarrett case seem like a simple walk in the park in comparison. She was not a woman who was intimidated easily and she was determined that the Commander would learn that before the day was through.
"I'm sure that you are going to need them if you have taken over the case from me." She agreed lightly with a nod of her head. "But I'm afraid that I can't just hand them over to you, there is a procedure which has to be followed though I'm sure that you're already aware of that fact." She stated pleasantly, keeping the smile off of her face with difficulty when she caught sight of the look of confusion which crossed his eyes which told her that he had no idea exactly what she was talking about. "If you want the files which my partner and I have made up and to become responsible for the evidence which we have collected then you'll have to come down to the precinct and complete the necessary paperwork to have it transferred over to you. It shouldn't take long, just an hours or so and of course you'll have to get them countersigned by Captain Hookano as well but of course you know this already, don't you Commander." She remarked, hearing the icy note which had descending into her voice, a note which would have warned anyone who knew her even remotely well, that now was the time to duck for cover. "Have a good day." She added, moving swiftly towards him and slipping past him and out of the front door before he could stop her or say anything else to her.
It was a childish thing to do considering that she had at least two of the McGarrett casefiles with her in her bag while the others were currently locked away in both hers and Meka's desk drawers back at headquarters. She could have easily have handed over the two she had with her so that he could start familiarising herself with their investigation so far but she hadn't.
The simple truth was that the Commander had to learn that he was no longer in the military and he couldn't just make a demand off of someone and just expect to be obeyed because he was gorgeous with a pleasant sounding voice. He had to learn that to get his way in the real world he would have to ask people for their help and cooperation, not demand it from them, otherwise he was going to find herself struggling to make any headway with the other agencies and departments he would come across.
Besides she had no way of knowing for sure whether McGarrett had been speaking the truth when he said that the crime scene was now his. Until she heard it from Captain Hookano that John McGarrett's murder was no longer a HPD case then she would act as though she and Meka were still the leads and that Commander McGarrett was merely a civilian with an understandable interest in the case. Hookano would rip her a new one and probably suspend her if she had just handed over classified files on the say so of someone other than himself.
Danni pulled the front door closed behind her and looked around the surrounding area, bringing her hand up and resting it against her forehead to protect her eyes from the glare of the sun. She hesitated for a moment, breathing in the heavy scent of blooming flowers, before she made her way down the path towards her parked car, the sun felt good against the bare skin of her arms making her glad that she had left her cardigan hanging over her chair at work.
She stopped beside the driver's door and looked towards the road. She couldn't see any parked cars on the road which meant that McGarrett had either parked further down in an attempt to remain unnoticed by any nosy neighbours John might have had or he had made the walk from the hotel he was staying in because no one would find anything suspicious about a man simply walking down the street. Either option was a viable one.
Making a mental note to look into what Steve McGarrett had been up to since he had arrived back on the island, Danni unlocked the car, pulling the door open and slipped into the interior with a thankful sigh. She closed it behind her, throwing her bag into the empty passenger seat and inserted the key into the ignition, starting the engine and hitting the aircon button.
She allowed herself a moment to sit there, enjoying the cool breeze before she grabbed her sunglasses from the dashboard, slipping them onto her noise and reversed out of the driveway, her gaze flickering down to the pink bunny which was still in the back of her car from earlier. She would have to figure out exactly what to do with it now.
She looked at the McGarrett house one last time before she drove away from it, heading towards the freeway which was the quickest way to get back to the precinct.
The fifteen minute drive to the precinct was quiet and uneventful, the traffic was surprisingly light and the silence was broken by the music which Grace always insisted that they listened to on their way into school. Admittedly Danni was more than ready to pull her hair out if she heard one more song from one of the High school musical movies but she couldn't find the will to locate her CD holder to change it over, especially since she would only have to change it back when Grace was back in the car.
Danni sighed as she hit the indicator, twisting the steering wheel to the right as she pulled up into the car park outside the precinct, lifting her hand up in thanks to the driver who had let her in before she wound down her window, a smile coming to her face as the familiar face of Jimmy Lee appeared beside the car.
Jimmy was the security guard who operated the barrier into the precinct. He had been on the force for forty years as an uniformed officer before he partially retired, giving up his own beat for a booth and a supply of constant coffee and masalas. Danni found herself liking him, possible because he was one of the only people who didn't seem to care that she was a female from the mainland. He treated her the same as everyone else and it was something she appreciated more than she could say.
"Hi Jimmy." She said, reaching down and picking her badge up, flashing it towards him so he could see it.
"Hey welcome back Danielle, that was a quick trip for you." Jimmy commented. "Things didn't pan out for you?" He questioned, his dark eyes soft as she shook her head at him.
"Not this time but you know how it goes." She responded as she dropped her badge when he took a step back to the side of the booth.
"Indeed I do Danielle, indeed I do." Danni smiled as he pressed the buzzer which activated the barrier, she waited until it was up before she drove through sparing him a quick wave.
She made her way down the aisles, her eyebrow rising in surprise when she saw that her reserved parking space was actually left vacant for once. She had lost track of the number of times she had arrived at work to find that it had been taken by one of the other Detectives in the department. They always gave her the same bullshit reason when she confronted them about it stating that since they had been in the department for longer than she had then she had and therefore deserved to have a space closer to the main building then some little Ha'ole who was still fresh from the mainland. If they were feeling especially vindictive then they would make a point that a female Ha'ole who clearly didn't belong on the island from anyone. After hearing the same comment nine times in a row from nine different detectives, Danni had simply stopped mentioning it, instead simply finding her the first free, available slot that was unreserved and parked in it.
It hadn't taken her long to realise that there was little point in arguing with them, instead she simply kept quiet and kept her head down. It was better for both her and Grace if she did.
Danni pulled her car into her spot and killed the engine, taking a moment to gather her things together before she pushed the door open and stepped out, using her hip to close it behind her since her hands were full. She adjusted her bags and locked the car behind her, turning to face the elegant bricked building which housed the Honolulu Police Department. She watched it for a second, a small bitter smile coming to her face before shaking her head.
It was still hard to believe that it had only been six months since she had arrived at the precinct for the first time. She could still remember just how impressed she had been when she saw it. Her old precinct in New Jersey had been housed in an old building which had always been in desperate need for some work to be done on it. The building in front of her had looked brand new in comparison. It had taken two days for her to realise that looks could be deceiving and while the outer building might have been beautiful to look at, everything which she experienced on the inside was merely ugly in a way it had never been in New Jersey.
Now instead of being impressed that she was able to work in a place like this, she merely tolerated it, counting down each and every second on a daily basis until she was able to leave and go back to her home. She would go as far as to say that she come to hate the place with the same passion that she normally reserved for the worst kind of scum that she encountered while on the job.
Danni patted the roof of her car absently before she made her way across the crowded car park and up the shallow stone steps which led into the main entrance hall of the building. She pulled one of the large wooden doors and stepped through, heading straight towards the security barrier and holding her security card against the scanner, waiting for a second for the gates in front of her to swing open before she headed through, making her way through the crowd on route to the elevators.
She kept her head down, ignoring the looks she could feel against her back and the sound of whispers which started up the moment she passed. She had learnt to disregard everything to do with what happened in the building, merely blocking it out and ignoring it as much as she could,
Danni came to a stop by the elevators and hit the call button, surprised to see that she was the only one waiting. She resisted the urge to glance down at her watch, instead watching the screen and heading to the elevator which was just arriving. She stood to one side, letting everyone out and nodding at the one person in the crowd who acknowledged her before she stepped in and pressed the button for the seventh floor which was where the Detective's area was based.
It was still fairly early in the morning which should meant that the majority of the Detectives would be out and about, chasing down leads or their own cases or taking an early lunch break allowing her some peace and quiet to sort out her thoughts and plan her strategy, though given how busy it was that morning she wasn't sure.
She would have time to head back to her desk, dump her bag beneath it before grabbing Meka and dragging him to the break room under the guise of getting a cup of coffee. He had been grumbling earlier that the case Hookano had landed him with would leave him deskbound for the rest of the day which had turned out to be a blessing. They could run through a plan and tackle the Captain together, the same Captain who may not have liked her but who certainly liked her partner and would be willing to listen to him.
She needed to look at the initial report from the CSU responders as well to see whether there was any mention of a partial palm print of whether her earlier thought that the discover of the palm print had something to do with the Commander was correct and it if was then what exactly he had done with it.
She glanced up as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open revealing the seventh floor. Danni stepped out, her grip tightening on her bag as she took a deep breathe, closing her eyes for a moment to fortify herself before she moved forward, heading down the short corridor and into the large open planned seating room where all the Detectives who belonged to the Honolulu Police department sat..
It was hot and humid in the room indicating to her that the air con system still hadn't been fixed from earlier on. Someone had opened the window, attempting to bring in a breeze but it was pointless since any breeze which did manage to make it into the room was warm, adding to the already stifling heat. Her earlier fear that the place would still be crowded was realised when she saw that nearly every desk was taken though it didn't seem to her as though there was much work being done. Instead, everyone was chatting loudly with each other, their voices and laughter mingling in with the sound of fingers typing against the keyboard and the clicking sound of a mouse being used, even the photocopier and fax machine were beeping away.
The familiar sound of a bustling workplace would have been almost comforting in it familiarity if she wasn't already fully away of what a charade it was.
She watched as a large group of Detectives led by Detective Yakama turned as one to look at her as she entered the area, their eyes moving up and down her body with expressions which made her want to throw up or turn and walk back out the way she had just come from but she forced herself to ignore both impulses. She waited for one of them to make a scathing comment towards her but instead they merely smirked, turning away from her and continuing their discussion, shifting slightly so that they all had their backs turned towards her, telling her without words that she wasn't welcome there.
For a moment Danni stood still at the door, overcome by a sudden wave of homesickness for New Jersey and the team who she had left behind there.
She had always known from the moment she had handed in her notice that she would miss it there but she had never expected to miss it quite as much as she did. The job she had in New Jersey had been difficult and time consuming and sometimes the cases had been gruesome enough that it had kept her awake at night. They were messier and complicated and nothing like the cases which she had experienced so far in Hawaii which had seemed milder in comparison. The caseload back in New Jersey had been more numerous as well. For every case that Danni and her team had closed, they often ended up with at least eight more in its place.
Despite all of that though Danni had loved it and had done so since her first Homicide case. She had her own team, a team of nine individuals who Danni had picked out and who had gotten on together like a house on fire. However hard the work was, they had always managed to find a way to look at the bright side and helped keep each other from falling into the darkness. She had trusted each and every member of her team and she knew that they had trusted her back.
Her old partner, Mikhail Harrison had been like a brother to her and was still someone who she spoke to at least once to twice a week when time allowed it. The team had done things together socially and they had ended up feeling like a family, one large, highly dysfunctional family but one none the less.
She had hoped against hope that when she came out here to Hawaii that she would find something similar to that but instead she found the exact opposite and she hated it.
Danni swallowed hard, forcing her face into the same thoughtful expression that she wore continuously while in the office and crossed the room towards the small corner where her desk was. Her eyes landed on Meka, thankful to see that the other man was still in his seat at the desk opposite hers. He was looking down at something on the surface, no doubt at a file, a look on his face which was torn between concentration and boredom. It was an expression which brought a reluctant smile to her face as she wondered just how often she had seen that look from him over the past six months.
She stopped beside her desk and placed her bag beneath it before she straightened and looked around the room carefully, her eyes scanning the surrounding area. She noticed absently that once again her desk was the only one which she could see which was neat and in some sort of order. The other surrounding desks were crammed with dirty cups and files which were stacked up in piles which to her eyes, looked dangerously close to falling to the ground. Loose paperwork lay across the surfaces in no discernible order which she could tell. It was just another small thing which showed her just how different Hawaii was to New Jersey to each other because if anyone back at her old precinct had allowed their desk to fall into such a state then they would have been summoned into the Captain's office and read a riot act which would leave their ears ringing for at least a week.
Captain Hookano on the other hand didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"Hey Danni-girl, you're back here sooner than I expected you to be, did you manage to find something at the McGarrett house we can use?" Meka asked, she blinked and turned to look at him realising as she met his dark eyes that he looked up at some point and was now watching her, a curious expression on his face which was slowly becoming concern, the longer her silence continued. "Wait, did something happen to you while you were over there? Are you okay?" He demanded as she sat up straight in his chair.
"I'm fine but there's something that you and I need to talk about but not here, come with me." She stated, picking up on the urgent tone in her own voice and she looked back at her desk and swiped the mug from the surface. She made her way across the room towards the break room, knowing without even having to check that Meka would be right behind her. She pushed the door open, saying a silent prayer of thanks when she saw that the room was empty for once and would give them the privacy that they needed for this talk, stopping near the counter she turned to face him.
"What's up?" Meka asked her as he came to a stop in front of her, clearly deciding to skip any small talk they would normally have and to instead jump straight to the heart of the matter.
"I went down to the McGarrett house like I said I would do but when I got there I realised that I wasn't the only one who was in there, someone had beaten me there." She told him, keeping her voice low, her gaze flickering between him and the door.
"Someone was already there? Who was it? It wasn't Hesse was it?" Meka demanded, the concern returning to his expression and reflecting in his voice.
"No it wasn't him, if it had been Hesse then I would probably be a bit more banged up then I am or worse, dead." She said with a shake of her head. "It was actually Commander McGarrett, John McGarrett son, he was the one who was at the crime scene, he claims that his Dad never changed the locks so he was a able to use his own key to enter the house."
"John McGarrett's son?" Meka repeated, his eyes widening. "Are we talking about the same son who is meant to be off somewhere else doing something highly classified which no mere mortal will hear about because it never happened?"
"We're definitely talking about the same son, trust me. As to your other point, well I don't know, I mean you would think so but considering he's here in Hawaii I'm going to guess the answer to that is no." Danni said, giving Meka a long look before she continued. When I was there, the two of us had words with each other and he ended up ringing up the Governor of Hawaii on his cell phone because apparently he just happens to have her number. When he was on the phone with her he stated the police oath over the line and then told him that the crime scene was his crime scene now and he was in charge of his Dad's case." She informed him, waiting for his reaction to her story.
She didn't have long to wait.
"I'm sorry Danni, could you repeat that for me again, for a moment I thought you said that Steve McGarrett was now in charge of his father's case." He stated, a tone to his voice which she had never heard from him before.
"That's what he said, I think that the Governor has offered him the lead in some sort of taskforce which is being set up, something which is to do with law enforcement and he's gone and accepted the post and taken his father's case as his first case to work on. He wanted me to hand him over our files there and then though I deflected and told him that he would have to come down to the station if he wanted them so we should have a little amount of time to figure out how to deal with this, we're going to have to talk to the Captain about it." She told him, watching as he ran his hand through his hair before he nodded. He opened his mouth to respond to her when the door to the break room opened revealing Detective Chen who looked between the two of them thoughtfully before his eyes focused in on Danni.
"Captain Hookano is looking for you Williams and wants you in his office right now, he seems pissed over something so I wouldn't keep him waiting if I was you." The older man commented before he turned and left the room, his job clearly over in his eyes.
"Great, what does he want now." Danni said, her heart sinking as she passed her empty mug over to Meka automatically. They shared a quick look with one another before Danni turned and headed out of the room and in the direction of the Captain's large office. She had barely taken two steps towards it when the familiar, deep booming voice of Captain Hookano burst across the room, drowning out the other conversations causing them to fall silent.
"Williams! In my office now."
"You best get in there, if it's about what we think it's about then make eye contact with me and I'll come into the room to lend you a hand." Meka told her quietly.
She glanced back at him and nodded, shooting him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before she moved across the room again, her head held high as she ignored the smirking faces from her fellow Detectives as they watched her progress. All their attempts at pretending to work on their cases was forgotten in the light of her public summoning. It was a well-known fact to everyone that Hookano only called Detectives into his office if he was going to rip them a new one for some mistake he thought they had made.
Danni resisted the urge to bite her lower lip as she tilted her head back so she could the Captain as she approached him. He was a tall man, standing well over six feet tall and built as though he went to the gym religiously every day. It was either the fact that he worked out or that he had a supply of steroids which he used on a daily basis instead. Sharp black eyes watched as she moved with a look which made her want to turn back around and head in the opposite direction. Instead she forced herself to keep moving towards him, brushing past him as she walked into his office where she came to a halt in front of his large desk. Her back dead straight as she casually clasped her hands in front of her, eyes straight forward staring at the bookcase behind his chair which was filled with books which she would bet he had never read or even looked at and were simply there for show.
Captain Hookano was the sort of man who thrived on people showing fear in his presence, especially if he was the cause behind it and Danni was determined not to give him that satisfaction so instead she waited quietly, listening as he pulled down the blinds in his office, blocking them both from the curious eyes of the men gathered on the other side of the glass and taking away her chance of communicating with Meka if she needed him.
She watched from the corner of her eyes as the Captain moved past her, heading around the desk and sinking down onto the black leather seat positioned behind it. His movements were surprisingly graceful for a man of his size and build. He sat in silence for a moment, his gaze moving slowly over her face as though he was trying to figure out what she was thinking before he sighed and leaned his body back in his seat.
"Detective Williams." He said, drawing out her name as he tapped his fingertips against the arm rest of his chair. "I've just had a very interesting conversation with the Governor of Hawaii who was ringing to inform me that she has decided to set up a brand new task force to deal with the cases which she believes are beyond HPDs capacity and skill level to solve." He told her, an undertone to his voice which told her exactly how pissed off the man in front of her was. "As far as I can see from the information she provided me, this taskforces sole purpose is to get in the way of us being able to do our jobs the way we're meant to do them. They will outrank everyone on the force and have the ability to take over any case from us which they see fit to regardless of whether or not HPD have already started the investigation. We're of course meant to assist them to the best of our abilities if they ask is for help either by providing them with information or back up during their cases. Pretty much from what I gather if they ask us to jump then we're meant to ask them how high." He finished, his hands tightening on the arm rest to the point that Danni could see his knuckles whiten from the pressure he was exerting.
Danni shifted on the spot, resisting the urge to frown as she wondered why exactly the Captain had brought her into the room to tell her about his conversation. She wasn't one of the Detectives in the unit who the Captain tended to confide in. If anything the two of them barely spoke to each other apart from when she and Meka were receiving their new cases from him. The last time he had spoken to her in any capacity other than that was back on her first day when he had welcomed her to the Unit before shoving her towards Meka, telling her that Hanamoa would take care of her.
"I see Sir." She said finally when the silence continued, becoming almost oppressive.
"You're probably wondering why exactly I've brought you in here to share this with you." He continued to say as though he had read the questions floating around her mind. "Well let me enlighten you Detective Williams. I'm telling you this because the Governor while imparting this news to me also saw fit to tell me that a Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett had made the decision a short time ago to head up the taskforce for her. This, if memory serves me right, would be the very same Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett who happens to be the only son of the murder victim who's case you and Hanamoa are working on at the moment. That made me wonder, have you met the Commander yet?" He questioned.
"I met him earlier today when I was at the McGarrett house." Danni admitted after a pause, the smug look which had been plastered all over the Commander's face during his talk with the Governor suddenly made sense to her as did the moment she had him swear the Police oath over the phone. She ignored the way her stomach sank at the knowledge and instead focused her attention on the Captain, her eyes narrowing slightly as she took in the situation at hand. The Captain was clearly one edge which meant that one false step or wrong word would have landed her in a world of trouble.
"I see, and tell me Detective Williams when you happened to meet the Commander earlier on, did he happen to mention anything to you about his brand new, shiny taskforce? Maybe he went as far as to explain to you his reasoning for taking on the position which he clearly unsuited for. I've noticed a trend in your and Hanamoa's cases that the witnesses and even suspects you come across are often willing to talk to you and to answer your questions. There is clearly something about your presence that leaves them with a desire to confide in you even if they didn't perhaps initially plan to. Did the same thing happen with the Commander? Did he confide in you Williams when you were together?" The Captain questioned her quietly, a tone which was so in contrast to his usual style of shouting that it automatically placed her on edge
"No, not exactly Sir" Dannie replied, keeping her voice cool and professional. "The Commander and I didn't speak with each other for long and he certainly didn't use that time to confide in me, not like I expected him to."
"Not exactly." Hookano repeated, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Well, when you say not exactly what exactly do you mean Detective? Perhaps you could do me the courtesy of expanding on that statement. Either the Commander mentioned his taskforce to you when he was with you or he didn't. It shouldn't be difficult to answer the questions. Was it a yes or was it a no?" Hookano asked, glancing away from her face briefly to study his fingernails as though her answer to his question was unimportant to him.
It would almost have been amusing since his body language was screaming how much the answered mattered to him but she didn't feel like smiling at that moment in time.
"I meant what I said Captain" She responded, disregarding the way his eyes narrowed at her as he head snapped back up, she continued speaking. "Like I said, I met the Commander earlier on at the McGarrett home when I went there to look up a lead. The Commander was already in the house when I arrived. I informed that he had to leave because the scene was an active crime scene and he disagreed with me over it. Some words were exchanged and while I was there he rang the Governor on his cell phone. They spoke about something and McGarrett took the police oath but I didn't know until now why he was doing it. He hung up the phone and told me that the crime scene now belonged to him and that was the conversation. I left after that point and came back here." She answered, falling silent when the Captain sat forward in his seat, resting his thick forearms on the surface and linking his fingers together, his dark gaze never leaving her face.
"So what you're telling me Detective Williams is that Commander McGarrett met you in his father's house and then decided to accept an offer from the Governor to run her new taskforce because he objected to whatever it was that the two of you had words about which means that he took the job so he could have power over you, so he could what? Throw you out of his father's house? Am I correct?" He asked her, a flat tone to his voice.
She frowned at him, bringing her arms up and crossing them defensively over her chest, her stomach churning as she felt a wave of anger come over her at the underlying accusing tone to his voice.
"I'm afraid that I have no idea what the Commander's reasoning is behind his decisions. If you want to know what they are then you'll have to speak to the man directly and ask him yourself and for the record Sir, McGarrett never told me to leave his father's house. He merely told me that the crime scene was now his and that was it." She answered him firmly, briefly wondering why the Commander hadn't asked her to leave his father's home. He had obviously been surprised when he found out what she was still there but she hadn't picked up any real annoyance or irritation from him.
"So, the decision that McGarrett made to accept the lead position of the Governor's taskforce could easily been down to you and you alone." The Captain stated, Danni narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't think that assessment is true Sir and to be frank I don't think it's a fair assumption for you to make either, I-"
"No, no Williams." He interrupted her, holding up his index finger to stop her from continuing. "I wasn't asking you to share your opinion with me. I was merely stating what appears to the facts of the case. As far as I can see, the Commander met you, interacted with you and then rang the Governor in front of you I might add and agreed to run a taskforce for her which he might not have agreed to initially just because he wanted to pull rank on your add and take the case from you. Clearly once again Detective Williams you've managed to make a great impression on someone." He remarked, the sarcasm clear in his voice.
Danni remained silent for a moment, staring at the man in front of her before she began to speak, her voice low and icy.
"Well the Commander didn't exactly make a great first impression either Captain." She told him, her hands lifting and sweeping through the air, the only visible sign of her growing anger. "The man entered an active crime scene knowing full well that he should not have been anywhere near the place. He moved and tampered with evidence, choosing to move things around and when I saw him he was wearing no gloves which means that his fingerprints are now all over the crime scene and will have to be taken so he can be eliminated as a suspect which takes time away from the investigation. So yes, The Commander and I did have words with each other and yes perhaps the words which were used weren't the friendliest of ones but I was only trying to limit the amount of damage that the Commander was causing because that is my job. McGarrett might be a Navy SEAL and he might have served his country but he knows nothing about how real police work is done and what is worse is the fact that he doesn't care because he seems to believe himself to be above the law which the rest of use follow and uphold. He believes that he can bark out some orders and everyone will simply drop to the ground and roll over for him. That might be something which happens in the Navy for him but he's not in the Navy right now, he's in real life and he needs to learn that what he believes isn't necessarily right. He might think that he's the best man to solve his father's murder but the truth is that he is the worse because how can he remain objective when he's investigating his own father's murder? He can't and because of that, Hesse will get away." Danni stopped speaking, shaking her head in surprise when she realised just how much the Commander had gotten beneath her skin.
In the six months that she had been working for the department she had never said so much to anyone who wasn't Meka. She ignored the look of thoughtfulness which came to the Captain's eyes as she brought her hands down, interlocking her fingers together to keep them still.
"Is that so Williams." Hookano said eventually with a raised eyebrow. "And how would you know that?"
"I know that because whether you like me or not Captain you can't deny that I am damn good at my job which is why the case should remain with me and Meka. All we want is the chance to being Hesse in to face justice for what he's done. We can do that, the likelihood of the Commander doing that however is slim. Can you not speak to the Governor and explain the risks about letting McGarrett have his father's case?"
"No I can't, you need to accept the fact that you messed this whole situation up Detective Williams." He snapped at her, his voice rising to a level where it would have been easily heard by the people outside in the bullpen. She blinked when he jabbed his finger at her, looking briefly as though he wanted to shake her.
"With all due respect Captain, I think you'll find that I haven't messed this up at any stage during this investigations, you tasked me and Meka to find the man who killed John McGarrett in cold blood and to bring him in to faces charges and that is exactly what we have spent the last three days doing. All you need to do is to look at our files and reports to see just how much ground we've been making on this without any help from the military or the agencies I might add. You know as well as I do that Meka and I are the best Homicide Detectives that you have working in this department at the moment, all we need is a couple more days and then this case will be closed, I'm positive about it."
The Captain remained silent making Danni wonder briefly whether she had overstepped the mark with what she had said but then he sighed and spoke.
"You are right with that, you are my best detective, Danielle but you need to realise that things are different now and you being the best we have no longer matters when it comes to this case." He responded as he came up to his feet, towering over her. Danni shot him a startled look at the use of her first name. No one in the Detective pen other than Meka called her anything other than Williams or the Ha'ole until she had began to wonder whether any of them had actually known what her name was. She blinked when the Captain continued speaking. "The fact of the matter is that regardless of what work you and Hanamoa have placed into the case it's no longer a HPD case to solve. This case now belongs to Steve McGarrett and whoever else ends up working with him on his taskforce. Now you can stand there and try and talk me around until you're blue in the face or you can stand there and stare at me with your big grey eyes but it won't change what has happened. My hands are tied in this situation. You and Hanamoa are off the McGarrett case Williams, I suggest you accept that and get it out of your system." He stated, running his hand down his face before he looked back at her. "Look, go and take the rest of the day, go find yourself something to do with your time and be back at your desk tomorrow morning by eight thirty for the morning briefing. Hanamoa would have finished the side project he's on by then and I have at least two cases on my desk which have both your names on it. Just put the McGarrett case from your mind."
Danni stared up at him, feeling as though he had just slapped her hard in the face. She dug her fingernails into the soft flesh of her palm making sure that her face was clear of any emotions and tried to ignore the fact that she had just been dismissed from the office for the day as though she was a little girl at school. She brought her head up slightly and opened her mouth to speak when he shook his head at her.
"Whatever it is you're about to say to me I suggest you save it. I'm not interested in hearing your opinion on things right now. Go and gather your things and leave the office for the day. I don't want to catch sight of you in the building until tomorrow. I won't repeat my orders to you again Detective." He stated.
Danni bit down on her inner cheek, focusing on the pain as she felt the face heat up as though she was going red. She didn't trust herself to speak so instead she gave him one curt nod of acknowledgement before she turned and headed to the office door, pulling it open and stepping out into the bullpen. She glanced around her, taking in the amused, pleased expression which were on the majority of the Detective faces, her mind making a separate note of all the faces which looked sorry for her, making her wonder if she had more allies withing the department then the four which she knew of.
She breathed out, glancing towards her own desk, her eyes widening when they met Steve McGarrett's blue eyes. He was perched on the edge of the desk, ignoring all the looks being cast towards him. Danni moved swiftly across the room towards him, ignoring the comments the other Detectives said to her as she passed them.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded as she stopped in front of Steve. "Have you no respect? Get your ass off of my desk."
McGarrett raised an eyebrow at her, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture as he came slowly to his feet, the movement reminding her of a lion stretching its muscles. She brushed past him and took her seat, reaching up and pushing some of the stray strands of hair which had escaped her hairstyle away from her face before she turned her gaze towards the Commander. "Is there something which I can help you with Commander?" She asked him politely. She kept her gaze thoughtful as he twisted around so he was facing her, his palms on the surface of her desk as he leaned towards her.
"Yes you can Detective, you told me to come down here to fill in some forms which needed to be countersigned by Captain Hookano if I wanted the files on my father's murder case so that's what I'm here to do. Perhaps since you're so knowledgeable with the forms needed you could get them for me so I can get on."
Danni stared at him for a moment, ignoring the sound of rage which left Meka's mouth at McGarrett's comment. She continued to stare at him.
"The last time I checked Commander McGarrett, I was a Detective with HPD and not your personal assistant." She told him softly before her eyes flickered away from him to look at Meka who was staring at the two of them with narrowed eyes. She glanced behind McGarrett in time to see the Captain come out from his office, his gaze instantly landing on McGarrett. He said something to one of the other Detectives before he headed over towards them. Danni's gaze moved back to McGarrett, surprised to see him still staring at her with the same intent expression. "But you're in luck because Captain Hookano is on his way over here now and I'm sure he'll be delighted to help you with any queries you might have." She remarked turning her attention away from him.
She watched from the corner of her eyes as he pushed himself off her desk and turned around to face the Captain just as he arrived. Hookano's gaze moved between Danni and Meka before they focused on the Commander.
"You must be Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett." Hookano stated, holding out a beefy hand towards McGarrett. "The Governor informed me over the phone that you would be coming down to see me today over something."
Danni watched as Steve took Hookano's offered hand, shaking it before he quickly dropped it, his eyes flickering toward Danni's for a moment with an unreadable look before he turned his attention back to Hookano.
"I am" McGarrett responded, his voice coming across as emotionless and cold, a completely different tone from the other ones which she had heard him use. Hookano nodded at him, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive manner.
"I'm sorry if Detective Williams caused you any problems earlier on. She is still fairly new here on the island and she doesn't quite understand yet that things here are done differently than they are on the mainland. Rest assured though Commander that Williams and I have already had words over it and she won't be troubling you further in regards to your father's case." Hookano said to McGarrett.
Danni kept her face free of emotions with difficulty, focusing her gaze on Meka who looked torn between anger on her behalf and sympathy. She quickly lowered her eyes to her desk, cursing silently as she felt her cheeks redden again through a mixture of rage and embarrassment.
"There was no need for you to do that Captain." McGarrett remarked, his voice still expressionless. "The Detective was only doing her job. I do however need the paperwork to transfer the case over so I can get Williams files for the case."
"There's no need for you to concern yourself with that Commander." Hookano responded with a wave of his hand. "Considering the circumstances I think we can forgo the usual paperwork this one time. Hand over all the files relating to the John McGarrett case to the Commander on your way out of the office Detective Williams. Go and enjoy the rest of your day, perhaps you could go down to the beach and work on your suntan, you're still looking remarkably pale." Danni felt her face flush further as she fought against the strong urge to tell the Captain to go fuck himself but she resisted, bringing up a mental picture of her daughter to her mind to focus herself. She needed to keep this job for Grace's sake, she couldn't do anything which would risk her job. "Now Williams, don't keep the Commander waiting any longer." The Captain remarked coldly.
"Are we seriously just going to sit here and think that anything about this messed up situation is normal?" Meka demanded, breaking his silence as he came up to his feet.
"It is normal now Hanamoa, the Commander here is now in charge of the newly formed Governor Taskforce. His first action as the head of it was to take over his father's case." Hookano answered him, a tone in his voice telling him not to question him further on the subject.
"What this is, is bullshit." Meka stated angrily. "So you're telling me that he just waltzes in here and takes over the case that we're working on? The case that we've busted our guts over for the past three days or so?" He demanded, glaring at Hookano and McGarrett, a look of dislike in his black eyes before he turned to Danni as she came up to her feet as well. "You seriously can't be okay with this Danni? You've put more work into this case than anyone. All the leads we found so far have been down to you. You're the one who has made sure that we have a case to give over to the DA's office. You even made up the files because the initial ones we received were shit and now we're just going to give the case over to someone who has no police experience and who will probably mess up the entire case? No way Danni, just no way." He stated.
Danni sighed, reaching up and rubbing at the back of her neck, opening her mouth to speak only to close it a moment later when Hookano beat her to it.
"She doesn't have a choice in the decision Hanamoa and neither do you." He told Meka firmly. "No pass over the files to the Commander, I won't tell the pair of you again, next time you try and argue about it, you'll get a written warning followed by a suspension."
Danni unzipped her bag and reached into it, pulling out the file from inside and placed them on the desk before she took out her keys and unlocked her desk drawer, she hunted through it for a second before she came across the remaining two files and took them out, placing them with the others. She locked the drawer again and gathered them together, taking the one which Meka held out to her before she offered the pile to McGarrett. He took them from her, his gaze fixed on her face with a look she couldn't read.
"That's all of them." She told him. "Everything in there should help you nail Hesse when you and your team locate him. I hope you find him soon Commander and make him pay for everything that he's done." She said coolly before she turned to Meka, her fixed smile softening into a genuine one . "I'll give you a call later on this evening Meka." She told him, waiting until he nodded at her before she shouldered her bag and turned from them, walking as quickly as she could towards the exit. She knew the others were talking about her but she ignored them. Whatever it was that they were saying wouldn't be good.
Danni made her way to the elevators, hitting the call button and stepping in when they opened, she turned around and hit the button for the ground floor with only one thought going through her head.
She never wanted to lay eyes on Steve McGarrett again.
Author Note
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, it's much appreciated. An especially big thank you if you left a review, a favourite or a follow. It means a great deal to me.