Chapter 11 -

After everything settled, the team separately interviewed many people, some of which had said they saw a oriental man in his late thirties near the restaurant and some said they saw him by the car not long before Steve and Elisabeth walked out of the restaurant. That didn't really get them very far, since there were many men that lived in Hawaii with the same description.

"That was helpful," Danny said sarcastically. "What are we going to do with oriental man in his thirties?"

"Right, it could be anyone!"

"In need of a sketch artist?" A young blonde hair man in his early twenties came up to them while they were all talking. He was holding an Ipad.

"Yes, please!" Danny placed his arm on the man's shoulder. "Come with me."

While Danny and the sketch artist went to check with some of the eyewitnesses again, Chin and Kono went back to the car and began taking pictures. It was tough for them, but put their feelings aside to find out who had killed Elisabeth. It would have been harder if she had still been in the front seat. The look on Steve's face was heartbreaking enough when they finally pulled the body out, they made him go home. It was to much for him to handle.

A few minutes later, Danny returned. "Hey!" He called to his friends. "Get a look at this..." He held up his phone and there was a picture of the sketch from the Ipad. It was definitely Wofat. Everyone glanced at each other and then at the car where Elisabeth died.

The next morning, the car had been moved to the impound garage for processing. Chin and Kono were the first to arrive and they got to work. After several minutes, Kono put the brush in the powder and wiped it over the steering wheel until it revealed a partial palm bring. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and took a photo of it.

Quickly, Kono uploaded it into the system and began to a check of the print, then set the phone down next to her, and grabbed some tweezers and an evidence back so she could do a fiber check, though there were not many that she could see; the fire made sure of that.

After a few moments, Kono was ready to give up until she found a short dark hair. With the tweezers, she picked it up, and stuff it carefully into an evidence bag. The phone beeped and she reached for for it to pick it up. The search had stopped and the result of the partial print belonged to Wofat. It took her by surprise, she really hadn't expected Wofat to be involved like this. Of course, he seemed to be popping up in a lot of places lately, so she couldn't take that for granted. No one could.

"Wofat?"

"What was that cuz?" Chin said from underneath the car or rather what was left of it.

"Have a print, it belonged Wofat! And I have a fiber."

Definitely sounded promising, but they need to make sure it all stuck! There was always the possibility that Wofat was in the car while Jack was investigating him. The team wouldn't know for sure until they did a little more investigating of their own.

"Ah hah!" Chin sounded excited as he'd just located the bomb.

"What is it cuz?" Kono knelt down next to her cousin.

"Found the bomb or what's left of it." Chin pulled the bomb off and slide out and stood up. "Wow, would you look at this?" He set it on the table to examine it more. It was very small, very intricate and very sophisticated. To complicated for the ordinary man. Through the fire and heat, it really hadn't lost much of its shape. "I can't imagine how anyone put this thing together let it alone attach it to the car without it going off. It looks like it was pretty sensitive."

"They sure as hell knew what they were doing."

"Better get this stuff to the lab." Chin placed the bomb into a box and they left the garage.

In all the time, no one ever once looked in the trunk because it had looked sealed up. They'd need a blow torch to open it. They figured that there wasn't anything in there for them to look for. If they had, they would have found Elisabeth alive and sleeping.

As Chin and Kono stopped by Max, he informed them that he positively identified the body as being Elisabeth's, though no one needed to know it was her, they had already known.

"I just can't understand why anyone would do that to her," Max had said after a moment. "She would never hurt anyone." It was a side that they rarely seen of him. He'd always seemed so calm and collected.

"I know," Kono replied sadly. "She was a good person who deserved better than that!"

Max pulled the sheet over her head and very quickly changed the subject. "What have you got for me?"

"Not much." Chin showed the bomb to Max and Kono handed the hair over to him.

Quickly Max looked the bomb over, he seemed quite interested, though that was obviously not his forte. "I've only seen one bomb like that in my life." He glanced up at the two

"What do you mean?" Kono wondered as she glanced up at her friend.

"I had came across to a very similar case and I was reading up on it. The bomb that was used was very similar to this one." Max pointed at the bomb and then pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And Joe seems to have been connected to that as well."

The cousins glanced at each other surprised. This was totally not making any sense. Why would the same type of bomb be used in both of the accidents? Maybe it was just a coincidence? Maybe it wasn't. If it wasn't, then Joe was definitely involved some how, but that didn't make sense either. Why would Joe do that to Steve? He wouldn't intentionally hurt Steve like that, someone he'd considered a son. It was Wofat, it had to be. There was still the partial print to prove it and the hair fiber. Joe didn't fit the witness' description though.

"I found this in the front seat..." Kono handed the little bag over.

The medical examiner looked at the little fiber and then glanced up at the two officers. "I'll get this to the lab right way. I'm just as anxious as you guys to find out who did this!" He glanced at Elisabeth's body. She was so badly burned that he only had her teeth to identity her. "I promise that I will not let these items out of my site." He pushed the sheet over her out of respect.

They believed him. Max would never lie to anyone for any reason.

Later on that day, Steve had found himself at Elisabeth's, not knowing how he'd ended up there. For a moment, he just stood there, debating whether or not he should just go inside. He needed to be close to her, needed to touch something that she touch.

The neighbor from across the hall, a short brown hair stocky woman, opened her door and regarded Steve for a moment. He had no idea she walked over to him. It broke her heart watching him stand there. "Hi!" She said to him as he turned to glance at her. "I'm Mary Anne. I haven't seen Elisabeth in a few days. Are you her boyfriend?"

"You could say that I was..." Steve says sadly. "I'm Steve by the way."

Was? What did he mean was? "What do you mean, was?" Then it it her, Elisabeth was gone. Mary Anne could see it as she looked into Steve's eyes. "She's dead, isn't she?"

That one little question hit him like a ton of bricks. Steve took a death breath and nodded.

Mary Anne stood there shocked. Even though they hadn't known each other well, they got along. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for you loss."

Steve nodded his thanks. "I...um...I need to get in here. Do you happen to know where there's a key?"

"Oh, sure..." Mary Anne pointed to the welcome rug under his feet. "She kept her key under the mat because her sister would always lose her key."

Glancing down, Steve looked at the welcome mat. It was plan brown and had black cursive writing that said welcome across it. "Thanks!"

"No problem." Mary Anne walked back towards her apartment. "Again, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks!" Steve never once took his eyes off the mat and heard the door close behind him.

Kneeling down to the mat, Steve pushed it away; the was a silver key there where the woman had said there'd be one. Slowly, he picked it up, and held it in his hands for a moments, then he stood up, and slide the key into the lock, and unlocked the door. After a moment, he pulled the key out and pocked it before opening the door.

The apartment was still. No movement. No sound. Not even the traffic coming from outside could be heard. It was eerie. With a deep breath, Steve finally stepped inside slowly and he looked around. As he stood there, he imagined Elisabeth coming out of her bedroom as if she were still alive, but as she walked towards him and smiled at him, then she disappeared. She was forever gone now.

Walking into Elisabeth's room, Steve glanced at the bed. Instantly, he was brought back to the bed and breakfast where they almost made love, but then that was a life time ago. Shaking his head of those thoughts, he moved towards the dresser, looking at the items. He picked up a pair of diamond earrings; they reminded him of the last time they'd all gotten together for dinner. He hair was pulled up at the sides, she was wearing black jeans and a blue top. Neither one could take their eyes off each other that night. Steve smiled at the memory and then he reached for a charm bracelet, glancing at each charm. She'd worn that the same day too. The clasps had broken and the charms went all over the floor.

"Dammit!" Elisabeth watched the charms fall to the floor and she quickly moved to the floor and she began picking them up.

"Oh here..." Steve pushed away from the table and moved to the floor to join her. "Let me help you with that..."

As they both went to reach for the charm, their hands connected. The energy between seemed to blaze. It was so intense that they pulled away, though neither wanted to.

"Thanks!" Elisabeth said as her face turned crimson.

As Steve set down the bracelet, he picked up her flower perfume, smelling it. The smell invaded all his senses, reminding him of the first time they'd met and it made him smiled. It seemed like a lifetime ago, he thought as set the perform down.

There were so many memories, that Steve moved out into the living room. He went to the TV stand, glancing at each of the pictures on the shelf, though his cut was telling him that there something was missing. It was a picture of her and Steve, but he pushed the feeling aside. Just because its not there, doesn't mean it isn't still in the apartment somewhere.

Something told Steve to open the drawer. As he opened the drawer, he saw a tape label Will. He put the tape into the VCR and turned the TV on to watch. There she was giving her last will. She was really gone!

When the tape was fished, Steve pushed eject button and pulled the tape out, setting it on top the VCR. He stepped back, away, to much to deal with, to many feelings coursing through him. He was upset that he lost her, upset with himself for not saving her and upset with the person who'd killed her. In that moment, Steve lost it and cleared the stand of everything. He watched everything fall to the floor, shattering into pieces.

So many questions going through his mind that he didn't have answers to. Glancing down at the photos at his feet, Steve picked up one of the pictures with her in it, and just stared, vowing that he would do whatever it took to make sure the person who killed her would go to jail. He folded the picture up and put it in his back pocket, reached for the tape, and headed out, shutting the door behind him.

Several minutes later, Steve walked through the double doors at headquarters, and walked right after to Kono and Chin. Danny was in his office taking a phone call. Kono was the first to look at Steve and realized that he had not slept well the night before. No one really did, they were all still in shock.

"What'cha got for me?" Steve asked curiously, leaning up against the computer.

"Found a fiber on the seat of the car," responded Kono helpfully.

"I was able to locate where the parts of the bomb came from. I'm just about to head out and see if I can talk to the owner of the hardware store."

"Good!" Steve nodded his approval.

"We also have a positive ID." Danny came out of the office holding a piece of paper. "I was able to check the security footage."

When Danny reached Steve, he handed the paper over to his friend. It was a copy of the sketch. Steve looked it over quickly, not surprised that it was his brother, his worst enemy. Some how he known that it was him all along.

"When are the results expected back on the evidence?" Steve inquired, still glancing at the sketch.

"Max made sure to put a rush on it, so it could probably be anytime," answered Kono.

"Get me the warrant! I want to wrap this up as soon as possible so we can...we can...put Elisabeth to rest." Steve walked out of headquarters, his emotions getting the better of him. He found himself in the garage where the car had been and walked around the car, looking inside and out, and stopped at the trunk. Something about it kept drawing him in towards it.

"I just heard son..." Joe came up from around him. "I'm so sorry." He looked innocent, but he was far from innocent and Elisabeth was still in the trunk. "I know you cared about her."

It was kinda creepy that Joe just happened to be there. Why was he there?

"I do! I care about her very much," Steve said sadly. Love her even...

"I know! It's gonna be ok!" Joe looked at his watch, it was getting late, and he needed to get Elisabeth out of the trunk before someone actually found her. "Why don't you get out of here for a little while, and I will meet up with you for some dinner."

"I can't! I have case to work on."

"They can deal with things while you're gone for a little while."

Maybe Joe was right. Maybe if Steve got out of there and went somewhere to get his mind off of things, he'd have a clearer head for this case when they wrapped it up. But something was bothering Steve about this whole thing. Why was Joe pushing him to leave? It was starting to feel a little fishy!

"Maybe you're right!"

Why is Joe so intent on getting me out of here? Is there something in this trunk he needs?

"I know, I'm right!" Joe smiled. "No one expects you to be super cop here."

Steve nodded, determined to get to the bottom of it.

"We'll meet up at Josie's Bar on third in a couple of hours."

"Right! Thanks Joe!" Steve left the garage.

Glancing around to see if it was safe, Joe grabbed a pry bar from a nearby car, and pried open the trunk. It few open and Elisabeth looked up at Joe; her make up smeared and her hair had gone in all different directions.

"I didn't think I'd ever get out of that thing." Elisabeth sat up, and Joe helped her out.

"I needed to make sure that they were finished with the car before I came to get you, but I found Steve here. I could tell he was thinking about opening the trunk. I sent him off somewhere to keep him from doing that."

The blonde looked up at Joe crestfallen. She knew Steve was there, she could feel him through the trunk. She wanted so much to reach for him, but knew she couldn't. God, why did I have to do this to him...to me...I hate this!

"This what you wanted, remember?"

Joe was giving her an opportunity to get out of the situation, but he knew that she was dead set on making this happen despite the consequences. Elisabeth glared at Joe for the jab.

"I know what this costing me, Joe. I am prepared to to deal with the consequences. I just...just have to get to that point and it's gonna take me a little bit of time to get there."

With a sigh, Joe nodded. "I've got the security cameras on loop, so we're gonna need to leave soon, but first..." Joe disappeared and reappeared a moment later with a laundry cart. "Get in. No one will be able to see you." He put his cap on and helped her into the cart, and rearranged cartons around her, before rolling her out of the garage.

Rolling the cart over to a white cargo van that had Jose's Cleaning Service written on the side, Joe glanced around to see if it was safe. As he rolled the cart around the van and up the already waiting ramp. He glanced around once more before shutting the door, and rushing to the drivers side, getting in, and turned the engine on.

"When can I get out of this cart?" Elisabeth had asked.

"In a few minutes, I want to get away from here!" Joe pulled out of the parking lot and drove off.

Steve came out from the garage entrance and watched the white cargo van disappear down the road. "What are you up to, Joe? What was in that trunk that you needed so badly?"

A few minutes later, Elisabeth pushed the cartons out of the way, got out of the cart. She moved to the front seat next to Joe, though neither one said a thing, until they arrived at the abandon house. He glanced at Elisabeth as he put the van in park. "Ready?"

Elisabeth nodded as Joe shut the engine off, and they both hurried into the house.

"It's only temporary." Joe said as he closed the door. "Why don't you go and change. You'll need to do your hair as well - there's a box of dye in there. Towels in the cabinet."

Numbly, Elisabeth walked into the bedroom, surprised to find a bed, though there wasn't much else in there, besides a TV. She grabbed her bag and pulled out fresh clothes and then headed into the bathroom. She closed to the door and quickly undressed, folding the dress up. It would be saved, though never warn.

The soon to be former blonde picked up the box of dye. It was was a dark brunette color. She shrugged and began dying her hair. Several minutes later, she washed it out, and then stepped into the shower, washing all the grit and grim from the fire. It didn't make her feel any better. She still missed Steve.

Once Elisabeth was finished, she got out, and dressed quickly, and walked out of the bathroom. There was an inviting smell. What was it? Chinese food? Yummy. It brought back memories of when she and Steve had oriental food. With a sigh, she went into the kitchen, and sat down at the table, waiting for Joe. He glanced back at her and smiled.

"It suits you..."

"Huh?"

"The brunette. Very lovely shade. It complements your skin tone. Very pretty!"

Elisabeth blushed. "Thank you! Are you going to stay?"

"No. As soon as I'm finished here, I'm going to meet up with Steve."

"I brought you some DVD's and there's a book series for you. It's called Fifty Shades of Grey. I hear it's all the rage, but I have no clue what it's about."

What? Joe just bought her porn? Elisabeth concealed her laugh. "Okay!"

Joe placed the food on a plate and handed it for her. "There's more of this." He shut the stove off. "And there's other things in the fridge and in the cabinet. You're going to be here for a few days, once everything dies down. I think they're close to gathering all the evidence I've planted."

It was all coming together perfectly.

"I'll be back as soon as I can!" Joe disappeared out the back door, while Elisabeth looked down at her food.

Elisabeth wasn't so sure she really wanted to eat her dinner. Her new life without Steve or their friends was going to be starting soon and didn't know how she felt that now that everything was falling into place.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door, and Elisabeth was frozen in fear. Who was at the door? Was it Steve? Had he found out? What if he had? Would he still want her? Elisabeth took a deep breath and stood up, and opened the door.

TBC