Just fixing some problems I saw... Sorry
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Lee sat in the middle of the interrogation room, hands cuffed behind his back, glaring at McGarrett as he silently paced back and forth. I stood against the wall, arms crossed, waiting for Steve to say something.
"You gonna start questioning him, yet?" I asked curiously receiving a glare. "Just saying we don't have all day." He still didn't say anything. "Steve, seriously, a woman is dead…"
"Wait, who's dead?" Lee questioned furrowing his eyebrows.
"That has nothing to do with you," I threw at Grant. "So, don't worry about it." I wasn't about to broadcast Marla Oliver's murder to a guy who lurked in rec centers waiting for cops and their dumbass, ninja SEAL partners to show up just so he can attack said dumbass, ninja SEAL partner.
"Maybe it does," Steve said in a thoughtful voice, stopping to stare at Lee. "Do you know Peter T'ak?" But, McGarrett would. Insensitive jackass.
"I met him once," Lee replied sighing, his left eye twitching.
"Liar," I said meeting his eyes.
"What?" Lee said quickly giving me a panicked look.
"I said you're a liar," I replied pushing away from the wall and taking a few steps toward him.
"No I'm not," he snapped his left eye twitching again.
"Your left eye twitches when you lie," I informed him loudly in his ear. "So, do you know T'ak or not?"
Lee growled, "We used to hang out before he got arrested." No twitch, telling the truth.
"Then you must have known Marla Ray?" Steve said sparing me a quick glance.
"I met her a couple times," Lee replied giving us an annoyed look. "She hated me."
"Wonder why," I muttered walking away from him.
"How would you describe T'ak's relationship with Marla?" Steve asked crossing his arms.
"Why do you…?" Lee trailed off giving us a confused look. "Did Petey kill Marla?"
"We are not allowed to discuss an ongoing investigation with you," I retorted before McGarrett could open his mouth.
"Just answer the question," Steve said annoyance in his eyes. Annoyance, I am pretty sure, that was directed at me.
"Pete gave as much as Marla did," Lee answered vaguely.
"What does that mean?" I asked more irritated than confused. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear Lee's answer. Criticizing the dead was one of my pet peeves (obvious exceptions aside, of course). And with this case… Well, it hit too close to home for me (and I will never willingly admit that).
"It's just," Lee trailed off, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. Steve gave him some threatening look that apparently could only be learned in the Navy and he cracked like an egg. "She'd get violent, he'd get violent. It was mess of emotional and physical abuse." I wasn't sure whose face scared him-mine or McGarrett's-(I'm banking on Super SEAL) but Lee paled drastically and hurriedly said, "I… I don't mean to speak ill of the dead… It's just… Please don't kill me."
"We're not gonna kill you," McGarrett replied shaking his head. "So, both were abusive?"
"Yeah, until Marla got pregnant. For a while after that they were semi-decent to each other. Then he got into some trouble with some Samoans, and got sent to jail for a few months. When he got out, Marla had already had Hailey and had moved on with her life. Had started dating some rich yuppie…"
"And let me guess," I started before Lee could continue, "T'ak couldn't have his kid being raised by a decent guy. So, he tried to kidnap Hailey. And when that didn't work, when he got thrown it jail again, he decided to kill the poor girl's mother when he was released!" I hadn't realized my voice had gotten progressively louder until the last word left my mouth and I found my throat raw. There went not speaking about the case in front of Lee.
"So he did kill Marla," Lee said quickly flicking his eyes between Steve and me.
McGarrett threw him a look before turning to me and saying, "Let's take a walk."
"What?" I was confused. We were in the middle of an interrogation, Steve's favorite activity next to shooting people, why would he want to leave?
"Just for a minute," he said giving me a look I couldn't quite pinpoint. I sighed, but relented following him out of the room. We walked a few feet down the hall, McGarrett stopping so abruptly I almost ran into him. He turned to face me and said, "Maybe you should let me finish this interrogation."
"What? No, no because if I leave you alone, Lee could end up with six bullet holes in his chest. Or worse."
"Danny, you were screaming at Lee. Just for telling us his side of the story," Steve pointed out gesturing behind him.
"I… I wasn't screaming. I was just talking loudly," I argued albeit pathetically.
"I get it, okay. This case hits close to home for you. I mean, a mother dies, leaves her children and husband behind. I get." It was like he had been reading my mind. And yeah, it was a little scary "But if you can't be professional…"
"Are you honestly giving me a speech about professionalism? You? Steve, you've driven a car onto a boat, dangled a man off a building, dropped another in a shark tank, not to mention the grenade incident. And you have the audacity to talk about professionalism." I shook my head, snorting.
McGarrett was quiet for a second, his face in the shadows so I couldn't read his expression. Then, very calmly, he said, "I would appreciate it if you went upstairs and helped Kono with leads."
"No…"
"Send Chin down if you have to, but please, just this once, do what I ask." It was rare, to hear the word please leave Steve's mouth. And even though I wanted to argue, tell him I was more professional than he'd ever be, I realized it would just waste time. Time we could be using to find T'ak and arrest him for Marla Oliver's murder.
So, I sighed and nodded turning to head toward the elevators without another word. I was barely in the car when my phone rang.
"Williams," I answered without looking at the screen.
"Hey, this is Chief Marcus Palmer from East Orange PD. I'm a friend of your old CO, Greg Martin."
"What can I do for you, Chief Palmer?" I questioned pressing the third floor button.
"Greg and I were talking the other day and he had mentioned how you were looking for a position at a Jersey police department."
"Yeah, I was checking up on Newark PD, but Greg said he didn't need anybody. So, I'm just staying here," I replied as the doors closed on McGarrett disappearing back into the interrogation room.
"Well, my head detective is retiring in a few weeks and I was wondering if you'd be interested in his job?"
"Come again?" I leaned against the wall, needing to know if I had heard correctly.
"My head detective is retiring," Palmer repeated. "And Greg vouched for you, told me you had an impressive arrest recorded and excellent credentials. I mean, I know it isn't Newark, but it does give you an opportunity to work in Jersey again." I didn't know how to respond. I mean head detective, in New Jersey no less, was ideal. And it was a little better of a job than being the partner of a psycho. But Gracie was close to said psycho, she loved her uncle Steve. I wasn't sure I could yank her away from him.
"Uh, can I get back to you?" I questioned curiously as the doors opened.
"Sure," Palmer replied taken aback. He had obviously thought I was going to immediately take the job. And, had all this crap happened a year ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity to be head detective in a New Jersey police department. But now, I wasn't sure. "But, Williams, I can only give you until Friday to decide. Is that okay?"
I ran a hand through my hair, my headache intensifying, wondering what the hell was up with Friday. Money by Friday, now this decision by Friday, a part of me wouldn't be surprised if somebody got shot by Friday.
I chuckled humorlessly and said, "Yeah, Chief Palmer, that'll be fine." I stepped off the elevator, catching the door before it could fully close, a few seconds after I hung up with Palmer. I think I needed a drink.
"We've got traffic footage of T'ak," Kono said appearing at my side, startling me slightly. Steve had had Chin and Kono scour the traffic cams in hopes that we could find out exactly what time T'ak had nabbed Marla. According to Max she had died last Saturday between four and six in the morning. And her mother said the last time she had seen her daughter alive was eleven-thirty last Friday night. So, sometime between twelve and four Marla Oliver had been taken. We just wanted to pinpoint the exact time, hopefully make a timeline of the last few hours of Marla's life. And seeing the footage seemed like the perfect thing to get my mind off things for a few seconds.
"Show me," I said. The barely concealed uncertainty in her eyes caught my attention. Something was up. Without saying a word, she nodded and led me toward the 'war' room.
Chin was already standing next to the big computer screen, an unreadable expression on his face. Chin's never been easy to read, but something about this unreadable expression caught my attention, also. Yep, something was definitely going on.
"What's wrong?" I asked glancing between the two cousins.
"Should we get Steve?" Kono questioned, not me, but Chin.
"Why would you get Steve?" I threw at glare at both Chin and Kono. I didn't need Steve to hold my hand in order to see traffic footage.
"He'll see it regardless, Kono," Chin replied slowly.
"See what?" I snapped getting really fed up with their evasiveness. I needed to know what was going on, and I needed to know now. So, I stepped forward, brought the footage to life, and flicked it up on the screen. I may hate computers, but I damn well knew how to work one.
The screen showed a red truck, T'ak behind the wheel looking freaked, blow through a red light, plowing into the passenger side of a Mercedes. A familiar Mercedes. A Mercedes that had, in turn, been speeding through a green light. The Mercedes managed to skid across the road, slamming into a pole, the driver side window breaking and revealing a dark haired man.
T'ak pushed open his door, tried to run, but another car sped toward him. It skidded to a halt in front of him, two big Samoans getting out of the backseat, avoiding looking directly at the camera. They each grabbed one of T'ak's arms and dragged him toward the car, throwing the struggling man in the back before getting into the back seat on either side of him.
My eyes, however, couldn't seem to break away from the Mercedes. I could see her, fuzzy as she was. She had blood splattered across her face; her eyes were open but glassy. She had been dead on impact, I hadn't known that.
"Turn it off," I said hoarsely my eyes blurring.
"Danny…" Kono started trying to touch my arm. I yanked away from her and said, "Chin, turn it off." He nodded, the screen going blank.
My ears were ringing and anger pulsed through my veins making my heart pound against my chest. I had to get out, had to do something. I couldn't sit there, thinking about her last moments. T'ak had killed Rachel. He had killed Rachel just like he had killed Marla. And whoever was driving that car, whoever those Samoans were working for, had been responsible, too. They had been chasing T'ak, for whatever reasons. I had to find them, had to…
I realized I couldn't breathe, my legs turned to jelly. Hands caught me before I could fall, a familiar voice said, "Danny, sit down." I was lowered into a chair, the same voice saying, "Go get McGarrett. Now."
"Okay," a second familiar voice said and light footsteps hurried from the room.
The first voice said something else, but the ringing had gotten louder and I didn't take it in. Nausea rolled through me, severe enough I was sure I was going to throw up. I felt hands push me forward, the first voice murmuring something to me.
I finally had an idea of how Steve felt after he heard his father die, and I didn't like it one bit…
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Steve…
I had been putting the chair against the wall, a uniform just taking Lee back to his cell, when the door flew open. I turned to see Kono. Slightly out of breath, she managed to say, "Hurry. It's Danny." I tore out of the room, nearly knocked her over, and headed toward the stairs. I didn't have time to wait for the elevator.
I could hear Kono racing behind me, her light footsteps almost silent compared to my pounding footsteps echoing off the enclosed space. We made it to the third floor in a matter of minutes, and I threw the door open heading toward our corner of the floor. I spotted Chin sitting next to a hunched over Danny, a hand resting on his back, trying to talk to him. Danno's shoulders were heaving, almost as if he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.
"What happened?" I asked racing toward the 'war' room.
"We found traffic footage, boss. And it wasn't good," Kono responded worriedly following me inside the room. Chin stood, letting me take his seat.
"Hey, Danno, it's Steve," I said quietly resting a hand on his shoulder. He didn't respond, just continued to try and get air into his lungs. "Okay, buddy, I'm gonna need you to listen to me. Focus on my voice, Danny. Just focus on me." I gave him a few seconds, just to make sure he was listening, then I said, "Can you hear me?" he nodded. "Okay, just listen."
I was skilled in a lot of things, some I couldn't even talk about, but giving comfort really hadn't been one of them. Danny was better at that, he had Gracie for practice. So, when I started talking, I pretty much had no clue what I was saying. Words just sort of spilt out. But it did the trick, after a few minutes of my nonsense rambling, Danny was calmed down enough to breathe normally. Albeit if each breath was a little shaky.
"You okay?" I asked slowly getting to my feet. Danny nodded, his eyes locked on the floor. "Good." I turned to Kono and said, "Sit with him. I'll be right back." I glanced at Chin, and he followed me out of the room.
"What was on that footage?" I asked when the door was closed behind him.
Chin took a breath and said, "Apparently T'ak was being chased at about one-thirty the morning Marla was taken."
"Okay," I responded slowly nodding once. "What does that…?"
"T'ak managed to run his truck into a car before he was taken by two big Samoans."
"Wait, he was taken? Why was he…?" then it hit me, Chin had said the truck had hit a car. Rachel had been killed in a car wreck. "Are you saying that T'ak was responsible for Rachel's accident?"
"Yeah," Chin responded nodding once. "From what I could gather, I think T'ak dropped Marla's car off in his garage, with her inside, and noticed the Samoans waiting for him. So, he left her behind, took off in his vehicle, and had been chased by them. He ran a red light, plowed into Rachel's and Stan's car, and ended up killing them. When he got out, probably going to run, he was nabbed."
"So, not only are we dealing with a murder and a hit and run, we're also dealing with a missing perp?" I questioned running a hand through my hair. Chin nodded in agreement. I turned to look at Danny and Kono, the latter offering the former a water bottle that she had had earlier.
"The question is," Chin started when I looked back at him, "what did T'ak do to piss off these Samoans…?"
"…and where did they take him?" I muttered glancing back at Danny. This case just became personal for all of us…
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Lee wasn't happy he had been dragged back into the interrogation room, but I had a couple more questions to ask him and really didn't give a damn about making him happy.
"You said T'ak went to jail the first time because of something he did with a couple Samoans," I said slowly checking the case file, I had dug up, that was in my hands.
"Yeah," Lee grumbled annoyed.
"This here says his two year sentence was cut to six months," I replied looking Lee in the eyes.
"Yeah," he repeated.
"Why's that?" I asked curiously. The governor wasn't back yet, which meant I couldn't get my hands on the FBI's case file. I was working with the HPD one. The FBI would know why T'ak was released early, HPD weren't always that lucky.
"I don't know," Lee snapped his left eye twitching.
"I'll be damned, Danny was right," I said shaking my head.
"What?" Lee questioned confused.
"You're eye," I started pointing at my own left eye. "It does twitch." I sniffed, walking around him. I leaned into his ear and whispered, "Now, why would you lie to me?"
"I'm not lying," Lee insisted his eye twitching again.
"You sure?" I asked stepping away from him.
"Yes," he replied trying too hard to keep his twitch at bay. It was to no avail.
"Here's the deal, Lee," I started pulling my gun from my pocket. "You either tell me what I want to know or I start taking out appendages." Yep, that got his attention. His eyes widened, his mouth was agape like a fish out of water.
Yes, I know legally I could not shoot a suspect. The governor may have given me immunity, but I was pretty sure she couldn't help me with something to that magnitude. And even if she could, I wasn't about to test it. I already abused my immunity enough. Anymore she'd probably start giving me limits. But I was pretty sure Lee didn't know that, and if he did I was hoping he thought I was crazy enough to do it: laws be damned.
"So, Grant, why did T'ak get out so early," I said making a show of checking my clip.
"I… I…" I pointed the gun at his knee. "Okay, okay," he exclaimed closing his eyes. "Pete flipped on the guys he was working with: Lil' Kenny and his crew."
"And who the hell is Lil' Kenny?" I questioned never hearing the name before.
"He's some punk ass kid who had been working for some big player. That is until Pete got him and his boys thrown in jail."
"And who did he work for?"
"Oscar Mason." Ah, him I had heard of. He had been in the FBI database for a while. He was suspected of drug trafficking, but no one could get enough evidence to put him away.
"How do you know this? Mason's never been arrested."
"Petey had called me last Saturday morning and told me he was being chased by Mason's men. That if he had gone missing I should…"
"Should what?" I asked when Lee trailed off.
"I should go to the police," he grumbled glaring at the floor.
"And you didn't because…?"
"Because I didn't want to end up on Mason's 'shit list.' That's why I was hiding out at the rec center and why I attacked you. I thought you worked for Mason and he had sent you because he knew T'ak had talked to me."
"So, you just abandoned your friend?"
"How do you know he's been taking? Maybe he outran Mason's guys." Lee exclaimed panicked looking me in the eye. "I mean, you and that blond dude just told me he had killed his ex-girlfriend. Maybe he's in hiding. Maybe that's why you can't find him."
"We have proof your friend has been taking," I said heading toward the door.
"Proof? What proof?" Lee asked making me stop.
I was quiet for a second, looking at the door, then I said, "As Danny said before, we are not allowed to discuss an ongoing investigation with you." I opened the door and stepped outside, signaling the uniform that he could return Lee to his cell.
I slowly started down the hall, heading toward the bank of elevators. I couldn't believe the turn this so called 'simple case' had taken. It was supposed to be a missing person's case; we were supposed to find Marla alive and put T'ak in jail. Not find out that T'ak, our murderer, had been taking as well, and by an alleged drug trafficker of all people. Hell, I wasn't even sure where to start looking for Mason.
The elevators doors opened revealing Kono and Chin waiting for me, both wearing serious look on their faces. And the lack of Danny didn't escape my attention, either.
"Boss, Chin has something he wants to tell you," Kono said hurriedly stepping away from her cousin. I rolled my eyes, knowing she was trying to avoid making me mad.
"I'm listening," I said looking directly at Chin Ho.
He took a breath, uncrossed his arms, and whispered, "I don't think Danny should continue with this investigation."
"Yeah, I agree with you," I replied having already giving it serious thought. As personal as this case was for us, it was worse for Danny. He had been married to Rachel. He had had a kid with Rachel. Protocol, a word that made me feel dirty sometimes, would have me kicking him off this case. And I would have been glad to, if he would have listened to me. "But you know Danny won't stop investigating. He'd just do it on his own, probably do something stupid. At least, with us watching, he's less likely to get hurt.
"So, did you two figure out if that truck was T'ak's or stolen?" I questioned walking around Chin and Kono.
They were taken aback for a second, obviously both were expecting an argument, but quickly recovered. Chin matched my stride and said, "The truck had been reported stolen around seven the night after Marla was taken. Authorities, at the time, figured a drunk had stolen it and crashed it. But now…"
"Yeah," I mumbled spotting Danny sitting in his office, glaring at his computer screen. "So, uh, has he said anything?"
"No," Kono responded a worried look crossing her face when she followed my gaze. "Should someone, I don't know, go talk to him?" she looked hopefully at Chin and me. She may have been a girl, but she had grown up around boys. At times, she was almost as emotionally challenged as we were.
"And say what? 'Sorry your ex was killed by the same guy who killed our vic. And then got himself taken.' Yeah, Kono, you go right ahead and talk to him," Chin said slowly shaking his head.
"I'm just saying he looks miserable," Kono retorted glaring at her cousin. "It just seems rude to be standing out here, watching him like a frigging science experiment." She sighed heavily, glaring at the floor. "I just wish none of this had happened."
"Me, too cuz," Chin replied resting a hand on her shoulder. We were quiet for a few seconds, and then Chin turned to me and said, "So, was Lee helpful?"
"Very," I responded nodding. Kono turned to look at me also, a curious expression on her face. I quickly told them everything that Lee had said, from the first time Danny and I questioned him and to just a few minutes ago. When I finished, both had troubling looks on their faces.
"So, what do we do?" Kono asked breaking the awkward silence.
"We look for Mason," a quiet voice said startling us. We turned toward Danny's office. He was standing in the doorway, watching us.
"Good idea," I said slowly. "But where do we start?"
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1992…
"Where do we start?" Uncle Marty asked glancing around the still cluttered bedroom/storage room.
"Uh, we could get rid of the stuff you don't use," I suggested kicking at an empty box.
"That's fine, but I don't use any of this," Marty replied gesturing around the mess.
"Then let's start pitching," I said started forward. Uncle Marty made to follow me but stopped when his phone rang.
"I'll be back," he said and headed out of the room and down the stairs. I heard him answer through the open door, "Hello?" it was quiet for a second and finally he called up the steps, "Steve, it's your dad."
A part of me, probably the little boy that never quite dies, wanted to talk to my dad so much. But a bigger part, the one who had been so angry when my father never answered my calls, didn't want to. And at the time I was seventeen, a sulky teenager, so I listened to that part. I took a breath, walked to the foot of the steps, and said, "Tell him I'm not here."
"Are you sure?" Marty asked me his eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah," I replied nodding.
"Okay."
As Marty lied to my father for me I wandered back into my room, closing the door behind me. I sank to the ground and stared at the back wall. It had been two months; I had had no word for two months. Hell, my father had ignored my birthday for crying out loud. I had done the right thing, or that was what I tried to convince myself…