A/N: Praying for those who lost something very precious this morning. Hugging my kids very tightly today...

As a much less-important note, thank you everyone for your very kind reviews. I appreciate each and every one of them. On with the story…

"What is it you cops always say? Don't ignore the evidence?"

Steve always figured that the keys to solving a case were simple when you broke it down into four easy steps. One: gather evidence. Two: determine motive. Three: calculate means and opportunity. Four: make an arrest.

Of course none of those were reassuring or simple when everything pointed to your partner, and best friend, as the chief suspect.

"Okay. Alright, but let me ask you a question. Let's say IA accused me of skimming off a drug lord, and they showed you a stack of evidence that suggested I did it. Would you believe them?"

Evidence. Danny's prints in Stan's car could easily be explained away, in Steve's opinion. Perhaps they had ridden together at some point. Or maybe Danny had helped Grace get into the car once when he dropped her off after a weekend together. But Danny's prints weren't just in the car. No, they were found on Stan's phone and wallet. Two places that Danny's prints had no reason to be, unless of course he'd removed them from the missing man and tossed them onto the passenger seat, as HPD had already speculated.

Motive. The DA could have a field day with nailing Danny with a motive. Hell, Steve could rattle off at least a dozen without batting an eye. Stan married Danny's wife. Stan moved Grace thousands of miles away. Stan was responsible for putting Grace in danger last year. Stan made Grace take tennis lessons. Stan had too large of a bed. Stan was taller. Stan was the reason that he and Rachel were no longer together. Stan made more money. Stan left Rachel alone too much. Stan probably ate pineapple.

Danny had already shot the other man once, and though he was being coerced by his former partner, and no charges had been filed against him at the time, it could certainly point to Danny's state of mind and disregard for Stan's well-being.

Means and Opportunity. There was no denying that Danny had the means to pull something like this off. Hell, every cop in every town had the means of abducting someone: it was called a standard-issue side-arm. It also didn't help that Danny didn't seem to have an alibi other than leaving the office the night before to go home and sleep, alone. If only he had shown up for poker that night. If only he'd called one of them to let them know where he was. If only…

Now they found themselves at step four. How did they get here?

"Would you believe them?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"Why not?"

After Kono's bombshell revelation, they had all stared at each other in muted shock for a few moments. Kono explained more details on what the lab had found, but all Steve could hear was a faint buzzing in his ears as he stared at his partner. Besides a slight paling of his face, Danny had hardly reacted at all. He just stared ahead with an odd look of resignation, as though he had expected something like this to happen.

Chin and Kono both jumped into action, vowing to find out who was obviously trying to frame their friend, before they both set out to go over the evidence again. Finally, Danny snapped out of it and looked over at Steve with exhausted eyes and he nodded, sending Steve his silent consent to do what had to be done.

They both knew that this case couldn't be handled by Five-0 alone; not anymore, with one of their own as the chief suspect. This had to be handled by the book, and if it looked like they were giving preferential treatment, or did anything that even hinted of a cover up, Danny would be in deeper water than he was right now. Charlie had done them a huge favor by calling Kono first, but it would only be a matter of time before his official report would make it to the desk of the Chief of Detectives at HPD, and Danny would be brought in for questioning, or even flat out arrested.

And so Steve had called HPD, and the officers sent to Five-0 headquarters made quick work of going through Danny's office inch by inch, rifling through his casework, requisitioning his laptop, and essentially treating Danny as they would any other suspect.

Steve couldn't help but have flashbacks to the previous year when he'd been framed for Governor Jameson's murder. But Steve was not about to let Danny suffer the same fate as he had.

Rachel was still there, of course, and the look that crossed her face the moment HPD arrived was impossible to name. Steve hadn't thought it possible, but she became more of an enigma to him. One minute she'd be proclaiming Danny's innocence, and the next she'd throw her ex-husband a doubtful and accusatory look. Eventually, she became such a hindrance that Steve insisted that she go home to be with Grace, and she left without another word for him or Danny.

It was late when they finally took Danny away. He hadn't said much, only asking Steve to watch after Rachel and Grace until this was all sorted out. There were no heated declarations of innocence. No grand hand gestures. Danny simply allowed himself to be led out of the building, and Steve let him go. There was time to take a breath… then another… before he got back to work.

Throughout the night, he, with Kono and Chin, dove into their own investigation into Stanley Edwards. They looked into his financial records, his phone records and his business dealings. They looked into his credit card activity, his travel itineraries and his family. When the team grew tired, they merely made another pot of coffee, vowing to not rest until they found something that would point to where Stan had disappeared to, and who had taken him.

It wasn't until 2:30 a.m., seven hours after Danny had gone with HPD, that they finally found something.

"Meet Ashleigh Whitworth," Chin announced as he slid his fingers along the workstation, putting a woman's photo up on the plasma. "She's the head of an organization called Oahu First – a political action group dedicated to defending Oahu's natural landscape and heritage." Steve eyed her image carefully as Chin continued. "Over the past three years, this group has had made things a bit difficult for Stan's company."

"Such as?"

"You name it, they've done it," Chin replied. "But, recently, they've started an intense writing campaign against Platinum Coast's newest hotel development on the North Shore. And you can probably guess who the main target of their aggression has been directed towards."

"Stan."

"He did seem to be the lucky recipient of most of the hate mail," Chin pointed out, expertly sending a dozen scanned images to the screen. "But, many of the other developers at the firm received communications from members of Oahu First as well."

"Were any of the letters threatening?" Kono asked.

"Not really," Chin said with a hint of disappointment lacing his voice. "They toed the line carefully. They know what they're doing."

"It's enough for me," Steve decided. "Bring her in."

"Uh, boss, it's 2:30," Kono pointed out. "And technically, this isn't our case anymore."

"Right." Steve rubbed two tired hands over his face after checking his watch. "Okay, let's call it a night. I'll get in touch with Duke at HPD. I want her here first thing in the morning."

In the end, Steve managed to convince HPD that Ashleigh Whitworth was a viable suspect and they agreed to bring her in for questioning. They did not agree, however, to release Danny in the meantime, nor to have the interview conducted at Five-0 headquarters, where Steve would be free to use his well-known, and oft-controversial, full immunity and means. But it was with immense satisfaction that Steve, flanked by Chin and Kono, watched two uniformed officers escort Mrs. Whitworth into an interrogation room at 9:00 the next morning.

"Go easy on her, boss," Kono quietly warned from his left.

"By the book," Chin agreed from his right. "For Danny."

Steve nodded. "For Danny."

Steve prowled the interrogation room, slowly circling around the small table in the center, and the blonde woman nervously strumming her fingers on the tabletop. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he produced several printouts and photos, laying them carefully out on the surface in front of her. She eyed them with a quirked eyebrow before glancing up at Steve with a fixed stare.

"What?"

Steve continued giving her the silent treatment as he resumed his pacing. Ashleigh Whitworth followed him with her gaze until he was behind her and she lost sight of him, forcing her to look back down at the evidence placed before her.

"What?" She calmly repeated her question. "Platinum Coast can't possibly be filing charges over these letters. We settled on that issue long ago."

Steve didn't move from his spot behind her and chose to say nothing in response. She sighed heavily and pushed around the letters and photos in front of her, trying her best to appear nonchalant and carefree. But Steve knew better, noticing the little things, like how she shifted around uncomfortably in her seat. How her left heel rapidly bobbed up and down, in and out of her high-heeled shoes. She was trying to hide it, but she was nervous. Steve smiled in satisfaction.

"Yes, my group is responsible for these letters. Yes, we are responsible for these amazingphotos of our demonstrations at a few new local developments going up on Oahu, thanks to Platinum Coast Development. But like I said, I already sat down with representatives from that company, and we worked it out. Ages ago. So why is HPD involved?"

"I'm not with HPD," Steve whispered in her ear, and she jumped at his sudden proximity.

"Well, then, would you care to explain what it is I am doing here?"

Steve ignored her question, but placed a final picture on the table… this one of Stan… and began walking wide circles around her again.

"Do you know this man?"

She laughed nervously as she defensively crossed her arms on her chest and leaned back into the chair. Her left leg was fully bouncing up and down now as she waged a silent staring contest with Steve. Ashleigh finally looked down at the photo, nodding her head slightly.

"He works for Platinum Coast," she stated.

Steve stopped his pacing directly in front of the table, placing his hands on his hips.

"His name is Stanley Edwards." A nervous clearing of her throat. "We… met a few times." She fidgeted with her wedding ring. "He was the company's representative at our negotiations." A small smile quickly suppressed. "He can't possibly be filing charges against me."

Steve's only response was a small tilt of his head.

"He wouldn't!" Ashleigh confidently declared.

"He's not," Steve finally said. "He's missing."

"What?" the woman asked, her voice barely now a whisper.

"Went missing the night before last. And you know what I think? I think you and your group had something to do with it. You've lobbied to have Platinum Coast stop all of their developments on Oahu, but none of your hard work has paid off, has it?" Steve once again picked up his circling around her, getting some small satisfaction from her increasing discomfort. "All of your threats and protests didn't do anything, so you decided to take it to the next level and target the man responsible for those developments."

"No," she whispered, shaking her head.

"No?"

"No!" Ashleigh shouted this time, looking down at Stan's picture again. "I would never hurt him!"

"Why not?" Steve demanded.

"Because…" she faded a little, apparently uncertain if she could continue. Steve could see the moment that her self-preservation won out as she looked directly at him. "Because we were in love."