A/N: Wow! Lots of reviews for the last chapter, which makes me a happy lady. Thank you all so much! I'm rather humbled. This may be the last chapter I post until after Christmas, but we'll see on that. If it is, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope your holiday is wonderful.

"Stan had an affair."

The pronouncement hung heavily in the air a moment before Danny let out a long, tired sigh. He sagged lower into the uncomfortable cot he'd been forced to call his bed the night before, though he had hardly slept. HPD had been kind enough to not immediately book him for Stan's abduction, giving him the benefit of dragging their heels and keeping him in holding for the time being. He was thankful for the small mercy, seeing how quickly his life was headed toward hell in a hand basket.

"When?"

"When? That's your first question? When?"

"Yes, Steven, when? When was he having this affair?"

Steve eyed Danny carefully before continuing. "According to the woman he was sleeping with, it was right around the time you…" Steve trailed off, giving Danny the chance to fill in the blank.

"When I what?"

"Dammit, Danny, are you going to make me say it?"

"Yes, I am!" Danny shouted. "Because me sitting in here for the past 18 hours has given me enormous insight into my life, but, unfortunately, it has not granted me the divine power of reading minds."

"When you were sleeping with Rachel," Steve answered, his own voice rising. "While you were having an affair with her-"

"Okay," Danny whispered.

"-he was having an affair with Ashleigh Whitworth, and-"

"I said okay!" Danny interrupted as he abruptly stood and began to pace around his holding cell. Taking a few calming breaths, he turned to look at his partner. "What else?"

"We've interviewed Ashleigh's husband, and he admitted to knowing about the affair for months. He has a criminal record. We can even prove that he's come into contact with Stan in the past. He has also sent threatening letters to Stan and his company regarding their recent real estate dealings on Oahu."

"Sounds like the perfect suspect."

"He is," Steve confirmed.

"So the reason I'm still in here is…?"

"He has an alibi."

"Ah," Danny nodded solemnly. "And his prints weren't found at the crime scene."

Hours after Ashleigh Whitworth's informative interrogation, and hours after Steve, Chin and Kono had interviewed her husband, Malachi, the cold hard fact that Danny's fingerprints were found on Stan's possessions could not be explained away.

Danny scrubbed his face again before lowering himself back down onto the cot. After a moment, Steve joined him.

"So what's next?"

"Our working theory is that it has to be someone within Oahu First's organization," Steve stated with a sigh. "We're going through their membership files now, coming up with some profiles. And we're re-examining the evidence. Kono is on her way right now to work with Charlie Fong at the lab. Chin should be finishing up at your place…"

"My place?" Danny asked, fixing his partner with a strong gaze.

"Just covering our bases, Danno, relax. He won't mess with the organized chaos you have going there." Danny harrumphed and turned his glare away from Steve. "He did mention that it looked as though you hadn't been at home much lately. No food in the fridge… no trash…"

"Yeah, so?"

"Have you been staying with Gabby a lot?"

Danny slowly turned his head to once again glare at Steve, as if daring him to continue. Steve only shrugged and arched his eyebrows, patiently waiting for his friend to answer. Instead, Danny closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm not discussing my love life with you in a jail cell."

"Danny…"

"No! Gabby has nothing to do with this!"

"Will you just calm down and listen to me a minute?" Steve pleaded, grabbing Danny's forearm and giving it a small squeeze. The contact seemed to settle his partner, if only minutely, but it was enough for Steve. "The day after Stan was taken… before Rachel came in… I noticed…"

"What?" Danny asked, the agitation still lacing his voice.

"You were wearing your back-up shirt. From your desk." Steve stated simply, watching his friend for a reaction. When he received none, he pressed on. "I need to know, Danny. Did you go home that night?"

Danny worked his jaw a moment as the silence dragged on. Steve felt a knot clench within him as each second ticked by without a response. Finally, Danny pulled his arm away from Steve's grasp and sighed heavily. Biting his bottom lip, he turned back toward Steve, glancing over his shoulder out of the cell, and then back to him again.

"I've been picking up on some..." Danny trailed off a moment, his hands moving vaguely in the space between them, but lacking their usual vitality, "some subtle signs that Stanley and Rachel may be looking into moving away from Hawaii."

"Moving where?"

"I don't know."

"When?"

"I don't know."

"How?"

"Well, I'm not sure, Steven, but I'm sure it would involve some boxes and an airplane."

Steve let the snarky statement fly by without comment. "How do you know that they're thinking of moving?"

"Because I'm a detective, Steven, it's what I do for a living."

"Dammit, Danny-"

"I was looking into Stan," Danny interrupted. "After Grace was… taken," his voice broke a little, but he continued. "Ever since I shot Stan, I was waiting for the other shoe to fall. I was waiting for that knock on my door and that petition for full custody to be thrown in my face. And when it didn't come, I started to get worried. Worried that they were building a case against me."

He paused a moment to gage Steve's reaction, but all he saw was a neutral face. He swallowed, readying himself to reveal the last piece of information which, if released to HPD, would be the final nail in his coffin.

"So, I started to build a case for myself. And I started looking into Stan. I dug into his financial records. I looked into his business dealings. I readied files and reports on that whole Hoffman fiasco last year…"

"And two nights ago?" Steve asked. "What were you doing then?"

A long pause.

"I was hacking into his cell phone call history."

"I'm sorry, did you say hacking?"

Danny only nodded, and Steve felt his mouth drop open and it was a few seconds before his jaw clamped shut with an audible click. Moments passed by agonizingly slow for Danny as he watched the emotions flicker across his partner's face. He'd expected Steve to react to the news that he had been digging into the life of Stanley Edwards for some time, but this was not exactly the reaction he had envisioned.

"Say something, would you?"

"Why didn't you mention this before?"

"Because I knew how it would look!" Danny barked as the anger and frustration of his predicament returned. "I didn't tell you before," he continued, a little calmer now, "because it was none of your damn business. And then… when Stan went missing… well, I knew it wouldn't be good for my case. So I didn't say anything. I buried the files so deep on my computer, I doubt even Chin could find them."

"Danno," Steve chided, "what happens when HPD finds those files? Because eventually they will, and then-"

"I know, okay? Just…" Danny slammed his eyes shut and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I know."

Steve stared at him a moment, gnawing over what he'd just heard. This case was already on a downward spiral, and Danny certainly wasn't helping matters by lying about his whereabouts and concealing potential evidence. Steve knew Danny… knew he had nothing to do with Stan's disappearance… but his faith in his friend mattered little at this point. What mattered now was getting Danny out of this mess, and finding the person responsible. He could be mad at his partner's stupidity later.

"You know, things were a whole lot simpler when I thought you were doing the walk of shame that morning," Steve admitted. Next to him, Danny snorted.

"I told you," he said, wearily, "I'm not discussing my love life with you."

"Why not?" Steve sulked with an attempt at some lightheartedness.

"Would you just get out and find Stanley so I can get the hell out of here?" Danny demanded as he gave Steve a giant shove off the cot.

Steve flashed a smile as he signaled for the guard to come open the cell. As it clicked shut behind him, Steve turned, suddenly serious, to address Danny one final time before he left.

"Danny… if Stan's found dead…"

"I know," he replied, and Steve suddenly noticed how deflated Danny appeared. His trademark gestures had been noticeably absent during Steve's visit, his hands mostly lying limp in his lap, signaling his fatigue and stress. The dark circles under his eyes were vivid against his pale skin, and Steve was certain Danny had gotten little, or no, sleep the previous night.

"It would just really help if you had an alibi for that night," Steve finally admitted.

"I wasn't with Gabby," Danny responded with another shake of his head. "She had a thing at the museum. I didn't go home. I stayed in the office. Alone."

"And you're sure no one saw you?"

"No one."

"Okay," Steve nodded. "We'll get you outta here, Danny."

"Since when does Danny know how to hack?" Chin asked, clearly surprised.

"He's been holding out on us, apparently. Or getting lessons from Toast. Either way, this isn't good for him."

Steve had gone back to Five-0 headquarters immediately having spoken with Danny; the conversation with his partner giving him even more determination to resolve this case as quickly as possible. There had been no word yet from Kono on any progress she and Charlie were making at the lab, and the former SEAL was beginning to think that there may be nothing else to uncover with the physical evidence. They were going to have to look beyond what they already knew. Something wasn't adding up right.

"While you were talking to Danny, I've gone through Oahu First's membership list and one name popped out." Chin's fingers flew across the smart table screen and an image popped up on the plasma. "Meet Robert Sundt. He's an accountant for Platinum Coast."

"Wait, he works for Stan's company and is part of the group who is againstthe company?"

"Yeah," Chin confirmed. "Talk about a conflict of interest. Seems as though he's raked up quite a bit of online gambling debt, too. He owes over $18,000 in credit card charges. However," Chin paused to display more financial information, "his account got quite the boost last week. $25,000 was deposited three days before Stan went missing."

"Where'd the money come from?"

"Can't really say. It's tied to an off-shore bank account with no routing number."

Steve nodded as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. "We need to pick this guy up," he directed at Chin before answering his phone. A few moments later, he ended the call, a small feeling of hope beginning to manifest itself. "That was Kono. The lab has something for me. Find Sundt and bring him in."

"I already tried," Chin reported grimly. "I called his wife. Apparently, he's attending the Hawaii Conservation Alliance conference this week."

"That's the same conference Malachi Whitworth used as his alibi."

Chin nodded. "Coincidence?"

"Not sure how I feel about those," Steve remarked.

"Either way, it's by invitation only and the coordinators weren't too keen on giving me any information on Sundt's whereabouts, or his itinerary. And he's not answering his cell. I can work on getting a warrant, but this is all pretty circumstantial at the moment."

"Agreed. I have to get to the lab. In the meantime, I need you to pull up the video surveillance around headquarters. Find out if any of the cameras showing Danny leaving that night. We need to-"

"Excuse me, Commander McGarrett?"

Steve whirled around to see Rachel standing in the doorway. She appeared very worn and tired, the same worried expression etched on her face that he'd seen the previous day, and yet even more pronounced. She tentatively let the door close behind her as she sought out Steve's face for any hope that there had been a break in the case and that her husband had been found. Finding no such solace, she looked away a moment to compose herself, and then locked eyes with him once again.

"I know it's late, but I wanted to check. Has there been… anything?"

Steve walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a small comfort. "Not yet. But, I promise you Rachel, we're doing everything we can."

She sniffed and looked away again, nodding slightly.

"I know you are," she whispered. "It's just that, it's been nearly two days. I keep expecting a ransom call or something. And Grace… she's… she's just…"

Grace's feelings didn't have to be said out loud. Steve could only imagine what the small girl was going through, though he wasn't entirely sure how much Rachel had explained to her. But he knew not a day went by without Danny connecting with her somehow. She probably had a lot of questions.

"We'll find Stan, Mrs. Edwards," Chin spoke up, and Rachel looked at him with a thin smile.

"Thank you. I do appreciate…" Rachel's voice trailed off as she caught sight of the photo still plastered on the large screen. "Is that Robbie?"

"Do you know him?"

"Yes," she replied as she hastily dried her eyes. "He works in Stanley's office. He doesn't… wait, does he have something to do with his disappearance?"

"We're not sure," Chin confessed. "We haven't been in touch with him just yet, but…" Chin stopped, unsure how much he should reveal, so Steve stepped in.

"We hope he'll have some answers for us, Rachel."

"Of course," she nodded. "He uh… Robbie, I mean… he'll be at the Hawaiian Convention Center. There's a gala tomorrow evening that closes the conference he's attending. Or at least, I'm assuming he's attending. A lot of the Platinum Coast staff were to attend. Stan had an invitation. Tomorrow night, he and I were…"

Steve could see her beginning to lose her resolve, and again he placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. He knew he was no good at comforting someone, as Danny had pointed out to him on several occasions, but he did his best. He knew Danny would want him to do what he could.

"Anyway, I guess we won't be going."

"Wait, you said Stan was supposed to attend the event tomorrow?" Steve asked, and Rachel nodded. "Do you still have the invitations?"

She nodded again. "Yes, why?"

Steve smiled. "I have an idea."

It was nearly 7:30 by the time Steve strolled purposefully through the lab to where Kono was standing next to Charlie, both of them huddled over a microscope and laptop. He couldn't believe another day had passed with Danny still at HPD and Stan still missing. He was tired and frustrated, but he knew he couldn't rest until real progress was made on the case.

"Kono, what have you got?"

"Hey, Steve," she greeted as he approached. "Look at this."

Steve bent over the microscope. Through the lens, it was clear he was looking at a set of prints left on Stan's cell phone. Danny's prints.

"Notice anything?"

Steve straightened, shaking his head. "Looks like a clean print."

Kono nodded. "A little too clean."

"What do you mean?"

From behind Kono, Charlie took over, calling up information on his laptop. "Upon further examination of the prints left behind on Mr. Edward's effects, we noticed something extremely odd. Each of the prints are in pristine condition. There is not one smudge, smear or partial print on any of the objects."

"That seems unlikely," Steve said skeptically.

"More like impossible," Charlie confirmed. "Not only that, but each of the prints came from Danny's right hand. Specifically, they came from his thumb and the fourth proximal finger."

"The ring finger," Kono clarified.

Steve began to see why they called him down here. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would Danny handle Stan's stuff with only his thumb and ring finger?"

"He wouldn't," Kono stated confidently. "Which means-"

"The prints were most likely planted," Steve finished for her, not stopping the grin forming on his face.

The next morning…

"Rise and shine, partner."

Danny rubbed his eyes and cracked them open to see Steve standing on the other side of his cell, looking far too happy, considering the circumstances.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"0630."

"What do you want?" he asked grumpily.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked. "You should be happier to see me!"

"Steven, unless you are here to bust me out of here, then you can just-" Danny trailed off as he noticed the smile on his partner's face grow even larger. Suddenly he felt wide awake and he quickly sat up on his cot. "Are you?"

Steve didn't have to answer as Sgt. Lukela stepped into view, unlocking the doors and swinging them open. Danny's whispered thank you could barely be heard as he exited the room he'd called home for the past two nights as hastily as possible. Danny and Steve walked out together, stopping briefly to pick up Danny's personal effects, Steve explaining the previous day's events the entire time. While Danny wasn't in the clear just yet, the questionable fingerprints had cast just enough doubt to get him released into Five-0's custody. Danny said very little, but the relief on his face and in his body language was evident.

They stepped outside into the crisp morning air, the first rays of sunrise just peaking up over the horizon, and Danny smiled.

"So, what's first?"

"First? You're going home to rest. And take a shower," Steve said, making a face. "Besides, you've got a hot date tonight."

"I do?" Danny asked, looking up at Steve with skeptical eyes. "With who?"

Danny felt a presence behind him, and he turned slowly to see Rachel standing in the early morning sunlight.

"Me."