Danny was still asleep when he heard someone running down the hall outside Steve's room. He groaned and turned over. The running continued then stopped at the door. There was a soft knocking on the door and the soft voice of Mary. "Danny, are you awake?"
Danny pushed the covers off his body, got out of bed and groggily walked to the door to open it. "I'm not on bathroom duty yet."
"She's not here," Mary said rapidly. "Her room is still the way it was yesterday."
Danny was wide awake now. "Are you sure she didn't come back?"
Mary nodded her head. "Steve was up all night and said she never came in the house. The alarm was still on."
"Maybe she turned it on when she came home?" Danny asked as he grabbed a shirt and put it on.
"That's what I tried telling him." Mary moved from in front of the door and started towards Catherine's room which was right next to the room Mary was using. "He's convinced she didn't."
Danny followed Mary then opened Catherine's door and walked in. The day before, Danny spent three hours cleaning it and he could tell everything was just as he left it. He walked to the closet and noticed the empty hangers. "All the laundry got done a couple days ago, right?"
"They were done yesterday," Mary said. "Grace and I brought them up before Rachel came by for her."
Danny tapped the empty hangers then walked to the bed. "Who goes through three sets of clothes in less than twelve hours?"
Mary ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I should have asked her where she was going when she left."
"Even if she would have told you, would you have been able to believe her?" Danny asked. "I sure as hell wouldn't have believed her."
Danny and Mary walked out of the room, down the stairs and to the living room. Steve was hunched over the coffee table writing on a piece of paper and talking on the phone. Every so often, his voice would rise and then it would go back to its normal tone. They decided to leave him alone and let him finish his conversation before talking to him, and headed to the kitchen, sitting at the table. From there, they could only hear his end of the call, but could tell by how often Steve was apologizing that Kono wasn't too pleased with the way he was talking to her.
"Look, I'm sorry for yelling, Kono, really I am," Steve said. "No…I'm positive she didn't come back. I would have heard her." He sighed. "No, don't call them. If she's not back by tonight, then I give you full permission to do whatever you want," he paused. "Yeah, I understand. I have my cell phone on too. Bye." He hung up the phone and leaned back on the sofa. "You can come out of the kitchen now."
Danny was the first to walk into the living room. He sat on the sofa next to Steve. "Kono rip you a new one?"
Steve ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I don't know if it was because I called so early or because I've been monopolizing a lot of time she could be spending with Charlie."
"Probably both," Danny said with a nod of his head. "She's like any other person, Steve. She's sticking her neck out to help you and when things temporarily go south, you can't snap at her."
Steve sighed. "I know, really I do. And, uh, that's what Chin told me."
"You should listen to the man." Mary walked into the living room carrying a tray with three coffee cups. She set the tray on the coffee table and sat on a chair next to the sofa. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"I'm going to Nick's hotel and see if they're there," Steve said, leaning over and picking up a cup and taking a sip. "Then just drive around town to see if I can spot them."
"That last part may be a total waste of time," Danny said softly. "But we can do something in the mean time."
"What's that?" Steve asked
"I have a friend that works the airport car rental circuit," he said. "If he hasn't turned in his car, then they'll know about it."
Steve stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa and put it on. "And while you do that, Danno, I'm going to drive around town."
Danny nodded his head. "I'll have to go back to my house for a bit, so you can either call me there or on my cell."
"You'll be here, right, Mare?" Steve asked her.
"I don't have any place else to go," she said. "At least not for another two months."
"Thanks...for everything," Steve said. He gave Mary a hug.
Mary shrugged her shoulders, stood up and took the tray back to the kitchen. "Don't be out too long now."
"Kono is going to be dealing with Duke over at HPD and she's also been in contact with my lawyer. If they call here, give them her number."
Danny and Mary agreed and watched as Steve walked out of the house.
"He's handling this really well," Danny said
"I would give anything to know what Kono said to Steve and for her to teach that to me." Mary said with a laugh
Danny drank the last of the coffee in his cup and stood up. "Kono is one tough woman and doesn't take crap from anybody. I know that first hand," he took the cup to the kitchen, walked back to the living room and to the stairs. "I need to get dressed and back to my place."
"Don't worry; I still have all the numbers next to the phone." Mary said walking to the kitchen.
When Nick got out of the shower and bathroom, he walked into the room and saw Catherine sitting on the bed watching TV. "What do you want to eat?"
"Lots of fruit and a bran muffin," Catherine requested.
"Would you settle for McDonalds?" Nick asked as he grabbed his wallet and looked through it.
Catherine sighed. "Whatever."
"Look, I'm doing this for us." Nick said, looking at Catherine, "You want to leave, fine, then leave."
"So what, you don't want to talk things over now?" she asked as she flipped through the channels.
Nick grinded his teeth together. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" Catherine asked still flipping through the channels
Nick walked over to her, grabbed the remote and dropped it on the floor. "I'll be back in 30 minutes." He walked to the door, opened it and walked out.
Catherine got up and closed the door before going back to where she was, she picked up the remote and turned to a movie that was on.
Once Nick walked out of the motel, he went to the front desk and asked the day manager where the closest McDonalds restaurant was.
"Three miles north on the highway." the manager said, "It's the truck stop McDonalds."
Nick nodded his head and left.
Steve pulled into the parking lot of the hotel that Nick was staying in. He parked his car, got out and walked into the lobby. There were very few people lingering about so Steve was able to make his way to the front desk without being spotted by anyone.
The clerk behind the counter looked up and gave a soft smile when Steve approached. "Welcome to the Marriott. How may I help you?"
"A friend of mine is staying here and I was wondering if he's checked out yet." He quickly added, "I tried calling his room, but there was no answer."
"What room is your friend in?" the clerk asked
Steve thought a moment, "Room 632."
She typed something on the keyboard and looked at Steve. "Your friend hasn't checked out yet, and he has the room until the day after tomorrow. Would you like to leave a message, should he come back?"
"Yes. Tell him that it's very important that he contact either Danny or Steve," Steve said. "He has both of our numbers."
The clerk smiled and wrote down the message. "I'll be sure and give it to him as soon as he comes back. Is there anything else?"
"No there isn't. Thank you." Steve said before turning and walking back out of the hotel and to his car.
Steve got in his car, started it up and headed towards the beach. He thought about the last time Catherine was in town and how she always went to this small café that overlooked the beach. He headed down the main highway when his cell phone went off. Pulling into a gas station, he fished it out of his pocket and looked at the number. Steve took a deep breath, clicked it on and spoke. "Have you found out anything, Kono?"
"I know you didn't want me to get HPD involved, but I called in a favor and he used his credit card about 30 minutes ago."
"Where?" Steve asked
"Up the interstate at a McDonalds." She said. "I can be there in 15 minutes…"
Steve's brow creased. "Where are you?"
"Visiting a friend." She said, "He's 15 minutes from the McDonalds and says that it's a truck stop."
Steve sighed, "You're closer than I am. You have a picture of Nick and Catherine?"
"No, but I can get one. Why?"
"Get one, take it there," Steve said. "I need to call my lawyer."
Once Danny got dressed, he left Steve's house and headed back to his own. It had been close to two weeks since he was last there. While he didn't have a lot of bills, there were a lot of sales papers to sort through. Normally he'd check the coupons, but he didn't have the time to, so he tossed them all in the recycle bin. He put the bills in a stack to take with him back to Steve's, pulled out a few postcards from his buddies back in New Jersey and a couple of letters from his parents.
Danny went to his room and looked through his little black book for the number of an old boyfriend who worked at car rental shops. He found his number and called him.
"Ryan, it's Danny," he said once he picked up the phone.
"Danny, I was just thinking about you." Ryan said. "How have you been?"
"I've been good. I'm helping a friend of mine get his place ready for his new daughter."
"Ohh, sounds like fun." he said, "Have you talked to any of the old gang?"
Danny sighed, "Not in a year." He paused and added, "Ever since I came out to them, they've treated me…differently."
"I know the feeling." Ryan said, "You're the only one who still calls me since I've…you know, come out of the closet too."
"I always had a feeling." Danny said, "I'd love to catch up with you more, but I'm kind of on a time crunch and I need to ask a favor of you."
"Depends on what it is.…"
"I need you to look up something on the rental database."
"I don't know." Ryan was hesitant. "I could be fired if my boss found out."
"This is very important. Tell them that it's police business and give them my name and number if they have any other questions," Danny pleaded. "This is sort of a matter of life and death."
Ryan's voice dropped to a whisper. "Is everything okay?"
"Kind of." Danny said, "Without going into all the details, an unborn baby and her mother are missing."
"I see…" was all that Ryan could say. "Have you called the police…oops, I forgot who I'm talking to. You are the police." Ryan laughed. "I'll help you the best I can."
"All I need you to do is find out the kind of car a Nick Taylor checked out earlier this week. He's from California and will more than likely be returning the car tomorrow or the day after."
Ryan typed the information into the computer and came up with two matches. "I have good news and bad news, Danny." He heard Danny sigh, "There are two people by the name of Nick Taylor and both are set to return their car the day after tomorrow."
Danny sighed again, "Would it be too much to ask if you gave me the license plate numbers of those cars?"
"Not at all." Ryan said, "You have a pen and paper?"
Danny grabbed the pad of paper and pen from off the night stand. "Okay, ready." Ryan gave him the plate numbers, "Thank you so much."
"No problem." Ryan said, "What are you doing this weekend?"
"I'm pretty busy…why?"
"You think you could make some time for lunch with an old friend?" Ryan asked
Danny laughed. "I'm sure that could be arranged," he said. "You still have my cell number, right?"
"Yeah." Ryan said, "I'll call you around eleven."
"That's fine with me," he said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
They both hung up their phones and Danny pulled the paper off the pad, putting it in his pocket. He walked out of his room, grabbed the stack of mail he set aside. He set the alarm on the house then closed and locked it up behind him.
Kono called Mary and asked her to look through the photo albums for pictures of Nick and Catherine and then to scan and email them to her. Thirty minutes later the email came. Kono was pleased with the pictures Mary chose. They were clear shots of both Nick and Catherine from some barbeque Steve had a few years back.
Kono quickly made a couple of photo arrays, printed them out and was on her way to the McDonald's, hoping she got there before Nick left.
When she got to the McDonald's she showed the male photo array to the manager. The manager pointed to the picture of Nick and said that she just missed him. The manager called the employee who was working the cash register when Nick came in and told her that Nick seemed to be agitated or nervous. He was also being snappy. Kono asked him if he saw which way Nick went.
"Up the interstate towards all those motels," the man said. "He didn't even bother for his change when he got cash back."
Kono thanked them and left. Before she got on the interstate she asked a few drivers if they saw him, a couple of them said they did. She thanked them and headed in the direction that she was given.