Within 20 minutes, Danny, as well as Robert Jamison, Lizanne Sawyer and Sergeant Duke Lukela were at the house. Mary let them in and pulled Danny to the side to speak in private with him. "He's in the living room and livid."
Danny nodded his head and went to the living room. He looked around before his eyes landed on Steve who was just coming in from the office. "Babe, what's going on?"
"Catherine's taken Keilana," Steve said.
"Come again?" Lizanne asked.
"Catherine. Took. My. Daughter." Steve emphasized each word. "I want you to help me get her back…no matter what it takes."
Liz sat on the sofa and put her briefcase on the floor next to her. She folded her hands and looked at Steve. "Whatever it takes?" Steve nodded his head. "Then go about life as normal." Steve was about to protest, but Liz held up her hand. "Deal with the case you're on, work on Grace's birthday party, finalize the trip to Jersey…do everything you've been doing. While you do that, Robert and I will be working."
"So you're not going to help me?" Steve asked dreading the answer he would get in response.
"I never said that," Liz said. "You do your thing and we'll do our thing. I hope that I'll be able to get Catherine before she leaves the country."
"You hope?"
"Yes, hope," Robert said. "If she leaves the country, it's going to be twice as hard to get to her as it would if she were in another state."
Steve sighed. "I guess my life…my daughter's life is in your hands."
Robert smiled some before standing up, grabbing his briefcase and walking out of the living room, "Don't worry, Steve. I'll be in touch with you the minute we get something concrete."
"Steve, relax. Rachel can attest to how good I am." Lizanne walked out of the living room and out of the house.
"How can she be so calm about this?" Steve asked out loud
"Personally, I'd be more worried if she was flying off the handle and spitting fire," Danny said. "You know she's good, babe."
Steve nodded his head. "Yeah, I do. She was Rachel's lawyer."
Rachel looked up and smiled. "She did a wonderful job all those years ago, don't you think?"
"I happen to like her most recent job," Danny said. "The arrangement we have now works out so great. I love being able to see Grace daily."
"I love seeing you every day too, Danno." Grace hugged him around his waist.
Steve took Duke into the office and gave him the pertinent information he'd need to help locate Catherine.
Once Catherine left the area, she crisscrossed around town thinking of what she was going to do. She hadn't thought that she'd make it as far as she did so the next things that she did were spur of the moment. She did, however, know that she needed to get baby things. She pulled into the parking lot of the first store that she saw, parked her car, got out, pulled the baby carrier out and walked into the store. She placed the carrier in the front of a basket and walked up and down the aisles placing various things in the cart.
When she got to the baby aisle she put multiple packages of diapers, bottles, powdered formula and new bottles in the cart. She walked farther down and noticed the clothing so she put a few of those in her cart as well
Once she was sure that she had enough things, she headed to the check out. Unfortunately her total came to more than she had in cash; she had to put in on her credit card. Once the items were paid, she walked back to her car, loaded it, secured Keilana and went back to the Marriott Hotel. To avoid being seen by anyone, she parked near the back entrance and only took the things she needed right away with her went she went to her room.
On the way up to her room, she thought she saw Steve so she ducked into a room that was being cleaned. The maid looked up from the bed she was making. "Can I help you?"
Catherine turned and looked at the lady. "Sorry, wrong room," she said. She walked out of the room, to the elevator and up to her floor.
When she got to her room, she set the bags on the floor then placed the carrier next to them. She pulled her room key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed it open, picked up the carrier and walked in. She placed Keilana on the sofa before going back to the door for her bag. Once she had them all, she closed and locked the door before returning to Keilana.
"My precious little girl," Catherine said as she unbuckled the carrier and took the small baby out, "one day you'll thank me for doing this." She walked to the bed, moved some pillows around and placed Keilana snuggly between them.
Catherine sat on the bed next to her sleeping baby, picked up the phone, dialed a number and waited for the person to pick up. "Hello?" the person asked.
"Mom, I need a favor…." Catherine said
"Catherine?" the woman questioned, "I thought that you would have been on your way to New York or over the Atlantic."
"Plans changed," Catherine said. "And there's someone you need to meet."
"I need to meet?" she asked, "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Catherine laughed some. It was just like her mother to jump to conclusions. "No mom," She said. "When was the last time you were at the house in Maui?"
"Oh goodness," Her mother said. "Probably sometime last year. Why?"
"How soon can a yacht be ready to take me over?" Catherine asked
"An hour," she said. "Catherine, you haven't told me why."
"Just want another change of scenery before I go," Catherine said. "You and dad should come too."
"Your father's has some new workers he's training so he won't be able to join us."
"Okay, well then you come," Catherine said. "It'll be just us girls."
"Okay, sweetheart. I'll call the club and have them get things ready."
"Thanks, mom. I'll see you in an hour." Catherine hung up her phone and looked down at the baby, "We're going to see Grandma today."
As Lizanne made her way from Steve's house to her office, she made a mental list of all the documents she would need to have drawn up and filed with the court to help Steve gain custody of his daughter. She was about 45 minutes away when she got a call on her cell phone from a number she didn't recognize. She connected using the Bluetooth option on her steering wheel. "Hello?"
"Lizanne?" the lady asked. "It's Jean."
"Jean…Jean…." Lizanne said thinking, "Is that name supposed to ring a bell?"
"Catherine's mother," the woman said with an exasperated sigh.
When Lizanne heard that she pulled her car to a stop and stared out the windshield, "Jean Rollins? The same Jean who, two months ago, called me a cold heartless bitch for taking her granddaughter away from her?"
"How many times do I have to apologize for calling you that?" she asked. "I was upset and I shouldn't have lashed out at you."
"Then you should have thought about that before you opened your mouth," Lizanne said. "But I don't have time to rehash past conversations. I'm busy."
"Look, before you hang up, I just talked to Catherine and she sounded…off," Jean said.
"She always sounds off," Lizanne replied. "But you talked to her? How long ago was this?"
"Well, more so than usual," Jean added. "About twenty minutes ago…why?"
"What did she say?" Lizanne asked excitedly
"She wants to meet me," Jean said. "And before you ask me where, I promised her I wouldn't say."
Lizanne silently cursed. "Did you call to dangle that carrot in front of my face?"
"I wanted to know if you've heard anything from her lawyer." Jean asked. "I have this bad feeling that she's done something and is going to want my help."
"Well, be a good mother and help her," Lizanne said. "I really don't understand why you called me. If you wanted to know if she's talked to her lawyer, or if he's mentioned anything, why don't you just ask him?"
Lizanne had a feeling that Jean was keeping something from her so before she hung up she added a little reminder. "Jean, I want you to remember that Steve is being more than giving when it comes to visitations with Keilana, so if you know anything, you need to tell us."
"You don't think I know that!" Jean snapped. "That's why I called you and not Robert, Steve or Catherine's lawyer. I was hoping that…never mind." She hung up the phone.
"Never mind…never mind what!" Lizanne asked. But it was too late, the line was dead. Lizanne put her car in drive and headed back towards Steve's house. As she was driving, she dialed Steve's number and waited for someone to answer.
"McGarrett Pizza Company…." A cheery voice laughed into the phone.
"Is this Mary or Kono?" Lizanne asked
"Mary…do I know you?"
"It's Lizanne; I need to talk to Steve. It's important."
"Okay," Mary handed the phone to Steve. "It's Lizanne, and she said it's important."
Steve took the phone. "Is everything okay, Lizanne?"
"I need you to stay at home for the next ten minutes," Lizanne said. "I'm on way back."
"What's going on?" Steve asked again.
"I'll tell you in 10 minutes," Lizanne said. "In the mean time, I need you to do something. Don't talk, just listen. Call whoever it is you need to call, but find out Nick's new phone number."
"Okay," Steve agreed, and used his cell to call Chin. He couldn't help the small smile, knowing if the detective couldn't get to a computer, he most likely had a relative or three who worked for the phone company. Either way Steve would get the number – he had chosen his team wisely.
Lizanne had by now turned on the main street that led to Steve's house.
"Steve, have you heard anything from Catherine yet?" Chin asked.
"No, nothing yet," Steve replied. "Lizanne is on her way back and she needs any new contact information on Nick Taylor. He got out on bail from the assault charge and he's due in court in a few weeks, so I'd check there for any updated information."
"On it, Steve," Chin said. "Let me know if anything else comes up."
"You know it, brah." Steve ended the call, went to the spare room/make-shift office and closed the door, waiting for Lizanne to return.
Catherine walked over to her suitcase, opened it and pulled out one of the baby outfits that she packed. She walked back over to the bed, changed Keilana into the pink and yellow sundress with matching hat. After, she went back to the living area and placed Keilana in the carrier. Once she secured Keilana, she went back to the room, pulled something out for her to wear and changed. She put the things she bought into her other suitcases, closed them up and put them next to the door. Then Catherine gave herself the once over in the mirror before going back to the living area, picking up the carrier and leaving her room.
She left the hotel 30 minutes later. She knew that from the hotel, it was a straight shot down Ala Moana Blvd to the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor and Hawaii Yacht Club where her parent's yacht was. There were always standing orders to have a captain waiting and she was grateful for that. She pulled into guest parking, and waited until she saw her mother's car or at the very least, her father's.
After waiting for a couple minutes, she saw her mother's car pull into the parking lot. Catherine started her car, made a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot alongside her mother's car. She rolled down her window. "Mom, over here."
Jean turned around, gave a small smile and walked over to Catherine. "What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting in Maui?"
"I changed my mind." Catherine said. Jean raised an eyebrow in confusion as she watched Catherine park the car, get out and casually lean against it.
Jean stood in front of her daughter. "Catherine is everything okay? Your behavior is all over the place. I'm kind of worried about you."
"Everything is fine, mom." Catherine said, "I just thought we could go to Maui together. It'll save the crew from having to make multiple trips."
"Well…okay," Jean said with a nod and small smile, "that makes a lot of sense."
"Okay," Catherine agreed. "I left a couple of my suitcases at the hotel. I'll go back and get them and by the time I get back, we should be ready to go."
"I need to get more food and the hotel is on the way to the store, so why don't you give me your hotel key and I'll pick them up."
Catherine smiled. 'Exactly what I wanted,' she thought to herself. She looked at her mother. "Are you sure?"
"Hang out in the club house, have a drink, just relax," Jean suggested, "I'll be back in an hour."
Catherine smiled again, gave her mother a hug and pulled the key card out of her pocket giving it to her mother. "When you leave give it to the front desk and tell them that I'm checking out." Jean nodded her head, took the key card from Catherine and headed to her car. Catherine waited until her mother was out of the parking lot before she got in her car and moved it to the member's only parking for the Yacht Club. 'I knew mom was gullible, but damn she made this easy.'
Thank you for reading up to this point. I have 4 more chapters planned and the story will be complete. There might be another week gap before the next chapter. Tryin' to take it easy and look for work and boy, I tell ya, RL sure does have a habit of getting in the way of fandom life!