H-5-0
Kono, who was watching the interrogation on the monitors in the war room, picked up her cell when Chin's face appeared on the display.
"Howzit, cuz?"
"Hey, I just finished processing Al's boat," he reported from the Katie at the dock. "The water intake valves were intentionally damaged."
"Okay, why would Scates sabotage the boat if he was trying to steal it?" she asked puzzled, watching Danny on the screen shout and jab his finger at the suspect.
"I don't know, but the damage would have gone unnoticed until they were several miles off shore, at which point the engine would have over heated and seized up."
Looking away from the screen, Kono's eyes widened in realisation, "Someone set him up."
"Yeah. I'm thinking that someone could be Katie Burgess."
"Our vic's wife?" Danny's angry shout pulled her attention back to the screen, and she frowned hard as Steve physically had to step in to stop Danny doing something stupid.
"Well, she was the only other person with access to the boat," Chin said. "Look into both of them. There's gotta be a connection that we're missing."
"Alright, you got it," Kono agreed and clicked off her cell. She blew out a breath at the standoff in interrogation, before quickly finding that vital piece of the puzzle they were missing.
H-5-0
"Gil, there was no self defence," Steve repeated loudly. "You deliberately went out on that boat to kill Al Burgess. It was revenge for losing your job."
They were getting nowhere. Something wasn't quite right, but they were still determined to find out whatever it was.
"See, we know everything," Danny announced with a wave of his hand. Gil looked up and shook his head – again.
"No. No, you don't."
Steve and Danny turned when the door was opened and Kono stuck her head in. "Hey, you guys are gonna wanna hear this."
They followed her out and closed the door. Kono critically eyed Danny's shoulder before revealing the crucial piece they were missing. "Alright, so our suspect and Katie Burgess were in on it together."
Both Danny's and Steve's brows nearly hit their hairlines. Steve asked, "What's the link?"
"Good old fashioned greed," Kono answered. "I ran Al Burgess's phone, and the last call Katie's husband made was to a local law firm."
"Lemme guess. He was gonna divorce her," Steve ventured. Christ, sometimes he just didn't get people.
"Yep, and according to the suits, the pre-nup would've left her with nothing," Kono nodded, her brows creasing when Danny rubbed at his shoulder. "You okay, Danny?"
"Yeah," he murmured. Steve narrowed his eyes at his partner, but saw the 'not now, please' in his expression and backed off for the time being.
"Okay. So that's where Gil comes in," he continued instead.
"I swear, the pre-nup... it should be banned, okay?" Danny mumbled hoping to deflect the scrutinizing attention he was getting. "It's killed more guys than cancer."
"I'd recheck those statistics if I were you," Kono suggested with a smile. Danny smirked.
"So, Katie stood to inherit millions from her husband's death," Steve said still looking at his partner.
Kono nodded. "Minus whatever she offered Gil to do the job."
"Unless Gil wasn't in it for just the money," Danny finished with a raised eyebrow.
Steve rubbed is hand over his mouth. Danny was probably right, and wow, wouldn't that be just fucked up! Kono left them to it and disappeared to correlate the evidence they had so far. Steve narrowed his eyes at Danny looking for signs of pain and fatigue.
"Hey, I'm fine, Super SEAL," Danny muttered, "Let's get this done so we can close this case and go home, alright?"
Steve boldly reached out to check Danny's temperature, ignoring the exaggerated eye roll and indignant expletives. His skin was warm, but not worryingly so, and Steve blew out a breath, nodding his answer.
With a long-suffering shake of his head, Danny opened the door to the interrogation room and followed Steve inside to finish talking with their suspect, armed with the new information. Steve stopped close to Gil and looked almost sorry for him. Almost...
"Hey, Gil. It's pretty bad luck getting stuck miles offshore with Burgess's body," he said conversationally.
Gil blinked warily, "I tried to get the boat going; I dunno what happened," he told them, wondering why the cops were being... understanding? "So yeah, it was bad luck."
Steve shrugged. "Turns out luck had nothing to do with the boat not working."
"Somebody sabotaged that engine and made sure that radio wasn't gonna work," Danny added, revealing what they'd discovered. Gil snapped his eyes up at the detective.
"What?" No, no, that was wrong...
"I mean," Danny continued, "It was pretty perfect, you being stuck out there with that body. It's what they call a patsy."
"Patsy," Steve repeated with a nod.
Looking from one cop to the other, Gil asked, "What's a patsy?"
Danny almost laughed. "Well, if you have to ask..."
"We think you were set up," Steve stated with Danny nodding in agreement.
Gil shook his head. No way. No... These cops were trying to set him up. "You're wasting your time."
Stepping closer to Gil, Steve simply shook his own head. "No. Somebody talked you into killing Burgess, and then made sure you were stranded out there."
"You're lying!"
"No, no, I'll let you see the crime lab report," Danny offered calmly with a half shrug. "The only way you were supposed to get off that boat after killing Al was in handcuffs."
"And there was only one other person who had access to that boat, right?" Steve asked.
Gil stared at them, his mind whirling. No, this couldn't be happening. It was supposed to be simple, foolproof...
"Katie Burgess," Danny said clearly in answer to Steve's question. Gil gaped at him. Danny narrowed his eyes curiously and gestured in his direction, "I am curious as to how she sold it to you. Uh, I mean, what did she say? She says, 'You take care of my husband, and then we will sail off into the sunset together, live happily ever after'?"
Steve watched Gil carefully and saw the painful truth in his partner's words. Danny had hit the nail on the head.
"You weren't in love with her, were you?" Danny asked, his lips forming an 'O' when Gil looked away. "Oh, you were. Okay that's understandable. Love definitely makes you do some crazy things," he continued steadily, "Marriage, mortgage, kids. I personally would draw the line at murder, but I am not a romantic like you, Gilbert."
"Katie wouldn't do that," Gil protested, but he was beginning to doubt himself.
"You're willing to bet the rest of your life in jail on that?" Steve asked.
After a moment's hesitation, Gil sighed and shook his head. "No."
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Danny stepped forward and said. "You're gonna get in touch with your... with Katie Burgess...
"Tell her you want to turn yourself in, tell them it was-" Steve stopped and looked at Danny, "Self defence. Alright? I want her confession, Gil, you understand?"
A wave of heartache rolled through Gil, but he nodded, and watched as Danny and Steve left him alone again to get Gil's cell phone.
"You think he'll do it?"
"He's got nothing left to lose," Steve shrugged. "Besides, he has to."
"Oh, of course, because he has to," Danny mimicked. "So sayeth Steve the Super SEAL?"
"Something like that," Steve smirked. They collected the cell from Kono and headed back down. "You doing okay, Danno?"
Hearing the softly expressed concern, Danny skipped his usual retort and nodded. "Yeah, a little achy but honestly I'm good. Ready for a Longboard out on your lanai," he smiled.
"Not while you're on medication," Steve disagreed airily.
"You know, you can be really annoying, Steven," Danny scowled. Steve just grinned.
They entered the interrogation room and while Steve released Gil from the chair, Danny handed him his cell.
"On speakerphone," the detective ordered. Gil took it and dialled his lover's number, the ring echoing loudly in the confined space.
"Yes?" Katie's voice answered. Steve and Danny listened intently.
"Katie, I need to see you," Gil said into the cell. "The cops just left my house, and they were asking a lot of questions. I think I bought myself some time, but I don't know how long." He closed his eyes, not for the first time wishing he'd never agreed to Katie's stupid plan. "I wanna turn myself in. I want to... I'm gonna tell them it was self defence." He looked up as Katie gave the cops what they wanted, and his heart broke.
"Gil, listen to me. Of course the police are going to be looking at you. They're just doing their job. As long as you didn't leave any evidence behind, you'll be fine. Now stick to the plan and don't call me again. You got it?"
Steve and Danny looked grim as the dial tone sounded. Gil looked positively sick. They picked up the cell and left the man to his own regrets, walking silently out of the room.
"I'm gonna go arrest Katie Burgess," Steve muttered with a frown when they entered the war room. He handed Danny the cell phone. "I'll be back soon. Chin can take you back-"
"No, no way, I'm gonna wait on the arrest," Danny quickly interrupted.
Eying Danny critically, Steve shook his head noting the flush he'd been wearing almost all day. "Okay, but you park your butt on the couch in your office and don't move," he compromised knowing the man just wanted closure, too.
Suddenly too tired and feeling like shit to argue, Danny simply nodded, smirking when Steve's eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. "Seriously, Super SEAL. Couch. Butt. Parked," he promised, hand up, "Swear to God."
"Alright, good."
"Be careful, babe," Danny added as he watched Steve grab his gear, and Kono, before they flew out of the Five-O offices in a blur. He acknowledged Chin with a small wave, and then went in search of his Tylenol.
H-5-0
With sirens blaring and lights flashing, Steve speeded to Katie Burgess's home, HPD behind him. They arrived to the sounds of gunfire and quickly jumped out of their vehicles in time to see Jenny, Al's sister, walk outside, small pistol in her fingers. Steve's sharp eyes spotted it and he drew his weapon, aiming it right at her.
"Whoa! Hey! Five-0! Drop it. Drop the weapon, right now," he shouted. "Right now! Put it down. I'm telling you to put it down!"
Kono, her own gun poised and ready, carefully stepped forward, "Jenny, listen to him."
Jenny let the gun slip from her shaking grip and looked up, her eyes wide and shocked. "She killed my brother."
The HPD quickly gathered up the suspect's weapon and secured her, while Steve and Kono cautiously entered the house. They found Katie's body lying in a pool of her own blood on the terracotta tiles.
"She's dead," Kono murmured as she failed to find a pulse. Steve sighed heavily.
"Okay, get the Crime Scene Unit and the ME here, then we'll call it a night," he said. It wasn't the end he'd hoped, but the case was over. Just the paper work now, but that could wait until later.
Kono stood up and nodded, leaving Steve staring at Katie lying so still in front of him. Needless death, and for what? It was a sick and twisted world they lived in.
H-5-0
Chin opened another Longboard, sat back, put his feet up, and stared out at the beautiful sunset at the back of Steve's property. The sun was disappearing into the horizon, leaving gorgeous hues of red and gold dancing across the sky.
"Never gets old, does it, cuz?" Kono smiled from her lounger.
They were all on Steve's lanai, winding down after one hell of a weekend.
"Oh, I dunno," Danny mused, "Last sunset I saw, I'd been shot, attacked by a shark, boat-jacked..."
"Yeah, but we made it back okay, Danno," Steve added handing his partner a chilled bottle of water and his latest dose of medication. He sat down and took a healthy swig of his beer. "Besides, I seem to remember you were napping when the sun actually set. So you missed it."
"Napping?" Danny gaped. "You mean I'd passed out, after being shot, attacked by a shark and, y'know, boat-jacked?"
"Mmm maybe fainted," Steve mumbled into his bottle. Danny's eyes widened. Chin and Kono grinned. "Swooned?" the SEAL suggested.
"Williams' don't faint! And we certainly do not swoon," Danny stated clearly, glaring menacingly at Steve. "Passed out."
"Passed out," Steve repeated.
"Yes."
"Not fainted."
"No."
"Or swooned."
"No, Steven," Danny scowled hard.
"Passed out," Steve reiterated.
Grinding his teeth, Danny nodded. "What about this are you not getting? Yes!"
"Manfully," Steve added helpfully.
"Yes, manfully. Manfully passed out," Danny agreed. His lips quirked up into a grin he was unable to stop when he saw Steve trying to valiantly hide a smile behind his bottle.
A second later, Kono burst out laughing, Chin, and then, inevitably, Steve joining in. Danny glowered hard at them all as best he could, but in the end he laughed too, with a half-hearted token protest of "Shut up!"
They sat in companionable silence while the sun went down, enjoying their beers and fact that they were currently officially on downtime for the next two days. Danny was staying with Steve, and Rachel was due back from the Big Island with Grace, and the man was looking forward to spending a little quality time with his daughter after school.
Kono and Chin had plans with a surf board and a cherished Harley-Davidson, respectively.
"There's something wrong with this picture," Danny suddenly frowned, looking at his water and then at his friend's beers.
"Not while you're on meds, Danny," all three team-mates chimed in at once. Danny just shook his head and rolled his eyes.
That was ohana for you!
Ten minutes later, Chin and Kono turned to see both Danny and Steve sound asleep on their loungers, exhaustion finally catching up with them.
"Oh look," Kono cooed reaching into her jeans. "They've manfully passed out."
Pocketing her cell again, she grinned evilly at Chin. Those pictures were going to get her out of paperwork for at least a week.
H-5-0