"Daniel, I was simply worried about you. Nothing more." Rachel paused. He could hear voices in the background. His ex-wife seemed a little rushed this morning. "When you didn't call Grace – well – I still can't help but think the worst."

Danny understood. This was an old issue. Probably one of the biggest reasons they split up. The danger. The burden of not knowing. And the ever present waiting for that terrible knock at the door.

But he hated it nonetheless. She'd known he was a cop when she met him. There was no getting around it.

And when Grace was born, it changed things on so many levels.

What Rachel didn't realize was that Grace gave him a reason to come home at night. To be cautious in his work. To make better choices. His little Monkey kept him alive.

"Please tell Grace I'm sorry I didn't call her. I'll make it up to her as soon as I can."

"You're working on a case?"

The sentence wasn't really a question. It was a confirmation that she might not hear from him for a few days.

"Yes, something has come up. I can't tell you more than that."

"You don't want to worry me?"

"There's nothing to worry about, Rachel. This is my job. You know that."

"Well your daughter is waiting to hear from you."

A dagger to his heart. Rachel knew this.

"Yes, I know. I'll call her tonight if I can."

"What shall I tell her then? I don't want to get her hopes up. And what about this weekend, Danny?"

His chest tightened. He didn't have an answer. It was Monday. He didn't know what the rest of the week might bring. After what happened at the start of the weekend, he just could not even hazard a guess for the future.

"Something's come up, Rachel. Eric is on the island." He really could not believe he'd just said that. But he had to give her something, and he trusted she would keep it from Grace. "He's in some kind of trouble."

"You're a good uncle, Danny." That was all she had to say.

"I don't want Grace to know about this, okay?"

"I get it. I won't mention your nephew."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I'll call Grace tonight."

"Okay Danny. Good-bye." He almost hung up before he caught her last sentence. "Take care of yourself."

"I will, Rachel. Good-bye."

/././

He didn't see Steve hovering at the door. As the conversation ended, he'd simply slid farther and farther forward until his head was resting on his desk. Simply happy to be finished with the phone call.

"Hey." Danny flinched at his partner's voice but he didn't move. "Everything go alright with Rachel?"

He mumbled in the affirmative but still didn't look up.

"You sure?"

Danny chuckled, propping himself with his good hand. "Yea, she was genuinely worried about me. I don't know what this is. The end of the world?"

"She still cares about you, man." Steve eyed his partner carefully. "What's going on inside that head?"

His question was answered at first with a stern glare, which he returned. Then Danny sighed. "I gotta get outta here. Do something productive."

"We'll follow the leads, Danny. Like a normal case." Steve grabbed Danny's arm to stop him from leaving. "And right now we have two good ones."

Danny wasn't listening to Steve. "I want to speak with the kid at the hospital."

"Wait a minute. Kono tried that. He's clammed up and now has a high priced lawyer."

"Maybe if I talked to him."

"And what, Danny? You think you'll get something from him?"

"Just because I don't hang people from buildings or toss them in a shark cage doesn't mean I can't get useful information from suspects, Rambo."

Steve chuckled at the slight jab. "So you think you can use the fatherly angle? He's not talking. And you'll probably do more harm than good." Steve shook his head. "And that's if you can even get in to see him."

"I have to do something."

"You will, okay? Stay here and talk to me."

"Talk to you?" Danny pulled away from his friend. "About what? Are we going to discuss our feelings now or something?"

Steve sat at his desk and cleared his throat. "Alright, we have two solid leads to follow. We have the box and the pizza guy."

"Pizza guy?"

"Yea, turns out, you did order pizza."

Danny looked away, color leaving his face.

"Don't worry. He's fine, and he should be here in about ten minutes." Steve felt guilty for springing this on his friend.

"You set up a meet?"

"He is a possible witness, Danno."

"Okay, so let's talk to him."

"Just me." Steve held up his hand. "And before you argue, I'm not backing down. You're too close. I want to talk to this guy alone first."

"Please don't treat him like a criminal. He's a good man."

"I know, Danny. He's coming here, to my office."

"Good, I guess I'll wait somewhere else then. Since I'm not needed." Danny's smile quickly faded.

Steve reached for his friend but missed him by inches. "Hey, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, D."

/././

"Yea, I had a delivery at that address. Sure." Bennie, the pizza guy, put his hands on his hips. His pants were dusty with flour. "My delivery kid was out so I made that run."

"You remember it clearly?"

"Yea, it was odd."

"Odd? How?"

"Well, Mr. Williams is a pretty regular customer. Especially when he has his daughter over. Cute kid. Polite." He smiled as if picturing Grace. "I remember that. Kids and manners. And her cute little smile when she hands me the money. Dad's always right there. Watches me like a hawk. I know how it is, you see. I have 4 girls of my own. Can't be too careful. Mr. Williams is a good tipper, too. So I pay attention."

Steve waved his hand in the air, feeling suddenly like his impatient partner. He wondered if Danny was pacing somewhere just out of sight. Bennie continued.

"Well, the other night, I get there. Running a little late so I have some extra wings for Mr. W. I know he likes'em hot. But I get there and the house is dark. No lights. Nothing. Car's in the driveway though. But no one's home. I know Mr. Williams is a cop, so I figure he had a case or something. There's a note and some money. Tells me to keep the pizza, which I can do. Did I mention I have 4 kids? And those girls can eat."

Steve shook his head, realizing Bennie the pizza guy could not possibly keep anything short. "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"'

"No, not that I remember." He scratched his chin. "Well, Mr. W's neighbors got a new SUV. Or maybe they had company? I'd never seen it before but it was parked in their driveway."

"What did it look like? Color? Make? Model?" Steve lit up just a bit.

"Black or dark blue. And GMC maybe. I'm not a fan of those hulking gas guzzlers, so they all look the same to me."

Steve circled back to an earlier comment. "You said there was a note."

Bennie nodded. "I kept it too."

"Great, do you have it with you?"

"Pretty sure it's still in my car."

"Good, that's good, Bennie." Steve smiled. "I'll have my colleague retrieve the note when he escorts you out, okay?"

Bennie smiled too, happy to help out. Hands on his hips, Steve studied the pizza guy for a moment. He wished more people were this helpful. "Anything else you can remember, Bennie?"

"Only that it just felt weird."

"Weird how?"

"Just felt off. No one was around but I still felt like I was being watched, you know?"

Steve did know. And he didn't want to tell the pizza guy he's damn lucky he didn't pursue his off feelings. He could very well be dead right now. He decided to keep it simple and end it there, so he dug into his pocked for a business card. "If you think of anything else, please call me."

"Sure. Anything for Mr. Williams."

Danny walked into the office, holding out his hand. "Thank you for your help. And you can call me Danny."

"Aw, thanks, Danny." Benny smiled. "I appreciate your business. All those big pizza chains out there. Us little guys get crushed."

The men shook hands. Danny was suddenly a little overwhelmed and he wasn't sure why. He just needed to get some fresh air. He said the first thing that came to mind, hoping the other man would get the hint and say good-bye on his own.

"Thanks again for your help."

"No problem. Wish I could do more." With that, he bowed out and left, escorted by Chin. Danny made a mental note to give the man a fat tip the next time he ordered anything.

Sitting on the couch, he sighed. "There must be like 5000 dark colored SUVs on the island, Steve. A needle in a fucking pineapple haystack."

"You think we should look into it?" Steve sat beside his partner. He already knew the answer.

Danny nodded, hand on his forehead trying to ward off a headache. "Yea babe, my neighbors are out of town til the end of the month. On the mainland. And they drive a white BMW sedan."

Steve jumped up. "I'll have Kono run your neighbor's info. And look into SUV rentals."

"That'll take a million years." Danny groaned.

Steve shrugged. "Well, then let's get some lunch."

"Not hungry, babe."

"Humor me, Danny."

"Why don't I feel good about this?"

"You worry too much, that's why."

Danny held out his hand, letting his friend pull him to his feet.

/././

"There's a shop over near the docks that makes specialty boxes. For truck beds, big rigs, what ever you need."

Steve did not feel like pulling teeth, so he didn't cover the impatience in his voice. "Any chance on getting a name, Kamekona?"

"You need some work done, brah?" The big man rubbed his head, thinking. "Nah, it's been awhile. The name was something with metal in it though. Yea, sure of that much. I'd have to ask my cousin. He hooked me up."

"Metal Fabricators, Inc?" Danny tossed in one of the names he'd found in an online search.

"Nah that would be too on the nose, brah. But maybe that's it. They over on the docks?"

Danny nodded. Steve grinned and elbowed his partner. "Works for me. Let's check'em out then."

"Hey what about me?" Kamekona smiled. He wiped his hands on his apron. "I might be able to help, you know, coax some information outta them. Might be fun."

/././

"Tell'em Sami. You know I'm good for it." Kamekona loomed over the counter.

Sami nodded. He wasn't going to argue with the big man. An army of ceiling fans paddled overhead but the shop owner was sweating anyway. "Yea, I made a tool box last week. Even threw in a lock for it. Special order. Needed to be a little bigger than the ones I normally sell."

"How much bigger?" Steve worked hard to remain calm. There's was something about this guy he didn't like.

The shop owner looked through his notes. "Let me see. 72 by 36. Definitely not the norm. I don't ask questions. What they do with the item is their business, not mine."

Steve made sure he did most of the talking. "Yea, we get that. Is there anything you can tell me about the person who ordered the box?"

Danny breathed through his nose. Loudly. Steve put his hand on his shoulder. He should have made him stay in the car. But he knew he'd never live down the comments about his partner being a dog or something.

"Well, the guy was tall. Thin. Haole but not American. Some kind of accent. Russian maybe? Like in the movies."

"It was them." Danny shook his head. "They had that box specially made for me. My coffin."

He kicked a display box. There was a clang and a wince.

"Coffin?" Sami, the show owner was visibly distressed. "Hey, that's not what we do here."

"Well, it's what someone did. You're lucky you did shoddy work. There were just enough holes to allow some air to get in. Or this would be a very different conversation." Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, what can you tell me about the guy? How did he pay? Do you have paperwork for the order?"

"Yea I keep that stuff on file for taxes. The IRS is always nosin' into my business. Even though I keep telling them I'm on the up and up."

"Do you have – uh – cameras in this tin can?" Danny put in his two cents, definitely trying to distract himself and stick to business. He motioned around the office.

"No, never needed'em."

"Do they have to sign anything, brah? I know them gov'ment types love papers." Kamekona did his best to be helpful.

"Matter of fact, customers have to sign the purchase order. Makes it official." Sami rooted through a filing cabinet, pulling out a folder overflowing with pink and yellow slips of paper. "See here, it says Danny Williams."

Danny just about fell over. Steve slammed his hand on the counter, knocking off a little rack of keychains.

"Whoa, man. What did you just say?" Kamekona was the only one not too stunned to speak.

Sami read the signature line again. "Danny Williams."

Danny spun around and began pacing, hand in his mouth. "What the hell?"

"I don't know, D. We'll figure this out." Steve put both hands on his head and closed his eyes for just a second. He could feel his partner loosing it, but he had to keep the situation under control. When he opened his eyes again, he was ready for business. "Okay. How did they pay?"

"Cash. New bills. Like right from a bank." He scratched his cheek. "There was something odd about one of them. That's why I remember. I kept it."

He dug into a drawer, producing a $50 bill. Danny stopped pacing, regaining his focus quickly. Sami held the bill up to the light. "See? Kinda pretty, huh?"

The bill had a rainbow stamp in the shape of a bird. Danny turned pale and left the office. No warning. Steve grabbed the bill, ignoring the cries of the man to bring back his money.

"Danny, what?" He reached his partner in seconds.

Danny leaned against the wall, eyes closed, cradling his injured hand. He waited a few breaths to answer.

"The case." Danny shook his head. "That stamp. I thought Eric was making this up."

Steve eyed the 50. Danny continued. "The stamp is from the poker game we busted. If you hold it under a black light, there should be a number."

"A code?"

"Yea. Like Eric said. Those games."

"So who ever bought the box has a connection."

Danny shrugged, exasperated. "Yes, maybe. Or they just bought a pack of smokes and got it as change. Who knows."

"Sure, circumstantial, I know. But add the Russian accents."

"And you get Vitor."

Steve sighed. "It's not much. Maybe we can pull some prints. I don't wanna get too excited about this."

"I know. But I trust my gut, Steve."

"So what do we do now? What's the next move, Danny?"

"Check out the bill, the stamp. See if Kono can work some magic with the table thingie."

"So, it's a thingie now?" Steve smiled.

"Don't push me, Steven, you know what I mean. Kono was already running down some leads for me about those poker games before-" Danny paused, trying to push down a shudder. "Before I got shoved into that box. I figure she may have some piece of evidence she doesn't realize she has. The stamp may connect the dots."

"Okay Danny. Good idea. That's great."

Steve and Danny both winced at the placating tone of his voice.

"I didn't mean it like that, man. I'm right there with you on this."

"It's okay. I get it. You're following me down the rabbit hole or whatever." Danny held up his hand. He was just about to say more when Sami and Kamekona came out of the shop.

"Hey, what about my 50?" The shop owner whined.

Steve grinned. "Pay the man, Danno." And he headed for the car. Kamekona just shook his head.

"Hey wait a minute. Me pay him? Wait!"

Sami held out his hand.

"I outta just smack you, Steven." Danny yelled as he dug into his wallet.

Thanks as always for reading. I'd love to know your thoughts.