Wānana Pū – Recollect
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or the Characters.
A/N: The story is set somewhere in season 7. Thank you julieb716 for being an awesome beta reader. Your corrections and suggestions are amazing! You did a really good job on this one! If there are still some grammar of spellings issues left, they're all mine.
Chapter Twelve
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Danny cleared his throat. "I can't read it." Steve stared perplexed, following his partner as he marched out of the ER.
"Is he all right? Did he hit his head? I-I don't mean to interfere, I just noticed the recent scar on his forehead." The Chief of the ER explained his interest; he's a doctor after all.
Steve cleared his throat; he was caught off guard with Danny's sudden statement. "Yeah, it's just something… never mind. You were saying?" Steve turned his attention back to the doctor.
"Oh yes of course. Well Eden was nervous and stressed out at the end of her shift." The doctor repeated his answer from earlier.
"Did something happen? Something unusual?" Steve focused on the man again. He hoped Danny would be fine a few minutes without him. He probably needed to blow off some steam anyway. However, it didn't mean Steve was any less concerned about him.
"No, she is, well was, mostly really relaxed. It was really nice to work with her. She loved her job. She would work every extra hour she could get. Just like last night."
"What do you mean, she wasn't supposed to work last night?" Steve inquired while he handed the tablet back to the doctor.
"No. She covered last minute for a sick coworker."
"Okay. Thank you for your time." Steve shook the man's hand and walked away.
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Steve took the same exit as Danny did. It led to the stairwell and down to the garage. He had been watching Danny closely back at HQ when he was on desk duty. But Steve had to do all the fieldwork, so he couldn't be around all the time like he usually was with Danny next to his side. Sure Steve noticed some behavioral issues, but with Danny back in the field as his partner he wondered if he had missed any serious changes in the past weeks. And just five minutes ago Danny said he couldn't read and whether it was for a short moment or not, he said it out loud which he had not done before and it confirmed Steve's nightmare. Something was indeed not right.
Steve rushed down the stairs. He needed to find his partner. He pushed the door open a little more aggressively than he intended. It smacked into the wall and Danny jumped from the intrusion. He looked briefly at his partner before he leaned back against the wall. They were standing near a small dumpster and not directly in the garage. There were trashcans all around, one was kicked over and Steve was sure Danny had done that.
The door closed behind him and he looked at his partner. "Hey," Steve called out casually.
"Hey," Danny said softly. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
"You need some time alone?" Steve pointed to the kicked over trashcan.
Danny kept staring at the ground. "No, I uh, I just couldn't read it clearly, because of the brightness of the screen. That's all." He shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing and it wasn't bothering him.
"Okay," Steve sighed and folded his arms. Danny was clearly not going to say anything else about it, so Steve pushed him a bit. "Did it happen before?"
Danny looked up at Steve. He knew what Steve was trying to do. "No. Well only the first week after surgery, but never again since," he confessed while he tucked his hands in his pockets.
This time Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Then what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Steve, I couldn't read!" Danny exclaimed to Steve and waving with his hands. "It was all just a blur. What if it happens more often?"
"It might just be a one time thing. You don't know if it's going to happen more often." Steve tried to comfort Danny and also himself.
"I'm suppose to have your back and I can't have your back if I can't see!" Danny raised his voice. It was clearly bothering him.
"Don't worry about having my back, Danny." Steve locked eyes with Danny. "Just tell me if something like this happens, so I can have yours."
"That's not how things work Steve, you know that." Danny sighed and looked away.
"What's really bothering you?" Steve asked with an aneurysm face.
Danny kicked some garbage away that had fallen out of the trashcan. "It's just… like… every time I feel a little better something pushes me back down the hill, you know?"
"You know you can take all the time you need, right?" Steve reassured.
"I know that, but it's not an option, okay?" Danny snapped. He sighed the minute he said it. He didn't mean for any of this. Danny choked and tears shimmered in his eyes from frustration. "I-I just want to go back to normal and I can't go back to normal when I'm stuck behind a desk."
Steve placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. "All right, let's get back to work then." He wasn't entirely sure it was the best idea, but that's what he would've wanted and Danny needed it right now. They walked back to the crime scene. The body was wrapped in a body bag and Max was loading the stretcher into his van. Chin was talking with a couple of HPD officers.
"Chin, you find anything?" Steve asked as they approached him.
"Yes and no. According to the footage Eden was killed at 10:42 pm, as you can see here." Chin showed the camera footage on the tablet he was carrying with him. "The killer strangles her from behind and leaves the garage on the west exit. Either he knew where the cameras were or he was just lucky, because we can't see his face."
"Did you see where he came from?" Danny stated as he viewed the footage.
"Yes, he entered the garage from the stairwell and waited ten minutes till Eden came down to her car." Chin swiped through some stills he had made from the footage. "It's not a clean shot, but it looks to me that she's calling someone." Chin showed a still with Eden holding her hand to her ear, like she was making a call.
"She doesn't have her cell phone on her anymore, right?" Steve mentioned because he hadn't seen it in her personal belongings.
"No, CSU hasn't found one yet," Chin confirmed.
"What about traffic cams? Did they pick him up when he left the garage?" Steve pointed to the exit, which was right on a crowded street.
Chin nodded firmly. "They're sending the footage over to HQ."
"Okay, let's go back and see if Lou and Kono have something." Steve turned and walked back to the Camaro together with Danny.
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MONDAY – 12:18 AM – FIVE-0 HEADQUARTERS - HONOLULU.
"All right what do we know about our vic?" Steve asked Kono who was standing by the smart table. He and Danny walked towards her.
"Well she lived a pretty clean life. I ran her through the system, but nothing came up. Not even a speeding ticket. She graduated top of her class from Honolulu Waldorf High School, went to John A. Burns School of Medicine, dropped out after she got pregnant with her daughter. Year later she went back to college, this time to the University of Hawaii at Manoa." Kono swiped her findings from the table surface to the screens.
"She has a daughter? Where is she now?" Danny asked concerned as the father figure inside him popped up.
"Yeah, Hailey Morrison, seven years old. The babysitter dropped her off at school this morning. Father is not around." Kono confirmed and showed them a picture of the little girl on the screen.
"Okay, what about Eden's parents? I mean Waldorf High School and School of Medicine. That sounds pretty expansive," Steve wondered.
"Her parents, Charlotte and Walter Morrison, live up in Diamond Head." Kono typed quickly on the smart table to find the address. Lou and Chin walked in behind them and gathered around the smart table as well.
"All right. Lou what'd you have?" Steve crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked up at Lou.
"CSU finished processing the car. No fingerprints found other than the vic's," Lou informed them all.
"So the killer wore gloves. Which are easy to get in a hospital." Kono raised her brows and sighed at the fact they had a dead end regarding evidence, plus an extremely large suspect pool.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean the suspect has to work there, right?" Danny leaned on the smart table.
"No, hear me out. Eden covered last night's shift for a coworker. She wasn't supposed to be at the hospital. Now if the suspect planned to kill her, he couldn't have known she would be there. So either she knew the killer very well to tell him in person she had to work another shift or she ran into him last night." Steve shared his thoughts with the team.
"Plus the fact that she has been strangled to death, which most likely indicates the killer had to improvise." Danny added to Steve's theory.
"So we're saying she just met the guy." Lou also added as his brow furrowed.
"Right." Steve sighed as he placed his hand on his holster.
"But why kill someone you just met?" Kono asked, already trying to answer her own question by thinking about every possibility.
"That I don't know. Something doesn't add up," Steve confessed. He looked hopefully at Chin. "You have anything from the traffic cams?"
"I pulled every single angle. Four cameras, but not one of them got a clear shot of his face." Chin swiped some screenshots up to the screens. A vague figure popped up, definitely male, but other than that there wasn't much to make out of the footage.
"All right. Danny and I will go see the parents. In the meantime contact the babysitter, run Eden's financials and pull her cell phone records. There has to be something," Steve commanded as he walked after Danny out of HQ.
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MONDAY – 12:46 AM – MR. AND MRS. MORRISON'S RESIDENCE – DIAMOND HEAD.
"We're very sorry for your loss and we understand that this is hard, but we need to ask some questions about your daughter." Steve leaned forward. He had sat down in the chair in front of the enormous couch where the victim's parents were seated. Their house was huge, giant property around the house and with a beautiful view towards the ocean. They obviously had enough money to spend.
"No, it's okay, you can ask whatever you want." Walter Morrison wrapped his arm around his wife, who seemed just as her husband, not that shocked by the loss of their only child.
Danny stood near a side table gazing at the photo frames standing on the table. There was not one picture with their daughter in it, which to Danny felt a little off because he had pictures of his kids around his whole house, in his office and on his phone. They're his pride and joy, so it would make sense to have pictures everywhere, but the Morrison's had only pictures of themselves and elderly people, probably their parents. So he jumped the gun and asked about it. "When was the last time you spoke with your daughter?"
Walter cleared his throat and answered Danny's question stone cold. "April 2009."
"You haven't spoken to her in seven, almost eight years?" Steve sounded astonished, but he didn't want to judge anyone, maybe there was a reason for it.
"Yes." Walter Morrison looked Steve straight in the eye without blinking.
"Not a call, email or text message? Nothing?" Danny blurted out, accusation on his lips. He looked at Steve, who remained calm.
"Nothing. She moved out when she was 20. She had changed." Walter tried to explain without using too many words. He definitely didn't want to talk about it.
"She changed in what way?" Steve asked curious because from their findings Eden seemed like the perfect daughter.
"We had some expectations for her and she couldn't live up to those at one point. She acted out, dishonored us. So we asked her to leave the family property." Mr. Morrison gave a little more profundity to the situation, but he said it all judgmentally like nothing was his fault.
"You asked her to leave?" Danny was stunned. Did these people really ask their daughter to leave their house?
"We agreed to let her have access to her own savings, so she could take care of her self, we were still her parents," Charlotte Morrison pleaded, but before she could say anything else Danny snorted with disdain.
"Excuse me?" Walter sneered outraged. "Detective... Williams was it?"
"That's... yes Williams, you need me to write it down?" Danny smirked with a grin on his face.
Apprehensive, Walter rose up from the couch. "Is this funny to you?" He tried to stay calm, but he was not pleased with Danny's attitude.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Well your wife just said that you were still her parents... but if you uh, you had been a real parent to her, you wouldn't have kicked her out of your house, right?" Danny taunted.
"She left, Detective. We had given her everything! Her entire life! You clearly don't have children yourself otherwise you would understand." Walter intimated; nobody was allowed to speak with such an attitude to him.
Danny stepped in front of Walter Morrison. The man in his mid sixties, with salt and pepper colored hair and dressed in expensive clothing was notably taller than Danny, but that didn't stop him. "Actually I uh, I do have children. A beautiful girl and a little boy. Thanks for asking. Unfortunately for you I'm not just a parent you see," Something changed; Danny went from being sarcastic to being furious in a second. Like you would switch a light on or off.
The anger boiled inside him with each word he said. "I'm a father to my children. I'm that kind of father that loves his children no matter what happens. I'm the kind of father that will be by their sides for the rest of their life! I'm the kind of father who moved 5.000 miles to an over-populated island in the middle of nowhere to live close enough to see them 48 hours a week! I would give my life if it would save my children!" Danny stabbed his finger on Walter's chest while looking provoked at the man with a clenched jaw.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Walter yelled as he slapped Danny's finger off his chest.
"Danny." Steve spoke softly, but demanding while he pulled Danny a bit back by his bicep to create some distance between him and Walter, because this conversation could escalate quickly if he didn't do something. Steve knew Danny normally had trouble managing his rants, but ever since the head injury it seemed worse. It was like a completely different person appeared. He could get angry over nothing. Just like the fight he had with Grace. That was anything but himself. Sure the way Eden's parents reacted wasn't completely normal either, but Danny's reaction was out of line. These people just lost their only child whether they'd seen her for the past years or not. There was no excuse for Danny saying stuff like that.
Danny on the other hand had no clue that he was crossing a line here. He was nowhere near being finished with his rant. The way they were speaking about their daughter; he could not imagine that he would do anything like that. Ever. How could they not see their daughter for seven years? How could they cut her off? Let her be on her own. How could they not speak to her? The whole reason he came to Hawaii was to be close with his daughter, to see her actually grow up instead of getting sent pictures every month saying how she's doing. It hit home for him and in his eyes that man accused him of not being a good parent.
"No, Steve c'mon!" Danny pulled himself out of Steve's grip. He looked at Walter with narrowed eyes showing pure disgust. "This guy, no offense, I mean you seem like a smart man, with the glasses and all, but if you really were, you would've been familiar with a dictionary. Which says that you, if you want to call yourself a parent, are supposed to be a person who raises a child, who serves or is thought of as a protector. And how you are describing your 'relationship' with your daughter, that does not sound like any of that to me. I don't know whether that's dishonorable or below expectations for you. For me it's both!"
"Danny, that's enough!" Steve stepped between the two men and looked warningly at Danny.
"I want the two of you out of my house! Now!" Walter shouted over Steve's shoulder.
Steve wasn't done talking to them yet and the only way he could continue this conversation was without Danny. It didn't sit well with him, but he did it anyway.
"Danny, get some air, wait outside." Steve looked Danny directly in his eyes. With his tone and words, he made it clear he knew Danny was acting out. Danny brushed him off, scoffed something under his breath and marched to the front door. Which he, with rage, slammed shut behind him.
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Danny took deep breaths of fresh air as he went outside. He didn't know what just happened, he just snapped. Sure it wasn't normal the way they treated their daughter, but it was none of his business and he knew that deep down. Only he also knew that he wasn't the kind of man, who would, or could, keep his mouth shut about something like that. He would at least say something about it. He couldn't imagine that someone would do such a thing to their child, but then again, it was none of his damn business and somehow he made it his business.
Whether it was because his heart was in the right place when it came to family or not, this time it felt completely different to him. It happened out of nowhere, it was like someone pushed a button and it was the second time it happened. He couldn't control himself, he just snapped. Completely lost it. Danny didn't understand how it could happen. The only thing he knew for sure was that his head was pounding again.
Danny sat down on the hood of the Camaro, since Steve had the keys. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He suddenly felt the scars on top of his head. It all made sense to him; it was because of the stupid brain injury, wasn't it? He could really punch himself in the face right now. He should've controlled himself. It was his job for God sakes to protect the safety of this island, but how could he if he couldn't even control himself?
Finally Steve came through the front door. Danny could see him apologize to the Morrisons once more before the door got closed and Steve marched back to the car. He ignored Danny and got into the Camaro. Danny did the same, because Steve was about to drive away without him if he didn't step in. The minute he got in, Steve drove away, still without saying a word. Danny couldn't handle the silent treatment, so he decided to start to open a conversation.
"Did they tell you something else? Something useful?"
"No." Steve kept his eyes straight on the road. He couldn't pretend that nothing happened, that was not like him. "Those people invited us into their home after we told them their only child got murdered and it doesn't matter whether they had spoken to her or not. You didn't have to say all that. They didn't do anything to you did they?"
"I know that and I'm sorry, okay? It just hit me I guess," Danny apologized.
"It was more than that, Danny." Steve shot a look at Danny, but before they could really talk about the issue, Steve's phone rang. It was Chin, so he had to pick up. "Chin, what'd you have?"
"I pulled Eden's phone records and according to those she made several phone calls to the same number, and a call connected one minute before she died."
"Do we know who she called?" Danny inquired since the call was on speaker.
"Number is registered to Doctor Helen Bennett. Apparently she is Eden's therapist. I located Eden's phone. And guess where it is? It's at Bennett's practice. I'll send you the address," Chin added.
"Her therapist? All right, we'll pay her a visit," Steve reported as he hit the button to disconnect the call.
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MONDAY – 01:23 PM – HELEN BENNETT'S PRACTICE - ALA MOANA - HONOLULU.
Steve parked the Camaro in the parking lot in front of the building. They both got out, grabbed their vests out of the trunk and geared up. Steve also put his tactical gloves on, Danny did not. They jogged over to the front entrance. There were two cars parked in the parking lot as well, the lights were on inside, but no one seemed to be there.
"Steve." Danny knocked on the glass, pointing to a sign with the business hours on it and according to those they wouldn't be open till 1 pm. Something was not right. They both grabbed their guns from their holsters. Steve opened the door and went in first. It was just a serene open space with a front desk, a kitchenette, and some chairs, serving as a small waiting area. The room was all clear. Danny lowered his gun and walked to the front desk. A purse stood on the front desk and a couple of keys were tossed next to it. Someone had to be here.
Steve signaled that they should split up and clear the rooms. The office was not that big, just a few doors to check out. Steve took the first door and Danny the second. As Steve went into the room, Danny opened the other door. His heart was already beating faster than normal, probably from the adrenaline rushing through his body. It was the first time in weeks that he finally got to do some field work again. He scanned the office aiming his gun. It was a total mess inside.
The minute he turned around to check behind the door a blunt force to his abdomen took him down, sending him sprawling. His gun fell out of his hands. Danny instinctively tried to break his fall, but he couldn't stop the momentum. Before he could process what happened, his head bounced against the wall behind him, the impact stunning him. He saw a burst of white light before the darkness took over and everything went black.
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A/N: Thanks to everyone who has faved, followed or left a review this far. Also the guests who are reviewing, thank you for your kind words!
Thank you for reading! Next chapter will be up in a few days.
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