Chapter 8 "The Investigation Begins"
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A/N: Angel is a hit, and that makes me very happy! I agree, Einstein would also have been a good name! She is a real kitten, because I had one like her once, who I swear understood and spoke English with a Feline accent. We read each other's minds. I think all pets are part guardian angel, so Angel qualifies there too.
A very grateful Thank You for all reviews, follows, favorites, and reads! I appreciate them so much, and each one astonishes me, since I am not the most confident person out there.
The story enters the investigation phase, which will be long. Looonnnngggggg. Danny will return next chapter, for part of it, so there will be this dichotomy of
Danny/investigation going on for the story.
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Chapter 8 "The Investigation Begins"
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Steve heard the footsteps in the hall as they approached his private hospital room, so he pushed himself one-armed more upright, and prepared to meet with his task force ohana. He had managed to close his eyes and rest for the last quarter hour, even with the near constant throbbing in his right forearm. His mind had never even approached sleep, but his body needed rest, so he used every trick in his considerable arsenal to powernap for fifteen minutes. He would have made it longer, but he recognized the steps of Chin, Abby and Kono.
Now that they were here, though, his mind snapped fully alert, for the first time since the battle he had had with his sleepy mind and strong desire to just konk out and not have to think. If it hadn't been for his worry over not hearing anything about Danny until he knew he was not being told that something bad had happened, he would have given in and slept off the remnants of the drug he felt doing battle with his full awareness. Even the pains in his arm and body would not have kept him awake had he permitted himself to fall asleep.
Steve did a mental calculation after glancing at the clock on the wall. 8:35 am. Almost thirteen hours since he remembered looking at his watch at Danny's. That had been 7:49pm. He could remember a few minutes past that, but not many.
He heard Kono chatting with Officer Pua Kai, who was pulling overtime to stand guard on Steve's room. Steve asked his mind if it remembered anything new, and he realized he did! He remembered noticing that his partner was putting on a fake happy face about his ex-wife's pregnancy.
When Steve had asked him about it, after Rachel drove away, Danny had stalled like a professional staller, which he was. They drank the cooled tea and bickered, like they always did before finally confiding. Danny had given in to Steve's friendship-driven 'pain-in-the-ass-ness' and told him that he no longer had any choice but to accept that he was going to have to deal with his kids having a step-brother or step-sister, and that meant Stan and Rachel were not having the problems in their marriage which Rachel kept telling him every few months that they were having, keeping him in a state of suspended hope as to whether or not he would ever get a chance to put his family back together if Rachel and Stan divorced.
"You still lover her." Steve was startled, but he understood in that strange way that made no sense at all. After all, he was still in love with Catherine Rollins, who left him every time they could finally settle down. He had planned to marry her, but had never really even gotten the chance to ask her before she sensed it and bolted on another top secret assignment, even when Steve had told her sadly that he could not wait for her any longer. If she left this time, they were finished as a couple. She had understood fully what it meant when she left, and Steve had been trying to work her out of his heart ever since then, with no real success.
Danny had nodded, then got up to get them bottles of water. Before the liver transplant, they would have had beers, but that was on the no-no list now. He had returned, handed Steve's unopened bottle to him, and remained standing by the couch.
"I don't think I ever stopped, Steve. I have a billion reasons to given up on Rachel, but somehow …." And then he remembered Danny gave him a strange look, and sat down suddenly, as if his legs went out on him. "Dizzy. As in very."
Steve remembered feeling dizzy too. And a little sick. "Danny? Call Chin."
Danny patted pockets with unsteady hands. "Phone. Where's my phone? And gun."
"Side table … or they were. With mine …. Gone." Their voices were distorted, unclear. But Steve had remembered thinking, "We've been drugged." He remembered looking at his watch, and thought it read 8:14, although with his eyesight so fuzzy, the 4 could have been a 9. He saw Danny try to stand, fail, and then sag sideways on the couch, trying to push himself upright as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Steve had felt himself slide onto the floor as he tried to stand, obviously too out of it to make it to his own feet.
And that was it. This time, there was a peculiar finality to the curtain going down on his memory. He knew instinctively that this was all he had to work with.
It gave them another thirty to thirty-five minutes of time to decipher, and also suggested a succession of events.
Chin, Kono and Abby knocked and pushed open his door, and came in indeed bearing breakfast, complete with an extra-large hot chocolate in lieu of coffee, which he was not allowed because the blood work had not returned yet from the lab, and he was not allowed caffeine until the blood work said it was okay. With the hot chocolate was a Styrofoam container of his favorite waffles with coconut, boysenberry and maple syrups.
They were also Danny's favorite. That fact hit him hard. He wished Danny could share this with him, with his whole Five-0 ohana.
Greetings and thank yous were exchanged, and Steve wasted no time at all telling them what else he had remembered as he took a sip of the chocolate, and dug into the still steaming waffles, eat left handed awkwardly. He had used all three syrups, cutting the waffles into thirds so he had a taste of each. The boysenberry syrup had not entered his syrup repertoire until the liver transplant, when he had begun craving Danny's favorite. It was one of the small things that had changed after he had a piece of Danny in him, giving him a new chance at life.
His stomach was still a little dodgy, but he felt it would hold down the waffles. Despite a mild queasiness, he was surprisingly hungry and thirsty.
"I think someone snuck in to the house when we were out at Rachel's car, and drugged the rest of our tea. It had to be the tea, because the water bottles were still sealed and made the pfffft sound you get when the seal is broken."
Chin was doing mental calculations. "That would be about right, if the doc is right and you were both given any of the date rape drugs."
Steve nodded. "That's what I was thinking."
Abby was taking notes. "If someone was hiding in the house, waiting for Rachel to leave, how would this have gone down if you had not gone outside with Rachel? I know you don't know, but what do you think would have happened?"
Steve pondered. "There are a number of possible scenarios. If they did not want Danny killed, it does not rule out injured. For me, shot is probable, enough to take me out. Maybe something to knock Danny unconscious. It would still have taken an autopsy on me to learn drugs or bullets, but Danny's house would have sure held more evidence."
Kono spoke up. "No matter what they or he did, it still doesn't explain the other body, the look-alike."
Chin agreed. "Nothing explains that. We may have to find the guy to learn why he did that."
Abby and Kono exchanged looks.
Steve noticed. "Out with it, ladies."
They both pursed their lips and said in perfect synchronization, as if they had rehearsed it, "You assume it was a man."
Steve pushed aside the empty Styrofoam container. He thought about it, rather than instantly rebuff their statement. He spoke slowly. "I know it could have been a woman. And I can't explain this. But I really think it was a man."
Chin asked, "Do you sense an accomplice, or are we looking at just one person here?"
Again Steve went into his mind, and feelings. He drew a complete blank. "I can't get any sense about that at all. Maybe, or maybe not. We need to keep the option open that there may be an accomplice."
Chin's phone rang, and he looked at it. "It's Max." He hit talk and asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Good morning to you, Detec … Chin. Yes, indeed I found something."
"We're all in Steve's room. Let me put you on speaker."
As soon as he did, everyone still gathered around. "What have you got, Max?" asked Steve, suddenly tense as one of 4 bowstrings in the room.
"Rather than take the time to indulge in civilized greetings to all of you, let me ease your minds. I am now 100 percent certain the subject of the autopsy currently interrupted to give you the news as soon as possible is not repeat not Detective Williams: this man has a gall bladder. Danny's was removed as part of the living donor liver transplant."
Four sighed with relief. "Thanks, Max," said Chin. Steve was doing fierce battle with a large lump in his throat, and a sudden desire to burst into relieved tears, and he was absolutely not going to do that. He ran his left hand over his face, and into his hair. Abby and Kono were hugging, and their eyes were wet.
"I must return to the autopsy and will have the full results, minus toxicology, later today. I am not sure I will be able to establish positive identification, but I am sure that this is not Danny Williams."
"Thanks, Max. We are all very relieved." Steve and Chin spoke at the same time.
"You are most welcome. Have a good morning, ladies and gentlemen."
Chin had no sooner stowed his phone in his pocket than it rang again. "It's Duke." He switched him immediately to speaker. "Yes, Duke? By the way, the body was definitely not Danny's. Max just called."
"That's a relief," said Duke, and they could hear him spreading the news to other officers working the case. "I thought you might want to know, Lisa Lane just filed a Missing Persons case on her husband, Neil Lane, and she brought photos. You should see these. I'm sending them to Chin's phone now."
"How long has he been missing?" asked Abby, fluffing her short blonde ponytail, still slightly damp from her quick shower.
"Mrs. Lane has not seen her husband for 24 hours now, but he did show up for work yesterday, at least for part of the day. He is unaccounted for after 3 pm yesterday afternoon. He was supposed to meet a co-worker and failed to show."
Steve spoke up. "Be sure to send Max the records of any scars or identifying marks such as x-rays or surgeries, dental records – anything that would have survived the fire."
"Will do, Steve."
As soon as the call ended, Chin looked at the pictures, and then looked at them again. "Wow. Facially, no resemblance at all. But look at the full length photo. He and Danny are almost identical. Height, weight, proportions, and in this photo at least, even posture. I think that would freak me out, to have a physical doppelganger out there."
Abby grinned and whispered to Chin, "I would still know you over any look-alike." Chin felt a blush creep up, and hoped no one but Abby noticed.
Everyone studied the photos. The resemblance was uncanny and unmistakable. "But why did someone need a body double?" asked Steve. "I want every piece of information you can dig up on Neil Lane, including his birth weight and primary school grades. Especially, how did someone else realize Neil Lane had a … hold a sec." Steve's brows furrowed. "What if … no, that doesn't make sense either."
"What?!" said three voices, equally curious, high strung, and worried.
Steve shifted on the bed, trying to get the ache in his broken right arm to ease. "It doesn't make sense to snatch Danny if Neil Lane was the actual target. And it makes no sense to kill Neil Lane to throw off Danny being taken."
"It buys time," said Chin, very quietly.
"And what difference would a few hours make?" Kono was into full analytical mode. "If Steve had been killed, too, it would have delayed us even longer, because two bodies would have had to be identified by autopsy."
"Which brings up another question," Abby pointed out, her eyes puzzled. "How was Steve thrown from the car? Was it an accident, or did it in fact happen on purpose?"
Steve leaned back against his pillows and looked at the uninteresting light on the ceiling of his hospital room. "I need my computer, Chin."
"Sorry, got it right here." Chin pulled out Steve's laptop from the bag he had slung over his shoulder.
"Thanks. I need the analysis of the accident scene, every scrap of info on Neil Lane. I need to talk to Doc Cornett again, and I need everything from the crime scene investigation of Danny's house. I also need a change of clothes STAT because I am not waiting to be discharged. We need to interview Mrs. Lane, and I want to be there. And I hope Max finishes that autopsy fast, because I have a feeling Danny is in real trouble."
Kono smiled. "We figured you would want an early exit from here, whether or not you get permission. So I am your official babysitter, to keep you here, backed up if necessary by Officer Pua, the Tripler Security Guard, and the fact that if you try to get out of that bed to do more than go to the little boy's room, I will whip your ass and throw you back into bed if that is what it takes."
Steve looked stubborn. "Who says I won't throw you right back?"
Chin smiled. "Me. You 'throw' my cousin and I will whoop your ass, Boss. The day you begin hitting women who are not perps out to harm you is the day we teach you never to do that again."
"I wouldn't hurt her!"
"Darn right," Kono almost purred. "Adam would break your other arm, anyway. Not worth it just to get out of hospital a few hours early."
"Fine," grumbled Steve. "Everyone, get to work. I want answers yesterday."