Chapter 15 "Details"

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A/N: (31 August 2016) I need to thank all readers and reviewers again! The encouragement and the various opinions and hopes for the story mean a lot, and help me know what is working and what is not. Thank you very deeply.

Two things. Dr. Cornett is not an OC. He was the doctor who treated Danny after Amber/Melissa's crazy ex stabbed Danny, and treated Steve after the plane crash, and performed Danny's part of the liver donation, and told the ohana afterwards that they were going to be okay. The actor is Peter Roberts, and I fell in love with his Dr. Cornett portrayal. He is so kind! I want him to be my doctor. (Although I actually have a very very good one.) But my fictional doc would have to be Cornett. His family is all OCs tho.

I told a new friend that writers get our kicks out of legal cheating as we write the story. That means we don't spill all the beans at once. We let the story weave, meander, spin and almost dance, if that doesn't sound too weird. Illegal cheating (stories get even with writers who do that kind) would be changing who did it because someone guessed. The story is the story, and I promise you I won't change who the villain(s?) are because someone guesses down the road, or may have already guessed.

I love hearing about your connection to Danny's kitten, Angel! I never knew that she would come to mean so much to readers! I am so glad you respond so well to her! Thank you, and I am quite sure Angel is purring at all of you! Dog people, I love dogs too! But a puppy in a box would have been problematic. Brucas, I think it was you who mentioned the smell…uhm, less with a kitten than a puppy. :-D

Note: There is some mention of Christianity in Christmas in this chapter, because it fits Danny's thoughts at this time. I'm not trying to convert anyone, just writing Danny as he seems to be, considering he crosses himself, sends his daughter to a Catholic school, and gave Kono a St. Michael the Archangel (patron of policemen) medal the day the newly formed task force celebrated her graduation from the Police Academy.

CBS still owns H5-0, and we don't. Dang. I mean yay! Season 7 starts in less than a month!

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Chapter 15 "Details"

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(Tuesday, 21 December, 6 pm-ish.)

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Danny loved Christmas. He always had. It was the meaning of it, the memories he had of it from childhood, and later on those early years with Rachel and Grace, and now he had a whole new set of memories based on something he had not realized before moving to Hawaii: he had come to realize that Christmas was not a season that required snow to be on the ground, and Christmas trees did not have to be pines. It was not a place, unless it was a manger in Bethlehem. Snow was optional. Colored lights strung on palm trees worked. What mattered was the love people showed to one another, not the wow factor or number of gifts, or whether the stores did a booming business or not.

Religion was not a huge factor in Danny's life, but it mattered to him in more ways than he thought about most of the time. Christmas was one of the times he thought about his faith, from occasionally wondering if it was real, to knowing deep within him that it was real to him. It didn't matter if others blew it away and said it was a myth or "opiate for the masses". He didn't demand or even expect other people to understand his faith, or share it. It was his. Just as he could and did believe in miracles, he knew not everyone did.

And he didn't pooh pooh other faiths, or lack of belief. He only worried about himself, and his children. He raised them in the way he believed was right, and that meant Grace and Charlie knew what Christmas really meant. It wasn't the Holidays, it was the Holy Days. He said Happy Holidays to those he knew didn't have religious beliefs, but to those who did, or those he wasn't sure about, he was a Merry Christmas guy, all the way.

Danny had prayed the Christmas lights would come back on, because he needed them so badly. He needed The Light of the World to be his real light. The darkness had been too much for him, and there was something symbolic to him about that time spent in the most blinding darkness he had ever experienced. He needed Light. He needed his faith. He had prayed while he cried himself to sleep, and now, those lights were back, and he knew he had to come up with a way to cope should the time come when the lights did not come on. He thanked God quietly for the lights, and for the plan he had come up with as a means to cope.

He still had the glow sticks, but his day and time calculations depended on knowing how far into the night he was, and then how far into the day. He would have to memorize how times felt, so he would not fall hopelessly off track of his counting of the days, should he have to do that with just glow sticks. He would begin his preparations immediately. He would memorize the box and organize the things in it, so he could continue his plan of escaping, even if he had to do it in the darkness.

But for as long as the lights came on, he would go to sleep before the darkness came, because then he could meet it on his terms. He was not going to let it break him again. He could not allow that.

Angel was a tremendous help to him, as he prepared for the day. She had the cutest run, and even though her tail was way too short to catch, she had realized there was this short fluffy thing attached to her back end, and she kept trying to catch it. She was absolutely determined, and he had to be that way too. Angel was more than a companion: she was an inspiration to him. She found joy in her tail, and Danny's beard scruff, and the funny way all those colored lights cast soft shadows and turned her human funny hues.

Angel watched as Danny shook out the blanket, folded it so the clean side was on the inside and protected, and made a square nest for her, which he borrowed as he sat down after he had climbed out of the coveralls. He had a lot of sweaty work to do that day, and all the other days to come, until he was rescued, and the best way to spare him becoming a mess was to just wear his boxers. He folded the coveralls neatly, and put his notebook on top of them.

Then Danny had to admit to himself that he was nervous about his knee. It was definitely throbbing more. He felt the area of the wound, and it was more painful, but not in a way that increased his worry. He noted that the bandage did not bear the marks of infection. The gash was not seeping pus, and had stopped bleeding.

The last check was to remove the tie wrapping which held the bandage in place, and he lifted the part of the bandage that he could, since it was adhering to the wound. He studied the color of the skin, felt the temperature. It was neither feverish nor the red of infection. He re-wrapped the bandage and relaxed a little.

So far, so good. He looked heavenward, and said a heartfelt thank you. He prayed for his family, his ohana. He thought about hugging each of his children, and pictured them playing with Angel, and sent them his most heartfelt love. He thought of his Five-0 ohana, and sent them his love too, plus encouragement. He knew they were looking for him, and had no doubt they would find him eventually. He tried not to guess how long it would take. The stores of food and other things indicated it would be a long time, but he did not dwell on that. There were only three outcomes to this situation: they would find him before he escaped, he would find them after he escaped, or they would find him after he was dead.

That last outcome was definitely his least favorite. By far.

Angel padded over to Danny and sat down in front of him. She sniffed his feet, his legs, and seemed to understand that jumping onto the one with the wrapping was not a good idea, so she climbed onto the blanket and then into Danny's lap, while Danny watched her, crooning sweet words to her, and asking her what she was doing. Finally, she reached up and laid one paw on his long liver transplant scar, reached up and touched his chin, and meowed as if making a statement.

"I am not very good at speaking 'Kitten', so let me see if I understand you," Danny said. "You want something from me, and I bet I know what it is. Food! Am I right?"

Angel carefully climbed Danny's chest until he put a hand under her and hoisted her up, and she sat in his hand while she rubbed her soft whiskery cheek against his chin.

He was grinning as he responded to her actions. "I think that means 'yes', so let's get you some food! And more water. Yes, you bossy little thing, I will feed me too, and get more water. Mmmm, more peanut butter filet mignon for me! Let's assume you are getting the best tuna in the world." He rose to his feet, careful of his knee, not fully straightening it, so his gait across the box was definitely described by the word 'limping'. He carried his water bottle and notebook in one hand, and Angel in the other, putting her down when he reached the pantry.

When Danny reached for a packet of cat food, he learned that cats are impatient, and very vocal about what an eternity it takes a human with opposable thumbs to open the food pouch and put it on the little round paper plate. Her meows turned into bold cap italicized versions of long meows, and she got up onto her hind paws, the better to reach the plate of soft shapes that smelled soooooo gooooooood!

Danny kept thinking how his kids would both go crazy for Angel. So would his ohana, he was sure of it. Even Steve.

Danny was glad that he had food to feed the little beast he was entrapped with, because without that, he did not think he could have endured her suffering from hunger, and she could not have eaten his peanut butter. He thought he had read an article about cats being allergic to nuts, but maybe that was dogs. Or any animal but chipmunks and squirrels. He did not remember, but she showed no interest at all in the tiny bit of peanut butter he allowed himself.

When he activated the next glow stick, he would open up the crackers and have one or two. They were cheese flavored, so Angel might like a little bite of them. He decided he would always give Angel a treat from his cheesy crackers. But he had to have had two bottles of water by then.

He added a little more water to Angel's bowl, then filled his bottle, drank some to wash down his micro breakfast. He noted everything carefully in the notebook, and then turned toward the corner the chain on his ankle was tethered to. Time to get back to work. He felt distinctly hungry, but he would have to get used to that.

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H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

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It was going on 7:30 pm by the time Steve and Kono arrived back at the Five-0 offices. They had backtracked briefly to Kamekona's shrimp truck and filled him in on what had happened while he prepared their 4 orders to go. Their friend was entirely sympathetic, and showed it by giving them extra-large portions, asking to be kept informed as they searched for Danny. Steve thanked Kamekona and promised they would keep him in the loop. He was Danny's friend, too.

Kamekona, a big Hawaiian with a bald, fleshy head and kind but my-way-or-the-highway demeanor, promised he would keep his ear to the ground and let them know if he overhead any gossip that might help them. "Bad time for our Jersey Haole to go missing. This is his favorite time of the year. I feel for his kids." He had a lot of contacts, and not much got by him, so Steve and Kono were happy to know he was now listening to the coconut wireless.

Back at Five-0, everyone stopped what they were doing and dug into the food. They ate off trays set around the Smart Table in the center of the office. Steve was ravenously hungry, and the shrimp was fried to perfection, the rice about as good as it gets. He literally felt like he could eat two portions of everything, which was unusual for him. He put it down to not having had dinner the night before.

Chin and Abby each had news. Abby went first, since Chin had proven chivalry was not dead by saying, with a wink to his girlfriend, "Ladies first."

What she had dug up on Ace Oahu was that, financially, they seemed legit and law abiding. They did jobs all over Oahu mostly, but also had crews on Maui and Molokai, and a new office getting started on the Big Island. "They don't have a lot going on in Hilo yet, but they expect the business to grow."

As for the murdered Neil Lane, he had been with them for several years, had a good record with them, and usually worked with a partner, Jason Makaina. They had been partners for two years, and their families socialized. Their kids went to the same school, a public school roughly equidistant from their homes, and were friends.

"I talked with Jason, and he said Neil got a call yesterday around 4pm. They were just finishing a job, that's why he remembers the time. Neil said a former customer was asking if he would be willing to do some odd jobs that it would only take one person to do, and he was going to meet the guy after he dropped Jason back at work. Before you ask, he didn't say the guy's name or where they were meeting. I called Lisa, and she doesn't know either; Neil hadn't called her about it as she was leaving for work about then, and usually he would call her after she got to work. Except he didn't last night. Otherwise, everything seemed normal, so when Neil didn't show up at work today, he called Lisa and asked if he was okay, and she told him he was missing. Jason said he would cooperate in any way he could with the police. Incidentally, Neil's company van is also missing, and there were several roofer's tarps in the back of it. Jason admitted, too, that they got dirty and dusty, and most of the ones used outside didn't get shaken out very well, so they were just folded and stuck back in the van. Duke has added the van to the APBs already out."

"Jason Makaina has no police record," added Chin. "Seems a genuinely nice guy."

Abby agreed. "But now for the good stuff. I ran the company records on work they've done in the last three months, and cross-referenced it with just the jobs Neil worked on, with Jason or any other teams. The whole company pulled a lot of overtime after that tropical storm just before Thanksgiving. Get a load of the people the company worked for, and those that Neil's team worked on."

Apparently Neil's team and one other had worked several roofs in Rachel and Stan's neighborhood, including two of their immediate neighbors, and their own roof, and others within three blocks, people they knew from Grace's classmates.

"I talked to the Personnel Supervisor, and apparently Stan Edwards complained about Neil, and asked he not work their roof after the first day –or their neighbors' roofs. Stan did ask that it be entered into the record that he had no complaints about Neil's work. Still, Neil was upset about that, because it is more difficult to mess up the usual teams. They work faster and better with the guys they are most used to. Get this," continued Abby, taking a quick drink of hot tea to wash down some rice. "I had to persuade the Supervisor, Adam Clarke, to divulge what happened. Seems Stan Edwards did not want Neil working his property because Neil looked too much like 'someone he had a bad association with.' I'm guessing the resemblance to Danny bugged Stan, so he had the company bring in another roofer."

"Well, well, well," commented Steve, around another shrimp. "We keep running into Stan. How many days did Ace Oahu work on the Edwards roof?"

Abby consulted her notes. "Two and a half. That neighborhood was particularly hard hit by wind damage during that storm. Neil only worked the first half day, which was from roughly 2pm to close to 6pm."

Chin was not grinning when he said, "But that's not all."

"Go on," encouraged Steve. Kono had gotten up and was collecting the empty paper bowls, cartons, and chopsticks.

"Neil and Jason also did Lou Grover's roof, and yours, Steve. And a bunch of people who are classmates of Grace Williams."

"Lou? Our former colleague, Lou?" Steve was startled.

"The one and only," said Chin.

"I'll talk to him, see if he was there when the work was done. We will have to check all these people out though. Except me. I never saw my roofers, because my insurance covered it, and sent their guy out to check things. I'll ask him, though, and I guess I better talk to the neighbors too. See if they noticed anything." He hesitated before asking his next question. "Anyone know if Danny and Lou have patched things up at all since the … hospital stuff?"

Kono answered first. "He hasn't said anything about Lou since then. Steve, if he had anything to say about it, I would think he would have talked with you."

Steve frowned. "You know Danny. He knew Lou and I were friends, so he might not want to let me know if something else had happened. Especially since he knew I told Lou we couldn't hang out anymore, after what he did to Danny."

Chin added, "I heard his consulting business is not doing well. I guess word got out that Lou and Five-0 did not part ways amicably. If he just hadn't attacked Danny, he'd probably be doing fine. Even though we kept that quiet, you and Lou are on the outs too, and that says there is at least one big problem."

"Yeah," agreed Steve. "I'll ask him about the roofers." He sighed, feeling his stitches in his hair, gingerly, and feeling the dull ache in his broken arm. "There's no way we can keep this from the public, that Danny is missing, is there? The more questions we ask, the more it will leak out. I'll have to call the governor. Just, not tonight. I know he's attending some important Christmas Party, so that's on the agenda for tomorrow." He rubbed his eyes, and blew out a heavy breath. "I hate this. I hate that Danny is missing. I hate that Neil Lane died because he looks like Danny physically. I hate that our most likely persons of interest are people Danny knows, even maybe members of his family. Seriously, this is sick."

Kono spoke up. "Steve and I had already decided we needed to check the alibi of Rachel and Stan. If she really did pick him up at the airport last night, he's air tight, and so is she. Otherwise, they go right to the top of the suspect list."

Chin nodded, his face pensive. "Abby and I were going to ask about that. They need to be checked out. If they have alibis, they are not suspects. If they don't, well …." But he added quickly, "I'm calling Newark first thing tomorrow, to see if there are any releases we should know about. Usually police departments let people know of anyone they might want to keep an eye out for, but sometimes someone slips through the cracks."

"Good," said Steve, still feeling hungry. "Were there any leftovers?"

Abby shook her head no. "You ate everything not nailed down. I think you even ate my fortune cookie."

"I did? I'm sorry," Steve apologized. "I can't get rid of these hunger pangs. I think I could eat dinner all over again. Which is … odd." He suddenly had a bad feeling about where his hunger pangs were coming from.

Chin interrupted his musings, however. "I have some news on the accident recreation. They think they know how you got thrown without being seen." He started punching up diagrams from the accident scene, and throwing them up onto the big screen.

This diverted Steve's thoughts. Everyone was paying close attention.

"I'm all ears, Chin," said Steve.

Chin explained everything, using photos of the accident site, and charts and graphs made by the recreation team, which had worked with evidence from the scene and a lot of computer models to come up with something that equaled the facts of the scene, taking into account when it had rained, and when it had not rained that night. Using the extent of damage to Danny's Camaro, they had a good estimate of when the accident had happened.

"That puts the accident at, give or take about 10 minutes, around 9:45 pm last night. This takes into account how long it would take to drive from Danny's house to the site of the accident, and then how long it would have taken for his car, burning, to have been as reduced by the fire as it was, plus fire damage to Neil Lane's body. This takes into account as well the rain that night, which slowed the fire, but never put it out." Chin paused. "The guys who did this wasted no time. Once you and Danny were unconscious, they went to work fast."

Steve and Kono both asked in unison, "Guys plural?"

Chin nodded. "It would have taken two to push the car so the accident happened the way the recreation suggests, which is incidentally the only way they could get a model to work. Two men, both around 200 lbs in weight. No details on build, but strong enough to push a car from a specific point on the road. Maximum height of either man is 6'3", but the models work even better if they are around 6'1" or shorter. Any taller and you would have been seen being thrown from the car, Steve."

"Please explain how the accident happened. I still don't know why I'm still alive."

"We're just glad you are," Chin, Kono and Abby said together, their words genuine. "You got lucky," added Chin. "Whoever did this almost succeeded. If you had not been thrown, your added weight as the car went over … well, the models suggest a strong likelihood that the Camaro would have exploded on impact, and you would be a lot like Neil Lane now, and let's just be glad you were thrown."

Steve stared at his new cast in the old sling. He felt the stitches in his hair, and felt his aches and bruises. "I'm not sorry to have survived. I need to understand how, though, better. Why do the guys plural -I am not happy we have two people to look for now- have to both be around that height? Why not a tall guy and a short guy, or something?"

Chin explained. "It is all in the trajectory the Camaro took when it was pushed down the hill toward the spot where the road curved, and where the drop-off was down the cliff. The way the car was pushed had to be balanced, one guy on the driver's door, which had to be open, and the other behind the car. Any other configuration, even to the driver's door being closed, and the trajectory deviates from what it was. Plus, there had to be some luck involved. Your seat belt had to not catch completely, or you would not have been able to lurch against it with enough force for you to be thrown clear when the front tires hit that little lip before the car tipped downward to give it the momentum to go over the edge."

Kono asked, "How do we know Steve was belted in at all?"

Chin shrugged. "The models show him falling out if he wasn't belted in, but frankly, that could have been luck, too. Models aren't fool proof. But what they have recreated has a 97% accuracy rating, and nothing else hits above an 80."

Steve frowned. "Two guys. I don't like that."

He paused when his phone rang. "It's Duke." He answered the call, and had barely gotten out a "Hi, Duke," before his face convulsed in shock. "What?" He hit speaker, so they all heard Duke's frantic voice. "Five minutes ago one of Danny's neighbors called in a fire at Danny's house. The first unit has already called in a second alarm. Steve, the whole house is burning!"