Chapter 17 "Friend Or Foe?"
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A/N: (8 September 2016) If every new chapter is a gift to the readers, every review is a gift to the writer. You keep us going, like feeding a log to the fireplace when the flame might be getting low. I want to thank every reader, and every reviewer. You have been very very generous to me, and I do my best in return for you. Bless and thank you all. You keep me going.
The last chapter generated a lot of emotion! It was supposed to, but the comments were so loving and kind. Thank you for your thoughts and feelings about how this is moving along. I love the variety of theories of whodunit, especially Nurse Ratchet's possible 6'3" boyfriend :-D I seriously wish I had thought of that one! That would be better than the actual villain! You get my Brilliant Thinking award!
CBS owns Hawaii Five-0, and are kind enough to let us play with their characters.
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Chapter 17 "Friend Or Foe?"
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(21 December 2016, Tuesday, 10 pm)
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"Lou, you know the drill," said Steve, hurt but not entirely surprised by Lou Grover's icy tone on the phone. The former member of Five-0 had not taken it well when Steve had ended their friendship because Lou persisted in showing and saying how much he disliked Danny. "Come to the Five-0 offices in an hour. We'll talk there. You need directions?" he asked, sarcastically.
Lou snorted. "Stow it, McGarrett. Either I am a suspect, or I'm not. Which is it?"
"You tell me," snapped Steve, because he would have liked to remain friends with Lou, had the big man made it possible. He regretted showing his anger instantly, until Lou spoke again.
"Listen, Commander Super Ex-SEAL, I aint comin' over to listen to the runt whining and cry-babying about his fried house, which is probably a busted gas pipe or something, and I aint sitting in no blue room chair, wearing bracelets because you need to pin this on someone, and Danny-boy don't like me. If you think I did something, send a patrol car for me. Otherwise, I'll come by tomorrow first thing, with my lawyer."
"Lou," said Steve. His voice was not angry. Steve let out his sadness. "Danny doesn't know about his house. He was kidnapped yesterday, and I was nearly killed, too. Another good man was killed."
There was a pause, during which Chin, Duke, and the Fire Chief joined him behind the patrol car. Finally, Lou replied, no longer angry, but deeply regretful. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know. I'll be there in an hour. I'm sorry about Danny. I really am." He sounded it, too.
It helped Steve, a little. "See you then." He pocketed his phone and looked tired and grim. "Nice to meet you, Sir," he said to the Fire Chief, whose badge listed that his name was Goodwin. He was taller than Steve, dark skinned, with brown eyes and medium, kempt brows, and lashes a woman would envy. He was new to Steve.
"Dave Goodwin, meet Steve McGarrett," introduced Chin. "Preliminary report on the cause of the fire has been established."
"So soon? I guess that's good," said Steve.
Dave Goodwin's voice was deep and pleasant, with a slight African American accent mixed with something else Steve could not quite place. "It's astonishing, but there's ample evidence. The gas was turned on low, but the house was burning before the gas ignited. Someone set multiple hot spots, and waited for the fires to reach the highest concentration of gas, at which time it blew."
Steve was tired of all the bad news. They already knew someone had a real hatred of Danny, but this just seemed to be beyond hatred. "Swell," murmured Steve. "Any idea of how the hot spots were created?"
"Come with me," said the Chief. They walked to where a charred, water-soaked mattress was leaning incongruously against the hedge of the house across the street. "See that little wad of burnt cloth on top of the mattress?"
"Uh, yeah." Steve leaned over and touched it, then smelled his fingers. He sighed. "Linseed oil oxidizing on a cotton rag. Flash point 250 degrees Fahrenheit; takes roughly two hours at room temperature to go from safe to smoking hot, another hour to hour and a half to reach spontaneous combustion exothermic reaction. I take it these rags were found in multiple locations?"
"We are finding these all over the remains of the house. Every bed, every couch, every chair, in closets with the doors open to fuel the oxidation of the linseed oil. We found windows left open to make sure the rags had plenty of air to aid in the drying/oxidizing process. -This house never had a chance. This was arson on steroids. The only way it could have been worse was a few people all using flamethrowers. Whoever did this was unconcerned that we would figure out what caused the fire; the arsonist just wanted the house destroyed completely."
"Okay." Steve sighed heavily, and looked back at the fire, which was coming under control, now that the gas had been shut off. "As soon as you have the report ready, I'd appreciate seeing it. But we have something to work on now. Thanks, Chief Goodwin. I appreciate what you and your men are doing."
"Yup. Hope you find your friend. Admired Williams for what he did landing the plane on the beach, and giving you his liver. Takes a good man to do that."
"Did you meet him?" asked Steve, feeling a surge of friendliness and gratitude. "Were you on the beach when he brought in the Cesna?"
"I was, but we never actually met. I hope we do someday." Dave Goodwin smiled and nodded to them all, and returned to his command post.
"Well, we have something to go on now," said Chin.
"Dave is a good man, he's honest. He'll do a good job on this fire. You can trust him," said Duke.
"Good to know," stated Steve, and he was more relieved than he sounded. He was tired, starving again, and not looking forward to talking to Lou. "Kono has confirmed Stan and Rachel's alibi for the time of Danny's kidnapping, and Grace is pretty sure Stan didn't leave the house after Kono and I were there this afternoon. That's not a hundred percent alibi, but it's going to be hard to break. Lou will be at Five-0 in 45 minutes, so we better roll. Duke, the units check my house?"
"Yes. Officers Pua Kai and Tom Bernard. Pua may be a rookie now, but he's gonna make Sergeant one day. He went back to make sure there were no linseed rags just waiting to ignite. Your house is tight. Pua and Tom will alternate twelve hour shifts outside your house till this is over. We're giving your house a bodyguard till we catch these guys."
"Thanks, Duke. I still hate this," Steve stated flatly, yet his eyes flashed briefly. "I can't imagine Danny ever doing anything in his whole life to deserve this level of hatred."
"Has to be a nutjob," replied Duke. "Nutjobs don't have to have real reasons. They just gotta hold a grudge." The Sergeant was being hailed from across the street by one of his men. "Gotta go. Steve, Chin: find Danny."
"We will, Duke. Take care of that sprain," called Steve as Duke walked away. He and Chin walked back to the red Mustang, and Steve filled Chin in on the way to the car. Half a block from the wreck of Danny's house, Steve stopped when he saw a glint of silver on a chain, tangled around some splintered wood that used to be a familiar coffee table. He bent down and picked up a medal. "Danny's St. Michael medal. He kept it in his pocket during work hours, and put it on the nightstand at night. When we were talking to Rachel last night, it fell out of his pocket and I remember he put it on the coffee table." Steve wiped soot off of it and hung it around his own neck. "I'll return it to him when we find him."
Afterwards, Steve was quiet in the car, until he suddenly let out a choked cry and covered his eyes and clutched at the medal.
"Steve?" Chin instantly asked, deeply concerned. Steve was sobbing. It was not something he did often. He was a "cry-in-private" type of man.
Steve's voice was husky with grief. "Is this all he has left? They took his car, tried to kill his partner, destroyed his house, and everything he owns in it. They took the baby pictures of his kids, and their crayon drawings, and his favorite tie Grace gave him, and photo albums from New Jersey, his damn dress shirts, his whole life. They've hurt his kids by taking him, knowing that hurts worse than being kidnapped! They locked him in a box! They took his hair, Chin, and he's starving! He's starving," Steve repeated, his voice rough. "I don't know how long we have to find him. I swear to God, I'm gonna lock them up so long they will lose just as much as they've made him lose. And if Danny dies, I'm gonna kill them, whoever they are."
Chin didn't ask any questions, even though he had heard things that shocked him to his core, and deeper. Danny was starving? They cut his hair? He swallowed. His voice hardened. "I'll help you," he said, and he meant it.
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H50 H50 H50
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Danny was actually making visible headway in his efforts to wear down the end of the chain link keeping his ankle held to the corner of the box. It was not much headway, but it was starting to show. He felt he could do an estimate of how long it would take to get all the way through it, and while it scared him badly to know a whole week would be spent just on this, it was a week he would gladly spend to get loose from the tether. His ankle was starting to chafe from the chain wrapped around it, and his knee did not like anything about how he had to keep it bent more than it should be, but that tether had to go.
Angel suddenly stopped playing with her paper ball, which had been flying this way and that all over the box, and came at Warp 9 kitten run over to Danny, where she crawled into his lap and let out a scratchy whine, then head butted his chin and burrowed into his chest while purring as loud as a set of teensy, whirling helicopter blades.
At the same moment, Danny felt a terrific blow to his heart, and he could swear he heard, or felt, a boom; he wasn't sure which. His nerves flared with anxiety, and he was glad he was sitting, because he felt dizzy enough that he would have tipped over without the floor to steady him. He put the notebook down and held Angel protectively with both hands, as if shielding her from something other than the multi-colored Christmas lights, which for just a second there he thought he had seen flash and ignite. But he blinked and they were just being normal Christmas lights.
It passed quickly, the dizziness, and he felt no new physical pain, but something had definitely happened. Instinctively, he began to pray, for his kids, his ohana, everyone he knew, the world, even himself. "St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits who wander through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen." He had learned that prayer as a boy and said it when he thought someone was in danger, or when he felt anxious.
He repeated the prayer several times, and wished he had his St. Michael medal, but the prayer would have to do.
He wondered what had happened, and hoped no one had just been hurt. He prayed especially for Gracie, and Charlie, and Steve, Chin, Kono, Abby, and all his extended ohana in Honolulu, then added his parents, sisters, and cousins in Newark and wherever they were. He prayed for police officers, firemen and women, those who worked in health care. He finally just said, "God, protect everyone."
Angel stayed with him for half an hour, estimated time, and then she wriggled until she was able to jump over to the folded coverall beside the blanket, where she took up a Sphinx pose and continued to stay near. Danny swore she was guarding him.
He returned to working on the chain, but kept reciting that prayer as well as others.
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H50 H50 H50
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There were news crews from the four main network affiliates, and a couple local ones, and some newspaper reporters waiting outside the Iolani Palace, which housed the Five-0 offices. Luckily, by the time they reached there, Steve was well under control again, at least visibly. He had explained that Grace must never suspect her hunger and his were feelings they were picking up from Danny. Steve had also asked Chin to drive him to Tripler whenever he was able to get hold of Dr. Cornett so he could be tested to make sure the hunger wasn't something going wrong with him. Chin had readily agreed.
He and Chin were pounced by reporters with microphones and camera crews as soon as they walked toward the doors. Steve signaled Chin to go ahead and make sure the building was clear of reporters, and to call Lou and have him use the back entrance. "Warn Abby and Kono. We're telling the press nothing but the vaguest info."
"Right." Chin sprinted into the building, securing the lock behind him.
Steve stopped for the briefest time as he continued to walk toward the building's front entrance, fielding questions as he went. There were plenty of phones and microphones recording video and audio.
"Commander McGarrett, the home of Detective Daniel Williams was burned to the ground. Do you have any motive or suspects?"
"It is too early to say, but the investigation is well under way."
"Is the detective uninjured. He was not seen at his home."
"There were no injuries at the fire, just property destruction, which was extensive."
"Is it true that Detective Williams was killed in the blast? He has not been seen."
"CBS already asked that. I repeat, Detective Williams was not killed or injured in the blast."
"Is it true that the drug cartel that tried to murder you and forced Detective Williams to land a plane on Waikiki Beach is behind a plan to destroy the Five-0 Task Force?"
Steve kept walking. They had already dismantled that cartel, but it was worth checking it again. "We have no comment at this time."
"Is there anything the people of Honolulu can do to help Detective Williams rebuild what he has lost in this fire? He saved your life, and it seems such a tragic turn that his home was destroyed, so close to Christmas."
Steve stopped and turned, looking at the young male reporter, who had asked something thoughtful instead of something just good for a sound bite. "Thank you for the question. I'm not sure how to answer it, except to ask for your prayers for Danny Williams." He hesitated, and then dove in. It was only a matter of time before the press realized Danny was missing.
"I do have a statement, and a request." Steve waited until the reporters had quieted and were giving him their full attention. "Last night, Detective Williams was kidnapped from his home, and we believe the fire was an attempt to destroy evidence of that crime. My partner remains missing, and we would ask the public's help in coming forth with anything anyone may have seen regarding this. We believe Detective Williams is alive and being held against his will. If you saw or see or hear anything pertaining to his kidnapping, the destruction of his home, or his current whereabouts, please contact Five-0 immediately. We will release more information when it is warranted. Thank you."
That set off a cacophony of questions, so he nodded into the cameras and turned and ran for the building. Chin was waiting, and swung open the door as he reached it.
Once inside, he told Chin that the news that Danny was missing would go out far and wide. They would have to be prepared to receive tips from the public. "Maybe that is just what we need."
The two men went up the Koa (Warrior) stairs, down the hall to the Five-0 offices, and locked the door behind them once inside. Steve told Kono and Abby that the public would now know Danny was missing, and Lou would be there in less than twenty minutes. He asked Kono to pull up the footage of Stan and Rachel at the airport. He studied the films quietly. "Damn. Even the Rolex watch," he muttered irritably, pointing to the watch they had seen that afternoon. "I admit, I hoped it was Stan, but I guess that would be too easy. Nothing strange in the Edwards financials? Could he have hired someone?"
"He has the money to do that, but we have nothing to prove that he did," replied Kono. "Everything so far looks clean, but give me a few more days and I'll find something if there is anything to find. I assume we don't want to alert the Edwards that we are poking into their finances."
"I'd rather neither of them knew. Keep checking. On Lou, too, but make sure the smart table and the big board are clear when he comes by. I don't want him to see anything we are working on." Steve was distracted by his feelings of hunger, so he called behind him as he headed for the door that he was going to get something from the vending machine downstairs.
As he hurried down, he got a surprise call from Dr. Cornett. "Hey, Doc, this may sound strange, but I was just about to call you. Are you still at Tripler?"
"No, I'm actually home, just saw the Special Report. I don't know if I have a lead for you, but something odd did happen just as I got called away when I was going to get your release papers this morning."
"Oh?"
The doctor explained that a patient had been brought in on a medevac flight. A homeless man in bad shape, head injuries and broken bones. He had been found by hikers, who insisted the man kept saying a name, over and over.
"What name, Doc?"
"Danny, and Dan. He had no ID, so we thought he was telling us his name. Except one of the other doctors recognized him from a drug overdose last year. He name isn't Danny. It's Mo Miller."
"What had happened to him?"
"The medic team and rescuers thought he looked like he'd fallen out of -maybe been pushed out of a helicopter or low flying airplane. He was in the middle of nowhere, Steve. The hikers went off the trail to answer nature's call, and found him totally by chance. They called it in. In another two hours, it would have been too late."
"How does a homeless man get pushed or fall out of a chopper or plane?" asked Steve, writing in his waterproof flip-top pocket notebook. The notebook was settled on top of his cast, while he wrote painstakingly with his left hand.
"I wondered, but his injuries had my full attention, and I didn't follow up. But when I saw the news report, I thought of that right away."
"Can I talk to the guy?" asked Steve, feeling hopeful.
Cornett's answer squashed his hopes. "He's extremely critical, Steve. We had to induce a coma. Severe concussion with bleeding on the brain, possible brain damage. Three surgeries today. We're not even sure yet that he will survive his head and other injuries. If he does come through this, he may not regain consciousness for some time. If he does regain consciousness, he may have brain damage, or memory loss, or both."
"Okay. Well, it's unusual, and the timing is right, and we have no idea where Danny is being held. I'll need the names of the hikers, and the rescue team. I want to search the area where he was found." Steve wasn't sure it was a lead or not, but it was worth figuring out how the man had ended up where he had.
Cornett asked Steve why he was going to call him. "Need me back at Tripler?"
Steve lowered his voice, and stowed his notebook. "Doc, I have been starving since Danny's been taken. Not thirsty, but hungry non-stop. I asked Grace, and she has been, too. Doc, I think Danny is being starved. –I didn't let on to Grace."
Cornett didn't hesitate. "I'll head back to Tripler. Come to my office in about an hour, or whenever you can. Let me take blood and the usual samples, and make sure you are okay, and if you check out fine, you may be right. I'm going to do some research."
Steve was incredibly relieved. "Thanks, Doc. Thanks. I've got someone to interview soon, so it might be a little later than an hour. I'll let you know when I'm on my way. I appreciate this. Wait. Should I avoid eating, or can I have a snack before I come in?"
"Uh. No snack. Then we can run another set of tests after you eat, and that will really tell us something. When did you last have a meal?"
When had it been? "8 o'clock? Kamekona's shrimp and rice. And tea. A fortune cookie? Maybe 2 fortune cookies?"
"Nothing since?"
"No. I want five Big Bob's burgers."
Cornett apologized. "Nothing but water until we run those labs. If you feel dizzy, have someone drive you in immediately. I'll be at Tripler in 20 minutes."
Steve put away his phone, then returned to the office. "Chin, could you let Lou in when he gets here?" He went to the water cooler in the office, and filled a clear plastic cup full. And then stared at the 5-gallon water drum atop the cooler. He had no idea why. When he heard Kono whispering to Abby to shut down the table, and Chin took off down the stairs, he quickly drank the cup of water and turned away from the cooler.
Chin brought Lou up a minute later. The big man looked around the office quickly, the one he had been so familiar with until May, when he had resigned over Danny continuing to remain Steve's partner.
It had been the strangest situation. Steve had just received the living donor liver donation from Danny, effectively saving his life, and things had come out during the early days of his recovery. One of those things had been that Lou was poisoning Kono's mind against Danny, and belittling Danny in front of Steve (and behind Steve's back) in the hope of driving a wedge between Steve and his partner.
Luckily, Kono had come to realize what was happening, after a talk with Danny, and Danny was the forgiving sort when push came to shove, and a genuine mistake had been made.
But Lou had retired to start his own consulting firm rather than continue to have to be denied the partnership even he admitted he was not fit to accept. It didn't help that Danny was only 5'5", and Lou Grover was a comparatively towering 6'4", and that both men had strong personalities. Lou had gotten a bad drug combination when he took too many Sudafed and several cups of coffee, and attacked Danny in his hospital bed.
Still, had Lou apologized and realized how silly was his unwarranted competition with Danny, things could have worked out differently. But Steve had ended the friendship after speaking with Lou about it, and Lou made it clear he could not accept Danny under any circumstances.
It was an awkward meeting. Lou nodded and said hi to his former colleagues, and they were pleasant in return.
Lou shook hands with Steve, then compassionately said, "I'm real sorry. I know your partner's death is hard to take."
Everyone corrected him. "He's not dead, I didn't mean to make you think that. He's still alive. Kidnapped, held somewhere. But alive," corrected Steve.
"Oh, oh. I thought..." Lou paused, and nodded. "So you really do want to know if I was involved." He puffed out his cheeks with a heavy sigh, and looked around the room again. "Listen, in the interests of transparency, I don't know if Danny told you or not that he and I had words again at Thanksgiving. A couple days after, actually."
Nobody let on that this was the first they had heard about it. Nobody let on that they were not even sure if Lou was telling them something true, or a carefully concocted story. Lou had fallen a long distance in their esteem for him. "Spill it, Lou," said Steve.
"I went to his house and asked him if we could work it out, come to some kind of working friendship. I had an ulterior motive. I wanted him to put in a good word for me with you, Steve, and Five-0, so I could get more clients for my consulting firm. It's not doing well, and we all know it's because of the bad way Danny and I clashed, and Steve stopped being my friend."
"So are you saying you tried to use him to get back into our good graces?" Steve asked, his voice giving nothing away.
Lou made a face and nodded. "I meant it, but I mostly wanted the favor. Danny turned me down flat, because he called me 'duplicitous' and a couple other things I didn't take too well. I punched him in the mouth, and left. I know I cut his lip, at least on the inside of his mouth."
Steve and his colleagues remembered Danny's swollen lip, that he'd said he had a couple stitches. He had said at the time that a shard of turkey bone had cut him.
Steve was going to have a long talk with Danny when they found him. He had hidden a lot from him.
"Yeah, we knew about his cut lip," said Chin, not saying anything about Lou. "So where were you last night? Do you have an alibi from 5pm to 10 pm?" Chin asked.
Kono added, "And tonight between 4 and 7?"
Lou rubbed a big hand along his bald head. "That's the thing. Last night Renee and I spent the whole evening and night, alone, in a friend's cozy cabin on the North Shore, celebrating our wedding anniversary. This morning, we cleaned up after ourselves, came home, and this afternoon I was in the back room of my office, taking a nap to make up for sleep lost last night."
"No witnesses?" asked Steve.
"Not a one."
"Did you kidnap Danny, Lou?"
"No."
"Did Ace Oahu fix your roof the same day you punched Danny in the mouth?" Steve's voice was very quiet.
"Yes, but not that day. It was the day after that Ace got to my roof. What does that have to do with anything? Besides, I never saw the roofers."
"Who did?"
"Renee. Look, do I need to get a lawyer? I came here in good faith."
"And that's a good thing," said Steve.
"Not if I was tricked into coming here without a lawyer," grumbled Lou. "I thought you meant Danny was dead. I didn't know you were gonna try to pin this on me. I'm being honest, McGarrett."
"I sure hope you are, Lou," said Steve. He held the dark brown eyed gaze for several seconds, and it was Lou who walked away. "Callin' my lawyer."
"Lou," yelled Steve. "We need to talk to Renee. Don't get in the way, man. You know how that will look."
Lou turned around faster anyone would expect such a big man to be able to. "I wish that Jersey runt had died on the operating table, after he gave you his liver, Steve. It would have saved a lot of trouble."
Three guns were instantly pointed at Lou. Steve told Chin to cuff Lou, and put him in the blue room. Steve personally searched the man and took his revolver. "Kono, go with Chin. Lou Grover, you are under arrest as a person of interest in the kidnapping of Danny Williams, and the arson of his house. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, if this goes that far. I don't understand why you hate him so much!"
"What's to like?" muttered Lou.
"Get him out of here," said Steve, disappointed.