Chapter 23 "More Evidence"
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A/N: (17 October 2016) You really are the best readers and reviewers! I thank you for your kind words! Thank you for reading, and those who take the time to leave a review, I deeply appreciate your encouragement, thoughts, opinions! The best part of writing is sharing it with others!
I am late with this chapter because my house broke twice and had to be fixed, and there was another visit to the ER as company to the person who needed the ER stuff. Life is being weird lately. Seriously, it is distressing (in a way also comforting) to know so many doctors and nurses, but the good thing is that each time there is more information that will inevitably make it into a story. Then there was the horrible return of the ER "what is in the air here?" allergy head cold thing. There is a cleaning agent or I don't know what in the air at all places one goes to to be doctored, and I'm super allergic to it.
WARNING: Part of this chapter deals with the sensitive topic of a sexual molestation that came too close to happening. Graphic details about this will not happen in my stories. Ever.
Disclaimer: CBS owns all thing Hawaii Five-0.
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Chapter 23 "More Evidence"
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(23 December 2016, Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.)
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It began to rain very lightly, considering how it could monsoon at this time of year. Steve was quiet in the Mustang as Chin drove him to the helipad at the Honolulu Police Department. They were going to accompany forensics and search and rescue teams out to the coordinates where Mo Morris had been found after he was pushed or possibly fell from either a chopper or a low flying plane the same night Stan had tried to kill Steve, and had killed the innocent roofer, Neil Lane, and kidnapped Danny and stashed him away somewhere. When found, Mo had mentioned the names Danny and Dan before succumbing to unconsciousness. If there was any chance he knew something about Danny Williams's whereabouts, they needed to try and find any clues overlooked when he was originally found.
Chin asked how the tests had gone, and if he was still starving.
Steve answered, "Fine," and, "Yes." But then it was as if an 'On' switch had been hit. "We have to find him, Chin. It's almost Christmas. We can't let him spend Christmas in a box, starving. –I'm actually not that surprised Stan is in on this, but it shocks me that Rachel is. She loved Danny! They had two children! He was good to her! And she tries to kill him? Or doesn't mind that Stan tried?"
Chin was watching his driving more closely, as he always did when it was raining, even lightly. "I know. I feel the same way. Stan, not too surprising, other than the fact that he seemed so mild to me, I could never understand what Rachel saw in him beyond his bank account."
"As soon as we finish searching the area where Mo was found, we will head back in and have a quick talk with Lou before releasing him. I have words I need to say. Then we talk to Rachel. Stan … I don't want to talk to him until he's just as mad and uncomfortable as we can legally make him, and we know what Rachel knows about things. I just hope she knows where Danny is, because Stan is going to hold that ace just as long as he can. If Rachel knows, we can convince her it is in her own best interests to tell us where Danny is."
Chin nodded, but then asked about Lou. "I mean, I'm glad he wasn't involved. But he's said and done things I never in a million years thought he would say or do. I don't understand why he hates Danny. Danny was always good to him, considerate about his terror when his daughter was kidnapped. I mean, they talked man to man, and you don't do that with someone you hate. Danny tried to help him!"
Steve had been thinking about that, while distracted by his right thumb hurting. It felt hot, except that it wasn't. Not to the touch, anyway. "I understand it," he murmured. "That's why I need to have words with Lou. By disrespecting Danny the way he does, he is disrespecting all of Five-0. He is disrespecting himself. Mostly, though, I can't like anyone for kicking a man already down. And saying he wished Danny had died after giving me his whole liver … I find that very hard to get past. Danny saved my life twice in one afternoon, and Lou wishes he had died. That's cold."
They arrived at HPD and drove back behind the building, where the large helicopters were kept behind high fences topped with coils of razor wire. Within minutes, everyone was geared up and strapped in to the chopper, and off they went. Steve's thumb continued to bother him. He had an overwhelming desire to put ice on it. Finally, he asked if anyone had an ice pack on board. Whatever nerve was mad at him might calm down if iced.
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H50 H50 H50
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Slow tears of pain and extreme fatigue were sliding down Danny's face, but he kept up with his scraping of the chain link. His thumb felt like he was holding it over a candle flame, the pain was so sharp, but it was encompassing the entire top joint. It was swelling, too. Already he had had to loosen the cloth wrap, and the cauterized gash had split open and was bleeding sluggishly, a drop every several seconds. He feared infection might be setting in. Between the redness, the blisters, the burn, the bleeding, the swelling and the hideous pain, there was no way to confidently say it was not infecting.
An infection could be deadly to him since he could not treat or even wash the wound, let alone bandage it properly. He was afraid, because there was nothing he could do about it. He just kept sawing away on the link, holding his thumb out of the way with muscles starting to strain and shake, as he had been doing it for hours.
Angel was sphinxing beside him, with her front paws resting on his leg, as if to show him by physical touch that he was not alone, that the kitten understood, and wanted to help any way she could.
Suddenly Danny gave a startled cry and sighed with unexpected relief. It was as if his thumb had been put in water just cool enough to begin easing the pain. Angel sat up and stared at his thumb, and began to purr softly. Danny looked at her and wished he could read her little feline mind. She looked back at him and squeaked out a funny, very happy meow, her cheeks all pooched out in a smile.
He reached out and petted her along her back, which she arched in pleasure. "You've got pull upstairs, don't you?" The relief was so incredible, he just thanked God, however he was accomplishing it. He needed a miracle for his thumb, and the coolness was that miracle.
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H50 H50 H50
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Steve kept the coolness on his thumb for the whole flight into the hills, but at the end of the flight, he had to put the cold pack in the pocket of his lightweight waterproof parka before disembarking once the chopper touched down. It was time to begin searching. Still, whenever he felt the heat again, he touched his thumb to the cold pack, and felt immediately better.
Mo had been found in a relatively flat region in a reserve surrounded by sharply upsloping hills covered with dense vegetation, so there were plants and trees everywhere, and rocks that looked incongruous to the rest of the terrain. It was a wonder that the man had been found at all. He had fallen between two small but sprawling shrubs, so from that point, everyone fanned out and searched their area.
It was Chin who found the phone, about twenty-five feet in, under a rock with a bush covering it. Chin had seen a tiny glint from a piece of broken screen, and felt around until he found what might have broken. The phone, of all things, had precisely one piece detached from it, and Chin had been standing in the one place where it was visible.
That was the way these things worked, often as not. Chin saw that it was in fact the phone belonging to Mo Morris, and went briefly through some photos, and saw audio with video files too. He played the last one, turned pale, and immediately yelled for Steve.
Steve came running, and listened to Mo's and Stan's voices as they watched the video:
Stan was on his feet beside Danny, unconscious, as if he had just been dropped where he lay. His arms were slightly outstretched, and he was wearing what looked like an Ace Oahu roofer's coverall, but the patches were removed. The hem of the pants had also been shortened to fit his leg length, but not neatly cut. More like hacked quickly with scissors or maybe a knife. Danny was barefoot, with his right ankle wrapped by a heavy chain, a length running from it to the corner of the box, where it was locked in place, tethering Danny from being able to escape the box, and the worst shock was that his head had obviously been shaved with a razor.
Mo: "You said if I recorded this for you, you'd buy me a new phone and pay me extra. I'm holding you to that."
Stan: "I'm good as my word. You'll get money and a new phone, don't worry. You can see why I can't record this on mine. I want to be able to look back on this. My final revenge."
Stan looked down at Danny again, then suddenly began to unbutton the coverall.
"Stan, what are you doing that for? You're wasting time!" said Mo.
"It's the last time I'll get a chance to see what my wife ever saw in him," replied Stan, who by now had slid the coverall down to Danny's ankles. He quickly slid his boxers down his hips too, exposing him.
"Man, what're you doing? Do you want me to film this?"
"Why not? Nobody's going to see it but me. I guess he had something to offer a gal, but still. I think my wife would have wanted a guy who could give a whole lot more than a good fill."
Mo harrumphed. "She's your wife now, so careful how you talk about her. And he gave her 2 kids, you said, so whatever. C'mon, let's get out of here."
Stan hesitated, and took hold of Danny in a manner that made both Steve and Chin, watching, feel fury and fear, and added another charge to the many they already had charged Stan with. They listened as Stan asked Mo, "Hey, wanna **** him? He'll never know. Least, not till he wakes up and wonders why he's sore."
("Oh, God, no" whispered Chin, while Steve's face was definitely what Danny would have called 'aneurysm face' from the fear.)
Mo was not thrilled. "Man, I don't do guys. Let's get out of here."
Stan continue to fondle Danny, but finally stopped. "If I had time, I'd make him hurt for the rest of his life. Which won't be long. Did I tell you I spoiled the food, all but one part of it? He won't be happy, especially if he gets the bad part before he finds the good stuff. And he hates cats. So when the neighbor's cat had kittens and they offered me one for my step-kids for Christmas, I said sure. Won't Danny be thrilled?" He pulled Danny's boxers up roughly, and yanked up the coverall, then turned Danny onto his stomach, facing the wall. "He does have a nice ass, doesn't he?" remarked Stan, and his touch added yet another charge to the growing list. (Steve gritted his teeth. "Take your hands off him, you ****," he growled menacingly.)
"Where'd you find this place, anyway?" asked Mo. "I have no idea where we are."
"That's the whole point," replied Stan, standing up and looking at the Christmas lights coloring the room in splotches of pretty color, except it wasn't pretty, under these circumstances. "Okay, guess I can't do everything I dreamed of. Let's get out of here."
The video didn't end. Mo continued to film Stan as he let the kitten out its carrier, and then prevented it from leaving the box. Instead, the kitten beelined for Danny, and hunkered down by his head. Stan grabbed the carrier and threw it over the side of the place the shipping containers were, and it was the first glimpse Steve and Chin got of the area. There were at least two containers side by side, touching, and Danny was locked in the second one from the left. Stan used the heaviest locks on the door, and poured something into the locking mechanism. "Superglue," he said, and laughed. "Key won't work now!"
There was one last shot before Mo turned off the camera. It was of the side of the containers, and some out-of-focus buildings maybe a half mile or more in the background. It could have been a small business park or apartment buildings, there was no way to tell.
"How is Danny going to deal with knowing Stan did that to him?" asked Chin, and Steve knew he was no longer talking about just drugging him and leaving him locked away to die.
"We have time to talk to a professional and get some advice on how we should even tell him," Steve answered, his face sad and furious at the same time. "We'll make sure he has help, and we'll be there for him. Best thing is that Stan is going away for a long time, and can never hurt him again. We'll have to show this to Kono and Abby, and I think Dr. Cornett, since he's likely to know some good therapists. Beyond that, maybe Duke, but nobody else unless Stan pleads innocent and forces a trial. I think we should make it a priority that we convince Stan not to plead innocent."
"Danny has been through enough, without a trial that brings this garbage to light," Chin said forcefully. "He won't want his kids to ever know, and a trial would bring it out."
"If he ever tells … anyone else about this, it will be up to Danny to decide." He was actually thinking of Becca, because he hoped more than he thought he would that those two had something to build on towards the future. "Stan is going to plead guilty, if I have to make him."
Chin asked, "Who was flying the chopper? Was it Stan?"
Steve pulled out his phone and called Kono. She answered right away. "Does Stan have a chopper license?"
Kono checked quickly, and came back, "I don't know how I missed this, but he does. For the last 8 years. Did you find anything on the search?"
"We sure did. Cool Stan's blue room another degree."
"With pleasure."
The phone was all that was found, but since it turned out to be a gold mine, it was enough. CSI would continue to process the site while Steve and Chin were flown back in, both glad to be out of the steady drizzle. The helicopter would go back for the CSI team when they were done.
Steve kept studying the photo of Danny, drugged unconscious, bald, dressed in a blue coverall that looked a lot like the ones Ace Oahu roofers wore, except there were no identifying patches. He studied Danny's relaxed body, so innocent of what had happened, and what had almost happened. The kitten standing guard at Danny's head. The baldness. "Why did Stan shave Danny's head, Chin? It's so personal! It will take months for it to grow back, months, Chin! And why the kitten? Stan knows Danny doesn't like cats, so why?" asked Steve, watching the whole video. "There's a litter box, and food – the kitten gets more food than Danny! I see peanut butter, the kind he hates because it's cheap and has tons of preservatives in it. He likes the good peanut butter. And only two jars. Chin, I know I can't, but I want to kill Stan. He said all but one part of the food is spoiled."
Chin could see how upset Steve was as he looked at the paused video. "At least we have something visual to go on. There might be clues to where Danny is if we can figure out what buildings those are behind the place."
Steve ran the video forward, then suddenly pointed at the buildings behind, blurred. "He's not on the ground floor. This shot is up a few floors. He might be on the roof. How the heck would he climb down? The building he's on isn't finished. It looks to me like abandoned construction. Halted or abandoned. There's usually a reason for that. We can pursue that angle. We have some scant clues to go on now, which is more than we had before concerning where Stan left him."
Chin had to agree. "Yes! Multi-storey, abandoned construction, with more buildings nearby."
"Describes a lot of Oahu. Other islands too. Shoot, we still don't really have a good idea of where he is."
Chin felt compelled to be more positive. "When the lab gets through analyzing this, I bet we have a better idea."
"I hope so, Chin. We can't let Grace or Charlie see these photos. Grace already knows, but she doesn't have to see these photos."
Steve got a very nasty look in his eyes. "I'm personally going to shave Stan's head."
Chin nodded, and his smile grew. "Sometimes head lice don't respond to that medicinal shampoo, you know."
"Sad, but true." Steve nodded. "Stan will regret ever hurting, ever touching Danny."