Burn Chapter 4: What are we dealing with?, a hawaii five-0 fanfic

Burn

Landon Richardson

Official Disclaimer

The characters of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Adam 'Toast' Charles, Governor Patricia Jameson and Detective Meka Hanamoa, do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.

The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle 'Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what Danny could have been if everything in his life had gone his way. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.

The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to her maiden name when she was divorced). Her parents also are amicable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's more a sweetheart now.

The character of Supervisory Special Agent Jack O'Connor, Detective Abraham Lee. Doctor Rosie Lange, Kent Deacon, Ross Hall, Sasha Hall, Nicole Hall, Brent Cox and Special Agent Walker Humphries however do belong to me as does any other character who you do not recognise from the show. Please do not use them, or my version of Danni and Grace without first asking for my permission to do so.

Author Note

Welcome to chapter Three of 'Burn'

Everything starts to kick off from this chapter onwards!

Please note that this story is a great deal darker than the previous stories in this saga

Please enjoy!

Overall Summary

Fire, fire burning bright, which member of Five-O will you try to claim tonight… When Five-O are tasked with hunting down an arsonist who has graduated to murder, they didn't expect themselves to become potential targets. Now it's a race against time to find the murdered before it's too late.

Chapter Summary

"I just need a moment Steve to grab my bag from my office and then we can leave." Danni stated to Steve. Her gaze flickering over to the other three members of the team who were already heading towards the entrance of their headquarters, talking to each other about something which she assumed was the details of the case they had been given and what exactly they expected to find when they reached the crime scene location.

Overall Romance

Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)

Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Williams (Dunni)

Hints of Ryan Moore / Danni Williams (Rynni)

Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)

Chapter Romance

Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)

Warning

This story features a female Danni Williams in place of a male Danny Williams. Although in some stories I write, Danny does exist, he does not exist in this one.

If this is not your cup of tea then please hit the back button.

Another note

I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep in, I always do my best to edit the story and check it but sometimes mistakes do creep in.

The places I've mentioned in Hawaii are ones which come from google, including the addresses. I've never been to Hawaii myself in person so I apologise for any mistakes which I may make, these are not intentional.

Chapter Three

What are we dealing with?

Monday 4th October 2010

The Governor's Taskforce Headquarters

3rd Floor

Ali'iolani Hale

417 King Street

Honolulu

Oahu

Danni Williams's Point of View

"Okay but don't take too long gathering your things Danni, we need to get to the scene when the evidence is fresh after all." Steve commented, the response causing Danni to roll her eyes at him before she turned and crossed the room, entering her office. She moved around her desk, leaning down and picking up her bag from where she had stored it that morning and placed it on the surface, dropping her cell phone into it absently, her mind already running through a mental checklist to make sure that she had everything which she needed for the upcoming journey.

She looked up in time to see Steve saying something to Toast who nodded in response before giving Steve a thumbs up and saying something. The simple action caused Danni to smile before it faded away as she focused on her partner and the blank expression on his face. She could only hope that Steve would give Toast a fair chance and focus on his good qualities and what he could bring to the team and not on the fact that Steve had probably never worked with someone quite like the younger man before.

She shook her head as she looked away and began moving some of the files from her desk, placing them back onto the pile already in her in-tray until only two remained on the desk. She picked them both up, flicking through them individually to make sure that everything which needed to be in them was present before she added them both to her bag as a precaution. There was no guarantee after all that they would come back to the office before she had her meeting that afternoon with the DA's office which meant that she might very well need to go directly from whatever scene they were at. If she turned up at the meeting without the completed files for both the Doran and Sang Min cases then Amelia Webster would slaughter her, regardless of the fact that they were friends. The other woman had a reputation for being focused and not putting up with any bullshit, which was what made her so good at the job she held. It also meant that she wouldn't put up with any mistakes which would slow her down in any way.

Danni glanced around her office one more time before smiling to herself and reaching back into her bag, pulling out her keys. She headed out of the room and twisted around on the spot, closing her office door behind her before she selected the right key from the keyring and locked the door, testing it before she turned back around and headed over to where Steve and Toast were still standing, raising her eyebrow at her partner in a questioning manner when she realised that he was watching her approach with a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm ready now so let's head out." She stated as she shouldered her bag and came to a stop beside them, her gaze flickering over to Toast who was standing still; the palm of his hands resting against the computer table as he read through the file which Danni had handed over to him earlier, a look of concentration on his face which she had only witnessed once or twice in the past. "Toast, sorry to bother you but could you do me a favour and send the rest of the team a quick message to let them know the address of the crime scene please? All of our cell phone numbers are listed in the database under the folder entitled team, it was one of the first things which Chin set up when we were first established. He added Jack's details on there on Friday I think and you might want to plug your own number in there as well." She told him, smiling when he looked up and nodded at her, a warm look on his face.

"Leave it with me Blondie, you'll all have the crime scene address on your cells before you've even left the car park and I'll make sure that I encrypt the file with a high level of security. The last thing we want is for people to have easy access to it and getting all our personal details after all." He remarked thoughtfully before he grinned at her and turned his attention back to the file in front of him, clearly reading it again if the way his eyes was moving swiftly from left to right was any indication for her to go by.

"Glad to hear it." She replied with a nod before she turned and headed towards the exit, tilting her head to the side when Steve came up beside her, matching his longer stride to her smaller one. He still looked thoughtful, as though there was something on his mind which was puzzling him. She briefly thought about asking him what was wrong but decided to remain quiet instead. If there was something which he wanted to discuss with her then he would do so. She already had the strong feeling that pushing Steve about more emotional things would not be a good idea and that it could damage their partnership which was something she wasn't willing to do.

They made their way down the corridor silently towards the elevator, coming to a stop outside it. Danni leaned forward and pressed the call button, making a list in her head of what they would need to do once they were at the scene. The movement of the elevator doors sliding open attracting her attention from her thoughts, she stepped inside and turned, watching from the corner of her eyes as Steve hit the button for the ground floor. The moment the door slid shut on them Steve spoke, a thoughtful tone to his voice.

"Why did you lock the door to your office earlier?" He questioned causing her to blink in surprise. Whatever she had thought had been going through his mind it hadn't been that. She made a slight humming sound at the back of her throat, her attention fixed on the floor numbers before she turned to look at him, unsurprised to see that he was watching her. She had often caught him watching her, always with the same puzzled expression as though he was trying to figure out what was happening in her mind or the way she worked.

"My office door?" Danni repeated, watching as Steve nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow at her making it clear to her without him saying a word that he wanted an answer to his question. "The reason why I locked it is because I have a lot of sensitive files on my desk at the moment and I don't have the time at the moment to go through them and earlier wasn't possible either because I was busy working through the Doran and Sang Min cases and then there was the team meeting which took up time as well. It just makes sense for me to lock the door so no one who isn't meant to see them can access them. Once I get a proper chance to go through them then I can lock them away in a filing cabinet rather than having to lock my office." She explained to him, giving him a quick smile.

"You are aware that Toast is going to be manning the Headquarters for the whole of, today right?" Steve pointed out to her. "I would assume that he is observant enough that he's going to realise that someone who isn't meant to be in the Headquarters turns up and goes into your office."

"You are aware that Toast is only one man and human as well?" She countered. "He's going to be preoccupied with the case and he's going to need to use the facilities and make himself a drink or pop out so he can buy himself something to eat. What about in that situation? I've already told you that I haven't gone through them yet which means that if someone took one from the pile then I would have no idea. Just trust me on this please Steve. I know what I'm doing and what I'm talking about when it comes to police procedure and the correct way of doing something."

"If you say so Danno." He said as they walked out of the building and headed down the steps, towards where she had parked her car that morning. She moved around the front of the car and pulled open the driver's door and climbed in, dropping her bag in the footwell of the passenger seat. She straightened back up, sticking the key into the ignition and looked towards Steve who had climbed into the passenger seat. She waited until his seatbelt was on before she reversed out of the spot. "Toast has sent us the address for the crime scene." He told her, breaking the silence between them, holding his cell phone out so she could see the address. "It'd not actually that far from where we are now, maybe about ten to fifteen minutes give or take."

Danni made a sound of amusement at the back of her throat as she shook her head.

"Now is that an estimated guess based on the way you tend to drive or is it based on the way a normal, sensible person drives Steve?" She questioned him, glancing at him with a smile which grew when she saw his mouth curl up into a rare smile.

"I think you'll actually find that you're the exception to the rule when it comes to the way people drive here." He replied mildly. "If you look around you then you would know that most people tend to drive just like I do." He stated, causing her to laugh as she shook her head at his claim.

"Come on Steve, I wasn't born yesterday you know, I think that we both know that statement isn't quite true is it? I've been living on this island for just about severn months now and I haven't come across anyone else who drives the way that you do or do I need to remind you that its only been just over a week since you drove a police car onto a Chinese freighter which happened to be moving away from the dock we were on at the time."

"We emerged from that car journey without a scratch on either of us Danni." He reminded her before his face darkened. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him surprised when he looked away from her, his eyes dropping to look at his hands. He was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Has there actually been any news from the coast guard yet Danni? Have they even managed to locate Hesse's body yet?" He demanded, his gaze flickering back over to her.

Danni slowly shook her head, her heart aching for him when she caught a glimpse of the pain that flashed across his eyes.

"There's nothing yet." She admitted quietly. "But they haven't given up yet Steve, they are still heading out there daily looking for him. The Admiral is well aware of how important it is to find him. Not only that but both Jack and Chin have been searching through the database as well in case something flags up on him elsewhere." She assured him, resisting the urge to reach out to him.

"Its been ten days Danni and there been nothing, they should have found him by now. What if he actually survived the encounter and he's somewhere out there still, alive and healing up with no one looking for him because they think he's dead? What then?" He demanded, reaching up and running his hand through his hair in a jerky motion.

Danni remained silent for a moment, focusing her attention of the road before she spoke up.

"Then we make sure that we keep our eyes open and our ears to the ground so we can hear all the chatter going on Steve. If you're right and Hesse somehow survived you emptying your clip into him then we'll soon know something about it. A man who is like him with all his connections can't remain hidden from sight forever. He will have to show himself and when he does, we'll go after him again and make sure that this time we finish what we started okay? I promise you that we all have your back in this Steve but you need to give them a few more days to search, the currents could have dragged the body anywhere to the island and there was that massive storm which wouldn't have helped matters. They want to be sure they've searched everywhere before calling it a day." She stated.

Steve watched her for a moment, his face unreadable before he nodded at her and looked away, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes for a moment before she looked forward again, reaching out and turning on the radio to break the silence which had fallen between them.

They had been driving for about five minutes when Steve spoke again.

"So, how are things going with the Doran and Sang Min cases then? Are you ready for the meeting with the DA's office later on?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I think we're ready for it, with the evidence that was collected by CSU on both cases we should end up with them being a slam dunk with the guilty verdicts which will be a good way for us to start as a team. Chin managed to find several open cases which were linked to some of the guns which Doran had in his possession so we'll be able to tie him to them, once he's realises just how much trouble he's in and that his big brother can't get him out of it then he'll start singing like a canary. Mia has already stated that she is going for the longest sentence she can with them both because she wants to make an example out of them and I think she will get it. The reports we wrote and are providing the DA are clear and concise so they shouldn't stump the jury when they hear it which is vital." She explained, aware of him nodding thoughtfully in response.

"Is there anything on either on them that we still need to get done?" He queried, tapping his fingertips against his thigh in time with the music.

"There's nothing more we need to do on the Doran Case." She responded with a shake of her head. "But I would say that we still have some work to do on the Sang Min cases. The books and ledgers that we found when we were in his warehouse are all in code. Chin and I took a look at them and we think we've managed to crack one of the codes he used but we still need to actually apply it to the books to see if we were right. If we are then we can use it to figure out who else he brought onto the island via his trafficking ring. I doubt that Hesse is the only criminal who used that method to come here."

"Get Toast and O'Connor to help you do that and have Kono shadow you for it, working on something like that would be good experience for her to see how it's done." Steve said before he changed the subject. "Have you worked any Arson cases recently?" He queried.

"The last one I worked was back in New Jersey about a year ago, I haven't worked on anything like this since then due to being a Homicide Detective so…" Her voice trailed off for a moment as she frowned thoughtfully, "Well we can deal with the Homicide part of the investigation easily enough but the Arson side won't be as easy. It might actually be a good idea for us to Keep Detective Lee in the loop on the case and have him come aboard as a consultant. My path never crossed him when I worked in HPD but he has a good reputation for knowing his stuff."

"I'll keep your suggestion in mind." He answered her. "Take the next left here Danno." He instructed as he held his hand up and pointed towards the road in question.

Danni nodded, hitting the indicator and pulled into the road, her face falling into a frown as they found themselves confronted with the ruined remains of what had once been a two storied house. The area surrounding the house was taped off with yellow police tape blowing slightly in the breeze. Uniformed police were guarding the area from the interested neighbours who had gather around to watch the scene. The area inside of the tape was a hub of activity with firefighters gathering up their equipment while some CSU agents took prints of the boots, they were wearing so they could eliminate them from the prints on the ground.

"It must have literally just happened within the past hour or so." Danni said softly as she pulled the car into the space behind the car Jack was using. She took her bag from Steve when he passed it over to her and climbed out of the car, looking around her as she closed the door behind her. She could see the other three members of the team moving under the tape and headed in their direction, aware of Steve coming to her side. She flashed her badge at the guard, her eyes scanning the scene until they landing on Detective Lee who was standing close by. She switched direction and headed over to him aware of Steve continuing forward in the direction of the others. She and Lee had never worked a case together but she was aware that the other Detectives in the pen thought highly of him. "Detective Lee?" She called out forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm Detective Williams with the Governor's taskforce, we spoke earlier on the phone about the case?"

"Call me Abe, it's a pleasure to finally properly meet the Detective who everyone constant spoke about back at HPD. We kept missing each other back in the Detective pen which was a shame." He commented, holding out his hand to her. Danni quirked an eyebrow at the introduction before she reached out and took it in her, shaking it and noting that his grip was surprisingly warm and firm. She took a moment to look at him; he was tall, just slightly shorter than Steve was and good looking, probably in his late thirties or early forties with short curly dark hair, dark eyes and mocha coloured skin.

"Indeed, it was." She replied lightly as she took her hand back from him. "Did you bring all the files on the previous cases that you think are linked to this ongoing Arson case like I requested?" She queried.

"Yeah I got all of them with me, I was in the office when I called so it was easy to gather them together." He replied as his eyes moved over her face thoughtfully. "Just give me a moment, Detective and I'll go and grab it from my car, I'm parked on the other side of the road." He explained, she nodded watching as he turned away and crossed the grass, jogging in the direction of the plain black sedan parked where he said it was and opened the back door, bending down and reaching into the interior.

"So, is that Detective Lee then?"

Danni glanced to the side of her to see Steve coming to a stop beside her, his arms crossed over his chest as his eyes flickered between her and the surrounding scene. She nodded at him, waving her hand towards Detective Lee.

"Yep, that's him, he's not quite what I expected him to be." She admitted, ignoring the sudden sharp assessing look which Steve shot her. She tilted her head to the side as Detective Lee jogged back up to them, a stack of files in his arms which he held out to her with a smile. Danni reached out and took them from him, raising an eyebrow at the sheer quantity of them, from what she could tell at first glance there had to be at least twenty. She opened one, flicking through the pages, a smile coming to her face as she noted the quality of work indicating that Detective Lee was a competent and diligent Detective. "Thank you for bringing these with you Abe." She remarked absently as she closed the file again and looked up, becoming aware of Steve and Lee looking at one another as though they were scoping out one another. "Sorry, let me make some introductions., Detective Lee, this is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett who is the head of the Governor's task force. Steve, this is Detective Abraham Lee; he's the resident Arsonist expert at HPD." She said with a smile.

Detective Lee held out his hand to Steve, shaking it before he turned back to Danni with a grin.

"So, you do know my full name then? It sounds to me like perhaps you've done some research on me Detective Williams." He remarked, his grin widening.

Danni stared at him for a moment wondering briefly whether Lee was actually flirting with her or whether he was this way with everyone he came across. She couldn't help the smile which came to her face when he winked at her.

"Keep telling yourself that Lee." She replied back, her eyes flickering to Steve when she felt him shift on the spot next to her.

"If you're both finished then we have a case to investigate Danni." He pointed out to her, a strange tone to his voice which she didn't recognise. She shot him a look before nodding and turning back to the files, patting her palm against the top one.

"How many cases in total do you think there has been then Lee?" She questioned, slipping easily back into work mode.

"That this one perp is responsible for?" Detective Lee questioned, his own tone and facial expression turning serious now that the initial introduction between them had concluded.

"There must be more than just one or two for you to flag the case up to Detective Williams." Steve commented, his voice expressionless.

"It's hard to know off hand, the person responsible definitely has a unique signature which I can definitely link to six cases, three of which has victims who have died in the blaze. There are other ones which have a partial signature which could be signs that he was responsible and that he has either adjusted his or her signature to keep me off balance or they were earlier attempts where he or she was learning what worked best for them."

"What has been the time period of the attacks?" Danni asked him with a slight frown.

"If I count all the ones which I think he or she is responsible for then we're talking about a period of two and a half years. If it's just the ones which I am positive are done by the same person than it is four months, they seem to work under a month schedule with each blaze being on the last day of the month." Detective Lee told them. "Or at least that's how it was, the pattern has changed since the Kane couple who were the first victims. Since then the time between fires have lessened and the number of victims has risen. Whoever is doing this seems to have a taste for it and every instinct I possess tells me that this is only going to get worse. That's why I referred the case to your taskforce, I need help finding this perp before more people die." He commented, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead as though he had the beginnings of a headache brewing.

"You've done the right thing with calling in help." Danni assured him with a smile.

"Danni mentioned earlier that you're the Arson expert for HPD so what can you tell me about this kind of crime and the people who tend to commit it? Is there something in particular we should be looking for in a suspect?" Steve asked, cutting off anything which Lee might have said in response to Danni's comment.

Detective Lee looked towards him, a slight frown on his face as he clearly considered the best way to answer Steve's question.

"Based on the statistics, we're most likely searching for a male perp rather than a female one, he's probably in his mid to late thirties in age and someone who probably has moved here recently rather than someone who is native to the island or who has spent most of their time here. If we look into his history then we'll probably find some reports of misbehaviour with both his school and the police, just little crimes which all add up. Often Arsonist is the end of the line for people but occasionally you end up with a person like we are looking for who escalate further to murder with fire as their weapon. They are the most dangerous kind." He told them; Danni glanced towards Steve as he nodded at the explanation.

"How many victims have we found in this blaze?" Steve asked him.

Danni looked away as she slipped the files into her bag to go through once they had completed their initial sweep of the house and grounds.

"It was a family of three this time, the house which was burned down belonged to the Hall family which was made up of a Dad, mother and a young daughter who was ten. They were here when the blaze started which also shows how bold the Arsonist is getting considering the fact that it's just after eleven and the blaze according to the firefighters was called in just before ten. One of the ME's is in there now with the remains of the bodies. CSU are also inside looking for any evidence they can use which wasn't destroyed in the fire."

Danni swallowed hard at the comment, looking back towards the torched house. She felt Steve reach out automatically and place his hand on her lower back, resting it there in a move which was clearly designed to comfort her and one which she found herself appreciation though she remained quiet, not wanting to bring attention to it, especially as she had the feeling that Steve wasn't even aware he had done it.

"I'm assuming when you say they are looking for evidence you mean evidence to what started the fire in the first place?" Danni asked, thankful that her voice came out steady and she moved away from Steve, wanting to get in the house now and see what was waiting for them.

"The way he or she starts the fire is one of the things which features into the signature and what alerted me to him or her in the first place." Detective Lee said, making a movement with his hands for them to follow him.

"Because of something he uses?" Danni pressed, frowning slightly when Lee shook his head.

"The opposite." He said cryptically as he led them to the front of the house, stopping in front of the charred front door. "There's no doubt in my mind that the perp must stalk his intended targets for weeks before he strikes so he can learn their routine and the best time to actually hit them."

"So, whoever he is, he must be someone who doesn't stand out in a crowd and acts natural because otherwise someone would notice what they were doing and would have reported it." Danni agreed, reaching up and pulling at her lower lip.

"Exactly what I was thinking, either that or he actually takes the time to get to know them and even befriends them so his presence isn't unusual or even unwelcome. However, he chooses to do it, he manages to learn their routines and where they will be at the time of the fire. On the last case he found out the alarm code and just let himself in. We need to find out if there was an alarm system here and contact the company to see whether a code was place in if they do. The thing that gets me is in all six cases there has been no sign of any of the windows or doors being barred or locked in any fashion. There's nothing which would technically stop the families from escaping and yet, nothing, not even a broken pane of glass."

"That is strange." Danni said, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of what the families must have gone through.

Lee made a movement with his head again indicating that they followed him yet again, he led them to the side of the house, passing through a gate and down a small alley which separated them from the house beside them and into the garden, coming to a stop outside a set of patio doors which were open and which people were milling in and out of.

"Are you sure that the victims aren't dead before the fires are started?" Steve asked. Lee looked towards him and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's a question for the ME to answer McGarrett, not me, the other remains from the previous fires were too damaged to see which should tell you everything." He commented, pointing his finger at a red headed woman who they could see through the open door. "Head through the doors and into the living room, that seems to be where everything went down since that was where the bodies were discovered by the firefighters. I'm just going to have a word with Kent over there, he's the Arson specialist with the firefighters. I'll let you know what he says." He told them before he headed off in the direction of the brown-haired man he had indicated.

Danni moved through the doors and into the living room, her eyes sweeping the scene. She noticed Kono at the same time as the younger woman looked up at her and waved her over to her.

"Hey Boss number two." Kono said as she came to a stop beside her, a questioning look on her pretty face. "What do you need from me?"

"Do you see the tall man outside wearing the red shirt with dark curly hair?" She said, nodding towards Detective Lee, a smile coming to her face when she saw the gleam on interest in the Rookie's eyes as clearly checked him out. "Yeah, he's a cutie I know. I need you to go and speak to him and see what he has found out about the fire from the Firefighters Arson expert, also ask him for the names of all the previous victims, he's given me the files but I won't have time to look through them until later and we can't waste any time here." She told her.

"That's not a problem, leave it to me and I'll get the information you want." Kono assured her with a nod at her.

"When you do have the names then call Toast, I'll send you his number in a moment and give him the details, let's see whether he can find a connection between the victims no matter how small it might be. Even if it's something as simple as they were all in the same coffee shop as each other one time then I want to know about it." Danni said, taking out her cell phone quickly and sending Kono Toast's number.

"Okay then" Kono said as she moved past Danni and Steve and out of the patio door on route to Detective Lee. Danni looked at Steve who was looking to the side of him with an attentive look.

"What's on your mind?" She asked him quietly, reaching out and lightly touching his forearm to attract his attention, thankful when he automatically glanced over to her.

"I was just thinking about what Lee had said earlier about how the death of the first couple broke the suspect out of his usual MO of setting random fires. What was it about that particular couple that caused him to change?" He remarked, before he turned away from her, his eyes searching around the room, frowning until Jack walked into the room. "O'Connor." He called out, waving the blond man over to them. "Did you bring your laptop from the office?" He demanded.

"It's in the trunk of my car at the moment." Jack told him. "Is there something you need me to look up for you on there because I can easily go and get it."

"Yeah" Steve responded with a nod. "Once you've got it then find Kono and ask her to provide you with the information regarding the first victims and look them up, there something about the pair of them which turned the suspect from an Arsonist into a murderer and I want to know what it is. It might have been an accident which gave him a taste for it or…"

"They may have been his intended targets all along and the other fires, we can link to the Perp were merely him taking the time to perfect his method of doing it." Danni finished for him. Jack nodded at her.

"Whatever the reason, he's clearly got a taste for it now and won't stop taking people's lives until someone stops him." Jack said, running his hand through his hair with a serious look on his face.

"Kono was with Detective Lee so she may still be with him in the garden if you need to find her." Danni said before she frowned slightly. "Do you know where Chin currently is?" She asked Jack before he could leave. He nodded, pointing a finger in the direction of the ceiling.

"I saw him a couple of minutes ago upstairs with the lead CSU agent." He answered before moving away from them, clearly intent on getting the task they had given him completed.

"Danni, can you go and speak to the ME and see whether she can narrow down what the cause of death was. I'm going to head upstairs and speak to Chin and the CSU lead Agent to get an update on things. Meet me upstairs once you're done down here." Steve instructed.

"Okay then, you're going to need these." She told him with a sigh, reaching into her bag and pulling out two pairs of adhesive gloves, one of which she handed over to Steve. She saw him stared down at them for a moment before he took them from her with a roll of his eyes and a half smile. She watched as he pulled them on and followed Jack from the room. Danni moved over to the ME, pulling on her own glove before she spoke to the unfamiliar red head kneeling on the charred floor.

"Hiya, I'm Detective Danni Williams, I'm second in command of the Governor's taskforce, we've just taken over ownership of the case from HPD." Danni commented pleasantly, smiling at the woman when she looked up at her, pale blue-green eyes searching hers for a moment before she returned the smile.

"So, you're Detective Danni Williams, I've heard a lot about you from the others. I'm Doctor Rosie Lange, I've been with the ME's office for three weeks now." She said. "I would shake your hand but…" Her voice trailed off as she held up her dirty gloves. Danni nodded, putting her bag out of the way before she hunched down opposite the red head, her nose wrinkling up at the state of the bodies and the smell coming from them. She swallowed hard before she focused on Rosie who was watching her with a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, you're doing much better than my assistant did. Brett lasted all of ten seconds before he went to find something from the back of the van. He hasn't been back since so I'm assuming that he's currently having an inner monologue with himself about whether this line of work is actually the right one for him." She said with a shake of her head. Danni nodded, keeping her breathing shallow as she spoke.

"Who do we have here?" She questioned.

"I'm going to have to confirm with the dental records but I believe that we have the Hall family here." Rosie said clinically. "Ross Hall; a thirty-four-year-old male, Sasha Hall; thirty-six-year-old female and ten-year-old Nicole Hall." She remarked with a nod towards the corpses. Danni's eyes flickered down briefly before she looked back up.

"Can you tell what the cause of death is yet?" Danni asked. "Do you think it was the fire?"

"I won't be able to determine that until I've completed the autopsy but there are some inconsistencies which make me think that it is possible, they were dead before the fire was set." Rosie stated with a frown. "I found what looks to be a bullet wound in both Sasha and Nicole in the back of their heads, a shot from a gun at such close range would have killed them both instantly. I doubt that there would be time for the Arsonist to do that when they were on fire considering some sort of accelerant was most like poured over them. This whole place would have gone up in flames instantly. This is just a theory though Detective, like I said, until I actually do the autopsy then that is all this is."

"I'm happy to work with hypothetical theories at the moment." Danni said with a smile. "You mention that Sasha and Nicole were shot but what about Ross? Could he have shot them both when he realised that there was no way out for them? Perhaps to spare them from the trauma of being burnt alive?" She questioned, holding onto the professionalism by the skin of her teeth. The smell from the bodies was making her want to throw up.

"I thought about that as well but then I noticed this." Rosie said, pointing to the remain of Ross Hall's lower back. Danni followed the movement, quickly looking back at Rosie as she continued to speak. "There is a bullet hole there indicating that Ross was shot in the lower back, the bullet most likely severed the spinal cord, he would have been alive and paralysed. CSU haven't located a gun in the room though, if he had shot his wife and kid then the gun would near to him but it's not."

Danni breathed out shakily at the implications.

"So, what you're saying hypothetically is that the Arsonist somehow found a way into the house, got the Hall family into the living room, shot the husband in the back so he couldn't move and then shot the Mom and daughter in the head before covering the bodies with some sort of accelerant and setting them on fire? This guys really wasn't leaving anything to chance, was he?" Danni remarked quietly.

Rosie nodded, her expression turning grim.

"It's likely as well that Ross Hall was still alive when the fire was lit, if he was then there will be sign of smoke in his lungs and damage in the lining of his throat. Death would have been quick if that was the case though I'm sure it wouldn't be quick enough for Mr Hall."

"Okay" Danni said with a nod at her. "As soon as you've done the report on the autopsy could you email it over to me? The same if you find something interesting during it, if you do then call me, my work cell phone should be listed on the system. I'll come straight down to the morgue."

"Of course, Detective Williams, I can do that for you." Rosie said.

"Danni." Danni replied out of habit as she came to her feet. "Please call me Danni instead of Detective Williams." She smiled at the ME before she hurried from the room, moving swiftly through the house and up the stairs, holding onto her stomach as she willed it to settle down. She followed the sound of Steve's and Chin's voices, stopping outside of the room and took a few deep breathes to compose herself before she pushed open the door and entered it, her eyes flickering over to the man who Steve and Chin were talking to. "Hey Walker." She said with a smile at the older man. Walker Humphries glanced towards her and smiled back.

"Hey Danni girl, good to see you as usual though I wish we were meeting at a happier scene." Walker commented. "I best go and check on the rest of the team, I've already filled your teammates on things." He nodded towards Steve and Chin before he headed out of the room, clapping a hand on Danni's shoulder as he went. She glanced over her shoulder at him as he left the room and closed the door behind him before she looked back at the other two.

"Did you find out anything from the ME?" Steve asked her curiously.

"Yeah, turns out that our Arsonist most likely killed the mother and the daughter first with a bullet to the head, before paralysing the father by shooting him in the back and possibly severing his spinal cord which means he was probably burnt alive with his dead family." She told them. "I'm no longer sure if we're simply dealing with an Arsonist who graduated to murder or if we're actually dealing with a serial killer who uses fire to hide the extent of his crimes because what was done to Ross Hall was sadistic."

There was a silence for a moment before Chin spoke up.

"Neither option is a good one but the second one is troubling because it means that there could be murders linked to the suspect where fire wasn't involved." He said grimly. "I know Detective Lee though; he was just starting off in the force when I was… well when I was still there. He is a good cop with good instincts though he tended to keep himself to himself and refused every attempt that the captain made to give him a partner. He came to Hawaii when he was twenty-five, so we always figured that he had a partner in his old department who died and he blamed himself for it. He's talented though so having him help us with the investigation is definitely a good idea since he can focus on the Arsonist aspect of the case while we focus on the Homicide aspect."

"Chin stay here and run things, Kono was talking to Detective Lee now and getting the names of the previous victims while Toast and O'Connor are searching for information on them. When O'Connor is finished tell him that I want him and Detective Lee to go to the previous crime scene and see if there is anything there that is similar to here. We need to start establishing links. Lee mentioned a signature the Arsonist has so perhaps that's how we'll catch him in the act. Danni and I are going to head to the scene of the first murder to look for the same thing. Once you're done here head back to headquarters, we'll all meet up there." He told the older man who nodded at him.

"Leave it to me" Chin replied.

"We should go" Danni said as she peeled off her gloves. "If his timescale of attacking people is narrowing then we can't afford to wait around and give the guy a chance to find himself another target."

Steve nodded.

"Keep in contact" He instructed Chin.

Danni nodded at him, meeting Steve's eyes for a moment before they turned as one and left the room without another word.

Author Note

Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.

I really appreciate it