CHAPTER 13

Friday evening, McGarrett residence:

Steve turned off the engine and leaned his head back against the headrest. The sky was darkening outside and he could feel the humidity starting to rise again. With any luck, there would be some rain on the horizon.

All he wanted to do was go for a swim but that was off the table for the time being. At least until he had the all clear from his doctor. Despite what people often thought, he knew when to let his body rest. That didn't mean he wasn't frustrated by it.

He knew if he tried to go for a swim right now, he would make it about two hundred meters before he started huffing like a freight train. His lungs were still recovering. Short jogs in the morning were helping but he was still nowhere near his physical conditioning from before Nazeef's torture. He was getting stronger every day and found himself less exhausted after certain activities that would have him needing a nap afterwards. It was just a very slow process.

Steve pushed open the door and climbed out of the SUV. His thoughts were on a shower and the left over chicken from last night sitting in the fridge as he turned the key in the front door. He did not want to think about the upcoming inquiry or potential stalkers with a fascination for leaving weird gifts for him.

Closing the door behind him, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was off, he decided as he scanned the room while drawing his weapon. He listened for anything out of the ordinary before searching the lower level. Nothing.

He ascended to the upper floor and carefully searched each room for signs of an intruder. He searched his bedroom last. As he pushed the door open, an unfamiliar flowery smell invaded his nostrils. It was musky, kind of like perfume. He scrunched up his nose as the foreign scent made it itch.

At the foot of his bed was a familiar black and white lump. Buttercup, the neighbour's cat, had somehow found its way inside again. The fat cat looked at him with assessing eyes before laying its head back down. Steve huffed a laugh. Apparently repairing the window hadn't stopped the feline from invading his personal space.

His phone rang and dug into his pocket for the device.

"McGarrett," he answered.

Nothing except a staticky silence on the other end.

"Hello?"

There was what sounded like someone breathing on the other end.

"Whoever this is, if you don't answer I'm hanging up."

The breathing quickened, making Steve suddenly feel very uncomfortable. He hung up the phone quickly. He couldn't shake the sticky sensation that had just come over him. He had to be overthinking it. After the day he'd had, he had every right to feel discombobulated. He was just reading too much into it.

Shaking himself, he stepped into the bathroom and had a quick shower. He tried to dispel all thoughts of creepy phone calls from his mind as the water cascaded down his back. His mind turned to thoughts of Catherine and the knowledge that she would be back in two very long days.

Moments later, he walked out of the shower, drying his hair with the towel. He stopped by the bed when he noticed the cat hadn't moved. He shrugged and got in next to the purring feline. He found the noisy vibrations from the large animal oddly soothing.

One night wouldn't be so bad. He'd send Buttercup home in the morning. He snuggled under the covers and immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.

Monday morning, the Camaro:

Danny Williams hummed along happily to the Bon Jovi song playing on the radio as he drove towards McGarrett's house. For once, he didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn. Since they had closed their last case, the criminal contingent of Hawaii appeared to have taken a break from their heinous acts. Not that Danny was complaining. It meant he could go into the office at a reasonable hour.

He pulled into his partner's driveway and noticed something was missing. Catherine's car was not parked in the driveway. Danny shrugged. Maybe Steve picked her up from the base?

He climbed out of the car and immediately started sweating under the morning sun. It was already so hot and humid that his shirt started sticking to his body. With a sigh and a muttered curse, he walked up the driveway and knocked on the front door. The door opened quickly and he was met with a six-foot wall of muscle. Steve was scowling at him, pointedly looking at his watch.

"You're late," Steve growled.

"No," Danny said, glancing at his own watch. "I am actually two minutes early."

"Whatever," Steve grumbled as he stormed towards the Camaro. "Let's just go."

Danny followed after his thundercloud of a partner. 'I wonder who peed in his cereal this morning?' he asked himself.

The drive to their temporary base of operations was done in stony silence. For once, Danny let his partner stew. He figured Steve would tell him what was bothering him eventually. After a long period of nothing, Danny decided to break the silence.

"Why are you in such a pissy mood this morning? Did your new edition of Guns and Ammo not arrive?"

"It's nothing," Steve answered, his head turned to the window in a posture reminiscent of a pouting teenager.

"That's not nothing."

Steve sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Fine. Cath called. She's not coming back for another week at least, maybe longer."

Danny almost laughed before he realised how upset Steve actually was he wasn't going to see his 'friend' anytime soon. He would never understand their relationship. They both clearly loved each other but would probably never admit it to the other, not even under fear of death. Idiots.

"Well, at least it's only an extra week," Danny answered, trying to sound positive.

Steve shrugged and turned to look back out the window, leaving Danny at a loss for something to say.

"There's something else."

Danny's stomach clenched at Steve's statement.

"I got this weird call on Friday. Well, not just on Friday. I've been getting a few of them, all from a blocked number. Every time I've answered, it's always dead air on the other end. But this time, it was like…breathing."

Danny frowned. "Do you think it's related to the flowers you've been getting?"

"I don't know. The calls started around when we got the Senator Iosua case. The flowers only started showing up three weeks ago. I'm sure it's just someone's idea of a good time." Steve sounded like he was trying so hard to convince himself.

"Probably," Danny agreed, ignoring the feeling in his gut that said otherwise.

Steve's phone rang and Danny looked over to see if it was another one from the mystery caller.

Steve smirked and waved the phone at him. "Stand down, Danny. It's the Governor. McGarrett…we're on our way." Steve hung up. "Don't worry about going to the office. We've got a case."

'So much for the criminals taking a day off,' Danny thought miserably as he followed McGarrett's directions to the crime scene.

Monday morning, Ka'aukai residence:

The body of a middle-aged man lay sprawled on the tiled floor of the kitchen. Pieces of what Danny assumed was a coffee mug were scattered about; the remnants of what might have been a hot chocolate pooled in the crevices between the slate tiles. A large knife was protruding from the man's chest, embedded all the way up to the hilt.

"What have we got?" Steve asked the young HPD officer standing by the door as soon as they entered.

"Dead homeowner," the officer, Miko Grant, managed before he was interrupted.

"That's some amazing investigative work, Grant." The voice came from behind them and Danny felt his fists clenching of their own accord. He'd know that voice anywhere. Lieutenant James Clarke.

"Lieutenant Clarke," Danny greeted the taller man, holding out a hand that was ignored.

Steve just ignored the other man and turned his attention back to the officer he had been talking to. "Please continue, Officer Grant."

Grant's eyes flicked between Clarke's thunderous expression and Steve's open, reassuring one. "Uh. Yeah. Dead homeowner, Blake Ka'aukai. Found by the postman when he noticed the door was unlocked and left ajar. He's giving his statement now. No signs of forced entry. It doesn't appear to be a robbery. Wallet is still on the counter, full of cash. Nothing appears to be missing but we won't know for sure until we talk to the wife. Michelle Ka'aukai is on her way back from a business trip on the mainland."

Steve nodded as he took in the information. Lieutenant Clarke stood off to the side, his face pinched as though smelling something gross.

"Okay," Steve said as he looked around at the mess on the floor. "It looks like there was quite a struggle. Did the neighbours hear anything?"

"Uh, we're still canvassing. No joy so far," Grant answered. "There are some houses with security cameras on the other side of the street so we may get lucky."

"Good work, Officer Grant."

"Uh, thank you Sir."

Danny smiled. The kid looked delighted to have praise coming from the head of the Five-0 taskforce. He had a bounce in his step as he left the house to wait for the crime scene unit to arrive.

"Has the medical examiner been called?" Steve asked the only remaining person at the scene.

Clarke stiffened. "No. I figured with Five-0 taking over that you would want to take care of it yourselves. Since you guys are so superior."

Danny was proud of his partner when Steve ignored the dig and answered evenly, "I believe that by working together we can solve this case sooner and give Mrs Ka'aukai some closure. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

Clarke stood tall and straightened his shoulders. "No."

"Okay then. Please call Dr Bergman and ensure the scene is secure."

Clarke turned on his heel and stormed from the room, leaving Steve and Danny with the deceased man.

Danny turned to Steve with a smile. "Very civil of you."

Steve glared at him. "Did you see the way he was treating Officer Grant? So much for supporting fellow boys in blue."

"Okay, so Clarke is an asshole. No need to take it out on me."

Steve sighed and turned away from Danny. "Let's get back to the office and start looking into his background."

Danny followed Steve out of the house and stopped when he heard his partner groan. He looked over Steve's shoulder to see a group of reporters on the front verge. The Camaro was parked only a little way down the street.

"How did they even find out about this so quickly?" Steve asked incredulously.

Danny shrugged. "Who knows? Let's just focus on getting out of here."

They made it about twenty meters before they were rushed and had several questions spouted at them.

"Who is the victim?"

"Was this a robbery?"

"Do you have any suspects?"

"What does it look like in there?"

Danny ignored them all and pushed his way through the crowd to the Camaro. The group seemed to realise they weren't going to get any answers from the members of the taskforce and returned to their original positions in front of the house.

"Absolute vultures," Danny muttered as he opened the driver's side door.

"Excuse me?"

Danny turned around at the voice and got ready to tell the journalist he would arrest them if they didn't leave right then and there when Steve answered.

"Ms Marsden?"

Danny turned to his partner, surprised he knew the reporter by name. He shot a questioning look at Steve, which was ignored. He turned back to the journalist. He was certain he'd seen her before, he just couldn't figure out where from.

"Hello again, Commander. I was just wondering if we could schedule a time for that interview? You rushed out of there quite quickly and we didn't get a chance to discuss it further."

Danny felt his eyebrows gather at his brow. SuperSEAL McGarrett had volunteered to do an interview?

"What interview?" Danny asked, looking between the blonde woman and his partner.

Steve was glowering at the reporter. "As I told you earlier, Ms Marsden, it needs to be approved by the Governor's office. I would prefer it if you went through official channels rather than interrupting Five-0's work."

The way the reporter smiled at Steve gave Danny chills. She was looking at him like he was a piece of meat. If he didn't feel so uncomfortable in her presence, he would have teased Steve about her obvious attraction to him.

"I understand. Thank you for your time."

Danny watched as she walked away rather reluctantly, glancing back over her shoulder at them. Danny turned to Steve, ready to get some answers.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing. She just wanted to do a story on the taskforce. "

"Isn't that the same journalist that gave us information on Malory Winters' killer?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Steve replied thoughtfully.

"Huh," Danny muttered, more to himself than anyone.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. She seems to be at all of our crime scenes lately."

"She's a journalist. She has to get paid somehow, Danny," Steve argued.

"Yeah," Danny said, shaking off the strange feeling that had suddenly come over him. "Yeah, you're right."

Danny glanced over to where the reporters were all huddled around Officer Grant. He was evidently trying to get them to leave without any luck. Lieutenant Clarke was nowhere to be seen.

Between the sticky heat, a dead body, Lieutenant Clarke's obvious dislike for Five-0 and his blatant disregard for police protocol and the reporter, it was fair to say Danny's hope for an easy day had disappeared entirely.

Tuesday afternoon, temporary Five-0 offices:

Danny tapped his fingers on his desk in frustration. The office space was surprisingly empty save for Chin and himself. Kono was currently in one of HPD's interview rooms talking to Mrs Ka'aukai, whom had arrived barely an hour earlier anxious for news about her husband. Steve was in a meeting with the Governor.

It was just passing three o'clock in the afternoon. Danny glanced at his watch for the third time in the last hour. He had to collect Grace from school soon. Steve was supposed to have returned ages ago so he could leave early to collect his daughter.

Danny picked up his phone and dialled his tardy partner. It rang out and then went to voicemail."Hey Steven! Where are you? You are officially late! You were supposed to be here an hour ago," Danny said into the phone. "In case you forgot, I need to pick up Grace. Get back here now. Please."

Danny was torn between leaving to pick up Grace and waiting for his partner to return from his meeting with the Governor of Hawaii.

"Hey, have you heard from Steve?" Danny called over to Chin.

Chin looked up from his laptop. "No, I haven't. His meeting with the Governor probably went long is all. Go see Grace. I'll tell Steve where you went."

Danny almost melted with relief. "Okay, thanks."

He dashed out the door and almost fell backwards when he ran into someone entering through the door to their temporary office.

"Sorry," Danny mumbled instantly.

"It's okay. I should have been watching where I was going."

Danny smiled when he heard Catherine's voice. "It's good to see you Cath. I thought you weren't supposed to be back for another week?"

Catherine gave him a tired smile. "Well, our assignment finished earlier than anticipated and I got some extended shore leave. Is Steve here?"

"No, he hasn't come in yet. He's still with the Governor."

"That would explain why he didn't answer my call," Catherine said with a shy smile.

"Why don't you wait at his desk? I'm sure he'll be here soon. I'm sorry, but I need to go collect my daughter from school," Danny explained as he tried for the second time to rush out the door.

Danny made it outside just as his phone rang. He answered without checking the caller ID. "Rachel, I'm on my way to get her now."

"Detective Williams, this is Governor Denning."

Danny almost smacked himself in the face. "Uh, sorry Sir. Obviously I thought you were someone else. What can I do for you?" He wondered why the Governor would be calling him. Maybe Steve had told him of their interaction with the Samoan's?

"I was actually trying to contact Commander McGarrett. He's not answering his phone and he missed our meeting. That's unlike him. Do you know where he is?"

Danny suddenly felt like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over him. "Um, no Sir. I haven't seen him all morning. He told me he had an appointment with Doctor Palamo and then the meeting with you."

"I see." The Governor's tone did nothing to instil calm in Danny. His heart was racing, his skin felt clammy. He felt physically sick.

"As soon as I see him, I will get him to contact you," Danny said.

"See that you do, Detective Williams."

Danny rushed back inside and found Catherine sitting at Steve's desk. She was dressed in her blue BDU's, a small duffle by her feet as she leaned back in the chair.

"Hey Cath. Did you by any chance go by Steve's house?"

Catherine sat up straight. "Yeah, why?"

"Was his car there?"

Catherine frowned. "There was an SUV in the driveway. The house was locked. I assumed he got a lift in with you, so I came here."

Danny ran both his hands through his hair. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. No, he was overthinking this. Just because McGarrett was currently M.I.A. didn't mean anything bad had happened to him. Maybe he just slept in. They'd worked into the evening hours on the case yesterday. He was probably just tired. Yeah, that was it.

"What's wrong?" the concern in Catherine's voice tugged at Danny's innate instinct that something was seriously amiss.

"Steve never made it to his meeting with the Governor," Danny explained. "Chin, trace his phone. Find out where he is."

"On it," Chin said. A moment later, he announced, "He's about a kilometre and a half from his house. Must have gone for a run."

"In this weather? What kind of idiot does exercise when it's this hot? Oh, I know who. Rambo," Danny rambled. "Chin, send me the coordinates. I'll go drag his ass back here."

He finally made it outside and the hot, humid air hit him. His phone buzzed with an incoming text from Chin. He plugged the coordinates into his phone's GPS and listened to the directions as he drove towards Steve's last known location.

'I never should have left him alone' he thought miserably as the sick feeling in his stomach returned with a vengeance.