Hi everyone! Finally, the fifth season is almost here so let's celebrate it with a new chapter. For a moment there, were're leaving our favorite duo in the place where they're being held and we're going to see how their friends react to their sudden going missing. Have a nice reading and I hope all of us will enjoy the new episodes.

Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Rick was keeping himself busy in La Mariana. Since most tourists were still asleep and there weren't many customers in the mornings anyway, he used this time to add even more Christmas decorations to those that had been already there. Over the bar, he hung a beautiful garland with some glittering golden glass balls and big red bows and then he put up an enormous shining star at the entrance. The walls filled with sparkling silver icicles and wreaths that had real pine cones, dried oranges and faux snow.

If he could, Rick would even go as far as to build a fireplace with Christmas stockings. He had such idea but when he shared it with TC, who beside being his friend also happened to be his business partner, he was told that he must have definitely gone crazy. Yes, Rick Wright could call himself a Christmas freak. He just couldn't help it that he loved all festivals, especially this time of year.

He had just put up strings of smart colorful lights that synchronized to music and was checking how they worked when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and found out it was TC.

"Hey, man. What's up? I thought you said here yesterday that you were having some tourist flight in the morning." Rick said.

"Yeah, that's right but it turned out this couple here is in need of a trustworthy, discrete and dedicated private investigator. Do you know anyone like this?" TC asked him, smile evident in his voice. Rick chuckled.

"Anyway, I tried to call our friend but I can't reach him somehow. Maybe he came for breakfast to La Mariana?" He asked with hope.

"No, sorry. I haven't seen TM since our Christmas karaoke last night. Have you tried Jules?"

"Yeah. Her phone is dead too, it goes straight to her voice mail. Did they mention to you anything about their plans for today? Do they have a new case or perhaps they're dealing with some estate's stuff?"

"To tell the truth," Rick pondered, "I don't remember any of them telling me about their plans. After you all had left, they stayed for a short while, teasing each other as they always do, and then they both went home." He said and then an interesting idea sprang to his mind. "Hey, you don't think they finally…"

"What?"

"You know what…" Rick cleared his throat suggestively. "If that's the case, it would mean that definitely I won our bet." Rick stated, recalling the idea he, TC and Kumu had during their poker night quite a while ago. Soon, even Shammy, Gordon and Jin joined in the bet, each of them trying to predict when Thomas and Juliet would eventually hook up.

"No, I don't really think so." TC stated.

"Why not? Perhaps they've finally noticed the thing all of us had seen from the beginning."

"Yeah, especially after singing those Christmas songs yesterday." TC said with sarcasm.

"Hey, what's wrong with Christmas songs? This time of year is full of love, joy and kissing under the mistletoe, maybe it got to them too."

"That's not very likely but I know it definitely got to you. Can you tell me what you are doing right now?" TC asked, his voice turning a bit suspicious.

"Nothing."

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"I'm only making the bar more appealing to our customers." Rick replied but he had a feeling his friend wouldn't be much happy about it and it turned out he was right.

"Oh man, I knew it! You got some new ornaments while there's already so many of them all over La Mariana." TC told his friend. "I thought it's been settled that we had enough of those and you wouldn't add anything else."

"I know but you remember how much I love Christmas and when it comes to decorations, I can't resist buying them."

"Hey, I'm not against your Christmas mood and I want La Mariana to look great too…," TC said, trying to sound as gentle and understanding as possible, " …but you have to consider the fact that we are quite limited when it comes to space and when you finally put down all those shiny things, you'll see for yourself that you won't be able to store all of them in the bar."

"I can have them at my place." Immediately, Rick tried to reason with his friend.

"Rick, your place is even smaller." TC warned him.

"Okay, I'm sorry. You're right – I shouldn't have bought all this stuff. I just couldn't help myself, you know?"

"All right. Listen, I need to go now, I have the next flight in fifteen minutes. If you see Thomas, tell him I gave this couple Robin's Nest's address and that they'll probably contact him and Jules today. Bye." TC finished the talk and hung up the phone.

"Will do. Bye." Rick replied and went back to checking those lights, although now after the conversation with his friend who was like a brother to him, he was having some regrets.

A couple of hours had passed, it was late afternoon and even though Rick had lots of work to do which involved serving customers or doing things the owner of the place simply had to do, he couldn't stop thinking about what TC had told him. He called TM and Juliet repeatedly during the day but neither of them picked up. It shouldn't seem so odd though as there were some situations in the past when Magnum would have his phone turned off due to some work-related reasons and when Higgy couldn't pick up, she always called back as soon as she noticed she had some missed calls. But where were they? That was the question he kept asking himself all this time.

At that moment, he noticed TC entering La Mariana. He came inside, looking around, his face grim and very serious. Rick swallowed hard when he recognized his friend's not very cheerful mood.

"Listen, I'm really sorry for those decorations, I may have gone overboard but I can take them off if you want." He said quickly as soon as TC approached him at the bar.

"Man, it's not that." TC replied. "I want to tell you something important."

"It's about Thomas and Juliet, isn't it?"

TC nodded his head gravely. "Yeah, I've just got a call from that couple I told you about earlier today and it turned out they weren't able to contact our friends either. They called both of them with no success and they even went to Robin's Nest but they ended up at the gate as no one let them in."

"It doesn't look good." Rick stated with growing concern.

"You're right. At first, I thought that a new case had shown up and they got caught up in it but then they would contact us eventually and I'm more than sure that TM would give us a call with another favor to ask."

Rick agreed with him. "Yeah. So what do we do now?"

They both pondered for a moment. "Let's call Kumu. She may be at the estate and she could check for any clues how to find them." TC said.

"Good idea." Rick told him and took his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Kumu's number and put it on the speaker. Soon they heard her voice as she picked up right away.

"Hello. Rick is that you?"

"Yeah and TC's here too."

"Hi, Kumu."

"Aloha. Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked.

"Actually, we have a problem. We've been trying to contact TM and Higgy the whole day but they both seem to be unavailable so we were wondering whether you may know something or perhaps you talked to them today." TC said, hoping the woman would help them find the PIs.

"I'm sorry, boys but I haven't seen them since yesterday. I wasn't even at Robin's Nest, I spent my whole day at the Cultural Center, I had so much work to do there." She replied.

"Kumu, could you drop by the estate and see if you can find anything that may tell us where they can be?" TC told her.

"Of course, I'm quite near the place so I can be there in ten minutes." She agreed at once.

"Okay, thanks Kumu. Contact us as soon as you get there."

"Okay, bye." She said and ended the call.

"Do you think she'll find anything?" Rick spoke and looked at his friend.

"I hope so, brother. I don't even let myself think otherwise." TC stated. "We'll find out soon."

Rick just nodded his head, pursuing his lips and counting down the passing time in his mind.

Those ten minutes seemed to drag mercilessly to both of them. They stood there behind the bar, serving drinks to a new wave of customers who have just walked in. They were saying nothing, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, the phone started ringing and they both leaped to get it. Rick was the first one and he picked it up without even checking the caller ID.

"Yes, Kumu?"

"I've just arrived at Robin's Nest. I'm going to check on Magnum first." She said.

"All right and be careful, just in case. We would go there by ourselves but today there are huge crowds in La Mariana." TC told her.

"That's okay, dear. Thomas and Juliet are Ohana to me too and I would do everything to help find them." She replied.

"Kumu, what would we do without you? You're the best." Rick added.

They heard the woman laugh at that. "Mahalo. I'm at the door to the guest house." She said, reached for the doorknob and then froze. "Boys, you don't think they finally got together, do you? I wouldn't like to interrupt them in anything…" She stated with hesitation.

"No, it's not very likely." Rick spoke. "I had the same thought a couple of hours ago but now I know TM would show up here or at least call and for Higgy it's also odd not to return calls or skip her favorite lunch. Something must have happened, I feel it."

"Okay, let's see what's inside." Kumu said and gently turned the doorknob, pushed the door open and went inside."Thomas, are you in there?" She shouted but was greeted with complete silence.

"I think no one's here." They heard her say quietly.

She swiftly moved through the living room area but found nothing extraordinary.

Just as she turned to the kitchen area, TC spoke, "Kumu, if he's not there, can you see if there's anything strange or anything that doesn't fit?"

"Oh…" The woman whispered and suddenly feel silent.

"What is it?" Both friends asked in unison.

"I'm checking the fridge and it's almost empty." She said.

"You know, that's actually something very typical of Magnum." Rick stated, making TC as well as Kumu laugh.

"I'd better check the bedroom, perhaps there's something useful." She said, already heading to the place.

Although the house seemed totally quiet, she didn't want to pry so in case Thomas actually was there, she knocked on the door. "Thomas?" The woman asked but of course no one answered her. She went inside but it was evident the room was empty.

"Guys, I don't think he slept here last night." Kumu stated.

"How do you know that?"

"The place looks too clean and evidently the bed is made. Unfortunately, I can't see anything that would tell us where he is now." She explained, exploring the room.

"Do you need us to come to you?" TC asked.

"No, you don't have to. Now, I'm going to check the main building, maybe I'll be luckier there." She said and left the place.

She reached the front door the moment the sun was about to set and flooded the sky with golden light. Here, she knocked too and again there was nothing. She came inside, shouting, "Aloha! Juliet! Thomas! It's Kumu, is anyone here?"

The silence was deafening. If she came any other day, she would definitely saw them splayed on the lanai, facing the magnificent ocean view, teasing each other, laughing and having fun or just talking about life and sharing their past with the other one. Now, the living room seemed so empty and eerily quiet.

"Where are you?" Kumu murmured, forgetting that she was on the speaker all the time.

"Kumu, were you saying anything?"

"No," she shook her head, "I was just talking to myself. I'll go through the rest of the rooms."

"There must be some clue…" Rick spoke.

"Not if they didn't make it home." TC replied quietly and met his friend's worried look.

"Let's hope for the best, okay?" Rick said, trying to calm down not only TC but most of all himself.

After a long moment of silence, Kumu's voice filled the air. "There's nothing unusual in Juliet's bedroom and it seems to me she didn't sleep there either. I've even been to the wine cellar." She sighed heavily as she felt that she somehow disappointed her friends.

"I'm sorry, guys, I haven't found anything. I've let you down. I guess I couldn't be a PI." She stated with deep regret.

"Hey, Kumu, don't worry about that – you haven't let us down." TC instantly said.

"Yeah, don't blame yourself. You've done everything you could." Rick added.

"No, I haven't." She replied.

"Kumu…"

"No, really, I forgot about one more place. I'm going there." She stated.

As soon as she entered the study, she had a feeling that something bad had happened there. She looked around and instantly noticed some odd objects on the floor. She came closer and the moment she saw the vase shuttered to pieces, she was sure some fighting took place in this room.

"Kumu? Kumu, speak to us." TC said, his level of worry rising with every passing second.

"Is everything all right?" Rick joined in.

"Uh, Rick, TC, I think you'd better come here ASAP." The woman told them with her voice slightly shaking.

"Why? What's wrong?" Rick asked but he didn't get the answer as the phone suddenly went dead.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for ending it like this but a little bit of suspense doesn't hurt, right;)? The bad news is you'll have to wait another two weeks before you find out what happens next but the good one is we'll all get new episodes every week for about two months.

PS. Aveburygirl, thanks again. I hope you'll keep reading my story.