Chapter 4

"Everything ok?" Steve asked as connected a call from Catherine while he and Danny were on the way to find and interview Tiffany James.

"Everything's good," Catherine replied. "I'm on my way to pick up the kids but I have a couple of interesting pieces of information I thought you'd want to hear right away."

"Interesting how?" Steve asked.

"Chin sent me over the names of your list of most likely suspects and I did a little digging," Catherine reported. "Earl Parsons, the guy who was injured in the car accident insurance scam is currently serving 18 months in Oregon assault."

"So I guess we can take him off the list," Danny said.

"Definitely," Catherine agreed. "But James Lopez is a different story. A judge in Maui issued a bench warrant when he failed to show up for court last week on a burglary charge."

"He did a runner?" Steve asked.

"That's what's interesting," Catherine replied. "According to his lawyer Lopez wasn't worried about the case. Apparently he and the victim had worked things out and the victim was now willing to testify it had all been a misunderstanding. So there was no reason for Lopez to think he was going to jail."

"So why run?" Danny asked.

"His lawyer claims he wouldn't have," Catherine said. "That he had no reason to. He tried to file a missing persons report but the local police department, who had dealt with Lopez dozens of times in the past, refused. Their stance is that he ran from prosecution."

"Has there been any activity on his credit cards?" Steve asked.

"Nothing so far," Catherine said. "But I'll keep digging."

"Thanks, Cath." Steve smiled. "I'll call you as soon as we talk to Tiffany James."

Chin and Kono checked out Vinny Pandolosi's last known address and found a run-down trailer that had clearly been deserted for months. If the overgrown lawn wasn't a hint that no one had been around for quite a while the thick spider webs covering most of the windows and the front door certainly did the trick.

Keeping in mind Vinny's history as a forger, they decided to go and talk to a confidential informant they knew worked in this same neighborhood. A man who stood 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighed well over 300 pounds who was known to his friends as Tiny.

Tiny could not seem to keep himself out of trouble. He was drawn to the criminal lifestyle like a moth to a flame. Chin and Kono had often said that if he devoted as much time and effort to a legitimate pursuit of making money as he spent trying to figure out how to acquire it illegally he'd be a millionaire. Not to mention he could have avoided several stints in jail for offenses ranging from fraud to receiving stolen property.

Kono pulled her car over when she saw Tiny talking to a couple of men outside of an empty storefront he occasionally used as a storage space. She and Chin exited the car and told Tiny they needed to speak to him. Tiny immediately began to rage about police intimidation and harassment. When he began to flail his arms Chin grabbed him and cuffed him, then shoved him inside the building.

"Anybody else wanna be next?" Kono asked menacingly, causing the other men to scatter.

As she got inside the building she saw Chin removing the cuffs.

"Thanks," Tiny said. "I really appreciate that. I can't have other people thinking I'm friendly with 5-0."

"Not a problem," Chin said. "We're looking for a guy named Vinny Pandolosi. You ever hear of him?"

"I might have," Tiny said. "You know it's funny I should run into you guys today. I was gonna give you a call in the morning."

Kono shook her head. "What did you do this time?"

"It wasn't my fault," Tiny insisted. "I swear. I bought a couple of crates of smart watches from a guy who I thought was legit."

"Where did the transaction take place?" Chin asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"In a warehouse down on the docks," Tiny said.

Chin smiled. "What time of day?"

Tiny looked sheepish. "Around one in the morning."

"And exactly what about that situation made you think it was legitimate?" Chin asked.

"Maybe I should have suspected something," Tiny conceded.

"So let me guess," Kono said. "You got busted selling them."

Tiny nodded. "But the worst part is they were stolen from a shipment headed for Pearl. My lawyer is in the hospital so they postponed my arraignment for a couple of weeks but they sent another lawyer to handle my bail and all that stuff. She said I could be looking at some serious time."

"Might do you some good," Kono said.

"I'm gonna go straight this time," Tiny said. "I mean it. I know I've said that before but this time I'm telling the truth."

Chin and Kono exchanged a hopeful yet skeptical look.

"If you're willing to give up the name of the person who sold you the watches," Chin said, "AND you tell us everything you know about Vinny Pandolosi, we'll talk to the PA and see what we can do."

"And you'll let them know I've been helpful in the past too, right?" Tiny asked.

Chin nodded.

Tiny took a deep breath, seemed to spend a few seconds considering his options, then started to talk.

"From what I hear, Vinny is on to a really big score. Like take the profits and retire size score," Tiny said.

Kono's interest was piqued. Most of the information they had received from Tiny in the past had been good and she did not know him as a man prone to hyperbole. "What kind of score? Drugs?"

"Guns. Drugs. Cars. You name it," Tiny said. "There's a huge shipment of stuff the government has seized in raids that's gonna be headed to the mainland in the next few days. From what I hear, Vinny and a bunch of other people are planning to steal it. Vinny's job is to create paperwork that makes the stuff look just legit enough to sell."

"Who are the other people involved?" Chin asked.

"I only know a couple of the names," Tiny said. "Guy Leopalu who is some big kahuna down at the docks, and some woman who owns a boat company and apparently has all kinds of contacts in South America. I can't remember her name but I know she has a tattoo of a blue box on her wrist that is supposed to represent some special color that goes with her name. Apparently she likes to tell everybody about it in great detail."

"Robin's egg blue?" Kono asked,

"That's it," Tiny said.

Chin and Kono looked at each other, "Tiffany James."

TBC