Chapter 12 - What Money Can't Buy
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*~*~*

It was with a steel will and a determined step that Steve walked through the halls of the Mint mansion with his second-in-command at his side. They followed a butler who led them to a room where a middle aged man sat behind a large desk and standing behind him was the young man that Steve recognized as Richard Mint.

The older man, who Steve assumed was Charles Mint, was flipping through some papers on his desk. He glanced up briefly to see who entered the room and then turned back to his work as he said, “I hope you’re here to tell me that Williams has been arrested.”

The arrogance, the sense of entitlement, the perverted sense one’s own righteousness that was conveyed in Charles Mint’s words was more than Steve could handle. Indignant, Steve strode over the desk and slammed his hand down on it so hard that Charles dropped the papers he was holding and looked up at the detective.

“If you think for one minute,” Steve stated firmly, “that the outrageous and unsubstantiated claims made against Officer Williams will result in action against him, think again.”

Unfazed, Charles replied, “You seem to be quite protective of Williams. That smells of favoritism to me.”

“I’m protective of any officer whose reputation is attacked unjustly,” Steve growled.

Charles rose quickly out of his chair. “My son was set up.”

“Yes, he was,” Steve agreed.

“McGarrett, you’ve got a lot of nerve…” Charles paused and blinked as the meaning of Steve words hit him. “Wait, you agree that my son was set up?”

“Your son was set up because walked right into a trap of his own making.”

Not sure whether to be pleased or outraged by this development, Charles simply said, “Explain.”

“Is the name Carbell familiar to you?”

“Don’t play games, McGarrett, you know Howard’s my biggest rival.”

“He has a nephew, Brian Carbell. Your son knows him as Brain Cain.”

Recognition flickered in Richard’s eyes. Steve mentally filed that away and kept pressing, “Carbell befriended you son and when your son gave him the opportunity to cause scandal for your family he jumped.”

Gesturing to Ralph, Steve watched as Ralph set a tape recorder on the desk and hit play.

“Look Mr. Garrett, it wasn’t my idea to kill Susan.”

“It wasn’t your idea.”

“No, I didn’t start out with a specific plan other than befriend Richard and try and dig up some dirt that I could use to my advantage. When Susan became pregnant and Richard wanted her to get an abortion I figured that I had hit gold. Than Susan refused and Richard approached me with a plan.”

“Describe the plan.”

“Richard wanted me to kill her. He said that the cops would suspect him so he couldn’t do it but he knew that no one would ever think of me. He set up a false business to pay me and that night he told Susan that he was going to visit her and went to bar and I went in his place.”

“What happened when you got to the dorm?”

“Susan let me in and I told her that Richard couldn’t come and asked her if we could talk. She let me into her room. I saw a baseball bat leaning against the wall and picked it up. I hit her as hard as I could with the bat and then waited to make sure she was dead.”

“You’re saying that Richard Mint paid you to kill Susan Carver.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you go along with it?”

“It was the perfect opportunity. It would ruin his family for good. I figured if I left enough clues the cops would figure out that Richard paid Cain to do the job. You weren’t supposed to figure out that I was Cain.”

“What about the drugs in Richard’s blood?”

“That was to make sure he acted drunk. Earlier we drove out to the spot of the wreck to hide my car. I told Richard that was just in case anyone thought of me we could say I was out of town all day. So that night I spiked his drink and when we left the bar Richard was pretty far gone. I drove out to the spot where we hide my car. I moved Richard to the driver’s seat and released the brake so his car hit the tree. I waited by my car until the cop showed up and after he arrested Richard I drove back to the dorm. I left my car there and took a cab to the airport.”

Steve turned the recorder off. Charles Mint’s face was red with rage and he balled his hands into fists as shouted, “That’s a lie!”

“Since Carbell admitted that his goal was to discredit your family, I knew that we had to consider that possibility,” Steve admitted. “We investigated further and found proof that Carbell was telling the truth about your son’s involvement. First, we have a witness that overheard your son trying to pressure Susan into getting an abortion; that’s motive. Second, your son paid Brian money through a false surfing company. The man who set up the company confessed that he did so on Richard’s orders so that he would have a “safe” way to channel funds to his friend. Also, we obtained a copy of check made out to Brain from the bank. The signature matches your son’s exactly. The trail of money doesn’t lie.”

“Impossible!”

“That’s for the courts to decide.” Then after handing the arrest warrant to Charles, Steve turned toward the son and said, “Richard Mint, you are under arrest for the murder of Susan Carver.”

Charles moved to stand in front of his son. “You can’t do this to my son. He’s a Mint! No jury will ever convict him.”

Steve stood his ground as he gave Charles his best glare. “Now, you listen to me. If you think you’re going to get your son off you’ve got a surprise coming to you. I guarantee it!

“You know the trouble with money? It can buy anything you want: nice houses, fast cars, people’s lives but it can’t buy you the things that really matter: honor, trust, loyalty, courage. Mr. Mint, you gave your son everything that money could buy but you forgot to teach him the things that make a man. I can only hope that prison teaches him what you never did”

“How dare you!”

“I do dare. Too long have you found the world too willing to bend to the bills in your pocket and if you ever try and destroy the careers of any of my men or HPD’s again, I will find the evidence to put you behind bars. And that’s a promise.”

When Steve finished speaking, he was satisfied that the Mint patriarch looked suitably cowed. Ralph moved to arrest Richard but the young man backed away and then bolted for an open window and jumped out.

Steve heard his second-in-command curse as he leaned out the window and Steve figured that Ralph must have decided that there was no way he could make the jump safely.

*~*~*

Danny had been surprised when he had gotten the word over the radio that he was to meet up with McGarrett and had been shocked after they met and Steve explained what they were here to do. Steve was confident that he gotten to the bottom of this convoluted mess of a case and Danny had thought that he would be thrilled when he learned the truth but instead he was disgusted.

Susan Carver was never a real person to Richard Mint; she was simply a plaything and then a threat to the family’s standing. So Mint had ordered the girl killed only to have his plan backfire when his friend turned out to an enemy. But instead of confessing, Danny’s reputation was attacked in order to save the family from scandal.

As Danny thought these things over, part of him regretted the fact that he wasn’t inside while McGarrett made the arrest just to see the look of Richard’s face when he realized that you can’t destroy the lives of other people to better your own. While he knew that wasn’t possible, he was pleased that he was able to be involved, even if involved meant perimeter duty. For when Steve and Ralph had entered the mansion, Chin Ho Kelly had ordered Danny and the rest of the HPD men to spread out around the property while Chin and Kono guarded the front.

A quarter hour passed and Danny shifted back and forth as he kept his eyes on the building, waiting for the signal that Mint was in custody. Suddenly, Danny spotted a man leap out of a third story window and land on a second story lanai before jumping to the ground. Danny moved without thinking as instinctively he knew that the man was Richard Mint. As Danny moved to intersect the fleeing man as he pulled his .38 out of its holster. He pointed his gun at Mint and yelled, “Freeze!”

Richard turned around and saw Danny. Recognition flickered across his face and was quickly replaced with rage. “You!”

Pushing aside the words Danny would have liked to say if he hadn’t been on duty, he ordered, “Put your hands on your head.”

Scowling, Richard obeyed and Danny slowly walked forward. “Turn around,” Danny commanded.

Richard turned around and, once Danny was right behind him, Danny reached for his handcuffs with his left hand and moved to hostler his weapon. Suddenly, Richard dropped his heads from his head and drove an elbow into Danny’s gut. Shocked, Danny dropped his .38. Richard quickly turned around and Danny was forced to block a punch that was aimed at his head. Richard tried again and Danny grabbed his arm with both hands and pulled the arm down hard and twisted. Richard retaliated with a kick to Danny’s shin that caused Danny to loosen his grip enough that his opponent could free himself. Then Danny barely was able to catch his breath before Richard threw himself back into the fight with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Knowing that he needed to end quickly since Richard had the advantage of both height and weight, Danny kicked out hard with his right foot to knock Richard off his feet. Richard tripped but as he fell he managed to kick back so that their legs tangled and both combatants ended up on the ground.

Danny rolled to get some distance between him and Richard but when he looked over at his opponent he discovered that Richard had landed not far from his fallen .38! Danny knew that there was no way he could reach Richard before he could grab the gun.

Luckily, Danny had another option.

Danny swiftly grabbed the .22 out of the ankle holster and pointed at Richard as he dove toward the dropped weapon. “Freeze!” Danny called out as he raised himself up onto one knee. When Richard didn’t stop, Danny tilted his gun towards the air and fired one shot. That got Richard to stop.

Still on the ground, Danny kept the .22 trained on Richard. “Back away slowly.”

As Richard backed off, Danny heard the hurried footsteps of other officers rushing to the scene. The other Steve and Kono reached them first and immediately they grabbed Richard and pulled away from the gun and cuffed him. Chin came over and picked up the fallen .38 while Danny slowly holstered the .22 and rose to his feet.

Once Danny was standing he saw Steve McGarrett and Ralph Irons jogging toward them. Immediately, Steve took over the scene and Richard was taken away into custody. Chin handed Danny his weapon and patted him on the shoulder and walked away. As Danny holstered the .38, he noticed McGarrett approaching him.

Nervously, Danny waited for Steve to speak as he remembered McGarrett’s displeasure the last time he had been part of a gun battle with Five-O.

Smiling, Steve looked kindly at the young officer. “Good work.”

Relieved, Danny wanted to smile but didn’t due to the uncertainty in his mind over whether his name was cleared. “Is it over?” he asked tentatively.

Steve nodded. “It’s up to the courts but the Attorney General is confident we got ‘em. Regardless, Carbell’s confession got you off the hook, Officer Williams.”

For a moment Danny wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He was happy that his position was secure but Steve’s response was the first time that Steve had addressed him formally when he wasn’t correcting his behavior. For some reason the formality just didn’t seem right coming from McGarrett. “It feels weird when you call me that,” Danny admitted.

Steve’s eyes twinkled mischievously as he replied, “I thought you didn’t like Danno.”

“I never said that,” Danny quickly shot back.

Steve arched an eyebrow as looked at the young officer. “I seem to remember a conversation a couple days ago…”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it, Danny clarified. “I said I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate.”

“I don’t remember you saying it either. I remember you yelling it, quite forcefully too.”

Danny felt his face turn red. What did it mean for his future that four months after his return to the islands that he was on a first name/nickname basis with the most powerful cop in Hawaii? Danny wished he knew.

Having gotten himself into a situation where there seemed to be no easy way out, Danny ventured an apology. “Sorry?”

“Forget it, Danno.”

Danno.

With that one word everything was back to normal.

Steve was grinning from ear to ear and Danny realized that the older detective had been formal on purpose to help him overcome his own insecurity about the nickname. It was enough to make Danny wonder if there was anything that McGarrett was not aware of. Thinking of which, Danny couldn’t forgot how Steve’s forethought to give him the .22 had probably saved his life today.

Even though .22 had come in handy, Danny knew that it wasn’t his to keep now that the case was over. Reaching down, he grabbed the .22 and held it out. “I guess I don’t need this anymore.”

Steve put his hand over Danny’s. “Keep it.”

“I can buy my own,” Danny protested.

“But you can’t return a gift.”

Danny opened his mouth to further protest but the look on Steve’s face told him that the detective was not going to back down.

A lump formed in Danny’s throat. How could he ever repay Steve for all that he had done? Even though he knew it was inadequate, Danny said, “Thank you, Steve. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. And Danno.”

“Yeah?”

“Try and stay out of trouble.”

Danny smiled. “Will do, Steve.”

*~*~*

The sun was shining and the future looked bright as a squad car patrolled the streets of Honolulu. However, Dan Williams of HPD didn’t let the peacefulness of the day lull him into a false sense of security as he keep a watchful eye over those he was charged to protect. For Danny understood that trouble didn’t only come from a man waving around a gun; he knew that trouble could come in all shapes and sizes. He knew that he had to be on the outlook for more than just acts of violence.

He knew that trouble could come from a wrecked car, the driver within, and a rookie officer just trying to do his job.

The knowledge of this could make a lesser man throw up his arms in disgust but not Danny Williams. In spite of the troubles that could come his way, Danny was as determined as ever to serve to the best of his ability.

Because serving the people of Hawaii was more than Danny’s duty, it was the right thing to do.

PAU