Authors:
There was a striking difference between the raised and frightened voices of the students and university officials gathered in the hallway and the eerie silence of a dorm room turned crime scene filled with police moving silently about their tasks. Officer Duke Lukela, a detective for the Honolulu Police Department, took advantage of that silence to look sadly at the body of the young woman on the floor.

Another life wasted.

Duke’s thoughts were shared by the hapa-haole man standing beside him as the officer shook his head as he watched the coroner examine the body. That man was Duke’s boss, Lieutenant Henry Kainoa, the head of HPD’s detective unit and the large man was one of the biggest teddy bears Duke had ever met.

The silence of the room was broken by the coroner raising and stating matter-of-factly, “She was killed by a blow to the head by a blunt object. The object was no more six centimeters wide.”

It was what they had expected from their initial examinations of the body and while Henry thanked the coroner Duke studied the room looking for objects that met the stated requirements. He didn’t have to search long as pictures and trophies belonging to the victim gave him an idea of what to look for.

“Henry,” Duke called out when he noticed a softball bat that had rolled under one of the beds, a softball bat that had a small red stain near the top of it.

The detective turned and saw Duke gesturing towards the bat and signaled for the Che Fong, the forensic examiner, to come over. “Bag that and see if you can lift any fingerprints though if our murderer knew what he was doing there will be none.”

Henry’s statement surprised Duke; it appeared as if his boss had a hunch about this case. “You think that there won’t be any?”

The silence that followed made Duke wonder if Henry was seriously considering passing this case onto Five-O which was surprising because, typically, any crimes at the university fell under HPD’s jurisdiction as they almost always involved drugs or student on student violence. “This could easily be a case of a crime of passion,” Duke suggested tentatively. Unspoken was Duke’s assumption that if that was the case that there would be no need to bother Five-O.

Henry, however, kept whatever he was thinking to himself as he ignored Duke’ comments and asked, “Where’s the roommate?”

“Down the hall,” Duke replied automatically and then gestured for Henry to follow him. As they reached the room where the roommate and her date were waiting with a university official, Duke noticed three people whose reactions to the murder couldn’t be more different. The roommate was Meredith Brown and from her tear streaked face, Duke could tell that she was genuinely grieving. The date looked indifference to the whole situation while the university official looked furious; although, Duke wasn’t sure if he was more upset over the death or the fact that Brown snuck a man in the women’s dorm.

Henry approached the grieving woman and gently asked, “Ms. Brown, I understand that you found the body.”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what you saw?”

Fresh tears began to flow as she responded, “I just opened the door and there was Susan. She was just lying there. I realized she was dead and Kevin called the police.”

“Do you know what her plans where for the night?”

“No. She wasn’t in the room when I left for the evening.”

“Did she have any enemies? Anyone that threatened or wanted to hurt her?”

Meredith closed her eyes and gave a slight shudder. “No…not that I know of…I don’t know of anyone that would want to hurt her.”

“Any family?”

“Parents and a brother on the mainland.”

“Any boyfriends?”

“Yes,” the woman answered meekly. Then she added in the softest of whispers the name. “Richard Mint.”

Duke took a deep breath, hardly believing the name that had passed through this young woman’s lips. Henry’s face was frozen in a mask of calmness that Duke knew was hiding thoughts that were racing around his head.

At Henry’s gesture, Duke followed him out of the room. Alone, Henry let out an audible gasp of exasperation as he said, “The Mint family, what did we do to deserve this?”

“It doesn’t mean he’s guilty.” Duke stated.

“We still have to interview him.”

Duke knew that Henry was right but he couldn’t help but remember the face of a disgraced friend. “The last time…”

“I know.” Resignation filled Henry’s voice as he said those words but when Duke looked at him he saw a man filled with determination as he added, “But this time we have someone more stubborn and resourceful than that pretentious haole.”

“McGarrett?” Duke asked.

“McGarrett,” Henry agreed.

*~*~*


Something was wrong.

Silence descended upon a room when he entered. Whispers sprung up behind him. No one would look his way as Danny went through the procedures of booking Mint. Those who were required to help did so with only the necessary conversation.

When a cell door closed, locking Mint away to sleep off the alcohol, Danny told himself that he shouldn’t let his co-worker’s actions bother him but he couldn’t. What had he done to deserve this treatment?

As Danny walked back toward his squad car, he racked his brain for what he must have done but he came up blank. No one was acting like this yesterday and the only thing he had done on this shift was arrest Mint.

“Officer Williams.”

Danny looked and tried not to let the worry show on his face as recognized the speaker as Lieutenant George Kealoha. “Yes, sir.”

“Follow me.”

Kealoha’s order assured him that he wasn’t imaging things but Danny didn’t find that knowledge reassuring as they walked toward the Hawaiian’s office. Two officers looked at Danny as they passed by them and the emotion on their faces stopped Danny’s thoughts in his tracks.

Fear.

They were afraid.

Everyone was acting strange due to fear.

But why?

The fact that the force was afraid of something was enough to change Danny’s concern about what was going on into genuine worry.

*~*~*


Another night of sleep interpreted. Another case to solve. Another life ended too young. Detective Steve McGarrett of Hawaii Five-O gave the body of Susan Carver one last look before he nodded at the coroner’s assistants to take her away.

Steve stepped out of the way and rejoined his men who were gathered around Lieutenant Henry Kainoa for a quick briefing. His second-in-command, Ralph Irons already had his notepad out and was prepared to jot down notes. Chin Ho Kelly stood beside Ralph was looking as calm and patient as ever as his eyes took in every detail. Steve felt bad for his youngest detective, Kono Kalakaua, who looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

After Henry had related a few facts of the murder, Steve interrupted, “Why were we called in?”

“The victim was dating Richard Mint.”

Steve heard a Kono take a sharp intake of breath as he racked his brain for why he should recognize that name.

Ralph noticed Steve’s struggles and said, “Richard is the son of Charles Mint who is owner of Mint Enterprises. Charles Mint built many of the newer hotels in Waikiki and he is a major supporter of the governor. He’s a very rich man who has the ear of a lot of powerful people, Steve.”

After taking in that information, Steve turned back to Henry and asked, “You’re expecting trouble?”

Henry stated honestly, “We’ve had issues with this family for years; incidents that have ended the careers of good men.”

Steve arched his eyebrow but didn’t respond. It made his blood boil whenever he ran across people who believed, because they had money or power or both, that they were somehow above the law. Even if the boy was completely innocent, he would have to be investigated. Henry was right to pass this case onto Five-O.

“Steve,” Duke called out as he walked over to the group. “I heard something over the radio you might be interested in.”

“Go.”

“Richard Mint is currently sitting in HPD lock-up.”

Steve blinked his eyes a couple times as processed that information. “So he has an alibi?”

“No, Steve. He was arrested an hour ago for driving under the influence.”

Steve silently whistled. A college kid having too much fun or a murderer feeling guilty about what he did trying to drink himself into oblivion? Both were possible. “Can I talk to him?”

Duke shook his head. “The station says he’s out cold and likely to be so until morning.”

After thinking over the possibilities for a minute, Steve started barking out orders, “Ralph, I need you to oversee things here. Chin, I want you to talk to the roommate and see if she can think of anything helpful. Then interview the others on this floor and see if they saw or heard anything.”

Ralph nodded and Chin answered, “Will do, Boss.”

“Duke, call the station and tell them I want to talk to the arresting officer at the scene of the arrest. Also, send Che and some of the lab boys that way too. Kono, come with me.”

*~*~*


Why do I feel like I’m missing out on something important?

It seemed to Danny that there was something going on that was bigger than a single arrest. Kealoha had taken Danny into his office and asked for a detailed explanation of Danny’s encounter with Mint. During that conversation, Kealoha had been called out of the room and on returning announced that he wanted Danny to take him to the scene of the wreck. So currently, Danny stood next to Kealoha on the stretch of the Old Pali road where Mint’s car had swerved off the road and hit a tree. He had a better view of wreck now than he did earlier as Kealoha had called in several officers to rope off the scene and the lights of their vehicles lit up the area.

As Danny looked around, it became clear that they were waiting on someone. Danny caught the eye of his friend, Lew Morgan, who was helping to guard the perimeter. Danny was debating whether he’s get in trouble if he went over and talked to him when a black mercury sedan came to a sudden stop alongside the road. Danny’s eyes widened as he recognized the two Five-O detectives that exited the car.

Danny studied McGarrett and noted how he seemed to take in the details of an area in a single glance. He couldn’t help but be a little nervous he anticipated the upcoming conversation. Danny hadn’t spoken to McGarrett since he had worked with Five-O on the Kikeona case and their last conversation had been an interesting one to say the least.

Kealoha called out as McGarrett approached the scene. “Aloha, Steve. We need to stop having these late night meetings.”

McGarrett chuckled. “Aloha to you too, George. What’ve ya got?”

“Not much. I just had my men rope of the area and wait. I figured you’d have a better idea of what you’re looking for.”

McGarrett nodded his approval. “Who made the arrest?”

Danny stepped forward. “I did, sir.”

Danny would have given anything to know what was running through McGarrett’s mind as the detective recognized who was speaking to him.

“Okay, Danno. Walk me through what happened here.”

Danny was glad that it was dark out so no one could see his face redden. He couldn’t believe that McGarrett was still teasing him with that silly nickname even though he could make the argument that he deserved it. But it didn’t sound like McGarrett was joking nor had he been that night in the office when...

Who was he kidding? McGarrett was never going to let him live that case down.

Kealoha cleared his throat. “Officer Williams, McGarrett asked you a question.”

“Sorry…um…” Danny stuttered. Then realizing that he making a fool of himself, Danny pulled himself together to make what he hoped sounded like a professional report as he recounted the events from earlier.

At the conclusion of his report, McGarrett nodded and then moved to inspect the car. While McGarrett glanced in the front seats, Kalakaua popped the trunk. “Nothing in da trunk.”

“Nor up front,” McGarrett stated. “Tell Che to go over every inch of that car.”

“Right, Steve.” Kalakaua said.

McGarrett turned back towards Danny. “One more question. How was Mint acting? Did he appear anxious or upset?”

Danny thought back to how Mint was acting when he approached the car and shook his head. “No, but he was so drunk that I don’t think he could have been feeling anything but the affects of the alcohol.”

“Thank you, Danno.”

Danny was getting several odd looks from the other officers and Kalakaua was grinning as if he knew something that Danny didn’t. Danny inwardly cringed; there would be no stopping the news of McGarrett’s nickname for him getting around the entire force.

As McGarrett starting talking with Kealoha, Danny moved so he was standing next to Lew and asked softy, “What is McGarrett doing here?”

Lew leaned over his shoulder and whispered, “Mint’s girlfriend was found murdered.”

Danny nodded as suddenly a lot of things were starting to make sense. If Mint was a murder suspect then of course his co-workers would have been whispering and been surprised when he brought him in on a different charge. It also explained why Kealoha and McGarrett were interested in what had happened here.

Lew cocked his head toward McGarrett and asked, “Danno?”

“Don’t ask,” Danny replied. But when his friend gave him I-know-you-better-than-that look, Danny added, “It’s a long story.”

Lew shrugged as he knew that he would get the whole story out of Danny later. Unfortunately, Danny figured that Lew was right.

Several yards away, Steve was standing with George Kealoha as he watched the lab boys go over the car. Turning toward the Hawaiian, Steve said, “Henry told me that you’re expecting Mint’s father to make trouble.”

George nodded, “Yes. And if history holds true he’ll go after the officer who arrested his son.”

“Williams,” Steve stated seriously.

“Williams,” Kealoha agreed. “Or you, once you start investigating. But Danny’s the weaker link.”

“Danno’s stronger than you think and let Charles Mint try and come after me. He’ll discover that I don’t blink.”

“I don’t doubt it, Steve.”

“Besides, Mint’s a legal adult so we no obligation to inform his father until he chooses to do so which won’t be for several hours at least. We’ll prepare.”

“I hope so. Williams shows a lot of promise; I’d hate to lose him.”

It made Steve furious that George seemed so convinced that they would lose an officer over this case. It made him wonder about the “history” was between the Mint family and HPD. Whatever it was, nothing was going to happen to Danno. He would guarantee it.