Chapter 5 - The Evidence Mounts
[send email feedback to Book 'em Again about this story]

*~*~*

The strong scent of cologne assaulted Kono’s nostrils as he pushed aside a row of shirts as looked into the corners of Brian Cain’s closet. There was nothing but a pair of raggedy tennis shoes.

“Clear,” called Chin after checking the bathroom.

“Clear,” Kono agreed as he backed out of the closet.

Looking around the single room, Kono spotted two unmade beds, stacks of papers and papers covered the two desks and piles of clothing scattered across the floor; just your typical male dorm room.

“There’s only one set of toiletries in the bathroom,” Chin noted.

Walking over to one of the desks, Kono spotted a note scribbled on a piece of paper. “United, LA, 5:05.” Looking at his fellow detective the two of them didn’t need to share words to know that the other believed that Cain had fled.

Chin nodded to the HPD officer waiting by the door. “Doesn’t look like Cain’s coming back. Call us when his roommate shows up.” Then Chin gestured and Kono followed him out of the building. Outside, Chin turned to Kono and said, “I want to talk to Carver’s roommate again. Can you handle the airport?”

“No problem.”

As Kono watched Chin walk toward the women’s dorm an idea struck him. He intercepted the first female student he saw and asked, “How could I sneak into dat building?”

The woman shot him a disbelieving look. “Aren’t you a little old to be seeing a university student?”

Inwardly, Kono chuckled as he flashed his badge; he wasn’t more than a few years older than most of the students he saw but his build and the suit made him appear older than he was. “Kalakalua. Five-O. I’m investigating da Carver murder.”

The woman considered it for a minute before saying, “The fire escape on the makai side of the building.”

Kono thanked the woman and entered the dorm and looked until he found the room closet to the fire escape. After he knocked, the woman who answered the door took one look at him and said, “Not interested.”

Getting more than a little tired of students assuming that he was looking for a date, Kono showed the young woman his badge and asked about people sneaking into the building. After she confirmed what he had heard from the other student, Kono asked, “Do you ever see who?”

“Sometimes,” the student replied with a smirk. “If I’m working at my desk I’ll glance out the window.”

“Did anyone use dat entrance two nights ago?”

“Hmm…yes, twice that I heard. The first was around eleven-thirty and the second was after I went to bed; sometime after one.”

Kono quickly assessed the information; the second instance matched up with the time that Brown and her boyfriend found the body and the first fit within the timeframe Doc had given them for the murder. “Did you see who?”

“I saw the guy for the first one but I didn’t recognize him.”

Reaching into his suit jacket, Kono pulled out two pictures and handed them to the woman. She looked them over and handed one back to him. “That’s the guy.”

Kono looked down at the photo and saw the face of Brain Cain. “Did you see who let him in?”

“No. I can only see the landing.”

Kono could hardly believe his luck as took down the woman’s information. If he found the confirmation that he expected to get at the airport, it was looking more and more likely that they had found their killer.

*~*~*

Dan Williams knew when he was being lied to.

Everyone was trying to act like everything was okay but the weight of the gun against his ankle and the echoes of McGarrett’s warning ringing in his ears told Danny otherwise. He could tell that they were keeping him at a desk to protect him. Any other day, he would have been thrilled by the opportunity to do some detective work but today he simply frustrated.

Danny just wished that someone would sit down and explain to him what was going on. He didn’t understand why everyone was keeping him in the dark. Did they not trust him? Did they believe that he was incapable of taking care of himself? Hadn’t he proven yesterday that he could be counted on to do the right thing?

Danny didn’t dare ask as part of him feared the answers to those questions. So he just sat at a borrowed desk and pretended that nothing out of the ordinary was going on. He bought into the lie that was surrounding him.

Work called as piles of ship manifests covered the desk. According to Kainoa, HPD suspected that this company was shipping in drugs along with their legal cargo but they didn’t have time to dig through every piece of cargo. Kainoa wanted Danny to see if he could find any irregularities in order to give them a place to start searching. Danny had done this sort of work before in the Coast Guard and usually found it to be an intriguing puzzle to solve. Today, it just felt like he was handed a pile of busy work even though he knew intellectually that if he wasn’t doing this someone else would be.

A cheerful voice broke Danny out of his melancholy thoughts. “Aloha, partner. I’m going to miss you in the car today.”

Danny looked up and saw the smiling face of Steve O’Donnell or the other Steve as he was affectionately known around the force. Danny had first worked the other Steve on an undercover case for HPD, a case that led to his meeting of McGarrett in less than idle circumstances and his acquiring of the nickname Danno. Afterwards, the two had become partners and Danny had received a good friend and mentor in the older cop.

“I wish I could join you but I’m stuck here for awhile,” Danny replied grimly.

The other Steve raised an eyebrow. “I thought you loved this stuff?”

“I do but…” Danny debated his next words. “They didn’t give me this assignment because they thought I be good at that, they gave it to me to keep me off the streets. I don’t like being coddled.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Trust that Dann and Kainoa know what they’re doing.”

His partner’s words were well-intentioned but Danny couldn’t stop the feeling that he was being pushed aside. “I still don’t like it.”

“I can’t tell you how many birthdays and Christmases I’ve missed spending with my kids. You’ll do a lot of things in this career that you don’t want to do.”

As usual, Danny had to concede that the other Steve was right. “I know.” Then hit with a sudden urge to end this conversation, Danny added, “I guess I better get back to work.”

“Don’t work too hard. When you want a break Kimo just dropped off a couple of boxes of donuts in the break room.”

Danny watched his partner leave and then resigned himself to hours of mind-numbing work. His stomach growled at the thought of a donut but the idea of going to the break room and facing his co-workers in his current state of mind was something that he had no intention of doing. He wasn’t even that found of donuts anyway…

Donuts.

Donuts where usually shipped in a baker’s dozen.

Most products had a typical quantity that they purchased by.

How easy would it for someone to claim a little more of a certain product and use the extra unit to hid the drugs? If the perpetrator was consistent then the harbormaster would likely never notice. That was a very likely possibly. If nothing else it gave him an avenue to purpose even if it would take a lot of research.

Filled with new found determination, Danny immersed himself in the work and for a little while he forgot his troubles as he remembered how much he enjoyed detective work.

*~*~*

The young woman on the other side of the door did not look happy to when she spotted who was at her door. “You again?”

Chin ignored Brown’s tone and asked, “Do you have a few minutes?”

Meredith Brown shrugged and opened the door. “I don’t know what else you could want to know.”

“Do you know Brian Cain?”

“Yeah, he’s Richard’s best friend.”

“Did he ever come here?”

“No, why would he?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure,” Brown said in an annoyed tone. “What’s this about?”

“We found his fingerprints here.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. I never brought him here and Susan only ever snuck Richard in and trust me when she did that she didn’t want any company.” Brown gave Chin a look as she spoke that left no doubt in Chin’s mind as to why Susan would sneak Mint into the dorm.

However, if Brown was aware of the details of Carver’s relationship with Mint, Chin found it odd that she hadn’t ever mentioned one other very important detail. “Did you know Susan was pregnant?”

In an instant Brown’s entire demeanor changed as she paled and sat down in an armchair. She looked as if she was working up the nerve to speak before she whispered, “Yes.”

“Was Richard Mint the father?”

Brown nodded meekly and Chin noted how quickly her annoyed façade had fallen apart. “Did Richard know?”

“Mr. Kelly, please don’t ask me this.” Brown’s eyes were wide with fear; Chin was sure that she knew something important.

Chin sat down in a chair across from her as he gently asked, “Her pregnancy changed everything, didn’t it?”

It was like the floodgates opened; Chin had given Brown permission to talk and once she started she found that she couldn’t stop until the whole story was out. “Richard wanted her to have an abortion. She told him that it was illegal and he said he knew a place where it could be done safely and no one would ever know but Susan didn’t want to do it. He kept pressuring her saying that he tell everyone that she had cheated on him and that he wouldn’t give her a cent for the baby. Susan was so scared. She loved that baby but she had never seen Richard act that way before.”

“How do you know?”

“I overheard them fighting about it.” Brown blinked away tears as she continued, “He could do it; he could ruin her. Susan debated leaving school but she wanted to finish out the semester first. He killed her…he killed her because she wouldn’t do what he wanted. That baby would have caused a scandal so he just threw her away.”

Chin carefully considered his next words. “We have witnesses swear to Mint’s whereabouts during the time of the murder.”

Brown’s expression hardened as she stated with absolute certainty in voice, “Mr. Kelly, someone else may have done the job but I have no doubt that Richard Mint was the one who killed her.”

*~*~*

Steve was writing out a timeline of Cain’s movements during the days surrounding the murder on his chalkboard with the rest of the team standing behind him as they pondered the information. As Steve finished writing, he asked, “Have we confirmed that he was on that flight?”

Ralph checked his notes. “Yes. Kono checked at the airport and the financial transaction is listed on his bank account.”

“Any transactions since then?”

“He withdrew all his money after paid for the ticket.”

“Before or after the time of murder?”

“Before.”

Nodding, Steve processed that information with the other facts his detectives had gathered; the evidence was clear and it pointed directly to premeditated murder. “Do we have any doubts that Brian Cain did the job?”

Three heads shook no and Kono added, “I called da LA police and put out an APB but we have no proof dat Cain is still there.”

“Yeah, I know. Keep digging in Cain’s background. This case is going to be difficult if we can’t find him.”

Steve drew a horizontal line halfway across the chalkboard and made another timeline, this time for Richard Mint. As Steve studied the information he started lightly tossing the chalk into the air and catching it. They had motive, they had evidence that strongly suggested that Mint paid Cain to do the job, and they had Steve’s gut telling him that Mint was guilty. The question remained: was it enough?

If this was any other case would Steve hesitate to make the call?

Steve’s thoughts bothered him; hadn’t he just promised the governor that he would never allow someone to get away with a crime because of their wealth or connections? Besides, he couldn’t deny the fact that his detectives had put together a very compelling case. The problem was Steve knew that the high-priced sleazy lawyer he had butted heads with two days ago would use every legal trick in the book to find a way to get Mint off. If they continued down this road things wouldn’t get any easier, especially if they couldn’t find Brian Cain.

In the end, Steve’s sense of duty compelled him to make the only acceptable decision. He threw the chalk down and turned to face his second-in-command. “Ralph, call Walter. Tell him I want a warrant for Richard Mint. The charge is murder one.”