Chapter Text
Well didn’t that just explain it? Steve thought as he felt his knees go out from under him. There had been a sudden pain in his neck, and when he had the chance to think about it he would realize that it had been precipitated by the sound of glass breaking. He’d reached up and pulled a tranquilizing dart from his neck. Just as everything was going black, the case the team had been working for weeks began to come together.
~~~~
Danny sighed as he got out of the Camaro. Steve walked around the front, putting on gloves, shaking his head at his partner’s reaction. “D, come on, you knew what it was when we got the call.”
“Just once, I’d like it if Duke had been wrong.” Danny put on his own gloves as he walked up the pathway to the single family home that was abuzz with police activity.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky this time and he’ll have left something.”
Danny appreciated how hopeful Steve sounded, but he knew that whoever they were dealing with hadn’t left any evidence. Exactly like he hadn’t left any at the other 4 scenes. He shook his head as they entered the house, watched the crime scene tech dust the empty window for prints, knowing full well it would be a fruitless pursuit.
“Same guy, boss.” Kono announced as they entered the living room. There was a 20-something guy in the kitchen, clearly distraught, talking to a uniform. Steve turned Danny’s attention with a nudge to the room with the missing window; they’d get to the guy in a few minutes. “Single pane of glass missing. No obvious debris, but they will go over it better. According the boyfriend who lives here, a table and lamp were knocked over, and a rocking chair is out of place, which you can see in the carpet tracks.”
“And the vic?”
Chin walked in the house just then and answered Steve’s question. “Her name is A___ L_____. 37, Human Resource manager at E____ Co. in Halawa. No children, never married. Couple of traffic violations that she paid promptly a few years ago, but nothing else on record. She’s originally from Delaware, E____ Co. transferred her here 8 years ago. Security there shows her badge clocking out at 5:17.” He finished his list and shook his head. “Nothing connecting her with the others.”
“Boyfriend seems a little young for her.”
Kono smiled slightly at Danny’s comment. “Makes me like her all the more.”
Steve huffed a quiet laugh and nudged Danny again. “We’ve got 5 days to find her, let’s go talk to the boyfriend. Kono, do what you have to, hover at the lab, just get us results A-sap. Chin dig into her financials, family history, everything. We need to link her to the others. Somehow we need to find a commonality.”
~~~~
“What’s your take on the boyfriend?” Steve took a corner a little too fast as they headed to Halawa.
“He’s sincere. He’s dependant on her. She took him from pool boy to college grad. I’d be surprised if her finances were any different than he said. He paints a picture of her being smart enough not to list him as a beneficiary anywhere. If she found another boy toy and he found out about it,” Danny shrugged within the confines of his seatbelt. “He should be up for an Oscar. He’s got nothing to do with this.”
Steve sighed, Danny took that as agreement. He mentally ran through the bullet points of what the boyfriend had told them.
A___ leaves work on Mondays between 5 and 530. The ride takes about 45 minutes.
Boyfriend picks up takeout from the same Thai place every Monday, home about 6:30.
Restaurant was busy; he checked the clock in the car as he pulled up, 10 minutes late.
Door was closed but unlocked – unusual.
Her car was in the driveway; purse, keys and cell were on a side table in the entry.
No answer when he called out, put the food down and noticed the chair out of place, table and lamp on the floor. Window pane missing.
Boyfriend checked the house for her, found nothing, panicked.
911 call came in at 6:52.
If the boyfriend’s story checked out A___ was taken somewhere between 6:00 and 6:40.
Danny was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a text on Steve’s phone. He took the phone and checked the message while Steve kept driving. “Duke.” He answered the unasked question of who the text was from. “Boyfriend’s alibi checks out. Hostess confirmed he’s a regular. He was there from 5:30 to 6:15.”
The Camaro turned into E____ Co., Steve flashed a badge, they had been expected, and were let in. They spent the next hour going through the contents of A___’s desk and computer with her assistant and VP. Nothing stood out, nothing of note, nothing similar to the other victims. Damn!