A Wrinkle in Time 13

When we left Steve, he was sitting in the alley in a homeless encampment.  Was it a waste of time or did he learn anything?  Did he make friends or enemies?  Please read on as the story continues…

We wish everyone a few nice days during Easter, or the holiday you are celebrating. Take care, have a few laughs and a good time with family and friends.

A Wrinkle in Time
by Sam and Cokie

Chapter 13

Chin pulled into the McGarrett drive just after dawn. “Bet you hope the neighbors don’t see you,” he told Steve with a grin.

“Yeah. Glad they can’t smell me either,” Steve told him.

“Lucky them…” He smiled at Steve’s look of chagrin. “Kidding.”

“No you’re not,” Steve replied. “I can’t wait to get in the shower. Hope I can get in the house without waking everyone.”

“Too late,” Chin said, nodding toward the open door where Catherine waited.

“Damn,” he replied, although the sight of her there waiting for him made him feel thankful she was in his life. “Think we can try to meet later this afternoon?”

“How about four? I’ll send out a text,” Chin told him. “You get some shut-eye.”

“Will do. Thanks.” Steve quietly shut the car door before turning to the house. He looked up and saw the smile on Catherine’s face. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, Stinky,” she said with a grin.

“Not nice for someone who has worked all night.” He stepped into the house and placed his dirty backpack on the floor next to the door.

“Well, I have to tell you, Sailor, I didn’t hear a lot of work going on.”

“You stayed up?” he asked. “You were only supposed to take a shift,” he told her.

“I dozed,” she assured him. “There was no chatter.”

Steve sighed. “No, there wasn’t. But I hit a nerve with one of the guys. He didn’t want to talk though.”

“See if he’s around again tonight,” Cath told him. “You need to give it another shot.”

“Yeah,” Steve said with a yawn. “I need a shower. Why don’t you try to get some more sleep?”

“I will,” she told him, turning to head up the stairs. “Do you want anything to eat?”

He shook his head and followed her. “No, just a shower and a nap.”

“Then get to it. You really do smell,” she said with a grin.

H50 – H50 – H50

Williams Residence

„Daniel, we came here so that you wouldn’t be in constant danger like you were in New Jersey.“

“I’m not in constant danger.”

“Since you’re working with that crazy man you are,” Rachel argued.

“Steve is not crazy,” Danny countered. “He knows what he’s doing.”

“Pfff, you told me he’s nuts,” Rachel said with a raised voice.

“I said some of what he did was nuts,” Danny said with a sigh. “Look, I saw his file… ok, only the part that isn’t classified, but I can tell you, that guy is highly trained and highly decorated. He knows his job.”

“He is probably highly decorated because he did some bad ass shit. Stuff that gets you killed.”

“Rachel! Don’t talk about him like that,” Danny called out and it was clear that he was getting angry. “I know that this job is more dangerous than what I did before, but I really like these guys.”

“Danny, you almost got killed on your very first case. How can you like working with them?”

Danny sighed again and thought how to explain to his worried wife why he switched to the dangerous task force. “Rachel, you know I love you, and I love our life here. You know that I didn’t really want to come here, but I realized that this was the right decision.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Let’s be real for a moment, and stop pretending, Rachel. You know that I had a lot of problems adjusting to this new life. To my new colleagues, to island-time, and all the other new things,” Danny explained. “I know that I am not the easiest guy to be around. I’m not the guy with the best social skills. But these guys accept me just like I am. They offered me their friendship and their trust… just like that.”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“Listen, Rachel,” Danny interrupted. “I screwed up big time. I almost got Steve killed. The situation escalated and it was partly my fault…”

“You protected the pregnant woman, almost took a bullet for her,” his wife said.

“Almost is the word here, Rachel. Steve did take four bullets for me. I was protecting Peggy, but there was no need to because Steve had my back. He was willing to give his life for me. The least I can do is to give this job, and him, a fair chance.”

“So, he is a good guy?” Rachel asked.

“He is. And he will always do his best to protect us. You know, he could have given me a lot more grief than he did about my screw-up. I didn’t react in the best way to it and I think I need to apologize to him. I was a real ass.”

“Well, I happen to like your ass,” Rachel said with a smile.

“Oh, is that so?” Danny asked with a smile.

“Want me to show you how much I like it?” Rachel asked and pulled her husband’s shirt out of his pants.

Danny was glad that the argument had come to an end, but he was sure he hadn’t heard the last about it from his wife.

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve’s phone rang, surprising him.  He never got calls while on a mission. He glanced around the HUMVEE and pulled it from his pocket, activating the screen.

“You don’t talk to your father nearly enough…” Anton’s words reverberated around him and he instinctively knew something was wrong.

“Dad?”

Suddenly his world was a jumble of screaming, of fighting, of heat from fiery blasts hitting him from all directions. He was thrown into the middle of a firefight, fighting for his life… and the life of his prisoner. Anton raced toward a fallen ranger and grabbed a weapon, swinging it around toward him. Instinct took over and Steve fired before realizing the implications of shooting the man. “No, no, no,” he screamed.

“No, no, no!”

His phone began to ring once again and he knew he didn’t want to answer. Yet, he had no choice.

“Victor?”

“Let me talk to my brother. Where’s Anton? My brother’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Victor, no—“

“Then so’s your father.”

Steve’s shout echoed the gunshot that he heard through the phone.

“NO! Dad?”

Catherine jumped when Steve bolted upright in the bed. “Steve? It was a—“

“Where’s my dad? Dad?” he called out again, swinging his feet onto the floor, not fully registering the pain shooting down his injured leg.

“Steve, hey—“   Catherine got up and followed him into the hall. 

His dad’s bedroom door wasn’t closed and he pushed it open to go in, only to find an empty, made up bed. “Where’s my dad?” he asked, his breathing coming in quick gasps.

“Steve, calm down,” Cath said, placing her arms around him. “I didn’t hear him leave so he’s here someplace. Trust me.”

“I heard a gunshot…”

“You were having a nightmare.”

“No. Victor—“

They heard footfalls on the stairs and both turned around.

“Thought I heard you two up,” John said. “Night was a bust… what’s wrong?” he asked, looking at his son.

Steve ran his hand through his hair. “Nothing. I-uh, it was a nightmare. Nothing’s wrong,” he said and grabbed his leg that threatened to give out on him. Fierce pain shot into his leg and up to his hip. The healing muscles were not happy with his sudden movement out of bed.

Catherine put her hand on his back. “You OK?”

“Ugh, yeah. Argh,” he groaned and put his arm around Catherine’s shoulder to take some weight off his injured leg. “Damn.”

“I’ve got coffee on, but why don’t you two get some more sleep? It’s just after seven.” John looked at Cath, motioning for her to take his son back to bed.

Steve sighed and shook his head. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll try.”

H50 – H50 – H50

“So we listened to dead silence all night long,” Danny pointed out late Thursday afternoon.  “And you expect us to do it again tonight? My wife’s already PO’d enough that I left last night.”

They had met in the office after grabbing a few hours’ sleep that morning after a long, boring night.

“I hear you, Danny and I’m sorry,” Steve told him. “These people don’t trust easily, if at all. I made the decision to shut up last night and I’ll try again.”

“Danny, if your wife has a problem, we will cover for you,” Chin told him. “You can stay home tonight.”

“No, no, I’ll take my turn. Only I expect a little more chatting tonight.”

“I hope so,” Steve said. “If not, I’ll give it another try next week.”

“What’d you tell them when you left this morning?” Grover asked.

Steve shrugged. “Nothing, really. Looked like most everyone was headed off in one direction or another. I told Jigsaw goodbye and said I might see him around. I know it’s early but did the lab find anything useful in Jerry’s shopping cart?” Steve asked. He leaned on the smart table, trying not to put too much weight on his leg. The healing muscles hurt a lot more than they had all week. Sitting all night on the hard ground probably wasn’t the best thing for his kind of injury.

Chin took a deep breath. “Not sure of anything useful, but we have the items.” He utilized the computer and pulled up a list on the screens above them. “Some of this is very sobering.”  He pointed to clippings that had been torn or cut from the newspaper. “Looks like Jerry kept track of me through my career. He has every promotion I received, pictures of cases I’ve worked on, the notice of my wedding… it’s kind of freaky, actually.”

“Wow,” Cath breathed. “He was proud of you. That seems incredibly sad… not that he’s proud of you but that he didn’t really have a life of his own.”

“More like freaky stalkerish to me,” Danny argued.

“No, you would have to know Jerry,” Chin replied. “He was anything but a stalker.”

“Anything else of interest?” Lou asked.

Chin found another folder. “More clippings. He has articles on Governor Denning and also past Governor Jameson.”

Steve thought for a moment. “That’s the second time in a week, the name Jameson has popped up.”

“Pat Jameson still maintains a home here, but she moved to Phoenix after her term ended,” John said.

“And here is the article stating exactly that,” Chin said, showing it on the screen. “Other than a couple of shirts and a pair of shorts, the rest is aluminum foil balls, a couple of antenna sets from old TVs and a notebook that Charlie is trying to decipher. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of gibberish.”

They were silent, staring at the screen before Steve spoke.  “Why would anyone have a reason to kill this guy?”

H50 – H50 – H50

‘Mike’ arrived back in the alley a little earlier than he had the night before carrying a couple of plastic bags in addition to his backpack. He watched Diego glare at him until he stopped near the place he had camped out the previous night. He saw Jigsaw talking and laughing with someone else further down the alleyway before the other man moved off.

He opened his backpack and took out several SPAM and bologna sandwiches wrapped in baggies. He set them on the ground in front of him and motioned for Jigsaw to come over.  “Look at this,” he said, pulling out two bags of chips from the grocery bags. “Help yourself and call the others. There’s plenty.”

“Where the hell did you get this stuff?”

“You know the market I told you about last night? I went back this morning, you know, to just check. The owner saw me and I swear, he came at me with a broom. But instead of pushing me away, he handed it to me and said to ‘make myself useful’.  Said he’d pay me good money if I worked for the day. I worked, so he kept his end of the deal. Paid me and he also gave me the sandwiches. I bought the chips with part of my earnings,” he said proudly.

“Nice,” Jigsaw told him and called to the others. “Hey, get over here. This is Mike and he’s sharin’ some food.”

Steve pointed to the sandwiches and said, “Help yourself.”

“You get yours first,” Jigsaw said. 

“Nah, man, I already ate one on the way. Go ahead.”

The men gathered around, looking at each other, skeptical about accepting the food until Jigsaw reached for a bologna sandwich. That broke the spell and the others took advantage of the free food. 

One wiped his hands on his pants and held it out to Mike. “Name’s Archie.  Obliged to you for the sammich. Hey,” he said, looking around. “We still have some of last week’s water. Might as well use it tonight since we’ll probably get more in the morning.” He moved back to one of the lean-to shelters and pulled out a few bottles of water and a cup and brought the items back. “Get your cups and we’ll finish this off.”

Mike reached in his backpack for a small cup as the others did the same. “Where’d this come from?” he asked.

“Some do-gooders, I suppose,” Archie replied. “For the past few weeks, it appears every Friday morning.”

“No kidding? And you don’t know who it is?”

“A beat up white van pulls up at the end of the alley and drops off several cases. I heard from a guy at Tent City and they get it, too.”

“Hmm,” Mike said, holding out his cup for some of the water. He smelled it, and not smelling anything ‘off’, took a cautious sip. It tasted like water, but his sixth sense was telling him to be wary. “So, a white van pulls up and they just leave water on the sidewalk?” he asked, for the benefit of his Dad and Cath who he knew were listening in. He set the cup of water on the ground behind his backpack to save for later.

“Yeah, like I said, I’m a light sleeper,” Jigsaw said. “Saw them last week. Funny thing is that they looked around to make sure no one was watching before they opened the back door. It was drizzly rain and I was in that doorway over there. They didn’t see me, I guess. But they left four cases of water and then drove off. Guess it is kind of strange.”

“We’ll check it out, Steve,” John said into the mic.

“Doesn’t matter,” Diego said. “They feel sorry for us and that makes them feel better about themselves.”

“It’s good to see people who share what they’re blessed with. Like Mike here,” Archie said.  “Not like old Jerry who was as stingy as the day was long.”

“Hey!” Diego yelled. “No talkin’ bad about the dead.”

“Man, I’m just statin’ facts and you know it. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with it. But Jerry could’a shared some of those cookies. He had a whole box of ‘em.”

“And they didn’t do him no good now did they?” Diego asked. “Cause he’s dead.” He stalked off down the alley and many of the others began to scatter as well. Archie remained behind with Jigsaw. “If you can’t tell, Diego tried to be Jerry’s friend. Only most days, Jerry was really hard to talk to.”

“So, who gave him the cookies he wouldn’t share?” Mike asked, hoping it wasn’t too soon to try asking more questions.

“Not sure, but she was some little bitty broad,” Archie said. “She came by one afternoon and was chatting with Jerry out there on the sidewalk. Next day, she came back with a big box of cookies. Jerry ate them all afternoon and evening.”

“Bingo,” Catherine said quietly from a few blocks away. She looked at John and smiled.  “Maybe we will get more tonight.”

“Good job, Son,” John said in a low voice.

“Hmm,” Steve said. “That’s kinda strange, but maybe she was related to him. Didn’t you say this guy used to live with his mom?”

Jigsaw shook his head. “Nah, he only had his mom, I think. For some reason, I don’t think he knew this gal. She just appeared.”

“He used to talk about a woman, remember?” Archie said. “Called her ‘Aunt Pat’.”  Archie turned to Mike and added, “Jerry was a nice guy, you know? But he was special. He would get started talking about something and that’s all he talked about until someone distracted him with another topic.”

‘Mike’ nodded. “Yeah, I’ve known people like that.” He hoped Archie would continue without prodding.

“Anyway,” one day the only thing he said was “Aunt Pat shouldn’t do that. She’s talkin’ to the bad man.”  I swear, he wouldn’t stop. That night he kept rockin’ and talkin’. Remember that, Jigsaw?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago.”

“Wonder who Aunt Pat really was?” ‘Mike’ said to the other men, hoping that whoever was listening elsewhere would pick up on the question. He was rewarded when he heard a soft “I’m on it” from Chin.

Archie stood up. “Thanks for the grub,” he told ‘Mike. “Gonna try to get some shut eye.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jigsaw made himself as comfortable as he could leaning against the fence. “I hate the nights worse of all,” he quietly said.

“Yeah,” ‘Mike’ agreed, thinking back to his nightmare and panic from that morning. He had had the same damn dream at least three times, but this morning’s had shaken him.  Why did he keep dreaming the same thing? “The damn dreams never go away, do they?” 

“Never,” Jigsaw agreed. “I find that if I can find a safe spot during the day, I might get in a nap, but with all the action around, it’s hard. Crazy that I can sleep in the daytime but not at night.”

“Nights work on your mind… at least I know they do mine,” he admitted. “Way too many things come back to haunt me…”

“You got that right.”

“So, Jigsaw, you got any other name?”

“Malcolm,” he said with a grin. “Malcolm Kanahana. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stick with Jigsaw.”

“Jigsaw it is,” Mike said with a smile. “How about we try to sleep? If I hear you havin’ trouble, I’ll kick your foot. You do the same for me, deal?”

“It’s a deal. Thanks, man.”

H50 – H50 – H50

“Steve?” Chin said.  “Got your ears on?”

‘Mike’ grunted something unintelligible in case anyone was listening. 

“Any chance you can get some place where you can talk?”

“Huh, yeah,” ‘Mike’ said, and jerked as if he had been aroused from sleep.

“You OK, man?” Jigsaw asked, raising his head from his arm.

“Yeah. Fine.” Mike sat up and grabbed his injured leg, rubbing his hand down it. “Think I’m gonna stretch my legs for a bit. Got a Charlie horse.”

“Yeah, man, take it easy.” Jigsaw closed his eyes.

Steve pushed aside the tattered blanket he had with him and picked up the cup of water, quietly walking down the alley toward the street. He turned the corner onto the sidewalk and glanced back into the darkness but saw nothing of any interest. He walked further down the sidewalk before speaking.

“Chin, can you hear me?” he asked quietly. “What have you got?”

“I got confirmation that someone has been leaving water bottles at Tent City also. Might be a good way to deliver poison.”

“My thought exactly,” Steve replied. “I’ve got some of the water with me. I’ll leave it in the doorway about half way down the block. Can someone pick it up after I leave?”

“We can,” John said. “Chin, you hang tight.”

“You guys still around?” Steve asked in surprise.

“Of course,” Catherine told him. “Don’t think you get to have all the fun.”

“Yeah, right,” he said with a grin. “ ‘Night, Cath.”

“Goodnight, Commander,” she whispered back.

“OK, Catherine, stop with your goo-goo eyes,” John ordered. “Steve, get back in there before someone thinks it’s curious that you’re missing.”

“On my way.”

He turned to walk back to the alley, not seeing the figure that had been listening to his conversation.

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve had learned to sleep “with one eye open” so to speak while on missions. He had dozed off and on for the remainder of the night, rousing when the sun began turning the sky from the deep shades of night. A couple of the men were rustling, repacking the stuff they had used the night before; some in packs, others in pilfered shopping carts or boxes. They were headed out to wherever they went during the day, only to return at nightfall.

The morning routine was broken by one sharp whoop of a police car and a voice shouting, “Hands Up! Police!”

Steve got to his feet, as did others who had not already left the area. 

“What the hell?” Jigsaw shouted, glancing around in surprise.

“Stop. Police!” The shout was repeated and they heard footsteps pounding on pavement, headed their direction.

A trashcan banged against the concrete and a figure came barreling down the alley toward the fence.

Steve lunged forward when the man passed by, sending the runner against the far wall. But he wasn’t about to give up that easily. He pushed off the wall and against Steve causing both to go down onto the alley. Steve grunted in pain when his hip made contact with the unforgiving ground.

The suspect was taller and heavier than Steve, but he obviously wasn’t as well trained. It didn’t take much to pin him to the ground with his hands behind his back.

“Stop fighting!” Steve said in the man’s ear.

“Steve, we’ve got him,” Chin said, his gun held on the man. 

Steve glanced up, seeing Chin, Lou and Duke with their guns trained on the man. He rolled away, grimacing at the beating his leg had just taken. With a quick glance around, he saw some of the men he had spoken to last night standing near the dumpster on the opposite side of the alley. He could see the accusations in their eyes as they glared at him.

“You OK?” Grover asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, holding up his hand. “Help me up?”

“What did you find? Why the arrest?”

While Duke was cuffing the suspect, Chin explained. “This is Ben Alcoa who works for the “Keep Hawaii Beautiful” committee. He has been leaving water in homeless camps all over the island for the past few weeks. And, as we tested last night, some of that water has been laced with heroine. Ben and his pals are being charged with murder. Who knows how many more people have been sick from the poison.”

“You worked fast getting the results,” Steve told him. He heavily leaned against the fence and tried to get the pain in his left side and leg under control.

“I called in a favor with Fong,” Chin replied. “Got him out of bed at 2 a.m.”

“Good work.”

Grover and Duke marched Alcoa toward the police unit on the street. Chin asked, “You coming with?” while glancing around the alley.

Steve also looked at the men nearby; the ones who had stayed out of curiosity. “Not yet. I’ll catch a ride in a bit.”

“Good luck,” Chin said beneath his breath, knowing that Steve was going to talk to the others.

Steve watched his friend leave and turned to the men. “I know I owe you an explanation. I hope you will give me a chance to do so,” Steve said with his hands slightly raised, hoping to get them to listen to him.

Diego shook his head and turned to leave, followed by a couple others.

“Wait,” Jigsaw said. “Let’s hear him out.”

Steve looked at all of them, then back at Jigsaw. “Thank you.” He hesitated and then moved back to the fence and slid to the ground. “Sorry, but my leg is screaming for me to sit.”

“So, that’s not fake?” Diego asked. 

“No, it’s not fake,” Steve replied and closed his eyes for a moment; taking a deep breath to push down on the pulsing pain wreaking havoc from his hip all the way down to his knee.

“But was anything real?” Jigsaw asked, sitting on his haunches a few feet from Steve. Others leaned against the building or sat nearby.

“Yeah, some was real,” he admitted. “But I guess you know by now that I’m not who I said I was.”

“No shit,” someone said from the back. “You ain’t one of us.”

“No, I’m not,” Steve admitted. “But I came here in hopes of finding Jerry’s killer. Instead, we found out why six other people died. People living in Tent City have been poisoned and apparently my people think they’ve found the reason.”

“Your people? Who the hell are you?” Archie asked.

“My name is Steve McGarrett and I’m the head of a task force the governor has set up.”

“So, you’re a cop?” someone asked.

“Kind of,” Steve replied. “Yeah, I am.”

“So all of that about the Navy was a lie,” Jigsaw asked.

“No, that was all true. Even how I got banged up. It is all true except the fact that I had no place to live.”

“And your wife?”

He shook his head. “I’m not married, but my girlfriend would never leave me like that,” he told them, well aware that Cath and probably his whole team was listening. 

“Look,” he attempted to explain.  “I knew you guys wouldn’t talk to the police and I wanted to be able to solve Jerry’s murder. The guy who just left here, Chin, went to school with Jerry, so this case is personal.  Since you wouldn’t talk to the cops, I decided to come in covertly.”

“That kind of shit really helps with us trusting people like you,” Diego said.

“Yeah, I know that. And I apologize. But with your help, we solved six murders. Now, maybe we can track down the girl who brought the cookies to Jerry. And be thankful he wouldn’t share his cookies – they are what killed him.”

“We had never seen her before,” Jigsaw said. “Not sure what else we can help with.”

“If you can think of anything, it might be a lead.  We’ve got our backs to the wall.”

Diego silently walked toward his stuff down the alley and came back with something in his hands. He reached them and held out a box. “I-uh- kept this. Was mad at Jerry for eating all the cookies but thought I might be able to use the box. You think maybe it would have a fingerprint on it?”

Steve looked up at the man who had hated him since he had gotten there. “Diego, I think that’s a good possibility. Thank you. We’ll certainly check it out.”

He looked up when he saw movement near the street, smiling when he saw Catherine.

“Well, she don’t belong here,” someone commented in a low voice.

“But she sure is purty,” Archie added.

“I think she’s my ride,” Steve said, motioning to let her know he saw her. “I… I would like to come back and let you know when we have something. I’m not lying, I want to find out who killed Jerry and why. Is there anything else you can think of?”

“Just what we talked about last night,” Jigsaw replied. “He kept mostly to himself, but he talked all the time.”

Steve looked at the group of men. “I appreciate your help. And again, I’m sorry for the deception.”

“You’re right,” Jigsaw said.

“About?”

“We wouldn’t of talked to you.”

“But I’m glad you did,” Steve told him. “Can I ask a favor?”

“Maybe.”

“Think you could help me up from here?”

Jigsaw leaned down and offered his good arm for Steve to grab. It was awkward but he made it to his feet. 

Jigsaw leaned in close. “I knew you wasn’t what you said you were.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and I confirmed it last night. Heard you talking out on the street. That excuse for stretching your legs was pretty lame.”

Steve grinned at him. “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?”

“And another thing,” Jigsaw continued.

“What’s that?”

“You’re right,” he said in a quiet voice.  “She looks like she’s in it for the long haul.”

Steve smiled.  “That makes two of us. Stay safe, my friend. I’ll keep in touch.”

H50 – H50 – H50

In case you want more information on Homeless in Hawaii:

http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/homelessness-in-waikiki/