Hawaiian Love

Chapter 4

Steve

I trusted Catarina. 

I believed everything that she told me about the guy at Kamekona's, but then again, there was something that wasn't sitting right with me about her. 

I sat in my corner office in my black desk chair, looking at Catarina's background information that laid out in front of me on my laptop. I kept staring at it. There was nothing on her. Clean record. No parking tickets. Nothing. 

"Hey," Danny said opening my office door.

"Hey," I said to my partner of 7 years, "What's up buddy?"

"Nothing," Danny said, "What is up with you? You have been staring at your laptop screen for the past hour not moving, I figure you might have gone into a coma-like state with your eyes open. "

Danny walked over to look at my laptop screen.

"Are you doing background on Jerry's girlfriend," Danny said.

"I just wanna make sure that she checks out, Danny," I said gesturing toward the screen, "That's all."

"Please tell me you haven't done this with Amber," Danny said walking to the front of my desk.

"Amber I didn't have to," I said, "I found out everything about her after her crazy ex-husband stabbed you." 

"So why the sudden interest in Catarina," Danny said, "And don't say it's nothing because I have worked with you too long to know that it is always something."

I took a deep breath and closed my laptop. 

"I saw her talking with this black hair gentleman at Kamekona's," I said, "She seemed pretty shook by it. As if he was someone that was going to kill her right then and there. But when I asked her about it, she told me that he was just some good samaritan paying for our drinks."

"Okay," Danny said, "So why can't you just take her word for it?"

Before I could answer Danny spoke again, "Why did I just ask that? You always do this."

"Forgive me, Danny alright," I said, "I just wanna make sure that she isn't going to hurt Jerry."

"Jerry is an adult," Danny said, "He is free to make his own decisions, plus where is the trust in Jerry?"

"I have plenty of trust in him," I said. 

"Then why not let him continue this relationship with Catarina and you my friend, just sit on the sidelines," Danny said. 

Lou then knocked on my glass office door.

"Bad time," he said sticking his head in.

"No," I said, "We were just talking."

"Right," Lou said, "I just got off the phone with Duke. A body has been found."

                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny and I pulled up to a small apartment complex, just off of the main stretch of Waikiki. As we pulled in HPD had already cautioned taped the building and CSU was already processing the place.   When Danny and I hopped out of the car, we were greeted by Chin walking out of the apartment building. 

"Hey Chin," Danny said walking up, "Let me ask you something. Is it appropriate to do a background check on someone else's girlfriend?"

Chin raised an eyebrow at me and said, "That depends on the girl and why you are doing it."

"Alright, Danny," I said, "You made your point. I may have gone a bit overboard. Now, Chin, what is the situation inside?"

"Well, neighbors called down to the landlord for some loud music being played from our victim's apartment," Chin said walking back to the building, "When the landlord knocked, no one answered, after knocking 4 more times, he let himself in with the master key. And that is when he found our victims body."

"Our vic have an ID," Danny asked walking up the stairs of the apartment building. 

"At the moment, he is a John Doe," Chin said, "When Max tried to run the fingerprints through the system, it came up empty. He said he would do dental records when he got back to the lab."

When we turned down the hallway to where John Doe's room was, CSU was walking in an out of the apartment. A uniform officer stood on either side and the entire hallway had been taped off. When we got to the apartment, our victim laid face up on the living room floor. His throat had been sliced and a pool of blood laid under him. He was only in a towel and it appeared that he may have just gotten out of the shower. 

His apartment, however, was untouched.

"There doesn't appear to be anything missing," Danny said looking around, "Flat screen is still here. A wallet is as well. Not to mention is fifty grand music system he has over there."

"The back patio lock has been picked," Kono said walking in, "There is also some damaged bushes in the back so we know how our killer got in and out of the building."

I walked to the back patio and looked across the street to a nearby park. 

"Anyone in the park see anything," I asked turning toward Kono.

"Not from the people that I talked to," Kono said, "Parents said they were more occupied keeping an eye on their kids and not at the apartment buildings across the street."

I then looked up at the corner of the apartment building to see a small camera. 

"Let's see if we can't pull something from that camera," I said pointing up at it.

"On it, boss," Kono said walking out of the apartment room.

"Alright," Danny said, "Here is what I am thinking. Our John Doe here got done taking a shower, left the bathroom. Came into the living room, probably to turn on the TV. When our killer came up behind him and took him out with a single slash across the throat."

"But what about the music," Chin said, "That is the whole reason why his body was found."

"Maybe this is the reason," Max said holding up a small remote covered in blood. 

"Our John Doe was bleeding out and he knew that someone would complain and come to confront the room," Chin said taking the small remote. 

"Only they didn't get to him on time," I said.