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Guilty Party
by Peg Keeley
Part 6
Amanda
King had refused to talk with Danny or anyone else from Five-O. It was
one of the few rights she still had and he could not blame her for exercising
it. He decided to pick up Lonnie from Lukelas and take him to McDonald's.
Lonnie was thrilled to
see his Dad and literally jumped into his arms at the doorway.
McDonalds was just a few
blocks away. Danny parked the car, then routed around in the glove compartment
till he found two more Advil.
Just as Danny opened the
door to let Lonnie out, a voice called. "Williams!"
He turned to see Carrie
Donagan, without cameraman, hurrying across the lot. He quickly shoved
Lonnie back into the car and shut the door before turning angrily to her.
"I have nothing to say to you."
Inside the vehicle, Lonnie
began to whimper, confused about the sudden change in his Dad's mood and
the detour from McDonalds.
She pulled out a tissue
from her purse and waved it in a friendly manner, a tense grin on her
face. "Truce time. I really need to talk."
He frowned. "Talk about
what."
"Can I join you for a
bite?"
"No."
She swallowed her pride,
her look sobering. "Please. Nothing goes into print. Promise."
He did not believe her.
"Why?"
"You read the paper?"
"No. I'm tired of reading
the paper."
"Now that King's convicted,
everybody's screaming for the judge to throw away the key--or worse."
"So?" he said coldly.
"Dinner?"
He reluctantly agreed.
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"Well, what's on your
mind?" Danny demanded as Lonnie ran to play on the slide.
Carrie pushed aside her
unopened hamburger. "Your little boy is cute. I can see why you would
want to keep him away from all this mess."
"I'm glad you approve,"
he said flatly, not caring in the least what she thought. "What do you
want?"
"Did you ever talk to
Cindy Maku during the trial."
"She was not a friendly
in this thing. We talked on a few occasions early in the investigation.
She didn't seem to have much to offer. At the time she didn't shape up
as a suspect."
"She was so outspoken
to the press, my producer wanted to do a piece on her." She reached back
into her bag. "I reviewed all the footage we shot on the King story this
morning and made a copy of this." She showed him a glossy of Cindy as
she consoled the swooning Amanda in the sugar field. "Look at the shoes."
He squinted at the small
picture. Cindy was wearing was could have been the heels later found in
the dumpster. "A lot of high heels on this island. This doesn't prove
they are the same pair." He was more wary of Carrie bearing "gifts" than
he was as the focus of her smear campaign. "Why, Donagan?"
"Why what?"
"Why now? Why the info
now? Why not back when it would have done Amanda King some good? I don't
know that these are the right shoes, but we have specialists who may be
able to find out. If it is Maku, why did you hide this?"
"I didn't hide it," she
said defensively, "I never looked at it till this morning." She looked
away for a minute. "We were all caught up in the thing, weren't we? The
public wanted her neck, they wanted you a guilt ridden cop with ulterior
motives. We gave them what they wanted. The truth was secondary."
"And now?"
"I really believed Five-0
was right and that she did it. The rest was just fun. When I realized
you really had your doubts, I began to wonder just what the hell we were
doing."
He picked up the information.
"I imagine I get to keep this."
"Yeah. You'll see I get
the by-line?"
He managed a smile. "In
four inch caps."
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Kono exited the jet ramp
in Los Angeles not looking forward to another encounter with the Los Angeles
Police Department. He had found them earlier to be a unfeeling and tough
group who had more crime issues than they could handle and were not in
the least interested in crime in Hawaii. However, he discovered something
new before he ever left the airport. The television in a gate waiting
area was playing the afternoon news and the anchorman's voice was commenting
on a bribery attempt in the IRS. He was joking about whether the arrested
IRS employee would have filed the bribe on his income tax. Kono nearly
ran to the closest pay phone and called, not LAPD, but the FBI.
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Che had called Steve's
office about the lab test. It had been conducted and the rechecked by
the pathologist at Queens Medical Center. The results were guaranteed
accurate. Steve, Danny, and Sarah Lulia were all present as Che produced
his report.
"Lonnie's blood type is
A positive," he started. "We used results of the autopsy from Ms. Kanae
that stated she also was A positive. Danny you are A positive, too. We
also looked for antigens, little sub categories of blood group classifications
that are much more detailed. This type of study is usually conducted for
donor matches amd compatibility studies."
Danny wish Che would do
a little less education and just cut to the chase.
As if noticing Danny's
impatience, Che said suddenly. "94% chance that Lonnie is your son Danny,
congratulations."
It was as if a heavy weight
had been lifted from his shoulders as Danny turned towards Sarah.
She stuck out her lower
lip. "That don't make you a good parent."
"You're right," he said
quietly. "I guess I'll just have to be the best I can -- like everyone
else does, Sarah. But you have proof now. He is my son -- my son."
Just saying the words felt good.
Sarah just turned and
walked away.
Danny watched her go.
"How do you like that. No apologies, no anything."
Steve sighed. "What did
you expect, Danno? Anyway, congratulations from me, too. We'll have to
celebrate -- later." The phone rang and he picked it up. He snatched up
a pencil and began to take rapid notes. "When?...All right....yes. Spell
that for me....good work. Thanks, Kono. I'll see you in the morning."
He looked at the clock. It was just past 4:00 PM. "Danno we need a court
order in a hurry to look at bank records of Cindy Maku at First Hawaiian."
"We already did that,"
Danny commented.
"Well, we need to do it
again. Get the order and get someone from the bank to meet us there. I'll
pick up Trent King and see you in thirty minutes."
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"Wow," Danny said quietly.
"This account didn't look like this earlier." There had been two entries
of $75,000 into Cindy's savings account in the last two days.
"Deposits from a holding
company in Los Angeles," Steve explained.
Trent frowned. "I don't
get it."
"You know a man named
Franklin Unther?" Steve asked.
Trent blinked and paled.
"He's the one who put
the money there."
"My God," Trent whispered.
"No, I can't believe it. He wouldn't. It doesn't make sense."
"Oh, it makes sense all
right -- perfect sense and all because of the simplest of motives -- greed,"
Steve stated. "Unther was arrested this morning, Trent, on bribery when
your co-worker, Alex Shelton, was caught trying to modify a data base
that would have identified Unther's falsified records."
"Unther tried to get me
to do it, and I refused," Trent said quietly.
Steve nodded. "He apparently
decided to use you, Amanda, and Cam as a demonstration for why Shelton
should comply. It looks like he found Cindy. To her this was completely
mercenary. He gave her enough money and she killed Cam then made it look
like Amanda. Unther even hired a high price lawyer whom he paid to throw
the trial."
But--" Trent whispered,
"--how could--just to frightened Alex? Our lives meant nothing more to
him than -- God, my son's life..."
"You will need to make
a statement both for us and for the FBI in Los Angeles," Steve told him.
"Trent, if you had reported Unther when he first approached you, you might
have stopped him."
He shook his head weakly.
"I didn't because he said he'd hurt my family. I thought I was protecting
them. Instead I got Cam killed."
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Steve and Danny arrived
in the parking lot of the textile mill just before shift change. It was
nearly seven o'clock, it had been a long day and they still had to confront
Cindy Maku.
Danny glanced at the unmarked
white van parked up at the corner. "Think Donagan can get her story from
there?"
"No doubt," Steve assured
him. "And this time, I'd even pose for the camera myself."
The whistle blew and a
stream of workers began to flow from the building. Steve and Danny spotted
Cindy right away. She looked up, saw them, and there was a hesitation
in her step. She glanced around as if trying to plan an escape, but they
were already headed towards her. She frowned, squinting in the hot late
afternoon sun, which made her face almost ugly. "I thought this mess was
over."
"Maybe it is," Steve answered.
"Are you going to haunt
me forever? This is harassment you know," she barked. "I'd like to get
on with my life and put all this behind me."
"A lot of people would,"
he agreed, "but there are a few things still unanswered."
"Like what?" she asked
rudely. "Amanda was convicted, that ought to be a feather in your cap."
"Do you think she did
it?"
"Does it matter?"
He kept fishing and was
aware she knew it. "Yes, it matters. If she didn't do it, who did?"
She shrugged. "Not my
job."
"Well, it is mine." Steve
motioned her aside from the group. "Now, you have insisted all along that
Amanda was innocent. You must have an idea for who did kill Cam."
She shifted her weight.
"You hired a Malcolm Jones
He was one expensive lawyer. Only he didn't do a very good job. I think
he threw the trial."
"Why would he do that?"
she demanded angrily.
"Because someone paid
him to," he answered simply. "Perhaps the real killer. Perhaps someone
who wanted to protect the real killer."
"More circumstantial evidence?"
She laughed a bit uneasily. "You cops never learn."
"There's proof a man named
Franklin Unther paid Jones. Unther also put $150,000 in your bank account.
Why did he do that?"
"You son of a bitch!"
She screamed. She broke into a run, Danny and Steve in pursuit. She sprinted
across the small lot towards the street, turning to look back just as
she reached the curb. Without hesitating, she raced out onto the street.
There was a warning squeal of brakes and an air born as the semi-truck
tried to avoid her. Cindy Maku's escape came to an permanent end.
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Steve hung up the phone
from his conference with John Manicote and noticed Duke and Danny had
returned to the office. Night had set in and tonight they would, at last,
all sleep well.
"How are you feeling?"
Steve asked of Danny.
"The hang over from hell,"
he muttered. "I've had a splitting headache all day."
Steve managed a quick
grin. "Good. I hope you never have another one. John says Amanda King
has been released. Thought you might want to talk to her. They're on their
way over here."
Danny wanted anything
but that, but knew he owed it to the girl. John arrived minutes later,
a very timid, wide-eyed Amanda at his side. Somehow, Danny remembered
her looking this way every time he saw her.
"Amanda," he said quietly
as they all moved into Steve's office, "did Mr. Manicote explain what's
happened?"
She nodded. "Cindy, I
can't believe it. She acted like she liked Cam."
"I owe you an apology,"
Danny offered.
"Everyone else was the
same way," she replied. "They decided I did it and it didn't matter any
more. I was the mother who killed her child. That was the way it was going
to be. You don't owe me anything. I owe you my thanks. You went back and
tried again. I guess now that's what I need to do. Go back and try again."
She sighed. "It doesn't change anything for Cam. He's still gone. And
that's forever."
"What do you plan to do?"
Steve asked sincerely.
"I don't know. Go back
to the mainland." She managed a faint smile. "I think I'll let Trent take
me to Idaho. Things are different there. Maybe I can learn a little bit
about loyalty from him. We many only have a few years to live, but I'd
like to make the most of it."
Steve recalled Trent's
confusion and pain. He knew the man had never given up on his wayward
ex-wife. "Amanda, if anyone can make this work again for you, Trent can.
He's an unusual man. We wish you well." They went to the door and as he
opened it could see Trent standing by the secretary's desk.
He gave a protecting smile
as Amanda crossed the floor and placed an arm around her as they turned
to leave.
Danny walked back into
his office, relieved for the first time in weeks. He could almost feel
the stress fall away from his shoulders like losing a heavy winter overcoat.
Dropping into his desk chair, he noticed a small box wrapped in simple
blue paper with a bow made of string on top. He hesitated, not seeing
the stamp of inspection by HPD, then rationalized that it was too small
to be anything bigger than a matchbox toy. He opened the cover carefully
and discovered a small iron cast replica of an old milk wagon with two
horses on the front. The horses had been carefully painted brown and white,
the wagon was red, with tiny silver milk cans in the back. The whole model
was no longer than two inches. He opened the small note of paper that
was under the toy. "Never doubt your friends. We are there for you. Stay
on the wagon."
He gave a little smile,
recognizing Steve's handwriting. He placed the wagon beside Lonnie's picture
on his desk. I guess I'll be at work in the morning.
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