Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

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darkstarrising
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Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

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Hi all!! :wave:

I thought I had finished this Moonlight /H50 crossover series, but during the summer, I started thinking about another story. I really had intended to post it before the season 8 premiere of H50, but life had other ideas.

This story picks up where H50 Season 7 ended; Kono has left 5-0 for the mainland, but Chin hasn’t yet left for San Francisco. There’s no Tani or Junior, just everybody except Kono. And Steve still suffers from radiation poisoning.

This past year has brought some sorrow to our Moonlight family with the passing of Librarian 7, aka Lucky. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed her many stories, her portrayal of Josef, in particular. As such, I’d like to dedicate this story to Lucky’s memory, a small token of appreciation for all the joy she brought us.

As always, I don’t own these characters, but dearly love to play with them, nor do I profit in any way from this story.

I hope you enjoy!!

Death Becomes Her

Prologue

A light breeze drifted in from Pacific, enhancing an already delightful evening on Oahu’s North Shore. On a lanai overlooking the ocean, a woman stood admiring the beauty of day surrendering to night. A crimson scarf played through her fingers, it’s cool silkiness bringing back memories of passionate nights a lifetime ago. She closed her eyes as she held the scarf to her neck, trying to recall the memory of the first time he placed it there.

‘You’re mine…’

And she was, for a time, a possession she not only allowed but craved. A possession that might have been eternal, if only she hadn’t fled from him and the gift he offered.

I was young, afraid. I thought I understood what it meant to love someone like him, but after that night… I realized how dangerous loving him was.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the woman lay the scarf on a table, then picked up a glass of merlot, recalling their last night together.

From the moment he’d embraced her, he knew something was wrong. He’d searched her eyes looking for answers, and saw her fear. When she finally told him she was leaving, he pleaded with her not to go...

‘Don’t do this. Take some time…think it over…please.’

It nearly broke her heart to see him so devastated, so she agreed, a lie he chose to believe. She’d travelled to the islands, ostensibly for a brief vacation, but weeks turned into months, then years.

Over time, she’d found some semblance of peace on Oahu, lulled to sleep at night by the waves lapping the shore, gradually eroding memories of her former life. Some memories would always remain. The feeling of his touch, his kiss, hadn’t faded with time, but how could they? He was the love of her life, yet she’d run away from him, the one decision in her life she truly regretted.

She threw herself into work during the day, but went to her bed each night, alone and unfulfilled. She often wondered if he felt the same or if he even thought of her.

Fear had driven her away, but now she knew that living without love wasn’t living at all. If only he’d forgive her, she might reclaim the love she’d lost so many years ago. She might feel alive again.

Too late, she felt an intruder close behind, pulling her backward, leaving her choking, gasping for breath. The silk scarf, a reminder of a life she’d once led, now became the instrument of her death.

After a while, the intruder left, never fully understanding the consequences of their actions.

Chapter 1

Oahu - Iolani Palace

Detective Danny Williams looked out over the near-empty 5-0 offices, wondering what the future held in store. It was eight years ago that he came to the islands, following his daughter, ex-wife and her filthy-rich new husband. He’d hated the place at first, but what he felt more than anything was hurt. Rachel, the woman he loved and mother of his child, divorced him and married Stan, a man that could provide her with a lifestyle that was well beyond anything Danny could have offered. Rachel had won his heart, then broken it, leaving him feeling alone and angry. Their daughter, Grace, was the only bright spot in his life on an island he’d once called ‘pineapple hell’.

That was then.

Now, his family had expanded to include a son, Charlie, the product of a brief affair with the still-married Rachel, who allowed Stan to believe the child was his own. Eventually, the truth of Charlie’s paternity was revealed resulting in Rachel’s second divorce. Mother of his children or not, Danny wasn’t ready to take another chance with Rachel, but he would remain an integral part of his children’s lives.
That was the good news. The bad news was that the people he’d worked with for the last eight years had become his family as well and one-by-one, Danny was losing them.

Ohana

A once-foreign word now captured the familiarity of the people he loved.

After a particular emotional case, Kono travelled to the mainland one night without telling anyone. Eventually, she called her husband, Adam, and her cousin, Chin, to say that she’d be gone for some time. When pressed, she couldn’t say how long, but that there was some important business she had to take care of. What business? Again, Kono was reticent, then acknowledged her new-found mission – shutting down human trafficking networks exploiting young girls. Even if she did return, Kona was married now and might want to start a family of her own, a desire that might cause her to find a less dangerous occupation.

Then there was Chin’s imminent departure. He’d been offered a position in San Francisco to head his own task force there. Danny once thought hell would freeze before Chin would leave his island home, but San Francisco was home to Abby, Chin’s fiancé. If moving to San Francisco would make Abby happy, leaving Hawaii was a small price to pay.

Grover? For now, Lou‘s future on the island seemed pretty secure. His recent visit to Chicago had left no uncertainty at just how unwelcome Lou would be should he consider returning to his hometown. Chicago’s boys in blue believed he had betrayed one of their own, a sin they would never forgive.

Jerry was the most bizarre member of the 5-0 family. Confirmed conspiracy theorist that Jerry was, Danny wouldn’t have been surprised if the man showed up for work one day wearing a tin foil hat. Still, Jerry had wicked skills that warranted putting up with his eccentricities.

The loss Danny feared the most was that of his partner, Steve McGarrett. The two had sparred from the moment they’d met, but now it was more a playful banter, one that belied just how close the two men had become. Steve wasn’t Danny’s brother by blood, but he was in every other sense of the word.

Steve had his own share of personal sorrow; his father murdered, his mother, once thought dead, had returned, a resurrection that brought more pain than joy. Doris was a former CIA operative, although Danny wondered just how ‘former’ she was or would ever be. At least Steve’s sister had pulled her life together, with a child of her own, although the mainland was her home now.

Then there was Catherine Rollins, Steve’s apparent soul mate, who seemed perpetually committed to breaking his heart. The last time she returned to Oahu, she had told Danny she’d planned to stay. Within the week, she was gone, giving Steve some BS about needing to go off and perform humanitarian aid. As it turned out, Doris had recruited Catherine for a clandestine operation to free a man Doris loved, but Catherine didn’t return to Oahu after the op was finished. Why? God only knew, but Danny was sure Doris was to blame. Steve’s mother was the most conniving, self-centered, dangerous woman Danny had ever met. If he had his way, neither she nor Catherine would ever darken Steve’s doorway to break his heart again.

Danny glanced at his partner’s empty office, knowing he should have seen it coming. Steve had placed himself in harm’s way more times than he could count, but somehow managed to cheat death at every turn. He’d been shot, stabbed, drugged and brutalized, but either through sheer will, stubbornness or luck, Steve had refused to be beaten.

Now it seemed that Steve’s luck had finally run out. Instead of a bullet or knife, radiation poisoning was slowly robbing him of his strength and perhaps his life. If death did finally catch up with Steve, Danny didn’t know what he’d do.

A phone call from HPD interrupted his thoughts, alerting him of a probable homicide in Waimanalo. Grover was already there, so Danny grabbed Chin and headed for the northeast shore of the island.

Both men seemed lost in thought during the ride until Chin broke the silence. “You hear from Steve today?”

“Nah. Nahele is taking him to a doctor’s appointment this morning. Steve hasn’t been feeling so hot the last few days.”

“I thought the drugs were helping.”

“Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. I don’t know. What I do know is that he doesn’t eat much, sleeps a lot and looks like hell.”

Chin voiced what Danny was afraid to. “Maybe it’s the drugs and not …”

“Radiation? God, I hope so.”

“Well, we’ll know soon enough.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.” Seeing his friend’s pained expression, Danny continued. “Hey, I’m not giving up yet. If anybody can beat this radiation shit, Steve can.”

“I know. It’s just that I’m wondering whether I should stay…”

“Stop, just stop. Chin, listen to me. You’ve got a woman you love and who loves you, something that doesn’t happen every day, not to mention a dream job waiting for you in ‘Frisco. If you don’t go, trust me, you’ll regret it someday. Besides, just think how pissed Steve will be if he finds out you didn’t go on his account, not to mention Abby.”

Chin couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

“Besides, you’ll always have a place in 5-0 if things on the mainland don’t work out. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

“Good. And the next time you say ‘I do’, you should be gazing longingly at your beautiful bride.”

“Thanks, brah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

A short time later, the two men met up with Lou at the crime scene. A dark-haired woman lay on the tile floor looking more asleep than dead.

Danny glanced at the woman. “What’ve we got, Lou?”

“Meet Laura Winters, aged 36, single occupant of the house. Possible victim of a home invasion gone bad.”

“Forced entry?”

“Nope. Garage door was open. The ME hasn’t been here yet, but my guess is this poor lady was strangled with that pretty red scarf around her neck. Don’t see any blood or obvious injuries.” As Chin approached the body, Grover cautioned. “Watch out for broken glass. Looks like what left of the lady’s wine glass. ”

Chin bent down, and with gloved hand, gently eased the scarf away from the woman’s throat. “You may be right. There’s slight bruising underneath the scarf. A couple of cuts, too.”

“Cuts?”

“More like deep scratches she might have made trying to pull the scarf away.”

Danny scanned the room, seeing nothing in disarray. In fact, the room seemed quite orderly, its walls adorned with some impressive artwork. “You said home invasion. Anything taken?”

Lou shook his head. “Nothing obvious. Jewelry’s in the bedroom, some very nice pieces, I might add. Money and credit cards still in her purse. And yeah, there’s all those pretty pictures and big-ass TV hanging on the wall.”

Danny countered. “Maybe the TV was too big to carry. Or maybe there was something specific the guy was after, something we don’t know about yet.”

“OK, but why go to the trouble of breaking in, grabbing whatever and leaving easy cash behind?”

Chin continued the thought. “Maybe our victim surprised the robber, he panicked and fled without taking any cash or jewelry. But why kill her? Home invasion gets you a few years in Halawa. Murder gets you life.”

Danny saw the logic of Chin’s arguments. “So you’re thinking maybe our vic was targeted? Why? What do we know about her?”

Lou referred to the notes he’d made earlier. “I talked with a few of the neighbors. Most of them didn’t have much to say except that Ms. Winters was quiet, kept pretty much to herself. Pleasant enough, but nobody I talked to ever got beyond the front door of the house. Samantha Miller, who lives next door with her husband, Ted, shed a little more light on our victim. Hubby wasn’t home, but Mrs. Miller was a veritable treasure trove of information. She said Ms. Winters was a lawyer who moved here from the mainland about 10 years ago. The lady took some time off, but started practicing again a few months later. She had no frequent visitors or significant other that Mrs. Miller could see, and trust me, that lady’s a one-person neighborhood watch.”

Chin sighed. “So, being an attorney, we’ve got a lot of potential suspects. That’s going to take some time to chase down.”

“Not so fast, my man. Seems our victim here wasn’t your typical back-stabbing, greedy-lawyer type. Mrs. Miller said our victim worked in the public defender’s office, taking cases nobody else wanted.”

Now Danny was really confused. “OK, that doesn’t make any sense. How can someone who takes crap cases for free afford a place like this, not to mention all the stuff in it?”

Lou shrugged. “Add that to the long list of questions we can’t answer yet.”

*****************************************************************************

McGarrett Residence

Steve McGarrett closed the front door to his house and leaned against it, wondering if could make it upstairs or should just head for the couch a few feet away. In the end, he opted for the couch, seeing as how Nahele wasn’t there to hover over him like a mother hen. The young man had driven Steve to the doctor’s office and home again and after much assurance, Steve convinced Nahele that he’d be fine alone for the rest of the day. Still, the young man said he’d stop by later to check up on him, to see if he needed something.

What Steve really needed was a rewind. That stunt he’d pulled with the dirty bomb? Thinking a car battery would shield him from the bomb’s radiation wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done. Maybe he should have listened to Danny. If he had, though, both of them would have been blown to kingdom come. In Steve’s mind, risking one of them was a better deal.

The doctor had listened to Steve’s concerns this morning, asked some questions, then drew what seemed like a gallon of blood for further tests. The doctor cautioned that the blood draw would leave Steve a little weak and urged him to go home, rest and drink as much fluid as he could and take some new medication. In the morning, Steve should feel better, but should still take it easy for another day or so. For now, Steve headed for the couch for a brief nap.

“Steve?” Wake up, buddy.”

“Huh?” After a few seconds, his partner’s face came into focus. “Danny. What are you doing here?”

“What do you think I’m doing here, watering your flowers? I’m here to check up on you, since you didn’t answer your phone.”

“What time is it?”

“About 6. You been here on the couch all day?”

“After I saw the doctor, yeah.” Steve slowly rose to a sitting position. “Didn’t mean to, though.”

That admission and the confusion on Steve’s face worried Danny. “So…what did he say?”

“Who?”

“The doctor, you putz, who else?”

“Not much, really. I told him about the side effects of the drugs. He took some blood for more tests, told me to rest and drink fluids and gave me something new to try…” Steve drew a vial of pills from his pocket “which I should have taken a couple of hours ago.”

Danny snatched the vial from away from Steve and headed for the kitchen. “That’s it. You obviously can’t take care of yourself, so you’re getting a nursemaid.”

“I don’t need a nursemaid, Danny. I’m just tired, that’s all. Besides, Nahele said he was coming over tonight to check up on me. I’ll be fine.”

When Danny returned, he shoved a pill and large glass of water at Steve. “Here, take the pill and drink every bit of that water. Then do it again, every twelve hours. I’m not leaving until you do.”

Steve swallowed the pill and downed the water. “Happy?”

“Not really.” Danny sighed. “Steve, I’m worried about you. We all are. Despite what you think, you’re not indestructible.”

“I know, and I appreciate the concern. I’ll be fine, really.” Hoping to change the subject, Steve asked. “How’s work going?”

“Well, we’re a little short-handed right now. Might even have to put Jerry in the field.”

Steve was horrified. “You wouldn’t.”

“No, but with you out and Kono off the grid, the rest of us busier than a one-armed paper hanger. We even tried to borrow Abby from HPD, but she got called back home. Family emergency. She’ll be gone at least a week.”

“Hey man, I’m sorry.” Steve checked his watch. “I thought Nahele would have been here by now.”

“He’s been here and gone again. He called me after he dropped you off and told me he’d be back to check up on you. Which he did. Freaked out and called me when he found you out cold on the sofa like a dead fish. Since you were snoring like a lumberjack, I told him to go out and get something you’d eat, seeing as you probably haven’t eaten much of anything today.”

Steve got up from the sofa, stiff from his overly long nap. “You said work was busy. Anything special?”

Danny waved dismissively. “Just the usual. You know, murder, mayhem. Keeping Jerry from moving into Kono’s office.”

“Heard anything more from her?”

“No, but Adam has. He said after her last call, he’s going to pack up and join her.

“For how long?”

“How do I know? Maybe for a while, maybe forever. With Chin halfway out the door to San Francisco…”

“There’s not much left here for Kono to come back to.”

“Leaving us holding the proverbial bag.” Danny held up his hands in mock defense. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand Chin’s leaving. I followed Rachel and Grace to Hawaii, so no way can I fault Chin for following Abby to San Francisco. The man’s been through so much, losing Malia and everything that dirt-bag brother-in-law of his put him through. Chin deserves some happiness, not to mention respect, which is what he’ll get leading his own task force.”

Steve looked shocked. “You don’t think I respect Chin?”

You do, and I do and so does everybody else that’s ever worked with him. Chin’s a talented, hard working guy, and believe me when I say, I’ll be very sorry to see him go. But sometimes, you’ve got to make tough decisions about what you want out of life. You gotta stand up for yourself. Chin did and I respect him for that.” Danny sighed. “Our loss will be somebody else’s gain.”

“What about Kono?”

“Well, going rogue isn’t my idea of a wise career move, but again, I understand. Those human trafficking cases really got to her. Seeing those abused girls…Kono saw an injustice and decided to do something about it. So again, she has my respect.”

“And some people think you don’t have a heart.” A sad smile crossed Steve’s face. “Without Chin and Kono, 5-0 is going to be without some very talented, respected people. I hope we can survive.”

****************************************************************************

LA – Mick and Beth’s Loft

Mick glanced around the loft, mentally assessing all the stuff he’d accumulated over the years trying to decide what was worth keeping. Fortunately, he really wasn’t much of a pack rat, so the things of value were few. After nearly 100 years in LA, it was time to move on. Problem was, he just didn’t know how.

Josef has changed a dozen times, so it’s a cakewalk for him. Me? I’ve been Mick St. John all my life and proud of it. So who do I turn into? What do I become? Better question is how will Beth take all this?

Mick knew this day was coming, but had somehow managed to avoid it far longer than was wise. With Beth as his mate, though, he had more than just himself to think about. It wasn’t just his safety anymore, it was hers as well.

Josef had been on his case for the last year or so to start thinking about moving on; new place, new identity, new life. In the last few weeks, though, Josef had really started putting the pressure on. He wanted Mick to begin making plans now, starting with preparing Beth for an imminent departure from the only life she’d ever known.

‘Listen, Mick. I know leaving home is hard, but you really don’t have a choice, not if you want to survive. Every day you stay here, you risk exposure, and not just yours. Too many people in this town know you and one of these days, somebody is going to notice you’re not aging. Besides, leaving LA doesn’t just increase the odds of your survival, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for you and Beth. Trust me, moving on is like removing a band-aid; the faster you do it, the less it hurts.’


Josef hadn’t been at all subtle about playing the ‘Beth’ card. He knew Mick would do anything to protect the woman he loved, the woman who had given up her mortal life to spend eternity with him. But Josef was up to something. What, exactly, Mick wasn’t sure, but he damn well was going to find out.

Beth? Somehow, Mick didn’t think his wife would be as reluctant to shed her identity and leave LA as he was. Beth’s human family and few close friends were either dead, left town or now had families of their own leaving LA’s hold on Beth tenuous at best. Couple that with her adventuresome nature and she’d probably be packed and ready to go before he was.

“Mick?”

Lost in thought, Mick hadn’t heard his wife come into his office. The pained look on her face gave him pause. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer, but fell into his arms and started to cry.

****************************************************************************

Next day – Oahu -Iolani Palace

Chin was the first one in the office the next morning. A more thorough search of Laura Winters’ home hadn’t provided any additional clues as to what might have been taken or why Winters was murdered.

Grover showed up a few minutes later with the ME’s preliminary report in hand.

“Based on what Noelani found so far, our victim was strangled with the scarf. She’s running a tox screen to see if the victim had any drugs in her system, legal or otherwise. No other signs of trauma beyond those scratches on her neck. The only thing Noelani found interesting was that for a woman pushing 40, our victim was in remarkably good shape.”

Chin scoffed. “What, 40 is like ancient now?”

“It is when your ME is barely 30. What she meant by ‘good shape’ was that there wasn’t a gray hair on our vic’s head and not because of Miss Clairol. In fact, X-rays showed no indications that the lady ever had a broken bone.”

“OK, I admit that’s a little unusual, but not impossible. Maybe our victim was a proponent of clean, healthy living.”

“Well, the tox screen results will help with that , but they’re a few days away. What else have we got?”

“I stopped by the Public Defender’s Office yesterday to see if they could shed any light on the situation or maybe narrow down the field of disgruntled clients.”

“And?”

“Laura Winters was universally admired by her co-workers, something I’ve never encountered before, at least with lawyers. Everyone I spoke with was genuinely upset about her death, yet had no idea who could have wanted to harm her, let alone kill her.”

“OK, that’s her colleagues. What about her clients? She must have pissed somebody off.”

“That’s where it gets interesting. Winters was the primary defending attorney in 109 cases and lost only five.” Chin brought up a file on the plasma, showing the five faces of Winters’ clients whose cases she lost. “Two of those clients are dead, two are still in jail and one now lives in California, where he’s been for the last three years. As such, none of those five had means to kill Winters.”

Grover whistled. “Now that’s one helluva an attorney. Seems a waste of talent as a PD.”

“That’s what her colleagues thought, too, so I asked a few more questions. Her co-workers echoed what you got from her neighbors - Winters was friendly enough, but didn’t socialize with them outside of the office. Winters’ boss, Greg Mariner, seemed genuinely fond of Winters, admired her talent and hoped she’d replace him one day, this year, to be exact. I don’t know what he was more upset about, losing a talented attorney or having to delay his retirement.”

“I can relate. With two kids heading for college in the not-too-distant future, retirement ain’t in the picture for quite a while.”

Chin pulled out his phone. “Mariner gave me the name of the law firm Winters worked in on the mainland. With the time difference, I was going to wait until this morning to see if they could provide her list of clients on the mainland. Maybe one of them came back to haunt her.”

“What about next of kin?”

“As far as Mariner knew, Laura Winters was never married. In fact, he couldn’t recall her mentioning any close friends or family at all. She worked long, hard hours and her record speaks to her talents. He said he’d get back to me about who to notify as soon as he could lay hands on that information.”

Chin retreated to his office to make the call to the mainland, while Grover continued to study the faces on the plasma. A short time later, Danny entered the office, looking beat. After Grover brought him up to speed, he said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, man, but you look like hell. What’s up?”

“Not me, or Steve for that matter. I stayed at his place last night making sure our fearless leader ate something and took his damned pills when he was supposed to.” Danny sighed. “I’m worried, Lou. Steve keeps telling me he’s getting better, but he sure as hell doesn’t look it. The doc gave him some new meds but it will take a few days to see if they do anything for him.”

“So McGarrett’s being McGarret. Tough guy ‘til the end.” Seeing Danny flinch, Grover added. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right.”

“Or maybe it did.” Danny glanced back to see Chin emerging from his office. “Tell me you have some good news.”

“I wish I did. The number for the law firm Laura Winters supposedly worked for? Not in service.”

“OK, maybe the firm disbanded or moved or something. A lot can happen in 10 years.”

“That’s what I thought, so I checked the internet and there’s no indication that Winters’ law firm ever existed.”

“Great. Mystery Lady with a phony past. Hard enough tracking down real ones.”

Grover smiled. “You may be on to something, my friend. Lawyer, phony past, probably phony name brings only one thing to mind.”

Chin caught on. “Witness protection. Wonder who our victim was hiding from.”

“Probably the schmuck who found her.” Danny scanned the faces on the plasma. “OK. We got two directions to go in. Find somebody our vic dealt with in the last 10 years on Oahu with a grudge or somebody from her past on the mainland. Chin, get in touch with the Justice Department guy on Oahu and see if Laura Winters was in Witpro.”

“And if he doesn’t want to share…”

“Tell him she’s dead. Murdered. That might put him in a more sharing mood. Lou, take a look at Winters’ case files and try and narrow the field, but focus on the plaintiffs."

“You mean see if any plaintiff who lost had means and motivation to go after her. Got it. What are you going to do?”

“Since Witpro may and probably will stonewall, I’m going to turn Jerry loose on trying to find out who this lady really was. If we know her real identity…”

“We might find out more about who she might have pissed off 10 years ago.”

*****************************************************************************

Later that afternoon, 5-0 regrouped to share their results.

Chin was first. “It took some doing, but the Justice Department guy told me that Laura Winters was not and never had been placed in WitPro.”

Grover was skeptical. “You believe him?”

“Actually, I do. Hearing she’d been murdered, he really had no reason to lie. In fact, he’d be motivated to share. If she had been in the program, he’d want to know who got to her and how. As it was, he expressed his sympathies and that was it. How about you?”

“Well, I took a look at the hundred or so cases she won and only a handful of plaintiffs stood out as wanting some kind of pay back. Problem is, those cases happened more than five years ago, so why wait until now? Besides, any payback they’d want might be slashed tires or a brick through the window, not murder. I’m just not feeling that any of these guys is who we’re looking for.”

Just then Jerry entered the office, looking like Christmas had come early. “Got something you guys should see.”

The look of pure glee on Jerry’s face made Danny nervous. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

“O, you’ll like it.” Jerry brought up a picture on the plasma. “Meet Laura Winters, practicing attorney with the public defender’s office.”

“We know that, Jer..”

“And you know her name is phony and that she came to Oahu from the mainland 10 years ago. Why, you might ask?”

After a momentary pause, Danny obliged. “OK, why?”

“Maybe because your victim had once been arrested for murder.”

Grover whistled. “Now that’s a new one. Not often that the lawyer does the murdering…”

Chin was intrigued. “Agreed. Who’d she kill, Jerry?”

“No one. Well, there was a murder and she was arrested, but your victim turned out to be more of an almost-witness and was released when the real culprit was arrested.”

“Almost-witness?”

“What I mean is that she was nearby when the murder took place, which is why the cops zeroed in on her initially, but she didn’t really see or hear anything useful. Hence, almost-witness.”

Tired as he was, Danny resisted the urge to strangle Jerry, wishing he would just get to the point. “OK, but if the real murderer was arrested, why would our vic flee the mainland?”

Chin offered one explanation. “Maybe her reputation took a hit there. Maybe she felt she had to start over in a new place with a new name.”

“OK, I’ll buy that, but where did all the money come from? That’s a seven figure house she was living in, quite comfortably, I might add, and she tried her cases here for free. No way in hell a public defender’s salary pays for all that.”

Jerry brought up images of two people on the plasma. “I think I can answer both of those questions. Meet Emma and Jackson Monaghan. Stand-up, filthy rich couple living in LA, big-time donors to one of the local colleges. The guy that was murdered? Up-and-coming college basketball star that Emma took a shine to. Too much of one. They had an affair, it went south, big-time, and Emma was ultimately arrested for the kid’s murder.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that Emma escaped from jail before the trial and she and her husband disappeared. Like ‘off-the-face-of-the-earth’ disappeared.”

Grover summed it up. “So maybe our victim decided to re-locate with a new ID to hide from the Monaghans. Maybe they caught up with her.”

Chin pushed back. “Hang on. If I’m Emma Monaghan, on the run for murder, the last thing I’d want to do is bring attention to myself by killing Winters. Especially since I’ve managed to stay hidden for 10 years.”

Danny agreed. “Chin’s right. There’s something else going on here we’re not seeing and it still doesn’t explain the money. How did you find all this out, Jerry? And just who is our mystery lady?”

“I used a new facial recognition program that’s in beta testing. It’s way better than what we’ve been using, kinda like High Def vs standard TV.” Jerry brought up a final image of Laura Winters in a golden gown dancing with a handsome young man. “Gentlemen, I give you Simone Walker, late of LA. Her dance partner? Her billionaire boyfriend, a guy named Josef Kostan. My guess is he’s where her money came from.”

Danny swore, Chin groaned and Grover rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath.

Baffled, Jerry scanned the somber faces of his colleagues. “Not exactly the reaction I was going for. Did I screw something up?”

A familiar voice from the back of the room answered. “No, Jerry, you got it right, but I wish you hadn’t.”

“Steve! What are you doing here?” Danny approached his friend who waved him off.

“Danny, I’m fine. Mick called giving me a head’s up that they’re on their way.”

Shit!! How the hell did Mick find out …” Danny blanched “And by ‘they’ you mean…”

“Beth was Simone’s emergency contact. Some lawyer called her last night about Simone’s death. She and Mick are accompanying Kostan to Oahu to claim the body.”

Danny swore again as Steve approached Jerry. “Listen, man. I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I want you to forget everything you found. The less you know about what’s going to happen, the better.”

“I don’t get it. What’s going to happen?”

“If we don’t find who killed Simone Walker before Kostan gets here …”

Danny finished. “Heads will roll. Literally.”
darkstarrising
Love – the universal language, the story of Moonlight
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allegrita
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Re: Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

Post by allegrita »

Aha! I was wondering if our victim was Simone! (Brief moment of silence for our freshie-lawyer friend :Mickangel: ) I'm already loving this story, DSR. I wonder if the vamps can help Steve with his radiation sickness while they're in Hawaii. :chin:

Thanks for giving us a new story in this great series. I know Lucky would be deeply touched by your dedication to her. :heart:
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Lucy
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Re: Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

Post by Lucy »

I love it....I want Josef in charge of straightening out the bumps in my life.....

I will cook and do your laundry to you can keep writing.
Moonlightsonata
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Re: Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

Post by Moonlightsonata »

Happy New Year DSR. I can't tell you how happy I am that you started a new series. While I am not a big H50 fan anymore (still hoping they bring Catherine back before the finale - and then I will watch) I really love your writing. I was trying to figure out who the woman was at the beginning of the story and I am glad you didn't leave that as a cliff hanger. This is your first new story in awhile and it really gives me something else to look forward to. So thank you again.
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darkstarrising
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Re: Death Becomes Her - Chapter 1 (PG) 1/5/18

Post by darkstarrising »

Thanks, ladies :ghug:

I had some fun writing this, but got derailed late in the summer. :quill: Like most people, I was a bit blindsided by the departure of DDK and Grace Park, but decided to stick with the idea I'd started with.
darkstarrising
Love – the universal language, the story of Moonlight
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