Terri's Jack Lord Connection
Terri's Jack Lord Connection
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The Swing By Kathleen James © revised 11-12-07 The back yard of the mansion was like a private little world that the world at large never saw. The deep green cover of Hawaiian plant life hid the large yard from the surrounding city of Honolulu. With the exception of muted traffic a few blocks distant and the soft singing of birds, the yard was silent. Lisa sighed with contentment when she felt the trade winds ruffle her bangs as she patted her enlarged stomach. “Well baby, I think we’ll be happy here.” She and her husband, Joe had just moved in from Maui. Lisa walked out on the grass feeling its soft wet dampness as she pushed aside a thick layer of branches. The shade grew more pronounced and for a strange reason being in the trees shut out the sounds of Honolulu completely. She shook her head in amazement. How could there be complete silence? She looked around and noticed for the first time that she was in a grove of fruit trees whose fruit hung heavy on weakened limbs. At the bases of all the trees a thick shrubbery hid all their bases. In the center as if taking center stage Lisa found a child’s swing which was attached to the only tree that bore no fruit, an old twisted tree, which towered over all the other trees. Lisa looked entranced at a child’s version of a perfect secret play world. Within reach where the swing would have swung at its highest, a child could have snatched either a deep red apple or a pulpy apricot from two trees whose trunks twisted around each other. Lisa couldn’t tell if they were growing from their own roots. Everything was perfect except for the swing. In the slight breeze it swung with an irregular motion; one of the two ropes was stretched so that it was longer than the other, giving the swing a drunken one-sided appearance but the ropes were kept stationary, forever confined attached to the large ancient tree that held it. Lisa inspected the swing more closely; it disturbed her for some reason. She turned impatiently away; she was getting into one of her strange moods because of her pregnancy. She would have Joe fix the swing and perhaps have the seat painted a bright red. Humming a lullaby happily to her unborn baby, Lisa was about to leave when a flash of cloth in the shrubbery caught her eye. She frowned. The cleaning men they had hired to clean the yard had missed it. She went to pick it up. To her surprise it was a little girl’s yellow tank top that had a rusty red stain on it. She winkled her nose. It had a coppery smell to it. Maybe it was some kind of cleaning fluid and they had used the child’s tank top as a rag. Exiting the trees, she walked over to a temporary dumpster they had rented and threw it inside. In the coming days, Lisa couldn’t get the thoughts of the swing out of her head. It nagged at her thoughts as if it wanted to tell her something; it made her feel uneasy. Trying to distract her thoughts Lisa decided to thumb through a pile of Honolulu newspapers that have not yet been hauled away. She muttered and plopped down next to the pile and started to read until her back started aching. One front page article caught her eye. It had a picture of a little girl about five years old. She was standing with her mother in a yard that - Lisa stared harder at the picture. Why it looked like her yard. Lisa, her heart beating faster read the article. “Little Girl Missing. Mrs. Cummings, the distraught mother stated that she gone to get her daughter from school and found her little girl gone…” Lisa stopped reading her heart jumped. The swing, there was a connection with the swing, and the tank top she had found. The stain on it wasn’t cleaning fluid, it was blood. Lisa shook her head, no, she was imagining things again. The yard that looked like her yard was probably not her yard; if it had been the police would have discovered the tank top. Probably the child had been found by now. The paper was dated about 3 months ago. Lisa looked further to see if there was any mention of the child being found; instead a few days later she was still missing. She looked at the first article and the second one; there was no mention of the address. Finally she found another reference. On the fourth page of a paper, there it was. Lisa stared. There was her address. Lisa felt stunned. It was her address, her house, her backyard. No wonder the owners had left so fast. She put the newspaper down and went to sit on her back porch to think. She could no longer appreciate the lush green of the back yard and its silence. A gust of wind blew in the yard scattering some curled old dead plant leaves. Lisa noticed that they seemed to blow from the direction of the swing. She looked down at the dead leaves at her feet and shivered. She got up slowly and went back into the trees to study the swing again. In the play of the wind the swing was twisting back and forth. She reached out to its ropes to stop the motion. Could it have happened here? Lisa could almost see it. An unknown stranger grabbing the little girl, in terror she may have clutched at the swing. Maybe that was why one rope was longer than the other. Lisa moaned. A killer has invaded what was supposed to be their new private sanctuary. She fled out of the cover of the fruit trees and ran back to the house. With trembling fingers she first called Joe to come home then, she looked up the phone number for Hawaii Five-0. Or was it HPD she was supposed to call? She made her decision. Hawaii Five-0 instilled more confidence; it was a smaller unit probably of more skilled men. She dialed. Jenny answered. “Hawaii Five-0, can I help you?” “Yes, my name is Lisa Matthews. Uh…, I am calling about a missing child that was in the papers a couple months ago, I think her name was Marsha Cummings. I may have some information unless they found the child?” Lisa clutched the phone hoping that Marsha had been found. Jenny said, “Oh, I think that case was handled by HPD, but it may still be open. Will you hold on while I double check?” Lisa’s heart sank. “Yes, I’m holding.” Jenny saw Danny start to enter his cubicle. “Hey Danny, do you remember the Marsha Cummings case, didn’t HPD handle it?” Danny came over to Jenny’s desk. “Yes, they handled it and it’s still open. Why do you ask?” “There’s lady on the phone that claims that she has something new on the case.” Danny’s curiosity was aroused. “Jenny, tell the lady to hold on a sec while I get to my phone.” “Ok Danny.” Danny pressed the line button. “Yes, this is Danny Williams, can I help you?” Lisa told Danny where she lived and what she suspected. “All right, Mrs. Mathews will you wait for us? We’re coming over.” Danny hung up the phone and headed for Steve’s office. “Steve, I need to talk to you.” Steve looked up from his paperwork that cluttered his desk. “Yes, Danno?” “I have a lady that has moved into the house where Marsha Cummings, the missing child used to live at. She claims she had found a little girl’s tank top with blood on it.” Steve frowned. “Didn’t HPD take care of that? I thought it was just a missing case. You say the lady found a bloody tank top? How could a HPD forensics team miss a bloody tank top? Get the file from HPD. I want it yesterday.” “Yes, Steve, I already did. It’s on the way.” Minutes later both Danny and Steve were looking at the report. It stated the girl as only being missing. Steve’s face was a thundercloud. “Danno, let’s go see Mrs. Mathews. If she found a child’s bloody tank top, we have to find out why Marsha Cummings case was filed as a missing child instead of a possible homicide.” ***** Lisa heard the screech of tires as a large black car stopped in front of her front porch where she waited as she observed two men in business suits getting out of the car, one was shorter and stockier with light curly brown hair, the other one was taller and more slender with darker hair. The taller man gazed at her over the hood of the car; his blue eyes seemed to search her soul. If this man was going to be in charge, she felt better already. What a dynamic man he was, and very handsome. If Joe could read her thoughts he would be jealous. But a lady was allowed to look wasn’t she? The two men now stood in front of her. The taller one that she had noticed spoke, “Mrs. Mathews? I am Steve McGarrett and this is my associate, Danny Williams.” Lisa held out her hand, “How do you do?” Steve McGarrett firmly clasped her hand. Lisa wished she could curl her fingers and stay in the comfort of this strong man’s hand but she was a married woman. She was probably over reacting, searching for comfort. She smiled and pulled her hand away. “Yes, will you please come in? Do you want some tea?” McGarrett answered. “No thank you, Mrs. Mathews, we would like to see this tank top as soon as possible, it may be evidence that was missed. We would like this resolved as soon as possible.” “I understand Mr. McGarrett. I’ll show you where the dumpster is. I have to apologize, but there may be more garbage that had been dumped on top of it since then.” Lisa eyed the men’s business suits. “Would you be calling in more of your men to get it out?” McGarrett smiled at her reading her thoughts. “We’ll handle it, Mrs. Mathews.” “Oh ok.” Lisa turned and led them to the dumpster. “Uh, it’s all yours.” Danny spoke for the first time. “Thank you. Do you want to wait in the house while we search it?” Danny eyed Lisa’s large stomach. “Maybe you should sit down?” In spite of grave business they were pursuing, Lisa laughed. It was funny how most men acted like she was going to have the baby right then and there in front of them. “No, Mr. Williams, I am fine.” As Lisa watched, both men jumped up and started searching the garbage. Lisa winkled her nose at the smell. Why did Five-0 do this kind of work in business suits? The State probably paid a fortune replacing them. “Uh, does the state pay to replace your business suits?” Danny paused from his searching a moment. “No, we have to replace them out of our salaries.” Lisa frowned. “That’s doesn’t seem right.” Danny smiled. “If wished were fishes.” He went back to helping McGarrett. “Danno.” Danny knew that grim tone. He didn’t even have to look in Steve’s direction to know that the tank top had blood on it. He looked over at Steve who held the garment up in the air with a pencil. McGarrett fished out a bag from his pocket and dropped the tank top into it. He hopped down from the dumpster’s rim. He held up the bag and looked at the tank top more closely. “Yes, it we may have a homicide.” His face was grim. “Mrs. Mathews, could you show us where you found this originally?” “Yes, Mr. McGarrett.” Lisa didn’t want to approach the swing again. She led them half way down the path then pointed in the direction. “I found it by the swing. If you don’t mind, I don’t want to go back there again. There’s something about the swing that bothers me.” McGarrett blue eyes sharpened. “Why does the swing bother you, Mrs. Mathews?” Lisa laughed nervously. “Mr. McGarrett, my imagination is running wild right now. I think my hormones are out of balance with my pregnancy.” “Try me, Mrs. Mathews, I am interested in why it bothers you. You are more familiar with the swing and the yard then we are. Someone more familiar may see something that we could miss.” “I don’t know Mr. McGarrett. When I look at those ropes on the swing with one being a lot longer than the other, I get the feeling that something violent happened with the swing. I can’t say that it was violence against Marsha Cummings in particular but I get funny chills up my spine.” Lisa cast a nervous glance toward the shadow of trees where she knew the swing resided. “I just don’t want to go in there any more.” McGarrett took her elbow and led her back to the house. “Well, Mrs. Mathews, will you be ok?” Maybe you should call you husband to come home to stay with you.” “No, I’ll be fine, Mr. McGarrett. Thank you.” ***** Steve sat at his desk at Iolani palace. “Well Danno, Mrs. Mathews could be right about that swing. Let’s find out who put that swing up, if possible. We have to find out how those ropes held up the seat and whether anything else other than a strong wind could have caused those ropes to be uneven by more than a foot. And check to see if the forensics team found any blood on the swing that matches the blood on the tank top.” Steve walked around his desk snapping his fingers. “You know, Danno, I think Marsha was killed and she knew her killer. The mother said Marsha was missing from school, not from her yard.” Danny’s eyebrows shot up. “Steve, are you thinking that Mrs. Cummings might have killed her child? Or that she’s protecting someone?” “Yeah, Danno, it’s a gut feeling I have. Think about it. The HPD file stated that the girl, Marsha, was last seen at school. The killer wanted a distraction and that’s why HPD failed to find the bloody tank top in the yard. This whole missing scenario doesn’t feel right, Danno.” Steve tapped his fingers on his desk thoughtfully. “See if you can locate the mother’s new address. We’re going to need a talk with her.” “Yes Steve, I’ll get right on it.” ***** McGarrett stared at the woman. There was the sound of gaiety and laughter of a party that was being held in the house. Her child had been gone for less then three months. “You are Mrs. Cummings?” The woman eyed McGarrett with polite distain as she held an alcoholic beverage. “Yes, may I help you?” “I am Steve McGarrett from Hawaii Five-0. I have some questions I need to ask about your missing daughter.” One eyebrow rising was the only change on the woman’s expressionless face. “Well, as you can see Mr. McGarrett, I am a little busy right now.” McGarrett stepped closer and looked down at the lady who was a good six inches shorter then he. His eyes hardened. “This will only take a moment of your time. Can we talk for a moment in a side room? Otherwise, I could perhaps have the pleasure of introducing myself to your gay guests.” His voice held both a threat and dripping sarcasm. The woman’s eyes flickered only slightly in her still expressionless face. “Well, all right, Mr. McGarrett, please step this way. Boy, this was one cool lady and very cold. He followed her into the back library. The lady gestured toward a chair as she shut the door. “I prefer to stand if you don’t mind.” The lady turned to face him. “All right, Mr. McGarrett. What do you want? HPD closed the case a month or so back. They did not find out whether she was dead or kidnapped.” “Aren’t you concerned that your daughter might still be alive? Did you close your uh… case, as well, when HPD did so?” “Mr. McGarrett, my child was more my husband’s child. Not mine. If you want to walk down memory lane about my daughter why don’t you go talk to him?” “Your husband’s child, Are you her step mother then?” McGarrett was surprised. He was sure he read in the file that the child has been hers. “No, Mr. McGarrett. She was my biological child.” The woman stated baldly. His famous intuition kicked in. This woman had killed her child. Now he had only to get the evidence to prove it. He could see it and sense it in her cold black eyes. Mrs. Cummings sneered. “My daughter, Mr. McGarrett, was the spawn of the devil. She was after all, the daughter of the man that I detested with all of my being.” McGarrett’s blue eyes glittered in direct confrontation with her cold black ones. This lady killed her daughter and her icy indifference infuriated him. “So, Mrs. Cummings, your daughter got in the way of your gay social life?” “Who do you think you are?” Her face was still expressionless even though her voice raised an octave. McGarrett’s temper was simmering like Mt. Pele’s lava pushing to get out. “Madam, you’ll be seeing me be again soon. There is now new evidence that your child was murdered, not missing." Mrs. Cummings eyed him with uncertainty. “Then justice will be served for my daughter?” McGarrett stared at her. She acted like she had forgotten that she had called her own child a devil’s spawn. He remembered reading that a true psychopath truly thought that no one could touch them. His eyes smoldered. Well he wasn’t the boss of Five-0 for nothing. His motto was that he never gave up. Years of defeating scores of devious and evil criminals like Wo Fat, gave him an emotional edge, the edge of leadership and dominance. “Did you kill your daughter?” He stepped closer to the woman; only an inch separated them, his eyes smothered. Mrs. Cummings could feel his menace emanating from his body. She hesitated and her eyes slid away from his burning ones. He was very overpowering. But she was stronger. She darted a quick look of malice then turned her back on him. Thank heavens her husband had been weak, not strong like this McGarrett. She had been able to control her husband. “Well Mr. McGarrett,” Mrs. Cummings smirked. “Be sure to catch the killer then. I would love to be in the papers again. People love a bereaved mother.” McGarrett thought he had grown used to people who sought power and riches for their own gain. He thought of all the murderers and their crimes on all his cases. But nothing was as evil as a mother killing her own child. Concern and love of a mother for her child was supposed to be the norm for basic human decency, even mothers in the animal kingdom had more love then this cold human. This woman standing before him violated her humanity. She only sought recognition and fame. Her eyes were glittering at the prospect of public attention. Her eyes challenged him. Nothing on this earth can touch me, they seemed to say. “Well Mr. McGarrett, HPD never came up with any evidence as to what happened to my daughter. What makes you think you can?” He took a deep breath and tried to cool the rage that seemed to make his head explode. He had to get this woman. If it was the last thing he did. “You’re dealing with Five-0 now. We’ll be seeing you again Mrs. Cummings, and soon.” Mrs. Cumming’s malicious laughter followed him as he quickly left. ***** McGarrett was frustrated. Five-0 had not been able to come up with anything to nail the witch from hell. He paced back and forth clicking his fingers. He had to set her up some how. Scare her into an admission, but how? Then an idea struck him, of course. She was such a cold soulless woman that it was only natural that her arrogance was on the same level. She would have no fear of being caught. McGarrett threw his office door open; it almost slammed against the far wall in the force of his excitement. “Danno, get in here.” “Yes, Steve?” “I want you to get Sandy Wells and a few of her lady cop friends and I want them to memorize a dialogue. We’re going to set some rumors rolling and we’ll need a Mrs. Berry as a listening post so that she can spread the word.” McGarrett smiled. He had seen Mrs. Berry at Mrs. Cummings’ party. One of the biggest gossip mongers in Honolulu society. He would like nothing better than to have the fact that Mrs. Cummings had held a party in the first place thrown back at her in spades with her down fall using one of the quests that had been at her party. He chuckled. He would have the personal pleasure of booking her for murder one. It would be hard without a body but it had been done. “Steve?” “Get on it Danno, we have a rehearsal to set up” ***** Mrs. Berry was sitting at the table putting red lipstick on her already red lips. Sandy Wells was amused. Well Mrs. Berry was making her lips look more like berries. She was living up to her name. She and the other undercover women officers grabbed a table next to Mrs. Berry’s. After they were settled, Sandy started the conversation. “Did you hear about the Marsha Cummings case?” Her voice bubbled. “No what? Wasn’t that about the little girl that was missing about three months ago?” “Well, there was a break on the case. They now know who did it. Five-0 has found evidence that’s dead on.” “How do you know the evidence is dead on?” Another of the officers asked. “Because a friend of mine works at the DA’s office, she heard them talking.” Sandy’s eyes danced. She glanced quickly in Mrs. Berry’s direction to make sure she was hearing. Sandy smirked. She was. Mrs. Berry’s red lips were puckered, her lipstick forgotten in her hand, her body’s posture in a listening mode. Sandy winked at Mrs. Mathews. McGarrett had invited her to the sting operation. He knew the pregnant woman had been very disturbed over the whole thing and she had wanted to do her part. “Do you know what the evidence is?” Mrs. Mathews thought of the swing. If only the swing could talk, then they would have all the evidence they needed. She knew in her gut that it had happened at the swing. Did McGarrett suspect? “They found the evidence at the swing. They have it cordoned off because the evidence can’t be moved,” Sandy replied. “But what is the evidence?” Another officer insisted. “My friend was not able to hear the rest of the conversation. The DA and the guy he was talking to had moved away from her desk.” By that time, Mrs. Berry was almost falling out of her chair to hear the rest of the conversation. ***** McGarrett waited in the bushes his body hidden. A fleshy fruit plopped down on the shoulder of his jacket. He silently swore. The pulpy juice started dripping down his sleeve. He was tense. “Is the video camera ready to roll?” He whispered. “Yes, Steve.” Danno’s voice reassured him. Kono has it all set up.” They had no evidence at all except the bloody tank top that had Marsha’s blood type and that evidence by itself didn’t point to Mrs. Cummings. It all depended on catching her by surprise and evoking a verbal response that would condemn her. An hour passed, a restlessness started through the group as their muscles cramped from their confined positions. McGarrett sighed. Had he been wrong? They all tensed when they heard a rustle of leaves being pushed back from the path opposite them on the other side of the swing. Kono clicked on the camera. Mrs. Cummings came out in the clearing dressed all in black as she paused by the swing. She broke through the police’s yellow tape that had the area cordoned off. Her movements had an air of desperation. She muttered angrily. “What evidence did they find? I should have killed Marsha somewhere else. She was always more trouble then she was worth.” McGarrett looked back at Kono. He nodded reassurance at his boss. The video’s range was strong enough to have picked up the mutterings of Mrs. Cummings. McGarrett grinned and stepped out of hiding. “Well Mrs. Cummings, fancy meeting you here. Having a black-as-night party?” The woman stiffened but her face was still blank of emotion. “Oh, Mr. McGarrett,” She patted her hair to gain time. “What are you doing here?” He stared at her feeling disappointed at her lack of emotion. “What do you think, Mrs. Cummings?” He grinned at her. “I could ask you the same question.” Mrs. Cummings smiled at him. She was confident in her ability to escape consequences of any kind. He blinked at her calm. She was a true psychopath after all just as he had suspected. She was a true psychopath all right, believing in her own infallibility. He laughed. “There was no evidence until you came, Mrs. Cummings. See for yourself.” Steve beckoned to Kono who came out with the video camera. It was running with a whirling clicking sound. Mrs. Cummings eyes widened. Her eyes burned with fury at McGarrett. McGarrett shivered. If she had been the Goddess of Pele he would have been cinders by now. “Nice try, Mr. McGarrett but I doubt that camera can work without lighting and I wasn’t talking very loud.” “You’re wrong, Mrs. Cummings. This is a very special camera.” She smirked at him. McGarrett blinked. She still believed she was untouchable. He felt a bit deflated. Part of his satisfaction in the arrest of a deserving criminal was the realization of their fate in meeting lady justice. He had seen all kinds of reactions when the criminal was caught but Mrs. Cummings was a new experience for him. He started to walk toward her his hand reaching for the handcuffs in his back pocket. But he never had a chance to finish his action. There was a swirl of leaves that headed toward the swing and a sudden microburst* sent the swing wildly up in the air. Steve saw it pull back, then forward. With a loud thunk, the swing hit Mrs. Cummings in the back of the head. Steve saw, for a split second the only emotion that he had seen from the woman. A look of shock and surprise made her black eyes widen in confusion. Then she slumped down to the ground. Her neck was bent at an unusual angle. Steve stood stunned. In a matter of seconds it was over. Over? Before he reached the crumbled woman all was silent again in the secret glade. Steve reached to check her pulse. There was none. She was dead. Well death was the ultimate victor that had snuffled out her arrogance. Steve stared at the swing, now quiet and unmoving. How did a microburst* come out of a calm sky? Steve looked up; not a cloud in the sky, the stars shone brightly and the moon’s rays were serene as its rays tried to reach into the over hang of this secret garden. The rays failed to penetrate the branches. He shivered. It was almost as if the swing didn’t want the moon’s bright rays to invade its mourning for the little girl now gone forever. The whisper of leaves seemed to be murmuring secrets to the swing that patiently listened, enshrouded in its universe limited by two uneven ropes. Steve frowned. Had a swing obtained justice in his stead? It was crazy but he had seen it with his own two eyes. He suddenly remembered Mrs. Mathews fears and her refusal to enter the glade where the swing resided. He looked up at Kono and Danno. “It was one of the Hawaiian Gods boss.” The swing was probably a source of his mana,* his power. I found a Heiau* back here in the bushes when I was setting up the camera.” “A Heiau, Kono?” McGarrett asked. “What makes you so sure? Maybe a gardener could have just piled some rocks there when he was cleaning up.” Kono shook his head. “No, boss, I know because there is a tablet with some ancient Hawaiian writing on it.” McGarrett’s interest picked up. “Could you read it, Kono?” “Yeah, boss.” “Well out with it man, what does it say?” Steve snapped his fingers impatiently. “It’s says, ‘Here lies two lovers who were separated in life but not in death.’” Danno cut in. “That would explain it. Two spirit lovers befriended a lonely child who was also ill treated by her mother.” Steve started to shake his head. Maybe he had imagined it. “Come on Steve, you saw it. There was nothing natural about how that swing killed Mrs. Cummings.” Danny insisted. McGarrett was silent for a moment. “All right Danno, Kono, make sure you don’t put that in the official report.” The detectives started to leave when McGarrett stopped short staring at the two intertwined trees that bore different fruit. “Guys, you see something strange about those two trees?” Danno and Kono both of Hawaiian royal blood were not surprised. Danny replied. “Yeah, Steve, meet your two lovers and the two witnesses that saw the murder.” Steve grinned. “The two witnesses, Danno? Do you think I’ll have to get a subpoena and force them to appear in court?” Both Danny and Kono grinned at the absurdity of spirits appearing in court. The judge would have called a mistrial for the witness failing to appear. Pau
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