The road was deserted as the yellow sports car rounded the turn. The brightness of the full moon made the surrounding area glimmer. The ocean reflected this light through the waves, which made them look like crystal. Soft breezes pushed their way across the land and made the misted plants next to the road appear to be lit by small lights. The two people in the car were headed for their favorite bay to take advantage of swimming in such a wonderland of moonlight.

"The full moon is so bright tonight I don't really need my headlights," Mike Johnson told his girlfriend, Betty Hollinsworth. He and Betty had dated each other now for almost a year and a half.

"That would make the beauty of this area stand out more," Betty said as she snuggled a little closer to Mike. She had found him easy to be with and her heart had long ago told her that she was in love with him.

"Well, our stop is just up ahead and then we can swim in the moonlight," Mike told her. Tonight he planned to ask Betty to marry him. He hoped that this night would be extra nice as it had so far. He couldn't think of a more romantic place to ask her then where they were currently headed.

"Another turn and we should be there…" a curious lump of moving material laid along side the road interrupted his statement. After he pulled the car to a stop, they got out and walked over to the other side of the road to wear the lump was.

Betty hung back for a moment as Mike reached the lump. He bent and gently touched the lump. A lump appeared in his throat as he realized it was a body, a body of an elderly woman. He gently took hold of the shoulder and rolled the body onto its back. He gasped when he saw how battered her head was. Betty had walked up behind him as he rolled the woman over and let out a blood curtailing scream when she saw the woman's beaten face.

"Oh my God! Betty, go to a phone and call the cops. Tell them what we found and where it is. I'll stay with her until you've return."

*****

McGarrett parked his big black Mercury along side one of the HPD cruisers at the scene. Dispatch had called him at his home at 3:15 AM for it was his turn, that night, to be on call. As he walked up to the crowd that had already formed, Doctor Bergman met him.

Doctor Bergman had worked with McGarrett on many cases over the years. When he saw McGarrett walking towards him, he walked up to the top cop of the Islands. "Good morning Steve. I see they've pulled you out of bed this early morning also.’

"Yeah, morning Doc. What do we have here?" McGarrett asked him as he tried to get the last of the sleep out of his eyes.

"We've got an elderly woman, about 70 to 80, beaten to death," Doctor Bergman informed him pointing to the covered body on the gurney.

McGarrett's eye brows knitted as he clinched his teeth tightly. He was amazed at how cold and unattached the Medical Examiner seemed when he dealt with a dead body. Nothing seemed to faze him. McGarrett walked over to the gurney that held the shroud-covered body. After he nodded to the ambulance attendant, McGarrett lifted the sheet. His eyes narrowed even more as he viewed the plummeted head of the victim. His jaw muscles tightened again and again as he took in the details of what he was looking at.

"Thanks," McGarrett said to the attendant, as he placed the sheet over the head. The attendant nodded the acknowledgement from the Five-0 head officer, as he and his assistant lifted the gurney into the back of the ambulance. McGarrett stood there watching for a moment as the ambulance left. There was no sirens blaring nor were the lights lit on the ambulance, as there was no need to rush, the victim was beyond help. It would be a sad drive back to the morgue for them.

Doctor Bergman walked back over to McGarrett. He was the medical examiner for Oahu and was the medical doctor who looked after the health of all those in Five-0. With his years of experience, he had the skill of making a good estimate at the cause of death, sometimes, without having to do an examination of the victim.

"Not pretty was it?" he said in his matter of factorial statement. "I can pretty much tell you what killed her right now. The killing blow was to the left temple area," the medical examiner said as he pointed to an area of his own head. "That blow was hard enough to smash her skill and facial bones around the eye, which is why the eye was protruding like you saw."

McGarrett attempted to control the anger that had started to build within him. He turned to the M. E. and looked at him for a moment before he spoke. "Other then the obvious head injuries, are there any other injuries on the body?"

"If your asking was she tortured or assaulted, I won't know that for sure until I've had time to examine the body better; but I don't think so Steve. It looks like only her head area had received any of the injuries. The clothing on the lower portion of the body doesn't appear to have removed, so I'm fairly sure she wasn't sexually assaulted. But like I said, I won't know until I've taken a closer look," Bergman told him.

McGarrett looked around the area some more. He saw where the body had been found. And that it had been found away from any bushes nor were there any visible weapons. "What type of weapon was used? Do you know?" inquired McGarrett.

"The wounds are those made with something like a bat, something that could be swung with enough force to shatter the bones of the head and face, Steve. I'll know more when I exam her more during the postmortem," Doctor Bergman informed him.

Looking around the area more, McGarrett was trying to see if there were other signs of any sort of a struggle. There were plenty of tire tracks, but this was a popular parking place for people either going swimming at the beach near by or looking at the scenery. There were also a lot of footsteps. The CSI unit already had an area taped off in a fifty-foot area around where the body had been found.

Che Fong was there with his team gathering what evidence they could find. They already had several plaster castings poured all around the area of where the body had laid.

Walking up to Che, McGarrett watched as another plaster cast was being poured. "Is this where the murder took place?" McGarrett quarried.

"Doesn't look like it to me Steve. This is just a guess, but from the lack of blood where the body was, I'd say she was killed somewhere else and dumped here." Smiling back at the head detective, Che continued, "We did get come good prints of someone's boots that were near the body, and a beauty of one of a tire track." Walking over to his mobile lab, Che picked up one of the plaster casts and handed it to McGarrett. "Look here Steve," Che said to him, "here's a tire with a notch out on it. If you can find this tire with this notch taken out I'm sure you'll find the vehicle used to bring her up here. Without more checking, I'd guess it's from the left rear of a truck of some type. You can tell by the wear pattern here that it's from a back tire."

Turning the cast around in his hands McGarrett looked it over carefully. There was a definite notch in the cast showing a defect in the tire. Looking around, he saw an HPD officer talking to a young couple. "Ok, give me a complete report as soon as you can," McGarrett said as he walked over to the couple who had found the body.

Two HPD officers were taking a statement from them still when McGarrett reached them. "Hi, Carl. What have you got so far?" McGarrett asked the HPD officer.

Officer Carl Stone had been with HPD for fifteen years. He had worked with Five-0 on several of their cases before when McGarrett had asked Chief Dan for additional help. "Hi Steve. This is Mike Johnson and his girlfriend, Betty Hollinsworth. They had just about to drive past this spot when they found the body. Mr. Johnson stayed with the victim while Ms. Hollinsworth went for help."

"You both found the body then?" asked McGarrett as he sized up the witnesses. Both people were young, too young to have to encounter such a site as what they found. The young man, who had stayed with the body, seemed in control of himself, while his girlfriend was still on the verge of crying. Her eyes were swollen from the crying she had done already. Dispatch had said the woman had been near hysterics when she called it in.

"Yes sir. We had just gone around the corner," pointing to the curve in the road, "there on the way to a beach I know of where we were going to go for a midnight swim. As we turned the corner I noticed an odd lump of something on the side of the road. After I pulled the car off the road, Betty and I walked over to it and found that it was a body. I told Betty to go for help and that I'd stay with the body," Mike said as he placed his arm around Betty to try to comfort her.

McGarrett listened to the couple recounted what they saw. "Did you move the body any after you found it?" he asked them.

"I did, but only to turn it over to see who it was," Mike said as he paled at the remembrance of what he saw. "That’s when I saw the head and face. Betty was fairly shaken up when she saw it, so I told her to go get help and I’d stay with the woman."

"Where did you go for help?" asked McGarrett. He could see she was still very upset from the ordeal.

Betty hesitated for a moment as she tried to compose herself some more. "I drove the car back down the road we had come. There was a store there and I remembered it had a phone booth. I called the operator from there," she told him.

McGarrett looked at the couple for a moment longer. He knew they didn’t have anything further to add to the mystery. "Thank you for calling it in," he told them as he turned to the HPD officer who had been with them when he got there.

"Morning Bill," McGarrett said to the officer.

"Morning Steve. Five-0’s going to work this case?" Officer Bill Rose asked although he already knew the answer.

"Looks like it. This is the third body to be found in this condition so far," McGarrett said as he indicated with his head that he wanted to walk a ways away from the couple for a moment. "The woman seems pretty upset. Make sure you get their addresses and phone numbers and then let them go."

"Sure thing Mr. McGarrett. I was almost done when you walked over," Officer Rose told him.

"Okay then, I’ll expect your report later today on this," McGarrett instructed him as he turned and headed back towards his car. He paused before he got into the car to take another look at the crime scene. A scene of violence had ruined the beautiful night and start of another bright Hawaiian morning. The tires of his Mercury squealed on the blacktop as he drove back to town.

It was 7:30 already. No since going back home, the paperwork had just started and he'd need every moment he could to stop this mad man. McGarrett was determined that the killer would be found and stopped before another elderly woman was found killed in the same manner.

*****

Danny had come into the office early that morning. He knew McGarrett must have been on a case the night before for his boss and friend hadn’t yet arrived and he was normally the first one there. As he sat at his desk, Danny went over his present case that he had just wrapped up. He reflected on how his informant had been so instrumental in the capture of the jewel thief.

Jenny arrived at her normal time. She noticed that the coffee had been already made. She hoped that the cups had been properly washed out before they were used again that morning. "You're early today Danny," she said to the young detective.

"Thought I'd catch up on some of the final paperwork on the Simons jewelry theft. Looks like I beat Steve in today," snickered Danny as he walked over to the coffeepot to pour himself another cup of coffee. "You know if it hadn't been for Paulie letting me know about Gearson's next capper, I probably wouldn't have been able to collar him. I hope the D. A. can now pull the case totally together and get a convection."

"They should be able to Danny. You've gathered all the necessary proof for the case ‘and’ you caught him in the act this time," Jenny said as she watched him pour a cup of coffee. Jenny wondered if he had cleaned the cup before he used it. "I do hope you washed that cup out before you used it," Jenny inquired as she got up and grabbed the cup from him.

"Ah…no. It looked clean enough when I grabbed it," he said as he took a sip.

"Danny! Those are dirty cups. Here, let me wash it out for you. You men, you need to learn how to clean up after yourselves better," teased Jenny as she picked up all the cups around the office and took them to the small kitchenette area set up for the office. Once the cups were cleaned, she took them back for the detectives to use. "Here, use a clean one."

Chin Ho Kelly, Duke Lukela and Ben Kokua arrived together. Duke had a box of donuts for the office, which Danny immediately pulled out the powdered sugar one that he liked so much.

"Danny, has Steve made it in yet?" asked the older grey haired detective. Duke had brought in the sweets all this week after he lost a bet with Ben earlier that month. There had been some friendly betting on how long Danny would stay with his previous girl friend, Nina Wong. Duke had thought Danny's new girl friend would stick it out longer, but Ben didn't think so. When the Danny's current case had caused him to missed three dates in a row, Nina had called off any further dates as she claimed that he was unreliable. The bet was, the loser had to bring in donuts every day for a week.

Danny had just taken a bite of the sugary confection. He had the powder all around his lips as he tried to clear he mouth to respond. "No, not yet Duke."

"I haven't heard from him either Duke," Jenny offered. "He was the one on call last night. Maybe he's been pulled onto a case?"

"If he did, then he might still be working it," Ben mentioned. He had chosen a large cinnamon roll from the box and then licked his fingers after he transferred the roll to a napkin.

"Hey, is there another one of those in there?" asked Jenny with a hurt look on her face.

"Don't worry Jenny, I got you one too," Duke told her as he grabbed his favorite one, a maple bar filled with cream filling.

Ben chose his favorite cup and poured himself a cup of coffee. Taking a cautious sip, Ben expected it to be strong and bitter. A surprised expression came to his face as he took another sip of the fresh brew. "Who made the coffee? It's good!" Ben asked as he took a bite of his donut.

"Danny did," Jenny told him. "He already had the coffee made when I got here this morning."

After he took another sip of the dark brew, Ben said with a smile, "Maybe we should have Danny make it all the time. The stuff Steve makes could be used as legal ink sometimes."

"Hey, wait a minute. I'm not going to make it every day. You guys could try to make it in before Steve, to make it too you know," Danny said in a teasingly hurt voice between bites of his breakfast treat.

"Well, at least you make coffee that is drinkable," Ben said. He was so occupied with what was said that he didn’t hear the door to the outer office as it was opened.

"Attacking my coffee again, I see," McGarrett said as he came into the office. The sudden appearance of McGarrett startled Ben as he took a sip of the coffee, which caused the coffee to slosh out of the cup and down the front of his shirt.

"Morning Steve," both Duke and Danny said with smiles on their faces. Ben walked over to the kitchenette to try to get the coffee out of his shirt and tie.

"Morning boss," said Jenny as she poured a cup of coffee for her boss.

"Thanks lov," McGarrett told Jenny. "Come on in gentlemen. We've got a new case as of this morning," McGarrett told his team as he walked to his office. "I just got back from another murder of a elderly woman found up at Makaha Point."

The four men followed their boss into his office. Ben was still blotting his clothes as he sat down next to Duke in one of the white chairs stationed in front of the big desk that occupied one corner of the office. Danny and Chin stood next to the desk as they watched their boss.

McGarrett walked over to the lanai doors and opened them up to let in the fragrant smells of the Hawaiian morning. It had rained lightly that morning around the Palace area. The streets glistened as the morning light hit them. The day promised to be a bit humid though as the temperatures rose steadily.

Duke sat more up when he heard the news. "That's the third one in the last two months," added Duke.

After he turned back to the office interior, McGarrett looked at each detective before he spoke. "Yeah. And this needs to be the last one gentlemen," McGarrett told his men. "We've got to catch this guy and soon. I've got a meeting with the Governor in one hour and you know what he's going to be asking."

"Danno, I want you to hit the computers. See if there have been any other similar killings here in Hawaii and on the mainland. Ben, I want you to check to see if there is some sort, any sort, of similarity between the four killings here. You know bank deposits or withdrawals, insurances bought or increased or anything else you can think of."

McGarrett looked at the file that he had on his desk. "There has to be a connection somewhere."

"You're thinking we have a serial killer then Steve?" asked Duke.

"I'm beginning to think that's the case here Duke. I want you to work closely with HPD right now. Monitor some of the radio calls and see if anyone might have something that would give a clue to who this person is. Sometimes just listening to calls could give us a tip to some sort of activity going down."

"OK, Steve," Duke said. "You think maybe someone might see something out there and not realize what he's seeing then?"

"Chin, I want you to go back to where the body was found. I know it’s a long shot, but see if there was anyone near by that might have been close enough to see or hear anything," McGarrett told the oriental detective.

Chin Ho had been with the team the longest now and been with HPD before he joined the Five-0 unit. "Don’t know if I’ll be able to find much boss. That area is pretty deserted of any homes or such."

"Give it a try anyway. You might find someone that just drove by but was asleep when shortly afterwards," McGarrett told him as he walked back over to the lanai doors and glanced out the windows to the pristine park outside. "Somewhere out there, gentlemen, there is a person or thing that takes pleasure in killing older women. I don't think their killing them for their money either. This last elderly women killed still had quite a bit of money on her when they were found."

They discussion was interrupted when the phone rang. "McGarrett!" he said after he turned back to his desk.

"Steve, I've got Doctor Bergman on the line for you," Jenny informed him.

"OK, Jenny. Doc! What do you have for me?" McGarrett asked him.

"You wanted to know if I found something. Well, I've found something," the M. E. told him.

"What Doc? What did you find?" said a frustrated and tired McGarrett.

"I found a drug in her system. I didn't believe it when I found it, so I checked the other victims. The same drug has been used in the other victims," Bergman told him. "She was unconscious long before she was killed. At least she didn't feel anything."

"Unconscious? What drug was used?" asked the head of the unit as he sat down in his chair.

"Ether!" Bergman told him with a smile in his voice. "I didn’t believe it when I first found it. The dosage was strong enough to knock her out but not cause her death. The blows did that just like I told you earlier. I’ve also fixed the time of death to be around 1 AM or so."

"Ether? How did she happen to get that?" McGarrett said as he wrote down the information.

"No, I don’t know but I also found some bruising on her body around the neck area like as if she had been strangled some before she past out," he added.

"Okay, anything else?" McGarrett asked as he added the new information to what he had already.

"Not right now. I’ve sent the clothing over to Che Fong. Maybe he can tell you where she was before she was killed," Bergman told him.

"Thanks Doc. If you find anything else, let me know," McGarrett told him. He looked back at his team after he hung up and asked, "Let’s get hitting the bushes gentlemen. We’ve got a sadistic killer to find before he can kill again."

*****

Beverly Fanelli was an elderly widow. Her husband had died four years ago. He had been very successful and had left her very well off, but she had a problem. She was very lonely. She had tried to join different groups but when they found she had lots of money, it seemed to her like all they wanted was her money and not her help. Fed up with this type of treatment she decided to stick to a small group for friends who were also elderly widows.

Her home was very elaborate and her immense garden was large enough to need a full time grounds keeper. Fortunately she had been able to hire a man that had come to her from the recommendations of another woman she knew.

Victor Leavell had come highly recommended. The other gardens and grounds he had taken care of in the past had been award winners. When he landed the job with Mrs. Fanelli he thought all his problems had been solved. Here he could have his privacy and work doing the job he loved the best, raising award winning roses.

Mrs. Fanelli had given Victor free rein to do what ever was needed for his work. The only thing he hated was when she would have garden parties and the guest would tromp through his work, touching and fondling the tender buds and flowers.

There had been several elderly women in particular who seemed to love to pick his most prized ones too. These women bothered Victor the most, so when they asked him if he could come over and see theirs he took it as a way of curing this persistent problem.

Victor had learned some time ago that if the delicate roses were sprinkled with a light dusting of powdered ether, the bugs died almost immediately. So what he did was to take a selected group of his prized roses and sprinkle them liberally with the drug. Then when they invited him into their homes, he would present the roses to them. The drug would be inhaled as the woman took a deep sniff of the beautiful bouquet and would then pass out.

With his victim unconscious, Victor went back to his truck and retrieved a blanket or tarp so he could wrap them in it before he carried them back to his truck. Quickly he drove off the property to a secluded area where he felt safe from prying eyes. After he stopped, would quickly he pulled the woman from the back of his truck and drag her off a ways. He then returned to the truck for the club he had stashed there earlier.

Twice while Victor had gone for the club two of the women started to come out of their drugged sleep so he had no other choice but to strangle them to knock them out again. He then took the club and began to beat his victim about their head until he was positive they were dead. He now would drag the body further away from the scene and left them. And when he was back home, he’d take the club and blanket and stick them in a pile of debris to be burned later that same day.

All of this happened without Mrs. Fanelli ever being aware that those few friends she did have were being murdered by someone she trusted.

*****

Chin Ho was having absolutely no luck in finding anyone who might have seen or heard anything that morning. He was leaving a potential lead that had fizzled out when he saw an old beat up truck that had some very battered and ragged tires on it. The truck, parked in front of an estate, had a huge gash in the left rear tire. He noted the license plate numbers and called them in.

"Central, need owner id on a 1954 Chevy truck, license numbers T 10549," Chin Ho told them.

He watched the truck for a few minutes while he waited for a reply. "Central to Detective Kelly. The 1954 Chevy truck belongs to a Victor Leavell, age 62, height 5’ 9", weight 190, lives at the estate of one Mrs. Beverly Fanelli. There are no wants or warrants on him," the dispatcher told him.

"Okay thanks, patch me through to McGarrett now," the oriental detective asked.

"McGarrett, Chin what do you have?" the Five-0 chief asked.

"Steve, I’m not sure but I think I found the vehicle used. It’s an old 1954 Chevy truck that has a large gash in the left rear tire. I ran the plate through HPD and it shows it owned by a Victor Leavell, who works for a Mrs. Beverly Fanelli. But I haven’t seen anyone near it yet," Chin Ho told him.

"Okay Chin, don’t do anything yet. Just observe him. I’ll get someone out there to relieve you in a few hours," McGarrett instructed him.

"Right Steve," Chin Ho replied back before signing off. He didn’t have long to wait before he saw a man, that matched the description, get into the truck and drive it onto the estate. The high bushes around the front of the estate prevented him from seeing where the truck was driven. ‘I hope this is the only way out of that place,’ he thought to himself as he filled his pipe and lit it.

*****

Victor had just finished with the large hibiscus bushes in front. His various gardening chores took a lot of his time from his beloved roses. Whenever he had the time, he would go to the chemical supply house where he bought his special ingredients he used on all of the foliage located on the estate.

With the front shrubbery taken care of for that week, he now went into his garden shed to make up another batch of dust for the roses. As he gathered the ingredients, he notice that he was very low on the powdered ether. "Oh shoot, I’ll have to go over to Connelly’s again and get some more," he said aloud to himself as he took out his wallet to make sure he had enough money to cover the expensive chemical.

Victor was upset some when he noticed he was very short of funds. "I’ll need to ask Mrs. Fanelli for some more money," he mumbled to himself as he walked to the main house.

Mrs. Fanelli was going over some of the gardening bills when Victor knocked on the door. "Mrs. Fanelli, can I talk to you?" he asked as he twisted and played with his cap he had removed before entering the lavishly decorated home.

Beverly looked up from her paperwork, removed her reading glasses as she smiled at her gardener. "Yes Victor, come on in. Please sit down. I’ve been needing to talk to you," she said as she pulled out a sheet of paper from the stack on her desk.

Victor carefully sat down on the plush covered chair as if he was afraid of getting it dirty. Nervously he looked around the room before directing his attention to the elderly lady sitting behind the huge dark oak desk.

The lady and he had had some disagreements lately about the amount of unusual supplies he had requested. When she didn’t give him the money the last time, he had paid for the chemicals himself. When he had shown her how well the mixture worked she agreed that he should continue doing what he was for the roses.

"Victor, I’ve been going over the expenses again you’ve had for the roses. It seems you’ve used a lot of that one chemical lately," Beverly said as she handed him a worksheet that showed all of the expenditures for the last two months.

"Well…yes, I’ve had to buy extra lately. The thrips and aphids seem to be really heavy right now, Mrs. Fanelli. This mixture is all that works to control them," Victor told her with a half-hearted lie. He didn’t want to tell her what else he had been using it for lately.

"Can’t you use some other chemical that isn’t as expensive?" Beverly asked him.

"Not really. I’ve tried others and they don’t work as well," Victor replied in a tense voice. He was now worried that she wouldn’t give him the money and he didn’t know what he would do to protect his prized roses.

"Victor, do me a favor. Try another chemical for a month. If that doesn’t work then you can go back to your original one," Beverly told him as she filed the paperwork back after he had handed it to her.

Victor didn’t know what to do or say, so he silently got up and headed for the door. Just as he reached the door Beverly remembered that he was there for some reason.

"Victor, you didn’t say what it was you wanted," she said as she looked up at him over her reading glasses she had put back on.

"I was going…er…to ask you if…" Victor stammered for a moment not knowing if he should say what he really wanted. "Mrs. Fanelli, I’ve been buying the chemical myself now for several months, ever since we had had that one disagreement. I’m short of money right now and was hoping you would give me some," he finally said trying to sound natural so not to start another argument.

Beverly raised her head at this unexpected bravado on her gardener’s part. She had never heard him talk to her in that tone and she didn’t like it very much. "Victor, as we just discussed, I want some other chemical used on those roses. If you can’t do as I ask, then you will need to find other place of employment," she told him in a very firm tone.

Victor’s eyes narrowed at her suggestions. Her threat of termination upset him greatly. The thought of not being with his prized roses so upset him that he thought he might have to do something drastic. He just stood at the doorway leading from the room and looked at her as a protective rage started to build within him.

"Victor, do you understand what I’ve said?" Beverly said again as she stood up from her desk in an authoritative stance.

"Yes," Victor replied as he quickly left the house and walked directly out to his shop. The walk back to the garden had allowed him to figure out a plan on how he could continue to work on his roses but not having his meddlesome boss interfere. On several occasions, Mrs. Fanelli had told him to charge these expenses to her accounts at various garden supply places.

In his mind he hatched out a plan to rid himself of his problem. He knew the roses were owned by Mrs. Fanelli but he considered them his. With frame of mind, he had to protect them from her evil intentions and that he had enough supply for one more batch. "I’ll deliver a special bouquet to her this evening. When she bends down to smell them and sees how beautiful they are she’ll understand why it is necessary to put the mixture on them," he reasoned with himself. Carefully and reverently, he walked in amongst his rose bushes. Their heady perfume smelled beautiful to him. Occasionally he would clip off a rose that had gone pass its perfection. After each cut he would use a special sealer that he always carried with him along with the other needed small tools he used in his trade.

"Oh now look at you, you’ve allowed your pedals to fall," he said to one of the roses as if it was his child as he cut one of the expired blooms off. "You’ll just have to be more careful. Next time tell me when you’re going to do that sweetheart. I’ll take care of you so that you won’t look so bad," he rambled on talking to the bush as if it was a living being.

Victor made he way through the bushes until he came upon one that had deep red roses whose fragrance was very strong and heady. "These will do just fine for what I have in mind. Mine you, I don’t want to cut you, but in order to protect you from the pests I must do this. She will see how beautiful you are and take a deep sniff of your scent and then your troubles will be all gone," he told the rose bush as he cut several of the long stemmed roses off and gently laid them in a pile.

Before he left the bush, he sprinkled the ground around it with one of the many fertilizers that he had packaged and put in on of his pockets. As he gently moved the soil over the granules he noticed a small weed that had taken root near the base of the bush. "Oh my god, what the devil are you doing? Be gone you vile thing," he exclaimed out loud and enraged that such a plant would dare to try to grow in his garden. Quickly he pulled the hapless weed from the ground and placed in his the paper bag he carried to be discarded into the trash.

Carefully, he picked up the cut bouquet and carried them back to the garden shed. There he cut the stems on an angle and lightly pressed the ends of the stem to expose more of the interior of the stalk so that the roses would last longer in water. He then crushed an aspirin and dissolved it in the water to aid the roses to stay fresh and keep their fragrance longer. He then placed the exposed ends of the stalks into the prepared water.

"She always liked this vase," Victor told himself as he walked over to a well-supplied shelf of vases and removed a tall crystal vase. Carefully, he washed it to remove all traces of dust and any other types of residue that it might have been exposed to. Once the vase was clean to his taste, he prepared the water for the roses and then transferred them over to it.

Now he went over to the chemical and took the container down from the shelf and placed it near the roses. He made sure to put his facemask on because he didn’t want to inhale the chemical. Then with infinite care he poured small amount of the chemical into a shifter and ever so carefully sprinkled the roses with it. When he was sure that the blooms had a good coating of the almost transparent chemical, he removed his mask and walked back to his small home to change into cleaner clothes for the evening. He planned on putting the roses in the study of his employer later that day when he watered all the houseplants.

*****

"Central connect me to McGarrett," Chin Ho said into his mic as he started his car and followed the truck that had just left the Fanelli estate that evening.

"McGarrett," his boss’ voice came back to him after a few minutes. "What do you have Chin?"

"Steve, I’m following that truck down Kalapolina Blvd. and there is a large item covered by what looks like to me a rug or something in the back of it," Chin Ho told him. He was concerned as to what he thought might be covered by that rug.

"Keep following him Chin. I’ll have HPD check out the estate and see if Mrs. Fanelli is okay," McGarrett told him as he got up and walked over to the side of his desk near his coat rack. "We’ll catch up with you. Keep us informed as to where he’s going and don’t lose him," he said just before he hung up, not allowing Chin Ho a chance to reply. Quickly he grabbed his gun from the holster to make sure it was fully loaded before he stuck it back into the holster and put the holster on over his shoulder. Then on the run, he pulled the coat off the rack and was putting it on as he left his office.

"Danno, Ben, Duke, come on. Chin Ho might have our killer," McGarrett said as he lead the way out of the office at a dead run with the other detectives hot on his heels.

Danny had barely closed the door of the black mercury when McGarrett floored it. The first few wild turns his boss made had him scrambling for handholds to keep from sliding all over as they drove towards Diamond Head.

Twenty minutes into the drive, the car radio came alive. "Central calling McGarrett. Central calling McGarrett," the dispatcher said with a sense of urgency to her voice.

McGarrett reached forward and grabbed hold of the mic just as he turned a corner at a high rate of speed which caused him to have to drop the mic in order to gain control of the speeding car as it started to skid out of control. "Damn it. Danno, get that," he sharply told his passenger as he fought the steering wheel to gain control of the powerful speeding machine.

At first Danny had to find a handhold to prevent him from sliding over into his boss, but once he was able to stop his own slide he reached down and picked up the mic. "Go ahead Central," he said as he grabbed the door rest as he started to slid again across the seat when McGarrett made another fast turn.

"HPD reports that they were unable to find Mrs. Fanelli anywhere on the estate and that they found a broken vase and some roses on the floor in the house and a container of powdered ether in the garden shed elsewhere on the property," the dispatcher told him.

"I knew it," McGarrett said loudly as he punched the steering wheel with his right hand and stepped harder on the accelerator. With more gas being given the black mercury’s engine it jumped even more as they raced down Kalakaua Blvd. towards Kalapolina Blvd. "Danno, there he is," he told him as he spotted the old beat up Chevy truck ahead of them.

Chin Ho already had his lights and sirens going after he had heard the broadcast from the dispatcher. When he saw McGarrett’s car quickly catch up with him, he moved over to allowed his boss to go ahead of him.

At the first sound of the sirens, Victor became spooked. The old Chevy truck wasn’t designed for speed and he knew it. So he tried instead to prevent the cars behind him from getting in front. Several times he swerved across the road to stop the black car from passing him. Each time the tactic worked and the black car backed off. He knew if he could reach a certain dirt road that he would have a better chance of losing his pursuers.

McGarrett and Danny watched in horror as they saw the bundle in the back of the truck being thrown wildly back and forth and getting closer and closer to edge of the bed. There was a real danger of it being tossed out entirely.

"Danno, if he hits a bump…" McGarrett started to say only to be interrupted as the truck finally did hit a bump, which sent the bundle flying from the rear of the truck bed. He quickly forced the steering wheel to the right to avoid hitting the bundle that now lay in the middle of the road.

Danny looked back and saw that the others had successfully avoided it as well. "Everyone missed her Steve," he said with a sigh of relief and keyed the mic he still had in his hand. "Central, get an ambulance over to Kalapolina Blvd just before…" he said as he quickly looked at a street sign as the car rushed passed it, "Iverson Avenue." He had barely gotten out his message when he saw two HPD units stop just beyond the bundle and was blocking traffic to protect the injured victim from any further danger.

"It’s okay Steve someone is with her and an ambulance is on its way," Danny told him as he turned back to the front of the car. The next few miles were crazy as Victor tried again and again to elude his pursuers by swerving all over the road. The speed they were going was too fast and he knew the old truck wouldn’t be able to keep it up for much longer. Just as he expected on one of the swerves, the truck went to far to the right and hit the soft dirt but the killer was able to maintain control and got it back on the road just in time to prevent the black car from passing him now on the left.

Victor was totally unnerved at what was going on. Every move he had tried to make didn’t work and the dirt road he wanted was still a ways away. To make matter worse, the red engine light on the dash had been on now for some time indicating that the engine was over heating. He knew soon he would be forced to stop.

Again the big black car tried to get around him on the right. He swung the steer wheel over hard to block it, but he had over estimated how close he was to the side of the road. But this time when the tire again hit the soft dirt it jerked the steering wheel out of his hands. Desperately he grabbed the steering wheel in the attempt to control the truck. Right when he thought he had it made he heard a soft explosion as the worn out left front tire blew, which threw the truck onto it’s left side and into a series of rolls.

When the truck was thrown onto it’s left side, Victor’s head hit the windshield and then the top of the interior of the cab. Several times he was almost totally thrown out of the truck. As the truck flipped for a final time, his found himself in a bad way. His neck was stretched across the top of the steering wheel, just as the roof of the truck came crashing in on him as the truck made its final roll. The force of the landing snapped his neck as the truck came to its final resting spot.

The energy of the rolls had torn the engine from its housing and one of the old fuel lines from the engine compartment. The broken fuel line started spraying gas onto the hot engine, which quickly ignited and when the flames reached the gas tank and the entire truck erupted into flames.

McGarrett had seen Victor begin to loose control of his truck and had stepped down hard on his brakes as he pulled the Mercury to the left out of the way of the rolling truck. Both Danny and he quickly exited their car and started to run towards the truck. They were hardly half way there when they had to stop and run for cover when they saw the beginning of the flames. They had both barely gone a few steps when the tank exploded. The force of the explosion sent them flying for several feet.

Chin Ho pulled his car to a stop right behind McGarrett’s. He had also exited his car when he saw his friends blown off their feet and roll a couple of times on the road before they stopped. Upon reaching them he found them slightly dazed but otherwise unhurt as he helped them to their feet. Ben and Duke quickly came up stood beside them as they watched in horror the flames totally enveloped the killer’s truck.

"Ben call, the fire department. It’s too late to help the driver, but we need to get these flames knocked down," McGarrett told him as he accepted Chin Ho’s assistance back over to his own car and leaned on it for more support.

Duke had his arm around Danny’s waist as he escorted his dazed friend to the car and then helped him sit down inside. "Stay there Danny until help arrives," he said as he ran to the other side of the mercury and reached in to grab the mic. "Central, this is Lukela. Send another ambulance to the same location. We’ve got two detectives injured," he told the dispatcher just before he keyed off the mic and ran back over to his boss.

"I’m okay Duke. How’s Danno?" McGarrett asked when he saw the worried expression in the man’s eyes.

"I’m fine Steve," Danny said for himself as he checked himself over for injuries. "Just some bumps and bruises, I think," he added when he found left wrist was very sore to the touch. "What about you? How are you?"

McGarrett moved his body parts to see if everything was fine but when he moved his right elbow he flinched a little. "I’m okay. My elbow hurts a little but other then that I’m fine," he replied as he walked over to his second-in-command who was still sitting in the car.

Just as he reached Danny, the car radio squawked again. "Central to McGarrett. Central to McGarrett," the dispatcher called out.

"I’ll get it Steve," Duke said as he ran to the other side of the car. "This is Lukela, go ahead Central," he replied.

"Tell McGarrett that Mrs. Fanelli is alive and being taken to Queens," the dispatcher relayed to him.

McGarrett and everyone smiled at this bit of news. "Information received and it’s good to hear she’s alive," Duke told her with a sigh of relief.

*****

Doctor Bergman had his hands full. This time he had the two most difficult members of the Five-0 team to deal with in regards to injuries. Instead of using two rooms he decided to have both men in the same room.

Danny’s injuries were very minor. Mostly just bumps and bruises, but he had sprained his left wrist, which was now in a stiff bandage and his arm in a sling. He also had a bump on his head and an ice bag being held there with his right hand.

McGarrett’s injuries weren’t serious but he had managed to break his right forearm near the elbow. The nurse had just finished helping him put the arm in a cast. Once the cast was set, she adjusted the sling, which would help prevent the Five-0 chief from moving it about too much.

"Steve, you realize I should keep both of you here over night," Bergman told him as he finished with the paperwork on his two patients. "Can I at least get you ‘not’ to use that arm for a few weeks?" he asked knowing that if he was lucky McGarrett would rest that arm for a few days at best.

"Okay Doc. I get the point," McGarrett replied with a smile as he rubbed the sore arm a little. "How is Mrs. Fanelli?" he asked wanting to know of the elderly woman’s condition.

"Doctor Renee Mc Clain has been assigned to her case Steve. I will check with her to see when you can see her," Bergman told him as he walked over to the door to leave. "Right now though, you two have some very concerned people who want to see you," he informed them as he held the door open to admit the other detectives of the team in along with Jenny.

"Steve. Danny. How are you two?" Duke asked for the group.

"Scraped, bruised and slightly broken," McGarrett told him as he pointed to his casted arm.

"Ow," Jenny exclaimed as she shifted McGarrett’s coat better onto his shoulders as he tried to put it on. "How about you Danny?" she asked with a motherly concern.

"The same but not broken," Danny replied with a smile as he folded his coat and put in over his shoulder without trying to put it on.

"I’ve checked with Mrs. Fanelli’s doctor. She said she’s going to be okay. She’ll have some bad bruises and a broken arm but she should be okay in a few weeks," Ben informed his boss as the group followed McGarrett out of the hospital emergency room and into the hall. They all walked down to the nurses’ station where McGarrett asked which room Mrs. Fanelli was in.

"She’s in room 318. I’ll check with the doctor to see if she can have visitors yet," the nurse told the Five-0 chief as she called Dr. Mc Clain’s office. After a brief discussion the nurse told him it would be okay for him to visit for a short time and that Dr. Bergman had already told Dr. Mc Clain that they wanted to see her.

The others had chosen to stay in the hall as the two men entered the hospital room. The elderly woman in the bed was sitting up. She had a bandage on her forehead and her left arm had a cast on it and was supported by a sling. "Mr. McGarrett, how nice it is for you to come see this old beat up lady," Mrs. Fanelli told him with a smile and twinkle in her eye that clearly showed she still had a lot of spunk.

"I’m glad to see that you made it out okay. You’ve been through a big ordeal," McGarrett softly told her as he held her right hand in both of his.

"Yes," Mrs. Fanelli replied and looked questioningly at his right arm and Danny’s left.

McGarrett realized what her eyes were asking and replied, "These? They will heal. Our main concern was you," he told her and looked over at Danny who nodded his head in agreement.

"We’ve sustained worse before," Danny informed her with a smile and a wink.

"Victor was the killer of those other women, wasn’t he?" Mrs. Fanelli asked without beating an eye and in a very straight and serious face. "He’s dead isn’t he?" she asked with a catch in her throat but she knew the answer before they could tell her.

"Yes he is dead Mrs. Fanelli," Danny quietly told her unsure how she would react to the news. When she didn’t react he continued. "We’re not one hundred percent sure yet but it looks like he was our killer. But we’re at a loss over his motive," he told her. "Do you have any idea why he would kill them," Danny asked her.

Mrs. Fanelli didn’t answer for a moment as she thought back to her three friends who had been found so brutally murdered. A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek and melted onto her hospital gown as she took a deep breath. "Yes, I think I know why. You see Victor didn’t have any friends. He sort of thought of the plants on my estate as his children," she said as she started to explain her thoughts. "I guess I’m partially at fault. You see, whenever I had guests over I’d take them to see the gardens. Well, the roses are the best anywhere on Oahu. They’ve won several awards for their beauty and fragrance. One of the secrets to their success was a mixture that Victor used to keep the bugs away. He had told me what was in them but I’m not a chemist so I never really understood. Naturally my guests loved to handle the roses and smell them."

She took another long breath and didn’t continue for some time. McGarrett thought that maybe that was all she was going to tell them, so he asked her, "This mixture, is that what he used the powdered either in?"

Mrs. Fanelli nodded her head and continued with her explanation. "Yes, Mr. McGarrett. You see Victor was awfully protective of those roses. He hated it when anyone, even myself, touched them. He said to touch them would start the pedals to wilt faster. It wasn’t until I started to look at my gardening expense account that I realized that a large amount of that chemical from this one gardening store had been bought recently. That was just about the time when Wilma died. He had gone over there shortly before that because she wanted him to see how he could improve her garden. Before he went he had asked me if it would be ok for him to take her some of the deep red roses she was so fond of in the garden."

"So you had no idea that he might have been her killer?" Danny asked her.

"No Mr. Williams, I didn’t. I didn’t even make the connection after Thelma had been killed. It wasn’t until Juliann’s brutal murder was in the newspaper that I started to wonder. That’s when I started to check the gardening supplies that he had been ordering," Mrs. Fanelli told him as another tear followed the same track at the first. The elderly woman started to reach for a tissue but couldn’t reach the box. Danny picked it up for her and held the box as she pulled one out. "Thank you young man. I’m glad to see that chivalry is still around."

"My pleasure," Danny replied quietly as he put the box on the side table so it would be closer for her to reach.

"What are your plans now Mrs. Fanelli?" McGarrett asked her. He hadn’t said anything while she told her story and now wanted to know what her plans were.

"I’m not totally sure yet Mr. McGarrett, but I can tell you that I will have someone else come in and remove all those roses. I could never bear to look at them knowing that they were one of the reasons for my friends deaths," Mrs. Fanelli responded as she tried to be brave in front of these men who where so instrumental in saving her life.

"Yes, I can understand. After all ‘A rose by any other name, smells as sweet’, but in this case they held a deadly scent all their own," McGarrett told her before bidding her goodbye.