S012E17 - “A Bird In Hand...” - Plot

Act One

Honolulu Island Tours is on a bird watching expedition through some cane fields. One young man (Paul Dennis Martin) on the tour can't believe he's on the same tour as Marty Watts (Randy Ruff) and his wife, Julie Mae (Sylvia Clinger). The woman (Lara Parker) next to him is covering their honeymoon. The bus/jalopy blows a tire and the driver brings it to a safe stop. Another passenger (Seth Sakai) talks about honeycreepers. While changing the tire, some of the people go off a short distance to take pictures. An old sugar mill gains their attention as a man (John Dehner) lying in a chaise out front suddenly realizes all the pictures. The man calls Grebbs (Jim Reynolds) to start taking care of these people and their pictures. Grebbs tells him they're a bird watching tour. The man isn't satisfied and orders him to get Klieber (George Fisher). The pair goes to the tour company's home base and photographs all the bird watchers. A couple of fans ask for Marty's autograph as the bird watchers go their separate ways. The pair is joined by a third guy (Edward Vierra). Angie is the photographer following Marty and Julie Mae around. She packs her cameras into her little car and leaves.

In her apartment, Angie comes out of the shower and noticed her back door is open. Walking into another room, she's on high alert especially when she sees the glass cut near her lock. Various photos adorn her wall including one of McGarrett when he tried to thwart a payroll robbery about seven years before. The radio talks in the background and gives out the breaking news of Marty and Julie Mae being killed in a car crash about ten minutes before. Angie tells her editor Tom (Angus Duncan) and how he wants her to go photograph the car before HPD takes it away. Also, the bus driver on the tour recently died as well in an accident. Apparently he fell down some steps and broke his neck. Angie is stunned in disbelief.

In his office, McGarrett talks to Angie when she goes to see him. She tells him about Marty, Julie Mae, the bus driver and the break-in at her place. McGarrett puts Kimo on the case to look into what happened, "and make it a good look". He also puts Truck onto what happened with the bus driver.

At the accident site, Angie takes pictures of the car while Kimo talks to the HPD officer (George Groues). They were thrown clear but the car went over a low rate of speed. Kimo takes Angie in his car away from the scene but not before Klieber pulls up and radios the third guy where she is. The third guy is in a semi truck and soon chases Kimo and Angie eventually forcing them off the road.

Act Two

At Five-O, McGarrett receives the cause of death for Marty and Julie Mae: blows to the back of the head. Truck walks into McGarrett's office with a third "no-accident" as the bus driver was also murdered: his neck was broken before the fall. McGarrett asks Luana (Laura Sode) to patch him to Kimo. They discuss the killings and the fact that the semi driver purposely forced them off the road. The only connection is the tour bus so they plan to meet at the tour company for a passenger list but by the time McGarrett and Kimo arrive; it's been burned to the ground. According to Angie, the people on the tour were: "a middle-aged couple from Kansas, a young Hawaiian student. And a Japanese professor who knew all about birds". McGarrett will take Angie to the university while he sets Kimo and Truck onto the various hotel desks to see if anyone asked about a bird watching tour. Klieber, who has watched everything, calls to the mill about the latest.

Grebbs returns to the mill with a pile of photographs, still wet from development. The man wants the shipment to go via air and not wait on the freighter. "Five-O has been brought into this" and he's not interested in tangling with McGarrett.

At the university, McGarrett and Angie find the professor. His office has been ransacked but nothing's stolen. The only other person he knew on the tour was a student, Johnny Salomao. The professor doesn't' know where he lives but knows he'll be surfing off Coco Head in the morning.

At the beach, Johnny sets up his girlfriend on the beach before taking his board out. Johnny catches a few waves as his girlfriend looks up every once in a while. The last time she looks up, Johnny's board flips in the surf and he's nowhere to be seen. She calls out several times with no response. Nearby, the same guy who tried to run Kimo and Angie off the road, climbs out of the surf with a tank on looking over when Johnny is found unresponsive on the beach. By the time McGarrett and Angie arrive, there are two HPD units on scene. The officer informs McGarrett it was a drowning. Angie identifies him as the student on the tour.

Act Three

In McGarrett's office, he's struggling to find the common thread. Johnny had been in a fight with a big local when the guy tried to rob them. Johnny took care of him, throwing him out. Sadly, Truck has had no luck finding the couple from Kansas. McGarrett hands Truck Johnny's girlfriend's address to check it out. Angie shows them the route they took and nothing unusual there. But when McGarrett asks if anything out of the ordinary happened or if the tour took on additional passengers, she recalls the flat tire near the old sugar mill. She also tells him just about everybody had a camera.

They go to Angie's apartment where she finds all the film has been exposed. Truck calls to say the prowler came back and Johnny's camera and film are missing. McGarrett tells him to get with HPD and see if Marty's and Julie Mae's cameras and film are missing as well. When asked if this is all her film, Angie suddenly remembers her 110 camera. She finds the film is still intact and they take it to be developed at the HPD lab.

The lab was only able to produce two photographs. However, the man is clearly visible in one of the photos and Rudy, the lab technician will start work to bring out the face. With this information in hand, McGarrett leaves with a new angle of attack.

Kimo drives out to the abandoned mill posing as a building inspector. The man in charge orders Grebbs to "be friendly" and expected somebody long before now. Grebbs says they rented the place short-term from Trans-Allied Sugar. They're only using part of the mill. As Grebbs leads Kimo around, Klieber reports in that most of the film has been destroyed but the couple from Kansas can't be found. That's not good enough for the man in charge, who demands they be found and their film taken. He then asks about Angie to which Klieber replies, "but, Herr Del Vecchi, we have destroyed her film". Del Vecchi wants Angie brought to the mill because she may know something as Del Vecchi suspects she's working for Five-O. Meantime, Kimo wraps up his 'inspection' by tossing down the clipboard and having Grebbs initial something. When he picks up the board, Kimo makes sure to pick up a shipping label.

Angie and Tom talk about their next move. Tom suggests she do a reroute of Marty and Julie Mae's honeymoon. If she doesn't do it, someone else will. Angie agrees, grabbing her bags to leave. She gets into her car and the guy who tried to get her before, holds a knife to her and forces her to drive to the mill.

Act Four

Kimo hands McGarrett a shipping label from the mill. McGarrett is confused as to why anyone would want to airlift canned pineapple to Paraguay. Truck walks in with the enhanced photos and the pieces begin to fall into place. McGarrett identifies the man, as Anthony Del Vecchi who Kimo says has been dead for years. McGarrett now has $100 million worth of motive. They leave to find out for sure.

At the mill, the workers are paid off and go about their lives. Meanwhile, Angie is dragged upstairs by Santos, his name finally revealed! Del Vecchi talks to her on the radio wondering how long she's been working for Five-O. He's sure she was out to get a picture of him and he's unwilling to tell her his name. She tries to run but Santos quickly subdues her.

McGarrett and Kimo arrive at the mill. They're subtle in their arrival without Grebbs and Klieber realizing until it's too late. They figure out Del Vecchi exchanged the cash for a precious metal or jewels in order to sneak it out of the country. Opening a can, they discover he's using gold. Del Vecchi calls down as Grebbs and Klieber disagree whether there's another case. Too late, McGarrett and Kimo subdue them, locking them into a room. McGarrett takes control of the radio demanding Del Vecchi surrender. Santos drags out Angie. Del Vecchi wants McGarrett to leave and is willing to release her if McGarrett complies. McGarrett sends Kimo to the next level as Angie fights her way free by biting Santos but getting punched in the face. Kimo jumps Santos freeing Angie once and for all. McGarrett runs for the truck and begins driving it out. Del Vecchi doesn't want to watch his loot go away, he runs after it falling to his death when a railing gives way.

As they walk out, McGarrett recites poetry before telling Kimo to take her home and to call HPD and the coroner. McGarrett will stay behind until it can all be processed.