S08E04 - “Target? The Lady” - Plot

Act One

A woman (Susan Dey) arrives at an apartment building where she goes to a man's (Todd Armstrong) apartment. He's happy to see "Suzy" who isn't thrilled to be there or to see Curt. She tells him she needs answers but he's more interested in some hanky-panky, which she has no interest in. She tells Curt he's been the subject of a lot of chatter in Las Vegas and she only knows because she was in "the wrong place at the right time". The bosses in Vegas believe he's been skimming and she confronts him about that fact. Curt threatens to say Suzy was in on it with because they "know about us. Our thing". Suzy has a way out though, to go to the police even though she'll face one to five years in prison! Curt won't let her leave and she goes to the drawer where he keeps his gun. She holds it on him and as Curt closes in, the gun discharges! Suzy runs out only to find two men walking off the elevator. She takes off running with one (Jake Hoopai) chasing her as the other (Andrew Prine) enters Curt's apartment. Curt is still alive, crawling for the phone but the man shoots him dead after Curt calls for an ambulance.

Suzy runs out of the building jumping into her Mustang and driving off as the man gives chase in a big green car. Back in the apartment, the killer takes Suzy's purse, the case with the money and both guns before leaving. Suzy is scared out of her mind as she drives trying to get away. Suzy parks and takes off running in a dress and heels with the man not too far behind. She decides to be sneaky hiding behind a wall as the man runs past and goes to a nearby building never seen by him.

McGarrett arrives at the apartment as Danno and Doc (Al Eban) are already there. Doc briefs Curt was hit with two slugs, one short range, the other at least ten feet away and straight into the heart. Danno comments the money laundering business isn't safe anymore but the problem is another Curt will be found: Transoceanic Development is still cleaning the money. McGarrett asks if the slugs are recoverable, which Doc says they are and he'll get with Che (Harry Endo) when he recovers them.

Suzy buys other clothes so she's now in a shirt and jeans and catches a bus. Meanwhile, McGarrett goes through the closet in Curt's apartment immediately noticing the women's clothing as Chin reports a witness saw a woman enter the place five to ten minutes before they got the call. The witness also says she was driving a gold Mustang convertible. McGarrett tells Chin to get out an APB and see if they can find out anything more on the woman and car. McGarrett shows Danno the clothing, which doesn't match with Curt being a bachelor. McGarrett wants the place taken apart to hopefully discover a motive.

The bus stops at a beach where various vendors sell their wares. Suzy crosses the street to talk to a puka seller (Sherry Williams) trying to find a "Rob Bradshaw" (Brendan Burns). A guy named Bo (Jim Simpson) walks up with his surfboard knowing a "Rob the Glasser" and drives Suzy to where he lives.

In an office, a man (Robert Witthans) goes off on the two who chased Suzy and killed Curt. The chaser tells Mr. Brolin it couldn't be helped. When the killer asks Brolin if he's going to be "rehashing the insignificant," Brolin tells Hatch there is nothing "insignificant" about Suzy: "knows drop points, she knows names. My name". Hatch says there's no place for her to go especially without money or identification. Even if she were to go to the police, the story is moot. Hatch is confident he'll find her and kill her with Brolin remaining a hero. The phone buzzes: McGarrett is there to see Brolin who tells his receptionist it'll be a few minutes. Brolin tells Hatch in no uncertain terms he better get the job done and McGarrett is "the biggest reason you damn well better be resourceful". He directs them out a side door.

Suzy knocks on a door walking through a beach house to a man working on a surfboard out back. Suzy finds who she's looking for: her brother. It's been three years since they've seen each other and he's shocked to see her. They sit and catch up as she tells him she's leaving Vegas behind and "sort of in between, I guess". When she tells him she's passing through, he gets ticked off and she comes clean with needing a couple of hundred dollars. Another man named Jeff (Marc Singer) knocks and interrupts their conversation, which Rob calls a "family quarrel". Jeff introduces himself to Susan who really isn't interested looking out at the surf. Jeff conducts the business he needs to with Rob leaving Susan behind.

In Brolin's office, McGarrett listens as Brolin gives him only part of the story but McGarrett knows he won't share more "because it isn't in your best interests". McGarrett lays it out for Brolin: by being uncooperative, it tells McGarrett the woman may know more than first believed and something Brolin and his cronies in Vegas may find "embarrassing". McGarrett tells him it's only a matter of time before things fall apart and they'll be ready.

Rob and Jeff load the boards into the back of Jeff's truck with two more in the garage. Jeff pays Rob for the boards leaving his wallet in his backpack, which Susan sees. When they walk to the garage, Susan moves to steal some cash and runs!

Act Two

Hatch and Kimo the chaser go to Susan's hotel discovering she's checked into room 415. Hatch goes to the room alone finding her letter to Rob where she wrote to him saying she was leaving the Vegas crowd behind. Hatch takes the letter and leaves.

Susan runs back to the bus stop only to have Jeff catch up to her. Jeff offers her a ride into town that she accepts. As they drive, Jeff breaks the ice asking about her life in Vegas. He tells her he's into surfboard manufacturing and wants to take her by the shop. She refuses saying she has some things to do and a plane to catch giving him an opportunity to ask about the money she stole. He figures she's got a good reason for taking it. They stop at the shop because Jeff is going to work. Susan takes the money getting out of the truck.

HPD goes through Curt's apartment with one officer finding a safe deposit box key inside an art frame. Meanwhile, Hatch and Kimo check out the address on the letter to Rob but he doesn't live there anymore. Hatch talks to a guy working on his car but he has no idea where Rob moved to because there's a lot of traffic in and out of previous place. The owner is nowhere to be found either. Hatch walks to Kimo to give the place a thorough inspection.

In McGarrett's office, he pins a picture of a slug on his corkboard next to a second one. Che confirms it is a .32 caliber with Danno saying Curt had a registered .32 caliber gun but Curt didn't fire it because there were no powder burns on his hands. However, the 9-millimeter is the one that killed him: the .32 would cause bleeding but was not fatal. The biggest problem is that neither gun was recovered, which is like a professional "except pros don't usually struggle with their victims". McGarrett says two slugs only means one thing: two separate suspects. The phone rings: Duke (Herman Wedemeyer) says HPD got lucky with the key as it belongs to a box used by "Richard Enders". McGarrett tells him to see Judge Airioshi to secure a warrant to see what's inside.

Susan enters the shop where she gives him the money back. Jeff gives a quick introduction to the workers before showing her out. He gives her the money back and shows kindness she isn't used to. He tells her a bus should be by any minute and to take it to the Hawaii Kai Center to catch a bus to the airport as they run every half-hour.

Hatch and Kimo complete their search and as they walk out, the guy working on his car tells them Jack (Wes Chong) knew Rob's roommate Kenny (Dana Yoshimara) who is working at a shave ice stand in Hawaii Kai.

Act Three

Susan arrive at a gas station asking the attendant (Marc Baxley) about the next bus to the airport. He tells her there is a schedule posted on the window. As she looks at the schedule, she sees Hatch and Kimo pull up hiding immediately. They ask the attendant where Kenny is explaining he's working at a shave ice stand. Susan runs in the opposite direction without being seen.

At Five-O, Chin has some information on the Mustang: rented by Susan and she's staying at he Park Shore. Danno takes him and they leave for the hotel. Meanwhile, Hatch talks to Kenny at the shave ice stand but Kenny hasn't seen Rob for a while. Hatch keeps pushing finally talking Kenny into asking around to find out where Rob lives.

Susan shows up at Rob's house again where Jeff is working on a surfboard. He's surprised to see her and she's not willing to share her problems. She tells him she needs a place to stay to sort things out but he has another idea to help her.

Danno and Chin search her hotel room but the clerk hasn't seen her since she checked in. Danno doesn't like the looks of things as someone has obviously been there "turning over rocks". He tells Chin to get Che over there while he runs a check on Susan.

Jeff takes Susan to a boat dock where they board his sailboat and he convinces her it helps. Meanwhile, Hatch calls Brolin telling him about Rob but there are no guarantees the brother will lead them to Susan. Hatch is confident they'll find her but Brolin isn't so sure.

McGarrett arrives at Five-O just leaving a meeting with the governor who isn't happy about a hung jury in another case. He walks into his office followed by Danno, Chin and Duke. Danno briefs on Susan: she's a PR assistant at one of the big hotels in Las Vegas and a hotel Manicote's office linked to Transoceanic Development. He also says she made six runs to Honolulu in the last three months. Duke reports Curt was the one renting the safe deposit box as the bank manager described him perfectly even though he used a phony name. Duke adds he made regular visits to the bank as well. McGarrett compares Curt's bank visits with the dates Susan arrived in Honolulu: they line out. Chin surmises she's a courier and Curt was "skimming the skim". Bouncing ideas off each other, they decide Curt was killed as an example to any potential skimmers with Susan being a loose end because if Vegas had an idea they were being ripped off, they would come "down on them hard. Both of them". Danno says there's a photofax coming in for Susan and she has a brother but last known address was Los Angeles with a call into LAPD. McGarrett tells Danno to push LAPD because they need to know about her brother. He then wants Chin to call the FBI in Vegas to find a list of hit men and see if any arrived about the same time as Susan.

Susan and Jeff arrive back from the sail where she finishes telling him what happened. Susan tells him her role became much more important once Curt moved to Honolulu but now "the Vegas biggies" believe she was in on the stealing but she wasn't. Jeff asks about going to the police but she believes she's killed Curt but Jeff says it sounds like self-defense. He comes up with a plan to go to the Big Island where some friends live in a commune: just to hide her long enough to come up with a solid plan to get her out of this mess.

At Five-O, Danno talks to Larry from LAPD discovering Rob may have moved to Honolulu. Danno looks him up in the phone book but Rob isn't there. Chin goes to check auto registration while Danno hands off Rob's name to Teri to check state tax records.

Hatch returns to the have ice stand to see what Kenny has turned up. Kenny gives him Rob's address as Hatch pays him $20. Hatch returns to the car pulling out the 9 mm with silencer.

Act Four

In McGarrett's office, Duke briefs on Wally Hatch: Did time for armed robbery, assault, two murder indictments, no convictions. Long list of also-known-as". Duke continues saying he got in right behind Susan. Danno walks in saying they have Rob's current address. McGarrett wants to see Rob for "a little chat" with Danno and Duke leaving to pick him up.

Susan comes clean Rob at his house as Jeff sits ready in his truck. She didn't want him involved in her problems and is determined to go with Jeff. Just as Jeff and Susan leave, Hatch and Kimo show up making their move.

Jeff and Susan arrive at the factory only to be delayed again by a resin salesman. Meantime, Danno, Chin and Duke arrive at Rob's house only to find him beaten up behind the couch! Back at the factory, Jeff tells Susan to go ahead and to stop at the market on the way. She says goodbye to Craig (Laird Hayes) and the kids telling them to hang in there. She takes off as Hatch and Kimo watch from the street following her.

The ambulance arrives at Rob's house as Danno runs out with information Rob told him: Hatch beat him up and knows where Susan is going. He and Chin take off as Duke radios McGarrett on what's going on. Later, Jeff walks out of the factory to find Danno and Chin squealing the tires. Jeff plays dumb at first only to have Danno cut him short: he tells Jeff Rob's been beaten by Hatch and Kimo who are after her. Jeff says she's at the marina and he'll show them. They take off as Chin radios McGarrett and Duke with McGarrett meeting a helicopter to go to the marina.

Susan drives to the marina grabbing the groceries to go to the boat. Hatch and Kimo follow her onto the docks. Hatch moves and when she's about to board the boat, Hatch takes his shot but misses as she runs. Before he can take a second shot, McGarrett yells at him through a bullhorn from the helicopter. Hatch doesn't give up, forcing a boat captain to take him out into the water but McGarrett catches up jumping from the helicopter to the boat! Once McGarrett subdues Hatch, the boat captain returns to the dock where Danno and Chin have arrested Kimo after gunshots are exchanged and Jeff finds Susan. He tells her the police know everything but she didn't kill Curt, Hatch did. She meets McGarrett and she's willing to testify and he's willing to make recommendations. Jeff tells her he and the boat will be there waiting for her. It all depends on her.