S08E12 - “Honor Is An Unmarked Grave” - Plot

Act One

Several men dig in an area close to a cemetery, supervised by a man (James Olson) who paces as they dig. As the men dig, the supervisor sees something stopping their work. He carefully removes a human skull from the dirt and it's obviously has a bullet hole in it! A reporter (Bob Sevey) with a tape recorder is on hand too with the supervisor noting the time of discovery as 8:25 a.m. on October 8th. The reporter Bob Simpson breaks the discovery on all-news radio made by Travis Marshall who is the supervisor. Travis says he found it thanks to "research and preparation". HPD shows up with a woman (Pat Herman) who has been complaining to the police about Travis' activities that she considers desecrating "holy ground". Travis blows her off calling her "an old biddy" but the HPD officer (Larry Goeas) places Travis under arrest for desecrating a burial ground. The officer takes the skull, cuffing Travis.

In McGarrett's office, the team with Duke (Herman Wedemeyer) gathers as Travis has made bail and is calling a press conference in the cemetery! Chin asks McGarrett if he's read Travis' latest book but he hasn't, Duke only made it to page 47 because it's an ego trip. On the television, Travis calls his arrest harassment when asked by a reporter (Aku). He claims since his last book uncovered inefficiencies in police departments, he's been harassed wherever he goes. He goes on to say he requested a permit to dig in the cemetery but was refused because he has information that might embarrass local "investigative authorities" specifically Five-O. The reporter asks if Travis wants to speculate on what the judge will give him for desecrating a grave but Travis calls it "nonsense". Travis is undaunted, as Aku asks him how he found the unmarked grave. A second reporter (Linda Ryan) asks what can really be learned from a skeleton. Travis claims the remains belong to missing heir Brian Henderson. McGarrett wants to know where they stand and he plans to start with the files they have and a review of the facts.

Travis then pays a visit to an older woman (Eileen Heckart) as her servant (Moe Keale) escorts Travis to her. Travis introduces himself to Mrs. Henderson extolling his accomplishments after giving her his latest book. She wants him to get to the point but he wants to speak privately. She dismisses Kono giving him the book to take to the library; however, he sticks close by eavesdropping. Travis explains his publishers want him to write another book about an unsolved case. He's found one in Mrs. Henderson's grandson Brian: "a bright young man, heir to a fortune, who simply disappears". He also understands she wasn't happy by how the investigation was handled. Travis draws parallels between Brian's case and the Stoddard case in California, a case he solved. Mrs. Henderson relents agreeing to pay him $300 per day as long as the remains are Brian and any new information uncovered belongs to the estate.

McGarrett briefs as Danno runs through some slides of the Henderson estate and pictures of Brian who "was busted five times for what some folks call boyish pranks". They also have a photo of Thomas Henderson, "old missionary family, last of the line. Very strict, lots of gristle, very proud". Agatha is next, Thomas' widow for about three years but they raised Brian after his parents died in a plane crash when he was five. The next one up is Koji (David Hashimoto), a family servant for about 40 years. They then look at the last known photo of Brian as he sits with a young woman, Carol Chung. She was considered one hot number in town and held a party the night Brian disappeared seven years ago: he received a call at 9:00 saying he would be back in an hour but he never returned. Danno points out the review of Brian's case was a good idea but if it's not him, they still have a skeleton to deal with! McGarrett knows this and wants to know how Travis knew where the body was so he leaves to go talk to Travis rather than wait on the television news.

McGarrett arrives at Travis' house where Travis neutrally greets him. As he drinks, Travis tells McGarrett he received an anonymous phone call telling him where to dig but he doesn't know who the caller was only that it was a young man's voice. Travis says the person didn't say where the body was but rather "a line of investigation". McGarrett brings up that Travis is a lawyer and while he passed the bar in California, he never really practiced. McGarrett makes it plain: he expects the informant to be referred to Five-O and no more press conferences unless McGarrett is informed beforehand. As McGarrett leaves, it's clear Travis doesn't like him. As McGarrett drives away from Travis' house, Danno calls him: Doc Bergman (Al Eben) identified the skull, it's Brian and he's been shot with what looks like a .22 caliber!

Act Two

In the laboratory, McGarrett looks at the skull with Che (Harry Endo) and Doc musing the bullet was "a steel jacket". Che says it must have been but there's no way to figure out angle of entry or how far away the gun was fired from. Doc adds the body was in the ground five to seven years. McGarrett is working on the assumption Brian was killed the night he disappeared and asks Doc if that's going to create problems, which he says no, it's a good assumption. Before leaving, McGarrett calls Danno wanting him and Chin to check out the Japanese cemetery to try to figure out how Travis put the pieces together. He also wants Travis tailed around the clock as he goes to visit Agatha Henderson.

McGarrett arrives at the Henderson estate where Kono leads him to Agatha. As they talk, she asks him if he was surprised with McGarrett saying he always thought Brian was dead. He asks her if she had any reason to believe Brian was murdered. She's shocked by this but claims to know nothing as everything that needed to be said is on the record and it's still very painful. She dismisses him outright and McGarrett leaves but before he is able to escape "for now," she tells him she has hired Travis. McGarrett asks if her husband had any suspicions of murder but she can't help there either because she didn't know of any he suspicions he held. McGarrett walks away as Agatha asks Kono to bring the car around.

Danno and Chin hang out near Brian's open grave discussing how many times Travis visited the area: at least eight times taking lots of pictures. Danno doesn't get it, the remains in the cemetery are cremated according to Shinto custom and the last burial was 23 years ago. Suddenly, Travis shows up taking pictures? Koji shows up behind them to pay his respects to Brian's grave and confuses Danno even more.

Kono drives Agatha to a house where a boy Kimo (Stanley Puchalski) plays with his toy helicopter. Paul (Jerry Waialae) walks into the room and Agatha asks where Maru (Elissa Hoopai) is with Paul answering, "she's out back". Agatha walks out back calling for Maru who is happy to see her. They sit and talk, first about Paul being angry and how he seems different to Maru lately. They then discuss Brian and the latest news: Maru always thought Brian ran away because Mr. Henderson had banished him. Agatha explains he felt strongly about people who shirked their responsibilities and he would have "never would have helped Brian to escape". Agatha then talks about the possibility of Brian being murdered and wonders if Koji might have had a hand in it. She then asks if Paul knows who Kimo's father was but he doesn't. She goes on to tell Maru the police, namely McGarrett, will probably talk to her and Agatha wants her to not volunteer any information without lying. Agatha takes her leave as Paul watches from the house.

In McGarrett's office, he questions how much Koji knows to Danno and Chin. They kick around ideas: how long has Koji been paying his respects? Has it been seven years or just recently since Travis found the grave? If it's been seven years, either Koji killed him or knows who did and he could be the one tipping Travis. McGarrett doesn't buy the last part because Koji has remained silent for years and he's suddenly going to open up to Travis? It doesn't make sense. McGarrett sends Chin alone to "talk to Koji in the ancient manner" in order to discover Koji's connection.

Travis drives around with Duke following him to a park where Travis gives him the slip! As Travis takes a cab, Duke calls in about the slip. Later, Travis meets with a man on a motorbike and it's none other than Paul! Paul gives up several photos for cash as Travis sees dollar signs as he looks over the pictures. Travis asks about Maru's first marriage and annulment but Paul says she won't talk about it or George Fowler. Travis surmises there is no George Fowler and that Brian is actually Kimo's father: reason enough for murder!

Act Three

Chin arrives at a cemetery where he meets up with Kono asking him what happened. Kono only gives up the information about Koji dying the night before when Chin flashes his badge. Chin steps inside where funeral ceremony is taking place with Agatha in attendance. The guy at the door (Bernie Ching) isn't pleased when Chin picks up the family photo showing Koji and his children including the youngest daughter. Chin asks if the man is Shiru who he needs to talk to and they talk outside.

In McGarrett's office, Chin reports back that Koji's death was by natural causes. He also talks about the photo and the daughter who looked to be about ten at the time, making her about 22 now. She wasn't in attendance and Chin asked why but never got an answer. Danno never met her and puts her age at 15 when Brian disappeared but McGarrett wants hi to track her down.

Travis continues to play cat-and-mouse with Duke driving through town. Later, he arrives at Agatha's with the photographs Paul gave him. He also shows her photos he took of Koji paying his respects at various places in the cemetery, always finishing at an unmarked grave. Travis says he followed Koji at least ten times. He also notes after all the years, Koji never talked but on the night Brian disappeared, his daughter Maru was four months pregnant! Travis knows Brian was Kimo's father and it would have been scandalous for Brian, the heir, to marry a young pregnant servant girl. Travis theorizes the Hendersons bought Maru off and arranged for Brian's disappearance. Travis sees dollar signs again, ready to drag the story through the media: newspapers, TV, radio in order to secure a lucrative advanced deal. He threatens to release every messy detail unless they change their arrangement. Agatha pulls out the checkbook writing a check to cover his mileage at nine cents a mile! Travis is ticked off but she doesn't care because all she has to do is call the police because he threatened blackmail! She tells him he should take his information to the "proper authorities" and that he's fired!

Chin walks into McGarrett's office reporting Travis is calling another press conference at City Hall tomorrow promising to reveal some juicy information. McGarrett is not pleased slamming down the phone. Later, McGarrett pays Travis a visit all bent out of shape because he doesn't listen. McGarrett makes it clear: he wants the informant and all the information Travis has on the case, otherwise Travis will go to jail. McGarrett sets a deadline for 9:00 a.m. the next day in his office.

Danno tracks down Maru arriving at her house to talk to her but Paul says she isn't in. Danno hands Paul his card to have her call when she gets back.

Travis returns to his house to find his files broken into! As he frantically searches through them, a side door opens where someone aims a gun and fires!

Act Four

On the scene, Duke briefs McGarrett, "MacDougall from HPD took over the tail around 7. He says Marshall had dinner alone, came home at 10 and the lights went out 20 minutes later". The maid found him early in the morning and the place was already ransacked. Danno says the time of death was about ten hours earlier, which fits in with the theory someone was waiting on him. There's a rear entrance not covered but MacDougall didn't recognize all the people in and out of the complex. As well, three sets of prints have been found in the place. Chin walks in with something from the bedroom: pictures of Kimo and Maru. McGarrett goes through them deciding to go talk to her taking Danno and Chin with him.

McGarrett and Danno show up at the front door taking Paul, Maru and Kimo by surprise. As Maru talks to them, Paul escapes out the back on his motorbike or at least tries to. He rides through the yard to avoid hitting Chin in a Five-O car only to hit a small palm tree. The team catches up to him handcuffing him. McGarrett tells him Travis was murdered last night but Paul claims to not know anything about that. He doesn't know anything about any murders. Maru wants to know what's going on as McGarrett asks Paul what his business was with Travis. McGarrett shows him the photos that Maru recognize as hers. Paul tells them Travis owed him money so he went to his place to collect but saw him on the floor: he didn't kill him, or so he claims. McGarrett asks point blank: is Paul the informant? Maru realizes Paul sold her out for money but he counters about the phony marriage and that Kimo is actually a Henderson! Paul asks for a lawyer, which McGarrett says he'll get one but in the meantime he'll be held on suspicion of murder.

That night, McGarrett goes to talk to Agatha to tie up some loose ends. For one, he believes he knows why Brian was killed. Agatha is impressed by Five-O's improvement. McGarrett also airs that Brian is Kimo's father and is pretty sure the call he received at the party was made from the estate. McGarrett wants her to start at the beginning saying it will be better with her telling the story because it will all air out at the inquest. Agatha says Brian was troubled after his parents died with Koji being more of a parent to him than they could be. Brian also related to Maru: he was 22 she was 15. Agatha says Brian raped Maru and when Tom found out, he sent for Brian on the night of Brian's disappearance. Tom was downright angry with Brian pleading with him because he said Koji engineered the whole thing in order to become a member of the family. He said he just went along with Maru but this angered Tom even more. Agatha says the argument went on until a shot rang out. She opened the study door to see Brian on the floor and Koji took him to the cemetery to bury him. McGarrett asks who shot Brian but she doesn't know and never asked. McGarrett already knows the answer because her husband "dispensed justice in your household" and was the only to do it. McGarrett knows Tom Henderson killed Brian, as Agatha and Koji were well aware of it. While it may be impossible to prove, Travis' killer is still alive and he's sure it won't be hard to prove Agatha was at Travis' the night before. Agatha calls her lawyer; "I'd like you to handle a criminal complaint for me. The defendant? I believe I will be" with the charge of murder one.