Abby angled Kate towards the
wall, pinning her there as she kissed her lips. She grabbed the belt
of Kate's red coat, pulling her close so she could get away. Not that
Kate was trying... When the kiss broke, Abby pressed her forehead against
Kate's and said, "Stay with me?"
"Mm," Kate hesitated,
looking longingly at Abby's apartment door. "I don't know if I
should. I do have work tomorrow."
"Come on," Abby said.
"I don't have my pajamas,"
Kate said, smiling.
Abby raised her eyebrows, indicating
she saw this as a non-problem.
Kate laughed and licked her
lips. "Okay, well... would I have to sleep in the coffin?"
"Not if you don't want
to," Abby said. "The coffin is a test. If people have a problem
with it, they'll eventually have a problem with me. So..."
"I don't have to take
the test?"
Abby slid a hand around Kate's
waist, grabbing a handful of Kate's rear. "Mm, you've passed with
flying colors, Kate, my dear."
Kate bit her bottom lip.
"So. Stay?"
"Yeah," Kate said
softly.
Abby grinned.
---
"We're gonna freeze to
death out here," MP Jonas Young said, kicking a sand dune out of
his way with the toe of his boot. His partner, a few paces to the left
and closer to the ocean, chuckled and tightened his uniform coat around
his throat.
Jonas sighed and looked ahead,
groaning when he spotted the shape laying in the sand a few hundred
yards ahead. "Would you look at this," he muttered. "Kid
passes out, friends don't even bother to wake him up when they leave."
They picked up their pace,
standing over the body. Jonas prodded him with the toe of his boot.
"Rise and shine, kid." When he got no response, he shined
his light on the boy's face and gasped, backing up a step. "Holy..."
His partner hurried up and
blanched at the sight. The kid wasn't drunk; his throat was slit.
---
The cell phone's chirp woke
Gibbs a few minutes past five in the morning. He sat up, blinking and
almost instantly alert to his surroundings. The skeleton of his current
boat project loomed in front of him, the smell of sawdust filling the
air. He leaned forward, snatching the phone off the end table. There
was a time that the basement could've been a refuge, a time no one could
have reached him down here. A time before cell phones.
He opened the phone, squeezing
the bridge of his nose as he said, "Gibbs." He listened for
a moment, then said, "We'll be there." He disconnected the
call and dialed DiNozzo's number. "Call Kate and Ducky. Have them
meet us at Little Creek."
"Gotcha," Tony said.
"We got a case?
"No, DiNozzo, I'm sure
the MPs at Little Creek are just eager to see your smiling face."
He snapped the phone shut and headed upstairs to change clothes.
The sun was just beginning
to peek through his living room window, illuminating the silhouettes
of his furniture. He passed the doorway to the front room and went to
the bedroom, pulling a handful of clothes from the closet. There was
a shuffling behind him and he turned, the redheaded woman in his bed
rising to look at him. "You never came to bed last night,"
she said.
"No," he admitted.
"Sorry about that."
"S'okay," she said,
rubbing her eyes. "Get a call?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Need a ride?"
"No." He walked over
to her and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to hop in the shower."
He brushed her arm as he headed to the bathroom. In the doorway, he
paused and said, "Of course, if you'd like to join me..."
She smiled and threw the blankets
off.
---
Kate grumbled and cursed, pulling
herself away from Abby's warmth as she realized it was her cell phone
making that ungodly racket. She stumbled naked across the room, her
back already cold from the absence of Abby's body as she searched for
her phone. After a brief search, she picked up the singing device and
groaned at the Caller ID. If Tony knew she was naked...
"Todd," she mumbled
into the receiver.
Tony, sounding far too chipper
for the hour, said, "Hi, Todd! I was lookin' for Kate!"
She groaned. "Tony...
I swear, if you're just..."
"Not me. Gibbs. We have
a call at Little Creek."
Kate muttered a curse under
her breath. She looked down at the wrinkled clothes piled around her
feet; the same clothes she'd worn to the office yesterday. If Tony saw
her like that... no way. She would have to go home and change. And that
meant... "I... uh, I'm going to be late."
Tony's voice sounded strangled,
as if she'd hit him in the stomach. "Late? To... a crime scene?
Ooh, Kate, I'm not sure that's such a..."
"...Great idea? Tell me
about it. But it's... unavoidable, Tony."
Tony sighed. "Well, all
right. I'll see what I can do to cover for ya. Might be best if you
go straight to the office. I'll call you with info so you can get a
head start on the background information."
She hated to admit it, but
she was right. She grudgingly said, "Thanks, Tony."
"You'll owe me,"
he added before hanging up.
She stowed the phone in her
jacket and found her slacks, pulling them on. "Abby, wake up."
"Whatsit?" she asked,
sitting up and looking around the dark room.
"We have a case. They'll
probably need you in early."
"M'kay," Abby said,
throwing off the blankets.
"I have to get home,"
Kate said, searching for her shoes. "What did I do with my boots?"
Abby scratched the top of her
head and said, "Living room. I took them off when I was licking..."
"Right," Kate said,
hurrying down the short corridor. "God, I am going to be so late..."
Abby frowned as she pulled
on her t-shirt. "Why? Where's the scene?"
Kate returned with her boots,
sitting on the edge of Abby's bed to pull them on. "It's at Little
Creek," she said. "But I have to go home and change clothes.
If I go in wearing the same thing I wore yesterday..."
"You want to borrow something
of mine?"
Kate smiled. "No offense,
Abby, but if I walk in there in a Memento Mori t-shirt, they won't only
know <i>what</i> I was doing, they'll know who."
"Kate, Gibbs is going
to kill you if you're late to a crime scene."
"Gee, you think?"
Kate muttered sarcastically.
Abby paused in her dressing
and said, "Whoa, hey, don't get all surly at me..."
"Well, I wouldn't be in
this mess if you hadn't..." She stopped herself, putting a hand
to her forehead. "You know what, I'm as much to blame as you are."
Abby pressed her lips together
and pulled a skirt from her closet. "You didn't have to stay, you
know."
"Abby, let's drop it,
okay?"
Abby shrugged and stepped into
her skirt. Kate pulled on her blouse, buttoning it as she crossed to
Abby. "I'll see you at work?"
"Mm-hmm."
Kate sighed. "Now you're
mad at me?"
"Well..."
"Fine. Be mad. I'll see
you if I see you." She grabbed her jacket and draped it over her
arm as she stormed from the bedroom. Abby sat on the edge of the bed
and fiddled with the hem of her dress.
---
The body was sprawled on a
dune, arms and legs splayed as they would be if he'd simply fallen where
he stood. Ducky and Palmer arrived in the truck at the same time Tony
showed up in his car. They walked down to the body together, Tony pulling
a camera from his pack. MP Young approached, meeting them halfway down
the beach. "Special Agent Gibbs?" he asked, addressing Tony.
"He's on his way. Special
Agent DiNozzo. Doctor Donald Mallard. The lacky is Jimmy Palmer."
The MP ignored the slight attempt
at humor and motioned behind him. "Deceased is Petty Officer Jeremy
McClain. I ran into him once or twice on-base. Good kid, knew how to
respect his commanding officers, a real boon to the Navy. It's a shame
that the good ones always end up like this."
"A lot of petty officers
dying on this beach?"
"I meant dead before their
time, Agent DiNozzo."
Tony and Ducky followed Young
down the sand. His throat was obviously slashed, blood pooling on his
shirt and in the sand around him. His eyes were wide, his mouth open
slightly in shock. Tony snapped a few pictures, looking up as another
truck pulled into the lot. "That would be Gibbs. I'll go grab him."
He moved up the sand, coming
at the truck from behind. Gibbs opened the door, putting his foot out
onto the pavement as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. Unable to
resist, Tony moved to the back of the truck, inching silently forward.
Finally, he'd have a chance to sneak up on Gibbs. Finally, payback for
all those times Gibbs had just appeared out of thin air at the most
inopportune mo--
"What've we got, DiNozzo?"
Tony paused, his prank ruined
and looked towards the beach. "Dead petty officer. Throat slashed
from here to here," he said, drawing a line under his chin from
one ear to the other. "Not pretty."
"Seldom is," Gibbs
muttered. He slammed the door of his truck and followed Tony down the
sand to where Ducky and Palmer were moving back and forth like shadows
against the darkness. Tony lifted the camera and took the opportunity
to get a few more shots of the scene.
Gibbs nodded to Ducky. "Duck,
hope we didn't disturb your mother, calling so early."
"Ah, Jethro!" Ducky
said, rising to a standing position. "Hardly. Mother is usually
up at all hours, usually watching Nick-at-Nite. She is particularly
fond of Gilligan's Island, though one can hardly..."
"The body, Ducky,"
Gibbs prompted.
"Yes," Ducky said,
shifting his gaze to the man at his feet. "The poor petty officer's
throat was slashed, as you can plainly see. From the angle of the cut,
I'd say the killer was standing in front of him rather than behind."
"Swinging blindly?"
Gibbs asked.
"Perhaps, or a lucky shot."
"Maybe a crime of passion,"
Tony offered. "Lover's stroll on the beach, guy says something
the girl doesn't like, she stabs him."
Gibbs turned those icy blue
eyes to Tony. "A lot of your dates carry knives on romantic strolls
with you?"
"Sometimes," Tony
admitted quietly.
Ducky smirked.
Jimmy Palmer arrived from the
truck, pushing the gurney through the sand. Tony stepped out of its
way and lifted the camera. "Got pictures of the body, surrounding
scene. Gotta love the flash at these pre-dawn crime scenes, huh, boss?"
Gibbs ignored the question.
"Where are Kate and McGee?"
"I told McGee to head
directly to the office," Tony said, himself ignoring half of Gibbs'
question. He hoped the older man wouldn't notice, but...
"That answers one of my
questions."
...but Gibbs was Gibbs. He
shifted from one foot to the other and cleared his throat. He had to
go with the truth; Gibbs would find out anyway. "She's, ah... running
a little late, boss."
Gibbs looked back at the body.
When he finally spoke, he said nothing of Kate's tardiness. "All
right, Duck. Get this guy to the morgue, let me know what you find.
DiNozzo, you and me, walk the perimeter. Give me ten feet on either
side of the body, five feet out."
"You got it, boss."
They separated, leaving Ducky
and Palmer to deal with the body.
---
"Beaches are like footprint
museums, boss," DiNozzo said in the elevator. They'd spent an hour
combing the beach around the body of Petty Officer Jeremy McClain and
had come up with nothing more than a candy wrapper and a few dozen cigarette
butts. DiNozzo kept talking for a bit, but Gibbs tuned him out. He was
thinking instead of Kate Todd, sitting upstairs more than likely, who
had arrived late enough to miss the crime scene entirely.
Unacceptable.
The elevator doors opened and
Gibbs lead the way to the squad room, already feeling the weight of
the day on his shoulders. Kate was at her desk and he hardly acknowledged
her as he went to his desk. She stood, watching him pass by, and opened
the file. "I did some digging on Petty Officer McClain... his parents
are still alive, live in a suburb of Virginia Beach. McClain was assigned
to the USS Grapple, no outstanding reports from his CO, either good
or bad. Nothing on the mission list."
"He live on base?"
Gibbs asked.
"In the BOQ."
"Get out there with DiNozzo
and McGee, see if you can find any evidence of a girlfriend."
Tony glanced at Kate. "So...
you think it was a lover's quarrel?"
"No, that was your theory,
Tony. It was a good one." When Kate and Tony remained, staring
at him, Gibbs waved at the elevator and said, "Gloating would be
a very bad idea, DiNozzo."
"Got it, boss," Tony
said, darting off.
"Agent Todd," Gibbs
said. Kate returned and Gibbs stood, lowering his voice so he wouldn't
be overheard. "When you receive a call, you are there. Do you understand
me?"
"It won't happen again,
Gibbs."
He nodded and took a seat.
Kate left, hurrying to catch up with the effervescent DiNozzo. Alone
in the squad room, Gibbs removed his cell phone and flipped the cover
open. Two text messages. He frowned at the screen, punching the small
keys until he ended up on the ring-tone screen. Frustrated, he punched
around until he reached the Voice Mail prompt.
"This is Special Agent
Jethro Gibbs," he said into the speaker. "If it is important,
call me on a real phone." He slapped the phone shut, opened a drawer
and tossed it in. He stood, tugging his jacket closed and stalked to
the elevators.
He needed coffee. Some people
said he needed coffee like he needed his next breath, but that wasn't
accurate.
He could hold his breath.
---
They picked up McGee in Abby's
lab and headed down to Little Creek's Bachelor Officer's Quarters. It
was set up like a small apartment building, similar to those found outside
the borders of a military base. The only difference was the strict dress
code. According to the background Kate had looked up, PO McClain was
in Apartment 4. They got the key from the building officer and let themselves
in.
"Wow," Tony said,
stepping into Carol Brady's wet dream. "This guy did not know the
definition of being a guy." He ran his gloved finger along the
edge of the mail table next to the front door. It came back spotless.
McGee went ahead into the living
room, sitting down his gear and unstrapping his backpack.
"McGee, check this guy's
closet. Maybe he's got a Stepford Wife in there..."
"Stepford Wife?"
McGee said.
Tony's face went pale. "Okay,
I'll forgive you not knowing the Duke's movie, Cary Grant's, all the
greats. But probie... please... tell me you're joking. Tell me you've
at least <i>heard</i> of <i>The Stepford Wives.</i>
If not the 1975 Katharine Ross, Tina Louise version, then at least the
one with Nicole Kidman."
"I've heard of it,"
McGee admitted. "I just don't know what it has to do with this.
I mean, these <i>are</i> the bachelor quarters, right?"
Tony snapped, "Go check
the bedroom, probie."
McGee disappeared down the
hall. Kate chuckled and said, "You don't have to be so hard on
him, Tony. Not everyone has a Blockbuster Gold card like you."
Tony smiled. "Ah, c'mon,
Kate. We're alone now! Don't you want to talk about more interesting
things? Like... why you were late?"
"I just... overslept."
"Then why didn't you answer
your house phone?"
Kate paled. "You called
my house phone?"
Tony's smile widened. "No.
But now I know you weren't at home." He picked up one of the magazines
on the coffee table, noticing the name on the address label was different.
Tracy Fiddle, next apartment over. "Guy gets his neighbor's mail...
apparently keeps it, too."
"Look, Tony, where I was
isn't important."
"You're right, Kate,"
Tony acknowledged. He walked past her, pausing and putting a hand on
her shoulder. "What is important... is that you owe me." He
laughed evilly and headed into the bedroom. "McGee, what've you
got?"
"Laptop, a couple of tame
love letters," McGee reported, holding up a handful of purple paper.
Tony took them and whistled.
"Wow, if <i>you</i> think they're tame..." He
unfolded one, reading it. "Man. Someone should definitely learn
how to talk dirty. These are... yeah." He folded them back up and
said, "All right, McGee, what's in the laptop?"
"No clue. We have to get
it to Abby to hack in, get past the password."
Tony nodded and scanned the
walls of the bedroom. "Cartoon posters. Most guys go for the Pamela
Anderson, Carmen Electra stuff, but no... no, Petty Officer McClain
has cartoon characters on his wall."
McGee followed Tony's gaze.
"Oh, that's He-Man." Tony slowly turned to look at the probie,
who mistook it for genuine interest. "He-Man, She-Ra... Prince
Adam and Skeletor..."
"Probie," Tony snapped.
"I am very, very worried about you right now."
McGee sighed. "It's all
right for you to reference every movie under the sun, but when <i>I</i>
have some knowledge..."
Tony held up a hand. "When
<i>I</i> do it, it's trivia. When you do it... it's just
sad, McGee." He sighed and went back to the front room. "Okay,
Katie bear, what have you for us?"
"An apartment ready to
show to future renters <i>tonight</i>," Kate said.
"Everything is alphabetical. The DVDs, the cereal, everything.
There's not a speck of dirt in the place, no sign that anyone actually
lived here."
"Neat freak," Tony
said. "Had a girlfriend like that once... I had to take a shower
every single time we..."
"Please, Tony, please,"
Kate interrupted.
Tony shrugged and said, "All
right, bag and tag what we've got. Let's get back to the office."
Kate and McGee snickered. Tony frowned at them and said, "What?"
"You're becoming Gibbs."
Tony pointed a finger at McGee.
"Watch yourself, probie."
McGee nodded. "Yeah, in
about three years? You'll have that down to a pointed stare."
Kate said, "He's right.
You're Mini-Gibbs."
"Gibbs-on-the-go,"
McGee offered.
"The next best thing to
real Gibbs."
They were still laughing when
they left the apartment. Tony muttered, "If I was saying those
things, Gibbs would have heard me. Some how, some way..."
---
Coffee in hand, Gibbs headed
to autopsy. Ducky had already opened the man up and was examining the
chest cavity. Palmer was at the head of the table, valiantly refusing
to look sick. Gibbs stepped between Ducky and the assistant, looking
down at the body. "What can you tell me, Duck?"
"Cause of death was indeed
a single slice to the jugular. Manner of death, however, is a bit trickier.
There were no defensive wounds on the young man's hands or arms."
"So maybe he didn't see
it coming."
"Yes, or he did it himself..."
Palmer said, "Knife made
out of ice!"
Gibbs and Ducky both looked
at the young man, who finally blanched under the combined powers of
their stares. "Um... I was j-just saying that... if it was a suicide,
then it would be like that... riddle... of the man who hung himself?
And there was nothing to stand on, but there was a puddle..."
"Palmer's right,"
Gibbs said.
"I am?" Palmer asked
quietly.
"There was no knife found
at the scene. Either someone carried it away, or..."
"I assure you, Jethro,
this cut was made by steel."
Gibbs nodded. "Well, always
good to keep our options open." He smirked at his old friend and
said, "Let me know if you find anything else."
"Indeed, I shall, Jethro."
On his way out the door, Gibbs overheard Ducky say, "A knife made
of ice? Honestly, Mr. Palmer..."
---
Abby looked up, surprised to
see McGee carrying another box in. She turned as he entered, smiling
at the offering in his hands. "Ooh, another box of evidence in
one morning? You're spoiling me, Timmy."
He smiled. "Hey, there's
the Abby we know and love!"
She curtsied and said, "I
just needed to get a little caffeine in me, that's all." She held
up her Caf-Pow and stepped up to the table, examining the bounty. "Laptop
computer, that's sweet. What are these papers?"
"Love letters," McGee
said. When Abby's eyebrows rose, he said, "Don't get too excited.
They're extremely tame love letters. Apparently, Petty Officer McClain
had very dreamy green eyes."
Abby frowned. "McClain
had blue eyes."
"Are you sure?" McGee
asked.
Abby nodded. "I was down
in autopsy while you guys were gone. Ducky was telling us all about
the frequency of dark haired, blue-eyed people versus brown-brown and
blonde-blue. Very interesting stuff, actually."
"I'll bet," McGee
said, taking the love letters and dumping them on the table. "Maybe
whoever wrote it just wasn't very observant."
Abby tapped her fingers on
the edge of the desk. "What color were your first girlfriend's
eyes?"
"Blue with a hint of...
gold... near the pupil," McGee sighed, realizing what she'd done.
"Okay, you have a point. But still, maybe it was just that... they
were blue-green. Did you actually see McClain's eyes?"
"No," Abby said.
"Maybe Ducky's blue is
the Mystery Writer's idea of green. Who knows?"
Abby shrugged and opened the
computer, booting it up. "Let's see what we've got here. Oh, awesome,
Castle Greyskull wallpaper."
"Oh, yeah," McGee
chuckled. "He had posters all over his room. Some guys just can't
grow up..."
Abby looked at him and said,
"Really."
He blanched, forgetting that
she had seen his apartment. "Um... y-yeah... well, I didn't say
I wasn't one of them..."
She clicked on the files and
groaned when a prompt came up. "Guy protected his files. This could
take a while."
"Yeah," McGee agreed.
---
Kate and Tony walked to Gibbs'
desk, Tony waiting until Gibbs was paying attention to speak. "Guy
was a serious neat freak. Had labels for everything in his cupboard...
'vegetables, more than two weeks old'; 'cereal - fruit-flavored'; 'cereal
- plain'... the guy was a panic attack waiting to happen."
"Might be why he joined
the Navy," Kate suggested. "Someone who needs that much order
probably relished the opportunity to have such a rigid schedule. When
to get up, when to eat, when to sleep..."
"Any signs of a girlfriend?"
Gibbs asked.
"A few love letters on
scented paper. They're not Shakespeare, but Penthouse wouldn't publish
them, either. We had McGee drop 'em with Abby along with the guy's laptop."
Gibbs perked up slightly. "The
love letters were hand-written?"
"Yeah..."
Gibbs actually smiled a bit
at this news. "Dear God, there might be hope for this generation
after all..."
"I still hand-write all
my Christmas cards," Tony said.
Gibbs stood. "Good work,
DiNozzo."
He walked off and Kate held
her hands out. "What, you were alone in that apartment?"
"I was in charge..."
Tony said, going to his desk.
"He flat ignored me. He's
punishing me for being late, isn't he?"
Tony shrugged, putting his
hands on his head. "Kate, Gibbs is like a wounded puppy. He'll
ignore you for a while, but once the hurt has gone away... he'll be
eating the kibble out of your hand again in no time."
Kate smiled. "Well, you
would know... being his doppelganger."
Tony's smile faded. "You
want the whole team mad at you, is that it?"
Kate shrugged and pulled off
her jacket. "Who knows... I might actually get some peace and quiet
around here."
Tony shook his head and went
to work. He opened McClain's file, searching his history. Enlisted at
nineteen, out of high school. Digging a little deeper, he found that
McClain had graduated a year late. He spent most of his freshman year
in the hospital after a car accident. A few notices for disorderly conduct,
fighting and the like. Nothing too eye-catching.
"Looks like our petty
officer had a little bit of a short fuse."
"I'm reading an incident
report by a Petty Officer Beaman. No charges brought up on either of
them, witnesses say that Beaman provoked McClain with homophobic comments."
"Hm. You think maybe McClain
was... ah..." He made a hand motion.
"Just because the guy
actually has a tidy apartment doesn't mean he's gay, Tony."
Tony shrugged. "Doesn't
mean he's straight, either."
Kate rolled her eyes.
Tony picked up his phone, dialing
the number on the screen. "I'm going to see if I can get a little
more background on these other fights."
---
McGee abandoned her a few minutes
after arriving, heading upstairs to use the head and to try hooking
McClain's computer up to his own to see if that got him anywhere. She
cranked up the music and headed into the inner forensics area with McClain's
cell phone in an evidence baggy. She'd barely gotten her funk on when
the music was shut off. She went back into the main room and saw Gibbs
stalking away from the stereo.
"You're harshing my buzz,
man," she complained.
"You're damaging your
eardrums," he countered. "Where's McGee?"
"Head," Abby said.
Gibbs pointed at the evidence
baggy. "McClain's belongings."
"Geez, Gibbs, give a girl
a chance to get acquainted with the evidence before you ask for a profile."
She walked to her computer and typed in a sequence, watching the screen
as the information popped up. "Okay, we've got a laptop computer,
a couple of love letters scented in something even Ducky's mother wouldn't
wear... some video games, typical guy haven. Except no porno."
"How about photo albums?
Pictures in a wallet, that sort of thing?"
"Probably stored pictures
of his girl on his cell phone."
Gibbs grumbled under his breath
and said, "All right, see if there's anything on the computer that
could find her for us."
Satisfied he'd gotten everything
possible at this point, he headed for the door. Abby hesitated and then
turned around, hoping she didn't regret the lie. "Look, don't be
mad at Kate. It wasn't her fault she was late to the crime scene."
He stopped and turned, glaring
at her. "Whose fault was it?"
"Mine," Abby said.
"I was really..." She waved her hands, looking for the right
words, and said, "Really out-of-sorts last night. I called her
about midnight, she came and got me. She was still with me when Tony
called her about the crime scene."
He nodded slowly. "All
right, Abs. By out-of-sorts..."
"I was... a little drunk."
"And now..."
"I'm fine. I don't get
hangovers. You know that."
Gibbs nodded and headed back
to the elevator. "Thanks for letting me know, Abs."
Once he was gone, Abby exhaled
and leaned against the table. She hadn't really known she blamed herself
until she said it aloud. She would have to find Kate later, before things
got too icy between them. It was just a stinking overnight stay... no
reason it should cause this much strife.
---
DiNozzo was on the phone, his
back turned to the rest of the room, when Gibbs returned to the squad
room. McGee was at his desk, but far enough away to be out of earshot
for a whisper. He stopped in front of Kate's desk and leaned forward,
startling her when she looked up. "If this happens again, and it
shouldn't... just tell me." He straightened and stepped away, heading
to his own desk.
"Wait, Gibbs," Kate
said, glancing towards McGee's desk. The probie was now paying slightly
closer attention to the conversation. "Tell you what?"
"Why you're late."
He sat and explained, "I was just talking to Abby."
Kate's eyes widened slightly.
"And she... told you why I was late?"
"She did."
"And... it's a valid excuse?"
"You were helping a friend."
Kate frowned and said, "Yeah...
I-I guess..."
Gibbs looked up, suddenly intrigued.
"Just out of curiosity, what <i>were</i> you doing?"
"What did Abby tell you?"
"I'm asking you."
Even without speaking, Gibbs
knew he'd been lied to. He sighed and shook his head. "Looks like
Abby is the one helping out a friend."
Kate closed her eyes, shoulders
sagging. "Sorry, Gibbs." She returned to her desk, resting
her head in one hand as she turned back to her computer.
---
Abby called them down to the
lab about an hour and a half later. Gibbs led the way, brushing past
Kate on his way to the elevator. She hesitated before falling into step
behind him. They rode down in silence, Tony between them, and each waited
for the other to take the first step from the car when they reached
the destination. Tony looked nervously at Gibbs and eventually pushed
Kate forward.
She stumbled, turned and glared
at him. He shrugged and followed her, Gibbs coming out last but barreling
ahead. "What did you find, Abby?"
"Actually, it was McGee,"
she said, indicating the probie sitting next to her. He had headed back
down a few minutes earlier, a frustrated grimace on his face.
"Well, I just happened
to figure out the guy's password. It saved us a lot of hacking time."
"You guessed a total stranger's
password?" Kate marveled.
"Well, he seemed to follow
the He-Man fandom, what with the DVDs and the VHS tapes of..."
He caught Gibbs look and said, "I... uh... noticed the 'O' key
on the laptop keyboard was slightly worn indicating slightly... more...
use than normal." He cleared his throat and nodded at the monitor.
"We've accessed his private emails."
"I'm hoping they're more
interesting than the He-Man story," Gibbs said.
"More love letters. Very,
very steamy love letters from some girl named Tracy."
Tony straightened suddenly.
"The quarters next to McClain's are registered to a Tracy Fiddle."
"Fiddle?" Gibbs said.
"As in 'hey-diddle-diddle'?"
McGee asked.
"I'd have gone for 'fit
as a,' McGee," Tony said. "It's a little more masculine than
nursery rhymes."
Gibbs ignored the banter. "How
did you glean this information without McGee or Kate finding out along
with you?"
"There was a stack of
mail in McClain's apartment." He walked across the room to the
evidence box, digging around and coming back with an Entertainment Weekly.
"A couple of magazines, some junk mail envelopes, were addressed
to Tracy Fiddle. The address put her right next door to our dead guy."
Gibbs nodded and said, "Let's
go see Ms. Fiddle. Abby, see what else you can find. I don't care if
you have to input the names of Bart, Homer and Eliza, you get me everything
on that computer."
McGee went back to work on
the computer and Gibbs headed back to the elevator with Tony. Knowing
she only had a few seconds, Kate put a hand on Abby's elbow and led
her away from McGee's prying ears. "Hey, I wants to talk to you
about..."
"Special Agent Todd!"
She looked over her shoulder
and saw a furious Gibbs holding the elevator door open. "Later,"
she said. "Please, Abby?"
"Yeah. Go."
She hurried to the elevator
and slipped in, praying he wouldn't tear into her too badly. In a voice
like ice, he said, "You do not want to make me wait a third time
today, Special Agent Todd."
"Won't happen again, Gibbs."
In a moment of silence, Tony
muttered, "Lisa."
"What?" Gibbs snapped.
"Nothing, boss."
---
The Bachelor Officer Quarters
were set up like a small apartment building. Gibbs led the way down
the dark corridor, coffee in one hand and an address in the other. "Right
down here," Tony directed, aiming him in the right direction. They
found Petty Officer McClain's room and moved down one door. McClain
was in Apartment 4, while Tracy Fiddle was in the next room, Apartment
6. The slots for their mail were stacked, four on top of six.
Gibbs pounded just below the
peep hole, his wallet out and ready. When the door opened, he raised
it and executed the well-practiced hold-and-flip to show both his ID
and badge. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. We're looking for Petty
Officer Tracy Fiddle."
"That's me," the
man in the doorway said. He was wearing uniform slacks and a white t-shirt,
his eyes half-mast from being woke. He glanced at Kate and Tony. "They
NCIS, too?"
"They are," Gibbs
said, doing a very good job of hiding just how rattled he was. "How
well did you know your neighbor, Petty Officer McClain?"
Fiddle shrugged. "We were
on speaking terms. Mailman screwed up a lot, so I ended up with some
of his magazines and vice versa." He sniffled and looked nervously
back and forth among the agents. "Is he... in some kind of trouble?"
"The worst kind,"
Tony said. "He's dead."
"What?" Fiddle said
quietly. "He... how?"
"On the beach," Kate
said. "Did you ever exchange emails with Petty Officer McClain?"
Fiddle shrugged. "Yeah,
I don't know... sometimes..."
"Were those emails of
a sexual nature?"
Fiddle's face tensed. "I...
I mean, you know... I ain't no fag or anything..."
"Course not," Tony
said. "Your boyfriend was."
"You shut up," Fiddle
practically hissed.
"Up late last night?"
Tony asked. "Kind of late for you to still be Droopy Dog."
Fiddle glared at Tony. "I
had some files to sort. Took me a while."
"Files to sort,"
Tony laughed. "Is that the new euphemism? It doesn't make sense,
but then, not a lot of them do..."
"DiNozzo," Gibbs
warned.
"You make him shut the
hell up," Fiddle growled at Gibbs. "He's trying to make me
sound like some kind of..."
Tony leaned forward and whispered,
"The word is homosexual."
Fiddle's fist was a blur, cutting
through the air and connecting with Tony's jaw in a flash. Gibbs was
twice as fast, his coffee dropping to the ground to free up his hands.
He put one hand on Fiddle's upper arm, pushing his elbow in with the
other hand. Fiddle yelped and fell to one knee. Gibbs wrenched the man's
arm behind his back, pushing his face against the wall.
"You have the right to
remain silent," Gibbs said, reciting the Miranda rights as he snapped
the cuffs onto Fiddle.
He turned and saw Kate was
already gone, inside the apartment. She returned empty-handed, but reported,
"We have several knives. Pocket knives, butcher... but the one
I'm interested in is the switchblade sitting in the sink. Did you have
really rare steak last night, Fiddle?"
"Get a CSU team down here
and call for a warrant," Gibbs said, hauling the man to his feet.
"Not that we'll need one, what with you taking a swing at one of
my men." He looked at Tony and said, "Antagonizing the suspect
is pretty dumb, DiNozzo."
"Well, that's my method...
it's not pretty, but it works," Tony said, massaging his sore jaw.
Gibbs smirked and headed for
the door, tugging Fiddle along with him like a dog on a leash.
---
"He confessed everything,"
Kate said. "Hardly even worth going all the way to interrogation.
McClain took him for a midnight stroll on the beach, started talking
about feelings and their relationship."
"But, since Fiddle was
only in it for the warm body, he took offense at McClain's accusation,"
Tony picked up. "They got into a little bit of a tussle and Fiddle
just happened to find his knife in his hand."
"Family heirloom,"
McGee said. "His grandfather gave it to him. This morning, he was
trying to get McClain's blood out of his grandfather's initials. Benjamin
Franklin Fiddle, if you can believe it."
"BFF," Kate said.
"Best Friends Forever."
Tony chuckled. "Aw, Kate.
I'll bet you had lots of those little heart-lockets. Which side did
you keep? The Be- Fri- For- side or the -st -ends -ever side?"
Kate rolled her eyes and headed
back to her desk.
Gibbs stood, tossing something
to her as he passed. She fumbled with the package, frowning at the contents.
"What is this?"
"Travel alarm," Gibbs
said, not bothering to slow down. "Don't be late tomorrow, no matter
where you're sleeping."
Kate looked at the present
and glared at Tony. Tony held his hands up innocently. "Hey, don't
look at me! I didn't say a word."
She looked at McGee who shook
his head. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about."
Tony snickered and picked up
his jacket, pulling it on. "Well, Kate, I hate to mock and run...
but those of us who were here at five-thirty get to go home early. I'll
see you two tomorrow."
"Night, Mini-Gibbs,"
McGee said from his desk.
Tony froze, rolled his shoulders
and shook his head before striding to the elevators.
---
Abby dropped off what she'd
found out about the shell casings with the officers upstairs and returned
to her lair, heading to her desk to grab her stuff before heading out.
She didn't notice the stereo was off until Gibbs' voice came out of
the silence. "Abby."
"Geez, Gibbs!"
"Sorry."
"Why are you lurking?"
she asked, jabbing a finger at him. "You know you can't sneak up
on me, so you lurk?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
he said, remaining still and boring a hole through her with his icy
blue eyes.
"Tell you...?"
He stepped forward. "If
you are going to sleep with a member of my team, it had damn well better
not interfere with the performance of their duties. Is that clear?"
She nodded, more than a little
scared.
He nodded back and put a hand
on her shoulder. "She's probably upstairs getting ready to leave
soon. I can tell her to wait."
"She's going to come down
when she gets off," Abby said quietly.
He nodded again and headed
for the door. Abby watched him go and then rushed after him. "Wait.
Gibbs!" He stopped. "Don't you have anything to say?"
"About what?"
"About... who it is."
He hesitated. "Yeah,"
he said finally. "Thank God it isn't DiNozzo."
He smirked and headed to the
elevator. When the doors opened, Kate nearly stepped into him. She froze,
looking up at him as if afraid of what he was going to do. He widened
his smile and said, "She's waiting for you, Kate." He slid
by her, stepping into the elevator and cleared his throat. When she
looked, he tapped his watch.
She held up the travel alarm
and said, "Early, even."
He nodded and said, "Good
girl," as the doors closed. Kate exhaled sharply and went into
the lab, finding Abby next to her desk. "Gibbs..."
"...knows," Abby
nodded. "I'm sorry, Kate, I tried to cover for you."
"Yeah, I... screwed that
up. Thank you, though. It means a lot."
Abby nodded.
Kate brushed her cheek and
looked at the dark lab. "Quite a day."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry, Abby,"
Kate said. "Me being angry this morning had nothing to do with
you."
Abby smiled. "Well...
it had a little to do with me."
"I guess I'm just not
as adjusted to the idea of us as an... us... yet. Give me time?"
Abby stepped forward. "You
want time... which means..."
"I'm not done figuring
you out yet," Kate said.
"What did Gibbs say to
you just now?"
Kate looked at the present
he'd given her earlier; a small travel alarm clock. "I told him
I wasn't going to be late again."
Abby smiled.
---
The next morning, Tony looked
up from his breakfast and frowned. "Morning, Kate."
"DiNozzo."
"Isn't that the same outfit
you had on yesterday?"
Kate smiled and took off her coat. "Yes, Tony. Yes, it is."