To Die and Cast
(A die in the context of integrated circuits, is a small block of semiconducting material.)
She undressed, slipping the silken robe from her body, turned the radio on and stepped into the bath. She lay back closing her eyes. She lay in the bath, the hot bath. She had added bubbles and was looking forward to a long soak. That would be until the water turned cold and you ended up looking like a prune.
That was when she heard the noise. Drip, drip…..drip. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. A dark patch was forming, turning red and then she looked at the bathwater, the bubbles now pink…Megan screamed.
-oOo-
"So do you know the deceased?" Special Agent Gibbs asked of the woman.
"No, not really….well, we may live in the same block, and I have taken in a couple of packages for him. You know E-bay stuff. That's why I know his name. Ryan Hellmann. Hey we keep ourselves to ourselves." She replied looking into the blue eyes of Gibbs.
"And what do you do for a living. I mean what time did you get home and do you usually bath at three in the morning?" he now asked.
"I'm a thespian. I had a late show, and then a few drinks, a meal with the cast and then home. I usually sleep late in the mornings, so don't see a lot of the block. Ryan he was a sailor so was away a lot. He used the apartment for recreation I suppose." Megan replied.
"The rest of the block?" Gibbs now enquired, looking about.
"Don't know. Mrs Webster though the wall from me, 76, widow. Married couple opposite to her, mid 30's professional, that would be across the corridor. Other side, students….hey you're the detective, you find out for yourself…..yeah, and before you ask, it has been a long night and I'm tired. I need my rest. Just don't make too much noise, but I got a matinee this afternoon." Megan now answered.
Gibbs smiled and handed Megan his card, "I'll be in touch, or if anything else arrives for Ryan you can give me a call."
"Boss, what you find out about Ms Megan Wallsey." DiNozzo enquired.
"Ah Jethro there you are. Now our sailor had his throat cut. He bled out in the bath, but our thespian….you have a twinkle in your eye, something I haven't seen for a while." Dr Mallard retorted.
"Nothing Duks, just the sun…" Gibbs answered back, "You find out the owners or occupiers of the apartments, DiNozzo?"
"Boss I found out about the first floor, McGee was having a word with Mrs Webster, while Ziva was interviewing the students. Hey, here comes McGee now." Tony replied.
Tim looked sheepish as he approached the team.
"Well Tim, what did Mrs Webster have to offer, apart from tea and cake?" Gibbs smiled, looking at the crumbs down his junior agent's shirt and the jam on his top lip.
"Sorry Boss," as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, "She was very forward, very chatty. A bit lonely but she could tell you what everyone has for meals, the music they listen to and what they watch on the TV. Megan, she's a prostitute. Keeps coming in late, at night. Sleeps all day….oh yes, talks to herself…"
"Nosey neighbour. Sometimes, they can be the best kind, but sometimes they do twist the truth. She does know that Megan is an actress?" Gibbs asked McGee.
"Mrs Webster says that's what she likes to call herself, but then what kind of acting does she do?" Tim answered, watching Gibbs walk away smiling.
"Probie, it looks like Mrs Webster likes to imagine and speculate about her fellow neighbours." Tony replied.
"Why? What did I miss?" Tim asked standing looking confused.
"I think Agent McGee, Mrs Webster is stringing you along." Jimmy replied.
"Timothy, have you never heard of Arsenic and Old Lace. A very good story of little old ladies who murder lonely…." Dr Mallard began to say.
"Duks, this body was in the bath." Gibbs retorted.
"Well I think we should check the basement as well." Duks added, walking away.
-oOo-
The team were gathered in the bullpen. Tim and Tony had organised the pin-board and the computer screen.
"So McGooey, as senior field agent I suggest, that since you seem to have all the details of the tenants in the block would you like to start?" Tony requested.
"Yes," Tim replied, now looking at Gibbs who smiled, "Apartment 1, Megan Wallsey, prostitute….."
"Allegedly, Tim." Gibbs added.
"Allegedly I might add, apartment 3, Mrs Webster, 76yrs old and a widow…."
"Makes, a very good cup of tea, and sponge cake, by the look on your face." Ziva butted in.
"Allegedly," Gibbs added.
Tim stared at the team and began to feel rather uncomfortable, but he carried on, "Apartment 2, this is inhabited by two lesbians…." As he heard Ziva stifle a cough, "Allegedly. And then we have apartment 4, a married couple by the name of Osler, they work for the Government. Nice people, Mrs Webster's words, allegedly."
"So that's her floor, did Mrs Webster give any indication on the floor above?" Gibbs requested.
"Apartment 5, we know is Seaman Hellman, but he was really a spy, he travelled the world you know. He was undercover, and only used the apartment for when he came to Washington to see the President." Tim continued, beginning to smile and realise where this was going. "Apartment 6, is occupied by a Dr Kooiman, he is from Uganda, but works here now. He treats children. Apartment 8 is occupied by a woman and a brat, her words, not mine, and apartment 7 is empty, but being above hers it has rats, there is scraping and rustling noises. " Tim finished speaking.
"Very good. Now do you want to know the truth?" Tony replied, "Ziva, you do the ground floor." now looking in her direction.
"Megan is an actress, she is currently in a show down town. The lesbians are in fact two students at the University. Mrs Webster is a busy body , and likes to give her home baking away, which although good, usually ends up in the garbage. Yes, the married couple are called Osler, but they work for the water utility, and electric company."
"Thank you Ziva, now the top floor, or should I say 1st. Not that it matters." Tony continued, "Apartment number 5, Ryan Hellmann, yes seaman US Navy, he was in electronics and navigational departments, he did circuit boards. Apartment was his parents, they died and left sister and him joint owners. Numero 6 does have a Dr Kooiman, but he is a doctor of Art at the Museum, and yes he did come from Uganda via UK, when Idi Amin took power in 1971, his parents were high government officials. The brat and his mother, as you so rightly called them, now remembering the kick on his shin which he knew was turning black and blue, are a single parent, Stacy and her son, Jason, who happens to suffer from Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Finally apartment 7 is empty, and yes it is sealed with a cross bar and pad-lock, but had been entered recently." DiNozzo concluded.
"Good work DiNozzo, now Tim, get a warrant, we need to enter the 7th flat." Gibbs shouted.
-oOo-
The team duly arrived the next day. One day wasn't going to make much difference. Dr Mallard had of course said that Ryan Hellmann had bled out, but what had been interesting was a tiny pin prick in the neck. If Ducky didn't know better he would have said poison dart, but it wasn't in the body. Had the team found anything like that? Gibbs acknowledged they hadn't but he would get his most junior member to find, looking at Ziva who glared.
The padlock was easy to break into and the door being old didn't take much. Gibbs pushed the door open, gun at the ready, the old door creaked.
"You find out, who did own this apartment Ziva?" he asked.
"The owner is in an old peoples home. They, that would be the family, are disputing the property. The apartment was let until last year, but it is now without a tenant. Selling is an option…"
"But the family are disputing." Gibbs replied looking about.
"Tim, you have the job of finding the previous tenant or tenants. I want to know who put that bar up and the padlock." As Gibbs ducked under the bar, and into the room.
The air was not stale but not fresh. It had overtones of musk. The room was still partially furnished. A couch, coffee table, a dining table and two chairs. In fact it was just enough barely for occupancy. The kitchen was clean. No dirt, or come to that much dust. It looked like someone did stay here. Tony had checked the bedroom, "Clear." He shouted. Gibbs went to check anyway.
The bed was bare, except for the mattress cover and two pillows. The bedding? He checked the wardrobe, nothing. Gibbs spied a chest in the corner. Walking over he opened, blankets, no sheets, bring your own. Somehow this place was used, but not often.
"Ziva, next door, and see if you can find, what Ducky was looking for. Tony, what are you doing in the head?"
"Sorry Boss, just had to go, must have a chill, but come see what I've found." As he turned, and headed back into the head.
Gibbs shook his head, but duly followed. The shower room was clean…..too clean. The tiles white, but as Tony pointed about eye height, there was one tile, it would appear to have a black line round it. No, he knew the grout had been scrapped away. Mrs Webster's rats? Gibbs took his knife and carefully prised the tile off the wall. What the two men saw was a hole, it looked as if it went all the way through the wall.
"Tony, next door, and show Ziva." Gibbs shouted.
"On it Boss." As Tony fled the room.
Gibbs waited and then heard a noise from the other side of the wall.
"Boss. I can see you." He heard Tony whisper through the hole before blowing the plaster dust into Gibbs face,
"Sorry Boss." He shouted as he watched Gibbs through the whole wipe his face.
"Is Ziva with you? I mean DiNozzo, is she in the bathroom, get her to lie in the bath. No second thoughts you stand under the shower, and do some acting. You just got a dart in the neck, fall or what would you do? Ziva watch Tony." Gibbs ordered.
Gibbs watched as Tony slapped his neck and pretended the poison was taking effect. He succumbed to the drug, and fell into the bath. Gibbs replaced the tile and went to Ryan's apartment.
"Very dramatic, death throe. Must ask Megan if she needs extras." Gibbs replied as he entered the bathroom, to see Tony lying in the bath.
"Gibbs?" Ziva now asked, "If Ryan is now drugged in the bath, how did the killer, get in the door without breaking it down?"
"Ziva how do you and I get into properties?" Gibbs replied looking at her.
"So in….. cut Ryan's throat turn the taps on hot and leave the way he came in?" she replied.
"Yep…..and DiNozzo you can get up now." Turning and walking back into the sitting area.
Gibbs looked about. He was looking to see what was missing or what might have been missing. What would be moved. He thought, a single guy, everything near at hand. No female company, well they hadn't found any obvious gear. The computer in the corner, he needed McGee to check it out. Abby to download anything. That was when he noticed the cabinet. The bookcase, well everyone had one didn't they. How did people file their books? Crime, romance. The authors alphabetically? Something didn't ring quite right. He went over to see. That was when it struck him, the books were upside down, and the subjects not methodical. He called Ziva to see what she would make of it.
"I would say untidy but a message is hidden there. Maybe if we have photographs and then see if Abby can decipher."
The books, a strange variety, had been seen as,
Trainspotting, (Irvine Welsh),
Kidnapped (Robert Louis Stevenson),
Hide and seek (Ian Rankin)
Dead Air, (Iain Banks),
Citadel, Archibald Joseph Cronin
Where eagles dare, (Alistair McLean,)
Torch, Lin Anderson
Beyond the city, Conan Doyle
Between the Bridge and the River, Craig Ferguson,
39steps, John Buchan
Maisie, the Morningside cat (Aileen Paterson)
All Scottish writers. Gibbs began to wonder if Duks would be a better bet. He knew the Country, and probably some of the books but why, and who placed them in this order. Did we have a second person? Or did Ryan place them like this knowing someone would figure out. Only trouble what city or where or what was he talking about. And who was Maisie?
-oOo-
The team returned to the bullpen, where they saw Tim beavering away.
"McGee, speak to me." Gibbs shouted, looking in Tims' direction.
"Ryan…..sister's named Maisie."
"Works for me Tim," giving Tony the, don't say a word look, "And the rest."
"He had just returned from a tour of Med…likes fiction…..sorry liked…."
"Owner, tenants…Tim?" Gibbs prompted.
"Sorry Boss. The owner…..that would be a she, is in an old folks home Baltimore, family, son and two daughters disputing apartment. The son wants to sell, one daughter to rent and the other daughter is in rehab and so really out the equation. In this economic turn down looks like renting seems the best bet….."
"Tim?" as Gibbs turned the imaginary starting handle in the air.
"Sorry Boss… Tenants, student, mature the University…one, friend of Megan's, she got a job offer with the Shakespeare company, London England. Last tenant was a navy man, whom Ryan knew and vouched for….so who would you like brought in for questioning Boss?" Tim concluded.
"DiNozzo, who do you want? and Ziva? I'll interview Megan again. Tim…." Now staring at McGee, "You never did give me a name for the Navy man did you?"
"No Boss, I thought you would laugh…"now seeing the look on Gibbs face, "Captain Francis Drake." As he heard, DiNozzo snigger.
"Well you just got him. Now go, get on it" Gibbs shouted.
"Could have been worse Probie, it might have been Lord Nelson…" Tony sneered, walking away.
"Unfortunately, that is his mother's cousin…" as Tim bowed his head.
-oOo-
Gibbs looked through the two way mirror at Captain Francis Drake, he couldn't help smile. Parents really didn't think when they lumbered their children with names. He remembered a girl whose initials were P.C., Tony had made a remake and the girl had slapped him.
"So Captain Drake," Tim started trying not to smile.
"I have been that for 5years and am used to the name, so what is this all about?" the Captain retorted.
"You recently rented a room beside Ryan Hellmann. In fact you knew Ryan from where?" Tim asked.
"We were working together on radar, on listening devices for NATO and other military soft-wear. We had a prototype, it was so small it could be placed in the smallest hole. It was the size of a flea. We were working on a small flying insect.
"So did you ever do any tests? I mean, how did you know if the things could do what you wanted them to do."
"We conducted experiments." Drake replied.
"Would you like to be more specific?" Tim questioned, looking the Captain in the eye.
"Ok we…..we did some minor damage to my room." Drake replied.
"Specify please." Tim requested.
"We…..took a tile off the wall and bored a hole through to Ryan's and then let a drone through." the Captain answered.
"Did your experiment work?" Tim continued. Gibbs looked down. Yes this was how an agent should be. There was still more that Tim should ask, but he was giving respect.
"It did, in fact it flew around a bit. Before crashing into the TV, we later discovered it was attracted to the static electricity, which would have been a break through if Ryan had lived long enough." The Captain replied.
"I have to ask, do these mean anything to you?" Tim now questioned pushing the list of book titles towards the interviewee.
The Captain looked, read and shook his head, "No sorry can't say they do…but I think Ryans sister was called Maise." As he handed back the sheet.
Gibbs looked at Tim as he finished speaking, "If we need your help again we will be in touch. If anyone should get in touch you will let us know, won't you?" Tim concluded.
"Of course," the man replied.
-oOo-
"Good work McGee, now you lot you got anything on Maise?" Gibbs shouted at the two other Agents.
"She has not been seen since her brother died." Ziva replied looking at Gibbs.
"Meaning?" he shouted.
"Meaning we don't know where she is, she hasn't used her cards, and has not been at work." Tony added, "But we do know she is on vacation, or should be. She asked for a week and she did take $1000 in cash out her account."
"Car? And I mean hers?" Gibbs questioned.
"She doesn't appear to own one. Nowhere to keep, she borrows Ryan's if…on it Boss." Tim answered now seeing where Gibbs was coming from.
"I'll check the airport, and then see if the parking lots have towed it away." Tim replied, getting on to the computer.
"Gibbs, I have been thinking," Ziva said getting one of Gibbs looks," What if she is alive, what if she has been abducted. What if, Ryan was threatened, his sister's life. What if Ryan put those books in that order as security. What if…" she never finished.
"McGee, co-ordinates, landmarks…..looks like Maisie is in danger or gone into hiding." Gibbs snarled, "You two help Tim. Good thinking Ziva."
Tim brought the titles up on the big screen. They looked at the titles again.
"What if they were mixed up?" Tony questioned.
"Meaning?" Ziva replied.
"Well what if we start with…look I don't know." Tony snapped.
"Hey, lets' start, with Trainspotting. Maisie, had money, has anyone checked the station?" Gibbs shouted at the agents.
"Nope, will see if they have the CCTV tapes and take it from there." Tim replied, getting on the phone.
"Right, if she was at the station, and she was going to be kidnapped, what would you do?" Gibbs asked.
"Hide." Tony replied.
"Then she was caught, and put in say the trunk of a car." Ziva now added, "She would have difficulty breathing. Dead air."
"Then she is taken to some watchtower, or some building. Beyond the city limits" DiNozzo suggested.
"Up where the birds fly, so on a hill? And probably down in the depths, the foundations, so we need a torch." Ziva replied.
"And if the said building is a watch tower, on a high ground, then would, could it not be a vantage point for the river, and if you had to cross a bridge….." Tim added.
"But what, of the 39steps?" Gibbs asked.
-oOo-
"I have a question that we don't seem to have answered. We know Maisie works for a catering agency who supply staff to companies to cover vacations and for functions." Tim said, "But did we find out her last place of work?"
"Thought you'd found that out McGee, So, since you three have not been paying attention, I found out for you. And if any of you would like to investigate, be my guest." waving a piece of paper at the team.
"I'll take Ziva, we'll go and ask about." Tony replied grabbing the piece of paper and heading for the elevator, closely followed by Ziva.
"Boss, you're not telling me or should that be us something?" Tim now asked looking his Boss in the eye.
"Let's just say gut feeling, I need co-ordinates, and fast. The catering establishment Maisie was assigned to is one "TIPO Electronics." Yes Tim the very firm that was dropped by the Navy three years ago for infringement of copy rite. Looks like, they are back in business." Gibbs replied, now looking over Tim's shoulder.
"We know the CEO?" Tim asked, now looking at the screen." Wow, Elizabeth Regant, and wow…."
"Didn't, got a call from Maisie's employers. I had asked if they remembered anything she may had mentioned on her weekly report. They said she had been worried because the CEO, kept asking her questions. She had been overheard talking to one of the girls about her brother and what he did." Gibbs answered, watching Tim type into the computer.
Gibbs cell rang, "Yep, Gibbs," he said listening to the caller, "That was DiNozzo, he just saw, who he thought was, Captain Drake talking to Ms Regant. I want all you can find out about our two, and, I think by showing him that list of books we may just have signed Maisie's death warrant. That is unless she knows what Ryan was killed for." Gibbs replied, "But I need to find the place, the building somewhere outside the city limits. And I think I know what the 39steps are, without Tony's help."
"Boss got this, a small World War 2 bunker up the River Potomac about 20 miles north. Build incase the Germans invaded. Bought about 6 years ago by the…."
"TIPO Electronics Company for?" Gibbs asked.
"Outward bound, team building exercises….Boss…wait for me" as Tim saw Gibbs head for the elevator, his cell to his ear, he was talking to someone.
-oOo-
The team arrived in a cloud of dust. They saw two cars parked outside the bunker. Gibbs indicated they go slowly but quietly to the door. Gibbs approached it was ajar, they heard voices….
"She talked yet?" the woman said.
"No, but I think we need to move her. They had a list of books, which if they are clever enough to figure out will get here." They heard Drake reply.
"All we need to know is where the blue prints for the new version of the drone are and we can kill her and let her body be found floating in the River. Make it look like an accident, falling from some height, break her ankle, looks like she fell over the cliff and into the water, break her neck, just get the information and dispose of her." They heard the woman shout. "I have to get back to the office, just try again." As they heard the door creak and Elizabeth Regant appear from the door. Gibbs shook his head slightly, allowing Elizabeth to go to her car. Drake didn't appear, so he indicated to Ziva to take the woman. The other two agents he signaled to follow him, Gibbs slipped into the building. Gingerly walking down the stone steps to the inner chamber, he heard Drake say, "I will ask you again, where are Ryan's plans, the new blue prints? Where are they?"
"Hands above your head." Gibbs shouted, "DiNozzo, cuff Drake, McGee release Maisie. No Captain Drake I think you have some answers to the questions I am about to ask." Looking the man in the face, "Car Dinozzo." As he walked to Maisie, "You Ok?" she nodded.
-oOo-
"Does Gibbs know what he is doing keeping the two suspects in the same room. I thought he always said rule#1…." Ziva questioned.
"Never let suspects stay together? Yeh, I know he also said switch off listening gear." Tony replied.
"But," Tim added seeing the look on Ziva's face, "We have a secret listener under the table and under the chair."
They watched the screen, "One question where is Maisie?" Tim asked.
"Dr Mallard's, with Gibbs before you even ask" Tony replied.
"Why?"
"Told you, not to ask Timmy." Tony replied.
-oOo-
"Maisie I know you are not alright. I know you have been through the mill. But we, that is Agent Gibbs here and myself have to make sure. Maisie, when was the last time you spoke to your brother?" Dr Mallard now asked the frightened woman.
"About 48hrs ago." she replied.
"How did he sound?" Gibbs asked gently.
"Scared, like me." Maisie replied.
"Do you think there was anyone with him?" Gibbs asked.
"Not sure…yes maybe…I don't remember." She replied.
"What did he say?" Gibbs asked.
"He asked if I wanted to read Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks, another Scots writer. He, that would be Ryan, said he wrote Scifi as well as mainstream." Maisie now added.
Gibbs took his cell from his pocket and called Tony.
"Nope, just watching, the argument here. Yes they are blaming each other, but we have it on tape….. You want me to go…yes that's why you called me. On it Boss." As Tony, shut his cell down, "That was the Boss….I got to go and collect another book from Ryan's." as he left the room.
Epilogue.
The team sat in the bullpen, writing up the sitreps. Captain Drake had admitted, that he was taken in by Elizabeth, to such an extent that they were lovers. Elizabeth, she was just a man eater and needed the information to help her ailing company.
"But the 39 steps," Ziva asked, "I still do not understand
"The 39 Steps is, was allegedly an organisation of spies, collecting information on behalf of foreign countries….." Tony replied.
"And in this case, the design for a very small spying bug." Gibbs answered, as the phone rang, "Yep Gibbs….grab your gear dead Marine." As he headed for the evelator and the parking lot.