Gibbs dragged a hand over his face. The thin morning light created a haze above the damp ground, but not enough to obscure the girl laid on her back in front of him. McGee was knelt besides her, scrutinizing her now that the camera had documented what it could. DiNozzo was stalking around the perimeter.
"Talk to me," Gibbs said in a hushed voice. For some reason this case grated on him already, got under his skin like a chigger and made him feel itchy and raw in a way that he couldn't explain.
"Looks like a point blank .38 to the sternum, I'm guessing when we turn her over it's going to be a through and through. I'm not sure..."
"Not sure? About what?"
McGee looked up at him and Gibbs saw confusion in his boyish face. "I'm not sure how this all fits. The way she fell says suicide, but a chest shot... that's unusual. You've got a higher risk of just bleeding out if you miss the heart. And then there's the fact that the firearm is missing."
"Shot through the heart?" DiNozzo looked over and gave a slight chuckle. "But who's to bla..."
He tailed off as he caught Gibbs's expression. His boss was looking at him coldly.
"Um, no sign of anything here. She flattened the grass coming out this way, but she didn't drop or throw anything. Think somebody got to her before we did?"
Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose. "Looks like it," he said, "if there wasn't somebody with her in the first place. McGee, let's take a look at her back."
Gibbs thought he could understand why she, or they, chose this spot. Secluded, picturesque, just the right place to choose if you wanted to see some natural beauty before you ended your life. Or had it ended for you. The thought unsettled him. What if she came out here with someone she trusted? Had someone cared enough to make sure that her last moments were ones of scenic pleasure?
He made a mental note to pursue that line of thought once they confirmed her ID. McGee had been right about the bullet. Straight through her back, exiting in a bloodied starburst of flesh just left of her spine. DiNozzo started to scour the inner perimeter, focusing on an area based on the rough trajectory path.
A grunt made Gibbs look over. DiNozzo was squatting, drawing out an evidence bag and peering intently at something on the ground.
"You got it?" Gibbs asked, knowing already that the sudden intensity in DiNozzo's face meant he had found the bullet in record time.
"Yeah, it's right here. Wanna take a shot of this, Probie?"
McGee moved over, leaving Gibbs alone next to the girl's body. She was young, probably just out of junior grade, with a thick mass of brunette hair and a pleasing face that had been developing towards pretty. Suddenly he understood the itchy irritation within him, the frustration and anger at the wasted life. Usually it was easy for him to view cases objectively, to focus on the resolution and justice for the dead. But this girl was practically a child. He stood up quickly.
"You two, document everything. DiNozzo, get that bullet bagged and back in the lab as soon as you've recorded everything. Ducky is on his way over here. Don't let me down."
McGee cleared his throat, startling Gibbs back into consciousness. Before he could say anything McGee handed him a print-out. "We've got an ID, boss. Hope Rezlow, 17, reported missing yesterday by her grandparents. Dad's stationed overseas, Mom died of cancer three years ago."
"They didn't happen to mention whether they had any firearms go missing?" Gibbs joked grimly. Catching some precious sleep in his chair, his dreams had been haunted by images of Shannon and Kelly, and he wished he could get away somewhere, anywhere, where he could rinse the thoughts away.
"If they did, it wasn't recorded. She's down with Ducky now. Are you OK boss?"
Gibbs took the sheet of paper from his concerned colleague. "Fine. Go down to autopsy, I'll talk to the grandparents."
After the numbness would come anger, Gibbs knew that from bitter experience. He took a breath and knocked on the Reznor's door.
"Timothy, what do you see here? I do apologise, my dear, but this is necessary for our comprehension of your current state." Ducky gestured at the dead girl's arm under the spotlight. McGee peered over his shoulder. Gerald had been called away indefinitely by a family emergency, and Ducky seemed enthusiastic about sharing his observations.
"Scratches?"
Ducky nodded. "Yes, pre-mortem, you can see where the blood began to clot. This occurred very shortly before the poor girl met her demise. Now," he said as he moved round the gurney, "I found traces of what very well may be skin matter beneath her fingernails. I've given them to Abby for analysis, but I am rather suspecting that we will find her attacker got away lightly."
McGee glanced at him. "What make you think she didn't shoot herself?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"Ah, now, there, as I believe they say, is the rub. Look here," Ducky pointed at the entry wound. "You see that the bullet entered at a slight angle, just slight enough to give us our exit wound instead of an internal ricochet. This implies that were she indeed to have taken her own life, she would have used her right hand in a dreadfully awkward fashion."
"It's possible," McGee said and shrugged. "Maybe she didn't want to risk a failed head shot."
"All too sadly plausible, given the preoccupation of todays youth with their appearance. Not that I am implying anything about you, Hope," he added, turning slightly towards the corpse. "But the abrasions and fingernail samples point to something of a struggle, perhaps a lovers tryst gone awry. Whatever the circumstances, I can't give a full verdict on this until I hear back from Abby. Until then, I am inclined to say that this sad affair is the work of someone other than our poor Hope here."
Abby span in her chair, watching with interest as the profile began to take shape. The Brain Matter CD came to an end, and she rolled across the floor to hit repeat, turning the volume up as she did so.
"You'll get us hit with a noise abatement order one day," said Gibbs from behind her. Abby craned her head backwards. "Gotta have something to keep me awake here, after I was running tests nearly all night..." She yawned, stretching her arms out and cracking one eye open slightly to peep at him.
Gibbs smiled in spite of himself. Trust Abby to pull him out of a sour mood. He handed over the one thing that she craved.
"Yeah! That's why I tell everyone I have the best boss," she said, grasping the oversize cup of Caf-Pow eagerly. She beamed up at him as she took a sip, and he couldn't help smiling back.
"Ahh, now that is better," she said, unfurling herself from the chair and moving over to her desk. The computer screen was filled with data that Gibbs had given up on hoping to read like she could.
"Hmm, that's odd," she said, removing a hand from her precious Caf-Pow to point at the screen. "Uh-oh. Gibbs, I don't think you're going to like this..."
He moved to her side and frowned at the pixels under her finger. "Like what, Abs?"
"This sample from under her fingernails? It's her DNA, I mean, Hope's. She must have scratched herself."
Gibbs lack of response made her look around. His face was carefully blank, and she knew in that moment that he was more invested in the case than was good for him.
"Not what you wanted to hear, huh?" she said softly. He remained silent for a few more seconds before shaking his head.
"Can't be the good guy all the time, Abs. I'll tell Ducky. Now we have to find out what happened to the gun and whoever took it from the scene. And Abs?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for putting so much time in for this."
After he had left the lab Abby sat down again, thoughtfully sucking at her caffeine fix. She felt as if she'd personally let Gibbs down by failing to point at a suspect, and even more that she had failed Hope in some way. She shook her head. What was this, anyway? Forensics meant dealing with stiffs by the bucket load.
The moment she had that thought she felt guilty. False bravado like that was cheap and disrespectful. She tapped the straw against her lips.
Abby fretted at a loose thread on her sleeve.
"So you're probably thinking this is pretty hinky. I know, I know, lotsa people would say this is. But if you want me to go just let me know, kay?"
When she received no response she moved forward.
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. For whatever made you feel… for whatever it was that made this your only way out."
Hope Reznor looked peaceful at least. Abby wheeled Ducky's chair over to the tray that she had pulled out from the refrigerator and adjusted it until she could sit comfortably. She hooked her arms over the back of the chair and stared at Hope.
"You were pretty, you know? Probably had all the boys in school asking you out, huh?"
Her eyes filled a little. What was Gibbs feeling, if this hit her so hard?
"Gibbs, Gibbs is a good guy. He wants to save everybody and see everything through. I think you really threw him."
Abby had a sudden impulse to touch the girl, to give her a last comforting gesture. She reached out, realized that she still had her gloves on, and removed them. Then she laid a hand gently on Hope's forehead. The skin beneath her warm palm was like cold wood, slightly gritty and unnaturally tight. She stroked the hair that had turned dull and lank and smiled.
"Hey, I'll tell you what, if you ever need me, I'm always ready for guests." She said, bending close to the dead girl's ear.
She felt something lift inside her as she replaced the sheet and pushed the tray back into it's cold space.
Two weeks passed, and a marine found himself at the centre of a drug-ring murder scandal and the case took up nearly every waking hour for every member of the team. Abby had volunteered to get a carry-out one evening, and Gibbs had let her go, sensing that she needed a break most of all. She and McGee had been pulling ridiculous amounts of overtime to try and find enough evidence to support the claims of innocence from the marine.
On her way back to NCIS one of her pigtails started to come loose. She set the Chinese food down on a bench and began to tug her hair back into place. As she started to plait it back she realized that the hairband had snapped, and groaned. They were her favourite pair, tiny plastic bats holding hearts with their feet. She put the broken band in her pocket and started to put her hair into a ponytail.
When she had finished she went to pick the bag of food up, and stopped. Over the street she saw a familiar girl pass under the streetlights. Before she could be sure a cab sped past, and when her eyes readjusted from the glare the girl had gone.
You're seeing things, she thought sternly, too many late nights and not enough caffeine.
"What took you so long?" DiNozzo said as he hustled the bag from her and began tossing boxes on the desk. Abby pointed to her hair. "Band snapped, I had to fix it. You know a girl has to pride herself on her looks."
DiNozzo snorted.
"Oh, I think Tony knows all about that, he'd be lost without a nice blonde girl on his arm," McGee murmured as he examined his food. DiNozzo looked at him with a smirk.
"That one you took to The Olive Grove, now she knew how to dress. What do they call that in Haute Couture, the mutton look?"
"Hey!" DiNozzo tried to say with a mouth full of Lo Mein. He coughed and swallowed. Abby made a face as he sprayed bits of noodles onto the desk.
"That was my aunt, Probie! And since when were you the expert on women and my personal stalker?"
Gibbs looked up from the file he was studying.
"The Olive Grove? Jeez, what did she do to upset you?"
"Ah ha ha, very funny, but on my salary I can't exactly spring for filet mignon every evening. Anyway, Probie, answer the question, why are you following me around town?"
McGee went pink. Abby giggled.
"Could be something to do with a certain book signing?" she prompted. McGee groaned.
"Oh, oh I see, that's how it is! Well you can forget about putting my dinner with my aunt in your next book, mister, or I'll be suing you for, for copyright infringement!"
"You can't copyright going for dinner!" exclaimed McGee, trying not to laugh.
"Try me," DiNozzo gave a huge grin. "I will toast your ass."
Abby looked at both of them. "Uh, Tony, whatever you want to do to McGee is your own business, but we don't need to know the intimate details."
Their banter continued long after the last egg roll had been eaten, and by the time they all left for home Abby had completely forgotten all about seeing Hope Reznor across the street.