A Father's Touch: Chapter One: Will She Be All Right at NCIS?
The pale woman at the door raised her hand to her mouth when she came to let them in, but she didn't look that surprised. In fact, she looked as though she was used to sorrow, and Gibbs felt bad that she had seen so much to distress her. She was still young, but her blue eyes were fixed with a sadness that made her seem older, her mouth turning down. "Welcome," she said softly as they entered. "I'm Susan Rusby. Please, come in."
Once she had closed the door behind them, she led them into the living room, where they took seats on the flowered couch. "What can I do for you today?"
"I'm Jethro Gibbs," Gibbs said. "We're from NCIS."
"So this is about Peter," she said sadly.
"Yes ma'am, we're here about Peter," Gibbs agreed. "Your husband's body was discovered at the Museum this morning. We're here to take you to identify him."
"Who killed him?" Susan wanted to know.
"We're not sure yet," Gibbs said gently.
"Are you going to find out?"
"Yes ma'am, we will."
Susan stood. "Well then, let's get this over with."
She moved into the hallway and opened the coat closet, searching for a cardigan sweater to don over her white blouse and khaki skirt, her stockings and sensible flat shoes. Then she stopped. "My daughter isn't home from school yet," she said, as though this had just occurred to her. She twisted the shoulder of the blue button-down sweater in her hands. "Would it be all right if we waited for her?"
"Yes, that would be fine," Gibbs said.
"Would either of you like anything to drink?" she asked, putting the sweater back into the closet. "I have some lemonade made up, and there's coffee and tea."
"Coffee, if it's not a problem," Gibbs said.
Susan moved past them into the kitchen, Tony and Gibbs following. She poured some ground coffee into the coffee maker and turned it on. Gibbs checked his watch; it was half-past two. "What time does your daughter arrive home?" Gibbs asked quietly.
"She'll be home by three," Susan answered. "I'd really like to wait for her, if it's possible."
"It is," Gibbs said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We'll have some coffee. I'd actually like to ask you a few questions about your husband."
They sat at the island. Tony and Gibbs drank their coffee while Gibbs asked Susan questions about Peter's service in the Navy, and how he'd come to work at the Naval Museum. She answered quietly at first, then becoming a little more animated when telling about how much Peter loved cataloguing artifacts at the museum and telling visitors about famous sea battles.
At three o'clock Susan got up, rinsed both visitors' coffee cups, and put her cardigan sweater on, stepping outside onto the porch. Gibbs and Tony followed her. A school bus pulled up not long after that. The door for wheelchair access opened and a woman in a blue T-shirt was on it, helping to position a girl in a wheelchair on the lift. The girl lifted her arm and waved to Susan; her arm was covered in white, gauzy bandages.
As soon as the lift touched the ground, the girl shifted her hand to the motorized controls and came towards Susan and the front porch. "Hi, Mom!" she sang. Gibbs could see her closely now; she was no more than thirteen, wearing a jaunty blue-and-purple striped knit cap over her head. Two long reddish braids stuck out from under the cap. Her body, as much as he could see, was completely wrapped in white bandages, over which she wore a black T-shirt with a black-and-red picture of a pale-faced girl and the slogan "Emily the Strange," and a pair of black yoga pants. Her left leg had been amputated at the knee, and there was a large scab on the right side of her face, but she appeared cheery.
"Hi, honey," Susan said, trying to sound brave.
"Jimmy asked me to the dance today!" the girl said. "The Spring Fling. He was going to ask Mary Lakoff but then he decided to ask me. Kimmy's going with Andrew and…"
She stopped, looking up at Gibbs and Tony. "Mom? Who are these people?"
"Ariel, this is Mr. Gibbs and Mr. DiNozzo from NCIS. We need to go with them; they need to speak with me for awhile."
"Is it about Dad?" the girl asked, her eyes going wide.
Susan nodded, closing her own eyes.
The teenager became suddenly solemn. "Okay, let's go."
"If you wish, you can meet us there," Gibbs suggested. "That might be easier."
"Yes, thank you," Susan said. "We'll be there in twenty minutes."
She turned back to look at Gibbs. "Will she be all right at NCIS?"
Gibbs nodded. "Yes, she will be. Let's go, what must be done cannot wait."
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