"What've we got?" Senior field agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs looked around the disheveled Hotel Room with a critical eye.
"Petty Officer Joanna Wells. Cleaning Lady found her this morning in the tub, wrists slit. Called the local LEOs who IDed her and called us. Looks like a suicide, Boss," Agent Anthony Dinozzo responded from the couch.
"Suicide? I'll be the judge of that Mr. Dinozzo."
"Oh, hey Ducky. You made good time."
"Yes, with Mr. Palmer in Chicago with Ziva and Timothy, I was forced to make my own way here."
"The Body, Duck?" Gibbs cut in impatiently.
"Of course, Jethro, of course, you'll have to spare me a moment however. Without Mr. Palmer I'm afraid I'm doing all the heavy lifting as it were."
"Checked with the front desk, boss, room's in her name. She had it for three days, ended today. Do Not Disturb was on the whole time."
"How does a petty officer afford a room like this?"
"Dunno Boss. Wanted to go out in style?"
Gibbs glared at Tony flatly, "Where was she stationed?"
"Illinois drivers liscense. Could be the Naval Yard in Chicago? I'll find out though."
Gibbs frowned and made his way into the bathroom. Like the bedroom, it was somewhat disheveled, but not badly.
"Time of Death, Duck?"
"She's been in the water for quite some time, Jethro, so for a precise time you'll have to wait until I get her back to the morgue. I would guess, however, that it's been at least two days."
"I still think it's a suicide, Boss. She left a note, and I found a prescription for antidepressants in her bag."
"Not a suicide."
"Or it could not be. Uh, how's that Boss?"
"Cut her writs with a box cutter."
"Indeed, Jethro, and it looks as though they were cut through the tendon."
"Pretty hard to hold a knife if you've already cut a tendon."
"Huh. I think I saw this on CSI."
"Explain to me, Ziva, how even when we out of town, we still end up with a body?" asked special agent-cum-author Timothy McGee as he paced the empty hotel hallway and shot another a glare at the uniformed officer at the far end of the hall standing outside an open door.
"I do not know. I ask you, McGee, when was the last time any of us went anywhere and there wasn't a body? Have you had any luck finding out what's happened?"
"Suicide it sounds like. They're not exactly sharing."
"Was she with the conference?"
"No, just a hotel guest. There's something fishy about it though."
"Fishy? Is your 'gut' telling you something?"
McGee rolled his eyes, "I don't need my gut to tell me this is off. They're calling it a suicide, but I was able to get in the room for a minute. They ID'd her from the front desk; there was none in the room."
"She had to have had ID when she checked in…"
"Exactly. Unless she lost it somewhere, someone took it with her."
"What about a room key," Ziva asked after a moment.
"No idea. Local LEOs chased me out before I could ask. It could be nothing; a coincidence that she happens to kill her self at the start of a Navy Conference in the hotel."
"It could be."
"… I'll call Gibbs."
"I'll get Abby."
"Abby! Are you in there?" Special Agent Timothy McGee pounded on the hotel room door for the fifth time.
After a moment a rather irate looking Abby answered. "Jeeze, McGee. Take a pill. The conference doesn't start for another two hours, and I mean hello, still getting dressed here!"
McGee raised his hands placating "Alright, Abby, now don't freak out but…"
"Freak out? Why would I freak out? Should I be freaking out? Oh god, what happened Tim. I knew it. I just knew I shouldn't have left the lab. I said to my self 'Abby you shouldn't go to this. Something always happens when we go away,' but I said 'No, Abby, you can't let your fear control you; you have to go to this. Nothing will happen. The other times were just coincidences,' but now you're here and something happened. What happened McGee!"
"I said don't freak out!"
"You'd only say that if I had a reason to freak out! What happened? Oh god, is it Gibbs? Did—"
"No, Abby, nothing happened back in DC. At least that I know of. They found a body."
"Tim, I hate to break this to you, but finding bodies? Not that uncommon. We do solve crimes, you know."
"What? No, not in DC. Here. In the hotel."
"Here?! As in here here? Oh god! What happened. No! Wait! Don't tell me. No, okay, tell me."
"They're calling it a suicide but Ziva and I don't agree. With the conference starting and all…"
"Seems hinky. What do you need me to do?"
"Uh, I just thought I should let you know. Ziva's calling Gibbs. I'm going to go see if I can get access to the scene again."
"I'll get Jimmy. AFTER I CHANGE." the forensic analyst responded before slamming the door.
"Dinozzo, what've we got?"
"Joanna Wells, Petty Officer Third Class. She was stationed out of Chicago at Navy Recruiting Command. Requested leave two months ago for a week and flew here to DC. Checked into her Hotel four days ago. I checked with the front desk, they don't remember seeing her leave that night, but they're not sure. Apparently there was a wedding going on, so it was busy. Still working on financials. But we might have a bigger problem, boss."
"Bigger than a dead petty officer?"
"Dunno. I talked to McGee; they found a body this morning in the hotel where they're having the conference. It's being ruled a Suicide. McGee snuck in, though, and thinks they're wrong."
"Wrong?"
"No ID in the room. Local LEOs called it a suicide, but apparently they didn't notice. They chased McGee out when he started asking questions. Faked suicide of a Petty Officer station in Chicago, followed by another faked suicide in the same hotel as a navy conference? It could be a coincidence boss, but that's pushing it."
"When is it ever a coincidence, Tony?"
"… right. I'll go back a bag."
"Are you sure about this, Gibbs? I'll brief SecNav if you are, but it sounds a little thin. You haven't even figured out what happened to Petty Officer Wells yet."
"Faked suicide of a petty officer out of Chicago, and then another faked suicide at the hotel in Chicago where a navy conference is going on?"
"I thought the dead girl in Chicago's wasn't Navy," Director Vance responded tiredly.
"She's not, but—"
Vance cut him off, "I know, I know, you don't believe in coincidence. I'll brief Sec Nav, but I want you and Dinozzo to stay on Johanna Wells. Find out what the connection is before you go to Chicago, or at least who you're looking for. McGee and David can handle Chicago for now."
Director Vance sighed as Agent Gibbs glared at him for a moment before turning and leaving.
"I know you don't like it, Gibbs, but until we know what the connection is, someone needs to stay on the case," he muttered as the door clicked shut.
"What do Navy Cops want with a suicide," one of the two CPD officers in the Hotel Room asked for the fourth time.
"Look, we've been over this. We think she's connected to another investigation back in DC, and it wasn't a suicide," McGee rolled his eyes.
"Look, I don't know what they teach you in 'NCIS'," the other officer replied squeezing as much scorn into the acronym as he could, "but she's a suicide. There's even a note."
"Of course, because Suicides always end up without ID in a hotel room."
"She probably lost it. Whatever, if you want to waste your time that's fine with me. We have better things to do." With the that the two CPD officers left.
"You know, Ziva, I think I'm really starting to hate local LEOs."
"I can't imagine why, McGee. It's not as though they've hindered multiple investigations and left with our body."
"Still, we'd better look around and see if there's anything left. They weren't exactly careful with the scene. We know there's no ID but whoever attacked her might have left something."
Ziva nodded and the two spread out, carefully checking through the room for anything that hadn't been disturbed by the Chicago Police Department officers.
OUTLINE:
Two concurrent plots, one in DC one in Chicago at start. Dead Navy Petty Officer in DC with the same MO as dead civilian in the building where McGee, David, and Abby are, which will be one of the 'suicides' from White Night. Petty Officer has been dead several days, while the Suicide is the night before. NCIS sees connection, goes to Chicago, takes possession of the body Dresden found the message on, reaches the same conclusion about a Serial Killer, and investigates.