Not mine as much as I wish they were. I make no money as they belong to other people.
He hated this time of the morning, the day shift starting and night shift going home. Sometimes the undercover detectives would come in to touch base, organized chaos at its best. The desk captain hung up the desk phone then walked into the bullpen. " We have a D.B., who's up?"
Charlie stood up. " I am , Steve is running late he's having the stitches taken out from that dog bite."
"I'll go with you." Tony offers. "No court today."
The captain looks at the two of them. "Go, keep me informed."
They get to the crime scene seeing a group of onlookers trying to get a glimpse of what is going on as the uniform officers try to keep they at bay. Both of them put on gloves as a matter of course, kneeling next to the victim, they take in his appearance. Bruises and blood covers his face and hands his knuckles are a bloody mess as well.
Charlie point to the chain around the neck. "He's wearing dog tags." Reaching over with a pen he lifts them high enough to read the name and branch of service.
"He was a marine. I know his sister, she went to school with my sister. He was the youngest of the family."
Tony stands up and takes a few steps away. "Call the captain let him know he has to call NCIS. They'll want jurisdiction and as far as I'm concerned they can have it. We don't need to get into a pissing contest with them, especially if they send their first team; in this case I'm sure they will. We have enough of our own crime to solve and they have a bigger budget."
"So what should we do?" Charlie asks, knowing Tony's history before he came to work in Boston, as they watch the uniform officers move the crowd from getting any closer.
"Don't touch a damn thing, call Ben at the academy have him bring his cadets out here to stand guard and keep the crowds away from contaminating anything. Tell him it will be a teaching experience."
Tony smile for a second then continues. " Tell him I suggest wear his uniform, he might have to put a Gunny in his place."
"I don't understand?"
"But Ben will, we've shared a few drinks and stories about this particular Gunny. You see Ben left active duty as a SgtMaj, the Gunny we are talking about is a GySgt"
"There's a difference?"
Tony can't help but smile. "Yes, Ben's a higher rank."
"Okay, what do I do?"
"Ben will have your back as the saying goes so don't worry about backlash. Tell the agent in change that nothing was touched after you saw the dog tags and recognized the name. They can have the body and the crime scene. One thing, keep my name out of it. I don't want them to know that I'm here, Ben will know not to say anything too. Call our M.E. and ask if Dr. Donald Mallard can use the facilities for the autopsy, the Marine was a local kid no need to ship him to Washington then back again. Make sure you tell him to send the bill to NCIS. I don't think he will have a problem with sharing with Ducky. If our M.E. says yes tell Gibbs that you arraigned for the autopsy to be done by his M.E. here, to save the family stress as he is a local, and his family still lives here. They do, don't they?"
"Yes they still do, is their M.E. Any good?"
"One of the best. He loves tea, but only in a real cup, he is a nice gentleman in every sense of the word; be nice to him. Ducky has a heart of gold, his assistant is a nice kid too."
Charlie smiles understand what is not being said. "I'll make sure they get a cup of tea. What about the rest of them?"
"Not our problem. Please, just be nice to Ducky and Jimmy, they're good people."
"I will, I also promise to be a pain in the ass to the rest because they are Feds and I hate dealing with those people. You don't count you came to your senses and came back to the light."
"You're a funny man. My turn to buy dinner next time we're stuck working the graveyard shift. One more thing expect them to be here two hours after they get the call."
"Tony it's a ninety minute flight from D.C. To Boston."
"You've never seen Gibbs drive."
"No way."
"I'll owe you a Great one from Dunkin's if I'm wrong. But if I'm right. . ."
"I know, I'll owe you. It's a suckers bet, there is no way they'll get here in two hours."
"Remember I like regular cream and sugar." Tony calls over his shoulder as he walks toward his car.
"Grab your gear." Gibbs growls as he enters into the bullpen. "Overnight bag too. McGee gas the the car, Ziva call Ducky tell him we are going to meet at the airport." He didn't order the newest member of the team to do anything he just glared at him.
"Does his mood ever get any better? I've been here a two months and if anything, he is worse." Richards asks as he follows McGee.
"If we're grabbing our overnight bag it means that we have to travel and work with the local LEO's. Gibbs hates working with the local police, it is always a fight over who has jurisdiction."
"It's worse now since Tony has been gone, he always acted as a cushion." Ziva adds making the newest member jump.
"I wish you would stop sneaking up like that." Richards tells her, making Ziva smirk.
"Not a cushion Ziva, a buffer. Besides it's time the locals learned that we are federal agents not their equals."
Gibbs takes his seat on the small military plane that Vance had called ahead for. He closes his eyes and exhales slowly. Wondering for the hundredth time where Tony was, thinking back he never saw it coming; he came to work six months ago only to find Tony's badge, weapon and ID in his locked desk drawer. He should have known things were not going well with the team, in fact they had not been going well for some time, ever since that case with the Navy commander, killed on live talk radio. It was his own fault, not that he would admit it to anyone. He lost a damn fine agent, more importantly he lost his friend. The worst part was that no one was willing to talk to him, he knew Tony's network was big, that damn brotherhood of the blue badge, It was even a larger wall of blue because Tony had started out as a beat cop, just a run of the mill street cop that worked his way up to detective and that elusive gold shield. By himself; he had no help just a lot of hard work and his out of the box thinking.
Opening his eyes he sees his team, the only one's talking quietly are Ducky and Palmer sharing some story. The rest of them reading and working on their laptop. It is a broken team just four individuals working together; or in this case working against each other. They no longer work as a team. And he has no idea how to fix it.
Ben smiled slightly as he talks to Charlie they had grown into a fast friendship thanks in part because of Tony. Their mutual love of Italian food and trying to find the best outside of the North End. It was a challenge as the North End has the best Italian food in the area.
Looking at the new recruits Charlie can clearing remember the time he spent in the academy, seeing that every other recruit was looking in towards the crime scene, he has to hide his smile.
As they walked around keeping a close eye on the cadets and the crowds every so often Ben would order. "About face." then he reminded them. " Be aware of everything you see, take nothing for granted, even the smallest bit of paper on the ground can be important evidence to solve the case."
Seeing a cars pull up with only one of them sending sand and dirt into the air, after coming to a hard stop.. "Son of a bitch, I just lost a bet with Tony." Charlie sighs as he sees the the group come closer each wearing a cap and jackets with the NCIS logo.
"I thought I told you never bet against him, you'll lose. What was the bet for?"
"A Great one."
Ben grins then put his best game face on, wiping a nonexistent lint from his crisp sharp uniform, before he turns. "He let you off easy. Now let's go play with the Fed's."
Gibbs walks toward them with the mind set of looking for a fight over jurisdiction. Seeing the uniform and rank on one the of the men he knew it was going to be trouble if someone was already here.
"I'm Agent Gibbs. I understand you have a Marine victim." Is as far as he gets before Charlie interrupts him
"His name is Rick Hamilton, he is from the area and his family still lives here. I've asked our M.E. If your M.E can use the facilities here to preform the autopsy, he has no problems at all with the request. The sooner you are finished the sooner the family have him back to bury him. He'll send the van when you call him, if you want to that is. We haven't touched anything other than the dog tags with a pen. We didn't talk to anyone they're are a few CCTV around, that should help you. The uniform officers will stay until the body is loaded up." Then he hands Gibbs a card with the number of the M.E.
Ben took a step closer to Gibbs. "When I heard you were coming Gunny, I brought my cadets in to guard the crime scene until you arrived. As you are here we will be leaving it to you and your team. I have a lunch meeting with some brass and I'm running late. He turns and shout attention before telling them to get into the bus.
"I'll call you about dinner." Charlie nods then looks at Gibbs. "If you don't need anything else? I've got four others case I'm working on at the moment."
To say he was shocked would be an understatement they usually have to fight for jurisdiction this time they just handed it over. His gut was screaming something just wasn't right. "Ziva shoot, McGee, sketch , Richards bag and tag."
Coming closer Ducky. "Jethro I do believe that I shall take up the offer to do the autopsy here. It will save time and give the family closure." Ducky tells him then takes the card out of his hand.
Looking around he grits his teeth. "Damn you DiNozzo." He mutters cursing the man for the hundredth time as he walks toward the crowd with his notebook and pen.