The crime scene was run of the mill for NCIS' Major Case Response Team or MCRT for short. The dead Marine was a Lieutenant Colonel if the silver oak leaf on the collar of his uniform was anything to go by. Having been shot three times in the chest at a moderately close range didn't even put this death anywhere close to the most gruesome. And yet Tony, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo Jr., couldn't figure out why McGee, Special Agent Timothy McGee, was staring at the body, for the past ten minutes, as if it had been mangled by a meat grinder. It wasn't like his friend and teammate to get sick at scenes, at least not anymore, but the younger man looked pale and he could just make out faint beads of sweat on his upper lip. "You okay there McSickly?" Tony asked as he moved around the scene taking pictures of the body, foot prints, and anything else of importance that caught his eye. "Yo Duckman!" He greeted when the elderly medical examiner arrived with the autopsy gremlin in tow. "Can you check his pockets for ID?"
Timothy McGee swallowed hard pushing back the vomit that was lingering in the back of his throat. He could vaguely hear Tony and Ducky but his focus was completely on the dead Marine. It wasn't possible. And yet the proof was lying right in front of him. Blinking he managed to catch part of Tony and Ducky's conversation. The Marine had no ID on him.
"No ID Boss." Tony told Gibbs as he appeared from talking to the local LEO's that had found the body. He had left Ziva to finish up.
Senior Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs frowned and knelt down to move the mans collar slightly. A tattoo was inked on his collarbone stark in contrast to his pale skin. "A bird holding a skull? You seen that before Ducky?" He questioned his old friend. Getting a negative reply he stood and noticed that McGee hadn't moved since arriving. "Hey! HEY!" He slapped the younger man on the back of his head. "You with me?"
"I…." McGee swallowed again. "I know him Boss." It was the tattoo that proved the impossible. "I mean I knew him." He focused on the older man. "He died fifteen years ago." He whispered and licked his lips.
"Obviously he didn't McWrong." Tony pointed out as he motioned to the body. "Ducky just said he's been dead for no more than ten hours let alone fifteen years."
"The man that died, what was his name?" Gibbs asked his younger agent while glaring at Tony. He wasn't saying McGee was wrong but he needed proof.
McGee looked back at the body willing himself to be wrong but he wasn't. He couldn't be. Not with that particular tattoo. "Adam, Adam Wallace." Pulling the strap of his unused camera from over his head he pushed it into Tony's hands and fled the scene; phone already out and dialing.
Detective Kate Beckett was used to Author Richard Castle's antics at a crime scene. She'd grown rather used to them actually. He would usually launch into his version of events that lead to the victims demise. But not today. Today he was quiet, almost solemn, as he gazed upon the face of their John Doe that had just been pulled from the river. According to Lanie he hadn't been in the water very long and estimated time of death between seven and ten hours ago. Not being able to take the silence anymore she bumped her shoulder into him. "You okay? Something happen to your mom or Alexis?" She questioned.
Blinking as if realizing where he was Richard Castle frowned. "Not that I know of why?"
"You just don't seem like yourself today." Kate replied. "Writers block?" She guessed again as the victims wallet was handed to her. Frowning she found nothing but cash. No ID in sight. "Have the lab run his prints." She told Kevin Ryan as he walked passed.
"Don't bother." Castle spoke again this time his voice a little stronger. Kneeling down beside Lanie he used a gloved finger to push aside the mans wet coat collar to reveal a tattoo on his collarbone. Sitting back on his heels he sighed.
"That a tat?" Javier Esposito asked as he knelt on the other side of the body. Squinting he tried to make out what it was. "Is that a bird?"
At this point Kate wasn't look at the tattoo but at Castle. "Castle how'd you know about the tattoo?" She asked.
Castle looked up from the body. "Because I know him." He stated simply. "Or knew him." His brow furrowed. "I haven't seen him in….fifteen years."
"You know our victim?" Ryan asked the obvious. "He have a name?"
"Thomas Maddox." Castle pushed himself to his feet. "Can you excuse me for a minute?" Not waiting for a reply he moved away from the body, on shaky legs, and stopped at fence that ran the length of the river bank. The chirping of his phone alerted him to a message and when he fished it out of his pocket and looked at the number he knew something was wrong. After listening to the message he punched in a number he only had stored in his memory and waited.
"This better be important!" Shawn Spencer announced as he dramatically entered the chiefs office with Gus in tow. "We were in the middle of enjoying our towering onion rings at Red Robin!" Plopping down in the nearest chair he looked expectantly at Detective Carlton Lassiter who was already present in the room along with Detective Juliet O'Hara and his father, Henry Spencer.
"I'd say it is Mister Spencer." Chief Karen Vick, being the closet to Shawn, handed him a folder containing a file. "Member of the Mayors staff was found murdered last night. So far we have no leads and the Mayor is getting….antsy…..with our lack of progress. He wants you working this case Mister Spencer, asked for you personally."
Shawn glanced over the file then handed it to Gus to read. "Realllly?" A cocky little smirk appeared on his lips. "That's because we're tight." He mock whispered to Juliet.
Lassiter snorted and rolled his eyes. "You and the Mayor are….tight? Yeah and I'm the Queen of England." He turned his attention back to the chief dismissing Shawn and his antics as unimportant. "I'm telling you we can handle this Chief. We don't need Spencer or Guster's help." He pleaded.
Chief Vick sighed. "It's out of my hands Carlton. He asked for Spencer and Spencer he shall get."
Slapping his hands together Shawn stood and put his hands to his temples. "I'm sensing BANG! BANG! BANG! Three to the chest!" He placed his hand over his heart and paused when he felt Gus tug on his arm. "What?" He asked out of the corner of his mouth.
"Did you look at this Shawn?" Gus asked in a hissed whisper and thrust the folder back into Shawn's hands.
"I just looked at it Gus!" Shawn exclaimed. "I looked at it then gave it to you! Dude you just watched me read it!" Dropping his eyes he noticed that Gus had folded over the top page to reveal a second page with pictures. Several were of the body which he skimmed over but stopped and froze on the last two. It was these pictures that Gus wanted him to look at. Both pictures were of a tattoo, the same tattoo, that had been discovered on the mans collarbone. His eyes moved back to the pictures of the body was they were too small for him to really tell anything so he tossed the folder onto the table. Without a word he and Gus both headed for the door with one location in mind; the morgue.
Henry frowned at his son and his best friends odder than usual behavior. "Shawn!" He called out only to be waved off by the retreating back of his son. "What am I going to do with him?" He asked more to himself than the others in the room then returned to his desk knowing his son would return in his own time.
"You think he got something already?" Juliet asked having complete faith in Shawn's psychic abilities.
"Oh please!" Lassiter rolled his eyes again and stormed out of the office with Juliet on his heels.
Meanwhile it didn't take Shawn and Gus long to arrive at and gain access to the morgue. Being friends with the ghoulish medical examiner didn't hurt either. But luckily for them they didn't run into anybody as they searched the freezer drawers for the right body. "Got it!" Shawn exclaimed as he pulled the body out of it's freezer.
Gus' usual squeamishness was replaced by a calm, cool, demeanor. "You think it's him?"
"Who else would it be?" Shawn asked as he pulled the sheet down away from the mans face. It didn't take long for him to make the connection between the facial features of the dead man and those of their old friend. "I thought he left when we did?"
"He did." Gus moved so he could get a better look at the face. Even under the neatly trimmed goatee he could make out a scar just below his lower lip. "I gave him that." He motioned with his hand to the scar. "Took three stitches to close it up."
Shawn nodded. "I remember. I also remember that it finally earned you your badge." Absentmindedly he reached up and rubbed his collarbone.
Gus shook his head. "He was out Shawn. He got his papers along with us so why is he dead? And why do they think his name is Karl Sandburg?"
"I dunno but we're gonna find out. We gonna find out who killed Jaxon Shaw." Shawn promised. Just then his phone along with Gus' began to ring. And without even looking at the numbers they spoke in unison to the others on the other end. "We need to meet!"