I barely heard the elevator doors slide closed behind me as I stormed into the bullpen. Mawher had better be damn glad he was locked in observation because if I laid eyes on the bastard right now, I'd kill him. I clutched the evidence bag containing the faked suicide note so tight my knuckles turn white, hardly noticing that I'm nearly shaking with rage. Oh yes, right now, I'd snap his neck with my bare hands and not have a moment's regret.
I stopped in the middle of my team's area and thrust the bag into the air. "Somebody find someone to process this damn thing because there's no way in hell I'm letting Abby near it."
McGee scrambled to his feet, eager to please. "I've still got contacts in Norfolk, Boss. I'm sure I can find someone to process it."
"Do it."
He was already dialing, phone cradled between his neck and shoulder, intent on his mission. I settled at my desk, still fuming, and listened to snatches of his conversation as he made arrangements for the forensic tech at Norfolk to run the tests. I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the rage. No matter how much I would enjoy killing the bastard, I knew I couldn't. I had to do this by the book and make sure Mawher was put away for a long, long time.
"Sandy in Norfolk will take care of it, boss," McGee said, breaking into my thoughts. "She just needs someone to bring it down to preserve the chain of evidence."
I nodded and passed the evidence bag over to him, silently commanding him to take care of it. He took the bag from me and flipped it over, eyes scanning the painfully familiar writing on the crumpled paper it held. I saw the moment the meaning registered. All color drained instantly from his face, and he stumbled backwards as if hit by a sudden, invisible sucker punch to the gut before dropping limply into his chair.
I realized, too late, that McGee had not been with me when I'd gotten the call from the forensics crew to come to the evidence garage. He knew nothing about the note's contents, nor Mawher's bizarre plot to kill Abby. Until now.
Tim stared at the crinkled note, fighting hard to swallow the bile that rose in his throat. The handwriting was so like Abby's he would have believed it to be hers if he hadn't known better. But he did know better. There was no way Abby could have written this. No way. Abby would never consider suicide. She'd told him so once, when they were working a case that turned out to be a suicide. For all her unconventional ways, she was still Catholic enough to consider it a mortal sin, if for no other reason than the turmoil and pain it caused for all those left behind.
So, Abby couldn't have written this, but if Abby hadn't written it, that only left one possibility. Mikel had planned to kill her. The scene in his apartment came back to him in a flash. Abby cornered on the toilet in his bathroom, only her own quick wits and a painfully thin door separating her from Mawher. His stomach lurched painfully. He'd left her alone with a mad man who planned to kill her. This time, he barely made it to the head in time.
Moments later, standing over the sink, scooping water into his mouth and trying vainly to stop shaking, the guilt hit him like a lead weight. Abby had nearly gotten killed, and it was all his fault. He'd failed, spectacularly, miserably failed. Abby was in protective custody, his protective custody, and he'd left her alone. Gibbs had trusted him to take care of her, to protect her, and what had he done, he'd left her alone. All over a stupid toothbrush. Who cared if she used his toothbrush? Sure, it was gross, but it wasn't worth her life. What had he been thinking?
He'd broken the cardinal rule of protection. He'd left a protectee alone. Trouble was, he hadn't been thinking of Abby as a protectee. He had been thinking of her like a friend, and he'd believed her when she said Gibbs was just being overprotective. He hadn't been thinking like an agent at all. He'd let everything go, let everything slide. He'd forgotten everything he knew, everything he'd been trained to do. The one time it mattered most, he'd fallen apart, and it had nearly cost Abby her life. Some agent he was. Hell, he didn't deserve to be an NCIS agent at all.
There was only one thing left to do.
