Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of its characters

The Murder of a Murderer

Tim stepped off the elevator and headed for his desk. Tony and Ziva were both there as well. Gibbs wasn't there, but his things were.

"Good morning, McGee," Ziva greeted.

"Hey, Probie," Tony said.

"Tony, Ziva," Tim said somewhat distracted as he sat down at his desk

"Are you alright, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"I'm fine," he said.

"You don't seem fine, Probie. You look like someone just killed your pet," Tony said.

"You got the killed part right, DiNozzo," Gibbs said as he strode through the bullpen to his desk. "Got a marine found dead in his apartment. Grab your gear."

Everyone immediately grabbed their things and headed for the elevator.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The team, minus, Ziva, who was talking to the witness, was standing around their victim as Ducky and Jimmy examined the body. "The victim was shot between the eyes. I'll have to wait for the autopsy to say for sure, but I'd wager that is what killed him."

"Yeah, I'd say that's a safe bet, Duck. Time of death?" Gibbs asked.

"Again, I can't say for sure, but probably sometime last night," Ducky said.

"There was no sign of forced entry, Boss. It might have known his killer and let him in," Tony said.

Ziva came over at that moment. "The woman that found him was his girlfriend. She came to surprise him with breakfast this morning and found him. She was able to tell me that his name was Colin Bradley. He's a former Corporal."

"Girlfriend, huh? Twenty bucks says she did it," Tony said.

"Why is it that you always think it is the wife or the girlfriend," Ziva asked mildly annoyed.

"Because it always is," Tony said simply.

"We already have her statement. Anything else can wait until we have more informaiton. Meanwhile, let's start processing. Tony, you and Ziva start bagging and tagging. McGee, you take pictures," Gibbs instructed before walking away.

Tony and Ziva also left.

Tim took his camera out and started taking pictures. The look on his face as he started snapping the photos of the victim was that of pure hatred.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, Gibbs stepped into Autopsy where Ducky was working on the victim. "What do we got, Duck?"

"I'm still working on it, Jethro. I have, however, removed the bullet and sent it to Abby. Oh, and I've narrowed down time of death. I'd say it was between eight and midnight last night. Something is bothering me though," Ducky said.

"You find something else?" Gibbs asked.

"No, nothing like that. It's his name. I could swear I'd heard it before," Ducky said. He couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it, but the name Colin Bradley just sounded so familiar.

"You know the victim, Duck?" Gibbs asked surprised.

"Oh, no, of course not. I would remember if I'd met the man before. But I feel as though I must have heard of him. I don't know from where though. I can't recall," Ducky said. It was really bugging him. He'd always prided himself with having a decent memory, despite his age, yet he couldn't seem to figure out where he knew this man's name from.

"From the news."

Both men turned to see Director Jenny Shepard standing a few feet away.

"You know something about this, Jen?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm surprised you don't," Jenny said as she walked towards them. Well, actually, since you don't watch TV, I suppose I'm not. Colin Bradley was plastered all over the news for months."

"For what?" Gibbs asked.

"He was arrested and tried for the rape and murder of a woman in California. He was said to have forced her into his car outside a convenient store. He drove to a secluded place where he raped her and then slit her throat. She was found by the police the next day," Jenny said.

"Good Lord. Yes, now I remember. It was about fourteen or fifteen years ago. The man got away with it," Ducky said.

Jenny nodded. "It was a technicality. The DNA evidence was thrown out due to the police not going through correct protocol. Without it, the jury couldn't convict."

"You remember all this from the news?" Gibbs asked skeptically.

"No. I remembered the man being accused of some kind of murder. I researched the rest on the internet and then got ahold of court transcripts," Jenny said.

"Well, this changes things. It brings in a lot of suspect. I'll get McGee to locate the family of the woman Bradly killed and see if any of them might have done it," Gibbs said. Honestly, after what he just found out, he had no real interest in getting justice for this piece of crap, but it was his job.

"I can already tell you some, as well as give you a suspect. After the trial, the woman's fifteen-year-old son made a very loud and public threat," Jenny said. She was not looking forward to telling Gibbs who that boy grew up to be. He wasn't going to be happy with the turn this case was going to take.

"Well, I can't really blame him for that, Jen. The bastard murdered his mother. I'd do more than threaten if I were him. But we'll bring him in," Gibbs said. Again, he had no desire to rip this family apart, as they'd already gone through enough, but what choice did he have.

"No need, Jethro. He's already here. Oh, and by the way, Agent McGee can have nothing to do with this case," Jenny said.

"And why's that?" Gibbs asked through gritted teeth.

Jenny sighed. "The woman that Bradley killed was the wife of a newly appointed navy admiral. Her name was Allison McGee. "

Gibbs looked at his boss and former lover in shock. This was one thing he was not expecting.

"That's right. Special Agent McGee was her son, the boy who openly threatened this man," Jenny said as she pointed to the dead body on the table. "He just became our prime suspect.