Gibbs and Isolde
Chapter 1
The blue Dodge Charger drove up the little traveled gravel country road and pulled into the driveway at the very large white clapboard country house. The house was surrounded by a white painted scalloped fence, designed mostly to keep kids and dogs in and no one out. There was an arbor covered in ivy and wisteria at the main gate in the front and another arbor covered in jasmine and wisteria on the side where the drive way entrance was. The wraparound porch was covered in containers of flowering plants including fuchsia where hummingbirds tended to zip in and out and all around. It was postively picturesque. The woman sitting on the oversized porch swing reading a book and watching the children play watched the people get out of the car. While she was not naturally suspicious, over the last year or so she had become so. Two men and a woman got out of the car, all wearing caps with NCIS on them. She knew about NCIS and what their job was. She laid her book down and uncurled herself from her position on the swing, standing slowly. The breeze blew her very light weight almost sheer cotton linen dress against her body and lifted her long blonde softly curled hair slightly.
She could barely make out what the younger, taller man said, but she heard it, "She is a goddess. Wow."
The older, very attractive man looked annoyed at the comment, but never took his eyes off of her. "D'Nozzo, shut up."
She smiled slightly at that, while the threesome came through the gate. The older man, who was not as old as his silver hair would indicate and definitely the man in charge, showed his badge. "Special Agent Gibbs, this is Agent D'Nozzo and Officer David. We are from NCIS."
"The caps kind of gave that away, Special Agent Gibbs. Can I take a closer look at your badge please?"
"Of course Mrs. Marke." She looked closely at the badge and identity papers and returned them to him satisfied.
"I am Isolde Marke. My sister-in-law killed herself shortly after my brother died." She watched their reactions, all of which were surprised.
"I guess the Navy didn't care enough to put that little detail into Bobby's file. " Her bitterness was apparent, but then she shifted her tone.
"How can I help NCIS today?"
Tony spoke up and asked about all the children. "Are these all yours? Do you run a day care? I count 5 here."
Isolde smiled. "They are my brother's children. When Samantha killed herself, the children and all of his part of the family estate was left to me. I adopted them all, and am now mother to them. The little ones have no memory of their mother, the oldest boy Tristan remembers quite well. He found her body."
Tony looked at Isolde with extremely sensitive eyes. "I am so sorry. That must have been awful."
"He is just now coming out of his shell. He laughs now and enjoys swimming and football, but I am afraid I know very little about football."
Tony looked at Gibbs with a form of silent communication and Gibbs nodded his head.
"Ms. Marke, would you mind if I toss the ball with Tristan? I played college ball, it might be fun."
"Of course, that is very sweet of you. We get very few visitors, so the kids don't have much chance to interact with others, adults or other children."
Ziva had wandered over to the baby in the jumpy swing. "May I?"
Isolde nodded yes and then turned to Agent Gibbs, indicating they should sit on the swing she was just reading on. "You did not know my brother's wife was dead, or that I had adopted the children. No doubt you are here about my brother, but after a year, I have no idea why."
"We received some information that may clarify who he was working for and what happened to him. It is even possible the man buried as your brother is not your brother at all." Isolde gasped at that revelation. "We believe he was working on assignment to the CIA in Afghanistan. He was not killed in the manner you, or we, were originally told. We believe he was tortured, even possibly by our own people. And his body has just shown up in our morgue. At least a man with his fingerprints has."
"Our own people?! Who is buried in his place? Why would they keep his body this long? This is awful." She had visibly paled at the very thought of all the implications.
"Yes. He wrote a letter to NCIS that we just received outlining the work he was doing in Afghanistan, but instead of being killed as we were told, it looks like the CIA may have kept the torture and his ultimate death from us until the body was recovered and sent to NCIS. If the CIA was involved we are lucky to have retrieved his body at all."
"This sounds very nefarious. What is it you want from me?" Isolde was very scared and disgusted with this whole business.
Ziva wandered closer with the baby in her arms. "Poopy diaper. Is there a place I can change him?"
"כמובן, נכון את הדלת בפנים. כל מה שאתה צריך הוא בדיוק שם. תודה דוד שוטר.(Of course, right inside the door. Everything you would need is right there)."
"You speak Hebrew!" Ziva was caught off guard.
"Yes, Officer David, I speak a number of languages. I am a tenured professor at Georgetown University, teaching literature, religion, and languages. I am currently on sabbatical until I figure out how to juggle a faculty job and motherhood for so many children. My brother and his wife were both devout Catholics, and hence the large number of children. Of course, I suppose a devout Catholic would not have taken her own life and left her body to be found by her children. I consider myself to be a practical Catholic. It leads to a number of interesting conversations in my classrooms Officer David."
Ziva gave a slight happy smile. "Please call me Ziva. How did you know I speak Hebrew?"
"Your accent, your Jewish star you wear so prominently, and the name Da—vid, as opposed to David. I have traveled extensively all over the world and have studied and practiced much of the different faiths. Judaism is one of those faiths."
Ziva smiled broadly and suggested she should change the diaper that threatened to overflow.
"I'm sorry Agent Gibbs, back to our more troubling conversation. You have been amazingly patient. I suspect that is not common for you. How can I help you after all this time?"
He smiled slightly at that, "No, patience is not a virtue of mine. But something about being out here, listened to the laughter of children and the overwhelming sense of quiet… it does tend to make me a little more patient. We would like to collect any papers, computer files, anything that might provide us some information. The hardest part, we would like to exhume the body so our own ME can look and see if he finds anything and can determine time and cause of death, and even who the deceased is since your brother is likely in our morgue. I take it this was a closed casket ceremony."
"Of course, he was supposedly beheaded. The best morticians in the world cannot fix that. You think this is just some giant conspiracy."
"I am not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe there is something to be found here. Here is the letter we received. Perhaps you can tell us if it is even his handwriting."
Gibbs handed Isolde the letter encased in plastic to read. By the time she reached the end, tears were streaming down her face, but she bravely looked up at Gibbs and nodded that it was indeed her brother's handwriting.
In the interest of giving her something to do, she apologized for her lack of hospitality and could she get them some lemonade or ice tea or she could even make coffee, but it seemed too hot for that. Gibbs suggested some ice tea might be good and could she show him the papers. She took him into the basement with Tony following so they could carry the boxes upstairs.
As she was handing them each their ice tea, she explain that she had put everything she could find around the house, except the papers she needed for the house and the kids in those large plastic tubs and then sealed them against rodents. She had wiped the computers clean and stored everything on disks, but they were welcome to take the computers as well.
Gibbs very gently asked where her brother and sister-in-law were buried.
"For the exhumation, right? My brother, or who I thought was my brother, is buried in the cemetery of the ancient Catholic Church down the road. You probably drove past it. His wife is buried outside of the sacred ground with the other lost souls, or so it goes. She was refused burial beside her husband."
"I will need your signature on some papers so we can conduct the exhumation. Do you want me to drive up here, or do you plan on going into town soon?"
Isolde laughed out loud at that. "Washington D.C. is hardly 'going into town' and the Navy Yard is something else entirely. I suppose I can take the kids on a road trip to the Navy Yard. They might even enjoy it. Are they building any ships, or are there any docked there now?"
"How about if I throw in some NCIS hats and show them some boats being built? And I'll buy you lunch." Ziva and Tony turned and looked at each other, eyebrows raised in surprise. Isolde had not missed the look but didn't say anything.
"You had me at the hats, Agent Gibbs. We'll be there around 10:30 tomorrow, ok?"
"We'll be looking for you, then."
They all stood and said good bye to Isolde, reluctantly by all present.
As they were walking onto the porch, Ziva asked her about her name. "Were your parents some kind of twisted literary types to name you Isolde Markes, and then your brother names his son Tristan Markes. I guess that isn't as twisted, but Isolde Markes?" Her tone belied a humorous disbelief.
Isolde laughed a very delicate but delighted laugh. "When I was old enough to understand what they had done, I was furious. But then they assured me that only those who were truly literature literate would get the 'joke' as they called it. I take it you have read the story."
"Both Shakespeare, the Opera, and the legend. They come to a very tragic end."
"Yes, they do, except in the American made movie. That had a happy ending, except for poor lovelorn Rufus Sewell. Duty, loyalty, and love, it is all very passionate and very tragic."
Tony piped up, "Oh, you guys are talking about Tristan and Isolde, starring James Franco and Sophia Myles. The king released them in the end. No one dies. You look shockingly like Sophia Myles. The resemblance is stunning really."
"Why Tony! That might be the nicest thing I have heard in a very very long time. Thank you. I think she is very beautiful indeed, so the comparison is very welcome."
With irritation, Ziva told Isolde, "Tony doesn't read books, he watches movies. So as long as any book has been made into a movie, he knows it well. What he never seems to get is that the movies are never as good as the book and the movies always change or leave out key parts of the book."
Gibbs finally spoke up before Ziva and Tony embarrassed him. "Alright children, let's go. You can see your newest best friend tomorrow, and even join us and the kids for lunch if you want."
"Really, boss? That's great!"
"What is great Tony? Joining us for lunch or hanging with the kids." Isolde was teasing him a little at his enthusiasm over something so small.
"Both, and getting to see you again so soon."
Isolde laughed at Tony, but smiled shyly at Gibbs. "Good bye everyone, despite the subject matter of the visit, I have enjoyed it greatly. Agent Gibbs, we'll see you around 10:30. Safe journey, Shalom."