Warnings: Spoliers for "Patriot Down"
A/N: Hello, everyone! Here is the next chapter. It's been cold here so all I want to do is sit on my sofa, wrapped in a blanket listening to music and writing. Look for another update in the next couple of days :) Until then, enjoy!
Ginger- Yes, Tony certainly has his hands full haha.
Guest- I'm happy that you loved "Safe and Sound" and I hope you love this one just as much! Of course it's going to work out... I mean... it wouldn't be much of a father/son story if I sent Gibbs to jail lol
Special Agent Lara Macy was dead. Her body had been found by partying Naval Academy graduates who had burned her body in their bonfire.
Tony rode in silence on the way to the crime scene. He hadn't met Macy, Tim had last year when he'd been out in Los Angles. Sometime since that visit and now, the special agent that had been in charge of the L.A team had gone to France. And she had ended up dead on a beach in Maryland.
As if tension wasn't already high with Abby walking on eggshells around them all, and Gibbs keeping quiet about the cold case... now they had to add a dead federal agent to the mix. Tony took a deep breath of the salty air as it rushed into the windows of his sedan. Erin sat quietly besides him. She hadn't said anything to him yet but Tony knew she was aware that something was going on behind the scenes. But Erin wasn't nosy when it came to the people she worked with and she kept a reasonable boundary. Given all the past history with boundaries being crossed in the past with Ziva... Tony was glad that Erin wasn't the type.
He parked the car just outside the crime scene and got out, pulling on his ball cap. Local police had already sectioned off the area and Ducky was hard at work. Tony took a few sure strides, flashing his badge at the LEO's and stepped over the crime scene tape. "Hey, Ducky, sorry we're late," the senior field agent said, "Kaitlin wasn't in the mood to go to daycare today."
"Quite alright, Anthony," Ducky said, with a smile. "I only just got here myself."
"Where's Gibbs?"
"He and Timothy went to interview the poor sailors that discovered this body."
Tony looked over in the direction that Ducky indicated Gibbs had gone and saw the lead agent speaking to a rather grey looking young kid. He smiled to himself. Seniors. He recalled how packed the drunk tank in Baltimore would get in the middle of May.
Erin broke him away from his memories by asking, "Ducky, how did Special Agent Macy die?"
Ducky clicked his tongue. "Well, she certainly didn't burn to death."
"She was dead when she was lit on fire?"
"Yes. It appears that the body was dumped here and then those poor sailors lit her on fire as a part of their graduation celebration."
"Left out in plain sight. Someone wanted her found, despite almost stripping her of her identity."
"It would appear that way, Anthony."
Tony licked his lips. He really didn't like where this was going. If someone had killed Macy because of a dispute or case they probably would not have gone to such lengths to leave her body out in the open. The killer was taunting them. Which meant they could have a serial killer on their hands. Just how he wanted to start a case off... and with a new nanny starting tomorrow... it was going to be a long few days.
Gibbs was making his way back towards them, his blue eyes staring right at Tony and the senior field agent saw that same look he'd seen when Gibbs had stopped by his house the other day. Something was bothering him and it wasn't just the cases they were working.
"Hey, boss," Tony greeted, trying to sound light. "Sorry that we're late..."
"It's fine, Tony, Kaitlin's been giving you a hard time about daycare all week."
"Yeah... she certainly has a mind of her own."
"Nothing wrong with that."
"What do you want us to do?"
Gibbs shook his head. "Go back to NCIS. See what Macy was investigating. We're done here."
Tony shot Erin a look for a second. "Do you think this is related to a case she was working?"
"She wasn't supposed to be in the area. Just got off the phone with the Director... she asked for leave. He thought she went to visit her mother."
"But... obviously she didn't."
"No," Gibbs replied.
Tony opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly. Nothing he could say was going to erase the guilt in Gibbs' eyes. Which, led him to thinking... why was the boss so guilty about her death? It wasn't like Macy was on their team... and she was not the first agent's death they had investigated before where the team had no connections. Unless...
Erin elbowed him suddenly. "Hey. Pay attention or Gibbs is going to head slap you," she ground out between clenched teeth.
He shifted his gaze towards Gibbs, who was giving instructions. Erin and Tony were to look into what cases Macy were working while Gibbs went to pay a visit to her mother, in Maryland, with Tim. He wanted Tony to have answers by the time he returned. "Sure thing boss."
"DiNozzo, get in touch with her team in France too," Gibbs ordered. "Maybe they know something about why she was here."
"Boss... there's a possibility that this has nothing to do with France... maybe Los Angles?"
"I'll get in touch with Callen. You stick to digging your nose in her cases."
Tony sighed and nodded. "Got it, boss."
Gibbs stalked away and Ducky voiced what they all were thinking, "His mind has not been in the game for sometime now... ever since Timothy and Abigail got back from Mexico. Something is going on."
"Did you finish that autopsy for that cold case?" Tony asked, softly.
"Yes. Our drug dealer was shot by a long range sniper to the temple. Death was instant," Ducky replied, glancing up at Tony. "Has Gibbs said anything to you about that cold case she brought back?"
Tony shook his head. "No. Neither has Abby."
Palmer frowned. "Abby hasn't been herself since they got back from Mexico."
Erin shifted nervously on her feet. "Do you think... this is all related?"
"Related?" Tony, Ducky, and Palmer asked at the same time.
"Yeah. It just seems a little too coincidental to me that Abby gets a cold case about a dead drug dealer, we then investigate a series of murders by a large cartel in Mexico and now an NCIS agent is found murdered... her body dumped like... well... like a drug cartel with a vendetta would do," Erin replied.
"Guess we're going to have to find out what Macy was investigating," Tony said, walking away. Sighing, he realized that they were facing a Pandora's box. He just prayed they had not opened it.
Abby was frustrated but not with the case. She had found a lot of evidence that her machines were processing at that moment, but Gibbs was refusing to talk about the elephant in the room. Her report for Alejandro Rivera was ready to go but it was that same report that was eating at her.
It was the report that was going to send Gibbs to a Mexican jail.
She thought about going to Tony or to McGee... maybe they would be able to reason with her, tell her that it was going to be alright... even if she did follow the law and send the report.
"Got anything for me, Abby?" Tim asked, striding into the lab. "Gibbs is getting ornery... only Kaitlin is rivaling him at this point."
"Special Agent Macy's throat was slit with a knife that is issued to the Army," Abby reported, sullenly. "She wasn't killed at that bonfire site. I found no traces of blood in the grass or surrounding areas."
Tim sighed and leaned against the table. "Gibbs thinks this was a professional hit. Tony and Erin went to speak to that Petty Officer that Macy was calling... it really is a dead end. While that kid probably raped her... Tony doesn't think he murdered Macy to cover it up."
Abby chewed on her lower lip. "Yeah. So the question is... who wanted Macy dead?"
"I don't know. But she had a history with Gibbs."
"I know. She was an MP while he was a marine."
Tim blinked rapidly for a second. "Abs," he whispered, hoarsely, "The missing journals from Lara's mother's home... the dates... can you cross reference them for me..."
Abby was confused but nodded her head. "Yeah... shouldn't take very long if I know what I'm looking for."
"Special Agent Macy investigated Gibbs, back when he was marine, prior to him joining NIS," Tim said, softly, "Can you figure out if the missing journals were the time she investigated him?"
"Do you think her death had something to do with what was in those journals and her investigation of Gibbs?"
"Honestly, I don't know what to think, Abs."
At this point, Abby wasn't sure what to think either as she typed in her search. With a terrifying jolt in her stomach, she whispered, "The journals that are missing are for the dates that Macy was investigating Gibbs."
Tim cursed and pushed off the table. "This isn't about her cases or NCIS anymore, Abs. This is about Gibbs. Whoever killed Macy is just completely a hit list to get back at him... for something..."
"We need to find out what was in her investigation."
"Looks like it's going to be a long one."
Abby sighed and nodded. "Yeah... I'll go get the Caf Pow."
