McGee had very little to say this particular morning, but neither did Tony for that matter. Ziva on the other hand, couldn't resist the spot light and did her best to be the jokester of the group…but despite her efforts, nothing could break the dreary silence. Well, nothing except…
"Ow."
"Ow."
Tony continued on with his work and took the head slap in stride. Tim on the other hand, barely flinched at the assault. After an onslaught of sneezing, Tony approached him half heartedly. "What's up Probie…you almost looked like you enjoyed that head slap…"
"Whatever."
Tony blew his nose obnoxiously. "Don't turn into a valley girl on me McGee, had enough of those last night…"
"You two planning on working today? Or should I send you home?" Tony shrugged it off and threw up his hand in apology. Tim looked up in hope that his boss was serious. Gibbs read his expression like a book, and made a mental note to see about it later. "David…what'd you get out of the witness?"
"Saw very little I'm afraid, but was sure of one thing…a red ford pick up truck pulled out violently around 2:30am…"
"Which coincides with time of death Jethro…" Donald Mallard approached the group with a nod of his head. "Happy Monday everyone…"
Tony snapped a photo in his direction as his good morning while Tim barely acknowledged his presence. "Morning Doctor…" Ziva leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Are you two done?" Gibbs snapped a little fed up with the oddity of his team's actions.
Ducky almost blushed and nodded in agreement. "At first glance, COD is multiple gun shot wounds… …but I'll know more…"
"When you get him back…thanks Duck…" Gibbs turned to reexamine the crime scene and motioned for Ziva to come along. "See anything out of the ordinary?"
She peered around the scene for a few moments. "It's a playground…not the most common place to find a body…"
"Anything else?"
She paced towards the merry go round. "What is this thing?"
Gibbs tried to hide his smile. "No merry go rounds in Israel eh?"
"No…this…" She bent down and picked up an odd object from underneath it.
"DiNozzo!"
Tony slowly jogged over and pointed the camera at the object. But a violent sneeze interrupted him. "Oh hold it …re-take…okay got it…" he let the camera lay at his side and all three of them looked around for a few seconds.
"McGee!" Gibbs hollered and watched as Tim made his way over.
"Yeah boss?"
It was then, Gibbs, Tony and Ziva all peered at the object in her hand.
"What do you think McGee?"
He stared at it aimlessly for a few seconds before a familiar hand met the back of his head. "Evidence bag."
He nodded as if a light bulb had just gone off in his head and opened one for Ziva to place it in. "Not something you'd find on a playground in your day was it boss?"
Gibbs resisted the urge to give out another head slap. "Times they are a changing DiNozzo…time's they are a changing…"
The ride back to NCIS was just as quiet as the last one. Ziva gave up on trying to be the life of the party and concentrated hard on her driving. For neither Tony nor Tim to pipe up when she almost went the wrong direction down a one way, she knew something had to be wrong.
"You are both acting like a couple of worms that just got run over by a car after a rain storm..."
Tony and Tim exchanged glances. "Uh…I got nothing." He shrugged and reached for another Kleenex.
"What happened to you too? Friday night everything was punky dory, now you are practically dying and McGee has said all of three words…"
Tim had tuned out of the conversation and stared aimlessly out the window. Tony responded like he had all day…he sneezed.
"Ah, you two are impossible. Fine…keep it from me. But Gibbs will find out."
Suddenly Tony became afraid, then reassured himself. "He won't pry Ziva…"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Trust me, I've worked for him longer than you, and come in hung over more times than you…he doesn't pry…its like a rule he hasn't shared with us yet or something."
"Well unless you want him to break one of his own rules, I suggest you two step it up on the case…before he's forced to pry."
Tony nudged McGee out of his trance. "Hear that McQuiet?"
"Yeah yeah."
Tony shrugged and patted his nose softly with the tissue. "It'll be fine…"
Gibbs made his way into autopsy with the same look of determination he always had.
"Whatchya got for me Duck?"
Ducky picked up his clip board. "Bled to death Jethro…out of wounds which at first would be mistaken for gun shot wounds but have now been narrowed down to punctures…most likely from that object you found…" He pointed to a few of the wounds and leaned back up. "It appears there was quite a struggle, a fight perhaps…then the victim was overpowered. From what I've been able to surmise, I'd say the tussled for a bit, all the while this object was used to puncture various areas…leading to his ultimate demise…"
"Is that all?" Gibbs managed a wry smile and stood by quietly.
Ducky nodded. "Quite…" But when Gibbs turned to leave he called him back. "I know this case came so early this morning, but I meant to ask how your date went this weekend?"
"When we catch him Duck…"
The Doctor put up his hand. "Oh fine, fine. Keep me in suspense then…"
"McGee!"
Tim looked up from his computer and hit a few buttons. "Petty Officer Clark Hanson…career engineer, set to ship out to the middle east in four days…stationed at Norfolk and no apparent connection the school the playground was located at…has no known priors…only beneficiary is Clark Hanson Senior…graduated with honors boss…nothing suspicious…"
"Since when did being a nerd not become suspicious?" Tony offered, still sniffling a bit.
But Tim didn't dignify his comment with an answer. "DiNozzo…"
Tony stood up slowly. "Hanson is in fact an owner of a 1987 Red Ford pick up…BOLO is out and next of kin has been notified…"
"Two others cooperated with the statement of the time the truck was heard pulling away. No one reports hearing a struggle or any other reason to go out and check the scene…" Ziva chimed in as well.
"The murder weapon?"
"Abby is on it…" he coughed a bit. "What's your gut telling you boss?"
Gibbs stared for a few moments, but chose not to dignify Tony's question with an answer either, and left the bull pen in stride.
"What do you got Abs?"
She turned to face him for a few seconds before pacing towards her lab table. "Which case?"
"The real one…"
"Uh…"
"The petty officer…"
"I just got the thing a half hour ago Gibbs…I can't work miracles."
He smiled. "Yes you can…now what else you got?"
"Nothing yet on Ziva…but Tony's story checks out so far. I was able to find the fair that drove him home. His car is still at the impound lot and from what I can see, he parked in a red zone…I don't know how many times I have to tell him not to park there. One time we…"
"Abs…"
"Sorry…I have an inside source checking on why he got booted out of the club…"
"Inside source?"
"My friend Loco…don't ask. He's a regular there…sometimes he DJ's for 'em. If he was there, he would for sure know…"
"What else?"
"Well Tim, he's an enigma."
"Tell me about it."
"From what I can tell, he didn't even leave his apartment. I have no hits on any credit cards or an ATM all weekend."
"Maybe he had cash already on him."
"Maybe, but this is McGee we're talking about. He uses credit on everything to rack up his credit score then pays it all off at the end of the month."
"Keep looking Abs…" He turned to leave quickly.
"Gibbs wait…why can't you just ask them?"
He stared back at her for a few seconds. "Cuz rules aren't made to be broken Abs…"
The minutes went by like hours and the bull pen was an eerie silent. Under normal circumstances Gibbs would be pleased, but not now. "McGee, with me."
Tim was confused but followed behind him slowly. Tony and Ziva simply exchanged glances and made their own assumptions as they watched them enter the elevator.
Gibbs quickly flipped the switch. "What is going on with you Tim?"
He shrugged. "Nothing."
"I will not have you working this case, unless it's your main focus."
Tim was staring at the ground until the last phrase. "I have given it all the focus I can…within a half hours time I found out more about Hanson than his own Mother knew about him…so don't tell me I'm not focusing…"
Gibbs almost took a step back at Tim's response. Almost. "Okay, what is going on? And if you say nothing, so help me…"
Tim took a deep breath and stood up tall. "Nothing."