CHAPTER 2
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18th, 01.30 PM
As Gibbs, DiNozzo and David sat in the car heading for the headquarters, the conversation was again focused on the weird letter from the crime scene. It just didn't make much sense.
"And what is that '14-0' about?? And the 'I'm waiting for you'??", Ziva asked and Gibbs tilted his head a bit, deep in thoughts. Otherwise he was pretty much silent during the whole ride.
"Maybe it's a time? Maybe whoever killed him wants to meet up somehow?", Tony asked into the air and rubbed his chin. Ziva looked confused for a moment.
"But what time is '14-0'?", Tony mumbled and shook his head in irritation. He hated when a riddle was yet unsolved. Ziva looked at Gibbs:
"Well, in Europe and such places they use 'digital time'… which means that 14-0 would be 2PM… Only missing a zero", Ziva said and everyone in the car fell completely silent for a few seconds.
"That's in thirty minutes", Gibbs just said and looked as if he was far gone in thoughts. Tony and Ziva just looked at each other…
"But where then?", Ziva asked and both DiNozzo and Gibbs shook their heads slowly. How could they ever figure THAT out? And in half an hour??
The car stopped in the parking lot and all three of them hurried to get out and get to the lab, maybe Abby could have deciphered something vital in order to solve some of this bizarre puzzle.
As they entered the lab from the elevator, the blast of Cannibal Corpse's deep and heavy guitar solo hit their ears with an almost painful force. In front of them was Abby with her back to them, dancing slightly to and fro as she hammered on the keyboards and kept an eye on the multiple screens. Gibbs rolled his eyes for a moment as they stood there behind her about to yell in order for her to turn it down.
"Just a sec, Gibbs!", Abby suddenly yelled and reached up to the ghettoblaster and turned it down. She then turned around and smiled, however she looked slightly surprised:
"AND Tony AND Ziva", she said.
"Hello Abby. Got anything?", Gibbs asked and immediately Abby nodded and turned towards the screens:
"Well, the clothes were pretty much clean, though I DID find some dry fibers, which I couldn't quite identify", Abby said and turned one of the big screens in the direction of the three agents.
"But I did anyway", Abby smiled and then a picture of a tree came up on the screen. Gibbs looked confused for a moment:
"A tree?", he asked and looked closer as if to discover something brilliant. But… it was a tree.
"Not just any tree, Gibbs. It is a Clethra Acuminata, Cinnamon Clethra is a small deciduous tree native to the southern Appalachian region. Its common name comes from the beautiful cinnamon color of the inner bark, which is naturally revealed as the outer layers peel away. Actually the color varies somewhat, from pinkish gold to ochre red, and variations on the same plant can create a mottled pattern. The effect is especially apparent in winter and…", Abby eccentrically explained, until she was cut off by Gibbs:
"Abby! The point please", he said and Abby nodded:
"Clethra Acuminata is only found in small scattered populations from southern Pennsylvania to northern Alabama, Gibbs. Which means that either the victim or the killer was there prior to murder", Abby said and finished off with a big smile as she drank some of her coffee.
"Good Abs, really good – but what else?", Gibbs asked and Abby put on a kind if little girl's pout, but then smiled and turned towards the table where the bagged evidence was placed:
"Well, only the victim's fingerprints were on the wallet and I found different, but partial fingerprints on the soda can, but either they were too damaged or they simply aren't in the database. I tried to scrape for saliva on the opening of the can, but it had been sprayed with ammoniac… can't be used", Abby said and bit her lower lip. Gibbs let out a sigh.
"So basically we have a John Doe as a killer, that's perfect… what about the note and the bullwhip?", Gibbs asked and eyed the paper, which was lying in the transparent plastic bag on the table along with the other items. Abby looked kind of sad:
"No fingerprints or DNA or anything on the note or bullwhip… sorry", she said and watched as Gibbs rubbed his sore eyes.
"However I matched the paper type of several of the cut out letters, seems they are all from the same magazine and news paper. Penthouse and a local newspaper…", Abby said and it seemed to wake up Gibbs:
"Local newspaper where??", he asked and Abby sent him a triumphant smile:
"Right about… here", she said and smiled. The agents looked at each other. This evidence probably meant, that their man was a local… which meant that he was somewhere right under their noses.
"Abby, what do you think '14-0' means?", Gibbs asked and the other two agents seemed to tense up a bit, eager to hear her version of this mind game. Abby shrugged:
"That you need to find 13 more bodies I guess", she said and sucked up the coffee drink through the straw. The agents' eyes grew wide. They hadn't thought about it that way before. Tony looked at Ziva:
"European digital time??", he said sarcastically, but was cut off when Gibbs' phone rang. He immediately took it from his inner pocket and took the call:
"Gibbs", he said and then frowned a bit.
"Alright, I'll be right there", he said and put the phone back in his pocket, looking at Tony and Ziva:
"That was McGee. There has just been a delivery to the office, a parcel addressed to me personally… written in blood supposedly. Follow me, and thanks Abs", Gibbs said and right away they got into the elevator.
As they walked through the office they were greeted by McGee who just pointed towards a desk where a brown parcel was standing.
"Who delivered it?", Gibbs asked and McGee shook his head:
"UPS", he said and looked a little paler than normal. Gibbs carefully inspected the parcel… it simply wasn't big enough to contain a bomb. It was about the size of a pack of smokes. 'Valuable – handle with care', it said across the brown paper and there was no return address on it. Gibbs' name and the address of the office did seem to look like dried blood…
"Aren't you going to open it?", Tony asked and looked at the parcel curiously. Gibbs said:
"I guess I am", he said and grabbed a hold of a pair of scissors and slid one of the blades along the edge plastered with tape. Without even realizing it the three other agents stepped back a little.
"Wait, what if it is anthrax?", Tony asked and looked at Gibbs nervously. Gibbs just shook his head:
"This guy doesn't want us dead… he likes the chase. And I think he's about to throw us a bone", Gibbs said and finally flipped up the paper lid of the parcel – nothing happened. Everyone bent forwards a bit to have a look, and they all frowned a little:
"A tape?? A stupid tape?", Tony said, but Gibbs and Ziva shushed him. This could contain everything from fingerprints to other clues. It was a dictaphone tape, like the ones doctors use. And as Gibbs lifted up the tape there was a folded up piece of paper below it. He immediately grabbed it and opened it – another letter written in cut out paper pieces. It read:
KNOCK KNOCK
I'M STILL WAITING
- the gamer
Gibbs sighed and got up from his bent-over position as he looked at his watch – 2pm…:
"To the lab. NOW!", he said in a kind of angry tone of voice. He hated to be played with. Especially mocked. He just hoped that there was something on this tape that could bring this psycho to justice. Just SOME kind of hint. As they walked towards the elevator, Gibbs turned to McGee:
"McGee, find out where that parcel came from!", he said and got into the elevator, headed for the lab.
"Yes boss", McGee said under his breath and sat down by the computer, accessing the UPS database… This would take hours probably.
As they reached the lab, Gibbs handed to parcel to Abby:
"Check for everything", he said and was about to turn around to leave, when Abby said:
"I just got some new lab results from the victim's blood and stomach content", she said and Gibbs froze in his tracks. It didn't take many seconds before he was all ears. Abby again showed them a lot of graphs and curves on the screens.
"There was a high concentration of benzodiazepine, Sildenafil citrate and a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor… oh, and a tuna sandwich", Abby said and looked at the three agents. However they all looked like question marks.
"And what does that mean, Abs?", Gibbs asked.
"I thought you would never ask", Abby smiled and pointed at a large point on the graph:
"The dose of sildenafil is 25 milligrams to 100 milligrams taken not more than once per day… Our victim had 225 milligrams in his system and…", Abby started, but was cut off by Gibbs:
"So he is an O.D.?", he asked. Abby looked a little speculative:
"I guess you could call it that, when you're drugged on benzodiazepines and Viagra and then go for a very long… well, joy ride", she said and sucked on her straw. All three agents looked flabbergasted.
"I think it's time to see Ducky", Gibbs said and Abby nodded.
"You stay here", Gibbs said to Tony and Ziva and got in the elevator, heading for the morgue.
"Peaches", Ziva said and Tony looked at her:
"It's called 'peachy', unless you're either starving for fruit or find me attractive", he said and again Ziva wrinkled her nose.