This chapter is based on an idea from mizcsimiami
- THANK YOU
CHAPTER 2
Gibbs was listening carefully as the voice in the other end of the line spoke. Everyone in the bullpen fell silent and under his desk Tony was secretly crossing his fingers. Even though the Google pictures were entertaining, he sure needed some action.
"I'll be right there", Gibbs then said and hung up the phone. As he put the phone back in his inner pocket he noticed how everyone was staring expectantly at him. A few seconds passed, just because Gibbs had an urge to keep them in the dark for just a little while. Their facial expressions were priceless. Then Gibbs tilted his head a bit, looking at the three of them:
"Yes, we have a case", he said and Tony immediately lit up in a broad smile but didn't stop crossing his fingers... It was probably something boring like drug possession or something like that.
"We've got a dead marine on our hands, people – let's get moving", Gibbs said without further adue and Tony's jaw seemed to drop. Almost with flushed cheeks he stopped crossing his fingers, feeling just a little ashamed. He had wanted some action, sure, but a death wasn't the nicest thing to investigate. Although it definitely meant action.
"Come on, DiNozzo, officer David - we haven't got all day!", Gibbs barked as he headed out of the bullpen, adding:
"McGee, you stay here and call Ducky to go to 42nd Street – and no more gaming!"
McGee blushed a little, just in time for Tony to see as he looked over his shoulder as they walked out, sending him a brilliant smile.
**
As they arrived at the site twenty minutes later with Gibbs behind the wheel, they were quickly out of the car. A yellow police band was blocking the alley way behind a night club called 'Zenith' on 42nd Street, causing many civilians to turn their heads before scurrying off. It was in the southern part of DC, and old newspapers were scraping against the not so well maintained sidewalks as the wind caught them. Tony glanced down the alley way where he could see a body lying on the ground amongst filth and broken bottles... Several police officers were standing by the body, looking down on the man wearing a white shirt and jeans.
"Nice place, huh, boss?", Tony said under his breath and looked at Gibbs, who was gulping down the rest of his coffee. At the same time a police officer approched them, looking them up and down. Immediately Gibbs flashed his badge:
"Agent Gibbs, NCIS – I believe you called me?", he said and looked at the officer, who seemed a little annoyed. Correcting his hat, he just pointed at the crime scene:
"Yeah, it's all yours", he said and Gibbs just raised his eyebrows a little and then slipped under the yellow police band, followed closely by Tony and Ziva. Turning his head, Gibbs asked the officer:
"Is the crime scene untouched?", he asked and the man nodded shortly before walking to his car. Seemingly he was in quite a hurry to go get a donut or something. Ziva mumbled something incoherent in Arabic. As Gibbs and Tony walked up to the three officers who were standing by the body, Tony immediately pulled out his note book and started sketching the crime scene. Ziva walked around the crime scene, looking for evidence while Gibbs kneeled down and took a look at the man's pale face and glazed over eyes. He looked like he was in his early thirties, had dark hair, blue eyes and wore a white cotton shirt and a couple of normal Levis jeans... and some rather expensive-looking Italian style shoes. Dried blood on his shirt indicated a knife- or shot wound, also he seemed to have been beaten up pretty severely. His face was covered in bruises, none that seemed lethal though.
Gibbs looked up at the officers:
"Do we have a name?", he asked and the three elderly men nodded their heads:
"Yeah, there is a wallet by the wall lying open – a Dustin Clemenz – we haven't touched it", one of them said and Gibbs couldn't help but smile a little. Then their boss wasn't as stupid as he had looked and acted.
"Who found him?", Gibbs asked and one of the officers said:
"An old man named Jeffrey Finney who was walking his dog this morning, found him half an hour ago"
"Witnesses?", Tony asked from the side line and the officers shook their heads in unison.
"It's a night club, someone must have seen him", Gibbs said and one of the officers seemed to light up as he looked at Gibbs:
"Well, the bartender should know, because no witnesses must mean that he was one of the last to leave before they closed, sir...", he said and looked at little intimidated as Gibbs stood back up and looked him up and down:
"And your name is..?", Gibbs asked in a monotone voice. The officer swallowed:
"Ryan Faire, sir", he said and Gibbs smiled a little:
"Good thinking, Ryan Faire...", Gibbs said just as the forensic's van drove up to the curb and stopped just outside the yellow police band. Ducky climbed out of the van along with Palmer and quickly joined Gibbs and Tony at the crime scene.
"So what happened to you, my friend..?", Ducky said as he kneeled down next to the body, adding:
"Goodmorning, Jethro"
Gibbs smiled as he looked at his older colleague who was examining the position of the body:
"Goodmorning, Duck. Time of death?", he asked and watched as Ducky pulled out his tool for measurement... as he stuck the metal rod into the body to get the temperature from the liver. While he was working on that, he chatted:
"No more than seven hours I would assume. The rigor mortis is still present and still not at its peak... so between five and seven hours would be my best guess, but I... will get... a more precise... measurement...", Ducky said as he rummaged about with the metal rod. Tony, who was standing in the background, couldn't help but grimace a bit. Palmer was merely looking at the mess curiously.
"Brutal...", Tony mumbled lowly and got back to his sketching. Ducky seemed to then hit the right spot and then he waited a few seconds:
"There... The liver temperature suggest that he has been dead for six hours, and it's 11am sharp now... which means that he must have been murdered at 5am this morning", Ducky said and smiled at Gibbs, who then looked back at the body:
"Cause of death?", he asked and Ducky immediately pointed at the blood spatters around the bloody hole in the victim's shirt:
"Probably a stab wound, considering the torn edges of the fabric and the pattern of the spatters on the ground and wall...", Ducky said as he carefully lifted up the victim's shirt and had a look:
"Yes, definitely a stab wound... and a pretty precise one. There is no blood coming from under the body to suggest that he might have been stabbed in the back as well, let's have a look...", Ducky said as he grabbed a hold of the body along with Gibbs to carefully tilt him onto his side – and there was no stab wound.
"How long did it take you to pass away I wonder...", Ducky mumbled as he studied the body and its surroundings further:
"Considering the small amount of blood and the single stab wound to the chest, I would bet my old hat that our unfortunate fellow here was killed by a stab directly in the heart... which means that he died almost instantaniously. He didn't bleed to death, that is for sure", he said and looked at Gibbs:
"I and Palmer will bag him now, I will get more specific results after an autopsy", Ducky said as Palmer was lifting a body bag out of the van. Gibbs turned to look at Ziva:
"Found anything, officer David?", he asked and Ziva walked up to him:
"Well, it's pretty messy here – I don't know what to tag and not to tag – so I tagged it all", she said and pointed in the direction of several broken bottles, the wallet, a soda can, some flyers and newspapers and some cigarette butts.
"Good work, officer David. Done, DiNozzo?", he asked and Tony nodded, showing the drawings to Gibbs:
"Yeah, Boss... Didn't take those croquis classes for nothing", he smiled and Gibbs nodded as Tony dreamily smiled as he warmly remembered all of the naked ladies they got to draw back then...
"Let's go, people. We need to get the evidence to Abby and a search warrant for the club", Gibbs said and looked at the police officers:
"What kind of club is this? Jetset, Navy....?", he asked, but the officers shook their heads:
"Zenith is a gay bar, sir...", officer Ryan Faire said and seemed to blush a little just by saying the word. Gibbs was taken by surprise for a split second, but then nodded at them:
"Thanks for your co-operation. We'll handle it from here", he said and waved at Ziva and Tony to get in the car as he dialed McGee's number:
"Yes, boss?", McGee greeted.
"Look up a Dustin Clemenz, we're headed back", Gibbs just said and hung up.
What should happen in the next chapter according to YOU?
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