CHAPTER 2
When they woke up in the morning, they showered and dressed. After having coffee and toast, they left for the police department. They picked up the parcel from Carl with the letter from the ME. Brian noticed a business card attached and put it in his pocket. They had no problem getting the box on the flight.
Upon arriving in DC, Brian and Justin saw a sign with their name on it being held by a tall man with impeccable good looks.
When Tony saw Brian, he had the biggest smile on his face.
"Carney!" Tony shouted.
"Buckeye!" Brian yelled back.
Tony dropped the sign when his arms went around Brian. It was great to have one of his closest friends in his arms. He missed him a whole lot.
"How have you've been?" Tony asked then looked to Brian's left. "And who is this luscious man?"
"Hands off!" Brian exclaimed putting his arm around Justin. "He's mine and besides, your straight. This is Justin Taylor and my partner in life and business. Justin, I would like to introduce you to one of my oldest friends. This here is Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. When I played soccer in the summer, I would play basketball in the winter to stay fit. That's where I met this man."
"Nice to meet you Tony." Justin held out his hand but then he was encased in a hug.
"Justin, great to meet you. I hope you're taking care of Brian. He is high maintenance when it comes to clothes."
"Don't I know it and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"After your call, I did some digging of my own into this case and I agree with you that something is 'hinky' as Abby would say. There should have been an outside investigation done. Even at NCIS we have outside help when one of our own is in trouble. Now, do you have a place to stay?"
"I was going to ask you for a name of a great hotel," Brian said.
"Well Brian," Tony replied. "I have an extra bedroom that you both can use while you're in town. Might be better because then you have me to enter onto the Navy Yard when coming and going. You don't carry a gun do you Brian?"
"No," Brian replied. "Not at the moment. I might not get one period. I hate guns. You do realize that I'm gay?"
"Good then we won't have problems. No, I have no trouble with that. But when we are at the Navy Yard, don't advertise it. Some are still a little sticky about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. Tell anyone who asks that your partners in business. Let's get your luggage and get out of here."
"First we need to stop at security," Brian stated. "We have an evidence box. I have a letter to show to get the box."
"You brought the case files with you?" Tony asked as they headed to security.
"Yes and evidence on both cases," Brian replied.
Upon entering Security, Tony greeted the man in charge.
"Steve, nice to see you." Tony shook his hand.
"Tony good to see you. What can I do for you?"
"This here is Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor. They have a police evidence box to pick up. They've come for help on a case. Do you have it ready?"
"Yeah, right here." Steve handed over the box. "I see here there is a letter that will collaborate that these gentlemen are the owners of this box."
"Got it right here," Brian stated as he pulled out a sheet of paper from his breast pocket. "I'm also a licensed private investigator." He then showed his badge.
"This is all in order," Steve said. "Good luck with the case, gentlemen."
"Thank you sir," Justin replied. "Let's go."
They stopped to get their luggage and arrived at Tony's car. Brian noticed it was a vintage Mustang. He smiled knowing that Tony liked vintage cars like he did. Brian pulled the front seat forward to let Justin enter the backseat. He watched as Tony placed the evidence box and luggage in the trunk and enter the driver's side.
"Can we go to NCIS and see your boss?" Brian asked.
"This is as good time as any," Tony replied. "We're working on cold cases right now. Let me check in with Vance." He got is cell out and called Vance. "Director, I have some detectives here that need our help. Can we come to your office and talk?"
Brian watched the smile on Tony's face and knew they were meeting his boss.
"We'll be there in twenty minutes," Tony replied and hung up. "Hold onto your seats."
They raced through the streets, wove between the vehicles and pulled up to the Navy Yard gate.
"Where the hell did you learn how to drive like that?" Brian asked trying to catch his breath.
"Learned from my boss and my partner," Tony answered. "When we have to get to a crime scene, we want to be the first ones on scene to make sure that evidence doesn't get lost or trampled. Now show your id's to this gentleman and we can go see my boss' boss."
"Hi Tony, new people?" Hank asked as he looked at the id's of the other two men. He then handed back the identifications.
"Yeah," Tony replied. "Friends from Pittsburgh."
Tony parked his car in the underground parking. He got the evidence box out of the trunk. "We need to go through security at the front of the building and they will give you visitors badges while you're here."
The three men made their way through security as Tony place the evidence box on the scanner. "Brian?"
Brian handed over the letter from their ME and the box was not opened being they didn't need the evidence contaminated. Both he and Justin showed their id's to get visitor passes.
Tony picked up the box and they entered an elevator. "I'm going to ask my boss for some time off. You might need help with this one. I have had dirty cops that I dealt with in Baltimore and Philadelphia. I will know what to look for."
"That would be great, Tony. I definitely will need the help. I'm hoping to have Dr. Mallard look at the autopsy files. Their inside that box."
"How do you know Ducky?" Tony asked.
"He was a guest speaker at a few seminars that were included in the courses I took. Now that I think about it, I should have been a detective instead of going into advertising."
"Brian, you wouldn't have been happy. Besides, you made all that money to have the lifestyle you love. I can't see you buying off the rack when you look great in those suits." Justin looked at Brian as he said this. "Furthermore, you wouldn't have been able to take down Stockwell. He would have been our next mayor and then all the gay clubs would have been closed down. You couldn't do that as a cop."
The doors opened on the floor and Tony made his way to his desk with the box. "Boss, I would like to introduce you to one of my best friends. This is Brian Kinney and his partner Justin Taylor. They run a detective agency in Pittsburgh and need our help. Brian, Justin, this here is my boss Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."
"Nice to meet you," Gibbs replied and shook hands. "What can we do for you?"
"We have a meeting with the Director upstairs," Tony said. "You are needed also."
Tony picked up the box and led the way up to Vance's office. As they entered the outside office, he watched the secretary nod her head towards Vance's office. He watched Gibbs open the door and the four men entered. Tony set the box on the conference table and the four men stood in front of a desk. Tony made the introductions.
"Now what can I do for you two gentlemen?" Vance asked.
"First, I want to thank you for meeting us," Brian began to say. "I have been asked by the Captain of Pittsburgh Police Department to look into a case of a murder and a suicide."
"Let's have a seat and you can tell me the story," Vance said. He got coffee for all of them. He placed coffee in front of them as they took their seats at the conference table.
"I'm new at this detective stuff. I have a Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice from Pittsburgh and I just opened my offices. I wanted to do something with my life after being fired from taking down a mayor-elected official. I was out the next morning when I thought about doing something for someone who was wrongly convicted."
"You took down James Stockwell?" Vance questioned.
"Yeah," Brian replied, surprised that someone in DC heard about it. "I need to tell you we're gay. It won't go further than this office. I was working for Vanguard Agencies that does advertising. I want you to realise that Jim Stockwell is the Chief of Police. I told my boss I didn't want the campaign but it brought in money. After being with Stockwell on his campaign run to see what the guy was made of, I found out that he was homophobic. I also found out that Justin was trying to make a laughing stock out of him. Stockwell was shutting down gay places so that he would get us off the streets. So between Justin and I, we put up posters to make his campaign weak. Stockwell came to the loft to talk and saw the posters on the floor of our loft. He didn't say anything and left. Just to let you know, I was standing there in the buff when this happened. That was when he found out that I was gay. My boss wanted to see me in his office in one hour. I went and found out I was fired. Then I came up with the idea of putting together an advertisement to discredit Stockwell. I showed how he was a homophobe and what the police were doing about the murder of Jason Kemp. The only person who knew I was responsible for the advertisement was Justin. He recognized my work. That got the gay community together and with the extra votes, Stockwell was voted out and Deakins was made mayor. During that time, there was a murder of a gay young boy. My surrogate mother found him in her dumpster behind the diner that gays frequent. Anyways, I had some help from a young friend and he got DNA evidence from the man that was accused of the murder. It came in a condom. I took it to the Captain and he said he couldn't do anything with it. Horvath said it could have come from a number of people. Anyways, a few days later, Reichert, the so called murderer, was found hung in his garage. Reichert was Stockwell's former partner."
"That is some story." Vance was flabbergasted. "How can we help?"
"Yesterday, we received a letter in the mail," Justin stated as he pulled the letter out of his pocket. "It made sense when we went to talk to Captain Horvath. It says that we should look further into the DNA of both Reichert and a Christopher Hobbs. He was a classmate of mine that bashed me after prom. We think that if he had that much anger then he would do something stupid, maybe murder Jason Kemp. Chris was a closet case. He hid being gay from everyone but it seemed he like traveling the streets of Liberty Avenue."
Vance, Tony and Gibbs all read the letter.
"I heard from Carl that there is an Abigail Scuito working here that could do wonders with DNA and evidence." Brian looked around the table.
"Abby is the best in her field," Gibbs stated. "You'd be surprised what she can come up with. You can meet her later."
"Now, tell me your theory on this case, Brian," Vance asked.
"I've been doing some thinking on the plane after reading the files and I have come up with a theory. It would seem to me that Chris was in love with Reichert. When he found out that Reichert liked young men and was involved with Jason Kemp, Chris murdered Kemp after having sex with him. He must have used a condom because there is no evidence of him being with Jason. The only DNA found on the victim was Reichert's. He didn't use a condom. Now Reichert is a different murder. I think that when Stockwell found out that his ex-partner 'murdered' Jason Kemp, he must have done something to Reichert because there was no ligature marks on Reichert's neck. From what I read in the file, there should have been ligature marks consistent with a hanging."
"That's a good theory," Vance stated. "Exactly why did you come to us?"
"I knew that Tony, here, worked for NCIS. I read up on what you do for this branch of crimes. Plus, Carl Horvath thinks that there should have been outside help on this case. There should have never been any in-house investigation done on a retired cop. With the cops thinking that Reichert committed suicide it was a closed case. But I think that Stockwell murdered him to shut him up. No one implicated Stockwell to murdering anyone. If we can find that Stockwell murdered Reichert then we can have him arrested. He might be a family man but he is a dirty cop."
"Think we should get Fornell involved in this?" Tony asked.
"Who's Fornell?" Justin asked.
"He works for the FBI," Tony replied. "He could look into Stockwell for us if he did commit murder. The FBI look into murders that deal with police officers. They should have been involved even if this Reichert was retired."
"Do what you think," Brian said. "I'm only interested in getting justice for Jason Kemp. He might have been a prostitute but he deserves to be laid to rest."
"Good," Vance replied. "Tony take Mr. Kinney and Mr. Taylor here to Miss Scuito with the evidence. I want to talk to Gibbs."
"Right away, Director," Tony obeyed and picked up the evidence box.
After the three men left Gibbs turned to Vance . "Do you think we need to call Fornell?"
"I think so," Vance replied. "If this is a cop killing a cop, they need to look into this. There could be something else that is dirty about this cop. With Stockwell being the Chief of Police, he could have got some people in his pocket and got evidence lost or eliminated from the case. Call him."
Gibbs call Fornell with an invite to the building.
Meanwhile, Tony was introducing Brian and Justin to Abby.
"Abby, Vance has given these men permission to use our facilities. Are you busy right now with any case?"
"No," Abby excitedly said. "I need to work. What have you got for me?"
Brian handed her the box. "This is evidence from a case we are working on from Pittsburgh. The case stinks and we need your expertise on this. My Captain at the police department, Carl Horvath told us about you. We also need you to find out if Christopher Hobbs, in this case, is related to Reichert that's also in the same case."
"I know Carl Horvath," Abby replied. Her ponytails bounced as she walked over to the box sitting on her table in the lab. "I taught a course to them about evidence and crime scenes."
"Abs, we need your best on this," Tony stated as he smiled.
"I will get right on this. You will have results in two to three days. With the DNA, it will take that long. Do you have any DNA from Christopher Hobbs?"
"No, but check the sample that was taken from Jason Kemp," Brian stated. "The only DNA that was present was Reichert's since he didn't wear a condom. There is also a sample of Reichert's DNA in there that was not on Jason's body. Chris was with Jason just after Reichert. Condoms are never one hundred percent safe. If Chris used one, he could have used a weak one. A closet case never checks to see if the condoms are of good grade. As long as they have one, they think they won't break. But I know they do."
"How do you know?" Abby asked.
"I'm what you would call the 'King of Liberty Avenue' in Pittsburgh," Brian whispered.
"You're that 'Brian Kinney'?" Abby asked.
"Yeah," Brian breathed. "You've heard about me?"
"Yeah, when I was in Pittsburgh. I went down to Liberty Avenue after that seminar and heard all about you. Nothing bad mind you but you're a legend."
"Thanks. Abby, I need two files from that box for Dr. Mallard."
Abby got a file ready for this new case. She got an evidence sheet out. "Brian, I need you to sign this as to make this legal. What this is, is a chain of evidence so that if this goes to court it makes everything legal and that it is not tampered with. I see this box has police tape on it so when you give it to me, it becomes evidence to be tested by my babies."
Abby then got out a camera and took pictures of the box with the evidence tape intact and the initials of the ME from Pittsburgh. She then got out a knife and cut the seals. After opening the box, she looked inside and pulled out two files.
"I now need you to sign this form so that it shows you took two files from the box. I will then make a list of the evidence from the box and then begin work."
Brian signed the sheet.
"We need to see Ducky," Tony stated. "He said he would help with the autopsy."
"You couldn't find anyone better at his job," Abby stated. "He's the best. Now let me get to work." Abby then shooed them out.
The three men left the lab and made their way to the morgue.
"Ducky?" Brian questioned.
"To his friends, he's Ducky," Tony said as they entered autopsy.
"Ducky, I would like to introduce one of my best friends and his partner."
"Mr. Brian Kinney," Ducky started to say with his hand out. "It is good to see you again, my dear boy. How have you been?"
"Fine, Dr. Mallard." Brian was shocked. "You remember who I am?"
"Well yes. When you were in my lectures the girls surrounded you as did some men if I recall. You always sat dead centre of the classroom to have a better view of the board. But I knew what you were pulling. You wanted my attention and you got it. Now what can I do for you, young man?"
"I never knew I had made such an impression on you," Brian said. He told Ducky the story on everything and handed over the autopsy files. "What I need is your expertise on the autopsies. I haven't looked at these files but something stinks about them. I did look at the detective files and one thing I spotted on Reichert's file was that there was no bruises around the neck. Now if what I remember from my class is if a person who hangs themselves, the blood pools above the rope and should produce ligature marks."
"You're quite right, Brian," Ducky stated. 'The blood has no where to go so it pools around the rope. Now anything else you recognise?" He wanted to see if Brian remembered his class.
"Yes, according to the pictures of Reichert's eyes there is no pin points of blood. What is that called again?"
"Petechiael hemorrhaging. Again you're right." Ducky was looking at the autopsy file on Reichert . "They classified this as a suicide? This is preposterous. Who did the investigation on this file?"
"The police did an in-house investigation," Brian stated. "Captain Carl Horvath said that there should have been an outside investigation done."
"If I know the Boss and the Director, they have the FBI involved in this," Tony stated.
"I will see what I can do about this," Ducky stated.
"Ducky, I also have the business card of the medical examiner in Pittsburgh," Brian replied as he handed over the card. "He told me that he was not the one who worked on these cases but he could help with anything you need."
"Thank you, my dear boy," Ducky said. "Now I must get to work. Does Abby have the evidence to this case?"
"Yes she does Ducky," Tony answered.
"Good." Ducky brought up his stool and opened the file on Jason Kemp.
The three men left Ducky and headed for the bullpen. Upon arriving, Brian saw an older gentleman talking to Gibbs and Vance. Tony made the introductions.
"Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor, I want you to meet Special Agent Tobias Fornell from the FBI. Fornell, this is Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor from Pittsburgh."
"I always wanted to meet the man who took down the Chief of Police from eing Mayor. How are you?"
"Fine," Brian replied as he shook his hand. "How is it that everyone here knows about Stockwell?"
"When you work for law enforcement agencies, we get all the news about them," Tony replied. He then looked to Fornell. "I guess you're here about Stockwell."
"Yes, DiNutso, sorry Tony. Bad habit."
"That's okay, Fornell." Tony said. "Now about Stockwell."
"Well from what I've heard from Director Vance and Gibbs, we might have a case. If it looks like this Stockwell person murdered his ex-partner then he will be arrested. What is he doing now?"
"He's still Chief of Police," Brian replied. "There was no implication that he was responsible for the murder so after he lost the election, he went back to being in charge of the officers."
"At least we know where he is when we arrest him," Fornell stated. "Now what do we know?"
Everyone took a seat.
"We know that Jason Kemp was murdered and dumped into a dumpster behind a diner in Pittsburgh," Brian began the story. "Reichert was convicted for the murder because he had an infliction for young men. He was having a love affair with a Christopher Hobbs."
"The man who hit you, Mr. Taylor?" Fornell asked.
"Yes," Justin whispered. "I was hit over the head at my prom by Hobbs. He was never convicted for the bashing as I was still in the hospital and it was Brian's word against his. Brian thinks that if he had this much hate maybe Hobbs was the man who murdered Kemp because Kemp was having a fling with Reichert."
"What's your theory on this Brian?" Gibbs asked.
"I think that Hobbs could have killed Kemp. Justin and I were on Liberty Avenue one night when we came across Hobbs and his friends. So we know that he must have frequented the gay section often. He came down to Liberty Avenue and saw Reichert with Kemp. Hobbs then had sex with Kemp and in the process killed him. But he used a condom but knowing condoms like I do, it could have been weak and maybe semen leaked out. With Reichert, I think that Stockwell went to Reichert's and they had a drink. Being a police officer, he could have slipped him something in his drink to make Reichert pass out. He then took Reichert's body and made it look like Reichert hanged himself."
"That's a great theory," Vance stated. "Do you have any evidence to prove this?"
"We gave the evidence to Abby and Ducky," Brian stated. "Hopefully they can find something. We don't know about the drug used, if any. And no one would have looked to see if there were two sets of DNA inside Jason Kemp."
"They will find something if I know them," Tony said. "We have the best team when it comes to finding things."
"If my theory is right, then what happens?" Brian questioned.
"Then I will go and arrest Stockwell," Fornell responded. "I know it's not my jurisdiction but it will be my pleasure. I'll get a couple of men from the Pittsburgh office and we'll go arrest him."
"Why did you come to us?" Vance asked knowing the truth but wanted Fornell to know the story.
"Well, this needed to be done outside," Brian began. "Captain Horvath thought there should have been an outside investigation and not an in-house one. I knew that Tony, here, worked for NCIS and you guys have a great closing rate. One of the best in the US. I asked him for help. I hope I didn't step on anyone's shoes?"
"No, you did right," Gibbs replied. "I would have done the same in your shoes. How do you know Ducky?"
"He taught at a few seminars in Pittsburgh when I was getting my degree for Business. I got a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and that is what I'm doing now. This is my first case. It was closed by the Police Department and Horvath thought there was something not right about it. I've got my Private Investigator's license and I have a girl at home setting up offices for us. Justin is going to help me."
"There is a reason for that," Justin stated. "When Stockwell was running for mayor, I put posters together to discredit him. I was going to PIFA at the time. It's a school for becoming an artist. I was working at Brian's place of work as an intern. Anyways, Stockwell showed up at our loft and saw Brian with me and the posters on the floor. He left without a word but Brian's business partner, Gardner Vance, said he wanted to see Brian in his office in an hour. I went to school the next morning and found out that they expelled me. They wanted me to apologize but I was not going to apologize for something I believed in. Stockwell was a homophobic bastard that thought he could have things his way."
"I went to Gardner's office and found out I was fired," Brian began, "Gardner knew I was gay but it was the posters. I was furious that he was still supporting a homophobe for the election so I did something I didn't think would work. I went to get my share of the partnership from Gardner and he paid it out. Then I took some of that money and put together a kick ass advertisement for television to show the people who they were voting for. When all of Liberty Avenue found out what he was, their votes counted and Deakins was voted into office. Justin was the only one who knew that I was the one who put the campaign together. He recognized my work."
"You sure had guts to do something like that," Fornell declared. "By the way, Gibbs, where is David and McGee?"
"Their on assignment in New York," Gibbs replied. "Their talking to a witness in the murder we're working on."
"We're not holding you up in working a case?" Justin asked.
"No," Vance replied. "We needed some things clarified and their wrapping up the case. We're on stand down until then. Maybe we can help in the case. Is there anything you need right now?"
"No," Brian replied. "We brought all the evidence and files so I hope Ducky and Abby can come up with what they have."
"We've solved more cases with less," Tony replied.
Vance looked at his watch. "How about we call it a day. Ducky and Abby have their work cut for them and we could always have some down time."
"I have a place for these guys to stay," Tony said. "So let's go."
"Tony, my place for cowboy steaks," Gibbs said. He then looked for Fornell. "You, too. Vance you are also invited."
"No thanks Gibbs," Vance replied. "I have kids to go home to."
"I also have to decline," Fornell said. "I have Emily tonight."
"Okay," Gibbs said.
"I'll see you in two hours then," Tony said. He gathered up his backpack, took his gun and badge from the drawer and motioned for Brian and Justin to follow him.
They arrived at Tony's apartment half an hour later. He showed them the bedroom.
"Would either of you like coffee?" Tony asked.
"I would, thanks," Brian replied as he sat on the sofa.
"Water if you have it," Justin said as he sat beside Brian.
Tony got water for Justin and put on coffee for Brian and himself. "I see why you love Justin."
Justin blushed as Brian smiled and put his arm around Justin's shoulders.
"I do," Brian whispered as he kissed Justin's cheek. "He's been good for me. He came into my life when it was going out of control."
"So what have you've been up to and how did you two meet?" Tony handed Brian a coffee with three sugars and took a seat on the chair beside the sofa.
"The night I met Justin was the night my son was born. Justin even named him. His name is Gus by the way. The company Ryder Advertising I went to work for made me a bit of money. I bought my loft with my first bonus. Then Ryder promised me a partnership after two years. I was one of the best ad execs they had. Then he sold the business to Gardner Vance and he changed the name to Vanguard. He wanted me to prove to him that I could get the Brown's Athletics account, so I went to Chicago to get the account. I did get the account and he made me partner. The rest you know."
"I met Brian my first night on Liberty Avenue. He was my first. Brian came to my prom as my date. We danced one song and left to go to the parking lot. There, Hobbs bashed me in the head. I was in a coma for two weeks and rehab for six weeks. Brian helped with my therapy. We had troubles in our relationship but who doesn't. When things got straightened out, I went to PIFA to get my degree in becoming an artist. Things kind of went south. Then we got this letter and it sent us here."
"Wow, that is some life," Tony stated. "Now for another coffee then we'll head to Gibbs' for supper."
"What's been going on with you, Tony?" Brian asked.
"Well, since I graduated, I've worked in Peoria, Illinois, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. That's where I met Gibbs. He tackled me while he was undercover. He then offered me a job when I found out that I had a dirty partner. Then a letter was mailed to NCIS that contained the Bubonic Plague. Yes, you heard me right. Gibbs found out there was a time release on the powder so I lived. But it came with a medical condition: my lungs are scared. I can't get sick or I'm in the hospital. I have a doctor here, Dr. Brad Pitt. Yes, I know, he's a doctor not the actor. He's also the man that ended my career in becoming professional: he broke my knee. Now he's paying for it by keeping me out of trouble. Anyways, I've been shot many times, had concussions, broke ribs, you name it but I'm still here. Lost partners, gained new friends and I wouldn't leave my team for anything. I love my job. Now we should be going to supper. You have to taste Gibbs' cowboy steaks at least once."
They went to Tony's car, made their way to the liquor store for beer and headed to Gibbs' place. Tony walked right in with the other two men.
"Hey Jet," Tony announced as he made his way into the kitchen. He put the beer into the fridge and took four out. He gave one to Brian, one to Justin, and left one on the counter beside Gibbs then took a sip from his own.
"Hey," Gibbs replied as his arms went around Tony and he kissed him.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute here," Brian exclaimed. "You're not gay Tony."
"I am since I met Gibbs," Tony replied. "We fell in love not long after I tackled him. We knew from the start but it was six months later we confessed our feelings. We keep it out of the office because of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. Abby and Ducky know and so does Fornell. They don't mind. They are actually happy for us. We never show our feelings because we don't want Vance to have the idea of breaking us up again."
"Again?" Brian questioned.
"Yeah," Tony whispered as he looked to Jethro and saw the nod. "A while back, we did something stupid on a case. Next thing we know the team was spread out. I went to being Agent Afloat on two ships. Jet, here, got a new team. It was later that I found out that we were looking for a double agent. It turned out that the daughter of the agent was kidnapped and held if the agent wasn't told what to do. We lost two agents at the time including her. Anyway, Jet made sure that we were not going to be separated again. This team has the highest solve rate ever. We don't want any reason for Vance to break us up again."
"Is that DADT ever going to go away for the forces?" Justin asked.
"They are in the process of obliterating it as we speak," Tony replied. "Until that happens, we keep it secret. We live in separate places until it is no more."
"I get it," Brian stated. "Where we live we don't have that problem. I had clients with Ryder that knew I was gay. They didn't mind. Now, how about those steaks?"
Jet took out the steaks and placed them on a rack situated inside the fireplace.
"This is the way you cook steaks?" Brian asked.
"You haven't tasted one of these before," Tony said licking his lips. "It's like tasting a steak cooked outdoors."
They sat at the table and dug in. As the first piece of steak passed Brian's lips, his taste buds exploded. It was the most exquisite taste he'd ever known next to Justin.
"This is incredible!" Brian exclaimed. "Wow!"
"I agree," Justin replied. "I've had many steaks when I was younger but this is the best."
"Told you," Tony replied.
After they ate, they all went into the living room to enjoy another beer. Talk was of personal time but never about cases. After a while, Tony kissed Jet.
"How about you show these two DC tomorrow?" Jethro asked. "Then tomorrow night, you all can come here and we can teach you two young private detectives on how to do your job properly." He then turned to Brian. "Would you like to learn how to work a case? We can teach you. Between Tony and I, you will have the best solve rate that Pittsburgh will ever see. Maybe you can solve one of our cold cases."
"Cold cases?" Tony asked eagerly. "Did someone say cold cases? I love cold cases!"
"Cold cases?" Brian asked. "What are those?"
"They are cases that were unsolvable at the time," Jethro explained. "We'll talk about those tomorrow. It's going to be a few days before Abby will be done with the evidence. So I will talk to Vance to see if we could show you how to go through a cold case. I'll try to get you clearance so that the case we pick will have no security breaches. Tomorrow I will talk to Abby to see how your first case is going. If she has anything I will tell you tomorrow night."
"That would be so great!" Justin excitedly said. "I can wait to start on our first case."
"Well, actually it will be your second case," Jethro replied. "Stockwell is your first case but not a cold case. But we will show you how to go about solving your second case."
"Jethro," Brian began, "Justin and I want to thank you and your team for your help. I knew what Tony did for a living. I hope we didn't step on anyone's toes."
"No, you didn't," Jethro replied. "We'll talk tomorrow. I'll pick you all up in the morning and we'll go to breakfast. I know a place that you will love."
"Okay," Tony said. He then turned to Jet and kissed him. "I'll see you in the morning, love."
"See you later, baby," Jet whispered.
The three men walked out and Brian snickered as he put his arm around Justin's shoulders. He loved watching two people who are in love. Since he fell in love with Justin, his world has never been better. Now that he was trying to solve his first case, he was going to see that the bad man was going to jail. Brian would make sure that he would put away the right person.
QAF/NCIS
The next morning, the three men got ready to leave. Brian and Justin were enjoying a cup of coffee when they heard someone at the door.
"Ready to go?" Jethro asked.
"Yup," Tony replied as he grabbed his jacket.
The three walked outside and Brian froze.
"Isn't that a 1971 Dodge Challenger?" Brian asked as he walked around the car.
"Yeah," Jethro replied. "You a car lover?"
"Yeah," Brian said. "I had a 1971 Corvette Stingray. I sold it to a client who was looking for a vintage corvette. I bought it when I lost my Jeep. The Jeep was part of my contract with Ryder. I had to sell the corvette when Justin told me that we couldn't drive my son around with him sitting on Justin's lap."
"You have a son?" Jethro asked.
"Yup. Lesbian friends wanted a child and I made a deposit. And nine months later he was born. I met Justin that same night. He named him."
The four of them climbed into the Challenger and went to the train café that Gibbs loved. From his point of view, they made the best coffee.
The four of them ate and got to know one another. After breakfast, Gibbs dropped the three others off at Tony's and went to the office. On his way, he passed a coffee stand and picked up coffee for himself and Vance. He figured he would get on Vance's good side to start the day off.
Gibbs entered with two cups of coffee, put his gun in his desk drawer and made his way up to Vance's office. He noticed that McGee and David weren't at their desks yet.
He knocked as he heard Vance.
"Leon, I need to ask you for a favor," Gibbs stated as he handed over one of the coffees and took a seat.
"Go ahead." Vance took one of the coffees with a nod.
"The four of us had a talk last night and I was wondering if we could have Brian and Justin sitting in on a cold case to observe how to go about working a case. We would have to pick one that has no security measures. Sometimes fresh eyes can come up with something."
"I think that would be a great idea. How about for today your team works on this Stockwell case. You could get McGee to do financials and phone records while David does personnel records. Then when we get together with Brian and Justin, we go over the info before Abby tells us what she found. Can you call Fornell and ask him over so that we make sure that when McGee and David do their searches they are legal?"
"Sounds good," Gibbs replied.
"I'll go through the cold cases and find you a case to solve with Brian and Justin. Hopefully Ducky will have his part done by then."
"Thanks Leon." Gibbs rose from his chair and made his way down to the bullpen.
Vance thought of it already when Gibbs mentioned a case. He knew that Gibbs' first case was never solved and he knew what it's like to not have your first case solved. Vance was aware that the case never had any connection to the Navy or any of the subsidiaries. Plus he knew that Gibbs was near retirement. He already talked to SecNav and she said she would help in any way she could. She knew that Gibbs served his country for many years.
Gibbs heard the ding of the elevator and watched as McGee and David came off laughing. Gibbs took his seat and waited until they got settled and booted up their computers. Gibbs pulled out his phone and called Fornell.
"Can you come to the bullpen, we need your help."
Gibbs closed his phone when he got his answer.
"Morning, boss," McGee said.
"Morning, Gibbs" David said. "What's up for this morning?"
"Tony has friends from Pittsburgh that needs our help." Gibbs then proceeded to catch them up on the case. "McGee, I need you to do financials and phone records on James Stockwell, Kenneth Reichert and Christopher Hobbs. Stockwell is the Chief of Police for Pittsburgh; Reichert was a retired cop and was also Stockwell's partner. Christopher Hobbs was responsible for bashing to Justin Taylor. We have the go ahead with FBI. If Fornell finds out from the evidence and the autopsy records that Stockwell did murder Reichert, then the FBI will be placing him under arrest. Fornell also said that there should have been an outside investigation. David, I need personal files done on the same three. As for tomorrow, the team will show Brian and Justin on how to work a cold case. Hopefully Abby will have the DNA done on this case that came with the evidence the day after. Vance is picking a case that has no security breaches that will not affect our offices. Now let's get to work."
"Where is Tony?" David asked.
"He's taking a vacation day to show Brian and Justin around DC," Gibbs replied. He heard the ding of the elevator and watched as Fornell came off the lift.
"Gibbs, good morning," Fornell said. "Now what do you need me for?"
"I need you to sign this form so that the searches that David and McGee are doing is sanctioned by the FBI so it makes it legal in court when we present the evidence against them."
"Sounds good to me," Fornell replied as he signed the forms. "How's the case going?"
"We're just beginning to put together financials, phone records and profile files together as we speak. This will give them something to do until tomorrow. Then we're going to show Brian and Justin how to close a cold case. The day after, we will go through the evidence that Abby and Ducky have come up with so that you can go and arrest their sorry asses. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good," Fornell repeated. "Now I'm going to my office to put some other things together for our use. I'll put a team together and investigate the precinct. See how many dirty cops are there and have them arrested. I'll see you in two days."
"I'll see you then," Gibbs replied and got to work.
Gibbs pulled out his own paperwork to get started. This was one job that he had Tony do but he figured that he would do it so that they could concentrate on the cold case and Stockwell's case.
The rest of the day was spent with the team doing their part on helping Brian and Justin. By 3 p.m., McGee and David both handed files to Gibbs.
"Is this everything?" Gibbs asked. He noticed that the profiles that Agent David put together were not thin files at all. They were both at least one inch thick. "What did you find that made these two files so thick?"
"Well, I found some not so good things going on in the police department that should not have happened. I found evidence missing after being entered on the docket. That is one police department that should be investigated for, what do you call it, evidence tampering? Yes, those are the words."
"Do you mean to tell me that there are cases that should not have been dismissed?"
"Yes. Evidence went missing so that they didn't have to go to court or spend anytime in jail. As Abby would say, 'something is hinky' in Pittsburgh. What should we do?" David always looked up to Gibbs for as a teacher. She learned a lot from the man.
"That will be for the FBI to investigate," Gibbs replied. "Can you email a copy of that file to Fornell? I talked with Fornell this morning and they will be investigating the Pittsburgh Police Department for a lot of crimes including the one we will be working on with Brian and Justin. This case should have had an outside investigation done because of protocol." He then turned to McGee to receive files on his three profiles. "McGee?"
"Well, I found a lot of things that were in both financials. If I didn't know I was looking at two different bank accounts, you would think I made a copy of the other one. Everything that came out of one account went into another account. I even found off shore accounts that belong to Stockwell."
"McGee, I found money missing from evidence at the police station. Could those amounts be accounted for in either of those accounts?" David asked.
"Boss, can we have the files back so that we can confirm the money that went missing in evidence was deposited in another account?" McGee asked.
"That's good thinking, McGee. Then let me know what you both find."
"Right, Boss," McGee replied. He took back the files and both agents went through them with a fine tooth comb.
Gibbs worked on other paper work that came across his desk. He was also finalizing the recent murder case and included McGee and David's notes from New York.
A few hours later both McGee and David confirmed that the money that went missing in evidence ended up in the off shore accounts. This put another nail in Stockwell's case.
"Good work team," Gibbs replied. "Now go home and I will see you both at eight tomorrow morning."
"Boss?" McGee questioned.
"You've both earned it, not get out of here before I put you both on cold cases."
"See you in the morning, boss," McGee said, shut down his computer, grabbed his bag and ran out of the bull pen.
"Goodnight, Gibbs," David said as she too shut her computer down, grabbed her bag and left with McGee.
Gibbs smiled as he put away the files he was filling out. He knew in his mind that he never worked with agents that anticipated his moves like the ones he presently was working with. Right now he knew that he was going to spend the night at Tony's with the other men. Never did he do this before.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Gibbs asked as he called Tony when he left the garage.
"Just pulled into the parking lot at my place," Tony replied. "You coming?"
"Be there soon," Gibbs said.
Tony hung up as he got to his door and opened it. The three men entered and Tony got them all water.
"How does pizza sound for dinner?" Tony asked.
"I love pizza but Brian doesn't eat carbs after seven," Justin stated. "He's trying to watch his figure but I do enough of that so go ahead with pizza and get Brian a salad."
"Thanks," Brian whispered. He knew Justin would jump right in with the order.
"It's not even seven yet so I will order three pizzas and three salads," Tony said. He then placed the order. "Now…" He never got any further as the door opened and closed.
Jethro entered Tony's apartment and closed the door. He walked over to Tony and kissed him.
"Did you enjoy your day?" Jethro asked Brian.
"Yeah, we really did," Brian replied. "Justin was in heaven with the architecture and then we went shopping for some new suits."
"You don't dress like Tony does do you?" Jethro asked. "He's into Armani, Dolce and others."
Justin started laughing. "He's definitely into those designers. When he gets into a suit, he looks great in them."
"Yeah, so does Tony," Jethro said. "Now what's for supper?"
"I ordered out," Tony replied. "We got pizza's and salads coming."
"Oh good, I'm starved," Jethro stated. "Filling out those forms can be murder on the hand."
"You didn't?" Tony questioned.
"I did," Jethro replied. He then turned to the other guys. "When we use equipment, guns, ammo, and other things, we have to fill out forms so that our supplies would be replenished before the next call out. If you open your own detective agency, you should look into doing those things so that when you go out on a call, you have those items already replaced. Tony usually does these things since he's my second in command."
"I've been doing it since I became your second in command. Sometimes I can do them in my sleep and when I get in the next morning, I know what forms to fill out. I found out that my mind never shuts down when I'm at home. I always anticipate what the next move is going to be before I know."
Just then there was a buzz at the door. Tony opened it and paid for the food. He then took it into the dining room and plates were placed beside his hand. He turned to look into Justin's eyes.
"I know when to anticipate when it comes to food," Justin chuckled.
"That is one thing that Justin loves: food," Brian snickered.
"Is not!" Justin exclaimed. "I love art too!"
"Alright boys," Jethro shouted. "Let's eat before the pizza gets cold."
"That's one thing about pizza," Tony stated. "It even tastes better cold."
"I will not argue with that," Justin replied as he took his seat.
They all sat and ate while discussing what to watch for a movie. When Brian asked if he had James Dean's Rebel Without A Cause, Tony's eyes went wide.
"How do you know that one?" Tony asked.
"It's one of my all time favorites," Brian replied.
"Brian knows the whole dialogue to that movie," Justin said. "I also love it too."
"I do have it," Tony replied. "Jet you will love this one."
After dishes were cleared, Tony put the movie in and they watched it.
TBC