"A what?" both Ziva and Gibbs said at the same time.

"A cryptid." Abby leaned forward, an expectant look on her face.

Gibbs stared blankly at her. Ziva's brow furrowed, wondering if "cryptid" was another American slang word. They had so many of them, and seemed to come up with new ones every day. How they hell could anyone keep track of them all?

Abby let out a frustrated breath. "Cryptid! It's the new term for an undocumented animal."

"Oh!" Tony's face lit up in realization. "You mean like Bigfoot."

"Yes! Exactly!" Abby held up her hand, letting Tony give her a high-five.

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Please don't tell me you're serious about this. Bigfoot killed that Marine?"

"I didn't say it was Bigfoot. I'm saying it's an animal that hasn't been cataloged in the official zoological record. But there is one cryptid that's really big in the Carolinas." Abby held up both hands, bending her fingers so they resembled claws. "The Lizard Man!"

Gibbs groaned and rubbed his forehead. "So now we've gone from Bigfoot to a Lizard Man. Abby, other than IDing the shell casings, do you have anything that's actually useful?"

A dejected look came over her face. "Gibbs, this is useful. We know we can rule out any native predators, or any known non-native predatory species that may have gotten loose from somewhere."

"And instead blame it on a fairy tale monster?"

"Well at one time people thought gorillas were made-up monsters. And the people at the zoo said they couldn't identify the animal that made those prints. So maybe it's time to think outside the box on this one." Abby drew a box in the air with her index fingers.

A momentary scowl marred Gibbs' face. "Abs, you know how I feel about that saying."

She frowned. "Yes. 'People only say think outside the box when they run out of meaningful ideas.'"

"Exactly. Now take the photos of the prints and the plaster casts back to the Washington Zoo and have your friends there look at them again. Better yet, find another zoo around here and take them there. Maybe their 'experts' will be better than the ones at Washington and can tell us what real animal those footprints belong to."

"Yes, Gibbs." Abby lowered her head.

Ziva felt a little pang of sympathy for the woman. Still, how could any take something like that seriously? Cryptids? Monsters? Maybe Gibbs was on to something about the zoo people. Maybe they didn't look at the footprints hard enough. Maybe they'd have better luck at another zoo.

But the Washington Zoo is one of the bigger ones in America. You would expect them to be on the . . . bowl, is it, when it comes to identifying animal footprints.

Of course, she'd been around long enough to know that even "experts" can be wrong from time to time. Unfortunately, in her chosen profession, errors by experts tended to cost lives.

She followed Gibbs and Tony out of Abby's lab.

"Boss!" McGee jogged toward them.

"Yeah, McGee?"

The portly computer expert halted a couple feet from Gibbs. "I called Colonel Walling back. He says Corporal Conti did have a personal weapon. A Browning T Bolt Varmint rifle he used for hunting. It's a twenty-two caliber."

"And the casings we recovered were from a forty caliber weapon," Ziva stated.

"It's looking more and more like Corporal Conti wasn't out there by himself." Gibbs looked back to McGee. "Did Colonel Walling have any idea what Conti was doing on the beach that night?"

"Um, n-no, Boss."

"Mm-hmm." Gibbs nodded. "Well, let's find that out ourselves."

"Back to the Kak-a-lackas, huh, Boss?" Tony grinned.

Gibbs gave him a harsh stare, then swatted him upside the head. "Don't use stupid nicknames for North Carolina, DiNozzo. I spent a lot of my time in the Corps there. It's a nice state."

He stalked off, leaving Tony to rub the back of his head.

Ziva looked at her partner, chuckled softly, and followed Gibbs down the hall.

XXXXX

When they arrived at Camp Lejeune, Gibbs sent her and Tony to talk with the men in Conti's platoon, while he and McGee checked the dead Marine's quarters. One of Colonel Walling's MPs escorted them to a bland concrete gray building, where the platoon had gathered in a classroom for a briefing on new upgrades for the LAV-25 armored vehicles. They decided to start with Conti's commanding officer, Lieutenant Quincy Hackett. At first glance, the lanky, narrow-faced, dark-skinned man looked like he should still be in high school. But the eyes told the real story. This man was a warrior, through and through.

After she and Tony introduced themselves, they walked Lieutenant Hackett down the hallway away from the classroom, stopping when they reached the T-junction.

"I assume this has to do with Corporal Conti?" The Marine stood rigidly before them.

"You assume correctly," replied DiNozzo.

Hackett cranked an eyebrow. "Honestly, Sir, I would have figured NCIS would be done investigating his death. It's my understanding Conti was killed by some animal."

"That's true," said Ziva. "But we have evidence that suggests someone else may have been with Corporal Conti when he died, and may have shot the animal."

Even with his stiffened face, Hackett seemed to be mulling over her words. "That's news to me. But I'll help anyway I can."

"Never had any doubt." Tony smiled and pulled out a notebook and pen. "Now, when was the last time you saw Corporal Conti?"

"Just a few hours before they found him on the beach. Right around seventeen-thirty hours. We'd just wrapped up a session in the LAV-25 simulators."

"Do you know where he went afterwards?" asked Ziva.

"No, Ma'am."

"Do you know if he left the simulator area with anyone?"

Hackett nodded. "I did see him head out with Corporal Chambers. That's not much of a surprise. Those two are best friends. They've been together since Boot Camp."

"What kind of Marine was Corporal Conti?" This from Tony.

Hackett paused, his lips tightening for a moment. "Corporal Conti was a competent Marine."

Ziva took note of the Lieutenant's pause, and his use of the word "competent." Not "good," not "outstanding." Just "competent," which to her meant the man could follow orders and perform his duties satisfactorily, but had no other qualities that made him stand apart from his peers.

Tony continued. "Any idea who he might have taken to the beach, or maybe if he was meeting someone there?"

"I don't know for sure."

"Maybe he had a girlfriend? Maybe they were gonna meet up at the beach for a little . . . well, you know."

A spark of surprise flashed through Ziva. She was amazed Tony hadn't used one of his more colorful expressions to describe two people having sex.

"I know he was seeing some high school girl from Morehead City. Rather attractive girl, too. But I think they may have broken up."

"Why do you say that?" Ziva asked.

"About a month ago, I noticed Conti looked depressed. I asked if there was anything bothering him. He told me there wasn't, though I didn't believe him."

"Did you pursue the matter further?"

"No, Ma'am. Conti may have been down in the dumps, but I didn't see it affecting his performance in the platoon. I felt if his personal problems didn't carry over to his duties, it was none of my business."

Ziva gently tapped her notebook with the tip of her pen. "Did Corporal Conti have any other personal problems?"

The veins in Hackett's neck stood out for a moment. "If I may ask, Ma'am, is this relevant? I mean, Corporal Conti wasn't murdered. He was killed by an animal."

"True. But since it appears he was with another person the night he was killed, we have to be thorough in our investigation. So, did Corporal Conti have any other personal problems?"

Hackett sighed and looked away for a moment. "I don't like to speak ill of my men, Ma'am, especially one who's dead."

"I understand your feelings, Lieutenant, and believe me I admire the sentiment. It's not our intention to disgrace Corporal Conti's memory. All we want to find out is who else was on the beach with him that night and why?"

Hackett's jaw stiffened. His shoulders rose with a noticeable breath. "Corporal Conti had a gambling addiction."

Ziva nodded, scribbling in her notebook. "For how long?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Long before I took command of the platoon five months ago."

"How bad was it?" asked Tony.

"Pretty bad. Online, horse tracks, greyhound races, the Indian casinos in Cherokee, you name it. He's probably run up well over ten thousand dollars in debt."

Tony winced. "Well that's not a good thing on a Marine corporal's salary."

"I concur, Sir. In fact, I ordered him to go to one of those gambler's anonymous groups for help. He started about three weeks ago."

"Was he making any progress?" Ziva inquired.

"Maybe a little. He told me he was trying his best to kick the habit."

"You said Conti's best friend was a Corporal Chambers?"

"Yes, Ma'am. He's another LAV driver."

"We'd like to speak with him, too."

"I'll get him for you."

"Thank you." Ziva nodded. "And thank you for your help, Lieutenant."

Hackett clicked his heels together and nodded. "Ma'am. Sir." He spun on his heel and marched back to the classroom.

A minute later another Marine exited the classroom and headed over to them. He couldn't have been more than five-seven with a lean build and a compact face.

"Sir. Ma'am. The Lieutenant said you wanted to see me."

"Yeah. I'm Agent DiNozzo, and that's Officer David. NCIS."

Chambers stiffened. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. Ziva narrowed her eyes a little, taking note of the reaction.

"We wanted to talk to you about Corporal Conti," Tony said. "Lieutenant Hackett told us you two were best buds."

"Uh, yes, Sir." The corners of Chambers' mouth twitched. He looked away from them.

"Yeah. Hey, I know how hard this is, losing a friend and all."

Chambers' face scrunched, as though he was trying to contain a break down. "I . . . I've known Tom since Boot Camp. Served in Iraq together. He . . . he was a good guy."

"I'm sure he was." Tony shot him a quick, sympathetic smile. "So were you with him at all the night he was killed?"

Ziva noticed Chambers' jaw clench for a few moments before he spoke. "Um, just at the mess hall for dinner. Then . . . then after that he left."

"And you didn't go with him?" Ziva asked.

"Um, no, Ma'am."

"Any idea why he'd be at the beach?" asked Tony.

Chambers shook his head. "Uhhh, no, Sir. I don't know."

"Maybe he was going to see his girlfriend," Ziva mentioned. "Lieutenant Hackett told us he was seeing a girl from one of the local high schools."

"Yeah. Um, Helena. But they broke up last month."

"What was the reason?"

Again, Chambers looked away from Ziva.

"Is it about his gambling problem?"

The young Marine whipped his head back to her.

"Lieutenant Hackett mentioned that to us."

Chambers frowned, looking at his boots. "Yeah. Um, yeah, Ma'am. Tom convinced Helena to steal money from her mom, to help with some of his gambling debts, you know. But she got caught and her Mom threatened to kick her out of the house if she kept seeing Tom."

"Could Conti and Helena be sneaking around her mother's back?" Tony shrugged.

"Um, I . . . I don't think so."

"Was Corporal Conti having problems with anyone?" Ziva asked.

"What . . . What kind of problems?"

"Fights. Not getting along with people. NCOs or officers being too hard on him."

"Um, no. No, Ma'am."

"Did you two have any problems?"

Chambers swallowed again. His mouth hung open silently for a second before he spoke. "N-No, Ma'am. He was my best friend. We were good, you know?"

Ziva slowly nodded. She turned to Tony, giving him a knowing look. He nodded back and turned to Chambers.

"Well, thanks for your time, Corporal. You can head back to class now."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir. Ma'am."

Chambers headed back down the hall, walking so fast Ziva was tempted to call it a trot.

Tony folded his arms and looked to her. "You thinkin' the same thing I am?"

"I believe I am. Corporal Chambers is hiding something."

TO BE CONTINUED