Leroy Jethro Gibbs sailed back into the bullpen hoping his agents finally had something to give him about this case. "What do you got on Becker?"

McGee jumped up from his desk ready to spout off all they had learned about the Commander. "Commander Becker. 37 years old. Blonde hair. Six foot two. Fits the description of our suspect seen leaving Sanders apartment." McGee pointed this out, saw the look on Gibbs face and quickly continued. "Works in Naval intelligence in Norfolk. I went through all his financials. No red flags. Also looked into his phone records. Nothing popped except he did place a call 2 days ago to a number registered to Petty Officer Sanders. The call lasted 10 minutes. Seems to fit with what Becker's son said about the call."

Ziva took the remote from McGee and began to tell Gibbs what they had found about the murder of the Commander's wife. "Two years ago, the Commander's wife, Lieutenant Sarah Becker, was found dead in their home. She was stabbed to death in the upper chest, similar to our victim. The Lieutenant was home alone at the time of the murder. Travis was at a friend's house and the Commander claims he was with his C.O. From the crime scene photos it looks like a robbery gone bad. There was some jewelry and electronics missing. Initially the Commander was the prime suspect. Neighbors claimed the couple had been fighting prior to the murder. However, Becker's C.O. and his wife both claim to have been with Becker at the time of the murder. The murder was never solved but officially ruled a burglary."

Gibbs was starting to get that frustrated look on his face again. He looked around at his agents and saw that one was missing. "Where's DiNozzo?" he barked.

"Right here boss." Tony walked into the squadroom. He glanced at the photos up on the screen and froze. There on the screen lay a young woman with pretty brown hair. She had a stab wound decorating her front and blood staining her clothes. Around her lay a mess of papers and broken shelving.

Her eyes, frozen in terror, haunted his dreams every night. Every time he closed his eyes that was all he could see. All he remembered.

"DiNozzo! Tony! Hey!" Gibbs continued to yell at his senior agent, attempting to get his attention. The look on Tony's face troubled him.

A Gibbs' slap to the back of his head finally penetrated the thick fog in Tony's brain. He looked around at the concerned faces of his Boss and fellow agents, and quickly pasted on his trademark smile. "Sorry Boss. Must have spaced out for a second. What were you saying?"

Gibbs wasn't sure what to make of Tony's behavior, but he didn't have time to worry about it right now, so he plowed ahead. "Where's Travis?"

"Uh, he's down in the lab with Abby."

Gibbs glared at his Senior Agent a moment longer, but decided to get back on track. "Do we know where the Commander is?"

"The Commander didn't show up for work today. Nothing on his credit cards, and his cell is off." McGee knew this information was only going to make Gibbs more upset. As he hit the keys on his keyboard to bring up the credit info, his brow began to furrow as he suspected something amiss with his computer. All of a sudden his computer went black and a giant green monster popped up onto the screen shouting at him. McGee let out a girly scream and jumped back before he could control his reaction. "Tony!"

"I told you he was up to something. I knew it!" Ziva shouted in victory, glad she had been right and also glad that she was not the one who had been pranked.

Tony, however, didn't seem to be taking his usual enjoyment out of his prank. He still couldn't keep his eyes off the crime scene photos still plastered on the plasma. "Sorry McGee." He offered a weak apology and headed over to his desk. Now Gibbs was really starting to wonder what about this case seemed to be affecting Tony so much.

Ziva and McGee had also begun to worry. This was very unlike the Tony they knew, and more importantly he had been in such a good mood this morning. How could it have been altered so quickly?

Gibbs decided it was time to light a fire under his team.

"DiNozzo, David, Norfolk. Find the Commander."

"On it boss." Tony jumped up grabbing his stuff. Ziva followed him into the elevator glad to have an excuse to be alone so she could ask him what the hell was bothering him.

"McGee, I want you and Abby to go over all the evidence from the murder of Lieutenant Sarah Becker. We are going to rework that murder from the beginning. These two cases are linked somehow."

"No problem Boss." McGee was glad to finally have a direction to go in.

"McGee, make sure Ducky gets a copy of the autopsy of Lieutenant Becker."

"Sure Boss. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to have a talk with the Commander's C.O." Gibbs sat down at his desk and picked up the phone as he watched his agents scurry off to get their work done. He was glad that they finally seemed to have a lead in this confusing case, but he was still worried about DiNozzo's odd behavior. That was just another thing to add to his problems with this case.


Once in the elevator Ziva had begun to question Tony about what was bothering him.

"What is wrong Tony? You are acting strangely."

"I'm fine Ziva."

"You did not even smile when McGee screamed like a little girl. Something is not right."

"Gibbs was standing right there. I was trying to avoid another headslap." Tony really wished she would stop starring at him like that. He felt as if he was being x-rayed.

"I do not believe you. Something about this case is bothering you."

"Well thanks for letting me know how I feel. Would you like to tell me what I'm feeling now?" Ziva knew she was headed into dangerous waters but she wasn't about to let this go. Besides she knew her partner better than almost anyone, except maybe Gibbs, and she knew that something was wrong. Of course she also knew that she had little chance of getting him to actually admit it, but that wasn't going to stop her.

"You are angry with me for being nosy. But you are my partner, and if something is affecting you than it affects me too. I just want to make sure you are ok. I care about you." The last part had not been easy to say, but she added it to get some sort of reaction out of him. It's not that it wasn't true, it's just that under normal circumstances she would never actually admit it, let alone to his face.

She had managed to get a reaction. Although not the one she was hoping for. "It's nice to know I'm so loveable, but really I'm fine, so just let it go." His cocky attitude was back.

"You can go on pretending, but I think we both know the truth."

They had finally reached the car when he snapped.

"Ziva! Do I do this to you! No! Because I know that when you say that you are fine, I know what you really mean is that you don't want to talk about it. And no matter what I do you aren't going to say anything until you're damn good and ready! So will you please just let it go?"

She stared at him, with those large brown eyes unblinking. She was taken aback but decided to keep her mouth shut. Ziva David did not let things go that easily. So they spent the entire ride in silence. Tony sat fuming, knowing that Ziva would keep pestering him until she got some answers. This was one time he wished she would just let it go. He wasn't going to talk about this with her, not with anybody.

Ziva watched him out of the corner of her eye, silently wondering what could be affecting him. This morning he didn't have a care in the world. What had happened to that man? She knew him well enough to know that he used humor to cover what he was really feeling, but now he wasn't even trying to hide it. Something was very wrong, and she was going to do her best to find out what that was.

They arrived at Becker's house and the two agents made their way up to front door, both pulled out their weapons, ready for whatever they found. Tony looked in the window, but didn't see anyone inside.

Ziva called out to see if there was anyone in the house. "Commander Becker. NCIS. Open up." They waited but nothing stirred. They looked at each other, silently communicating. Tony lifted up his foot and kicked the door open. They entered the house, going through and clearing each room.

"No one's here." Ziva holstered her weapon and began to look around.

"Whoever was here left in a hurry." Tony observed from the bathroom.

"How do you know?" Ziva asked, making her way through the house. When she reached the bathroom she saw what he was talking about. The water in the sink was running over onto the floor. A toothbrush with toothpaste lay on the counter, next to that lay the Commander's cell phone.


"What do you got for me Timmy?" Abby perked up as McGee walked into her lab with a bunch of evidence.

"All the evidence from the murder of Sar…." McGee stopped short seeing Travis for the first time. The little boy had been having a ball with Abby. He had managed to charm her, and he was pretty sure, in his ten year old mind, that he could get a date out of her. "Hey Travis, having fun with Abs?"

"Yea, I have found out where almost all of her tattoos are. Only two more to go!"

McGee was stunned at the audacity of this kid, but also that Abby had been so forthcoming. "Abs?"

"What? He's a very good guesser."Abby responded guiltily. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Abby decided to turn her attention back to the evidence when she realized Sarah Becker's name was on the boxes. "McGee, why don't you take Travis up to MTAC?" Abby raised her eyebrows, silently suggesting to McGee that he get Travis out of here before he realized what they were up to.

"Nooooo. I want to stay with you." Travis whined.

"Trust me, you'll have much more fun with McGee."

"I doubt that. Can't I hang out with Ziva instead."

"She's out trying to find your dad. C'mon I'll buy you a soda." McGee motioned towards the elevator.

"Fine but as soon as Ziva gets back, I'm hanging out with her."

McGee just shook his head. "Whatever you say buddy."

Gibbs and Ducky walked out of the elevator as McGee and Travis were heading out.

"Right on time Gibbs. As usual."

"What d'ya got for me Abs?" Gibbs placed a Caf-Pow next to the keyboard and waited to finally get a break in this case.

"Well that cast-iron gut of yours never fails. You were right Gibbs. There was blood on the knife from two individuals. The first was Petty Officer Sanders. I tested the second blood sample against Commander Becker's DNA."

"And.."

"Not a match. Sorry Gibbs." Abby saw Gibbs starting to get that frustrated glare. "If you give me someone else to test it against, I can get you answers, but without someone to test it against…" Abby trailed off.

"Run it against Lieutenant Becker's blood." Ducky suggested.

"The Commander's wife?"

"Yes, Jethro. That's what I wanted to tell you. I went over the autopsy for Sarah Becker. We have the same cause of death. Stab wound to the upper torso. I made a mold of the stab wound of our victim and compared it to the M.E.'s from the lieutenant's case and it is an exact match. It was the same knife that killed both victims."

"Ducky can I see that mold." Abby reached out and took the mold from Ducky, placing it under her microscope. The enlarged image of the knife's edge was projected up onto the plasma. Abby went back to her computer and started tapping away at the keys, pulling up an identical picture of the mold in Sarah Becker's case and the combat knife McGee had found at the scene.

"Look here. This is the mold from Lieutenant Becker's stabbing, and Sanders, and the knife McGee found. Look closely at the edge of the knife, near the tip." Abby pulled up an image of the knife magnified to show Gibbs. "Here. There is a nick right here. Now look at the mold Ducky made and the one from the Becker case. Same nick. I am one hundred percent positive that the same knife was used to kill Sarah Becker and Petty Officer Sanders."

Gibbs sported a small smirk, happy that they finally had some solid evidence. "Duck, was the wound made the same way in both cases."

"That's where we have an anomaly. In Lieutenant Becker's case, the evidence suggests a right handed assailant who approached in a frontward assault. There were no defensive wounds however, suggesting that she knew her killer as well."

"So either we have a killer who used the same weapon, but different hands." Abby looked unsure that was the case.

"Or we have two killers who used the same weapon." Gibbs finished. He was back to being irritated. This case was one step forward, three steps back.

Gibbs phone suddenly went off. "Yea, Gibbs." McGee was on the other end letting him know that Commander Becker's C.O. had arrived with his wife. "I'll be right up McGee."

"Find me some evidence that links Becker to these murders." Gibbs barked as he headed upstairs.

"No problem Gibbs!"


Captain Jonathan Mills sat across from Gibbs in the conference room, shifting uncomfortably under his glare. His wife Rebecca Mills sat calmly next to him with a polite smile on her face. Gibbs wasn't sure what it was, but Captain Mills and his wife made him uneasy. Captain Mills looked like he knew something, and Gibbs was determined to get it out of him. If there was one thing he had learned in his years as an agent it was to trust his instincts, and right now they were screaming that there was more to this case than they had uncovered so far.

"Agent Gibbs, I don't know if we can help you. We have no idea where Greg is." Mrs. Mills began with an almost false cheerfulness.

Gibbs ignored her and continued glaring at the Captain, enjoying making him uncomfortable. "You were with Commander Becker at the time of his wife's murder?"

Captain Mills was surprised at this question, he hadn't expected to be asked about Sarah. "I thought this was about Petty Officer Sanders. What does Sarah's murder have to do with it?"

"Just answer the question."

"Uh, yea. It was a Sunday afternoon. We were getting ready to have a few people over to watch the football game. Greg came over to talk to me about something that was bothering him. When he got home the cops were already there. Travis, he's…the one that….you know, found her."

"That poor kid. He has been through so much. Your heart just breaks for him." Mrs. Mills' pity sounded a little phony to Gibbs' ears.

"How long was the Commander at your house?"

The Captain and his wife looked at each other to confer as to how much time Becker had spent at their home. "Almost two hours. Remember sweetie I ran out to the store to get more chips for the party and when I got back at two Greg was leaving."

"Yea he came over about noon, so about two hours. I asked if he wanted to stay and watch the game, but he said he had to get home to his wife."

"What did he talk to you about?" Gibbs was starting to get the feeling that he was missing something.

"It was private." Captain Mills' lips had suddenly zipped up.

Gibbs glared at him, waiting for more.

"Was it about the fight that he had just had with his wife?"

Mills shifted some more in his chair. His eyes darted to his wife's. She seemed to begin to share his discomfort. Gibbs had hit a nerve. Mills began to sweat, unwilling to give up the confidence of his friend.

"It wasn't a fight."

"Then I guess the screaming the neighbors overheard was just about what was for dinner."

"Look, Sarah was a good woman. She was a good wife and mother…"

"But?"

"But she may have gotten in over her head."

Gibbs waited for Mills to elaborate.

"She was the one selling Navy secrets, not Greg." Mrs. Mills was clearly willing to say what her husband wasn't. That pronunciation left an uneasy silence in the conference room, as Gibbs tried to determine if she was telling the truth.

"Greg suspected something was up. That's what the fight was about. Sarah wouldn't tell him everything. He wasn't sure what to do, so he came to me for advice." The Captain seemed upset that his wife had let out the Commander's secret.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about this when Lieutenant Becker was murdered?"

"I figured that's why she got killed, plus we weren't even sure that's what she was doing. I was protecting Greg and Travis. If whoever killed Sarah knew that Greg was curious, they wouldn't have been safe. I was protecting my friend."

"No, what you were doing is called obstruction of justice." Gibbs had heard about enough.

"Now wait a minute, Agent Gibbs, my husband and I have answered all your questions. We don't know anything about Sarah's murder or this Petty Officer Sanders. I think we're done here."

Gibbs ignored Mrs. Mills' outburst and turned to the Captain. "Do you know where the Commander is? And you better not lie to me."

"I swear. I have no idea where he is. He was supposed to report at 0700, but he never showed up for work. The last time I saw him was last night when we were leaving work. He seemed fine."

"You had better be telling the truth." Gibbs stood and headed for the door. It was time to find the Commander and get some answers.