"You really think Lt. DiNozzo would off a girl because she didn't fall for his charms?" Abby asked as she and I discussed the case the following morning. "I know he's got a sensitive ego, but he doesn't strike me as the violent type."
I agreed. "Even if getting the boot did anger him, he wouldn't admit it because he would want to save face. He'd laugh it off and move on to the next skirt."
My receptionist twirled one of her pigtails around her finger as she thought about the case. "Do you think Miss David knows more than she's letting on? Maybe she's involved with a married man and now the wife wants revenge."
I frowned, mostly because I didn't like the idea that Ziva was romantically involved with anyone. "If she wants me to figure this thing out, why wouldn't she give me all the facts?"
"She's ashamed of having an affair?" she suggested with a shrug.
"Nah, I didn't get that vibe from her."
"So what's your plan now?"
That was a good question. My visit to The Lily Pad, brief as it had been, hadn't turned anything up, save for a certain part of my anatomy which had turned up during the beautiful woman's performance. That had been my only lead in the case, and now I was left with nothing. "I guess I'll visit Miss David's place of residence, see how she's faring after last night's raid. I may as well ask about the cop she turned down a couple weeks back."
Before I could even get my trench on, the phone on Abby's desk came to life with a shrill ring. After she answered it, she handed it over to me. "It's some guy named Ducky."
I quickly snatched up the receiver and gave him a breathless greeting. "Do you have information for me?"
"I have something that might be pertinent to your case," he explained in a very hushed tone, "but I can't talk to you about it right now."
"When can you meet with me?"
"Will you be available this afternoon?"
"I can be. Where do you want to meet?"
"You can swing by my flat."
I took down the address. "I'll be there at one," I promised before replacing the phone in its cradle.
"New development?" Abby asked in interest.
"Could be." I grabbed my coat, telling her, "Hold down the fort until I get back."
"I am pleased to see that you were released unscathed," Ziva told me as I sat down at the table. She was dressed in a silky robe, her hair still set in curls, and was brewing a pot of coffee. "I feared you would be charged when you were only there because of my case."
"The cops and I have an understanding," I explained as I stared at the robe which was wrapped about her slim body. I wondered what delicate nightwear she donned beneath the cover. "I hope you were not detained there."
"I have my ways of getting out of such situations," she told me with a sly smile.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. "That actually brings me to one of my questions. Your young pianist and I were sitting beside each other last night on the way to the station, and he informed me that you were being pursued by a young police officer, but turned him down."
"And you are wondering if my turning down Mr. DiNozzo has anything to do with the note I found in my dressing room," she concluded.
"So it was DiNozzo," I commented with more than a little satisfaction.
"Yes, it was, but I do not think he is the one who left the note."
"That makes two of us."
"I am glad that we are in agreement."
"I must admit, though, that I have hit something of a brick wall in the investigation. Nothing so far has turned up a solid lead."
"I am beginning to wonder if the note was meant for someone else," she joked, though her face still looked grim.
She placed a mug of steaming coffee in front of me. I took it and sipped at it as I considered what we knew. In a moment of deep thinking, my eyes caught sight of a framed picture which sat atop Ziva's end table. It was a picture of a young man and woman standing side by side with grins. The woman in the picture was very obviously Ziva; the man, too, was recognizable.
"Is this who I think it is?" I asked as I stood. Without asking, I snatched the picture up and looked in near shock. I had seen this man's picture on Wanted posters all across the city. "This is Ari Haswari, isn't it?"
Her silence said it all.
"Were you two…involved?" I asked hesitantly. The picture was clearly from an earlier time in both of their lives, before Haswari had become an infamous gangster. Theft, kidnapping, blackmail, murder…all of these were charges attributed to his long-standing career.
"No," she said as she shook her head sadly, "nothing like that. He is my half-brother."
I was flabbergasted. "You're related to Haswari?"
She nodded abashedly. "It is not something I like to admit openly." Couldn't say I blamed her. "But he…he is far different than people know. At least, he used to be."
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
"Because I did not think it had anything to do with this case."
"How could you think this wasn't important? You're related to one of the most infamous gangsters of our time!" I didn't mean to shout, but I was still getting over the shock of this new revelation. I'm sure Ziva had her reasons for not wanting to spread this information around, but I was counting on her honesty to find this psycho before she got hurt. "Anything else you've been keeping from me?"
"No," she said softly. "I have nothing else."
"Have you been in touch with your half-brother recently?"
She looked up at me with sorrowful eyes and shook her head. "No one in my family has heard from Ari since he pulled that bank heist in '25."
"Well, maybe this has nothing to do with him, but I have to keep it open as a possibility."
Ziva ducked her head down. "I understand."
I finished off my coffee quickly and Ziva informed me that she had to be at the club in an hour to rehearse. It was just as well that I left, as it was almost time for me to meet with Ducky. We said our good-byes and agreed to meet the following day.
As I walked down the crowded street to the bartender's apartment, I mulled over the new information I had gained. Ziva was related to a man wanted by the police, and that opened up an entire door of possibilities. Did the authorities know of her relation to Haswari? Captain Gibbs had been on the gangster's trail for years and I knew he would stop at nothing to find the man. Or maybe one of Haswari's rivals had found the half-sister and hoped to threaten her to gain leverage over him. I shudder to even consider that.
I reached the address given to me by Ducky and knocked at the door of his place. I waited a minute for him to open the door, but no one did. Beneath the door, I could see that the lights were on and I could hear the soft tunes of music wafting from within, so I had a feeling the apartment wasn't empty. I knocked again, just in case he hadn't heard the first knock. "Ducky? It's me!"
There was still no answer.
I reached down and grabbed the knob. The door was unlocked and I tentatively pushed it open, revealing a trashed apartment. Papers were strewn across the floor, furniture was overturned, and dishes were broken. A phonograph sat atop a small table, playing a record of some opera that I didn't recognize. I instinctively grabbed my gun and held it in my hand as I tiptoed through the flat. "Ducky?"
I heard a low groan come from what appeared to be the bedroom and I hastened to the sound. There, on the floor of his bedroom, was the bartender I had met the previous night. He was lying on his back, his glasses lying broken beside him. Luckily, he was moving, and, aside from the ugly welt on his head, there didn't appear to be any other injuries.
"Ducky!" I called as I fell to my knees beside him. "Ducky, are you okay?"
He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, likely trying to focus. After a few seconds of this, he asked, "Who are you?"
"It's McGee. We met last night and you told me to come here."
"I did? Why?"
"You said you had information about the threatening note Ziva got."
"Who is Ziva?"
"She works with you at The Lily Pad."
"What's The Lily Pad?"
I sat him up before running to call for an ambulance. My mouth was pulled into a grim frown. I knew this attack hadn't been a coincidence. It seemed someone had gotten to the man before he could speak with me and had given him a hard enough blow that he wouldn't be able to tell me anything worth while.
Someone was going to great lengths to make sure I didn't solve this case, and I wanted to know who it was.
