Thank you for the reviews it really means a lot!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of the characters
Dear Ziva...Part 4
Gibbs stood leaning against the glass in the interrogation room, Barry Coles, the mechanic they had arrested earlier sat; his plump face was still red as when he was in the sun.
"Where were you on Tuesday the 15th around 10 pm?" he asked casually.
"I was at home." He said not looking up in the fear of turning to stone if he met Gibbs's eyes.
"Can anyone vouch for that?"
"No, I live on my own, what have I done exactly?"
"Well, at the moment we're looking at two cases of murder."
Behind the glass Beau shifted slightly with discomfort.
"Is he always so heavy handed?" she asked Tony and Ziva as they stood silent and still next to each other. They nodded in unison "I'll be back in a moment, there is something I want to check." Beau muttered almost to herself, disappearing out of the door.
Tony hadn't once taken his eyes off Ziva. He could spend hours watching her and still have no clue as to what was going through her mind. But her eyes told sad stories, ones he wished to know, to help him understand. So that he could understand.
"The first time we meet, Gibbs asked me to tail you, you knew I was following you. You knew exactly where I was...This guy has been following you for a while...you haven't noticed?" he prompted, trying to work out if what he had asked was a question at all.
"No. I haven't noticed...I should have known...I should have noticed..." she muttered, her tone was that of guilt. Tony took a step closer to her; he could almost hear her breathing.
"Ziva, it's not your fault." He touched her shoulder but she didn't respond, not even a flinch.
"Innocent women have died Tony..." she responded slowly, her sentence trailed of as she turned realising for the first time how close they were standing. She could smell his cologne, midnight jasmine, she made a guess. She could feel his breath on her cheek. She felt overwhelmed and dizzy all of a sudden. Tony stood, feet firmly on the ground watching her intently. She was scared, he could tell, but he also knew that she would never admit it.
"Do you know her?" Gibbs pulled out the photos of Ziva, dramatically placing each one in front of him.
"She's one of yours, saw her today, real pretty, where are these from?" he said.
"They are found in your desk drawer...you tell me." Gibbs stated blankly.
"I have no idea! I haven't seen her before today!" he shouted.
Beau returned to the observation room with McGee.
"It wasn't him." She blurted out.
"How do you know?" Tony asked raising his eye brow critically.
"Well...he doesn't fit the profile of the killer...this is someone pretending to be someone else. Someone who is so unhappy with their existence that they are projecting and using catharsis to get rid of these feelings. Also his hand writing doesn't match the killers. Ziva do you recognise him? Have you ever seen this man?"
Ziva shook her head. Beau smiled "I thought so. The killer is someone who hides their identity, this isn't this first taste of crime. Fraud and violent attacks are where it start. He'd be on someone's records somewhere."
"I ran Barry Coles, nothing but parking tickets." McGee chipped in over an overly enthusiastic Beau.
"So who is it? And how do we find them?" Tony said, he was starting to see why feds were resistant to working with psychologists. Beau sensed his hesitation and aggravation. She noted how close to Ziva he was standing. They made eye contact for a second and Tony's frustration grew, she knew exactly what he was thinking. Her job was to read people and understand them. All he wanted to do was to shout at her, tell her stop dissecting him like a patient.
"He's intelligent, but arrogant, he would have slipped up. The depressing thing about crimes like this the chances of catching the killer is increased by the more people that get hurt."
They sat silently in the squad room waiting to figure out what they needed to do. Because they all knew that they had to go something.
"Go home. Sleep. Come back with a new perspective." Gibbs shout at them and one key one they very slowly got up and began moving.
"Can I give you a lift?" McGee looked over at Beau as she packed away all of her files.
"That would be great, thank you." She smiled over at McGee. There was a hint of secrecy in her smile, and had Tony not being distracted he would have made a comment.
"Tony, go with Ziva, make sure she gets there safely. Keep an eye out." Gibbs instructed.
Tony watched Ziva as she carefully gathered her things avoiding his eye.
"You don't have to take me home I can look after myself. I'm fully capable of looking after myself." She said still avoiding his eye.
"Bosses orders." He said simply. He knew she resented being looked after but he also knew that she needed it no matter how much she refused to admit it.
They strolled together while the rain danced off the pavement. Ziva closed her eyes and took in the feeling of the night, and took a deep breath, there was a dusty smell of the rain on gravel. Tony gave Ziva a half hearted smile.
They climbed the stairs to Ziva's apartment. Her breath caught in her chest and as she grabbed Tony's arm she felt him stiffen next to her.
At the door of her apartment was a beautiful bunch of white lilies and a letter written neatly in blue ink addressed to Ziva.