"If they did it to conceal evidence, they have reached their goal, Jethro." – Said Ducky the next day when Gibbs had told him about Abby's theory. – "There's no way for us to find anything now. Not without a body…"
"Agent Gibbs, are we possibly talking about… murder… here?" – Asked a horrified Jimmy, having been present for the whole conversation.
"I don't know Palmer. Duck, is DNA testing possible on ashes?"
"What…? Jethro, you don't think…? Do you believe…? Oh my God!"
"I don't believe anything for now, Ducky. So, can you do it?"
"Well… Mr. Palmer?"
"Ahm…" – The young medical student seemed a bit surprised about being asked but quickly recovered and recited what he had studied on the topic: - "Well, after cremation, residue of bones and teeth stay behind. Everything else turns into actual ash and is useless for testing… But the bones and teeth get pulverized, and are added to the remains. So-"
"So is it possible?"
"Sorry… Yes, it is possible, although the chances are not very good. The extreme heat used for cremation can destroy all the DNA but occasionally, it's possible to extract some usable samples and-"
"Mr. Palmer?"
"Ahm… I think Abby might be able to do it." – He concluded, blushing slightly. He knew he'd have to learn to lose the jargon when talking to laymen. Especially as impatient ones as Agent Gibbs even on his best days, let alone in a situation like that.
"Then do it." – Said Gibbs simply and turned to leave.
Ducky, however, quickly caught up to him and together, they stepped into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Gibbs pushed the emergency button to stop all movements. As the lights dimmed, he turned to his longtime friend expectantly.
"Jethro… you do know this is a long shot, right?" – The team leader only rolled his eyes. – "No, I mean it! Listen: I can practically see the wheels turning in your head and know that you're starting to hope for a miracle. But for now we have absolutely nothing that would indicate that young Anthony is still alive."
"Duck…"
"I just don't want you to suffer twice, Jethro. One time is horrible enough."
"Tell me about it."
"But you're not gonna let this go, are you?"
Gibbs gave his friend a patented 'what do you think'-stare.
"Nope."
"Then I'll do everything in my power to help you."
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
Every team member was standing in Abby's lab, awaiting the results of the DNA test. It was difficult to say what exactly they were hoping for but the anticipation could literally be felt in the air.
Finally, a loud 'ping' signaled the testing had been completed. In a few seconds, they could know for sure if it was their boy in that little box…
Jimmy fidgeted nervously next to a concerned-looking Ducky. The old ME himself eyed his younger friends carefully, hoping to God they wouldn't be disappointed again. Tim and Ziva stood side by side, next to Abby who held their hands in each of hers in a death grip. Jenny and Gibbs were a bit farther away, along with Fornell who had turned up a few hours ago, claiming to have heard what was going on and offering his help in anything they needed, claiming: 'DiNutso deserves better than us just giving up on him'.
Agonizingly slowly, numbers and diagrams appeared on the screen. Abby, Jimmy and Ducky stepped closer to study it while the others, who had no hope to understand anything, held their breaths.
After a few seconds of staring at the stats, Abby burst out in hysterical crying.
"Abbs?" – Gibbs whispered, edging towards her carefully as if he were nearing to a cornered, frightened animal. – "Is it him? Are these… remains… Tony's?"
She looked up when he was right next to her and he could see that Abby was actually smiling.
"I can say with a 100% certainty that these remains don't belong to Tony." – She said, eyes sparkling with tears. – "As a matter of fact, these are not human remains at all."
Tim felt confused.
"What are these then?"
It was Ducky who answered with a smile.
"Some kind of small animal, like a rat or a smaller cat, Timothy. And sand. Lots of coarse sand. It was done very thoroughly, that's for sure. Looking at it, it looks like human remains. But it's far from it."
"It's not Tony, Gibbs. That means he's probably alive." – She hugged the team leader with all the force she could muster.
Ziva and Tim hugged as well, Jimmy and Ducky high-fived, while Fornell turned to Jenny:
"But if it's not DiNutso, then why does the hospital want you to think he's dead?"
"That's a good question, Tobias… And also: where the hell is Tony then?"
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
Of course, just because the ashes didn't belong to Tony (and thank God for that!), they couldn't actually be sure he was alive. Well, they shouldn't be sure. But from that point on, everyone thought of him as 'missing' and not 'deceased'. And everyone was doing their best to find him.
"He would have made contact if he could, so we have to assume he's held captive somewhere." – Remarked Jenny while she was perched on a makeshift stool and watching Gibbs rhythmically sand his boat in his basement after a long, and again unproductive day of looking for his missing agent. – "I mean, he wouldn't deliberately do this to us."
Gibbs blew at the fine dust that gathered on the wood before taking a deep breath.
"No, he wouldn't. Tony can pull pranks, sometimes even borderline cruel ones but… he wouldn't go this far."
"I hate to think about what he could be going through right now…" – The director shuddered. – "What if he's hungry or cold? What if they're torturing him? What if-"
"Jenny! Don't. Please." – Of course Gibbs had these same questions running around in his head nonstop, his mind creating the most terrible scenarios for how his boy could be suffering. But saying it out aloud was even worse. It made it real.
Jenny, on the other hand, was frustrated. She didn't think that not talking about it did any of them any good. She saw how Abby was silently crying every day. She saw Ziva and McGee's faces each morning when they realized one desk would remain empty again. Even Ducky and Palmer weren't their usual talkative selves. Nothing was the same; everyone was worried out of their minds. So, why couldn't they share their thoughts, talk about it so that maybe, just maybe, they could reassure each other and feel somewhat better afterwards?
"Do you think we'll find him alive?"
"Yes. We will." – Answered Gibbs with more confidence than he really felt. Honestly, he had no idea if they even still had a chance. It had been over two weeks already… Sadly, he knew the statistics.
"Jethro… I'm…"
"I know. Me too."
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
Fornell strolled into the bullpen and walked straight up to Gibbs' desk.
"I have the doctor in custody." – He stated simply. – "I assume you'd like to be there when I question him?"
"I want to be the one questioning him!"
"Forget it, Jethro. You're too close to this whole thing. We don't want the court to dismiss any evidence we gather because there's a conflict of interest, right?"
"He's right, Boss. You know judges take this very seriously…" – McGee added, nervously looking around. – "Agent Fornell, maybe none of us should be there at all…"
"Nonsense, my boy. Jethro will be behind a one way mirror; nobody will know about it. He knows this case is FBI jurisdiction. Don't you, Jethro?" -Gibbs just muttered something unintelligible which the senior FBI agent chose to take as agreement. He clapped his hands enthusiastically. – "Very well then. So. May we go?"
"You bet."
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
As agreed, Gibbs stood hidden behind the mirror in FBI's interrogation room. Begrudgingly, he'd had to agree: his presence would just worsen things for the future, should they find something out. It didn't mean he was happy about being sidelined. This was about his boy, after all, he should be the one doing the questioning!
Though, admittedly, his old friend Tobias was doing a fine job.
"Doctor Hill, if I understand correctly, it was during your shift when Agent DiNozzo was admitted with an injury?"
Gibbs involuntarily cringed. There was something not right about hearing Tobias pronounce his boy's name normally, not in the teasing way he usually did. This showed how grave the situation really was.
"Yes."
"Do you remember what kind of injury he had?"
"How could I forget, Agent Fornell? Ever since that day, my life has been made a living hell by Agent DiNozzo's boss! And now I'm here, being interrogated like a criminal!"
If the man had expected any sympathy from the agent then he had to be sadly disappointed now. If anything, Fornell looked proud at Gibbs' actions rather than horrified.
"Doctor Hill, would you please just answer my question? What kind of injury did Agent DiNozzo have?"
"Sorry. Yes, of course I remember: Agent DiNozzo was brought into the ER by his boss at around 4:15 AM on September 23rd this year with an approximately 5-inch long and 1.2-inch deep cut in his sartorius muscle – in the thigh, with layman's expression. It was obviously inflicted by a very sharp object, like a knife or some kind of cutter."
Tobias visibly shuddered and Gibbs felt somewhat sick.
"How soon did he get treatment? Did he have to wait long?"
The doctor suddenly jumped up and started to pace.
"With that boss of his? I was summoned as soon as they arrived by car. They didn't call an ambulance but drove there by themselves, I might add. We didn't get any heads up, they just appeared out of nowhere, and Agent Gibbs frightened the receptionist to tears with his insistence that 'his boy' get medical attention immediately."
Ouch. Tobias was much more patient than Gibbs would have been at an outburst like that; he just continued as if nothing had happened.
"Sit down. So: was there reason to worry?"
The other man sank onto the chair again and sighed.
"Admittedly: yes. By the time I started working on Agent DiNozzo, he had lost so much blood that the first thing I had to worry about was to start to replace it."
"So, you didn't start stitching the gash right away?"
The doctor snorted rather arrogantly at that.
"Agent Fornell, you clearly don't have any medical knowledge. One: no, I didn't 'start stitching' right away, because that's not what I had to do first. Second: I didn't 'waste time' by administering an IV; I had a nurse do it."
"So, would you be kind enough to explain to me; in a way that I, with no medical knowledge as you put it, will understand as well; what you did to help Agent DiNozzo?"
"Certainly, though I sent the medical report to the address Agent Gibbs had given and I believe it was read by a medical examiner…" – Upon seeing Fornell's glare, he chose to answer. – "Anyway: first and foremost, I needed to clean the cut and the surrounding area to make sure there wouldn't be any infections later. Because infections can be even worse than the initial injury. I had to make sure there's no dirt, foreign objects or remaining shards. Any dead tissue needs to be removed, so that's the next step. And then, only then, can I 'stitch' the wound."
"I see… And when was the point you realized Agent DiNozzo couldn't be saved? That it was already too late?"
Gibbs felt his legs becoming too weak to keep him upright and he quickly grabbed the nearest wall for support.
"When I couldn't clean the area without his blood flowing through my hand again and again, despite all our combined efforts to halt it. By that time there were two doctors and two nurses working on him, but he was bleeding much more than a person normally would. Much quicker than how we could give him the replacement."
"And what did you do then?"
"I continued, working as fast as possible. You can't just leave out stages; not even in a situation like that. The patient can either survive or not, but I have to follow the procedure. When it became obvious that Agent DiNozzo couldn't be saved, I, as the senior physician in the room, called the time of death and went to find Agent Gibbs to tell him the news."
The NCIS agent in the adjoining room lost all battle with gravity and weakly sank to the floor in a heap of misery.
"Doctor: would you proceed the same way even now?"
"Yes, I would."
"Would you be willing to defend your actions before the court?"
"If needed: of course."
"I'll be back later with more questions." – With that, Fornell stood and headed to find his friend. He felt sick to the stomach at imagining the kid go through that… He could only guess how his friend must feel after listening to the interrogation about his boy's 'death'.