Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Hope you enjoy a chapter based in Interrogation...

Chapter 4: Interrogation

Dexter Boxall was a plump man in his late twenties. He was short, with a wispy beard and no moustache. Lily disliked him on sight.

Lily did not have a gut as well attuned as LJ, but she trusted her initial feelings about someone. More often than not, they were accurate. She had already decided Boxall would be an angry man. He would fly into a rage at whatever he was asked and accuse everyone of being out to get him.

This did not bother her. Everyone liked to accuse her of everything, from the janitors ("Rigging the urinals to electrocute someone is not permitted") to Darlene ("Park your car in my space again and I'll shoot a hole in your tires") and Arbourne ("Telling the Probies that we operate on Zulu time is neither humorous nor clever").

Lily could certainly handle anything this oxygen thief threw at her.

LJ had chosen to conduct all the interviews with her. He knew they worked well together when she wasn't actively trying to do something to him. He had warned her to behave during the interviews, which had made her smirk. She would behave, unless she felt she would get better information by misbehaving.

Boxall worked as a janitor in the same block as the stolen technology was stored. He might not know what was on it, but he had access. His keycard claimed he was present around the time, so he could be either a witness or a suspect.

LJ was obviously planning to treat him as a suspect, and Lily agreed. This was not going to be an easy interview.

"Gibbs," LJ introduced himself as. "Shepard," he pointed at her. "Where we you between the hours of 2300 and 0100?"

Boxall decided to explode immediately. "Why are you treating me like a suspect? I have the right to an attorney and I want one now!"

"I'm going to count to five," Lily told him. "Then I'm going to start breaking fingers."

"You can't do that!" he protested. "I know my rights!"

"Yeah?" she grinned. "I don't give a damn about your rights. Answer his questions, or I'll start breaking fingers."

"I was at work," he yelled as she approached. "I'm supposed to clean the labs between 8 in the evening to 2 in the morning."

"Odd hours," LJ noted.

"It's to minimize disruption to the geeks. They pay me double time; who am I to argue?"

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Did you see anyone doing anything they shouldn't have?" LJ tried.

Boxall snorted. "Nah. They're all a bunch of tightwads over there, know what I mean?"

Lily picked up one of his fingers.

"Hey, little lady," he shouted. "Get your mitts off me!"

"Don't," LJ warned her. She was barely hanging onto her control. No one called her a 'little lady' and got away with it.

"Control your woman," Boxall sneered at LJ.

Lily snapped his finger like a twig and he screamed. She put her mouth close to his ear. "I am nobody's woman," she hissed. "Got that?"

Lily found a smile on her face as Kieran Holland entered the Interrogation room. Dreamy eyes, short black hair, tall, handsome…

Thursday evening

"I like him already," Alex observed with a smile on his face.

"Shut up." Lily punched his arm lightly.

"So, when are you two getting married?"

Monday afternoon

Lily cast her mind back to what she knew about Holland. He worked in tech support at the lab. As far as she could tell, this meant he kept the computers running while the techs themselves worked on the classified stuff. She suspected it was not a hard job; the techs should be capable of fixing their own computers.

Nevertheless, someone had to keep a computer network running. She knew firsthand just how bad it could be if a system went down. The last time it had happened at the CIA, the bosses had sent everyone they could home, while people not working on classified things were sent to the FBI and everyone else traipsed over to the NSA. Arbourne had hit the roof over the move, while Lily had held a gun to the Director of the NSA and demanded he let them take over some rooms.

Arbourne had supplied her with coffee for a week after that.

Holland smiled warmly at Lily, so she decided to lead the interview.

"I'm Agent Shepard," she told him. "And this is Agent Gibbs. Feel free to call him LJ."

Holland laughed. "I guess you know my name or I wouldn't be here."

She perched on the table in front of him. "Kieran Holland, 33, tech support" she recited from memory. "You live in Silver Springs and you drive a Mini Cooper. Never been in any trouble with the law, not even a parking ticket."

"You've done your research."

She smiled back at him. "That's my job."

"So, what's happened to get NCIS involved?"

"A piece of software has gone missing, sometime between 2300 and 0100 last night."

"And you think I might have done it." It was a statement rather than a question.

"I have to check."

"Well, I don't have the best alibi," he admitted. "Nothing really happened with the network last night and I was the only one on duty. I stared at a monitor for most of the night."

"Didn't see anything? Didn't hear anything?"

"Nothing. Sorry I can't be of more help. You single?"

She smiled, not answering.

"I can take you to dinner? Take your mind off the case for an hour?"

"I'd like that," she divulged.

"You do not under any circumstances agree to go to dinner with a suspect!" LJ yelled at her after Holland had left.

"I might be able to charm something out of him," she protested. "Maybe he has his suspicions, or he noticed something so small he thinks it's insignificant. I can get him to open up."

"Did you pay any attention when they taught you how to interview a suspect?!"

"I've never conducted a formal interview before. Normally, I get the intel and call for backup. Or I take the guy down myself. Someone else does the official interview."

"Your interview technique stinks," he growled. "I'll deal with the last one. Only speak if you need to. Do not flirt. I don't care if this guy is…"

"Hugh Laurie?"

"Who?"

Fred Trotter was an average looking man. This set Lily's radar off immediately.

He was average height, average weight, averagely dressed, with average hair. He would be able to slip in and out of a crowd, and anyone who saw him would have a hard time describing him.

Lily knew she would have picked his man for an operation immediately, if she were only going by his looks. No one would be capable of picking him out in an identity parade.

The problem with her idea was that Trotter was clearly nervous. Tony had let him into the Interrogation room half an hour ago, while Lily had observed from the next room. Trotter had paced up and down, bitten his fingernails, and ran his fingers through his hair so much that she had been tempted to enter the room and put him out of his misery. LJ was happy to let him stew.

For what she had managed to gather on him, Trotter was in charge of a small group of techs. These particular techs were not working on Project Indigo, but Trotter must have heard of it and know a lot. She wondered if he knew more than she did. It was quite possible; she only followed the project when she was in town. She didn't actively seek the latest news.

Though she wanted too. Indigo was an amazing idea, and she wanted to follow every new step. Her job tended to get in the way of this.

At last, LJ stuck his nose around the door to Observation and beckoned her to follow him. For once, she did as she was told.

Trotter jumped a foot in the air when LJ flung the door open. Lily hid a smirk.

"I'm Gibbs," he started. "That piece of useless rubbish is Shepard." He didn't point her out this time. She gave a little wave as she settled in the corner. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Sit," LJ ordered. Trotter practically fell into the chair. "Talk."

"Whatever happened, I didn't do it. I swear. I'll take a lie detector test. I'll sign something. I swear on my own life, I didn't do it."

LJ decided to cut him off before he ended up giving himself a panic attack. "Know anything about Project Indigo?"

Trotter opened his mouth to speak but Lily was quicker. "Don't answer that question," she warned. "His clearance isn't high enough."

Trotter closed his mouth. LJ glared at her.

"Where were you between 2300 and 0100?" was his next question.

"In my office, doing paperwork," came the reply. "It tends to build up during the day so I stay late and finish it off. I left at 0121 and drove home. Didn't go back to work until 0900 this morning. What happened?"

"You know the exact time you left?"

"The clock in my office is broken; it's always 0121," Trotter admitted.

"See anything suspicious?"

"My office door was closed and I was dealing with a huge pile of papers! Short of a bomb, I wouldn't have noticed anything."

Lily watched LJ roll his eyes. Three suspects with no alibis. How could this get any better?