"Not the best thing to see on a Monday morning is it, Special Agent Gibbs"
Gibbs couldn't get the voice out of his mind when he got back to the suqad room. McGee was busy tracing the call, Tony and Ziva were looking at the letters found at the crime scene and any connections between the victims. It was then that he stood up to go and see Ducky. However then he saw Director Vance standing at the balcony, staring at Gibbs with one of his many tooth picks in his mouth. Vance then turned once he saw Gibbs look at him and walked towards his office. Gibbs knew what this meant, and he quickly strode out of the squad room and up the stairs. After walking past MTAC it only took Gibbs a few more seconds before he walked right past the assistant and right in to Vance's office.
"Gibbs! I hear we have a third murder tied to this case" Vance said.
"News travels fast I see" Gibbs said, obviously impatient to get out and go see if Ducky or Abby had found anything.
"Are you suspecting a serial killer?" Vance asked.
"Same calling card, but all three murders have been different. One strangled, one shot twice in the stomach and the last one shot three times in the back. But we haven't released any of these details to the press so only the real killer and us know his calling card." Gibbs informed.
"Any luck figuring out this message?" Vance inquired.
"I've got DiNozzo and David working on it and the victims."
"You do realise that if there is another civillian murder tied to this case then I will have to bring in the FBI." Vance told Gibbs.
"As long as it's Fornell." Gibbs said as he walked out the door.
"What you got Duck." Gibbs asked, going straight from Vance's office to Autopsy.
"Shot three times in the back, died around midnight last night. There is not much else I can tell you though, the bullets have been sent up to Abby, again all of them were lodged in the body, this time in the spine. This killer seems to have a good shot Jethro."
"Yeah or maybe he was standing close to the victims." Gibbs said."Duck can you do another pyschological evaluations on this guys, I want your opinion on why he's changing. I'm going to see Abby"
"I'll have it done now." Ducky shouted behind Gibbs as he went through the doors and into the lift.
"Abby! Abby!" The loud music meant that Abby couldn't hear Gibbs and for the second time in three days Gibbs had to turn the music off to be heard. "What you got Abs."
"I have not got a print!" Abby said happily.
"Well what have you got." GIbbs said wearily.
"The bullets match the ones taken out of James Stratford, definately the same gun so probably the same killer. Also from the x-rays Ducky gave me and from the analasis of the bullets I can tell where the killer was standing. Right here" Abby points to the plasma where an animated man with a gun is standing on the pavement right outside the house.
"Good work Abs" Gibbs puts a Caf Pow on her desk and walks out.
"Boss I have a theory on the letters, it's pretty big though." McGee said urgently as Gibbs walks through the squad room to his desk.
"What is it McGee" Gibbs said impatiently, wondering why McGee was even working on the letters,
"I thought at first the letters might be initials, but I figured that at the rate he is going there is a good chance there will be more letters. However there is no word that starts with LLT so I went back to initials. That's when I realised boss." McGee said.
"I havn't got all day McGee" Gibbs growled, sipping coffee.
"The letters so far, L for Leon, the director. L for Leroy the boss and T for Tony the Senior Field Agent." McGee said.
"Third on the list, not bad" Tony said from his desk whilst grinning at Ziva.
"So what your saying McGee is the killer is sending a direct message to us?" Gibbs asked McGee, whilst glaring at Tony.
"If there is a next letter, and it is a T or Z then I think so."
"So we just wait?" Ziva asked.
"No, we find out who this guy is and where and if he is going to kill again. Tony, Ziva what do you have on the victims." Gibbs said.
"Petty Officer Susan Claire, not married, no kids stationed and lives at Quantico. No social life or close friends that we have found, although we did get hold of the parents and they said they would fly back when they could to organise a funeral." Tony informed.
"James Stratford, owner of Stratford Scalpels. Sold the scalpel used to carve the first message on Susan Claire the same day, and was killed the day later in his store with the security camera removed. After tracing his movements and the Petty Officer's there was no connection, never visited the same place and she has never brought any thing from his store." Ziva said.
"Was the scalpel brought with a credit card?" Gibbs asked hopefully.
"Cash, it was logged down in one of the books we found behind the counter. No name just item and price." Ziva replied.
"The final victim, John Williams. We got security tapes from the DIY store and we think we may have the first shot of our guy. This is the afternoon before the first murder, and John Williams is on counter 3. At 2:13 this man buys just one thing, spray paint. The same colour as well. John Williams scans it, thus getting prints on it, then gives it back to the man." Tony said.
"Is that the best shot you've got?" Gibbs asked.
"We sent it over to Abby but with the hat and glasses and the way he is turned all we know is that he has hair that can fit under a hat and that he's fairly tanned. Unfortunately there are no other camera's looking in that direction at that time" Tony said.
"Alright, I'll be up with Vance."
"Gibbs, didn't expect to see you back that quick, it's only been a couple of hours." Vance said as Gibbs opened the door and walked in.
"McGee has a theory, he thinks that the letters left at the scene are connected to us. L for Leon, L for Leroy and T for Tony." Gibbs informed.
"If he's right then we can expect more killings, but it also means this killer knew you would be investigating." Vance said.
"Well he did murder a Petty Officer, if he knew me at all he would know what to do to have me on the case." Gibbs said.
"Yes, but I want your team to be careful Gibbs, If McGee's right then there could be 5 more kills connected to your team, I want him stopped before then. I'm going to call the FBI, have Fornell on this case as well." Vance told Gibbs.
"If McGee's right then the next victims might be us." Gibbs said as he walks out for the second time that day.
There he was, dropping off his daughter. All smiles and laughter, until he see's his ex wife. Then he says goodbye to his daughter and get's in his car and leaves. I follow him, it's easy because I know where he is going. I know everything, it's all part of the plan. Just like the man three cars in front of me, Tobias Fornell.
So, any ideas who it is?