DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
MASK OF INNOCENCE
CH 7
When Ziva arrived at the Navy Yard she was surprised that Tony's desk was still unoccupied. Tim lifted his head from his screen and smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. Gibbs sat at his desk but watched as she made her way to her desk.
"Where is Tony?" she asked breaking the tense silence that hung between the two men.
"I haven't been able to reach him," Tim relied glancing across at Gibbs who had become more irate as time passed with no sign or word from DiNozzo.
"Perhaps he has been hurt," Ziva spoke what the lead agent feared. "I will call around," she volunteered.
Gibbs closed his eyes and took a breath before standing. "McGee with me," he ordered and walked toward the back elevator.
McGee got up and hastily followed. His stomach clenched with dread that after all his scrutinizing Gibbs had figured out what happened. He clung tenuously to the hope he'd e able to convince him otherwise, but all too aware that he couldn't fool the seasoned investigator.
After going over everything again, Tony decided he had to talk to the original investigators. He hated to step on their toes, but he needed some insight to what they were angling at. He decided to do it on his own knowing the first suspect is always the wife and not wanting Tim to have to feel a need to defend her.
He me with Agent Ryan and brought him up to where he was on the case…which was nowhere.
"Yeah we never felt it was any of our suspects. It really was the darnest thing. The wife was home with the daughter. No way she'd leave her alone. She was dedicated to her kids. We thought she might've been covering for her son, but he had a detailed report of his project on the stars, so he had to have been working on it all night."
"Why did you get the impression she was covering for him?" Tony narrowed his eyes with curiosity.
"She looked at him like she thought he might have done it. I think she was more relieved than we were disappointed when his alibi checked out," Ryan shrugged.
Tony thought about Ryan's account and how well Mrs. McGee knew her son. He found himself asking, "Did you check all the details of the stars' project?"
"No, but he aced it. Figure the teacher knew it was spot on," Ryan examined the young investigator. "You think he cheated to cover the crime."
"McGee would never cheat," Tony let slip.
"You know him," Ryan sat back interested in the turn of events.
"You could say that. He's been my Probie for seven years," Tony scratched his head.
"You think he did it?" the older man asked dumbfounded.
"NO," Tony answered adamantly. "It's just he's a genius when it comes to computers and stuff. He'd have been able to rig something. But kill his dead? I can't see that," he shook his head.
"Well maybe he didn't. Sure would like to find out who did. The unsolved ones really stick with you." He shook Tony's hand as he got up to leave. "If you ever figure it out be sure to let me know. Freeman regretted it until the day he died."
Tony nodded still upset for even thinking his friend could've been a part of what happened to his father.
It made his next move even more difficult, but he had to follow his instinct. He hung up the phone after being invited to come and speak with his next witness.
He stood at the mahogany door with cream trim. A very nice house that he knew wouldn't have been affordable if the McGees had divorced before Commander McGee's death.
A graying woman with a strong stature answered the door. "Agent DiNozzo?" she queried.
"Yes," he showed her his badge and ID.
She smiled genuinely, "Come on in. I've just poured some lemonade. Would you care for a glass?" She led him to a sitting room that was almost the size of his apartment decorated with a lot of dark wood, but large windows allowed for a lot of sunlight to brighten it.
"No thank you. I really don't want to take up a lot of your time," he smiled.
"Certainly. You said this had to do with my first husband's death." Tony thought his eyes must have played a trick on him when he saw her eyes crease with worry for a second.
He ignored it for the moment, "Yes. I realize it was a long time ago, but in my line of work cases often need to be reviewed for new evidence."
"Isn't it more likely to lose evidence over time?" she asked.
"You watch those crime shows on tv?" Tony smirked. "Yes that happens, but sometimes people remember things or reveal things they were afraid to earlier," Tony explained.
"Oh," she sipped at her lemonade, then dabbed her lip with a napkin she held in her lap. Setting her shoulders she asked, "So what would you like to ask me? Or did you have other news?"
"I don't know quite how to ask this," Tony suddenly wished he'd dropped the whole idea of continuing the investigation, but he knew his job often meant asking the hard questions, so he forged ahead. "I spoke with one of the agents who initially investigated and he had a suspicion you might have thought your son had something to do with the murder."
He watched as the older woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering, "You have to understand Agent DiNozzo. My son was very upset over his father deserting us. He was always taking care of us while his father was away. Not that I wasn't in charge, but he felt that it was his responsibility nonetheless.
"He was going away to college and didn't want Sarah and me on our own. I guess there was a part of me that wondered if he might have done it. But I know my son," she tried to hold Tony's eyes but couldn't.
"You still think he might have," Tony said softly. His own gut wrenched with the possibility.
She dabbed at her eyes which held tears she'd spent years holding back. "There were other things," she offered vaguely, "Things that happened a little too close to him."
"What sort of things?" Tony urged her to elaborate.
"A boy from college that gave his friend a hard time, Tim called him a bully died mysteriously while on spring break. But he was in the islands and Tim was here at home. I recall just before he left Norfolk a young sailor had been found in his car off the pier on base. I had no reason to believe Tim ever knew him, but I couldn't help but wonder if," she wept into her hands. "God forgive me if he's been doing these awful things."
Tony wasn't sure how to comfort her. Her words stabbed at him making him seeing the man he'd come to know as a brother in a different light.
"We don't really know that he's done anything," Tony tried to ease her distress. "I appreciate your time and your honesty," he stood to leave.
"Tell me. Do you know him? I know he works for NCIS," she inquired.
Tony could only nod before making his escape. He drove home to contemplate everything. Could his partner, his friend, his Probie be a murderer? A multiple murderer even?
He found the stories of the other cases on the computer and read what little there was to go on. Neither of them mentioned McGee at all.
He ran through his memories of Tim and tried to pick up anything that indicated he was capable of killing anyone. The one time he was accused of killing a cop he almost quit over the guilt he carried. It was unfathomable. The most illegal things he could recall him doing were covering for his sister when she was accused of murder and some hacking. It couldn't be possible.
Eventually calling it a night he went to bed knowing he'd be seeing Tim early in the morning to track a lead on a separate case they'd been assigned. He'd take a close look at him and see.
