8

Chapter Seven

Gibbs exited the elevator into the quietly bustling bullpen and did a second-take as he saw Ducky sitting at his desk. "Did you even get home Duck?"

"Indeed I did. I find I don't require as much sleep as I did in my younger days, an early start seemed in order, so here I am."

"Sounds like you got your train of thought on track."

Ducky opened his book at the page he'd marked. "These are some of the most commonly used attitudes for heraldic beasts. Our killer has already used three, couchant, salient and passant."

"Still gives him more to choose from."

"Very true, however, I think he's been working towards a specific aim. The attitude here, rampant, it is often seen as the most powerful, and is frequently used on royal coats of arms."

"You think he's working his way up the ladder?"

"I do; it looks very much as if he has a plan, the elaboration increases with every kill. I think, and it is only a theory, but I believe he has a specific target in mind for the final pose, the rampant. I very much fear it's of no help in your search for the killer, without knowing who he is and who he wants, we can't know how to stop him."

"Oh, we'll stop him Duck, I'm not going to look at another sailor's body broken and twisted because this guy has a plan. I have a plan too, it's called catch the bastard."

The elevator pinged as Ellie arrived and Ducky picked up his book, ready to get back to his own domain. "Then I won't keep you any longer. I wish you success in your quest for answers Jethro. Eleanor, good morning to you, all alone this morning?"

"Tony and McGee were heading out from home, they have a lot of calls to make."

"So do we, let's get on the road."

NCIS NCIS

Tim glanced at the list on his phone. "Once this one's done we're exactly half-way through."

"Who knew so many people wanted to buy this stuff?"

"Guess there's no accounting for taste."

"Says the guy with Star Wars wallpaper. Okay, let's get this done, at this rate we won't be on the road to DC before rush hour."

They pushed open the door and entered Lancelot Costumes. It was Tony's turn to make the introductions and explain what they were looking for. The reaction was one they were getting used to, a shake of the head. "Sorry, even if your guy came here we couldn't have helped him; we don't sell our stuff, it's leased to theatre companies, pageants, that kind of thing, Right now we're supplying a revival of Camelot so all our medieval era stuff is out on loan."

"You're sure no one's been here asking?"

"Certain Agent DiNozzo, I'm pretty much a one-man band, if he'd called I'd have seen him. Wish I could help."

"No problem Mr Aldrich, I'll leave a card, if you think of anything…looks like we're done here McGee, let's hit the road." They headed for the door.

"Hey, wait!" Ted Aldrich hurried from behind the counter. "There's something…maybe. They specialised in carnival gear but they did stock some stage props. Around ten miles due east on this road, there's a warehouse. We all thought they'd gone out of business, only…my wife's brother works close by, he says the last two weeks trucks have been coming and going…could be they're back in business."

"Do you have a name?"

"Used to be Zoltar's Emporium…crazy huh?"

"Crazy, unless he was a fan of Tom Hanks' early work. Thanks, we'll check it out and if this guy comes looking."

"I'll be sure to call."

They got back to the car, Tony switched on the ignition and Tim opened the map on his phone. "It's en route to the next call on our list Tony, guess we might as well go check it on the way."

"Let's do it."

NCIS NCIS

Ellie followed Gibbs as he took long strides across the parking lot toward Griffin Pageant and Play; they'd almost exhausted their list and he'd been getting more impatient as the hours passed.

"This looks more likely Gibbs, it's not on the main drag, and I don't see any security cameras on the street."

"He sure likes to work in the shadows." Gibbs agreed with Ellie, he could imagine the killer being more comfortable away from the busier areas they'd already visited.

As they stepped inside the tall, bespectacled, balding man behind the counter smiled. "Hi folks, you looking for anything special, or just browsing?"

Gibbs took out his ID. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, this is Agent Bishop, we're with NCIS. We have some pictures." Ellie put the photographs on the counter. "We can see you stock this kind of stuff, do you recognise them Mr…?"

"Griffin, I'm Peter Griffin, been in this business twenty years. Let's take a look." He picked up each picture, his face growing more troubled. "This is our stock for sure. Is there a problem?"

"Just following up a lead." Gibbs pointed at the pictures. "You're sure?"

"One hundred percent, you see this mark?" Without his glasses Gibbs wasn't sure what he was looking at, Ellie picked up one of the pictures and took a close look.

"I know this symbol, oh that's clever." She showed it to Gibbs. "It's an imprint of a griffin, half eagle, half lion."

Peter Griffin smiled. "It seemed like the perfect mark for us, we stamp it on every item in the store. Our little joke I guess, but it does mean I can guarantee these came from here. The guy who bought these, he bought a crown too, is there another picture?"

"No, there was no crown; do you have security cameras?" Gibbs looked around the store, he couldn't see anything, but he could hope.

"Not out in the store, we have one up there." He indicated a shield above the counter. "My nephew, he's doing an electronics degree, likes to practice; he put a camera in the shield, see it, in the griffin's eye? We take a picture every time we make a sale, in case there's a problem with payment, there's a switch on the cash register."

"You have the pictures stored somewhere?" Ellie's heart started to beat a little faster, were they going to get a break at last?

"Sure do, on my computer out back. I just need to get the time and date of sale from my records. Give me a few minutes."

"We should come with you…chain of evidence."

"No problem Agent Gibbs, follow me."

They waited while he locked the front door then followed Griffin into the small, cluttered office. "Sorry about the mess, never seems to be enough time to get everything clean and…oh, was it…? Yes, the guy who bought that stuff, he paid cash which is unusual these days, that's why I remember him so clearly, and there was another thing." He reached up to a shelf, took down a plastic carton and opened it. "When he was looking at the crowns, one of the metal claws holding the pieces of coloured glass, it had come loose, and the sharp edge cut his finger. I'll be honest, until he did that, I wasn't sure he wanted to buy it, but he paid right away and took it with the other things." He pulled out a piece of dark blue velvet cloth and unfolded it. "This is the cloth I had in the display case. You see here? When he cut his finger some blood got on the cloth, I didn't notice until I went to put in another crown. I put a new cloth in the case and took this out to get it cleaned."

Ellie didn't need to be told, she hurried for the door. "I'll get an evidence bag from the car."

"You're certain it was the same man?"

"Oh yeah, like I said Agent Gibbs, cash sales are rare these days."

Ellie retuned and held out the bag, Griffin dropped the cloth inside and while it was sealed and initialled he opened up the picture file on his computer. It didn't take long for him to find the relevant image and Ellie emailed it to Abby. Gibbs thanked Peter Griffin again.

"You've given us a real chance to catch a break in a difficult case." He gave Griffin a card. "I doubt he'll come back, but if he does, and if you can contact me without him knowing, I'd appreciate a call."

"Count on it."

NCIS NCIS

This hotel was further down-market than the one he'd checked out of a few hours earlier. Craig didn't care, he'd sleep on the street if it meant Robert got what he deserved. Money wasn't the problem, he'd never had much to spend his money on, no family, no lover, not since…no, not again, if only he could leave it in the past, impossible. Until he had Robert Jameson laying on a field of gules, the crown on his head, the bend sinister etched deep into his chest, until that glorious day arrived he'd live in the shadows, waiting for the light of righteousness to shine his way.

NCIS NCIS

Abby was already running facial recognition when they got back and was delighted when Gibbs handed her the velvet cloth, she even ignored the Caf-Pow he left on the counter. At last, she had some hard evidence to work with.

He left her fully engrossed in her tasks and headed up to the bullpen, there was still work to be done. When he exited the elevator he was surprised to see Bishop hunched over her computer with no other member of the MCRT in sight.

"Has DiNozzo called in?"

"No." Ellie checked her list of businesses. "A couple of their addresses are way out of the city, maybe it's taking longer than they thought."

"Doesn't stop them using a phone." He flipped open his phone and hit Tony's number, voice mail, he did the same for Tim's and got the same response. He selected another number.

"So soon Gibbs? You could at least play hard to get."

"Abs, you hear from Tony or McGee since lunch?"

"Tim called about two, said they had an extra call to make…wait. Why are you asking me? You should be asking…Gibbs, what's wrong?"

"Probably nothing."

"Probably? Not good enough. I'll get a trace on their phones."

"Thanks Abs." He switched off his phone and saw Ellie watching him. "Don't you have any work to do?"

"Shouldn't we go look for…?"

"When we know where they are we'll go looking. Until Abby calls we work the case."

They didn't have time to do much before Abby was back on the line. "Their phones are off Gibbs, which is…hinky; so I tracked the GPS in the agency sedan. I'm sending Bishop the co-ordinates, go find them Gibbs, please."

Gibbs didn't insult her intelligence by pretending there was nothing wrong. Two NCIS agents out searching for a lead and neither of them contactable, not only was that a violation of Rule #3, it was just plain wrong.

"I have the co-ordinates Gibbs." Ellie took her Sig from the drawer and grabbed her jacket; Gibbs was already at the elevator. "Then let's move."

NCIS NCIS

"Gibbs."

"I see it Bishop." He'd made excellent time getting here, trying not to second-guess what they might find. What he didn't want to see was a group of emergency vehicles, their blue lights flashing, at the exact co-ordinates Abby had supplied. He parked quickly and as they got out of the car he heard Ellie's cry as they saw the agency sedan; it was off the road, half hidden in a ditch, flames licking the hood. They set off at a run halting briefly to show a patrolman their IDs, they'd taken one step forward and were almost blown off their feet as the gas tank exploded and the sedan became a fireball.