Please note, I accidentally said in Chapter 4 that Lt Rogers was shot in the bedroom, after saying in Chapter 1 that he was killed in the kitchen. He was in fact, shot in the kitchen.
Two minutes later, McGee's cell phone alarm went off, letting him know that it was time to get ready for work. Elle's big eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him with surprise.
"What the hell!" she exclaimed, scrambling off the sofa. "How did this happen?"
"I…have a clue," McGee admitted truthfully. "I think you fell asleep with your head on my shoulder and then…I guess…"
"Um…well, we should get to NCIS, right? Didn't you say that um…Agent Gibbs needed to get a…um…a statement from me?" Elle stammered nervously, desperately trying to figure out how she had ended up sleeping in McGee's arms. It wasn't that it had been anything really inappropriate, but it just hadn't been very professional.
"Yeah, you're right. I've got to…uh, get ready for work."
In half an hour, McGee and Elle were in the car, heading towards the NCIS building. Neither one was speaking to the other. The silence was awkward. Extremely awkward.
McGee stopped to get some coffee at Starbucks and he offered Elle something, but she refused. She seemed too shy now to even look him in the eye. He felt bad about what had happened, but it wasn't anymore his fault as it was hers.
When they arrived at the NCIS building, the rest of the team was already there. Gibbs was nowhere to be seen, but Ziva and Tony were already at their desks.
"You're late, McBodyguard. Gibbs is getting ready to interrogate Harper," Tony commented, raising one eyebrow critically.
"Sorry," McGee apologized. "The line at Starbucks was longer than usual."
"Elle, how are you feeling this morning?" Ziva asked politely, observing that the bruises looked much worse today than they had the night before.
"I'm a little sore, but I'll be okay." Elle gave her a weak, but brave smile.
"Something wrong, Probie?" DiNozzo asked the other male agent.
"No," McGee replied sharply. "I'm fine." He sat down at his desk and set his coffee down with a decided thud.
Ziva noticed that Elle flinched when he did so and that she looked a little sheepish. "You can sit in Gibbs' chair. I don't think he'll mind."
Tony's cell phone rang and he answered it. "Yes, Boss? We're on our way." He hung up, got up and motioned for the rest of the team. "Gibbs wants us in the interrogation room now."
Gibbs was alone in the interrogation room with Harper, whose shoulder had been well-bandaged after he'd been shot by McGee the night before.
"He is a very handsome man," Ziva observed from behind the glass where he couldn't see her.
"Trust me," Elle said. "Once you get to know him a little better, he's a freak." She touched the gash on her forehead and winced a little.
"Wonder how long it will take before Gibbs gets him to confess," Tony wondered aloud. "I give it two minutes, tops."
"Three," McGee countered.
"All right, McProbie, you're on," Tony replied. "It's a bet."
"You're facing time for breaking into Elle's apartment illegally, not to mention the fact that you beat her up."
"She's a real bitch," Harper insisted angrily. "She deserved everything I gave her. I don't regret it for one minute."
"If she's such a bitch, why did you kill her best friend so that the two of you could 'be together'" Gibbs wanted to know.
"Listen, I bought a ring and a house. Elle was going to be set for life, but then she dumped me! She broke my heart! I've been trying to get her back for weeks. And, then she filed that stupid restraining order! And I didn't kill her little buddy!"
"A restraining order means you stay the hell away from her," Gibbs declared angrily. "According to her, you pester her to death. We looked at your phone records and you called her cell phone sixty-four times last week. What'd you do that for?"
"I knew that if we could just talk for a little while, everything would be okay. She would come back to me. I love her more that anything." Harper ran his fingers through his short, dark hair.
"If you love her so much, why did you kill someone she loved?" Gibbs yelled, slamming his fist down on the table with all his strength.
" I didn't kill him!" Harper insisted fervently. "He killed himself! I saw the whole thing!"
Gibbs was momentarily silent, but finally he spoke again. "I'm listening. Start talking."
"I did follow Elle to that guy's house—" Scott began.
"Lieutenant Rogers," Gibbs interrupted.
"Yeah, whatever. I knocked on the door because I wanted to talk to her. Rogers came to the door and he told me to wait while he got Elle. I turned around and the next thing I know, he's got me in a choke-hold and everything went completely black. When I came to, he was splashing water on my face. He made me tie Elle up and put her in the closet."
In the small observation room, Elle was shaking her head. "No," she whispered. "He's lying."
"If he's lying, Gibbs'll know," Tony told her. "Nobody lies to Leroy Jethro Gibbs and gets away with it."
"Then what happened?" Gibbs asked, listening very calmly, his face betraying none of his thoughts.
"I did it, but I didn't want to. Then, he held me at gun-point and took me into the other room. I tried to overpower him and we struggled. I don't know how, but somehow the gun went off a couple of times. He shot himself in the head. I swear it, Agent Gibbs, I DID NOT go there to kill anyone and I would never tie Elle up unless I absolutely had too."
"We'll see," was all Gibbs said as he closed the manila folder and got up. Elle met him in the hallway, her eyes glassy with tears.
"There is no way that that is what happened!" she insisted. "Why would Will do that?"
"We're going to find out," was all Gibbs would tell her.
