8. Chapter
"Ricin poisoning? I didn't know ricin was poisonous." Tony wrinkled his brow in confusion. "I mean, what about castor oil? I thought it also contained ricin?"
Gibbs was just about to tell him to shut up before Ducky could go into one of his endless rants, but it was too late, the elderly MD had beat him to it.
"I'm glad you've asked, my boy, "Ducky exclaimed, his eyes twinkling, "I know quite a lot about this type of poisoning, from my time as a doctor in Oxford. I remember this one young lad who-"
"Duck," Gibbs sighed in exasperation. They still had a murder to solve, not trade stories.
"It seems this story will have to wait for a different time as well, my dear fellow," Ducky gave Gibbs a mildly disapproving look but quickly returned to the matter at hand.
" As I was saying, ricin is a very toxic agent, in fact when compared with other toxins of the same weight it belongs to the top four natural poisons, more toxic than for example cyanide. It is made from a plant called castor in the form of powder, which you cannot see or smell. It can easily be mixed with food or water and nobody would know a difference. This is most probably the case of our young lady here," he motioned at the covered body on the autopsy table.
"Castor oil, on the other hand," Ducky continued, "contains no ricin at all, since the toxic remains in the bean after extracting the oil from it."
Tony shuddered at the thought of castor oil; his nanny had always insisted on feeding him the vile stuff when he'd been a kid and he'd used to run around the house screaming that they were trying to kill him with poison. Good to know it had just been his disgust over the yellowish liquid not the real thing.
"Is it hard to obtain?" Tony asked, hoping it was some very rare substance, with appropriate monitoring; that would make looking for the murderer so much easier.
"Basically everyone could make ricin from castor beans at home, provided they had the right equipment." Ducky shot down his hopes and the young Baltimore detective sighed in frustration. Of course nothing could go easy for them, why should it?
"What about the beans? Are they hard to get?"Gibbs wondered but Ducky shook his head.
"Not at all. The Castor plants are very common, especially in the southern states."
"Wow, how do you know so mu-"Tony abruptly ended his sentence as he saw Gibbs giving him a patented glare. He chuckled nervously. "Guess we'll talk about it some other time. You know, there's still so much to do right now, like finding the murderer, so-"
His ramblings were cut short due to the loud ringing of his cell phone. He quickly drew it out of the pocket, not wanting to disturb the silence of the room; it was autopsy after all. And he also had his suspicion as to who was calling him, even though he hoped from the bottom of his heart that he was wrong. No such luck, he thought, when looking at the screen of his cell phone. Kinsey was calling him and he had a feeling it wasn't just to say hi and exchange pleasantries.
He swallowed hard and let the phone ring for a while, conscious of the curious look Gibbs and Ducky were sending him, even though the ex-marine was more subtle in his interest.
He knew he had to answer it, sooner better than later; it was never good to let such things fester. But he was truly frightened of the reaction he'd get from his partner. Not to mention he just couldn't let the two other men in the room see his weaknesses. He had already spent too much time and effort to seem confident and strong in front of them, to spoil it now.
"Sorry, I have to take this call. Very important stuff." Tony smiled his most charming smile and quickly headed out of the room to get some privacy, before he could be stopped by either the NCIS agent or the ME. He vaguely heard Gibbs yelling at him something about giving him one minute.
He rounded the corner and the phone was still ringing in his hands, reminding him of the furious man on the other end of the line. Taking a deep breath, he tried to gather as much courage as he could and answered the phone with a cheerful, "Hello, you've reached detective Anthony DiNozzo. How may I help you this fine day?"
"DiNozzo," the voice of his partner growled and Tony briefly closed his to calm down his fraying nerves.
"Hey, Daniel," Tony greeted, his voice strong despite the dread he was feeling.
"Don't you "hey" me, you little bastard," Kinsey interrupted, "you've hung up one me." His voice was loud and furious, just like he had expected.
"Sorry man, I was in the middle of something important. I couldn't answer you," Tony apologized but it didn't seem to do much good, judging by the snarl he got in return.
"Something important!?" Daniel hissed. "What's so important? The fucking case?!"
"Yeah, "came the younger man's silent reply; this didn't look good for him. He felt as if he was 10 again, waiting in his father's study for the dressing down that was sure to come. This time he at least he had the advantage of getting it over the phone. Kinsey couldn't do anything to him over the phone.
"Huh," Daniel snarled, "I see little Tony-boy is going for a promotion. See yourself as a special agent?"
Tony stood gaping at the words coming from his partner's mouth. He knew Daniel never really cared for what happened to him, never showed him any kind of compassion or friendship, but this? Tony had at least hoped he'd known him…somewhat. Weren't the countless times he had covered Kinsey's ass for him proof enough? Or how he'd solved all the cases with basically no help from his partner and yet everybody though how good of a detective the older man was, just because Tony had never revealed the truth. Wasn't that enough for him?
"What are you talking about?" Tony asked."I'm not working on this case to get hired by the feds! I just want to solve the murders." He whispered the last sentence, the image of Samantha's blank and lifeless look in front of his eyes as if he was still standing over her dead body at the harbor.
"Tell that to your mother, you little bastard," Kinsey barked and Tony was tempted to reply that his mother was long dead, but decided against it; no sense in provoking the older man any further. He still had to work with him afterwards. Although, it really was time for a change.
"I didn't ask for Gibbs to kick you out of the investigation," Tony defended himself against the accusations but it all fell on deaf ears; Daniel was not listening at all. "I still have a lot of friends in the department, boy. You think they like you? Well, I've been drinking beer with them before you even knew how to hold a gun! Nobody would even bat an eye if you'd get a broken arm or two. Remember that well, Tony-boy."
Tony almost dropped the phone in shock. No matter how bad Daniel treated him or how angry he was, the younger man just couldn't believe he was threatening him. With bodily harm. He just couldn't believe it. There had to be alcohol in play. There just had to be. But no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, Daniel's voice wasn't slurred at all; he wasn't that drunk and he meant each and every word he had said. What was it about him that with time everybody wanted to get rid of him?
"Wha-what? Daniel," Tony wanted to say something, he really did, but the words got stuck in his throat and nothing else came out. Kinsey on the other end laughed derisively."I meant it Tony-boy. Either you get me on the investigation or you'll see how much I meant it." He wanted to reply; he wanted to say something extremely witty and casual, to make Daniel see he wasn't afraid. He couldn't. There were too many similarities to his father in Kinsey and it rendered speechless. Regardless of how much Tony wanted to think that he was stronger and tougher than he when he had been a child, at times like these, he was left a scared and insecure child. And it depressed him to no end.
"Tony?" He looked up at the sudden interruption and found himself looking at an uncertain and shy looking Abby. He felt so tired of it all; tired of being used as everybody's favorite stress ball; tired of letting them do so and being so goddamn weak!
He leaned against the wall and slid down onto the cold floor. It was all just too much. Closing his eyes he tried taking deep breaths in order to calm down; no need to get a panic attack in front of the forensic scientist. Abby sat down on the floor next to him and took his lax right hand into hers.
"Wanna talk about it?"
He jerked his hand out of her grasp; he was not ready for human contact yet…and he still remembered the morning fight they had in her lab. Abby didn't seem angry that he refused her comfort, though. More like guilty, and Tony felt like a bastard. Despite knowing she had caused the fight, it didn't feel right to keep hurting her like this because of it.
"Sorry," he murmured, not knowing exactly what he was apologizing for. Refusing her comfort? Being angry at her? Not wanting to talk? He was too confused to know.
"Hey," she smiled at him, "nothing to be sorry for." The smile faded from her face and she suddenly looked unsure of herself. He decided to help her.
"You don't have to apologize, you know." Abby was so easy to read, she was practically an open book and it was evident she felt bad for what had happened between them.
"But Tony!" she exclaimed, anger lacing her tone and Tony wondered what he had done wrong this time. "You should totally feel angry and annoyed with me!" The Baltimore detective blinked once, twice before blurting out a surprised, "What?"
She frowned at his confusion."Nobody ever taught you that it was important to be angry when…well, when you should be?"
"I thought you didn't want me to be angry at you. That's what apologies are for, right?" This whole thing was getting weirder by the second. Tony rubbed the back of his head, trying to understand the inner workings of Abby, but it was impossible. And frankly, it was giving him a headache.
"Yes and no." she responded looking put out by not knowing how to explain it further. "It's like this, Tony; I hurt you, I know I did 'because I saw it in your eyes, mister." Abby waggled her finger at him and he almost smiled at her. Almost.
"And it's normal to feel angry when hurt, you know. It's right, it means we value ourselves and won't let anyone abuse us. Understand?" He did although he didn't know where she saw going with this and why. But he nodded all the same.
"Were you angry Tony?" He didn't know what to respond to that. Wouldn't he upset her when he'd reply with a yes? Would she even want to have anything to do with him? Did he even have a right to be angry? He never really was good with the appropriate reaction thing.
Seeing his dilemma, Abby decided for him. "Ok, I see you're still unwilling to admit it, so that means we only have one choice left." His bewildered eyes met hers.
"Why, Abby to the rescue! And everything Abby says is completely and absolutely true, without debate. Is that clear?"
Without actually waiting for him to agree or disagree, she continued, "And you were angry. Repeat after me,' I was angry.'"
Abby was really an odd one, Tony decided then and there but he repeated after her in spite of it all.
"I was angry." Upon seeing Abby's approving smile he couldn't help but crack a grin as well. It wasn't every day that you had a conversation like this…if you could even call it a conversation. It was changing into "monkey see, monkey do" rather rapidly.
"Excelent! Now, repeat, 'you'll have to make it up to me, Abby.'"
He didn't really think she had to make anything up to him, but when seeing the mock glare she sent him, he caved in.
"You'll have to make it up to me, Abby."
"Then I'll forgive you."
"Then I'll forgive you," he dutifully repeated, but in reality he had already forgiven. But if it made her feel better who was he to berate her for it?
"And then I'll let you give me lots of hugs."
"And then I'll let you gi-Hey! What has that to do with anything?" he demanded, smiling slightly.
"That was just to make me feel better. I have to get you used to my hugs, after all! That's a necessity in the Abby-friendship." She smiled, stood up and gave him a wink.
"He's all yours bossman!" She happily waved at Gibbs who was standing a few feet away from them and Tony almost had a heart attack then and there. How long had the ex-marine been there? Did he hear what they had been talking about? Was he angry? Tony cringed at his own stupidity. Showing his emotion at such a public place was bound to be witnessed by somebody. Especially when that somebody was Gibbs who hardly overlooked or overheard anything. He was screwed.
"I'll be coming over later, bearing pie." She announced cheerfully before bouncing out of his view.
Pie? That was new.
That left just him and Gibbs, who was stubbornly silent and looking at him with a peculiar expression on his face. The silence was uncomfortable in Tony's opinion; he had to say something, but what? He searched for any conversation starter but came up with a blank. So he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
"Does Abby make good pie?"
He almost wanted to slap himself; what a way to break the silence.
Gibbs raised his eyebrows and Tony thought he might have seen a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. But that was probably just a delusion. "I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole."
Tony grinned at Gibbs' response. Maybe the older man wasn't angry like he thought? He was joking after all.
"That bad?" He grimaced; just his luck that Abby decided to make him feel better by baking him something inedible. She could have just gone with pizza.
"What you're thinking and even worse. The filling is black, don't ask how, and it tastes like something you'd find on the sole of your shoes." He suddenly narrowed his eyes. "You say one word about this to Abby and you'll have no time to be sorry, got that?"
"Gotcha," Tony replied cheerfully, standing from the uncomfortable position on the ground and stretching his aching muscles. He should remember never to sit on the ground, it gets pretty painful.
"We've just got a hit on the BOLO. We need to get there as soon as possible."
"Mrs. Curiton's car?" By the look on Gibbs' face and the sound of his face, it wasn't very good news.
"She's dead," Tony guessed and got a solemn nod in reply. And they were once again right at the beginning of the case. Of course, with the additional victim, can't forget that. He wanted to hit something, but decided against it. With his luck they'd charge him the expenses for a smashed wall.
Gibbs made his way around Tony and clearly expected the younger man to follow him. The Baltimore detective sighed and did as was expected from him. He caught up with Gibbs and they walked for a moment in silence until Tony realized something.
"Hey! I've put the BOLO on the car; I am the local detective around here! How come they're always calling you?"
Gibbs just smirked and continued on his way to the car.
"Not fair, Gibbs! How did you do it?"
"Barked at the right people, DiNozzo. You should try it sometimes."
Tony couldn't help but feel that there was a hidden message in that sentence, but decided not to dwell on it any further. There was time for feelings, secret meanings, black pies and threatening partners later. Right now they still had a murder to catch. And no personal demons could get in the way.
"You know, this reminds me of this one episode of Magnum P.I…."
To Be Continued
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