Chapter 9

It was conference time for NCIS, MDPD, and CSI. They had gathered in a large conference room with a lit layout table. After introductions had been made (and Ziva had quietly told Tim Tony had made a pass at Calleigh, only to be shot down faster than a bullet, much to her delight), Gibbs took the lead. Horatio was not with them, having opted to go see Janet at the hospital in the hopes that she might remember some more.

"Computers. Where are we on that?" Gibbs asked.

Tim spoke up. "Agent McAlister's external drive, the one found at her apartment, contains about four months worth of work. She was tracking weapon shipments that had gone missing, weapons that were scheduled to be destroyed from the local Marine and Navy bases."

"Any connection to the dead drug dealers she had asked Calleigh about?" Gibbs asked.

"So far just the bullet," Tim said. "Now, she was also tracking money transactions from various weapon dealers, money that was coming and going to and from an off-shore account."

"Who?"

"We don't know," Jesse said. "The account is covered with so many holding companies and port jumps that it's taking us a while to track it. Our AV Tech, Dave Benton, is working on it."

"And Abby's doing what she can," Tim said.

"You pulled in Abby?"

"She would have shot me if I hadn't," Tim said sourly.

Gibbs nodded at that. He knew his favourite Goth forensic specialist didn't like to be left out of anything when it came to her friends and Janet had been a friend.

"We find the owner of the account, we find our dealer," Jesse said.

"Agent Watson's apartment?" Gibbs asked.

"Signs of a lover but no idea who," Tony said. "We did find a condom and DNA is being run as we speak."

"We also found a diary and it mentions someone named Jason as her lover," Ziva said. "No last name and the diary only goes back a few weeks."

"Her service weapon and badge weren't in the apartment," Calleigh said, "but her car was."

"Could she have been picked up and taken to the crime scene?" Tripp asked.

"It's possible. We're running her cell phone records now," Calleigh said.

"We didn't find anything in Agent McAllister's car, so the killer may have tossed everything in the swamp," Ryan said.

"Good luck finding anything in there," Tripp said sourly.

"The only other noteworthy thing we found was a mini CD with Agent McAllister's name on it," Tony said.

"It's a heavily encrypted video file," Tim said. "Again, working on it."

Gibbs sighed heavily. "The bullet from Agent Watson's desk?"

"A perfect match to the bullets from the cold cases and our current cases," Calleigh said.

"So Agent Watson either had or found our gun," Ryan said. "Question is, where is it now?"

"Storage locker? Safe?" Tripp asked.

"Nada on both," Tony said. "Not even a safe deposit box."

"And the key from McAllister's desk?" Gibbs asked.

"Not a match to anything at Agent Watson's apartment," Ziva said.

"So Watson is involved, we just don't know how," Jesse said.

"The car?" Gibbs asked.

"Bullet went through the windshield on the driver's side and lodged in the driver's headrest," Ryan said. "The car also had blown tires and damage to the passenger side of the car. We found a spike strip about half a mile from the scene, no prints. We're attempting to track it but that may take a while."

"Aren't spike strips primarily law enforcement?" Ziva asked.

"Also found on military bases and over-seas," Tony pointed out. "And with a bit of cash, you could probably get one off of e-Bay or any other place on the Net."

Gibbs scowled.

Ziva nodded. "The spike strip says Agent McAllister was ambushed. It would have damaged the car, preventing a possible escape. And yet, the killer missed an easy target."

"Did he?" Jesse asked. "Dr. Loman said Agent Watson put a fight. What if she realized she had been double-crossed and tried to save Agent McAllister?"

"By attacking the killer and deflecting the shot?" Ryan asked.

"Not the first time a woman turned on her lover," Tony said. "if the killer was her lover."

"And she paid for it," Ziva said.

"Prints, anything? Hair, even?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing in the car, thanks to the water," Ryan said. "No sign of either agent's identification, purses, or weapons."

"Only Janet and Lieutenant Caine's prints in her apartment," Ziva said.

"And someone wiped down Agent Watson's apartment but missed both a wineglass in the dishwasher and the condom," Calleigh said. "Natalia Boa Vista is running the DNA now. Fingers crossed we'll get a hit."

Gibbs sighed heavily and took a sip of his coffee. This was the part of cases he hated; waiting.

"I hate to say it but right now the answers we need are locked inside Agent McAllister's head and until she remembers what happened, those computers are our best bet," Ryan said.

"Alright, pull as many people as you can on the computers and that mini CD thing," Gibbs said. "The faster we find that account, the better. McGee, go hunting."

"Got it, boss."

"Pull Agent Watson's cell and phone records, all of 'em and compare," Gibbs said. "If NCIS gives you trouble..."

"Understood, boss," Tony said.

"I want to know what that damn key is for and why Watson had a bullet from the missing murder weapon."

"Do we assume she's innocent or guilty?" Ziva asked.

"She's a player in the game, but what she is, we don't know yet," Calleigh said.

"Go through her diary; find out," Gibbs said.

"Understood," Calleigh said.

"First thing in the morning, we go back to NCIS and we start talking to people. I want to know who Watson was seeing, what she ate, what she wore, I want everything from birth onwards," Gibbs said.

There was a round of nods; Gibbs wanted a victim profile of Agent Watson and possibly anyone and everyone she may have associated with.

The next morning brought answers and another dead body. MDPD had been called out to a female victim during the night, found about ten miles from the first crime scene. Identification on the body said her name was Mary Custer, a Miami resident. She had been shot three times in the chest. When the CSI night-shift had run ballistics on the bullets recovered from the victim, AFIS had kicked back a match.

"The bullets matched our bullets," Calleigh said tiredly the next morning. "It looks like she was a witness to the murders and attempted murders of your agents and because she was a civilian, MDPD is now officially on board."

"I want this bastard in Autopsy yesterday!" Gibbs snarled.