"Victim's name is..." Tony clicked the remote with a dramatic flourish and an image of the victim's armed forces profile appeared on the plasma screen, "Seaman Michael Horton, 21, stationed on the Galloway for the past 11 months, where his main duties consisted of peeling potatoes, cleaning carrots, and stirring pots. It was his first stationing within the navy."
"He was the chef?" Ziva inquired, coming up behind Tony and squinting at the screen.
"Busboy;" Tony corrected her, "one of four such upstanding soldiers, whose duties are vital to the running of the ship." The sarcasm was not lost on anyone present.
"Every man is vital on a ship, DiNozzo." Gibbs said as he came up behind the group, studying the victim's photo on the screen. "The ones at the bottom of the food chain are often even more so."
"I know, boss… I- I didn't mean to imply th--"
"What do we have on him?" Gibbs cut Tony's explanation off.
"Nothing." Tony quickly took his cue and clicked the remote again. "No citations, no promotions, no 'atta boys', not even a comment on his report." Chloe, who was standing off to the side a bit, had to admire Tony's ability to jump in and recover from embarrassing moments.
"Are you telling me his jacket's empty?" Gibbs frowned.
"Well, aside from the documentation from his basic training and his orders of assignment, yeah. He had his first annual service review coming up next month, though."
"The call came in reporting him as a marine." Gibbs looked puzzled.
"Apparently the local LEOs don't know their uniforms very well." Tony mumbled before continuing, "He applied for the marines first but made a switch just before he was scheduled to leave for basic training."
Gibbs frowned. "He switched?"
"Yeah." Tony shrugged.
"Why?"
"Maybe he preferred the sea air over crawling around in the dirt." Tony obviously realized his mistake when Gibbs looked at him with that intense glare of his. "Well, wha- what I meant to say was that… he… that is to say—"
"What else do we have on him?!" Gibbs snapped, addressing the group at large.
Ziva snatched the remote out of Tony's hand and clicked it, making the info she'd gathered appear on the plasma. "He has no record with the authorities; aside from a speeding ticket 13 months ago and a parking ticket a week before he shipped out."
"Where?" Gibbs asked, annoyed. Ziva looked a little puzzled. "Where were the tickets issued?!" he clarified. Ziva zoomed in.
"Speeding ticket was issued by an officer Gregory Banks on June 14th on Campus Drive at the University of Maryland College Park, and the parking ticket was issued by the same officer on Preinkert Drive in the same area."
"He was a student?"
Ziva shook her head. "He is not enrolled and has not attended a school of any kind since graduating high school. There is also no sign of the car that is registered in his name; a tan Nova."
"You're kidding?" Tony piped up. "The kid drove a Nova?"
"According to the registry, yes." Ziva replied. Tony snorted in obvious disgust. "I put out a BOLO on it." Ziva added to Gibbs.
"Finances?" Gibbs turned his attention to McGee, who accepted the remote from Ziva and clicked it to bring his info on to the screen.
"Bank statements for the last year indicate nothing out of the ordinary. Statements from a year before he shipped out reveal nothing major either. He has no stocks, no multiple accounts, he has a credit card but he hardly ever uses it. The records of its use show a grand total of 8 transactions within the last 18 months. He basically lived off his salary. Current standing of his bank account is $247.89. He is currently the joined owner, along with his sister, Rachel, of a house in Potomac Falls, left to the siblings by their maternal grandmother."
"I want to talk to that girl." Gibbs said with finality.
"Might be a little tricky, boss." Tony piped up and snatched the remote from McGee's hand. With a click of a button, a second service record appeared on the screen. "Lt. Rachel Horton, 27, an aviator on the USS Excelsior. They're 39 days into their stay in the gulf." Gibbs did not look happy with that piece of info. Chloe had to admire the dynamic between the teammates when it came to the remote. It was almost like a group of kids forced to share a favorite toy.
"His sister's a pilot?" Ziva asked, looking impressed.
"And a damn good one." Tony nodded, clicking the remote several times to bring up more and more info on the woman. "Look at this; we're talking commendations galore. She's been recommended for Lieutenant Commander."
"What did Ducky say about the body?!" Gibbs snapped, clearly running low on patience. McGee snatched the remote out of Tony's hand, much to his annoyance, and clicked it. An overhead shot of the body showed up on the screen.
"Cause of death was blunt force trauma." McGee recited quickly. "That's plural… actually. Uhm… most of Horton's legs were in splinters all over the road and, according to Ducky, it's amazing that Horton's skeletal structure is in as good a condition as it is, considering that Horton appears to have been hit at high speed and then gotten dragged along the road along with the car. Abby found evidence of paint on Horton's clothes and matched it to a cobalt blue car paint used almost exclusively on Dodge pickup trucks models ranging from '94 through '98." Chloe couldn't manage to keep from shuddering. What a horrible way to die! She felt an eerie hush fall over the group all of a sudden and looked up to find herself the center of the group's attention.
"Anytime now, Agent Sullivan." Gibbs prompted. The annoyance in his gaze wasn't lost on Chloe. She hurried over and plucked the remote from McGee's hand.
"I think I may have found something." She said with an embarrassed smile. With a click of a button, an image of an opening from a high school yearbook popped up on the screen. "This is Michael Horton's class yearbook from high school." Chloe started.
"We can see that." Gibbs said in that restrained calm of his. "What does it have to do with the case?"
"I'm getting to that." Chloe clicked another button, bringing up a picture of a slightly younger looking Michael Horton. "In high school, Horton had very few friends. One of them was this girl here;" She brought up a picture of a gorgeous blond girl. "Casey Friedman." Tony grinned and made a sound of approval which made Ziva roll her eyes in exasperation. "According to the yearbook," Chloe trudged on, ignoring Tony's reaction, "Horton and Friedman were very close." She clicked the button again, bringing up a picture of the two people in question all dressed up and beaming at the camera. "They even went to the prom together."
"The case, Agent Sullivan." Gibbs said pointedly. Tony hid a snicker behind his hand. Chloe clicked the button again, bringing up a record of enrolment for a university student; one that had Casey's picture on it.
"Casey Friedman attends the University of Maryland; majoring in journalism. While it's true that Horton didn't have a connection to the university personally, he did have a reason to be there." She turned to Ziva. "Those tickets were issued on Campus Drive and Preinkert Drive, right?"
"Yes." Ziva nodded. "The speeding one on Campus Drive, near the United Methodist Church, and the parking ticket on Preinkert, outside Somerset Hall." Chloe clicked the button again and a map of the University campus appeared on the screen.
"That's Campus Drive." With a click of the remote, the street in question lit up. "And that's Preinkert." Another click lit up the second street that met the first one perpendicularly. "Casey Friedman lives at Somerset Hall; right where Horton got his parking ticket. It's her dorm." A click of the remote lit up a location on the map, "And the journalism department building is literally right next to it." Another click and another location lit up, some 200 yards from the first one.
"How is any of this relevant?" Gibbs asked in exasperation.
"After making a few phone calls, I discovered that Horton and Friedman weren't all that buddy buddy anymore." Chloe trudged on. "Seems that Horton had an issue with his sister's boyfriend."
"Her boyfriend?" Tony asked incredulously. Gibbs did a little half roll of his eyes and turned away from the screen. Uh-oh! Not good! She'd better make her point; and fast!
"Yeah." Chloe clicked the remote again and the image of a Virginia state driver's license appeared on the screen, complete with a picture of a rather rough looking guy. "Meet Derek Friedman; Casey's older step brother. He and Rachel Horton have been seeing each other for a year and a half."
"And when you say issues…?" Tony asked with raised eyebrows.
"His neighbor wouldn't say, but from what I gather, Friedman's a very confrontational kind of guy."
"You called his neighbor?" Tony chuckled. "Why would you do that?"
"To get a little back-story on the guy." Chloe replied and clicked the remote once more. A number of police reports showed up on the screen. "Seems like he's got a bit of a temper." Gibbs turned around again, looking at the screen. Okay… at least he looked interested. That was a bit on the positive side, at least. "And…" she clicked the remote one more time, "Guess who owns a 1995 Dodge pickup." She smiled ruefully at Tony, whose look had darkened considerably as he glared at the picture on the screen, showing Derek Friedman posing next to his pickup truck. His very cobalt blue 1995 model Dodge pickup truck! Apparently, Tony wasn't finding any of this even remotely funny anymore.
"Is this address current?" Gibbs had moved to closer to the screen and was glaring at the guy's picture as if he'd done him a personal injustice.
"Yes it is." Chloe replied. "But according to his neighbor, he seemed to be getting ready to leave on a hunting trip or something. They said he was packing up his truck in a bit of a hurry."
"Tony, call the local LEOs! Tell them to make sure that guy doesn't leave!" Gibbs snapped as he made his way to his desk.
"On it boss!" Tony immediately jumped into action.
"Ziva, get a car! You and Tony are going to pay Mr. Friedman a little visit!" Gibbs barked. Ziva likewise jumped to do as she was told. "McGee! Get down to the University of Maryland! Talk to Friedman's sister! Find out anything you can on her relationship with Horton and get her take on the people involved!"
"Got it boss." McGee scrambled to his desk to get ready. Chloe stood there, not really sure what she should do.
"Yes, Agent Sullivan?!" Gibbs' said pointedly, not even looking up from the info on the screen he was hunched over. Chloe moved over to his desk, stopping before it.
"What should I do?" It sounded pathetic to ask something like this, but she really had no clue what to do now; or rather, what she was supposed to do. Gibbs remained silent, still glaring at the info on the screen on his desk. Chloe heard Tony snicker again as he and Ziva hurried for the elevator. McGee passed behind her and as she glanced up to see him follow Tony and Ziva to the elevator, he turned and gave her a small smile and a discrete thumbs-up, which she took to mean 'good job'. She gave a grateful smile back and a nod of thanks.
"You, Agent Sullivan," Gibbs finally spoke up, "are coming with me." He straightened up and rounded his desk, heading for the stairs at a brisk pace. Taken a little aback, Chloe hurried to catch up with him.
"Where are we going?" Chloe asked as she tried to keep up with him. It wasn't exactly easy in her skirt suit and pumps. He was a very brisk walker!
"Why did you call Friedman's neighbor?" Gibbs asked as he started up the stairs, not even glancing her way.
"What?" Chloe asked as she hurried up the stairs after him.
"You called his neighbor rather than going through official channels." Gibbs continued. "Why?"
"It's the best way to get info on people." Chloe replied as she followed hot on his heels. "A neighbor sees things that other people don't. It may not be their intention to pry, but they always notice something. And while they may not always be reliable, and may sometimes even be very biased in their judgment of people, they give you a solid look into the person's daily life. Once you pick through the whole mess that is their story." Gibbs made a sound that sounded like he was almost impressed.
"Interesting." He said flatly.
"Thank you… I guess…" Chloe wasn't sure how to take that. They reached the landing and Gibbs made a beeline for a sturdy looking metal door that was situated in an equally sturdy looking metal wall. "Uh, sir…?"
"Don't call me sir."
"Sorry…" Chloe winced, mentally berating herself, "boss…" She really needed to remember that! She glanced up at the writing on the metal wall, wondering what the hell the abbreviation M.T.A.C. stood for. "Where are we going?" Gibbs leaned in toward what Chloe quickly discovered was a retinal scanner.
"We're going to have a little chat." Gibbs replied as the door's locking mechanism disengaged.
"With whom?" Chloe asked as Gibbs opened the door.
"Lt. Rachel Horton." He replied simply and indicated for her to follow him inside. Feeling very confused, Chloe did as instructed.
