a/n - short chapter here, but this was the only place to break it. BTW, the sex pollen story is done. It's up on lj, dw, and the NFA. This afternoon I'll add it to WWOMB and AO3.
Gertrude turned out to be the Mayor's elderly aunt, unofficially known as the town busybody. She still lived in the apartment she and her late husband had over his one time dental office. Her living room windows overlooked the main street and the central park where Lieutenant Carter had met his mystery woman.
"Afternoon, Miss Gertrude." Sheriff Whitehorse held his hat in his hands and spoke in a respectful tone to the woman who'd terrified him as a child. "These here are federal agents, looking for a missing Marine. We're hoping you can help us."
The pale blue eyes that turned to Gibbs were cloudy, one much more than the other, but Gibbs could see a bright intelligence even through the cataracts and age. She leaned heavily on the ornately carved cane as she marched up to Gibbs, standing toe to toe with him, barely coming up to his shoulders.
"An AWOL Marine, you say?"
"Well, he's missing. Too soon to say if that was his intention. Last anyone saw of him he was meeting a woman down there in the park – Tuesday morning about nine." Gibbs glanced over at the pair of binoculars on a table by the windows. "Sure would help us if you could tell us who he met down there that morning."
"There was a man." Miss Gertrude walked over to the window and looked down. "His back was to me the whole time, but his stance was military. My Harold was Navy, you never forget."
"Yes, ma'am. Did you see who he met up with?"
"Well, of course." She turned and looked Ziva up and down. "It's a shame, really, how once nice girls develop such loose morals. In my day we called them floozies. I hope you're behaving yourself young lady."
Ziva floundered over what to say and Tony draped his arm around her. "Our Ziva here is a good girl, Miss Gertrude. Why, a man look at her wrong and she'd break him in half."
Ziva's gaze traveled from Miss Gertrude to Tony, but the puzzlement didn't lessen. "Thank you, I think."
Gibbs tried again. "Ma'am, the name?"
"The name of what? I'm not a mind reader, young man. If you expect me to know what you're talking about, speak in complete sentences."
-NCIS-
Tim shook his head in amazement. The lieutenant had a woman in every town on the Eastern seaboard, but he'd finally tracked down the one living in Milford. Proud of the amount of data he'd gone through, he picked up his phone to call Gibbs.
-NCIS-
Sheriff Whitehorse stepped in. "Miss Gertrude, you were telling us about the young woman that met the missing man down in the park. Can you tell us who you saw down there?"
"He had his back to me."
Gibbs phone rang and he flipped it open. "Yeah, Gibbs. What'ya got, McGee?"
The phone distracted the elderly woman, but Whitehorse was determined to keep her on track. "The woman, can you tell us who the woman was?"
When Gibbs finally got his answer, it was in stereo.
~Boss, Carter was meeting a woman by the name of Catherine Young.~
"Why it was that sweet Cathy Young, but she was all tarted up, quite a sight to see."
-NCIS-
They made their escape and were half way back to the car before the question came that Gibbs was expecting.
"What is a floozie and what does that have to do with pastry tarts?" Ziva frowned as she looked at them for answers.
Gibbs patted Tony on the back. "Good luck answering that one. We'll meet you at the Young's place." Smirking at the expression on Tony's face, Gibbs jumped in the patrol car with Whitehorse.
Now used to the way Gibbs operated, Whitehorse started talking as soon as he pulled out onto the road. "Cathy's always been a good girl, not a lick of trouble, just has real bad luck holding onto a fellow."
"How bad?"
"Couple of broken engagements. Last one they'd already sent out the wedding invitations. Her daddy threatened to go after the guy with a shotgun."
The two men exchanged a look and Whitehorse stepped on the accelerator. If Lieutenant Carter had broken Cathy Young's heart, he could be in a great deal of trouble.
-NCIS-
Behind the patrol car, Ziva listened as Tony's explanation about floozies somehow turned into a rambling discussion of movies about prohibition, flappers and Al Capone. She'd heard of flappers before but was not able to connect them to any kind of pastry, despite Tony's contention that apple tarts were better than plum tarts – at least those baked by a cheerleader, which sent him on a whole different tangent. Ziva almost cheered when the patrol car suddenly sped up.
"Gibbs must have figured something out."
Tony grabbed the armrest on the door. "Well, yeah, he's Gibbs. He always figures it out."
-NCIS-
Needing more answers, Gibbs called McGee back, putting the phone on speaker. The younger man was prepared.
~Boss, there's been no activity on her bank account or credit cards since Lieutenant Carter arrived in town, but she pulled out over a thousand dollars on Monday.~
"You're thinking she took off with him?"
~I don't think so, Boss. Carter has a profile up on every on-line dating service I could find. Everything from Catholic to Jewish dating groups, each one attached to a different free email account so he doesn't get them mixed up. It would be easier to list the towns he doesn't have a hook up in than to tell you the ones he does have. Why would he give all that up for a woman he didn't actually meet until Tuesday morning? Doesn't make sense.~
"You're right, keep digging."