a/n - Case it coming to a head today, which is good because the site here is sure quiet. It's a big chapter because there was no place to properly break it. Enjoy.
Terrence and Lila Young and their three daughters lived on a small, three acre farm, specializing in organic herbs. It was early afternoon and the local school bus delayed their arrival. When the two cars pulled in next to the farm store, the middle aged woman shooed her two younger daughters off to play.
"Sheriff, always a pleasure, what can we do for you?"
Whitehorse gave a polite nod as he removed his hat. "Need to speak to Cathy, ma'am. She somewhere abouts?"
"I'm afraid you've missed her by a few days. Cathy left Tuesday on vacation. She's meeting up with some girlfriends from college up North. Is there a problem?"
Gibbs cut in before the Sheriff could say anything. "Possible she's with a man?"
"Oh, I hope not." Mrs. Young closed her eye for a second. "Cathy took her break-up with Richard so hard, I hope she's not jumping into another relationship this soon. Why do you ask, what's going on?"
"These folks are federal agents, Lila. They're looking for a missing man and it looks like Cathy met up with him Tuesday morning. Have you spoken to her since she's left?"
"Every night. She calls every night around eight, tells us all about her day. Yesterday they went to a mall in Philadelphia. She said she found some adorable shoes for herself and a sweater for her sister, Laurie."
Gibbs was more than suspicious, but didn't want to spook their suspect. He handed over a business card. "Have her give me a call so we can get this sorted out. Maybe he told her something that will help us track him down."
Mrs. Young took the card and tucked it into her apron pocket. "Of course."
Back at the cars, Tony looked around the farm. There were dozens of greenhouses, allowing for almost year round operation. "Lots of places to hide a body around here, Boss."
"You figure out a probable cause, DiNozzo? Cause we're going to need a lot more than Miss Gertrude's neighbor watching to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant." He pulled out a card he'd picked up in the store and called McGee.
~Hey, Boss, any luck?~
"Supposedly she left on vacation Tuesday morning. You set up to trace an incoming number? Her mom claims she calls every night."
~I can get set up by then, but I might have something. The family still owns the grandparents' home just east of Dover.~
Gibbs thought for a second. Dover was about twenty miles north of downtown Milford, putting it about thirty miles from their current location. "Yeah, so?"
~So, last week somebody turned the power back on.~
"Send the location to DiNozzo, then meet us there."
-NCIS-
McGee pulled the van in next to the sedan and Whitehorse's patrol car, a few hundred feet past the driveway to the old house. One of the deputies arrived just behind him. Weeds and grasses had grown up almost waist high in the dirt driveway, but they were damaged from recent traffic.
Ziva pointed out some tire tracks in the mud, confirming that a car had driven to the house recently. McGee handed out printouts of a satellite image of the house, showing both a back and side porch in addition to the main entrance. Whitehorse looked close and then up at Gibbs.
"You feds have your own satellite?"
McGee answered before Gibbs could say anything. "Google Earth."
The Sheriff laughed and shook his head. "Hell, I'd have never thought of that. You got a smart one there, Gibbs."
"Don't I know it." The look he gave McGee was heated and the younger man blushed, DiNozzo and Ziva silently noticing the exchange.
Gibbs just gave a nod and the six of them started towards the house, staying out of sight, the bushes and grasses giving plenty of cover. As they approached the run down house, Gibbs divided the group up. Tony and Ziva were to take the back door, he and McGee would be on the side entrance, while Sheriff Whitehorse would knock on the front door, his deputy with him. The hope was that she would react less to men she recognized.
Once that was decided, Whitehorse moved to walk down the center of the path, slowing down enough to allow the rest to get into position. When he got a nod from Gibbs, he knocked on the front door. There was no response, so he knocked again. "Cathy, I know you're in there. It's Sheriff Whitehorse."
As they listened, there was some movement inside, then the side door opened and a young woman in her early twenties wearing nothing but a bathrobe rushed out, running right into Tim. He caught her and held on while Gibbs snapped the cuffs on her. "What's the matter, Cathy? Don't want to talk to the Sheriff?"
"I... I didn't want to get into trouble. My parents don't know that I'm here."
"That sounds like you've admitted to trespassing. Any other crimes you'd like to confess?"
Tony and Ziva came in from the back, Tony carrying a stack of items they'd found on the kitchen table. He held up a pair of black and kelly green platform shoes. "Maybe a crime of fashion, Boss." He looked around at the peeling wallpaper and faded paint. "Or style in general."
Ziva had a child's sweater in her hands. "These did not come from a mall in Philadelphia, Gibbs. She bought them, used, off of Ebay. According to the packing slip, they were purchased ten days ago."
"Same day you first exchanged emails with Lieutenant Carter." McGee was glad he'd tracked back and found the first email contact. "That establishes premeditation and motive. This house gives opportunity."
Ziva patted Cathy down and removed a rusty pocket knife and a ring of keys from her robe pocket.
Gibbs pushed her down into one of the chairs. "Where's Lieutenant Carter?"
Instead of denying any knowledge of the man or his whereabouts, she became hysterical. "No, you can't take him, he's mine. Mine, mine, mine. I made sure he could never leave me again."
Sheriff Whitehorse rubbed his hand over his face as he squatted down in front of her. "Oh, Cathy, honey, what did you do?"
Dreading what they were going to find, Gibbs turned to the rest of his team. "Search the house."
As they moved away to search for the Lieutenant's body or any sign of what had happened to him, Gibbs turned his attention back to the girl. She was rocking back and forth, still whispering about him belonging to her. The tears streaked the poorly applied make-up, making her rough complexion all the more apparent. In his great-grandfather's day she would have been considered a sturdy woman, perfect for the hard life of living on a ranch and bearing strong sons. Now she was the kind of young woman men either ignored or toyed with until something better came along. If Cater had seen the lonely girl as another notch on his already full bedpost, Gibbs already knew any decent lawyer would claim diminished capacity and probably win.
"Gibbs, you need to come see this." Ziva stood in the doorway, a troubled look on her face.
Cathy saw Ziva standing there and went berserk, kicking and screaming. "No, no, no. You can't have him. He's mine. You're just like Lizzie, always stealing every man I ever wanted."
Ziva blinked, but didn't otherwise react as the deputy restrained Cathy before taking her out to the patrol car. Once they were gone, Ziva turned back towards the back hall. "McGee has already called for an ambulance."
"Wait, he's alive?" Gibbs and Whitehorse followed Ziva to the back of the house. There was a reinforced door, closed with a padlock and Tony was trying to open it with the keys Ziva had removed from Cathy Young. There was a small viewing hole in the door and Gibbs could see freshly painted, bright pink walls and the corner of a very ornate canopy bed. A chain led up from the floor to a band clasped around an ankle. As Gibbs watched, the foot shifted slightly.
"Lieutenant, Lieutenant Carter? It's NCIS, we'll have you out of there in a few minutes."
The right key was found, gaining them access and they moved immediately to check on the rescued man. He was conscious and alert and somewhat embarrassed, even if grateful to be rescued. Gibbs handed him a water bottle while Ziva worked on the lock that held him to the bed.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Gibbs took a second to examine the scene. With the bright pink walls and elaborate furniture, it looked like a child's attempt at a boudoir, until you noticed the bars on the windows and the heavy chain attached to the woman's not so willing lover, just long enough to allow him access to the small attached bathroom. "You feel up to answering a few questions?"
Cathy's former prisoner shifted on the bed, pulling the satin sheet a little tighter against his groin, but it did nothing to hide the fact that he was naked under it. "Umm, yeah, sure I guess." When Gibbs' eyebrow went up, he quickly amended his statement. "Yes, Sir."
"Exactly how did you meet Miss Young?"
"Online, sir. I travel so much for the Corps, it's hard to... well, you know."
After giving an understanding grunt, Gibbs deliberately looked up at McGee, who smoothly stepped in. "When you met her online, was it with your lookin4love hotmail account or one of your gmail accounts? Let's see, there's the lookin4arealwoman account, the..."
"Okay, okay, I like to pick up women, but I'm the victim here. She kidnapped me."
Gibbs wasn't getting a lot of victim vibes from the man. "You're a trained Marine, how'd she manage it?"
"I met her in town. She wasn't very pretty and had on way too much make-up but, you know," he turned to DiNozzo, hoping for a supportive viewpoint. "Women like that are so grateful."
Tony looked disturbed, then curious. "Really?" He was so braced for a slap to the back of his head that he was totally unprepared for the foot that came down on top of his. "Oww!"
"Oops, sorry." Ziva just smirked as she stepped further back from the bed, Carter now free of his bonds.
"So, she showed you her gratitude, how exactly?"
"She had me follow her, we parked out in the woods. We had some wine and, well, you know." When Gibbs just stared at him, he continued. "We had sex in her car, twice, and then I fell asleep. Which was kind of weird, cause I can usually go longer than that. When I woke up, we were parked in front of an old farmhouse and I had that chain on and she led me in here."
"Did she have a weapon?"
"No."
"And it never crossed your mind to try and escape? You're a Marine, for Pete's sake."
Carter shrugged, looking a little bit more embarrassed. "It was kinda hot, her taking charge like that."
"Hot? It was hot?" Gibbs could have reamed him out for hours, but the paramedics arrived and the team stepped back.
Ziva was glaring at the victim, especially when he started flirting with the female paramedic. "The man is a pig. I have no sympathy for him."
"You don't have to have sympathy for him, David, just do your job. Start processing the house. I'll go with Cater to the local hospital." Even as he spoke, Gibbs didn't look too enthralled with the plan.
McGee finished a phone call and moved closer. "Helicopter is en route to take Lieutenant Carter directly to Bethesda. General Hofstadter will be waiting for him, personally."
"General Hofstadter?" Gibbs looked between McGee, who looked rather pleased with himself, and Carter, who had suddenly paled.
Tim bounced lightly on his toes. "Yes, or as Lieutenant Carter would refer to him – his future father-in-law, since he's making the man a grandfather."
"Really?" Gibbs was enjoying the look of discomfort on Carter's face more than he probably should. "Fine, one of our agents in DC can handle it, then."
They watched as he was wheeled out of the room and Tony shook his head. "That should be one hell of a family reunion. Wonder what the General has planned for him."
After a moment, they all turned their attention to McGee, even Whitehorse. Tim chuckled and scratched the side of his face. "Well, the General did mention some advanced training he thought would do the Lieutenant some good."
Ziva cracked first. "What?"
"Advanced SERE training under the supervision of Colonel Hofstadter."
"Future brother-in-law?"
"You got it, Boss."
