It was far enough away from the road that it was very quiet in the alcove of trees where Mark Ramirez was lying dead. He was young. Only 24 years old. He'd been reported missing by his parents, whom he still lived with, three days before. His dark hair and eyelashes stood out severely against the pale, blue tinged color of his skin. He had a straight nose and full lips. He must have been a nice looking kid, Gibbs thought, and is that all it took for this sick bastard to make his choice on a victim ?
As before, there were the pillar candles, white roses, vinyl tarp, and scent of Kyphi. The alcove of trees was a mix of birch with other dark ones. It gave a somber backdrop to the displayed death before it.
The young man was dressed in a grey turtleneck sweater and jeans, brown leather sneakers. His arms folded in the funerary pose they had expected.
"Motherfucker," Chiu whispered to himself. He was standing over Ducky's shoulder again, looking at the corpse. Ducky twitched a little at the use of foul language, but he knew Chiu was upset, so he let it go.
They were all looking on as Ducky gently pulled down the turtleneck and revealed both the symbol tattooed on the young man's throat, and the fang marks, which were at the side of his neck.
"Poor lad," Ducky said mournfully. "What a horrible thing. You were so young."
They all felt badly about not somehow solving the case, preventing this from happening.
"I want this bastard," Gibbs uttered in a low growl. He stood at Ramirez's feet, staring angrily at the white roses and candles, phone still clutched in his hand after hanging up with Fornell..
"He's not Navy, Boss ?" McGee asked.
"No, but Metro knows to call us if one of these shows up. After McKenna, they're all ours, McGee." Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve the tension he felt building in his head. He had informed Fornell, and it was nice that Tobias hadn't been smug about it. He turned to his agents. "Ok get moving. Chiu, with Ziva on statements. Dillon, crowd's starting to build over there'" he could see in the distance the LEO's were working a little harder around the tape, as it was a larger area to try to block off,"so go give them a hand."
He looked at McGee and Tony, both pale, like they all were. "DiNozzo, shoot. McGee I want you over every inch of this alcove with a fine tooth comb." McGee nodded slowly and then shook himself and got moving. Tony shot him a concerned glance as he raised the camera to start.
Any of the usual banter was completely gone. They worked in silence, except for Ducky, who gave several more condolences to the young man whose life had been cut down too short.
No one spoke in the truck all the way back to the office. But they were still hopeful there would be some new clue or lead to help put and end to the sadisitic perpetrator who was eluding them, and at the cost of another life.
Abby looked at the boxes being laid on her table. "Another one ?" she said sadly to McGee, as she perused the white candles and roses.
He nodded,"Yeah."
She looked at him, seeing how upset he was. They were all upset, she knew. But…McGee had such a gentle heart. She knew these cases really struck him, and left him sadly confused about the dark side of humanity.
"Looks to be the same killer…Ducky's gonna send up the blood samples and skin swabs to you…," he trailed off, staring at the box for a minute. Then he sighed and turned to leave.
Abby put a hand on his arm and stopped him, looking at his face, and then wordlessly pulling him into an embrace. He sighed again, heavily. She could feel him tremble slightly.
"This is just…" he breathed into her neck.
'I know, Tim. I know. But we are going to get him. We are. I know it." She rubbed his back a little, but had nothing else to say.
Ziva and Chiu went to see Mark Ramirez's parents, while Tony worked on the victims records, and Dillon was still not back from helping the LEO's with the crime scene crowd.
It seemed the Snakebite Killer's victims had now made it to some degree of fame, and people were coming in droves to take a look, not knowing the body and it's stylized presentation had already been removed.
Tony frowned at his desk. Financials on a 24 year old man, in college to become a lawyer. His debts were far greater than his income. But it was all student loans. He had very little in way of credit debt, and not much of a savings account. Tony shook his head to himself. It was making him furious. There had to be something.
His phone rang. "Special Agent DiNozzo." He answered without his usual gleeful greeting.
"It's Miranda."
"Oh, hey," he said softly, glad to hear from her but feeling out of sorts from the case.
'What's wrong ?"
"Hah, why would you ask that ?"
"Because…I can tell by your voice."
He sighed. "We have a really tough case. But…you know, I think I might be having a slightly better day since you called."
"Really…well, maybe I can make it even better by telling you what I've got planned for you this weekend."
" I am all ears," he said, grateful for the distraction now.
"Commando picnic in my apartment. Gallery hopping Saturday. Movies Saturday night. Sunday morning breakfast in bed. And then I kick your butt out because I have a client to evaluate Sunday afternoon at the parents house."
"Where did you come from?" He asked affectionately. "I mean, a commando picnic…that's unbelievable. Does that mean I have to-"
"Yes. No underwear. And if you wear them to my apartment, you will be left out, disqualified." She chuckled. "This is really a picnic, blanket and food included. Just…on my floor instead of a park. And…you get to pick the movie Saturday night. And…" she continued a little more quietly,"you get to see my art in a gallery Saturday afternoon."
"It sounds fantastic. All of it. What time am I reporting in for picnic time?"
"How about…7:30 ?"
"Ah…let's make it 8, okay? It may be a later day for us tomorrow…"
"Okay lover," she crooned sweetly, "bye."
"Bye."
He smiled for a moment, but it faded from his lips, as he looked back at his computer screen, at the lack of any valuable information needed to catch the Snakebite Killer.