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"Clear The Air and Move On"

Chapter 20.

"Where are we at?" Gibbs startled his agents as he walked from the elevator to the bullpen.

"Our only witness, Jessica Stean, told me that during her captivity, she only interacted with a masked man. She was also certain that he was the same man who abducted her because she recognized his voice," Ziva answered. "So we ruled out all women and now have six suspects, including Fornell and Sacks."

"Did you check them too?" Gibbs asked his agents. He looked briefly at Tony and his SFA stared back at him seriously. You found something...and don't like it, the Boss thought.

"Not right away. First, we ran background on the other four suspects and cross-checked them against the victims' profiles, abduction dates, and body discoveries," Tim replied as he stood in front of the plasma between his and Tony's desk. "Samuel Gore, 47." He clicked the remote and the picture of a grey-haired man with black eyes appeared onscreen. "He's been working with the FBI for twenty years. Divorced. No children. Loves sports and movies."

"Interesting. He fits our killer's profile perfectly," Ziva commented.

"Unfortunately not," Tim shook his head.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because Gore only transferred from Los Angeles last month has solid alibis for all of the abductions and murders," McGee answered.

"I checked Joseph Mitchell," Tony reported. "36. He's been working with FBI since he left Penn. Graduated with a degree in criminology. Married, two kids: a 4-year old son and a 2-year old daughter. His wife works at the Library of Congress. When he's not spending time with his family, he plays tennis with his brother who is a lawyer at State Department. Solid alibis across the board."

"Ziva?" Gibbs said.

"Michael Brown, 58. He is going to retire in three months. He and his wife have already bought a house in Livingston, Montana. Their son Sam has a ranch just out of the town where he breeds and trains horses with his wife and their little boy," the woman reported. "Mr. Brown spends his spare time with coaching a Little League team. He and his wife Maggie also are involved in many charity projects with their church. He also has alibis for all the abductions and murders."

"And last but not least, Phillip Jonas," Tony said. "42. Boston cop for three years. Then FBI in New York and, from 2007 on, in DC."

"Anything interesting?" Gibbs asked. We're running out of suspects.

"He loves movies and pretty much every sport imaginable. He has won metals in boxing, swimming, biking, you name it, he probably competes in it."

"Perfect!" Ziva exclaimed.

"Nope," Tony shook his head. "I checked his movements and he spent the last two months in Mexico for a joint ATF investigation."

"So we have nothing," Gibbs growled.

No one answered him directly but, while McGee just sighed, Tony looked up from the file he was holding in his hands and saw Gibbs staring at him again.

They locked eyes for a few seconds, then the Team Leader ordered, "McGee, Ziva re-check all victims and abductee's habits and see if you find something in common this time."

"But, Gibbs! We already did!" Ziva whined.

McGee saw Gibbs slowly turn toward Ziva and hurried to 'save' his colleague. "On it, Boss!" he said, shooting the Israeli a pointed glance.

Gibbs's glare lingered a little longer on Ziva before he ordered, "DiNozzo, with me!" and he headed to the elevator followed by his SFA.

"Tell me," Gibbs after he had pulled the emergency stop in the elevator.

Tony took a deep breath and looked down at the files he was holding in his hands. "I've checked Fornell and Slack's profiles and alibis."

"And?" The Boss looked interested but uncomfortable at the same time.

"Fornell's profile doesn't match the killer's, but I can't find out where he was when Lt. Hart, Jessica Stean and Margareth Ryan were abducted."

The Team Leader cleared his throat. "Six months ago, when Lt. Hart was kidnapped, Fornell was in New York for a secret meeting with NYPD Commander about an undercover mission. Before that, when Margareth Ryan was abducted, he was in London with his Boss. You won't find anything about these two missions because they were both need-to-know."

"And you know about them because..."

Gibbs stared silently at his SFA. "You needed to know," Tony concluded, a bit disappointed.

"You will too. I'll read you in later, in case it becomes pertinent," the Boss explained.

Tony nodded. "What about the third date, when Jessica was kidnapped?"

Gibbs shook his head and grinned. "Tobias was with Diane."

"Diane?" Tony's green eyes widened. "Are they dating again?"

Gibbs nodded gravely and then asked, "What about Sacks?" When Tony didn't answer, he pressed, "DiNozzo, what's going on?"

"It's a long story, boss, and we can't hold up the elevator any longer," the SFA replied.

DiNozzo was clearly uncomfortable and Gibbs knew his second-in-command too well to not trust his gut. Tony was not one to make up fanciful theories or throw false accusations just to make a good impression with his boss.

"They can take the stairs," Gibbs replied, as he turned to face DiNozzo. "We'll talk about Sacks on your terms, Tony," he said in a softer voice, "but I need to know why didn't you want to talk about this in front of McGee and Ziva? Don't you trust them?"

"No," the younger man answered too quickly. Realizing his mistake, he hurried to explain. "I mean…" he cleared his throat, "I found some interesting things about Sacks and I wanted to talk to you first 'cause, if I'm right, we've got to be very careful. If McGee knew, he'd hack Sacks' computer at the FBI and his one at home, and that could get him into big trouble. And Ziva…well she's so nervous lately and she screwed up some of her past undercover missions. We need to be very careful when we talk to Sacks over the next few days and I don't want her to accidentally let him know we're after him," Tony explained. He looked at his boss warily because he was sure Gibbs would be mad at him for his lack of trust in Ziva's self-control.

"You're something else, DiNozzo." Gibbs muttered under his breath. Then, he raised his voice and said, "I agree."

"You do?" Tony's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Gibbs nodded again. "So, what now?"

Tony exhaled loudly. "I think we have to involve them. I mean, I don't want to, for all the reasons I just said, but the job's too big for the two of us."

"I agree with that too." Gibbs restarted the elevator.

"We'll just have to be very clear with both of them."

"You can bet on that," Gibbs assured his SFA as the elevator doors slid open. Then he stepped from the elevator and called across the bullpen, "David, McGee, conference room #1!"

"What's going on, Gibbs?" Ziva asked as soon as McGee closed the conference room door.

"Sit," the boss ordered as he sat down at one side of the table. Tony took the seat at his right and McGee and Ziva across from them.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs turned to his SFA and motioned for him to begin.

"I've checked Sacks' alibi and—" Tony started, but McGee interrupted him.

"You found something?" Tim's eyes widened.

"Really?!" Ziva echoed him and they saw Tony nod.

"Joe," Anthony DiNozzo Sr. asked his therapist, as he sat on one of the couches in Tony's sitting room. "Do you think you could follow me to New York?"

"Excuse me?" his therapist asked, surprised.

"I'd like to go back home," Senior explained. "I think I bothered my son enough. It's time to go home and complete my rehab there," he smiled sweetly. "I'm sure he wants his privacy back."

"I don't think Tony'd be happy to see you leave," Joe answered as he walked over to the fireplace. "He really cares about you, sir."

The older man just nodded but Joe noticed something unusual in Senior's eyes. His patient had always looked carefree and at ease in any situation, but today he looked distracted and distant, as if something was bothering him.

"While you were checking the other suspects, I checked Fornell's and Sacks' alibis. Tobias is clear," Tony turned to his boss. "Gibbs even provided him an alibi," he grinned.

"So Sacks?" Ziva asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Yup," Tony sighed. "He was one of the few who understood my love of movies," Tony remarked sadly. Then he shook his head. "Anyway, we know that all the victims are or were musicians and, thanks to what Ziva found out during her talk with Jessica and what their families told us, we know that they all bought their sheet music and replacement parts at two music stores."

"Yes," Ziva said. "Barnes & Noble on M Street NW and Hill & Dale on 31st Street NW," she recalled.

"Sacks plays guitar. When he found out I played piano, he told me to visit those two stores and another one on Pennsylvania Avenue. I told him I already knew about all of them."

"There's more, isn't it?" Gibbs prompted.

"Yes," Tony nodded and checked the file on the table in front of him. "Every time one of these women was kidnapped, Sacks was out of town, but I can't find any reservations anywhere in his name."

"And I really doubt he always slept at his friends," Ziva interjected.

"Exactly."

"How did he get so much PTO from the FBI?" Gibbs questioned.

"I thought it was weird too. That's why I checked with a friend who knows Sacks, and he told me that he takes care of a sick, elderly uncle. So it could be that they—"

"—cut him some lacks," Ziva interrupted excitedly.

"Slack," the three automatically corrected her.

"Now we need to check if this uncle really exists and if he's really sick," Tony looked at McGee. "Some of your geek magic?"

"Sure!" Tim smiled. Tony passed him the file and McGee began reading through it.

"Ziva, we need you to talk to Jessica again. See if she remembers anything else," Gibbs said.

"On it!"

"But first recheck everything she told you. We don't need to upset her with questions we've already asked," the Boss added and Ziva nodded her agreement. "Back to work now!" he ordered and they all stood up and left the room.

They worked on their individual tasks for the rest of the day and it was only when Gibbs' stomach growled that they checked their watches and realized that it was almost 7 pm.

"Okay," Gibbs' loud voice startled them. "Go home. Eat. Get some rest. See you at 6 am."

"But Gibbs, I—" Tony tried.

"Boss, I was going to check the security cameras—" Tim added.

"I wanted to go to the hospital and talk—" Ziva began.

"That's an order!" the boss barked. Before Gibbs could get more upset, McGee and Ziva quickly left. Tony, however, slowly turned off his computer and gathered his coat.

"Gibbs, we should keep working," he began as he picked up his backpack.

The boss walked over to Tony's desk. "Tired people make mistakes. You know that, Tony." His SFA nodded, but still didn't look completely convinced. "Why don't you have dinner with Sandy? Last time you talked to her, you weren't so nice."

"Gibbs, you know I was worried!" Tony hurriedly defended himself. "But you're right: I need to make it up to her." He removed his weapon from the desk drawer and slid it into his holster. "Maybe I could also spend some time with Danny and see if he likes me. What do you think?" he looked at his friend in search of approval and encouragement.

"Good idea. Now go!" Tony nodded his thanks and walked toward the elevators

Alone in the bullpen, Gibbs texted Sandy and told her to keep Tony away from his house as long as possible. Then he took a deep breath.

"And now Senior," he said as he took his weapon from the drawer and holstered it on his waist. "You will never hurt Tony again."

TBC

See you in the next chapter? I hope you liked this one :-)