After a somewhat sleepless night, Wednesday comes all too early.
Getting out of her car in the parking garage, she sees DiNozzo walking her way. He smirks. "Have a good night?" "Not quite. Couldn't sleep." He looks over at her and hands her the cup of coffee. She smiles and thanks him.
"Why the rough night? I figured after Johnson's generous dinner, you two would spend the evening together." Martin looks down, but doesn't say anything.
Getting on the elevator, DiNozzo asks, "Everything ok?" She takes a moment and then looks up at him. "I'm just not ready to take it to the next step. What if he leaves again?" He can't help but smile at his partner. Martin runs a hand over her face. "God DiNozzo! Don't laugh at me." The door opens on their floor, and the two step off.
Walking towards his desk, he wonders how much to reveal to her. "You know Martin, if you had seen the way he was looking at you yesterday, you wouldn't have any doubts. It was almost sickening." Martin can't help but smile. "What? Like you and Keates here in the office? I almost lost my breakfast."
He shakes his head and walks to his desk. "Say what you want Martin, but that guy has got it bad. I just hope you can look past your insecurities." Martin stares at him, wondering if he's right. Before she can analyze his comments any further, she hears the ding of the elevator. She looks over to see McGee and Bishop walking towards their desks.
Just after 9:00 AM, Gibbs comes down the stairs from MTAC. "Metro has Sanchez in custody. They're on their way. FBI is closing in on Antonio Raul. Martin you're with me. DiNozzo, once Raul gets here, you take point with McGee. Bishop go see Abby. Make sure we have every piece of information we could possibly need."
At 9:45 AM metro is seen bringing in a non compliant Victor Sanchez. Gibbs follows him, as he is shoved into an interrogation room. Martin quickly follows behind. Stopping at the door, she turns to the officers. "Thanks guys. I'm sure that was fun." They smirk and turn to leave.
Martin walks into the room, and sits next to Gibbs. She can feel Victor Sanchez's eyes on her as she does so. Pulling her seat up, she raises her eyes to his, not willing to be the first to break contact. Gibbs brings Sanchez's attention back to him by slamming pictures on the table. They are from the videos Fornell had provided them with yesterday. "Looks like you've been busy." Sanchez glances at the pictures, but doesn't say anything. "What were you doing at Private Hunter's apartment?" asks Martin.
"Who?" asks Sanchez with a smirk. Gibbs slams a picture of Hunter in uniform on the table. "Recognize him?" Sanchez looks at the picture, without an ounce of emotion displaying on his face. "Or maybe you prefer him like this." says Martin putting down a picture of Hunter in the morgue.
Sanchez leans back in his chair and smirks. "That's unfortunate."
Martin can't stand this guy. She knows she probably shouldn't, but she slams a picture of Alesandra down on the table. "You know what's really unfortunate? The fact that you never got a chance with her." Gibbs looks at her slightly surprised, while Sanchez looks up with fire in his eyes. Sending her the hardest glare she's ever seen, Sanchez says, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."
It's Martin's turn to smirk. "Oh I'm pretty sure I do. You see…we looked into every member of the Raul family. As it turns out, you two were pretty close until her father moved them away." Still glaring at her, he says, "What's your point?" Martin stands up to walk around the room. "My point, is that it must have pissed you off to see her with some one else. What did you think as you sat there in your car and watched her cozy up to another man?"
Sanchez jumps up from the table, ready to confront Martin. Before he can say anything, Gibbs is on his feet. He sternly says, "Sit down." Sanchez just stands there, and continues to stare down Martin. This time, Gibbs leans forward and demands, "Sit down!" Sanchez sits down, suddenly looking less sure of himself.
'Now we're getting somewhere' thinks Martin. She removes the pictures, and puts them back in the file.
Gibbs looks at Sanchez and says, "So let's try this again. What were you doing outside of his apartment?"
Sanchez looks up and asks, "Would you believe bird watching?" Gibbs stares at him in response. Finally, Gibbs says "Come on Sanchez. We know your connection to the Raul family. We know you were outside of Private Hunter's apartment on more than one occasion. And of course we know that Private Hunter is now dead. What did you do?"
Sanchez looks between the two agents and says, "Maybe I just wanted to see an old friend. I heard she was hanging around D.C. and wanted to see how she was doing." Gibbs looks at him with a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. Martin takes the moment to say, "You know, I'm not so sure I believe that." He looks at her and says "Believe what you want."
Just as she is about to respond, there is a knock at the door. Gibbs looks up annoyed, and Martin stands up. Opening the door, she sees Bishop. "I know I shouldn't interrupt, but we've got something you need to see." Gibbs looks to Martin, who nods and leaves the room.
Entering Abby's lab, Martin says, "What do you got Abbs? We're in the middle of an integration." Abby rushes over to the table with a gun sitting on it.
"So for as cocky and confident as this guy is, he was dumb enough to keep his gun on him. When he was picked up by metro, it was put into evidence. I checked for prints and gun powder residue." As Abby turns back to her computer, Martin impatiently says, "And?"
"And you're going to love me." says Abby. "Finger Prints came back with a match for Victor Sanchez. It's definitely his gun? That's not the best part though. This gun was recently fired. There's residue on the gun, and thanks to Ducky's help, I was able to match it to the residue on Private Hunters wound. Furthermore, the bullet pulled out of Private Hunter's wound looks a lot like the ones from the gun. I ran a ballistics test, and the striations are a match."
"Now if only I could get a piece of Sanchez's clothing, I bet I could find traces of Cocaine on them. What do you want to bet, it would be the same chemicals as Private Hunter had on him?"
Martin can't hide her excitement. "Abby you're a genius. Print it out, and make sure you record everything into evidence." Abby hands her the paperwork, and she heads for the door. On her way out, Martin yells back. "I owe you a caf pow when this is over."
Walking back into interrogation, Martin sees Gibbs and Sanchez staring at each other. 'Well isn't this cozy' she thinks.
As she sits back down next to Gibbs she asks, "Do you own a gun Mr. Sanchez? Maybe one that looks like this?" She places a picture of his gun in front of him.
"Looks familiar. Doesn't everyone carry a gun now days?" She nods her head. "I'll give you that, but this gun is pretty important right now. You see, this gun was recently fired. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Sanchez doesn't say anything, but both Gibbs and Martin notice he suddenly doesn't look as confident.
Martin continues. "I was just wondering if you knew anything, because you see…There was still some powder residue on the barrel….and it's the funniest thing. That powder is a perfect match for the residue found on Private Hunter."
They all sit in silence for a moment. Sanchez finally speaks up. "I want a lawyer."
Gibbs who had remarkably been quiet for a while, simply says, "That's probably a good idea."
He gets up to leave as Martin grabs the file, and heads for the door.