Rating: T
Disclosure: I'm just borrowing them...really
A/N Thanks to my Beta BuckeyeGirl00000 for her speedy work in whipping this into shape. Thanks to everyone for their reviews, alerts and favs etc. Reviews generated a bit of discussion about whether Tony was right to feel responsible for Ziva's failure. I don't usually use author notes to climb on my soap box. I prefer to let my writing speak for its self lol. But here goes...Yes he was her superior but regardless of that, if he isn't supported by Gibbs in upholding his authority in chain of command issues, he isn't likely to be an effective authority figure even if he was the most officious and by the book agent ever. Second thing is that because Officer David is on the team courtesy of first Director Shepard and now Leon Vance, his ability to effectively discipline her failure to follow orders, is fairly limited. That is, even if Gibbs actually observed the COC which he doesn't most of the time. Ziva is pretty much bullet proof and seems to be immune to consequences to all intents and purposes.
Halloween Remembrance
Chapter 28
Hope... for the first time since the judge let Cory Callister back onto the streets, free to rape and kill more innocent women, he had some. Special Agent Daniel Chan was feeling optimistic that they would get the scumbag and put him away for good, this time. Having talked with Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, he had found himself believing that all was not lost. He felt energised and ready to get back in the game, searching for any fresh evidence that could gain a conviction on Callister.
Tony had promised him that they would find evidence and he found to his surprise that he believed him, implicitly. Given his reputation as a hotshot detective and investigator at NCIS, and factoring in the presence of Gibbs too, Daniel knew that they had a good chance of fixing this mess and giving justice to Callister's victims. Tony seemed so sure and his confidence was infectious.
His empathy had helped too. Chan usually hated being called kid, it always seemed so patronising, yet when Tony used the term before, well he'd actually felt a little thrill, intuitively recognising it as the sign of affection that Tony intended. Daniel also appreciated Tony's gentle teasing, knowing that he was trying to distract him and lift his spirits. He wondered if Special Agent McGee knew just how lucky he was to have Tony for his SFA. It was obvious that Ziva didn't, if what they'd discussed was anything to go by.
He'd only known Tony for a few days, yet it had been him and not Sacks who had taken on the task to make him feel better.
HRHRHRHR
They'd decided at 0230 hours to get a few hours sleep and start again, hopefully fresher at 0800 hours. Gibbs was driving them back to the Navy Yard to pick up their cars and they were reviewing everything they'd done so far. Finally Gibbs told him that Tobias had called in Shauna Jameson tomorrow, as he wanted her computer savvy while they searched through old evidence and tried to find fresh leads. Clearly Fornell had as little regard for making his team working weekends as his NCIS counterpart.
"I want McGee down here, working the case too, DiNozzo. We need all hands on deck so we can wrap this up ASAP before someone else gets hurt. Tell him to meet us at the Hoover Building first thing." Gibbs directed.
Tony clenched his jaw slightly before making a suggestion. "Maybe McGoo could work out of our office? I don't think he'll be too pleased to have to face everyone at the FBI again, after his embarrassment last week. My sources say that they hazed him pretty comprehensively, Boss."
"Gibbs stared at him, astonished before remembering that he was driving and focusing his attention back on the road again, much to Tony's relief.
"Well that's too damned bad for him, Tony. I don't imagine it was much of a picnic for you having to front up and work with Sacks and Fornell again, so soon after they tried to lock you up for murder a second time. It didn't stop you from following orders and doing your job. McGee can grow himself a pair and suck it up. I need him down at the FBI HQ, bright and early."
"Yes Boss," Tony sighed knowing he couldn't talk Gibbs out of it. McGee was going to be royally pissed and lucky him, he got to give him the good news.
They lapsed into silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Gibbs marvelling that DiNozzo who by rights, could so easily have turned into a cynical uncaring individual, was so worried about a teammate. Especially one that was often less than charitable, in return. Tony's concern for others to the exclusion of his wellbeing was sometimes as much of a handicap to himself as a psychopath's lack of empathy for others, was to those around him. Gibbs resolved to devoting some time to nurturing some self concern and convincing DiNozzo he deserved to look after himself even half as much as he looked after everyone else.
He thought about DiNozzo's empathy and wondered what he'd said when he dragged Fornell's probie off to get coffee and grub. The guy looked like a beaten puppy-dog before they left together but he returned looking much happier and threw himself back into searching for fresh evidence with renewed vigour. He wasn't all that surprised that Tony had been able to boost the probie's morale, because it was something that he did all the time. He was taken aback that he'd done so with Chan, though. The kid wasn't their responsibility and he knew that Tony had been uptight and jumpy about having to face the agents who had tried to pin two murder raps on him.
It had taken DiNozzo to notice how much guilt Chan was drowning under and Agent Sacks as his immediate superior either didn't care or was totally oblivious to his junior agent's emotional welfare. DiNozzo had only worked with him for five days, yet was more highly attuned to the young guy. It was just one of the things that made DiNozzo so good at his job, despite his nonchalant claims to doing his job for the guns and the girls. It was a shame that like many other of his qualities, it was taken for granted.
Gibbs growled, deciding he was really looking forward to a long hot shower and a few hours on uninterrupted sleep before they hit the ground running again. He parked the sedan in the car park and the two exhausted agents stumbled to their own cars. Each headed off, out of the car park and to their respective homes for a few short hours respite.
HRHRHRHRH
Tony flashed his headlights to his boss in farewell, before turning off and heading toward his apartment. He cruised down three or four blocks before circling around the block to kill some time, and then headed back to the Naval Yard. Checking to make certain that Gibbs had indeed gone home, he parked his car back in its regular spot, before locking it up and heading for his desk. He decided he would freshen up with a long hot shower before getting in a few hours solitary work.
Gibbs hadn't been exaggerating, when he said that he hadn't been happy about having to work at the FBI especially with Ron Slacks but he accepted it was necessary. Of course numerous snide comments delivered sotto voce about how Tony's junior agents had messed up and the not so subtle implication that if Slacks had been SFA he'd have whipped them into shape, did nothing to endear himself to the furious NCIS agent. Although he hadn't reacted outwardly, he'd been tense and slightly off his game the whole time.
Tony really wanted to check some things out and also re-examine all the evidence they'd scrutinized already, he just needed to do so in a place where he felt more focused and calm. He usually worked best with a level of distraction and frenetic activity, which was something that Gibbs and his various teammates never really got. They thought he was goofing off or lacking focus, except perhaps Abby. She needed the distraction of brain exploding music to concentrate and couldn't deal with silence while working.
Nevertheless he also relished a few hours of intensely focused solitary time to follow-up on his off the wall ideas. He generally preferred to do his contemplation in solitude, which usually meant when everyone else was home in bed. Strangely enough, when Gibbs was rampaging around, chewing everyone up and spitting them out, he found it difficult to centre himself enough to reach the meditative state he needed to pull together any snippets that refused to fit the puzzle pieces that were missing. Uppermost in his mind too, was the promise he'd made earlier to Dan, which had also been a tacit vow to Callister's victims.
A steaming, hot shower, a change into some fresh comfortable old jeans and a long sleeved tee-shirt and he was good to go again. He'd meant what he'd said to Chan, that they'd get the dirtbag; he was determined not to let him down. After all, having failed to stop Ziva's love affair with her pick locks, he was at least partly to blame so he needed to fix it before this monster raped and killed again. For hours tonight, he'd felt that there was something that he'd been missing, as they reviewed the evidence and he was determined to find it. He wanted to hit the streets later today and re-interview some of the witnesses. He simply couldn't believe that no one had seen a thing and he intended to use all his unorthodox skills in information gathering to get them a lead.
Two hours later and Tony leaned back in his chair, relief and triumph battling each other for dominance. He decided to grab a couple of hours of sleep before he made the phone call as per Gibbs' orders, to drag McGee down to the Hoover building. He was confident that he had a new direction to explore when he went back in a few hours. It meant that he could run the lead down and also try to scare up some new information, out on the streets. It had been too long, since he had been out in the field and he was itching to get back again. He knew that he would do his best work, as he searched for evidence that they could use to re-arrest Cory Callister and throw him back in jail. He headed down to Abby's lab, planning to sack out on her futon and recharge his batteries.
After entering the darkened lab, he pulled out his phone deciding to send the Probie a text message, to give him a heads up about joining the hunt for Callister. He figured that way when he called him, he'd be less likely to whine and snap at the messenger. He toed off his shoes and curled himself up as he closed his eyes and drifted off into blissful sleep for a few hours.
HRHRHRHR
Tony arrived at the FBI conference room carrying coffee for the team, still dressed in casual garb suitable for tracking down leads in the field. McGee was already there and discussing the logistics with Shauna Jameson of how they were going to analyse the raw data, to try to find new connections and leads. McGee looked pretty spooked and gratefully received the hot drink. Everyone else was there, apart from Gibbs and Fornell although Tony was pretty sure that they were somewhere in the building. Maybe even in an elevator somewhere having a 'private' meeting. Tony wondered if when they were alone and having a 'meeting' they compared respective dick sizes or just flashed their secret decoder rings at each other, aiming to impress? Maybe they even had some secret handshake; whatever they did though, he wished they'd get their butts into gear.
Tony was impatient to be off, tracking down his new lead. He had a list of people that he wanted to canvas, that could be potential witnesses and a second list of people that he wanted to re-interview because he felt like they'd been holding back information or perhaps certain questions hadn't be asked or followed up properly. He knew better than to head off without checking with Gibbs and Fornell first, but he really wished they'd hurry up already.
He cast a critical eye over 'Jackie' and was pleased to see he was looking rested and more optimistic. Sacks, on the other hand was regarding him with irritation, as the NCIS agent couldn't seem to stop his fidgeting and pacing. Tony felt like a bloodhound that had picked up a scent but couldn't pursue it, which made him hyperkinetic... well more hyperkinetic.
Wanting to get to it but having to wait for his superiors, was making him antsy which was grating on his colleagues as his nervous adrenaline-fuelled energy make him act even more frenetic than usual. Tony almost cried with relief, when he heard the familiar banter, disguised as contempt between the two lead agents. He bounded over to greet them; bearing coffees and to inform them, he needed to check out a few things.
Gibbs stared back at him, no doubt taking in his exhausted appearance. "How much sleep did you get DiNozzo? Ya look like crap."
Tony grinned, "Got my beauty sleep Boss," he deflected. "I want to re-canvas the areas around the victims' homes where they were attacked, talk to the neighbours, ya know?"
Gibbs looked dubious, "didn't tell me how much sleep ya got DiNozzo." Tony just shrugged. "What have you got Tony?"
The younger agent smiled and shrugged. "Nothing concrete yet but I'm hoping that I might have something for you, later on. Have to get out on the streets and work the DiNozzo magic, Boss"
Fornell glowered. What's the new lead DiNutso?"
"Look guys. I just want to talk to some people that were previously questioned because their answers seemed a bit hinky and there are a few people that I want to talk to, that might have seen something helpful. If it pans out I let you know, immediately. SFA's honour!"
The lead agents communed silently before Fornell shrugged. Gibbs sighed, knowing that Tony had something he was holding back but he decided to trust his SFA to follow his instincts. He was rarely wrong and he knew from experience, that sometimes you just had to give Tony his head and let him run with it. He might be unorthodox, but damn he got results.
"Okay DiNozzo but take someone to watch your six."
Despite a miniscule eye roll, Tony nodded his agreement and looked across at McGee who was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible and to avoid eye contact with Sacks and Fornell. He and Shauna were inputting various data and manipulated it, looking for C&Cs, the Holy Grail in investigating; connections and correlations. Sacks and Chan were reviewing the collected evidence yet again, hoping that something would jump out.
The computer geeks were too busy to be spared. There was no way he was going anywhere with Agent Slacks unless they were on the roof of a skyscraper and he could escort him on a one way trip over the parapet. Looked like 'Jackie' was going to be watching his six on this one and he was okay with that. If they got a lead like he believed they would, it was right that the kid uncovered it."
"Can I borrow Agent Chan today, Agent Fornell?"
Tony saw the nod of approval and he took off out the door, eager to chase down his lead, yelling to Chan to get his butt into gear. As the young probie caught up with him, he regarded the agent intently. "Got any casual threads here, Jackie?"
"Yeah, in my locker Tony. Why?"
"Because my dear Probster, we want people to open up to us and talk...forget that we're Feds. Gonna hit the streets. Lose the suit and meet me downstairs in five," he instructed.
When Special Agent Chan emerged from the elevator dressed in a pair of faded designer jeans with several strategically place rips and tight black t-shirt and hoodie, Tony nodded approvingly.
"Much better, Agent Chan."
"So Tony, where are we going and why? C'mon...share," he pleaded.
Tony chuckled. "Okay, Jackie-boy, since you're my partner for the day and you beg so prettily," he ignored the playful punch on his bicep. "It probably didn't escape your notice that six out of the nine victims lived in very close proximity to a dog park? That's where we're starting."
Chan deflated, obviously disappointed with the lead. "Yeah we canvassed people who were out walking their dogs, Tony. We got nothing."
"Ah, but no one thought to check out professional dog walkers. You checked residents walking their own dogs, so that's where we'll start, young grasshopper," he lectured gently. Professional dog walkers often see things because regardless of whether they are walking females or males, their canine charges will be either leaving or collecting wee-mails."
He read the confusion on the younger agent's face and grinned. "Walking the dog in built up urban areas, tends to be... walk a few steps, stop and leave a wee-mail for all the lady dogs to read, then move on and begin again...or walk a few steps, stop to read a wee-mail from a big macho dog that wants to sire your puppies and then begin again...Well are you seeing a trend here, Jackie-boy?"
Daniel nodded but still looked confused, so he decided to give him a bit more information.
"Danny, professional dog walkers...well the good ones tend to be great sources of info. Apart from the fact that they have time on their hands, while their dogs write or read their wee-mail, they have other important attributes too. They're used to reading non verbal body language of their four-legged clients. Plus they usually pay close attention to their surroundings so that they can anticipate any potential conflict between the dogs in their charge and people on the street. They wouldn't want one of the k9s to get bit by a feral aggressive human, Probie."
"Now that I come to think about it, that's sorta my own job description too; I'm the Gibbs Whisperer." Tony's face clouded as he wondered if that was all he was good for and maybe it was why his boss wanted him to stick around.
"Anyway," he continued, "because many of the crime scenes have exercise parks so close by, dog walkers are likely to have been in the vicinity, heading for the parks with the dogs. So I'm thinking, that there's a pretty good chance that one or more of them, might have been in the right place at the right time and seen something. I scoped out the scenes that had dog parks close by, early this morning and have a list of professional dog walking services to check out as well. So Jackie Boy, I sure hope you're not allergic to dogs?"
Dan shook his head. "Err... no Tony, not allergic but I'm glad you made me change my clothes." He grinned before asking, "how come you know so much about dog walkers anyway. You don't seem to be doggy type of guy?"
"I may have dated a dog walker for a while but back when I was a rookie cop in Peoria and still cutting my informant teeth, I discovered after they helped me solve a spate of robberies, that dog walkers were an undervalued source of info. Don't ever discount the solitary apartment dwelling person who might be out on the street with a canine buddy, making a nature's call in the wee small hours, either. When ya gotta go, Jackie-Boy," Tony finished up as he pulled up at Shaw Dog Park, NW Washington, DC.
Two hours later, Chan was exhausted and exultant. They'd visited six dog exercise/socialising areas in the NW Washington and Maryland area and talked to dozens of professional dog walkers. Five dog walkers had recognised Callister as hanging around the crime scenes and two had seen him following victims, shortly before the attacks occurred.
After thanking the witnesses and requesting that they come down to the Hoover building asap to make an official statement, Tony had high-fived the younger agent. "Yes, finally we've got us a lead! Let's inform the gang back home and hit the road again, Jackie Boy. We're on a roll!"
He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Let's go, reinterview the residents. Somebody had to see or hear something. Some of them are lying, I just feel it and we're going shake the truth outta them."
Aren't we going to follow up on our leads, Tony?"
"Nope kiddo, let Fornibbs and Slacks do the follow up. They can take statements and extract any information we missed. They're super good at all that stuff and the computer geeks can start checking Cory's alibis and where he claimed he was, when he was seen stalking the victims. Once they have the locations of the sighting, the McGeeker's can check out all the security cameras in the area. We might get lucky but we still need to keep looking for more coffin nails. We want this guy battened down so he never gets out."
"Umm Tony...Fornibbs?"
"Well they are partnering today J.B. and despite how they act around each other, Fornell and Gibbs are actually friends...platonic in a very macho heterosexual sort of fashion of course but a crime fighting duo, nevertheless. So Fornibbs...pretty catchy, hey?" Tony was on a serotonin high that owed no lip service to any external stimuli. He'd caught the scent, he had the bit between his teeth; he just needed to run it to ground. They were going to take this SOB down, he could feel it. Tony never even noticed that he was rubbing his thigh, which was beginning to ache from all the running around they'd been doing, although Chan did.
HRHRHRHR
Gibbs and Fornell sat in Gibbs basement, sipping their Jack out of coffee mugs and shovelling Chinese food into their mouths. The only sounds that could be heard were the clicking of chopsticks, as they worked their way through a mountain of food and the occasional grunt or groan of approval. Each of them, lost in thought, processing the events of the last couple of days. Yesterday had been truly terrible day but thankfully today, had been a day of small victories which added up to a win for the good guys. All in all, it was a good team effort, yet both team leaders knew that DiNozzo's investigative nous had been the catalyst for Cory Callister's re-arrest.
How the hell, did DiNozzo come up with canvassing professional dog walkers anyway? If it hadn't been so brilliant, so crucial, so damned vital to put that monster back behind bars again, Tobias would be embarrassed. Literally hundreds of man hours canvassing, questioning, searching for connections, leads, evidence accrued and finally getting enough on the scumbag, only to have it tossed out because of a stupid error. Then in just over twenty four hours, an unorthodox investigator and his own probie agent turned up a solid lead that had been ignored by numerous agents. Then, not content to rest on their laurels, the kid pulls a rabbit out of the hat and finds several pieces of the missing jewellery, linking Callister forensically to the murders.
The pair had gone back and canvassed neighbours of several victims where the murdering rapist had attacked his victims. Tony had identified various discrepancies in interview statements that made him want to go back and re-interview them. Several of the interviewees had lied, fairly innocuous stuff; hearing screaming but not wanting to get involved because of fear or in several cases, due to an illicit affair with a married lover, but one dodgy statement that hit pay dirt. Tony managed to get a rather creepy, weasel of a guy in the last victim's apartment building to admit he had found a jade bangle and a rose gold chain belonging to the last murder victim on the stairs, after the murder. Callister must have dropped it somehow on his way out and the creepy weasel-like guy, Jake Payne had decided to off-load it at a pawnbroker's for some extra cash.
When the victim was found and the LEOs plus FBI swarmed his apartment building, he got scared. He decided to bury the killer's trophies in a friend's backyard. Luckily, the idiot had wrapped it in a plastic Ziploc baggie ensuring that forensic evidence was preserved including not on his own, but the victim's and Callister's DNA as well. Thank the Lord for mentally challenged crims!
Along with the eyewitness' testimony that Callister was seen, stalking two victims and the security footage that the computer geeks McGee and Jameson managed to uncover, courtesy of the dog walkers and it was enough to put the dirtbag back behind bars. Dan looked as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. Even though he still had to face the IA inquisitors, he wasn't acting like a puppy that'd been smacked for peeing on the dining room rug, anymore.
Even Director Dixon had stopped yelling at everyone and chugging down multiple bottles of liquid antacid medication. The only one who was still not completely satisfied was DiNozzo. There was still an antique diamond encrusted, silver locket that was missing. It had failed to turn up at the botched search of Callister's apartment and DiNozzo thought that Callister might have gifted it to someone. He was keen to continue searching for the missing locket and they still had paper work to complete, so they had finished up earlier to celebrate. Gibbs and Fornell retired to Jethro's basement while the younger team members flocked to a local bar for drinks before heading to a favourite Italian restaurant for dinner.
Jethro glanced across at his old friend, protagonist, fellow Diane Divorcee and smirked, obviously guessing at the direction of Tobias' thoughts.
"Yes he good Tobias, and no you can't have him. He belongs to me," he said smugly.
Fornell grinned, "Ya better not take him for granted again, Gibbs because I'm not gonna stop asking him and neither will all the rest. And I tell ya something else, for free. The guy might be a goofball off-the- wall thinker but I'm telling ya, keep trying to make him into a 'focused" mini Gibbs clone and he will lose what makes him so crazy good. Ya'll either break him or lose him to someone like Darryl Amos or me." Fornell grinned infuriatingly,
"Trust me, the world just aint ready for a second L.J. Gibbs, Jethro. DiNutso, he's a one off, brilliant, irritatingly quirky and totally irreplaceable and he's worth ten of any other agent you'll ever have on your team. I'm not just talkin bout his skills as an agent, either. The way he looks out for his teammates even a temporary one like Dan makes him a keeper. In my opinion, ya don't deserve him, Gibbs."
Next chapter: Setting up Stella Thymes and flawed Intel
