By the time Gibbs reached him, Detective Kelly's face could have rivaled a cherry in terms of color. A vein on his forehead had begun to protrude and his eyes shot daggers out at Gibbs. Washburn also looked peeved, but she exuded a far calmer exterior than her partner.
"What the hell is this, Gibbs?" Kelly spat. "Did I or did I not give you explicit instructions to call me the minute you tracked this woman down? Do you want to explain why I had to find out when the damn cop that pulled her over filed his report?"
"Sure, but how about first, you explain to me why you're divulging classified information to civilians!" Gibbs shot back.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kelly muttered, though his averted gaze belied his words.
"George Moore's son was asking me about my man, asking what the connection was between McGee and these victims, and the only reason he knew about that was you!"
"So what? They have a right to know what's going on."
"They aren't entitled to that information, and you know it! Now tell me why I shouldn't call up Metro and report that?"
"This wouldn't be an issue in the first place if you and your people were being more cooperative."
"Cooperative? We've been nothing but cooperative with you! Aside from not telling you about Frankel, we've told you everything while you've done all you could to freeze us out of the investigation."
Kelly scoffed. "You expect me to believe that your man has nothing more to tell us?"
"If he did, you would know it."
"I think he knows more than he's telling."
"And I think you're full of crap." Gibbs had already had his fill of the Metro detectives and with every passing second he had the urge to punch the man in the face. "I am done letting you badger my man."
"I want to talk to Frankel."
"She's our suspect. You guys are done with this case."
"That's not the way it works, Gibbs," Washburn said, stepping in front of her partner before he could respond with a stinging retort. "This is our case just as much as yours and if you try to shut us out we'll have no choice but to submit a formal complaint and have your charged with interfering with our case."
Gibbs wasn't sure if she could do such a thing—or if it would have any real effect on him—but he didn't think it was worth it to try and find out. Still, he wasn't about to just hand Frankel over to them on a silver platter. "We'll hand her over after we've had a chance to talk to her," he said, leaving no room for arguing. "If that's a problem for you, I'll go ahead and take my chances with your complaint and you can take your chances with mine."
"That's fine," Washburn said quickly. "But we would like to observe your interrogation."
"Not mine at the moment, but you can observe." Gibbs turned on his heel and walked back toward the interrogation room, leaving Tony to beckon the detectives to follow.
If Gibbs thought that
the sight of a female face would tame Vicki Frankel's ferocious energy, he was mistaken. When Kate entered the interrogation room, Vicki just glared, her upper lip turning upward into a pronounced sneer. "So the big boys are sending in their little obedient woman to do the rest of their dirty work. What? Did my strong femininity intimidate them? Did I emasculate them by not falling all over them and worshipping them as God's gift to women?"
"Oh, yes," Kate replied blandly, "they just scurried away with their tails between their legs."
"Tails? Is that what they're calling them these days?" Her eyes flickered to Tim, first disdainfully as she recognized that he, too, was a man and, therefore, worthy of her scorn. Then, familiarity glazed over her eyes and she studied him, trying to figure out how she knew him. "Samuel Chase High School," she said finally.
"Yeah. I'm Timothy McGee."
"Right…the computer geek. Weren't you the one they tossed into the pool?"
He winced. "That would be me."
"Huh. So they pulled you in here, too? Seems we both would have reasons for wanting those bastards dead."
"No," he said softly, "I work here. I'm a special agent."
Vicki's eyebrows shot up in obvious surprise. "Is that so? Guess you showed them, huh? Though, I can't believe you're actually helping them. I mean, do you really want to avenge their deaths? Does it really matter who killed them?"
"Every life is important."
She snorted, implying just what she thought about that. "Scum like that isn't important. The sooner they're gone, the better off for everyone else."
"What about Chris?"
"You mean your so-called friend? The one who sold you out to them?" she asked, gesturing to the pictures.
"How do you even know about that?"
"Oh, please! Everyone knew about it. You think those punks weren't telling everyone, letting people know that they'd gotten one geek to double-cross another? And what did it get him? A week without getting pummeled? Two weeks? A month at the most, I'm sure. Not worth stooping to their level."
Tim's face grew red. He was angry at her for speaking ill of his friend, but he had to agree with her on that much. No matter how much the bullies would have offered him for his help in making someone else's life hell, it wouldn't have been worth it.
It didn't mean Chris had deserved to be killed.
He reached into a folder he'd been clutching to his chest and withdrew two printouts which he laid on the table before her. "These entries were taken from your LiveJournal."
She glanced at them with utter disinterest. "So? I've got a LiveJournal. Big whoop. Last I checked, that wasn't a crime."
"These depict your state of mind," Kate said. "They show your anger towards men, especially bullies. This proves intent to murder them."
"I didn't murder anyone!" she snarled. "These don't prove anything! All they prove is that I've opened my eyes to what most men are."
"And what is that?"
"Pests. Vermin. Parasites. They prey on the weak and use them until there's nothing more to get out of them, and then toss them to the side like garbage."
"Do you deny that you wrote these?" she asked, pushing the printouts toward her once again.
"No, I don't deny it! I'm proud of it! I hope people are reading it and understanding it!"
"Then can we assume these entries are your confessions to the murders?"
"You can shove it up your ass! Those entries have nothing to do with these deaths. Don't misunderstand; I'm glad they're dead and I'd love to shake hands with the person who did it, but I can't take credit for it."
"So what were you talking about in these entries? Who were you referring to when you wrote, 'He never saw it coming. Just like the others, he was so sure, so certain he was invincible. But no more.'?"
"That's none of your business. Now, let me out of here or get me a lawyer!"
Kate stood calmly and collected the printouts. "Should I assume you'd prefer a female lawyer?" she asked.
Vicki's only response was with a withering glare.
Kate and Tim were less than pleased to see Metro in the observation room, but also less than surprised. Detective Kelly ignored Kate and made a bee-line for Tim.
"So what're your thoughts, kid?"
"On what, sir?"
"On Frankel. What do you think I'm asking about?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Did she do it or didn't she?"
"I'm not a lie detector."
"She's your friend."
"No," he said coldly, "she's not. We went to the same school; we were never friends. And to be honest, after seeing what kind of person she's become, I'm glad we weren't."
"She's the only one with a connection to all of the deceased. Well," Tony added, "the only one without an alibi. That's good enough for me."
"Seems pretty open and shut," Detective Washburn said.
Gibbs turned his attention to Tim, sensing the young man's hesitance to voice his agreement. "McGee?"
"I don't know…it doesn't seem right."
"How so?"
"Well, we've been harboring under the belief that whoever was doing this, was doing it based on some obsession with me, right?" Gibbs nodded. "Well, Vicki barely even recognized me. She knew I'd gone to high school with her, but I don't think she even knew my name. Besides, based on her comments about the male population, I don't think she's interested in doing me any favors."
"Maybe we've just been looking at it the wrong way, then," Kate said. "Maybe it had nothing to do with you to begin with. Frankel admits that everyone knew about Chris' betrayal, and she obviously didn't think highly of him for it. Maybe this had nothing to do with you; it was just a way for her to battle her own demons."
It was a viable possibility and Tim knew it. In fact, he suddenly felt silly for having thought this had anything to do with him, other than being an unfortunate coincidence. She hadn't known he was working here, so how could she have known he would be the one to investigate Wickmar's murder?
"She wants a lawyer," Kate told them.
"Yeah, we heard that much," Tony said dourly. No one liked bringing lawyers into the picture, especially when the charge was murder. A good lawyer could make miracles happen. Luckily, she didn't have her own high paid lawyer, so the odds were against her on that.
"We can take it from here," Detective Kelly said. "We'll get the girl a lawyer and get things done nice and quick."
Gibbs intervened. "She stays here until we're finished. That was the deal."
"No, the deal was that you got to talk to her before we took her. You talked, she lawyered up, now it's our turn at bat. Better luck next time, Gibbs."
He pursed his lips into a deep frown, certain he would be victorious in this match against Metro. When they left an hour later, though, with Vicki Frankel in custody, Gibbs new he'd been beat. Director Morrow had done his best, but he knew to pick his battles carefully, and this one just wasn't worth winning.
"Figures," Tony grumbled. "We do all the leg work and, once again, Metro gets to take the credit."
"As long as the killer ends up behind bars, does it really matter who gets the glory?" Kate asked, though she, too, was annoyed that they had gotten so close, only to have Frankel snatched away from them.
"Well, at least we've still got all the possessions from her car. We'll take our own sweet time getting that over to Metro. It's only fair, what with us waiting as long as we have for the stuff they picked up from the last two crime scenes." But even as Tony said it, he knew it was a hollow victory. Metro didn't give two hoots about Frankel's possessions when they had Frankel herself in custody.
Gibbs sauntered into the bullpen, none too happy with the recent turn of events. It was late and they'd had an early start that day; no point in hanging around any longer. "Go home," he said. "Nothing more to get done today."
The trio exchanged looks of surprise; it was rare when Gibbs let them go before a perp was behind bars. Tony, though, wasn't going to ask twice. "Any need for me to come in tomorrow?" With Frankel in Metro custody he was unsure whether or not they would pursue to case.
"Whatever you think you need to do," was Gibbs' answer.
As Tony pulled on his jacket, Kate and Tim remained in their seats, neither really wanting to leave just yet. "Going out, Tony?" Kate asked as she saw him check himself in the mirror.
"Thought I'd try to salvage what was left of the Friday night. Why? Want to join me?" he asked with a teasing wiggle of his eyebrows.
"I'll pass," she said. She did, however, begin grabbing her own coat. She wanted to stay, but what was the point? There was nothing else for them to do. "I'll come in tomorrow," she promised. "Maybe fresh eyes will help."
Gibbs turned to Tim who hadn't moved from his seat. "McGee, go. You don't have to bunker down at my place tonight. I'm sure Kate will be nice enough to give you a ride home."
"If it's all the same to you, boss, I'd rather stick around for a while."
Gibbs wanted to demand that Tim head home and get some rest, but he couldn't. It was late, but not late enough to go to bed. That would leave Tim with three or so hours of just sitting awake, mulling over the recent days' events. Better that he sit there and try to get work done than just mope around the apartment not doing anything.
"Okay," he consented. "You get tired, though, I'll drive you home."
Tim nodded glumly. He wanted to be happy. He didn't care if it was NCIS or Metro that put the killer away, as long as she was put away. But something about it was gnawing at him. Something didn't feel right.
Tony and Kate rode the elevator down together. "Think McGee is going to be okay?" Kate asked.
"He's got spunk in him. He should be fine. It'll just take a while."
She nodded. "I'm just glad we got her before she was able to strike again."
The doors opened on the ground floor and they stepped out. "So what are you up to tonight, Tony?"
"The bars. See if I can't pick up a sweet little thing," he said, his smile all teeth. "Blonde, brunette, redhead. I'm open to all different kinds."
Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm sure this goes without saying, but stay away from blue-haired women."
