"No, for the twenty third time," Tony exclaims while hanging up his ringing phone without answering it.
"Are you going to answer that?" Kate asks Tony as his phone begins ringing again while walking in carrying lunch.
"I'm in hell, Kate."
"And he didn't spill Gibbs coffee this time," I state from my spot at Gibbs computer like normal.
"Well, do they have money there? Because you own me… forty three dollars and eighty six cents for lunch this week," Kate informs him without caring about what eh and I said.
"I will gladly pay you today if you'll answer this call for me," Tony begs of Kate.
"Yeah? Who is it?" Kate ask him while walking over to Tony's desk and picking up the phone but doesn't answer it yet.
"Crazy ex-girlfriend. Haven't seen her since college."
"Stalker?"
"More like a stalk-him."
"What do you want me to say to her?"
"I don't know. Tell her you're my wife or something. She's been calling nonstop for two days. So I'm begging you here Kate. Please."
"You pay me back today."
"Sure."
"Hello? Me? Oh, I am Tony's wife. Uh, yes. We got married a few years ago," Kate answers the phone making me laugh softly at this conversation. She moves the phone away from her mouth and whispers to Tony, "We have kids?" When Tony nodes yes she moves the phone back to her mouth, "Two."
"Mummy, dad ate my food," I whine like a little child making them give me a look.
"Hold on," Kate says to the lady on the phone before turning to me and saying, "Shut up, mummy's on the phone."
"But he ate my food. My food, what am I to eat know?"
"Shh," Kate shushes me before turning back to the phone, "Yes. And we're very, very happy. So please don't call back again," Kate snaps at the lady before ending the call. She hands the phone back to Tony while saying, "I feel like I need a shower."
"Pay the lady, probie," Tony orders McGee who looks annoyed.
"He bet me forty dollars he could get you to say you're his wife today," McGee explains to the glaring Kate while handing over the money.
"Tony, I'm going to kill you," Kate snaps.
"DiNozzo, pull the case file on Lieutenant Brain McAllister," Gibbs orders Tony while walking into the bullpen.
"McAllister? We going after more treasure hunters, boss?" Tony asks Gibbs.
"Treasure hunters?" McGee ask Tony in confusion.
"Before your time, probie. McAllister disappears two years ago. His family offered a million dollar reward to anyone who could find him."
"I had a few friends," Kate begins.
"Wait, back up," I exclaim while cutting Kate off and almost hitting my hand on Gibbs computer because of my giant hand movements, I continue to exclaim in fake surprise, "You have a few friends? You have a friend? That's it, life as we now it is over."
"I had a few friends in the secret service who used to work that case on the weekends," Kate continues while glaring at me in annoyance and attempts to hit my shoulder but I move away from her quickly and hide behind Gibbs.
"Did you know this? Any of you? Kate thinks she has friends, isn't that cute?"
"I do have friends."
"Yeah, right. The last person you thought was your friend, she handed you over to the FBI. Before that, well everyone seen you breast and let's leave it out that. That's not friends that is people who tolerated you."
"I do have friends," Kate hisses at me while I just stick my tongue out at her.
"It was the holy grail for every amateur detective on the east coast, Kate," Tony exclaims while moving us back onto the topic at hand and not our family spat.
"So what happened?" McGee asks us.
"Nothing – icicle cold," I explain to him.
"Nothing – cold case," Tony answers him at the same time as me.
"Not anymore," Gibbs informs us while playing the TV.
"Thousands have searched for the heir to the McAllister Industries' fortune. Each hoping to collect the one million dollar reward offered by his famous family. Today, private investigator Monroe Cooper believes he's one step closer to solving the mystery. Mister Cooper, is it true that you have finally found Brain McAllister?" Cindy Ames, a report, ask the private investigator who is wearing a brunch coat. I click the TV off before we can hear his answer.
"Who. Whoa. Boss, that was… that was Monroe Cooper! The man who can solve the unsolvable he's a… a famous detective," McGee stutters out while Gibbs just glares at him.
"Do I look like I care, McGee?" Gibbs ask him while lifting his eyebrows in question while waiting for an answer.
"No."
"Grab your gear. We're going to black lake," Gibbs orders us while grabbing his gear and leading us to the elevator.
"You owe me fifty dollars," I inform Gibbs while waiting on the elevator to reach the ground floor.
"Why?"
"Tony got Kate to say she is his wife… with children."
"Fine," Gibbs states while leaving the elevator and walking over to the van and pulling out his wallet to hand me, my winnings.
"You two bet on that?" Kate screeches like a banshee,
"Kate," I state without answering her but I do take the money to place in my pocket.
"When?"
"Monday. Lunch, I bet him by end of week you while say that you are married to Tony, Gibbs said you while say you have more self-respect. Double or nothing for with kids. And guess who knows you better?"
"What won't you bet on?" Kate hisses at me when we arrive at the van. I get in the back with McGee while Gibbs, Tony and Kate climb in front.
"The size of your breast, I now they are unimpressive. But beside that, anything. Why you want in, you can have in."
"I'm good," Kate states while pulling up the old case on her PDA while Gibbs takes off at high speeds like normal. Is it bad that I thing that high speed and sudden stops are normal and people driving different confuses me and I want to hit them to make them drive right? Nope, everyone just doesn't know how to drive.
"No you really ain't. Gibbs, Kate's delusional."
"Children," Gibbs snaps making us shut up this childish fight.
"Why are you reading up on a maybe-murdered-victim-dead-lieutenant-person?" I question Kate while looking over her shoulder through the hole behind the middle seat that is so the back people can see out front.
"Because," Kate snaps at me.
"What does it say?" Gibbs demand of Kate while ignoring my way of explaining the victim.
"Lieutenant Brain McAllister, graduated Annapolis in ninety-seven, third in his class. He vanished somewhere between October fourth and the seventh, two thousand and two. No leads."
"That's so sad, not evening having someone notice your missing, so we only have an estimate of his disappearance," I state in all seriousness and wondering if I were to go missing, if something happened to me, would someone even notice quickly or would I only have an estimate myself.
"Thing I don't get id why a guy worth millions would join the military in the first place," Tony comments.
"The princes of England joins the army in England. The queen joined the army in world war two. Is this spoiled brat more important than them?"
"You think money has anything to do with patriotism, DiNozzo?" Gibbs snaps at him before he can answer me.
"No, I'm just saying if I were rich, you know, I would do nothing," Tony defends himself or at least tries to but it just makes him a jerk instead of a dick.
"I thought your parents were loaded," Kate comments while looking up from her PDA in confusion at that bomb shell that Tony isn't rich.
"They are."
"Si why do you work for the government then?"
"Because they what their son would do with the money," Gibbs states.
"Would you give this idiot a large sum of money?" I overlap Gibbs in confusion at Kate's stupidity while pointing to Tony.
"I can't even get an advance on the will, Kate," Tony complains almost in a whine.
"Hey, McGee!" Gibbs calls back to McGee.
"Yeah, boss?" McGee ask while perking up like a puppy and moves to the window in the wall to be able to see Gibbs while making me move back.
"What about that private dick, Cooper?"
"Yeah. Uh… he's a former NYPD detective, works mostly for4 insurance companies and celebrities now. He makes a lot of money solving cases like this. Guy's a… he's kind of a cross between Columbo and Sherlock Holmes," McGee reports right before Gibbs hits a pothole in the road, making McGee and I fall over in the back of the van where there is no seatbelts.
"You know, we really should get a seat belt back there," Kate comments, right before Tony's hand disappears between her legs for no reason, "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm looking for my fork," Tony defends himself.
"Well I can guarantee you… it is not there!"
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"Hurry it up, probie," Tony orders McGee who is dressed in full geek clothing meaning plastic overalls and gumboots. Tony has grabbed both his and McGee's bag out of the van while I grabbed mine and Gibbs.
"You sure this is necessary? I kind of feel like a dork," McGee complains while stepping down from the van onto the ground.
"You are a dork," I state while looking through Gibbs bag.
"No, no, no, no. Bad move," Tony exclaims when he sees McGee grab a book.
"What?" McGee asks him in confusion.
"If Gibbs catches you reading instead of working, you're history."
"It's almost as bad as touching his coffee," I add while looking at McGee like he is an idiot for not knowing thing already.
"It's not for reading. I'm hoping I can get Detective Cooper to sign it. The lead character in the book is based on him," McGee defends himself.
"Please, please don't piss yourself in fanboy- Stalker mode. I don't need to smell like piss all day."
"'Celebrity PI?' never heard of it. No!" Tony snaps while throwing the book back into the van.
"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it. There's no pictures in it," McGee mumbles but we hear him anyway.
"Did you say something, probie?"
"Yeah. I'm not a dork."
"Whatever you say, sponge bob," Tony comments at we walk over to Kate, Gibbs, another man, by the name of Lester, and a man by the name of Charlie, who is hoisting up the car from the milky grave it was in.
"Take it slow now, Charlie!" Lester orders Charlie.
"I think it's safe to say that car's not going to run again," Tony comments.
"All right, hold it right there."
"All right, Kate," Gibbs asks Kate who is comparing the numberplate to the numberplate in the report on her PDA.
"The Lieutenant's tags, Gibbs," Kate reports.
"Contractions, looks like you found your missing sailor," Kester congregates us.
"Not yet," I state while walking around the car to look in the window.
"I think you'll find that pile of bones is McAllister, Special Agent," Cooper cockily states.
"Gibbs. And I'll wait for my MW to determine that," Gibbs states.
"Oh of course. Monroe Cooper," Cooper says while handing Gibbs his card but I snatch it out of his hand to read it.
"'The man who solves the unsolvable,'" I read off.
"So you've heard of me?"
"Wouldn't bet your life on it. No deflate your big head before it contaminates the crime scene, it's written on your card. Fuckwit," I state while waving the card in his face.
"My publicist's idea…"
"Now why don't I believe that?"
"Works great with the yokels."
"How'd you track this vehicle to Black Lake?" Gibbs demands of him while ignoring his story for the card.
"Leg work. Luck. My gut."
"Does it say that on your card, too?"
"I have a policy, agent Gibbs. You chare information with me, and I share it with you. We have a deal?"
"That kind of goes against my policy, Cooper."
"Which is?"
"Throw people in jail who obstruct my investigations. And throw the key away," I state.
"Uh-huh. I'll try to keep that in mind."
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"Well the dental records are conclusive, Jethro. This is our missing Lieutenant," Ducky informs us that night in autopsy after confirming the victim's ID.
"Any idea how he died?" Gibbs ask him.
"After two years in the water? Difficult to day. Do you suspect foul play?"
"Oh, you know me, Duck. I suspect everything."
"Yes, an admirable trait in an investigator. And also the reason your three marriages ended in divorce."
"Oh yeah? All these years I thought it was because I was a custard."
"Well, of course, that didn't help. There is evidence of hairline fracture on the frontal lobe of the skull."
"Cause?" I ask him while looking at the fracture.
"Well, it's consistent with most vehicle accidents, possibly from contact with the steering column."
"What about drugs?"
"Well, in this state, a toxicological screen would be useless. However, drug are a possibility."
"Too many of those, Duck. Too many," Gibbs states his complaints about this case.
"Well, my current opinion is that Lieutenant McAllister met with a tragic accident. Most likely he drowned."
"Keep looking," Gibbs orders him while placing his hand on my back to lead me out of the autopsy while leaving Ducky to work.
"I hate it in there at night," I complain while walking into the elevator.
"I know but we have to work this case," Gibbs reminds me while we were down there in the first place.
"I know, he deserves the quickest time to solve his case, he has waited long enough but it still scares me."
"Well, you shouldn't have to return to autopsy tonight unless Ducky finds something."
"I don't know if I want him to find something or not. Does that make me a bad person?" I ask Gibbs while tearing up at the very thought of being a bad person, because I try so hard to be a good person.
"No," Gibbs answers me while pulling me into a hug and rubs the back of my head with his left head. He softly whispers into my ear, "You are not a bad person. You're just scared."
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"What do we have?" Gibbs ask everyone as we walk into the lab the next morning to see Tony, Kate, McGee and Abby already there.
"Ah hey boss. I found a suitcase in back. Looks like he packed enough for about a weekend. Dive team will be back with the stuff from the debris field in a few hours," Tony reports to Gibbs.
"Abs?"
"The brake lines are corroded, but they're intact. Something's stuck," Abby reports from her spot under the car on a rolling board. She continues to talk while putting it out, "Whoa," She exclaims while rolling out with a fish on her chest. "Hey, Kate. I've got a present for you. I think it's one of your ex-boyfriends."
"It's a cold fish! Get it, Kate?" Tony exclaims.
"Can't be one of her ex-boyfriends, I mean yes it is in the same state as them but it's too good looking for her," I comment making her glare at me after glaring at Tony.
"I don't think this was an accident. It's a bullet," McGee comments while pulling the bullet out of the door.
"McAllister was murdered," Gibbs and I declared at the same time.
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"Your speakers are broken," Gibbs comments as I turn Abby's sound off, because that can't be called music.
"Oh, Gibbs. That was the best part of the song," Abby replies making us give her a disbelieving look.
"Correction. Your ears are broken."
"What do you mean her ears? I blame the brain instead. What did the divers find?" I ask her while looking at her like she has two heads and neither is very bright because of the sound she listens too.
"Actually, it's like what didn't they find. My theory is they're getting paid by the piece. They recovered everything within a twenty meter radius of the vehicle. Sunglasses, goofballs, Rick James eight track, typewriter. I didn't see any point in bring the Maytag up from the evidence lockup," Abby rambles.
"Anything to do with the case?" Gibbs questions her.
"As a matter of fact, found directly beneath the vehicle," Abby informs us while walking over to the table to show us the phone that was found.
"What about the bullet we brought up from the wreck last night?" I ask her.
"Forty five calibre, two hundred and thirty grain hardball. Lots and lots of stopping power. The grooving matches a colt forty-five, old school military version."
"Did you work up a trajectory, yet?" Gibbs asks her.
"Of course. The bullet's entry angle into the side of the door is obvious as Anna implants."
"Who?"
"You know, married that old guy? Had a TV show? Got fat, got thin, got fact, got thin, fat, thin…"
"Stop! Please," I beg of her while her smile gets bigger, "Do you ever not smile? It's creepy. And unnatural."
"So using that angle, I back-traced the trajectory. The bullet travelled on this path. So unless he was driving with his feet from the backseat, which is something that I have tried but do not recommend," Abby rambles while showing us the trajectory on a computer animation program.
"Abby?" Gibbs states.
"The wound had to have gone through McAllister's body."
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"It's entirely possible, Jethro, Alice, but if Abby's animation is correct, the bullet passed clean through the thoracic cavity. Unfortunately, without leaving any evidence of its passing," Ducky informs us when we arrived in autopsy.
"Hell of a shot," I comment.
"Yes."
"The vehicle had to be going over seventy to end up where we found it in the lake," Gibbs comments.
"Well, at that speed a bullet passing through the ribcage without so much as glancing a single bone… huh! A hell of a shot, indeed."
"More like impossible."
"Thank you, Ducky," I add before we turned and leave autopsy.
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"Lieutenant McAllister was last seen in Norfolk on a Friday. Then found three hundred miles away in Black Lake, Virginia. Which would make sense if he was heading here to the McAllister Family compound in Shenandoah," Kate reports while pointing the spots out on the plasma screen.
"SO he was heading home for the weekend?" McGee ask her.
"Another twenty miles and he would have made it, McGee."
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs orders him to report with the one word.
"McAllister's military records are spotless, boss. Been running background on his family. Mother died in ninety three. Father passed away in to thousand two… three months after the Lieutenant disappeared. The only surviving next of kin is this guy," Tony reports while pulling up a photo of a good looking man.
"He's hot," I comment while cutting Tony off making Gibbs glare that the photo of the man without me noticing but Kate does.
"Thomas McAllister, his younger brother. Washed out of Annapolis freshman year. Arrested a bunch of times for suspected DWI and marijuana possession. Never convicted," Tony continues.
"Figures, the rich never are," Kate comments while giving me a look for my comment.
"What, you can't say you have a problem with looking at him," I defend myself.
"Even richer now, Kate. He inherited everything. He's currently the CEO of his own airline," Tony continues to report.
"The Good Son and the Bad Seed," McGee states.
"Very Biblical," Kate states.
"The Navy notified him last night about his brother. CACO said he took it pretty well," Tony informs us.
"Lunch!" An NCIS worker calls out while bring a trolley full of food into the bullpen.
"Oh, thank you. I took the liberty of ordering lunch today," Kate excitedly says.
"I'm not eating that," I cut her off while looking at the bag of mostly likely healthy poison.
"Something healthy for once. There you are. They're tofu veggie wraps," Kate continues while handing the boys the food but she hands me a burger knowing I while make her buy me something unhealthy because I can't and won't eat it. Tony sniffs the food and pulls a face, Kate continues again, "They're good, Tony. Abby and I eat them all the time."
"DiNozzo, track down the bad seed. I want to know what he was doing around the time of his brother disappeared," Gibbs orders him.
"Yeah, I already set up an interview for later this afternoon, Boss," Tony reports to Gibbs.
"Take Kate. McGee, contact Cooper. I want to know how he found that vehicle."
"So we're going to cooperate with him?" McGee asks us.
"Fuck no, if we fight with the job of working with Fornell and the FBI. Why the hell would we work with some random bloke?" I ask him while questioning if he has a brain in the pin head.
"He's going to cooperate with me," Gibbs adds.
"I'll be right back. I'm just going to run this down to Abby. Enjoy," Kate say while smile. Tony takes a bit of the 'food' but spits it in the bin and they all throw their food out, as I take a big bit of my burger.
"How did you get her to buy you that?" Tony demands of me while glaring at me yummy burger.
"I'm a bitch," I answer him.
"Yeah, but how did you get that burger."
"I'm a bitch. And she knows it."
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"He doesn't know it… yet," McGee say to Cooper as we walk into it behind him so he can't see us.
"Don't know what, McGee?" Gibbs demands making McGee jump and turn around to face us.
"What a great guy I am, Gibbs," Cooper answers him.
"That's yet to be seen," I mumble before inquiring of him, "You ready to tell us how you found McAllister?"
"You ready to tell me what you pulled out of his car and his corpse?"
"Depends," Gibbs states.
"On what?"
"How bad you want that million dollar reward," I state while following Gibbs over to his desk.
"Oh, considering how I don't collect 'til you put the murderer behind bars, oh, you got me but the short hairs here Gibbs, ma'am. Yeah. I figured the Lieutenant headed home that weekend. But the back road that he liked to drive… I think it was washed out. Here, take a look at these weather patterns. I spent nine weeks getting these from the National Weather Service. Every Doppler readout, every satellite image I could find. Pocket of storms, real tight, near the road," Cooper explains while handing us the reports he used.
"Enough to swell that creek alongside?" McGee asks him.
"Yeah, but only on that side of the mountain, kid. My educated guess? I think McAllister doubled back, took this road to the other side where the storm hadn't reached yet. See, the locals only use that road when there are bad storms."
"It's right along Black Lake, Boss."
"I figured if somebody wanted to kill him, they had to know the road and the weather the way McAllister did. And they'd have to know he was coming. Am I right?"
"Don't even say it if you want to live!" Kate snaps at Tony while placing her stuff at her desk.
"What did Tomas McAllister have to say?" Gibbs demands of Tony and Kate who is bickering like a couple of five-year-olds.
"He hadn't heard fr5om his brother in three months."
"Definitely hiding something, boss," Tony taps on making Kate jump to his defence.
"My best guess, it was grief. There's no wat he's involved, Gibbs."
"Abby, what do you have?" I ask her as she walks into the squad room.
"The last three calls that came in on the phone from the lake were all made in Friday, October fourth," Abby informs us.
"Yeah?" Gibbs asks her to continue with that one word.
"And they were all from his brother, Tomas McAllister. Sorry, Kate."
"So, Kate's boyfriends isn't as innocent as she thinks," I say in the tone of voice one uses on a small child.
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"This McAllister family's got more skeletons than a North Korean prison camp, Gibbs. That's everything I turned up. Six months of leg work. Is it okay to smoke in here, sweetheart?" Cooper say while placing file boxes on the table in the garage and pulling out a cigar to light up before thinking to ask Kate and I if that is okay.
"It's Agent Todd, and no, Detective Cooper. It's a federal office building," Kate answers him snidely.
"It's a wonder you guys catch anybody working under these conditions," Cooper complains while Gibbs and I look through his files.
"We manage."
"Is this supposed to be in some sort of order?" II demand of the detective.
"The order is up here, ma'am. And I'll be glad to lay it out for you once you tell me what you found in that wreck," Cooper explains to me while taping his head so I understand where the order is.
"Lieutenant McAllister was shot," Gibbs states.
"How many times?"
"At least once," Kate answers him this time.
"You get the round?"
"It was recovered from the passenger-side door," I state.
"Uh-huh. Pistol, huh? Rifle would go clear through."
"Forty five," Gibbs and I state together.
"Ah. Car must have been stopped. He was approached, but not alarmed. Know his attacker? One shot, point blank. Bam. Poor sap never saw it coming. You know how, Gibbs. Want to know why?" Cooper asks Gibbs as the elevator opens to show Tony and McGee inside with a giant board to help workout the case.
"Ow! Angle your end down, Probie," Tony orders McGee while they attempted to remove the board from the lift area.
"I told you we should have taken the legs off," McGee complains to Tony.
"Ow! OE! I said down! What does Cooper need this thing for anyway?"
"He's old school. It's part of his process. He was solved every case he's taken on, Tony. How many detectives do you know with a hundred percent batting average?"
"Gibbs?" I answer McGee while he and Tony struggle to move the table so they can place the board there.
"You mean besides Gibbs?" Tony overlaps me. They place the board in place making Tony exclaim, "Finally."
"Change of plans. We're doing this upstairs," Gibbs orders them while we step into the elevator leaving them to have to move the board back up to the squad room.
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"Elaine McAllister, the mother, into the occult in a big way. Psychic, séances, all that weird sh," Cooper explains in the squad room while pointing out which player he is talking about but stops his word when he see Gibbs is glaring at him from his spot at his desk with me sitting behind him and Kate is giving him a look from her spot at her desk. He quickly changes it to, "stuff. She dies in ninety three, the family falls apart."
"How?" Gibbs demand of him.
"The old man. He took it pretty hard. He decided he was going to contact the dead wife. Starts neglecting the family business."
"What do you mean by make contact?" I demand of him in confusion.
"He consults this space cadet, Saleena Lockhart. Claimed to be a psychic."
"I've heard of her. She used to have that tabloid astrology column," Kate exclaims.
"I don't buy it," Tony comments.
"Astrology?"
"No you reading tabloids."
"No, it means you reading," I comment over the top of Tony making Tony give me a look for calling him an 'it.'
"She weasels her way into the old man's life. Next thing you know she's practically running it. McAllister Avionics starts to slide until it's almost bankrupt by two thousand," Cooper continues to report to us.
"How much money did he leave her?" Gibbs and I ask him together.
"You're quick, both of you. Almost ten million. He changed his will two weeks after the Lieutenant went missing. The surviving brother, still fighting it in court."
"She's kind of like Anna Nicole," Tony comments.
"Who?"
"That's what I said. McGee, run a background on this whack job. I want to know where she is right now," Gibbs orders him.
"On it, boss," McGee answers while moving over to his desk to do it.
"I know what you're thinking. She didn't do it, Gibbs. This is a smoking gun. Thomas McAllister has a plan to save the family's fortune. He wanted to get out of avionics and into his own airline. And it's a good plan, but it involved leveraging every remaining asset the McAllister's had. The brother didn't agree."
"The lieutenant was cashing out of the company?" I ask him.
"And going his own way. This is the contract divesting him of all family business."
"How'd you get this?" Gibbs demands while reading the contract while I read over his shoulder.
"You don't want to know. What you want to do is look at the date."
"October fifth, two thousand and two," I read.
"The weekend he vanished. Luckily for the little brother, he didn't sign the contract."
"I don't believe in luck," Gibbs states.
"Neither do I. so when are you bringing McAllister in?"
"We're not," I state.
"What?! But it's all there! Motive, opportunity, the calls on the Lieutenant's cell phone."
"When you were a cop, did you let civilians lay out your cases?" Gibbs demands of him.
"Or did you work them yourself?" I add making the detective give us a look.
"NCIS has had this case for two years. How long am I supposed to wait?" Cooper demands of us angrily.
"'Till we're done!"
You are looking for the reward," Gibbs states.
"We're looking for the murderer."
"Thomas McAllister is you man, trust me!" Cooper exclaims.
"Trust is earned, not giving."
"I don't trust anyone either. Kate, how is your rapport with McAllister?" Gibbs explains to the detective.
"She's got more than a rapport, boss," Tony jumps in.
"Well, good. Call him. You're having dinner with him tonight."
"What if he says no?" Kate asks Gibbs.
"The way he was looking at you? I think you're going to be the one saying no," Tony exclaims.
"McGee, you find my psychic yet?" Gibbs demands.
"I have her business address. It's a TV talk show set in D.C. She's there now," McGee reports.
"DiNozzo, Alice, you're with me."
"Hey Cooper! I trust you can find your way out," I yell to the detective while walking to the elevator.
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"You believe in any of this psychic stuff?" Tony asks us when we arrive at the sound stage of the 'psychic' show.
"No, you?" Gibbs states.
"Not possible," I answer Tony overtop of Gibbs.
"Ah, used one on a case in Baltimore once. Lead is right to this kidnapped five years old girl," Tony proudly exclaims.
"Is that a fact?" Gibbs asks him.
"Yeah. How do you explain it?" Tony asks Gibbs.
Simple. She was probably in on it."
"So what your saying is that you failed to do your job, and then let a hack do it for you? And you let a kidnapper 'help' find the victim?" I ask Tony in disgust for his ability to do his job.
"Rolling," An assistants calls out as we walk up to her.
"Special Agent Gibbs, Alice, DiNozzo, NCIS. We're looking to find Saleena Lockhart," Gibbs inform the assistant while we all show her our IDs.
"Yeah, she's inside, but you can't go," The assistant makes the mistake of telling us that, we all barge into the room making the assistant call after us, "Hey! Hey, wait! They're still shooting! Damn!"
"And your grandfather wants you to know that he will always be with you, Sally. Always," Saleena, tells the women sitting across from her in the recording room. Sally begins to cry while applause is animated by a computer somewhere else giving the impression that there is an audience.
"Thank you so much, Saleena," Sally cry's to the 'psychic'.
"And remember, look and you shall see, listen and you will hear. Our departed loved one still have much to teach us," Saleena say making the applause play through the room again./
"Huh. You think this is how they do it on the Oprah show?" Tony asks us.
"Never believe what you see on TV," Gibbs states.
"What? Are you saying sex isn't as good as the porn makes it look?" I ask Gibbs in fake fear. Gibbs gives me a look that just say we while talk.
"No," Tony laughs at me making me pout before adding, "It's so much better."
"Really?"
"Until next time, I'm Saleena Lockhart," Saleena says to the camera.
"And cut!" the stage manager calls out.
"Look and you shall see," Saleena snaps after the bells signalling that the camera is off. She continues bitching, "Spelled S-E-A? What kind of third grader is writing these cue cards!?"
"Just give us ten minutes and we'll shoot it again."
"I am financing this pilot with my own money. I can't afford another of your ten minutes!"
"If anybody needs me, I'll be in craft service," Sally inform them while leaving.
"Make sure you save some for the rest of the crew. What!?"
"There are two guys here to see you. I tried to stop them. Sorry," the assistant tells her making me glare at him because I'm here to, dam it.
"What am I invisible?" I mumble with a pout.
"Special Agents," Gibbs starts.
"Gibbs and DiNozzo from NCIS. How may I help you?" Saleena cuts Gibbs off.
"You're the psychic. You tell me," I snidely say because she failed to mention me, I'm not invisible.
"Brain McAllister. You found his remains in Black river."
"Wow, she's good, Boss," Tony exclaims in surprise.
"It's on the News, DiNozzo," Gibbs reminds him.
"It's on the news, Idiot," I exclaim at the same time as Gibbs.
"I told Brain's father that I felt Brain was in a cold, dark place," Saleena informs us.
"You can say that. He was murdered," Gibbs states.
"Yes. Yes, he told me."
"Who?" Tony ask her in confusion.
"Brain. We connect through a passage on the other side."
"Passage? That's what you call it?" I ask her in disbelief.
"You look sceptical. Oh, that's okay. You don't have to believe."
"So did he tell you who did it?" Tony demands of her.
"It doesn't work that way, Agent DiNozzo. Can I get a green tea, please?"
"How does it work?" Gibbs demands of her.
"Well, I get impressions, feelings. I don't get specific details."
"Do you have any feeling about his father including you in his will?" I demand of her.
"I didn't ask him."
"I'm not psychic, but considering he was a fighter pilot, I'd say he'd be pretty pissed off about it," Gibbs comments.
"Your point, Agent Gibbs?"
"Where were you the weekend that Lieutenant McAllister was murdered?" I demand of her.
"Luray. Luray Caverns. I was hosting a spiritual retreat."
"Luray? Hey boss, isn't that about fifteen miles from Black Lake?" Tony ask Gibbs in fake surprise.
"Can you tell me what I'm thinking now, Miss Lockhart?" Gibbs asks her.
"I don't have to be a psychic to tell that. Could we discuss this outside pleaser? Your energy is disrupting my set. Thank you," Saleena snaps at us politely while leading us to the sound stage. "Look, I had nothing to do with Brain's disappearance. You should talk to his brother," Saleena informs us once we arrive.
"Yah?" Gibbs ask her.
"Why's that?" I add.
"Thomas was the black sheep, and he hated Brain. I may be many things, Agent Gibbs, but I am not a murderer," Saleena snaps Gibbs while ignoring me making me glare at her in anger, I AM NOT INVISABLE.
"But you talk to dead people," Gibbs states.
"I have over a dozen people who can verify my whereabouts on that weekend. One of them is a senator."
"We're need their names," Tony comments.
"My lawyer will get them to you. Now, is there something else I can do for you?" Saleena asks us right as a red dot appears on her head. Gibbs reacts by pulling her to the ground, as Tony and I drop to the ground ourselves, as a series of gunshots ring out and hit right where we were standing just a moment before. Tony grabs his gun and returns fire, one damages the back window of the jeep where the bullets come from.
"You didn't seed that coming, did you?" Gibbs comments.
"Son of a bitch," Tony exclaims while holstering his gun in anger for the vehicle getting away.
"Did you get a license number?" Gibbs demands of Tony from his spot where he is protecting Saleena. Gibbs looks over to me to see I'm shaking in fear because the shots remind me of being locked in autopsy with Ari, I barely notice what is happening around me. Gibbs moves over to where I am kneeling and pulls me into his arms without commenting.
"Yeah, I got one," Tony answers without commenting on my state.
"That's a good job, Tony," Gibbs complements him while standing me up and checking I'm okay, physically at least. He whispers to me, "Come on, let's go back to the office."
"Are you alright, baby?" Gibbs ask me once he sat me in the front seat of the car. "Come on talk to me."
"I… I… I'm alright," I stutter out.
"What's going through your beautiful head, baby?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me."
"I was back in autopsy with Gerald and Ducky and Kate and Ari. When does it stop?"
"When Ari's dead. And he will be dead," Gibbs answers me while making the promise to me.
"You promise."
"Yeah. Come on let's go back to the office. And catch this basted. Have you talked to someone about that night?"
"I called Rachel, she didn't answer."
"Who?"
"My older sister. She's a psychologist. She doesn't like me."
"I'm sure she does. If you need to talk, my door is always unlocked," Gibbs say to me while I turn around and Gibbs clips my into the front seat making Tony have to get into the back seat once he is finished flirting and giving us a private moment for Gibbs to take care of me.
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"It's definitely from a forty-five round, guys. Just give me a sec to line up the rifling patterns," Abby informs us while working on the bullets that we pulled out of the cavern behind the psychic as we all stand around in the lab.
"You run the plates?" Gibbs ask her.
"Came back stolen."
"Figures," Tony comments.
"The marking are a match. It's from the same pistol that killed Lieutenant McAllister two years ago."
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"Why don't we just drag McAllister in for questioning, boss?" Tony ask Gibbs as we all walk around the stairs to the squid room.
"Because his lawyers make more in one hour than you make all week," Gibbs comments while taking a sip of his coffee.
"That's an excellent point. So you're saying I deserve a raise?" Tony asks us but we just give him a look that says 'not going to happen,' so he adds, "Or not."
"We need more than circumstantial evidence to take McAllister down," I inform him.
"I agree. But what do we get out of Kate going on a date with him?"
"A day of silence."
"No, I get to search his house for that Colt Forty-five without him knowing," Gibbs corrects me.
"But I want silence."
"And if it turns out he's our murderer?" Tony ask Gibbs while smiling at my whin for silence.
"That's why you're going with her," Gibbs orders him.
"I'm meeting him at the airport in twenty minutes, Gibbs," Kate informs Gibbs while we walk into the squad room and over to our desk. Kate straps a gun onto her leg under her black dress with brown lines on it.
"Hey, I need you to distract him for at least two hours so we can search his house."
"Shouldn't be a problem. He already invited me to dinner," Kate informs us while walking out from behind his desk and move to in front of Tony's desk and asking, "So, how do I look?"
"Eh," Tony answers her.
"What do you mean, eh?"
"I mean… yeah. You look fine. What's wrong with fine?"
"I'm going for hot here, Tony."
"Well, in that case, do you mind?" Tony ask while walking around to mess with Kate, giving her the messy sexy look that he likes.
"Boss, I go the search warrant," McGee exclaims.
"Yeah, you're with me. Get you things," Gibbs orders him while grabbing his stuff and handing my mine without a word.
You, no that… that is hot," Tony comments once he is done with Kate.
"Are you two done playing dress-up?"
"Done," Tony and Kate exclaim together.
"All right. I want a comm check in fifteen minutes."
"On it," Kate states.
"Hey Kate, you looked better the other way," Gibbs comments making Kate clean herself up, back to how she was before. We all get into the elevator and I turn to Tony.
"If my sister so much as has a hair missing, I will make your life hell," I promise him.
"Yes ma'am," Tony says sarcastically as the door opens on another level making me have to step back for someone else to get on. I accidently hit Tony in his balls while giving the new people room, making him double over and drive my point home.
"My sister gets hurt, you get hurt. Whatever happens to my sister, happens to you," I hiss into his ear.
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"Uh… boss? Where are we going?" McGee ask Gibbs who is leading us around the McAllister house at night.
"We're going around back, McGee," Gibbs informs him. Once we're around back McGee rattles the door knob but finds it is locked.
"It's locked, boss."
"Well, yeah, McGee."
"That's kind of the point of having doors," I add before turning to Gibbs and adding, "You can learn from this guy. Lock your doors."
"The last two times I encountered a situation like this, Tony threw a window Kate climbed in a second story window," McGee states while looking for an open window.
"Huh. You don't say," Gibbs states while picking the lock.
"Well, ain't they amateurs," I comment while watching Gibbs pick the lock and almost laying on his back to see better.
"Let's go," Gibbs orders while opening the door and leading us inside.
We move through the rooms in the house when we arrive in the office. Gibbs quickly opens the door once to see that someone is in the room.
"NCIS!" Gibbs calls out while we point our guns at the unknown person.
"Hey, do you mind?" Cooper asks us with a cigar hanging out of his mouth while I point my flash light in his face.
"Cooper, what are you doing here?" Gibbs demands of him while hitting the light switch to turn the light on.
"Same thing you are."
"We have a warrant," I snap at him. "You don't."
"Are you going to arrest me?"
"It depends," Gibbs answers him without answering.
"On what?"
"What you found," Gibbs and I answers him.
"I'm hoping a million dollars. I checked all the local counties. Thomas McAllister doesn't own any handguns. But his old man? Bit of a gun nut. Even owns a Colt Forty-five," Cooper explains while showing us the gun collection.
"Recently fired," Gibbs comments after looking over the gun.
"Gibbs, Kate's with him," I hiss in fear while gripping my flash light tighter.
"I know, she while be fine. Tony's with her," Gibbs tells me while pulling out his phone to ring Tony. He orders Tony, "Tony… take him down."
"Is she ok?"
"Yeah, she's a fighter. If she survived Ari, she can survive this."
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"Are you okay?" Gibbs ask Kate as we walk into the lab.
"I'm fine," Kate lies.
"You don't look fine," I state before adding, "Do you want coffee? Coffee fixes everything."
"No I don't want coffee."
"You sure?"
"I hope I'm getting overtime for this Gibbs, because I'm missing my cousin's birthday," Abby informs us while comparing the bullets.
"Were they a match?" Gibbs ask her without commenting.
"It's the same weapon that killed the Lieutenant and shot up the makeup trailer today.,"
"Thanks Abby," I say to her with a smile and walk out of the lab with Gibbs.
"Abby, I need you out here! Now! How much time did you spend on this door?" Gibbs ask Abby once she arrives in the lab out of the office in back.
"Um… enough to get the bullet's trajectory. I was going to test for metal fatigue and age in the morning," Abby reports with a smile.
"Do it tonight."
"Please. We really don't want a grump Caitlin," I add.
"Why?" Abby Questions Gibbs while smiling at me. Gibbs gives her the look that says 'don't question me,' so she adds, "I mean, I'll have it for you in thirty minutes, sir."
"Kate will help," Gibbs adds.
"I am so sorry, Abby. You have to deal with it," I state while stepping out of the room so Kate can't retaliate.
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"I'm sure you hear this a lot. I'm innocent, agent Gibbs, Todd," Thomas say to Gibbs and me while we walk into the interrogation room.
"We know," I state.
"You're free to go, Mister Allister," Gibbs adds.
"Thank you for your time though."
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"It's not enough I do your job for you, now you want to arrest me for it?" Cooper demands of us once we placed him in integration for a bit of time while we finished looking for proof.
"Ah, we do own you for find our missing Lieutenant for us, Copper," I state while sitting down on the chair.
"The problem is, it isn't murder," Gibbs adds while sitting in the second chair that is in this integration room.
"Gibbs me a break, Gibbs. You saw the evidence," Cooper snaps.
"I did. Brain McAllister died in a car accident. Tragic but it happens," I state.
"The bullet fired into his car wasn't from two years age," Gibbs continues.
"The metal around the impact was only recently exposed to water."
"Two weeks sound about right to you?"
"What's this got to do with me?" Cooper demands of us.
"The reward was offered for finding the Lieutenant's killer. In order to collect, you had to manufacture one."
"I didn't know what the hell you're talking about."
"It might have worked. We would have found that gun eventually. But you just couldn't wait. What are you going to do with the money, Cooper?" I ask him.
"Hmm? Gambling debts?" Gibbs ask him.
"Retirement?"
"Taking those shots at Saleena Lockhart. That was overkill. Too bad we caught you putting it back."
"Yeah? Good luck proving it," Cooper says cockily.
"Ok, I will. This is an Instant shoot ID kit. It'll tell me if you fired a gun recently," Gibbs explain to him while I hand him the kit. He gets out of his chair and walks around the PI.
"Swab away, Gibbs. There's no gun residue on these hands," Cooper states while holding his hand out. I grab his arm and hold it down while Gibbs pulls the swab out to swab the private dick.
"Ok, a private dick like you… I'll bet you were wearing gloves," I comment.
"I figure any man who solves the unsolvable needs a trademark. And I'm betting yours is that tacky trench coat."
"You probably never take it off, huh? Not even for sex or murder," I comment as Gibbs swabs the coat and then I remove my hands off him and wipe my hands on my jeans in disgust.
"If this comes up blue, I've got you for attempted murder," Gibbs comments while watching the swab turn blue. Gibbs adds, "Good luck trying to collect that million dollars. Get up," Gibbs orders him while cuffing him.
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"You think that's going to last?" I ask Gibbs while nodding over to Kate flirting with Thomas.
"Maybe," Gibbs answers me.
"That's not an answer."
"It's my answer."
"And here I thought she was married to Tony."