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Tim was able to prove Marina's friend Lisette was on the surveillance tapes at a hospital more than half an hour from the crime scene at the time of the murder and the camera on the ambulance didn't have her leaving the vehicle for any length of time that would allow her to move or dispose of a body. It was more difficult to eliminate her from the list of Carter's potential mistresses but she wasn't one of the women seen caught on the surveillance footage of any of the motels while Carter was there. She was making phone calls to a burner phone but they hadn't managed to trace it back to Carter or anyone else yet, though from it's GPS location the phone stays on the base at Quantico in the same building and close to Marina and Carter's offices.
"Her alibi for the murder stands up to scrutiny but she's ringing someone on base in that office or one of the adjoining offices, and it wasn't Marina because the calls haven't stopped but increased since we informed Lisette of the murder so I don't think it is Carter either though I may be wrong, but she's definitely not the woman Carter has been meeting for the last two months. That doesn't mean he didn't have her lined up to be next or he wasn't trying to start something, just that he was taking someone else to the motels we have surveillance footage of," Tim reported.
"So what do you think?" Gibbs asked. "You're the one who met her and looked into things,"
"It wouldn't surprise me if she's in contact with someone in that office other than Carter and I think she may have met Carter through that person or recognised him from a photo or something. I don't think that Schubert introduced her to Carter, either she saw them together somewhere and recognised him or she met him when her friend Marina wasn't around, maybe even knew him before she realised that's who Schubert was seeing.
"You don't think it gets us anywhere?" Gibbs asked.
"No Boss I don't, but if we run out of other leads it might be worth bringing her in and questioning her, she might have met or know of some of Carter's other women," Tim replied.
-o0o-
"Cute 'Boy Toy' you've got yourself, McGee," Asher Balboa said teasingly as Tim got himself a 'Nutter Butter' from the vending machine. He liked the young agent and the informal protection detail they'd been asked to provide to keep Admiral McGee away from his son now made more sense. He hadn't been able to understand what Tim had done to set his father off so badly he'd hunt him down at work to attack him. He'd been looking for a way to show his approval of Tim's handling of that without drawing attention to it.
Tim had got used to the teasing and found the best way to deal with it was to sound happy about his relationship becoming public, it quickly sorted out the friendly teasing from the more dangerous attitudes and warned him who he needed to keep an eye on. He grinned at the second team leader in the bull pen. "You know financially, I'm his boy toy. But my husband is surely the most gorgeous man I've ever met, so feel free to admire from afar," he said cheekily.
Asher laughed. "He's a smart man too, to have got on Gibbs' good side, and I don't need to ask if he's legal if you've got Gibbs' approval but I'm sure he's got his hands full enough with you," he said cheerfully.
"What no words of condemnation for consorting with a Feeb?" Tim asked.
"Does Gibbs know?" Asher asked shocked.
"Sure does. Hadrian has even taken a case off him without bloodshed, he was shocked when he first recognised him as the undercover agent in that case," Tim replied. "The only member of the team who didn't approve was Abby. Of course, Hadrian's never tried to arrest any of us for murder or marry one of his ex's either, and he's still friends with Fornell, why wouldn't he like Hadrian."
Asher laughed, then sobered. "That problem with your Dad sorted out?"
Tim sighed. "It will never be totally sorted. My father would rather not have a son than have a gay son. I don't think he's going to attack me in the Navy Yard again but he's just lost out on a job posting he wanted, and Mom's staying with me until he stops shouting at her and accepts that she refuses to cut me from her life, so he's even more reason to be angry than he had that day."
"Your man puts up with his mother in law staying with you indefinitely and still brings you breakfast? He must be a saint," Asher said.
Tim smiled, "We have the space for her and the privacy that she's not living in our pockets and they get along rather well. With the children the extra babysitter is always appreciated too," he said.
"I definitely get that but I have to say that having my mother-in-law stay for months is too high a price to pay for a couple of night's a week babysitting," Asher replied.
-o0o-
"Tony, Ziva, Go and pick Commander Carter up as quietly as you can. If he is being framed we don't want rumours of his arrest damaging his career," Gibbs ordered.
"On it Boss. If I take Tim as well, we can cover all the exits and telephone him to come out to us," Tony suggested.
Gibbs looked at Tim and just said. "Go."
"It would be better if one of you called him. I was playing idiot cop to get his alibi without raising his suspicion so he won't want to come out for me," Tony said.
"You mean you were being your usual person," Ziva replied smirking.
"The correct term is usual self, Ziva, but that's not what he meant. We've all seen Tony play the idiot cop pedantically following procedures that he seems to think are ridiculous because he's too stupid to think for himself. He does it surprisingly effectively considering how good an investigator he is and it's a very useful interrogation tool," Tim corrected.
Tony looked at Tim gratefully.
"I'll call him," Ziva replied.
"When he gets here, we should act like Tony's in charge and we're following his orders unwillingly. It'll get him on the wrong foot when he arrives in interrogation," Tim suggested.
"You've been hanging out with Hadrian's BAU friends too much," Tony said teasingly.
"Perhaps, but their techniques work," Tim replied.
"Not saying they don't, but Gibbs doesn't need the help," Tony said.
"I'm not suggesting he does but it will also piss off Carter and you can't say he doesn't deserve it even if he didn't murder Schubert," Tim retorted.
Ziva and Tony laughed and agreed.
Commander Carter wasn't pleased to be asked to come downstairs in the middle of a busy work day but Ziva refused to compromise either he came down within the next five minutes or she would have the military police drag him from his office in handcuffs. He quickly agreed. Tim and Tony watched the alternate entrances in case he tried to run but he was smart enough to know that it would make things worse.
He came out and looked around. Ziva told Tony and Tim that he was coming then approached him as her team mates ran around the building to back her up. He was even less pleased to see Tony was in charge Ziva helped him into the car and Tim leaned in from the other side and handcuffed his hands in front of him before climbing in next to him.
"Thank you for calling me out of the building instead of marching me out in front of everyone, but I have to ask why?" Robert asked.
Nobody answered him. They didn't want to put the idea of being framed into his head until they could prove it one way or the other. Gibbs would kill the lot of them if they helped provide a defence for a potentially guilty suspect.
Tim's suggested tactics worked a treat and one very pissed off Commander was put into the interrogation room and left alone to stew.
-o0o-
"When did you last see Lance Corporal Schubert?" Gibbs asked.
"She left work early that day. Had some sort of medical appointment," Robert said, trying to make it sound routine and unconnected with him.
"She had an ultrasound appointment to check the progress of your unborn baby?" Gibbs replied calmly. "She told her friends that you were going to the appointment. I guess you couldn't make it but you contacted her afterwards."
"You can't prove that!" Robert states defiantly.
"We will prove that. We have the DNA of the foetus. We have warrants for your house, office, car and any other property you or your wife own. We will plaster your picture and Marina Schubert's on every news channel asking for information on your whereabouts the night of the murder," Gibbs replied. "You are going down for her murder."
"I didn't kill her!" Robert exclaimed.
"But you are the father of her baby, and you have no alibi for the time of her murder," Gibbs said.
"I was at home with my wife," Robert protested.
"You told us that, but your wife was unable to confirm your alibi," Gibbs said calmly. "In fact, she took time to make sure we understood that she couldn't. That's one pissed off Mrs."
Robert Carter turned white in fear and Gibbs wondered if it was the lack of an alibi or the fact his wife had been angry enough at him to refuse it.
"I had a late dinner with Marina but she was alive and well when I left," he protested shakily. Gibbs believed him, unwillingly.
'I believe Tim was right he probably didn't kill her, but we need to rattle him a bit more before we let him off the hook,' Gibbs thought.
"Where did you leave her?" He asked.
"The Holiday Inn in Dumfries, it's on Fettler Park Drive. I paid cash for the room. I always left first. Marina liked to take her time showering after our rendezvous," Robert said rattled.
Gibbs lifted up his phone and ordered the security footage for the motel the night in question. "You better hope it shows her alive after you left," he told the now badly frightened Commander.
Robert nodded uncertainly. He knew he'd left her alive but he didn't know if she was seen leaving. Things looked bad for him.
"Who knew about your affair?" Gibbs asked.
"Nobody, my wife can be violently jealous so I was careful," Robert admitted.
"So, you killed her to prevent your wife finding out about the affair and the baby," Gibbs observed.
"I didn't kill her!" Robert insisted.
"You weren't planning on leaving your wife for her either, were you?" Gibbs asked.
"No, we were going to have to keep it quiet until I received a transfer," Robert admitted. "Ronnie didn't want to leave this area so if I was posted somewhere she didn't like she wouldn't come with me."
"You haven't requested a transfer," Gibbs commented.
"Well no, There's no reason to now that Marina is dead," Robert replied sighing.
"She was eleven weeks pregnant. You had plenty of time to apply for a transfer before she was murdered," Gibbs said bluntly.
"She'd only just told me," Robert protested.
"Who else knew about the baby?" Gibbs asked.
"I'm sure her friends and family knew before I did. She hadn't told her work colleagues yet as far as I know," Robert replied calmly.
"You didn't ask her to keep it a secret?" Gibbs asked.
"It was too late for that and pregnancy is impossible to hide for long." Robert said.
"And yet she managed to keep it from you for nearly three months, in spite of the fact you were seeing each other and she worked in your office," Gibbs commented. "Didn't you notice the change in her behaviour? Morning sickness, giving up alcohol and cigarettes?"
"I can't say I did. She was always professional in work hours and our relationship had ended about two months ago," Robert answered slowly thinking it over.
"So you weren't together, why go to a hotel the night she was murdered?" Gibbs asked.
"I wanted to be able to talk to her without being overheard. Like I said, Ronnie is insanely jealous, I couldn't risk one of her friends seeing me with a woman at a restaurant and telling her," Robert replied.
"You had sex with Marina the night she was murdered," Gibbs retorted.
"She wanted me to. I arrived at the hotel and she was in this fancy negligee, begging for one last time. She said the pregnancy hormones were driving her crazy," Robert stammered.
Gibbs phone pinged. "Schubert seen leaving hotel half hour after Carter. Carter's car seen traveling towards his home on surveillance before she left," Tony reported.
"You're lucky that the video surveillance backs up your story, who else wanted Schubert dead?" Gibbs asked.
"I don't know, everybody liked her. She never made enemies," Robert stammered.
"Then who hates you enough to kill Schubert just so they could frame you for her murder?" Gibbs suggested.
"Nobody!" Robert exclaimed in shock.
"What about your other mistresses. Who have you been seeing since you broke up with Marina?" Gibbs asked.
"She wouldn't do this!" Robert exclaimed confidently this time.
"Wouldn't she? It's my experience that no matter how clear you thought you were about a relationship not being serious, woman don't always get the message," Gibbs asked. "Marina certainly thought that you'd break up with your current girlfriend and leave your wife for her."
"I never did anything to give her that impression," Robert protested.
"Probably not, like I said women tend to let their daydreams get in the way of reality," Gibbs reminded him. "If your current girlfriend also got the wrong idea and then found out about Marina's baby and that you were seeing her last night she might have snapped. Or you did mention that your wife gets violently jealous…"
"She wouldn't kill her," Robert protested but he sounded a lot less sure of the fact she hadn't and a whole lot like he was begging fate and any god he believed in that his wife hadn't done it.
"She doesn't have an alibi," Gibbs said.
"Yes she does, she was in bed and had taken a sleeping pill before I left to meet Marina. Those pills knock her right out for hours," Robert said anxiously.
"Did you see her take the pill or did she tell you she'd taken it?" Gibbs asked.
Robert looked shaken, "She told me she'd taken it. That's why I thought it was safe to go out to meet Marina," he replied.
"Which might be why she told you she'd taken a sleeping pill, she wanted to know what you would do while you thought she was drugged unconscious," Gibbs pointed out.
Robert started to shake, "She couldn't have killed her," he said desperately.
"Then give us a list of who else might have been jealous enough to kill Lance Corporal Schubert in a way that deliberately attacked her pregnancy. She wasn't just murdered she was gutted, even if she'd been found in time to be saved, she would've lost the baby," Gibbs demanded.
Robert paled further and gave them a list of eight names that he'd been involved with since being posted to Quantico. Gibbs dutifully wrote them down though he felt that Commander Carter had only given him the names to hopefully divert suspicion from his wife. Hopefully that meant that he hadn't left anyone off the list.
"Any stand outs from your previous postings? I need the names of the women you broke up with because you were transferred or anyone you applied for a transfer to get away from. Was there someone you were more serious about? Went out with for longer? Reacted badly to the break up?" Gibbs demanded.
Robert nodded and gave him another five names. "Tracey and Erin I was with at the time of transfers but they both seemed to take it well. Georgia and I broke things off because she was posted overseas two years ago but she should be back around now. Hannah was very upset when I broke things off, went as far as throwing mud all over my car one night. Susanna… Susanna was the woman I came closest to leaving my wife for. She broke things off, otherwise I hope we'd still be together."
Gibbs looked at the one way window and nodded, he knew that whoever was watching would pass the names on to Tim and he would already have begun the searches for these women and their whereabouts on the night of the murder before he finished in interrogation. He pressed Carter again about friends or family members of his wife that would be capable of violence if they caught him cheating on Veronica or potential rivals, people who thought that they should have received a promotion, posting or award that he had received, no matter how irrational their belief that they would have got whatever it was in Carter's place. But nobody stood out in Roberts mind any more than they'd been able to identify in the research they'd done into his background.
-o0o-
"You find anything in those names he gave us?" Gibbs barked.
"Yes something concerning. Susanna Van Rossum was killed in a hit and run car accident two weeks after Commander Carter said their relationship ended. It was ruled an accident but the other driver has not been found. Hannah Emerson also died within a month of the end of their relationship, of a drug overdose. It wasn't ruled as suspicious but her family and friends were all shocked that she'd been taking drugs," Tim reported. "Georgia Dubois is still in Iraq, her deployment was extended until the end of this month, Tracey Williams is in SanDeigo and was working the day of the murder, with the time difference she didn't leave the base until 2100 our time which didn't give her time to get to DC. Erin Woodcroft is posted to Pearl Harbour and was at work at the time of the murder."
"Look into the deaths of Van Rossum and Emerson. See if it could have been Carter or his wife," Gibbs ordered.
"I've asked for the full case files to be Fed-Exed to us as soon as possible," Tony replied.
-o0o-
Tony, Ziva, go and collect Commander Carter again," Gibbs ordered.
"You don't want to wait for more evidence?" Tony asked surprised.
"Are we doing it on the quiet again or do you want us to make a public spectacle of the arrest?" Ziva asked.
"On the quiet, He has an alibi for Susanna's time of death but tell him to bring his go bag. If he is being framed and these deaths are connected to him but it looks like he's going to get away with the murders again, he might end up being the next target," Gibbs replied.
"You think he needs to go into protective custody?" Tony said surprised. "Are you going to clear that with the director?"
"Not yet. If Tim can find proof that the Commander is specifically being framed or targeted, I will. Otherwise I guess he's coming home with me," Gibbs said with a hard look at Tim suggesting that if there was proof either way he better find it before the end of the day.
Tim grimaced and considered ringing Hadrian for help before doubling his efforts to find any one who had enough of a grudge against Commander Carter who also had the opportunity to commit the murders.
Following his gut he first tried to check whether the wife's had an alibi for the time of Susanna's accident. It wasn't easy considering how much time had passed, particularly since Veronica Carter didn't have a job or regular routine. The traffic cameras were useless, data wasn't stored for that long.
The only thing he could prove was that she'd bought something at a gas station that morning several blocks from where the car that had hit Susanna's had been stolen.
Of course, there was no security footage of her being there but her credit card was used and it hadn't been reported stolen so he could assume she either used it or had given it to the person who had. He started going through every possible camera between the gas station and the parking garage the car had been taken from. The footage from the parking garage itself was the only thing left. Unfortunately the camera that gave a clear picture of drivers as they left the carpark was broken and the local Leo's hadn't had the resources to look much further than number plates but they'd stored the footage from all the cameras and you couldn't leave a place you hadn't entered so he went through the footage of people entering on foot or by car frame by frame. None of the number plates had traced back to the Carters so he looked through it again focusing on the drivers. He took screenshots the clearest picture he could of every person entering the parking garage because he didn't want to waste his time watching the footage again if his suspicions of Veronica Carter didn't pan out. He then selected all the photos of Caucasian women and cleaned them up digitally as much as he could before scrutinising them carefully. He thought he had a few possibilities so he called over Tony who'd actually met the woman for a second opinion.
"What you got, Probie?" Tony asked.
"Photographs from the CCTV of blonde women entering the parking garage an hour before the car that killed Susanna Van Rossum was stolen from it. Do you see what I think I see?" Tim asked.
"Heaven actually knows what you think you're seeing, Probie," Tony replied walking over. "That's Veronica Carter," he said pointing to the picture. Tim quickly set it up to run facial recognition.
"You don't believe me," Tony said feigning being shot in the heart.
"The judge won't believe you without evidence," Tim said dryly.
"Okay she drove in in this car and it doesn't leave until 6 hours later but there's no footage available of drivers as they leave, so we don't know if she was driving it or the hit and run vehicle," Tim said.
"Well she wouldn't spend the day hanging around a parking garage," Tony snarked.
"The footage of the pedestrian entrances don't show her leaving or re-entering and none of the payment machine's cameras have her paying for a ticket, at the time the hit and run car leaves." Ziva said.
"Most of those ticketing systems have a fifteen minute leeway. So whoever drove out the car she came in in had to pay between 4:35 and 4:50 when the car drove out," Tony said.
Tim pulled up the camera and looked over the footage. "Her," he said sighing.
"How do you know? Run facial recognition," Tony ordered.
"That's Donna McKay, the registered owner of the vehicle Veronica Carter drove into the parking garage, and an Emergency Room Nurse. She might be why there's no record of Veronica Carter or anybody else being treated for unexplained injuries consistent with a front on collision," Tim replied.
"She's a potential accessory to the murder. Go and pick her up," Gibbs ordered, uncannily arriving at just the right time as always.
"On it Boss," Tony said jumping up quickly.
"Take Ziva. I'm going to find out who paid for a ticket in the fifteen minutes before the hit and run vehicle left, and make sure there aren't any other persons of interest in that parking garage that day," Tim said before Gibbs had to choose between allowing him to follow up the lead he'd found and finishing the task he needed to do.
"Any leads on Hannah Emerson's death?" Gibbs barked.
"You'd have to ask Ziva and Ducky the details but the warrant came through to exhume her body too, once we proved Susanna Van Rossum's death wasn't accidental, and we think she may have been the victim of a serial killer," Tim replied.
-o0o-
It took less than ten minutes for Gibbs to crack Donna and the nurse admitted loaning Veronica Carter her car and to patching up some minor injuries on the day in question.
"She told me she'd been mugged and didn't want to go to the police because she'd been following her husband and didn't want him to know she was trying to get evidence of him cheating so she could divorce him," Donna said nervously.
"Write down a detailed list of injuries. Include even the most minor of scrapes or bruises," Gibbs ordered pushing a pen and legal pad across to the frightened woman.
Donna scribbled furiously for a few minutes, crossing out some words and changing the wording.
"That's it? You've included everything?" Gibbs demanded.
"Isn't that enough. If she'd gone to the emergency room they would've admitted her for observation. In fact, I did take her to have her wrist X-rayed the week after because it wasn't any better. It was broken," Donna replied.
"Were her injuries what you'd expect from a mugging?" Gibbs asked.
"They could have been," Donna replied, but Gibbs could hear the uncertainty in her voice. Now they'd made her question her friend's story she was starting to see holes in it.
"Are you saying that an expert witness is going to be willing to swear the injuries are likely to be the result of a mugging, the injuries are consistent with Veronica's story of being mugged?"
"No not really,". Donna said confused.
"What about a car accident?" Gibbs asked.
"But my car wasn't damaged," Donna protested.
"We're the injuries consistent with a vehicle accident where she was the driver or the passenger?" Gibbs pressed.
"Yes, consistent with a driver having a front on collision, that's what I thought at first when she came back without the car, but it was fine," Donna admitted.
"Why did she borrow your car? She has two of her own," Gibbs asked.
"Her husband would've recognised hers," Donna said practically.
"Her husband didn't leave the base that day," Gibbs said. "Instead there was a car stolen from the parking garage you collected your car from and it was used to run a woman off the road in a hit and run accident before being torched."
"You think Veronica did it," Donna asked shakily.
"We do. We know she left the parking garage in a car so either she took one or someone picked her up, and the woman killed was her husband's lover. Also approximately ten minutes after she entered the parking garage in your car and five minutes before the stolen car left the parking garage she was caught on camera paying another parking fee, we're not sure yet where she got it but that would be the only way the car could have been stolen without another car left behind without a ticket since you obviously had the ticket she used to enter," Gibbs said bluntly.
"Veronica couldn't kill anyone!" Donna protested.
"Perhaps not in her right mind, had Veronica ever used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs that you know of?" Gibbs said pretending to offer Donna a reason why her friend might have acted differently from the facade she presented to her friend but in reality he was fishing to see if this friend had any knowledge that would support the possibility that Veronica had had the ability to fake the drug overdose that killed Hannah Emerson.
"She used to use oxycodone for her back. I was worried about how much she'd been prescribed but she said she's been on that dose for years," Donna said.
"Do you remember the name of the doctor who prescribed it?" Gibbs asked. Tim hadn't found any evidence of Veronica Carter being on a long term pain medication.
"No sorry I don't," Donna replied.
-o0o-
"What did you bring me in again for? You said yourself that you found proof I didn't attack Marina. This is harassment," Commander Carter said belligerently as Gibbs walked into the interrogation room where he'd been waiting half an hour.
"You're going to get me in trouble at work if I don't call in a reason for not turning up after leaving suddenly yesterday," Robert said when Gibbs just sat staring at him.
"Your CO knows where you were yesterday and this morning," Gibbs replied.
"What? What reason could you have for wanting to destroy my career?" Robert ranted.
"In addition to Lance Corporal Schubert we found that two of your previous girlfriends also died in mysterious circumstances less than a month after the end of your relationship, and that's just the two we know about so far, we haven't finished running all the names you gave us yesterday," Gibbs said bluntly.
"What?" Robert exclaimed in shock.
"Hannah Emerson died of an overdose of MDMA. Her friends and family insisted that she never used drugs," Gibbs explained.
"She didn't, she didn't even like to get drunk, she wouldn't drink more than the occasional glass of wine," Robert confirmed.
"The police ruled it an accidental overdose. The frequent withdrawals of unaccounted for cash from her bank account seemed to support she had a habit.
Robert looked at Gibbs. "She insisted on paying for half the hotel rooms, and she always brought takeaways so we could have a meal when we met. She said it made it feel more like a proper relationship or friendship and less like she was just being used for sex," he said.
"That and the frequent absences while she was with you might be enough to explain the police's refusal to take her family seriously and get the case reopened," Gibbs said, watching carefully for Carter's reaction.
He seemed pleased that the case would be reopened. "That's good. She doesn't deserve to be labelled just another dead drug overdose. Do you think you'll be able to find out who drugged her?"
"We've sent for the evidence and the case notes, so if it was connected to your relationship with her then we should be able to narrow down the list of suspects," Gibbs said confidently.
Robert didn't look that worried.
"The second person who died was killed in a hit and run. The other driver was never identified. The paint fragments matched a car that had been reported stolen and later found burnt out in an isolated part of the woods. The owners both had iron clad alibis. The police originally thought it was teenage joyriders but we now believe that the 'accident' was a deliberate attempt on the other driver's life. Susanna Van Rossum was killed instantly and the severity of her injuries isn't quite consistent with the damage to her car. We have applied to have the body exhumed to check for signs of foul play."
"Susanna," Robert moaned in Genuine shock and distress, tears filling his eyes.
"You didn't know? She died less than a week after she ended things with you," Gibbs asked.
"She was going on vacation, home to her parents, her mother had been unwell. I thought she got there and decided she needed to stay closer to home, to be there for them both," Robert said still upset. "But she would've been on the other side of the country, there's no reason to suppose her death had anything to do with our relationship."
"She was killed on the road just out of town about fifteen minutes from the base," Gibbs replied.
-o0o-
They got the warrant to exhume Susanna Van Rossum's body and a medical examiner friend of Ducky's carefully wrapped the coffin and had it delivered to the Navy Yard for them.
"Can you test for pregnancy Duck?" Gibbs asked before they'd even got the coffin open.
"That depends on the condition of the body and how well she'd been embalmed, Jethro, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. The poor young woman has been dead four years," Ducky replied.
"But only buried for three. The original medical examiner wasn't quite satisfied with the cause of death and hung onto the body in case it became a manslaughter or murder investigation," Jimmy said enthusiastically.
They opened the coffin and gently lifted her out, Ducky apologised for disturbing her rest and promised to do his best to get answers and justice for her.
They cut the clothes away and took a quick survey of the body.
"Do the seatbelt bruises seem a little extreme?" Jimmy asked.
"The lap bruise is darker than the sash bruising, I've never seen that before," Ducky agreed. "Let's start with a wee X-ray."
Jimmy manipulated the X-ray machine and soon they had pictures.
"Her entire pelvis is shattered, that isn't consistent with the rest of her injuries. Let's perform a rape kit though it's probably too late for results we shouldn't overlook the possibility," Ducky said.
They completed the rape kit and attempted an ultrasound, before dissecting the uterus, taking multiple tissue samples.
Gibbs walked in as they were finished.
"There are some inconsistencies in the injuries. The head injury and the shattered pelvic bones are indicative of a far more severe accident than the other injuries," Ducky reported.
"Can you describe the weapon that would make those injuries?" Gibbs asked.
The pelvis was likely done with a baseball bat while lying supine. It was done before death but Susanna was probably unconscious because the blow is precisely along the seatbelt line indicating that she didn't try to avoid it. The head injury was something flatter it's possible it was a wall or floor. We found traces of dust in the wound which I've sent to the lab along with the uterine tissue samples. We also dissected some muscle tissue for a tox screen though the embalming process will affect the results."
"Did you swab for foreign DNA?" Gibbs asked.
"Jethro, she's been washed, autopsied, however poorly, embalmed, and made up by the mortician, the only chance of foreign DNA from the crime will be in the rape kit and between the decomposition and the shattered pelvis I couldn't determine if she was raped or had sexual intercourse the day she died," Ducky exclaimed crossly.
A/N: Thank you to sandipi, aisa.32, linzi, starie78, charm13insomnia, Kourtney Uzu Yato, Ghostisreading, cyiusblack, Firehedgehog, finkarhu, caged21hearts, Guest, mother oracle, Jostanos, luramos, xDarklightx, Rori Potter, Melikalilly, Half Alien, Millie072, mooneysfate, daithi4377, RoseeQueen, catspaw439, lilly-flower15, Rainbow2007, Blosiom, DarkRavie, knuckles 8, buterflypuss, DS2010, Tetradical, Vladimir Mithrander, sillygabby, serenityselena, rigger42, acherongoddess, mizzrazz72, Letsnotdothatagain, Village-Mystic, 777angeloflove, Silvermane1, Merlenyn, Beth9891, Fallow56, HoneyBear84, lia and all those who followed or favourited my story for your support.
