Disclaimer: not mine. Don't sue me and so on
Gibb's Office/ the bullpen
6:30 AM
McGee wasn't stupid. He knew Abby was at Gibbs's house. It's hard to miss a large pink hearse parked in someone's driveway. The truth was, he had no idea how to react or what to say. So instead he said nothing. He drove aimlessly for a while trying to sort out his thoughts. When he realized it wasn't going to happen he went to the office.
"Probie." Tony shouted as he rolled on his deodorant, "Where's my coffee."
"I drank it." He answered, distracted.
"McGee." Tony whined.
"It's been a weird day." He answered cryptically,
"That's sad considering it's 6:30 in the morning." Ziva walked in wearing a bright orange hat and carrying coffee for everyone.
"What the occasion, Ziva?" Tony asked, taking his coffee.
"A signed confession from Tom Dias." Answered Ziva. Tony's phone rang and he answered it.
"DiNozzo... Yeah, Boss." He hung up, "Come on, Gibbs wants us in the lab, ASAP."
"Abby got results already?" asked McGee, wondering bitterly how she had found the time.
"The team has results already." Tony corrected, smiling as they walked into the elevator.
Abby's Lab
Abby sat at her microscope with Gibbs standing closely behind her. Their bodies were touching, ever so slightly and he whispered in her ear. She was smiling and turned towards him. The energy flowing between the two was unmistakable. McGee cleared his throat slightly and the couple jumped apart at the sight of Ziva, Tony and McGee standing in the doorway. Tony smirked, enjoying the sight of an even slightly flustered Gibbs. Suddenly Tony wanted to know what McGee meant when he said it had been a weird day.
"Military DNA data base spit out a result an hour ago." Abby grinned and Tony could have sworn that she was glowing, although he had to admit that Abby almost always glowed, especially when she was talking about science. He looked up to find, Sara and Grissom leading Catherine, Brass and Nick into Abby's lab.
"Got your page Abbs, what's up?" Sara handed Abby a Ca-Pow! And drank her own.
"We got an ID on our victim in the Cask of Amontillado."
"Cask of a what?" Asked Tony
"Amontillado." Gibbs smacked him on the back of the head, "For the love of God, DiNozzo, read a book."
"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, But when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge." Grissom quoted.
"Edger Allen Pow." Sara said as she smirked at him fondly.
"What's with the quote thing?" asked Tony, whispering in Nick's ear.
"I'll explain later." He whispered back. Gibbs put down his coffee and smacked both Nick and Tony on the back of the head.
"DiNozzo, Stokes." Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the two of them, "Something you want to share with the class?"
"No Boss." They answered together. Abby raised her hand.
"Abbs."
"Back to the Cask of Amontillado." Abby pulled an image and a file up on the plasma screen, "Our victim's name is not Fortunato. It's Sargent Victor C. Tyler. He supposedly went AWOL three weeks ago while the ship was in port. He was labeled a deserter. And get this. Records show that the ship was in port for scheduled maintenance at the time."
"Did the maintenance include re-welding sections of the ship's haul?" asked Tony
"Why yes it did." Abby smiled smiled and drank from her Caf-Pow!
"That guy you brought in is a real piece of work." Brass walked into Abby's lab, "You got ballistic results?"
"I'm pulling the image up on the plasma as we speak." Abby put the image of the slug pulled from the body and placed it next to one filed from the suspects gun, "Notice the striations? These bullet's were defiantly fired from the same gun."
"What do we know about our suspect?" Asked Gibbs, Abby pulled his image up on the plasma.
"Sargent Kevin Thomas Monroe, age 31." Tony looked through his notes, stalling, "Originally from Kansas."
"What do we know that is relevant to the case?" Asked Gibbs.
"His CO says that he's a good sailor, and according to his ship mates he's also quite the ladies man. Got along with everyone but no close friends." McGee said.
"Boss, he's not really a chatty guy." Tony said, it was the closest he would come to admitting that he hadn't been able to get a word out of Sargent Monroe.
"Brass, you get anything out of him?" Gibbs turned to the detective.
"Says he bought the gun two weeks ago. He's been in fairly constant battle manurers and drills since. He asked if he could call his girlfriend." Brass rolled his eyes, "Apparently she lives locally. He's got no clue how much trouble he's in."
"It's worth pointing out that the gun was wiped clean." Nick said, "That and the fact that he had the gun to begin with. It's contraband. He has several service weapons issued to him, including a gun."
"Back-up." Said Gibbs and Brass, simultaneously.
"What do you say we have a little chat with Kevin Monroe?" Asked Grissom.
"Good idea." Brass answered, "Nick, get some sleep, you look like the walking dead. Catherine, you look fantastic but you should get some sleep too."
"Not looking so hot yourself." Nick countered.
"I'll sleep later." Brass motioned to the elevator with his head.
"Great job Abbs. Let's go." Gibbs kissed Abby's cheek and led Brass and Grissom to the elevator. Catherine and Nick went to their hotel, they were both exhausted and jet-lagged. The team waited ten minutes before following their bosses to interrogation. Those three men alone in a room with a suspect was going to be a sight to see.
Interrogation Room
Suspect: Kevin Thomas Monroe
Gibbs and Brass walked into the interrogation room and each of them took a seat. Grissom and Ziva watched from behind the glass.
"Victor Tyler." Gibbs said simply. Kevin Monroe flinched slightly before catching himself and resuming his stony expression.
"Name mean anything to you?" Brass asked.
"He's a deserter in a time of war sir. He's a disgrace to the uniform." The Sargent looked in the mirror.
"He's not a deserter." Said Grissom as he entered the room, "He's a murder victim. Someone shot him in the head and than welded him into the side of a ship."
"He's dead?" Sargent Monroe looked genuinely crushed, though not entirely surprised.
"The way I hear it." said Brass, "Victor was a pretty good guy. Great Sailor..."
"Kevin was the first guy I met when I joined the crew." Kevin swallowed.
"You were friends." Said Grissom with some surprise.
"Yes, Sir." Kevin Monroe hung his head.
"When did you meet?" asked Gibbs.
"Eight months ago, we both got assigned to the ship. His bunk was next to mine."
"You're both from southern Virginia." said Grissom.
"Yes Sir, we grew up twenty miles aways from each other."
"And you never met?" Grissom looked at him.
"Not really." He paused, "We were both starters on our high school football teams. We met each other from the We played each other a few times every year. It's funny." Sargent Monroe looked incredibly sad, "Back home we were rivals. But on ship, together we were..."
"Brothers." Gibbs finished.
"Yes Sir."
"When was the last time you saw him" Brass asked.
"We where in DC on leave." He seamed halfway between crying a laughing, "Me and some of the guys gave our shipmate a bachelor party."
"Who was the lucky guy?" Asked Gibbs, dryly.
"Petty Officer John McCoy." He answered, "He got married the day after the bachelor party."
"Who was there?" asked Gibbs.
"Guys from the ship. John, Fred, Mark Tom, Victor and me." He shrugged his shoulders, "We play poker together on our off time."
"Where did you go?" Asked Brass.
"One of the guys, Tom Shepard knew a place where you call get girls." He paused awkwardly.
"Call girls." Brass repeated. DC was more like Vegas than he thought.
"He called it an escort service." He looked down, "We got a suite at the Wellington. We played a few hands of Poker. The girls showed up around nine.
"What happened?" Gibbs asked calmly.
"I didn't stay the whole night Sir." Sargent Kevin looked desperate, "The guys ragged on me hard for leaving early but my girlfriend lives in DC. I wasn't about to spend one of my five days of leave not with her."
"You were at sea a long time?" Gibbs asked knowingly.
"Six months, sir." He answered.
"How long did you stay at the party." Gibbs asked.
"I was at Angela's in time for the eleven o'clock news. She made me linguine with clam sauce for a late super." Kevin smiled at the memory, "The women can cook. Even though it was cold by the time we got around to eating it."
"I don't care about the linguine." Gibbs snapped.
"We were drinking a lot. I can tell you that. I had to take a cab to Angela's." admitted the Sargent, "And I can drink. The hotel had this amazing sound system. The girls started dancing, you know. Um, with each other and taking off some of their clothes."
"A striptease." Grissom looked at him.
"Unlike one I've ever seen before." He looked dazed at the memory, "It made me... I really just wanted to get to my girlfriend's." He looked imploringly at the men interrogating him. "I left early, I swear I don't know what happened.
"What do you know?" Gibbs demanded.
"When I left, John had just taken one of the girls into the bedroom. The next day Victor didn't show up to the wedding. We shipped out at the end of the week and he wasn't on board. Skipper called him a deserter. Everyone did." He looked bitter.
"Why did you have the gun that killed him in your bunk?" Asked Brass.
"I bought it, sir." He admitted, "Two weeks ago. That's what I though this was all about."
"Who did you get it from?" Grissom asked
"Fred, um Captain Greene." The suspect hung his head, "I know it's against regs."
"Ya think?" said Gibbs.
"I'd been admiring the gun since I first saw it a few months ago."
"No member of the military is allowed to carry unauthorized weapons while deployed." Said Grissom as he read from a PDA that Abby had loaded with information.
"Everyone carries a back up. And if you're smart, a knife." said Kevin defensively. Gibbs and Brass nodded slightly and he continued, "I didn't have one when I was first on board."
"First overseas deployment?" Brass asked knowingly.
"Yes, sir."
"Write down the name and rank of everyone at that Bachelor Party." Grissom placed a piece of paper in front of him.
"And the name of your girlfriend." Gibbs added.
"Don't forget to include the number for the call girl service." Brass crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
"Do you have to tell her about the call girls?" Kevin asked, anxiously.
"That depends entirely on how accurate that list is." Gibbs answered.
Meanwhile On the other Side of the Mirror
"Will you look at that." Abby grinned as she watched the interrogation.
"Yes, indeed." Ziva breathed deeply
"There is something about it." Sara agreed, smirking.
"I could've gotten that out of him." Tony pouted.
"Awe Tony." Abby patted his head, "I'm sure he'll let you have a crack at the next suspect."
"Really?" asked Tony.
"That remains to be seen, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, standing behind Tony. "Go bond with Beavis. Get more information about the bachelor party. We need to find the girls from that night."
"Something hinky happened." Abby said as Gibbs handed her the paper containing every piece of information the team requested.
"Tony." Gibbs pointed to the interrogation room, "Go."
"Find out how freaky it got." Tony said, "On it Boss!" Tony said walking into the interrogation room as Grissom and Brass walked out. It was time to be the good cup.
Ziva call the girlfriend..."
"Verify the alibi." Ziva nodded.
"After that help Abby pull everything we can find on these sailors." Gibbs said
"Pull every iota of information on the people at that party. On it boss." Abby saluted.
"McGee, contact MTAC..."
"Set up a video conference with the Admiral on the ship." McGee said, already on the phone.
"I want to be interrogating those sailors in six hours." Gibbs walked out, and the team jumped into action.
"It's truly a wonder to behold." Grissom said to Brass as they walked out of the interrogation room.
"You think I should start smacking Greg on the back of the head?" Brass asked.
"No." Grissom answered.
"Maybe you should start smacking him on the back of the head."
"No one is smacking Greg on the back of the head." Sara said, taking his arm. "Come on Brass, I'm going to give you a ride to your hotel."
"Do I look as bad as Nick did before we sent him to bed?" Brass asked jokingly.
"Not yet. But it's on the horizon." Grissom said.
"It's the time change." Brass yawned. "I'll take the ride but I'm coming back to interrogate those sailors."
"I wouldn't expect anything less."
TBC
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