That's not a bad idea, Kate. I wonder how long it'll take to check it out? They stepped off the elevator together and headed for their desks.

I have no idea. A lot of it depends on whether she bothered to change her look or not. But if she did it once, she may have done it more than that. Sitting down at her desk, she muttered, I will find you, Emily Pederson. Grabbing up the phone she dialed the lab, paying no attention to the figure walking up to the desk beside hers.

Gibbs set down the cup of viscous liquid that the cafeteria dared to call coffee. He looked over at Kate on the phone then at Tony tapping valiantly away at his computer. Neither seemed to register his presence at first, until Tony looked up.

Morning, Boss. We think we've got a line on how to track down Pederson.

Kate's voice floated through, Okay, Abby, but can you do it?

Do what? First thing we need to do is question our shooter from last night. According to Kate, he was with Pederson; he ought to be able to tell us quite a bit. Gibbs was mildly irritated. It was good that they had ideas, but they should have come to him with them first.

We were talking about the fact that Pederson was using a vacant apartment for whatever she was up to when Holder was murdered. That doesn't seem like a random event, she's probably done it before, so we thought if we checked with other landlords in the area we might get a hit and somebody might remember more. Tony paused here as Kate finished talking to Abby.

Picking up where he left off, she continued, The only concern is whether she disguised herself or not. So I asked Abby if she could take the driver's license photo and do some artwork on it. That way we'd have several pictures to show and, if we're lucky, increase our odds.

Gibbs nodded. Not bad thinking, he had to admit. Let's go see if this, he flipped through his notes, Larry Martin we have in custody gives anything else we can work with.

Lawrence Martin was tall, mean and uncooperative. He sat in his chair and stared straight ahead, refusing to answer any of the questions Gibbs put to him. It wasn't often that Gibbs failed to intimidate an interviewee, but Martin looked to be one of those who would refuse to crack on the first rattling.

Closing the file on the table in front of him, Gibbs said calmly, That's all for now, Martin. You do realize you'll be charged with the attempted murder of two NCIS Special Agents and at least accessory to murder of a Navy Lieutenant? Receiving no reaction from the other man, he went on, If I were you, I would seriously consider offering any information you have concerning the death of Lieutenant Holder to me at this point. He waited a moment longer before rising and leaving the interrogation room, instructing the MP outside the door to see to it that the suspect was returned to his holding cell.

Kate and Tony stepped out of the observation room and met up with their leader; the three headed for the lab.

That was pointless. Kate was frustrated; it seemed for every bit of progress they made another roadblock appeared.

We'll see. We just haven't found the right lever to use on him, yet. Gibbs led the team through the doors to the lab.

Hey Gibbs! Kate, Tony. Abby greeted the team with a smile on her face.

Abby, what have you got? As always, Gibbs was direct and to the point.

Like most people, her driver's license photo wasn't terribly flattering. But I changed her hair color several times and played with the skin tone a little, take a look. She displayed eight altered photos on the large screen for the agents to see.

Those should do fine. Can we print them up? Kate was eager to solve this case, put it behind her.

Three sets, Abby. We've a number of buildings to check out. Gibbs was as tired of waiting for answers as the rest of his team.

Twenty four what -- five by sevens? At Gibbs' nod, Abby continued, high quality prints, should take, mm, bout ten minutes or so.

Tony, that list of landlords is on your desk? Kate began moving as he nodded. I'll go grab it while we wait.

Abby's latest CD selection pulsed through the room, into the walls and through Tony. He'd been unusually quiet this morning, puzzling over the case. Finally he voiced something that had started nagging at him sometime during his sleep.

Assuming all this stuff with Pederson and drugs is correct, exactly how was Holder tied up with it? From everything I've found, there's absolutely no connection. Granted, we only did cursory interviews with her C.O. and boyfriend the night she died, but nothing they said would indicate that she was anything other than what I've turned up: a decent kid who became a decent Naval officer. Tony wound down just as Kate reentered the lab with the list of apartment buildings and landlords.

Abby, can we get three copies of Lieutenant Holder's picture to go along with those? Gibbs nodded toward the active printer. After we canvass the buildings on this list, we need to speak Holder's C.O. again and a few more of her colleagues. You're right, Tony. Something doesn't add up. Gibbs shook his head.

Something else we never checked out is Holder's home address. Kate joined in. I assumed she lived in the apartment she fell from with Pederson. She was furious with herself for having let the fear paralyze her mind for over two days.

The silvered head nodded agreement. There are few more items on our list, too. For example, if Holder really did go off that fire escape, then it wasn't damaged just for the investigator's benefit. Ducky estimated the time of death too close to when the authorities were called for anyone to have had time to do that kind of work. We need to find out if anyone saw anything in that alley earlier on Tuesday or even Monday. We should have checked that out yesterday. He paused for a moment and Tony picked it up without missing a beat.

We also need to check out those four addresses Kate's search turned up for Pederson. We need to find out if they're vacant lots or what. I've already put out an APB for the car.

And we need to get back into that apartment and dust for prints. Maybe we'll get lucky and they left us something of value. Something else we should have done yesterday. Kate paced around the lab.

Abby watched all this in silence, the interplay between the team feeling normal for the first time in this case. Of all the agents she worked with, these three were her closest friends. She'd been concerned about them since her lunch with Kate. It eased both her mind and her heart to see the three of them working the problem with attention to and reliance on each other, without the tension that had been so apparent the night before.

Okay gang, grab your photos from the printer tray and you're good to go, Abby told them. Oh, if you want me to run anything through the outside world, like AFIS for instance, the sooner I get it the better. Because of the blackout, searches are slower than rush hour traffic.

Grab your gear. Tony, check out the ride; it's going to be a long day. Gibbs was already halfway out the door.