Authors Notes: Thanks again for all the reviews and I hope you all keep reading.
To Warrior of the Shadow if you're still reading, no offense taken everyones's opinion is valid :) I was looking at the situation that if you'd worked hard to keep a secret for 13 years I'd hope people would find it hard to see it :)
Echoes of the Past.
Part 3
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Gibbs tried to keep his expression from showing his frustration as the fifteenth student they'd interviewed professed no knowledge of any of the action taken against Evans except what they had heard in gossip. There was a knock on the door just as he was about to dismiss Cadet Singh. DiNozzo left the table to open the door and stepped back to let Commander Wood enter.
"Agent Gibbs, can I have a word?"
"Yes." Gibbs turned back to the Cadet in front of him. "You may go." The three men watched as the teenager left and DiNozzo closed the door behind him. "Commander?"
"I have three students in my office. They heard about the interviews and came to see me. It seems they were the ones responsible for the vandalism in Evans' room and the fights but they swear they had nothing to do with his death."
Gibbs glanced across to DiNozzo by the door then fixed his gaze back on the Commander. "You believe them?"
"I do. One of them was on watch at gate 4 all night. I took the liberty of checking with the others roommates, they swear that the other two were in their rooms all night and that others can also attest to their presence there for at least part of the night. I would have called for you as soon as they arrived but I didn't realise what they where talking about at first. I left a couple of MP's with them."
"We'll need to speak to them."
"Of course."
-----
Kate and McGee looked up from their interview notes as Gibbs stormed into the room.
"You, out!" Gibbs snapped at the student they had been interviewing. The cadet blanched and hurried out the door almost running DiNozzo over in the process.
Kate waited until DiNozzo closed the door after the fleeing student before asking. "Gibbs?"
Gibbs turned back from where he had stopped, staring out the window. "The earlier problems aren't connected to Evans' death, the threats, the vandalism of his room, none of it. Three cadets just confessed to all those "pranks" including some that never got noticed. When they heard about the investigation into his death they panicked and thought it best to come clean. They also have alibis for the night Evans died."
"So what now?"
"They'll be expelled."
"I meant with the case."
Gibbs ran a hand over his face. "Without the connection of the earlier incidents it narrows the field of suspects considerably down to those that could have a connection or access to the file."
McGee frowned. "But that only leaves NCIS personnel or the original perpetrator."
"Or the original victim." Kate mused. McGee turned to look at her, both of them missing the look of shock on DiNozzo's face.
"You think that's possible?"
"Yes, it's not unknown for victims to re-enact their own attacks on others. The attack had to have an extremely traumatic effect on his life that would have continued on through the years."
Gibbs kept an eye on DiNozzo as Tony slowly sank into the nearest chair; the younger agent was pale and shaken. "He was in a coma for three weeks Kate, enough time for many of the injuries to heal and has no memory of the attack so how could he possibly re-enact it?"
"How do we know that?" Kate turned to face Gibbs getting caught up in her idea.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "The doctor's report for one."
"Obviously the coma bit we know," She gave him a look of frustration. "But it's been 13 years who knows what memories may have resurfaced. I think we should look at bringing him in."
"No."
"No? We don't even have a name to go on at the moment he could be anywhere on the base and we'd not know it! He might even have access to the file."
DiNozzo was by now looking on the verge of collapse, face buried in his hands and Gibbs knew that he had to end this.
"Actually I do know the identity of the victim and have already spoken to him. At the time of the crime he was several hundred miles away and has never regained any memory of that night."
"Alright, so where do we go from here?"
"Kate, you get over to the field office find out everyone who has accessed that file in the past thirteen years. McGee, you call the gates and get the sign in lists from the day Evans died and the day before." He waited until both agents had left before walking over to his remaining agent and touched his shoulder. "You okay?"
DiNozzo mumbled something unintelligible into his hands and Gibbs tightened his grip letting his thumb brush the nape of Tony's neck giving him a minute to regain his equilibrium.
"Come on." Gibbs let go and slapped Tony lightly on the back. "Wood said we could have access to the NAPS databases lets see if we can pull up staff lists form now and back in '91. All the instructors have changed according to Wood but there are large numbers of support staff and they can't all have changed."
DiNozzo scrubbed his hands down his face and nodded. "Okay."
-
The Commander was more than happy to provide them with access to the database and arranged for the office manager to show them the ropes before she and her secretarial team left for lunch.
Gibbs left most of the searching and compiling to DiNozzo while he called the base pizza place to get some food delivered, occasionally reading over his shoulder or studying the pages the printer spat out.
"Gibbs?" McGee walked into the office.
"Though you where getting the sign-in sheets from the gates?" Gibbs frowned at McGee from his current position beside the printer.
"The officer I spoke to said he'd get them all faxed to the office here."
"You can start going through these staff lists of people employed here at the time of both attacks and see if you can find who was here on base two nights ago in while you're waiting. I've got some calls to make." Gibbs handed the staff timetables and ever-growing list of names to the startled man as he passed him on the way out the door.
-
Gibbs walked across the foyer holding up his phone and pointing to the doors to show the one remaining student that he was just going out to use it.
"Agents Gibbs!"
Gibbs looked up at the shout as he stepped out of Nimitz Hall to see Agent Shaw getting out of a car. He slipped his phone back into his pocket as the other agent approached.
"Agent Shaw what can I do for you?"
"I ran into Agent Todd at the field office she said you'd caught our perps."
"We caught the students responsible for the vandalism but not the murder."
Shaw frowned at this. "You don't think it could be the same people?"
"No I don't. They don't fit the profile." Shaw opened his mouth to add something but Gibbs just carried on. "They also have alibis."
"Would you mind if I had a word with them?"
"That's not up to me. The M.P.s made the arrest, you'd have to see them."
"Of course." The blond agent gave Gibbs a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I think I'll go do that. I was part of the team that looked into that, I like to see all the loose ends tied up."
"You do that." Gibbs heard a car pull up and looked back at the parking lot to see Kate get out. Moving to meet her he was aware of Shaw trailing after him.
"Get everything you need?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Let's go then." Gibbs turned and almost ran into Shaw who nodded to them both and began moving to his own car.
"I wondered where he'd disappeared to."
"Shaw?" Gibbs held the door open for Kate to enter.
"Yeah. I ran into him down in the file rooms. He apologised for being uncooperative last night and asked how the investigation was going. I spoke to him for a few minutes while the file clerk was looking up the records for me then he suddenly left without saying anything else. I just turned round to ask him something and he'd gone." She shrugged. "I thought he must have gotten called away."
Gibbs waited while Kate signed back in before continuing the conversion on the way back to the room they'd used earlier.
"What did you find?"
"Very few people ever had access to the file, the original investigating agent checked it out regularly every six months right up until he was killed in the line of duty seven years ago."
"No-one else?" Gibbs shrugged off his jacket and dropped it on the chair DiNozzo had sat in earlier.
"His partner, but he quit when Tyler died and went back to Europe apparently. The last person to check it out was a lab tech when Tyler asked him to go over the forensics in case the original tests missed something but again he hasn't requested since Tyler's death and no-one knows what happened to him at the minute."
"Damn." Gibbs sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair then plucked his phone out of his jacket pocket. "DiNozzo and McGee should have the staff lists and gate information by now I'll send then down to you, I still need to make the calls I was trying to make when Shaw showed up." he finished as he left the room.
-----
The office door opened far enough for Gibbs to stick his head in. "Kate's back in the interview room. When you get everything together take it down to her and finish going through it there. I'm sure the staff would like their office back when they back from lunch."
"I think we've got everything now the last of the sign-in sheets came through." McGee held up a pile of fax paper.
"Good pack it up then and I'll see you there in a while."
"Where are you going boss?" DiNozzo looked up from his screen.
"Coffee." Gibbs pulled the door shut before DiNozzo could add anything else.
As soon as Gibbs shut the door McGee began gathering up all the pages and sorted them in to some sort of order then crossed the room and picked the sheets off the printer.
"We need anything else?"
"No I think we've got everything." DiNozzo muttered distractedly not looking up from the screen.
"I'll take this down to Kate then."
"Yeah okay." DiNozzo said automatically, not paying attention to what McGee was saying.
"See you in a couple of minutes then?"
"Yeah."
-
It took several minutes of silence before DiNozzo actually noticed there was something different about the room and looked up from the computer files.
"McGee?" He twisted round to look over at the fax machine and printer where the younger agent had stationed himself earlier. "Oooh shit, Gibbs is going to kill me."
He closed down the many windows he'd opened taking one last look at one of the pictures he'd pulled up; it was the official NAPS class photograph for his year taken during induction. There had been another one taken of the graduating class after the ceremony but he hadn't been in that one. He'd just closed the final window and put the computer into Stand-by mode when the door opened.
"Agent DiNozzo?"
"Uh yeah?" He looked up not recognising the voice frowning slightly when he didn't recognise the speaker either. "Can I help you?"
"Actually I was going to ask you that." The stranger smiled and came further into the office
"No I'm all done here, thanks." Tony shrugged into his jacket and picked up his phone from the where it was sitting beside the keyboard.
He dropped it again when the heavy blow to the back of his head sent him to his knees.
-----
After speaking to DiNozzo and McGee Gibbs made his way to the break room the instructors used following the directions Wood's PA had given him earlier.
Finding the room empty he moved to the coffee machine sniffing in appreciation of the rich smelling brew. Grabbing a mug from cupboard beside the machine he poured some and tasted it, a slow smile lit his face at the rich taste. Apparently the NAPS instructors didn't skimp on the necessities. Then opened his cell punched in the speed dial number for Ducky.
"Hey Duck anything else turn up in the forensics?"
"You were right about the bench slats being responsible for the tearing and the splinters embedded in the anal walls something the earlier victim didn't have to deal with he had a metal pipe used on him. About this earlier mystery victim..."
"Ducky..." Gibbs tried to interrupt the coroner while trying to avoid thinking about the details of DiNozzo's assault.
"It's quite a wonder the he survived, the blood tests showed alcohol along with large quantities of rohypnol. The volume of rohypnol itself would have rendered him unconscious for a long period of time but mixing that amount in with alcohol could have been fatal. You know the effects are quite interesting..."
"Yes Ducky. I know the effects of rohypnol."
"Ah yes of course Jethro."
"Anything else come up?"
"Unfortunately no, whoever it was they were very through at not leaving any traces for us to find. We'll keep at it though and I called Abby and sent her the full reports to see if she can come up with anything. I'll let you know as if we get anything."
"Thanks Duck."
Gibbs hung up, drained the contents of his mug then refilled it and left the break room. On his way back he ran into a young man in the corridor holding two pizza boxes. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for an Agent Gibbs?"
"That's me." Gibbs shifted his coffee to his other hand and pulled out his wallet awkwardly pulling out the necessary money.
"Normally we don't deliver to you outside of the field office." The delivery boy took the money and waited until Gibbs repocketed his wallet before handing him the boxes.
"We're not from the field office." Gibbs shook his head when the boy offered him his change.
-----
"Here's the list of the names from the gates."
"Thanks McGee." She took a page and began scanning down the lists of names looking for either of the two unaccounted for names. "Pull up a chair and help me look the only people that have had access to the file that we haven't accounted for are a lab tech by the name of David Andrews and an agent called Duane Forbes."
It took the two agents several minutes to read down each page of names and then repeat the process for all the gates.
"Anything?" Kate asked as she set the last page down.
"No." McGee stood up and stretched. "Unless they didn't sign in under their real names they weren't on base at the time of the murder."
"McGee?" Gibbs walked balancing his mug of coffee on top of the pizza boxes and frowned at the young agent who got up to take the boxes from Gibbs. "Where's DiNozzo?"
"Uh.. He's still in the office, still going through the database. I thought you'd wanted the lists as soon as possible." McGee took an involuntary step backwards as Gibbs glared at him. He looked at Kate in confusion as Gibbs turned away, put his burden down and opened his cell phone, Kate just shrugged, the same confusion on her face.
"Damn it." Gibbs snapped his phone shut and grabbed his jacket. "Come on."
"What? Where?"
"To find DiNozzo, he's not answering his phone."
The two younger agents scrambled to follow their boss as he left the room at a near run.
-----
Gibbs flung the door of the office open not seeing his agent. "DiNozzo?" Gibbs looked round the empty office the only answer to his question was the hum of the computers.
"He must have finished what he was working on and left or found something and went to check it out." Kate and McGee stood in the doorway.
"No." Gibbs fished his cell out of his pocket and punched redial. "He wouldn't just have left without us."
"Gibbs what is...." Kate trailed off at the sound of a ringing phone. Gibbs stalked round the various desks tracking the source. He reached under a desk and held up a ringing phone then cancelled the call.
"Well that explains why he didn't answer it, he left it behind."
"No." McGee flushed as Kate turned to frown at him. "Uh.. Tony wasn't working at that desk, he was over there." McGee pointed to a computer across the room.
Gibbs ignored the pair as he moved to look at the blank screen then glanced up at McGee. "Can you find out what files he was working on?"
"Yes." McGee slid into the seat in front of Gibbs and pulled the keyboard to him. A few keystrokes later he had a list of all the files accessed that day.
Gibbs nudged McGee's shoulder to get him out of the chair and let him sit down. Reading down the list of files he ignored the earliest ones recognising them as the staff lists he'd seen DiNozzo printing earlier. Scrolling further down he frowned at some of the file names and opened them finding the list of students for 04/05 and 90/91. Clicking on the last few files produced several photograph albums for the "Class of '91. The first held images of the years sports teams while the second contained more formal pictures taken of various the various Platoons in their uniforms, the final album contained images from the graduation ball and ceremony. Gibbs ignored the last and scanned down the first finding DiNozzo in several of the team photographs before moving to the second album and doing the same peripherally aware of McGee and Todd moving to look over his shoulder.
Beneath the formal Company and Platoon pictures were more informal pictures of the students in class and in other areas of NAPS.
"Is that Tony?" Kate asked as Gibbs paused to look at a picture more closely wondering what had caught his attention. "It is. Did you know about this?"
Gibbs stayed silent staring at the picture that showed DiNozzo and several other students messing about in one of the common rooms feeling ice settle in his guts.
"Gibbs?"
"That's Shaw." Gibbs pointed to the image of the Newport agent standing in the background of the picture.
"And?"
Gibbs stood forcing the younger agents to step back and checked his weapon.
"Gibbs? What is this about?" Kate demanded.
Gibbs shot her a strange look and headed for the door.
"Oh god." She paled as the reason for Gibbs' strange behaviour hit her.
"What?" McGee was still looking confused.
"It's DiNozzo."
"What?! He couldn't have he wasn't here!" McGee looked horrified.
Kate shot him a confused look as she moved to follow Gibbs out the door then realised McGee had the wrong end of the stick. "No the earlier victim, it was Tony."
End Part 3.
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Finished 7/1/2005
Last part should be up tomorrow :)