Disclaimer: See First Chapter.
Author's note: Good guesses all. You saw some things that I didn't see and I wrote the darn thing! Thanks for the reviews. They are food for the writer's soul!
It's just unconscionable for me not to have posted this cause I'm like 3 chapters ahead, but I kept tweaking this one. Hope you enjoy…
NCIS - Chapter One
Arriving on the scene, Kate's first impression was that someone had left a doll lying haphazardly like an abandoned toy. Leaning against cyclone fencing topped with spiraling razor wire, the body of the victim was a far cry from being a cherished, if forgotten, toy lying amidst the dainty frills of a little girl's room. Her face was painstakingly made up and in seeming repose. It was in stark contrast with the violence symbolized by the almost decapitating cut across her neck. Blood, like a translucent paint, coated the upper torso, changing all the colors of her blouse and much of the skirt to muted shades of red. Her eyes were neither horrified or in repose. Still clear, simply sightless - they were just dead.
The blaze of a camera strobe shook Kate out of her observations as Tony positioned and repositioned the camera to make inclusive shots of the crime scene. It was damp and quite cold, typical for late February, though you could not tell from the victim's clothes.
"Looks like she was all dressed out for a night on the town. Poor thing - probably didn't expect it to end like this."
Squatting for another shot, Tony countered from behind the camera, "Every night was a night on the town for her. But I don't think she'd have called it a party - she's a pro."
Kate flashed him a how-would-you-know look.
With artless grace, Kate enviously watched her partner unfold long limbs as he stood to move closer to her. Standing next to Tony made her feel… short and maybe a bit vulnerable. And then there was the crack last week on the firing range - I'll go for the head, Kate. You see what you can do about those kneecaps. Maybe that's why she took every opportunity to cut his ego down to size.
Tony flashed a grim smile. "My life's not always been an exciting rollercoaster ride of terrorists, arms dealers and serial killers. Baltimore homicide - remember?"
Kate glanced away from Tony to see Gibbs trying to settle a turf dispute between the locals and the NCIS team. Considering the corpse in question was leaning with her back to the fence of a Naval installation - and Gibb's own stubborn nature - Kate was sure that final result was not in doubt. Comfortable that Gibbs was otherwise occupied, Kate was less intimidated to admit her lack of knowledge to Tony.
When she looked back at Tony, he was smiling smugly at her, already anticipating her question and aware that she had been checking to see where Gibbs was.
"All right DiNozzo, I can tell you're dying to share some pearls of street cop wisdom." God, she really hated "Tony the Lecturer."
"I'm not so sure Kate. You know what they say about casting one's pearls …" Saying this, with a 500,000 kilowatt smile able to charm the panties off of most women he knew, only served to annoy Kate even more. The satisfaction in annoying her was often short lived. The questions in Tony's mind as to how she seemed to be immune to his charm seemed to linger tenaciously long past the initial pleasure of tweaking the plucky little brunette.
"Finish that thought Tony and you'll be casting about for a new set of teeth."
Smiling with lips stretched to conceal the objects of her threat, Tony squatted down at the foot of the corpse. With lightning speed that was often disconcerting to Kate, Tony morphed from clown to consummate criminologist. Holding a pen as a pointer in his latex-gloved hands, Tony pointed to the heavy wear on the soles of her leather high heels.
"Most women I know have at least one pair of shoes like this, but almost none have the type of wear she's put on this pair. And the damage was not made by a well waxed dance floor." Pointing to the grooved wear marks and ground in street debris, Tony added, "These shoes have been dogging cement street corners. She looks young at first glance." Pointing his flashlight in her face made the almost kewpie doll make-up more evident.
"But in a harsher light those lines near her mouth and eyes would give her away to an affluent john. In her prime she probably worked some decent hotels and lounges, but it's probably been awhile. Competition's fierce out there."
Though she asked for it, Kate was irrationally annoyed with Tony for his dispassionate analysis. Only when she looked up and saw him smooth a stray strand of hair with a gloved finger did she realize that he was not as unfeeling as he would like Kate to believe.
"She's not your type, DiNozzo." Gibbs strode over to the pair and looked down with at the body.
"Is there a woman alive that is not DiNozzo's type?"
Tony grimaced and looked up at Kate. "Hellooooo! She's dead! The boss is just saying dead is not my type. Riiiiight?" Tony looked up expectantly at Gibbs.
"Sure Tony. Whatever works for you." Kate caught the smile Gibbs tried to suppress as he turned away to look more closely at the scene. Looking back at Tony, she could see that he once again was staring a hole through Gibb's trying to figure out if he meant what he had said. Tony seemed to be impervious to almost any barb she flung his way. But the moment that Gibbs looked at him cross-eyed…
"He's right, you know."
Caught woolgathering, Kate was confused. "Right?"
"She was a pro," Gibbs offered with his typically succinct delivery.
Under her breath, Kate muttered, "Great. Now everyone is Sherlock Holmes."
"No need for Holmes if the local police can ID her, " he replied.
Looking at the two agents, Gibbs queried, "Odd outfit with these shoes, what do you think, Kate."
Kate realized that all the blood from the victim's transected throat had distracted them. The blouse was short sleeved, formerly white and cotton. The real oddity was the choirboy collar and crisscrossing plaid tie. The pleated skirt had a matching plaid pattern. If you discounted the makeup and strappy, high heel pumps, she'd swear she was looking at a prep school teenager.
Kate was just about to share her observations when Tony interrupted. "Yeah boss," he nodded, "noticed that too. Guess dressing up like a school girl is her come on."
"Wrong, DiNozzo." Gibbs swiveled his gaze to the diminutive agent. "Kate?"
Kate couldn't contain her smug satisfaction. Tony did not know women half so well as he supposed. "If she was going for a school girl look, the makeup and shoes are all wrong." She gestured to the overdone makeup and in that moment noticed something else. The eyeliner was odd. Heavy-handed lines were drawn from the outer corners up towards her temples giving the obviously Caucasian victim an oddly exotic look. A look, combined with the shoes, which certainly did not seem to go with the prep school image. The odd eye makeup shouted geisha while paradoxically the stiletto heels put the image right back on the street corner of any common red light district.
"Geisha, prep school streetwalker does seem to sound like a very odd occupational specialization," Kate concluded.
To no one in particular Tony commented, "I didn't think anyone still used the term streetwalker. At least not anyone younger than my grandmother."
Ducky arrived on the scene and knelt down next to the body. "If you're lucky, maybe her clothes will also tell you where the murder scene is, Jethro. Because, it wasn't here."
"Hmmm. I see where you're going with this Ducky. Lot's of blood on the clothes and none on the ground. Okay then. Kate and Tony…you're looking for transfer evidence that will lead us to the original crime scene. Bag it, tag it and get it to Abby ASAP." Gibbs turned around and headed back to toward where the local officers were standing in a tight knot.
Tony shouted back over his shoulder, "Where 'ya going, Boss?"
"To interview the witness."
Tony did a double take, yelling at Gibbs back, "Did you say witness?"
Not getting an answer, Tony swiveled back to Kate. "Did he say witness?"
Kate shrugged. "Have you ever known Gibbs to say anything that he doesn't mean?"
"Right."
TBC…