Disclaimer: Same as Prologue
Chapter 1- The First Case
"We've got a body," Gibbs said as he walked briskly into the bullpen. His voice snapped McGee and Tony out of their reverie. They had been staring at their computer screens, eyes slightly glazed over.
"Grab your gear and get the keys to the sedan," he said as he pulled his Sig out of his desk drawer. McGee and Tony, finally registering what he was saying, got out their own guns and equipment.
As they walked to the sedan Gibbs brought Tony and McGee up to date.
"The victim is a Petty Officer Jonathan Wallace. He was found in his apartment by his neighbor, Winnie Thompsoms, and elderly woman."
"How old is she Gibbs?" Tony had now taken to calling him Gibbs instead of Boss, just like Kate had.
"83. She went over to ask him if he had any flour. She was making cookies, and she didn't have enough."
By that time they had reached the sedan and were pulling out of the parking lot. Gibbs no longer drove like a possessed maniac. He vowed to himself that he would obey the ruled of the road until he had killed Ari. He didn't want to take any chances by getting into an accident before he had killed Kate's murderer.
They drove in silence for a short while until they had arrived to the town of Bowie, Maryland. Each of the three men were buried in their won thoughts. Soon they pulled up to a small apartment building. It was a real fixer-upper. Shutters were barely hanging on by their hinges, and were creaking noisily. The mustard yellow paint was peeling, like the bark of an old dead birch tree. In the past Tony probably would have made a wise crack, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Gibbs, and an exasperated roll of the eyes from Kate. But those times were past, and the three forlorn agents walked into the apartment in complete and utter silence.
After flashing their badges to the owner, the three walked up to the second story where the P.O.'s apartment was. They pulled on their gloves and opened the door.
The apartment was trashed. Furniture was tipped over. There was a desk overturned in the corner, a crushed Dell computer nearby. Papers littered the floor, and blood covered the walls, dripping down the walls like tiny river of death.
The only thing intact was the full-sized bed in another corner of the room. The body was on the bed.
"McGee, call Ducky, and then take pictures of the crime scene. Tony, go find the old woman and see what she has to say. When you've done that come back and dst for prints."
"Yes Gibbs."
"Yes Boss." Tony and McGee said simutaneously. Tony hurried across the hall, and McGee flipped open his cell.
"We have a body Ducky. We're in Bowie, Maryland, about 20 to 25 miles away from D.C. The address is 38 Shackle Road, in a yellow, broken down apartment building. The apartment number is 14B, on the second story. Ok Dycky, see you soon."
For the next half hour the three special agents worked dilligently at the crime scene. The work was welcome. It made them focus on something besides Kate. On the other hand, though, they were all depressed. This was their first case without Kate.
They worked methodically, settling inot the comforting routine of dusting for prints, examining, and snapping pictures. Soon Ducky and Jimmy arrived. By then McGee was done taking pictures of the crime scene, and was trying to retieve the hard drive from the destroyed computer so Abby could try to extract some information out of it. Tony had also finished his tasks, and was getting blood samples off of the walls to take to Abs for analysis.
"What have we got here Jethro?"
"A male Petty Officer. Jonathan Wallace. He's on the bed over there."
The M.E. and his assistant walkd over to the lifeless corpse. Ducky stuck his thermometer into the flesh, then pulled it back out after a few minutes.
"Estimated TOD is 0830 to 0930."
"That matches when the old lady found him. She said that she came over at around 0900."
"COD Duck?"
"Well Jethro," Ducky said while examining the body, "it appears that his throat was slit from behind. He was also stabbed in the stomach, but that was not fatal." Ducky pointed to large but not deep knife wound in the Petty Officer's stomach.
"I would say that he out up quite a fight, thus resulting with the blood all over the walls, and the over-turned furniture."
"Ok Ducky, is there anything else?"
"Not that I can think of Jethro. I will be able to tell you more once we get him home." Ducky turned his attention to his young assistant.
"Come on Jimmy, let's take him back home so we can get a better look at him, shall we?"
"Yes Doctor," the M.E. in-training said.
The two commenced to putting the deceased in the black body bag and carrying it away.
"Boss, over here, I think I found something." After snapping its picture, McGee had taken the mattress off of the bed, where he had discovered something very interesting.
On the bottom of the mattress a hole had been cut, and then replaced. Carefully Gibbs pulled out the square hunk ot mattress. Concealed inside was a large steak knife, covered in blood.
"I think we just found our murder weapon."