Disclaimer - The show NCIS and its charcters do not belong to me. They are the property of Donald Bellisario, CBS, Paramount. Original characters belong to me and may not be used without my permission.

Authors Notes - I would like to, again, thank a very special friend. You know who you are and I couldn't do this without you.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Its great to see people are actually reading what I have sent.

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Chapter Two

Gibbs pulled outside the address he had and look up to the house. The sisters place was a small white washboard home overlooking a man made river. A blue sedan and some toddlers toys littered the driveway and front lawn, as well as a dog bowl with water. The gardens were well manicured and he moved along the path and knocked. He could hear a dog bark and a little kid cry.

He rang the door bell and waited until a young woman with a baby on her hip answered the door. 'Yes,' she looked Gibbs up and down. 'Oh my God Brad,' she immediately thought something had happened to her husband and she backed away from the flyscreen door. 'Noo, please no.'

'No, Brad is fine,' Gibbs said, assuming Brad was the husband. 'I'm not here because of your husband,' he said.

'Then who are you and why are you here' she shifted the toddler on her hip slightly.'

'Special Agent Gibbs,' he showed her his ID. 'NCIS,'

'John,' she said in a small voice. 'Oh God Johnny.'

No matter how many times he had delivered the news, it never got any easier. 'He was found dead this morning in his home,' Gibbs said gently.

'How?' Jennifer Swan swallowed hard as she opened the security screen so Gibbs to enter 'How did he die agent Gibbs. You are Naval Criminal Investigation Service so did someone kill him.

'He was shot,' he said gently as she led him into the lounge room, which was littered with toys and Barney was playing on the video.

'Someone killed him,' she whispered, sitting down, the little girl in her arms, staying close to her. 'Who?' she asked.

'That's what we're trying to find out. We believe that John left the marines and went back to General Naval Duties. We're thinking that it could be linked to his time in the corp.'

Jessica nodded. 'I just don't know who would have to kill him, everyone loved him,' she said.

'Obviously someone had a grievance with him,' Gibbs sighed. 'Did he ever say that he was fearful for his safety?'

'Sometimes he'd disappear for a little while. He'd call and say he was going away for awhile,' Jessica said. 'He wouldn't say where and he'd tell me he'd be in contact when he got back,'

'Did you not find that strange,' a frown creased Gibbs brow

'Yes,' Jessica said. 'But any time I'd ask he'd tell me that it was nothing and that he was fine,' Jessica said. 'I was worried about him,'

'I can understand that,' Gibbs nodded.

'We weren't close,' she said. 'Not really anyway,' she sighed. 'A few

months ago he called and said he was going away.' she said. 'I was worried so I got straight into the car and drove to his place,' she told him. 'He was just leaving and there was a woman there.'

'Can you describe this woman for me?' Gibbs enquired

'I didn't get a good look at her, she was sitting in a car out the

front. It was a pretty expensive car, I don't remember what kind but it was black.' she said. 'The windows were tinted so I didn't get a good look at her really, just a shadow but it was a woman. She opened the window a little and called my brother. She had red hair and it was fluffy,'

'You didn't see any more of her then that.'

'Not really,' she said. 'She was pale but..' Jessica tried to think.

'I'm sorry, that's all I remember. I asked if it was his girlfriend but he laughed and said in his dreams,'

'Well unfortunately that doesn't give us much, a blonde headed woman but it's better then nothing. Thank you.'

'I'm sorry, I wish I could help you more,' she said softly. 'Is there anything else I can help with?' she asked, wiping at her eyes.

'Just a few,' he said. 'When was the last time you spoke to your brother?' Gibbs asked

'Oh about a week ago.;

'How did he seem?' he asked her.

'No different then usual,' Jennifer sat her daughter on the floor. 'Actually he seemed happy, happier then I'd seen him in a long long time.'

'How so?' Gibbs asked.

'It was hard to explain really, he just seemed happier then usual,'

He nodded. 'Did he seem to have any worries lately? Financial or otherwise?' he asked

'As I said we weren't all that close Special Agent Gibbs. But no he didn't seem to be overly concerned about anything,'

'What about a girlfriend? Ex wife? Friends?' Gibbs asked. 'Anyone he was close to?'

'No, he never married and there were no recent girlfriends to the best of my knowledge,' she said. 'He had no real desire to settle down Agent Gibbs,' she told him. 'As for friends, I wouldn't really know but he has an address book near his phone, it's red and black. There might be something in there,'

'There was no such book when we searched his home,' Gibbs told her. 'The killer or killers must have taken it.'

Jessica frowned. 'Why would they do that?' she asked. The little girl walked down to her mother and gave her a hug, sensing something was wrong.

'I don't know ma'am but my team and I will be working to find out,'

Jessica nodded. 'Anything else?' she asked him.

'Just one more thing,' he said. 'What has he been doing since he left the marines?' Gibbs asked her. 'Did he have another job?'

'Well he was still with the navy wasn't he? I mean if you're Naval Criminal Investigative Service then ... ' a frown creased her brow

'Yes, he had an admin job with the corp. but that was only four days a week so I was wondering if he had another job?' Gibbs asked.

'Not that he ever told me about,' she raked a hand through her hair. 'As I said we weren't that close. Which is an unfortunate thing to admit isn't it.'

'It happens,' Gibbs said. 'Was there any other family?' he asked.

'Well my mother but she's passed away so really,' tears started to well. 'I'm sorry...'

'It's alright,' Gibbs passed her a tissue.

'Thank you,' she shook her head. 'I just can't believe that John is dead, that someone killed him.

'We'll do everything we can to try and catch his killer or killers,' Gibbs assured her.

'Thank you,' she wiped at her tears. 'I appreciate that.'

'No need to thank me,' Gibbs stood. 'Is there someone who can stay with you?'

'My husband will be home shortly,' she told him. 'Thank you.'

Gibbs nodded. 'If you think of anything else,' he gave her one of his cards.

'If I think of anything I'll be straight onto you I can assure you,'

she told him

'Thank you, he nodded before Jessica walked him to the door.

'When did he die?' she asked softly. 'Did he suffer?'

Gibbs told her the estimated time of death and the fact that the ME believed that he didn't suffer,

She nodded. 'Thank you,' she said and Gibbs nodded at her before he left.

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When Gibbs returned to the offce, he found Cait on the phone and she quickly got off when she saw him. 'We have a copy of the emergency call made but no trace,' she said. 'The call was made from an untraceable satellite phone. Within the course of a 30 second call, it looked like she was calling from 20 different numbers and in 5 different states, none of which could be the one she was in.' she said. 'Assuming she actually found the body and didn't call from another state,'

'Check the numbers, see what we can find out,' he tossed his keys on his desk, taking a sip from his Starbucks coffee cup.

'Check the numbers, see what we can find out,' he tossed his keys on his desk, taking a sip from his Starbucks coffee cup.

'Already on it,' Cait nodded. 'Also, I've listened to the call and it sounds like an old woman.'

'Old woman?' Gibbs asked with a slight frown.

'Yeah. Is his mother alive?' she asked. 'Okay, wishful thinking,'

'Now that would be far too easy,' Gibbs smiled slightly.

Cait nodded. 'Tony is checking out the mans neighbours, seeing if they saw or heard anything. Then he's going over to talk to O'Sullivans Boss, see what he can find out,'

Gibbs didn't verbally reply, instead he sat down and made a call, which his side of the conversation consisted of "When's" "Uh Uh" and "On the way"

He hung up before he indicated Cait to come with him and the pair headed out, Cait wondering where they were off to.

'To visit Ducky,' he said as they got into the elevator.

Cait simply nodded as they headed downstairs

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