Slowly Finding Peace
"He was cleared after a pretty thorough investigation. It happened stateside, in a live-fire training exercise. They concluded that the accident was unavoidable, and Maddox was not where he was supposed to be. He inadvertently put himself in the line of fire, and died as a result, when Tennant hurled a grenade into an area that was supposed to be clear." Tony sounded grim, even as he read his findings to his teammates.
McGee looked up, nodding. "I think the pieces are starting to come together here. I have prints for all the employees, past and present, for the last 10 years. Both schools. I'll get these down to Abby," he said, as he got up to leave. "There aren't any with the surname of Maddox, but there are four from the past 10 years with the given name of either Sofia, or Sophie."
Ziva looked up. "Maddox was being treated for depression, and he and his wife were in marriage counselling. He was not a happy man by any stretch. Is it possible it wasn't an accident after all?"
Tony looked at her. "You mean, suicide by friendly fire? That's cold, Ziva."
Ziva shrugged, with an expression of, "You tell me."
……………………………………………………………………………
Abby was diligently comparing fingerprints when Jimmy approached her from behind. He cleared his throat by way of a warning, so as not to startle her, and said, "Abby?"
She looked up from her work, then swivelled around on her chair. "Yeah?" Jimmy handed her a printout. "I've traced the Tennant's dog through the city's dog registry. Her name is Riley, she is indeed an AKC registered beagle, and she has a tattooed id number on the inside of her ear. If we can find her, we may have found our killer."
"Talk about a needle in a haystack," Abby muttered. Jimmy sighed. "I know. But finding the dog would just be one more piece of evidence. The sweater, with a set-in blue paint stain. Maybe scratch marks… we know that Emily fought back, maybe she scratched her killer as well as pulling out her hair. DNA for comparison to the DNA evidence we found on Emily… Other things we're figuring out. The pieces are coming together, Abby."
McGee strolled into the lab. "He's right. And now we have a connection between the widow of a dead Marine, who works in a pre-school, and the Tennant family. Any luck with the prints, Abs?"
"Not yet," Abby answered, going back to work. "But I've only compared two of your Sofia/Sophie's." McGee walked up to her, resting a hand casually on her back. "I've got a feeling about this, Abs. I think we're closing in on our killer."
Jimmy nodded. "I think you're right."
Abby looked up, suddenly, and muttered, with her voice dripping venom, "That coldblooded bitch." McGee and Jimmy looked at her, expectantly. "Got her," she said, holding up a sheet. Timmy, get this up to Tony and Ziva. You guys need to go have a little chatsie with Sofia Maddox, nee Scarabelli."
McGee glanced at her. "Abs, I knew there was a reason I love you!" Jimmy grinned as McGee bent down and gave Abby a big kiss on the cheek." She giggled, and called after his rapidly departing form, "Hey, save some of that for later, Timmy! And I love you too!"
Her smile slowly faded as she looked over at her temporary assistant. "We're almost there, aren't we?" Jimmy asked her. Abby put a hand on his shoulder and gazed up at him. "Yeah, Jimmy. I think we are. You do realize, you were only 7 when Michaela died?"
Jimmy glanced down at his feet for a moment, then looked back at Abby. "Yeah, I know. I know I couldn't have done anything to help her. But Emily, maybe I can help."
"Emily… you have helped. I hope this can give you some peace," she said, as she wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug.
He clung to her for a moment, then said, "I think, maybe… it already is." Jimmy smiled down at her as she removed her arms from around his shoulders.
"Now, I think we've earned some of that ice cream. Ziva said she put ours in the freezer in the break room. Provided Tony hasn't found it," she said, dragging him out of the lab with a grin. Jimmy chuckled. "I'm surprised it even survived the trip back to NCIS with him," he said, as their voices faded behind the closing doors.