A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so short. I'm already working on the next part, so the wait should not be too long.
The next morning, after Gibbs had left for work, Erin sat in the living room and thought about
the last hours. When they had come home last night, she had immediately fallen into an
exhausted, agitated sleep in the spare bedroom after a quick call to the club-house to make
sure that note to the Jones' was thrown away. In the morning, she'd stood up when she had
heard Gibbs potter about around in the kitchen. While they had coffee, he had provided her
with keys for the house and the old pick-up truck. They hadn't talked about the last day and
Erin was not sure if she wanted to at all. She would not bring the subject up for sure.
She had felt awkward in Gibbs' presence this morning. She didn't know what he expected her
to do, what he expected their "relationship" to be like. In those last days on the "Glory", there
had been more than one occasion, when Erin noticed that he looked at her in a certain way.
And while on one hand it felt good, here in this new situation definitely was on the other
hand. On the boat, he was the skipper and she was the sailor. That was easy, she could handle
that. And if, from time to time he would give hints, that he saw and liked her as a woman, she
could handle it. Because he still was the skipper and she was the sailor. Common ground.
But here, the only thing that was left for her to be was a woman. And if he was not the skipper
anymore, what was he then? Erin knew she would go crazy if she didn't manage to get her
mind of thoughts like these. She grabbed her jacket and drove to the marina, to start working
on the "Spirit of Endeavour".
At the same time, at the NCIS headquarters, special agent Gibbs had to face the fact that their
serial rapist had done it again. After they had investigated the crime-scene, Gibbs ordered
Kate and Tony to try and find other witnesses and talk to the young seaman's friends and
roommates.
He drove to Bethesda hospital to interview Grace Mallory, who had the misfortune of having
become victim number four.
Having arrived there, he was told that the doctors were still treating seaman Mallory and that
he would have to wait, so he went to the cafeteria for coffee.
After something like twenty minutes a nurse came down to tell him that he could now see the
victim. When he entered the room, he could immediately see that the woman had been beat up
badly. He grabbed a chair and sat down beside the bed.
"Hi, I'm special agent Gibbs, NCIS. I'm sorry for what happened to you."
Seaman Mallory didn't answer. She just looked at him and he could see the pain and fear in
her eyes.
"I know this is hard, but I need you to tell me everything that you remember. You're the fourth
victim of this guy, and I have to stop him as fast as possible."
She slowly nodded her head.
"Did you see the attacker?"
"He was clad in black. He was tall. And overweight. White……"
"Take your time. Was there anything else you noticed?"
"He wore a mask, like you wear under a helmet for motorbikes. And gloves. I could feel he
had a ring on his right hand, when he hit me….."
"Did he say anything?"
She looked surprised but didn't answer.
"He said something to one of the other victims. Did he talk to you?"
"It didn't make sense to me… he said: "Tell them hello from the Benjiman". But he didn't say
whom I should tell it."
"Anything special about his voice?"
"Deep. He had a bad breath. And an accent. He had a slight British accent."
"That all you can remember?"
"I'm sorry…."
"No, it's okay. You did good."
He handed her his card.
"If you think of anything else, call."
"Okay."
"Does your family know what happened?"
"My mom is on her way here."
"Okay. Thank you."
Gibbs was not surprised, that Kate and Tony's interviews had not lead to any new insight.
This case was frustrating. He hated to have to wait for the attacker to make a mistake.
X
Erin was already at home, when he arrived in the evening. She opened the door when she
heard him pull up into the driveway. When he had reached her, he could see how insecure
about the new situation she was.
"Hi, let me go take a quick shower. Maybe I can leave some of special agent Gibbs there. I'm
not going to make that same mistake again, you know."
Erin looked down.
"I know now. I'm sorry for the fuss I made."
"Don't be. We both have to adjust to this new situation."
After he had showered, they had the steak and salad that Erin had prepared and then spent a
few hours working on his boat. They didn't talk much, but the silence was comfortable and
Erin felt much better when she went to bed that evening.
When Gibbs arrived at the office the next morning, Ducky already waited for him at his desk.
"Ducky. Anything wrong?"
"You surely remember that I told you I thought I heard something like that before, when you
told me about that brand your Erin has on her shoulder."
"Yes?"
"I know now. I know where I saw it."