"First Sergeant Leaven," Gibbs barked. "Where did you get the money for your new Porsche?"

Leaven scowled. "I believe the usual answer is 'an inheritance'?"

Gibbs leaned in, his nose almost touching the other Marine's. "I'm not interested in the usual answer," he growled, so low that only Leaven could hear him. "I want the truth. And if you don't give it to me, you will only live to regret it."

"I didn't kill the colonel," Leaven said.

Gibbs gazed at him coolly. "I didn't say you did."

"Right," Leaven snorted. "You just heavily implied so."

"As far as I'm aware, First Sergeant," Gibbs shrugged, backing away. "This discussion is about you, not Colonel Havelock."

"Just say it," Leaven sighed. "You think I'm a hired gun who killed the colonel, either because I was paid to or because of some deep-seated bitterness toward the military in general and the colonel in particular. Correct?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"

Leaven lowered his eyes, though it was difficult to tell whether in defeat or shame. "Only by half."

Gibbs said nothing, letting the silence build until Leaven filled it himself. It was an effective interrogation tactic that he used often. It never failed.

"When I resigned," Leaven began in a low voice, "I couldn't find a job. My SGC assignment showed up as a 'deep space radar telemetry' project. Obviously the associated skills had nothing to do with the kind of work I was looking for. A couple of security firms were interested in me but they didn't like what showed up on their psych tests. I'd just seen four of my men killed; what would you expect?

"I was desperate. My pension was barely covering food and rent; I had to find work. So I took out an ad in Soldier of Fortune. I wasn't sure anything would come of it but I figured it couldn't hurt. Somebody answered."

Leaven apparently thought this was enough. Gibbs disagreed. "What then?" he asked coldly, never taking his eyes off the hunched former Marine in front of him.

Leaven lifted his eyes to meet Gibbs' gaze. "I filled his order," he replied flatly.

Sam frowned at the straight-forwardness of Leaven's answer. He had just spoken of murdering someone as if it were an everyday occurrence, as if he were a waiter taking down someone's menu choice. The guy was ice.

"You think he did it?" she whispered to the room in general.

"Probably."

"No."

"It is difficult to say."

"I don't know."

Kate, Tony, Teal'c, Daniel. The general chimed in with a snide, "How the hell should I know? That's what they're here for," but Sam attributed his sour mood to his inability to contribute to the investigation. General O'Neill was a man of action; sitting on his butt watching others do the work was understandably difficult for him.

"Did you kill Colonel Havelock?" Gibbs asked directly.

Leaven looked him directly in the eye as he answered, with equal candor, "No."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Just because I resigned doesn't mean I hate the military," Leaven explained. "Or Colonel Havelock. I don't blame him for what happened. I left because I didn't want to see any more good men die."

"So you didn't want the colonel dead. You still could have been hired."

Leaven shook his head derisively. "Wouldn't that be a little bit too coincidental?"

"I don't believe in coincidences," Gibbs smirked.

"What, you think someone would go to all the trouble of finding and hiring me for the job, just so it would look like I acted of my own volition?" Leaven asked incredulously.

"Stranger things have happened."

"Who outside the SGC would even know about my history with Colonel Havelock?"

"Who said anything about an outside job?" Gibbs reasoned.

"If it wasn't an outside job, what are you wasting your time with me for?" Leaven demanded. "Even if I had been hired, I wouldn't know anything. You'd have a much easier time looking around here for a suspect than trying to get it out of me."

"He's reading Gibbs' mind," Tony breathed, awed.

"Oh, come on, Tony," Kate scoffed. "Anyone with half a brain could have figured that out, and Leaven's smart."

"So," Daniel broke in, still trying to understand the finer points of criminal investigation. "Leaven's off the hook now?"

"Not quite," Kate explained. "We'll keep him around, just in case, but it does look like we need to find another prime suspect."