Chapter 2
Gibbs and his team stood around the main display unit in their office as McGee transferred his data up to it, explaining what he had discovered as he went. "Colonel Ryan Montgomery, aged 34, a marine for Bethesda died two years ago."
"How did he die?" Kate asked.
"He was shot at close range with a .38 - according to the file, the case is still open. No one was ever charged with is murder."
"And this is linked to this case, how?" Gibbs was becoming impatient.
"The colonel had received several of the same type of letters as Petty Officer DeVries, even down to the marks at the top corner of the page! Unfortunately," McGee continued. "It doesn't end there…I have also found two other open files on marines that fit our killer's M.O. Each of them received printed notes prior to their death."
Gibbs looked seriously at the display. It appeared that he had a serial killer on his hands. Two other photographs were displayed alongside DeVries and Montgomery; Mid-shipman Andrew Peterson served on the Enterprise and was killed in a hit and run six years ago, and Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Wood one year previous.
"Dinozzo, Kate I want a full background check done on these men. We've got find out what they all have in common. Someone is out there murdering naval personnel and marines… I want that bastard before he kills again!" Gibbs had that determined look in his eye that his team knew only too well - the killer had murdered his last victim. "McGee take Mrs DeVries home and get me a coffee when you come back!"
McGee looked up from behind his computer, a vacant expression on his face. Gibbs always brought his own coffee.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Yes boss, sorry boss."
Tony and Kate exchanged glances - they knew it was going to be a long night and to cancel any plans they had for a social life.
Within the hour, McGee had returned with Gibbs' 'motor oil' and coffee for everyone else.
Gibbs took a slug from the styrofoam container and revelled in his caffeine top-up for just a few seconds before his phone shattered the moment. "Gibbs," he answered. "Okay, Abby, I'm on my way." He tossed his phone back into its cradle. "McGee, you too," he called over.
Downstairs in Abby's lab, she was poised over her computer awaiting Gibbs' arrival.
"What have you got for me, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he cruised into her lab still carrying his coffee.
She turned to him and in a very knowledgeable way said, "I was running a mock-up, on my computer, of the bomb blast and something struck me as 'hinky'." She paused for effect, but the only effect it had was to make Gibbs impatient. "This simulation together with the evidence in the car…"
"Abby!" Gibbs snapped.
"It was made to look like an amateur bomb, but whoever made this knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, there was something else, the bomb had to have been triggered by our petty officer!"
"WHAT?"
"There was no evidence of a timer or remote detonation switch. The bomb exploded when Nigel DeVries turned the ignition and created a circuit - KABOOM!"
Amanda DeVries sat across her kitchen table from Susie Jakes, her friend and neighbour. "It was awful, Susie. They think I killed Nigel," Amanda sobbed.
"How can they think that?" she replied sympathetically.
"I-I don't understand."
"Who was the investigating officer?"
"A Special Agent Gibbs, from NCIS."
"It's over now. Here, I'll make us some tea," Susie offered switching the kettle on, as she secretly planned her next victim's fate.
Getting the mugs out of the cupboard, she put a little something extra in Amanda's.
Back at NCIS headquarters, Gibbs was bashing away at his keyboard to little effect. His computer had frozen on him, and not being very technically minded, took his frustrations out on the plastic and technology in front of him. "McGee!" he bellowed. "Reboot this or something…"
"Okay boss, but I…" his voice faded away as Gibbs stared in his direction daring him to say another word. He didn't.
"Dinozzo, gas the car." Gibbs tossed the keys to his longest serving team member, of two years. "Kate, you're with us too."
The elevator pinged and it's doors opened. A tall woman in a naval commanders uniform and carrying a manila file stepped out as Gibbs and Kate entered. Neither took any notice of the other.
"Excuse me," the commander stopped a thirty-something brunette carrying an armful of files and folders from one desk to another. "I have some urgent documents for a Special Agent Gibbs. Could you point him out for me, please?"
"Yes mam," the woman answered obligingly, turning to face Gibbs' office. "Uh, erm… he doesn't appear to be in his office at the moment, but that's his desk right there," she pointed to where Gibbs usually sat.
"Thank you, Agent…Farrell," she responded pleasantly reading the ID clipped to the woman's lapel. The commander was almost at Gibbs' desk when a head popped up from beneath it, startling her. "Oh my god!"
"Sorry," McGee apologised.
He was not the kind of person that Susie had expected, nor was he unhandsome, but he was young.
"Can I help you, Commander?" McGee asked realising that she had not moved, as he ceased tapping away on Gibbs' keyboard.
Thrown slightly off-guard, Susie responded "Erm, I have some urgent documents for Agent Farrell."
McGee looked around and saw Agent Farrell in the adjacent office. "That's her over there, with the long dark hair carrying the files."
"Thanks for your help." Susie didn't bother stopping to talk with Agent Farrell again. In fact, she wanted to get out of that office as soon as possible. She had not intended to meet her next victim, only to get some background information on him.
Gibbs had no qualms about exceeding the speed limit and today was no exception. Kate sat in the back behind Tony, both of whom were hanging on to the handgrips tightly as they endeavoured to prevent themselves from being thrown around the vehicle. Gibbs pulled up in front of the DeVries household and launched himself out of the drivers' door leaving Kate and Tony still unclipping their safety belts. By the time they were out of the car, Gibbs had already made it to the front porch and was knocking on the door. No one answered. Gibbs drew his weapon, Kate and Dinozzo followed suit, as they caught up to their boss.
"Dinozzo, cover the back," Gibbs indicated in a muted instruction.
The team waited a few moments for Tony to position himself, before Gibbs knocked again. Still no reply. Gibbs reached forward with his left hand to turn the doorknob, his right still aiming his gun at any possible enemy within. Gibbs and Kate entered the property checking each room as they went.
"Clear!" Kate called as she checked the lounge, then the kitchen.
Gibbs cleared the dining room and the first bedroom; but as he reached the bathroom he found Amanda - dead.
Ducky and Jimmy Palmer, the ME's assistant, arrived within twenty minutes of Gibbs' initial call. They pulled up behind McGee who had driven the NCIS crime scene investigation truck. Yellow crime scene tape remained around the property from the previous incident. To Ducky, the whole business seemed such a waste. To lose one life was tragic, to lose a second was criminal. The medical examiner shook his head in dismay as he entered the house.
The bathroom had been photographed and the details recorded before Ducky began his preliminary report. Firstly, he noticed the slashes across Amanda's wrists. Each heavily cut in a diagonal direction, blood pooling around the corpse. The doctor removed his scalpel and made a small incision near the liver, before inserting the probe of his thermometer to determine time of death.
"Jethro," Gibbs turned toward Ducky awaiting his assessment of the body. "I'd say she's been dead about an hour, two at most. But look at these wounds - they were not self inflicted…"
"How can you tell?" Kate asked, fascinated.
"Imagine you are about to end it all by slitting your wrists, here pretend this marker is a knife."
Kate took the pen and simulated the actions of a suicide. The marks on her wrists were diagonal, but in opposite directions. "One goes from left to right, the other right to left!" she exclaimed.
"Exactly! Now look at this poor girl's…"
"They are both cut from right to left!"
"We're looking for a murderer, Duck." Gibbs concluded. Ducky nodded.
Back at NCIS, Ducky continued his autopsy. "Why didn't you fight back, my dear?" he asked his lifeless patient. "You will tell me what you know, you always do…"
Jimmy Palmer watched his mentor with a mix of admiration and scepticism. Dr Mallard could often be described as eccentric, but was exceedingly proficient at his job, being one of the best in his field.
A couple of hours passed. Ducky had sent Jimmy off to Abby's lab with a series of samples to be tested for explosive residue and toxicology, and he was now awaiting the results, although he was reasonably certain what they would say. He called upstairs and asked Gibbs to join him.
"What's up Duck?" If you had given Gibbs long ears, a cottontail, a carrot and a sense of humour, he could have passed for a well-known cartoon character. As it was, none of the above applied and Gibbs was deadly serious.
"Our petty officer's wife was definitely murdered. You see the cuts on her wrists are consistent with someone standing to her left and slashing from right to left. Ducky demonstrated holding a scalpel a couple of centimetres from Amanda's skin.
"Why are there no defensive wounds?"
"I was just getting to that. She must have been unconscious when the deadly act took place, but I could find no physical evidence to support that theory."
"If she was unconscious, the killer would have had to drag her through the house, but we found no evidence of drag marks or deep impressions in the carpet pile where she might have been carried."
"There is another alternative…"
"She was either drugged and made her own way to the bathroom willingly, or…" "She was forced against her will."
Just then the telephone rang on the main desk in autopsy. Ducky answered it by pressing the speakerphone button, thus enabling Gibbs to hear the whole conversation. It was Abby.
"Hi Ducky!" Abby greeted. "I've completed my tests on the samples you sent up. Now there's good news and bad news - which do you want first?"
"Abby!" Gibbs snapped, not wanting to waste time playing games.
"Hey Gibbs!" Abby addressed. "Come on, it's no fun if I don't let you wonder at my expertise," she teased. Silence filled the mortuary as both doctor and investigator waited for her findings. "Gibbs? Ducky?" Abby called, not sure if her call had been disconnected.
"Well?" Gibbs queried.
"Amanda DeVries tested negative for explosive residue, but when doing her bloodwork something 'hinky' showed up…" She paused for effect before announcing "I found traces of Rohypnol."
"The date-rape drug?" Gibbs asked.
"Yup! The knife, however, had no prints on it, but it was definately the murder weapon."
"Thanks Abs, good work," and with that Gibbs hung up. "What do you make of that Ducky?"
"It would certainly account for the lack of struggle. She'd have been powerless against the suggestive nature of the drug. Jethro, whoever administered that drug, killed Amanda DeVries!"
Next morning, Gibbs was the first to arrive. As he emerged from the elevator he took a gulp from the carton of coffee he had purchased on his way in. The strong bitter black liquid giving the special agent's mental prowess that extra kick-start after a long night where he had worked lovingly upon the sailing boat he was building in his basement. When he reached his desk, he noted that the internal mail delivery system had been around before the 5am that now displayed on his wristwatch. Of the three envelopes that lay unopened on his desk, he suspected he would have to file all of them in his regular 'bureaucratic bull-shit' file along with the half-eaten Chinese from the previous evenings' overtime.
He was nearly right. The first was an internal memo from the bean counters at head office, reminding all heads of departments about filing legitimate receipts for expenses; the second an addition to the NCIS most wanted board - a SEAL who'd been redistributing arms and armoury on the black market. Lastly, a letter - a single sheet of computer printed-paper with the same distinctive ink marks in the top right hand corner and along the right hand edge. It was the same as the ones received by Petty Officer DeVries! Gibbs put the letter down and snapped on a pair of Latex gloves from this top drawer. Now he could examine the letter more closely before placing both it and its corresponding envelope in separate evidence bags. The letter read:
'I know you spent last night alone, but I could always
stop by to keep you company…'
Abby wouldn't be in for another hour, so Gibbs tried to focus his attention on some other aspect of the case. However, his mind often wandered back to the letter.
Abby got in about ten to six, and before she even had time to put on her lab coat, Gibbs was snapping at her heels to see what she could gain from this latest letter.
"Good morning to you to, Gibbs" Abby intoned sarcastically as her colleague departed through the automatic doors. "First, some music to work by…" Abby sat on her wheeled chair and pushed off toward the stereo mounted upon a chiller unit. An unearthly sound of shrieking and the heavy boom-boom-boom of bass reverberated around the clinical environment. Abby smiled contentedly. "Ahh, that's better. Now… to work."
Dressed in her whit lab coat and a pair of latex gloves, Abby carefully cut the seal on the evidence bags containing the letter and envelope with a scalpel. She then proceeded to place the two items in a glass box and sealed the front. She dripped a few drops of superglue into the heated intake tube and waited as the box clouded over with a gaseous shroud. As the chamber cleared, Abby first removed the envelope. Looking through amber coloured safety goggles, she turned on the alternative light source (ALS) unit. She lifted two prints and a partial palm print, which turned out to belong to Gibbs and Marvin, the mailman. The letter on the other hand, proved to be more forthcoming. Abby lifted a print form the reverse of the letter belonging to neither of the two previous candidates known to have handled the letter. She scanned the latent print into her computer and began comparing it to the naval fingerprint database and AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). All she could do now, was wait. There was no DNA available on the envelope as it was the 'self-seal' variety, but she did notice a yellow powder stuck to the gummed flap. Now it was a case of identifying the substance. That would be her next challenge.
Gibbs rang down for a progress report on his letter. "What have you got for me, Abs?"
"Gibbs, I know I'm good, but you've still got to wait for the computer to do its thing. There were no relevant fingerprints on the envelope, nor did it contain any human DNA…"
"Are you telling me you've come up with nothing?"
"No, the good news is I have a print running through AFIS now, from the letter, but no hits as yet. There is something else, though. You know I said there was no human DNA on the envelope?"
"Get to the point, Abby."
"I am, I am. Well the envelope had pollen stuck along the glued edge. Our stalker has been in contact with a plant or flower. I'm processing the plant DNA now and should have a result within 24 hours."
"Good work. Let me know when you have the results and maybe we can pin down this dirt bag."
Dinozzo and Kate arrived in the office at the same time. Tony was in the throws of describing his previous night's encounters with a curvaceous twenty year old blond called Natalie. He was divulging more information than Kate actually wanted or desired.
"Tony, do you see every woman on this planet as a prospective conquest?"
"No, no not every woman. I haven't tried to hit on you yet!"
Kate looked severely at her colleague, not amused by his chauvinistic comment.
Unbeknownst to the pair of them, Gibbs had heard every word. "That's because he knows the consequences."
"That NCIS agents are not permitted relationships with colleagues they work with?" Kate queried.
"No, that you'd eat him for breakfast!" Gibbs' response caused Kate to smirk and Tony's face to fall. "Now, are we going to get any work done today?"
"Yes, boss" they chorused.
"And where's McGee?"
"Don't know, boss" Tony admitted.
"In the crime scene evidence at the killing of Amanda DeVries, did either of you find any evidence of Rohypnol?"
At that moment, the elevator pinged its arrival. The doors opened to reveal a very flustered McGee. He launched himself into the office, almost knocking a couple of fellow officers over in his haste, babbled his apologies and practically ran to his desk.
Gibbs stared at the young agent. "Do you like working here, McGee?"
"Sorry I'm late, boss. I had to pick something up for…"
"MCGEE!" Gibbs snapped.
"Won't happen again, boss" he apologised, again.
Gibbs turned his attention back to his earlier question and the other field agents of his team. Both Kate and Tony looked, just for a second, like rabbits caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler.
"There was no obvious sign of Rohypnol, boss" Tony answered.
"It was probably in something she ate or drank," Kate added.
"You think! Then you two go back to the house and bag and tag anything that might contain that drug. Oh, and don't forget to check the 'U' bend in the sink. If our killer is as clever as they think they are, they probably tipped the evidence down the drain."
"McGee, I want to know what all of these naval officers have in common. There has got to be some common factor, we're just not seeing it." Gibbs stared at the plasma screen showing the four naval personnel all of whom had died unnecessarily at the hands of another.
A bouquet of flowers arrived for Gibbs delivered by a young girl of no more that nineteen. She wore a skimpy pink halterneck and a skirt that barely covered her ass. The security officer, who had accompanied the gum chewing girl, wore a wide grin like a child who had had everything they wanted for Christmas.
"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" the girl asked with a heavy mid-west accent.
"Yup."
"Then these are for you. Sign here," she indicated a space on her clipboard.
Gibbs signed, took a pair of Latex gloves from his drawer and took out the accompanying card.
' Saw you again this morning. '
"Hey man, what gives?" the girl asked, watching the strange reaction to a very beautiful bouquet, as Gibbs plunged them into the trash.
"Who sent the flowers?" Gibbs demanded.
"Huh?"
Gibbs repeated his question raising his voice and losing his patience.
The girl, taken aback by the aggressive nature of Gibbs' question, checked her clipboard. There were no details listed under the sender. "Must be a 'secret admirer'. Looks like they paid cash," she explained. "There's no credit card or cheque detail on the order."
"That means whoever sent this visited the shop, right?" The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Do you have CCTV?"
"I don't know."
"What's the name of the florist?"
"Jake's Flowers, on 51st Street."
Gibbs grabbed his ID and weapon from his top drawer and escorted the delivery girl and the slightly disgruntled security officer to the ground floor, then proceeded down to the garage.
The wheels of the midnight blue Dodge Stratus squealed loudly as the Special Agent lay down a thick layer of rubber on the concrete parking bay floor. His next battle would be with the mid-morning traffic.
Abby took a large drag on the straw leading into her 'Caf-Pow!', the caffeine boost refreshing her eyes as she watched finger prints flicker past across her monitor. With nothing to do but wait for results, Abby decided to go up to the 3rd floor to see if she'd be more use up there.
"Hey McGee, where is everyone?"
"Hi Abby," his face flushed. He had a serious soft spot for the straight talking Goth lab technician.
"Wow," she exclaimed as she noticed the large bunch of flowers in Gibbs' trash. "Who'd send flowers to Gibbs?" It was a rhetorical question.
"Erm, I don't know," McGee's concentration locked on his computer screen.
"Do you need a hand?" Abby offered looking over his shoulder, her hands resting on his head.
"Yeah," he replied, relieved. So far he'd hit dead ends. Maybe, with Abby's help, they could find the missing link.
McGee took his laptop down to Abby's lab so she could monitor her tests as they worked.
"Kate and Tony had pulled the case files on the murders of Montgomery, Peterson and Wood, but as yet we've not been able to find a common thread to link all four cases," McGee explained.
Abby leafed through one of the folders and compared the information to the others.
"Both Montgomery and Wood served in Iraq in '98, but not in the same unit. DeVries went to college in Boston, Peterson went to UCLA."
Time passed slowly.
"This makes no sense, there doesn't appear to be anything that links any of these men apart from the fact they are all in the navy." Abby deduced.
McGee looked up. 'It couldn't be that simple, surely?' he thought. "Abby - you're brilliant!" He bobbed up out of his chair, placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her on the forehead.
She grinned back at him, not really sure what she had done, but pleased with herself anyway.
McGee went back to his machine and typed in a search against any unsolved naval and marine deaths. He got over two hundred hits. He then narrowed his search to male victims receiving mysterious letters prior to their demise, that returned only twenty-seven, three of which were Montgomery, Wood and Peterson. That left twenty-four, twelve each.
One-by-one, McGee and Abby worked through the case notes of each murder victim, eliminating those that didn't fit the profile of their stalkers M.O. Only five remained, each of whom had suffered a similar fate to the that of Nigel DeVries, a succession of explicit notes concluding in their death.
"According to this, our stalker has been committing murder for nearly ten years and getting away with it," McGee exclaimed.
"Yes," Abby agreed with dismay. "And I think I know who the next target is…"
McGee looked on, his mouth open in shock.
The floristry business must have been quite slack that morning as the shop assistant sat behind the counter casually thumbing her way through a celebrity gossip magazine. The name tag attached to the blue sports shirt, with Jakes Flowers embroidered in the top left corner, read Dawn. Gibbs flashed his badge and ID across the counter.
"What's N-C-I-S?" Dawn asked.
"Naval Criminal Investigation Service. Is the owner about?"
"Nope, out of town on business. Say, what does the navy want with a florist?"
Gibbs ignored her question. "Do you have CCTV?"
"You're kidding right? What's a thief going to do, steal our carnations?"
Gibbs smirked, finding her humour amusing. "You sent some flowers to the NCIS office this morning, do you have a record of who sent them?"
"Name?"
"Gibbs."
"No, the name of the recipient!" Gibbs just looked at her. "Ohh, you…"
He waited whilst she checked her records.
"There's no record of any flowers being sent to either you, or NCIS." Dawn responded.
"How can that be?"
"Are you sure they came from this florist?"
Gibbs didn't bother to deign her query with an answer, he just left the shop assistant looking on utterly confused by the whole conversation.
What Gibbs needed now, was a coffee.
McGee and Abby paced frantically back and forth about the office. "Try his cell again," Abby suggested.
"I have, several times. Gibbs must have turned it off."
"Turned what off?" Gibbs asked as he entered the office from the rear elevator.
"Why do you have a cell phone if you don't have it turned on?" Abby chastised, half furious and half relieved to see her boss.
"What's up, Abs?"
"Boss, although we haven't actually found a common link between our victims yet…" McGee began.
"We believe we have found another five cases where our stalker has killed marine or naval personnel." Abby finished. "And we think…" she paused, not sure how to say the next bit. "We think that you are the next target!"
Gibbs smiled to himself and sat at his desk. "After three ex-wives, a murderer should be a piece of cake!"
"Gibbs, this is serious…" Abby scorned.
"Boss, we want you to know that…well that we're here, if you need us." McGee volunteered.
"Thanks McGee, Abby." Gibbs knew they were sincere, and his features softened momentarily before his hard-core marine training took over. "Any news on those test results?"
Abby checked her watch. "They should be done around about - now." Her lab coat twirled in the air as she turned on her heel and pressed the down button on the elevator.
Kate and Tony were waiting in the lab when Abby returned. They were carrying a large white evidence box packed with jars of liquid and bags of food that they had bagged and tagged from the DeVries household. Abby signed for them to maintain the chain of evidence.
"Abby," Tony began. "We need you test these for Rohypnol, please?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
As Kate and Tony were about to leave, Abby called them back. She knew Gibbs wasn't going to like it, but she had to tell them her suspicions about the letters.
On their return to the office, Kate confronted Gibbs. "Why did you go out alone, if you suspected you were our stalker's next target?"
"The letters haven't threatened anything yet."
"Well, until this psycho is caught, you don't go anywhere without one of us." For an instant she forgot to whom she was talking.
Gibbs stared at her. "Geez, it's like being married all over again!"
"Except, I don't get an alimony cheque at the end of it!" Kate retorted with a smile.
Gibbs laughed and picked up his phone to dial down to the lab.
Tony and McGee stood around Kate's desk, as she outlined the security measures and bodyguard rotas they'd each undertake.
Gibbs switched the communications to video feed and spoke to Abby using the large plasma screen. "What have you got for me, Abs?"
"You mean besides half the supermarket Kate and Tony have just brought me? Okay, the pollen came from a 'Phaelenopsis amabalis'."
"A what?"
"It's a moth orchid and not indigenous to this country."
Gibbs cursed himself. He knew there was something odd at the florists when he had visited earlier, he just didn't comprehend its significance. "Kate, you're with me."
She grabbed her weapon and jacket and caught up with Gibbs. "Where are we going?"
"The florist," he answered.
"You're buying flowers?"
Gibbs looked at her, disbelievingly. "Do I look like I need to buy flowers?"
Kate wasn't sure of the answer she should give, so she decided to say nothing at all.
When they arrived at Jakes Florist, it was shut. Frustrated by the turn of events, Gibbs banged his fist against the glass door.
"Nothing we can do now, we don't have enough for a warrant."
Gibbs had to agree, no matter how much he didn't like it and returned to NCIS.
On their return, the security officer on the door stopped them as they were about to swipe their security passes through the staff entrance. "Excuse me, Sir," the guard called. "Commander Jackson left this for you at the front entrance. She said I was to hand it to you personally."
Gibbs took the envelope, it was identical to the one he had received earlier. He opened a plastic evidence bag and he and Kate took it directly to Abby.
Abby placed the envelope inside a sealed perspex container and handled it through the rubber gloves fitted on one side. Gingerly, she opened the envelope and removed the letter. A tiny capped explosion sent glitter and smoke throughout the box. Everyone jumped, especially Abby who pulled her hands back quicker than a striking viper.
"Abby, are you alright?" Kate asked concerned.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Oh my god Gibbs, who have you pissed off this time?"
"Difficult to say…" his sarcasm covering his very real concerns.
As the smoke and glitter cleared, Abby returned to the letter to read its contents. It was definitely from the same machine as the other notes because of the ink pattern down the right side.
'You don't make it easy, do you?
I saw you with 'her' today. Her with her long dark hair.
I didn't think that you'd go for that sort of woman.
Next time, glitter might not be all I send…'
"Abby, I want this bitch!" Gibbs shouted as he left her lab leaving the two women in his wake.
"Tony," Gibbs called over. "Find out every thing you can on this Commander Jackson."
Tony looked over the top of his monitor. "Who is he, boss?"
"It's a 'she', and that's what I want you to find out!" he retorted.
"On it, boss."
"McGee, have you found anything linking our dead sailors?"
"I did find something, though I'm not really sure it's relevant."
"Right now, I'm willing to accept a statement from Santa Claus!"
"Well, all of our victims have spent some time at Bethesda Naval Hospital. DeVries had an appendectomy there eight months ago; Wood fractured his wrist; Peterson needed stitches after an accident in the field; and Montgomery worked there in the medical records department."
"That's how our killer found her targets."
"Boss," Tony interrupted. "There's no record of a Commander Jackson in the navy."
"I want a copy of the security tape from this afternoon. I want to put a face to this scumbag!"
Gibbs, Tony and Kate watched the security tape as it played back on the large monitor in the office.
McGee accessed the footage from his computer and fast forwarded the tape to the section time coded at 1527 hours when he played it at normal speed.
"Our Commander," Kate began.
"She's not a Commander," Tony corrected.
"Okay, the woman who delivered the letter for Gibbs, arrived at around 1545 hours according to the security officer who received it."
The team watched officers and NCIS personnel go back and forth in front of the camera.
"Hold it," Gibbs barked. "Back it up a bit."
McGee complied. A woman in navy dress entered the shot. She kept her head down, her cover shielding the majority of her face from the digital eye.
"That's her!" Gibbs' gut and instinct knew it. The time code read 1548 hours. "McGee, can you enhance that at all and make her face any clearer?"
"I can adapt the transfiguration resource software to compensate for the deminished pixel configuration…"
"McGee! I didn't ask you if you could."
"Oh no, sorry boss," his head bowed and his fingers were rapidly striking the keys on the keyboard. The more he tapped away the clearer the image became. A separate window came up alongside the original tape showing the slowly rotating features of a dark-haired slender faced woman created in a computer generated format. "That's our Commander Jackson!"
"She's not a Commander," Tony repeated.
McGee stared at the image. He had seen that face before, but couldn't remember where. He hoped he would recall before the killer had a chance to strike again.
It was late. Kate and Tony had left for the night, they could do no more until they had the identity of the mysterious commander. Tony had another date with Natalie, you could almost say it was serious. After all, two dates for Tony was serious! Kate was with Gibbs. It was her shift for protection duty, until 0600 hours tomorrow. She was the most experienced in protection detail, having been assigned to protect the President of the United States when she worked in the Secret Service. Gibbs wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he'd been ordered by Director Morrow to co-operate. He'd decided to go down to his basement and continue to work on the sailing boat he was lovingly hand crafting, whilst Kate remained upstairs. The boat had been his lifeline after three messy divorces, one of which landed him in hospital with a fractured skull after his second wife drove a seven iron into his head. His boat helped him to think clearly. It never moaned when he wasn't there; it never required anything more than the sensitive touch of his hand tools; and it never demanded alimony cheques!
Only McGee remained behind at the office. He knew Abby was still downstairs testing all the material Kate and Tony had brought in from the DeVries house, so he decided he'd keep her company whilst he continued to work on his laptop.
Abby was syringing small amounts of liquid into testing vials when McGee entered the cacophony of sound that he recognised as one of her favourite bands.
"Hey McGee," she shouted before turning her music down, slightly. "I didn't realise you were still here."
"It was too quiet upstairs," he teased.
Abby smiled, and returned her attention back to her work.
By 3am, McGee had fallen asleep hunched over at the desk where he sat and Abby had done all that she could. Now it was down to technology to determine the evidence - scientifically. Abby unfurled a mattress she kept rolled up under one of her desks for situations such as these and settled down to get some rest.
Up on level three, a lone figure sat at Gibbs' desk, and it wasn't Gibbs. Susie sat there of ages, just letting the whole environment sink in. The longer she sat, the angrier she felt and after almost two hours she had reached her climactic conclusion. Without her computer or printer, she had to hand print her final note.
'So you spent another night with her. You obviously don't respect
or care for my feelings at all. I have watched you visit the gym,
buy your groceries from the store and I've seen you typing away at that
vintage typewriter of yours, yet you have barley acknowledged me.
Perhaps if I dyed my hair black and wore it up in bunches, and dressed
like an extra from a vampire movie you'd have noticed me.
But it's too late fore that now. Now, you have to pay the price -
both of you!'
Susie pushed the wheeled computer chair backward and made her way to the rear stairwell.