Chapter Ten: McGee's Mission

After Tony and Ziva left for the JAG interviews McGee went to work getting the phone records of Lt. Commander Conrad from when she lived on base. He also searched out who her neighbors were. After putting the petition in for her phone records he decided to try his luck at the neighbor's house. He figured the house where both adults were officers in the Navy was a bad place to begin since most likely no one was home. He checked the clock, kids would be off at school, and anyone with a post would be there by now.

He looked up LaTonya Harper, she didn't seem to have a job. He just hoped she didn't pick this day to go to the market or run other errands. He walked the short distance from the base housing they were using to where Commander Conrad had resided when she lived on this base. He looked at the house next door and walked up the cement pathway to the front door. McGee rang the buzzer and waited.

It wasn't very long before a small black woman answered the door and smiled at him. McGee returned the smile and pulled his badge from his pocket. He flipped it open before he started speaking. "My name is Special Agent Tim McGee from NCIS. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"What is this about?" the woman asked, the smile falling from her face.

"Ma'am I hate to be the one to tell you this but Lt. Commander Conrad was murdered yesterday," McGee said softly. The woman gasped and her hand went to her mouth. The tears slid down her cheeks as she stared at McGee in disbelief. She shook her head as if it would make this dream go away.

"Come in," she said shaking herself from the shock. "Sorry I…have a seat."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"Please call me LaTonya. What can I help you with?"

"We're just trying to get a feel for Commander Conrad's life. We thought maybe you would know if she was having problems with anyone, someone she was seeing. Were you close to Commander Conrad?"

"We were neighbors. We have children the same ages. Nicole is the same age as my Shanise…oh my...Nicole…"

"Nicole is ok. She is staying with an Agent from NCIS right now."

"Dear lord."

"So Nicole came over a lot?"

"Oh yes, and my children went over there. Nicole was friends with my boys too. They are older but not too much. Jarius is fifteen now and LaTrell is going to be thirteen in a few days."

"Was there anyone that you knew of that Commander Conrad may have been fleeing from?"

"Fleeing from?"

"Her request for transfer caught everyone by surprise. It seems she may have been running from someone on base."

"There was someone. She would send Nicole over some nights. Asking if she could hang out over here. Like she just didn't want Nicole around the house in case."

"In case of what?" McGee asked.

"There was someone driving by. She had called the MPs but they never caught the guy. By the time they were out here the person was long gone. I think it was scaring her."

"Did she know how was doing this?"

"I think she knew. I don't and she never did tell the police but I think she knew. Just the way she would talk about it. Like she knew how dangerous the person was."

"How often did this occur?"

"It didn't start until about three months ago. Then it seemed like it was a couple times a week. I was getting nervous about it and so were the McFarlans. They live on the other side of the Conrad's house."

"And no one ever saw who was driving this car?"

"No it was always at night, and the car had tinted windows."

"Do you remember what kind of car it was?"

"No, but I'm horrible with stuff like that. My husband might remember. He'll be home later this evening. I just remember it being a dark color, like a midnight blue or black with dark windows."

"How did Commander Conrad react when the car was around?"

"She would be nervous. Sometimes she would come over here with Nicole and hang out with Julian and myself. She would watch and make sure whoever it was didn't leave the car. I think she was afraid we'd know the person."

"And the MPs didn't do anything?"

"She wouldn't or couldn't tell them who it was. All they had was the description of the vehicle but they never caught him. And technically all he was doing was driving down the road. He didn't really break any laws."

"What about the rest of the neighborhood? What did they think about this?"

"Not many noticed I think. The only reason we did was because Johanna would bring Nicole over when it happened. I don't think Nicole even knew why they were coming over she just got to spend time with my Shanise."

"Was there any other people in her life?"

"You mean men?" LaTonya asked leaning forward in the recliner she was sitting in. McGee nodded. "There was a marine coming around a lot. She kept Nicole from him and it didn't work out. Far as I could tell it was Johanna's end that didn't work. The marine was into her, she just…well she was still hung up on her husband I think."

"Do you know the marine's name?"

"Sorry no. But my husband might. He works on the base so he would know more people. Besides I generally only know the spouses of the officers," she added with a weak smile. McGee nodded he stared at the notes he had taken on his PDA and thought if there was anything else to ask.

"Is there anything else you can think of that might help?" McGee asked sitting back onto the couch. Mrs. Harper thought for a while then pursed her lips and shook her head.

"It's a shame this happened. Johanna was a wonderful woman."

"Thank you for your time, Ma'am," McGee said standing up. "Do you know if the McFarlans are home?"

"No, both of them are in the Navy and are on duty right now. Amanda gets off in the early afternoon around the time the children get home from school though."

"Thank you again," McGee said with a smile as LaTonya showed him out. McGee decided to make his way back to the housing they were using to sort through his notes. When he got there he noticed he had email on his laptop. He checked it and was a little surprised to find Commander Conrad's phone records already there. He opened them up and printed them out so he could look them over later. He then loaded his notes from the PDA to the laptop. After that was accomplished he printed those out as well.

He began sifting through the notes he had taken in the interview with LaTonya Harper and made a separate sheet of key highlights that he had learned. After he was finished he looked through the phone records and started looking up the numbers that she had called in the three months prior to her transfer.

He was just about finished with the phone numbers when Tony and Ziva arrived back from their interviews. They both came in quietly and sat down at the table with him. They looked at him expectantly.

"Hi, guys," he said.

"Probie, what'd you find?" Tony said stretching his legs under the table. Ziva leaned forward and laid her head on her arms.

"Tough interviews?" McGee asked with a raised eyebrow.

"On with it, Probie," Tony said warningly.

"Right. I talked to one neighbor, a LaTonya Harper, wife of Captain Julian Harper. She said there was someone driving by the Conrad house in the three months prior to Johanna transferring. Said it was a midnight blue or black car with tinted windows. It was all she remembered but said her husband would probably know more."

"Someone was stalking Commander Conrad?" Tony asked.

"Looks that way," McGee replied. "Mrs. Harper said she believed that Commander Conrad knew who it was in the car but wouldn't tell anyone. They had spoken to the MPs on numerous occasions but I guess since technically he was just driving down the street and they didn't have a name and never actually caught him doing it, they couldn't do anything about it."

"And now she is dead," Ziva said shaking her head. McGee nodded slowly.

"Anything more, Probie?"

"She said Commander Conrad was seeing someone but she didn't have a name. I have the phone numbers of everyone she called, and a breakdown of what the numbers are. There are still five numbers that I can't trace just by looking them up."

"Good work, Probie," Tony said with a smile. Tony continued on with the help of Ziva in filling McGee in on everything they had learned in the interviews today. They all agreed that the mystery man was looking like their best suspect at the moment, all they had to do now was figure out who it was. They spent an hour and a half bringing each other up to speed before rapping it up.

"Guess it's time for you to call Gibbs now," Ziva said with a smile as she stood from the table. Tony gave her a glare and McGee smiled. Tony looked at his watch and nodded, agreeing with her. If he didn't call Gibbs soon he would get another angry phone call from the bossman. He picked up his cell phone and dialed.

TBC…