Chapter Fourteen: Investigative Means

After hanging up with Gibbs, Tony looked at McGee sitting at the table and shook his head. He didn't know what to make of Gibbs' attitude during this case. He then stood and went to the fridge.

"What'd Gibbs have to say?" McGee asked stretching his back in the chair.

"Just to keep doing what we're doing," Tony mumbled as he searched the shelves for something. There wasn't much there, they had never actually made it to the store. "We should order something for dinner."

"Sounds good to me. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Ziva asked coming back into the kitchen and taking a seat next to McGee. Tony shut the fridge, turned, and leaned against the door. His face was thoughtful as he mulled over her question.

"Find Captain Lariman. Maybe if we talk to him we can figure out what's going on. Also Gibbs wants us to run down all the numbers on her phone records, well except the obvious ones, food places, car repairs, that sort of thing."

"What are we going to eat?" McGee asked. The other two both shrugged not saying anything. McGee picked up the phone book and started to flip through it looking for something to order. They decided on Chinese and after they were done eating they called it a day.

In the morning they set out for Captain Lariman's office. They came inside and found a sergeant sitting at a desk. Ziva approached slowly with McGee at her side while Tony looked around for a moment.

"Can I help you?" the young man asked looking up from his work. Ziva noticed the closed door behind him.

"I'm Special Agent McGee, this is Officer David, and that is Special Agent DiNozzo. We're with NCIS and would like to speak with Captain Lariman."

"Then you'll have to call your Washington office," the sergeant said looking down at his paperwork again.

"We are the Washington office," DiNozzo said stepping up to the desk. The man looked up again. "What do you mean?"

"Sir, Captain Lariman left for Norfolk three days ago. He's there for another week working with a counter terrorism unit. He's going to be deployed to Iraq in a month."

"He's in Norfolk?" Ziva asked looking up at Tony.

"That's what I said, Ma'am."

"What's your name?" Tony asked.

"Sergeant Thomas Riker, Sir," the young man replied.

"How do we get in touch with the captain, Sergeant Riker?" McGee asked.

"He can be reached through the base; I have a direct number to his housing. Also has a cell phone that I'm supposed to use if it's an emergency," Riker said looking up.

"We need those numbers," Ziva said leaning forward on the desk. The young sergeant nodded slowly as he searched his desk for a piece of paper. Finally he found what he was looking for and held it up to Ziva, who took it passing it immediately to McGee.

"Any of those numbers match?" Tony asked McGee. The sergeant looked up in confusion.

"What's this about?" Riker asked hesitantly.

"No, Tony, neither match," McGee said after checking the numbers against Commander Conrad's phone records.

"Thank you for your time, Sergeant Riker," DiNozzo said turning for the outside door. The sergeant stood quickly and moved around his desk. Ziva and McGee stopped behind Tony.

"What's going on here?" he asked again nervously.

"We need to speak with Captain Lariman about a homicide," Tony said as he pulled the door open and walked out into the sunlight, with Ziva and McGee right behind him. Sergeant Riker stood dumbfounded in the middle of the office gaping at them.

"This guy sounds better and better," Tony said shaking his head. "He could be the mystery man in her life, he's in Norfolk two days before the murder, and has a good reason for being there. Probie, check to see what kind of car our Marine Captain drives."

"On it, Tony," McGee said as he pulled his phone from his pocket, calling Abby. He walked away from Ziva and Tony.

"We need to check the rest of the numbers," Ziva said. Tony nodded and looked around.

"The ones inside the JAG office I'm thinking we can eliminate as being job related," Tony said. Ziva nodded agreeing with him. "But the ones to other people on base I think we should at least look into. Let's start from the top and move down."

They waited for McGee to rejoin them as he closed his phone. He came up beside Tony looking at his PDA. He then nodded quickly and looked up.

"Captain Lariman drives a 2004 black Buick LaCrosse," McGee said.

"Let's get these other numbers verified and then contact Gibbs," Tony said getting a little excited.

They spoke with most of the offices that showed up on Commander Conrad's phone records, each giving a legitimate reason for her to be calling. Most of them had to do with cases she was working on, or legal questions she was fielding for people on the base.

The only number they couldn't verify was the one for the two-star Admiral. They entered his office and came up to the Ensign sitting in front of the large oak door. The young woman looked up expectantly as she saw the three enter.

"Hi," Tony said with his charming smile. He went through introductions before getting to the point. "Is the Admiral in?"

"No. Admiral Kirkpatrick is out of town for the week," she said with a smile.

"Maybe you would know instead," Tony said sitting on the edge of her desk. She smiled up at him.

"I'd be glad to try," she replied.

"Would you know why Lt. Commander Johanna Conrad would be calling the Admiral's direct line from her home?"

"No I wouldn't," she said with a frown. "But I don't answer that line. Most calls come through the main line out here. That one is only given out by the Admiral himself. So if she was calling that number my guess is that they had business to discuss."

"What sort of business?" Ziva asked.

"Lt. Commander Conrad is a JAG lawyer. There was a case in which Admiral Kirkpatrick was keeping a close eye on. I remember him telling Commander Conrad to keep him informed."

"Does this happen often?" McGee asked.

"Yes, there are a lot of high ranking officers on base that keep an ear in the legal field. Helps them stay on top of things and be ready for the media."

"Thank you; do you know when the Admiral is expected?"

"Couple days, he's on a personal leave right now."

"Thank you for your time," Ziva said politely as the three made their way out of the office. Once outside they gathered by the car but no one got in. Tony drummed his finger on the top of the car as he thought about what they have learned. Ziva stood staring at the building down the road that served as Captain Lariman's office while McGee stared at the ground.

"Lariman is in Norfolk, I think that's where we should be," Tony said finally. Ziva looked at him and nodded in agreement. McGee slipped into the backseat of the car. Tony then dropped into the driver's seat while Ziva slipped into the passenger side.

"We should contact Gibbs," she said lightly and Tony nodded as he drove them back to the base housing. Once they were there they started to gather everything they had brought with them and Tony had McGee make arrangements for them to fly back to Washington. When they were almost ready to go Tony pulled his cell phone out once again to call Gibbs.

TBC…