CHAPTER 4
Tony and Kate walk into the bullpen the next morning. Tony throws his gear on the floor behind his desk and Kate rolls her eyes at him.
"Didn't go well at the Petty Officer's house?" McGee inquires.
"Sure it did Probie. No sign of forced entry and no sign of a struggle, also no rope. The man didn't even have a tackle box anywhere." Tony gripes.
"His house is not the primary crime scene, but we did find something." Kate says. "There was a picture of the Petty Officer and another man. It looks like the picture was taken at a dock."
"I'll take it down to Sean and see if we can get a location from the picture." McGee says.
"Tony and I will see if we can find an I.D. on the other man in the picture."
Gibbs walks in and sits down at his desk, large coffee in hand, without saying a word. The team look at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.
Gibbs doesn't even look up. "Something bothering you?"
"No bother boss," McGee says quickly.
Gibbs sighs. "If I don't tell you, you'll keep guessing and won't get anything done; Abby experienced Braxton Hicks last night. We were at the hospital most of the night."
"Is she okay?" "How is she doing?" "Braxton Hicks?" The last statement was from Tony.
"It's false labor Tony." Kate says while she rolls her eyes.
"Oh. Oh! Is Abby okay?"
"Yes, she's fine and she's resting no matter how much she hates it."
There is a collective sigh of relief and Gibbs stands up and starts walking for the elevator.
"You should be at home with her Gibbs." Kate sounds concerned.
"She told me to go to work, that I was smothering her." Tony makes the whipped motion with his hand behind Gibbs' back.
"Awww…Gibbs"
"Not another word Kate." Kate looks at her computer quickly. Gibbs starts walking around to the back of Tony's desk and slaps the back of his head.
"What was that for Boss?"
Gibbs smiles cryptically. "You know what for. If anyone needs me, I'll be in autopsy."
A short while later in the lab, McGee and Sean are running the landmarks from the picture through the program Abby and McGee came up with.
"Hey, there it is," Sean says excitedly, "Looks like Virginia Beach."
"I've heard there's really good off-shore fishing out there. Hey wait a minute. Can you magnify that bell?"
"What is that reflected on there? I'll try to magnify it some more." Sean types away on the keyboard.
"It looks like a fishing boat. Maybe the boat we are looking for is docked near this bell. I'm going to call Gibbs."
Gibbs enters the lab almost expecting loud music to deafen him when the door opens, but then he remembers Abby is at home. Her replacements have been much quieter and while he thought he would enjoy that, it just makes him realize how much he misses seeing Abby wheel around on her computer chair, or to see her typing away madly on her computer, or tweaking one of her babies.
"What do you have?" Gibbs asks gruffly.
"We blew up the picture that Kate and Tony found and have a location for you. The boat seems to be docked in Virginia Beach." Sean replies.
McGee adds, "We've narrowed it down to the Virginia Beach Fishing Center."
"Good work McGee, Sean."
Gibbs and McGee stride quickly into the bullpen. "Grab your gear; we're headed to Virginia Beach."