Chapter 5 – Lyssie's Favourite Story Begins

"The story of this particular ghost begins when she was a young lass, and one of the palace servants. She allegedly had an illicit affair with one of the Princes - Prince James," Jimmy began. "Prince James was third in line for the throne."

The group sat in an open space on the morgue floor, enough flashlights having been rounded up to illuminate the group in ones and twos.

"Oh, come on Jimmy," Abby said, trying not to giggle. "Prince James? You're making that up!"

Jimmy grinned at her. "Well, YEAH, Abby, of course I'm making it up. Storyteller's prerogative. I can name the main character whatever I want." Abby stuck her tongue out at him briefly as Jimmy simply smiled at her with a mischievous expression.

"He must've done a lot of cross-legged hopping around in front of the Royal Loo," Tony smirked, earning a tap on the back of the head from both Abby and Gibbs.

Jimmy looked towards Tony, shaking his head and laughing softly, then continued.

"Now, Prince James WAS third in line, until a series of unfortunate incidents eliminated his two brothers, who were in line before him. Nobody knows for sure what happened, but the first one mysteriously became ill, and died from an ailment never before seen by the palace physicians. Medical science would now find that it was arsenic poisoning," Jimmy said, with mystery dripping off of his words.

"This left Prince James second in line - until his older brother also died, under what Doctor Mallard and I would both consider to be suspicious circumstances," Jimmy continued, clearly getting into, and enjoying his role of storyteller. He hadn't realized until that moment how much Dr. Mallard's influence was beginning to manifest itself in him.

"Let me guess," said Ziva, her brown eyes sparkling with enthusiastic interest. "A certain Prince - now the direct heir to the throne - is forced to jilt his secret lover, in favour of a more suitable Queen?"

Jimmy nodded, pointing affirmatively at Ziva. "Bingo. Nobody considered at the time that perhaps this humble kitchen servant might have had anything to do with putting her Prince right smack into the position to be crowned King. Of course, both the Princes in line before James were poisoned by the girl, as we would now be able to determine fairly easily."

"Wow, obviously she was pretty pissed when he dumped her," said Tim, as Abby gripped his hand, squeezing it gleefully. She loved a good ghost story, but mostly, she loved it when she had Timmy to snuggle up to.

"Oh, yes," Jimmy said. "She caused so much trouble for him that in order to maintain his claim to the throne, he had to keep her quiet. He had her falsely accused of theft, shackled, and thrown into the Tower of London, to await execution, by beheading." He glanced at Ducky, whose blue eyes sparkled. It was nice to tell stories, but sometimes it was a wonderful treat to just sit back and listen, too.

"What happened to his father then, in the meantime? The reigning King?" Tony asked, suddenly.

Jimmy smiled. "Well, considering the kitchen servant's modus operandi, what do YOU think happened to him?"

Tony nodded. "Ah. The evil kitchen wench scored a hat trick. Got it."

Jimmy nodded in confirmation, and then continued. "Little did our Prince, who was about to be crowned King James, know that by ridding himself of the threat of a scandal that could well have jeopardized his reign, his troubles had only just begun - troubles that would come to him from beyond the grave of his wrongly murdered lover," Jimmy said, leaving the rest hanging in the air just to milk the moment.