Dangerous Measures
AN: Thankyou all for your reviews!
Also a huge thankyou to Kate for her fantastic work and great help!
Kate and McGee watched from observation as Tony walked into interrogation, slowly sitting down opposite Jones. He put down a few big files and began sorting them out, ignoring Jones.
"I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work, Agent DiNozzo," Jones grumbled
"Well, why don't we cut the crap? Tell me about your relationship with Wicks," Tony eventually replied
"Nothing to tell," Jones replied evenly, "We met online, we talked a lot, we have a lot in common,"
"What did you talk about?" Tony asked
"This and that," Jones responded
Tony narrowed his eyes at the man, then looked down at one the open files, "Can you tell me where you were last Wednesday, between 11pm and 4 the following morning?"
"I was watching 'The Last Dance' with my mother," Jones replied
"Your mother is dead," Tony told him
Jones smiled at him, "Tell me, have you found Agent Gibbs yet? He's the one you should be interrogating. You should ask him where he was last Wednesday,"
"Yeah, well, I'm asking you," Tony replied, "Where were you last Wednesday?"
"Is it true that they found his fingerprints all over the crime seen and a bloodied shirt in his garbage? You have to wonder what's happening to the world when such a talented officer like him begins killing people. And especially when his only motive was the thrill of taking away somebody else's life," Jones responded, "And we trust you people to look after us, to serve and protect. What a joke,"
"Can anybody confirm your whereabouts last Wednesday?" Tony asked, biting down on his anger
"Are you going to charge me with anything?" Jones asked as he stood up, "Cause, I think we're done here,"
Tony stood up and blocked Jones' exit, "I'm not finished with you, sit down," Tony waited for Jones to sit down, before walking back to stand in front of the mirror, "I only have a few questions for you, once you've answered them to my liking, you can leave," he said coldly, "Now, tell me what you were doing last Wednesday night,"
"I had dinner with an old friend, Shaun Betros, at the little Italian restaurant on Daniels Street. We left at around nine; I went home and had a few beers whilst watching 'Fight Club'. Nobody can confirm my whereabouts until nine the following morning," Jones replied
The door to the room opened and Jones' lawyer walked in, "Agent DiNozzo," she said to Tony, then looked at her client, "I believe we can leave now,"
Tony made no attempt to stop them as they walked out of interrogation. Kate and McGee watched from observation, turning to the door when Tony walked in.
"Well?" he asked, looking at Kate
"He doesn't have an alibi, and he obviously hates law enforcement officers. It's possible. But who is he? What about the two cases in Baltimore? And what does he have against Gibbs?" Kate responded
"Yeah, I agree. McGee, I want you to follow him, be discreet. Kate, I want you to find out everything you can about him," Tony told them, before walking out of observation and down to the lab, stopping on his way to pick up a caf-Pow!
As he entered the lab, he found Abby squinting at her monitor, her mouth hanging slightly open. Turning down the music, he walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder as he put the drink on the desk beside her.
"Wha-?" Abby said, quickly turning around, "Ah, Tony. I didn't see you come in,"
"Yeah, I saw that," Tony replied, "What've you got for me?"
"More questions than answers," Abby responded, turning around again, "I checked out the other twelve guys who've threatened Gibbs in the past. They all sound credible. I put them in order of the most dangerous and who would have the most to gain from hurting Gibbs or whatever,"
"Okay," Tony replied as Abby took a sip of her caf-Pow! and picked up a print-out from the printer, "This is it?"
"Yep, it's got what they did, how long they went away for and why they have a reason to hate Gibbs," Abby answered, sipping her caf-Pow! again
"Great. Anything else?" Tony asked
"Yeah. I worked my way through some of the evidence the birdie gave us. It seems that Wicks was approached at his apartment, not at the park as they originally thought. The agents who worked the case didn't take anything from Wicks' apartment apart from his laptop," Abby explained
Tony bit on his lower lip, "I'll see if we can get access to the apartment,"
Abby smiled, "Thatta boy, Tony,"
Tony smiled, "Thanks Abs," he said as he walked out
As Tony walked into autopsy, he saw Ducky talking with the body on his table. Tony smiled, "Hey, Duck,"
"Ah, Anthony, please to see you down here," Ducky responded, looking up, "My friend and I were just discussing the history of saluting,"
Tony smiled, "I'm sure that's an interesting story, Ducky,"
"It is, my boy, it's fascinating, it originated in…" Ducky began
"Ducky," Tony protested, "What have you got for me?"
Ducky smiled, "It seems that whoever killed Mr. Wicks here was either merciful or stronger than he knew. This young man did not die from these horrendous injuries, no; he was killed prior to them. Cause of death is his broken neck. These injuries," he pointed to various places on Wicks chest, "Occurred post-mortem, notice the colour of the bruising. At a guess, I would say that our killer wasn't aware that Mr. Wicks was already dead,"
"How could they not know?" Tony asked
"That's an interesting question, unfortunately not one I can answer. However, during the course of the assault, our young man was restrained, unnecessarily. These bruises," he pointed to Wicks' wrists, "Are from being held down, and not from a rope, but by somebody's hands,"
"Did you get prints?" Tony asked, hopefully
"I've just sent them to Abigail for analysis," Ducky answered with a smile
Tony grinned, "Good work," then he frowned, "Ducky, do you think there were two killers? If Wicks was being restrained…"
Ducky sighed, "That would be my assumption,"
As Tony sat down at his desk again, his phone rang. He answered it and listened to the person on the other end for a while before hanging up and turning to Kate.
"Director wants us in Mtac now," he said, getting up from his seat
Kate followed Tony as he made his way into Mtac.
"Agent DiNozzo, Todd," the Director greeted them, turning to the man who stood behind him, "I'm sure you already know Director Skinner from the FBI,"
"Yes, we do," Tony replied, greeting both Directors
"I have reason to believe that your team is investigating the case for which your team leader has been accused of murder, am I correct?" Skinner asked
Tony looked at Kate, then at Skinner, "We think you've made a mistake, Gibbs is innocent, we have reason to believe that he was set up. We haveevidence to show that…"
"You've been put on strict orders not to investigate this case…" Skinner interrupted
"I don't take orders from you," Tony interrupted coolly
"You have no jurisdiction to investigate this case. Wicks was a civilian, not military," Skinner argued, raising his voice
"Technically, we do have some jurisdiction as an ex-marine has been set up to take the fall for murder," Tony argued
Skinner turned to Morrow, "Can you not control your own agents? They are not to go anywhere near this case, if I find out that they have…"
"Now, hang on just a second, Skinner. Have you even contemplated the possibility that Agent Gibbs was set up? I've known him for a long time and he is one of the best, if not the best agent I have," Morrow interrupted, "I've been told that as soon as you had the DNA results back, you ceased all other lines of enquiry and went after my agent. We're simply checking that you don't put the wrong person behind bars, and as it involves an ex-marine, we do have jurisdiction enough to investigate this case,"
"You're making a mistake, Morrow," Skinner responded
"There's only one person here who's made a mistake, Skinner, and it is not me," Morrow replied
"You haven't heard the end of this, I'll be back," Skinner replied as he walked out of the room
"Think we ruffled a few feathers," Tony commented
"Let's just hope we're right," Morrow replied, "Have you got anything new?"
"At the moment we have a lot of suspects, one in particular, Mr. Jones. I have McGee following him at the moment," Tony responded
"Yeah, he's had a typical upbringing as well. Attended a private school in California, before moving to Baltimore and taking up a traineeship as a chef. He's never had a parking or speeding fine. His mother had a heart attack in the middle of the night and died. His father disappeared a few years later," Kate filled them in, "I'm currently trying to track down friends of his,"
"Okay, keep on it. Tell me when you get anything," Morrow responded
That's it for chapter 8!...Hope you liked it! Please, please review!
