I Won't be able to post tomorrow, so I'll do it now. Thanks again for the reviews! JulieM
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Part 4
"Would the General be able to see us, Jen?" Harm and Mac asked the petty officer.
She checked then gave them the go-ahead.
Once in his office and at ease, Mac reported the results of their own reconnaissance efforts.
"We called Lieutenant Hodge's roommate at work, Sir. She told us that she had assumed that Elaine had left home before her this morning, but didn't actually hear her come home last night."
"Hmm, I see…I want you to check with everybody who was at Benzinger's, last night," the General ordered, "Check to see if anyone saw her drive away in her car, if anyone followed the same route she'd have to have taken. If my suspicions are correct, the Lieutenant would rarely be this late for duty without good reason."
Time had allowed Cresswell to cool off a bit and with a clearer head on his shoulders, he was able to think and act more reasonably.
"Aye, Sir," Harm and Mac snapped to attention, then were dismissed.
It was soon established that Lieutenant James had been the last to see Elaine at Benzinger's and he now felt like a right heel, explaining to his superior officers how he had turned down her request for a ride home and proceeded to run out on her.
"What the hell were you thinking, Lieutenant?" Harm thundered in a way that would have made AJ Chegwidden proud, "She asked you to help her out and you told her 'no'!"
"I assumed that she had had too much to drink and that was the reason she didn't want to drive home herself," James tried to justify, "She'd spent the whole night avoiding me and moping because she was going to lose a case to me…"
"It's no excuse, Lieutenant!" Mac jumped into the fray, "She's your friend and fellow officer. How could you let office politics spill over into your personal lives?"
"You'd be just as well to ask her that question, Ma'am," James shot back.
"You are so close to insubordination, Lieutenant!" Harm and Mac both got in his face.
It was Sturgis who was the voice of reason in this fracas.
"I think the best course of action would be to take a trip to Benzinger's," he spoke up, "You could check the roads along the way and then ask the staff when they saw her leave, last night."
They all agreed that this was a good starting point, so set about securing permission from the General.
Harm and Mac both left Benzinger's with a better idea about what had happened after they had left.
They remembered Elaine being out of sight when they left and it was obvious that she had been in the bathroom, administering insulin to herself. They found several empty vials of her insulin solution in the trash in the lady's room.
They had occasionally noticed her regular trips to the restrooms at JAG, but had little idea of just how much work she had to put in to monitor and keep her condition in check. The number of empty little vials therefore meant little to them, as they didn't know how often she administered throughout the day.
The bartender and some of his staff were able to tell him how long she had stuck around, after the group had left and what she had been doing.
"Yeah, I did notice her," a tall man told them, "I was busy getting things behind the bar squared away, but I did notice her sitting over there on a cellphone. It seemed like she was trying to get a cab. But she seemed to have no luck. And here's the funny thing; I saw her go outside, later, once we were kicking everybody out for the night and climb into a car…Started it up and drove off…So I didn't get why she hadn't just left with the rest of your group. Instead, she first asked that other officer of yours for a ride home, but he seemed somewhat pissed off with her, so she began calling on her cellphone, presumably trying to get a cab, but it's a job to get them around here, that time of night."
"Thanks," Mac told him, gratefully, but with the look of concern still dominant on her face.
She and Harm walked outside, to discus what they had heard from the staff at the bar and formulate a plan as to what they were going to do next. They were stopped when Harm's cellphone rang. It was Andrew, who had news about the court case.
"Judge Harkness granted us a continuance, due the circumstances," he told Harm, "But I don't think he's going to let anybody away with anything, once this finally gets started again."
This was a lucky break indeed, because they had expected Judge Harkness to just request that somebody else be assigned to the case in Elaine's place.
"Lieutenant, the Colonel and I need you to call Elaine's physician and inform him of the situation. We need to get from him a better idea about her diabetes and find out how well she's been controlling it. Get details from him, like how much insulin she'd normally administer over the space of a day, details like that. Her physician and contact details should be listed on her file…"
"I know who her physician is, Sir," Andy told him, "I'll get into contact with him and let you know what he tells me."
"Good," Harm approved, wondering just how Lieutenant James how let things get this bad between him and Elaine, when he knew her and her life so well. It was clear that they were (or at least had been) very good friends.
Once they were done speaking to Andy, they went back to their discussion.
"So why was Lainey so worried about driving herself home all night, when that's what she ended up doing, in the end?" Mac asked.
"Maybe she was worried about the amount of alcohol she'd consumed," Harm justified, "Maybe she thought it would be better to wait for the side-effects to wear off."
"Sturgis told me she hardly drank at all, last night," Mac shook her head, but supposed, "but if the alcohol she consumed did have an effect on her, then that would explain all of the trips to the head to monitor her blood sugar and administer insulin. Alcohol can exacerbate unstable blood insulin levels."
"If Sturgis says she hardly drank," Harm went with her first impression, "then I believe him. He hardly drinks himself and I trust that he judged her drinking accurately. If he said 'hardly' then she couldn't possibly have had more than one or two."
"So what about the insulin?" Mac asked, "Was she just having a bad night? Was it the effects of a meal she ate before she came out?"
But both of them knew that diabetics knew what foods they should stay away from, because of the starch and sugar content. Elaine knew how to eat in order to control her condition. If she had been going heavy on the insulin, it was because her blood sugar levels were very high and that would have no doubt had her feeling bad.
Was she feeling too unwell to operate a vehicle? Had she tried to call a cab, failed and then just waited it out to see of the spell passed? It was clear that they were going to have to get back to the office and find out from Lieutenant James the details of Elaine's condition.
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On the way back to headquarters, Coates phoned them with the news that NCIS had now become involved in this, because the highway patrol had found Elaine's car at the side of the road, along the route she must have taken the night before.
"They called about an hour ago, Sir," Coates told them, "all her belongings were still in her car, even her cover. Her handbag and all her essentials were still inside, including her insulin and the syringe for administering it, so they're assuming that she didn't leave the vehicle of her own free will. Her right rear tire became flat a few miles from the bar, so they think she must have pulled over, but tire iron is still in its proper place in the trunk of the car."
This threw a whole new light on the matter and Harm and Mac instantly became very worried.
They were both tense on their journey back to headquarters, but as any tense situation tended to do, these days, it served to pull them together and they both knew that their collective talents could only help Elaine.
"Did I ever thank you?" Mac asked her partner, as they drew up to a traffic light on red, "That time in Paraguay and before that, with Coster. It was your idea to bug my car and follow me."
"You did," Harm confirmed, "but being best friends means never having to say 'thank you.' Besides, I could never thank you enough for harboring me as a fugitive, that time…Or for following me to Russia, twice, even leaving your fiancée behind the second time when the two of you were having problems. You've always helped me out when I've been in a tight spot, even putting me ahead of yourself. And for that, I thank you, Mac."
"Being best friends means never having to say 'thank you'," Mac repeated Harm's words, adding, "But for that reason, I'll always do my uttermost to help you, whenever you need it."
"Thanks, Mac," Harm told her, "The same goes for me."
And then they shared one of those moments, which could have very easily led to more, but for the honk of a horn from the car behind them.
The light had changed to green and Harm was forced to turn his attention back to driving.
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There was a nasty surprise waiting for them in the form of Special Agents Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Anthony DiNozzo.
"We're taking over investigation of this case," Gibbs continued his speech as Harm and Mac walked in, "and we would appreciate each and every one of you keeping your distance from anything concerning it."
There was little that the JAG group could do now, this was something that NICS had taken firm control over and it was obvious that they didn't appreciate getting any assistance from the JAGstaff members. Those who had come forward with any information or suggestions had been dealt with in a cold and hostile manner.
Harm and Mac went as far as to irk them further by going to the brig and interviewing the recruits involved in Andrew and Elaine's case, to see if any of this might have any to do with it.
The recruits had at first beenclear aboutnot intending tomention the individuals whom they had been taking orders from, but when they heard about Lainey's disappearance, it was clear that the recruits were becoming perturbed. Mac emphasized the importance of them telling her and Harm a name, if there was any chance that this person might have had involvement in Lainey's disappearance. Her life could count on the information they might be withholding. They still got nothing out of them, but left thinking that the two young men might still cave, once they'd had time to mull over the possibilities in their minds. They dropped in the term 'accessory to the crime' a few times for good measure.
Once they came face-to-face with the members of NICS again that afternoon, however, they were both again directly ordered not to go anywhere near to anything pertaining to Elaine's case. Cresswell, managed to get in a shot or two, pointing out that the recruits were part of an on-going investigation and that Harm and Mac would be working the case during Elaine's absence, so there was little that NCIS could do about it. He also pointed out that as Elaine's CO, he expected to be kept fully apprised of every step in the investigation, including any suspects they established. Harm and Mac knew that Cresswell would never keep this information from them, because he knew that the two of them were not only Elaine's co-workers, but also her friends.
"I take it that the two of you checked things out at Benzinger's," the General asked the three of them, after the NCIS agents had left.
"We did, Sir," Harm nodded, "We found out that Lieutenant Hodge remained there for a while after most of the staff left, until closing time, in fact. We also found out that she requested a ride home with Lieutenant James, but that, for one reason or another, he had to decline her. It seems that she tried repeatedly to call a cab from her cellphone, but that she was unsuccessful. In checking in the bathrooms, the Colonel and I found several empty vials of insulin, which Lieutenant Hodge used in order to control her diabetes. It seems that she may have been experiencing trouble with her blood-sugar levels and was not confident enough in her condition to drive herself home. We have requested some further details from the Lieutenant's physician, which Lieutenant James said he would take care of."
The General could clearly read the guilt in Lieutenant James's expression while the Commander was speaking, so decided to carefully probe this lead further.
"And did you manage to get hold of these details, Lieutenant?"
"Yes Sir, the doctor finally got back to me a few minutes ago," Andy managed to pull himself together enough to answer the General's question, "Lainey…Uh, Lieutenant Hodge's doctor was able to tell me that she had been experiencing some trouble with regulating her blood sugar levels for some time now. In the office, she sometimes reported to me that she was having trouble with her vision, feeling tired, even first thing in the morning and feeling thirsty and hungry, despite having recently consumed food and drink. Her doctor found at her last physical that she had lost weight. The conclusion was that Lieutenant Hodge was suffering from hyperglycemia, that is blood sugar levels that are excessively high. She was given instructions on how to manage these problems and also given new medication to help stabilize her condition, but her physician made it clear to me that if she is somewhere without her medication and her insulin, then Lieutenant Hodge is in very…very real danger…"
The last part of his report was badly catching in his throat as he was saying it, he hated knowing that Elaine was in danger and that he had been the reason for it. If only he'd gotten his head out of his six and given her that ride home…She'd be right across from him in court right now and not God-only-knew-where.
"I'll get right on the phone to NCIS," the General was saying, "and let them know how the urgency of this case has stepped up."
But Andrew James didn't take in a lot of what was going on after that. Before he knew it, it was 1800 and the remainder of the staff was getting ready to leave for the day. But they were going home to family and friends. The one friend he had was gone and he didn't know where she was or even if she was alright.
Where was he going to go to, tonight?
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