Back in the squad room after briefing the director, given the hour, Jethro and the boys ordered themselves some Chinese food for lunch. The three of them then sat down to discuss the case with Detective Sportelli - who had just got back from checking in with his superiors - yet again.
DiNozzo, a double-double in hand, stared up at the plasma. "A cover-up. Fake suicide. You think she was killed by George Kaplan?"
"What if there isn't a Kaplan?" McGee suggested. "The only person other than Drew Turner who says that they've met Kaplan is his landlady. And she's got a real fuzzy memory. We've got no photo ID of him. Maybe Drew Turner was Kaplan."
"Eh," DiNozzo replied, "I don't know. She doesn't look like a George to me. Besides, the two of them did sign the authorization card for the brokerage account."
"She could have disguised her handwriting and signed both," McGee countered.
"Fake suicide, fake names, women pretending to be men. This is getting messy." The Metro detective turned to Jethro. "I'll tell you what. I'm out of here. I'll let you duke it out with the FBI." Sportelli started walking away. "So long, Gibbs."
"How does this all tie into Commander Brett?" he asked, getting up from his desk. "We still don't know why someone wants him dead."
"It's like Deep Throat said in All the President's Men," the resident movie buff stated. "'Follow the money.'" DiNozzo gestured to the bank statements that were up on the plasma. "There's over a million bucks in Kaplan's account still." DiNozzo then glanced between both Jethro and McGee. "We know what he spent some of it on. Paying off gambling debts, ordering a hit. Where'd the money come from?"
McGee immediately got his attention. "Boss, I'm gonna try and get Abby to compare both signatures, see if they were made by the same person."
He eyed the younger agent. "Try, McGee?"
"Well," McGee pointed out, "Abby's been real distracted by this brother thing."
Jethro dipped his head slightly. "Yeah, I noticed. She had no luck finding the guy." He decided to enlist the younger man's help. Abby needed and deserved some answers. "Do your thing. See what you can find out about the brother."
More than happy to help, McGee nodded before calling the forensics lab to have Abby look into the two handwriting samples. Meanwhile, Jethro contacted Ziva and set up a meeting in the conference room with the lieutenant commander.
Just in time for their food from General Lee's Chinese Restaurant to finally get there.
Two hours later, Jethro was sitting upstairs in the conference room with Ziva and the still decidedly uncooperative lieutenant commander.
"Drew Turner," Brett said. "No. Never heard the name. Who is he?"
Ziva leaned forward in her chair slightly. "She."
"Kaplan's business manager," he explained. "She was found dead yesterday."
"How did she die?" Brett asked with an expression Jethro couldn't quite read.
"Murdered," he replied bluntly. "There's a connection to the hit on you."
Ziva gave the lieutenant commander a pointed look. "That is why you need to stay in protective custody, Commander."
"Alright," Brett said. "You convinced me. I won't fight you anymore."
Jethro gave the lieutenant commander an assessing look, not all that convinced by the man's words by this point. Going by Ziva's expression, she felt the same.
The forensic scientist was obviously feeling a bit better because it didn't take all that long before Jethro was being informed that there were in fact two distinct writing simples. Abby had also decided to go ahead and check for prints on the signature card but had no results for him on that just yet.
DiNozzo had also found out where Kaplan got the money. Well, for the most part. All the funds were wired from the Broussard Bank in Geneva, Switzerland. Four deposits in the last year and a half toy $1.5 million. His Senior Field Agent hadn't been able to figure out who the account belonged to, though, which was probably the idea behind moving the funds to Switzerland, to begin with.
"Special Agent Survoy, in Marseilles," his Senior Field Agent added, "is currently trying to find out who authorized the transfer of funds to Kaplan."
Jethro nodded, pleased. His Senior Field Agent had taken the initiative to reach out to other NCIS assets without ever being asked. "Good work, Tony."
Just then, his favourite forensic scientist walked in.
"Abby looks like she's in a better mood," McGee commented.
He smiled over at the goth. "You got something, Abbs?"
"Oh, yeah!" she said, happier than he'd seen her since the hospital interview. "I pulled the prints of three people off the brokerage account signature card." She handed him an evidence log to sign and went over to his computer to presumably uploaded a file for the plasma screen. "One was a clerk that works in the file room. And Drew Turner, the business manager." Abby pulled up a DOD Military Service Record on the screen. "And ta-da, Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Brett."
"His fingerprints are on the card?" DiNozzo asked.
"Oh, there's more." Abby proceeded to pull up two separate writing samples to show the team. "Look at the uppercase Gs, and then the lowercase Os, Es, and Rs. Those signatures came from the same person."
Well, that's different. "Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Brett is George Kaplan," Jethro stated, more than a couple of puzzle pieces slotting into place. No wonder the lieutenant commander had been so uncooperative the entire time. Of course, it created a whole host of other questions. Mainly… Who puts a hit out on themselves?
"It doesn't make sense," McGee said. "What, did Brett put a hit out on himself?"
DiNozzo looked equally stunned. "Did he kill Drew Turner?"
Abby just shrugged, not having any more answers than they did.
Obviously, the team needed to look at the case in an entirely different light now given the new information. "We need proof that Brett and Drew Turner knew each other."
DiNozzo then started laughing out of nowhere. "George Kaplan. Of course. Ha-ha. I'm slipping. What took me so long?"
He eyed his Senior Field Agent. "Spit it out, DiNozzo."
"The Hitchcock classic North by Northwest," DiNozzo explained. "George Kaplan is the name of the guy who never existed. Brett created Kaplan to hide the money he was getting from the Broussard Bank in Switzerland."
"Drew Turner had to be in on it," McGee commented. "She helped Brett set the whole thing up. She opened up a brokerage account under the fake name, filed all the tax returns, then rented an apartment so they'd have a valid mailing address."
"Okay," he said, "I'll fill Ziva in." Pulling out his cellphone, he dialled the young Israeli's number. Ziva could handle herself, he knew, but Jethro wanted her to know what was going on so she knew to be careful.
She picked up on the second ring. "David."
"Can Brett hear you?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, "of course."
"Okay," he said. "Put on your best poker face."
"What is it?" she questioned.
"Commander Brett is George Kaplan," he explained. "Kaplan's an alias of his."
"Oh, really?" she said happily, playing along for Brett's benefit. "So, what's the plan?"
"I want you to hang in there until we know more," Jethro explained. "Watch your six. Don't let him out of your sight."
She laughed, making her voice sound excited about something. "Nice. Well, I'll wait for you to call me back then, Dad."
He swallowed. "Be careful, Kid."
With that phone call over, Jethro told DiNozzo to call the special agent in Marseille so they could find out who was paying off Lieutenant Commander Brett.
About an hour later, McGee approached Jethro for what was clearly intended to be a bit of a private conversation. "Boss."
"What is that?" he asked, gesturing to the note in his agent's hand.
"That call was from a friend at Health and Human Services," the McGee said. "This is the name and address of the man whose DNA matches Abby's." Jethro nodded. "What should I do with it?"
"I'll take care of it," he said, taking the note from McGee.
Yellow sticky note in hand, Jethro made his way down to the forensics lab to see Abby. He hoped the contact information would help. She had obviously been upset since the get-go and he hated to see Abby hurting.
"Did you bring me a Caf-Pow as my reward?" Abby asked when he walked in.
"No," he said, passing her the sticky note. "I've got something else for you."
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked, shocked. He nodded. "His name is Kyle Davis?"
"That's a lot of responsibility," he said. "What are you gonna do with it?"
"I wanna meet him," she replied nervously.
"Okay," he said. "Are you sure you wanna open that door?"
Abby took a moment to think about it. "Yeah."
"Okay," he said. "Do you want me to go with you?"
The forensic scientist glanced down at the sticky note and then took a deep breath. "I think... I think this is something I have to do alone."
Jethro's cellphone started to ring.
"Okay," he said. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You've always known what's best for Abby." Turning around and heading towards the door, he answered his still ringing cellphone. "Yeah, it's Gibbs."
Apparently, it was time for that video conference in MTAC he'd requested.
"I've been in contact with Broussard Bank in Geneva," Survoy immediately started to explain to both Jethro and DiNozzo. "Under the 2009 information-sharing agreement with the United States, they gave me the name of the company who wired the funds to George Kaplan. It's a foreign subsidiary to Stembridge Marines, one of the largest naval shipbuilders in the U.S."
"And Brett's the liaison for the House Armed Services Committee," he stated.
"For the past year he's been running up and down the halls of Congress," his number two said, "pushing Stembridge Marine's $14 billion aircraft carrier. It's like having their own lobbyist." DiNozzo turned to him. "Can you say kickback?"
He'd gotten what he needed from the call. "Thank you, Special Agent Survoy."
"I heard there's an opening in contingency response," Survoy said. "Could you put in a good word for me?"
"Fine," he said, ordering the call cut off. He didn't care to get involved but the other man had done him a solid.
While Jethro and DiNozzo were meeting with Special Agent Survoy in MTAC, McGee had started comparing both Turner's and Lieutenant Commander Brett's credit cards and found out that the pair hung out at the same pub every Tuesday. So, Brett needed to launder his new money and got some help from his accountant.
He then had Nicholas Sandblock, a lobbyist who'd kept hanging around the lieutenant commander through the investigation, brought in for interrogation, the man opting to talk and save his own skin. Jethro then had Ziva bring Brett back to NCIS under false pretences for his own interrogation.
Ziva opened the door to Interrogation #1, just as they'd planned. "Oh, sorry. Did not know this room was used."
"Yeah," he said, "not a problem. Just finishing up here. You know Nick Sandlock."
Jethro started to make his way out of the interrogation room.
His Senior Field Agent looked like the cat who ate the canary. "We're just talking about Stembridge, kickbacks, and Swiss banks."
"Hey," he said, opening the door to Interrogation #2. "We can talk in here."
Ziva gave the lieutenant commander a rather jaunty wave. "Buh-bye."
The man grudgingly followed Jethro into the second interrogation room, immediately being greeted by McGee who was waiting inside. "Special Agent McGee. You look like you may need to sit down, Commander."
"Yeah, he said. "It sounded like a pretty sweet plan 'til Drew Turner got in trouble."
"What was it?" McGee asked. "Costa Rica? Her gambling?"
"She was addicted to it," Brett said, finally dropping the act.
"When did you realize she was using your money to pay off her bets?" he inquired.
"When you said George Kaplan took out a hit on me," Brett explained. "Drew was the only other person who knew that name."
"With you dead," McGee said, "she'd have access to everything in the account."
That struck a nerve. "The greedy bitch used the money to have me killed."
"That why you ditched Ziva? Hmm?" he questioned. "So you could go after her?"
"I was putting that money away for my daughter," Brett said. "For her future needs." The man sadly fingered the Naval insignia on his hat and then sighed. "I think this is where I tell you I need to talk to a lawyer."
He let the lieutenant commander call a lawyer and then, case wrapped up, he sent his team home for the day. Jethro then quickly debriefed with the director, after which, he finally grabbed his things before heading home himself. It was 1900 by the time Jethro pulled into the driveway.
Shannon and Kelly had gone out for a bit of a mother-daughter night, so, home alone, Jethro made himself a steak dinner and pulled out a new novel. Jethro was relaxing on the couch, reading Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors over a cup of tea when he heard a knock on the front door.
Getting off the couch, he went to let whoever it was at the door in. Opening the door, he found himself face-to-face with a very emotional Abby. "Door's unlocked, Abs."
She stepped in. "Hey, Gibbs."
He closed the door, turning to face her. "So? Did you see the guy?"
"Kyle?" she asked. "My brother? Yeah."
"How'd it go?" he asked as she walked into the living room.
"It was fine," she said. "I didn't tell him who I was. He seems really, really nice. He doesn't need the added stress. I mean, he just got chosen to donate a kidney and the operation's tomorrow. I just... I have things I have to work out, you know?" The cup of tea on the coffee table caught her attention. "Are you drinking tea?"
"Yeah," he quipped. "Don't tell Ducky. He'll give me a lecture on brewing." He gave her a look of concern. "What do you need to work out, Abs?"
"It's just..." she said, taking a seat on the couch. "This whole brother-sister thing. It didn't make any sense to me." He took a seat beside her. "I mean, Kyle and me, our DNA is a total match. So we have to have the same biological parents. So then I was like, 'What, did they give him up for adoption?' I can't imagine the wonderful, loving parents that raised me and Luca ever giving up a child." Her expression then became even more serious. "But they would have adopted a child. And they did. Me." She looked so lost as the next set of words left her mouth. "I'm adopted, Gibbs."
"How do you know that?" he asked softly.
"This is my mom's hair," Abby stated, showing him a lock of hair in a locket around her neck. "And I ran a DNA test on it."
He put a hand to his face. He felt so out of his depth here.
"And I compared it to mine," Abby continued. "It wasn't a biological match, Gibbs. So I... I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know who my parents were. I'm just like... like Little Orphan Abby."
Jethro considered what to say to comfort her. He was never really good with words but he wanted to help bee. "Abs… You're still the same person. Your parents… they're still your parents as you remember them. Family's more than just… DNA. It's about people who care and take care of each other."
"I know," she said with a sigh, snuggling up to him.
He kissed her on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her.
Abby snuggled in closer. "But why didn't they tell me I was adopted?" she questioned. "I mean… there's gotta be a reason. And… I need to find out before I completely turn Luca and Kyle's lives upside down."
Jethro wished he had some solid answers for the woman in his arms. "You don't have to do this alone, Abby." Jethro kissed her gently on the head. "You've got a family. And we'll help you through it."
