Back at the Navy Yard, he filled his team in, getting an update of his own at the same time. His team managed to track down the dog trainer 'Pitt' that Ruby had mentioned when they talked at her place. Norman Pittorino, sixty-one years old. Pittorino was a long-time civilian contractor currently listed at the Patuxent River K-9 Unit as a special consultant. The man was frequently flown to different locations by the military to deal with dog issues.
As it so happened, the rather gruff man had been working in Kabul at the exact time of Sergeant LeMere's death, the flight back stateside leaving just three hours after the sergeant was shot. With that being said, DiNozzo and McGee spoke with the man and came up with nothing other than a shared fear of Dobermans. Pittorino may not be the coddling type, but Jethro's gut was telling him that Pittorino wasn't a killer either. They were missing something. He was sure of it.
That was as much progress as they managed to make before heading home just after 1630. In other words, they were right back where they started.
The following morning, Jethro got up early and went for a run. With the weather a lot nicer out now, he actually enjoyed it. Not that he wanted to do it every day.
Getting home after the run, Jethro grabbed a change of clothes, trying not to wake up his still-sleeping wife as he did so, and went and showered.
When he got out of the shower, Shannon was awake and started her morning routine herself. While she got ready, Jethro made the both of them some breakfast.
"How was the run?" she asked as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Good," he replied. "Should drag you out for a run one of these mornings."
His wife gave a little snort. "Not happening, Babe. I'll happily leave those marathons to you and get my beauty sleep."
He grinned. "Ha, I don't do marathons. I leave that to Chuck Ellison."
Shannon raised an eyebrow. "It's all the same to me, Marine."
He rolled his eyes, amused. His wife was many wonderful things, but she was far from the type to ever want to go for a three-mile run. Hiking in the spring and summer was one thing, she really enjoyed that, but a run was something else.
Jethro was able to leave for work a bit later than usual that morning, having agreed earlier in the month to teach a field training class at 0800 with Alex Quinn.
After the class, which went well, all things considered, he stopped by Elaine's Diner for some coffee and then made his way to the Navy Yard. Vance quickly let him know that the commandant wanted an update.
Unfortunately, their case seemed to have hit a lull. They hadn't made any progress at all that morning and didn't have any fresh leads to follow.
So, the rest of their morning was spent at their desks going over reports and DiNozzo and McGee left to follow up on a cold case lead that ultimately went nowhere.
It was frustrating, but also couldn't really be helped. In any case, he ordered his team some Chinese food for lunch and, finished the report for the commandant.
Little after 1320, the report Director Vance had requested tucked away under his arm, Jethro made his way up to his boss' office.
Not bothering to stop for the director's assistant, he walked straight it. Something that the likes of Cynthia were quite used to by now.
Vance closed the music school pamphlet that he was reading when Jethro walked in. "Gibbs." The director then rose from his seat, coming out from behind the large desk a second later. "Kayla wants to do it. Jackie and I said we'd look into it."
He dipped his head slightly. "Ah."
"Kelly took lessons, didn't she?" Vance asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. Piano. She enjoyed it, although horses were more her thing." She'd gone to a horse stable pretty much every day one summer, without fail. She loved working with and being around horses.
Vance let out a chuckle. "Like father, like daughter."
He gave the director a soft smile. "Nah, that was all her." He handed the file that he'd brought with him to his boss.
"I've got the update for the commandant that you asked for last time we spoke."
Vance took the sole page out of the file. "This is it? Just one page?"
"Not much to tell," he said as he turned toward the door. "Not yet."
"The wife made an allegation, Gibbs!" the director pointed out. "Commandant's gonna need more than this to go on."
He turned to face the director again. "Yeah, well…. When we have it, he'll have it." His cellphone started to ring. "There's something there, Leon." He reached into his pocket to pull out the phone. "I just don't know what it is yet." Answering the call, he put the flip phone to his ears. "Yeah, Gibbs."
The security guard got straight to the point. "Agent Gibbs, you have a visitor. A Ruby LeMere. She said it's about a case."
"Yep," he confirmed. He didn't really feel the need to go into detail.
"I already sent Mrs. LeMere up," the man said. "She'll be in the squad room shortly."
He'd already figured as much. "On my way."
Jethro closed the office behind him, walking down to the squad room with purpose. For Ruby to come in all the way from Woodbridge, it was clearly important.
"Why, hello, Dexter." He leaned down to pet the dog. "Nice of you to stop by."
"Sorry to just show up like this, Agent Gibbs, but -" Ruby started rummaging through her pockets for something. "- something came in the mail this morning that... I'm not sure what to make of." Ruby pulled out a large envelope. "It's postmarked two weeks ago." She opened the envelope up to show them what was inside which left them with even more questions. Ruby had been sent a rather extravagant-looking pendant. "Ted said to expect a surprise, but that usually meant photos of Dex or... some kind of gag gift, like a cave rock."
Ziva eyed the necklace incredulously. "Well, that is no rock."
"Anniversary?" DiNozzo asked. "Birthday?"
"Neither," Ruby said. "Just out of the blue."
"Looks expensive," McGee commented.
"I thought so too," Ruby agreed. "No idea how he'd afford something like this."
Maybe it's connected to whatever the sergeant was going to blow the whistle on? Why else would he send her it? "You mind leaving this here, Ruby?"
"No," Ruby replied. "That's why I brought it."
Ziva places the necklace back in the envelope. "I'll take it personally to Abby."
"Careful not to lose it on the way, Sticky Fingers!" the Italian-American agent teasingly called after his girlfriend. "It's been counted."
Ziva eyed DiNozzo in fond exasperation. "Just take care of your flu, Tony."
Jethro eyed his surrogate son in amusement. "Bubba, you are aware that your better half carries a gun for a living?"
DiNozzo rolled his eyes. "Duly noted, Jefe."
While Ziva and Abby were looking into the pendant, Jethro wrapped a few things up at the Navy Yard before offering to drive Ruby and Dex home to Woodbridge. Ruby didn't drive and, as a result, had been forced to fight with a bus driver to get the man to let her bring Dex onboard with her. There was no reason for her to have to do that again when he could easily lend a hand.
They were getting out of the black dodge charger Jethro had checked out of the motor pole when Ruby got his attention. "I really appreciate the ride, Agent Gibbs."
He gave her a small smile. "Yeah, well, just couldn't let Dex take another bus."
"And thank you for believing me," she added.
"My job," he replied matter-of-factly.
"No," the young woman stated. "You could have dismissed me as a paranoid, grieving widow, but you didn't." I couldn't do that to you. "And whether you find who killed Ted or not it means a lot that you're even trying."
He gave Ruby a reassuring look, having definitely broken one of his own rules by that point. He couldn't bring himself to really care, though. He knew all too well what it was like to violently lose the love of your life. Rule #10: Never get personally involved in a case. "If somebody murdered your husband, we'll find him, okay?"
Ruby nodded, clearly not trusting her voice.
Kneeling down slightly, he petted the dog. "Night, Dex."
"Thanks again," she said.
"Yep!" he replied as he turned and headed back to the car.
Jethro started driving off when he heard a scream coming from Ruby's house, concern immediately washing over him as Dex started barking.
Stopping right where he was at the end of the driveway, he got out of the car ran with purpose into the house, weapon drawn. Dex was still barking at whoever the uninvited guest was. What did Ruby and Dex walk into?
"Ruby?" he called out.
"In here!" she called back, sounding terrified.
Relieved she sounded alright, scared but alright, he made his way down the hall and into what was clearly her bedroom. He scanned the bedroom, noting the intruder was no longer there. Dex was growling at the window, giving him a pretty good idea as to what had happened. He turned to Ruby and gave her a once over. "You okay?"
She nodded and then pointed to the large window to his left. "He went out there." She started rummaging through the jewellery and such that was scattered all over her bed. "My grandmother's ring," she said in relief. "Thank God he didn't take it." He started to put a disposable glove on his left hand as Ruby spoke. "I can't believe this."
"That's not what he was after," he replied softly. The intruder was probably looking for more of the Afghan jewellery Sergeant LeMere came across.
She gave him a look of confusion. "Well, then what?"
He kneeled down in front of Dex, pleased to note that the dog had managed to get them some DNA. "Drop it, Dex." The dog let go of the piece of the intruder's pant leg that had been in his mouth. "Attaboy." Jethro pet the dog with his free hand, glad the pair was okay and they had a new lead. "Good boy, Dex. Good boy."
Jethro helped Ruby clean up the uninvited guest's mess and then started the half-hour drive back to D.C, considering his next steps all the while.
Back at the Navy Yard, he signed the dodge charger back in, logged their newest piece of evidence, and briefly filled the director in on the latest development over the phone as the man had already left the office.
Pulling into the driveway at 1748, he smiled as he spotted Shannon crossing the street in front of the Erickson house. Hopping out of his old pickup truck, Jethro shot his wife an affectionate smile. "Hi."
Shannon returned the smile. "Hey, Babe. Were you able to make time to eat and drink something besides coffee today?"
He dipped his head slightly. "Had Chinese."
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Well, at least you ate something."
He shot his wife a cheeky grin. "Hey, coffee's made of beans."
Shannon raised an eyebrow. "Still not a food group, Jethro." She then gestured in the direction of the Erickson house. "I was just dropping something off for Stace that she asked to borrow, but -" She glanced down at her watch. "- Tobias and Emily should be here in a few minutes.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Tobias called me when I was driving back from Woodbridge saying he just had to pick Em up from dance class and then they'd be on their way over." He put his arm around his wife and kissed her on the forehead. "How was your day?"
"My day was fine," she said as they started making their way down the driveway. "One of my IEP students had a hard time, hearing aids weren't working, but…"
As he finally closed their front door behind them, he couldn't help but smile. There was nothing half so pleasant as coming home to his wife again after a long day at work.
