Ducky and Palmer were in Autopsy working on the body. "I must tell you Lieutenant, I am bugged. Not by you personally, of course, but I have this nagging feeling about you. Your name is so familiar."

"You think you knew him, Doctor?" Palmer asked.

"No, I don't think so. His face isn't familiar, just his name. Talen. It jogs a memory, but I can't put my finger on it," Ducky said. It was really starting to bother him. He doubted it was anything that pertained to the case, but it bothered him that he couldn't figure it out.

"Well, I'm sure you've met a lot of people," Palmer said.

"Yes, you're correct, Mr. Palmer. It is just nagging," Ducky said.

"What is?" Tim asked as he entered the room.

Ducky turned to him. "Oh, hello, Timothy. I was just thinking on the familiarity of our marine's name again. It is beginning to bug me."

"Any chance it could be case related?" Tim asked. Ducky's deja vu was starting to nag at him to. He wondered if Ducky really did know this man, and if so, if it mattered to the investigation.

"Probably not. As Mr. Palmer was just saying, I've met a lot of people. Just on this table alone, I've met a lot of people. Anyway, I've managed to narrow down cause of death. It was around eleven to twelve last night. Cause of death was of course the stab wounds. Our victim was stabbed five times and then left to bleed out. However it was knew what they were doing. The first couple of wounds were in non-lethal places. They wanted him to die slowly." Ducky explained

Tim nodded. "Anything else?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Okay. Do me a favor? If you remember what's so familiar about him, let me know," Tim said.

"Of course. I expect it will be insignificant though," Ducky said.

Tim nodded and headed for the elevator.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Tim made his way through the bullpen. "What do we know?"

"Just got the bank statements, Boss. He's clean. Nothing out of the ordinary," Brooks said.

"I have something. I checked his phone records. Lieutenant Talen has taken several calls from an unknown number. He has also been speaking with a woman named Jane Richards. If his wife was right about an affair, she may be it."

"You and Ralph go speak to her," Tim instructed.

Ziva nodded and the two of them got up and left.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Ziva knocked on the door of Jane Richards' home. The door was opened a second later by a woman with short blond hair and brown eyes.

"Hello, can I help you?" the woman asked.

Ziva pulled out her badge. "Special Agent David, this is Special Agent Ralph. We are from NCIS."

"I haven't heard from you people in years. Have you finally gotten off your asses and found Sam's killer?" she asked bitterly.

"I do not understand," Ziva said with a frown.

"Ma'am, we're here about Lieutenant Christopher Talan," Ralph said.

Mrs. Richard's face turned to concern. "Chris? What happened to him?"

"I'm afraid he was killed last night," Ralph said.

"Oh my God. That bastard got him now too," Mrs. Richards said in a cracked voice.

"What do you mean? Do you know who killed Lieutenant Talen?" Ziva asked.

"You don't know. Well, I guess that's proof that their case was forgotten about. I guess they were just three more dead bodies to you. And Chris will soon become just another one," she said.

"Please, Mrs. Richards, what do you mean?" Ziva asked.

"Eleven years ago, my husband and two others were murdered. NCIS investigated and never found their killer. Now he's killed Chris too."

"How do you know that?" Ralph asked.

"Because one of the victims was Chris' brother Jake and Chris told me recently that there might be a lead. Now he's dead. It's obvious what happened. Chris was killed because he found out what happened to them," she explained.

"Did he tell you what he knew?" Ralph asked.

"No, he wouldn't. He said he didn't want me involved."

"Mrs. Richards, I promise, we will look into what happened," Ziva said.

"Sure," she said unconvincingly before going back inside.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Everyone was back in the bullpen an hour later. Ziva had just explained their visit with Mrs. Richards. "She believes the cases are linked."

"She says it was an NCIS case?" Tim asked.

"Yes, from eleven years ago," Ziva said.

"I'm gonna see if I can pull the file up now," Ralph said.

Tim picked up his phone and pressed a button. "Ducky, I need you upstairs. Okay, thanks."

"You think Ducky may remember the case?" Ziva asked.

"He already does. Ducky felt something familiar about Christopher Talen. Obviously it was his brother Ducky remembered.

"I found the file. Jacob Talen, Samuel Richards, and Alexander Mickey were found murdered in a warehouse. All three were stabbed to death," Ralph said.

"Put it on the plasma. Military element?" Tim asked.

"Talen, he was a marine, like his brother," Ralph said before putting the file up on the plasma. "The case went cold quickly."

"Lead agent?" Tim asked.

"Special Agent Gibbs," he said.

Tim raised an eyebrow in surprise. Gibbs had let a case go cold? That was very unlike him. He never let a case go. Sometimes it took a lot of time, but he always got who he was looking for.

"That is surprising. Gibbs would not let that case go unless he had to," Ziva said.

"You wanted to see me, Timothy," Ducky stated as he walked towards the man.

Tim turned towards him. "Jacob Talen. He and two others were murdered eleven years ago. It was Gibbs' case. Do you remember?"

Ducky looked at the photos of the three men on the screen. "Yes, that must be why our Lieutenant was so familiar. I was remembering his brother. Yes, I remember the case. Jethro and Anthony worked hard to solve it, but there was very little evidence. Of course Jethro didn't want to let it go, but the director finally insisted. I think it was the only case he wasn't able to solve. It drove him mad, but eventually, he begrudgingly let it go."

Tim turned to his agents. "Go through the old case. See if you can find anything that was missed."

They all nodded and got to work.

Tim, meanwhile, headed up the stairs. He needed to brief the director. He could tell he wasn't going to like this conversation because he knew exactly how it would end.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jenny sat there stunned after hearing about the Talen case. "Wow. Gibbs actually let something go."

"It seems he didn't really have a choice," Tim said as he sat across from her.

"You realize what comes next, right?" Jenny asked.

Tim sighed. "Look, I agree that the case from eleven years ago and the Talen case now are linked, but I think my team can solve it."

"Is that belief at all based on personal grudges?" Jenny asked.

"Cold cases are solved all the time by new agents," Tim said, avoiding the question.

"I wouldn't say all the time, but, yes, sometimes, however, we have an active killer on the loose right now and the two people who worked this case might be able to shed some light. We could just call and ask for that insight, but…"

"But once Gibbs gets wind of the fact that the case he couldn't solved is once again active, he'll be on the next plane. Tony won't be far behind him," Tim finished for her.

"Right. McGee, I realize there is still bad blood with how these men left, but you're a professional agent. You know the case has to come before grudges. They won't be here long. They will leave again once the case is solved," Jenny said

"That's the problem, Director. You know that Team Gibbs was far from conventional. There was a lot of pain when he and Tony left the way they did. We don't need that revisited. But you're right, the case comes first," Tim said before getting up and leaving the room.

Jenny sighed and picked up the phone. She dialed a number and waited for an answer. "Jethro, it's Jenny. I need you to catch a plane.