Part 4
Gibbs took another sip of his bourbon, sat down the jar and picked up a file before he answered. He handed it to Sara.
Sara took it and her bourbon and wen to sit on the stairs beside Tony. She brushed off the step before she sat down. She crossed her legs and watched Gibbs work, in silence, for a few minutes. "How did you get that thing in here?"
Gibbs shook his head. "It didn't come in assembled."
"Okay, then." Sara said. "Here's the better question. How do you get them out?"
Gibbs stopped sanding, grinned, than took a swig of bourbon.
"What? Is it a trade secret?" Sara asked.
"He won't even tell me." Tony whispered.
Gibbs just shook his head and took another swig.
"He's a man of mystery and intrigue." Tony said as he winked at Sara.
Sara laughed. "Does the boat have anything to do with the case?"
Gibbs shook his head. Boat building is my pastime. Helps to deal with the stresses of the job."
"I see." The insurance investigator said. "Are you any closer to finding my stolen art?"
"We're working on it." Gibbs said. He really liked Sara's straight-forward manner.
"That tends to be 'agent speak' for we have no clue. But, we don't want to admit we have no clue."
"As I said, we're working on it." Gibbs repeated. "We have many working theories."
Sara waited for Gibbs to elaborate. But, he just continued to sand the boat.
"Is this how all your conversations with him go?" Sara asked Tony.
"Pretty much." Tony admitted.
"He's infuriating."
"Singing to the choir, Ms. Ellis, singing to the choir." Tony replied.
"I tell people what they need to know when they need to know it." Gibbs stated.
Sara groaned. She then downed the rest of her bourbon and requested a refill by holding it out to Gibbs. He obliged.
Tony chucked as Gibbs grinned and shook his head.
"DiNozzo did bring you here for a reason." Gibbs said, getting down to business. He then pointed to the files Sara had laid down on the step.
Sara picked the file up and opened it.
"NCIS found a list with three names on it. All three men are Marines and they all belong to the same platoon." Gibbs continued.
"Okay…" Sara said, knowing Gibbs had more to tell her. She started to look through the file. She stopped at the photocopy of the list. Then she paused and looked at the crime scene photos of the young soldiers. "Wow." The photos were horrific. These men had died horrible, painful deaths.
"There is the photocopy of the list. And those are…." Tony started.
"Yeah, I see." Sara paused. "What a minute… those are…." She said, studying the photos more closely. She saw the stolen painting in the background.
She looked at Tony. "Why kill the guy if you aren't even going to take the painting?"
"It's not about the paintings, directly." Tony replied. "And, if you will notice, there is a painting in the photo with the other victim also. So, I understand your confusion."
"What does it mean?" Sara asked.
"Those are forgeries." Tony stated. "Verified by D.C. Art Crimes."
Sara shook her head again. "Why go through all the trouble of replacing the paintings?"
"That is what we don't know." Gibbs said. "And that is why we are here, in my basement."
"It's a redirect." Tony said as the idea popped into his head.
Sara looked at the younger agent and grinned.
"Junior?" She asked.
Tony nodded.
Gibbs deployed his patented glare. "…wanna share with the rest of the class?"
"Neal told me, awhile back, about a con he…may have pulled." Tony explained. "You place emphasis on something that is not important. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it takes emphasis away your real agenda. In our case, they want us to think this was terrorist driven, since they killed a Marine. And they made it look like they didn't take that painting. That way we are looking for terrorists and not art thieves.
"Maybe this terrorist knows art." Gibbs offered.
"How did they know which paintings?" Sara asked. "How did they know which paintings to steal. I mean, you said the real ones were taken and forgeries were left, so…?"
"Or, the whole thing was commissioned. Maybe a soldier wanted to get in on the lucrative stolen art trade that has popped up in Iraq since the war on terror began." Tony reasoned, out loud. "Maybe…."
Gibbs nodded. "I ran across many military personnel, whole platoons, who did it." He paused. "Marines would literally clear out a palace, everything that they could carry. They would give it the platoon leader. He would have a black-market connection. The soldiers would get paid and the theft would be blamed on the local looters." He paused. "But, this is a new interesting wrinkle to the scheme. It would buy the solider even more time to fence the art and to get away with the crimes." He chuckled. "There would really be no reason to authenticate the paintings if they were good enough to pass…."
Tony nodded. "Especially since it would be a career ender for them to be found guilty."
Sara looked at Gibbs. "But, Marine on Marine violence, that's rare…?"
"It is. But you've got to understand, you have men and women who want to do nothing else in their lives but serve their country. They know nothing else. If someone comes along who threatens that…." Gibbs explained.
Sara nodded.
"So," Tony summized. "We're looking for art-thieving marines replacing stolen art with excellent reproductions,"
Sara shook her head as she puzzled. "I still don't get how they know, ahead of time what is at any given location." She got up and started to pace. "Are there lists available on the internet?"
Sara paused when she saw a look pass between Gibbs and Tony.
"Maybe there is." Tony said. "These Sheiks brag about their art work. They lend it out to art shows. They allow tours of their homes. Maybe over a period of time of attending this shows and watching the tours, maybe somebody took the time to make up a list, the rest is easy. Promise any artist a hundred thousand dollars, they would repaint the Sistine Chapel for you. Neal says the 'starving artist' part is no lie."
"Wow!" Sara said, shaking her head.
"What?" Gibbs asked.
"I just…I thought our military people were…."
Gibbs shook his head. "It's not all of them, by any means. The vast majority are just as noble as you imagine them to be. But, there are always those who, for whatever reason, don't act according to standards. If they did, NCIS would have never needed to exist."
Sara sighed. "Yeah, good point." She sipped the last of her bourbon and sat the jar down on the step. She then stood up and looked at Gibbs. "You will let me know when you unravel this tangled mess and find my paintings?"
"Of course." Gibbs said smiling.
"NCIS is lucky to have you and Tony working for it." Sara said sincerely as she turned and started up the stairs.
Gibbs raised his jar and then took a drink.
TBC