Chapter 4

As Gibbs drove through the city on the way to the St. Michaels' satellite office that Mac reported to, he studied her out of the corner of his eye. She was quiet and pale, fiddling with her phone.

"What can you tell me about Admiral Kent?" he asked.

"Navy SEAL, shot a couple of times in the line of duty, including his left leg, above the knee," Mac said absently. "Enlisted in the Navy in time to see action during World War II, married Megan when he was twenty-two, had a son, Jonathan, who died in a vehicle accident about four years ago; he was t-boned by a really big Army truck, at an intersection on his way home from working at a construction site at a nearby Army base."

Gibbs winced. Mac continued.

"His second wife, April, tried to sue the Army for wrongful death, but lost her case when it was discovered that Jonathan had been on his phone, arguing with her at the time of the accident, and that he had run the light. Also, the construction job had finished days ago, and the reason he was at the base was because he was visiting his girlfriend. April had been days away from being served divorce papers."

"Sounds like you and Admiral Kent talked a lot," Gibbs said.

Mac nodded. "He was just a lonely old man that I enjoyed spending time with, and April was a greedy, conniving witch. Be warned, she's got a restraining order against her."

"Okay."

"She wasn't allowed near the house, me, or Tom."

"Why?"

"She slapped him one time, about five months ago, during an argument over him refusing to move into a retirement home and sell his home," Mac said. "When I stepped in, she turned her wrath on me, and I not only kicked her out of the house, I also called the cops. St. Michaels and JAG helped Tom get the order against her, citing elder abuse."

"Good to know," Gibbs said. "Did you ever meet Lieutenant Kent?"

Mac smiled softly. "I did."

"And?"

"We're on very good terms with each other," she said. "God," she said, rubbing her temples, "this is going to hurt Tom like crazy. Has he been notified yet?"

"We sent a message to his commander, but we haven't heard back from him yet," Gibbs said. "Were they close?"

"Very. They would Skype about once a week or so, which is how I met him."

Gibbs nodded, and Mac fell silent; Gibbs suspected she was grieving.

At the office, upon introduction of Gibbs, the receptionist, a nice black lady with a thick mass of tight curls, whom Mac introduced as Sasha, handed them the package. After checking it over carefully, Gibbs opened it with a letter opener Sasha kindly provided. Inside was a thick sheaf of white papers, with a title on the front page.

"Operation: Dead Wrong, by Thomas Kent," Gibbs read aloud. He flipped to the next page; it was the synopsis. "In March of 1965, eight SEALs and three Navy officers were sent on a covert mission in Palestine, to capture a suspected spy. That night, five men died. Today, there are only two survivors of the ill-fated mission, a mission that was quickly covered up. This is their story."

"Wow," Sasha said, reading upside down. "Sounds like a Tom Clancy novel."

"Going to make for interesting reading, that's for sure," Mac said, waving at a tall woman with grey-streaked hair pulled back into a stern bun at the back of her head. The woman was dressed in office clothes and had come into the main area of the office.

"Mackenzie," the woman said.

"Brenda," Mac said. "This is Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Gibbs, this is Brenda Irving, my boss."

Brenda sniffed, and Gibbs nodded at her. "What exactly is going on here? I understand a patient of ours died, but I fail to see why NCIS would be involved."

"Admiral Kent was Navy, retired or not, and we have some concerns about the nature of his death," Gibbs said.

"So?" Brenda huffed. "People die, especially old people. What makes Admiral Kent so special?"

"The fact that he was murdered?" Gibbs shot back, seeing both Sasha and Mac quietly cringing at Brenda's abrupt behaviour.

Brenda's eyebrows went up. "I see. And how does this pertain to Mackenzie? If she's no longer needed with Admiral Kent, I'm sure I can think of at least several other patients that she could be helping instead."

"Admiral Kent sent this book to Nurse Mackenzie the day before he died," Gibbs said. "She also spent considerable amount of time with him, which means she's a witness, and until I'm certain she's safe, she's under federal protection. Your patients can wait. My murder investigation can't."

"Hmph. Fine. But I'm not paying her for time not worked," Brenda snapped, before stalking back into her office.

Mac groaned softly. "And now you know why we call her Old Ironbritches," she said, as another woman came out of another office and quickly came up to Mac. This woman, slightly smaller, slightly more rounder, and clearly more friendlier, her hair a red mop of shoulder-length curls, gave Mac a warm hug.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" the woman asked.

Mac gave her a watery smile. "Smarts like crazy, and I think it's going to for a long time, but I'm okay. This is Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Gibbs, meet Kathy Bonaire, affectionately known as Bunny around here." Bunny had a firm handshake and gave him a quick assessment with her eyes, before nodding. "NCIS is investigating Admiral Kent's death," she explained to Bunny, who nodded.

"You don't worry about Brenda, or anyone else," Bunny said. "We all know how much the admiral meant to you. If you need to take time off, or hang around with this fellow, you just say so, and I'll make sure you're covered."

"Agent Gibbs has some concerns I might be a target of whoever it was that murdered Admiral Kent, because of how long I knew him," Mac explained. "So yeah, I'm probably going to have to go off the radar for a while."

Bunny nodded. "Don't worry about anything. You do what you have to do. Have you heard from Tom lately? This is going to do a number on the poor lad."

"I'm sure he's been told by now, but I'm going to try and contact him in a bit, if I can even reach him," Mac said. "He said he might be out of reach for a day or two, last time I spoke to him."

"Of course. Well, you have my direct number, so if you need anything, you just call me," Bunny said, nodding firmly.

"Thanks, Bun, I appreciate this," Mac said, patting the hand that was on her shoulder.

"You take care of her," Bunny said to Gibbs. "She's a good one."

"Yes ma'am," Gibbs said, smiling.

Bunny nodded, satisfied, and bustled off.

"Brenda handles our financing and payroll and Bunny is basically Human Resources, Counseling, Patient Support Network, and all-around cuddle bunny," Mac explained as they left the building. "I don't quite know all of her history, but from what I've gathered, she's seen it all, done it all, and got the shirt. She's not just another nurse, or one of my supervisors, she's a friend. Oh, and when it comes to the safety of her nurses, don't cross her. I once saw her stand up to a guy who was trying to go after his ex-wife during a bit of a nasty separation. Domestic violence thing; he tried the whole yelling and intimidation thing, she bopped him in the nose, grabbed him by his ear, shoved him out the door, kicked him in the nuts, and sent him sprawling in front of a couple of cops, then told him to never set foot on any of St. Michaels properties again, or really face her wrath. Cops refused to place charges against her, citing self-defense, but charged the guy with a few things."

"Good to know," Gibbs said, chuckling.

Back at NCIS, Torres and Bishop were doing interviews, and right now they were dealing with none other than April Kent.

April Kent was one of those rare people that immediately made Torres want to check and see if his wallet was still in his pants. Then check his wallet to see if his cash and cards were still there. And, if he wore jewelry, to check and see if that was still there. And his watch.

And the crocodile tears? Torres found himself looking at Bishop with wide eyes. How was that woman crying and not ruining six inches of thick mascara and eyelash extensions? With her bleach blonde hair with highlights, a sweater that displayed her generous (but wrinkly) bust, and a jacket and purse that were more show than sensible, Torres swore a certain part of his male anatomy was trying to curl up back into his body, especially when she tried to turn on the charm with him when they were initially introduced.

"The next time I need something to keep my friend down, all I gotta do is picture Mrs. Kent going down on me," Torres thought sourly.

"How did that poor, sweet man die?" April sobbed in the conference room, dabbing her eyes with yet another tissue. "I loved him like a dear, dear father. He was so sweet, so charming. Who could have possibly wanted to harm him?"

"We're currently trying to find that out," Bishop hedged. "Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?"

April's botox-plumped lips curled in disgust and she leaned forward, whispering conspiring, "Have you looked at that nurse of his? That horrible woman wouldn't let me even see my poor father-in-law! Called the police on me one day, the crazy woman! She wanted dear Tom's money all for herself!"

"I see," Torres said, not seeing at all.

"Here," she said, taking out her cell phone and bringing up some pictures of Mac and a dark-haired man looking and acting as if they were a couple in love, not seeming to realize they were being watched. Both agents recognized the man as Lieutenant Kent. While Bishop sent the pictures to her work email, April continued. "Did you know, when my step-son came home for a short visit a few weeks ago, she absolutely monopolized his time? He couldn't even come and visit me, his dear sweet step-mummy, without her constantly texting him about something! I saw them together one day, and they were acting all lovey-dovey. I think she conned him into sleeping with her, just to make sure she got her dirty little hands on my Tom's money, and the house, which I'm sure is worth an absolute fortune on the market." Then her eyes lit up. "Do you know when Tom's body will be released? You know, just so I can start planning his funeral and all that," she asked, tears forgotten.

"Umm, our medical examiner is still examining Admiral Kent. As soon as it's done, and the case is closed, we'll release him to the funeral home,"

Bishop said. "And that could be some time."

"Well, it's not like he has anything to say anymore, anyway, so do you think you could hurry it up? There's a lot of planning to do and the sooner I get started, the better," April huffed.

"Because of Admiral Kent's long career, our investigation could take some time," Torres said. "We will let you know when we're ready to release the body."

April scowled at that.

"Do you know anything about a book Admiral Kent may have been writing?" Bishop asked.

April looked at her scornfully. "Sugar -"

"Agent Bishop," Bishop cut in bluntly. "My name is Agent Bishop."

"Whatever. Thanks to that nurse of his, I couldn't get near him long enough to find out if he'd even had a decent cup of coffee, never mind written a book," April shot back. "He idolized that crazy woman. You should really look into her."

"We're looking into everyone," Bishop said pointedly.

"Good. I plan to have her fired for all the grief she put me through," April said, a nasty look crossing her face.

"Which would automatically make you a suspect," Bishop said sweetly.

"What?" April shrieked angrily. "Why? I didn't do anything to him! I was nowhere near that place!"

"Because Nurse Mackenzie took care of Admiral Kent for so long, she may know something, and you wanting her fired suggests you may be trying to hide something," Bishop said easily. She smiled sweetly. "Goes without saying but, ah, don't leave town," she said as she and Torres stood up. "An agent will show you out and we'll be in touch."

Torres smiled at April. "We're sorry for your loss," he said, not meaning a word of it.

Once the two agents were out of the room the room and out of earshot, Torres shivered as if he had just seen a snake.

"Blehargh!" he said. "Poor dear Tom my shapely ass!"

"And a very nice shapely ass," Bishop thought absently. "Still, those were interesting pictures of Nurse Mackenzie and Lieutenant Kent," she said thoughtfully. "And her calling the police on April? I wonder if there's any truth to that."

"One way to find out," Torres said, going to his computer. A few quick keystrokes and they had their answer. "Oh yeah, here we go. Couple of months ago the police were called to Admiral Kent's house and wound up arresting April on charges of domestic assault; seems she slapped Admiral Kent during an argument, and Nurse Mackenzie stepped in. A restraining order was recommended, and gotten, and April is not allowed anywhere near Nurse Mackenzie, her place of work, the Admiral, or his house."

"Good to know," Bishop said. "Should we be checking his life insurance policy? Kinda strikes me as the greedy type."

"Strikes me as the skanky snake type," he said. "But yeah, let's check, and then let's check his will."

McGee appeared, scowling. "No luck on the hard drive; it was wiped cleaner than the day it came out of the factory."

Both Torres and Bishop winced. "So no hope of recovering the manuscript from it, then?" Torres asked.

"Nada," McGee said.

"Well, Nurse Mackenzie got a strange call from St. Michaels, and she and Gibbs took off. Seems a bike courier dropped off a package for her," Bishop said.

"The manuscript?" McGee asked.

"Hopefully," Torres said. "In the meantime, we want a peek at Admiral Kent's life insurance policy and his will, thanks to his not-so-lovely step-daughter."

"Bad?" McGee asked.

"She could be a candidate for Real Housewives of D.C.," Bishop said. "Skanky, bitchy, fake boobs and fake tears, the works."

"Oof," McGee said, wincing.

"Thinking she's money hungry," Bishop said. "And she might stand to profit very nicely from Admiral Kent's death."

"Then let's find out," McGee said, getting to work.