Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good...okay, come on, by now you know that I don't own NCIS. If I did, would I be living in a double-wide in Buttcrack, Arkansas?
First off, thanks so much to Cable Addict.I needed all the support that I could get while writing this long chapter.
The bits where Tony and Ziva are listening in on classes, the things that are said have actually been said in my classes.
The teachers are all based on real teachers at my school.I am especially proud of the way the Spanish teacher came out, it's just like Mrs. H!
And finally, without any further adieu...
Chapter 7: People are Strange
People are strange
When you're a stranger
Faces look ugly
When you're alone
Women seem wicked
When you're unwanted
Streets are uneven
When you're down
Tony and Ziva pulled into a gravel parking lot beside a small school.
The entire campus was the size of one high school back in DC.
They walked up a sidewalk in front of the cafeteria to a tall building with a sign above the awning that read "ADMINISTRATION".
Tony opened the door and Ziva entered, he followed.
They were greeted by a middle aged woman with curly blond hair.
The nameplate on her desk identified her as Mrs. Betty Hall.
"Mrs. Hall, I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo with NCIS, this is Officer Ziva David. We're here about-" Tony began.
"Oh, that poor boy that got killed," the woman said with a thick southern drawl, "You'll want to talk to the superintendent about that. Mr. Martin, there are some people here to see you about the Marine."
A tall man with short dark hair and a dark neat beard appeared in a door frame beside Tony.
The man appeared to be in his forties and wore small, silver glasses and a button-up shirt with a red tie. "Hello, Frank Martin, I'm the superintendent here. What can I do for you?" the man said offering his hand to Tony.
Tony shook it and replied, "I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS. We actually need to speak with the high school counselor.".
"Right, come with me," Mr. Martin said, leading them out of the building.
They followed the sidewalk past the administration building into the high school.
They entered the wooden double doors and walked halfway down the hallway to a solid wooden door. Mr. Martin knocked and a short woman who looked just a bit older than Mr. Martin answered.
She had short, red hair and looked worried.
"This is our high school counselor, Mrs. Lewis. Mrs. Lewis, this is Special Agent DiNozzo and Officer David, with NCIS. They're here about the Marine that was killed," Mr. Martin introduced.
"Come on in," Mrs. Lewis said, holding the door open wide.
Tony and Ziva entered, but Mr. Martin stayed in the door and said, "I need to go talk to Mr. Anderson about some stuff, I think you'll be okay from here on," he smiled, left and shut the door.
"Go ahead and take a seat," Mrs. Lewis said, motioning to a table with two chairs next to it.
Tony and Ziva sat down as Mrs. Lewis walked back into the back of her office.
Tony looked around at the posters, along the wall behind him were posters advertising the Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.
In front of him were posters from local colleges, Lyon College, Hendrix College, the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University and Harding University.
Mrs. Lewis re-entered the room, pushing a desk chair in front of her, with some papers under her arm. She sat in the desk chair at the table. "I'm Rose Lewis, by the way," she said offering her hand to Tony, who answered, "Tony DiNozzo," then to Ziva, who responded, "Ziva David."
"Dah-veed, that's a very interesting name, what nationality is that?" Mrs. Lewis said, stretching out the syllables of Ziva's surname.
"I am Israeli," Ziva responded.
"That's neat," Mrs. Lewis answered with a smile.
Tony could see that this woman would be a very dedicated counselor.
She placed the papers on the table in front of them, Tony picked them up and read over them.
It was a list of names.
"Those are the students that Lance Corporal Stewart met with, they're all sophomores," Mrs. Lewis explained.
Tony read through the list.
Bailey, Sarah Erin
Campbell, Charlotte V
Carter, Sydney Zane
Clayton, Logan Brittany
Edwards, Cody Brian
Gray, Thomas Coty
Haile, Stasha Sandra
Harper, Jackson Slade
Landers, Jessie Joshua
Lyons, Jordan Crockett
McCollum, Jeremiah Jefferson
Miller, Emily J
Norton, Taylor Charlee
Peel, Samantha M
Presley, Dakota Davis
Smith, Kayla Brooke
Townsend, Nora Kate
Van Winkle, Brandon Dustin
Webb, Ashley Shelby
The names 'Cody Brian Edwards', 'Jessie Joshua Landers', 'Jordan Crockett Lyons', 'Dakota Davis Presley', and 'Brandon Dustin Van Winkle' were highlighted.
"Do you know why Lance Corporal Stewart highlighted these names?" Ziva asked.
"Those were the students he asked for the mailing address for, I assume they must've been the ones that were interested in joining," Mrs. Lewis answered.
"Then those are who we'll need to talk to first," Tony whispered to Ziva, who nodded.
Ziva spoke softly back to Tony, "But perhaps we should start with the teachers, yes?"
"Yeah, I guess we could," Tony shrugged.
"Mrs. Lewis, do you, by any chance, know what teachers Lance Corporal Stewart had talked to?" Ziva asked.
"Actually, I think that I do. I assume you'll be needing to talk to them?" Mrs. Lewis answered.
"Yes, and if you can give us the names of Justin Spencer's teachers, too, we'd like to meet with them," Tony replied.
Mrs. Lewis retreated to the confines of her inner office for a moment, then the printer printed off a sheet of paper and Mrs. Lewis wrote something on the back of it.
She returned to the table and handed the list to Ziva.
Ziva looked at the list.
In type, at the top it said,
'Class Schedule 2007-2008
Grade: 12
Name: Spencer, Justin Lloyd
Class Teacher Room
1: English 12 West, Gwen 301
2: Physics Kirkpatrick, Lillian 401
3: Algebra 2 White, Andrea 205
4: Mechanics Hendrix, Mackenzie 501
5: Street Law Welles, Andrew 103
6: Spanish 2 Montgomery, Wren 204
7: Civics Hill, Edward 602
8: Art 2 Robinson, Karen 105'
Then below it in neat cursive was written
'William Boucher – Band
Victoria Rowe – Science
Natasha Davis – English
Jeremy Lee – Computers
Helen Harris – Librarian
Dustin Walker – Boys' Coach
Anna Evans – Girls' Coach
Andrea White – Math
Edward Hill – History'
"Thank you, Mrs. Lewis," Ziva replied.
"Not a problem, I'm glad I can help...just promise me one thing, Officer David, Agent DiNozzo," Mrs. Lewis said.
Ziva looked at Tony then back at Mrs. Lewis.
"What's that?" Tony asked.
"Bring Justin back for graduation," she replied, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"We'll do our best, our boss is out looking for him now," Tony replied honestly, "Thank you, we're going to go get to work, now."
"Not a problem. Good luck," Mrs. Lewis said, standing to see them out.
They left the room, and Mrs. Lewis closed the door.
"She really seems to care about her students," Tony said.
"Aren't counselors supposed to care about their students?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah, but she seemed really broken up over this, she's a nice person," Tony said, distantly.
"Where should we start?" Ziva asked, looking at the list.
"Well, I don't have a clue where any of these rooms are," Tony answered.
As he said that, a boy exited one of the classrooms.
"Hey!" Tony called.
The boy snapped his head up and jumped a little, "Yeah?"
"Do you know where Ms. West's classroom is?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, you go down this hall, then you turn left at the next hall and it's the second door on the right," the boy answered.
"Thanks," Tony replied.
They walked down the hall, this part of the building had a ramp that sloped down the hillside and it seemed newer than the hall that Mrs. Lewis's office had been on.
At the end of the hall there was a brick wall that looked like it had at one time been an exterior wall and a hallway running left and right, they turned left and got to the second door.
Before knocking they waited to make sure they weren't disrupting something important.
Through the metal classroom door, they heard a woman's voice say,
"Boys, we can have class during classtime or during breaktime, it's up to you."
A boy who sounded like he was setting on the far side of the room replied,
"I say, classtime."
A second boy, louder and closer to the door, responded,
"I say hammertime."
"I don't think we'd be disrupting much," Tony said, smiling.
Ziva knocked on the door and was greeted by a tall boy, who looked shocked to see people he hadn't seen before at the door.
"Mrs. West! I think it's for you!" the boy said, blocking the doorway.
"Who is it, Jared?" the teacher asked.
"Dunno," Jared replied.
"Then let them in," Mrs. West said, sighing.
"But they could have guns, Mrs. West! They could be killers! I'm protecting you!" Jared argued from the doorway.
"We do have guns...and she is a killer," Tony said.
Jared's jaw dropped and he stuttered speechlessly.
Tony and Ziva pulled out their badges.
"We're federal agents, we need to talk to Mrs. West out here, Jared," Tony said.
Jared gulped and said, "Mrs. West, they're feds, you're in a whole lot of trouble."
Mrs. West walked to the door and told Jared to go back to his seat and read his book.
She then exited the room and pulled the door shut behind her.
Mrs. West was a tall woman who seemed to be in her fifties.
She had short dark hair and silver-rimmed glasses.
She was wearing a denim shirt with a tiger over her heart and a pair of black dress pants.
"I'm sorry about my student. I'm Gwen West, what can I help you with?" she said.
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS. You have Justin Spencer in this class, is that right?" Tony said.
"Yes, I do, until he was kidnapped, that is," Mrs. West replied.
"What was he like in class? Was he disruptive? Did he cause trouble?" Ziva asked.
"No more than any other eighteen year old boy. He never did anything mean, if that's what you're asking. He was always respectful and polite. I never had any problems with him in class," Mrs. West said.
"Did he hang around with anyone who might have gotten him in trouble?" Tony asked.
"Not to my knowledge. He mostly was friends with kids from his church," Mrs. West replied.
"Was there anyone who would have hurt Justin? Anyone who was angry with him?" Ziva asked.
"No, Justin was a sweet boy. I can't imagine why anyone would have wanted to hurt him, he was...I keep saying 'was', like he's dead already. I just can't imagine someone doing this to Justin," she said, "Do you need anything else?"
"Ummm...yeah, where is Ms. Kirkpatrick's classroom?" Tony asked.
"Go out the main doors, then cross the parking lot to a little building. It's the classroom closest to the daycare," Mrs. West replied.
Tony and Ziva thanked her and she returned to her classroom.
They followed the directions that Mrs. West had given them and approached an old-looking building with two metal doors on the front.
They walked to the one nearest the daycare and, once again, listened.
Despite the thickness of the door, they could hear a students talking from inside the room.
A boy with a thick Southern drawl asked, "Is that the answer?"
The teacher hesitated for a moment before responding, "That's the problem..."
Another boy laughed and teased, "Any more smart questions, Blake?"
The first boy, Blake, laughed and said, "I'll have one in a minute, I'm sure."
Tony stepped up onto the small concrete step in front of the door and quickly knocked twice before stepping back down.
A tall, solidly built woman with shoulder-length dark hair answered the door, "Yes?"
"Mrs. Kirkpatrick?" Tony inquired.
"Yes," the woman replied.
"Would you mind stepping out here for a moment? We need to speak with you," Tony asked.
"Sure," she said, then turned back to the class, "Finish reading this section...by yourselves."
Mrs. Kirkpatrick stepped out of the room and onto the sidewalk, then shut the door behind her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, this is my partner, Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS. We understand that you had Justin Spencer in your physics class, is that right?" Tony said, professionally.
"Yeah, you're here about him?" Mrs. Kirkpatrick asked.
"Yes. Did he have any trouble in class?" Ziva asked.
"He had trouble grasping some of the concepts, yeah, but he was never a problem."
"Did he have any problems with other students?" Tony asked.
"Never. He is an exceptionally friendly guy. He had some trouble in the past, but nothing has came up in the past few years."
"Trouble like what?" Ziva inquired.
"Nothing big, just some petty crimes. He went through a rough patch after his father died."
"When did his father die?" Tony asked.
"Maybe three years ago? Anyway, Justin went through a phase. He burned down a barn, shoplifted some little stuff from the store. Nobody held anything against him. We all felt bad for him."
"Was he close to his father?" Ziva asked.
"No. He wanted to be, but his father wanted nothing to do with him. He abandoned him. Justin's mom went on and remarried and had two other children, then she divorced that man. Justin's never had a strong male influence in his life. So when he started talking to that Marine, it was amazing. He was always talking about what Daniel was doing, or where Daniel was going. He was his role model."
"But there was nobody that would have wanted to hurt Justin?" Tony asked.
"Nope, no one that I can think of."
"Thank you, Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Now, can you tell us how to get to Mrs. White's classroom?" Tony said.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick directed them back the way they had came, just as the bell rang to change classes.
They stood outside the building until the tardy bell rang and the hallway had cleared out, then they went to Mrs. Andrea White's classroom (Which was located just across the hallway from Mrs. West's classroom, which made Tony groan and mumble curses under his breath).
Tony and Ziva stood outside the heavy wooden door with a sign next to it that read
'Mrs. White Algebra I Algebra II AP Psychology Transitions Math'.
Through the thick door you could hear the students in the room singing a song to the tune of 'Pop Goes the Weasel'
"x equals negative b, plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four a c, all over two a!"
Ziva knocked on the door and was greeted by a tall blond girl who looked at them and called, "Mrs. White! Door!"
A tall woman of about average build walked over to them looking a bit frazzled, and from the way a corner of boys in her class was carrying on, they couldn't blame her.
She had shoulder length brown hair that looked curled under, tanned skin and a bright smile.
She was wearing an orange sweater with brown flecks and khaki pants with well worn-in brown leather shoes.
"Hi, can I help you?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah, we need to talk to you about something. Would you mind stepping out into the hall?" Tony asked, returning the smile.
"Sure," she shrugged, and turned back to her class, "I'll be right back, you guys. Just don't break anything."
"Us?!" a boy feigned insult, "Never!"
"Don't get lost, Mrs. White!" another called.
"We love you!" a third called out.
"Sounds like fun," Tony said sarcastically, as Mrs. White shut the door.
"It has it's moments," she shrugged, "Did you hear our song?"
"What was that exactly?" Ziva asked, tilting her head.
"That's the Quadratic Equation Song!" she laughed, she acted like she should still be in school, not teaching it, "Some classes learn better through stuff like that, honestly, that song's helped this class out more than anything else all year."
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo," Tony answered.
"I'm Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS," Ziva completed.
"Oh, you must be here about Justin," Mrs. White said, her face lost it's cheerful shine and became serious. Her serious face showed her age more than her happy one did, she appeared to be in her forties, but her happy face looked like a little kid's, "He was in this Algebra 2 class. He really enjoyed the song. I'm Andrea White, by the way."
She looked up at them, obviously in grief.
"Would anyone have wanted to hurt Justin, Mrs. White?" Tony asked.
"No. Everyone liked Justin. He's a good kid. I can't imagine who would do this to him. We don't talk much outside of class, he's not involved in either club I sponsor."
"What clubs do you sponsor?" Ziva asked.
"I sponsor the Bible Club and the Chess Club, Justin wasn't involved in either. He was really busy. He had drills on the weekend and he worked at the pizza place uptown at night. He was in FFA and FCA, but those are the only clubs he ever did stuff with."
"Has anything happened in your class recently that might lead us to Justin or his kidnapper?" Tony asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, just teenage boys being loud and rambunctious."
"No one has been hostile toward Justin?" Ziva asked.
"No, I can't think of anything I know that would help you."
The woman was on the verge of tears.
"Thank you, anyway, Mrs. White. Could you tell us where Mr. Hendrix's classroom is?" Tony asked, trying to remain comforting.
Mrs. White told them and as they turned to leave she called out, "Agent DiNozzo, Officer David?"
They turned around to face the crying woman and she said, "Find our Justin. Bring him home."
"We'll do our best, ma'am." Tony said, somberly.
They walked out of the building and under a pavilion in a large commons-type ground, and to a brick building that said, 'AGRI' on the side.
They walked into the building and passed an empty classroom and office, and entered a shop.
Near the wall of the shop a teacher and a skinny boy were talking.
The boy was holding a welding torch and said, "There are so many things at this school that I do not like...I like fire."
The teacher laughed a little and took the torch away from the student, saying, "Now, you're sounding like an arsonist."
"Mr. Hendrix?" Tony called.
The teacher, Mr. Hendrix, sat the torch down and walked over to Tony and Ziva.
He was a young-looking man with short, dark hair and tanned skin.
He was wearing a plaid work shirt and black Dickies work pants and thick-soled leather work boots.
"Yes?" he asked.
"We need to talk to you, can we step into your office?" Tony asked.
"Sure," Mr. Hendrix said, leading them into a small, disorganized office.
"What do you folks need?" he asked.
"I'm Officer Ziva David and this is my partner, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, we're with NCIS. Did you have Justin Spencer in your class?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah, he's a good kid," Mr. Hendrix said.
He offered a weathered hand to Tony then to Ziva, as they shook hands he said, "My name's Mackenzie Hendrix, call me Mac."
"Mac, did Justin have problems with anyone in your class?" Tony asked.
"No, he's a great student. He even would come to some of my ninth grade classes and help me teach them how to use the shop tools. He's great in shop, a great welder."
"Did he ever have any problems in class?" Ziva asked.
"No...well, actually, there was something. We were welding a couple of weeks ago and he just froze up. I've never seen him get like that before, but he just froze. Then he threw the torch down and ran out of the building. I thought he was getting sick and running outside to throw up, so I didn't chase after him. Not to mention, I had a class full of inexperienced welders with torches and tanks of gas, I couldn't risk chasing after him. He didn't come back to class that day, but the next day he was back and it was just like nothing had happened. We didn't talk about it."
Tony looked at Ziva strangely then asked, "Was there anything that had happened to bring this about. You're his FFA advisor, right? Did he talk to you about it?"
"No, there wasn't anything that I had noticed. Yeah, I'm his FFA advisor. But I'm the sponsor of the Future Farmers of America, not his counselor, he didn't say anything to me about any problems."
"So there wasn't anybody who you could think of that would want to do something to Justin?" Ziva asked, a last time.
"Nope, nobody at all."
"Thanks for your help, Mac. Now, would you mind directing us to Mr. Welles classroom?" Tony finished.
Mac told them to go back into the main building and Mr. Welles room was the second one on the right.
They followed his directions and ended up at a shut door about ten feet from Mrs. Lewis's office where they started.
They leaned in to hear what was going on in the classroom, they heard a girls voice say,
"I wanna be a doctor, because I like talking about blood. I'm either gonna be a doctor or a vampire. I haven't figured it out yet."
Tony knocked on the classroom door, and stepped back.
A tall man of average build answered the door, he had short, dark hair that was streaked with gray.
He had a bushy gray mustache and was dressed neatly in a crisp, white shirt and black dress pants with shined black shoes and a red tie with a gold cross on it.
"Can I help you?" the man asked in a deep, friendly voice.
"Andrew Welles?" Tony asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Would you mind stepping out into the hallway so that we can speak with you?" Ziva asked.
"No problem," he turned back to his class and said, "Work on the questions on page 216. Nikki, write down the names of people who aren't working or disrupt class."
Mr. Welles stepped out into the hallway and pulled his door closed.
"Mr. Welles-" Tony began
"Please, call me Andy."
"Right, Andy. I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David. We're with NCIS. You had Justin Spencer in your Street Law class, right?" Tony asked, getting right to the point.
"Yes, it's horrible that something like this would happen to Justin. He's such a good kid. He never caused any trouble," Andy said, shaking his head.
"He didn't have any problems with any of the other students?" Ziva asked.
"No. He was friendly to everyone. No one disliked Justin."
"He hadn't mentioned any problems to you recently?" Tony asked, hoping that Andy knew what had made Justin react the way he did in shop class.
"No, but he doesn't talk to me that much about personal stuff. All I know is that he was on the cross-country team until his mom made him quit to get a job. Times are tough, his family needed a little extra income, they're a single-parent family with three kids to raise. Shame, too, he was a great runner and he really seemed to like running."
"Sounds like he was under a lot of stress," Ziva stated.
"Yeah, he was, but he never showed it. Turned in all of his work on time, showed up to every practice and meet up until he quit. He's a great guy."
"So, there's nobody you can think of that would have done this to him?" Tony asked.
"No, no one at all."
"Thank you, Andy. Could you please direct us to Mrs. Montgomery's classroom?" Ziva asked.
The room Andy directed them to was just up the slope from Mrs. White's classroom.
They paused outside of the classroom door and listened.
A woman's voice said, "You'll have to memorize them like you memorized how to count to ten."
A boy's voice replied, "Yeah, well, I never did that."
A second boy's voice built on the first's comment, " One, two, three,golf."
Tony knocked on the door and leaned against the wall and sighed, "How many more teachers, Ziva?"
She looked at the list and replied, "Two on the schedule and nine on the list,"
Tony groaned.
The door opened and a young-looking red-headed woman stood in the doorway, "Yes?" she asked.
"Mrs. Montgomery?" Ziva asked.
"Yes," the woman replied, curious.
"Would you mind stepping out into the hall?" Ziva continued, as Tony was still slumped against the wall.
"Sure," she replied and turned back to her class and said, "Clase, do actividad diez with a partner."
She exited the classroom and shut the door.
"I'm Officer Ziva David and that is my partner, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. We're with NCIS," Ziva introduced.
"I'm Wren Montgomery."
Tony pushed off the wall and walked over beside Ziva and said, "Was Justin Spencer in your Spanish Two class?"
"Yeah, sixth period."
"What was he like in class?" Ziva asked.
"Quiet, mostly. He was in a class full of boys and none of them thought they needed to learn Spanish. It is not my favorite class. Justin's one of the better ones, though. He didn't say much. He didn't pick up the language very well, but at least he didn't yell about how he didn't need to learn Spanish," she laughed a little before adding, "We pick out Spanish names to use in class, he wanted to be Jesus, but Shane picked it before he could. He ended up picking Pedro."
"Like 'Vote for Pedro'?" Tony laughed.
Ziva and Wren looked at Tony strangely.
"You know, Napoleon Dynamite? 'Pedro offers your his protection.'? 'Vote for Pedro'?," Tony just looked at them as if he couldn't believe they didn't know what he was talking about, "Never mind," he sighed and shook his head.
"Anyway," Ziva said dismissively, "did he hold anything against Shane for picking the name he wanted? Did Shane do it to spite him?"
"No, he just sorta laughed it off, it didn't really bother him that much. But Jesus was Shane's name in Spanish One, most students try to keep the same name in all their Spanish classes. I go down the class roster to get the names, so whosoever name comes first in alphabetical order gets to chose their name first. I had one class where three girls had gone by Adriana, one girl's last name was Baker, so she chose first and chose Adriana. The other two girls got frustrated. One ended up choosing Alejandra and the other chose Margarita," Wren rambled.
"So, there's no one that you can imagine that would want to hurt Justin?" Tony asked.
"No, no one that I can imagine," Wren said.
"Thanks for your help, can you tell us how to get to Mr. Hill's classroom?" Tony asked.
"Sure, go down this hallway and out the glass doors, then across the gravel parking lot to a sidewalk that goes between the gym and the back of this building, follow that sidewalk into the back of the gym. Mr. Hill's classroom is the first one on the left. There's a computer lab across the hall and the distance-learning lab is next door. Mr. Hill's room is probably the only one that anyone's in."
"Gracias, Señora Montgomery," Tony nodded.
"De nada, Señor DiNozzo," Wren smiled.
They set out across the parking lot and Tony groaned, "There is no way that this campus is this big!".
"Tony-" Ziva began.
"There is no way you're going to make me feel guilty for complaining. After we finish his schedule, we're gonna come up with a plan of action for this. I wanna make sure there's absolutely no backtracking," Tony ranted.
Ziva just sighed, shook her head and walked in front of Tony.
He ran to catch up to her, "You can't tell me that all this running back and forth isn't grating on your nerves, Dah-veed."
"Why do you call me that?" she asked, spinning around to face him.
"Because it's your name," he offered.
"No, not like that. My name is David, you stretch out the syllables, Dah-veed, like that. What if I called you, I don't know, Duh-No-Zo?" she said, looking at him curiously as she stretched out the syllables of his surname.
"I don't know. I kinda like it. Duh-No-Zo, not bad."
She sighed and shook her head, he walked around her and she followed him.
He got to the back entrance of the gym and held the door open for her and followed her into the hallway.
They got to the first door, it had a wide window on the door and they could hear the class inside.
A boy shouted out, "Tea is a freak of nature!"
An older man's voice asked, "How is tea a freak of nature?"
The first boy said, "It's good hot or cold...it's like fried chicken!"
A second boy with a nasally voice shouted, "Tea is not good hot! I hate hot tea!"
The first boy shouted, "We're gonna have a tea fight!"
A girl's voice said, "Like the Boston Massacre!...I mean the Boston Tea Party!"
The first boy then shouted out, "The Boston Tea Massacre!"
Tony shook his head a little and rapped on the glass of the door.
From inside he heard the man say, "Sarah, open the door for me, would you."
A tall, skinny blond girl walked over and opened the door and Tony and Ziva stepped in.
From the back of the room a boy whistled at Ziva.
"Gabriel! Stop that or you'll run laps!" Mr. Hill barked from his desk.
Ziva shot a look at the boy, who was now hiding behind a history book.
"Mr. Hill, we need to talk to you. Could you step out into the hall?" Ziva asked.
Mr. Edward Hill was an older looking man with a rim of white hair around the edge of his mostly bald head. He had dark narrow eyes. He was tall, and in spite of his age, still looked athletic.
"Sure," Mr. Hill replied, standing up and walking with Tony and Ziva out of the room.
From the back of the room, Gabriel called, "Whoo! Go get 'er, Mr. Hill! Ow!".
Tony spun around and glared at Gabriel, "If I were you, Gabe, I'd stop bothering Officer David. She's a trained assassin...not to mention, she's taken. And her boyfriend could kill you without batting an eye."
Gabriel froze, wide-eyed, jaw agape, then shrank into his desk behind his book.
The rest of the class laughed and several kids shouted, "Ooooooh!"
Tony walked over to Ziva, put his hand on her back and directed her out of the classroom.
"Tony," she sighed, shaking her head.
Before leaving his room, Mr. Hill turned back to his class and said, "I'm going to leave this door open, but I'm going to step around the corner to talk. The door's open, so I can hear everything, but don't try to sneak around, because I'll know what you're doing. I know what's happening in my room at all times. Don't forget that."
Tony and Ziva followed him into the hall and he directed them to a place in the hallway in front of some lockers.
Tony and Ziva looked at each other oddly.
"Mr. Hill, I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David. We're with NCIS," Tony said.
"What's the Navy doing up here? There's no Naval Base around here," Mr. Hill said.
"You know what NCIS is, Mr. Hill?" Tony asked, dumbfounded.
"That's not what it was called back in my day, but I know what it is," Mr. Hill replied.
"You were in the Navy, Mr. Hill?" Ziva asked.
"Marines, gunnery sergeant, back in 'Nam," Mr. Hill said grimly, "When I got back, I left the Marines and got my teachers' certificate. I decided that I could serve better here. I kept some of the Marine in me, though. The kids call my gym class 'boot camp'," he laughed.
Tony smiled, "You had Justin Spencer in your civics class, right?"
Mr. Hill's smile faded, "Yes, I did. He's a great boy. Really good in gym class, when he had free time, he would come into the gym with some of the younger gym classes and he would run laps, do push-ups, set-ups, jumping jacks. Whatever they did, he did twice as many. Great guy."
"Did he have anyone that was angry at him? Any fights? Was there anyone who would have wanted to hurt him?" Ziva asked.
"No, no one," Mr. Hill said, "What happened to the Marine that came up here? I talked to him. I heard that he was with Justin when Justin got kidnapped. Is he okay?"
"Mr. Hill, the Marine, Lance Corporal Stewart, was killed. We believe his murderer is Justin's kidnapper," Ziva said, softly.
"That's a shame, he seemed like such a good boy," Mr. Hill sighed, hanging his head down.
By this time, it seemed like a small riot had erupted in Mr. Hill's classroom.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my class," Mr. Hill said, watching the room over Tony's shoulder.
"Of course, but first, would you mind telling me where Mrs. Robinson's classroom is?" Tony asked.
Mr. Hill told them where Mrs. Robinson's room was and he went back into his classroom.
He stood in the doorway and Ziva began to walk away, but Tony grabbed her arm and motioned toward Mr. Hill and mouthed, "Listen."
Mr. Hill stood in the doorway of his classroom, looking at the roomful of now silent students.
He scanned the room and glared at Gabriel.
"So, you don't think I can see you when I'm outside the room, huh, Luis? I know everything that goes on in my room. Everything. I know that when I was outside, you were standing up and talking to Jodi and Sierra. Then you walked across the room and threw a paper wad at Felix. Felix picked up the paper wad and threw it at Stephen. Stephen picked up the paper wad and threw it in the trash, while he was up, Felix put gum in his chair. But before Stephen sat down, Jodi knocked the gum out of his seat and on to the floor. Felix picked the gum up and put it in your hair. Don't worry, Gabriel, with a little peanut butter, that gum will come right out," Mr. Hill said, and the whole class stared at him in awe.
"Special Agent DiNozzo, Officer David!" Mr. Hill shouted, without turning away from the classroom.
"Yes, sir?" Tony asked, looking at the man strangely.
"Bring Spencer home safe, do you understand?" he said forcibly.
"Yes, gunnery sergeant!" Tony and Ziva replied.
Outside, Tony laughed, "That was so cool."
"Tony, did he remind you of anyone?" Ziva asked.
"You mean Gibbs? Only a lot," Tony laughed, opening the door for Ziva and following her out.
"He was just like Gibbs," Ziva said in awe.
"Yeah, they were both gunnery sergeants in the Marines, they both have that sneaky-thing going on...can you imagine if they ever met," Tony shuddered.
"Tony, about back there," Ziva began.
"You mean with the Gibbs-clone?" Tony asked.
"No, with the boy, what was that about?" she asked, smiling.
"Well, Ziva, you see, we're partners. We gotta look out for each other. You didn't want that little punk harassing you, did ya?" Tony asked with a grin.
"No, but, you didn't have to do that. That was very...thoughtful of you," she replied.
They walked back into the building, and to the next classroom past Mrs. Lewis's office.
A metal plaque over the door read, 'SCIENCE', but it had been painted over and a sign on the door read,
'Mrs. Robinson
Art
Gifted and Talented'
They paused outside the door to listen,
A boy with a nasally voice said, "I love Clint Eastwood like a father...is that weird?"
The teacher hesitated before saying, "A little."
A boy with a hoarse voice said, "Your dad looks like Clint Eastwood, only meaner."
The first boy asked, "Can you be meaner than Clint Eastwood?"
The second boy responded, "Your dad can."
Tony knocked on the door and a tall, thin boy in tight clothes answered.
"Who is it?" Mrs. Robinson asked from her desk at the back of the room.
"I dunno," the boy said, taking his seat at the table closest to the door and continued painting a color wheel.
Mrs. Robinson stood up and walked over to Tony and Ziva, she was average height and build, with wildly curly brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had glasses with thick, black frames and was wearing a pink shirt with a cream colored sweater and khaki pants.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah, would you mind stepping out into the hall for a minute?" Tony asked.
"Sure," she called to her class, "Guys, keep working on your color wheel."
She stepped out into the hallway, and shut the door behind her.
"Mrs. Robinson, I'm Officer Ziva David and this is my partner, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. We're with NCIS. We understand that Justin Spencer as in your eighth period art two class, is that right?"
Ziva asked.
"Yes, is that why you're here?" Mrs. Robinson asked.
"Yes. Did he ever have any trouble in class?" Tony asked.
"Well, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that he was an amazing artist, but he tried his hardest and always did his work. He is a great student. Never caused any trouble."
"Was there anyone who would have wanted to hurt him, cause him any trouble?" Ziva asked.
"No, no, no, he got along with everybody. No one would want to hurt Justin."
Tony shook his head and said, "No one? He wasn't having any problems that he told you about?"
"No, if he had a problem, he didn't tell me anything about it."
"Thank you for your help, Mrs. Robinson," Ziva replied.
After Mrs. Robinson was back in her classroom, the bell rang and doors flew open and kids began rushing outside.
Tony and Ziva looked around, confused.
"It's breaktime," Mrs. Lewis laughed, "You probably won't be able to catch any of the teachers now, who knows where they are during break."
"So, who can we talk to now?" Tony asked.
"You can probably catch the principals, Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Brown," Mrs. Lewis said, "Let me show you to Mr. Anderson's office.
Mrs. Lewis lead Tony and Ziva to a thick wooden door and opened it to a narrow hall between a secretaries office and a supply room.
A door was open in the back of the hall, and a sparsely furnished office, that was as big as the rest of the room, was occupied by a man about McGee's age with short dark hair and narrow dark eyes, wearing a blue shirt and red tie, was setting behind the desk and a woman in a fashionable tan pantsuit with wavy blond hair was setting in a chair in front of the desk.
"Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Brown, this is Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and Officer Ziva David, with NCIS. They're here to talk to you about Justin and Lance Corporal Stewart," Mrs. Lewis introduced.
"Okay," Mr. Anderson said in a quiet, rough voice, "Thank you, Mrs. Lewis."
Mrs. Lewis left the room, and shut the door, sealing them into the small room.
"I'm Judith Brown, call me Jude, I'm the assistant principal," the woman said, standing up and shaking Tony and Ziva hands.
"I'm Robert Anderson, call me Rob, I'm the principal," Mr. Anderson said standing up and shaking Tony and Ziva's hands.
"Rob, Jude, did you ever have any trouble with Justin at school?" Tony asked.
"No, I never have, he's very well behaved," Jude relied.
Rob shook his head in agreement.
"He's never got in trouble with other students?" Ziva asked.
"No," Rob replied.
"Never," Jude agreed.
"So, there's no one that was ever hostile toward Justin?" Tony asked.
"No," Jude replied.
Rob shook his head, agreeing.
"What about Lance Corporal Stewart?" Ziva asked.
"Did he seem suspicious or worried on his last visit?" Tony followed up.
"No, he didn't behave like anything out of the ordinary was going on," Jude said.
"He didn't act strangely, no," Rob agreed.
"One last thing, could you draw us a map of the campus and tell us where Mr. Boucher, Ms. Rowe, Ms. Davis, Mr. Lee, Ms. Harris,Coach Walker, and Coach Evans's rooms are at?" Tony asked.
Jude complied and began to draw the map.
She handed the map over to Tony and he looked at it and his eyes bulged.
"Thank you, Rob, Jude," Ziva said, grabbing Tony's arm and pulling him out of the office and into the main hallway.
"Ziva, look at this map!" Tony groaned, handing Ziva the map.
"What is it, Tony," she looked at the map.
"Look at where we've got to go," he said, pointing to a building marked across the campus, "We have to go all the way down there, all the way back out to the science building, back into this building, then back out to the gym!"
"It could be worse, Tony," Ziva said, brushing him off.
"How?" Tony groaned.
"It could be raining. We could be under machine-gun fire. It could be extreme heat of cold. There could be a foot of snow-"
"That's enough, thanks. But you forgot the most important one," Tony said.
"Oh? And what is that?" Ziva asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I could be stuck here with McGee instead of you," he laughed.
"You flatter me, Tony," she joked dryly.
"We should get going, we've got a long walk," Tony sighed.
They walked down the hall, out the doors toward the gym, crossed a small closed street, down a sidewalk that ran between the student parking lot and an elementary playground guarded by a chain-link fence.
They reached a large, old, worn-out building that could only be the school's auditorium.
The front doors were heavy and made of metal and partially obscured by an unkempt hedge.
Tony tried a door, but it was locked, so he tried the other one. It opened with a reluctant groan.
They walked into a small lobby lined with dirty tiles. Bathrooms with battered doors stood to the side of the lobby with a water fountain covered in a plastic bag between the rooms. Another room with a beaten door was behind a ramshackle table.
Two more heavily graffittied metal doors led into the main auditorium.
They walked through the doors and looked around the auditorium.
It had two wooden benches against the back walls, and there were rows of black and red chairs leading up to a dark stage with ratty red curtains, several chairs were missing armrests or broken in other ways.
From off the auditorium, there was an open door, from inside the door the sound of a group of trumpets could be heard.
The trumpets stopped and a man with a thick southern drawl said, "Measure Twenty-Eight!"
A boy's voice said, "I suddenly have to go pee-pee."
The man's voice replied, "Too bad. Wet your pants. I'll laugh at you."
Tony and Ziva approached the room and Tony knocked on the doorframe.
There was a man and three boys playing trumpets in the middle of the room.
"Mr. Butcher?" Tony called, mangling the man's name. "Boo-shay, actually," the man said, raising up, "Ben, go over measures 28 through 36 with Cyrus and Adam," he instructed an older student playing the trumpet.
"Like in The Waterboy?" Tony asked, smiling. Ziva looked at him oddly.
"Right," Mr. Boucher, smiled back.
"Muh-muh-my mamma says the reason that alligatuhs uh so ornery is dat dey got all dem teef an' no toofbrush," Tony said, with a fake Louisiana accent, he looked at Ziva and said, "1997, Adam Sandler, Henry Winkler, it was a heck of a funny movie."
Mr. Boucher just laughed.
He was a heavyset man of about average height. He had very short dark hair with a receding hairline and flecks of white. He had sagging cheeks that were coated with gray-black stubble and he smelled of cigarette smoke and old coffee. He was dressed in an untucked dress shirt and slacks. His eyes were dark and narrow and when he walked he had a limp in one leg.
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS," Tony introduced.
Mr. Boucher held out his hand to Tony, who shook it.
"I'm William Boucher, call me Bill, and I direct the Judson Hill High School Band," he said proudly.
"Bill, did you speak to Lance Corporal Stewart when he came to the school?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah, I did. Why?" Mr. Boucher asked.
"Lance Corporal Stewart was killed recently, Bill," Tony answered.
"Oh, that's horrible. I can't believe that someone would want to kill that boy. He was such a good guy," Mr. Boucher shook his head.
"So, Lance Corporal Stewart didn't seem jumpy or suspicious when he was here?" Ziva asked.
"No, he didn't act like there was anything going on. He just came down to listen to the band play, he really seemed to enjoy it," Mr. Boucher replied.
"So, he didn't seem worried or preoccupied?" Tony asked.
"Nope," Mr. Boucher shook his head.
"Thank you, Mr. Boucher," Tony said.
Mr. Boucher nodded.
"Good luck at your recital, Mr. Boucher," Ziva added as they left.
"Thank you, Officer David," Mr. Boucher smiled.
As they left the auditorium, Tony turned to Ziva and asked, "How did you know that he had a recital coming up?"
"I am a trained observer, Tony," Ziva smiled.
"So, you're telling me that you knew that because something was going on in that room, they were going to have a recital. Was it the trumpet practice? Did Bill seem stressed out? What?" Tony asked, itching to know how Ziva knew.
"It was written on the dry-erase board in the front of the room, Tony," Ziva laughed.
Tony threw his head back and groaned in exasperation.
"What's the closest classroom to here?" Tony asked.
Ziva pulled out the map, "The coaches offices, in the gymnasium."
"Okay, let's go," Tony said, walking in front of Ziva.
They reached two sets of glass double-doors framed in red, that opened into the lobby of the gym.
Tony entered and looked around, the lobby was dark, except for a light in a PowerAde cooler that was probably on all the time, Ziva followed him in.
There were trophy shelves lining the walls and a concession stand jutted out from the wall on the right.
The stand had two windows boarded up with plywood, it was the off season, and had 'TIGER DEN' painted on it in big, red block letters outlined in white.
However, the most attention-grabbing thing about the concession stand was the fact that from ceiling to floor, the entire stand was painted orange with black tiger stripes.
Tony whistled, "That took a lot of work."
The lights in the actual gym were on, and you could hear the sound of basketballs being dribbled from inside.
The doors to the floor were propped open and Tony and Ziva walked in.
On the opposite wall there were two paintings of tigers ripping through the wall.
On the wall nearest them was a large coat of arms with athletic and academic symbols on it.
The wall on the left side of the gym had 'TIGER DEN' written in red and white block letters, on the right wall were the words 'TIGER PRIDE' in the same lettering.
Hanging from the ceiling along both side walls were various banners from successful seasons.
Two metal season records were tacked to the wall at the far end of the gym and a large picture of a boys basketball team was mounted above the words 'TIGER PRIDE'.
The floor was rubbery and yellowish, with red and white details.
One end of the floor had the words 'JUDSON HILL' on it, the other end said 'TIGERS'.
There were three boys playing basketball on the far end of the court.
They stopped when they saw Tony and Ziva.
"Hey!" a boy called, "You lookin' for someone?"
"Yeah!" Tony called back, "Is your coach around?"
Tony and Ziva approached the boys.
One was a tall, muscular black boy with a short afro.
Another looked like a younger, stockier version of Tony, except with an unkempt growth of hair covering his chin and cheeks.
The last was shorter than the first two, but muscular, with shaggy, but not long, blond hair and a beard similar to the second's.
"Coach Walker?" the third boy asked, with a noticeable accent.
"Yes," Ziva answered.
"He's in his office," the second boy pointed to a hallway off of the floor.
"Thanks," Tony said, walking away and leaving the boys to their game.
They walked into what appeared to be the hall leading to the boys' dressing room and reached a small office.
Tony rapped on the doorframe, startling a young man, who appeared to be sleeping at his desk.
"What? Huh?" he said, snapping his head up.
He was very young looking, with a goatee and hair that was several shades of blond and brown that stuck out at odd angles. It was unclear as to if he had arranged his hair that way on purpose, or if it was due to sleeping on his desk.
"Coach Walker?" Tony asked, stepping into the office.
"Yeah, what can I help you with?" he said, looking at them oddly, then raising his eyebrows when he looked at Ziva.
Coach Walker cleared his throat, stood up, and extended a hand in Ziva's direction, "Dustin Walker, call me Dustin."
"Okay, then Dustin," Tony said, stepping between Dustin and Ziva and shaking Dustin's hand with a bit more force that was actually necessary.
Dustin looked from Ziva to Tony and sat back down, looking defeated.
"What are you guys here for?" he sighed.
"We're with NCIS, I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, the woman that you were trying so horribly to impress is my partner, Officer Ziva David, I'll have you know that she is taken and her boyfriend would disembowel you if he was given the opportunity, based on what you had just done," Tony said, rather quickly, hasn't he already said this once today?
"Lemme guess, you're her boyfriend," Dustin sighed.
"Uh...," Tony stuttered, caught off guard.
"Yeah, he is. Don't give him the opportunity, Dustin," Ziva teased, saying his name with a poison sweetness.
"Whaddya need?" Dustin asked, sinking even farther into his chair.
"We understand that you talked to Lance Corporal Stewart when he was here recently, is that right?" Tony asked.
"Not much," Dustin sighed.
"What do you mean, 'Not much'?" Ziva asked.
"I mean that I was coming down with the flu that day, I was sick as a dog, so we didn't talk much. I don't even really remember what we talked about. He asked me if I thought Jessie, Brandon or Jordan would be fit to join the Marines, I told him yes, and I don't remember anything else. I don't even remember what the guy looked like," Dustin said, bitterly.
Tony sighed sharply and bit his lip before saying, "Thank you, Dustin."
Tony turned to leave and, fully intent on milking this for all it was worth, put his arm around Ziva's waist.
As they left the office, they heard Dustin's head hit the desk and his light snoring began again.
When they exited the office, the three boys were still playing basketball, Tony stopped and watched for a moment.
"Hey!" one of the boys called to him, "Wanna play two-on-two really quick?"
"Sure!" Tony said excitedly, he let go of Ziva and handed her his jacket then ran over to where the boys were.
"What's you're name?" the blond boy asked.
"Tony, and you?"
"Noah," the black boy said.
"Ryan," the boy who looked like Tony said.
"Matt," the blond boy answered.
"Okay, so who's with who?" Tony asked.
"Me and Matt on a team," Ryan said.
"So, me and you, Noah. That good?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, bro. Let's do this," Noah said, smiling big.
"First one to ten wins," Matt said.
Everyone agreed.
Tony got the ball first, passed it in to Noah. Noah passed the ball to Tony, who scored a three point shot.
"Three, zip, Ry. Whatchu think?" Noah laughed.
Ryan got the ball and passed it in to Matt, Matt took the ball and tried a three, he missed and Ryan rebounded for a two.
Noah took the ball out and passed it in to Tony, Tony ran it down court and exacted a textbook layup.
"Damn, man. That was awesome," Noah said, giving Tony a high-five.
"Five, two, let's do this, Matt," Ryan growled, passing the ball in to Matt.
Matt took the ball and ran down court, attempting to do a layup of his own, but he tripped and Tony picked up the loose ball and passed it to Noah who scored three more points.
"Eight, two, another shot and we win, man," Noah laughed.
Matt passed the ball into Ryan who ran down court and went up for the layup. Tony blocked the shot and threw the ball up court to Noah. Noah caught the ball and ran to the goal and jumped up.
He brushed the rim with his fingertips and the ball gracefully dropped through the net.
"YEAH!" Noah yelled as he landed, "What?!"
He ran over and gave Tony another high-five.
"Man, that was awesome! That was great!" Noah laughed.
"You're pretty good, too, man," Tony laughed back.
"You play college ball?" Noah asked.
"Yeah, Ohio State," Tony grinned.
"Aw, man, you're a Buckeye?" Noah teased.
"Where do you want to go to school, Noah?" Tony asked.
"University of Tennessee, man," Noah said, looking dreamy.
"Tennessee? Wait, wait, wait, you want to go to a school where the mascot is the Volunteers and you were making fun of me being a Buckeye?" Tony said, eyes widening.
Noah just laughed.
"And what about you guys? Where do you want to go to school?" Tony asked, looking at Matt and Ryan.
"UCA, man. I wanna be a bear," Matt said.
"Probably UCA, or Arkansas Tech...I could be a Wonderboy," Ryan laughed.
"Wonderboy? You're joking, right? That's not the mascot," Tony said, in apparent disbelief.
"No, he ain't jokin' that's the mascot," Noah laughed.
Tony laughed, then asked, "Where is Coach Evans's office?"
"In there," Matt said, pointing to a hallway like the one where Dustin's office was, but on the end of the gym closer to the main doors.
"Thanks. I'll see you guys later," Tony said walking back over to Ziva.
"Bye, Tony!" Matt yelled.
"We love you, man!" Ryan yelled, teasingly.
"You rule, man!" Noah yelled, louder than the other two.
"Good to see you made friends," Ziva teased, as Tony approached her.
Tony laughed a little then teased back, "So, I'm your boyfriend now, huh?"
"Tony, that was just to keep that man from continuing to pursue me, I wasn't interested in him and, in case Gibbs hasn't told you, I'm a bad liar," Ziva explained.
"But you always go along with them so well...and if you're not a good liar, then how were you a spy?" Tony said, forcing her to show her hand.
"Well, the difference is that as spy, I didn't have to lie. I just had to keep my mouth shut. Don't say anything. My problem is mostly with coming up with the lies, once one has been established, I can work with it, given that there are enough details provided. You said that I had a boyfriend, you didn't give a fake name or anything. I had to say something when he asked if it was you. Yes was the first answer that came to mind," Ziva elaborated, in hushed tones, glancing around from time to time to see if Dustin was nearby.
Tony just shook his head and laughed at his partner, "Come on," he said, "Let's go talk to Coach Evans."
They walked into the hallway and knocked on a metal door with a window covered from the inside by paper.
A tall girl with curly, dark hair answered the door.
"Coach, I think these people need to talk to you," she said.
Tony smiled and nodded at the girl.
"Oh, alright," the coach looked up from a notebook, "Alexis, Hayley, you two can go out and practice. Morgan and Robin, I'll get back to you on the party."
First, two young blond girls in white basketball practice jerseys left the office, then the dark haired girl and a shorter girl with red hair.
After the girls left, Tony smiled and said, "Ooh, party?"
The woman laughed.
Coach Evans was a short woman with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had dark eyes behind frame-less glasses.
She was wearing a bright orange University of Tennessee windbreaker.
"Hi, I'm Anna Evans. What can I help you folks with?" she asked, smiling.
"I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS. Did you speak to a Marine named Daniel Stewart recently?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, I did talk to him. He was a nice guy. Did something happen to him? This has something to do with Justin Spencer doesn't it?" Coach Evans said as it dawned on her.
"Yes, Lance Corporal Stewart was killed while camping with Justin," Tony said somberly.
"That's terrible...I wish that there was someway that I could help, but when he was here I was really distracted. The girls were about to go to state, we were designing shirts and planning pizza parties. It was hectic...I'm sorry, but I just don't remember mush of our conversation," Coach Evans said, shaking her head.
"You don't remember if he looked anxious? Like he was preoccupied?" Ziva asked.
"No, I don't remember him seeming preoccupied...but then again, I was," Coach Evans sighed.
Tony grimaced and looked at Ziva.
"Thank you, Coach Evans," Tony said.
"I wish I could've helped you more," she replied.
Tony and Ziva walked out the door, and left the gym.
"Where to next on this tour of uselessness, Miss David?" Tony said, grinning bitterly.
She pulled out the map and looked at it.
"Natasha Davis's English class," Ziva read, "Inside the building. Looks like it's pretty close to the math room we visited earlier."
Tony threw his head back in frustration as the bell rang and students began filling the hallways.
They stood outside the building for a few moments, letting the students reach their destinations and vacate the halls.
They walked back in the doors near Mrs. West's classroom, then turned to go up the ramp by Mrs. White's room.
At the classroom next to Mrs. Montgomery's, they paused and listened in.
A boy said, "You know you love me."
A woman replied, "I do love you, but-"
The boy interrupted, "Did you just say you loved my butt?! Mrs. Davis just said she loved my butt! Did you guys just hear that?! Mrs. Davis is totally putting the moves on me! Mrs. Davis! You are a married woman! We could never be!"
Tony knocked on the door and a girl opened it and retook her seat.
When they got in the room, a tall, thin woman in with shoulder-length straight, dark hair and pale skin, was standing next to her desk.
She glanced from the doorway, where Tony and Ziva stood, to the other side of the room, where a boy was taking his seat.
Tony recognized the boy and realized that the boy teasing his teacher was Ryan, from the basketball game.
"Hey! Tony!" Ryan called.
Two other boys, that Tony recognized as Noah and Matt, raised their heads up off their desks and looked at Tony.
"Tony!" Matt called.
"Yo! Tony! My man!" Noah called.
"Hey, guys," Tony laughed.
"We need to speak with you, Mrs. Davis. Do you mind stepping out into the hall?" Ziva asked.
"Of course," Mrs. Davis said, "I'm stepping out into the hallway. Don't be fools, just set in your desks and read your books."
Mrs. Davis led Tony and Ziva into the hallway and her door closed with a small bang behind them.
"What do you need to talk about? I'm Natasha Davis, by the way," Mrs. Davis said.
"Mrs. Davis-"Ziva began.
"Please, call me Natasha. Another adult calling me 'Mrs. Davis' makes me feel old. I'm only thirty-six, you know?" Natasha interrupted.
"Natasha," Ziva corrected, "I'm Officer Ziva David and this is my partner, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, we're with NCIS. We understand that you spoke with Lance Corporal Daniel Stewart on his last visit here?"
"Yes, I did speak with him," Natasha nodded.
"Did he seem anxious? Jumpy? Nervous? Preoccupied?" Tony asked.
"No, no, no and no," Natasha replied, "He was cool, calm and collected when we spoke. Did something happen to him?"
"He was killed shortly after his visit," Tony answered.
"Oh...that's awful...I'm sorry, nothing really happened in the conversation. He asked about some students, I told him that they were all great students. There wasn't much to it," she responded.
"Did he ask about any students specifically? Did he seem more interested in any student?" Ziva asked.
"No, he just asked if they were responsible and how they behaved in class. They were all good kids. I'm sorry that I can't be of more help," Natasha said, looking at Tony's face that was scrunched in frustration.
"Thank you, anyway, Natasha," Ziva replied, shooting a look at Tony.
Natasha went back into her classroom and Ziva walked on up the hall, Tony followed, looking confused.
"Where to next, Columbus?" Tony asked.
Ziva shook her head and replied, Mr. Jeremy Lee's computer class. It's across the hall from the art room."
Tony followed and they reached a heavy wooden door and they stopped to listen.
A boy said, "I have come to a conclusion."
A voice that sounded like an adult, but couldn't have been much older, replied, "And that is?"
The boy replied, "There are more of us than there are of you...we're taking over."
The man responded, "Well, you have a test next Wednesday, so you'll just have to wait and take over later."
The boy sighed, "Okay."
An angry girl's voice yelled, "What kind of military coup is this?!"
Ziva knocked on the door and seconds later it opened and the man's voice called, "Come on in."
Tony and Ziva entered the room and saw Mr. Lee setting in front of a computer at the front of the classroom.
Tony did a double-take, then looked at Ziva with his jaw slightly agape.
Mr. Lee looked to be in his mid-twenties, he was thin and tall, but other than that he was a carbon-copy of McGee.
He had the same baby-face, the same blond hair, the same cowlick, the same pale skin, and the same unblinking gaze at the computer screen.
"McG-Mr. Lee?" Ziva called.
"Yes?" he said, looking up at them.
"May we speak with you in the hallway?" Ziva asked, she wasn't sure if Tony had even blinked since he walked in the room.
"Sure," he said, standing up and leading them out into the hall.
"Oh, and call me Jem," Mr. Lee said.
"Okay, Jem," Ziva said, "I'm Officer Ziva David and this is my partner, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. We're with NCIS."
"What are federal agents doing in our neck of the woods?" Jem asked.
"You know what NCIS is?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah, I've read some stuff from your lab in my sister's Journal of Forensic Science. She works at the Arkansas State Crime Lab...so you work with Abby Scuito?" Jem asked.
"Yes, we work with Abby," Ziva replied, cautiously.
"That's awesome. She is brilliant...what's she like?" Jem asked, excitedly.
"She's...hard to describe...," Ziva replied, unsure what to say.
"Is there something wrong with your partner? Because he's looking at me weird and I don't think that he's blinked yet," Jem said, looking at Tony curiously.
"He's in shock. You look just like someone we work with," Ziva explained, and snapped her fingers in front of Tony's face.
He shook his head and looked from Ziva to Jem and shook his head again.
"Jem, you talked to Lance Corporal Stewart, did you not?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, I did," Jem recalled.
"Did he seem distant or preoccupied?" Tony followed up.
"No, not really. He was mostly interested in how well the computers with Vista were working. You see, we just got in a new set of computers in and they all have Vista on them. He got a computer with Vista and couldn't get the hang of it. You just gotta be patient with it-"Jem began.
"So there didn't seem to be anything distracting him?" Ziva asked.
"No, not at all," Jem said.
"Thanks for your help, Jem," Tony asked.
"So I can go back to work?" Jem asked.
"Yeah, sure," Tony replied.
"Okay, when you see Ms. Scutio would you tell her that she has a gigantic fan in Judson Hill?"Jem asked.
"Sure," Tony said.
"Thanks," Jem smiled as he reentered his classroom and shut the door behind him.
"Oh. My. God. That was McGee's clone!" Tony said, excitedly.
"They did look similar," Ziva conceded.
"Alike?! They had the same hair, the same cowlick, the same baby-face! They're both computer geeks! They both have a thing for Abby! Jem, Tim? They rhyme! Mc-Gee, Mr.-Lee? They almost rhyme! Ziva! They could be related!" Tony said, eyes bulging.
Ziva shook her head and lead Tony to the library at the end of the hallway.
When they got there, there was a short woman who appeared to be in her early fifties, with curly honey-colored hair; a tall, stocky girl with straight blond hair and sunglasses on top of her head; and a thin girl with dark hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail.
The woman, the librarian, Ms. Harris, walked over to a table and began stacking books.
The tall girl stood in front of a bookshelf, looking over the collection of Stephen King novels.
The dark haired girl was on the computer looking at a page about F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The tall girl said, "I typed my name on Google once and all that came up was dog biscuits."
The dark haired girl laughed, "That's funny. I'm gonna start calling you Dog Biscuits."
Ms. Harris got in on the joke, too, "If you need me, I'll be sorting books over here by Dog Biscuits."
"Ms. Harris?" Tony called.
She turned around, "Yes?"
"Do you mind stepping over here and speaking to us for a moment?" Ziva asked.
"Sure," she said, "Olivia, if you need to print be sure and use the HP printer. Julie, if you find a book just go ahead and check it out, you know how to use that computer."
She stepped over to the opposite side of the library.
"Ms. Harris, I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David, we're with NCIS. Did you speak with Lance Corporal Daniel Stewart on his last visit?" Tony asked.
"Yes, I think I did. He asked if I knew of any behavioral problems that some students had ever had. They were all good students, so there wasn't anything to tell him."
"Did he seem nervous when you were talking to him? Did he seem more interested in one student than the others?" Ziva asked.
"He didn't seem nervous. And when he asked about the students he just handed me a list, names weren't even spoken. All I said was a general 'no' about all the students. He asked if they had ever checked out any strange books. I didn't know what he meant. I told him that Syd and Jack check out copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Catcher in the Rye a lot, and that the only thing that I had ever seen Jeremiah read was a Halo novel. He didn't seem to worried about that," she recalled.
About that time, a herd of seventh graders rushed into the room and dispersed noisily about the room.
"I'm sorry, but I really need to go, now. The seventh graders have to be watched with eagle-eyes," Ms. Harris said, smiling.
"That's fine, thank you," Tony said and he and Ziva left the library.
They passed a man pulling a mop out of a supply closet and Tony resisted the urge to interrogate him.
He knew that that was the type of arrogant thing that would've gotten his head slapped if Gibbs knew about it.
Ziva, who was still leading them, stopped in front of Mrs. Lewis's office and opened the door.
Mrs. Lewis was setting at the front table, reading The Daily Citizen, when Ziva and Tony walked in, she folded the newspaper and sat it down.
"What can I help you with?" she asked.
"We just thought that we would tell you that we only have one more teacher left to speak with and since the classroom is next to the parking lot, we will probably just go to our vehicle from there," Ziva answered.
"So, will you be back to talk to the kids?" Mrs. Lewis asked.
"Yes, probably within the next two days," Ziva replied.
"Okay, you guys go and talk to that last teacher and then head on out. Where are you going for lunch? There's a few places here in town, but I figure that you're staying in Searcy, there's quite a bit more to eat in Searcy," Mrs, Lewis said.
"What's there to eat in town?" Tony asked.
"There's a barbecue place, two cafés and a pizza place," Mrs. Lewis counted off.
"We may just eat in Searcy," Tony said, not sounding very interested in the local fares.
"There's lots of good places to eat in Searcy," Mrs. Lewis said.
"Could you recommend some place?" Tony asked.
"For lunch? There's supposed to be a good Filipino restaurant and Mazzio's has a pizza lunch buffet. If you come back tomarrow, I'll have a list of some places around here that you should eat at," Mrs. Lewis smiled.
"That'd be great. Thanks," Tony smiled back.
"Bye," Mrs. Lewis waved.
"Good-bye," Ziva said, exiting the room.
Tony followed her, "Bye."
They crossed the parking lot and stopped at the room next door to Mrs. Kirkpatrick's.
They listened through the door.
Mrs. Rowe asked, "How are base pairs joined?"
A boy yelled out, "Duct tape!"
A second boy screamed, "Voodoo! Is it voodoo!?"
Mrs. Rowe gave them a hint, "It's a bond."
A girl replied, "James Bond."
The boy who had yelled 'duct tape' asked, "Is biology required in college?"
Mrs. Rowe replied, "Yes."
Duct-tape-boy then shouted, "I'm going to Iraq!"
A sarcastic sounding boy mocked him, "Given the choice of Iraq or karyotyping...I'll take my chances with the suicide bomber."
Tony knocked on the door and stepped off the concrete step in front of the heavy metal door.
A tall, slim woman with shoulder-length red hair opened the door.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Mrs. Rowe?" Ziva asked.
"Yes," Mrs. Rowe answered, confused.
"Can we talk to you for a moment?" Tony asked.
"Sure," Mrs. Rowe turned back to her class and said, "I'm going to step out for a moment, work on your packets until I return. I will be right outside the door, so don't try anything dumb."
The class laughed nervously and a girls voice faked a cough, "Ahem! Crockett! Ahem!"
The class laughed much louder and Mrs. Rowe stepped out onto the sidewalk and closed the door behind her.
She was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt under a green jacket and green corduroy pants with gray sneakers.
"I'm Officer Ziva David," Ziva introduced herself.
"And I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, we're with NCIS," Tony finished.
"I'm Victoria Rowe, please call me Tori. Now, what's this about?" Mrs. Rowe said, crossing her arms across her stomach.
"We understand that you spoke with Lance Corporal Daniel Stewart the last time he was here, yes?" Ziva asked.
"Yes, that's right."
"Tori, did he seem jumpy or nervous? Anxious, maybe?" Tony asked.
"No, not that I recall," Tori replied, shaking her head.
"He didn't seem worried about anything?" Ziva asked.
"No."
"Thank you, Tori. That was all we need," Tony replied.
"Okay, have a good afternoon," she said stepping back into her classroom.
"You, too," Tony called.
"Well, this was a gigantic waste of time," Tony groaned, as he walked back to the car.
"Not entirely," Ziva said.
"How wasn't it?" he asked, frustrated.
"We found out that something had been bothering Justin before he left and that he works at the pizza place here in town," she said, climbing into the car, "We also learned that there is a good Filipino restaurant in Searcy."
"I don't know about Filipino, how 'bout we go back to Searcy and look around. We can eat at the pizza place up here when we go in to talk to Justin's boss and coworkers, okay" he asked, starting the car.
"Fine with me, let's go," she smiled.
They drove back to Searcy, with not much to show for their trip to Judson Hill except that Tony was proud that he got to show off his basketball skills.
So, this was not the best chapter I have ever written. It will improve!
Not all the students in this chapter were based on real people, but on the off chance that one of the kids at my school have read this, I like to thank:
Blake G (Blake), Sarah L (Sarah), Melissa M (Teacher's Aid), Blake E (Ryan), Anthony M (Noah) and Jon G (Matt).
The next chapter will be where Tony and Ziva...eat lunch!...Oh, and they check in to their hotel room, too...
They will have a little fill time and they'll drive around Searcy and maybe eat at some of my favorite places!
This is gonna be fun to write!
So, let's see...
Blake G, Sarah, Melissa, Blake E, Anthony, Jon, Mrs. B (Mrs. Lewis), Mr. R (Rob), Mrs. V (Jude), Mr. W (Frank Martin), Mr. M (Bill Boucher), Mrs. D (Tori), Mrs. P.P. (Mrs. White), Mrs. R (Mrs. Robinson), Mrs. F (Natasha), John (Jem), Mrs. G (Mrs. Harris), Starkey (Mr. Hill), Coach H (Dustin), Coach R (Coach Evans), Mrs. N.P. (Mrs. West), Mrs. L (Mrs. Kirkpatrick), Mr. H (Mac), Mrs. H (Mrs. Montgomery), Mr. M (Andy) all want you to review...and remember, some of these people could fail me, so don't upset them!
And for the record, yes, Starkey (Mr. Hill) really does do the Marine Spy-Trick...it scares seventh graders to death!!