Chapter 7

"Timothy McGee. If you don't tell me what in the world is going on, I will kill you where you stand." Abby stood angrily in the middle of her lab, glaring at Tim as he walked in.

"What do you mean?"

"Tony and Ziva wouldn't tell me. Gibbs wouldn't even tell me. He said I had to ask you. I know something is going on, but no one will tell me what it is. They all said I have to ask you. If you don't reveal your deep dark secret I'm going to kill you!"

"It's nothing, Abby. I just had a bad reaction at the crime scene yesterday. I guess everyone thinks I'm going to repeat."

"Bad reaction? Was there poison ivy again?"

"No."

"Tim!"

"Is there anything you found that would indicate if these guys all died in the same place?"

"Tim!"

"Particularly, the lieutenant we found first. I think it's strange that he was found in a different part of the house from the others. It seems odd that he would be killed in the same way and then left somewhere separate."

"McGee, you are lying to me and you're trying to cover it up by working."

Gibbs got off the elevator while Abby was shouting at Tim. He stopped in the doorway and listened.

Tim looked at Abby, boiling with rage, and decided to bite the bullet. "Fine, Abby. When I was thirteen, I found my father dead in the basement of our house. He had killed himself. Then, yesterday, when we were at the crime scene I ran into those bodies you have prominently displayed in here. I freaked out. Now, will you answer my questions?"

"Oh, Tim. I'm sorry." Abby started to hug him.

With his emotions so close to surface, Tim couldn't face a hug, not even from Abby. "Don't, Abby. Not now."

Stung, she turned away. "I can't tell you whether or not they were killed in the same place. There's too much decomp on the oldest ones, but I agree with Ducky that the same knife was used on every one of them, including Rivens. The wounds are exactly the same."

"McGee!"

"Yes, boss?"

"You and Tony are going to talk to the families. See if you can find any commonalities."

"Yes, boss." Tim left.

Abby turned to Gibbs. "Why is he mad at me? Is it the picture?"

"He's not mad at you, Abby."

"He wouldn't even let me hug him!"

"Don't blame yourself, Abby." Gibbs kissed her on the forehead and left the lab.

Abby looked at the poster she had made. "It's not that bad," she said to herself.

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"Did you notice anything strange? Maybe someone following your husband or crank calls?" Tim sat across from Lieutenant Rivens wife while Tony was going through the study.

Tearfully, Liz Rivens shook her head. "No, nothing. We'd been–arguing. He left and said that he wouldn't be back for awhile. That's why I didn't report him missing for so long. I was so angry at him that I said he didn't need to come back at all. I feel like this is all my fault. I knew something was wrong, but I was so stubborn, I wouldn't admit it."

Tim gently touched her hand. "It's not your fault, Mrs. Rivens. Just one more question: Did your husband like to run?"

"Run? Yes, but he hated to run on the road. He would always drive out to one of the nature trails, early in the morning."

Tim showed her the location on a map. "What about this one?"

"I-I think so. I'm not sure. I'm not much of a runner myself."

Tim smiled kindly. "Neither am I. Thank you for your help, and I'm sorry it had to end this way."

"Thank you, Agent McGee. I know you did your best."

Four hours later, Tim and Tony were finally done interviewing all the families. It had been hard to track them down and harder to get them to relate things about their husband or father who had been gone for so long. Tim had switched off with Tony to get away from the strong emotions they had to face. Now, they were driving back to NCIS in an uncomfortable silence.

"Tony?"

"What, McGee?"

"I think we should stop at the house on our way."

"It's not on our way, McGee. It's in the opposite direction."

"I want to check out that trail."

"That area is huge, and after twenty years do you really think you'll find anything?"

"I could. Besides, we only need to find something that's been out there for two weeks."

"Rivens?"

"Yeah."

"What makes you think he was out there?"

"Ducky said this guy was clean and methodical. He wouldn't have taken any chances on the place, but something seems to have gone wrong this time."

"Okay, okay. This had better be worth it, Probie." Tony sounded almost normal. He turned the steering wheel and they headed to the house.

"There's nothing out here, Probie. Nothing to even indicate that those guys were killed out here. And even if there is anything, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack." Tony was now annoyed enough to treat Tim like he usually did. As much as he hated the teasing, it was almost a relief.

Tim stepped off the trail for the hundredth time and stopped. "I think I found the needle." He knelt down and took a photo of the blood staining the ground in front of him.

"What needle?"

"Come and look at this. I think it's blood."

Tony walked around the boulder and saw a huge blood stain.

"Wow. That's a lot of blood." Tony knelt down as well and took a sample. Then, he called Gibbs and reported their find.

"Yeah. There wasn't much in the house, if I remember correctly. Tony?"

"What?"

"Was there any blood in the bathtub?"

"What?"

"In the drain? Or in a ring or something?"

"Not that I remember, why?"

"I'm not sure."

Tony looked over at Tim. If he just listened to him, he sounded like the same guy he had been, but looking at him was like looking at a ghost. "Probie, do try to form a coherent thought."

"There's so much blood here, but it's not spatter, I don't think, and there's no sign of blood from the body being dragged..."

"He could have used a tarp."

"True, but what if the bleeding out here was intentional?"

Tony chuckled. "McGee, he killed the guy. Of course it was intentional. You don't accidentally cut someone's throat."

Tim flushed. "That's not what I meant. What if the killer drained all the blood out before he moved them?"

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know."

The two proceeded to process the rest of the area but didn't come up with anything else.

Finally, Tony sighed. "Well, let's just get this to Abby. It may not even be Rivens' blood, you know."

"I know, but I think it is."

Tony hesitated, then admitted, "So do I."

Together, they finished collecting the samples and took them to Abby. She promised to get on them but that they wouldn't be finished until the next morning.