I made some minor changes to this chapter due to some grammatical errors. I'm working on five stories, three of them are NCIS, and I have forgotten to proof read the chapter before posting it. Again, my apologies.
Chapter 5
Five Months later…
She's been in Italy for six months now. She can't believe that half a year has gone by since she left Washington, D.C. It felt like time have gone by so fast and next month, is already Christmas.
They have been working on a case for over a week now with no lead to go on with. Two marines have been found raped and strangled and dumped outside the base, in separate occasions. The second one, she had more bruises on her face. They questioned their friends and their COs but there wasn't much there. They also examined their bodies and found no semen there. According to Jack, their ME, the first victim's body was kept for two days before it was dumped. The next body was kept for three days before they found her body. With no leads to go on with, Kate's frustration grew. As she looked over the lack of evidences again, she was sure this isn't the first time he had done this because there was an escalation.
The next two days, her frustration has reached it's limit. It's beginning to look like they will never find this guy. There have been no bodies as of late, which is a good thing. She was about to check with personnel about any officer who have gone AWOL the past week, when a woman, obviously an officer, came into the office asking about the case.
"Hi, I'm Special Agent Kate Todd, and these are Special Agents Marshall and Brady, how can we help you?"
"I'm here about those two murders that I saw in the news."
"Yes, do you have any information for us, Officer?"
"I'm Private First Class Michelle Mann."
"Sit down, Michelle, may I call you that?"
"Yeah. The man, you are looking for I think I know him."
"How do you know him Michelle?"
"He tried to rape me before he raped and killed those two women. I bumped into him on base one day and he asked me out. So I agreed and we met at the bar. Then when we were in his car, in the back parking lot, he got rough with me and he had a knife with him. He told me that if I didn't scream, and let him do what he wanted, he would let me live. He started kissing me and was about to take off my top when someone started knocking on the window with a flashlight. He told me to get out of the car but he reminded me not to say anything because he'll be watching me."
"What's his name Michelle?"
"If I remember it correctly, his name is Staff Sergeant Jason Johnson. He has dark brown hair, he's quite tall maybe about 6 feet and he is well built. I have not seen him in maybe a week. Before the last body was found, it might have been three days before that."
"Teddy, check with Personnel and find out if he's gone AWOL. James, I need you to check with the airport for their flight manifesto in the past two weeks. I need to talk to Danny and tell him that we got a break. Michelle, can you stay here, I just really need to talk to my boss."
Kate talked to Teddy for a few minutes to give him an update on what they so far. She told him that the possible witness is in her cube.
Danny, along with Kate interviewed Michelle for another hour. She told them that there were a couple of officers he hung out with, but isn't sure about their names. Kate said that they would like to keep her in the office today until they can verify the suspect's whereabouts.
"Kate, I called Personnel and yes, Staff Sergeant Jason Johnson has been AWOL for more than a week, 9 days to be exact."
"Nine days? Well, we found the bodies, let me see, yeah 9 days ago. So what I think what he did was dump the body early in the morning and then went into hiding. James, do you have anything from the flight manifestos from the airport?"
"As a matter of fact, I just got it. There was a passenger Jason Johnson that left 9 days ago to Virginia."
"Virginia? Teddy, we need to contact NCIS in Washington, DC."
"I will contact Director Jenny Sheppard, you need to get on a flight out to Washington, DC tonight or tomorrow morning. He is already 9 days ahead of us. I will have Cody put all the evidences we collected at the crime scenes in a bag. I'll ask Jack to give you the autopsy reports and I'll have the bodies flown in to Washington, DC if Dr. Mallard needs to still examine them and I'll have Teddy and James, gather all the paperwork, so you could take them with you. Call me as soon as you get to Washington, and I'm sure by the time you get to the NCIS Headquarters, Director Sheppard and I would have already talked and set up a conference call with you there and the rest of the team. This is an NCIS credit card. Take this with you and charge your first week stay in a hotel. If the case takes longer than that to solve, get an apartment for a month."
"So, I'm flying solo to DC?"
"Yes, Kate, I'm sure you'll have all the help that you need over there."
"Teddy, will you take Private First Class Mann back to the base and while you're there, ask around and look for those two officers that our suspect hung out with. Whatever you find out, give those notes back to Kate. Ma'am I'm sorry for what you went through. Thank you for all the information you have provided us with. James, start gathering all the reports, yours and Teddy's on this case for Kate. Kate call the airlines and book a flight ASAP."
"Yes, Danny."
Kate took a deep breath and worried lines creased her forehead. She's going back to Washington, D.C. and she isn't ready to face Gibbs yet. She has imagined it many times, how she would react when she sees Gibbs again. In these images, she was ready and had already moved on. But the truth it, up to now, her feelings for Gibbs are still there. Although the distance has made it easier to cope, what she felt for him have not diminished. Her heart still aches for him. But she can't think about that now She has to think about the case and catching Jason Johnson, if she wants to get through this.