Chapter 5
Nate handed Marie a very small camera disguised as a hairclip, and she placed it into her hair. They were standing just around the corner of a coffee shop. The federal agents had arrived in town and she was meeting with one of them for an interview.
"Don't act any differently than you normally would," Nate instructed, rubbing his hands together to warm them. As the day grew darker, the weather became cold, and Nate was not properly dressed. "Stay calm, but don't tell them anything you're afraid to tell them because of Starlex. We'll take care of those bastards." The woman nodded and turned toward the coffee shop. Nate walked to the parking lot down the road and met Hardison in the van where he was watching Marie steadily make her way to the coffee shop.
Gibbs sat at a booth inside the coffee shop. Drowsiness had begun to consume the man, so he welcomed the warm sensation as he sipped his coffee. When the woman he recognized as Sergeant Wilson's wife entered, he stood up and greeted her.
"Mrs. Wilson," he said, shaking the woman's hand. "I'm Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."
"It's nice to meet you," Marie responded. Her eyes ached and head throbbed from crying. Gibbs waited to sit down until Marie had done so first. She ordered herself a cup of black coffee and Gibbs began to ask questions.
"I'm sorry about your loss," he began. "Now, your husband was a test subject for Starlex's new product, Easyair, am I correct?" Marie nodded. "Our records also show that he was going through chemotherapy for liver cancer."
"Yes, sir," Marie said, trying to fight back tears.
"Did the doctors ever find any correlation between his testing of Easyair and the cancer, Miss Wilson?" he asked. The woman shrugged.
"I don't know," she lied, lip trembling. Gibbs didn't want to push her.
"Your husband was found dead this morning at the port where the shipment of Easyair being shipped from D.C. to Boston," he continued. "We believe he might have been there to stop the shipment for some reason. Do you know why he would have wanted to do that?" Marie shook her head no again. She knew he was there to stop the shipment to stop Starlex from causing cancer, but she didn't want the CEO behind bars, she wanted him ruined. The longer she held the feds from arresting the CEO and his company, the longer Nate and his team had to bring him down.
"Is there anyone in particular or any reason at all you could think of that would cause Robert to be at the shipping port last night?" Gibbs asked. She nodded her head 'no'.
"There was Oliver Phillip's father who has threatened us before, but I don't know why he would be at the shipping port. He had nothing to do with Starlex," she answered.
"We already interrogated Herold this afternoon; he checked out," Gibbs told her. He and the woman talked for a little longer. Gibbs wasn't able to get much out of her, and he could see that she was deeply troubled. "Well, Mrs. Wilson, I'll let you get back home to your son. If you can think of anything else, you know my number to call."
"Thank you so much, Agent Gibbs," she said, standing up and shaking the man's hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't much of a help." Gibbs gave her a charming, reassuring grin.
"Don't worry about it," he told her. "Go get some rest."
They left the coffee shop. Gibbs went back to his car and was on his way back to his hotel with the team for the night, while Marie walked briskly back to the van to meet with Nate and Hardison.
"I suck at this," she sighed, stepping out of the gold and removing her hairclip-video camera. "What else can I do to help?"
"You did fine," Nate reassured her. "We're going to come up with some ways to take on this big guy tonight and start working on this case. You go ahead home and be with your son, we'll take it from here. If you need anything at all, give us a call."
"Thank you," she said, hopping down from the van and to the back into the comforts of her Chevy Malibu in the parking space beside it.
