"What the hell do you think you're doing DiNozzo? My team could have shot you two." Beckett said as she, along with Ryan and Esposito, lowered their weapons.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing considering you're in my victim's apartment." Tony shot back. He was a bit surprised. What exactly is she doing here? "So.. what are you people doing here. Also, why were the lights off?" he asked.

"We're looking for our suspect, Samuel Reid. However considering what you told us about this being your victim's apartment, I'm assuming he's dead." Ryan told him.

"Suspect? Why suspect? What did he do? Also, who are you?" Bishop asked. She didn't understand what was going on.

"Bishop, this is Homicide Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD. Her two goons in the back are Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito" Tony told her.

"Hey man, that was uncool" Ryan said.

"Yeah," his partner agreed. "Also, if you try to say my with a Spanish accent ever again I will cut you"

"Oh, so this is the Beckett you where talking about" Bishop said. She extended her hand waiting for Beckett to shake it but she didn't. "And who are you exactly?" Beckett asked.

"Oh, I'm Ellie Bishop. Former NSA analyst turned to NCIS probationary agent." she answered happily. Beckett ignored her and turned to Tony. "I'll meet you at the precinct in about an hour so I could explain everything to you. However, I don't want any feds stepping all over my case. Got it?"

Tony saluted as Beckett and her team walked out the door.

Where's Castle? Tony wondered, He's probably with Liz at home.

"How do you know the Ice Bitch?" Ellie asked.

"Put a sock in it Bishop. She's a really old friend of mine. She's also not that bad." Tony explained. He wondered what had gotten into Kate and why was she being so cold?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kate stormed into the apartment, fuming. Mostly she was surprised and nervous. She slammed the door behind her and started to pace, cursing under her breath.

"Are you all right?" said a soft voice. Kate looked up to see Ziva coming down the stairs, a sleeping Tali was in her arms.

"Well, Ziva, you'll never guess who I ran into before while chasing down a lead." Kate said. She watch as Ziva laid Tali down, right next to a sleeping Liz. Ziva's been here for only two weeks and the girls had become the best of friends. Ziva had been a great house guest too. Ever since she came she's been helping out with the cooking, cleaning, and even taking care of both girls. The only problem was, Tony didn't know that Ziva was living with them. At first Kate felt a little uneasy over her because of what she had done to Tony. After a few days she begun to understand why Ziva did what she did to him.

"Who did you run into? Someone famous perhaps?" Ziva asked her.

"Tony's here" as Kate said those two words she watched as Ziva froze and took a deep breath.

"How?" she asked. "What is he doing here? Did you invite him?"

"What? I wouldn't want to jeopardize you and Talia's safety. He's here because apparently our suspect and only lead in this case is his victim. He's also here with this blond girl from the NSA. "

Ziva couldn't decide on what she should do. "I don't know what to do Kate. Can you try to keep him as far away from here as possible?" Ziva asked her.

"Of course," she replied. "I have to meet up with him at the precinct to discuss the cases we're working on. I'll take Castle with me to the precinct. Liz will probably stay asleep for about another hour or two because she sleeps like a rock. Take your time in deciding on what you should do. I'm not planning on telling him." Why would she? She'll just causally bring up into a conversation that the woman he used to love left him because she had to take care of his child that he didn't even know about.

Kate left to room to search for Castle. When she found him in his room, she explain the sticky situation she was in. They agreed that keeping Tony away from the apartment until Ziva makes her decision.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beckett was a half hour late. Tony sat in front of the white board sipping on his cappuccino from the machine. He was trying to figure out the connection these two cases had. Bishop was on the phone talking to McGee in Washington. Espo and Ryan stayed in the apartment building asking the residents questions about Reid. Tony heard the elevator ding and turned around. He seen Beckett and Castle walk out laughing with coffee cups in their hands.

"Um, excuse me miss, might I ask why you are so late?" Tony stood up and faced the couple. "Also why didn't I get my hello back in the apartment?"

Kate went up and hugged him. "I'm really sorry about that Tony. You just caught me really by surprise. You know how I don't like surprises."

"It's all right. No problemo. Castle! My man, how's the writing going for you?" Tony said.

"Well, I've hit sort of a dry spell. I'm just hoping this case is juicy enough to inspire me" Castle replied. With all the drama that might go down, he's sure to have at least some ideas for an upcoming book.

"Okay, now that we're all caught up in our personal lives, let's catch you up on this case." Beckett said as soon as Bishop finished her phone call.

"Gibbs said that this is now a joint case and the most qualified person would lead so, detective, the case is all yours. His exact words, give or take a few." Bishop said before Beckett could speak.

"All right then. Let's get started. Our victim's name is George Spencer. He was found dead in his apartment on Monday. He took three bullets to the chest. According to Lanie the bullet was a .22 caliber most likely shot from a Glock. He used a silencer and it was until the neighbors started smelling something foul he was found. He has no living family. He worked as a manager in the local pizzeria. According to his customers, he was a very nice man, quiet and respected. I spoke to the owner who told me he had no disputes with anyone, always came in on time and closed the shop every night. There was nothing to go on. Here is your average guy, he even had no library fines. It wasn't until Ryan found this deleted message on his cell. That's when we caught our break." Kate placed a small recorder on her desk and pressed play.

Listen here you little prick. I don't know who you think you are. You're not special, you have to pay up before the boss finds out. If I don't get my money within the next three days, I'll kill you.

The recording ended. It was time stamped a week before Spencer's murder.

"Do you know what this guy was talking about?" Tony asked the detectives

Kate shook her head, "I have no idea. Ryan traced the call back to your guy's phone. That's why we were at his apartment, we wanted to pick him up for questioning."

"Didn't you guys realize he was out of town?" Bishop asked. "I mean if you did your research, shouldn't you have realized he hopped a plane to D.C.?"

Beckett gave Bishop one look and she shut up. "There was nothing in his financials that had him buying a plane ticket to Washington." Espo spoke up. "We put out a BOLO for him but none of the airports gave us anything."

"So you think he drove there?" Tony asked. "Man, this case is getting complicated. Excuse me, I'm gonna make a call."

Tony pulled out his phone and called Gibbs.
"How's the case DiNozzo?" he heard from the other end of the line.
"I should be asking you the same question"
"It's not our case anymore. Turns out he wasn't really a Navy officer. We handed the case to Metro this morning."
"Then why are Bishop and I still here?"
"The director thought that NYPD could use an extra set of hands. Gates also agreed, so that's why it's a joint investigation."
"There's something weird about this case, boss. This average man gets shot dead in the chest and they found an incriminating message on hims phone sent from our victim. Has Ducky done the autopsy or did you hand it off to Metro's ME?'
"Well, DiNozzo, Ducky actually did the autopsy, however I don't have the report. McGee does. Here speak"

Tony heard some shuffling and soon he heard McGee's familiar voice.
"Alright Tony, what do you want."
"McGoo! Can you give me Reid's autopsy file?"
"Yeah, hold on" In the distance he heard the clacking on his keyboard.
"Okay, I got it. What do you need to know? Do you want me to fax it there?"
"Actually, you should do that. Good thinking McGee. But first just humor me. What he killed by a .22 fired from a Glock?"
"Yes. How did you know? They also used a silencer" This confirmed that both victims were shot by the same gun.
"I'm psychic. Now can you also send over Abby's reports?"
"Thanks Tim, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, Tony"