"Ducky," Abby said. "I know it's unusual, but this is important. There have been five murders here. I need you to look over the autopsy for Sister Elizabeth."
"Abigail," Ducky said. "It is not as simple as just looking over the files. You can probably glean as much as I can from the files. If there is truly something sinister about the death, it would require a whole new physical examination of the body."
"I understand this Ducky," Abby said. "Listen, just tell me this, in a fall down some stairs, is it possible to not only break the neck but dislocate the hyoid bone as well?"
"Dislocate the hyoid bone?" Ducky asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of that."
"It says her hyoid bone was forced back into her trachea from impacting with the stairs."
"Abigail, send me that autopsy report," Ducky said furrowing his brows in thought. "Does it say anything about damage to her face?"
"Yes," Abby exclaimed. "Hey lower jaw was broken from the impact and four of her teeth were knocked out."
"Yes," Ducky said. "I will have to see the report, but you may well be correct. That young woman was murdered."
"I know I'm right Ducky," Abby said sadly. "I just need to find out who killed them."
"Indeed," he said. "I have every faith in you my dear."
Abby hung up the phone. This was her second call today. It was driving her crazy that she couldn't do the analysis herself, but she knew she needed to be here to direct Carol, Marty and Ducky in the right directions. Marty was searching CarFax to see if any sedans reported accidents from the time of Theresa's murder. He was also checking out local garages, but that search was going to take some time. Her next task was to go through the convent and look for knives that may match the one used to kill Sister Angela. She already had Sister Margaret's Coumadin prescription but couldn't find anything that would explain Sister Agnes's stroke. She was on the trail though, and she would find the truth.
She began her search in the kitchen where she bagged three cooking knives. In the common room, she found a letter opener on a bookshelf, but it was too slender to be the murder weapon. As she came out of the chapel, she ran into Alice Holcomb, the little girl Sister Maria explained to her had Heller's Syndrome.
"Hi Alice," Abby said smiling at the girl. "Why aren't you in school?"
"Feel bad," Alice said, looking at the bags in Abby's hand. Abby sat the evidence bags down and knelt to the little girl's level.
"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked.
"Belly hurts," Alice said.
"Ok sweetie," Abby said standing up and grabbing the evidence bags. "Let's go see if we can get something for your belly." As they walked back to the kitchen, Alice began whispering. Abby listened closer to hear what the girl was saying.
"Tea, tea, tea, tea," the little girl repeated all the way to the kitchen.
"Ok sweetie," Abby said when they entered the kitchen. "Have a seat and I'll get you some tea."
"No," Alice said.
"Please?" Abby asked leading the girl to the table. Alice resisted trying to pull Abby back out of the kitchen. "Alice honey," Abby said. "We need to sit at the table if you want me to make you some tea."
"No," Alice said again trying to pull Abby back out of the kitchen.
"You don't want tea?"
"No."
Abby relented and allowed the little girl to lead her away from the kitchen. With Alice leading the way, they head for the back door of the convent that led to the orphanage. Abby figured the little girl wanted to go back to her dorm and rest so she continued with her until Alice turned to go toward the church rectory. The girl led Abby all the way to the back corner of the building and pointed to the tree growing near the fence behind the church.
"You want to climb the tree?" Abby asked confused. The child continued to point to the tree so Abby led the girl over. As they got closer, Abby saw a birdhouse hanging from one of the branches. "Is that your birdhouse?" she asked Alice. The little girl shook her head but pointed directly to the birdhouse. Abby reached up, but could barely touch the bottom of it.
"I'm sorry," She turned to the little girl. "I can't turn it to see the birdies." Alice raised her hands to Abby who bent to give her a hug. To her surprise, the little girl held on to her neck and braced her feet on Abby's legs, trying to climb up. Abby assumed the child wanted her to lift her, so she held on to her legs and stood up straight. Alice quickly reached out to try to touch the birdhouse. Abby raised her slightly, allowing the child to reach the birdhouse. Before she could stop her, Alice pulled the birdhouse from the branch and allowed it to slip from her hands and crash on the ground.
Abby was in a panic and set the child down so she could check on the birdhouse, hoping that there were no baby birds in it. What she saw made her smile and look back at Alice with a smile and a wink. "Smart girl," Abby said with a smile as she pulled another evidence bag out of her habit.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
Ziva knocked on the office door and heard a deep voice beckon her from the other side. As she entered the office, she saw a heavy Black man sitting behind the desk with a folder in his hands.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a deep rumble.
"I am looking for Dr. Ling," she said.
"I'm Cornelius Ling," he answered.
"You are in charge of the Pediatrics Department?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me how to get in touch with Dr. Hyde?"
Dr. Ling smiled as he laid the folder on his desk. "Are you sure you don't mean Dr. Jekyll?" he asked.
Ziva looked at the display on her phone and shook her head. "No," she said. "Dr. Jonathan Hyde." Dr. Ling smiled again, realizing that she did not catch the reference.
"I'm afraid there's no Jonathan Hyde employed here," he said.
"What about this Dr. Jekyll?" Ziva asked. "Would he know Dr. Hyde?"
Dr. Ling gave a short laugh before answering. "I'm afraid there's no Dr. Jekyll here either."
Ziva narrowed her eyes at the Dr. "Then why did you mention him?"
"It was a literary reference," he said with a grin. Ziva turned her head to the right briefly then remembered from where she heard the name. Nodding, she said, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
"That's right."
Ziva pulled up Jonathan Hyde's photograph on her phone and handed it to Dr. Ling. "Do you know this man?" she asked. Dr. Ling looked closely at the image before shaking his head.
"No, I'm afraid I don't," he said. "Why do you ask?"
She showed him her identity and said, "I'm investigating a series of murders and the man in the photograph is a person of interest. He gave the name of Jonathan Hyde and claimed to be employed here."
"I'm sorry ma'am," Ling said. "But I have never seen him. And I've known everyone on my staff for years."
Ziva switched the image to Noora and handed the phone back to the man. "What about her?" she asked. Dr. Ling looked again at the image before shaking his head.
"No," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you for your time Doctor," she said before leaving the office.
Ziva was excited for the first time since Abby talked her into this. She dialed Abby's number and waited for her to pick up.
"Ziva," Abby said when she picked up. "I think I found a murder weapon!"
"What?" Ziva asked.
"I'll explain everything when you get back," Abby said.
"That may be a while," Ziva said. "What murder weapon did you find?"
"I think it's the knife that killed Sister Angela."
"Are you sure?"
"Well," Abby said. "It tested positive for blood so I sent it to Carol, but it was hidden here at the convent."
"Abby, that reminds me," Ziva said. "Go into my cell and get the adoption files form the closet. I need you to text me the addresses listed on the adoption files for Alice Marshall and John Farrell."
"Alice?" Abby asked
"Yes," Ziva said. "There is a discrepancy and I want to check out the parents."
"Ziva," Abby said. "Alice is the one who led me to the knife."
Ziva felt as if someone poured ice down her back. "Abby get all of those files and Alice to NCIS and send me the addresses for those parents."
"Alice and John Farrell," Abby said. "I've got it, what's going on?"
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._
After Ziva explained her suspicions, Abby hung up the phone and looked around worried. She bolted from the chapel and out the side door. She headed straight to the rectory and crashed through the door. She turned into the third office and stopped short.
"Sister Rosita," she said nearly out of breath.
"A- Sister Abigail," Rosita said. "What is going on?"
Abby noted Father Thomas at the other desk and thought quickly. "Zelda and I had a great idea for a field trip for the children and wondered what we need to do to get approval."
"Nothing," Father Thomas said calmly.
"N- Nothing," Abby asked. "You mean we can take them?"
"No," Father Thomas looked at her. "I mean nothing you can do can gain you approval for a field trip with the children."
"But why?"
Father Thomas sighed and rose from his desk. "First of all, all field trips must be approved several weeks in advance," he began. "Second, any field trip the children take should be studied to be certain it is age appropriate for all of the children. Additionally, the field trip must meet the guidelines for the orphanage insurance policy. Finally, and I do not mean any disrespect, but you and Sister Zelda only just arrived. It would be unthinkable to allow the two of you to take the children."
"Perhaps," Rosita said rising from her own desk. "A refresher on our policies would be in order. After all, an orphanage is run much differently than a school."
"Thank you Sister," Father Thomas said as he returned to his desk. "When you get done, we need to go over our projections for next month before we submit our budget to the diocese."
"Yes father," Rosita said as she and Abby left the office. Once they were outside, Rosita gave Abby a stern look. "I know you well enough to know that was a stall," she said.
"Yeah it was." Abby answered.
"And it was nothing close to the real reason you came over," she said as the two entered the convent.
"I found a bloody knife and Ziva can't find Alice's parents," Abby said leading the way to the sleeping quarters.
"What are you talking about?" Rosita asked.
"Well," Abby began as they entered Ziva's cell. "It's hard to explain right now."
"Try," Rosita said, grabbing Abby's arm.
Abby sighed and moved to the closet. She opened it and grabbed the stack of files Ziva left in there. She tucked them under her arm and grabbed Sister Rosita's hand. Within a couple of minutes, Abby led Sister Rosita into the girl's dorm of the orphanage. "Alice," she called. The little girl raised her head from the bed and smiled at Abby.
Abby motioned her over and the three went into the common room where Abby dropped the files onto a table and sorted through them. "Abigail," Rosita said, but she was interrupted when Abby raised a finger telling her to wait a minute. When she had the files she needed, she opened them and got her phone. After sending the message to Ziva, she put her phone back under her habit and looked at Sister Rosita.
"Ok," she began. "Earlier, Alice and I found a knife outside in the birdhouse."
"Alice-" Sister Rosita said.
"Sister Rosita," Abby said sternly. "I tested it for blood and it was positive." Rosita gasped and brought her hand to her chest. "I sent it to my lab for comparison."
"Comparison to what?" Rosita asked.
"Their comparing the blood against Sister Angela's."
"How did you get Angela's blood?" Rosita asked.
"The hospital collected several samples the night of the accident and the police kept it as evidence. But that's not the big news."
"It seems pretty significant," Rosita said.
"Only if it matches Angela," Abby said. "But the big thing is what Ziva found. The father listed in Alice's file is supposed to work at the Children's National Medical Center."
"Yes."
"They've never heard of him."
"What?"
"That's not all," Abby continued. "Ziva called Johns Hopkins and no one has heard of Janet Davenport."
"Oh dear," Rosita said. "What about Jonathan? We just sent him off with her and her husband."
"We don't know yet. We have to get Alice to NCIS so I can track the names in all of these files."
"Why take her there?"
"Sister Rosita," Abby said. "We think Alice saw who put that knife in the birdhouse. She could be a witness."
"Who could she have seen?"
"I hate to say it," Abby said. "But it's not likely that two separate couples fooled Father Thomas enough to get through the adoption process."
"Quite right," Father Thomas said from behind her. "Unfortunately, I can't allow you to take Alice anywhere." Abby spun around and saw Thomas standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand. "If the three of you will come with me, please," he said politely. Well, as politely as a man pointing a gun at two women and a child could be.
_.-~=]})*({[=~-._