Sorry for the long breaks between updates. This chapter and it's second part have been done for weeks, but as always live gets in the way!
Betrayal of Trust, Part I
Kate groans and rubs the sleep from her eyes and as she sits up in bed before collapsing back on the pillows she gives a sigh of annoyance, she is disgusted with herself for thinking about Tony that way! She hates him, okay, she doesn't hate hate him, but having been back on the team for almost six weeks she is surprised by how much she still doesn't always like him. Okay, she knows she is in love with him, but she hates herself for it because if she had made one promise to Gibbs when she joined the team and she intended on keeping it even if it ate away slowly at her heart and her spirit. If she can just push down her feelings for Tony and put them in a little box and leave them there everything will be fine. She knows that she hasn't always had the best time compartmentalizing in the past, but she will try now for the benefit of her piece of mind and so that she doesn't break one of Gibbs' cardinal rules.
His freak out about the hemorrhagic fever and the possibility that they were all going to die had put it into perspective for her how bad it would be if she and Tony were together, she would be constantly worried and that would make her unable to do her job much in the same way she had after Tim had died from poisoning. Sure she had been worried, but Tony being a complete idiot about it had made it almost easier not to let those feelings overtake her. She just wonders how much worse things could be if they were to be in a fire fight and one of them was pinned down taking fire and they had to choose their own safety or that of another team member in order to save the person they were in a relationship with. She has always in her head understood the concept of rule 12 and why it is so important, but in her heart she just thinks it is because Gibbs is bitter about whatever happened with him and Director Shepard when they were partners.
Kate shakes her head determined to get rid of these thoughts. She needs to clear her head and not think about her feelings for Tony, it isn't productive and better yet it is going to just drag her hold mood down for the rest of the day.
She shifts and sits up swinging her legs as to get up. She sets her feet on hardwood floor of her bedroom and decides that the best course of action right now is to go for run and clear the fog from her mind before heading into work.
Tony lets a soft smile form on his lips as he feels the warm form curled into him and he is glad she is here. He blinks and groans realizing that what he just experienced had been nothing, but his sleep addled brain playing tricks on him. He knows part of it is the fact that he had just started to wake from a very vivid dream about them together which had been caused by the fact thought he had been dying while they were on the Chimera and he had almost told her how he felt regardless of what the consequences might have been.
Kate takes a deep breath as she glances at the horizon in front of her where the sun is still rising in distance and she admires the bright reds and oranges that paint the sky. She checks her watch and she is glad to see she is right on time and she knows she is making good time. It is still 6:22 in the morning and the sun isn't up all the way. She could do at least two more miles before turning around and still be early for work when arriving at eight. She glances around and sees a few other runners and she gives a nod to a passing man and he is handsome and she likes someone who takes time out of their schedule to stay fit. He flashes her a bright smile and she has to remember to take this route a different day. It is a lot harder to vary her routes during runs in D.C. because the square mileage is a lot smaller and her apartment is in a much busier section of the city than the one she had in L.A. It also was nice to be able to run on the beach on any given morning in L.A and it not be really cold even at six in the morning. She didn't run as much when she was in Europe and she spent a lot more time doing exercise tapes pretending to be very suspicious and not trustworthy of those around her. Though she isn't using as much trade craft as she did while working at OSP she does still varies her routes and doesn't always leave at the same time every morning and she makes coffee at home with her espresso machine rather than risk ending up at the same coffee shop.
Kate blinks when the same handsome guy appears in her vision and it takes her a moment to realize that he turned back and started running beside her. He has thick brown hair and a nice jaw and she can tell that he is pretty well built and he has a good tan on his skin and she can't help, but notice that he looks a little bit like Tony. She lets out a long breath wondering if she will ever find anyone that doesn't look like him. She knows that Tony will never stop being a ladies' man and as much as that makes her heart break a little, she has resigned to the fact that that it is true.
"Hey, I haven't seen you running around here before," the man gives her a charming smile and she almost buys it, but she knows that men can pretend to be charming and then eventually turn it off when they think they don't need it anymore. She has met too many men in her life who use it to weasel their way into your life and then they become demanding or aggressive.
"That's the best you got?" she asks with a raised eyebrow though a smile does cover her lips because he is rather cute and she knows she wants to get married and settle down, now that she is back in D.C. She knows she is getting up there is years and all she wants is for someone to love and someone she can have children with and spend the rest of her life with. She knows that is a tall order to fill, but it is definitely something she is ready to find now that her life makes sense and she knows that her job shouldn't be everything in her life.
"That wasn't a pick up line," he asserts and she doesn't exactly believe the mystery man. Though she isn't worried about this not ending her favor because even looking at him now she knows she can easily take him and she does have a trusty pocket knife on her if it were to get to that point.
"Sure it wasn't," she says and she picks up her pace a little to see if the man will keep up with her to continue to chat with her.
"What's your name?" the man inquires showing his gleaming white teeth.
"What makes you think I would tell you?" she says a smirk passing over her lips.
"Because it was you who smiled at me," she gives him a raised eyebrow asking him 'seriously?'
"I smile at a lot of people. Old ladies going for a walk, couples and families out for a stroll, just about anyone walking down the street if they warrant it. So there is nothing about you that makes you special, I'm just in a good mood this morning," she challenges and the man's eyes fill with mirth at her cynical statement of fact.
"Whatever you say. Would you at least tell me something about you? There is has got to be something interesting about a beautiful brunette like you who is running so early in the morning and who obviously has good taste in places to run," the smile he flashes her almost makes her want to laugh.
"I don't know if you can keep up with me maybe I will tell you…?" she states picking up her pace.
"My name is Tom and I am a civil attorney," Kate knows that he is going to have to tell her something interesting now that he has told he is an attorney. She doesn't know if she wants to hear about other people suing each other or big class action law suits against companies.
"I went to law school for a year," she says and she is not going to give him anymore than that.
"I'm betting it wasn't too hard for you," so this guy can definitely pour on the charm, she wonders how long he can keep it going. From what she has seen most guys stop after third or fourth date and she wouldn't be surprised if this guy isn't any different if she decided to give him her number and they went out.
"It wasn't. I just found that is wasn't for me. It wasn't what I imagined it to be," yeah it was like prison and everyone was so serious. How she thought that law was the way to change the world for the better is beyond her comprehension now, but Liam had made it sound so exciting, but waiting through the dry stuff for three years seemed to ominous to her. So, when a Secret Service Agent came to lecture in front of her class on investigative process at the federal level and how it pertained to future lawyers and he had started to talk about how once upon a time he had worked protecting foreign diplomats and future vice and president elects she jumped at the chance to talk with him and after doing a bit of research and finishing her first year, she applied to the Secret Service and was almost instantaneously sent to FLETC to start her training.
"So how far are you planning to run..?" so he is still fishing for her name. She isn't that easy even for this very handsome stranger. She has found that she likes it when men have to work to earn her approval, it gives her a sense of power that she had never wanted nor needed before her death had been staged. She had gone through guys like Abby goes through Caf-Pows when they desperately need evidence and she hadn't had as high standards and she had kissed a lot of frogs and unfortunately had never found her prince. She assumed that her lack of standards had something to do with the fact that she just wanted to meet someone, someone that would take the hurt that Damian had instilled in her by choosing to walk away and choose his job over their relationship. Looking back now she also realizes that under all that confidence in her abilities hid the real insecurities she felt about herself. Meeting Tim while working the Air Force One detail had seemed to instill some more confidence in herself, but it had quickly went back down when the man had been killed by terrorists and she had left the Secret Service. She knows now that if she truly wants to meet 'the one' she has the right to be a little bit more selective then she had been in the past especially since she was already in her mid-thirties and had yet to meet anyone of consequence in the last almost four years she had worked for NCIS.
"At least two miles more. I normally run four and then turn back so I have a good amount of time to run before getting ready for work," she can tell that the man already knows exactly where she is planning to go once they cleared the park.
"So what do you do for work?" she shakes her head knowing she isn't going to tell him that.
"I'll just tell you it is never boring," the man gives an interested expression, but she is pretty sure that if she had been lying he would be able to tell because if this man is as old as she assumes he has been a lawyer for a while and with it comes the ability to read people.
"So I am guessing you aren't in an insurance than?" Kate shakes her head because it is possible that she is in insurance and actually finds it interesting.
"I'll say this there is paperwork, but not nearly as much as you see," she knows she didn't give him a lot to go on.
"That leaves me millions of choices," that is the point.
"Yes, but mystery is always good," Kate thinks about her words and considering the fact that she is a federal agent who for the most part investigates the murders of Naval and Marine personnel and she realizes it is probably is not the best thing to say considering.
Her phone starts to vibrate and she isn't surprised when she sees that it is Gibbs who is calling, "Morning, Gibbs." She stops in her tracks and lets out a deep breath preparing herself for Gibbs barking out info on a dead body and ordering her to get the Navy Yard this instant.
"We have a dead body out in Loudon County just outside of Leesburg, Virginia."
"I'll be at the office in…" she sucks in a heavy breath contemplating how long it will take her to run back to her house and take a speed shower get ready and drive into work , "35 to 40 minutes, I was out for a run."
"Too slow, Agent Todd," the man grumbles over the phone and she rolls her eyes.
"Unless you want me to run at lightning speed, I'll be there in forty," she snaps her phone shut before the man can yell at her even more.
"Do you normally talk to your boss that way?" the smirk on the man's face is enough to make her shake her head in laughter as she puts her phone away.
"How did you know that was my boss?"
"The sense of dread that filled you face the moment you saw the caller id."
"Yeah, especially when he deserves it. See ya, I got to go," she turns and quickly strides faster going almost twice as fast as she had before.
"Is that all I get?" the man yells after her and if she didn't have to go she might have even given the man her name.
She turns and shrugs and she thanks god that the man doesn't start to run after especially since it had been the way he had been running.
Tony blinks and gives a yawn it isn't even seven o'clock and here he is in the evidence garage waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. It is too early for this especially when today Gibbs had told them they hadn't needed to be in the office till nine after the incident on the Chimera and having to spend close to six hours on the assault vessel and the support vessel and then having to brief the Director and doing paperwork it had been close to three in the morning yesterday when they went home. The Director had ordered them to take the day off and not to return until nine the following day and that was what Tony had planned, to relax. He had been too tired to even wonder very much what Kate was doing during the day off.
He glances around the evidence garage as he makes his way to the MCRT van and is shocked to notice none of his team members around. Not even Gibbs. He is shocked because Kate, McGee and Ziva were all sticklers for being on time and ready to go. He starts to whistle as he opens the back of the MCRT van.
"Morning, DiNozzo," Gibbs says.
"Hey, boss, I thought I beat everyone here," he says with a hesitant smile knowing that Gibbs could have not had his coffee this morning yet.
"Obviously not, DiNozzo," he gives a nod and he jumps down out of the back of the truck.
"Morning," he hears and he turns left and sees Ziva walking up with her pack on her back and a slightly tired expression on her face, but she hides is quickly at seeing Gibbs.
"Ziva," he says with a nod and Gibbs gives her a curt nod of hello and it seems like the best that the younger female agent is going to get out of their boss.
"How long until the rest of the team arrives?" the woman inquires looking between the two of them.
"McGee should be here any moment and Agent Todd is the one we will be waiting on," Tony can't help, but raise his eyebrow at the fact that Kate is the one who is going to be late.
"I wonder why that is? Was she asleep when you called, boss?" he is trying to picture what Kate looks like having been woken up from a deep sleep.
"No, DiNozzo, she had actually peeled herself out of bed and was doing something productive with herself," Tony can't help, but still be curious, but he lets it go because he doesn't want a head slap this early in the morning even though it might wake him up a bit.
"Sorry, boss, I…I got here as soon as I could," Tony can't stop his chuckle even though he disguises it as a cough. McGee is out of breath from having run from his car which Tony knows is only parked just outside of the evidence garage. Gibbs just gives him a nod before checking his watch. The man gives an annoyed huff and Tony looks down at his watch, it is now seven. Tony doesn't know what has the man so pissed especially since he is sure that the body isn't going anywhere and both Ducky and Palmer aren't even here yet.
"Good morning all," Tony turns and gives a smile to the Scottish man who is followed closely by a rather tired looking Palmer and Tony wonders if the Autopsy Gremlin follows Ducky everywhere.
"Morning, Duck," his boss says taking a long sip of his coffee.
"Sorry I am late, Gibbs," Tony turns and he takes her in as she hurries towards them. Her hair is already in a braid and her fleece jacket is on over a dress shirt and a suit vest. She also has on matching slacks and she has some boots on in case they have to dig around the crime scene. He gives her a warm smile and is about to say good morning when Gibbs cuts through his thoughts and orders everyone to get a move on.
Tony puts the truck in park and gives a annoyed huff at how early it is, he should still be asleep having dreams of him and Kate as a couple, but of course the fact that reality is still there had been broken in by a call from Leroy Jethro Gibbs, which consisted of him being screamed at by his boss for not picking up the phone the first ring and then being informed that they had a dead Chief P.O. outside Leesburg, Virginia.
"Couldn't people get killed at a reasonable hour?" he says pulling the key out of ignition. McGee gives him a raised eyebrow, but doesn't say and anything, Tony can tell that he is tired also. Kate doesn't dignify his annoyed statement with a response because she knows he is just saying it because he is tired, but he can see the forming of a biting response in her head.
"Because I'm sure that is the first thing people think of when they are dying, Tony— I feel so bad that I'm getting murdered right now because it will force Agent DiNozzo to get out of bed," Tony eyes widen at the way Kate says this, but he can't help, but laugh because he kind of deserved it for saying what he did.
The look he receives from Kate for the aforementioned statement makes him smile as he quickly climbs out of the truck with his pack already resting on one shoulder and makes it to her side before she can swing open the door and step down. He opens the door and offers his hand. The look that she gives him says it all; she is scared that he is going to make her trip or something worse.
She looks hesitant, but accepts his hand down with her gear already ready to go and McGee gives him a bemused expression, but he can sense that the other agent knows in some way why he is being so nice to Kate.
"Did someone eat your brain, DiNozzo or did you forget I'm not one of your eighteen year old sorority girls or the woman who decided to leave you the day before your guys' wedding?" she says this as Ziva joins them having climbed out of the back of the truck having missed most of the banter between the two Senior Field Agents. Tony cringes as she brings up Wendy, but he understands that it is a defense mechanism. She sends him apologetic look after a moment and he nods trying to rid himself of the annoyance because he knows that it has always been their style to insult each other whenever possible.
"No, I just thought I would do something nice for you, god, Kate, are you going to nitpick every little nice thing I do for you?" he doesn't mean to be so defensive sounding, but god can the woman not believe he would do something nice for her. It has been a month since his dream and he has been doing every little thing to impress her and he seems to be failing miserably or the woman really either has no respect for him or doesn't have any romantic feelings for him whatsoever; both options make his heart grow weary.
"Someone's crunchy this morning," Ziva says and Tony's eyes widen at Ziva's screw up. He has gotten use to her using the wrong word of a similar meaning, but for some reason the word that roll out of her mouth just happens to sound similar to the synonym for irritable.
Kate and McGee both start laughing, but reward Ziva with smiles. Tony says with disbelief and a twinge of disgust, "Ziva the correct term is cranky and, I'm not."
"Cranky is another word for, irritable," Kate says with a smile and Ziva eyes narrow in slight annoyance as they walk closer to the crime scene as the Medical van and Gibbs in the Charger both pull up. Tony can tell that Ziva didn't need a definition just the correct word.
Tony gives a nod to Gibbs as Tony singly walks to the nearest LEO while Gibbs along with the rest of the team advances towards the body and the already taped off crime scene.
"Morning, I'm Agent DiNozzo, what do we got?" Tony asks rubbing the sleep once again for his eyes.
"Morning. Deputy Sheriff Michaels. We ran his fingerprints and found that he is Chief Petty Officer Ryan Dempsey, 32, unfortunately other than that there is not much I can tell you. One of my younger deputy's was on a morning patrol along one of the back roads when he noticed the disturbed ground and stumbled onto the body. Thankfully at least he has a strong stomach because normally this earlier in their careers they are losing their breakfast at the first sighting," Tony nods remembering his first body when he was young Peoria officer.
"Definitely a body dump. We are in the middle of nowhere out here," Tony says and the LEO gives him a look and Tony squares his jaw and decides to not say anymore. His experience out in rural areas is rather limited having grown up in Long Island and having only been out in the middle of nowhere at a boarding school.
"What have you got, Duck?" Tony can tell that even what is probably Gibbs third cup of coffee he is still as impatient and grumpy as ever. If there is one thing that Ducky knows it is to not keep Leroy Jethro Gibbs waiting in suspense even if he were to begin to prattle on about something mostly unrelated afterwards.
"Time of death Blunt force trauma to the right parietal occipital region. Not the cause of death, no evidence of any gray or white matter. There are however splinters in the wound, it barely cracked the skull and there is very little trauma to the dura mater, arachnoid, or pia mater, it is very unlikely that the blow to the head did any damage that would have resulted in him expiring in such a fashion. Most likely it knocked this young man unconscious and because of the very little blood loss shown in the head wound it is likely that there was a shot just seconds after the blow to the head. I believe the bullet wound to the heart is what did this poor fellow in. Based on the trajectory it transected his aortic arch and he bled out within seconds. This reminds me of…" Tony stops listening and observes the scene around them that is just off a highway and is pretty quaint.
"Two assailants," Gibbs states and Ducky gives him a nod and Tony glances towards Kate who nods in agreement.
"No one changes for a baseball bat to a gun if they had the gun the entire time unless this was torture or an interrogation, but based on what I can see it wasn't either of those things. Whoever brought him out here only wanted kill him not inflict pain or extract information. One hit him the back of the head with the baseball bat and the other assailant probably got impatient because he wasn't dying fast enough. Based on what I can see is that first assailant with the baseball bat hesitated more than the other expected and the bat only knocked Chief P.O. out instead of fracturing his skull because with enough power and a bat that is solid wood he could have easily been killed by an unyielding blow to the back of the head," Gibbs stands up and nods as does Ducky at Kate's quick assertion of the events that proceeded this thirty some year old's death.
"Chief Petty Officer Ryan Dempsey, 32, worked as a Chief Boatswain's Mate, was on 30 day leave following a seven month deployment on the USS Gonzalez. Just signed up for another three year enlistment last month. Service record is clean. All of his fitness reports have come up exemplary for his 12 years of service. The only thing I could find in his file that could point to any motive is all is one complaint by a Petty Officer 2nd Class David Jensen, who is currently on leave, but he has a court martial coming up that will most likely end with him being dishonorably discharged for assaulting a fellow enlisted member," McGee starts.
"His only living relative is his brother. Parents died in a car crash three years ago while he was on deployment. Apparently he barely made it back in time for their funeral, but immediately shipped out without taking the bereavement leave the Navy gave him," Kate finishes the summation of the Chief Petty Officer's personal info.
"Though his address is also shared with Brianna Dawson, 28, graduate student in Communications at American University," Ziva says without much inflection.
"Obviously his girlfriend," McGee says supplying the obvious.
"Yeah because no guy in his right mind would only be a roommate to that girl," Tony can't help, but notice even in the driver's license photo how pretty the woman is. When Ziva rolls her eyes Tony chuckles, but as he turns to his right and Kate gives him a look telling him he is being sexist he tries not to smile sheepishly, but fails obviously when Kate raises her eyebrow with a smirk. He can almost hear the comment forming her head.
"You do know that not all men are pigs like you and can maintain some form of a relationship that isn't sexual in nature." He is pretty sure that they'd had this conversation before in the fact that Abby had helped clarify his point in saying that most men and woman couldn't be just friends without something sexual happening
He wants to retort that he is friends with her, but that wouldn't be true because he doesn't want to be just friends and he definitely hopes in the future that there will be lots of sex involved.
When Gibbs clears his throat to break them of their conversation that is about to head very far off topic Tony shakes his head and tells himself to get his head back in the game.
"Banking looks pretty clean. Except for a withdrawal of $5,000 last week which rather large especially considering how little this guy spends. This guy might be the definition of frugal, but since the bank didn't send up any red flags or freeze the account it's most likely that Dempsey withdrew the money himself and contacted them before withdrawing that large of a sum of money," McGee states.
"I'm looking into his cell phone records right now, Gibbs, but so far nothing seems out of place. There are very few calls, mostly to his girlfriend and his brother. I'm waiting for the phone company to send over the lists of who he texted. It could take a couple hours," Gibbs nods, but Tony can tell that Gibbs isn't impressed that Kate hadn't already had that ready for when they broke down who Chief Petty Officer Dempsey was as a person.
"Dempsey's brother, Nick is coming in for an interview, but I'm not sure how much he knows at this point."
"I contacted Brianna Dawson is coming in this afternoon as well," Gibbs nods to Kate before parting without another word to obviously refill his veins with much needed coffee.
Tony is glad that he is speaking with the man's brother rather than a grieving mother. He had never been great at handling crying women. Frankly he had dealt with too many in the past especially when it came time to cut them loose.
As he took a seat across from the man he is shocked by how calm the man looks. He is well aware that grief and sadness ebbs and flows throughout the first few days after losing someone, but it is almost as if the man expected it and something about that is unsettling to him especially since Dempsey had been on leave and not on the ship when he had died. He had been a cop for long enough to know that trying to appear to calm is going to work against the brother especially when he gets to the hard questions.
"Losing your brother that has got to be rough," he knows that saying it that way isn't very eloquent, but it is a way to connect with the twenty something year old across from him.
"I'm use to it," the young man across from him says without much emotion and if the twenty some year old doesn't start to emote something soon he is going to have to start checking for wires or look into his background and see if there is an history of dead animals around the neighborhood or bed wetting. But, now that he thinks about it's possible that the young man comes from a family where display any kind of emotion is frowned heavily upon much like the DiNozzos.
"So, what can you tell me about your brother? What was he like?" Tony knows that is really an ease in question, but it is interesting to see what the victim was like and hope it might explain why he was killed.
"He was like the definition of steady, okay? He never did anything wrong in his life and I mean anything. The guy didn't even try any drugs or party. All he ever did was work on his car, play video games, and work part time jobs to save up for parts and Nintendo games. When he joined the Navy he got even more boring and responsible. He was a good guy there is no reason for him to be killed," though the guy is trying to remain casual Tony can see from his body language that there is more to it that that and he might check into the brother's alibi.
"So, you don't think it's possible that he had problems with anyone?" when the boy scoffs it's obvious that his brother had been too of a goodie too shoes to cause problems with anyone.
"Look… the truth is my brother and I weren't close. I was always so much younger than him and he never well…" the man trails off obviously not wanting to express his thought.
"Well?" Tony asks after a long moment of silence hoping that the man had collected his thoughts enough to continue on.
"He never got that I'm gay, okay…" Tony tries to stop his eyes from widening, but obviously fails when the college student across from his scoffs in disgust.
"Did he ever…?" Tony likes to belief that the Chief P.O. wouldn't do something to hurt his younger brother, but people can do crazy things when they are faced with something that they don't fully grasp or are okay with.
"He never said or did anything, okay… I just could tell that he wasn't okay with it," Tony nods.
"You're wasting your time if you think that someone who knew him killed him, okay, he was too much of a Boy Scout to upset anyone," Tony takes this in with a grain of salt because in cases like this it is most likely someone who was close with the Chief P.O.
"Well, thank you, if you can think of anymore give me a call," the man across from him nods his head as Tony slides the card across the conference table to him. Tony can tell that it is very unlikely that the college student will be any great help.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," the words sound so empty even though Kate knows she means them. She hasn't had to say the words as often as Gibbs or even Tony, but they still become second nature and if she is honest is scares her a little because nothing about murder and lives getting cut short should be ordinary.
"Thank you. I… I… never thought I would lose him like…like this I always assumed that if he died it would be because he was on the ship when it got attacked or god I don't know… just not this way," Kate nods knowing that everyone should be able to say goodbye to the one's they love before they are gone.
"I know this is going to be hard, but I'm going to have to ask you some questions and if they get to difficult to answer we can take a break, okay?" she looks over at the twenty-eight year old and the woman nods her head ever so slightly before raising her head to look at Kate through red and swollen eyes.
"Tell me about him, what was he like, what did he like to do?"
"He was… god, why is this so hard…?" if Kate knows anything about being in love, it is to try an encapsulate the person you love in a few sentences or words is difficult and downright absurd because no one can be defined with just a few carefully chosen words.
"It's okay take your time, I know how hard it is when you lose someone," the blonde woman gives her a thankful nod all the while taking a deep breath obviously trying to find the right words.
"Ryan is—was the best guy I knew, he was stubborn, he was way to serious for his own good, I tried so hard to lighten him up have him laugh or tell a joke, but he wouldn't budge he was always serious. He was messy, I don't know how many times I had to pick up his socks or his underwear. But most of all he was sweet. I had never seen him raise his voice about anything," Kate takes a deep breath before going to a question that she knows this woman should be able to answer because of how well she obviously knew her boyfriend.
"Was anything off with Ryan in the last few weeks?" Kate knows it is a pretty standard question, but it is actually a very good indicator if they noticed at the very least something small.
"He seemed the same; he was just the same serious guy as before. He was just glad to be on leave and be able to be here. He wasn't like one of those guys who come home with emotional trauma or whatever, Agent Todd," the woman puts a hand to her face to obviously try and calm herself down, but if there is one thing that Kate can tell it is that the woman before her is telling the truth.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't saying that I was just hoping that as his girlfriend you would know," she hadn't even been thinking of Chief Petty Officer having negative effects from his time deployed.
"Ryan wasn't very open with his emotions, but I could read him and nothing seemed up," Kate looks the grad student in the eye and she believes her because there is not one thing in her facial expression or body language that indicates she is lying.
Kate leans back in her chair ever so slightly as she takes notes on the information she has gathered from the Chief Petty Officer Dempsey's girlfriend and so far nothing of utter importance has been told to her.
She has finally been able to compartmentalize the feeling of anguish every time she has to help someone wade through their grief because of a tragedy and even looking at the woman in front of her she wonders if people killing others will ever stop happening and if it will ever stop being senseless.
She goes for a tough question hoping to garner a reaction even though she knows it is very unlikely that what she asks isn't going to offend the young woman. "Is it possible that Ryan was seeing other woman?"
"No, god, no, I… how can you ask me that?" Kate can tell that to this woman's knowledge it isn't possible, but even if she is more cynical in regards to relationships she knows that it is possible that Dempsey hid it really well, but she would like to think that this woman would be perceptive enough to know if something like that were happening.
"I'm sorry, I just have to look at all the possible angles," Kate feels like Gibbs for asking such a thing of a sweet girl, but she knows now that it has to be done in order to figure out why he was killed.
She takes a long moment before continuing on in her question. "Do you know where he was the night before his death? It is one of the only times we can't account for his whereabouts." She can tell that Brianna is still suspicious after her last question, but she takes a deep breath before answering.
"He told me he was going to meet up with some buddies that were on leave as well, so, I didn't panic when he didn't come home. I just thought they had gotten Ryan to have some fun for once which actually put my mind at ease because I had to do some major studying for my thesis that I have to present in June," Kate nods knowing that grad school at a private university like American has gotten to be stressful.
"The only weird things is that he left me a voicemail the night before when I was at the library and it sounded like he was at really busy bar which doesn't seem like his scene and when I mentioned it the next day he shrugged and said he got dragged there by some of his Navy buddies, so, I left it alone," Kate writes this down. There something about
"Do you have the voicemail?"
"No, I'm sorry I deleted it right after he sent it me," Kate tries to not groan because no leads are coming up in this case.
"If you think of anything please give me a call?"
"Agent Todd?" the woman says turning around at the door to face her.
"Can you please find who did this to, Ryan," the woman's tears are once again clouding her eyes.
"We will try our absolute best."
Tony looks up as Gibbs sweeps into the room and the man doesn't look pleased.
"What did Ducky tell you?" Ziva inquires.
"Nothing good," Gibbs grumbles taking a seat
"So, that means…?" DiNozzo knows he is asking the obvious, but Gibbs had been quite curt with the Mossad Officer.
"That we have nothing that points to a killer, DiNozzo," barks out Gibbs and he straightens up in his chair knowing he has do something or else Gibbs will kill him. He glances over at Kate who rolls her eyes subtlety.
Tony enters Abby's lab praying that she has something because without any evidence or any leads it is going to be a long couple of days of a very grumpy Gibbs.
"Gibbs, I'm still going over all the physical evidence, but I can confirm what Ducky said. Chief Petty Officer was hit over the head with a wooden baseball bat before being shot in the chest with a .38," Abby tries enthusiastically, but it isn't information they hadn't already known.
"The bat didn't give me much because it is made out of ash with a coating of lacquer. Even if I narrowed down the manufacturer they are sold everywhere across the country Gibbs. It probably broke cleanly when it connected with the back of Dempsey's head and there was no trace on any of the splinters."
"What I can tell you is that Chief Petty Officer Dempsey was a fan of Old spice and he had traces of some perfume that smells like lilacs. I could try and find the perfume, but it would take me days," Gibbs nods.
"That's from his girlfriend, Abbs," Kate says with a shrug.
"Could also be from one of his killers," Gibbs points out even though Brianna has a solid alibi.
"I didn't get killer from her, Gibbs," when Gibbs raises his eyebrow at Kate telling her not to assume.
"Everyone is a killer with the right motive, Agent Todd," Kate rolls her eyes because Gibbs' blatant cynicism grates at her because even in this job she knows that seeing the best in people is better than thinking that everyone is capable of being a murderer.
"I know that Gibbs, but come on you think that a woman who is arguable 110 pounds sopping wet would be able to swing a bat hard enough to crack Dempsey's skull," Kate knows it is a huge assumption that she didn't shoot him.
"She could have been the one to pull the trigger," Gibbs supplies facing her fully.
"You should have your heart looked at, Gibbs," this makes the old Marine laugh.
"Why?" he asks on a serious not.
"Because I'm pretty sure it's made of ice."
"My ex-wives would agree with you on that," Kate tries to not let out a laugh, but when Abby does she at least lets a smirk rise to her lips.
"I can't see why. But, seriously Gibbs, she doesn't read killer to me. Even if she did I could tell she loved him, it would take a lot for her to look him in the eye while she pulled the trigger," Gibbs nods and she can tell that the man is going to at least for the moment trust her judgment.
"McGee, DiNozzo, go talk to the Petty Officer that attacked him," Kate watches the two men nod and walk quickly out of the lab.
"Petty Officer Jensen?" the man says turning towards them taking off his work gloves after turning off the edger off.
"Yeah, how can I help you?" this guy obviously thinks they are about to accuse him of something he is not guilty of.
"Special Agents DiNozzo and McGee. We are here to talk to you about the altercation you had with Chief Petty Officer Dempsey," the man's face pales and for a moment Tony thinks the man might run, but he sucks in a heavy breath and crosses his arms over his chest to appear both tough and nonchalant.
"Is he lodging a formal compliant?" Tony can tell the man is resisting the urge to call the senior enlisted man a bastard or something much worse. Tony had read the incident report it was clearly the Petty Officer in front them had been the one at fault especially since it had been him who had almost started a physical altercation with his superior that will lead to him being court marshaled and most likely dishonorably discharged or placed in confinement.
"No, he's dead," when the guy glances at them in utter surprise Tony knows that no one is that good of an actor as the man accidently hits the edger within a foot of him with elbow in surprise.
"Look, I may not have liked the guy and thought that he didn't give good orders, but I wouldn't kill him. He may have shelled out ridiculous orders and I was sick of it, but it wasn't worth killing him over," he obvious has little remorse to show for his dead superior.
"But he was worth a punch to the face?" McGee asks with a raised eyebrow and Tony has to agree about the question.
"Hell, yes, I may be a sailor in the U.S. Navy and I'm suppose to take orders, but every person has their limits, you know?"
"I do and how far did he push yours?" Tony asks hoping that the man will level them.
"Fair enough, but, seriously, sir not enough to kill me," Tony exchanges a glance with McGee and they know he is telling the truth.
Next part something happens, lol! Something big! Shock and awe, right! The next three chapters after that are done as well so I will be adding the next part in the next couple days!