Part 3: Out of His Mind With Grief

"Jen?" Gibbs was waking up and trying to process his surroundings. "Jen, what did you do? Who is this woman? What happened? Ziva! Is she…?"

"It's a long story, Jethro."

"Give me the short version." He looked around wildly and spotted the body in the dressing room. "Tony! Jen, did you…?"

She backed away from his accusing glare. "I was choosing a special outfit for the budget meeting with the other federal agencies and Tony got the full force of my choice of ensemble choice."

"Why didn't I?"

"I changed my stockings."

"Candy Corn, Jen! What did I tell you about that?"

"I was careful! I didn't know Tony would be lurking outside of my dressing room!"

"What's the story with them?" He pointed to the bodies of Ziva and Jeanne. "Who's the brunette?"

"That's Dr. Jeanne Benoit, daughter of arms dealer Le Grenouille. Tony's undercover assignment had been to get close to her to see if she had any information about her father's activities. She became upset when Ziva explained to her that Tony was a federal agent. She did this thing with her eyes…" Jenny tried to find words to describe what had happened.

"I've seen burns like that before, in Kuwait. A local man became angry with us; I lost a couple of good friends that day."

They were staring wordlessly at the bodies when they heard a voice at the door.

"Jeanne? Are you ready to show me your pretty dress?" The voice belonged to Jeanne's father, Rene Benoit, also known as the arms dealer Le Grenouille, Jenny's nemesis.

"Le Grenouille!" Jenny hissed.

"I'll deal with your frog." Gibbs ordered. "You've caused enough damage today. Let's move Ziva in with Tony."

"Jeanne? Mi Niña Hermosa?" Benoit called again.

"I thought you were supposed to be French." Gibbs said in a stage whisper through the door.

"Oh, yes. Sorry!" The frog whispered back; in a normal voice he called again. "Ma cherie?"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just come in?"

A cold look descended on Le Grenouille's face when he identified the people on the other side of the door. "Ah, Madame Director! We meet again."

"What are you doing here?" Gibbs spoke before Jenny could.

"I came here with my daughter. She will accompany me to a meeting later this week and she wished to have a special outfit for the occasion."

"So, it's take-your-daughter-to-work day for the criminal element this week?" Jen asked with false sweetness.

"She wanted to meet one of the men to whom I supply wine. He's quite famous." He said mildly. "Where is Jeanne?"

Wordlessly, Gibbs moved aside with Jenny to expose Jeanne's body.

The effect on Le Grenouille was dramatic and immediate. "No! Oh, no! Not Jeanne!" He wailed in a key his listeners had never heard before. Then his face slackened and he fell limply to the floor. They watched in horrified fascination as a gray substance oozed out of his ears, nose, and mouth.

"He's dead." Jenny broke the silence after a few minutes.

"Yep."

"It's not quite as satisfying as I thought it would be."

"Nope."

"I wonder how they'll get the stains out of the carpet."

"Ms. Shepard? Ms. Benoit? Can I help either of you?" The sales girl chose this rather inopportune time to check on her customers.

"Now what?" Jenny whispered.

"Stand back and close your eyes." Gibbs muttered as he unzipped his coat.

Jen heard the woman sputter, "What's… going… on…" followed by a thud.

There were sounds of a zipper closing then Gibbs said, "You can look now."

She opened eyes to see the girl crumpled on the floor. "Jethro?"

"I paid attention in Bosnia." He pulled out his phone. "That should keep her for awhile. We need to get this cleaned up before someone else becomes involved."