Fornell stood a few feet back from the open doorway leading into conference room one. His secretary had called to let him know that Amanda Scott had arrived and was waiting for him. They had chatted briefly that morning and she had agreed to come in once her shift had finished. He watched as her fingers drummed nervously on the table as she waited. "Amanda Scott?" He cleared his throat.
"Yes. That's me." Amanda started to stand.
"I'm Special Agent Fornell, thank you for coming in to talk to me. Please, have a seat."
Amanda shifted in her seat. "Abby said it was important that I call you. I hope everything is okay?"
"I just have a few questions, it shouldn't take long." Fornell pulled out a small note pad and pen and then took a seat opposite her.
"Here's the list of employees, their phone numbers and their schedule the past week. I wasn't sure how many days you wanted. If that's not enough, then I can go back further." Amanda Scott pushed a manila folder across the table to Fornell and then twisted a section of her blonde hair around her finger nervously.
"Thank you." Fornell pulled the pieces of paper from the folder and looked them over. There weren't many employees, only eight, and three of them hadn't worked at all the past three days. "Is anyone a new hire?"
Amanda thought for a moment. "Cheryl. Cheryl Lavery. I hired her about a week ago."
"Did you post an ad looking for new employees, or did she stop in with a resume?"
"Um, we are always accepting résumés. We posted an ad about three weeks ago online, but weren't in much of a rush to hire. One of the girls was got pregnant so we needed a replacement. In the mean time everyone else was enjoying having the extra hours. Then things got a little crazy, schedule-wise and we did a few interviews here and there, but everyone was interested in full-time hours which we couldn't offer. Cheryl came in about ten days ago, and was really eager for a job, but she didn't mind part time. Her schedule was flexible and that's what was most appealing about hiring her. She could work mornings, afternoons or evenings. I did a quick interview and hired her. That was about it."
"Where did she find out about the job?"
Amanda thought for a moment. "You know, I didn't ask."
"It's okay. Did she mention knowing anyone on the Navy Yard?"
"No." Amanda shook her head. "She just said she was looking for a little extra income. Did… did she do something wrong?"
"Not that we're aware of. Have you noticed anything? Has she been acting strange lately?"
"No, not at all. I mean, she's always eager to pick up extra hours, but in this economy, who isn't? And it's just that you're so interested in her."
"Just going through one at a time." Fornell scanned the schedule and looked at who else had been working the previous morning. "What about Maria Price?"
"She's been here almost as long as I have. No one has been here longer, except me."
"Does Maria know people around the Navy yard?"
"Oh yes," Amanda laughed. "I can't think of anyone she doesn't know! She doesn't know everyone by name, but if she doesn't know their name, she knows them by their coffee order."
"So she knows Agent Gibbs?"
"Agent Gibbs? The NCIS agent always buying Abby's Caf-Pow!"
"That would be the one. And on a side note, how much Caf-Pow! does he buy her?" He was momentarily distracted. He had never put much thought to the relationship between Gibbs and Abby, but lately he hadn't seen Gibbs without Abby being nearby and it had started him thinking.
"Oh gosh, at least one a day. Usually two. Sometimes it's as many as three or four, but I assume that's only when they are working a tough case. When he's buying Caf-Pow! in the early hours of the morning you know they've caught a tough case."
"That's a lot."
"He gets a discount at this point. But yes, Maria knows Agent Gibbs. We pretty much all know to ready a drip coffee, no milk or sugar and a Caf-Pow! the moment he walks in the door. Is Agent Gibbs okay?"
"Let me assure you, Agent Gibbs is fine. And I thank you for your time, Miss Scott. I'll be in touch if I have any further questions. And for now, I'd appreciate if you'd keep quiet about our conversation."
"Oh absolutely. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help."
"I will." Fornell stood and gathered all the papers that Amanda had brought with. "And I appreciate that you came down to the FBI to talk."
"No problem."
"I'll have an agent escort you out." Fornell opened the door and waved an agent over. "If you could escort Miss Scott out? And once again," he turned back to Amanda. "I appreciate your cooperation."
Fornell turned towards his office and once inside he shut the door. He dropped into the chair behind his desk and spread the papers across his desk. The first thing, he decided, was to put each of the deli's employee's names in a search to see if any of them had a criminal background. He found nothing on anyone except the speeding ticket Amanda was issued two years back. The employees had a mix of backgrounds – single mother, college students, and retired navy chef – no one stood out as being suspicious. He pulled bank records next, focusing on Cheryl Lavery, Maria Price and Amanda Scott – the three that were most likely to have had access to Gibbs' coffee the morning before. Amanda Scott hadn't been working, but as the store manager, it wasn't unusual for her to stop in from time to time. He glanced over their income, recent purchases, and scrubbed a hand over his face when nothing looked suspicious.
He glanced at the clock and wondered how far DiNozzo had gotten with the security footage, but first, he called to check in on his friend. He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed Gibbs' cell number by memory.
"Yeah, Gibbs."
Gibbs sounded tired, and although he had seen him only a few hours prior, Fornell was still worried – though he'd never admit it. "You still alive?"
"Can't get rid of me that easily, Tobias. What do you want?"
"I thought I'd stop by again, I've got a few things for you to look at. You want me to bring anything? You hungry?"
"Nah, I'm fine. Come on over." Gibbs hung up before Fornell could say anything. His ornery attitude was a sure sign he was on the road to recovery and it put Tobias at ease.
Fornell decided against calling Tony, figuring he would call the moment he spotted anything. He checked his cell phone to make sure the volume was on and then grabbed his coat. He knew better than to show up at Gibbs' empty handed, so he stopped for a large pizza.
There were two cars parked outside Gibbs' house – one he recognized as Doctor Mallard's old Morgan, and the other looked to be an agency car.
The door was unlocked, not surprising considering the amount of people that were likely to be coming and going. And he nodded at the agent he had assigned who was sitting just inside the door and offered him a slice of pizza. He wasn't surprised to find Ducky puttering around the kitchen when he set the pizza on the counter, but he was surprised to find both Tony and Abby in Gibbs' room, showing him footage from the security tapes.
Gibbs was sitting up in bed, a pillow behind his back. His glasses were on, and he had papers spread across the bed. He had a laptop on his lap and Tony was pointing at something on the screen while Abby paced back and forth, obviously trying to work something out in her mind.
"Glad I was invited to this conference." Fornell leaned against the door frame and then took a step inside.
"Hey Fornell, you were our next stop if you weren't here when we showed up, and then you called and said you were coming over, so…" Abby explained. "It's fuzzy, but looks like one of the employee's may have dropped something in his cup before pouring the coffee. But it's really hard to tell. I've tried my best to enhance it, but this is the best I've got."
Gibbs swiveled the laptop on his lap so that Fornell could see the screen. Abby was right – it was fuzzy at best, but it looked as though there was something being put into the coffee cup just before coffee was being poured. From the hair, he could tell it was Cheryl Lavery.
"Looks like Cheryl Lavery. She's new. Do you know her?" Fornell handed over a print out of her photo and all the information he had gathered about her. "Single, from Boston. She moved here eight years ago after her mother died. She seemed to have held a steady job the past several years at a grocery store. Works there part time now and part time on the Navy Yard."
Gibbs took the photo. "I recognize her from the coffee shop, but I don't know her from anywhere else. Didn't know her name either. Any ideas?"
"No. I'm sure it wouldn't take much leaning to get her to break. She's scheduled to work tomorrow, thought I'd pay her a visit bright an early."
"Not without me, you won't."
"Gibbs!" Abby interrupted. "You need to get your rest. Recover."
"I'm fine Abbs, the drugs are out of my system. You ran the tests, you know that."
"Abby's right, boss." Tony shut his mouth the moment Gibbs looked at him with his eyes narrowed. "Right boss, you should probably talk to her."
"Don't be such a pushover, Tony. Listen to Fornell, Gibbs. He'll talk to her. You went through a lot last night, and you need your rest."
"I've been doing nothing but resting. I'll rest tonight, tomorrow Tobias will pick me up and we'll go have a chat. You're the one that's been pushing me to do something about everything that's happened the past few weeks, and now I am."
"I was pushing you to do something before something like this happened. And now that it has, you need to take care of yourself. Fornell can talk to her, have Tony go with."
He could see she was about to snap, and he knew that telling her that he was fine was not what she wanted to hear, but he didn't need anyone pitying him and it was out before he could stop himself. "I'm fine!"
The minute it was out, he regretted it. Abby looked as though she had been slapped, and he hated knowing that he had caused her pain. "Abby," he sighed.
"No, never mind." Abby picked up her jacket from the foot of the bed and headed out the door.
"Was that necessary?" Tobias raised an eyebrow. "She cares about you, and only wants what's best."
Gibbs looked at Tony, silently telling him to go after her.
"I'm not interfering, boss. She needs time to cool down. You know she won't hold a grudge, but Fornell is right. She cares. It's why she gets so emotional. You know that."
"I'll let you listen in to the interview, but I won't allow you in the room. You know I can't compromise anything that she says by having you in the room. You're the victim, and I don't care that you're an Agent, I'm not bending the rules."
Gibbs sighed and let his head fall back against the headboard. "Fine."
"I'll be back to pick you up at seven tomorrow morning. Be ready, you know I hate to wait."
"DiNozzo." Gibbs called out. He waited for Fornell to leave before speaking again. "Will you check on her for me?"
"Yeah." Tony agreed.
"Ask her to come back."
"I'm not getting into this mess, sorry boss. You've got to talk to her yourself. I'll make sure she's okay though. I'll let you know if she's not." Tony didn't wait for an answer before he left.
Gibbs moved slowly down the stairs, his muscles protesting after over 24 hours mostly confined to his bed. "Did Abby say anything before she left last night?"
James, one of the FBI Agent assigned to his home, looked up briefly from the news paper. "Abby didn't leave until this morning, but she was pretty quiet. Didn't say much at all."
"What?"
"I mean, we chatted a little bit, she asked about my family-"
"She didn't leave?"
"She was rather upset last night, but once everyone else left, she settled on the couch. I heard her get up to check on you a few times during the night, and she started the coffee this morning before she left." James lifted a steaming coffee mug. "It's a bit strong, but…."
Gibbs went to the kitchen and opened his fridge to find cold pizza and a lunch sack with James' name on it. "Where is the rest of my food?"
"Oh, it was all packed up and taken in to be tested. Doctor Mallard said he would bring some things buy today. I don't think he was aware that you would be going in to the FBI so early."
Gibbs wasn't above cold pizza for breakfast, and thanks to Abby, the coffee had been made to his standards. He knew he would need to do something to make it up for her – an apology in his own way since the words I'm sorry didn't come easy. Abby wasn't one to hold a grudge, and he knew that if he called and said he needed her to come over, she would show up without question, but he still felt bad. She didn't deserve to be treated the way he had treated her. If it had been Abby that had been poisoned, he would have kept her locked away until whoever was after her had been caught.
At three minutes past seven, Fornell pulled up and honked rather than walking up to the door and knocking. Gibbs was ready, and they rode silently the majority of the ride to the FBI headquarters.
"I had an agent bring her in. She was at work, and from what I hear she's rather frightened. She's been waiting approximately fifteen minutes so far. I'll check in with you at some point during my chat with her to see if you have any questions that I haven't already asked. I'll have an agent by the door, so don't even think about taking control and coming into the room."
Gibbs rolled his eyes. Breaking into someone else's interrogation wasn't his style.
Everyone at the FBI seemed to be aware of Gibbs as he walked through the office. They moved out of the way as he and Fornell made their way through the building, and he heard a few people whispering as they passed by.
"No one except my team knows what's going on. Everyone else just gets nervous when we're working together. I have no idea why."
Gibbs rolled his eyes. It was the same at NCIS. If Fornell showed up uninvited it was the talk of the Navy Yard as it usually ended up in a pissing match between directors and that had everyone else on edge.
Gibbs stood on the other side of the glass, refusing a chair when Fornell offered. He pretended not to notice the look that Fornell shot the agent that was working the recording booth, and he waited, arms crossed in front of his chest as Fornell headed next door.
A woman Gibbs vaguely recognized as someone that worked at the deli on the yard sat in the room next door, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she waited for someone to talk to her. She flinched when Fornell opened the door, and jumped to her feet.
"I… I don't know what's going on. Why am I here? I… I haven't done anything."
Gibbs had to admit that she looked genuinely scared, but then again being in the FBI's interrogation room had that effect on most people.
"Have a seat Ms. Lavery." Fornell sat opposite her, with his back toward the one-way mirror/window, and opened up a file to look at the photo suggesting she was putting something into the coffee cup she then had handed to Gibbs.
"Please, what is this about?" Cheryl pleaded.
"You work on the Navy Yard?"
"Yes. Your agent picked me up from there at the beginning of my shift."
Fornell nodded. "Why made you want to work on the Yard?"
Cheryl looked bewildered. "I… I was looking for another part time job, and I saw they were hiring."
"Did you know anyone working on the yard before you applied?" Fornell continued to bombard her with general questions about the Yard, why she wanted to work there and how she found the job.
"So what you're saying, is that you knew no one on the yard. No specific reason for wanting a job there?"
Cheryl shook her head. "I just needed a job."
Fornell pulled the fuzzy photo out of the file and slid it across the table to her. "Can you tell me what's going on in this photo?"
"I… I'm pouring a cup of coffee."
"You poured a cup of coffee afterward. Maybe we need to see the video." Fornell stood and moved to the TV that was plugged in by the door. He showed her the clip of footage that looked like she was putting a powder into his coffee. It wasn't completely clear, but Fornell projected an air of confidence. "Looks like you're adding a little extra something that Agent Gibbs didn't order."
Cheryl froze and Fornell glanced back at Gibbs through the one way mirror as tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Anything you'd like to share?"
She hesitated until she couldn't hold the tears back and she began to sob. "I… I didn't mean to do anything bad, I just… I couldn't say no to the money. It was a one-time thing and I… I'm so sorry."
"A one-time thing?" Fornell tried to coax more information out, but Cheryl couldn't talk through her sobs.
Fornell excused himself while she tried to regain her composure and headed back to where Gibbs was waiting. "Well, we've figured out whom, now once she's calmed down we can figure out the why."
Gibbs eyed the crying woman. "She's working for someone else."
"Probably," Fornell agreed and pressed his fingers to his temple. "Why do I get the feeling that this won't be easy?"
"I can talk to her."
Fornell ignored him and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ron Sacks. "I need you to get a search warrant… yeah, I don't care if the judge has a 1pm tee time, you get him to sign off on it now or I find someone else who will. Call Agent DiNozzo and have him search the house with you." Fornell snorted and Gibbs could only imagine the rude remarks Agent Sacks had made about Tony.
Gibbs hated being left out of the investigation – forced to sit out and watch from the sidelines.
As Cheryl's tears subsided, Fornell went back in and handed her a box of tissues. "Ready to talk yet?"
"I honestly," Cheryl hiccupped, "I needed the cash. I was told it would make him sick, but that he would be fine, and I…" She hung her head in shame. "I knew I shouldn't have."
"How were you contacted?"
"I replied to an ad online for an 'odd job'. I thought it would be something like stuffing envelopes or dog walking."
"So you contacted them via email?"
"Yes. Every time they wrote me back it was from a different email."
"How did you decide what medication to use?"
"I found it in an envelope under the welcome mat at my place. I have no idea what it was."
"Then how did you know it would only make him sick – it could have been arsenic. We could be dealing with murder charges right now." Fornell asked a few more questions before closing his file. He would have more questions but for now he was content to hold her until he had more information.
He stepped outside and waved an agent in to take her away to a holding cell for the rest of the day and overnight.
Gibbs was ready to get back to NCIS by the time Fornell was done with his interrogation. He was out of his element at the FBI office – at least back at NCIS he could feel somewhat in control.
Gibbs needed time to think, he still felt a little fuzzy and his body ached, but what was keeping him from being able to completely focus, was the tension he'd created with Abby the night before. It had weighed heavily on him as he had fallen asleep, and he had slept fitfully, tossing and turning most of the night. He was surprised that he hadn't heard her checking in on him, though settled his nerves slightly that she hadn't been angry enough to leave.
He had finally managed to shake Fornell at the elevator – no one was allowed inside NCIS without proper identification or an escort – claiming he didn't need a body guard inside the building.
The elevator ride to the lab seemed to take longer than usual and although he'd never admit it, he was a little nervous. It wasn't often that Abby was angry or upset with him, but when she was he felt strangely unsettled.
Her music was on, though not at an unbearable level, and she was bent over her computer keyboard, her fingers moving faster than Gibbs could ever imagine typing. There were food wrappers, coffee cups and various other food items spread across her evidence table and he realized that the majority was from his house or his garbage can.
He entered her lab silently, stopping just behind her and placing the Caf-Pow! he had picked up earlier just beside her keyboard.
"Oh, thanks, but I'm not allowed-" She stopped when she glanced over her shoulder and recognized that it was him and not someone else.
"I picked it up outside of the Navy Yard."
"Thanks." Abby took a long sip and then set the large cup back down, her eyes darting back to the computer. "Are you feeling better? Did you guys come up with anything after talking to Cheryl?"
"Abby," Gibbs took half a step closer and waited until she was looking at him. "I'm not trying to down-play anything, but I'm fine now. I'm a little tired, but otherwise I feel fine."
"They weren't going to even let you out of the hospital, you should be resting."
"I know." Gibbs reached out and tugged her forward into a hug. "I know you're worried, and I appreciate that you care, but I needed to see Fornell talk to Cheryl to see if it could help me with figuring things out."
"Couldn't you have seen a video of it or something?" Abby made no move to leave his embrace.
He could have, but it would've taken forever before he finally got to see the tape. Instead of answering, he pulled back slightly so that she had to look at him. "I didn't mean to snap at you last night. I was frustrated with the situation, not at you." He brought his hand up to cup her face, his thumb sweeping across her cheek.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide, and her worry reflecting up at him. Leaning forward, Gibbs placed his lips just to the side of hers, letting his kiss linger at the small, content sigh that came from Abby as she tightened her hold on him. When he pulled back to look at her, her eyes were closed and it seemed natural to lean in to kiss her properly, but Gibbs held back. He couldn't start something like that at work, and with how high her emotions were running he knew she wouldn't push him away, but he felt like he would be taking advantage of the situation if he were to kiss her now.
At his hesitation, Abby hugged him again and pressed her face against his neck. "I just hate when you get hurt."
Gibbs tightened his hold on her. "Abbs, about the other night, when I was… sick."
"Gibbs, it's okay, you were drugged. And you didn't say or do anything, you know… awkward." Abby kept her face hidden against his neck.
"Ducky said-"
"Hey, boss… oh." Tony came to a halt just inside the lab and shifted back and forth from foot to foot as Abby extracted herself from Gibbs' arms and put a bit of distance between them. "Um, so I was uh,-"
"Spit it out DiNozzo, what'd you find."
"So Sacks and I searched her apartment and we found nothing linking her to you, no sign that she knows you except some white powder and a post-it note with your name on it. Doesn't look like her hand writing." Tony handed Abby two small evidence bags. "Sacks has her computer and a few other things, but he threw a fit about having it run at the FBI lab. These two pieces of evidence might have fallen out of the box and into my pocket."
"You know Fornell is going to be all over my ass for that, right?" Gibbs didn't look the least bit upset.
Tony shrugged. "I figure you owed me for the time you put me in a body bag and let Fornell think he had the body."
Gibbs gave a quick nod and half smile. "True."
"Uh, anyway, Fornell is looking for you."
Abby was exhausted by the time she finished up the tests she was running on all the food from Gibbs' house as well as everything she had pulled from his garbage. She had been able to match the powder Tony had brought in as crushed Doxepin Hydrochloride tablets, and the hand writing belonged to Cheryl Lavery as well.
It was just past ten, and pitch black as she walked out to her car. She tried to think of any reason Cheryl Lavery would want to go after Gibbs. From what she had dug up on the woman, they had no connection besides both working on the Navy Yard. She didn't have any family in the area, and the family that she did have, she didn't seem to be much in contact with beyond the occasional Christmas card.
She fumbled with her keys before she managed to unlock the door and get it. She knew she needed to go home and get some sleep, but she hadn't seen Gibbs since Tony had interrupted them down in the lab. She knew that things between them would be okay, but she still felt as though there were things left unsaid.
She drove on auto-pilot as she made her way to Gibbs' house. She had heard from McGee that Fornell had taken him home shortly before dinner – he was okay, but it was obvious that he was tired. She knew that someone would've called her if something had happened, but she still needed to see for herself that he was fine.
When she pulled up in front of Gibbs' house she was surprised to see that the house was dark – not even the light in the basement was on. As she sat in her car, she was slowly aware that Gibbs' car was the only one in the driveway. She would have expected Fornell's car or at least a car belonging to the agent who was assigned his house.
Abby hurried up the front step and tested the door handle. When it didn't open, she knocked and rang the doorbell. It wasn't likely that Gibbs was in bed yet – even if he was tired, but in any case, the agent assigned to his house would likely open the door. She listened patiently, her ear pressed to the door, and then knocked again.
After a third knock, Abby returned to her car and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Gibbs' number, but his phone was off and she was directed right to voicemail. She fought against the panic that slowly started to take over her mind. She had been told that Gibbs was bring brought home – she knew there was no way he'd agree to a safe house, and they would have told her if they'd gone elsewhere.
She dialed Fornell's number and hung up when she got a busy signal. It settled her nerves slightly until it popped into her mind that something may have happened to Gibbs and he was getting together a group to find him. Tony was next.
"Hey Abbs, find something?"
"I can't find Gibbs!"
"He went home, he and Fornell left awhile ago."
"They aren't at his house. I just left NCIS, and decided to stop by. No one is here." Abby felt her eyes well up as she allowed herself to feel scared.
TBC…