Sorry for the short delay in posting. I went on a family vacation, no computers allowed.
"Alright, got it McGoo, were on it." Tony hung up the phone and relayed all the information he had just been told. "Boss, McGee says the body was buried in Leavenworth, Kansas and dug up, no one there has reported any grave robberies or missing bodies."
"Looks like were going to Kansas, yes?" Ziva questioned.
The team packed up and was on a plane an hour later flying to Kansas City International Airport.
"What we know about this marine Tony?" Gibbs asked.
"We know he was a run of the mill marine," "No such thing." Gibbs interrupted
"As?" Tony asked. "There is no such thing as a run of the mill marine, Tony"
"Right, sorry Boss, he was never written up for any thing good or bad. He has a fiancé, but no other family parents died when he was 18, he joined the marines the next day. The fiancé never filed a missing persons report, uh; he lived in an apartment in Lansing, two miles from the fiancé's apartment"
"We should talk to the fiancé, and his landlord." Ziva added not so helpfully.
"Well yeah Ziva, they are the only ones we can talk to." Tony snapped, a split second later a hand connected with the back of Tony's head, "Sorry, Boss."
They arrived at the apartment, a while later and found the landlord, a portly man, of about 55, with shaggy red hair and a flannel shirt.
"Gunning lived unit 5C but I cleaned it out awhile ago, he's been gone for a long time." The man said, giving the distinct impression that he did not care at all.
"So what did you do with his stuff?" Tony asked puzzled by the man's lack of concern.
"Gave it to his fiancé and his friend"
"You just packed up and gave it to her? Ziva pondered the disrespect this act implied.
"He'd been gone for months, his lease ran out and no one refilled."
"Alright, thank you sir, we will be touch if we have more questions." Tony ended the conversation and he and Ziva headed back to the car and called Gibbs who met them at the fiancé's home.
The house was small and unassuming but the man that answered the door was anything but. He was well over six feet tall, highly muscled, and sported a military style hair cut.
"Who are you?" He grunted.
The three agents help up their badges and let Gibbs do the talking. "NCIS, we are looking for Jenny Newman"
"Why do you need to talk to Jenny?" the man asked
"We have some questions about her fiancé, Petty Officer Gene Gunning" Both the men were staring at each other with intense eyes.
"Jenny is out, I am her brother Terry, and neither of us has seen Gene in two years."
"Well, Terry, Why didn't anyone report him missing?" Tony spoke up, "I mean I don't see my fiancé for two years, I'm gonna start to wonder where she went."
"The last time we saw Gene, he and Jenny had gotten into a fight, she threw her ring at him and he left, we had no reason to see him again."
Ziva had turned around to see a silver car pull in to the drive way. A petite blond woman got out and took a toddler out of his car seat.
"Gibbs, I believe Jenny is here, and she has a child."
"Ziva, you and DiNozzo talk to her." Gibbs ordered.
The two agents showed Jenny their badges.
"Jenny, I am Special Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is Officer Ziva David. We have a couple questions about your fiancé, Petty Officer Gene Gunning."
The woman became instantly excited. "Did you find him? Is he okay?"
"He is dead" Ziva said pointedly.
"Oh my God, NO," Jenny sank to her knees, "I knew I should have filed and police report as soon as he went missing." She began twisting a ring on her left hand.
"Your brother said you two had a fight and broke up." Tony prodded lightly for information.
"No we, well we fought but, we never broke up."
"What was the fight about?" Ziva asked
"I had just found out I was pregnant, he wanted to get married before the baby came but I wanted to wait. I didn't want to people to assume we were rushing because of the baby."
"So, why didn't you file a missing persons report?"
"Terry begged me not to, and Gene told me he had to go back to Iraq one more time, I thought that was where he went but I never heard anything else from him."
The agents wrapped up their conversations and headed back the car and to the hotel for the night.
"So they had extremely conflicting stories" Ziva inquired.
"Talk about opposites, she was so tiny and her brother was so huge. I believe her though; she was still wearing her engagement ring and got really upset when we told her Gunning was dead." Tony rambled on and on for almost the whole drive.
"I want to know about that brother, get me background." Gibbs got out the car and disappeared into the hotel.
"On it, Boss" Tony yelled after him and turned to Ziva, "You heard him get on that, I am going to take a nap."
Ziva had no time to protest Tony had taken Gibbs lead and gone into the hotel. "He drives me catty" she muttered and followed her teammates.