Chapter Five - "Something's going on"

Tony walked through the door to the main part of Ziva's apartment building, and to the manager's office. He knocked on the window and held up his badge to the window, hoping it get the managers attention, so this would be quick and easy.

"How can I help you?" The Manager asked?

"I was hoping I could get a copy of your surveillance tapes" Tony said to him. "NCIS is currently working an ongoing case and it has lead us to a tenants you once had." Tony started to explain to him. "Now I could come back with a warrant, but that would take extra time we don't currently have. So if you can hand them over as a way to help solve this case, you might be helping us break this case wide open."

"I'll see what I can do" He said to Tony.

"Thank you, NCIS thanks you" Tony said to him.

Ziva paced back and forth in the conference room, she had gotten up once Gibbs has left and hadn't sat down since. She knew she was most likely going to be taken off the case, due to being to close with one of the victims, but she needed to work. Otherwise she was going to sit home and all she was going to be with left alone with her thoughts and those were a lot more dangerous than her working this case. Everything she had feared was starting to come to light, first with Lily's murder and now with him. She couldn't think about it, she needed to just push it away. She needed to remember what she was taught and detach, forget all about it and think about the mission at hand. Ziva finally stopped pace and walked over to the window; she just stood there and looked out it. Everything she was trying so hard to forget, just starting coming to the surface and flooding her mind. Ziva closed her eyes, hoping she could focus on something else. "Get out of my house…. You are not welcomed here….You need to leave now…." Suddenly Ziva felt a hand on her shoulder and it snapped her out of her thoughts, she quickly jumped back to see McGee standing there.

"Everything okay Ziva?" McGee said, with concern in his voice.

"I am fine" Ziva said, as she put on a fake smile, hoping he wouldn't notice. "I was just caught up in my thoughts. You startled me a bit, but I am fine."

"You do know we are here for you, right Ziva?" McGee said to her.

"Yes, and I thank you" Ziva said to him, this time with a real half smile. "I am lucky to have you all in my life."

"Well if you ever need anything or just want to talk, all you have to do is call" McGee said to her.

"I know" Ziva said to him. "How is the case going?" Ziva said trying to change the subject away from her.

"You know I can't discuss it with you" McGee said to her.

"Then why are you here?" Ziva asked him. She really didn't like the rule of discussing the case; she was part of the team until Lily was one of the victims.

"To see how you were." McGee said to her. "You are my friend and co-worker, I care about you. I know this must be hard on you and just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"My friend was murder, now he is murdering others" Ziva started to say something, till she started to remember something Matt had said to her.

"So what do you do?" Matthew said to her.

"I work for NCIS" Ziva said to him. She tried to watch him to see if she could see if he'd have any of the telltale sign, that she was lying or just wasn't who he said he was. Or something to maybe tell her she was being crazy.

"So you're a Navy cop" Matthew said. Ziva just smiled, not sure she really wanted to answer that.

"Federal Agent" Ziva said, just wanting to correct him.

"I need to talk to Gibbs" Ziva said to him. Things where starting to piece together. Ziva walked past McGee, out of the conference room down the hall and back into the bullpen with McGee following not far behind her. Once Ziva reached the bullpen, she was just about to speak to Gibbs when she saw the plasma screen with all the victims including Lily and how they all looked so a like.

"McGee" Gibbs snapped. McGee quick walked over to his computer, hit a button and all the images vanished. Ziva turned her attention back to Gibbs.

"Sorry Boss" McGee said, he then excused himself and left the bullpen.

"I told you to stay in the conference room" Gibbs said to her.

"He is going after me, Gibbs" Ziva said to him.

"What do you mean?" Gibbs questioned her.

"He knows I work for NCIS" Ziva said to him. "He blames me for Lily leaving him, so he is trying to get to me through our victims. They are all navy or marines are they not?"

"Yes" Gibbs said. "But…"

"He wants to hurt me Gibbs and he knows this is a way to get to me" Ziva said to him, cutting him off before he had a chance to speak. "You saw the images, they all look like Lily. He is using her to hurt me even more then…." Ziva trailed off.

"Ziva" Gibbs questioned.

"I will be back in the conference room" Ziva said to him. She turned and exited the bullpen and headed back to the conference room.

"So these are the last five months?" Tony asked the manager, as he held up the tapes he was just given.

"Yes, those are the last five months of footage for that floor." He said to Tony.

"NCIS Thanks you" Tony said to him. Tony was just about to leave, when he turned back and looked at the manager. "Once last question, one of your tenants Ziva David lives in 263B, has she been out a lot in the last couple of months?" Tony knew this was prying, but he could justify it as research for the case if need be. He was making sure if this Matthew Mackenzie somehow ended up dead that Ziva wasn't going to be the number one suspect.

"236B, she moved out weeks after the murder" He said to Tony. "Something about how she didn't feel 'safe' living so close to apartment where the boyfriend murdered his girlfriend. Load of crap if you ask me"

"I didn't, just wanted to look into a tenant, so thanks" Tony said. Ziva has moved out, and she was acting strange. Something was defiantly going on.

"She most likely just wanted to move in with her boyfriend" The Manager said.

"Boyfriend?" Tony questioned.

"Yeah that tall fella, he had been coming around always to see her." He said to Tony.

"Can you describe him?" Tony said. He had a feeling he already knew who it was.

"Tall, dark hair, kind of looked like you" He said.

"Really?" Tony said he really didn't want to deal with this. "Once again thank you."

"He'd be on the tape" he said.

"Okay, we'll let you know if we need your help" Tony said to him, before heading out of the office and apartment building.