Chapter 5: McGee solves the case

While Gibbs spoke to Ms. Mills, McGee came back to his own desk in the bullpen and was immediately ambushed by his teammates, who were dying to grab some juicy piece of gossip from the young man.

"Come on, spill it. How do you know her, McGoo?"

"I've told you already. We've met in high school. She was a senior when I moved into that area."

"Strange twist of fate that brought her in your life again. Did you have any idea that she was the widow of the lieutenant?" Kate wondered out loud, her gaze firmly set on the squirming geek.

"No." He said in a low voice. He frowned and glared at both of them. "I haven't seen her in ten years. It's a world away. She moved to the other side of the country and I've never even thought of her."

"But you must have left a very strong impression on her. If looks could kill, you would have keeled over right where you're standing McGoo. That girl hates your guts." Tony said, enjoying the discomfort on McGee's face.

"I know. We weren't exactly friends when she left. But still, I'm sorry for her loss. I mean… she lost so much already…" McGee's face became clouded and he shut his mouth, afraid of revealing too much.

His slip of tongue wasn't missed by his fellow colleagues.

"And how do you know that?" Kate asked, seeing him squirm even harder on his seat.

"I was under the impression you were just acquaintances."

"Ohh…Oh… I… I mean… look at this… she was engaged to be married. She had plans and dreams and it is all gone and… nobody should go through that again."

At that moment Ducky arrived at the bullpen, closely followed by Jimmy. Both were discussing the results of the preliminary exams.

"Hey, Duckman." Tony called out, bringing both men's attention towards their little Spanish inquisition.

Ducky acknowledged each agent at the same time he argued with Jimmy. "The toxicology came clean. There's nothing there but acetylsalicylic acid in his bloodstream."

"He was poisoned with acid?" Tony asked, receiving startled looks from both doctors.

Jimmy was the first to clear Tony's mistake. "Acetylsalicylic acid is the clinical name for normal aspirin. He was battling a bad case of flu."

"Any chance they were gone bad or he was poisoned through them?" Kate asked, just to shot down by Ducky.

"No signs of any poison which might cause such reaction. Even those who would disappear after a short period of time in the system would have to be introduced in the system by some kind of agent, but nothing could be found so far."

"There must be something there. We have to get to the heart of this and figure out why he died. It's not fair that she goes through this again."

"And there it goes again." Tony pointed to McGee. "This is the second time you allude to something that happened to her in the past. McGee looked visibly ill at his slip of tongue. "What are you not telling us, McGuilty? What are you hiding from us?"

"Ah… nothing. I just think he had a big heart to … decide to marry her… who I know is not the most delicate flower you're ever going to meet yet still… she doesn't deserve that."

Ducky perked up at McGee, looking at him with shining eyes.

"What did you say, young man?"

McGee gulped, finally noticing that he had Ducky's total attention turned to him. "Oh… that nobody should go through that again."

"No, you've said something after that." Ducky waived his hand in the air, his gaze lost somewhere in his mind as he reviewed possible diagnosis and symptoms.

"I just said that she deserves a second chance of happiness and she found someone with a big heart to…"

Whatever he was saying was lost as Ducky startled everyone as he exclaimed. "A big heart. Good Lord, how did I miss it?" He turned to Jimmy, who was looking at the older medical examiner with startled eyes. "Mr. Palmer, hurry, we need to reexamine the internal organs. I can't believe I didn't make the connection."

Both doctors rushed out of the bullpen, leaving the three agents staring at their retreating backs with huge question marks on their foreheads, completely baffled with what could possibly have happened to result in such rushed exit.

"Was it something I've said?" McGee asked, receiving only confused shrugs from both his colleagues and teammates.