Ziva returns to the scene. She walks in the door, and finds that everyone else is already there. DiNozzo looks up at her, as Ducky, and Palmer get the body zipped into the body bag.

"Nice of you to grace us with your presence," he taunts.

"Leave her alone, DiNozzo," Gibbs snaps, "You'll thank her for being late, later."

"What's that all about?" DiNozzo asks Tim.

Tim simply shrugs, and continues to document the scene.

"I want the two of you, to check out the upstairs," Gibbs informs them.

Ziva starts up the stairs. Tony follows her, grumbling the whole time. They start with the first room on the right. The master bedroom. There is blood everywhere. They document the scene. It leads them into the bathroom.

"This seems like a lot of blood, for one person."

"Yeah," DiNozzo agrees.

"It's like the blood leads up the stairs, instead of down them," Ziva bends down, to inspect the blood drops.

"Shall we?"

She nods, and they step into the hallway. They plan check each room, one by one. Ziva tries to flip on the light in the hallway, but it's burnt out. DiNozzo flips on his flashlight. They follow the trail of blood from the bedroom, to the hallway. They follow it to the bonus room, above the garage. It stops at the window. Tony looks at his partner. He points to the unlatched window.

"Would like me to go, or..."

"I'll go, meet me outside," she answers, pushing the window open. He nods. He leaves the room, and heads outside.

Once on the roof, she follows the blood drops. They stop, above the central air. Tony joins her.

"Ziva? Where are you."

"Over here," she calls out, as she snaps pictures, from above.

He follows the sound of her voice. He looks up at her. The drop from the lowest part of the roof to the heat pump, is approximately six, to seven feet.

"You want a hand?" he asks, already knowing the answer.

"Just document it."

"I don't want you to contaminate any evidence. Jump, and I'll catch you."

"I..."

"Ziva, just do it," he insists.

She takes one look at him, and rolls her eyes. She inches to the edge of the room. She slowly comes down, avoiding her partner. The ten foot drop makes her look like a cat. She gracefully lands on her feet, with knees bent. She stands up, and makes her way over to Tony.

"You always land on your feet."

She points past him, "There."

He nods, and they continue to follow the blood drops. Ziva gets a nagging feeling, in the pit of her stomach.

"I can follow it, you should finish checking the upstairs."

"You shouldn't go alone."

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she nods, stepping onto the sidewalk.

He reluctantly follows her instruction. He heads back into the house. Once he's out of site, she follows the trail. It leads her from the sidewalk, into the street. Once she gets to the street, it zigzags, towards the guard rail, at the end of the cul-de-sac.

The joys of living at the end of a cul-de-sac. A convenient place for perpetrators to slip off to. She hoists herself over the guard rail. She avoids the blood drops. When she gets over the guard rail, she sees a pool of blood. It continues, into the trees. She follows the trail a couple of feet, when it begins down an embankment, into a valley. She watches her footing, as she descends, into the valley. Before she can reach the bottom, the trail changes. Instead of a few drops, here and there, there is exceedingly more blood. She makes a right.

She heads into an area covered with dense bushes, and low lying vegetation. She fights her way through the terrain. She goes straight, past a tree. At the tree she takes another right. Past the tree, the area opens into a small clearing. She stops cold, when she sees what's lying on the ground. She takes a deep breath, and moves towards the body, lying on the ground. The body faces away from her.

Ziva carefully maneuvers around the evidence. She steps to the front of the victim. There is a pool of blood. She squats down, and gets a look at the face. She reaches out, and checks for a pulse. There is none. The body is cold to touch, clearly exposed to the elements, for hours. A pair of familiar eyes, stares up at her. Ziva notices the gun, clipped to her belt.

Ziva takes a deep breath, and reaches for her phone. She pulls it out of her pocket, and dials Gibbs. He answers, after two rings.

"Yeah?"

"Did Ducky leave yet?"

"No, he's just getting the body loaded, why?"

"I need him. On second thought, maybe we should call for another ME."

"Why?"

"I don't know if he can handle doing her autopsy."

"Why not?"

"Again," she answers.

"What?"

"Gibbs, it's ugly. I am amazed that she got this far. I mean..."

"Ziva?"

"Come down here."

"Where are you?"

"Follow the blood trail, over the guard rail, at the end of the cul-de-sac, down the embankment twenty feet, to the right, towards the brush. Just past the huge oak tree, take a right, and you'll see her."

"I'll get DiNozzo..."

She cuts him off, "No. You need to come, alone. He is not ready to see this, none of them are."

"Ziver?"

"It's Kate," she reveals, as he steps outside of the house.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure that..."

"Gibbs, she's cold. She's been dead for hours."

"Ok," he agrees, "I've got to make some phone calls on my way," he tells her.