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Hey everyone...once again, I had a fabutastic outcome for the last chapter of this fic...thank you guys SO much! All of the reviews and subscriptions/favorites are most definitely appreciated! I'm slowly finding more time to type these chapters up, so hopefully I'll be able to publish these faster. Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you are having an absolutely amazing time!
Thanks for all of the support!
Chapter 3
Ziva was at a loss for words-she had thought for sure that Cohen had nothing to do with the murder. But then again, she knew that anything was possible...so why had she felt like he was telling the truth? She barely listened to Abby's chattering, trying to figure out what was going on.
"...yeah, they went to college together at UCLA in 1988. They both graduated in '92."
"How big was their fraternity?" McGee asked.
"It was a pretty big one, but it was supposedly a very tight-knit group of guys. The chances they knew each other is pretty high." She looked at Gibbs. "I'll be able to tell you more later, but Ducky wants you guys in Autopsy."
Gibbs nodded, kissing Abby on the cheek. "Good work, Abbs."
She smiled proudly as the team filed out of her lab. "Thank you!" She tilted her head, still smiling, and then turned back to her work.
"Well, now we have a connection, we just need to find a motive," Tony remarked as the team walked down the halls.
Gibbs said nothing in response as he stepped into the doors to Autopsy.
"Ah, Jethro," Ducky started. "I assume you already visited Abigail?"
"Yeah, Duck."
"Good. Well, it appears that Mr. Lutz did indeed die from strangulation, but I think you will find it interesting to know that he has post-mortem wounds. Many of them, in fact." He pointed to the marks on the body. "They're mostly stab wounds and various bruises, but in a random pattern."
"Killer was angry."
"It appears to be so. It seems he had some...unresolved issues with our victim here."
Ziva, Tony, and McGee glanced at each other.
"The killer choked him with his hands," Ducky said, indicating the bruises on Lutz's neck, "so there will be, unfortunately, no rope burns or anything of the sort on his hands to identify him."
Gibbs nodded as he turned to leave the room. "Thanks Duck."
"Anytime, Jethro." He watched the rest of the team exit through the door, and then turned back to the body. "Well, it seems that it's just you and me again."
"David, DiNozzo, bring Cohen in for a chat," Gibbs ordered as they all walked back into the bullpen. The two nodded as they grabbed their stuff and headed to the elevator.
"I'm driving," Tony stated, at which Ziva laughed and snatched the keys out of his hand.
"I do not think so."
Tony groaned loudly and tilted his head back. "But I don't wanna die!"
Ziva glared at him as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.
"You know," Tony started after a second of uncomfortable silence, "I wonder what went wrong with them. Frat brothers are supposed to be for life. Ya know?"
"Just because there is a connection does not mean that Cohen really did kill Lutz."
"Well, what does it look like?"
She opened her mouth to respond, but promptly closed it. "I am not sure what to think yet."
"It seems to me that you've already made up your mind."
"Tony, I know better than that. I am not stupid, I just have a..." she trailed off. "A gut feeling."
It was silent for a second as Tony considered this, and Ziva debated it herself. Was this really what she was feeling, or was it only what she wanted to feel? She still hadn't come to a conclusion when they reached the car, so she decided to forget about it for the time being and just do her job.
Tony glanced at her. She had been through so much lately, that she no longer knew how to trust anyone, not even her own "gut." The want to hold her overwhelmed him once again, and he fought to shove it down. He could not be feeling anything for her-she was his partner, and that was it...nothing more. On top of that, he had a date that night with a certain Jennifer Collins, and he could not let anything ruin it. Not able to fully escape the emotions for Ziva, he decided to start a completely new subject.
"So, have you talked to Daddy David yet?" He asked as they buckled their seat belts.
She looked over at him, and then turned the keys in the ignition. "No, I have not." She paused. "He apparently does not want anything to do with me anymore...he says that I have betrayed not only Mossad, but my country as well. I do not...I don't..." Ziva trailed off, looking out the window. "Nevermind."
Tony reached out to touch her hand, then quickly drew it back. Damn...wrong subject.
"I'm sorry. I'm...here if you ever need to talk. I'm your...partner," he added, mostly to reassure himself that that was all he was to her.
Ziva stared at him for a second. Why the hell was he being so nice to her all of a sudden? Where was the old Tony? She wanted to slam her head against the steering wheel. Out of everything that had been happening the past few months, she did not need this added on to it all.
After a minute, she nodded. "Thank-you."
"No problemo."
"So, am I still covering for you today?"
"Yep...if that's okay."
"As long as you hold up your end of the bargain."
"Yeah, that won't be a problem."
"Good. What time will you be leaving?"
"Uh, in about two hours or so."
"Two hours?"
Tony smiled mischievously. "I have a pre-date-ritual-type-thing I do. Before every date. You know, like a tradition. Or somethin'."
Ziva scoffed. "A pre-date ritual? And I thought I had seen it all," she added.
"Not with me, you haven't," he laughed. "I go to work out for an hour or two, and then I shower, and get ready, and all that jazz."
"Jazz?"
He rolled his eyes. "It's an American saying."
"Oh. Well, you sound like you take just as long as a girl to get ready."
"Maybe I do! You have a problem?"
It was her turn to roll her eyes as they pulled up in front of Cohen's house and stepped out. "Nevermind."
They walked up the front porch steps together and rang the doorbell. The door was promptly answered, and Tony was greeted with a nod, while Ziva was warmly greeted with a smile and another wink.
She could feel her cheeks flush in response as she stepped inside the house and followed the two men to the living room, where they all took a seat. Tony laughed to himself. Not many people could embarrass Ziva David. This guy must really be unique.....
"So, what can I do for you guys today?" Cohen asked.
"We just have a few more questions for you, but I am afraid we will have to bring you in."
"Oh, that's no problem," he readily agreed, grabbing his wallet-much to Tony and Ziva's surprise.
"Well, um, alrighty then, if you'll just step out..." Tony's voice faded as he and Cohen walked out the door. Ziva, on the other hand, had frozen on her way out after noticing a piece of paper on his coffee table. She moved the pen that was laying over the writing.
NCIS, Agent Dalid?
NCIS-Agent David
Ziva could not believe what she was seeing. She read the writing on the paper over and over again, her hear skipping a beat. What had Cohen written her name down for? She sighed out of frustration over not knowing the meaning of whatever this was, and moved the pen back to where it had been. Looking up, she walked out of the door and shut it, the piece of paper still on her mind, and then got into the drivers seat of their car.
"You ready?" Tony asked her, frowning at the confused look on her face.
"Oh, um, yes. Sorry." She started the car up and they drove back to Headquarters.
Ziva watched Cohen through the glass, frowning. He was only sitting there, calmly, lightly tapping his fingers on the table before him. His face was almost blank, except for the fact that his eyebrows were slightly turned down, his forehead creased in thought.
She almost felt sorry for him-he looked a little confused. Ziva knew what he felt like…it had not been too long ago that she had been the one in the chair, being accused, being questioned....interrogated. She wished she could go over and speak with him, but knew that Gibbs had told her to stay in the viewing room. She sighed impatiently, but suddenly found herself smiling as Cohen looked up and gave a small smile, along with a wave, towards the window.
Tony glanced at Ziva, who was standing beside him. He frowned, then turned back to look at Cohen again. Something didn't feel right. That crooked smile Ziva was wearing, the way she wouldn't (or couldn't) stop looking at Cohen...it wasn't right.
Luckily enough for him, Gibbs opened the door to interrogation just then.
"Mr. Cohen," he nodded.
"Agent Gibbs," he nodded back. "Have you found anything else out?"
"We found out who the victim was."
Cohen waited patiently as Gibbs sat down, never looking away from him.
"Does the name Joshua Lutz ring any bells?"
There was a brief moment of silence as he mulled this over.
"Mmm.....not that I can think of."
"No? How about UCLA, somewhere in the 90's?"
He looked down, guilt on his face. "Yeah."
"Yeah."
Ziva looked up at Tony, but they were both silent.
"But you don't remember a Joshua Lutz?"
Cohen remained silent and continued to look at the glass window behind Gibbs' head.
Gibbs exhaled deeply in frustration and slammed his clenched fist on the table.
"I find it hard to believe that you have no earthly idea as to who Joshua Lutz is!" He yelled.
"I am sorry, sir, but I don't."
Gibbs stared at him, glaring into his eyes. Cohen, however, did not break. In fact, he remained quite calm, not even breaking a sweat. Gibbs looked down, his open palms spread out across the table, then looked back up, turning around to walk out of the room. Tony and Ziva quickly left the viewing room to join him.
"Keep him here for a while. He'll break eventually."
The two nodded silently in response, and then turned back.
"DiNozzo, go have a chat with him!" Gibbs called from down the hall.
"Will do, Boss!" Tony called back. He turned to look at Ziva as he walked towards the door to Interrogation. "This should be fun."
Ziva laughed at Tony's evil grin and opened the door to the viewing room once again. "Be nice."
He scoffed. "Yeah, okay."
"Hey, man! So what's been goin' on?"
Cohen opened his mouth to reply, but was quickly interrupted by Tony.
"Okay, let's forget I asked that. How about you just tell me why you won't admit you knew Lutz?"
He closed his eyes in what seemed to be frustration, and then opened them, sighing. "Look, man, I don't know who the hell this Lutz guy is. So, how about you just tell me why you people can't understand that?"
"Because we know you did. There are waayy too many connections for you to have not known him."
"Then someone's setting me up or something, 'cause I don't have a freakin' clue as to who the guy is!"
"So you're still not gonna admit it?'
"There's nothing to admit!"
"Gettin' a little frustrated there?"
"Well yeah, because, once again, I'm being wrongly accused of murder!"
"You murdered Joshua Lutz on Tuesday, and then you stabbed him over and over again, until you had your revenge, didn't you?" Tony yelled.
"No! What revenge? I don't have anything to do with the guy!"
"Your college record says otherwise!"
"How many times do I have to tell you people? I don't know who-" Cohen suddenly stopped screaming, looking over towards the door.
Tony turned to see who it was, and then turned back to face Cohen.
Gibbs had entered the room again, holding a small file in his hand. He walked over to the table to stand beside Cohen, and then pulled out a picture, tossing the rest of the file onto the table.
Cohen stared at it for a minute, his eyes wide. He then abruptly turned away, his eyes glazing over. He couldn't bear the photograph of the corpse…his heart turned violently inside of his chest.
"This," Gibbs said, pausing, "is Joshua M. Lutz." His voice was even, calm.
The two agents were startled to see Cohen look up with tears in his eyes.
"Joshua Lutz," he started shakily, "was my best friend. For a long time. He was the best friend a guy could ask for. And then he turned into this....monster of a person."
Tony looked back at the window, surprise clearly marked on his face.
Ziva's eyes were wide in shock as well. This had not been expected. She looked at Tony, who was still looking in her direction. After a few seconds of silence had passed, Tony turned back to Cohen, as did Ziva.
"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked.
"He....he used to be this really great guy. Honest, loyal, nice, strong, cool-the whole package. And then one day, he started…stealing all this money from different people, and started sleeping with all of his friends' girls." Cohen paused, looking down at his folded hands in his lap. "He convinced my fiancée Valerie to leave me and go off with him. He just…he turned into some kind of dirtbag."
"And why the hell did you not share this information with us the first time we asked you?" Gibbs yelled.
Cohen hesitated. "Because I would have been killed."
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