Chapter 4: Back to work

At the car Kate opted for one of the back seats. Gibbs was going to drive and she couldn't bear the thought of sitting on the passenger's seat with Tony right behind her. She'd go crazy feeling his look on the back of her head. So she quietly sat in the back of the car, staring out of the window and desperately trying not to look at Tony. She did notice, though, that he was unusually quiet. Actually, he didn't say a word during the whole ride to the crime scene and Gibbs dropped some comments about being finally able to imagine how peaceful life would be without Tony. Kate felt with him.

A twenty-two year old male ensign had been found dead in the small alley behind a bar in the city. The owner of the bar was at the scene, along with two of the ensign's comrades who had been at the bar with the victim. Gibbs and Tony questioned the three men while Kate and McGee investigated the crime scene. Ducky was there too and had already finished his first examination of the body.

"COD?" Kate asked.

"Most likely blood loss from the stab wound in his abdomen – since it's the only obvious wound."

"And since the victim is lying in a pool of his own blood", Kate thought. Aloud, she said: "Are we looking for a knife?"

"Very likely", the M.E. commented, leaning closer over the wound. "Can't be sure before the autopsy, of course."

"Of course", Kate sighed. She looked over the crime scene. Tony was standing at some distance, talking with one of the two ensigns. McGee was looking inside the dumpster that was standing next to the back door of the bar. She went over to him.

"Ducky says we are looking for a knife with blood on it", she said.

McGee nodded. "This murder looks like the outcome of a simple bar-fight to me", he said.

"Yes, it does", Kate nodded. She was still fighting the urge to look over to where Tony was standing. That's why she didn't notice when he came over to her and jumped at the sound of his voice – she hadn't heard him talk since his "Hey, Kate" this morning.

"The ensign's friends say that the three of them came to the bar to drink some beers and maybe chat with some girls. Around midnight, the victim left because he was supposed to be on duty this morning. That was the last time the two of them saw him."

"And they didn't mention anything else?" Kate asked, desperately trying to keep her voice neutral. Her heart had just skipped a beat at the thought of what she had been doing around last midnight. She cleared her throat. "Was there an argument with someone in the bar? Anything like that?"

Tony shook his head. "Seems like our vic was a friendly guy. No enemies the two over there could think of. He didn't even talk to anyone else in the bar yesterday – except the waitress, who's supposed to be here within the next minutes."

"Why isn't she still here?" Kate asked. "Did she just go home after a dead body was found behind the bar?"

"Her shift was over at one o'clock. She left through the front door and went home – or so did the barkeeper say."

At that moment Gibbs reached them and looked them over questioningly.

"What is it, boss?" Tony asked.

"Well, we are here at a crime scene and to me it seems like the street is quite empty – except for the body."

"Yes?" Tony said, hesitantly.

"Then why the hell isn't anyone of you inside the dumpster yet?" he suddenly yelled, making McGee jump and Tony wince.

Tony obviously didn't feel the urgent need to pass the rest of the morning digging through other people's garbage. He looked at Gibbs, then at McGee and since he didn't seem to be able to look at Kate, this was going to be a thing between him and McGee. The decision fell over a game of "stone, paper, scissors". Tony won.

"Best of three!" McGee whined, but Tony shook his head and turned away from him.

"Tony, Kate", Gibbs barked and they both looked at him. "Seems like the waitress has just arrived." He nodded in the direction where the barkeeper was still standing. An attractive blonde was now standing next to him and Kate couldn't help but look at Tony. She shouldn't have. There was that look on his face that normally made her roll her eyes, but that today made her chest ache.

"You want me to question her, boss?" he asked.

"You two go over and find out if she noticed something suspicious. I'll talk to Ducky about the estimated time of death."

Sighing inside, Kate followed Tony out of the alley. He went straight for the tall blonde, who was wearing ridiculously tight jeans and a top that was hardly worth the effort of putting it on at all – for it hardly covered anything. A surprised smile spread on her overly made-up face when she saw Tony and reached for the hand he offered to shake it.

"Good morning, Ma'am", he said, smiling at her. "I am very sorry that you were disturbed so early in the morning. I will try to make this as quick as possible."

"Don't worry", she answered warmly. "Take your time."

Kate was fighting the urge to throw up.

The waitress – Candy, what a surprise! - didn't have much to tell them, either. She remembered having seen the three ensigns in the bar, but hadn't noticed any interaction between them and other guests.

"Would you have noticed if they had talked to someone?" Kate asked. It was her first question.

The blonde nodded seriously, eyes fixed on Tony. "I'm pretty sure I would have. You know, with the fight earlier that evening I was a little nervous."

"Fight?" Kate and Tony echoed.

The waitress looked at them and shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, the fight. Earlier in the evening, two men got into a fight over a game of cards. One punched the other in the face, then they were separated by their friends. The one who was bleeding left shortly afterwards."

"Why didn't anyone tell us about it?" Tony.

"Well …" The blonde smiled dumbly. "You asked if I'd noticed anything suspicious while the three ensigns were in the bar and I said no. They arrived after the fight was already over."

Kate sighed. She looked at Tony and for the first time today his gaze met hers for more than a second.

"Do you remember anything about the men who got into the fight? Or maybe your boss does?" Kate looked at the waitress expectantly.

"Well yes, I remember what they looked like. But I didn't know them. Maybe Bill can help you, though."

Kate happily volunteered to go and talk to the barkeeper, so she could get away from Tony. Bill, how the blonde had referred to him, remembered the fight and could give her the first name of one of the men involved: Ed. Wonderful, she thought, not like that was a common name!

"Ed's been here a couple of times", the barkeeper continued. "Hadn't seen the other one before, though. Young guy – and obviously knew how to defend himself. Sent Ed to the ground with a bleeding nose."

"Why?"

"I think Ed owed the other one money after the game. But he didn't want to pay and accused the young guy of cheating. He threatened him, then the fight started."

"Did Ed leave afterwards?"

"Yes. Felt embarrassed, I could tell."

"And he didn't come back?"

"Didn't see him again."

"Okay." Kate sighed. "We're going to need a description of Ed and the other guy. Do you think you could help us with it?"

"Sure."

Leaving Bill with one of the officers Kate returned to Tony and the blonde, in time to see her cover her lips with one hand and giggle ridiculously at something Tony had just said. He grinned broadly, obviously pleased with himself. Before Kate reached them he handed the waitress his card and told her to call him in case she remembered something else. But Kate saw the small wink he gave her. The blonde slipped the card into her purse then stepped next to Tony, took the pen out of his hand and started to write on his notepad.

"This is my private number", she explained. "In case you have any more questions." She touched his arm lightly before going back over to Bill.

Kate watched her leave, then looked at Tony. When she saw the expression that showed on his face while he watched the waitress walk away, she felt her heart break a little bit more.

It was after midday when they had talked to everyone they were able to find who had been in the bar last night. However, they hadn't been able to get a lead on the two men who had been involved in the fight yesterday evening.

McGee had emptied the dumpster into five huge black plastic bags, which were now waiting to be sent to the lab. Kate, Tony, McGee and Gibbs gathered in front of the car to put together the things they'd heard.

"After everything we've heard it's quite unlikely that Ensign Tyler got into a fight or an argument last night", Tony said. "He came into the bar and had some drinks with his friends, then left."

"And somehow ended in the street behind the bar", McGee added.

Tony stepped a little bit closer to him, sniffled carefully and then quickly drew back. "You smell like …", he started, but was interrupted by McGee who suggested: "A dumpster, Tony? What a surprise!"

Tony looked around at the others, but Gibbs hadn't been paying attention and Kate was studying her notepad. When would she be able to look at him again?

Sighing, Tony let McGee alone and continued: "For me there are two possibilities", he said. "Number one is that something happened in the bar while he was there that none of the others noticed. Sometimes one look is enough …"

"Unlikely", Gibbs interrupted. "What's number two?"

"Number two is that he got into a fight after leaving the bar. It's still strange, though, that no-one noticed."

"What's strange to me is that there was a fight in that bar and three hours later a man was stabbed", Kate said. "And that this man seems to have had no relation to the fight at all. Isn't that quite a coincidence?"

"There are fights at bars all the time, Kate", Tony reasoned.

"How clever, Tony!" Kate snapped. "What are you suggesting? That we just ignore it happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Gibbs asked her.

"Maybe the fight wasn't over after the guys left the bar. Maybe they started the fight again outside and Ensign Tyler somehow got into it."

"But he died three hours after the fight", Tony reminded her. "Why would they've stayed so long?"

"I don't know!" she said angrily.

Tony sighed. He wasn't trying to find arguments against her, he simply wanted to discuss the case. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

Well, isn't that obvious, you idiot? You used the fact that she trusts you and spilled out her heart in front of you to get her into bed!

I didn't try to get her into bed! It just happened.

Then why are you feeling so guilty?

Tony looked over at Kate. The afternoon sun made her dark hair glitter and her eyes shine even though there was this angry look in them. He sighed. He felt guilty for having sneaked out in the night. But he'd known he wouldn't be able to face her when she woke up. He hadn't wanted to see the shock on her face when she realised what she'd done. What he'd done. He didn't know what he'd expected it to be like in the office. He'd thought he would just wait and hope for the best. Then she'd come in, looking all tired and exhausted and sad and he'd felt even worse. He had done that to her, because he was too much a slave to his hormones to be able to keep his feelings at bay. Secretly he'd hoped for her to smile at him when she saw him and give him a look that would say: "We're okay. We'll talk about it later." But nothing of it had happened. She had just looked at him in shock and hadn't said a word. It was then that he'd decided he would make this as easy as possible for her by acting as if nothing had happened. Maybe she could forget about it then, even if he knew he never would. But now he knew that it wasn't going to be that easy, for neither of them. All he could do was make clear to her that he didn't expect anything and that she didn't have to worry about him going after her.

"I'm with Kate here", Gibbs finally said. "There might be a relation between the fight and the ensign's death. What we have to do now is find those guys who were involved in the fight. McGee, you're going back to the office. Help Abby process the evidence. Kate, Tony, you'll check the nearest hospitals. One of the men was hurt in the fight. Check if anyone matching our description showed up at one of the hospitals last night."

Tony and Kate nodded and were about to turn around, when Gibbs called them once more: "I don't know what is going on between the two of you today, but I swear, if you don't keep it out of your work I will personally kick your sorry asses up the stairs to the director's office!" he threatened.

"Yes, boss", they said in unison.

tbc ...

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