"So, what have we got?" Gibbs asked as he entered the squad room. He glanced quickly at DiNozzo, who seemed to have his eyes fixed on Gibbs.
"Everything all right?" DiNozzo asked, as he continued to watch Gibbs. Gibbs laughed silently.
"Just waiting for an update, Tony." Gibbs said as he turned to face him.
"I just talked to a hotel manager. Apparently, a lieutenant was found dead at a luxury hotel. Her body was stuffed inside a large suitcase." DiNozzo said, as he continued to watch Gibbs.
"There is more Gibbs. The lieutenant was a witness to a case we investigated two years ago." Ziva started to explain.
"Really? What case was that?" Gibbs asked looking down.
"Well, you. . .you wouldn't remember the details. You were in Mexico at the time." Ziva added. Gibbs looked up at her in surprise.
"All right, grab your gear." Gibbs ordered. Gibbs watched as his team headed for the elevator. As he looked up, he noticed that Vance was hanging over the banister watching him. Vance nodded at him and walked away. Gibbs jumped into the elevator with the rest of his team.
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At the crime scene, Gibbs was interviewing the metro police that first arrived at the scene. Meanwhile, Ziva was interviewing the hotel manager. McGee and Tony were snapping photos and sketching the scene. Tony walked over to raise the crime scene tap, as Ducky and Palmer arrived at the crime scene with a gurney.
"Ah, thank you, Anthony." Ducky said, giving Tony a bright, long smile. Tony finally walked away after feeling uncomfortable from that gesture.
"I think Ducky is mad at me." Tony said to McGee.
"Why? What did you do?" McGee asked in an accusing manner.
"I don't know, but he just thanked me and gave me a really nice, bright, long smile." Tony said suspiciously.
"Oh, yeah. He is seriously pissed at you, DiNozzo." McGee said with a laugh.
"Man, I love these luxury hotels." DiNozzo redirected as he looked up the large marble staircase. "I used to have so much fun at these."
"When have you ever stayed in a hotel like this, Tony?" McGee asked. Tony turned to McGee with an expression that called out "come on—are you kidding?".
"When I was a kid, my dad would take me on his business trips and basically never really came back to the room. I would become so familiar with the staff that they would basically let me do whatever I wanted." Tony explained as he squatted down and continued to snap pictures. "They would let me in all the employee rooms and. . ."
"Tony?" Gibbs interrupted as he listened to Tony's story. "I am putting you in charge of this investigation." Gibbs handed Tony the file from the local police department.
"What?" Tony said nervously as he slowly stood up.
"Here. This is your case." Gibbs said as he watched Tony's nervous reaction.
"But you are here. You are not in Mexico, acting as director, injured, or being held hostage. You are here. There is no reason why you can't run this investigation." Tony tried to explain to Gibbs.
"So far, the only suspect that we have is someone that you interviewed before from the old case. The old case --that, you, were in charge of. Now, . . ." Gibbs approached very closely to Tony, treating with an intense stare. "You are running this investigation. Do you need a head slap?"
"Uh, maybe, Boss." Tony answered nervously. Tony braced himself, preparing for the head slap that never came. Instead, Gibbs handed him the file and walked away. Tony looked over at McGee who had been listening to the whole discussion. McGee was surprised by the exchange, but he was even more amazed that Tony almost seemed scared to run the investigation.
Ziva, McGee, and Tony continued to collect their crime scene details. Ducky and Palmer prepped the body for transport. They did this all as Gibbs stood aside in the hotel lobby.
"All right. We are done here." Tony said as he surveyed and looked to Ziva and McGee for their approval. As Tony grabbed the file and suit case to leave, Ziva turned to McGee in confusion.
"What is going on? Where is Gibbs?" Ziva asked in confusion.
"He is in the lobby." McGee answered with a shrug in disbelief of the words that just came out of his mouth.
As the three of them approached the lobby, they watched as Gibbs held the door open for them to walk outside. Gibbs was rewarded with three very unsure "thank you's" and three very confused glances. Gibbs got into the driver's seat, as the three agents seemed to silently be fighting over who would have to sit next to Gibbs, as they loaded their evidence into the trunk.
"Come on. He is obviously furious with me." Tony shot back at them.
"Oh yeah. First Ducky smiles and says thank you to you, and you think he is pissed at you. Now, Gibbs entrusts you to run the investigation, so he must be furious with you, that really makes sense." McGee laughed as he teased Tony about the whole idea.
"Fine. I'll sit next to him. We are still all in the same car!" Ziva shot back at them. The car ride was extremely quiet, as the three of them shot concerned glances at each other over Gibbs' behavior.
Gibbs headed for the elevator in the garage, as the rest of the team grabbed their evidence.
"We are going to have to interview her family again. We will also need to bring in our suspect and talk to his family." Tony said in almost a whisper, as Gibbs was just out of ear range. "Yeah, remember the Bundy's?"
"I believe that their last name is Monroe." Ziva pointed out in confusion.
"I know, but, if you recall, they behave very much like the Bundy's." Tony said in slight irritation that she did not catch the joke. Tony started to tense up again, as his attempt at joking about this situation did not seem to be helping. Ziva and McGee were only adding to how uncomfortable he was.
"I'll get these to Abby. And, I will get our arrest warrant." Tony said. "Do you want to interview the families?" Tony finally asked.
"Sure." Ziva and McGee said in relief that they could get away from "whatever" was going on with Gibbs. Tony gave a small smile in realization of how happy they were to leave, and then he headed for the elevator. Gibbs was still standing there.
"Did you. . ." Tony started to ask, as he saw Gibbs lean forward to have his eye registered for the elevator doors to open. Gibbs grabbed the suit case from Tony's hand before he was about to drop the file in his other hand. The two entered the elevator.
"Boss?" Tony asked in surprised of the gesture and in concern of his boss' behavior.
"I have all the confidence in you, Tony. . .in running this investigation." Gibbs said, as the elevator doors opened at Abby's level. Tony grabbed the suit case back from Gibbs and headed for Abby's lab. Gibbs continued up to the squad room.
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"Tony!" Abby yelled as Tony entered her lab. "What do you have for me?"
"Well, I seem to be running two separate investigations right now, Abs." Tony said, which caused a very confused reaction from Abby. "One involves the murder of a Navy Lieutenant, while the other involves the mysterious behavior of one, Leroy Jethro Gibbs." Abby grabbed the suit case from Tony, and then turned to hear more details from Tony.
"Why? What is wrong with Gibbs? Is he being nice to you again? I know that really freaks you out." Abby stated with a smile.
"Well . . ." Tony began to explain what happened at the hotel.
