Hello lovely people, this is chapter 4 of the au story of Kate and Gibbs from NCIS. I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read it so far, special thanks to Nikki, again, for being an amazing editor and great help in the writing process. I'd love to hear your oppinions on the new chapter soon!
The drive to the crime scene is silent. It is a really strange thing, actually. Usually, DiNozzo doesn't shut up. This time, as if sensing that his boss is quite edgy, Tony keeps his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself. McGee, on the other hand, is stuck to his mobile, constantly tapping on the flat screen. He seems kind of restless, but he's silent too. After half an hour of struggling through traffic, they finally arrive at the crime scene – a road, leading to a district just outside of town. It's a typical road – nothing much about it, actually, with trees, covered with heavy snow growing beside and deep snowdrifts. As they approach the exact spot though, signs that something has happened start to pile up. At first, it seems cars have plugged into the road. Then in the distance, there is just a hint of blue and red flashes, but for the agents that is quite enough to know they're on the right path. And just as they get to the local police cars – a lot of well-trodden snow area. And, of course, the obligatory yellow crime scene tape, stretched between the old trees and some of the cars for lack of better spots. Kate's brow furrows when she doesn't see the actual cause for their presence though. It always bugs her when she doesn't know what she's up against and the police officer in charge had been pretty brief on the phone.
"Look at those houses!" Tony says, getting out of the vehicle, his eyes dreamy when he takes a look at the first few buildings, just a couple hundred yards across from them. "Wouldn't you like to live in a house like that, probie?"
Tim catches as much as a glimpse of the houses that are all probably property of people who make a decent amount of money, a lot more than he makes anyway, before shaking his head. "No. Not my type of place, Tony," he grunts, taking out a crime scene kit and a big camera out of the trunk of the car. His breath is visible in the cold air and his feet almost instantly get cold. God, how he wishes to be back at the office doing research right now, maybe with Abby…
"Are you kidding me?!" the senior agent exclaims, waiting with his arms spread out for McGee to laugh it off. Instead, he gets an eye roll and a grim shake of the head. "You are serious, aren't you?"
Agent Todd is almost out of her skin by this time. Today is one of those days when she wants them to be all business and Tony just doesn't get it. What's more, she's just finished speaking to the officer in charge and she really doesn't like what she's heard. "No, he is not, DiNozzo, and if you don't get yourself out there,I wouldn't be "kidding" you either when I leave you on desk duty for the rest of the case."
Ouch. Kate herself is a little startled by her outburst, but her confident tone shows no sign of insecurities and sometimes the guys have to be reminded who's in charge anyway. Well, maybe Tonyespecially. Actually, only Tony. Still, she wants to deal with the matter with elegance, not force. Thinking about that, she puts up the collar of her coat, sighing secretly, and stands in front of the two men. "We've got three victims in what seemed to be an accident to the police – a man, a woman and a child." She lets that sink in, her eyes moving from McGee to DiNozzo and then, towards the ME van, finally able to cope with the snow.
"What makes them think it's not an accident, boss?" the senior agent asks. His tone is all business now, no sign of what has happened only a few minutes ago. He's ready for action and Kate feels relieved. She's been the head of the team for two years now. Two quarters of that time she actually spent gaining the trust, loyalty and respect of these two men, the lab scientist, and the medical examiner. As far as she knew, they'd had some issues with their previous two leaders, but had been extremely loyal to the guy before them, some sort of a legend in the ranks of NCIS with a weird name and tragic story they were all secretive about. Being their leader came with a lot of shared history between them and her becoming the outsider and kind of an enemy to them, the bad guy, woman, whatever, put in charge to make their lives miserable. Proving herself had been hard, but two years and a few life threatening situations and near death experiences later had put some bridges between them as a team and at a certain scale, even as friends.
Back to the case, Kate turns to Tony and continues, "A bullet in the head of the man who happens to be the driver. This is probably the cause of the accident in the first place. Now I need you, McGee, down there to take some photos of the crime scene. Just be careful – it's slippery and I don't want you in a cast for a month. Tony, I need you to go with him and collect the evidence, and most importantly, look for the weapon. I'm going to speak to the officers who arrived first on the scene."
"On it, boss." DiNozzo nods. His tone indicates there's no bad water between them and no hard feelings whatsoever. Even though he can be a pain in the butt, he's a good agent and thinking about it,Kate's glad she has him around.
"Come on, McQuiet!"
Agent Todd smirks and digs her hands even deeper into her pockets as she turns to welcome the ME – Dr. Ducky Mallard, and his assistant – a young guy called Powel? Palmer? He's been with them for a few weeks now, but Kate never got to see that much of him as to remember his name. Not yet, anyway. She felt a punch of guilt about it, but then again, it's been a couple of hellish weeks. "Hey, doctor."
The older man's lips twitch into a sincere smile when he sees her. "Caitlin! It's good to see you!" His voice is loud, but raspy, as he shakes her hand, then, continues, while his assistant – Palmer indeed, as the name on his jacket states – takes a stretcher out of the back of the medical van. "Ah, well, good for us, but not for the poor person who lost his life. You know, statistics show over a few thousand people die every year in accidents. That's why I tend to avoid driving outside of town in the snowy season."
Kate barely suppresses a smile as the short and a little bit chubby man continues his babble about cars and victims. She can actually remember the first time she met him and how he wouldn't stop talking about the structure of the heart and the various reasons it can fail. And then all of a sudden he started talking about a conference and a woman and it got really weird. Ducky was halfway through the story about the drinks they were having and how they affected them when Kate asked him about the autopsy report she'd actually come down there to see. He was a funny guy and if they had the time she'd really love to listen to his stories and lessons, but alas, they didn't. The policemen are getting impatient to get home; also, Tony and McGee are beginning to crystallize in the cold.
"Well, the season definitely wasn't lucky for these three people." The agent shakes her head as she leads the way to the slope, walking to the actual accident site. The car is down in the ditch. It is not very high, just a meter and a half, and Kate is wondering why the woman and the boy hadn't survived the crash. The vehicle doesn't seem that muchsmashed. She tries not to jump to conclusions anyway. Evidence is what leads her.
She's up for a surprise when they go down the slope, though. "What have you got?" she asks Tony, who's just out of the car.
"Credentials," the agent states somehow darkly. "The woman and boy are Laura and Kyle Spade, 39 and 12. The driver's documents claim his name was Joseph Green. He was 38." A pause in Tony's voice follows when he looks at her. "He's one of ours - I found a badge and a holstered service gun."
Agent Todd feels her face flinch. She doesn't bother to hide it. "Any idea of his connection to the boy and the woman?" she asks. Ducky is almost by the spot they're standing now, helping Palmer.
"None." McGee shifts to meet her gaze, too. "But there are bags in the trunk. Seems like serious preparation for a long time away from home to me."
"You've taken pictures?"
McGee only nods in affirmation.
"Good, let's help Ducky as much as we can and go somewhere warm."
"I looked at the bullet hole, boss," Tony interjects, letting his words settle in. "It looks like an execution. The car has traces of impact on one side, but it's hard to determine with certainty because it seems like the car rolled over on its way down."
Kate looks at the car. The bodies are still there and she can see them. A woman, a man and a boy, possibly going on running from something that got them before they got to safety. Her heart suddenly feels heavy. By now Ducky has put on his surgical gloves and gets closer to the site. The moment he looks closely at the bodies, his face turns pale, his brow furrows and his lips turn to a thin line.
"Everything all right, Ducky?" Tony asks before Kate can get the chance.
"I've seen this before," the medical examiner says, getting on his feet. "This… this crime scene. Excuse me, I need a minute." With these words, spoken in a low, shaky voice, he takes the gloves off and walks away from the car, leaving three astonished agents and a clueless assistant standing by.