Chapter Fifteen
Tony shook his head resolutely. "No Abs, that's not possible. I know I'm right, it has to be someone down here."
"They call that a gut feeling." Gibbs said from the doorway. "What have you got?"
"We found one print that's common to all nine crime scenes," Abby reported, hitting keys on the keyboard.
"And why haven't we found this sooner?"
"That's my point!" Tony raised his hands in frustration. "The data's been tampered with, otherwise we would have gotten results sooner. Which means that somebody working in this department is our guy."
"Then what's the problem here?" Gibbs frowned.
"If it was someone from forensics, their prints would be in the system," Abby said. "The prints don't match any from the databases." She turned to Tony and their eyes met.
"Abby… it's not possible to delete a name from the database, is it?"
"No, once you're in it, you stay in it. Even if you quit or get fired, your name, photo, basic information remains in the system."
"We've established that whoever is doing this messed with the fingerprint information, right?"
Gibbs' lips twitched as he watched DiNozzo. He'd seen that look before; the sparks of inspiration flying in his eyes. It was the look of a person who'd just cracked a case. Abby nodded to Tony.
"So we know our guy is a computer geek, it's pretty much a job requirement down here." Tony said, tilting his head toward the door separating Abby's lab from the rest of the forensic department. "Who's to say he hasn't altered his own information in the system? All he has to do is swap his fingerprints for someone that hasn't been entered into the database, nobody's going to notice and he gets away with rape and murder."
"Abby, can you see which profiles have been modified recently?" Gibbs asked.
"I can, narrowing it down to the weeks around the time when the attacks first began. But it's not going to help if he modified the prints before that, or if he was recently employed here."
"How many people work in forensics here?" Gibbs turned to Tony.
"Including part-time and assistants… about twenty people. We use keycards rather than fingerprint scans to access the building here, so he could have changed the prints months ago and there's no reason for anyone to notice; the bastard's obviously been planning the attacks."
"Tony's right, Gibbs," Abby piped up. "It'll be faster if we retake the prints of everyone working here and compare them to the print at the nine crime scenes."
"And while you're at it, go over the rosters over the past eight weeks, the guy has to have worked on all seven cases until you took over," Gibbs added. Abby jumped up, hurrying back to her own computer to access the staff documents.
"The morning shift will be in pretty soon." Tony noted.
"I'm going to make sure the night shift don't go anywhere," Gibbs decided, heading for the door. "Call me as soon as you get something Abs. Tony, grab an ink pad and start getting their prints."
Ten minutes later Tony returned with prints from all seven members of the night shift. Gibbs had remained, waiting for the morning staff to arrive and keeping an eye on the night shift.
"You want me to scan these in?" Tony called out, holding up the papers. Abby pushed herself across on the swivel-chair.
"Nah, I'll do the comparison by hand. I've downloaded the staff rosters over the past eight weeks around the times of the attacks. See if you can find a connection while I do this."
Tony grabbed a chair and began a program search, setting it to sweep through each of the rosters for a common name. He watched Abby as she held up a magnifying glass, trying to match the fingerprint from the belt buckle to each of the prints from the forensic staff.
"I think I've got something," she called out. Tony walked over. Through the small glass pane on the door he could see Captain Vernski talking to Gibbs in the hallway. Gibbs didn't look happy.
"I'll put it into the computer to be sure, but I think this is a match."
Tony looked down at the two prints Abby was comparing. They were, as far as he could tell, identical.
"Who's is it?"
"Jake Anders." Abby read from the paper.
"Jake? As in nerdy Jake the lab assistant? – Are you sure?" Tony's computer beeped and he walked back to check on it. "Abs you're right, he was working evidence on all seven cases."
"Jake's the Friday Rapist." Abby's wide eyes met Tony's. "I never would have thought… I mean, he's so quiet… I guess he does fit the profile."
Abby picked up the phone to call Gibbs. Tony could see he was still stuck at the end of the hall in conversation with Vernski. His eyes darted across to the adjacent room where the seven members of the night shift had been placed, looking for Jake. He counted six people.
"Jake's gone, Abby."
When she didn't reply, Tony turned from the window. As he did, he heard a faint but distinctive 'click'. A loaded gun.
"I know," Abby whispered. Jake stood behind her, his arm crooked around her neck.
"The one that got away," he hissed into her ear. She flinched, unable to move. Tony moved forward, but Jake swung the gun around so it was pointing at Tony, tightening his hold on Abby. "One more step and I'll shoot. Now, we're leaving. Any attempts to alert anyone or escape and I'll blow your brains out." He squeezed on Abby's neck and she whimpered.
Slowly, Tony reached for his gun. He cursed mentally when he realized it was still upstairs in his desk where he'd left it to interview the witness. Jake watched him with a smirk. "Don't tempt me DiNozzo. I've got nothing left to lose, I will shoot you if you try anything. And once you're dead, I can finish what I started with Abby before you so rudely interrupted us. Now step away from the door. We're going out the back exit."
Still pointing the gun at Tony, Jake began backing out of the lab through the second door, dragging Abby with him. With one last despairing glance over his shoulder, Tony followed closely. The door to the stairwell thudded shut and Tony's eyes met Abby's. They were both thinking the same thing.
Gibbs.
TBC
Well, hopefully this is a start towards answering your questions :) More to come, I promise, although not for about a week; I don't have access to a computer until then. I hope this will tide you over until then, lol. Thanks so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them and again, I'm really sorry if I haven't responded to you personally. Have a great day!