Ok, y'all, here's the next chapter. Thank you to those of you who reviewed, you know who you are, your feedback means the world to me.
Erin
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His head in his hands, Lance Corporal Brian Finnegan looked every bit the part of the grieving husband. His dark hair was tousled from running his fingers through it, and his eyes bright with unshed tears. During his interview with Ziva and Gibbs, he had to keep pausing and put his hand over his eyes to gather himself again. Used to this, they would give him a moment, and then continue with the questions. Seated around a picnic table in the front yard, Ziva and Gibbs began with the easiest questions.
"Where you the one who found your wife Lance Corporal Finnegan?"
"No ma'am." At this, Ziva shot him an angry glare, her dislike for being called ma'am rearing up again. Slightly abashed by her glare, he continued, "I left the house at 07:30 this morning for work. I... I haven't been inside yet. I couldn't bear to have the last time I see her be looking like, well, not alive."
"Who found your wife then Lance Corporal?"
"My neighbor sir, she and Aidan go out running every day after the bus picks Colleen up for school. Or, I guess, they went running"
At his words about the bus, Ziva looked at him questioningly. "Colleen?"
Eyes never leaving his hands, the Lance Corporal answered her quietly, "Colleen is our daughter. She's 4 and in Kindergarten, goes to the afternoon class. She went to pre-school, and they said she was ready for Kindergarten even though it was a year early. The bus picks her up at about 12:15, and-" Gibbs cut him off before he could continue, "Where is your daughter now Lance Corporal?"
A confused look on his face, he replied, "She's at school. I thought it would be best to leave her there, I thought all of the confusion would scare her. I was going to pick her up from school today anyway; we were all going to go out to a movie…" He trailed off, tears threatening to fall again. The questions continued along the same lines for some time, the answers coming slowly, and painfully, and then, "Do you have any pets Lance Corporal?"
The question from Gibbs, seemingly out of the blue, brought the conversation to a halt. "Pets sir? Umm, yes?"
Nodding slightly, but not looking at the Lance Corporal, Gibbs continued, "What kind of pets do you have?"
"Excuse me?" Lance Corporal Finnegan asked, his confused look returning, "What does that have to do with anything?"
Gibbs eyes still did not lift to meet the other man's. His voice remained calm, with just the slightest overtone of impatience, barely perceptible, but there all the same. "Just answer the question Lance Corporal."
Noting the change of tone, the Lance Corporal complied, "We have two dogs. A Border Collie, and a Black Lab. Now, are you going to tell me why you wanted to know or not?"
Finally looking at the other man, Gibbs' voice softened a little, "I'm sorry to say that at least one of your dogs was killed as well."
When he heard this, the Lance Corporal's face drained of color, his hand rising to cover his mouth again. Standing, Gibbs placed his hand briefly on the man's shoulder, then turned to the house, leaving Ziva to follow, confused in his wake.
"There are other questions we should be asking him, no?"
Not bothering to slow down, he gestured for her to catch up before answering, "There's something that's been bothering me since he mentioned his daughter. I want to check on it before we do anything else." Finding Ducky in the living room, helping to load the body onto the gurney, he stopped and opened his note pad again. "Duck, you got a TOD for me yet?"
Coming around to join the others by the door, Ducky considered for a moment before answering, "Well, Jethro, liver temp was 92.3, so with the room at ambient temperature, unless she was running a fever, which is entirely possible, and I won't know for sure until I get her back-"
Cutting Ducky off before he could get to far into one of his usual rants, Gibbs re-iterated, "TOD Duck."
Looking slightly ashamed, Ducky faltered to a stop. Looking between Gibbs, Ziva, and the body, he continued, "Well, I would say that she died between 3 ½ and 4 ½ hours ago. As I was saying, I won't know for-" He stopped short again, because Gibbs had moved past him and into the kitchen, to find Tony and McGee still hard at work on the tasks he had assigned them. The scene was grizzly, and there was no place that was entirely safe to look. The guys looked up as Gibbs rushed in, followed by Ziva, who was no less confused than she had been when they had left the Lance Corporal.
Ignoring the looks his team was exchanging, he brushed past them, only pausing to find a safe place to step, and made his way to the fridge. Looking over it for a minute, he pulled a sheet of paper off, and headed out the back door. As the others tried to follow, he turned around long enough to tell them to stay, and to get back to work.
When the door had closed, Tony turned to Ziva, "You know what that was about?"
"I have absolutely no idea. We were talking to the Lance Corporal when he got up and left quite suddenly. It almost looked as though he had sat on a porkuswine."
Grinning at her, he couldn't resist pointing out her mistake, "It's porcupine Zee-Vah."
With a muttered "Whatever" she turned to grab a pair of gloves and help with the bagging and tagging. Several long, gruesome minutes later, Gibbs returned, his calm demeanor gone, replaced by pure anger.
"Colleen Finnegan never showed up at school today. We have a missing child."