Lance Corporal Brian Finnegan looked a bit dazedly around the NCIS conference room. He had been escorted in there by an unusually silent Tony DiNozzo, and left to wonder what was going on for the last half an hour. The silence abruptly ended when two angry NCIS agents burst through the door.

Ziva and Gibbs took the two seats across from him, and glared over the table. After a few moments, Gibbs began quietly, "Let's start again, this time with the truth, Lance Corporal."

Looking confused, he replied, "I told you the truth last time, so what is this about? What, you think I had something to do with Aidan's murder? Hell no, I loved my wife, and I would never do anything to hurt her."

Without raising his voice, Gibbs waited for the man to finish before continuing, "Where is your daughter, Lance Corporal?"

I took a moment before he answered, "I told you before, she's at school. The bus picked her up earlier. What is this about?"

Ziva looked at her hands for a moment before looking directly into the distressed man's eyes, "It has just been confirmed, your daughter never arrived at school today. The bus company corroborates this, they stopped at the house, but no one ever came out, so they assumed she had another ride, or was staying home, and had just forgotten to call."

The Lance Corporal shot up from his seat angrily, "No, that can't be true, she's safe, she's at school!" He strode around the table so he was face to face with Ziva, glaring down at her, shaking with anger. She returned his glare, and stood her ground as he continued to berate her, "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but this is the worst interrogation tactic ever."

Coming up behind the angry man, and gently putting his hand on a quaking shoulder, Gibbs spoke softly, "I'm sorry Lance Corporal, but she is telling you the truth. We just got confirmation. Your daughter is missing. I promise that we are doing everything we can to get her back to you safely."

Hearing this, the Lance Corporal slumped, defeated, into a chair, anger giving way to worry and tears, "What do you know so far?"

Sitting down next to him, Ziva took a moment to calm down before answering, "Not much yet, I'm afraid. We were hoping that you would be able to help us. Is there anyone that would want to hurt you or your wife? Any enemies?"

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Lance Corporal Finnegan gave a halting reply, "N…no, everyone loved Aidan. She had the typical Irish disposition, happy-go-lucky and loving. As for me, not that I can think of. I have had my fair share of disagreements, but none that I can see resulting in… well, this. Please, you have to find Colleen. I will do whatever it takes to help, Please, find my daughter…" With this desperate plea he trailed off into silence. All three jumped when that silence was shattered by the shrill ring of a cell phone. Pulling his phone off of his belt, Gibbs moved to the other side of the double doors to answer the call.

Ziva looked after him for a moment before turning back to the Lance Corporal, "We will do everything in our power to find your daughter as soon as pos—"

She hadn't even gotten through one sentence before Gibbs was back, "Ziva, with me, Ducky wants to see us. We'll be back in a little while Lance Corporal; I'll have someone bring you some water."

As they left, Ziva looked over her shoulder to see the Lance Corporal crying softly again. Turning to catch up to her boss, she couldn't help voicing her opinion, "I don't believe he was involved, he seems genuinely upset."

Without breaking stride, Gibbs answered, "Did you ever consider that maybe he's just upset he got caught?"

Colleen slept deeply after crying herself to sleep. Kate had laid her on the bed and tucked the covers in around her before moving over to the table and picking up the book she was mid way through. It wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep too. She woke with a start when the door was slammed open and food was carried in and set on the table. Before leaving, the man turned to Kate, "Make sure she eats."

With that, they were alone again. The building was quieter than Kate had heard it in a long time, and that scared her. They were planning something big, and somehow it involved the little girl.

Kate moved to the side of the bed and gently shook Colleen awake. The girl sat up slowly and looked around blearily before turning frightened eyes on Kate. "Where am I? W…who are you? Where's my m…mommy and d…daddy?"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kate spoke with as reassuring a tone as she could muster, "I'm Kate. Do you remember what happened to you Colleen? Some bad men took you and brought you here. I'm really sorry, but I really don't know any more than that."

Tears started to well up in the green eyes again, as the girl remembered the last few hours, "I think the bad men hurt my mommy."

Kate laid a hand gently on a small shoulder and Colleen looked up at her with trusting eyes. It hurt not to be able to tell the little girl that her parents were safe. "I'll keep you safe here, and I'm sure your mommy and daddy will be looking very hard for you. I know the people who will be helping them, and they are very good at what they do. Now, what do you say we get some food in your tummy? Hmm?"

Colleen nodded, her stomach growling its agreement. The little girl giggled at that, which brought a smile to Kate's face. What she wouldn't give to be that trusting again.

Tossing the covers off of her legs, Colleen scooted to the edge of the bed, then stood up and made her way to the table. She climbed into one of the chairs and looked back at Kate expectantly. Kate joined her, and they began inspecting the food. They had been given all manner of kid friendly foods, from hot dogs to macaroni and cheese.

Entering the morgue at his usual brisk pace, with Ziva racing behind to catch up, Gibbs moved directly to Ducky, who was finishing putting the x-rays up on the viewing screen. "What've you got for me Duck?"

Turning to Gibbs Ducky began without much preamble, which, given his fondness for longwinded, roundabout explanations, showed how angry he was. "Jethro, I've got your COD. This woman was strangled. Whoever killed her must have been very angry, because he used his bare hands," he indicated the bruising around her neck, which had not been evident at the scene because of the victim's turtle-neck shirt, "You see the four and one pattern around the neck? Handprints, clear as day."

Turning to walk back out, Gibbs tossed a quick thank you over his shoulder. He stopped dead however when Ducky spoke again, "I'm not done with you yet Jethro. Come look at these." He made his way back to the x-rays, which were of all of the victim's long bones, and her torso. Indicating several places on the film, Ducky continued, "You see these? They are all fractures, some healed, some partially healed, and this one," he indicated a distinct crack running through the upper left arm, "is a fresh break. These fractures go back countless years."

Turning around again, this time Gibbs left without a thanks, leaving Ducky to shout after him, "You're welcome Jethro."

Catching up with him in the elevator, Ziva took one look at his face, and decided not to press things. Once they reached the bullpen however, Tony was waiting for them, and spoke before he took the time to read the look on his boss' face, "What's up Boss, Lance Corporal Finnegan told me you went down to see Duc…" He trailed off at a sharp glance from Ziva.

Turning to face Tony, Gibbs finally spoke, "Find out everything you can about Lance Corporal Finnegan, I'm going to go have another talk with our grieving husband."

Looking confused Ziva and Tony, along with McGee who had gotten up from his desk to see what had Gibbs' hackles raised, followed him partway up the stairs. McGee was the first one to speak, "Why boss, I thought he was just a witness, is he a suspect now?"

Turning angrily to look back down the stairs at his team, Gibbs practically growled, "Yes he's a suspect now McGee, who knows what he did to his daughter, there were fractures going back years, that bastard beat his wife!"