NCIS

Entering the lab, the three were greeted by loud music as Abby sashayed around the equipment; she was in her happy place again. Gibbs walked over to the stereo and stopped the music; Abby stopped dancing and turned to look at them. "Hey, guys! Do you have anything new for me?" she asked and the evidence was set onto the table for her to look at.

"What about Petty Officer Ashby's computer?" Gibbs asked and Abby turned back towards Bertha.

"She had some protected files hidden around her hard drive, but it wasn't hard to break them. It was as if she wanted someone like us to find them," Abby said and opened a sample file she had floating around on the desktop.

"'Another source delivered the packages today. He's getting smarter. But I'm sure that Xavier is in on it'. Have you looked up that name, Abby?" McGee asked and sat down at one of the computers.

"Not yet, I was about to when you arrived with more evidence," Abby said and Gibbs raised an eyebrow, unconvinced of her honestly. "You want to help a friend out, Tim?" Abby asked and McGee smiled. Gibbs smirked at the instant teamwork that stemmed from being friends for so long.

"I'll be upstairs," Jethro said and Ziva followed her boss back to the elevators, leaving McGee and Abby to work. Tim was the first to get results.

"Wow, who knew there were so many people with the name 'Xavier' here on base, holy cow," Tim said and brought up a list so that Abby could see the information as well.

"23 people with the last name and 12 people with the first name Xavier? Tim, this could take forever to eliminate them from our list of suspects. Gibbs just doesn't have that kind of patience for that many interviews," Abby said and McGee sighed; Abby was right, they didn't have that kind of time on their hands.

"Then I guess it is back to the evidence," he said and Abby sighed as she began with the pepper spray can.

----

Gibbs strode out onto the picnic area and saw someone sitting at the familiar table. Smiling, he made his way over and sat down across from the newspaper reader. Clearing his throat, the newspaper drooped and a familiar face appeared. "Oh, hey Special Agent Gibbs!" Rhiana said and folded her paper neatly. Gibbs placed a foam cup in front of her and Rhiana merely smiled, familiar with their little joke.

"How many is that now?" she asked and Gibbs smirked.

"Three," Gibbs said and took a drink from his coffee cup. Rhiana grabbed the foam cup and took a small drink before giving Jethro her full attention.

"So, how's Tim?"

"Fine; it's only been two weeks, Agent Stoller."

"I know, but Tim was so awesome when that happened. I'm just making sure you haven't smacked his brains out," Rhiana said and Jethro smiled gently.

"Not yet," he said as his phone began ringing. Rhiana frowned and knew what was going on.

"Another case?" she asked glumly and saw Gibbs' expression. "I'll see you another time then?" she asked and Jethro nodded. Standing, Gibbs walked away from the table, leaving Rhiana to her newspaper as he answered his phone.

"Yeah," he said and Abby started talking rapidly.

"Well, the pepper spray wasn't very helpful; I only found smudges on it. However, on the name, Tim found 35 people that shared that name, some with it as a first name, some last name. They're spread all over the base, and some are still deployed at sea." Gibbs took in the information.

"How many are still out at sea?" he asked and heard Abby typing rapidly.

"Sixteen of them; that leaves nineteen people still on base that we have to interview," Abby said, disheartened at the news.

"I'll take care of it, Abby. Just keep processing evidence," he said and hung up the phone; he had some favors to call in.

----

Abby looked at the now dead phone in her hand and sighed; this was going to take forever. Looking at McGee, she removed the notepad and stared at it, a confused look upon her face. "Ziva saw words on it and hoped we hoped you could lift them somehow," Tim explained and Abby nodded.

"Okay," she said and placed the notepad in a machine. Attacking the paper with different wavelengths of light, the words finally popped out so that they could read them easily.

"'They're at the bar again. 10 o'clock. Must follow.' She was certainly determined to find out what these people were doing," McGee said and Abby removed the notepad from the machine, Abby placed it gently under a high power lamp and squatted so she was even with the table top.

"There is something on this paper…" Abby whispered and gently ran a swab across the surface of the document. Grabbing for a spray, she doused the swab in a chemical that turned the cotton a brilliant blue.

"Heroine…" McGee whispered and pressed the speed dial he had for Gibbs.

"What, McGee?"

"Boss, we found heroine on the notepad. I think there's a big reason why Petty Officer Ashby was murdered."

"Well, do you have a theory on whether this 'Xavier' is male or female?"

"They're definitely male." McGee made his way to a computer and typed in another filter. "That leaves twelve names, boss," he said and didn't hear a reply from Jethro. "Boss?"

"Find where they're at and bring them in. All of them." The line clicked closed and McGee stared at Abby, who waiting for him to say something.

"What did he say, McGee? I want to know!"

"Well, we've classified it down to twelve names. This has to be the work of a male officer. And the heroine you just found ups the ante for motive of Officer Ashby's death," McGee said and they stared at the file that had been protected on Abby's computer.