"What's taking so long? I've got better stuff to do than stare at fish all day."

Ziva ignored both Tony's petulance and his taxonomic error, cocking her head to get a better view through the thick glass of the large tank in front of her. Dark shapes moved through the bluish water a fair distance away. After another wasted morning interrogating Manfredi and Johnson, McGee had finally managed to track some anomalous deposits in the men's bank accounts back to a woman named Terry Sutton. Now Ziva and Tony were standing in the amphitheater used for dolphin shows at the National Aquarium to find out exactly why ten thousand dollars had passed through four banks in three countries to get from Sutton to Manfredi and Johnson. It was slim, but it was what they had.

"What kind of dolphin trainer is paying petty officers to whack a corpsman at Bethesda?"

"No idea. McGee said he would call if he found a further connection, but…"

"I'm just saying, I thought hanging out with dolphins was supposed to be some kind of peaceful, spiritual experience. Or is that just Sea World 'pay us a lot to swim with them' propaganda?"

She shrugged, still looking into the tank. "It has its moments." Tony's curious face was suddenly reflected in the glass beside hers. Without turning to him, she said, "Ray took me swimming with dolphins."

"Really?" He leaned his back against the tank, crossing his arms over his chest. "At Sea World? Or at the top secret CIA training center for their specially bred assassins of the sea?"

"In Miami. They have charter tours for that kind of thing." She continued to watch the water as the dark shapes began to get closer to where they were standing.

"Oh? Well, better these guys than sharks."

"Why would anyone want to swim with sharks?"

"Thrill-seeking types, I guess. Something ninja spy-assassins might do for fun." He tapped his fingertips on the glass as one of the dolphins swam past. "I think you're supposed to be in a cage when you do it, but they'd probably just let you dive in with a knife and have at it."

She chose not to respond. Two more dolphins swam past, only to return and pause to look at them. If Ray were here, he would probably make a comment along the lines of, 'They're as interested in us as we are in them.'

Tony, on the other hand, used his badge to tap the glass this time. "Hey, melon heads! Federal agents! We need to talk to your boss!" One of the dolphins simply swam away. The other turned slightly to give them a wary eye. "Can you do a better job than that security guy, Dr. Blowhole? Go find Terry!" He gave an emphatic wave of his arm. "Go!"

The dolphin abruptly snapped around and gave its tail a powerful thrust. A sheet of water cascaded over the top edge of the tank. Ziva barely had time to close her eyes before she was soaked by the cold saltwater. Still, she didn't need to see to give Tony an angry punch in the shoulder. "Idiot."

"Ow! Hey, that was not my fault." When she opened her eyes, he was banging on the tank with his fist. "Oh, you're gonna get it, Flipper! Assaulting a federal agent is a felony! They don't serve sushi where you're going!"

"Sorry about that!" A woman in a wetsuit was making her way down a stairway from the stage. "Chesapeake can be a little mischievous! On the plus side, you seem to have at least one of our hand signals down pat."

"Yeah, I already have a job I generally like." Tony shook his head, spraying Ziva with more water; she would have to remember to punch him again later. "We're with NCIS. Special Agent DiNozzo, this is Special Agent David and you're not Terry Sutton."

"No, sorry. Joanne Piper, I'm a supervisor here. We haven't seen Terry in over a week. She just stopped coming in, hasn't returned our calls. Unless she's got a really good reason for disappearing, I don't think she's going to have a job when she… Wait, has something happened to her? Is that why you're here?"

Tony seemed undecided on the wetsuit, as he eyes continued an up and down sweep. "We're actually looking for her, too. Have some questions for her. Was there something going on with her here?"

She had started to wring her hands. "Not here, no."

Ziva was suddenly aware that all three dolphins were watching them, but focused on the trainer. "Ms. Piper, any information you can give us could be helpful."

"Well…I know she broke up with her boyfriend about two weeks ago and she was…she was really upset about it."

"Upset how?"

"I don't know. Sad, a little? More angry than anything, I guess." Piper turned and started talking to the dolphins. "He, um, was in the Navy and told her he was going back and forth overseas a lot. Turns out he was working at Bethesda the whole time. She caught him out with another girl when he was supposed to be somewhere in the middle of Pacific."

"That's rough." Tony was writing in his notebook now. "Do you know his name?"

"Um…Dave….Dane…something like that, maybe? I think his last name began with a C or a K." Ziva and Tony shared a look as she made a circular motion with her hand and all three dolphins pirouetted almost in unison. "I think they'd be going out for about a year, but I'd never met him. Terry never really socializes that much."

They had wrapped up the interview a few minutes later and declined an opportunity to throw some fish to the dolphins just before a crowd of school kids started filing in noisily for the next show. Tony suddenly didn't seem to be in a hurry to get out of the aquarium as they made their way through further school groups on the concourse back to the main building. Remembering her thought from earlier as her hair continued dripping cold water down her shirt, Ziva punched Tony's shoulder again.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I am soaking wet."

"You're gonna punch me every time you state the obvious now?"

"Only if you have caused a dolphin to splash me."

"Right." He seemed distracted and almost tripped as he stepped on the escalator. "At least the water wasn't too cold."

"Yes it was!"

"If it had been, your wet t-shirt would be attracting more attention."

She took an involuntary look down. "Whatever. At least we have our connection between Corpsman David Coker and Terry Sutton."

"Yup."

"Do you think McGee and Gibbs had any luck at her apartment?"

"They woulda called if they had. Actually, shouldn't we be calling them right about now? Letting them know about our two-timing dead guy?" He held the door open for her as they stepped out of the aquarium. "Guess he thought he had it all worked out, saying he was traveling outside the country, working, but all the while…takes balls to pull that off."

If the hot sun had not immediately improved her mood, Tony would likely have gotten punched again, and not just in the shoulder. "If you have something to say, say it."

"What? I was just commenting on the fact that our dead corpsman was kinda a bastard. Not a great excuse to kill him, but…y'know, woman scorned. And what do I say? It's always the wife."

She rubbed her hands together rapidly, still feeling a bit of a chill. "They were not married yet."

"Close enough." He snapped his phone out of his pocket before she could reply. "We should really let the boss know about this."

Ziva stepped out of the shade while Tony made the call, trying to find a spot in the sun but out of the breeze blowing off the water.