DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
MASK OF INNOCENCE
CH 3
He looked around at the deserted garage. He checked his watch and knew n=someone would be arriving soon. He had to move quickly, even if it was futile. He found a spot that would hide the body, at least for a short time. He reached down lifting the shoulders off the ground and dragged the body behind a barricade here construction was going to be starting in a week.
After hiding the body as best he could and emptying the pockets, he cleared the trail as best he could. He had to pause on two occasions when cars arrived and the occupants exited. He gave friendly waves and pretended to have forgotten something in his car that he had to retrieve. Fortunately, no obvious signs were visible when the first had arrived.
Tim wasn't ready to leap to the hope he'd get away with it forever, but any delay could be a good one.
The funeral plans went as well as could be expected. His mother had all the arrangements detailed, but still struggled with her grief when she was alone. She did her best to comfort Sarah, but it was Tim the young girl clung to during the service and at the graveside.
Both his mother and sister developed a sense of dependence on him. He was determined to see they were taken care of and wanted for nothing.
He had found it difficult to look in his mother's eyes at times. She sometimes appeared to be searching inside him. He feared she suspected him, but had no reason why. Even the case with NCIS had seemed to stall. They finished their questions of the family and were working to find a suspect.
After a few months Tim began to relax more. His role as head of the family matured him and he worked diligently to maintain a safe and loving home.
He was preparing to leave for MIT and getting Sarah enrolled in school. His mother signed all the appropriate papers and smiled lovingly at her son. Her looks of suspicion fell to the wayside and their family was on the way to becoming a happy one again.
It was three years into his studies that he found a new nemesis. John Wells was a bully. Tim had grown up with them and learned how to ignore them. John's target wasn't Tim, usually, but his roommate, Oscar Nash.
Oscar had done his best to ignore the bullying. But after three years things escalated from taunting, jeering and pranking to more physical assaulting.
The night Tim had to carry him in to their dorm, Oscar insisting he not call an ambulance or the police Tim knew something had to be done. The bullying had to cease.
Spring break was a few weeks away. Tim was going home as usual. He knew John and his buddies were heading for Miami. He put his mind to work on a course of action that would eliminate the tormentor and keep the investigation away from campus. Sure there was bound to be the usual background stuff, but no suspicion could be cast back to him or Oscar.
Using his knowledge of chemistry he came upon the ideal toxin. One that would be slow to reach the bloodstream, but once it did would be fatal and undetectable after a few hours post mortem.
The next step after creating the toxin was figuring a way to expose only John before he left for Miami. The opportunity arose when he was doing laundry.
Wells didn't mind spreading his antagonism onto others when it suited him and Tim was a target on more than a few occasions. He wasn't as much fun as Oscar and some of the others. After years of teasing Tim had grown a thick skin against it. However, when John left his clothes and supplies while a load was washing, Tim took the opportunity to apply the toxin to a few of the fabric softener sheets that were sure to be thrown into the dryer.
No one else was present and Tim stayed only long enough to be sure John was the only one to touch them and put them in with his clothes for his trip to Miami. Hiding a satisfied smile Tim took his basket of folded clothes back to his room.
Oscar was packing his things to go home as well. It had taken Tim a lot of stroking to convince his friend not to leave for good. This close to graduation he had to tough it out. Oscar promised he'd be back to finish off his degree. Tim also wanted Oscar to return to keep any sign of being on the run off of him.
They took off for their own destinations. Tim dropped Oscar off at the airport watching that he got to his gate safely while John and his buddies went off to their own gate.
He was home for four days before the news began reporting about a college student who had died mysteriously in Miami. Mrs. McGee looked to her son when he mentioned he knew the young man after they released the name.
"How do you know him?" she asked her brows knitted watching her son.
"Oh, he attends MIT," Tim answered casually. "He's one of those rich boys that likes to think they own the place and treat others like peons."
"Did he give you problems?" her voice took on a worried tone.
Tim looked openly at his mother, "He teased me now and again. Nothing I hadn't heard a thousand times before."
His mother sighed releasing some of the tension she had been feeling. This didn't go unnoticed by her son who wondered why she had been wondering about his knowledge of the dead man. When her attention returned to the news he thought of her reactions after his father's death.
Had she thought he was responsible then? Could she, three years later, still be wondering if he had and if he killed again? He shook his head. That was impossible.
He made sure to spend a good amount of time with his sister as she was still fairly dependent on him whenever he was at home. He was glad to see no lingering affects on her from their father's death.
His mother had started seeing a retired Navy Admiral a few months before, so he took the time to get to know him as well. Roger Decore was the type of man his mom seemed to be attracted to. Much like the Commander he had the tendency to be authoritative, but Tim saw a softness in the way he treated his mother.
He imagined to be a successful naval officer one had to know how to throw their weight around. Retirement was slowly softening him; at least Tim hoped it was. He would hate to see his mother hurt again.
Roger was supportive of Tim's relationship with Sarah. He found the seven year old to be a quiet loving little girl. He gave her the security of having someone around while Tim was away, but he acquiesced to Tim when she demanded his attention.
When the break was over he kissed his mother and sister goodbye and shook Roger's hand. The drive back gave him time to sort through all the different possible questions and answers he could face and deliver. And to contemplate whether his mother had really had any suspicions about his involvement in John Wells' death which the news had called a death of unknown origin, only because no cause could be determined.
Tim was surprised that questioning had been minimal on campus. It pleased him that the toxin had worked so well that the origination of whatever had been John's demise was being sought in Miami.
He chalked it up as another success when Oscar did indeed return and was able to enjoy his final months of study. They both graduated with honors and promised to keep in touch. Oscar was going on to study law at Harvard, as Tim was going to Johns Hopkins to study biomedical engineering.