Well, I have up to chapter ten complete, so I figured that I would post chapter seven. And even better news, my fat cat likes me again! She's sitting on my lap (granted it's insanely hot right now) purring. She's been hating me ever since I brought my attention whore home, which was about a year ago now. But I think she's finally getting over it. Although I kinda wish she didn't shed all over my computer.

To Tony Fan: Some Like it Hot was hysterical. It was the first movie I got when I got Netflix, BUT I don't actually own the movie, but I do own CoaHTR so that will be easier to get her to watch. Besides, Paul Newman. How can you say no to Paul Newman? lol

Seven

Jethro made it back to the Yard in record time. He went eighty miles an hour the entire trip, even when the speed limit was thirty. He parked the car and walked in the building. He didn't have coffee, and his mood was getting worse with every second without the caffeine.

Burley was going to hurt.

He exited the elevator and strode over to Burley's desk. It was the first desk he could see in the bullpen. Burley was slouched, his head resting on his fists. Apparently he wasn't enjoying his time off. Jethro smiled. He was going to make it a whole lot worse. And damn it, would he enjoy it.

He walked right up to him and whacked him as hard as he could in the back of the head. Burley's head flew forward, narrowly avoiding his computer monitor. Jethro leaned forward so he was level with his employee.

Burley looked at him incredulously. "What the hell was that for?"

"We reopened the Taylor case this morning."

Burley's jaw dropped open. "You know where the kid is?"

"You handled the canvas four months ago."

The younger man nodded. "Yeah, what's your point?

"We found a witness this morning who claims that she saw Jamie leave the house when Karen was still alive!" Every word he spoke was said louder and louder until he was shouting in Burley's face. By now they no doubt had an audience, but Jethro really didn't care.

His agent jumped to his feet, his face incredulous and accusatory. "Are you saying that I screwed up?"

"If you covered the canvas like you were supposed to, we could have found our killer months ago!"

"How do you know this witness didn't lie this morning? I covered every inch of that block, not a damn person told me that Karen was alive when Jamie left. And now four months later someone shows up and says differently?"

Jethro glared at him. "You're heading back to Quantico, recover the entire canvas." He finally quieted down. Now he was speaking barely above a whisper. He looked Burley up and down before he spoke again. "Try not to miss anything this time." He headed back to his desk. He wanted to look up this Julia Chike woman.

Burley stepped up to his desk. Jethro didn't look up. "Can I help you with something, Stanley?"

"You said 'we' found a witness earlier. Did you find somebody to replace Brent already?"

Still without looking up, Jethro answered, "We're working with Baltimore Homicide on this case."

He could practically hear Burley tense. "How is Baltimore Homicide involved?"

"They found Jamie Taylor."

Burley was silent for a second. "Jamie's dead?" He sounded terrified by that prospect.

Jethro jumped up, his anger flaring again. "I don't know! Could he be? Yeah. Is it your fault? Possibly. Does it really make a difference? I guess we'll never know. Now get your butt to Quantico or start looking for another job."

Burley glared at him for a few seconds before he headed for the elevator. He had already pushed the button before Jethro called after him. "And if you find Detective DiNozzo there, give him a ride back to the Yard."

He couldn't see Stan's face, but he knew that he was stunned by that.

Jethro turned back to his computer. He still needed to find out about Julia Chike. Why didn't she come forward before? Where did she live? How did they not find her before?

He slammed his fist into the desk before he stood up. His feet took him down to Abby's lab.

Abby Scuito was the forensic scientist for NCIS. She was completely different than what a forensic scientist should be. She was young, her hair was jet black, usually pulled into pigtails. She wore black lipstick, platform boots and had multiple tattoos over her body. At first glance, most people would probably assume that she was some depressed, homicidal nutjob who bit off the heads of bats and talked backwards in hisses. But truthfully, she was the sweetest person that Jethro ever met.

With the worst taste in music.

As soon as he entered her lab, his ears were assaulted by the sound of what could only be described as grating nails on chalkboards and glass. He slowed down and shut his eyes. He didn't know how Abby still had hearing listening to this crap. Hell, he didn't know how her brain hadn't melted yet.

Immediately, he went into her office and turned the music off. He bypassed Abby completely, much to her displeasure. "Gibbs!" She called after him.

The music stopped, pushing the room into blissful silence. Jethro was finally able to hear himself think again.

"What are you doing here?"

He turned back to her. "You remember the Taylor case?"

Abby nodded. "Of course I do."

"He caught a break." He recounted everything that happened that morning. He left out how he met with DiNozzo and Morgan. Abby was fond of Morgan, but for some reason she didn't like his partner. At all. Jethro figured that it would be safer to avoid talking about either of them for now.

He finished up by telling her about Julia Chike and what she apparently saw and heard. Abby's eyes went wide at that.

"Why didn't she come forward before?"

Jethro shrugged. "That's what I'm going to find out, but for now, I need you to go over all the evidence from the Taylor case again."

"Do you think I missed something?" She pouted. She never liked when people questioned her findings. She took it as a personal attack.

Not that he could blame her. People often took her age and her looks as a sign that she was incompetant. They had an idea of what a forensic scientist should look like, and that wasn't Abby Scuito. But Jethro kept telling them to stick it, you couldn't ask for somebody better.

He shook his head. "We all missed something on this case, Abby. I just want to double check." He grabbed her and hugged her tightly. When he pulled away, she didn't look as upset. "Can you do that for me?"

She nodded. "Will do, bossman." She wheeled around to face her computer again. Jethro didn't waste any more time, he exited the lab. He still had to find out who Julia Chike was.

.

Nineteen.

That was how old Tony's last sexual encounter was. Nineteen.

It was also the number of houses he checked on 4th Avenue.

He still had absolutely no idea where this McCane lived, and everybody who answered the door wasn't willing to indulge that information. They didn't trust the Baltimore cop on their turf, he supposed.

He was coming up to house twenty. It looked just like every other house in the area. Except the garden was completely dead. Whoever lived here clearly did not have a green thumb. Tony walked up the path to the front door.

He had to wait another minute or two before the door opened. Tony's jaw dropped to the ground and his eyes widened in shock.

Standing before him was Julia Chike. The woman who saw Jamie the night he ran away. It looked like Tony had pulled her away from doing her make-up, only half of her face was done. She was no longer wearing her running clothes. That was a little depressing, but she certainly hadn't covered up much.

Her skirt was short, her long legs were bare, and her top didn't just show cleavage, it showed breasts. Her nipples were barely being covered. If she was wearing a bra, Tony would have said she was at least a C cup.

It made him smile.

"Detective," she said as she plastered on a warm and seductive smile. She crossed her arms under her full chest and leaned against the door frame. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well what a coincidence. I wasn't expecting to see you here. See, when you say you saw Jamie the night his mother was killed, I assumed you lived across the street from him."

Her smile widened. "I was visiting a friend."

"What kind of friend?"

She looked him up and down. The way her face turned, it looked as if she was undressing him with her eyes. Tony did not object. "A good one."

Tony chuckled. "I'm gonna need a name."

She clicked her tongue before answering. "Corporal Pam Darklin."

Tony quirked an eyebrow. He certainly wasn't expecting that. "And what's her address?"

"Seventy-two. I assume you already know the street."

Tony's smile widened. She was too flirty and too provocative to be a Marine. The way she dressed and carried herself, he assumed hooker. But he couldn't figure out why a hooker would be answering the door on a Marine base, or visiting a female Corporal at her home.

"What were you two doing over there?"

She tilted her head to study him. "I don't believe that I have to answer that question, Detective." Well that solved one mystery. "Was there anything else I can help you with?"

"Actually yes. Do you know where I can find a Corporal McCane?"

"If your life partner gets so jealous when you talk to women, how does he handle it when you talk to men?"

He grinned. He almost forgot he said that to her. "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Do you know McCane or not?"

She nodded. "He's a good friend of mine."

"As good of a friend as Corporal Darklin?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She licked her heavily glossed lips and pushed off the door frame. "He lives four houses down, across the street. Go right."

Tony pulled one of his cards out of his pocket and held it out to her.

Instead of just grabbing the slip of paper, she grabbed his wrist and pulled it towards her exposed breasts. She stopped about a centimeter away. She turned a worried eye on him. "Just what does that life partner do to you?"

Tony tensed, but he still put on a smile. "If you think of anything, you give me a call, ok?" He said, completely ignoring her question.

She arched her eyebrow as a smile spread across her lips. "Anything, you say?"

Tony wanted to make a crack about never paying for sex, but somehow he managed to hold his tongue. Instead he pulled away and walked back down the path. She was a beautiful woman, but it wasn't worth it. There probably wasn't any traction left on her tires anymore anyway.

He absently rubbed at his wrist. The scars had faded, but he could still feel the rough and uneven skin. Even after three months. He wanted nothing more than to forget that any of that ever happened. But that was hard to do when he had so many physical reminders.

He was about to step onto the street to get to the other side when a car pulled up next to him. At first he was surprised. Maybe a little scared. You don't survive what he did without getting a little jumpy.

The passenger door opened. Stan Burley sat in the driver's seat.

He looked the same as he did before. Although he looked a little more worn, and he didn't look particularly happy to see Tony.

"Agent Burley," Tony said with a smile as he crawled in the car. "I thought you had the week off."

"Yeah well, I did. Until Gibbs called me back to redo my canvas from four months ago."

Tony smiled. He probably should have apologized since it was technically his fault, but he didn't.

"What are you doing here?" Burley asked.

"Gibbs left me here to interview a guy, without an address or a reason to question him." Now Burley smiled. Tony figured he kind of deserved that. But it didn't make him happy about it. "The woman you originally saw Jamie run out of the house is named Julia Chike. She's," he pointed to the house that he just left, "in there at the moment. But that night she was visiting a friend. She's a hooker." He relayed most of the conversation to the agent.

Burley listened, a little stunned, but still absorbing every word that he said. He worked with Gibbs, he should be good at this kind of thing.

After a moment, Burley finally said something. "Why did Gibbs leave you here?"

"I'm supposed to interview Corporal McCane."

"Why?"

Tony shrugged. He honestly had no idea. Gibbs didn't give him details. "I didn't even get an exact address on the guy."

Burley smiled again. Tony glared

He tried to imagine doing this every day. Working with Burley, following leads, putting up with Gibbs. He honestly couldn't see it. Sure, he liked Gibbs, and he—typically—worked well with the man, but something was off.

His entire police career was spent with Denny. The two went through the academy together. Hell, they were friends as long as Tony could remember. Tony had even been "adopted" into Denny's family. Denny had always been his rock, and he couldn't imagine not working with him.

Gibbs had offered him a job, a few weeks after he got out of the hospital. Tony had turned it down, and there was never a moment that he regretted that decision.

"Julia just gave me one, so I'm gonna go talk to him, if that's not a problem," Tony snapped. Burley's smile fell. Tony didn't care.

"I'm supposed to give you a ride back to Washington when I'm done going over the canvas again."

Tony beamed at him. "You have fun with that." He climbed out of the car and jogged over to the house that Julia had pointed out.

Burley rolled down his window and called to him. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to help with that."

Tony turned around long enough to respond before getting back to his task. "Sorry. Wasn't given that order."

He hopped onto the porch and knocked on the door three times. He really hoped this guy was home. If he wasn't, Tony was going to get pissed. He bounced around on his feet, waiting for the door to open. After a minute, he knocked again, this time much harder. He didn't want to be standing out here all day, he wanted to talk to the guy and see what he could possibly know about Jamie Taylor's disappearance.

He knocked for the third time before he finally got a response. "I'm coming!"

"Move faster!"

The door swung open, and Tony was facing a very big, heavily muscled, cranky Marine. Maybe shouting at him wasn't his brightest idea.

"What the hell do you want?" The Marine shouted.

"You Corporal McCane?" Tony asked, his hand resting on his gun. He tried to put as much confidence into that sentence that he could muster. He was hoping that it worked.

"Who's asking?"

Tony pulled out his badge and flashed it at him. "Detective DiNozzo, Baltimore Homicide."

McCane studied the badge for over a minute before he looked back at Tony. Tony was ready to whack him when he finally spoke. "You a long way from Baltimore, Detective."

Tony ground his teeth together. He was really getting tired of people saying that to him. "I'm looking into the disappearance of Jamie Taylor."

The Marine tensed. Tony smiled at him. "I take it you remember him."

"He dead?"

"Not yet."

"Too bad." McCane moved to shut the door in Tony's face.

That wasn't going to happen. Without a second's hesitation, Tony grabbed the door and shoved his foot in the crack. If McCane had an inkling to slam the door, it would most likely break Tony's toes, but he was sick and tired of people slamming their doors in his face, and he wasn't going anywhere until he got answers.

"I take it you aren't a fan of Jamie's," he said, his voice cold.

"Jamie killed his mother and attacked Phil, that ain't right."

"What if I told you that we have evidence to believe that Karen Taylor was alive when Jamie disappeared?"

McCane snorted. "Right, like I would believe that."

Tony sighed heavily. "An eye witness just came forward. Jamie didn't kill his mother." He looked the man straight in the eye so there would be no doubt. He was telling the truth.

He watched as McCane processed it all. Slowly the anger faded around the edges. As it did, shock took its place. He let go of the door and stepped into his living room. Tony followed behind him, even though he wasn't invited.

The Marine ran a hand through his short hair, pacing back and forth. Tony studied him. The more he watched, the more he realized why Gibbs sent him to talk to the man.

"How much did you hate Jamie?" He asked. McCane still didn't say anything, he plopped down on his couch and covered his face with his hands. Tony took a step forward. His next words were said slowly, deliberately. "Maybe enough to kidnap him?"

The Marine stood up and crossed the room again. He stood in Tony's personal space. Tony wanted to step away, but he didn't. But his hand did find its way onto his gun again.

"How do you know that this witness was telling the truth? How do you know that he wasn't lying to you? In four months he never bothered to come forward before now?" The more McCane spoke, the louder he got.

Tony yelled too, just to prove that he could. "Why are you so willing to condemn a teenage boy?" He searched McCane's face. "Or is it because you wanna clear your conscious of killing an innocent kid."

"Jamie is not innocent!"

Tony was quiet as he let that settle. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. "You didn't deny killing him."

He didn't even see the fist come barreling for his face.

Coming up next chapter, Ducky questions Gibbs about the butcher shop and Dennis realizes just how scummy his boss is. Can you guess what brings that on? Whoever's guess is closest gets chapter eight dedicated to them. So, talk to me!

Bob