Well, here it is folks, the next chapter. Just in time, too, I start school today. Not looking forward to that. At all.

Although, I just have to say, I'm a little surprised. I was expecting a lot more comments about people hating Ley. I only got one. I'm going to assume that a few of you did actually hate her, but you just didn't comment on it. I'm also glad you guys understood the necessity of the chapter.

And this chapter has no relationship issues going further than bromance. Just so you guys are aware. Onward!

Fifteen

Burley was still at his computer, looking up every unsolved murder in the area around Quantico. Jethro had no idea how long the list was at the moment. But Burley was lucky. His job as a Senator's aid got him many friends all around the area. He could get case files emailed to him from just about any police branch he wanted. It was one of the reasons that Jethro kept him around.

Meanwhile, Jethro was staring blankly at his computer screen. A part of his brain was still trying to piece together this damn puzzle that wasn't making any sense. Every time he thought he had two pieces go together, new info popped up. He didn't even have a picture to work with.

The other half of his mind was still scolding himself for letting so much slip with Burley. He knew he revealed too much earlier. He still had no idea what possessed him to talk about that. He wasn't the kind of guy who needed to talk about his feelings. Hell, according to his ex-wife he didn't have any feelings to talk about.

So why did he suddenly decide to blurt his emotions to Burley?

"Excuse me?"

He jerked his head up to see a middle aged woman with bright red hair staring at him with wide terrified eyes. She was wealthy. He could tell that by her flashy clothes and jewelry. The woman oozed money from every pore.

"Mrs. Hooker?"

Jethro was glad to see her. It was true that Tatum was most likely killed because he found Jamie, but it wasn't the only possibility. He wasn't killed the same way that Julia Chike was—single gunshot wound to the head was Jethro's best guess. There was a still a possibility that Tatum was killed by a disgruntled client.

Anita Hooker nodded. She held out her hand, palm down. "I was told I could find a Detective DiNozzo here?"

Jethro stood and took the offered hand, but he didn't kiss it. "Detective DiNozzo is out in the field right now." Behind Anita Hooker, he saw Burley perk up and stare at him curiously. "I can talk to you." He put on his most sincere smile. She was a beautiful woman. And with DiNozzo gone, his charm might actually get somewhere.

The last time they worked together, every woman they came across just fawned over the younger man like he was a sex-god on Earth. It drove Jethro crazy.

At least at first.

Anita Hooker smiled seductively at him. Apparently his charm still worked. "I guess that wouldn't be too much of a problem."

With a slight bounce in his step, Jethro led her to the conference room. It was much nicer for conversations like this than an interrogation room.

He sat down at the end of a long table while she sat to his left.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I caught your name," she said.

Jethro smiled. "Gibbs."

"Well, Agent Gibbs," she leaned back in her seat and licked her lips, "can I ask what this is about? Detective DiNozzo didn't tell me much."

Jethro decided to get right down to business. "You hired a private investigator a few months ago, Mrs. Hooker?"

She grew flustered at that. "I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"The man you hired was murdered a while ago." He watched as the color drained from her pretty face. "I'm trying to figure out if it was by a client with an axe to grind."

Anita Hooker shook her head. "I can't imagine why. Mr. Tatum was very professional." She closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "I hired him to find out if my husband was having an affair." She chuckled bitterly. "Pathetic."

Jethro paused for a moment. He didn't actually feel bad, but he wanted her to think he did. "Did he find something?"

She placed her lip on her fingers. "He showed me pictures of my forty-six year old husband screwing our sixteen year old babysitter."

That was unexpected. He really didn't know why. Everything was unexpected in this case. The entire day that he was working this case, nothing was simply cut and dry, black and white. But this was different than anything else. Jethro had half a mind to find Anita Hooker's husband and shoot him.

"What did you think of Mr. Tatum's work?"

She shrugged. "I wasn't particularly happy with what he found, but I wasn't angry at the messenger. And Mr. Tatum was so great about it." She smiled. "He was a good man." She looked up to meet Jethro's eyes. There was a glisten in hers. "Who would do this, Agent Gibbs? Who would kill him?"

He shook his head. "I don't really know." Yet. But if Tatum really was as great as Anita made him out to be, then he probably wasn't killed by a disgruntled client. Anita had every reason to want to shoot the messenger, but he was able to keep her calm and her anger focused on the right person.

He stood up. "Thank you, Ms. Hooker. You've been very helpful."

She scoffed as she too rose to her feet. "I don't know about that. But I appreciate the lie, Agent Gibbs."

He chuckled. He held his arm up, indicating she should lead them out the door. After she opened it, she turned to look at him again. "Please, Agent Gibbs, find out who did this."

He recognized that look. The woman was infatuated with Marcus Tatum. He must have become her knight in shining armor after her husband's sick indiscretion. He sighed heavily. Naturally.

He nodded. She left.

.

It was the first time in a long time that Dennis actually felt good. He supposed he should have felt guilty, he just told a practical stranger his best friend's biggest secret. And he told Abby everything. What Tony did, why he did it. What happened afterwards. He left nothing back. But he didn't feel guilty. He felt relieved to finally have it off his shoulders. It was a burden he was carrying his entire adult life and for the first time, the secret wasn't only his to keep. It was a great feeling.

He had sworn Abby to secrecy. Not even her beloved Gibbs could know about Tony's secret. After a lot of convincing, she finally agreed.

Talking was still difficult. Abby was no doubt still reeling from his confession and Dennis was content to sit in silence. She still hadn't turned the music back on. Dennis was doing what he did best and schlepped. Abby's definition of schlepping, unfortunately, consisted of finding finger prints in blood splatters and pulling blood for DNA analysis.

He was incredibly grateful that he was not smart enough to be a scientist.

After another few minutes, Abby finally spoke. "You know, Gibbs could—"

He cut her off. "No, Abby."

"But if anybody could help, it'd be—"

"I wasn't even supposed to tell you. Tony would have my head on a freaking stake outside his apartment if he found out I told Gibbs."

"But they like each other!"

Dennis ignored the flash of jealousy that went through him. "Tony likes a lot of people," he scoffed, "trust me on that. But that doesn't mean he wants them all to know about this."

"But—"

He spun around and glared at her. "Abby. Please drop it."

He saw all the sadness in her big eyes. He figured a part of her felt guilty. She made it pretty clear that she did not like Tony. At all. And what he told her about his past was pretty horrific. She no doubt felt bad about how she had treated him before.

He moved closer to her. "Look, Abby," he paused as he tried to think of the best way to phrase this. "I've known Tony my entire life. Ok, I know better than anyone how much of a dick he can be. And that's not going to change just because of what I told you."

"But it gives him a reason."

He rolled his eyes. "Tony was a pain in the ass long before that. It's just who he is." He sighed. "Don't treat him any differently. The last thing Tony ever wants to be is pitied."

"But—"

"Abby, please." He put on the most innocent face that he could. It was also his begging face. Although it didn't work nearly as well as Tony's. That man knew how to play people like a fiddle.

After another moment, she sighed heavily and nodded her head. He stepped away to get back to his work. He was going through the yearbook he found. Some of the pages were splattered with blood, so he was going through it, page by page, for DNA analysis. Abby was very thorough. More so than any other person Dennis ever met. It was scary sometimes.

He had just taken another sample for comparison when he noticed something on one of the pages. "Oh my god."

"What?" Abby asked from her computer. She was still scanning all fingerprints for comparison.

"I gotta go." He ran out of the lab, ignoring Abby calling after him.

He avoided the elevator. He didn't want to wait for the damn thing to get here. Instead, he slammed his body into the door to the stairwell and ran up two at a time. By the time he got to the fourth floor, his lungs were barely working and his knees were cramping. He needed to start hitting the gym again.

He pulled the door open and strode through the corridor, with purpose but still trying to catch his breath. It was definitely difficult to do.

Stan and Gibbs were huddled around the plasma screen again. Whatever they were talking about, it sounded important. Dennis felt a pang of anger. If they found something, why didn't either of them think to call him? He may not be an agent, but he was still a part of this team. This was just as much his case as it was theirs.

"Got good news?" He asked as he approached them. The two men turned to him in surprise. "Or any kind of news?"

"What are you doing up here?"

"I found something. What do you got?"

Gibbs glared. Dennis rolled his eyes and told him what he found in the yearbook. He felt a little smug at their shocked looks. He found something that they both missed. "So?" He asked again.

Stan was the one who spoke. "I think I figured out the murder that Jamie Taylor witnessed." Dennis' jaw dropped to the floor. Stan nodded before he continued, "Miranda Hack, found only a few miles outside of Quantico outside a motel." He moved aside and clicked a button on the remote in his hand.

A picture came up on the television. It wasn't pretty. A young woman, couldn't have been older than twenty-five, with her hands bound in front of her and a silk cord wrapped around her throat. She had been posed after she was killed, hands over her heart, legs straight out. She looked like she was being buried. In a coffin.

This wasn't a crime of passion.

"How are you so sure this is the case Jamie Taylor saw?"

Stan clicked another button. A mug shot of their victim popped up. "Miranda Hack was arrested three times for prostitution. Twice with Julia Chike. The women were friends. It could explain why Chike lied about seeing Jamie."

"She was defending him," Gibbs finished. "He's the only one who knows what happened to her friend."

Dennis finished the train of thought. "But his credibility would be shot to hell if he was convicted of murdering his mother." Something actually made sense for once. It was nice for a change. "What else did I miss down there?"

"Darklin lied four months ago," said Stan. "She was off having sex with Corporal Graham the night that Jamie disappeared."

Dennis rolled his eyes. "Naturally."

"Morgan," Gibbs barked. "Go pick up your partner. He's slept enough and we're gonna need more man power. Stan, go downstairs and get that yearbook from Abby."

Dennis nodded before he headed for the elevator.

Ok, I'm sorry, I only just realized that I'm writing chapter 17, not 16. I am really sorry, guys, I have no idea why I waited so long getting this chapter out. I give all of you permission to Gibbs' slap me for this.

So, does anybody have any idea what Dennis found in the yearbook? Other than blood. Talk to me!

Bob