A/N: Ok I know I promised something would happen to Tim, so here it is! Also, I've done a little name-dropping, review and tell me if you can figure out the name I've dropped! Enjoy!
Kay's instincts turned out to be correct. The team had been working on the case for over a week, and the most they had gotten was the dead sailor's name, Marcus Weatherly, and the writing on the paper. Abby had managed to clear up the writing, but all they could make out was "won…up…love you….on." It wasn't much of a lead. Gibbs had the team focusing mostly on the women who lived around the sailor, thinking maybe he was having an affair, but those weren't panning out.
Kay kept coming back to the paper. There was something about the writing that bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. DiNozzo had figured that the paper was just a scrap of a love letter from Weatherly's wife, or possibly not even connected to the case. Kay wasn't so sure. The writing…
The writing! Kay could've head-slapped herself.
"Gibbs! The handwriting on the note!" Gibbs looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing.
"What do you mean, 'the handwriting on the note,'? What about it?"
Kay brought the image of the note up on the plasma. "Look at it. We've been assuming it's from a female to Weatherly. But the handwriting is wrong. It's too blocky. A man wrote this note. Do we have a sample of Weatherly's handwriting?"
McGee checked his computer. "Yes, it was sent to Abby for analysis. The handwriting didn't match."
Kay thought for a moment. "What about another man? A note to Weatherly's wife perhaps? She has an alibi for the shooting, but what if the lover did it? Weatherly finds out she's having an affair, confronts the lover, and is shot."
"McGee!" barked Gibbs.
"On it, boss. " said McGee, fingers flying over his keyboard. "Got something here. There are some transactions made at the Hynes Hotel for the days that Weatherly was supposed to be on base…" He brought the transactions up on the plasma screen.
"DiNozzo, get the security footage from the hotel for those days. See what you can find." ordered Gibbs.
"Got it, boss." He was already dialing the phone.
The next day…
"We got the footage from the hotel and scanned through it." said DiNozzo. "Seems your theory is wrong, Matthews. We didn't find Weatherly's wife, but we did find this…"
He brought the footage up and paused it. There, on the screen, was Weatherly at the front desk. He was talking to another man.
"I think Weatherly was having an affair, but not with another woman. Watch this." He fast-forwarded the scene a few minutes, then ran it at normal speed. Weatherly had received the key from the clerk, and he and the man he'd been talking to were turning away. Just before they walked off screen, they could be seen holding hands.
"So Weatherly was having an affair, but with another man?" asked McGee.
"Looks like it." replied DiNozzo.
"Got a name for the other man, DiNozzo?" asked Gibbs.
"Abby ran it through facial-recognition software and came up with this," he said as he pulled another image up on the screen. "Jon Tomassen, former Navy officer, dishonorably discharged after threatening several other officers."
"Good, bring him in." said Gibbs.
Later that afternoon…
DiNozzo and Kay were standing in the interrogation observation room as their suspect, Jon Tomassen, sat patiently in the interrogation room. He had an air of arrogance about him, which irked Kay. They watched intently as Gibbs entered the room, holding a folder.
"You know Marcus Weatherly." It wasn't a question.
Tomassen answered anyway. "Yes, he was my friend."
Gibbs smirked. "You were more than friends." He opened the folder, pulling out still photos of Weatherly and Tomassen holding hands in the Hynes Hotel, sliding them in front of Tomassen.
He didn't bother looking at the photos. "So, we were good friends. Is that a crime?"
"No," replied Gibbs, "but murder is."
"Wait a minute, you think I murdered Marcus? What possible reason would I have to do that?" asked an apparently outraged Tomassen.
Gibbs tilted his head, looking at the suspect. "You tell me."
Tomassen gave Gibbs a dirty look. "I didn't kill Marcus. He was my best friend."
"You own a .9 mil? The same type of gun that killed Weatherly?" asked Gibbs.
"I used to. It was stolen during a break-in."
"Did you file a police report?"
"No, didn't bother. Look, can I go now? You have nothing or else you would have charged me with something by now." Tomassen got up.
Gibbs stood, too. "Don't leave town." He turned toward the two-way mirror with a look on his face.
DiNozzo said, "I know that look. Means keep trying to track down that gun."
"We've had no luck so far." replied Kay. "If he dumped it, he did a good job."
Kay and DiNozzo both left the observation room as Gibbs walked out of interrogation.
"I want twenty-four hour surveillance on Tomassen. My gut tells me he had something to do with Weatherly's death." Gibbs ordered.
"Got it, boss. I'll get McGee to set up the van outside Tomassen's apartment."
McGee and Kay sat in the surveillance van in the parking garage of Tomassen's apartment. They were taking shifts with DiNozzo and Ziva, who were currently waiting at the exit. They had been in that position for three hours already, and starting to get really bored with waiting. Kay was also distracted by being so close to Tim and not being able to do anything.
"Mike check. Tony, Ziva, can you hear me?" McGee asked as he was supposed to, right on the hour.
"Yes, McImpatient, we can hear you," came DiNozzo's sarcastic reply. "Damn, I'm getting really bored sitting here. You think Tomassen is really going to leave his apartment today?"
"I don't know, Tony," replied McGee, "but the boss said twenty-four hour surveillance, so we're here."
"Well, I wish he'd go out to eat or pick up dry cleaning or something, my ass is starting to go numb."
"Huh, and you call me impatient."
"Just keep watching those cameras, McNerdBoy, and let us know if he comes out."
"For the umpteenth time, Tony, I will." said McGee, thouroughly annoyed. He sat back with a sigh. Looking over at Kay, he noticed her chewing on her thumbnail, something she usually did when she was bothered by something.
"Something wrong?" he asked her.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just getting kinda bored myself." she replied, smiling at him.
He smiled back. As she turned her attention back to the video screens in front of her, he couldn't help but notice the curve of her neck, the way she had her hair pulled back in a braided bun, like always. He thought about how sensitive her neck was, how she loved it when he nibbled at just the right place…
"There he is!" Kay exclaimed, bringing McGee's attention back to the monitors. "He's leaving his apartment now, coming down the elevator."
"Tony, Ziva, you copy?" McGee said into his mike, but all he received was static. "Tony, Ziva! Damnit, what a time for the headpiece to go out. Tony, Ziva!" He sighed in frustration. Turning back to the monitor, he saw Tomassen leaving the elevator, keys out in one hand and other hand in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, holding something.
"Zoom in on his pocket, he's got something in there," said McGee. Kay hit the controls for the security camera they had tapped into and got a close-up look.
"I can't tell what it is," she told him. "But he's already at his car. Wait, he's looking around…"
Tomassen was looking around the parking garage. He was parked not far from the exit, and he seemed to be searching for something. Turning away from his car, he started walking toward the exit, right to where Tony and Ziva were sitting.
"Damn! Tony! Ziva! He's headed straight your way!" McGee shouted into the mike, but still all he got back was static. Tearing off his headset, he threw open the doors to the van and started running straight for Tomassen.
"Tim, wait!" shouted Kay, pulling her own headset off and starting after him. But he already had a huge lead on her, and her short legs just couldn't keep up with his long ones.
Tomassen heart the shouting and turned. Seeing McGee, he pulled his hand from his pocket, revealing the gun he had hidden there. Pointing it at McGee, he fired twice. McGee went down.
"Tim! No!" Kay's cry was torn from her throat. Tomassen looked up to see her barreling down on him, her own weapon pulled. He raised his gun, but she fired first. One. Two. Three shots rang out, and Tomassen slumped to the ground.
By this time Tony and Ziva had heard the commotion and were running toward them, weapons drawn. Tony stopped to check Tomassen's pulse while Ziva and Kay went straight for McGee. Kay reached him first.
"Ziva! Call an ambulance!" Kay shouted when she saw the blood seeping through Tim's NCIS jacket. As Ziva dialed 911, Kay unzipped the jacket and pulled it open to reveal blood pouring from a wound on Tim's chest. Terrified, she checked for a pulse. It was there, but thready. She placed both of her hands on the wound and pressed down, trying to staunch the blood flowing out. A moment later, another pair of hands were on top of hers, helping to press down harder. Kim looked up to see Ziva's face.
Tony came running up to them, talking on his cell. He hung up and dropped to his knees beside the women.
"Gibbs is on his way," he said, "he'll meet us at the hospital."
"Good," replied Ziva, "the ambulance is coming."
At just that moment, they heard the wail of the ambulance coming closer. Tony went to the exit to get their attention while the women kept pressing down on Tim's chest. The blood was still pouring freely from the gunshot wound.
Kay could barely supress her cries as she watched Tim's lifeblood seeping through her fingers. She prayed the ambulance would get him to the hospital in time.
Tony directed the ambulance toward Tim and ran up to them himself. As the paramedics jumped from the van, he tried to pull the women off Tim so they could get to him. Ziva pulled away, but Kay wouldn't budge.
"Kay, you have to move. The paramedics are here, but you have to move so they can help him." Tony's voice was soft as he held Kay's shoulders and tried to move her back. She didn't move until the medics themselves reached them with the gurney in tow.
"Miss, you need to move now," one of the medics told her. Shaking, she let Tony pull her away from Tim then, letting the man reach Tim's side.
The other medic came to her side and asked, "Miss, are you hurt? Miss? Can you hear me?"
Kay didn't register the voice talking to her for a minute. Then she looked up, eyes unfocused, at the medic.
"I'm not hurt," she said. The man didn't seem to believe her. He took hold of her hands and examined them. She looked down, dazed. "It's not my blood," she told the medic.
"Come on, let's get him to the hospital!" yelled the other medic, who had been tending to Tim's injury. Kim looked up to see the two men move Tim to the gurney. She saw that heavy bandages had been laid on Tim's chest, and one medic kept his hand on them, pressing down on the wound. They rolled him into the waiting ambulance, then climbed in beside him, pulling the doors closed. The ambulance rolled out of the garage, siren wailing as it hurried up the street.
Kay closed her eyes. This can't really be happening, she thought.
But as she opened her eyes, she found Tony and Ziva looking at each other, then at her.
"Come on," said Tony, "let's get to the hospital, too." He put his arm around Kay's waist and helped her stand up. She was shaky at first, but then her legs steadied. They went to the van first, pulling out wet wipes for Kay and Ziva to wash their hands with. Then they locked it and walked back to the sedan where Ziva and Tony had been waiting during the stakeout. Kay sat in the back seat, her mind running in circles. She kept picturing Tomassen raising the gun, pointing it at Tim. Two shots fired. Tim crumpling to the ground.
Silently, Kay began to sob.