Searching for a Killer

Gibbs and Tony emerged from the elevator and went to their desks. Tony tossed his pack on the floor and booted up his computer. "Digging into Haynes now, Boss."

Gibbs grunted in response, his eyes on his own monitor.

"Gibbs!" Abby came running over from the back hallway. She stopped in front of Gibbs' desk, looking around. "Where are Timmy and Ziva?"

Tony grinned and shook his head. "We all stopped for lunch just outside of DC. They're probably a good twenty minutes behind us. Gibbs drove."

Abby returned the smile, running over to give Tony a hug, seating herself in his lap. "Welcome back!" She pulled back, frowning at him. "I can't believe you guys kept me in the dark all this time! Ducky and Jimmy could only tell me so much."

Tony glanced between her and Gibbs. "And we can only tell you so much at work, Abs, you know that. You'll have to wait until later."

"But, Tony! You were gone for so long! I've been dying here!"

Gibbs looked up at them, only to have his attention caught by Director Vance as he came around the partition next to Ziva's desk. "Leon," he said quietly.

"Gibbs." Vance surveyed the area, eyebrows rising as he looked at Abby sitting in Tony's lap, then refocused on Gibbs. "Ms. Sciuto is right, Gibbs. You were out in the field for a long time. Anything to show for it?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Not as much as we'd like. Several leads seemed like they were going to pan out, but they fizzled."

"Negative data is still data!" Abby stated firmly.

"Thank you, Ms. Sciuto." Vance nodded to her. "Don't you have evidence to process for Agent Balboa?"

Abby jumped to her feet. "Right away, sir!" She snapped off a salute, pointed at Tony and said, "Later!" in a loud whisper, then headed for the elevator.

Vance watched her go, shaking his head, then turned back to Gibbs. "Send the receipts for the hotel into accounting asap."

Gibbs shook his head. "Don't have any. No charge."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Small town. We were the most exciting thing to happen there in a while. Mayor let us stay in a rental for free."

Vance smiled. "Now that's what I like to hear. If only federal agents got that kind of respect everywhere."

Gibbs grinned. "DiNozzo was very popular. Got all kinds of respect."

Vance turned to look at Tony. "I don't want to know," he said. "I'm back from another long day of meetings on the Hill. Let me know if anything does pan out." He nodded to Gibbs, raised an eyebrow at Tony, and left.

Tony frowned at Gibbs. "Thanks loads, Boss."

"All part of the cover, Tony."

Tony shook his head, but smiled. "I was pretty popular at the end there," he said happily.

Gibbs smiled at him, then waved a hand at Tony's computer. "Got Haynes' address?"

Tony hit a few more keys. "Yup. Apartment building on Jefferson Street in Portsmouth." He did a bit more typing. "She had a roommate… Jessica Porter, not Navy."

Gibbs tapped his fingers on his desk. Tony grimaced. "Long drive, Boss. And we only just got back."

Gibbs looked at him thoughtfully, then nodded. "Got contact info for the roommate?"

Tony checked the screen. "Yup."

"Call her."

Tony sighed in relief, picking up his desk phone. Gibbs got up. "Goin' to Autopsy," he said. Tony gave him a little wave. "Can I speak with Jessica Porter, please? This is Special Agent Antony DiNozzo, NCIS…"

Gibbs heard the ding of the elevator and turned to see McGee and Ziva walking in. "McGee! Background on Karen Haynes. Talk to her CO. DiNozzo's on with the roommate now." He didn't wait for McGee to acknowledge him.

A few minutes later, Gibbs walked in to Autopsy. Palmer was nowhere to be seen; Ducky sat at his desk, swiveling his chair to greet his visitor. "Jethro! I'm so pleased you made it back in one piece."

Gibbs grinned. "I wasn't the one who got challenged by a werewolf, Duck."

"No! Anthony?"

"Got it in one."

"He must be alright, or I would have heard from you before this."

"Not a scratch on him. Pretty much single-handedly changed the power structure in the pack, and was named a Wolf-Friend as a result. Pretty big deal."

"Good for him. Although how that boy manages to get into so many scrapes is beyond me."

"Not exactly a boy, Duck. Got anything on Petty Officer Haynes?"

"Besides what I told you already? No, nothing new. It was definitely methanol poisoning. Other than that, she was a very healthy young woman."

They talked for a few more minutes, then Gibbs left to get coffee and Caf-Pow. He was back with the team in just under an hour.

"What've we got?"

The three agents jumped to their feet and lined up in front of the plasma. Ziva started them off. "Petty Officer Karen Haynes, twenty-five years old, in her third year with the Navy. Graduated from the University of California in San Diego with a BS in Environmental Chemistry. No living family on record." She gave Gibbs a significant look.

McGee took over. "She worked in the labs on the naval base at Norfolk. Her CO is Lieutenant Commander Philip Bryce; he said she was a hard worker, innovative, very sharp. Spotless record. He put me in touch with members of her unit. No one could think of anyone who had a problem with her. They described her as quirky, fun, spirited, energetic… said her hobbies included hiking and hunting. They said she rarely drank alcohol and wouldn't touch drugs." He passed the clicker off to Tony, who used it with a flourish to put a photo of a driver's license up on the screen.

"The roommate: Jessica Porter, also twenty-five, moved from San Diego to Portsmouth with Petty Officer Haynes. Also graduated from UC San Diego with a BA in Communication. Works for a little advertising firm in Newport News. Navy chaplain informed her of Haynes' death; she sounded pretty broken up about it. Said the last time she saw Haynes was the day she died. Haynes came home the day before at her usual time, then went out with Navy friends, stayed out later than usual. Ms. Porter said she was asleep by the time Haynes got home that night. Saw her in the morning as she was leaving, said she looked tired but seemed fine. Knew she was going on leave, so didn't expect to see her again until next week."

Gibbs stared thoughtfully at the screen. "DiNozzo, dig into the roommate. See if there are any other connections from San Diego. McGee, check for disciplinary issues in her unit. Ziva, check for any problems in her neighborhood."

They all worked quietly for a while. McGee was the first to report back. "There's a Lieutenant Francis Baker who worked with Petty Officer Haynes with a drunk and disorderly. And a Seaman John Pritson who was detained eight months ago for theft. He apparently stole some materials meant for the lab; Petty Officer Haynes caught and reported him. He spent six months in the brig before his discharge." McGee put the former Seaman's ID up on the screen.

Gibbs got up to take a closer look. Ziva joined him. "I could not find anything that seems relevant in Karen Haynes' neighborhood, Gibbs. It is a very quiet area, near an elementary school."

Gibbs looked over at Tony. "Anything, DiNozzo?"

"Roommate's got one misdemeanor for reckless driving, and was picked up for possession, but the charges were dropped."

Gibbs looked back at Pritson's picture. "McGee, find more on Pritson. Verify his current address, check out where he's been since his discharge."

"Think he's our guy, Boss?"

"Most likely out of what we've got so far," Gibbs replied as he went back to his desk.

More cyber-investigating followed. McGee found a last-known address that no longer applied; Pritson had moved shortly after his discharge. Tony tried to get more information about Jessica Porter's possession charge, but hit a dead end. Ziva tried to follow up as well, but got nowhere.

Abby came through the bullpen a little before 7 pm. "I have waited long enough!" she exclaimed. "Dinner? I need to know what happened with the –" she hesitated, looked around, and lowered her voice, "you-know-whats."

Everyone looked at Gibbs, who looked at his watch. "Go on, get outta here. Back at eight tomorrow."

McGee and Ziva grabbed their gear and looked at Tony, who looked at Gibbs. Seeing that his boss had no intention of leaving, Tony waved them all out. "You guys go ahead. Just be sure to explain about how I'm a legend now!" He smirked at McGee, who rolled his eyes as he walked past Tony's desk.

The two men worked quietly. Tony tried to track down the people Karen Haynes was out with the night before she died. Gibbs got his mind off the case for a while, completing some of his overdue paperwork. The floor gradually emptied out, until he and Tony were the last ones left.

Gibbs sat back in his chair, looking thoughtfully at the screen where John Pritson's ID still showed. As he contemplated it, the screen suddenly flickered, and Jessica Porter's picture appeared. Gibbs' brow furrowed as he looked at McGee's computer. "Tony."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"You change the picture on the screen?"

"No… why would I do that?"

"Dunno. It changed."

Tony looked at Gibbs doubtfully. "All by itself?"

"I certainly didn't do it."

Tony grinned at him. "No, you didn't." He got up, grabbing the remote off the file cabinet. He hit the right buttons to link it to his computer, and the picture changed back to Pritson's ID. "Still having trouble tracking him down, Boss." Tony hit another button. "Here's his last known… but the landlord hasn't seen him since he moved out. Didn't leave a forwarding address."

As Tony turned to look at Gibbs, the picture flickered and changed to Jessica Porter's driver's license.

Gibbs pointed at the plasma. Tony turned to look, and frowned. "That's weird." He hit the remote, switching it back to Pritson. It changed almost immediately to Jessica Porter.

Tony's eyes narrowed. He switched it to Pritson and quickly put the remote back on the cabinet. Both men stared at the plasma. Pritson's picture stared back, until once again the screen flickered and Jessica Porter was there.

"Boss…"

"This thing ever done that before?"

Tony shook his head emphatically. "No, never. Never ever." He got the remote, pointed it at the screen, and hit some buttons. Nothing happened. He went to his computer, closed the file with Jessica Porter's info, and looked back at the plasma. Her picture was still up there.

"Maybe it's hooked into McGoo's computer somehow?" Tony went to McGee's desk, but the computer wasn't even on.

"Tony…"

Tony turned around to look at Gibbs, who was staring at the file cabinet next to the plasma. Tony went to Gibbs' side and looked.

There was a shape next to the cabinet. It was indistinct at first, but slowly took on a recognizable form.

Tony swallowed nervously. "Um… I think maybe Erik and the rest of 'em were wrong when they said werewolf spirits don't stick around."

Karen Haynes, colorless and transparent, stood next to the plasma, looking at them. Her eyes met each of theirs, then her head turned to look at the plasma and she pointed at Jessica Porter's picture.

Gibbs straightened his shoulders and stepped closer to the ghost. "You tellin' us she poisoned you?"

The ghost looked at him and nodded once, slowly. She then looked at Tony, pointing at his chest. His hand went up reflexively, then he looked down, reaching past his shirt to pull the crystal ring on its chain out into the open.

Suddenly Karen stood right in front of him. Tony suppressed his surprised yelp. Her fingers reached out to touch the ring; they brushed his, but all he felt was a chill. The ghost looked at the ring, then reached up to touch Tony's face. He could clearly see her lips shape the words 'help me' – and then she vanished.