Interrogation

The Norfolk office didn't have nearly the room or the equipment available at the Navy Yard, but the team made do. After his arrest, Simon Taylor had spoken only long enough to demand a lawyer, so they didn't need an interrogation room for him. They'd contacted the public defender's office and left him in lockup, charging him with possession, distribution, and a host of other related offenses. McGee and Tammy Reece had gotten a warrant and gone to search Taylor's apartment and interview his boss and fellow employees at the drugstore where he worked.

Tony and Gibbs stood in the small observation room, watching Jessica Porter fidget in Interrogation. Her fingers never stopped moving, and she continually glanced from the door to the mirror to the video camera and back. Her voice quavered when the door opened and a young agent politely asked her if she wanted some water.

With no technician available to handle the equipment, Tony turned on the video recorder, then went to the printer in the corner of the room, picking up the photos of Karen Haynes' body lying in the street in Dayton. He added them to a stack of photos from Gibbs' camera, clearly showing the transfer of drugs from Simon Taylor to Jessica's outstretched hand. He flipped through them before putting them in a folder that held the details of the Haynes case, together with Jessica's previous arrest report and Simon's rap sheet.

"Shouldn't take long," he commented.

Gibbs reached over and grabbed the file. "Got it," he said as he headed for the door.

"Uh, Boss?"

Gibbs stopped and looked impatiently back at Tony.

"No offense, but are you sure you're the best option here?"

Gibbs slowly turned to face him, raising his eyebrows slightly while still managing to glare.

Tony sighed and managed not to roll his eyes. "Seriously, Jethro. You go in there and glare at her, she's probably going to have hysterics. She'll cry, clam up, and we'll be handing this over to a prosecutor without any real connection to Haynes' death. We've got her on the drugs, but we need a confession to tie her to the murder. No way we're going to find proof her methanol killed Haynes, much less that Porter did it herself."

Gibbs' lips twitched. "So, you're saying you're the man for the job, Tony?"

Tony grinned at him. "Rule five, Jethro. I know you can charm the ladies when you want to, but somehow I think she'll respond a bit better to someone closer to her own generation."

Gibbs' only change of expression was a slight widening of his eyes. He inclined his head, and held the folder out for Tony. Tony cleared his throat, made a show of stretching and cracking his neck, then strode closer to his partner, taking the file with a serious expression. He cringed in anticipation as he moved to open the door, and was rewarded with a stinging slap to the back of his head. "Thank you, Boss!" he exclaimed, grinning again as the door shut behind him and he took the few steps to the interrogation room.

Jessica Porter jumped nervously as Tony opened the door, turning to close it behind him before facing her, smiling, and stepping forward to introduce himself. He held out his hand; she hesitantly extended hers and he pressed it gently before taking the seat opposite her, shifting the chair a bit to one side to give Gibbs an unobstructed view of her face.

"Um, Agent Di- DiNozzo?"

He looked up from the file he'd opened and smiled at her. "Please, call me Tony."

She blinked, then straightened up, flipping her long blond hair over her shoulder. Tony let his eyes linger on her movement; she smiled, settling into her chair, her expression relaxing. "Tony. Thank you. I… I don't know what you must be thinking of me right now."

Tony sat back, his smile turning slightly wicked. "I'm thinking I shouldn't say what I'm thinking. A guy could get in trouble."

Jessica smiled. "It's too bad we didn't meet under better circumstances." She leaned forward, looking at him earnestly, and Tony began to have some suspicions about why the charges were dropped after her first arrest.

"You know, I was thinking the same thing." His gaze held hers for a moment before he sighed regretfully and shifted his attention to the file folder. "Unfortunately," he lowered his voice, "my boss is probably watching us right now."

Jessica's eyes darted up to look at the mirror, then returned to Tony. "Is your boss as cute as you? Bet we could all have a good time."

Tony's eyes widened. "He's former military. Stickler for the rules."

She pursed her lips in disappointment. "Well, then I guess it's just you and me."

Tony smiled at her. "Yes. Yes, it is." He looked down at the papers on the table, picking up the picture of Simon handing off the paper bag. "So… " He held out the picture to her. She took it, looking at it for a long moment, catching her lower lip between her teeth. She glanced up at him, but stayed silent.

"Simon Taylor is refusing to cooperate," Tony said in a mournful tone.

"Is that his name?"

"You didn't know?"

She shook her head. "I… I needed more money than I was getting at my job. I've always wanted to travel, you know – so many romantic places in the world. It was going to take forever to get anywhere on my salary. A, um, a friend put me in touch with… Simon?... told me I could make easy money with little risk."

"The drugs," Tony prompted.

She gave a little laugh. "Yes. I didn't sell them myself, of course. I handed them off to others who did the actual selling." She looked carefully at Tony, who made sure to glance at her chest – he was sure more of those buttons had been fastened earlier – before sitting forward to rest his arms on the table.

"You'd get an email from snakeeyes357 and then… what?"

"I'd meet him to pick up the… drugs, and then I'd wait two days before making calls from work to arrange to drop them off."

"Simon was being careful."

"Yes, I guess he was." Jessica widened her eyes, letting them fill with tears. "You said he's refusing to cooperate?"

Tony nodded, holding her gaze.

"So… if I cooperate…"

"I'm sure we can work something out."

She smiled brilliantly. "What do you want to know?"

A few minutes later, he had a list of phone numbers, names, physical descriptions, and meeting places. "Thank you, Jessica. You've been a big help. I'm going to look really good for my boss."

Jessica smiled, then turned serious. "I'm happy to help, Tony. This has been a truly frightening experience, and I promise you I've learned my lesson."

Tony grinned at her. "I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that." He gathered up all the papers, shuffling them and putting them back into the folder, which he closed.

Jessica leaned forward, resting her hand on his arm. "I'd love to get to know you better, you know, outside of… work."

"Mmm, that sounds nice." He leaned in close, whispering in her ear, "I almost forgot something."

Her pupils dilated as she gazed at him. "What?"

Staying close and keeping his eyes on her, he pulled a picture of Karen Haynes lying dead in the street out of the folder and laid it on the table in front of her. "This." He sat back.

She blinked, confused, then lowered her gaze to the table. She gasped, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth. "Karen!"

"She died confused and in pain, lying in the street. Methanol poisoning."

Jessica lowered her shaking hand to the picture. "Methanol? They never said…"

"So how'd you do it?"

Jessica sat back suddenly. "What?"

"Give her the methanol. How did you do it? Why?"

"I… what? Why would you –"

"We can't find anyone with a motive, Jessica," Tony said softly. "You have a bottle of methanol in your apartment, under the kitchen sink. It's been opened, and there's some missing."

Jessica shook her head, real tears appearing in her eyes, one sliding out and down her face.

"Here's what I think… I think Karen found out about the drugs. I think you were desperate to stop her from reporting you. You told the police she'd been out drinking the night before she died; I think you gave her the methanol when she got home – what's one more little drink? You knew she was leaving town the next day, and you knew it would take time for the methanol to kill her."

Jessica was shaking her head. "No, it wasn't – I didn't –"

"Didn't what? Didn't think we'd trace it back to you?"

"How did – I mean, you couldn't…"

"Could and did." Tony looked at her, deadly serious. He lowered his voice, speaking softly again. "How did it happen, Jessica?"

Bewildered, she stared at him, more tears slipping down her face. "I…" She looked down at the picture again. "I was getting ready to go out, to deliver the drugs. I left the bag out on the kitchen counter when I went to my bedroom to get my keys. I thought she was in her room for the night. She came out, to get a snack or something, and she looked in the bag… she was furious."

"She knew about the first time?"

Jessica nodded, closing her eyes. "She was my best friend," she whispered. "She stood by me the first time I was arrested… after I was released, she told me never again. She knew my family, she'd have told them. I couldn't handle them being disappointed in me."

"You decided to kill her."

She shook her head violently. "No! I didn't know what to do. I had an emergency number to call Simon, so I did, and he told me to meet him. When I did, he gave me the methanol, told me to make her drink it. I said I wouldn't, couldn't – then he said he'd kill me if I didn't do it. He knew my name, where I lived, he'd have done it. I didn't have a choice."

"You waited for an opportunity, and when she came home drunk, you offered her one more drink… probably had one yourself, to tempt her."

Jessica closed her eyes, nodding.

Tony gathered up the pictures. "You could have gone to the police. You could have gotten help, taken Simon down. Instead, you killed your best friend." He watched her, angry at her stupidity. "You betrayed her. I hope you still think it was worth it."

Jessica broke down, sobbing.

Tony stood and headed for the door, stopping short when he felt cool air against his face. He looked at the mirror before turning back to the door, where a translucent shape was forming. Karen's ghost stood in front of him, her face clearly visible while the rest of her was a misty outline.

Jessica looked up, saw what he did, and screamed.

Karen turned toward her, staring.

Jessica screamed again; her eyes rolled up in her head, and she went limp, her body sliding down in her chair to end up in a heap on the floor.

Karen turned toward Tony again. Her form wavered, her face shifting from human to that of a wolf before it faded from view.

Tony moved quickly to Jessica, checking for a pulse. It was strong and steady. He heard the door open behind him and looked up to see Gibbs standing there. "Called for a medical team."

Tony nodded, not sure what to say.

Jessica stirred; Tony told her to lie quietly and wait for the medical team to arrive.

"What happened?"

Tony shook his head. "I'm not sure. You passed out. This has been a stressful day," he added, wincing slightly at the lame excuse.

She looked puzzled, but accepted it; she didn't seem to remember having seen Karen.

The medical team arrived; Gibbs and Tony moved into the observation room. "You saw that?" Tony asked Gibbs, who nodded.

"Better check the video… see if we have some explaining to do."

Tony's eyes widened. He grimaced, then went to the board and hit a few buttons. There was a small screen hooked into the system; it was only a few seconds before the video was playing back. They could see Tony moving to the door, see him hesitate, look back, then Jessica look up and scream, but there was no sign of the ghost on the playback.

Tony sighed in relief, sagging against Gibbs for a moment. Gibbs' hand came up to rest on his back. "You did good, Tony."

"Thanks. Changed tactics a little when she made it clear she used sex to get the charges dropped the first time."

"Worked." Gibbs ran his hand up Tony's back and through Tony's hair, squeezing the base of his neck before letting go. "Come on, we'll get her booked, and charge Taylor with conspiracy to commit murder."

Tony sighed, opening the folder to look at the picture of Karen Haynes. "So pointless. All Jessica had to do was bring in the police, play along… she might have gotten no more than probation, and Karen would be alive and end up with a litter of pups or something some day."

"Can't accuse Porter of being overly bright, Tony."

"Nope." Tony closed the folder and walked out of the room with Gibbs. "Heard anything from McGeek?"

Gibbs nodded. "They found more drugs in Taylor's place. Got his computer, some other evidence they're bringing back. We'll leave this with Agent Reece, head back to DC as soon as we have all the paperwork out of the way."

"Sounds good. Thinking we should call Erik when we get back."

"Could call from the car."

"Tim and Ziva will be driving back on their own… yeah, that could work." Tony frowned. "On the other hand, given that you'll be driving, maybe we should wait so you stay focused on the road and we don't die in a fiery wreck."

The head slap was unusually gentle.