Chapter 16 – Cracked
Tim McGee
July 1932
He looked up as someone knocked on the apartment door.
"You expecting someone?" Tony asked.
"No," he said as he looked at the various ledgers and papers scattered across their dining room table.
"I'll see who it is," Tony said as he stood up and made his way to the door. He started to hastily gather up his notes and wondered where he could stash them when he heard Tony call out. "It's ok Tim. It's for you."
Getting up as Tony re-entered the dining room, he made his way to the living room. He blinked in surprise.
"Abby," he said as he saw her standing by the door with a bag. She was wearing a casual black and white polka-dotted tea dress. Which, on second glance, he realized the white polka dots were tiny white skulls. He wondered where she could have gotten a dress made of that kind of fabric but instead he asked, "What are you doing here?"
She hesitated.
"I had an idea," she said suddenly. "About the ledgers."
He stared at her for a moment.
"I could use the help," he said finally. Abby grinned. She dropped her bag in his room and followed him back to the dining room.
Since he had overheard Fornell talking to Napolitano, he had been trying to decode the ledgers. There were several entries that seemingly fit with what he overheard. But it had been two months and he still hadn't had any luck.
He had finally asked Tony to figure out some way to get information on Fornell to see if that would help him sort out the books. After some thought, Tony had reached out to Leon Vance since they knew he would be discreet.
And now that he was seeing Abby, she had started to help him.
Well she had started to help him once she had convinced him that she wasn't going to turn him over to Napolitano. Gibbs had been convinced since that night in Quicksilver when he and Abby talked at the bar. But he wasn't sure how a story about a car wreck was enough to convince Gibbs that they could trust Abby but it had.
He, on the other hand, needed a little more proof. Their lives were on the line.
It wasn't that he didn't want to believe her. He did. But by nature, they were opposing forces. He was the law and she was the law breaker. She might not like Napolitano but he owned her club and if Naps was arrested, she might lose Quicksilver.
But nothing happened. Abby kept her word and didn't say anything to Naps. And every time she saw him, she reaffirmed that she couldn't fault him for what he was trying to do. She had told him that she thought the world would be better off without people like Napolitano. They were responsible for a lot of the bad things that happened around town. The people who suffered because of Napolitano's business decisions deserved justice even at the expense of her club.
It had taken a great deal of work on her part to convince him that he could trust her. Eventually, he came around and so did Tony. And for the last few weeks things had been good between them. Very, very good. He hadn't been this happy for a very long time.
But hours later, they hadn't made any headway on decoding the ledgers.
Abby sighed in frustration and stood up. "I'm sorry Tim. I really thought I had something. Here, I just wasted two hours of your time."
"It's ok," he said. "It's not like I've made any headway myself," he said. "It's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of."
"You mean Tony doesn't help?" she asked. He shook his head causing her to giggle. "It's funny, you didn't look happy to see me a few hours ago."
"I was just surprised to see you," he replied. "You're not needed at Quicksilver?"
"It's a Tuesday," she replied. "They're my light days. Stan can handle things. I figured I could be more helpful here but this is impossible," she said as she looked at the pages scattered across the table.
"It's not impossible," Tim replied evenly as he tapped his fingers to the rhythm of the music playing from the radio in the living room. "We've narrowed it down to a couple of options. This one could go with Tobias Fornell. The numbers match up. And we also think that we've found his ex-wife's entry. So, if we are right and this is Fornell's line in the ledgers then we just need to figure out the code and determine how Wbalgott equals Tobias Fornell."
He tried to speak calmly but traces of frustration made it into his voice. Abby looked at him sympathetically. He tried to hide it but she knew him too well. In fact, it felt like she had always known him and it felt like he had always known her.
"We're still working on an awful lot of assumptions McGee," Abby replied as she paced slightly. "And as a scientist, I hate assumptions. We need facts and evidence."
"We have evidence," he replied weakly.
She snorted. "We have a dozen entries that might fit Fornell and twice that many that might fit his ex-wife! Until you get some evidence, we could stare at these books for days and still not come up with the code."
He leaned back and sighed. "I know."
"Have you tried an Affine shift cipher?" Abby asked.
"Without the multiplicative inverse?" he asked. Abby shrugged.
"What about a frequency analysis?" she asked.
"I've tried frequency analysis, transposition ciphers, a Vigenére cipher and every other cipher I can think of," he said in frustration. "And the more I worry about this the less likely I am to figure it out."
"Yes," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "And I don't like seeing you stressed."
He leaned into her hug. "I don't like being this stressed," he replied.
"Oh," she said sympathetically. She shifted to his side and leaned in to kiss him. What started off as a chaste kiss for encouragement quickly turned into something more.
"If you two are going continue necking, I can leave the room," Tony said drolly.
Breaking apart, he cleared his throat. "Sorry about that Tony," he said as he wiped the corner of his mouth. Abby smiled and wiped some lipstick from his lips. Tony was seated at the table with his feet kicked up onto a chair while he read today's paper. Tony had been so quiet, he had forgotten his partner was in the room.
"Hey," Tony said. "I am happy that you two are dating," Tony said begrudgingly. He smiled wryly at his partner. Tony had forced himself to say those words.
"We're not dating," Abby said quickly.
"What do you mean, you aren't dating?" Tony asked as he rested the paper on his legs. "We go to Quicksilver almost every night so you can be with each other." Abby nodded. "And you stay here several nights a week too." Abby nodded again. "You also go out to dinner and spend most of your free time together."
"Yeah," she replied. "But we're not dating."
"Even though you're getting a wiggle on, you're not dating?" Tony asked incredulously.
"I don't like labels," Abby said sweetly.
"You're ok with this McGee?" Tony asked.
He shrugged. Not long after he and Abby had made up, he had tried to put a label on their relationship and Abby had balked. Then he had tried to talk about the future but she had deflected the conversation. He even brought up the idea of marriage and a family. Abby had agreed those things were nice but she wasn't sure they were for her.
It was then that he realized that Abby wasn't going to be the settling down type. At first, he had been disappointed even if it wasn't surprising. Even though it was still early in their relationship, he had allowed himself to think about their future and Abby had dashed those dreams effectively.
Then he realized that he had two options. He could break things off with her or he could enjoy their relationship for what it was. Considering that he was undercover and trying to take down a mob boss, he had serious doubts that he could effectively meet and court a woman to the point that they would get married because any relationship would be built on a subtle lie about who he was.
There were more than a few good reasons to continue seeing Abby. She was smart, fun, a fantastic dancer, and the sex was great. He weighed his options and decided to enjoy their relationship for what it was.
"Really, Tony?" Abby asked. "You need to ask that?"
"Yeah?" Tony asked half afraid of the answer.
"Tim is an excellent dancer," she said saucily. He blinked and felt the heat rise up his neck. "Especially of the horizontal steps."
Tony's expression fell. "I really didn't need to know that," Tony said dryly.
Abby smiled sweetly. "What about you and Ziva?"
"Me and Ziva?" Tony asked feigning innocence as he lifted his paper again to hide his face.
"Yeah," he said. "You've been sweet on her since you met."
"And you've sent her some gorgeous flowers," Abby said. "Martha's Garden does good work and they aren't cheap either."
Tony shrugged. "Oh. I found them in a telephone directory. Are they really that expensive? I thought flowers were flowers."
He looked at his partner. Even though he couldn't see Tony's face, he could tell that Tony was lying through his teeth. Tony knew exactly how expensive those flowers were and had selected that flower shop because it had a reputation for being the best.
Abby saw through him too. "Ziva loved them." Tony perked up and lowered his paper again. "Are you going to ask her out one of these days or are you going to be content to admire her from afar?"
Tony shook his head. "I don't know Abby." Tony looked at him. "You know that everything is more complicated because of our job." Abby looked at him then back to Tony. "Tim got lucky." Abby winked causing Tony to roll his eyes. "You are an understanding gal. Can you tell me that Ziva is the same?"
Abby bit her lip. He had asked her the same question when it became apparent that Tony and Ziva were attracted to one another. But Abby couldn't say one way or another.
Abby had only met Ziva shortly before hiring her as Quicksilver's resident singer. Ziva had a long resume at clubs all over the world from Tel Aviv to Cairo in Arabia, from Venice to Paris to London in Europe, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires in South America to New York and Chicago in the States. Abby had hired Ziva on the strength of her voice alone but her exotic beauty had helped her case.
Abby only began to hear the strange rumors after she had hired Miss David. Mysterious happenings seemed to occur wherever Miss David had been singing. A whisper of a theft of jewels from Venice. A hint of a mysterious disappearance in Rio. A rumor of a suspicious death in London.
Tim had done some of his own research but like Abby, he had only heard snatches stories and nothing that could connect the strange incidents to Miss David. Although one man Tony had spoken to said he would swear on a stack of bibles that Ziva was a spy and assassin who had retired from the trade. Unfortunately, the man's credibility was somewhat lacking but as Gibbs was fond of saying, he didn't believe in coincidences.
Even so, it was hard to believe that Ziva could have done all the things they said she had done. One of her so-called victims had been killed with bare hands and he wasn't sure that Ziva was capable of such strength.
But still they remained cautious around Miss David even if she hadn't given them any reason to distrust her. And he had gone so far as to ask Gibbs if he would look into her for Tony's sake. Thankfully they had been in Quicksilver at the time and that had saved his head. But the glare he had received had nearly the same impact as one of Gibbs' head slaps.
"That's what I thought," Tony said when Abby didn't reply.
"Well there's one way to find out," Abby said. "You should ask her out."
"I don't know Abby," Tony said. "Maybe once I know more about her."
He opened his mouth to ask Tony how long he planned on waiting but he was interrupted by the news report on the radio.
"...And this is your news in brief. The body of a man washed up on the shores of the Potomac today," the newscaster said, drawing their attention. He looked up at the radio. "Police have identified the man as Frederick Rinnert of Georgetown. Mr. Rinnert was found among the wreckage of a barrel leading police to believe he may have attempted to go over Great Falls. Needless to say, he was unsuccessful. In other news…"
Abby hurried into the living room and switched off the radio. Undoubtedly Rinnert's death was Napolitano's handiwork. And as unsavory as Rinnert was, he didn't want to see him dead.
"Creative," Tony said as he looked up from the paper. He looked at Tony incredulously. "I had forgotten all about Freddy. Although I am surprised that Naps held onto him for over a month. At least he went out with a splash."
"Something like that," he muttered darkly. Tony didn't seem to be perturbed by Fred's death in the least.
Abby looked at him. He had told her several times that he wasn't happy with what was going to happen to Fred and that he wished he could do something to save Rinnert's life. He had even come up with some hare-brained plans to get Fred turned over to the Feds. Even though Abby didn't want to see Fred killed either, she had talked him out of doing anything stupid. Thankfully.
"Look McGee," Tony said looking up from his paper. "He shot Jimmy. Abby has the evidence." Abby nodded. "And Blue was right. If they had caught you, either you would have ended up dead or in the Feds' hands. For what it's worth, my money was on dead. Either way, the end wouldn't have been good for you."
Tim sighed and nodded. At the least, his cover would have been irrevocably blown. But more than likely Tony was right and he would have been killed.
"Needless to say, it wouldn't have been good for me either because if they had gotten you then I would be dead."
"How you do you figure that?" Tim asked.
"Take your pick," Tony replied darkly as he returned his gaze to the paper. "In order. Death by shootout with Grenouille's goons. Death by Gibbs for letting you get caught. Death by Naps for letting you get caught. Or death by Naps for you being a G-Man."
"Good point," Tim replied.
"Still," Abby said. "There's been a lot of trouble because of my club. I've heard that there has been some trouble with La Grenouille's men."
"You could put it that way," Tony said.
"This isn't about your club Abby," Tim said. "Trouble between Napolitano and the Frog has been brewing for months."
"Tim's right," Tony said. "Naps and the Frog's bootleggers have clashed before. Kort and his boys tried to hijack one of my shipments of liquor bound for the Tin Angel and we taught them a lesson back then too."
"There's only so many independent clubs that the Frog can take over before he has to make a play for Napolitano's network," Tim said. "Jimmy has to push back so the Frog knows it isn't worth it to come after Quicksilver again."
"Is that how you justify all the bodies stacking up?" Abby asked. He frowned. "Ask Tony what the paper says about the uptick in crime."
"Most of that doesn't make papers," Tony said. "But we're both aware of it, Abby. I worked as one of Napolitano's enforcers and Tim's office is next to Jimmy's. Not to mention that we've both been on guard any time we leave this apartment. If the Frog targeted Tim once, it's only a matter of time before he comes after Tim again."
"That's why we're working to decode these ledgers, Abby," he said as he pointed to the various sheets of paper. "We need to find who's protecting Jimmy and take him down. Think how much good that would do."
Abby nodded and sighed.
"I need a drink," Abby said suddenly. "Do either of you want one?"
"Sure," Tony replied. "I'll have whatever you have."
"No thanks," Tim replied as he stared down at the books. "I need to keep my head clear."
"You sure you don't want a drink?" He shook his head. "Are you sure?" she asked wheedling.
He needed to think clearly and muddling his brain with liquor wouldn't help. "I'm sure," he replied with a small sigh as he looked back towards the living room and the now silent radio.
"You're upset about Fred," she said as she moved to their small liquor cabinet to pour their drinks.
"No kidding," Tim said sourly. "And alcohol won't improve my temperament. In fact, it'll make it worse. Alcohol is a depressant, Abby. I don't need any more help in that department."
She sighed. "Tim, you shouldn't take this so personally."
"How should I take it?" he demanded. She and Tony looked at him sharply. "Jimmy was shot because he fit my description. Tony was injured and three men were killed because of me. How is that not personal?"
"Because if you weren't Napolitano's money man, they wouldn't have attacked you," Tony said as he looked at him. "They went after the title, not the man. Trust me there is a difference."
Abby walked over to their small liquor cabinet and poured a drink for Tony. She held it out for him and he watched as his friend reached out with his right arm. Tony winced then reached out with his uninjured arm. Under Doctor Mallard's care, it was healing well but it was still painful.
Abby returned to the cabinet to pour herself a vodka tonic. He had never had vodka before patronizing Quicksilver but he found he liked the spirit which Abby somehow imported from Russia. He and Tony had taken to keeping a bottle in their small liquor cabinet for the occasion that they felt like a drink without going out for the evening.
And Tony was right. There was definitely a difference between a personal vendetta against a man and an attack for business reasons. But regardless of the reason, the men had been after him and if he hadn't been at Quicksilver, Jimmy wouldn't have been shot and Tony wouldn't have been hurt defending him. Personal or not, it was his fault that his friends were hurt.
"Well it was me. I am Napolitano's bookkeeper and Jimmy was shot because of me," Tim said sourly.
She frowned as she poured the vodka into the glass, adding a little more than usual. "How is Jimmy? He seemed like a nice guy."
"He's recovering," Tim replied. "He's been having a tough time working since part of his job is lifting bodies and whatnot. And the standing isn't easy for him either. He had to reduce his hours but Ducky has been helping him out. I'm pretty sure that the Doctor allowed…"
"Insisted," Tony interjected.
"Insisted," Tim agreed. "That he should move into the Doctor's home since Jimmy couldn't make rent on his reduced pay."
She smiled as she sipped her drink. "That's really sweet of Ducky."
Tim shrugged. "It's nice for the both of them. Ducky lives alone and I think he likes the company. And Jimmy really looks up to the doctor so he was more than happy to move in with his mentor." Tim smiled a little. "I just wish it wasn't for this reason. Jimmy didn't deserve what happened to him. This is the second time he was hurt just for wanting a drink. And as much as I detest Fred Rinnert for his part in this mess, he didn't deserve to die either."
"Look," she said. "Grenouille has dozens of people like Fred. You're irreplaceable, Tim."
"You're just saying that because…" Tim said but he trailed off as he looked down at the ledgers. How could he be so stupid?
"Because?" Abby asked prompting him.
He didn't answer. The pieces were falling into place.
"Because you two are sleeping together?" Tony asked impishly. He tactfully ignored his partner.
Abby turned around and glared at Tony, who grinned back. "Tony!" she admonished but it didn't wipe the smile from his face. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she stared at him. Tony was irrepressible sometimes and it was usually better to not dignify his comments with a response.
"What?" Tony asked impishly. "It's true. You just said as much!"
"Well yes," Abby said with a sly smile. "And he's good." Tony pulled a face at her and he tactfully didn't say anything. "But that's not the whole reason that Tim is irreplaceable."
He blinked. That was it. Or more accurately, that wasn't it. "Abby, you are a genius," Tim said drawing her attention again. "Not irreplaceable. Replaceable," he said. "I know how to break the code. It's a substitution cipher. A simple substitution cipher."
"But we thought of that days ago," Abby replied as she returned to the dining room.
"Actually, I thought of that the first time I saw the books," he said.
"Ok, I know that I'm not the brightest penny in the pile but you are McGee," Tony said. "I've seen you break substitution ciphers in at least three different languages. How'd you miss this one?"
"I didn't know you could speak any other languages," Abby said looking at him.
"My Spanish is rusty," he said with a shrug. "I managed that one with help from Tony and Gibbs."
"But that still leaves two other languages," Abby said puzzled.
"Latin," he admitted reluctantly.
"Really? Who uses Latin anymore?" Abby asked.
"Someone who thought that they were being smart by using a dead language as a part of their code," Tony said. "Thankfully they didn't count on McGee going to Catholic school or the nuns that terrified little Timmy into fluently learning a language that no one uses anymore."
"Hey," he said defensively. "You weren't there. And all I'm saying is some of the nuns I knew could get extremely agitated."
"Agitated nuns forced you to learn Latin?" Abby asked. She giggled. He glared at her half-heartedly. She hastily hid her amusement but she was only partially successful. Coughing, she said, "Sorry. So, what was the third language?"
"English," he replied. Abby rolled her eyes.
"Hey," Tony said. "Back to the point here. How'd you miss this substitution cipher? I mean, you can decode these things in your sleep."
He looked at the books. "It's not like we have a phrase to decode Tony," he said. "There aren't any grammatical clues that I could use to solve the puzzle. All I have – at least I'm assuming – are proper names. Even if I would line up all the entries together, I couldn't begin to find a pattern because there isn't one."
"Ok," Tony said following what he was saying. "And now that you have narrowed down the entries that could belong to Fornell."
"You can use trial and error to see if any of those entries actually translate into Fornell," Abby finished as she joined him to look over the books.
He nodded. "Exactly," he said excitedly. "And look at this one. Wbalgott. I'll bet you that Balgott is the encrypted version of Fornell," he said triumphantly. "It's so simple."
"So, what about the W?" Tony asked as he joined them.
"Maybe it's his first initial?" Abby asked.
"Only way to find out is to try to apply this cipher to the other entries to see if it makes sense," Tim said as he grabbed a fresh stack of paper. He quickly wrote out the alphabet and the appropriate letters below it that would translate Fornell's name. "Tony, weren't you supposed to meet Vance today? To get the research on Fornell?"
"Yeah," Tony replied. "Met him for lunch. Hang on," Tony said as he stood up. Tony left and returned a moment later with a large envelope. "What did you want to know?"
"What was Fornell's ex-wife's name?" he asked
"Diane," Tony replied. "Diane Jones. She changed her name back to her maiden name after divorcing Fornell. Strangely enough that was the fourth name change record on file."
"She had a previous marriage?" Tim asked. Tony nodded. "To whom?"
"Let's see. Name changes. Fornell to Jones. Jones to Fornell. Gibbs…"
"Gibbs?" Tim asked as Tony cut himself off and looked up at them. "Our Gibbs?"
Tony looked into the paperwork. "Well look at this. Seems Diane Jones and our own Leroy Jethro Gibbs were once hitched. For a grand total of ten months nine years ago. I wonder if the Boss talks to her at all."
"Doubtful," Tim replied. "Wouldn't he know that she got into debt with Napolitano?"
"Why would she go to her ex-husband for help?" Abby asked. "I can't imagine that it was an amicable split. She couldn't have imagined that he would have helped her."
"She went to Fornell and they're divorced," Tony retorted as he skimmed the file. "But…Fornell and Diane have a daughter. Emily. She's seven."
"That explains a whole lot," Tim said. "Napolitano must be threatening Fornell's daughter as well."
"I know that Napolitano isn't exactly a nice guy but to threaten a little girl?" Abby asked as she frowned. "That's low."
"That's the only way Fornell would help Napolitano," Tim said firmly. Abby looked was surprised at his conviction.
"And you know that how?" Tony asked voicing her thoughts.
"I've dealt with Fornell and I've overheard him in Napolitano's office. He hates working for Napolitano. The only reason why he is working for Naps is because he's being forced to. I thought it was just to protect his wife. But he must be doing it to protect his daughter too," Tim replied.
"Does the code prove that?" Abby asked as she glanced over his shoulder. He nodded. They only had three letters of the wife's name from the ledger but it fit with D Jones. "It does," she said impressed.
"You know what that means, Tim?" Tony asked. She looked at him. "We're going to have to talk to Gibbs about his ex-wife." Tim shuddered. Abby smiled at his reaction. Clearly, she didn't know what that was a bad idea. Thankfully Tony clarified. "You laugh because you don't know better Abby. I'd rather go swimming in shark-infested waters than bring up any of Gibbs' ex-wives."
She looked between the two men. "Gibbs has more than one ex-wife?"
"He has three," Tim replied. Her eyebrows shot upward in surprise. "I wonder why Gibbs didn't say anything when we mentioned Fornell to him?" he asked. "I thought he recognized the name when Napolitano sent him to recruit me."
"Maybe he didn't know his ex-wife married this Fornell?" Tony suggested. He shrugged in concession. "But that's not the worst of it," Tony said.
"What else could be worse?" Tim asked.
Tony looked at him like it was obvious. "Fornell might not be the leak. From what Leon could find, it doesn't seem like Fornell would have access to the inside information Napolitano has been getting."
Tim frowned. "Well he is a leak but maybe not the main leak."
"So, he's a drip?" Abby asked with a mischievous smile. Tim rolled his eyes at her then stuck his tongue out at her. She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. "You need a drink to celebrate figuring this out Tim," she said as she stood and walked over to a small cabinet.
He wasn't sure why she was so insistent that he have a drink but he didn't argue this time.
"Are you trying to liquor McGee up so that you can take advantage of him?" Tony asked roguishly.
"Maybe," Abby replied slyly.
Tony turned and looked at him to see if he'd refute Abby's claim. He shrugged and smiled. He liked it when Abby took advantage of him. Tony's expression soured and he took a sip of his drink to console himself.
"So, Tony. How come you didn't read that file?" Tim asked.
"Huh?" he asked. "I read it."
"If you had read it, you would have known that Gibbs had been married to Fornell's ex-wife," Tim replied.
"Ok, I skimmed it. I couldn't exactly read it while I was on duty, now could I? How would I explain reading a file on Tobias Fornell?" he asked. "You know for being so bright, McGee, you ask some dumb questions."
Tim rolled his eyes as he accepted the drink Abby was holding for him. "Thanks," he replied as he sipped the beverage. "Bringing this up with Gibbs is going to be an interesting conversation."
Tony snorted. "No kidding."
He looked down at his makeshift set of ledgers. He felt his face fall.
"What?" Abby asked concerned.
"Do you know how many names are in the ledgers?" Tim asked suddenly deflating. "There have to be thousands. This is going to take forever."
"If you give me some of your notes, I could work on decoding the ledger too," she said. Without hesitating, Tim passed over his notes. She smiled as she grabbed a pen and started to work.