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Silent Secrets
Chapter 4
The team arrived in separate cars to the location of Shelby's Hairdressing Salon in East LA and made their way to the salon. They were greeted by Kelly, Shelby's young apprentice, who looked as pale as a ghost and was finding it difficult to stop herself shaking.
"Kelly? Hi I'm Detective Marty Deeks LAPD, I'm Shelby's friend is she inside?"
"Um no Detective, Shelby's down near the alley, she wanted to wait for you there" the young girl quivered.
"Okay thanks Kelly we'll go and find her. Why don't you sit down and have some water?" Deeks said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
The team made the short walk down a few stores to the alley where Shelby was waiting. Seeing Deeks again made her stomach do a little jump at first but as he got closer she started laughing at the sight of Deeks' new and scruffier look than the clean cut young lawyer she remembered.
"Hey Shelby!" said Deeks, embracing her warmly with a hug.
"Marty Deeks. Look at you! You certainly have changed your look!" Shelby chuckled.
"Well I needed to. As a detective sometimes you need to go undercover and I can go undercover more like this" Deeks said defiantly.
"It looks like you should have had the hippie parents rather than me!" laughed Shelby.
Sam gave an interrupting cough, letting them know they were here for a purpose. To work out the murder of a navy man.
"Oh right. Shelby Carter I want you to meet Special Agent Sam Hanna, Special Agent G Callen and my partner Special Agent Kensi Blye. They all work for NCIS and I am their LAPD liaison", Deeks said introducing his friends.
"NCIS?" Shelby asked.
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We're a Federal Agency looking after naval investigations mainly", Sam explained.
"Can you show us the body Shelby?" Callen asked.
"Of course. Right this way", she said leading the team to the grisly spot where she found the man earlier that morning.
There, near the blue painted dumpster was the body of Lt Rowan McIntosh. His body was covered in skin lesions and bloody cysts so badly that it was hard to look at him for examination.
"It looks like a poison of some kind at first guess", Sam said scrutinising the wounds.
"Did you touch the body at all Shelby?" Deeks asked concerned.
"No. Not after seeing his face. It's pretty awful. How did this happen?" she gave a little shiver at the sight of the gruesome remains. Deeks gave her hand a little squeeze just to convey that he understood her squeamish look of what she had found that morning.
Callen called back to the OSP centre to the nerdy tech guru Eric, "Eric you find anything?"
"No cameras in the alley. Not really a huge surprise. Only a street view camera that tells us there was a black SUV parked at the entrance early this morning with no plates, but I've still got Kaleidoscope looking for it".
"And the warehouse used to be a storage facility for chemicals that were sent out during the years of operation to schools, colleges, government labs, and military bases. It closed down twenty years ago and was moved elsewhere" Nell interrupted.
"Our killer could have known this place was used for chemical storage. We've got a possible chemical poison situation especially with the body so we need the coroner and contamination people. And keep me posted", Callen said.
"I'm on it!" Nell said.
"Can I go now? I'd like to check on Kelly if you don't mind", a shaken Shelby asked.
"Sure, Kensi can walk you back. Thanks for your help", Sam shook her hand warmly.
Kensi and Shelby started walking back to the salon where an easy conversation started between the two women who had the shaggy, surfer detective in common.
"So Marty's your partner? How are you finding him to work with?"
"He…sometimes he annoys the hell out of me. Other times he surprises me. Most times he makes me laugh. Sometimes I can't work him out! I can't fault his abilities as a detective though".
Shelby gave a knowing laugh. "That's Marty. He is as loyal as a dog. When you have him as a friend though, you have a friend for life. He would protect you at any cost, even if his own life was at risk. I think that comes from his childhood, so many times he put himself in the firing line so his mother wouldn't get hit because he had a really abusive father, I assume he told you?"
"I know he shot his father when he was eleven. I don't know the whole story of his childhood. Sometimes he throws little bits and pieces about when he was younger into a conversation that I never knew about", Kensi shook her head.
"I was so sad we had to break up. When Marty gives you his heart, he gives you his whole heart. When Marty falls in love, he falls really deep. He was the perfect lover in every way", Shelby wistfully said.
"You didn't want to resume the relationship when you returned to LA?" Kensi asked.
"I feel we are on different paths now. Don't get me wrong, we are good friends but after speaking to him from time to time since I returned, he seems to have moved on from us as a relationship and I can understand that. Breaking up was hard on both of us", said Shelby.
"Well here we are. I'll wait here at the shop for the guys if you don't mind Shelby?"
"Sure, come in take a seat. I'll close up the shop so you can speak to Kelly without customers".
The coroner and contamination people arrived and proceeded to examine the scene. Sam was taking photos of Lt McIntosh and the surrounding streets, alley and buildings. Callen was updating the new arrivals of their discoveries when Deeks glanced down the alley. He thought he saw a young woman, watching from a secluded spot unnoticed by the team upon their arrival. He started slowly walking down there to check if he was imagining it.
Sharni saw Deeks and froze. She was spotted. It wasn't as though she was guilty of Lt McIntosh's murder but she thought if she ran the detective would certainly assume that was the case. Deeks was surprised when she had stopped, most suspects run for their lives but he was getting the gut feeling that this woman had knowledge of something. Perhaps it was the dead Lieutenant she knew; in any case he had to find out.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you" said Deeks grabbing her arm. The squeeze of his hands made Sharni recoil in pain. He gently lifted her sleeve and saw several nasty bruises and at closer inspection of her face, hiding behind her makeup were welts that were all too familiar signs of abuse.
"Do you know that man? Did that man hurt you?" Deeks asked softly.
"No he never hurt me. Is it Rowan?"
"Yes Lieutenant Rowan McIntosh. Do you know who might have killed him?"
"I think so. I don't want to believe it may be true though", Sharni said softly.
"Who do you think it was?"
"My brother" Sharni whispered.