Chapter 10
Abby is this wonderful combination of genius, loving spirit and Gothdom. She is tall, wears Goth clothing, dog collars and some absolutely wonderful jewelry. She adores Gibbs like he was her dad. I honestly think that she is in love with Tim McGee, but again, they both hide it. I don't understand that kind of love. Each of the party held Jethro in high esteem. It seemed like they all needed a father figure in their lives.
When Tony and Ziva came back they reported that the constable's car was in the parking lot and that they had not seen him. He could be hiding. McGee and Abby went out and walked the beach in the other direction. There were people up the beach at another beach house and they were flying this huge kite. Abby, fascinated by it, took pictures of it with her cell phone. There was also an extra face in the picture but she didn't notice him then.
Gibbs and I went out to stand on the porch and enjoy the view. The sun tried to break through the clouds and the wind died down a bit. This was turning into a lovely day. I went inside to work on lunch with Ziva and Abby.
Tony stayed on the porch with Gibbs. "Boss, what's going on here?"
Gibbs was surprised that Tony would ask. He just looked at Tony. He was still trying to figure it out for himself.
Tony just wanted to know what they were really doing in that beach house. "If you don't want to tell me it's OK."
"I don't know. We were here two weeks ago and when we got back Natalie started to get hang up phone calls with no ID. Then she started getting the letters. Metro doesn't really seem to be taking this seriously. I am really concerned for her safety."
The emotion that Gibbs exhibited was more than Tony had ever seen Gibbs show. "Boss, we will keep her safe."
Lunch was served and then we all sat in front of the fire and drank coffee and hot chocolate. Tony is a movie buff and we talked about movies that we had all seen. Jethro seemed to be out of the loop. Maybe he and I would see some movies together. I seemed like the time was flying by.
Jethro and I took our turn on the beach. We walked towards the town beach but didn't get too far. Tony came running after us and told Gibbs that Metro was on the phone in the house. I said that I would wait for him and enjoy the view. As I was waiting for Jethro a man in a uniform came down the beach. He walked directly to me and started talking to me. Jethro looked out the window and motioned to Tony to go to me. Tony noticed fear and determination in Jethro's eyes. Tony opened the door and headed out and Jethro was right behind him. The man in uniform was checking out who we were and why we were at Dom's beach house. We were all relieved to send him on his way.
Later, Tony was thinking about what he saw in Gibbs' eyes and realized that his boss was in love. Maybe if he was happy, Ziva and he would be OK and he thought that they just had to keep Natalie safe.
Gibbs decided that we would put off our walk until the next day. We ate dinner around six. We all pilled in the cars and headed into town for some fun at the roller rink. Jethro and I hadn't skated in years and it was pretty funny to watch. I am hoping that no one made a video.
We stopped on our way back and bought wine for Ziva and I and beer for the boys and Abby. It was a short ride back to the beach house. The doors hadn't been fooled with and there were no footprints in the sand other than ours. Had we gotten this wrong?
Chapter 11
The next day we were having too much fun with the men making breakfast. We ladies decided to be slugs and not get dressed until after breakfast. They made delicious omelets and bacon, rye bread toast and orange juice for us. Everything tastes better at the beach. Jethro was going out the back door to leave the bacon grease to harden and he found another envelope addressed to me. He had Tony call Metro Police and tell them what we found. Detective Addams said to keep it safe and one of his men would be out to pick it up. Tony told him where we were and the officer was on his way. Gibbs' face was a study in pain and sorrow.
Gibbs wanted to keep me locked up in the beach house. I didn't come all the way here to stay indoors. I wanted to walk on the beach with Jethro. I acted like a child, I know. I spent fifteen minutes on the beach. I wanted more. I didn't want this creep to keep me from having fun with these people.
Ziva took Gibbs aside. "Gibbs, I know you want to keep her safe. But locking her away is not helping us find this bastard. We should put her out there for him to see. Maybe he will make a mistake."
Jethro did not warm to the idea at first. "What if he doesn't?"
They bandied the idea around for a while. They were going to stay another night and wanted to know if I could stay as well. I had time coming to me and I made a few calls. I had to arrange for a substitute for my class and to Ok it with my principal. Gibbs said for Ziva and me to take his truck to the store for tonight's dinner and to make a show of it. Make it like two girls on the town. Get dinner stuff and two bottles of wine. Tony and Gibbs would go to town for gas for the grill. Both stores were close together so if anything would happen they would be nearby. Abby and McGee would stay behind and make sure the home front would be safe.
Ziva and I went to town and bought the supplies. Jethro and Tony did the same. We came home with everything and another letter that had been slipped under the windshield wiper of Gibbs' truck. This one went pointedly to threatening. It said if I stayed in Chesapeake Bay I would "disappear." Gibbs became very angry. We ate dinner in near silence and then sat around the fireplace and listened to music. Near ten o'clock I made an excuse about being tired and went into our room. I changed for bed and Jethro came in. I was looking out of the window, over the dunes, by the house.
There was a crescent moon rising in a clear sky and I smiled. Jethro asked about the smile. I told him I remembered what my niece and nephew would say about a crescent moon. The sky is smiling. I wondered aloud, "Who it was it smiling on, us or the bad guy?" Jethro came and held me. I needed the comforting. I wanted to go home to my apartment. I wanted my life to be sane again. I wanted to get to know Jethro and his team like people, not like detectives or special agents or whatever. I wanted to fall in love with Jethro, if that was what was going to happen, without this. He is a good man and deserves someone to care about him for him, not because he can keep you safe. I wanted to know his family and that is what they are. I knew that by how he treats them and how they revere him. They were here, on their weekend off, because of him and by extension, me. They are good people.
We climbed into bed and Jethro held me for a while, kissed me on the temple and rolled over and went to sleep. I lay there for some time after, thinking. The next thing I knew it was morning.
The sun was shining brightly when I woke. Jethro was already long gone. His side of the bed was cold. I guessed that I would be the slug this morning. I put my robe on and went out to make tea. They were all in the living room discussing what they knew. McGee had made a list on a yellow pad and was sharing it with the team.
Natalie and Gibbs go to the beach house in Chesapeake Bay.
They walk on the beach and meet Tom Wesford.
They go home.
Natalie gets phone call number one Monday morning.
Natalie gets phone call number two Monday night.
Natalie gets phone call number three Tuesday morning.
Natalie gets phone call number four Wednesday morning.
Natalie gets three unanswered phone calls to her cell Thursday.
Letter number one is in her mailbox Thursday night.
Moved to Gibbs' house.
Letter number two in mailbox. No postal service. Must be placed in box by perp.
Letter number three at beach house
Letter number four under windshield wiper at store. Suspect is close.
Gibbs asked about street surveillance cameras in the area of the grocery store and McGee went straight to his computer and began looking for some in the area. Detective Addams had called back and with no big surprise, no prints and no DNA. Tim was busy looking for street cams and came up empty. Chesapeake Bay doesn't have many of them and they are not near the grocery store.
Part of my thinking process last night was to try to get into the head of my "friend." I asked the team a question, "Did any of the other victims get this special attention? Did they get calls or letters? I thought they were all drive throughs."
Tony looked up at me and winked. "Boss, you said she's smart. She has a point."
I continued with the other item that was on my mind. Jethro was paying strict attention. "Something else, was there a time of month when the crimes occurred, like full moon, new moon or am I grasping at straws here?"
Everyone in the room looked at me. Did I do something wrong, say the wrong thing? McGee started looking for something new in his computer. He ran down the crime reports. "She's right Boss. Every one of the abductions took place during a full moon. Nice pick-up Natalie." He looked up and smiled at me. "There were no phone calls or letters that have been found. Each of the women was just driving through Chesapeake Bay."
Tony looked my way but instead of winking you could see a crease in his brow. 'Why did they change their M.O.?"
"Is it even the same man?" You could see Ziva's mind working
Abby put her hand up. "Did they ever get DNA or prints before?"
Tim answered her. "No DNA, but they did get a partial index finger print, just the tip of the finger. They processed it through multiple data bases but nothing ever came back positive."
Jethro came and sat across from me and smiled. I kind of backed away from him. I didn't know him well, but it seemed ominous.
I hesitantly asked the question of the morning. "What?"
"Want to hold a party on the full moon in April?" He had a Machiavellian grin on his face.
"Why?" I had a whole lot of reservations about this idea.
"Tony and Ziva are getting married and we will give them an engagement party…here."
Tony and Ziva looked at each other. "Boss?" They both spoke at once with an incredulous look at Gibbs.
"It will be an opportunity to draw him out. We do our best work undercover." Gibbs looked up just as Tony began to smirk and Gibbs reached over and slapped the back of his head.
"Ouch! Thank you, Boss."
Chapter 12
We were just finishing up our discussion when a man appeared at the door. Jethro recognized him and let him in. We were introduced to Jim Corcoran, the Chief of Police of Chesapeake Bay. The conversation was polite, but we all knew there was an elephant in the room. There was something on the Chiefs mind.
In the midst of all the small talk the Chief looked at Jethro and shook his head. "Don't take this the wrong way Jethro, but why are you running an investigation in my jurisdiction? Metro Police called and wanted the case files on the 'Disappearing Women.' They also said NCIS was interested too. None of the women were Navy or Marine that I knew of, were they? What's going on Jethro?"
Jethro then told him that the perpetrator had brought the problem to DC and it involved someone close to an NCIS agent. "Please keep this information to yourself, Jim."
Corcoran looked to Jethro and Jethro looked at me. Chief Corcoran understood now. He asked that Jethro keep him in the loop and Jethro said that he would. Chief Corcoran left and Abby started breakfast and I finally got my cup of tea.
We ate breakfast and I finally got my walk on the beach with Jethro. Tony and Ziva went out with us. We walked towards the town beach. Jethro and I walked by the water and Tony and Ziva walked up by the Dunes. They were pretending to look for driftwood. In reality they were searching for someone lurking in the dunes. We reached the parking lot and there was a car there but no people. Gibbs called Jim Corcoran and reported the deserted car. He sent a cruiser out and we went back to the house. He called later and told Gibbs that another woman was missing. Tony said that the new woman was a message to us. I sensed that back at the parking lot. I felt so sorry for her, whoever she may be. Tim added it to the file he was keeping.
I had let the new missing woman get to me and I knew it. "Let's do this and put him in jail."
Jethro looked at me and pulled me in for a hug. "We'll get him, I promise." He hesitated while looking into my eyes. "Let's go home."
I was all for that. I wanted to get as far from this creep as I could get. We packed up and left.