Monday morning rolled around and Tim entered the office to find Tony already there, talking on the telephone with someone.
As he went through his morning routine, he watched Tony. He had been doing that a lot lately, it seemed. He noted that Tony was speaking in a low whisper, softly enough that he couldn't quite make out what he was saying.
Probably talking to that date he's going out with on Saturday, he thought morosely to himself. He tried to ignore the spurt of jealousy that filled him.
He had just finished turning on his computer when he looked up in time to see a flirty smile cross Tony's mouth before he said something quietly and then hung up the phone.
"Just got off the phone with my friend. They're willing to share the whole case file with us, but I've got to clear it with Gibbs first."
"Did you find anything interesting after I left?"
"Another similarity – Susan was around four months pregnant at the time of her death. She also had a nine year old daughter."
Tim winced and let out a breath. "She wasn't the one that found her, was she?"
"No, thank God. Her father has primary custody. Susan only saw her every other weekend."
"The fact that Susan was pregnant - that seems pretty coincidental and since we've already established that there are no such things as coincidences…"
Tony nodded. "The serial killer angle you suggested is starting to look more plausible. I've already started a search for like crimes between the two cities, but it's a lot to slog through."
"The time line's pretty big, too. If you want, I can help you with the search. I might be able to focus the criteria you used to cut back the number of hits you get."
Tony laughed. "Is that your diplomatic way of saying that I suck at writing search syntax?"
"I wouldn't say suck exactly."
"OK, McGeek, I would appreciate the help. There's no way I can got through the 3,182 cases matches that I've already gotten."
"What? Why did you get so many?"
"I may have been, um, really non-specific in my search criteria."
Tim laughed and rolled his eyes. "Send me your list and I'll do another search."
Tony turned to his computer to send him the information and while Tim waited he asked, with some hesitation, "I thought your cop buddy was a guy."
"Huh? What?"
"Your friend in Baltimore? The one who's in charge of the Moss case.
"Oh, him? Yeah, his name's Dan Warner. What made you think he wasn't a guy?" He asked distractedly.
Tim was stunned but managed to say, "Nothing, never mind."
Inside, his mind was reeling somewhat. He had an inner debate about whether Tony was indeed flirting on the telephone with his friend or if he had just imagined it.
He had been watching Tony for a while and he knew most, if not all, of Tony's patent looks by heart – teasing Tony, annoyed Tony, getting ready for a Gibbs' head slap Tony and, of course, flirting Tony. Flirting Tony was the one he saw most often and that was the one he was sure he had seen while Tony had been on the phone with Dan.
He was lost in thought when from the corner of his eye he saw Tony make his way over to Gibbs' desk.
"Boss, I might have something on the Taylor case." Although he couldn't hear what they were saying he figured Tony was filling Gibbs in on what little information he had.
"It's an interesting connection and we've been sitting on this case for nearly 15 years. If they're willing to share intel, let's do it. I'll clear it with the director. Make it happen, DiNozzo."
"On it, boss."
As Tony passed his desk, he shot Tim a small smile.
The day passed slowly. Tim slogged through the cold cases he had on his desk, as well as running the search for Tony. He had been periodically sending the ones that seemed close in description to the Taylor and Moss cases to Tony, but he hadn't had a chance to read through everything.
Just after lunch Tony approached his desk.
"Anything, Probie?"
"I've got a few more potentials but, you're right, without reading the entire record it's difficult to narrow it down. Unfortunately, victim redressed after assault isn't in any of the search fields." Tim replied, disappointment evident in his voice.
"Figured as much," Tony replied. "Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive. Once everything's been approved, Dan said he would upload the photos onto the system so I can have a look through them."
"They're being pretty forthcoming with all of this. They're not worried about jurisdictional limitations and us usurping their territory?"
"Honestly? I don't think they care. Nothing against Dan, he's a good guy, but looking at the report, it's pretty sloppy police work."
"I wondered when you said that there were no witness statements and no catalogue of what was stolen."
"No DNA, no suspects, one more crime in an area with an astonishingly high crime rate. I'm not too surprised it was bumped to their cold case bin after less than a year."
"A year?" Tim asked, incredulously.
"It happens. It doesn't make it right, but… Anyway," Tony said, placing his hand on the younger agent's shoulder, "thanks for going through the files for me, Tim. I appreciate you taking the time."
He felt Tony give his shoulder a squeeze and watched him head back to his desk.
Tim tried hard not to think too much about how solid and warm Tony's hand had felt or about the fact that he was calling him Tim more and more frequently.
5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5
Tim watched as Ziva packed up her stuff and left the office, waving good-bye to her fellow agents. He looked over to his left to see Tony staring intently at his monitor.
He sent the cases he found in the last hour to Tony's e-mail address and pushed away from his desk. He hesitated a moment, took a deep breath and walked over to Tony.
"I just sent you the last of the cases that I found. Any luck so far?"
"Nada. Zilch. Zippo." Tony swung his chair around to face the younger man. "Are my eyes bleeding? They feel like I've been rubbing sandpaper on them all day."
Tim crouched down, using the request as an excuse to get closer to the senior agent, and stared carefully into his eyes.
"They're a little red, but definitely not bleeding," he said. His voice sounded a bit high to him, but he hoped that Tony didn't detect it. He had never had the opportunity to look so closely into Tony's eyes and he couldn't help but notice the flecks of gold hidden in the deep green and brown.
"O.K. Good to know. I don't think even Ducky knows how to treat bleeding eyes." Tony leaned his head back against the top of his chair giving Tim a chance to admire the long column of his neck.
Tim looked away in case Tony caught him staring and tried desperately to tame the crazy butterflies that were fluttering in his stomach.
"You heading out now?" Tony asked, head still tilted towards the ceiling.
"Just about. But, if you want, I can stay and help you look through the cases. I don't mind sticking around."
Tony prepared one of his customary witty remarks about geeks having nothing better to do, which he didn't actually believe, when he saw Tim's face. It was slightly flushed and there was something in his eyes that looked like… arousal?
Not possible, Tony thought and gave himself a mental shake.
"I only planned on staying a little while longer. There's only so much I can take looking at these case files."
"Yeah, the bleeding eyes thing," Tim said as he hid his disappointment.
"No. Well, yes that's part of it, but I actually meant having to read the details about all of these women being assaulted and killed. It's not exactly easy reading, you know?" A shadow passed across Tony's eyes.
Tim's hand reached out to offer comfort but he stopped midway, not sure how it would be received. He hurriedly stuck his hand in his pocket and said instead, "Give me half of what you were going to read, that way you don't have to read all of it."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"It shouldn't take us that long to get through them, then. I was going to order some pizza. I'm starving. Do you want any?"
"Sure, Tony. No anchovies on mine." Tim added as he recalled the last time he let Tony order for him.
Tony had the phone in his hand when he turned and looked at his partner. "Thanks, Tim."
"What are friends for?"
Tony smiled. As he dialed the pizza place around the corner he could not help but think about that look on Tim's face. Something to think about later, he thought to himself.
5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5
By mid afternoon the next day, Tony was able to access the pictures from the Moss case. As he viewed them on his computer, he noticed immediately that Susan's body was posed almost exactly like Laura Taylor's, right down to the positioning in the centre of the bed. The resolution was not good enough to tell on his screen, but his gut clenched as he saw how neatly Susan was dressed.
"Boss, I've got the pictures from the Moss case and it's a dead ringer for the Taylor case."
"Put it up on the plasma."
As Tony put it up on the screen, the rest of the team gathered around Gibbs.
"This is not a coincidence," Ziva said.
Gibbs stared hard at the pictures. "No, it's not. What do we know, DiNozzo?"
Tony gave a brief run-down of the two crimes.
"So basically nothing was stolen from the crime in Baltimore?" Gibbs asked.
"Her wedding ring, a few trinkets, nothing else specified. Not much to steal, really. Both women were pregnant."
"Do you think it is possible that the killer is targeting pregnant women?" Ziva asked.
"I thought about that, but Susan's medical file shows no record of her pregnancy. It's more than likely she hadn't even seen a doctor about it even though she was already four months along. Dan's notes say that Henry, that's the husband, knew she was pregnant so she might have taken a home pregnancy test. Unless the killer knew the family, how would they have known?"
"What about Laura Taylor?" Tim asked.
"She already had an OB and had her first ultrasound even though she wasn't into her second trimester."
"If Susan was farther along in her pregnancy why had she not gone to see a doctor?" Ziva asked.
"Probably no health insurance," Gibbs said. "Any connection between the two families?"
"Different ends of the spectrum, boss."
"Any like crimes in the area?"
"McGee and I looked at cases yesterday, but the list is pretty long. Lots of home invasions with or without assault in the last fifteen years, but nothing so far that matches the description about body placement and clothing."
"Widen the search grid."
"Widen?" Tony asked, eyes widening fractionally.
"Look at the other bordering states. Go back at least twenty years. Laura Taylor may not have been the first victim. Get to work!" Gibbs ordered as he saw his agents hesitate.
Ziva and Tim went to their desk to do what was asked, but Tony lagged behind.
"Is there a reason you're still standing here, DiNozzo?"
"Do you want us to talk to Peter Taylor to see if he recognizes Susan?"
"No need to bring him in until there's more information. Laura's death shook him badly."
"Do you know Peter?" Tony asked.
"Not before the case. He came regularly to the Naval Yard for a few years following his wife's death to get updates. His wife's case wasn't one of mine, but we talked a little bit about it."
Gibbs did not say I knew what he was going through, but Tony knew he was thinking it by the nearly imperceptible tightening of his jaw.
Tim observed the interaction and, as Tony went back to his desk, they shared a look of understanding. While Gibbs wasn't the primary investigator for the case, he still hadn't forgotten about it.
Keeping this in mind, the two agents began the arduous task of broadening their search.