In the Dark
Chapter Nine
Part I
Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo entered the room that contained the scene of the crime. They both stopped abruptly when they saw the body lying on the floor.
The body was that of a man, wearing the uniform of a Navy lieutenant. He hadn't been killed in any kind of gory way, thank god, both Michael and Cote thought – simultaneously, did they but know it. He was lying face down, and there wasn't even any blood visible. There was an odor of bodily fluids…when a person died they lost control of their sphincter and a release of urine was usually the result…
Cote looked at what could be seen of the body. She'd looked at a lot of them…on the set…with the actor doing his best to not breathe….and then after the director yelled cut he'd sit up with a grin. But this man would never sit up again. Whoever he was, whatever he'd been, he was now just a crumpled body lying on the floor…all hopes, dreams and aspirations over.
Cote glanced over at Michael (whom she thought was Tony DiNozzo). His face too was looking rather grim.
McGee looked at them. "Hadn't one of you better talk to the LEO? Get the scoop on who found the body, and stuff?" he asked.
"I'll do that," both Cote and Michael said simultaneously.
They glared at each other. Michael drew himself up. "As senior agent, I get to interrogate the LEO. Ziva, you…" he waved a hand. "Carry on."
Michael left the room without giving her a chance to argue. He pulled a notebook and pen from his pocket as he went to get the details from the LEO.
Both Cote and Michael, as well as Sean Murray, Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette, had gone through some training at the actual NCIS, so that they could better approach their roles.
Cote de Pablo, therefore, picked up the camera that hung around her neck, and prowled around the room taking photographs. She owed it to the victim to do her very best…and after all it wasn't that hard to take photographs…especially since she was going to take photos of every square inch of the room, just to be on the safe side.
As well as the body.
After taking pictures of the entire room (while McGee was presumably going through the rest of the house and Tony was taking an awful long time talking to the LEO) it was time to take photos of the victim. Cote took a deep breath and took refuge behind the viewfinder.
As she finally took the last photo, Gibbs walked into the room, followed by Ducky and Chris Palmer.
Gibbs looked round the room, then fixed her with a glare.
"Where's DiNozzo?"
Cote stared at him.
"You should have just walked past him. He was talking to the LEO at the front door."
"There was no LEO at the front door," said Gibbs. "Where's McGee? McGee!"
Silence.
"Ducky, you get to work on the body," Gibbs ordered. "Come on, Ziva, let's go find McGee and DiNozzo."
Cote placed her camera on a table, then followed Gibbs into the rest of the house. They walked through it. No sign of McGee. They walked out the back door and into a large back yard. No McGee. No Tony DiNozzo.
Gibbs took out his cellphone, and brought up DiNozzo's number in the phone book. He punched send, and listened to it ring, until finally it went to DiNozzo's voice mail.
"Voice mail," he said, looking at Cote grimly.
Cote pulled out Ziva David's cell phone. She punched in send after McGee's number. It too rang, and rang, with no answer, until finally it went to voice mail.
"Where are they?" she asked in bewilderment.