Moderate breeze
"GIIBBBSSS" shouts Abby, when he marches into her lab early in the morning the next day.
"What have you got, Abbs?" he looks at her plasma, and sees several chemical formulas on it, none that he recognizes.
"Lots and lots," she points to the jacket sent by the agents in Norfolk, "I tested Joy's theory on why Jethro reacted to the jacket," Abby smiles, "and she is right and, at the same time, wrong."
Gibbs looks at Abby, frowning, "How?"
"You see, she suggested that the cloth had been, at any moment in the previous days, been in contact with some type of drug, and that was why Jethro reacted all weirdo to it when he," she smiles, "got a the chance of sniffing it."
"So…" Gibbs is waiting for an answer.
"Well," Abby runs to her computer, and puts something on the plasma, "the jacket hasn't been in contact with a drug," she turns to Gibbs, "it had been immersed into it."
"What do you mean?" he goes around her workbench, and stares at the plasma.
"It is a strange method to silently smuggle drugs into the country, you dip the clothes completely in a liquid infusion of your drug of choice, the cloth absorbs it, you carry it through airport customs and none is the wiser about it," Gibbs turns to look at Abby, who is getting excited with her explanation.
"So, when it reaches its final destination, all the person has to do is to boil the clothes up to a certain temperature, with some specific ingredients and collect the paste from the chemical process. You put it away to dry it and, voila, ready to be sold in the streets," says Abby.
Gibbs looks at the plasma again, looking at a picture of the process being made, "wouldn't that affect the person who wears the clothes?"
"Oh, that," she goes back to her computer, "indeed my fearless leader," she clicks something and another pic appears on the plasma, "someone who actually got to wear the contaminated clothes with the drug has a very high probability of becoming high, or at least, suffering an overdose, depending on how long the cloth stays in contact with the skin and how much is absorbed, but apparently," she points to the jacket, "the only reason that we could pull something from this jacket, is because it hasn't been washed yet, so the levels of the drug are very high."
"So he's smuggling drugs into the country," says Gibbs.
"McGee mentioned that they got the jacket from the Beckinsales' house by mistake," says Abby.
"And petty officer Veseley took his son's uniform before being washed, and never returned it to his wife," says Gibbs. He immediately starts dialling Norfolk.
"Special Agent McGee speaking."
"McGee, go to the Beckinsales, take Mrs. Beckinsale into custody, we're on our way over."
"Sure, Boss," they disconnect.
"Good job, Abbs," he kisses her head, and starts marching out of the room, almost running over Temp, who has another box filled with evidence from autopsy for them to analyze. She drops the box on the work table, and looks at Abby.
"Where's the fire?"
"We got a break in the Veseley case." Abby approaches the table, and start getting the evidence out of the box, "more things from the shooting?"
Temp sighs, "yeah, it seems that as soon as we finish one pile, another one is just being delivered." Both women smile at each other, and start working on the evidence at hand.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
McGee and Joy drive over to the Beckinsale's home, and take a very surprised Mrs. Beckinsale into custody. Once in the NCIS Norfolk office, they put her into one of their interrogation rooms and let her simmer for a while, and check what they have gathered so far.
"What evidence has Tony and Ziva sent to you?"
"According to Ziva," he shows her some printed reports he got on his email today, "Mrs. Beckinsale's personal banking account has much more movement than it should have, thanks to her small private business. There are several deposits that do not match the movement of her store."
"A possible cover for their illicit business?"
"Just think about it?" says McGee, as he supports his six on the observation room table, "her husband smuggles the drug in, they process it somewhere in a secret lab, and the delivery, well,"he smiles, thinking about his theory, "all their customers have to do is order something on her website, they would receive the craft piece along with the drugs."
Joy looks back at the woman sitting in the interrogation room, "and no one would be the wiser," she says.
"Yeah," he also turns, so he may look at the woman sitting nervously in the room, "but where does Veseley enter the story?"
"He took the uniform," says Joy, "somehow he suspected it to be altered, and wanted to test his theory first."
"But he never revealed his suspicions to anyone."
"He didn't have time for it," Joy says, going to the door, "he was murdered before he revealed what he knew," both agents leave observation, and move to the interrogation room.
Tara Beckinsale stands up when the agents enter the room, and immediately starts speaking loudly, angry at their attitude.
"What is going on here? You have no right to take me from my home, and bring me to this filthy place, leaving me here for hours!"
"Please, sit down, Mrs. Beckinsale," says Joy, patiently.
"That's abuse of authority, should I seek legal representation? What is this about?"
Both agents sit down, and McGee opens a file, "sit down, Mrs. Beckinsale," he says firmly.
She looks from one agent to the other, and slowly sits down, but she still fidgets nervously in the seat, and her hands twist nervously over the table.
McGee gets a picture of the jacket, that they took from her house, and shows it to Mrs. Beckinsale.
"Do you recognize this?"
She looks at it, and frowns, "it's familiar, but…"she looks at them, and leans over the table, exasperated, "listen, I've been here for, what, God knows how long, and I would like to have some answers, what is this about."
Joy leaned over, "we're the ones asking questions here, not you." She point to the picture, "that's the jacket you gave to me when we left your house yesterday."
Tara looks at the picture, confused, and Joy keeps pressing on, "Do you remember going to your closet, hanging my jacket inside of it, then going back in there to get our things, and hand delivering us his and this jacket?"
"yes I remember, but, didn't I give you your jacket?" she looks confused at the agent, "is that a crime? Is that why to took me from my home, just because I didn't returning a stinking jacket?"
"No, Mrs. Beckingsale, the problem is not that, the problem is the jacket you gave us, well, it has been coated with heroine." Says McGee.
"What?" the woman was shocked, and she stared at the picture of the jacket as if it was a poisonous viper ready to strike, "how?"
"Well, that's what we would like you to explain to us." Says Joy, studying her facial expressions to see any untrue reaction. However, her disgust and shock seemed genuine, which kind of put a hole on their theory. Joy glances at Tim, and sighs.
Tim leans down towards her, and points to the jacket, "Mrs. Beckinsale, where did you buy this jacket?"
"I didn't buy it," she says, still in shock, "It was a gift from my husband, I guess. I've never used it, I just hung it in the closet directly from the plastic it came from, I already have so many." She shakes her head, desolated.
Tim looks at Joy, trying to read what she's thinking on her face, "where did he buy it?"
Maybe they had been wrong all along, she's not involved, she's not aware of what is happening.
"Buy it?" Tara shakes her head, "He brought it from South America, he always brings almost a full new wardrobe, for all of us, whenever he travels abroad. He also ordered the uniforms of the team custom made and sent to us." She looks at the agents, with teary eyes, "Why?"
"Where is he?" presses down Tim. Tara looks at Tim as if he had grown a second head, exasperated.
"Well, where do you think he could possibly be? As I was brought here, I called him and told him to pick up our boy at school for me."
Joy looks at McGee, and both leave the room, leaving Mrs. Beckinsale with a marine as escort. Once they are in the corridor, Tim gets his mobile phone and starts dialing.
"Gibbs." Tim can hear that the traffic on the background. He puts the call on the speakerphone.
"Where are you now, Boss?"
"Just entering Norfolk limits, where are you?" they keep walking out of the office, towards his car.
"NCIS Norfolk office," says Tim, and he looks at Joy and gives him the latest news, "Go straight to Cedar Hills High School, it's the father."
"The father?" growls Gibbs, and he presses his feet down on the accelerator.
"Boss, the father is a drug mule, he's using his family as a cover, according to his wife he's going to the school to pick up his son," says Joy. She opens the car door, and she freezes, as her mind made a leap that scared her.
"My God," Joy says. She looks at McGee with terrified eyes, "Rick is there." McGee stares at her for a second, until his mind arrives at the same conclusion hers did.
"Jake!"