Lethal Fractures: Chapter 14

After a thorough but fruitless search through Staff Sergeant Nicholas Jasper's apartment on Wednesday, the Major Crimes Response Team at NCIS concluded that while Jasper lived in the quintessential bachelor pad—his entertainment system and DVD collection prompted an impressed whistle from DiNozzo—there was nothing in it that appeared to be even indirectly related to his murder, with the exception of one picture of him and Rodriguez that was sitting out on the kitchen counter. Unlike Rodriguez's, his apartment, which was on the third floor, was in the back of his building, with only the alley between his and the next building as a view. It would have been difficult for anybody to have looked in.

The next morning brought another call for the team to head over to CID for another conference with the team there. "I think Wang calls more of these meetings than Tony called campfires while he was in charge," McGee grumbled as the four piled into the Charger for the drive over to Ft. Belvoir.

"No," Ziva contradicted. "Tony called more campfires. These just seem more annoying because they involve driving."

"And I used to think that there was nothing more annoying than Tony's campfires."

"I'm right here," DiNozzo said indignantly from the front passenger seat.

"Yes, we know, Tony. We can see you," Ziva replied.

"I think he means he doesn't want us talking about him to his face," McGee explained. Ziva shrugged.

"I believe that technically we are talking behind his back," she pointed out.

"That's just an expression, Ziva."

"She knows that, McObvious. She's trying to annoy me, and you're just encouraging her."

"What'd you do, DiNozzo, leave the toilet seat up again?"

"Actually, Boss, if you must know—"

"Forget I asked," Gibbs cut him off. It was easier to pretend that his agents didn't have a social life than it was to hear about it.

They arrived at CID headquarters and immediately made their way to the conference room, not even bothering checking anywhere else first. Sure enough, they found the team of CID agents, complete with their former special agent in charge, sitting around the long table. "We got a preliminary report from Major Gracy regarding Captain Rodriguez's broken neck," Agent Wang began without preamble. "We're expecting a complete report from Dr. Lester soon. Apparently, Lester thinks it might be possible to distinguish between the assailant being in front of and behind the victim, but we have to wait for some experiments before they can be sure." He paused, then asked, "Does that mean anything to anyone?"

"Rodriguez and the other women were killed with a standard combatives neck fracture," Gibbs informed the room. "I'd say most members of the armed forces are taught the theory behind it, but obviously, not everybody has done it. Most people are taught to approach from the back, but Dr. Gracy wanted to know if it was possible for the assailant to be facing his victims when he broke their necks. It is, and I asked if the fracture would look the same or not, depending on the technique. If this guy was facing his victims, the medical examiners informed me that he would have had to be using his left hand."

"Can't be that many left-handed former soldiers who know how to kill a person by breaking their necks," Hollis Mann remarked.

"It's not exactly something you register," Gibbs pointed out.

"It might help narrow things down," she countered.

"Depending on what the final report says," he finished.

"Either way," Wang interjected. "It could be significant. I agree with Dr. Gracy; this sort of crime suggests a personal identification with the victims—at least, the women. I think our guy would have wanted to see their faces as they died." He rose from his chair to the white board, marker in hand, before writing 'Perp: left handed?' He returned to his seat before asking, "What about our suspected surveillance spot? Forensics come back with anything yet?"

"Not yet," Gibbs answered. "My team collected twelve boot prints and over a hundred fingerprints. It's going to take Abby awhile to run that."

"Have her send some of it over to Chris. Two hands should lessen the workload. Did you find anything in Jasper's apartment?"

"Nothing," DiNozzo began. He was going to add more, but Wang interrupted.

"I'm not surprised," he said. "I don't think our guy knew who Jasper was before he killed him. There's a change in the pattern—he didn't take Jasper's ID, the way he took those of the other men. I think that means that he was surprised by who he had killed."

"Maybe surprised that he killed a Marine?" Mann suggested. "It could be that the perp has something against women in the military, but looks on the men who serve as honorable, doing their duty to their country. He might have left the ID out to honor Jasper."

"How does that fit into the theory that the killer served in the Army?" McGee asked.

"Maybe he had a female officer he didn't get along with, and is symbolically killing her again and again," DiNozzo suggested.

"That could be," Mann agreed. "He got along well with his fellow men in the unit, but not the female officer."

"No," Gibbs said thoughtfully, shaking his head. "He was confident in his ability to snap a woman's neck using his hands, which means he had done it before. That means he was a combat soldier, maybe infantry or even Rangers or special forces."

"And there are no women in combat positions," Mann said, finishing his thought.

"The first victim was a nurse," one of the CID agents chimed in. "Maybe he had a problem with one of the Army nurses."

"Or maybe the problem is with Macintosh herself," DiNozzo added. Mann shook her head.

"We looked into Macintosh's background, her contacts, everything, and we couldn't find anybody who would want her dead. We looked at it again after Hamilton died, but there was still nothing."

"No spurned boyfriends or patients who were rejected because she was an officer and they weren't?"

"Not every nurse is Florence Nightingale, DiNozzo," Gibbs pointed out. "And there's nothing to say the killer wasn't also an officer."

"Well, before we continue going in circles about what we know and what we don't, there is something we can add to the 'know' column." Wang again rose to the board, this time writing 'Combat history'.

"Great," Gibbs said sarcastically. "So we're looking for a combat soldier who served sometime before 2005 and may or may not be left-handed. That suspect list shouldn't take too long to run."

"He was probably separated from the Army before 2007, when black boots were completely phased out," Mann said thoughtfully. "If he had been issued tan boots, he probably would have worn those to kill Rodriguez and Jasper."

"Unless he likes shining boots," Gibbs disagreed. "It's something that's neat and methodical. Soldiers are taught to take pride in how well they have polished their boots. Could be something he still takes pride in." He stopped to take a swallow of coffee before adding, "A colonel once gave me an achievement medal for having well-polished boots." He said it matter-of-factly, without a hint of bragging.

"A medal? For having shiny boots? Seriously, Boss?" DiNozzo asked. He was quick to add, "Not that I don't think you deserved it, Boss."

"There is one thing we still haven't discussed," Wang continued, ignoring the NCIS agents. "The timing between deaths. The first one was in January 2003, then October 2005, then December 2007. And then he took an almost four-year break before killing again. Now, at the FBI, we would look at unusual absences of activity as a sign that the perp either killed without us knowing about it or was incarcerated."

"But here you also have to consider re-assignment and deployment," McGee pointed out.

"Exactly. There aren't any missing and unaccounted-for female Army officers in the last four years, so we can exclude the possibility of us missing a case or him killing on a different base, which leaves incarceration and deployment."

"Unless he just didn't feel like killing anyone until now," DiNozzo said. The others stopped and looked at him, and he shrugged. "I don't see what's so unusual about that. Even killers take vacations."

"Pattern killers are methodical," Wang said slowly, as if dumbing down his explanations. "They do things on a timeline and do things the same way each time. That's why they're called pattern killers. If anything, the urge to kill increases with time, and the murders get closer together, not further apart. They're controlled by that urge. They can't take vacations from it." DiNozzo frowned at the explanation, but didn't say anything further.

"I doubt he's still in the military," Mann said suddenly, her voice thoughtful. "He's been killing in the DC area for at least eight years. That's quite a long time for someone to stay at the same base, especially if we're going to keep assuming he was enlisted."

"Holly's right," Gibbs agreed. "Most assignments last two to four years before it's time to move. In combat positions, usually the shorter end of that range."

"So that leaves incarceration," Wang said with a nod. "Statistically, most pattern killers who have been locked up were arrested for lesser crimes—stalking, DUI, drug charges, parole violations, tax evasion—"

"Tax evasion?" DiNozzo interrupted with a frown. "Seriously?"

Wang ignored him, as before. "They also kill within three months of release. So we're looking for someone who has been released from prison in the last three months, arrested after December 2007, and with prior combat service in the Army. Actually, better make it any service, just to be safe. Mitchell, Jane, make a list."

"McGee will help," Gibbs added, volunteering his agent's service. Wang looked like he was going to disagree, but ended up nodding his assent.

"Fine," he said. "Gibbs, have Ms. Sciuto send over some of the evidence from the construction site to Chris. Maybe have her send the footprints while she takes the fingerprints or something. I don't care. Colonel, if you and Gibbs could stick around, I'd like to have another brainstorming session." Gibbs had had enough brainstorming with Agent Wang to last him a lifetime, but decided to keep his mouth shut. "Donaldson, DiNozzo, David." He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it when nothing came to mind. "Go do something productive," he finally said. Gibbs watched with some amusement as his two agents all but bolted from the room.

"Didn't you all come in the same car?" Mann asked, also watching DiNozzo and David.

"Yup."

"Then where are they going?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know. I'm just glad that I have the keys."