Keeping his phone pressed to his ear Gibbs waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive, before giving up and deciding that it would be quicker to take the stairs. As he moved Dawn Robert's voice came over the speaker.

"Boss, we spoke to all of the marine's undergoing sniper training and their CO. I gotta say the men had nothing but respect and admiration for Captain Connors."

"As did the base Chaplin, the Personnel Officer and everyone else we talked to," DiNozzo chimed in. "Basically, the guy is like Tom Cruise, John Wayne and you all rolled into one, Boss."

"What Tony means," Roberts continued. "Is that Connors is the perfect marine. There is no way he had anything to do with Matthew's death."

"Well, someone did," Gibbs quickly brought them up to speed with Mallard's initial findings as he exited the stairwell and circled around his desk. "My gut says someone is hiding something. Let's go talk to the widow, maybe she'll be able to fill in some of the blanks. I'll meet you there in twenty."

"Can we at least stop for lunch first?" Tony asked. "Dawn threw my burger out of the car window."

Gibbs thought about asking but decided that he really didn't want to know. Instead, heholstered his gun and closed his drawer not even acknowledging his newest Agent until he had pulled his jacket from the back of his chair and moved back around his desk back towards the elevator.

"You're on my time, DiNozzo. You eat when I say you eat."

"Gibbs, my body is a highly tuned machine. It needs regular refuelling." Tony protested.

"Nineteen minutes, DiNozzo."

Behind Robert's snicker he heard a distinct sigh from DiNozzo before the younger man sucked it up and re-focused on the job.

"Beat you there."

Gibbs looked in mild surprise at his cell as DiNozzo hung up on him. It usually took longer before his Agents started channelling his mannerisms. Still, if it meant his people got to the rendezvous faster he didn't much care.

Even so, when he pulled up at the kerbside in front of Carol Matthews' house he was surprised to find DiNozzo was already there, leaning against the NCIS issue Black Sedan with a deceptively casual air. Standing beside him Dawn Roberts looked decidedly green and totally pissed. Gibbs couldn't help but shake his head in admiration. He'd bet his boat Roberts wouldn't be throwing out DiNozzo's food out of the car window again any time soon.

"What kept you?" Tony called cockily.

Exiting the car, Gibbs allowed himself a small smile as he crossed over to his two Agents. As he met DiNozzo's eyes he dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement of his achievement, before giving his orders.

"DiNozzo, go talk to the neighbours, see what you can find out. Dawn, you're with me."

"According to the neighbours they were the perfect couple," Tony reported. "A couple of High school sweethearts who got married right after Graduation. She'd moved to DC to live with an Aunt when her parents were killed in a car crash. He had lost his parents the year before in a boating accident. I guess they comforted each other."

"Just how fast did you drive?" Gibbs wondered.

"Please, he got all that from the brunette across the street, she was putting out her trash and Sir Leeralot here helped her out, she was falling over herself to tell him everything she knew. It was hardly cutting edge investigation. " Roberts complained.

Gibbs reserved his judgement on that. He had seen in Baltimore how effectively DiNozzo used flirting as an interrogation technique, teasing information out of suspects and witnesses alike almost without their realising it. He had also seen him get too easily distracted, focusing on pretty face or a nice pair of legs rather than the case in hand.

"Get anything else?"

"I got her phone number," Tony preened, only to flinch as Gibbs slapped him across the back of the head. Recovering, he continued as if nothing had happened. "Did you know there was a brother?"

"Wife's the next of kin," Gibbs reminded him. "She's the only family listed in his jacket."

"Frank Matthews gave up his career in the Corps to raise his kid brother. Started a gym across town to support them both and kept the kid out of foster care. Guy sounds like a real hero. If Matthews didn't want to worry his wife when she was pregnant he might have confided in Frank."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Gibbs demanded impatiently. "Go find him."

DiNozzo looked smug as he produced a folded piece of paper from his inside pocket, Gibbs allowed himself a rueful smile, almost regretting the head slap, as he anticipated what was coming. DiNozzo opened the paper with a theatrical flourish to reveal an address for a gym across town written in a clear flowing hand.

"Already have."

For once Gibbs was convinced that the grieving widow really was grieving. Carol Mathews was distraught at the loss of her husband and desperately anxious about her future and that of her infant son, needing several breaks to compose herself as Roberts tried to lead her gently through the difficult subject of her husband's murder.

"Oh," When the baby started to fuss the blonde looked anxiously over her shoulder at the crib in the corner of the room, torn between instinct and good manners as she fixed coffee for her visitors. "He's just been fed and he has a fresh diaper. I was hoping he might take a nap. "

"Let me." Gibbs offered.

He gently picked up the little boy, settling him easily in to his shoulder as he started to pace, feeling the old satisfaction as the baby began to settle, soothed by his body heat and the sense of security. Holding him close Gibbs moved over to the window, listening with half an ear as Roberts began the questioning again, cutting off the soft rining of his cell before the infant was disturbed.

"Gibbs."

"Ah, Jethro, I have the most unfortunate of tidings," Ducky's voice sounded uncharacteristically grim. "As we thought Corporal Matthews did indeed die of a heart attack, however, I'm afraid that not all of his injuries were recent. He has a number of scars on his back and legs which I would hazard were made by the overly vigorous application of a belt or a strap, as well as a number of fractures all dating back several years."

"You check his records, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Indeed. The Corporal was never captured, tortured, held hostage or involved in any other such activity which might explain these types of injuries in combat. Indeed, all his movements in the Corps are fully accounted for. I'm very much afraid whoever drove him to his death was rather closer to home."

"Thanks, Duck."

Gently settling the baby back in his crib, Gibbs steeled himself before easing up the tiny t-shirt, letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding when he saw the smooth and unmarked, skin.

"You have a way with babies, Agent Gibbs," Carol Matthews managed a smile as she brought the coffee over and set it down on the table and came over to smile fondly at her now sleeping son. "Jeff was so keen to be a good father he was almost afraid to pick Sammy up in case he hurt him."

"Babies and children are pretty resilient. People who hurt then generally set out to do it." Gibbs looked pointedly at her.

"Frank said we were coddling the baby," Carol's eyes flashed, as if this was the opening she had been looking for. "That we needed to leave him to cry, to toughen him up some, Jeff tried to tell him that he was only a baby."

"They argue about that?" Gibbs asked.

"It's the only time I ever heard Jeff raise his voice to his brother. Frank gave up everything to raise Jeff after their parents died. Jeff always said he could never repay him for that. But no matter how he tried hard he tried to make him proud, it was never enough." She choked back a sob.

"Carol?" Dawn pressed gently.

"Jeff would never hear a word against Frank. But he couldn't hide the scars. Not from me. You have to understand. We had no other family. We tried to get away but when Frank heard that Jeff had put in for a transfer. He was so angry. I loved my husband Agent Gibbs but I couldn't save him. Frank is a violent bully who can't control his temper and I will not allow that man to do to my son what he did to Jeff all those years."

When Gibbs looked at Roberts, she already had her cell phone out, her expression taut and anxious. Gibbs waited as she hit the speed dial and listened for a response.

"He's not answering."

"Take them back to NCIS. Take her statement and stay with them," Gibbs ordered, throwing Roberts the keys to his black sedan. If Frank Matthews came looking for his family he wouldn't recognise the official vehicle. "Mrs Matthews can I borrow your car?"

"Of course," Carol quickly snatched the keys from a bowl and thrust them into his hands. "But where are you going?"

"To get my Agent."

"He'll be fine," Roberts couldn't quite hide her own worry. "Tony's an experienced cop."

Gibbs knew that was true. DiNozzo was no rookie. But he had sent him to question a violent and abusive murderer without back up or the first clue about what he was walking into. That alone could be fatal. But what really made his blood run cold was the one factor DiNozzo could do nothing about.

"And Frank Matthews was a marine."