Author's Note: Nope, still broke and I still don't own anything but all the made up characters… *Sigh* Maybe eventually.

Also, thank you SO much to everyone that has been reading my story! It means SO much! Now, onto the story!

"Well, we are here!" DiNozzo exclaimed while climbing out of the van into the sunny crisp spring day.

"Well, thank you commander oblivious!" Ziva said while walking around to the back of the van to join everyone.

"It's captain obvious." McGee said right after stepping up with Gibbs right on his heels.

SMACK

"No time for an idiom lesson, McGee." Gibbs barked out while the back of his hand connected sharply with the back of McGee's head.

"Thank you Boss." McGee automatically replied as he rubbed the back of his head.

Gibbs got out his note pad that he always carried around with him. It so far, had the specifics of the crime scene. "Now that we are all here, we will start up at the crime scene. DiNozzo and David, take the elevator up to room 405. Ducky and Palmer, go with them. McGee, you are with me. We are taking the stairs."

After Gibbs had given his orders, everyone grabbed their gear with the addition of what they might need walked toward the front door of the Holiday Inn Express in Morgantown, West Virginia. Little did they know what journey lie ahead of everyone of them.

TONY, ZIVA, PALMER, DUCKY

Gibbs and McGee left the other four in the lobby of the hotel take the elevator. The purpose of this was to see if any clues were in the elevator.

"We have a lot of interviewing to do." Ziva commented as they waited for the elevator to come down.

"Yeah, I have a feeling people are going to be aggravated since they have been under lockdown." Tony replied to the others as the elevator drew reached the lobby floor where they were.

DING

"Let us hope you are wrong." Ziva said moving out of the way so the doors could open.

Once the elevator doors opened, Tony and Ziva quickly searched the elevator, but came up empty. All four NCIS personnel walked into the elevator. As the doors closed, everyone was thinking about what was waiting for them in that hotel room.

Ducky was the first to break the silence. "You know, Henry Waterman of New York is credited for the earliest design for the standing rope control in 1850. Little does anyone know that the first reference to an elevator was by a Roman architect by the name of Vitruvius. He reported that Archimedes actually built the first elevator around 236 BC."

"Ducky, you are so full of wisdom." Ziva said as she patted Ducky's cheek.

"Why thank you my dear." Ducky replied as they arrived at their destination of the fourth floor.

As the doors came to life and opened signaling they had arrived; one by one they stepped out into the hallway let by one Ziva David after one Tony DiNozzo said "Ladies First." When everyone stepped out of the elevator and made their way to the door of the room, Gibbs and McGee arrived shortly after.

"No evidence in the elevator boss." Tony said while donning his gloves and booties.

"None in either staircase either." McGee reported to the others.

"Can I help you?" A gruff voice that no one recognized.

"Yeah. Gibbs, NCIS." Gibbs opened his identification toward the guy.

"Ok. They told me you would be coming. I'm Trooper First Class, Jason Manning with the West Virginia State Police. Call me Jay though." Jay shook hands with Gibbs and acknowledged the rest of the group. "I've got the rest of my guys keeping the reporters and gawkers out and keeping everyone else in. I've secured the scene. The local PD is also helping my guys out."

"Thanks." Gibbs said walking under the crime tape into the grizzly scene. "DiNozzo, pictures. David, bag and tag. McGee, witnesses. All five floors."

"All five?" McGee asked while taking of his gloves and booties. "Never mind boss, not a problem." Once look at that steely blue gaze told McGee everything he needed to know.

Everyone left their gear and what they didn't need out in the hallway so it would not be in the way. Ducky and Palmer went in after Gibbs with Ziva and DiNozzo following closely behind.

"This reminds me of Nightmare on Elm Street, when Johnny Depp is supposed to stay awake, but Freddy gets him." To illustrate his next words, Tony made a sound like he was sucking the last of a drink through a straw. "Right through the bed…then his liquefied insides gush like a geyser all over the room." His chuckling dies as he observes his colleagues look of horror.

All around them was blood, tissue, and who knows what else.

"I have always found Johnny to be quite handsome" Ziva said loftily and continued, "Would you not agree, Tony?"

"Yea-NO! Wait…what?"

"Tell me something Tony. With all that movie knowledge in your head, how do you work? How do you function?" Ziva asked him as she followed Gibbs by hugging the wall into the small hotel bathroom to view the body.

"Funny. If you must know, I'm a man of many talents and skills." Tony said stepping up to the body.

"Rigor Mortis has set up." Ducky informed everyone while starting his initial observation. "Liver temp suggests T.O.D. around fifteen hours ago. Though there are many cuts and gashes on him – like he has been mutilated. Also, first look suggests he was mutilated before the drowning. Though I'll…"

"Know more once we get him back." Gibbs finished for him. "We will start in the bedroom while you two take care of him."

With that, the team carefully hugged the wall and left Ducky and Palmer to do their work. Everyone worked silently but diligently in the gruesome scene.

The team found a cell phone on the desk that was to the right, a cup on the TV beside the desk. On the other side of the room, the bed sheets were rumpled as if some activity took place, the clock had been knocked off the nightstand, and the closet mirror and the window were cracked. Apart from that evidence, there was mostly blood and tissue everywhere, even the ceiling.

Once Ducky had taken the body away, the team was able to process the bathroom. In the bathroom, on the right side, they found a used condom in the trash can, and beside that in the sink, they found all blood and a knife. The tub was drained, and a hair was found in the water. Besides those pieces of evidence, the only other piece was a bloody towel heaped on the floor by the door. And of course, there was blood and tissue everywhere – walls, ceiling, floors, and every surface.

A few hours later and a processed scene, Gibbs told DiNozzo and Ziva to go make sure any trash pickup for this room go to Abby. After they had finished their tasks, McGee finished his, what seemed as the millionth interview, and Gibbs had collected any additional evidence, the group met by their vehicles.

Ducky and Palmer had left earlier to get a head start on the autopsy so that they might have some answers by the time the team got back to NCIS. No one happened to see, a dark shadow in the group of gawkers in front of the hotel as they climbed back into their respected vehicles for the drive back to NCIS….

Author's Note: Well, what do you think? Please keep hitting that review button, the alert button, and favorite button! It all means a lot to me! Stay tuned! Also, here is the link to a video that serves as further illustration as described by Tony: .com/watch?v=PGGrbOZrFqw