Tony took a deep breath and stepped into the conference room, trying to keep his face neutral. As expected, the lieutenant he needed to interview was standing, leaning slightly on the back of one of the chairs, but making no move to sit down.
'Lieutenant Nielson?' he began, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down. 'I'm Agent DiNozzo, NCIS. I know you've already spoken to the Agent here on base, but he thought someone from one of the major case teams needed to handle this, given the circumstances. So, why don't you start from the beginning?'
He leaned back casually, waiting for the younger man to tell his story. He hated these cases. The ones who complained about their CO's discipline were usually exactly the ones who needed it. But he was too well-trained to let his opinion show.
'Look, Agent DiNozzo, I'm not complaining because Captain Simmons spanked me...'
Tony raised one eyebrow. From what he'd been told by Agent Goetz when he arrived, it sounded like that was exactly what Nielson was doing.
'I've been spanked before. Hell, I've even been whipped by a CO before. What that man did to me was...'
Something about the tone of Nielson's voice, and something in his eyes, made Tony sit up straighter.
'Just what exactly are we talking about here, Lieutenant?'
Instead of replying, Nielson turned his back and wordlessly lowered his uniform pants and shorts. His ass was covered in angry welts, the skin broken in a few places, spots of blood still oozing from the wounds.
It took him only a second to decide that he needed to take the lieutenant to see a doctor, and only a few seconds longer to realise that he needed to take him back to the Navy Yard to see Palmer. There was no way this was the first time that Simmons had beaten someone under his command, and that probably meant that someone in the base infirmary was covering for him. He collected his probie from the observation room, and the three of them headed towards the exit closest to the lot where they'd left the car.
En route, they passed a small mess area. Tony's eye automatically swept over the few officers who were gathered there, his steps faltering when he saw a familiar face. His goddaughter Leigh was halfway through a bowl of jello, her eyes on a newspaper spread out in front of her.
He felt the blood draining from his face as he realised that she was sitting with one leg tucked under her... in a position that he recognised from experience as one that would keep her weight off her butt.