Chapter 4: Interviews and clashes

In both stories, the Lindorm grew in size and power, terrorizing the land as he had been rejected by his parents. He, the heir of the throne, was a hideous creature that all gentle maidens ran away screaming in fear.

So he hardened his heart and argued with his father, demanding to be treated as heir, otherwise he would destroy the king and his castle.

Everyone lived in fear, tiptoeing around the beast, certain that they could be swallowed whole with just a bite of its powerful mouth.

He was rejected by them all so he hated them all too.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Back into NCIS headquarters, I noticed how uncomfortable Agent Mackenzie was, standing in the middle of the bullpen while Gibbs herded her superior officer to Vance's office for a little tete-a-tete. Meanwhile, she simply stood there, waiting for her orders about what she should do and we did the background checks on the lists of the kids of those buses from the park.

"How did you get to work serial killers after only one year in the FBI, Agent Mackenzie?" Tony asked as she leaned over Gibbs' table, studying the pictures behind the man's desk when she answered distractedly, "Because I'm good at it."

"Wow, I'm impressed," said Ziva, eager to draw the young woman to a conversation.

But we all saw how she tensed up and erected all her mental barriers as she looked at Ziva, "I might be a Federal Agent for a short while but I've consulted for the FBI for several years."

"Really, in what, how to dress impeccably in the field?" DiNozzo received a glare for that inappropriate comment, both from me and Ziva. Laura apparently decided to let that comment go without a visible reaction from her face.

"I've been a court appointed forensic psychiatrist for several federal cases for the last five years, Agent DiNozzo. Finally I was told to pursue an Agent status in order to keep consulting for the FBI."

"What exactly does a court appointed psychiatrist do?" I asked curious about this serious and sad young lady in front of me.

She shrugged lightly, "I was called in when they had to decide if a killer's plea of insanity should be held on court's decision and my clinical opinion usually helped the jury to decide if the convicted criminal should be sent for a normal prison or be institutionalized in a facility for the criminally insane."

"Wow. Tough choice."

"Yeah." She gulped and in swallowing it must have gone down the wrong pipe, because she started coughing, trying to get her breath back.

I was raised to be a gentleman, so I immediately stood up and offered her a sealed bottle of water I had on my desk. "Here"

She kept coughing and looked at the bottle as if I had offered her a rattle snake, "What's that?"

I was confused by her reaction, "What do you mean? Water. Haven't you ever had water before?"

She must have been feeling better, because she stopped coughing and stood straighter, completely ignoring my outstretched hand and the bottle, "I didn't ask you for water."

"I was just trying to be nice."

"You don't have to be nice to me."

"What? Why not?"

She shrugged as if her words after it were the commonest things in the world, "Nobody else is. Besides, I'm not staying for long. After this case, I'll be long gone. So don't waste your precious time on me."