Found Chap. 5

Gibbs pulled up behind Tony's car and cut the engine. Glancing around, there seemed to be nothing and no one around the small log cabin. Checking his weapon, Gibbs exited the car and scanned the woods behind the dilapidated cabin. Nothing seemed amiss. According to the file he had read on the drive up, the missing sailor had been bragging about a cabin hidden in the forest. The cabin had never been located and the sailor never found.

"What brought you all the way out here, Tony?"

Pushing the cabin door open, Gibbs cleared the room before moving throughout the rest of the cabin. If Tony had been in the cabin, he had left nothing to say so. Still, Gibbs set about investigating the cabin, looking for any clues as to why his SFA would be here. Assuming this was the missing sailors cabin, how did Tony find it? And why now, almost six years after the guy went missing? More importantly, why had Burley not found this information when he had been Gibbs SFA?

"Come on, Tony! Give me something, kid."

Grabbing his cell phone, the team leader punched Tony's speed dial number and waited. Finally, after what felt like a thousand years, he heard Tony's voice for the first time in hours.

"Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo!"

"Where the hell are you? And don't tell me the cabin. I've searched the cabin and you're definitely not here!"

"You're here? Like here here?"

"Yes, Tony! But you're not."

"Oh, I'm here, Boss. Walk out back."

Gibbs slammed his phone shut and stomped out back, ready to chew his SFA a new one. Why couldn't Tony just do as he was told? He always had to test the limits. Of course, Ducky would theorize that, "Young Anthony is simple trying to see how far you'll let him go before you bring him back. Why, I imagine, Jethro, given what we know of his childhood, the lad is testing you and your commitment to him. I would hazard a guess that his own father never had time or patience for such matters", and Gibbs was willing to bet anything that Ducky was right.

"DiNozzo!"

"Right here, Boss."

As soon as his eyes caught up with him, Gibbs recognized the bundle of cash in Tony's hand. Why would Tony be holding thousands of dollars bundled in his hand?

"It would seem that our missing sailor, who is coincidentally, not missing anymore, his remains are down under, was the one to make off with several hundred thousand dollars of the U.S. governments money a few years back."

"So, you're telling me, that Max Carelli is in the cellar dead?"

"According to the dog tags beside what's left of him. Once we get him back home, I think Ducky can confirm that. Or disprove that. Either way, we need to contact Agent Williams. She's been looking for this money for a while. If, of course, this is what I think it is. You might want to call McGee and get him out here. He's much better at this than I am, apparently."

Gibbs supposed he deserved that. Right now, he thought maybe he deserved anything Tony wanted to dish out.

"I called Ducky and Abby. Ducky should be here within the hour. Abby is running some of the serial numbers from the stash of cash down stairs. Maybe we'll solve two cases before the days out."

Gibbs watched as Tony disappeared back down the cellar stairs.

"Tony damn it!"

Not knowing why he was angry at Tony, Gibbs followed the stubborn agent down the stairs.

"You could have said something to one of us about where you were going. Hell, you could have asked any one of us to come with you. We're a week away from almost losing you. What were you thinking deciding back up wasn't necessary?"

"I was thinking that no one cared anyway so why waste their time?"

Tony started photographing the body and the weapon beside it. Gibbs thought about asking if he had taken pictures of the money before he touched it, but thought better of it. Tony might act like a randy teenager most of the time, but he had always done his job to a remarkable extent.

"What can I do?"

"I'm just finishing up. You can take off. Ducky will be here in a few minutes."

"I'm not leaving you here."

"Afraid I'll fuck up the scene? You're right, McGee would do a better job, but right now, I'm all you've got."

Gibbs sat on the steps and cursed himself.

"You can't tell me you think Max Corelli did all this by himself?"

"Nope. I think his girlfriend at the time, Nina Perez, helped him. I've got Abby looking for her now. According to the file, Burley interviewed her twice when Max disappeared. Nothing every came of it."

"Did you memorize the entire file?"

"The first time I read it."

"Is that how you knew how to find the cabin?"

Gibbs watched as Tony put the camera back in the bag. He didn't look agitated or angry. If anything, he just looked resigned.

"Max mentioned to several friends before he disappeared that he had to check on his aunt Linda. Well, I checked on any aunt Linda he might have. Turns out she's been dead for just over a decade. Her ashes are upstairs in the den. Max's step-mother let that little tidbit slip when I talked to her on the phone this morning. Now, tell me, Boss, why would he need to check on his deceased aunt? I just kind of figured it was worth a shot. Though I didn't expect to find all that money. It disappeared over a three-year period."

"You think the girlfriend killed him?"

"I do."

"I think you're right."

The hesitant smile on the kid's face was heart wrenching. He would have to fix that. When Tony smiled it was normally this giant toothy smile that lit up the world. Gibbs decided he wanted that Tony back.

"I'm going to meet Ducky."

"Yeah, I just heard him pull up."

Of course, he did. Would Tony ever cease to amaze him?