Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long to update, I've been a little busy with school! But here it is! Hope you guys like it!
Chapter 2: "Call Me Catherine"
Science and Faith
Gibbs slammed the phone back down on his desk. He had just finished talking with Fornell; there was a serial killer murdering women on the run, and his team was going to have to work with the FBI. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Something wrong, boss?" Tony DiNozzo asked from across the bullpen.
"We've got a case," replied Gibbs. "Serial killer from an old FBI case that's fallen into our jurisdiction."
"What's the problem, then?" asked Timothy McGee.
"We have to work with the FBI."
McGee nodded.
"Oh. I guess you're not happy about that, then."
"Do I look happy, McGee?" demanded Gibbs.
The younger agent shook his head. Annoying Gibbs was the last thing anyone wanted to do. "Of course not, I- I was just-"
"So who's our killer?" interrupted Ziva David. "You said he was from an old case."
"The name's Charlie Blackwell. Five years ago he started killing women in DC. The FBI almost had him, but he went into hiding and hasn't been heard from until now."
"Why would he start killing again after five years?" asked Tony. "and why is it in our jurisdiction? Has he always killed marines?"
"No, but he recently murdered a female petty officer in DC," Gibbs told them. "The body's already down in the morgue."
"Hey, Duck," announced Gibbs when he entered the bright, cold room.
"Hello, Jethro," replied Dr. Mallard when the field agent entered the morgue. The old M.E. was standing by an examination table with a white sheet covering what was the body of the dead petty officer.
"What have you got?" asked Gibbs. Ducky pulled back the sheet, revealing the face of a once very pretty woman, but it was badly bruised and had a "C" neatly carved into the left cheek.
"Poor thing," Ducky whispered sadly. "Her name was Molly Perkins, 34 years old and in fairly good health. Her body was found just outside of Quantico yesterday. The report says that it appeared to be a dump."
"Cause of death?" asked Gibbs.
"COD was strangulation, and apparently, our killer used some kind of a belt." Ducky showed Gibbs the bruised skin around the woman's throat.
"And as you can see," continued Ducky, "there's also severe bruising on the face, indicating that the girl was badly beaten before he took her life."
"And the marks on her wrists? Looks like she was tied up."
"Indeed. I found fibers in the ligature marks, so I had Palmer send them up to Abby's lab. They're deep, so I'm guessing that she was bound for at least 2 days."
"Blackwell tortures them for two days before he kills them," Gibbs told Ducky. "And then he carves a "C" into their cheek." He looked at Molly Perkin's mutilated face in disgust; he wanted to find the sick bastard who had done this to her and all his past victims.
"You got a TOD, Duck?" The doctor nodded and covered the body back up. He went to his desk and picked up his chart, scanning the contents.
"Her liver temperature and level of decomposition puts it around two days ago."
"So she was tortured for two days, killed, and then her body was found after another two," said Gibbs."She was missing for at least four days, so why didn't anyone report it?" The doctor merely shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the body.
"Maybe she has no family, or they may not be local." he said.
"I'll have DiNozzo find out more about her. Thanks, Duck." Gibbs left the morgue and headed back to the bullpen.
When Gibbs arrived back upstairs to inform his team about Ducky's autopsy, he found not only Ziva, Tony, and McGee there, but also two people talking with DiNozzo.
They were probably from the FBI. One of them was a young man with wavy brown hair. Gibbs had met him once before, but didn't remember the name. There was also an older woman, a little bit younger than Gibbs, with long strawberry blonde hair.
The man looked a bit uneasy when he saw the senior field agent walk up to them.
"Boss, this is Agent Pratt and Agent Willows from the FBI," Tony said. "They're going to be working with us on the Blackwell case."
"Please, call me Catherine," the woman said to the NCIS agent.
"Jethro Gibbs." He shook Pratt and Catherine's hands.
Pratt nodded stiffly, trying to avoid looking Gibbs in the eye. But Catherine greeted Gibbs warmly.
"It's nice to meet you," she said. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Agent Gibbs." Catherine didn't seem too bad, for an FBI agent. Maybe Gibbs would actually like this one.
"Call me Jethro," he said with a slight smile. Catherine returned it.
"So you're new to the FBI?" asked Gibbs.
"Yes, I came here a few months ago from-"
"Boss!" McGee interrupted suddenly from his desk.
"What, McGee?" Gibbs demanded.
Tim placed the phone back down on his desk and hurried over to his supervisor.
"I just got a call from the FBI office in Nevada. It's Blackwell. He was spotted by a police officer but then he disappeared into a crowd. Officials haven't seen any sign of him since"
"Where in Nevada?"
McGee looked around the small group of agents and replied,
"Las Vegas."