Chapter 5- Dead or Alive?
Ziva p.o.v
I check the rest of the house for anything that may help to figure out who killed the Navy Admiral lying dead in the front room of the simple house on this simple street on the outskirts of town, the admiral looks like he lead a simple life the house shows no signs of a wife or children, its clean, tidy, and looks to be about just what he could afford on his wage, in a nice quiet neighborhood close to the naval base.
I go through to the bedroom and find a trap door in the back of the wardrobe opening it; I am truly shocked as to what I see before me, pictures of all of us Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Me, Jenny and another woman wearing the NCIS uniform. I have never met this woman she is beautiful, dark brown hair and the most amazing smile, but in all of the pictures she is circled, I look through the photos and that is when I realise who it is, this is the woman my half-brother Ari shot. It's Kate.
I call Gibbs it comes out more like a strangles cry for help, he comes rushing through, gun raised when he sees I am okay he lowers his weapon with a confused look on his face I quickly explain "I think you should see this" he walks over to where I am stood and I see his face drop and for once I can see the emotion on his face, I can tell he cared for Kate at the way his eyes water from just looking at the photos.
Then there is one that catches his eye a picture of the same beautiful woman, Kate but not in NCIS uniform, she looks like she has been beaten up pretty bad, but it is what I see next that is really disturbing the date mark is dated to last week. I don't want to ruin his silence but I have to ask "This cannot be real; you know Ari shot Kate and I shot Ari, that has to be the truth because if Kate is alive I shot my brother in cold blood".
My Mossad-influenced exterior is starting to slip Gibbs says nothing but just hugs me, just as our embrace comes to end McGee and Tony pop their heads around the corner McGee speaks up first "I've taken all witness statements and talked to some of the neighbors, the postie who found the Admiral knows nothing he was just delivering the Admirals monthly order of protein shakes and the neighbors weren't much help either they don't really know the Admiral he just kept himself to himself only exchanged a word when the admiral was getting in his car to go to work".
Just after McGee stops speaking tony speaks up "I've took photos dusted for prints and look for anything that may give us a clue, so far nothing no sign of forced entry, no other prints apart from the Admirals, and no clues as to who did this" as always Gibbs isn't a man of many words so a short "obviously didn't look hard enough did you DiNozzo" was all it took for Tony and Tim to scoot over to where we were stood.
Tony p.o.v
I walked over to where Ziva and Gibbs were standing intrigued as to what they had found I had done a sweep of this room when we first entered to make sure there was no one in the house and I had not come across anything suspicious, when I got to where they were and looked at what they were looking at I was completely speechless.
There were pictures of us all, yeah it was creepy but nothing that would have two great unshakable agents shaken, and that when I saw it the photo Gibbs had in his hand, in that moment it felt like all the wind had been taken from my lungs, the photo it was Kate our Kate she was beaten and looked like she had given up, I thought that was had to see but what came next hit me harder than I thought anything could, all the walls I had built had been knocked down in an instance the date mark showed last week's date.
I spoke my voice barely recognizable as my own "It can't be, can it boss, Kate died 5 years ago is this some kind of joke, it has to be" the last part was mostly to myself, I just needed to know this wasn't real. After a few moments Gibbs spoke up no hint of emotion in his voice it was like he didn't even recognize the woman in the photo "As of now this is a missing person's case, and rule 3 comes into play".
I was amazed at how he could be so calm and I was so angry that for once he could not show emotion even this once he said he thought of Kate as a daughter but right now I did not look like he recognised her and before my brain could catch up to my mouth the words were out "don't you recognize her, that's Kate, Kate who took a bullet to save your life and you cannot even show emotion for once on your life" he turned to me and gave me a glare that would turn anybody to water, but I am used to it and returned the same look.
He looks away towards Ziva and McGee "Ziva you are with DiNozzo want you to finish collecting evidence here look for anything else that might help with the case. Tim your with me were going back to the squad room to try to find out how the hell this photo got here. As he turned away I heard him say 'I need my kido back, she had to be alive' It was more to himself that anyone else but I think it was for my benefit too.
I know none of us are good with emotions but I should know that Gibbs thinks of us all as his kids his family and I also know that if there is one thing he doesn't like is people messing with is his family.