Chapter 5

Granger stopped the car in front of the address they had for Detective Rivera and turned to Hetty. It had been a long time since they had worked a case together and yet it felt like yesterday. There were still a lot of issues between them but it seemed like they were getting past them. He found he liked this Henrietta. She still had her secrets, still moved her people around like pieces on a chess board or, like she had once told Callen, she moved the board. This Henrietta seemed more human than he could ever remember. He still thought Afghanistan and the White Ghost debacle had shaken her more than she would ever admit. She had lost the trust of some of her agents over that but had slowly regained it over time. Now she seemed more careful with them. He also knew Deeks's predicament was eating at her. The detective liked to joke that he was her favorite but there were times, like now, when it seemed like there was more than a smidgen of truth to it. The old Henrietta would never have stood for the current relationship between Deeks and Blye. He had been against it at first but had withheld judgment. So far, his initial concerns appeared unwarranted. This case, however, could change that.

He asked "Are you ready?"

Hetty nodded just as her cell phone rang. She looked down and then back to him. "It's Mr. Beale."

"Well, let's hear what the boy wonder has to say." Hetty smiled at his unconscious use of the nickname for their brilliant but socially inept technical analyst.

"Mr. Beale?"

"Hetty, I just heard from Callen. Stephanie Wheeler changed her statement because her kids were threatened by Monica Lee. He's pretty sure it was on behalf of Clarence Fisk. She's agreed to return to her original statement and testify against Lee in exchange for protective custody until the trial and witness protection after."

"That's excellent news Mr. Beale!"

"There's more. This news is not so good. New evidence has shown up in the case file and evidence log. Both the fingerprinted bullet we knew about and now DNA from the crime scene that matches Deeks."

Hetty frowned. "DNA evidence?"

"Yeah but that's all I know so far."

"And Mr. Deeks?"

"His earwig is back online but I haven't told him any of this. Not sure what I should tell him."

"When you feel the time is right, make sure he knows everything you've just told me."

"Will do. How's it going with Rivera?"

"We just got here. Her car is in the driveway so it would appear that she's at home. I'll update you after we speak with her. Thank you Mr. Beale."

"You're welcome Hetty." He said as he disconnected the call.

Hetty sat and thought for a moment. One step forward, two steps back. Mr. Deeks's alibi was back in play but now there was this DNA and fingerprint evidence. The fact that it hadn't been in the file before today was not something they could share. After all, Mr. Beale had hacked into the LAPD database, on numerous occasions. Admitting that would irrevocably damage their relationship with the police department. She sighed and turned to fill Granger in on the details of her conversation with ops.

Granger shook his head when Hetty told him everything. "Someone really has it in for Deeks. They've gone to an awful lot of trouble."

"Yes, and I want to know why. Shall we?"

They both exited the car and made their way to Rivera's front door. Granger rang the bell. Rivera opened it moments later, obviously dressed to go to work. She recognized both of them instantly from her surveillance of Detective Deeks. "To what do I owe the honor of a visit from NCIS?" knowing full well why they were there.

Hetty replied "We wanted to talk to you about the case against Mr. Deeks. We're curious as to why you were taken off it and replaced with Detective Whiting."

"When you find out, let me know." Rivera replied bitterly.

Granger and Hetty exchanged looks. This was an interesting turn of events. Hetty asked "May we come in?"

Rivera looked at her watch. She had about 20 minutes before she had to leave for her shift. She moved away from the door and waved them in, her curiosity piqued. They entered a very nicely decorated living room. She motioned them to take a seat on the couch that faced the front window.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, water?" She wasn't sure why she was playing hostess to these two. She chuckled a little, blaming her mother and the way she was brought up.

Hetty responded politely "Thank you, but no." Granger just shook his head as they took the seats she had indicated.

Rivera sat in an easy chair facing them. "So, what is it that you want to know?"

Granger took the lead. "Our sources told us that you honed in on the Francis Boyle cold case. Why?"

Rivera looked at him blankly. "I didn't hone in on it, I was pushed onto it."

"By who?" asked Hetty.

"Whiting."

"Interesting. Why were you taken off the case after doing all the work?" asked Granger.

"Damned if I know. The case was going nowhere and Whiting pulled me off it. She has seniority over me and had the right to do so. She told me to move on to something else. I thought that was the end of the investigation." She sighed. "I guess she was right to pull me off. I heard they arrested Deeks yesterday. She must have found something I missed."

Hetty's eyebrows rose. "Again, our sources told us that you found a fingerprint belonging to Mr. Deeks on a bullet inside Boyle's service weapon."

The look of shock on Rivera's face raised the hopes of the two facing her. "What? What bullet? There were no bullets in the gun. Whoever killed him emptied the whole clip into him. Your source is wrong, dead wrong."

Granger was about to reply when he saw movement through the front window. "Gun! Get down!" He pulled Hetty to the floor and Rivera hit the floor at about the same time. A hail of bullets shattered the window, peppering the wall behind them. When it stopped, he looked at Hetty to find she already had her weapon out. He turned to Rivera. "Do you have your service weapon on you?"

"No. It's in the gun safe. I would've taken it out just before I left for work."

Granger heard footsteps on the front steps. "We don't have time for you to go get it. They'll be inside before you make it halfway out of this room." He reached down and pulled his backup weapon out of his ankle holster and handed it to her. "Here, take this." She grabbed it and faced the front door. Hetty watched the doorway to the kitchen and Granger swung back and forth between the two.

The men came in with no fanfare, two through the front door and one through the kitchen. The three on the floor began firing immediately. Rivera took down one of the men at the front door and the other dove back outside. Hetty took out the man behind them. They waited but there was no more movement. Granger began to crawl to the window and barely avoided being hit by a bullet shot through the broken window. He rolled back to the safety behind the arm chairs and Hetty watched for any chance to take out the remaining shooter. When he moved into view to get a better bead on them, she shot him in the head. They waited again, this time the only sound they heard was that of a car peeling away from the house. It would appear that they had survived once again.

Granger got up cautiously and moved to the men at the front as Hetty moved to the one in the kitchen doorway. They both checked for pulses and confirmed that all three were dead. Together they cautiously moved to the front door, confirming that there were no more shooters waiting for them to lower their guard. All they saw were the neighbors coming out of their homes to see what was going on. They turned back to look at Rivera who was staring at the damage to her home in dismay.

"What the hell just happened? What did you bring down on me?"

"Miss. Rivera, I don't believe we brought this down on you. It is my firm belief that they were after you, not us."

"Me? Why the hell would anyone be after me?"

"We've already found out that Stephanie Wheeler recanted her statement about Mr. Deeks's whereabouts that night after her children were threatened. Based on what you just told Assistant Director Granger and me, I believe that you are a loose end. You would be the one person most familiar with the evidence in this case and would be the only one able to point out any discrepancies. In order for the evidence to stand as it is now, you can't be allowed to question any of it. If the bullet didn't exist until after you were taken off the case, then someone, someone in LAPD, added it to the evidence log."

Rivera's mouth dropped open and she looked around at the carnage surrounding her once again, trying to wrap her mind around this. She was Internal Affairs, she couldn't remember the last time she was involved in a firefight. The idea of a dirty cop in LAPD planting evidence, however, was more in her wheelhouse. She looked at the two feds facing her and made her decision. Whoever did this was not going to get away with it.

"I think one of the reasons I was taken off the case was that I was coming to believe Detective Deeks was innocent of the murder of his ex-partner. That was a conclusion I shared with Whiting. It wasn't too long after that that I was pulled off it. Whiting is cold and not easy to get to know, I had no idea what her reasons were. She didn't share and I couldn't even begin to guess." She paused and thought about her next steps. "I can go back and pull the evidence again, take a look through it and see if I can figure out how the new stuff got in there.'

Hetty said "While I would like nothing more, Detective Rivera, I feel that would put you in more danger. At this point, I think it would best if you allowed NCIS to put you under protective custody and move you to a safe house. We also need you to make a statement about exactly what you knew was booked into evidence when you started this case."

Rivera didn't know how to respond. She felt like it was the coward's way out but she really didn't want to die and she knew that NCIS was very capable. She had seen that during the months she had been looking into Deeks. She finally nodded her head and said "I'll pack a few things to take with me. I'll need to inform my boss that I'll be out for a few days. What do I tell him?"

Hetty replied "Let us take care of that for you. Go pack. We should be out of here before the police arrive as they surely will. I'm certain someone will have called 911 by now. At this point, we're not sure who to trust at LAPD."

She nodded and left the room. Granger asked Hetty "Where are you going to stash her? We're building up quite a cache of protected witnesses."

Hetty cocked her head and thought. "What would you think of putting her in the boat shed? The upstairs room is quite comfortable and I think it would open Miss. Rivera eyes further to see how Mr. Deeks's team feels about him. We can protect her there and let her feel like part of the investigation into who just tried to kill her. I think, otherwise, she will chafe at her exclusion and do something rash that could lead to her death."

"I'll bow to your greater experience with people who do rash things, exposing themselves to danger."

Hetty knew Granger was talking about Mr. Callen. The man definitely had a penchant for going rogue, the last time leading her to taser him. Not that it had worked. She shook her head and had to smile. Her agents were a unique group of people but they were good at their jobs. She wondered how Miss. Blye was going to react to the presence of the detective who had seemed so hell bent on proving her partner was a dirty cop. The next few days should be interesting.

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A/N – so what do you think? Have I gone down a rat hole from which I will never return?