Freeze Frame 4: Dead Man Talking:

by gaben

A dead Marine, a burned out car, a poker chip, a trophy bullet, a cold case, a bunch of lies and a broken promise. What do these things have in common, and how will these threaten Marley's new life with Gibbs and Gill? Fourth in the Freeze Frame series

2. Cold Case

FREEZE FRAME 4: Dead Man Talking

SUMMARY: –A dead Marine, a burned out car, a poker chip, a trophy bullet, a cold case, a bunch of lies and a broken promise. What do these things have in common, and how will these threaten Marley's new life with Gibbs and Gill?

Fourth in the Freeze Frame series.

DISCLAIMERS: I do not own NCIS.

Previously:

The Semper Fi gang have discovered a dead body in an abandoned car in the national park.

Chapter 2: Cold Case

FREEZE FRAME: Cut to Ducky looking down at Marley in frame. Profile close up of the pair as he, glasses sitting precariously on the edge of his nose, glares at Marley. Marley is feigning a nervous smile with raised eyebrows and pleading puppy dog orbs. Convert Black and white. Cut.

Fade In – to bull pen, as DiNozzo rounds the corner. Ziva and Tim are at their desks.

"Grab your packs," called Tony as he went for his badge and gun in his desk drawer.

"Its grab your gear, Tony," corrected Ziva.

"That's Gibbs's call. This is my call, my little bit of uniqueness, for my case and my team," defended Tony.

"Not very unique, Tony. You could have called it clutch your gear or snatch…I know, what about seize your kit… your stuff, paraphernalia, tack, equipment…"

"Okay, McThesauras, clutch your ba…"

"Tony!" chastised Ziva.

"Grab your evidence back pack and follow Ziv…er. We have a dead marine in the national park," ordered Tony.

"You better grab your antihistamine too, Timothy," said Ducky as he appeared at the elevator in front of them.

"Ah! Hey, Duck, you coming out on this one?"

"Yes, Anthony. Palmer is waiting for me in the garage. But I'm embarrassed to say, I need to text young Marley. She has gone to the picture theatre with her young friend from Australia and was going to meet me at home as soon as it was finished."

"Yeah, I'm coming over tonight to babysit, remember, while you…" Tony waved Tim and Ziva off. "I'll take my car, I'll meet you there."

Tony turned back to Ducky as the elevator doors closed. "I'm coming to babysit while you take Ziva for that dance lesson."

"Yes, well, don't let Marley hear you use the word babysit. The point is, Anthony, we may be out there for a while. Can you please text her and tell her to come to Headquarters instead. I'm afraid I haven't got this text thing down to a fine art as yet."

"No worries, Ducky. Good idea, we could all end up here working late."

"Have you called Jethro in on this case yet?"

"Not yet, he'll be back by Sunday night. I figure we can handle the prelims on our own. Besides, it's been weeks since Gill and he had anytime alone together."

"That is a very nice thought, Anthony; I would never have considered you a little cupid or Eros."

"Ducky, I'm as romantic and passionate as the next guy. Why, did I tell you about the hot…"

Ducky cut him off before he could detail an inappropriate personal experience. "Yes, good, I couldn't agree more. The Lake House and Gill are a nice little distraction for Jethro.

Tony chuckled, "A very nice distraction. I haven't seen him so…

"Content in a long time," Ducky pondered out loud.

"Yep."

"We better get going. From the report we have skeletal remains in a burnt out car. I may not be able to do much there, but I would like to do some assessment of the unfortunate young lad at the scene."

Cut away to the national park, one hour later. Mid shot of Ducky and Jimmy Palmer, making their way through the brush towards the four trees clearing.

"Mr Palmer, are you sure we are headed in the right direction?"

"Yes, Doctor Mallard, I have the map here. These fire access trails are little overgrown though."

"Perhaps they are not in use any longer, Mr Palmer," huffed Ducky as he dragged his med kit behind him. With his spare hand he grabbed a rather dry over hanging branch that obscured his view. "Did you check the date on that map?" he asked with frustration.

"Ahh no, sir, I just looked at the most direct route from the parking lot."

"Hmm, well, let's hope we get there before dark."

Jimmy stopped and turned to reassure the doctor. "Oh, I'm sure we will." He smiled, oblivious to Ducky's sarcastic quip.

Ducky scowled as his young assistant turned back. He drew back the long thin branch then let it flick forward and smack the retreating backside of Palmer. "Yes, I'm sure we will," he sneered.

"Owww! Ohh, Doctor, careful that could take out an eye."

"I was careful, Mr Palmer, it was aimed nowhere near your eye. Now move."

Jimmy took off before his senior could take another whack at him and quickly found himself at the edges of a large clearing.

Ducky joined him in seconds and surveyed the area for their crime scene. In front of them were four large trees, which shielded the shadows of what looked to be a group of youngsters and their bikes.

Some yards to the left was a shallow ditch, with a hill of over grown weeds and vines roped off with crime scene tape. As they moved closer, the hill's true nature became obvious. It was indeed a burned out car. Ducky hoped there was something tangible left of his corpse, though his reasoning told him that was most unlikely. While the fire appeared recent, most likely at the hands of the young witnesses under the tree, the overgrown mass that had enveloped the vehicle suggested the body had been there a long time.

Ducky and Palmer moved towards DiNozzo and the forest's fire chief.

"What have we got, Agent Di Nozzo?" asked Ducky.

"Chief Lindsey here spotted a fire at 1300…"

"By the time we got here those youngsters over there had put it out," continued the fire chief. "One of the boys, pale as a sheet, was holding on to a human arm that belonged to the rest of a decomposed body in the driver's side of the car. His uniform was pretty much - in tatters, but his dog tags were visible. Thought it was a job for you fellers. We haven't touched the body, Doctor, just roped off the area, and made sure there were no more spot fires."

"Tim's taken a photo and is running his tags. We should have an ID before we get back to headquarters," said Tony.

"Come, Mr Palmer, I suggest we get a good look at our victim."

Ducky and Jimmy moved over to the car, while Tim and Ziva bagged, tagged, and took photos.

Tony turned back to the fire chief. "So you think these kids started the fire?"

"Oh, I'm sure they did. They told me. I've left them over there, figured you might want to talk to them."

"Good idea, they all look a little nervous. I guess seeing a skeleton like that could scare the shit out of anybody. They in trouble for the fire?" he asked.

"Not a lot. I won't be charging them, though I do have a little something planned for them. Seems they found themselves a pretty interesting make believe tank."

Tony looked up at the car and nodded, "Oh yeah! A 1976 maverick, yep that'd make a great tank."

"It would. Ah…They're just kids playing. There's obviously no intention to commit arson."

"Yeah, bet their parents aren't going to be happy."

"I reckon you're right. I'd say that's why they are nervous, they should have known better. I've got all their names, their parents are on their way. Well, most. There's one who's keepin mum about who she is, and the others won't give her up."

"I'm not surprised. If that had been me, I wouldn't be sitting until Thanksgiving after my father had committed my ASS-On fire," laughed Tony at his own pun. "I'm surprised any of them have given their names, you must have scared them more than their folks."

"Didn't have to, three of them are mine. Well one is, the other two are my brother's kids. He's deployed at sea at the moment, and Jan is working. They often spend the summer with me and my boy. And believe me, when you're done talking and I get them home, I'll be having the same talk about arson your dad would have had."

Tony let a short but hearty laugh escape as he made his way over to the four shielded trees. He stopped short when an agitated small figure tried to avoid detection and lingered quietly behind the backs of the other children. The small figure, which was attempting to push back in amongst the foliage and escape suddenly made eye contact with Tony. Frightened, she began to run.

"Marley? Marley, you stop right there! Get your little tush front and center. Now!" Tony bellowed.

Now it was Chef Lindsey's turn to laugh. "She's yours?"

"Hell. Yeah," Tony scoffed then shook his head and took off after her.

Jarrod and Ben went to block Tony's chase, but separated quickly when Chief David Lindsey glared and ground out, "Don't even think about it."

Cut away to the burned out car and a close up of Ziva.

Ziva is bagging the evidence. Before she removes the gun, now sitting on the floor, Tim snaps a photo of it. She then removes it and drops it in a bag and seals it. They move out of the way when Ducky and Palmer arrive to examine the body.

"Timothy? Do we have any ID on this poor fellow yet?"

"Not yet, Ducky, I've sent off a photo of his dog tags to Abby. They're a little hard to read. She should be able to enhance the image and search the data base."

"Hey, Doctor Mallard?" called Jimmy. "I think Agent McGee should get a picture of this."Palmer stood back and pointed to the remains of the victim's clothing and a plastic object wedge in the crease. "There on the seat, it's a little disk or something. "

Tim moved in a quickly snapped several pictures from different angles. He then carefully picked up the chip with his gloved finger and added it to the plastic bag.

"Ahh, it's a Poker chip," announced Ducky.

Tim examined the chip closely through the contents of the bag. It was a round scarlet red disk, with checked grey and white edges and a gold inlaid with number 50 on one side and a pictograph representing 8 bells on the other.

"Guess we have a pretty good idea what he was doing before he died," surmised Tim.

"Yes, ?"

"Poker," answered Jimmy, thinking he was stating the obvious.

"Gambling, not necessarily poker, Mr Palmer. More importantly, it may well tell us where he was and who he was with, Timothy; it is a personalized chip. Many teams or clubs and establishments have designed their own chips since our own Wild West days. Saloons, professional gamblers, and river boat casinos had them made to counteract the "ringing in" of chips. The design could be engraved, embossed, or inlaid. Ivory chips were hand scrimshawed with numerals, initials, flowers, animals and just about any type of design. The ivory chips were made to order so that each customer would have a set unlike any other set. This could be our victim's personal set or a particular club's. It could also just be a social group's signature chip."

"I don't think this is made of ivory, Ducky," observed Tim.

"Well, we'll get Abby to work that out. Depending on the materials, personalized chips could be very expensive. She may be able to tell who the manufacturer was," explained Ducky.

Ducky moved into the car and, mumbling to himself and took a quick look at the remains. "Ziva found the gun here," said Ducky pointing to the floor. "I'm presuming the gun had landed there when the arm came off. If so, our victim must have been left handed. We will know for sure once we examine his bones a little closer."

"Suicide, do you think, Ducky?" suggested Ziva.

"Perhaps, Agent David. He has a bullet entry wound in his head and an exit…" He looked at the back of the skeleton, "and exit wound at the top of his head. As soon as we move the skeleton, you should find the casing embedded in the seat."

"Will that be long?" inquired Tim.

"No, we've done what we can here. I'd suggest we also transport the vehicle to headquarters. Abby will want both it and the photos."

"So do we have an estimated TOD?" asked Ziva.

Ducky referred to Jimmy. "Mr Palmer?"

Jimmy straightened up. "What we have is an adult male, approx late twenty's to early thirties. My guess, he's been here somewhere between ten and fourteen years," he reported.

"That makes sense," said Ziva. "The fire chief said new trails were dug in up here over ten years ago, the old ones have not been used since then. The new ones don't really have a good view of this area. The old yogi bears patrolling this area had not spotted a fire in this area in the last ten years, so the body had never been discovered."

"Ahh, I think you mean Smokey bears, Ziva," corrected Jimmy.

"Tony tell you to call them that?" smirked Tim.

"Yes, Tony told me that the rangers are called Yogi bears. Is that not the right endearment for fire rangers? Though I don't know why, the character is fool hardy and the little bear is an annoying nag if you ask me, boo hoo."

"No, that's Boo Boo, and they are not what we call fire rangers," laughed Tim.

Ducky shook his head. "Well then, ten years is where we start," he said, drawing the attention back to the case. .

Tim's wifi tablet pinged. "Ahh, try thirteen," announced Tim, as he scrolled the information on his screen. "Abby's just sent the results. Our victim is Corporal Patrick Sean Devlin. MOS 2671,Linguistics, stationed here in DC in late '98. Corporal Devlin was reported missing thirteen years ago. This is one of our own cold cases," revealed a surprised McGee, then laughed, "That's ironic isn't it. While Gibbs has been away that's all we've been working on: cold cases."

"Yes, it has been very boring, and Tony has been very annoying making us do all the filing and cataloguing, like a real Boo Boo. At least now we actually have a case to work on."

"Yeah, now you have a live cold case," said Palmer.

"We best get everything packed up and back to headquarters. Mr Palmer let's get Patrick here packed up. Please do not forget his left forearm," ordered Ducky.

Palmer got moving and carefully unfolded a body bag. With the help of Tim, they gently lifted Corporal Patrick Devlin's partially clothed skeleton into the bag, then laid his forearm across his chest reverently.

Ducky approved of the protocols, before turning to Agent David. "Ziva, we still have our lesson tonight?"

"Yes, Ducky, I am looking forward to it."

"Good, so am I. I will pick you up at 7.30."

"That will give you plenty of time. Zive. We're finished here as well. that is; when Tony finishes talking to the kids who found the body," said Tim pointing towards the trees where they last saw Tony.

"Hey, where did he go?" asked Ziva, "he was just there a minute ago."

Cross fade to long shot of Tony pushing through the brush. He is gaining on Marley.

"Marley, what are you running for? Where do you think you are going?" he yelled.

Marley stopped to catch her breath, absorbing Tony's words. He didn't sound too mad, a little puffed out maybe. And, yeah, why am I running? I'll never make it home now. If only Tony hadn't seen me. I could have gotten home in time and they wouldn't have even guessed I was here, instead of the pictures. Oh, what the heck, we are all caught anyway. It's not like I'm in real big trouble. The fire was an accident, and we put it out and all. Boy, I really did overreact. What was I thinking, running? Where to? It's not like I'm going to be able to camp out here, anyway.

Tony came within five feet of her, relieved that she had stopped running. We could get lost in here so easily. It's not like I'm Boy Scout Mc Beaver or anything. He thought, refusing to admit his fear out loud. He drew a breath and put his hands on his hips. "You're in so much trouble, little girl." He warned, pointing his finger at Marley.

Ahh… that's why I was running. Marley's eyes went wide, and she took off again.

"Oh, no you don't," ground out Di Nozzo, as he dived for the child. He managed to get the back of her singed pullover and catapult her backwards towards him. Tony fell back with a thud with Marley on top of him. He growled before quickly flipping over and sending Marley to the ground beside him.

Marley used her hands to brush the dust from her short hair, then panicked when she saw the scowl on Tony's face. She didn't have time to plea bargain before Tony had her hoisted on his hip, with a firm grip around her waist, and marched to a nearby boulder. There he propped one foot up and threw Marley over his bent knee and started paddling her jean clad bottom.

"What are you doing?" Smack. "Why are you running away from me?" Smack. "You were unco-operative with the fire chief." Smack. "You shouldn't be here in the first place," Smack. "You got caught out." Smack. "Even if you had managed…" Smack, "to get home before we saw…" Smack, "you, we would have found out." Smack. "So, what's with the running…" Smack, "off? You got some ten year Jumunji plan…" Smack, " going down?"

"Oww, oww, No, wait…oww…"

Tony had not given Marley the chance to answer any of the accusations, or rather defend any of the observations that Tony was delivering with the hard and direct whacks to her backside. All she could do was kick and wriggle, and try her hardest to avoid them, though Tony was an expert marksman. Once he did stop, Marley just stayed still and wiped the embarrassing tears that had run down her checks. She hoped to hell that her friends were far enough away for the spanking not to be heard.

"I thought a good agent was to ask question first, then shoot," she accused through sniffles.

"You ran, that means I shoot and ask questions at the same time."

"Yeah, and not give a shit about the answers or the reasons," Marley dared to retort.

Tony landed another sharp swat to her still upturned backside."Lose the expletives," he added before dropping her to her feet, but still held her firmly by the arm. "You will get the opportunity, to explain to Ducky first, then to Gibbs. But, if you are going to get smart about it, there's a bush full of switches over there and I can ask another bunch of questions while I use one to light your rear end on fire." He threatened.

"The fire!" Marley cried, "Gibbs is going to kill me about the fire. I'm probably going to be arrested."

"I don't think the fire chief is going to recommend charges. However, I can't promise what either Ducky will do or Gibbs, for that matter, when they see how close you were to being burned. Look your sweater is all singed."

Marley turned and looked at the burnt patches on her pullover. "Yeah well, we took our sweaters off and doused them in water to put out the fire."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!

"Well, that was good thinking."

"So you won't need to tell Gibbs?"

"I'll think about it. Just don't run off like that ever again, okay?"

"Okay." She sniffed wiping the last of her tears away.

Tony nodded, now feeling a little guilty he'd lost his temper with her. "Look, Gibbs, is going to be home late Sunday. If there's nothing nasty about this case I won't have to call him, and you can tell him yourself then."

"I guess that's something, he'd be madder if he had to come home early just because I'm in trouble."

"Hey! He'd be devastated if something bad had happened to you. Anyway, Ducky's not going to be impressed either; we are supposed to be watching out for you. You said you were going to the movies."

"Yeah well, that's why I was trying to sneak out of there. I could have got back to headquarters in about two hours on my bike, but I couldn't get away."

"That won't help your cause, so don't going admitting that one or he'll double your punishment."

"But you already whacked me."

"Don't say whacked, it sounds like I killed you."

"Well, it feels like you murdered by butt."

"Good, but that was for running, besides you'll live. But lying to Ducky will not bode well for you." He chuckled.

"I know, I know, I was trying to get back, not because I'm in trouble for the lie. If Ducky didn't know I was here, then it wouldn't be him I ran out on again… Gee, what if Gibbs and Gill won't leave me with him again. He's gonna think they don't trust him. It was just a dumb kid's lie."

"Gill and Gibbs trust him. Him trusting you is another thing all together. You better hope, he's on his way back to headquarters, otherwise you are in deep..."

"Shit!"

Cross fade to long shot diagonal of the four trees, as Ducky, Tim and Ziva walk towards the four trees and watched with amusement, five nervous children who stood in front of three angry parents and one fire chief as he read them the riot act.

"You kids should have known better. I won't be reporting this. It's obvious it is not a case of arson, and you didn't run, but got the fire out quickly by keeping your cool. However it was very careless, and you could have been seriously hurt."

"Thank you, Chief Lindsey," said one woman. "I can assure you Jarrod's father will be discussing the issue in detail with him tonight."

The other two mothers, holding firmly on to Tom and Sam, nodded in total agreement as they glared at their sons.

"But mum, it's dad's last night in town. We don't want to wreck it for him."

"Good try, Jarrod."

Chief Lindsey laughed. "Thank you, ma'am, I appreciate your and your husband's support."

"Oh, Jarrod's father and I are divorced. I'm just glad he doesn't head back to Australia until tomorrow. I'm sure his discussion will have a lasting effect."

"Well just the same, Ms ?

"Chelsea, Chelsea Gillard, Chief Lindsey."

Chief David Lindsey smiled at the young woman, "Chelsea, yes well, a lasting lesson is what we'd prefer. But I intend to add an official consequence as well. This lot along, with my son, and niece and nephew… what did you call yourselves…?" He glared at Ben in particular.

"The Semper Fi gang, Uncle David."

Ducky and the team looked at each other, recognizing the name and now, come to think of it, some of the faces.

The chief leaned in close to their leader. "The Semper Fi Gang can just get their little Semper Fi butts up here at my office by 0600 tomorrow morning. For the next two weeks you will be on litter duty in the national park. That, I'm sure, will keep you out of trouble and just a little more environmentally conscious.

The kids all moaned then abruptly stopped when each of their parents slapped them up the back of the head.

"That's fair enough," they quickly changed tact and chorused.

"We could have ended up in the brig for ten years hard labor," suggested Ben.

"Yeah, at least this way we can kinda treat it like some sorta boot camp," said Sam.

"Hey yeah, we can make ourselves some big nasty's," suggested Jessica.

"Yeah, just like real battle buddies at boot camp for two weeks. This won't be too bad," cheered Tom.

Chief Lindsey shook his head. "A boot up the backsides is what you are going to get, you lot. This won't be fun."

The gang didn't believe him, but they dropped their heads in shame for the benefit of the audience watching -.

"Ahh, umm, Chief Lindsey?" interrupted McGee. "I think we will need to get statements from them all tomorrow, so perhaps they can start their community service first thing Monday." Tim then turned and addressed the parents. "I'm sorry, but you will have to accompany your children, so we can take their statements."

"Do you really need all of them?" asked Sam's mom.

"I could get the statements from my three tonight and have them drop by with them for you to go over before they sign them. Saves you a hell of paper work and I have to get statements too. No point on doubling up," suggested Chief Lindsey.

'That's a good idea. I would be happy to supervise your children and accompany them to NCIS, Chief, that is unless your wife would prefer…"

"I don't have a wife, ma'am. It's just Ethan and me. And that would be a great help. I'm on duty until four."

Chelsea smiled at David, and then turned back to Tim. "Well Officer… ahh.? Would that be alright?"

"Not Officer, its Agent McGee ma'am; NCIS," corrected Tim. "And I think that would be fine."

"Okay kids, go get your bikes. You'd best be getting home," ordered Chief David Lindsey.

As the kids moved off to retrieve their bikes, Tim noticed a carving in the tree above Ben's head. He snapped a micro shot of it before taking a closer look. It was a freshly dug out channel with the initials BL and EL claim OO2 carved into the trunk next to it. Tim took another photograph. He zoomed in for a close up. There in the center was an almost perfectly circular hole.

Ben looked up and noticed the agent's examination of the tree. "That's our claim marker," explained Ben.

"Oh! When did you do this?" asked Tim.

"Last year, oh no maybe it was the year before. We wanted this for our second camp. The tree house is the first. We haven't done anything wrong have we?"

"Nope, just curious."

"So you're really NCIS? You investigate navy crime."

"Yep, and missing persons and lots of other important stuff." added Ziva.

"That helps protect the country right?"

"Yep."

The rest of the Semper Fi Gang's interest peaked, and they gathered back in around Tim.

"NCIS, that's Gibbs's outfit. You know Gibbs?" asked Jessica.

"Yep, he's our boss," confirmed Tim.

"Really, so where is Gibbs?" asked Ben.

"He's away, but he'll be back by Monday to read your statements," said Ziva.

"Oh. He's probably not going to be too happy with us either, I reckon," moped Sam.

"Too bloody right," frowned Jarrod.

"Yeah, but then he always reckons ya gotta fix up your own mess, and well that's what we done right?" raised an optimistic Tom.

"Right. That you did boys, oh and young lady," said Ducky, acknowledging Jessica, who beamed with pride back at the lovely old gentlemen. "I don't think he'll be too hard on you. Not once you have your paid your dues."

"I hope that includes me," said Marley, as she was lead back to the group by Tony.

Ducky eyes went wide. "Marley Rose, how on earth did you get here?"

"On a bike, Ducky. Ben loaned me his old one."

"That's not what I meant, young lady. You said you were going to the movies with your young Australian friend. You are almost three hours from home. Explain!"

"Ahh, we kind of changed our minds, Ducky."

"Did you now!"

FREEZE FRAME: Cut to Ducky looking down at Marley in frame. Profile close up of the pair as he, glasses sitting precariously on the edge of his nose, glares at Marley. Marley is feigning a nervous smile with raised eyebrows and pleading puppy dog orbs. Convert Black and white. Cut.

TBC Chapter 3 : 8 Bells.

A.N. Please review, this has been a bit of a slog, to make sure all the clues at the crime scene were found. Big, big shout out To Harliquinn for the help. And a little cameo for Chelsea123, I played with.