Thanks for the reviews! The focus of this chapter is a bit different, but you'll see why. Hope you'll like it anyways.

Real Cases

Gibbs looked around, zipping up his coat. It had gotten cold in DC and the crime scene in front of him didn't exactly warm him up either. They had been called out first thing in the morning but nobody had relayed the details of the murder yet. The local police had already closed off the perimeter, so that it was easy for Gibbs to process what was in front of him. A woman, around 30, was lying in the wet grass completely naked safe for the dog tags around her neck. From what it looked like, she had been there for not too long. He told Kate to sketch and McGee to take photos and then went to the police officer in charge.

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS," he said. "What have we got here?"

"A jogger found the woman about two hours ago," the policeman rattled off, looking at his notepad. "We checked the dog tags and then immediately called you guys."

"The corpse been touched?"

"Only by the jogger who wanted to make sure that she's really dead. He's over there."

He pointed towards a black haired man just behind the police tape. Gibbs nodded at the officer and then went over to the man who looked a bit shell shocked at his discovery. Gibbs introduced himself, ignoring the vibrating phone in his pocket.

"Gibbs, NCIS."

"Jonah Parker," the man said, not quite looking him in the eye. "I found her when I was on my usual morning run. God, this is so awful."

"You know her?" Gibbs asked, scrutinizing the man in front of him. Something seemed off about him but he couldn't quite place what it was.

"N-No," Parker said shaking his head.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah," for the first time the man looked at him and Gibbs realized that maybe he was telling the truth after all.

"Okay, if you think of something, let us know," with that, Gibbs handed over his card and then went back to check up on Kate and McGee.

#

It wasn't until he was already back at his desk that he remembered his phone. He pulled it out and then suppressed a smile when he saw Tony's message to him. They hadn't seen each other in almost three months, hadn't talked in just as long and while at times, especially when he was home alone, he missed him like crazy, but the text messages had made his absence a bit more endurable. It wasn't like they ever talked about that evening at Tony's apartment, but the messages had helped Gibbs to get over whatever had been going on.

Hey! Tony's message read. Guess what.

What? He wrote back, not entirely sure if he was amused by Tony's antics or annoyed.

"What have we got so far?" he asked, holding back a grin when both McGee and Kate sprang up from their chairs to assemble in front of the big screen.

"The victim is Maureen Holtz," McGee said. "Honorably discharged two years ago. Unemployed ever since. She lived with her mother, Anna Holtz, in a small apartment here in DC until the mother died five months ago."

"That all?" Gibbs inquired, knowing that they couldn't have much as they had only just gotten back. It never hurt to keep them on their toes, though.

"Afraid so," Kate said.

"McGee," Gibbs said, "You check her bank account and find out how she could afford the apartment after her mother died. Kate, you're with me. Let's go see how she lived."

When he got into the elevator, his phone vibrated again and he pulled it out, making sure that Kate couldn't snoop. She had long given up on asking who he was texting, but he was sure that the interest in it had not waned a bit.

I'll be in DC for a week starting tonight. Want to meet up?

Gibbs felt his stomach clench at the mere thought of having to face Tony again, but at the same time he knew that he really wanted to see the guy again. God, he still didn't know what to think about this whole thing. Once more, he discarded his worries and wrote back.

Yup. Just caught a case, though. Can't plan anything.

He tossed the keys to Kate who caught them with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything as she got into the driver's side of the car. She sped out of the garage into the direction of the Holtz's apartment just when Tony's answer came.

I'll leave my evenings free in any case.

Gibbs didn't answer this time instead put the phone back into the pocket, trying to focus on the case. He wanted it closed really quickly.

#

Kate and Gibbs had thoroughly searched the apartment but couldn't find much to go on despite the fact that she was living better than one would think of somebody who'd been unemployed for a couple of years. There was an expensive Hi-Fi system and according to Kate even more expensive jewelry. Just when he was about to call McGee to ask if he had found anything suspicious in her bank account, Abby's number flashed on his phone.

"What have you got, Abs?" he asked in lieu of a greeting.

"Hi, Gibbs. Ducky sent up a picture of a tattoo on Maureen's shoulder. I sent it through the data base because I thought it was vaguely familiar and it turns out I was right. You read about these prostitute murders, right?" At Gibbs' affirming grunt, she continued. "Anyway, all these women wore the same tattoo. Gibbs, I think, our victim is one of them."

"Good work, Abs," Gibbs said, feeling his heart sink at the mere thought of hunting another serial killer. "Call the local police and have them transfer their findings to us."

With that he hung up and soon after they were on his way back to the Navy Yard. And, of course, there was no chance in hell, he'd see Tony tonight.

#

"Sit rep."

For the second time that day, they gathered around the screen, but this time it was Kate's turn to sum up what they knew.

"Maureen Holtz is supposedly the fifth victim of the same murderer. The killer always strangles his victims to death the same way and then leaves them in a park or other secluded places without security cameras. The police don't have much to go on because, well, it's prostitutes and nobody really wants to give anything away."

"The tattoos," McGee chimed in now, receiving the clicker from Kate to show the photos to Gibbs. "Seem to be some sort of brand, most likely from the pimp. The first victim," another click and there was a beautiful yet haggard looking woman to be seen on the screen. "Tonya Williams left her last suitor at around twelve o'clock. He reported later that she seemed frantic and repeatedly told him to help her get out of there. Only she never specified what 'there' meant exactly. As he was too ashamed to call the police, she left on her own. He was probably the last person to see her alive. He only came forward when he saw her in the news. His name is Jasper Christensen."

"That's the local newscaster!" Kate cried out as she saw the photo.

"Yup," McGee just said. "That's why he didn't want to call the police in the first place. Doesn't look good for him."

"Anything on the other three victims?" Gibbs asked, feeling something clench in the pit of his stomach and not in a good way this time.

"Not yet, but we're looking into it."

"I've got something," Abby said as she practically ran towards them, holding a flash drive thingy in her hand.

She plugged it into McGee's computer and then snatched the clicker out of his hand.

"I've checked the security cameras around the place where they found Maureen Holtz. I wasn't really confident I'd find something, but you never know. And guess what."

She pressed play on the security footage and seconds later, Gibbs was able to see Holtz get out of a brand new Mercedes at a gas station. It was obvious that she was crying but when a man got out behind her, it was obvious that she wasn't afraid of him.
Gibbs felt Kate stiffen up next to him and he looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"That's… that's," Kate all but stuttered, her eyes still glued to the video that now showed Maureen running away before it cut off. "That's Gilbert Lions."

"Who?" Gibbs asked and then sent Abby a sharp look when she snorted.

"Really Gibbs, you need to watch more movies," she only said in reply. "That's Gilbert Lions, world known movie star. He's been nominated for an Oscar three years ago."

#

"Mr. Lions," Gibbs sat down across from the actor in the interrogation room.

The guy hadn't come quietly as they took him from his huge villa just outside of DC, shouting about lawyers and money and who knew what else, but now that he was sitting there, he seemed oddly small.

"I'm sure you know why you're here."

"No clue," the actor spit out and immediately Gibbs knew that he didn't like the guy one bit.

"Have you seen this woman?" he asked, not paying attention to the man opposite of him, as he showed him a picture of Maureen Holtz.

Lions remained silent for a couple of moments, but Gibbs could see in his expression that he wouldn't lie about it.

"Yes," he finally said as he sat back. "What is this about?"

"She's dead. Murdered."

"Oh my," the actor let out and shock was clearly perceivable now. "I… I… only saw her yesterday."

"We know," Gibbs replied, showing him a picture of the video that showed the two of them. "Why was she crying?"

"I don't know really," the actor began but then stopped short. "The press will love this. My whole career… if anyone knows about this…"

There was a tear running down his cheek now, but Gibbs was almost sure that it wasn't a real one. Something seemed a bit off there. But once more, Gibbs didn't know what exactly it was.

"Nobody will found out about this," he said reassuringly. "If you help us."

Lions nodded again, running a hand over his face. "I was at this club last night. Trojan's. It's a high society club. I knew it was a good place to pick up… women."

"Prostitutes, you mean?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "They're really discreet there and I've been there before, too. There was nothing unusual until we got into the car and she suddenly became frantic and started to cry. She wanted me to take her out of the state, but refused to tell me why. She only said that her boss would kill her if she didn't follow his orders. I tried to calm her down but it was no use. After I said that I wouldn't help her if she didn't tell me what it was about, she told me to let her out. So, I did."

#

"So, we go to the place and interrogate the owner?" Kate asked a couple of hours later.

They all had decided that Lions was telling the truth and having the newscaster telling a similar story to the police a couple of weeks earlier, it seemed like the pimp was their guy. What they didn't know was how they should get a hold of him. The victims didn't seem to have a connection to one another despite their work at Trojan's and their obvious preference for famous and rich men.

"No," Gibbs answered after a moment of contemplating Kate's suggestion. "If we do that, the pimp or whoever is responsible for the murders will be warned. We cannot risk that."

"So, uh," McGee chimed in. "We go undercover and try to get lucky with one of the girls?"

"That won't work," Director Morrow suddenly spoke as he all but ran down the stairs towards them. "From what I could gather from Gibbs' report earlier, we'd need someone famous to attract the girls."

"Yeah, right," Kate snorted. "No offense, but I bet it's not exactly easy to get one of them to be our bait."

"It's not like it would be very dangerous," Morrow said.

"Yeah, even if it isn't, I doubt that anybody here knows someone," McGee spoke up, even though he was taking a step back from the director as if to protect himself from his wrath.

For a moment everybody was quiet as Gibbs looked from Kate to McGee to Morrow, he suddenly realized something. He did know somebody… and he was sure that Tony would do it in a heartbeat, too. Plus, Morrow was right, it wasn't exactly dangerous. He'd just need to pick up one of the girls…

"I'll make a call," he then said to the room in general.

"Who are you calling?" Kate inquired, her eye big, but Gibbs didn't answer as he pulled out his phone and went to find a quiet place, his heart suddenly working overtime at the thought of hearing Tony's voice again.