Chapter 3

With little else to go on until Loretta and Sebastian worked their magic, the team headed back to Quarters to start digging into Seaman Adders life.

"No recent credit card transactions on the one card he does own," said Chris. "But there was a transaction at a bar called 'Joey's' at about eight-forty last night, then an ATM transaction that withdrew a hundred in cash. The ATM might have a camera."

"And the bar?" Pride asked.

"I'll call 'em," Chris said.

"Seaman Adders has a clean record," said Brody. "He's currently with the USS Missouri, an Iowa-class battleship, currently on liberty leave and resupply. His file says he's basically a good guy, aside from being involved in a minor altercation with Seaman Nick James a few weeks back."

"What happened?" Pride asked.

"Seems the two men are usually best buds but Seaman James was upset about something and was assaulting someone and Adders tried to stop him," said Brody, reading the file. Then her eyes went wide. "And James has been arrested for aggravated assault, which occurred at the same date as the altercation with Adders." She continued to read. "He beat the hell out of a David Gillespie, who was the boyfriend of James' young sister, Madigan. David, himself, was later charged with domestic assault against Madigan when it was discovered that David had been physically abusing her." Brody threw up a picture of David Gillespie and James on the screen.

"Big brother trying to protect his little sister and things got out hand," Chris guessed.

"That's what the statement from both James and Madigan are saying. David, of course, denied the whole thing and made a few comments suggesting an incestuous relationship between brother and sister, and Adders and a few other officers had to restrain James from attacking David again," said Brody.

"Don't blame him. Alright, bring him in. Maybe he knows something about last night," said Pride.

The bar, Joey's, agreed to send NCIS their video from last night and it was discovered that Seaman James was still on the USS Missouri, on restricted leave due to the earlier assault with Gillespie.

"And we have a whole ship-full of frisky young sailors to contend with," Brody groused, not looking forward to the idea of fending off sailors who hadn't seen a woman, who wasn't their shipmate, in months.

Then Dabi wandered in, bearing several bags of groceries. Chris's eyes went a little wide. He knew Dabi was pretty, but the last time he'd seen her, he hadn't paid much attention to her and earlier, she'd been wearing a full apron. This time, however, it was hard to miss. She was wearing black leggings with lace on the bottom, a black tank with lace racerback and a cute black and purple kitty on the front, and black flats with glow-in-the-dark skull and crossbones prints. Cute Hello Kitty earrings dangled from her ears and matched her small purse, which was slung across her chest.

"I think there was an accident up on the corner," she said. "Looks like someone wasn't paying attention when I smiled at them."

Pride chuckled. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked. "Watcha got there?"

"Well, you promised to teach me how to make gumbo New Orleans-style and I promised to show you a few secrets from my bakery, so I figured I'd better grab a few things," said Dabi. "How's the case going?"

"We were just about to go have a chat with one of the victim's buddies, who's stuck on a ship because of an assault charge," said Pride.

Dabi glanced at Brody. "And you're not looking forward to that," she guessed.

"Nope," said Brody. "Young male seamen tend to be mouthy, arrogant, and usually have their brains in their pants during liberty leave."

"Been there, done that," said Dabi. "Once punched out a guy in Stillwater during summer vacation, for making a sexist joke in front of me. Then there was the time I took a silver serving platter to a senator's face after he grabbed my ass at a party with the Secretary of the Navy. What really pissed me off was that it was a good serving platter too, and the damn thing got dented, darn it."

Pride laughed, Chris cringed, and Brody smiled. "I like her," she said to the other two. "Can we bring her along?"

Pride tilted his head, toying with the idea. "What do you think?" he asked Dabi.

"Why not? Might be fun. Wouldn't be the first time I've helped with an investigation," said Dabi, shrugging. "Remind me to tell you about the time I got involved in a Ghost Hunters investigation at Quantico a few months back."

"Ghost Hunters? That's the paranormal show, right?" Brody asked, following her to the kitchen.

"That was so much fun. And then we found a body hidden in the walls..."

Chris looked at Pride and asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea? If Gibbs finds out, there's gonna be six kinds of hell to pay."

"Only if he finds out, and I did promise to keep her safe."

"I'm not worried about her, not after what I saw on that bakery video. I'm worried about the other guy if she gets pissed off."

"Only if he has it coming, brother," Pride replied.

"And if he does?"

"That's what a black marker is for."

At the docks where the USS Missouri was tied up, the group asked about the ship's commanding officer and was told Captain Steve Renard could be found on the bridge. As they made their way through the loading area, Dabi accidently dropped her sunglasses. When she bent over to pick them up, Pride heard a crashing noise.

Looking over, he discovered two young men in Navy uniforms looking a bit flustered. They had apparently crashed in to a pallet. He grinned at them.

"Down, boys, down. She's spoken for," he said. Dabi looked at him curiously. "Couple of guys watching the wrong thing."

She grinned and looked over at the sailors. "What? You never seen a girl bend over before?" she asked.

"Plenty of times, ma'am, but not with quite the nice view like yours," one replied, while the other's face turned scarlet.

Dabi grinned even wider. "Try kick boxing. It does wonders."

At the bridge, Pride introduced his team and explained the situation.

"I didn't know Adders personally, and I'm sorry to hear about his death," Renard said. "As for James, he should be around here somewhere, since he's on restricted leave."

"We'd like to talk to him and anyone who may have known Adders," said Pride. "Our initial findings suggest he may have been beaten to death and we want to know if anyone had a grudge against him or something."

"Fair enough. Adders usually worked the docks. Most of the people he knew would be down there. As for James, I'll have him report to you in the conference room, if you'd like."

"We appreciate that, Captain, but is it possible he's down at the docks with the rest of the crew, helping with the refuelling?" Pride asked.

"More than likely."

"Then we'll start there and go from there," said Pride.

Down at the docks, the interviews started. Unfortunately for Dabi and Brody, they caught the attention of two seamen.

And the comments started.

"A woman with a badge and a gun. My dream come true. Why don't we go somewhere private and you can frisk me? I'd be happy to show you what's in my pants if I can get into yours."

"Excuse me, are you wearing space pants? 'Cause your legs are out of this world, babe! I'd love to see more of them. Maybe we can play Sailor and Ship and you can ride me all night long."

"Uh-oh," said Pride, seeing the situation.

"Girl, you've got more curves than a back-country road!"

Pride watched as Dabi quickly sent Brody a text message before putting her phone away. When Brody's phone buzzed, she glanced at it, nodded, and put her phone back.

One more bad line and I'm gonna swing.

"Boys, be careful," Chris called, seeing the look on Brody's face. "They're getting mad."

Chief Petty Officer Seever, a veteran of the seas, started to approach the group but Pride shook his head. "Chief, they can take care of themselves," he said.

"You have a boyfriend? Call me when you want a MANfriend!" one of them was overheard saying to Dabi, in response to her comment about her having a boyfriend.

"Are you sure you're looking for Mr. Right and not Mr. Right Now?" the other young man said to Brody.

Dabi glanced at Brody, raising her eyebrows. "Care to join me?"

Brody smiled. "Sure."

Both women swung at the same time and both seamen found themselves tumbling off the dock and into the water.

"They didn't listen, did they?" Chris said, sighing heavily, watching as the young men surfaced, coughing and spluttering.

"They never do," Pride replied, listening to the whooping and laughter coming from the other seamen.

"How do we explain this to Gibbs?"

"We don't, not if we don't want two sailors with bullets in their asses."

"He would?"

"He would."