Chapter 8

"So you like young girls, huh?" Brody asked, arms folded across her chest as she wandered around the table, looking at Jake with contempt. "You like smacking then around, huh?"

"I'm not saying anything without my lawyer," Jake grumbled.

"That's okay," said Brody. "You can call yours, but we all know that you have a bigger boss, and rumor has it he's not going to be too happy with you when he finds out you're a suspect in the killing of a Navy officer."

"I didn't kill no Navy officer!" Jake yelped.

"No? How about a black man you thought was stealing one of your girls?" Brody shot back. "You remember this guy?" She leaned in close, invading Jake's personal space, and slapped a photograph of Adders down on the table, taken just after he'd been pulled from the water. Then she slapped his Navy file photo down on top of it. "He was a Navy officer just trying to protect a young girl, a guy you and your buddies beat to death!"

"You can't prove that!" Jake snapped.

"Really? I have a witness who saw you and that witness named names. We've got you, we're going to get your buddies, and you are all going to go to jail for murdering a United States Navy officer. Tell you right now, things are not going to be fun for you in prison, especially when the local population finds out about what you do for a not-so-honest living," said Brody. And with that, she walked out of the room.

Behind the glass, Pride and Chris watched, and Brody joined them.

"He's got a few bruises on his chest," said Brody.

"Yeah?" Chris asked.

"The way he's holding himself," Brody explained. "Same way you were last week when that guy body-slammed you out the door."

"You're not gonna let me forget that, are you?" Chris asked.

"Nope, especially not when you two landed in a nice, big mud puddle and the guy decided he was going to wrestle. Now that was funny."

"I'm sure it was," Chris groused.

Pride chuckled. "Let him call his lawyer then cut him loose. Let's see what happens with Vice."

"Plus there's that wood that Kate said she hid in the back area of the bar," Chris reminded them.

"Right. I'll grab that tonight and get that over to Sebastian. The bartender hasn't seen me yet, and from what Kate is telling us, getting in and out shouldn't be too much of a problem," said Pride.

The next morning, Dabi received a text message from Owen.

"My mom's dad died earlier this month; pneumonia finally caught up to him," Dabi explained. "I saw him just before he died and he wasn't looking too good. Still thought I was my mom, and he said something about making sure I'd be taken care of. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it seems he was serious. Owen says a guy from an insurance company stopped by the bakery, looking for my mom, and was told she'd died some years back. When he was told about me, and where I was, he advised Owen to get in touch with me and have me go to their office in New Orleans."

"Wow," said Brody. "Because you're your mom's heir, anything related to insurance policies would automatically go to you. Do you know how much?"

"The guy wasn't at liberty to discuss it with Owen, but did admit (when Owen showed him that he was my business partner) that it was a substantial amount and that Grandpa Matt had been steadily paying the policy for years, even when there was no need to," Dabi said. She showed the gathered group the address.

"I can take you there," Pride offered. "We'll stop and get some coffee on the way."

"Sounds good to me," said Dabi.

"In the mean time, I just heard from the guys in Vice. Seems the head honcho, Sergeant Newbury, is very interested in what Kate had to say and is willing to offer her witness protection in exchange for her testimony," said Chris.

"You interested?" Pride asked Kate. The girl had spent the night with Dabi and Pride, with Patches cuddled up to her.

"Only if I can take Patches with me," said Kate. Patches was back in her spot around Kate's neck, and Kate was wearing some clean, borrowed, clothes from Dabi.

Feline and human had latched on to each other, both needing one another. Kate needed someone (or something) to care for and love, and Patches needed a safe place and a human who would care for her.

"I'm sure they can work something out," said Chris, grinning. "I'll call the sergeant back and let him know we have a deal, as long as your little buddy goes with you."

Half an hour later, Dabi was still trying to get her jaw up off the floor. Grandpa Matt's life insurance policy had netted Dabi a sweet fifty grand. Pride had taken Dabi to a branch of her bank and, after a word with one of the bankers, gotten the check deposited with no problems.

Some of it would be put aside for Sara's college education, and some of it would go to the bakery staff, for a morale-boosting party. Some of it would go towards savings, especially the bakery emergency funds account, and some towards paying off the loan Kranz Bakery had taken out in order to expand the bakery.

After talking things over with Pride, Dabi withdrew a grand in cash. The plan was to give it to Kate, as part of her Start-Over package.

Sebastian had the wood and had some results, which he gave over the internet.

"So, uh, the wood, just ordinary lumber stuff, nothing special, you know? Hardware store stuff. I managed to find traces of Seaman Adder's blood and hair in it, so confirmed murder weapon," Sebastian said.

"It matches the marks I found on his head," said Loretta.

"Okay, any prints, anything like that that might give us a suspect?" Chris asked.

"Wood is lousy for getting prints off, especially lumber, but I did find blood on one end that wasn't a match to Seaman Adders," Sebastian admitted. "Still running it through CODIS, though. How's uh, how's Dabi doing?" he asked, shoving his glasses up his face.

Both Brody and Chris grinned. "She's doing good. She's out right now with King, though," Brody said.

"Tell her I, uh, I said 'hi'," said Sebastian.

"Will do. Let us know if you get a hit with CODIS. We've got some suspects but we need evidence," said Chris, before signing off.

"He's got it bad," said Brody, grinning.

"She seems almost unreal," said Kate, joining them.

"You mean Dabi?" Brody asked. Kate nodded. "It does sort of seem that way, doesn't it? I mean, she has her own bakery, she's got a guy who's crazy about her, a large family... But did you know that came at a cost?"

Kate shook her head.

"From what Gibbs, her dad, told us, after she lost her grandpa, she had to grow up real fast," said Chris. "But apparently that wasn't the tipping point. Seems she ran in to some real bad trouble when she was kidnapped in Los Angeles and brought to Hawaii."

"She lost her memory for a time and was forced to kill a guy in order to escape a guy who was going to sell her on the sex slave market as retribution for NCIS investigating him," Brody continued.

"Seems Leo, her boyfriend, saved her, both physically and spiritually," said Chris. "Her dad says they nearly lost her that year, especially after her ex-boyfriend dumped her just after her grandfather died."

Kate winced. "Jerk."

"She's a good person, but she's had to take on a lot at a young age. That makes her seem tougher than she really is. Gibbs thinks that sometimes she forgets to be a teenager and cut loose every now and then," said Brody.

"That would be kinda hard to do with all that responsibility on her shoulders," said Kate.

"And with two members of her family being federal agents..." said Chris. "She knows how to shoot, how to fight, and how to walk softly. Seems she's scared the hell out of an agent of her dad's a few times. Hot coffee and a guy's crotch?" Chris clicked his tongue. "Not a good match."

There was a knock at the main door and Kate, cuddling Patches close to her chest, dived for the back rooms.

It was Sergeant Newbury and District Attorney Sharon Van Hinkle, there to meet Kate. When they were shown the evidence that Kate had given them, including the murder weapon, Van Hinkle studied the young prostitute.

"I'm prepared to offer you witness protection in exchange for your testimony," she said.

"Where would I go?" Kate asked.

"Wherever you want," said Newbury.

"What about Washington, D.C.?" Kate asked. "I know someone and her dad's a fed and so is her uncle. They can be trusted."

"We can do that," said Newbury.

"Can I take my baby with me?" Kate asked.

"Your ba-ya-hoo-hoo-hooo!" Newbury suddenly yelped as Patches started climbing up his pant legs, narrowly missing his crotch.

"Her baby," said Chris, a smirk on his face, watching as Kate rescued the police sergeant and the kitten from each other. "That's Patches, and where Kate goes, Patches goes."

"Fair enough," said Van Hinkle. "We can arrange something. Who's the federal agent?"

"That would be Leroy Gibbs, NCIS, who's the daddy of Dabi Moore-Gibbs," said Chris, throwing Gibbs' file on the screen. "Her uncle is Tobias Fornell, FBI. Both are based in Washington, D.C., and both are good people. Gibbs worked with King when they were both still probies at one point, so you can imagine what his daughter's like."

"Yeah? Where is she?" Newbury asked.

"Right here," Dabi suddenly whispered in Newbury's ear.

Newbury yelled and jumped about a foot. Dabi grinned and looked up at the building ceiling.

"Dang, King, I think this guy just gave you a new skylight," she quipped.

King shrugged. "Always wanted one. Now I just have to call in a contractor to finish the work."

"Daddy's girl," said Brody, smirking. She'd been on the receiving end of Gibbs' silent walk on more than one occasion and it was nice to see someone else get the wrong end of it.

Newbury glared at the group. "Real funny," he snarked.

"Yup. Just be thankful I didn't decide to give you a wedgie special the way I did to one of my dad's agents," Dabi said sweetly. "Took the girl he was seeing at the time about a week to stop laughing over the fabric burn on his crack."

Kate started laughing, Brody snorted with laughter at the mental image, Chris looked at her with wide eyes, not sure whether to laugh or run, in case Dabi decided to do something similar to him, and Pride cringed and laughed at the same time.

"Of course, he had a real itchy problem after I put itching powder in his underwear drawer. That was a year ago and he still hasn't forgiven me for that. I wonder why," Dabi said, pouting.

"That does it! You are not going near my place!" Chris yelped. "I don't trust you not to do the same to me!"

"Don't tempt me," said Dabi, smiling evilly.

"That's why I want to go to Washington," said Kate eagerly, cuddling Patches close. "I would be safe there and no one would think to look for me there. And no one would dare go after me and risk pissing Dabi off."

"And with federal agents close by, no one would be stupid enough to try something," Pride suggested.

Newbury and Van Hinkle looked at each other and Van Hinkle nodded.

"You follow the rules of the program and agree to testify against the ring, we'll get you to Washington," she said. "Start thinking about a new first name you can live with."

"Yay!"