Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters.
Okay starting to wrap up this story, so probably one more chapter after this, enjoy the interrogation!
Chapter 24
Tony and Ziva arrived at the hospital just in time to see Gibbs pulling out of the parking area at his usual break neck speed.
"Think he knows?" Tony questioned, as they walked through the entrance
"Of course he knows, he's Gibbs" Ziva retorted, as they were brought up short by the sight of Chuck Winslow making his way towards them
"Mr Winslow" Tony greeted, making the other man look up from the mobile he had been fiddling with.
"Agents…DiNozzo and David, right?"
"Yes" Ziva confirmed before questioning the man that was her partner's uncle "you're leaving?"
"Unfortunately" Chuck admitted, before giving the pair appointed reminder "The company doesn't run itself."
"Huh, yeah I can see that being a problem" Tony acknowledge, remembering who they had arrested for the murder
"I just needed to check on my nephew with my own eyes" Chuck replied as he continued on his way "Tim needs to get used to having family that care right now, promised him I'll be back next weekend, with his cousin Emily."
"Okay" Tony called after the man, before turning back to Ziva "That wasn't awkward at all."
"Imagine how McGee feels, being trapped between those two" Ziva retorted, as they continued making their way through the hospital
"Ouch" Tony agreed.
NCIS
"Let me set the scene, for you so you understand why you're here Admiral." Fornell offered "Your brother, Patrick who was eight years older than you, had been seeing a nice girl for several years, they were both in their early thirties and engaged to be married. Then tragedy struck and Patrick was injury, paralysed from the waist down, whilst deployed, not having come to terms with that he ended the relationship."
Vance pick up the story "The young woman returned to her home town, took a position as a bar tender, got friendly with one of the older residents that was having trouble with the fact that his son had gone off and joined the marines. One thing lead to another and finally the pair slept together, just once – but once was enough.
"That was on New Year's Eve, her fiancé came into town the very next day and the pair quickly re-united, married, set up home together. The house was near to the base were you're brother worked, on the opposite side of the country to you, and had been especially adapted to his wheelchair needs, even then that type of modification took money…" Fornell baited
"The Navy supports their own, they paid for the modification" McGee justified
"That's where you're wrong, they offer of course however the alterations weren't paid for by the Navy. The money came from Patrick's wife's family, you see his wife Alison was the daughter of the local mining company owner and he gave each of his daughters a sum of money when they married and set up a trust fund for any of their children. Shortly after they were married she found out she was expecting, only that child wasn't Patricks and he told you that, but despite everything he went ahead and had his name put on the birth certificate, unfortunately Alison McGee died giving birth to their son Timothy." Vance rounded off the oldest history.
"Wrong" Admiral McGee refuted "The bitch didn't die giving birth, she died about six hours later after haemorrhaging."
Both Vance and Fornell were slightly taken aback by the venomous tone in which the Admiral used to describe Tim's mother, but luckily neither of them showed it.
"Fine but here's the kicker, we flash forward ten years, your brother and young Timothy have come to visit, part of a family re-union your mother and ex-wife planned" Fornell enjoyed the shock on the other man's face "Yes Admiral we have spoken with both of them. Your wife stopped in the local bank after picking up your daughter Sarah, aged just two, from morning nursery. Just so happened that your brother and Tim were already in the bank, unfortunately things went bad as there was an attempted bank robbery that went downhill fast and Patrick was one of several casualties that died that day, but he did stop them from killing Tim."
"Not that Tim got off scotch free." Vance stated as he laid out pictures taken of a young Tim with a badly bruised face "Butt of a rifle caused that, as he stepped in to stop one of the men from killing your daughter, who didn't stop crying through the whole thing. The man then stood on his leg, dislocating the knee and fracturing the ankle, how he walked out carrying your daughter is beyond me." Vance laid another picture of Tim laying in a hospital bed his knee heavily bandaged whilst a plaster cast covered his ankle.
Fornell pick up were Vance left off "Not only that he watched the man he thought was his father die in hospital. Then you found out that Patrick had left you nothing and Tim everything, including the money from the sale of the house."
"That money wasn't his to have!" The admiral sneered as the door opened quietly.
"Not your decision to make" Vance counter making sure he kept the man attention on him rather than the man that had entered the room so stealthily.
"You made Tim believe that you had put most the money into an account for him, for when he might need it, whilst letting him have $10,000 to see him through his studies when he went to university, but instead you stole it from him. Then you got greedy." Gibbs growled as he leaned over the seated man, placing his hands firmly on either side of the table.
NCIS
"Knock, knock." Ziva stated cheerfully as she and Tony entered Tim's room.
"Hey Probie, how you doing?" Tony question.
"Hi guys, I'm good" Tim replied, smiling lightly, but both could tell he was worrying about something
"That's our queue to go get something to eat." Jack said as he and Ducky started trading places with Tony and Ziva.
"You do not have to leave on our account" Ziva objected.
"Timothy will appreciate the young company for a while, besides I must go a check on Mr Palmer" Ducky replied, patting Tim's knee "With any luck you'll be discharged in the morning."
"So what's it feel like to have family that care about you?" Tony staged whispered his question just before the door closed behind the older two men, as he casually sat on one of the vacated chairs
Tim blushed, looking down at his hands that were currently resting in his lap as he quietly admitted. "It feels nice."
"So it should" Ziva smiled as she walked around to the other side of the bed, tossing her coat on the other chair as she went, before looking at the flowers on windowsill, reading the card allowed "Hope you feeling better soon, Delilah. I think you've got yourself an admirer."
The blush on Tim's face deepened. "She just being nice."
NCIS
"Stealing Tim's inheritance and his trust fund just wasn't enough for you was it." Gibbs growled "You wanted more, so you decided to trick him into giving you more"
"Prove it." Admiral McGee challenged.
"We already have." Vance informed, as he placed the fake court letter on the table. "We've already had a nice chat with Jim Ward, he was very helpful."
When McGee looked surprised Fornell continued the tale. "Oh you thought we wouldn't be able to find the connection between the pair of you? You're life's more of an open book than you realise, you blackmailed Ward into helping you because of your personal history."
"You helped him, only fair Ward return the fair, right?" Gibbs questioned
"He should have done what he was told" McGee responded
"Who, Ward or Tim?" Fornell enquired.
McGee smirked "Guess."
"Both." Gibbs answered, surprising the man. "Ward because he should have kept his mouth shut"
Vance picked up on where this was heading "Tim because he should have joined the Navy, except he couldn't due to his seasickness, so he Join NCIS instead."
"Proving just how much of a worthless coward he really is." McGee sneered.
"Tim is anything but a coward and he's certainly not worthless" Gibbs growled
"Really, according to my sources the kid's living on the breadline about to be made homeless I believe." McGee retorted.
"You're sources are wrong" Gibbs informed "The money you stole has been seized and will be returned, plus he will always have somewhere to live."
"You can't do that, that's my retirement fund!" McGee shouted furiously
"The money was never yours in the first place!" Gibbs retorted just as angrily. "Just remember whilst you're getting settled into a nice six by six cell, Tim's going to be getting settle into his family's home and when he's ready they'll help him find a place of his own."