A/N: Here is my nearly annual Halloween story. Honestly, the idea for this sprang out of the realization that I have no story titles beginning with Q. I hit upon the title first and then made a story to match. Is that good or bad? I have no idea.
Disclaimer: As always, I do not claim the NCIS characters. I'm not making money off this story and I don't even watch the show anymore. I just enjoy playing with the characters.
Quoth the Raven
by Enthusiastic Fish
Chapter 1
It was a moment of chaos as the bird flew in through the open window and promptly freaked out in the midst of the investigation. It couldn't find its way out and seemed in a panic as it flew around and around the room, wreaking havoc on the humans who were unfortunate enough to be there. There were a number of lost feathers, some creative cursing, and cawing adding to the cacophony.
And then, after all that, the bird found its way back out of the window, cawing its indignation as it went, leaving the chaos behind.
"What in the world was that?" Tony demanded.
"I think it was a raven," Ellie said, looking out the window. "A raven or a crow. I don't know how to tell the difference. It was huge, though. Which one is bigger?"
"I don't know, Bishop, and I don't really care," Tony said.
"You did ask," Tim pointed out. "Oh, and it looks like he got you, too."
"What?"
Tim pointed at Tony's jacket and the white splotch.
"Oh, gross! Bird poop! Stupid bird," Tony groused.
"Ravens are supposed to be really smart, actually," Tim said, grinning.
Tony glared. "Don't you start with me, Probie. You, either, other Probie," he said, shaking his finger at Tim and then Ellie in turn. "I'm going to clean this off. You two keep working."
"Yes, sir," Tim said.
Tony stalked out of the room, muttering under his breath. As soon as he was gone, Ellie let out a little bit of a chuckle.
"I didn't want to laugh at him, but I'd swear that bird had it in for him," she said.
Tim grinned. "Maybe. I won't tell him that. But I now want to know which it was. Crow or raven?"
He pulled out his phone and did a quick search.
"Given the size, it was probably a raven," he said after a few seconds. "Ravens are larger than crows."
"Okay. Good to know," Ellie said. "Well, the main problem I now see is that our crime scene is contaminated with all the bird feathers."
"True. Well, we already had some photos of the scene before it put on its show. We'll just go with that and document the changes."
"Okay."
Ellie was the one with the camera this time and she started the process of showing the room in its current state. Their case was a bit of an odd one. A naval officer had gone missing, and someone had called in claiming that they'd seen him arguing with someone in this house. When the police arrived, they found blood on the floor and the double bar insignia of a Navy lieutenant but no people in the house. Now, it was a crime scene, but no one knew for sure what crime had been committed. Metro had cleared the house and found nothing else suspicious. The home had been abandoned for years and the property now belonged to the state.
Tim and Ellie redocumented the room, demonstrating where the raven had disrupted their investigation. It may not matter ultimately, but it needed to be done. When they finished Tony grumpily agreed that they had what they needed for now and could return to NCIS.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"What did you find?" Gibbs asked as they got off the elevator.
"Besides finding out that ravens are insane, not much," Tony said.
The eyebrow went up.
"A raven flew in through the window and caused a bit of chaos, Boss," Tim said. "Ellie and I documented everything that was disturbed by it."
"We took samples and found some fingerprints for Abby," Ellie added helpfully.
"One of the neighbors agreed to come and make a statement," Tony said. "There was some guy doing maintenance on the property, but no one knows who that was. They assumed that the state was getting ready to sell the property and had hired someone."
"And?"
"And...I will be figuring out who to contact and ask about that," Tony said. "If I don't have to go back to the house and wrestle with the local wildlife, I will go knocking on doors if I have to."
The eyebrow went up again. Ellie suppressed a smile.
"The raven didn't like him," she said.
"...or it liked him a bit too much," Tim said.
"You two finished?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes, Boss," Tim said quickly.
"Good."
Gibbs strode away while Tim, Tony and Ellie sat down at their desks and began to log what they'd found so far.
"You guys are enjoying this way too much," Tony said, grumpily.
"I'm sorry, Tony. It's just that it really was entertaining... and not just because the bird got you," Ellie said.
"Although that helps," Tim added.
Tony rolled his eyes and then they all got to work. Gibbs and Ellie met with one of the neighbors who came to give a statement and Tony was trying to figure out who to call about whether or not someone had been hired to do yard work. Tim was working on getting credit card information and building up the request to enter the officer's home and do official evaluations. He wasn't married and had no children. No one to give them permission. When there was no body, there was no indication that he had definitely been involved in anything anyway. They didn't even yet have an ID on the blood.
In spite of the strange beginning, the initial investigation was fairly typical. Samples to process, interviews to log, profiles to build. Everyone did their work. Metro promised to have a BOLO out for the missing officer. By the end of the day, they hadn't made any breakthroughs, but they had a beginning and Gibbs didn't insist on a late night.
As they all left the building, Tim noticed a large raven sitting on one of the cannons.
"Hey, look at that. Another raven," he said, pointing. "I don't know if I've ever seen them around and now two in one day."
"Uh oh," Tony said. "Is Tippi Hedrin around?"
"Who?" Tim asked.
"Tippi Hedrin. The Birds," Tony said.
"Oh, I hate that movie," Ellie said, shuddering. "I accidentally saw part of it when I was a kid. Traumatized me for life."
"Accidentally?" Tony asked.
"I was five and wanted to watch PBS. They were showing it there. I was expecting Sesame Street and I got Alfred Hitchcock instead." She shuddered again.
"Not exactly a good trade," Tim agreed.
The raven suddenly took off, cawing loudly, but there were no bird attacks.
"As long as it doesn't take up residence above my chamber door," Ellie said.
"Hey! Lost Eleanor!" Tim said.
"It's Lenore, not Eleanor," Ellie said.
"I'll have to reread it. I don't think I've read the poem since high school," Tim said.
"Pretty close, though, Bishop," Tony said with a smile. "But if I remember The Simpsons correctly, it's not Lenore who had the raven around anyway. It was the guy. Wasn't Lenore dead?"
"I'll be sure to tell Jake to watch out when he gets back from his business trip," Ellie said, rolling her eyes. "See you tomorrow."
"Good night," Tim said.
They all went their separate ways. When Tim got home, he was surprised to see yet another raven on a lamppost. He got out of his car and looked up at it.
"What are the odds of seeing three ravens in one day?" he asked himself. "Or is it all the same one? What are the odds of that?"
The raven appeared to be looking right at him which was, for some reason, a little disconcerting.
Then, suddenly, it became not just disconcerting but downright weird.
The raven suddenly made a sound that was very much like, "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"
Tim actually took a step back.
"What did you say?" he asked, and then felt stupid for asking a bird that question.
The bird cocked its head at him and then opened its beak and let out a sound that was uncommonly like a ringtone. It did that three times and then spread its large wings and flew away, cawing.
Tim watched it go, feeling a little strange at that interaction. Were birds able to do that? He'd heard of birds like parrots and such being taught to speak, but could ravens do it? He went inside and quickly got on his computer and did a search. He felt a little better when he found that ravens could indeed be taught to mimic human speech. Still, why those words?
Oh, well. It was probably a fluke. He was probably only aware of the ravens because of the one flying inside the room earlier in the day. It was nothing. Still, he read the poem through. There was something a little bit off about the cadence and rhythm of the poem. Tim remembered that he'd never really liked Poe all that much. Just a little bit creepy even in the stories and poems that weren't overtly creepy. He shook his head and set it aside.
He spent the evening free-writing on his typewriter and then went to bed.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
"Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
'Tis the wind and nothing more!"
There was a strange tapping sound and Ellie woke up, looking around blearily. She never slept as well when Jake was gone.
The tapping sound repeated. She looked over at her window and gasped. A large raven was sitting on her window sill, tapping at the glass.
"What in the world–?" she whispered.
It started cawing but then, in the midst of it, Ellie could have sworn she heard, "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" But the raven couldn't be saying that, could it?
The raven paced up and down her windowsill for a few seconds and then flew away. Ellie leaned over and turned on the lamp beside her bed. She was more than a little weirded out by what had just happened. She told herself that it was just an animal and she had been half asleep, but still...
Finally, she turned on her TV and left it playing on an innocuous cooking station and she left her lamp on as well. She got as comfortable as she could, but it took a while before she was able to fall asleep.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.
Tim woke up early from vaguely remembered dreams that had disturbed his slumber just enough that waking was a relief. He lay in bed for a few seconds and then stretched and sat up. It was late enough that getting up wasn't going to be horrible, but he could also take his time which could be nice.
He got out of bed and got ready for the day.
He was sitting at the counter, staring vaguely at his coffee. He could just barely discern his own reflection in the coffee, a reflection distorted by each movement of the mug. As he sat there, staring, the image in the mug seemed to change from his own distorted face to... something else. He squinted at it, trying to figure out what it could be.
What is that? Tim thought to himself.
A tapping sound, jolted him out of his rapt contemplation and he jumped, spilling his coffee and then hurrying to the door and pulling it open quickly.
There was no one there. Tim looked both ways down the hall and saw no one.
Then, the tapping came again, but from behind him.
Tim turned around and there at his window was a raven. The same one? It started cawing loudly outside his window and then, as before, he could have sworn he heard words coming from the raven.
"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"
Tim took a couple of steps toward the window and then stopped when the raven flew away.
He was about to go over to the window when he happened to notice the spilled coffee on the counter and he groaned, temporarily forgetting about the raven. He cleaned up the spill before it could start dripping on the floor. Then, he realized that he needed to get going so he gathered of his things and left for work.
