The basement was empty when Tony arrived. Sighing to himself, he walked over to Ducky's desk, looking over the neat piles of items for Ducky's notebook. He didn't want to touch anything else, given that he was going to be in trouble as it was. He just hoped the older doctor would be lenient with him- the doctor did have a soft spot for Tony.

"Anthony? What brings you down here this morning?"

Glad he hadn't touched anything yet, Tony turned to face Ducky. He gave a tiny smile as he said,

"Gibbs wants your notes, Ducky. I was hoping they'd be at the top of the pile so I wouldn't need to touch them, but they aren't."

A look of irritation crossed the man's face as he produced a notebook. "He wants them now? When I offered them yesterday, he growled at me. What changed his mind?"

"No idea, Ducky, but I have no interest in asking. He's been at my throat lately, no need to fuel the fire..."

Ducky handed the notebook to Tony, but his expression was curious. His eyes searched Tony's for a moment. "What's on your mind, my dear boy? I can see it in your eyes."

Tony sighed. He hated lying to anyone, but most especially to Ducky. The man was good friends with Gibbs, yet everything Tony had ever said to him in confidence had stayed confidential. He was trustworthy.

"Well," said Tony, "I found something, Duck. Something serious. With the way Gibbs has been treating me recently, I didn't think I could go to him with it."

"Something to do with your health?"

"No. A murder."

Ducky's eyebrows rose, and he asked, "you didn't tell anyone? I don't believe you would hide that. What haven't you told me?"

Tony shrugged. "I called someone. I did the right thing and sent Gibbs an email about it, but even if the man checked emails, he would probably just ignore it."

"Why do you think that?"

"He's angry at me again. I don't even know what I did to get him angry, Duck, but he is angry. He didn't even say hello or good morning to me when I got in, just told me to come and find your notes."

"Shall I try to find out what's going on?"

"No. He'll get over it eventually." Tony smiled at the older man. "Thank you. You always manage to help save me from more trouble."

"I will always be here to help you, dear boy. For now, I suggest you take those notes upstairs, before he decides to growl again."

Several hours later, Tony sat back in his chair and sighed. How was he supposed to wait a whole week before something could be done about this murder? Even though it wasn't a recent crime, Tony was getting antsy just sitting there, waiting. He had to do something...

"DiNozzo, your phone has been ringing for a while now. Are you planning on answering it?" Gibbs barked from his desk.

Tony glanced at the screen of his phone and saw Danny's number. "Err, actually, yes, boss. I am going to answer it." He stood up and walked away from the desks towards the windows. "Danny?" he whispered.

"Tony, I found something. I didn't know if you wanted me to bring it to you or not," answered Danny.

"Well, I mean, you're welcome to come for a visit. Just maybe we can meet in the carpark, cause if you bring anything that security takes..."

"Oh! No, it's nothing physical," laughed Danny. "I can show it to you on my phone."

"Well then, in that case, you should come visit. Just wait until Gibbs goes for coffee, I don't need him yelling at me yet again."

"Why would he yell? Tony, you don't deserve that from him."

"You met the guy. Do you really think he cares how anyone else feels?"

There was silence on the other end of the line, but Tony knew that Danny was remembering when they first met Gibbs and the attitude that had come with that meeting. Finally, Danny said,

"I can be there in an hour. We can meet in the carpark, away from Gibbs' eyes. Have you told him about this?"

"No. I'll explain when you get here." Tony paused. "Thank you, Danny."

Tony watched as Gibbs disappeared in his car, heading to get coffee, no doubt. As the back of the car turned a corner, he looked around, finally spotting Danny's car parked in the visitor lot. Without knowing it, Tony smiled, happy to see Danny again, despite still being hurt that the man had turned out to be a dirty cop.

"Tony!" Danny exclaimed, shaking the agent's hand vigorously.

"Hi, Danny," Tony replied in a more sedate tone. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess again."

"Don't be. I miss being a cop, Tony. I regret what I did, and the result of that idiot mistake. I don't know if I could ever face being a cop again, but helping you with this makes me feel good."

"Sometimes I wish I had never found out. I could have still been in Baltimore, enjoying working as a cop down there. A good boss, good friends... I miss it sometimes."

"I know a lot of the cops there miss you. I still talk to some of them, occasionally."

Tony nodded, then looked around him. "So, you wanted to show me something?" he asked, conscious of the fact that Gibbs could return at any moment, and that McGee and Ziva would soon arrive for work as well.

"I do." Danny pushed buttons on his phone and then handed it over. "There are two more photos after that one."

Tony studied the three photos that Danny had pointed out. They were of newspaper articles, which clearly mentioned a small town murder and descriptions of the suspect. It was a good description- Tony could easily picture the man they wanted to question.

"There's one more thing. I got it after we spoke this morning," Danny added, pulling something from his pocket.

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"Camera footage. My source checked the dates on the articles and noticed that they weren't as far back as we originally thought. He contacted some friends in that town, and they were more than happy to share the footage with him. Apparently, that footage has been kept because it's a cold case they really want solved. He scrubbed the footage, found this on it."

Danny passed Tony a sheet of paper with a still from a grainy camera lens. A man- one that easily fit the description from the articles- was exiting a convenience store, coffee in hand. What had clearly caught Danny's friend's attention was the large stain on the man's shirt- grey due to the black and white camera. It was a splash of some kind, and combined with the fresh cut on the man's hand, seemed likely to be blood.

"That was taken the day of the murder. He disappeared shortly after that," Danny explained.

"I get why people were suspicious of him," said Tony. "I would be, too. Can your friend track him through other footage?"

"Nobody else seems to have kept footage, but I'm going down there to meet up with him tomorrow morning. We're going to keep searching for information down there."

Tony nodded. "You'll keep me informed of what you find?"

"Of course!" Danny looked over to where a car was entering the visitor lot, going a little too fast for the carpark. "Wow. What an idiot."

"That would be Ziva, a colleague. You should go- she'd love a reason to get me into trouble, and trust me, she probably knows exactly who you are. I'll get this in for photo recognition once the week is up." Tony turned to leave. "Thank you," he called over his shoulder.