Kate and I tracked down the widow of our mummy and went to talk to her. After introducing ourselves Mary, the widow, invited us inside.
"Losing Mark at sea was bad enough, but...to have him accused of stealing money..." Mary told us as she fixed us a cup of tea.
Kate immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I realize this is opening old wounds."
Mary sighed, "At least finding his body will end the vicious gossip. There was a...rumor that he had started a new life with the money and...a new woman...Here you go." She handed a tea cup to Kate.
"Thank you. Was there any basis for it?" Kate replied.
"We'd only been married a year, and six months of that he was at sea, Agent Todd." Mary said as she poured a cup of tea for me.
"Thank you, " I told her taking the cup from her.
"It doesn't sound likely, does it?" Kate said.
Mary shook her head, "No. No more likely than his being a thief. Mark was a...a good man. He loved the Navy. Even if it didn't love him back. But that'll change now, won't it? He'll be exonerated?"
"Not exactly." I spoke up. Mary looked at us confused.
"Um. We have reopened the investigation." Kate answered sending a glare my way.
"But it seems so obvious. Whoever took the money murdered Mark."
"It's a very real possibility." Kate tried to soothe her.
"But he wouldn't have even been in that tank unless someone put him there." Mary protested.
I shook my head, yeah someone had put him there but it was possible that he has a partner than turned on him. Kate spoke up quickly changing the subject.
"So, you are remarried?"
Mary nodded, "Yes. After six years I had Mark declared dead. Randy, ah, helped me move on. Navy didn't even send a flag for his memorial service."
Kate frowned, "That seems rather harsh."
"I could done without the flag, but...not to receive death benefits or child support, that...that was harsh." Mary told us.
"You haven't gotten anything?" Kate asked incredulously.
"Flags and benefits are only for the honorably discharged. You haven't been in the Navy very long, have you?"
Kate laughed, "I'm still not. As I told you, I'm an NCIS Special Agent. I've been that for only a month."
"I don't...care for myself. Randy and I get by. But if you clear Mark's name...Alicia will benefit. She'll have a better life. Money for college." She reached over to a side table and picked up a picture of her daughter.
"She's beautiful," Kate smiles
"Mark never saw her. He called, though. The morning she was born. I held the phone to her ear so she could hear her daddy's voice." Mary continued.
Kate and I exchanged looks, "He called you from the carrier?" We asked together.
Mary confirmed and after a few more minutes of conversation we took our leave. We reconvened with Tony and Gibbs and told them about the call
Kate told them," Navy doesn't get rid of anything. Comm office records show that a Lieutenant Schilz called the Bethesda Naval Hospital from CVN-69 - that's the Eisenhower - at 0533 on the fourth of March 1994 and the call lasted twelve minutes.
"Tony, what time did the schmuck's report say the dispersing office was robbed?" Gibbs asked.
Tony replied, "Between 2100 hours March 3 when the office was secured and 0700 on the fourth when it was opened by the assistant dispersing officer."
I frowned interrupting Tony I said, "Doesn't let him off the hook."
Tony continued, "Ensign Wiles…."
Kate interrupted Tony this time incredulously. "Wiles? Randy Wiles?
"Ha ha ha - no. You're not getting me to buy this again. You read this report. No - Mrs. Schilz told you.."
"Actually, she did." Kate replied
"I knew it."
"Only she didn't tell us Randy Wiles was the assistant dispersing officer. She said he was her husband."
At that a very stunned Gibbs decided that we needed to talk to Randy Wiles. Gibbs, Kate, and I found him at the shooting range.
"Very nice. Very nice." Gibbs said as he observed Wiles' shooting.
Wiles looked up at us, "Thanks. You here to, ah, shoot?"
"I hope not. I'm Special Agent Gibbs, this is Special Agent Todd and Special Agent Callen. NCIS. Lady inside said you're the manager. Randy Wiles."
"Formerly Ensign Randy Wiles?" Kate asked.
Wiles sighed, "I saw it on the news. If you're here to talk about Mark, I told you guys all I know years ago."
Gibbs frowned, "You didn't say you were gonna marry his wife."
"You talk to Mary?" Wilkes asked.
"Sha & I did. And funny thing, she never once mentioned marrying her husband's shipmate." Kate replied.
Wiles replied, "She doesn't know that Mark and I served together."
"How could she not know?" Gibbs asked.
"We met at Mark's memorial service." Wiles stated.
"What'd you say? 'I was passing by, dug the music, decided to drop in'?"
"Somethin' pretty close to that. I was afraid that if I told her I knew Mark, she'd ask a lot of questions...I didn't think I'd fall in love with her. And then, then when I did it was too late." Wiles admitted.
Kate brought up a movie reference (Bounce) and had to explain it to Gibbs. "It's a film. Ben Affleck gives up his seat on this flight for a guy who needs to get home. Plane crashes, guy dies, he ah, looks up the widow, Gwyneth Paltrow. He means to tell her the story, but by the time they come around to it, they've fallen in love, and he's afraid if he tells her, it'll ruin it."
"That's what happened to me."
Kate looked at Gibbs and said, "I believe him."
I rolled my eyes as Gibbs said, "Of course you believe him, it's a chick flick. In a guy flick, you steal the money, you set Lieutenant Schilz up to take the fall, you murder him and you marry his wife."
We talked a bit more before Gibbs asked about the dispersing clerk on the ship. Wiles informed us that she had only enlisted to catch an officer. We wrapped up our conversation and returned to the office to learn more about the dispersing clerk, Petty Officer Erin Toner.
Kate interviewed former Petty Officer Erin Toner who told her she had won the lottery for $2 million in Ohio. Kate could confirm that because the Ohio State Lottery Board was closed for the day. So Kate confirmed the next morning when she got back to the office and found out Erin had only won the lottery for $37,000. This made Erin one of our prime suspects since she lied about the money.
Our other prime suspect, Petty Officer Martinez, who was reported to have had a relationship with Erin was tracked down to Plaza Hotel in New York, and then Mazaneyo Mexico where he registered at Las Viejas with a wife. No first names were given at the registration just Mr. & Mrs. Martinez. The couple was then traced to Guadalajara at the Presidente Intercontinental before all trails disappeared. Gibbs told Tony & Special Agent Owens (who was the original agent on the case) to find out where Martinez was born and connect with the local police there.
Meanwhile Abby was trying to match the orange fibers she found with the body. "I spectro'd the fiber. Its cotton canvas dyed Orange Number 7. But it's not from a life preserver. They're made out of urethane coated nylon." She told Gibbs.
"That's the mail bag, Abby." Gibbs told her.
"Orange mail bag. Cool." Abby replied.
Tony and Owens were eventually able to confirm that Martinez was murdered in the Piegra Negras Hotel. Gibbs sent Kate to bring
Erin into the office, the only catch was it had to be voluntary. Kate finally convinced her by threatening to have her recalled into the Navy. And so Erin joined us in the office voluntarily (though reluctantly) to "consult" with us about the case.
Abby put together a simulation of our theories of the murder and we watched them with Erin. The first was the theory that Martinez forced Lieutenant Schilz to carry the money to a Tomcat where Martinez killed him, stuffed him in a pod and left with the money.
"So what d'you think?" Kate asked Erin.
"I think you could use some help from Disney." Erin replied dryly.
"Oh, hey, c'mon! I wasn't finished with it yet." Abby protested.
Gibbs spoke up, "We wanted to make sure we had the right scenario first."
Erin shrugged, "That one works for me."
Gibbs shook his head, "Not for me. Nah. Lieutenant Schilz would know that Martinez was gonna kill him. He'd of resisted someplace, 'specially in a passageway full of sailors. Martinez had to kill him in disbursing. But, how'd he move him to the pod if he was dead?"
"He couldn't." Erin said staring to get nervous.
Ducky spoke up this time, "Ah, but he could, my dear. You see, I found hairline fractures on Lieutenant Schilz's pelvis and lumbered vertebrae, which Abby here matched to…"
"Orange canvas fibers on Lieutenant Schilz's uniform." Abby finished for him.
"I saw an orange mail bag being dragged over knee-knockers when I visited the ship." Gibbs informed Erin. He started say something and stopped himself, "Ah- eh, I'll get back to that in a minute. Where was I?"
"Dragging orange mail bags over knee knockers, boss." Tony said.
"Ah. Yeah. That bothered me. If Martinez did stuff his body in a mail sack, and dragged across the ship, how come nobody noticed anything that was...ah..."
"Hinky?" Abby suggested.
"Yeah! Hinky."
Owens spoke up, "And that's when I remembered how you used to turn heads when you walked by."
"I'm outta here." Erin threatened.
"Not until the show's over." Kate and I said as we moved to block her escape.
"Now...who would've noticed a sailor dragging a mail bag over knee knockers with you walking by?" Gibbs asked Erin as Abby played the next simulation, which was better animated.
"How's that animation?" Abby asked smugly.
"Much better. However, it's not evidence. You touch me again, and I will have you arrested for assault. And the rest of you for unlawful detainment." Erin threatened obviously trying to remain calm but freaking out inside.
"You're free to go. Oh, I said I'd get back to that fingerprint. It's yours." Gibbs spoke up.
Erin snapped," Oh. Oh, okay, it's mine. Where'd you find it? Mark's uniform? All that proves is that we got it on."
"Didn't find it on his uniform. Got it from the Federales. Found it on the pistol that killed Martinez in Pedro Negras. Two days before you hit the lotto for $37,000." Gibbs answered.
"Or we could extradite you, but...Mexican courts really don't like it when gringos kill one of their own." Tony threatened.
"I don't know if it was you or Martinez that killed Lieutenant Schilz. You can tell it anyway you want. We'll take it down." Gibbs told her.
With that Erin confessed to the murder. Later on when it was just us Owens stated, "You know, in Hawaii, it takes forever to get anything from the Federales."
"Same way here." Tony replied matter of factly.
"Nooooo, no, no, guys, don't tell me that - that fingerprint match was faked? Okay. You guys are crazy." Owens protested.
"Yep." We replied in unison.