Morgan hadn't slept. It started when she'd gotten home. Her phone kept ringing and upon answering she just got the same never-ending silence. She'd gotten angry at first, then worried, and after a while just frustrated and she ended up just turning her phone off and putting it as far away from her as she could. The damage had already been done though, and even after taking her sleeping medication, she was too on edge to actually sleep. She'd passed out because of the medication around three in the morning but woke up an hour later in a panic. Whatever nightmare she'd had left her feeling as though she was being watched and she couldn't shake it even after taking Russell out and sweeping her apartment complex.
She thought about calling Dr. McNeil, who knew about her potential stalker situation, though she was reluctant to believe that's what this was. Then, she thought about Gibbs but that immediately made her more frustrated. She'd never relied on anyone before now and the sudden feeling of not being in control of her own life and emotions only made things worse. By five in the morning, she was too amped up to try sleeping again and just grabbed a spare set of clothes and went to work. She'd drain her energy in the gym for now and hope that whatever this was blew over quickly.
"He lied to us."
Morgan flinched, her head nearly falling off her propped-up hand at her desk as she tried to focus back in as to what was being discussed in the bullpen.
"This is a check to Heidi Campisano from Adrian Nelson's account," Ziva said, bringing up an image on the screen. "This is a known sample of his handwriting. The signature's real. Four checks. $10,000 total."
"Heidi didn't steal anything. Adrian sent her the money himself."
"Did more than that, McGee," Gibbs said.
"Tried to hide it from us."
"DNA?" Gibbs asked Ziva.
"Abby's still working on it."
Tony complained to the person he was on the phone with, drawing the group's attention briefly.
"Boss, since we got a pretty strong lead here, can Tony stop calling Heidi's other marks looking for suspects?"
Gibbs glanced at the man as he grumbled to the person on the other line. "Let him call a few more."
"We have two theories to explain the dishonesty," Ziva said, getting back on track as Morgan dug through her desk for an energy drink—ignoring the three cans already in her trash. "Theory number one."
"Heidi Campisano seduced Adrian Nelson," McGee said, the two bouncing back and forth to explain.
"Then blackmailed him threatening to tell his wife."
"She had done it before plus, it would explain the payments and the fact she is now dead."
"Theory two: Adrian found out that Heidi was pregnant with his baby. Also explains the payments."
"And the fact she is now dead. With those options, I would've lied too."
"But no doubt more effectively," Ducky said, making Morgan bang her head on the underside of her desk with a curse. "Apologies, though it's not like you to get startled, Morgan."
Morgan shot him an annoyed look as she rubbed the bump on her head as Gibbs eyed her with a small frown. Ducky was right and he could tell she was off today with or without Russell's full attention being on his owner.
"But thinking more optimistically, I took the liberty of going out and getting this for when you find our missing newborn," Ducky said, having brought a backpack of baby supplies with him.
"Any word?" Gibbs asked, knowing he had been out checking hospitals all morning.
"Yeah, I checked all the hospitals in the area and beyond. No babies on any doorsteps. But you weren't expecting any, were you?"
"Killer's got the baby, Ducky," Gibbs said firmly. "Only way we're going to find that kid is to find the killer."
Tony hung up a phone call then, starting up a very brief argument with Gibbs about a dental appointment before going back to work when Morgan spoke up.
"We only have two theories?"
Gibbs shot her a look, gaze holding briefly on the new energy drink she was downing. "You've got a better one, Frost?"
Her eyes snapped to his at the use of her last name but she didn't point it out as she hummed and set her can down. "Thought, not a theory."
"Spill."
"What if the wife knew?"
"Knew about the affair?" McGee questioned as Morgan made a face.
"Not… exactly. Russell was interested in a room. An entire room in their house. Whatever was in there is something the wife had to have known about. So, what if she knows whatever is going on with Adrian and Heidi? What if she's in on it?"
"You think it's a business deal gone wrong?"
Morgan shrugged. "Surrogate mother? If there's a kid involved, it would explain the payments. Husband and wife want a kid, pay someone to have it for them, get a room all set and then—"
"Heidi double-crosses them, wants to keep the baby and they kill her for it."
Gibbs's phone went off then and he answered it, noticing Morgan's shoulders tense but saying nothing about it as Ziva raised a brow at her.
"Why would Russell alert to a room set up for a child?"
Morgan glanced at her, nodding toward the dog with his head in her lap. "He likes babies."
"Seriously?"
She hummed as Gibbs hung up and called out that Abby had something for them; gathering the team in the elevator as they headed downstairs.
"Babies?" Ziva questioned again and Morgan nodded.
"And kids. Had to walk by pediatrics to get outside while I was locked up in the hospital and he always stopped to say hi to the kids there and wandered over to pregnant women."
"Big scary dog has a soft spot, huh?" McGee commented, patting the happy dog on the head as the elevator doors opened.
The group stepped in to find Abby doing jumping jacks with a grin on her face.
"Hi, Gibbs."
"Abby, I think you might need to lay off the caffeine again," McGee commented as Gibbs shot Morgan a look as she crushed her energy drink can and tossed it.
"She's not the only one."
"Maybe I need a little more, McGee, you ever think of that?" Abby clapped back. "Baby missing."
Gibbs grabbed her shoulders to stop her jumping. "You said you had something."
"I do. That's what I'm so excited about. Actually, everything's really exciting to me today," she said, moving to the computer to show them. "I was able to get the Nelsons's DNA off the toothbrushes that McGee swabbed. I compared the husband's DNA to the fetal DNA from the missing child."
"Adrian Nelson? Definitely the father."
"There's no shocker there," Tony drawled.
"Well, I'm not done. Heidi Campisano? Definitely not the mother."
"She gave birth to a child that's not hers," Ziva breathed, looking over at Morgan as Abby nodded.
"It's called gestational surrogacy, where the sperm and the egg come from third parties, and then the surrogate acts as a host. Sara Nelson is definitely the mother."
"Morgan was right," McGee hummed, making Abby turn to her in surprise.
"You figure it out before me?"
Morgan frowned, rubbing at her head where a headache had started up. "I just had a thought."
"And it was right," Gibbs said, nodding toward the door. "Now, we need to see if the Nelsons killed her for it."
The team was quick to head out to the home and found the door was left cracked open. They drew their weapons and Gibbs nodded for Morgan and Russell to head in first, letting them take the lead since Russell could clear an area faster than them. The team spread out and called out the all-clear and Ziva huffed as she and Tony lowered their weapons and stepped out of their rooms.
"Looks like they left in a hurry."
"Place is a mess," Tony commented.
"Not all of it," Gibbs pointed out, gesturing to the room that Morgan was standing in.
It was a nursery all set up for a baby and Morgan dragged a hand through her hair as Russell eagerly searched through the room.
"You know it's going to take a lot to pull him out of here, right?"
"Then, stay put. We'll grab the gear. Who knows? He might find something useful."
She rolled her eyes but didn't leave the room as the rest of them went back to their cars to get their cameras and evidence bags. Morgan began wandering the room herself, looking for signs of recent use, since the baby was still missing. She frowned though, picking up an unused diaper bag packed to the brim with supplies and an empty bin by the changing area.
"Morgan."
She jumped, wincing at the reaction and turning to give Gibbs a frown. "What? Don't sneak up on me like that."
He raised a brow and lifted his phone. "I was calling you."
Her expression shifted into something more sheepish and she turned away. "Sorry. My phone is turned off."
"Why?" He pressed, knowing something was going on and hoping she'd finally share it with him instead of hiding it. "We're on a case."
"It's not working right," she tried. "I'll have McGee look at it later."
Gibbs went to argue further but Ziva walked in then with a camera and stopped, giving the two a look.
"Am I interrupting?"
"No," Gibbs said shortly, turning away from Morgan to go through some of the items lying around.
"Right…" Ziva muttered, glancing at Morgan but she was keeping her eyes firmly on Russell at her feet, who'd sensed the tension in the room and had wandered over to check on her.
Ziva just cleared her throat and started to take pictures for evidence before finally the silence became too much for her.
"I do not understand what the Nelsons' plan was."
"To have a baby," Gibbs informed her and she rolled her eyes.
"That part I understand. That is why they hired Heidi Campisano as a surrogate, but if she refused to have over the baby, I'm sure the Nelsons would've had other options besides killing her. I mean, after all, they were the biological parents."
"I'm not a lawyer," Gibbs pointed out.
"But you were a parent," Ziva tacked on before whipping to Morgan who eyed her uneasily. "You… You knew that, right?"
Gibbs ignored that and spoke up. "You want to have children, Ziva?"
"Well…"
"It's a simple question," Gibbs said, turning toward her, though his eyes drifted to Morgan as well, until Ziva approached.
"I do not have a simple answer."
"Once you have kids, you'll understand."
"If the Nelsons were really willing to do anything for their child, they would be getting it medical attention," Ziva urged.
"Yeah, well, maybe they are," Tony said as he stepped in, half-drenched. "Safe was cleaned out. Plus, I found the box to an infant car seat in the garage. They're going somewhere with the kid."
"You go for a swim, DiNozzo?"
"Oh," Tony muttered, glancing at his clothes. "Sprinklers went off when I was digging through the trash outside. Nice timing."
"Actually, it's part of their security system. Forgot to warn you about that," McGee informed him as he turned to Gibbs. "Boss, found something on their computer."
Gibbs hurried out after him as Tony called at their backs.
"Thanks for the heads up, probie! I owe you one!"
Morgan hesitated for a minute in the nursery before shaking her head and hooking Russell up to his lead to get him out of the room. They met with McGee in Adrian's office as he typed on the computer and explained what he'd found.
"Adrian Nelson is covering his tracks. He erased his entire hard drive so we can't see what he's been doing."
"I thought you said you found something," Tony huffed from behind him.
"Yeah, the root directory's still intact. There's no personal data, but I did find an API he had written to interface his home automation system to his car's onboard navigation computer."
"Pretend you're talking to someone who actually has sex with other humans," Tony teased, knowing that no one in the room had a clue what he was saying.
"All I have to do is hack the API and I can use it to get the GPS coordinates on his car."
"This is great," Tony mused. "It means I can stop calling Heidi's marks."
Gibbs looked at him from over McGee's head and Tony cleared his throat.
"I mean, of course, I will look for those other guys, but—" Tony sneezed and apologized as he walked away. "Sorry, sorry."
"Gibbs," Morgan called out then, drawing his attention. "What if they don't have the kid?"
"Why would they not have the child?" Ziva questioned, confused as Morgan nodded toward the hallway where the nursery was.
"The whole house was a mess but the nursery was clean. If they had the kid, they would have scrambled to grab them and anything they might need; diapers, bottles, formula. If that room was even used, there'd be evidence of it; dirty diapers in the bin, bottles in the washer or the sink."
"Then, where would the kid be if they don't have it?"
"With the killer," Gibbs realized. "This could be a hostage situation."
Morgan nodded. "Cleaned out their safe to pay a ransom. If the killer called them before we showed up—"
"Then, they wouldn't tell us anything about their connection to Heidi to prevent police involvement," McGee breathed.
"We need that location, McGee," Gibbs urged, understanding now that things were very different than they initially suspected. "Now."
"On it."
Gibbs had gone with Ziva to track down the GPS location McGee had found while the rest of the team waited in the bullpen.
"They haven't moved in the last twenty minutes," McGee noted as Tony eyed the screen where the tracker was with a frown.
"Might have dumped the car." Tony checked his watch. "Gibbs and the state police will know soon enough." His gaze drifted toward Morgan though, who had her head tipped toward her chest, arms folded, and apparently sleeping. "How come she's allowed to sleep?"
"Because Gibbs likes her," McGee said with a smirk. "That, and she's the one who thought up the ransom idea. What have you done lately other than get drowned by the sprinklers?"
Tony wrinkled his nose and turned to him in annoyance. "Why are you still typing?"
"I'm refreshing the tracker."
"Forget it I don't want to know. It's good to have a geek on the team but I prefer good old-fashioned police work."
"Well, it's not an old-fashioned world, Tony," McGee pointed out.
"Tell that to Gibbs," Tony huffed, flipping through pictures of the Nelsons before pausing on one for a moment too long.
"What was it like?" McGee asked, knowing he was still caught up in his undercover case and the woman he'd lost.
"Sex? Losing your virginity?" Tony mocked, annoyed with everyone bringing it up. "It's good."
"Pretending to be someone else."
"I don't know, Elf Lord."
"You were really in love with her, weren't you?"
"Don't you have some more typing to do or something?" Tony deflected, as Ziva and Gibbs walked back in.
"Yeah, he does. Car wasn't there," Gibbs said, throwing down drone photos for McGee to look at.
"What? What—I double-checked the…" Understanding dawned on him then. "All right. I think I know what happened here."
"Twenty bucks says McGee's about to say something nobody understands again," Tony drawled as Gibbs set an energy drink down on Morgan's desk with a bit of force, making her jolt awake.
He raised a brow at her and she awkwardly looked away as he shook his head and went back to his desk while McGee explained.
"The GPS coordinates came bundled in a proprietary packet. Since it was a beta—"
"I'm starting to think you can't help yourself, McGee," Gibbs cut him off.
"The code must have alerted Adrian Nelson that I was tracking him," McGee said, simplifying things. "He reprogrammed his car to send us back false coordinates."
"Can you de-program it, McGee?" Ziva pressed.
"I can try."
"Well, while he tries, I'm going to resort to some good old-fashioned police work," Tony hummed, spotting a sticker in one of the photos and zooming in on it. "Oh, look. What's that?"
"Who are you calling?" Ziva asked when he went to his desk.
He held up a finger as the person on the other end answered. "Donny. Hey. DiNozzo. Listen, I got an update on a BOLO. Missing kid. Dead Head sticker. Left rear window. I know, man. That was good times," he chuckled before seeing Gibbs's stern expression and clearing his throat. "I got another call. I really got to go. Hang tough, Donny." he hung up with a chuckle and pulled a jelly doughnut from his desk drawer. "Old-fashion police work deserves an old-fashioned reward."
Morgan wrinkled her nose as he took a bite and it spilled jam all down the front of his suit."
He scowled and left to go clean up in the bathroom. With Gibbs's permission, Ziva followed after him a moment later, and Gibbs turned his gaze to Morgan.
"Do I want to know why you're sleeping on the job, Frost?"
She glared at him for using her last name but snapped open the energy drink he'd brought her and turned back to her computer. "I didn't sleep well and we were waiting for you to turn up with the car. There wasn't anything to do but wait."
"Tony found something," Gibbs pointed out. "And McGee was working."
She went to argue only for a phone to ring and she scowled, jerking open a desk drawer, eyeing the caller ID before snatching up her phone.
"Fuck off," she spat into the receiver, hanging up and dropping it right back into her drawer as she slammed it shut.
McGee looked between her and Gibbs for a moment before gathering the courage to speak up. "Is, uh… everything alright?"
Morgan sent him a dark look. "Fine. Spam caller."
"If you want, I could—"
"McGee," Gibbs cut him off. "Weren't you reprogramming a vehicle?"
McGee hesitated before closing his mouth and nodding, shrinking a bit behind his computer. "Right. On it, boss."
Something was definitely going on between the two that he didn't want to be involved in. Thankfully though, right as the tension in the room began to rise, his phone went off. He let out a soft sigh of relief and answered; quickly hanging up and getting their attention.
"BOLO came in. They found the petty officer's car."
Gibbs grabbed his things and Morgan got up as well. "McGee, go get the other two out of the bathroom."
"Yes, boss."
Gibbs stepped into the elevator and held the door for Morgan who paused just outside of it; wondering if it'd be more or less detrimental to take the stairs.
"In," Gibbs said firmly and she pursed her lips before begrudgingly stepping in with a fussy Russell at her side.
The elevator doors closed and Gibbs pressed the stop button, allowing for a second of silence before speaking.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to keep pretending it's fine?"
"It is fine," Morgan bit out as Gibbs whipped to her with a scowl.
"Fine? You're falling asleep in the bullpen during an active investigation!"
"It won't—"
"Morgan, I don't care if it happens again or not! I care about what's happening with you!" He clenched his eyes shut and dragged a hand through his hair, trying to calm down as Russell's whining grew louder. "Look. I understand that you can handle yourself. I'm not doubting you, but if whatever this is gets out of hand…"
Morgan's expression softened slightly and she turned away, uncertain about how to handle this. She still didn't want Gibbs to know what was going on. She could deal with a couple of prank calls even if it was Levi. She didn't want things to get out of hand and involving Gibbs seemed like the quickest way for that to happen. A small part of her wanted to tell him, though. Something said that it would be a relief, especially if it turned out that Levi was coming after her. Someone should know. Even if it wasn't everything, someone should know.
"I won't let it," Morgan muttered, facing him seriously and Gibbs eyed her.
She wasn't explaining but at least she was admitting there was a problem.
"I never said you would," he pressed, trying to show her he trusted her to handle her own situations but was still concerned.
Morgan toyed with the words in her mouth before turning away again. "It has to do with why I left for Fort Bragg. I don't like talking about it."
Gibbs stayed silent, not pushing despite the urge to. She wasn't like his other wives and they'd only just started to toe the boundaries between them. He couldn't push her. As it was, she was getting frustrated with it.
"I've been getting prank calls. It's annoying but it's been triggering my PTSD. McNeil is aware of it and it's probably nothing but because of that damn trip, I've been paranoid about it."
Gibbs hesitated for a moment before reaching out and starting up the elevator again. "Do you want to stay at my place?"
"No," Morgan grumbled with a huff. "Why am I wasting money on my apartment if you're just going to constantly ask me to stay over?"
Gibbs cracked a small smile at that, glad she didn't hear his question and get angry about it. At the very least, they had resolved the biggest issue and could hopefully prevent further arguing about it. She'll tell me when she's comfortable and she's smart. She won't leave it until it's too late. Or, so he hoped. They gathered in the garage though, waiting for Tony, McGee, and Ziva to show up and Morgan went ahead and had Russell already searching through the car for anything.
"Nothing here," McGee said as Tony took photos. "Truck's been wiped clean."
"And someone's stolen our petty officer's blood stain," Tony added as Ziva hummed.
"It was also cleaned."
"Or we're wrong about where Munoz was shot."
The room went quiet and Gibbs spoke up. "Witnesses?"
"Uh, no witnesses. Local LEOs found the truck abandoned near a forest preserve."
"It couldn't have been there long," Tony muttered as Ziva questioned him.
"How could you know that? Oh, wait. I forgot. You know everything about everybody."
Morgan glanced at Gibbs over the seats of the truck and he just silently shook his head. They'd been butting heads ever since the undercover operation got out.
"Sap, Ziva. There'd be more sap on the roof," Tony explained.
"Except for the fact it rained last night."
"Do I need to send you two back to the men's room?" Gibbs threatened.
"Hey! She followed me in there!"
"Only because you wouldn't talk to me!"
Tony went to argue but took one look at Gibbs before giving in. "Shutting up, boss."
"Ready?" Gibbs asked, turning off the overhead lights.
Ziva turned on the ultraviolet ones and glasses were handed out as she came over with a hand-held light to check the seats. Sure enough, there was the obvious spray from the petty officer's injury splashed across the seats.
"So much for being wrong about where Petty Officer Munoz was shot," she said pointedly, lowering the light to check the floor mat under the steering wheel.
"We got footprints," Tony said hopefully but Gibbs wasn't convinced.
"Yeah, question is, whose?"
"Petty Officer Munoz was a size thirteen," Ziva pointed out.
Tony scoffed. "Those look like a size thirteen to you?"
She stood up and eyed him dangerously as Gibbs called out.
"Send them up to Abby."
"I'll take them," Morgan spoke up, earning a look from Gibbs as she gestured to Russell, who was aggressively sniffing at the floor mats. "Whatever was on his shoes is interesting to him. I might as well find out what."
It didn't take long to find out what it was either, and given how specific it was, it was easy to take the panda poop paper remnants to a warehouse where they found their missing Nelsons waiting to make a deal. The team got there before anything could happen and the Nelsons were taken back to the office as a car sped off.
"So, Morgan was right," Ziva hummed as the team got off the elevator.
"At least Probie has an idea for his next book," Tony pointed out. "Baby kidnapped, cops screw up ransom drop."
"The Nelsons hid the kidnapping from us, Agent DiNozzo. The mistake was theirs," Ziva argued.
"Yeah, but we knew there was a possibility of a ransom happening, Agent David. So, I'd say it's our screw-up."
Morgan groaned, dropping down in her seat in annoyance. "Who cares whose fault it is? We probably wouldn't have caught them in the first place. The point is, we need to track down who could be the person asking for a ransom."
"McGee," Gibbs called out, checking his computer.
"Agents are still out canvassing. No one saw the Honda, much less who was driving."
"Keep looking. DiNozzo."
"Taps on the Nelsons' phones. I'm on it, boss. Right now." Tony paused though, seeing Gibbs's look. "And I still have a… a few more of Heidi's marks that I have to track down. That's next. That's right after… I'm on it."
"Ziva."
"Coordinate with state police, see if we can widen the search."
"Morgan."
"Check in with anyone who might be related to the incident, where they live, where they work, and see if there's a connection to the abandoned warehouse, the kid, or whatever else I can dig up," she replied as McGee hesitated.
"You think the kidnappers will call to arrange another ransom?"
"What's the option, McGee?" Gibbs challenged, storming off as something they'd said caught Morgan's attention.
She frowned, eyeing Gibbs's back as he headed off to deal with the Nelsons, mind reeling at the possibilities. There were no other options really. Either the kid was fine and they would set up another drop or the kid was dead and there would be no point in trying, especially knowing the cops were onto them. No one wanted to think of that other option being true but the only other alternative was—Someone keeping and caring for the kid long term. Morgan turned to her computer and started typing. Who would be willing to do that? Who would want to do that?
"Tony," she called out, drawing his attention as he hung up with another of Heidi's contacts.
"Yeah, kinda busy here, Morgan."
"Have any of the contacts you called been interested or overly upset about Heidi's death?"
Tony frowned, not following. "No, why?"
"How many more do you have left?"
"Uh, half a dozen? Maybe more. They're all the same sort of types though. Easily swayed, swindled out of money, a couple of deadbeats but—"
Morgan got up and started to leave the bullpen, making Tony glance over at the others.
"Am I missing something?"
Morgan opened the door to the meeting room and Gibbs whipped to her with a frown. She didn't care though, mind whirling at the possibilities and while Gibbs would normally scold any other agent for decades after interrupting his questioning, he knew that look. So, begrudgingly, he got up and glared at the Nelsons.
"We're not done here."
They turned their gazes to the table as he stepped out and gave Morgan a sharp look.
"This better be good."
"I think I know who might have the kid."
Gibbs perked up at that, following her as they started to head back to the bullpen. "Who?"
"I don't know who exactly—"
"You said you knew who has the kid, Morgan," he snapped, drawing the attention of the rest of the team and Abby by the desks.
"What?" Tony questioned, stunned, and even Ziva was impressed.
"Already?"
Morgan took the remote from Tony and changed the screen away from the man he'd been suspecting, who was already dead. "We're looking for the wrong people. You're all looking for someone with a motive against the Nelsons. Someone who's greedy and wants just the money but then what if we're wrong?"
"Get to the point, Morgan," Gibbs pushed as she flipped up the familiar ID picture of the young mechanic they'd spoken to already.
She looked over at him. "If we're looking for the kid, we should be looking for someone who cares."
"But what about Heidi?" McGee asked, confused. "Would someone who cares about the kid kill her?"
Morgan shrugged. "I think they're two separate things but if finding the kid is priority—"
She froze, turning as solid as a rock because Gibbs had just pecked her on the cheek in front of the whole team.
"Good work," he muttered, pulling away and heading toward the elevator as everyone just stood there for a long moment. "Abby!"
Abby unstuck first at his call, looking between them quickly as she hurried after him. "R-Right! Coming!"
"Did he just…?" McGee asked, glancing over at Tony as he nodded.
"Yup."
"But I thought—"
"Well, you thought wrong, McGee," Tony said, reaching out and giving Morgan a hard smack on the shoulder to snap her out of it. "Wake up, Morgan. Between you and Abby we might have just solved the case."
Morgan glanced at him, then over at the others before a small grunt escaped her and she headed toward the elevator with them. The ride was silent, though she could feel their gazes burning the back of her head which fueled the heat of embarrassment settling in her stomach and cheeks. The doors opened and she made a bee-line for Gibbs, grabbing him by the shoulder and attempting to be as stern as possible with her flaming cheeks.
"Don't do that again."
Gibbs just cracked a smirk. "I'll think about it."
She glared, grinding her teeth for a moment before Abby rolled out from under the vehicle Heidi had been in.
"Since the Chevy didn't leave any skid marks at the site of the accident, the first thing I did was check the brakes," Abby explained, accepting Gibbs's hand up. "The lines were intact and the fluids were topped off."
"The pads were bad," Gibbs said, eyeing the brake pad she'd handed him. "They needed to be replaced."
"I know, but here's the thing—and this is so good, I can hardly take it. The brakes were replaced about two weeks ago. I found metallic shavings in the brake drum and the caliper. It could only have come from new pads and shoes."
"Someone replaced them and put them back on," Morgan noted, frowning at her phone went off and scowling as she silenced it.
"Yes. The accident was not an accident. Well, actually it was, it just happened too soon. It was the perfect cover-up. The killer probably planned on putting Heidi's body behind the wheel of the car and sending it over a cliff."
"It would have covered up the murder," Gibbs noted.
"And it would have been blamed on worn brakes. The only problem is the killer cut it too close. The brakes went out and ka-bam!" Abby said with a grin. "So who would rely on the mechanical failure of a brake pad compressed against a disc rotor to hide a body?"
"A mechanic," Morgan answered, giving Gibbs a glance. "The thing is, I don't think the son did it."
Gibbs sighed and nodded, pulling out his phone. "Explain in the car. Let's get the team moving."
The whole team stepped into the garage where Nick's father was working on a car. He perked up when they stepped in and Gibbs gave Morgan a look, making her nod as she had Russell start searching the garage.
"What did my loser son do now?" Nick's father complained.
"It's not him we're really after," Gibbs explained, making the man frown.
"Excuse me?"
"You killed Heidi Campisano," Gibbs said as Ziva continued.
"Then, tried to ransom her baby back to the biological parents."
"You think I did that?" He scoffed with a laugh. "Look, I told you Nicky was here with me all day."
"Yeah," McGee said, edging closer to the man. "And your customers confirmed that."
"But nobody we spoke to saw you," Gibbs informed him as McGee pointed to the missing Honda behind him.
"But a witness did see you in this Honda near the Stern Paper Mill this afternoon."
"Seems you two are more than just father-and-son mechanics," Ziva chimed in as Morgan went over to where Russell let out a bark, pulling out a gun.
"Nice shotgun," she remarked, passing it to Tony as he checked it for live rounds.
"Shoot any naval petty officers lately?" Tony asked as Gibbs turned to Morgan who shook her head.
"Where's the baby?" He asked the father, seeing as Russell hadn't found it.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the father grumbled. "So, I was at a paper mill. What's that, some kind of a crime?"
"Baby!" Gibbs showed him his badge and snapped, not buying the father's act when it was obvious the man was running out of options.
"The baby's with Nicky," he gave in.
"And Nicky?"
"I told him to wait here for me to call but my moron son never does what he's told!" The father complained, throwing down his rag as Russell growled, unsettled with his anger. "That girl of his was never going to give up that baby. I was doing those parents a favor!"
"You're under arrest for the murder of Heidi Campisano," McGee said, cuffing the man.
"Oh, come on! That was an accident!"
"Petty Officer Munoz. That an accident too?" Gibbs argued as Ziva added to it.
"Because his murder is also in our warrant."
"Look, when my brakes gave out—"
Morgan let out a short bark of a laugh. "Oh. Oh, that's funny."
"What you laughing at?" The father snapped as she smirked.
"See, I thought something was off with you two. You treat your kid like shit," she said sharply, moving up to stand before him as her smile slid off her face into something ice cold. " 'My moron son,' 'that idiot boy,' 'what did he do now?' He put up with it too. For years he put up with your bullshit, the degrading comments like he was just trash, like he wasn't worth anything to you but being another rusty tool in your damn toolbox."
"Morgan," Gibbs warned lowly, catching her wrist in his and questioning why she was getting so riled up like this.
She calmed slightly and let out a scoff. "But look at that. See, when you fuck around with the quiet ones, the ones who let you beat them over and over again, you'll come to learn that when it all piles up, they'll bite back."
"Whatchu talkin' about," the father muttered.
"Your kid was smart. A hell of a lot smarter than you give him credit for and you finally did something that went too far. You killed someone he loved and wanted to build a family with over money. So, when you beat her to death and took that kid, he tried to make sure you weren't ever coming back."
"The brakes," McGee muttered, making the father turn to him in shock as Morgan nodded.
"Heidi's brakes were replaced with a set about to fail. She was already dead and gone and there was no fixing that, but there was still a chance to get rid of the person who caused him all that pain for all those years."
The father bristled as understanding dawned on him, rage boiling under his skin. "That little son of a bitch! I'm going to kill him!"
Ziva and McGee took him to the car as Tony huffed and made sure to cancel the BOLO on Nicky as Gibbs nodded for Morgan to join him. They knew where he'd be with the kid and he wouldn't cause a fight like his father had.
"You got a bit fired up in there," Gibbs said in the car, giving Morgan a glance as she looked out the window idly. "I thought you didn't deal with that sort of thing."
"I didn't," she explained. "I don't remember my parents. Died long before I was aware of what I was missing."
"So, who was it?"
She was quiet for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "A kid in my second foster home; Patrick. We called him Patty because he was just… insanely lucky. Would get the best Christmas gift when everything was just randomized. Could catch fish down at the creek with his bare hands. You'd give him a quarter and he'd come back with a twenty-dollar toy and a grin on his face like he'd won the lottery. Kids loved him other than a couple of jealous ones but no one gave him a hard time, except… the adults.
"The father of the couple who kept track of us—there were four or five of us at a time—he was convinced Patty was stealing things. Called him all sorts of things, beat him a few times. Nothing terrible but… enough. Patty ignored it, bared with it for months, and would do what he said even if it wasn't right or wasn't true. I was usually the quiet one in the homes but after a while, Patty sort of lost that joy he had. He started hiding out more, isolating himself and things, then he got in trouble for something he hadn't done. Some kid had stolen some cash off someone on the way home from school, took it, bought some things for himself, and shared it with a few of us."
She shrugged, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms over her chest, still facing away from him but trying to remain nonchalant.
"The father blew up, assumed Patty had done it, and locked him up in a closet for a few days. Shouted obscenities at the door every chance he could, kicked it, and threw a fit talking about how bad of a kid he was. Suppose Patty had enough and when he was let out…" She finally glanced at Gibbs. "House was set on fire."
It was very much said as a matter-of-fact sort of thing but Gibbs could see the unease in her gaze, wondering what more there was to this.
"What happened?" He asked as they pulled up to the Nelson's house.
"Us kids made it out," she said, turning away and giving Russell's head a ruffle as he happily wagged his tail. "Few of us had some burns or smoke inhalation issues but he'd warned us beforehand. We didn't think anything of it. He just suggested we have a sleepover in the bedroom on the main floor. We'd done it before, though usually in one of the rooms on the second floor but… he made it sound fun so we agreed. It kept us all together and those who were older were able to herd the younger kids out alright. I had gone looking for Patty with one other boy. Did the best we could to try and find him."
"He didn't make it," Gibbs concluded.
"No. Wanted to make sure it was done right, I guess. They found him sitting on the floor blocking the master bedroom door," she explained, looking over at him. "Neither of the couple made it out of there. Firefighters thought he'd gone upstairs to warn them. I knew better. Patty was smart, more than smart, and after the way he was treated I don't think he could handle it anymore." She cracked a small smile then, opening her door. "Well, that, and I knew he was a good kid. He didn't want the rest of us going through that shit either."
Gibbs got out of the car and went with her up to the front door. "Did you know him well?"
Morgan shrugged. "None of us really liked talking about before we were orphaned. Some did to deal with the trauma, most didn't. We liked him for his luck, his smile, just… little things that kids tend to get drawn to. He was happy when a lot of us weren't. He drew us all in. I just knew he could see how much I wanted to step in and help. Not that he did all that for me, but sometimes it felt like he knew I would get dragged in and with that on top of what happened… probably felt like he had no choice. I'm sure Nick felt the same."
Gibbs nodded and Russell perked up as they headed for the nursery, bounding through the door before them and eagerly moving up close to Nick and the baby he held.
"Sorry," Morgan apologized when Nick stiffened at the sight of the dog. "He just really likes kids."
Nick relaxed somewhat, lightly lowering the baby in his arms for Russell to get a sniff as he looked over at them. "You got my pa? He killed Heidi, made me lie to you about her."
"We know," Gibbs said as the baby was put in the crib and Russell pressed his nose between the bars.
"She didn't cheat on me," Nick said, tears welling up in his eyes. "She wasn't bad no more. We were even going to start a family together except Heidi couldn't have no kids of her own. She was smart though. Figured out a way to get one. I guess that part was bad."
"I wish I could tell you it wasn't," Gibbs murmured as Nick tried to collect himself.
"I would've raised my own boy right. When the baby was born, we were planning to run away, but my pa wanted the rest of the money we were going to get. Heidi and him fought, then she had the baby… My pa took it; she was screaming."
"And you didn't do a thing," Gibbs said firmly and he glanced at him.
"I did. It was just too late to matter… Am I in trouble?"
"Prosecution's going to call it 'attempted murder.' Your lawyer's going to call it 'self-defense.'"
"What do you call it?" Nick asked.
"Family," Gibbs breathed, before Tony came in, completely drenched.
"Hey, boss. Is everything okay? It's the sprinkler again. Parents are waiting outside."
Gibbs nodded and went over to take the baby from the crib, kneeling for a moment so the ever-eager Russell could get a sniff.
"Be nice," he told the dog quietly and Russell licked the little baby's sock before sitting down so Gibbs could stand back up with it.
Gibbs left the room and Nick approached Morgan as she brought out the handcuffs to cuff him.
"You think I'm crazy?" He asked her and she shook her head.
"No," she breathed, closing the last cuff and starting to lead him out. "I think you're smart."