Pride winced when he saw Ray's bruised throat. "She really did a number on you, didn't she?" he asked sympathetically, watching as she accepted the ice pack Tammy handed her. It was a long, slender ice pack, usually used for cooling the neck during the hot months, but this time it was good for easing the swelling on Ray's throat.
"She's angry, but Rita pulled out the Commander card and got her to back down," Ray said hoarsely.
"Strangest thing I've ever done," Rita admitted. "But it worked."
Pride nodded. "Been there, done that. Once had to fake being an NIS agent to deal with a sailor who was trapped in barracks during the NIS days, and a friend had to bring in a Marine commander to convince a deceased Marine it was time to go."
The two women had gotten back to the NOLA NCIS headquarters and explained everything to the gathered group. Sebastian was at the labs, running the gloves for any DNA he could find.
Carter pulled up the initial photos Loretta had sent of Ensign Fontenot, focusing on her throat, and he was now comparing them to Ray. "I cannot explain this, but right now, it looks like you two were strangled by the exact same person."
"We told you," Tammy said.
"I like your theory about Ensign Fontenot's family connections in DC," Hannah said. "We could ask the DC branch to check a few things for us."
"But we don't know who we're looking for," Tammy said. "If the theory about the family is right, that means Charles Fontenot changed his last name when he moved here."
"According to that map, they had a decent sized parcel of land, and that means money, even then," Pride said. "Maybe Charles Fontenot had that, or at least enough to buy a home and change his name."
"And if Eva had also taken his new last name, maybe she was a slave with his old family," Hannah said.
"Pull up Charles' photo, run it through the DC historical archives," Ray said hoarsely, accepting the chamomile tea Pride had kindly gotten her. "We have a time frame, so say 1890's at the earliest, to 1900."
"I can do that," Tammy said. "Thanks to you, I've gotten really good at navigating the historical archives."
"I called our friends in DC, asked them to check out Ensign Fontenot's apartment," Pride said. "Hopefully they'll find something."
Meanwhile, Patton was busy comparing the old map to current ones, using Storville as a point of reference, which was abolished or torn down by the government and military, around 1917, due to the onset of World War 1, but there were still a few historical buildings left today.
"That road is Orleans Way," Patton said, indicating a line on the map, "near Carpes Swamp."
"The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries might be able to help us," Tammy said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going into those woods without a guide, at least."
"I might have a contact," Pride said thoughtfully.
A video call alerted them; it was Loretta. When she saw Ray, her face lit up.
"Rayhanah Metcalf, where in tarnation have you been, young lady?" she demanded.
"Here, there, everywhere," Ray said hoarsely. "I'm good though."
"Why is your voice so quiet?" Loretta demanded.
"Because Ensign Fontenot let her know her personal opinion of things, and she was pretty pissed. Turns out Rita's old Navy status came in handy," Pride explained.
"Oh my lord," Loretta moaned. "Well, hopefully this might help a little. I found a hair under our victim's nails. It's short, a bit coarse, so it's probably an arm or beard hair, and it looks like it has a tag on it."
"DNA," Pride said, grinning.
"Already running, and I will compare it to the gloves Sebastian brought in, if he finds anything. Cause of death is definitely strangulation by someone with big hands. I also found a nasty welt on the back of her head, and what looked like brick dust," Loretta said.
"Matches what we found at the scene," Tammy said.
"Unfortunately, that's all I was able to find, so if Ensign Fontenot has more secrets, we won't find them with her body," Loretta said.
"Much thanks, Loretta," Pride said.
"And Ray, you and I need to catch up," Loretta said, before ending the call, just as another call came in, this one from Special Agent Nick Torres, in Washington DC.
The background said he was in a nondescript apartment, with gloves and an NCIS jacket on. "Hey King, good to see you again," Torres said, looking like he was using a cellphone camera.
"You too, Nick. This is my crew, Hannah Khoury, Quinten Carter, and Rayhanah Metcalf," Pride said. "What did you find?"
"Based on what you told us, about Ensign Fontenot looking into her family history, we did find a family tree, but it only goes as far back as Charles and Eva Fontenot, and her notes say they were based in New Orleans," Torres said, showing them a large piece of paper with names and lines. "We also found a bunch of cut-and-paste notes, threats about leaving the past alone. We're going to get our forensic expert, Kasie Hines, to take a look at them, see if she can pull some touch DNA and prints off of them."
"Tell Kasie to reach out to Sebastian and compare notes. We found gloves not far from the crime scene, and they may have been used to strangle Ensign Fontenot," Pride said.
"Will do," Torres said. "Parker and Knight are at Ensign Fontenot's workplace, checking with her coworkers and superior officer, to see if maybe they heard or knew something about these threats."
"Find out if any of them made an unexpected trip our way, or if they suddenly took a leave of absence around the same time as she did," Pride advised.
"Already on it," Special Agent Tim McGee called out, from out of camera range.
"Where's Jane?" Pride asked.
"She's in Texas, for her father's funeral. Apparently he had a heart attack in his saddle, and she was called home to deal with the mess he left behind," Torres said, referring to their missing team member, Special Agent Jane Langston.
"That's going to be fun," Pride said sourly. "I'll get in touch with her later. Okay, the current theory is Ensign Fontenot's death may have had something to do with her research into her family history. She received several threatening text messages, including one referring to hanging black people back in the day." Torres and McGee scowled at that. "Our current research says the Fontenot's appeared in New Orleans in 1902, but there's no prior record of them before that, and Ensign Fontenot received a notification from AncestryDNA that said she had cousins in DC. We're currently trying to locate a house that may have originally belonged to Ensign Fontenot's ancestors, Charles and Eva Fontenot, see what we can find, because that's what Ensign Fontenot was looking for."
"Wow," McGee said. His phone buzzed with an incoming call; he pulled it out and answered. "Jane, hi! Everything okay? One second here, let me put you on speaker." McGee toggled his phone. "Why do you need a good accountant?"
"Because Ma is selling the ranch, all of it," came a female voice. "Says ain't nothin' here for her no more, 'specially with Sarah an' Donald heading for Colorado."
"Wow," Torres said.
"All 250,000 acres is up fer grabs, and it's going at $6000 an acre. I ain't even gonna try doin' the math on that. Ma's splittin' the sales six ways 'cause Sarah's just found out she's expecting her first baby, and there are already a lot of interested buyers, 'specially with the main house, which means things are gonna be goin' fast and furious."
"I know someone you can trust. I'll put you in touch," McGee said. "Stay in touch."
"Will do," Jane said, ending the call.
"Holy cow," Tammy said, eyes wide.
Pride chuckled. "Tell her I said hi and I will be reaching out to her in a bit."
"Will do. In the meantime, we'll keep you guys posted on our end and run with your theory, because so far, it seems legit," Torres said, before signing off.
"And on that note, I am headed for home. Not much else I can do here, and I don't want to leave my furbabies alone for too long," Ray said, finishing off her tea.
"Stay in touch, and when we know something, we'll let you know," Pride said, giving her a hug.
"One weird thing, though, and I don't know what it means," Ray admitted. "I saw Chris last night."
Several pairs of eyes went wide.
"What happened?" Tammy demanded.
"Just after he died, I saw him in my bedroom. He said he was sorry for leaving me, that when I was ready, he would send someone my way, someone who would love me as much as he once had," Ray admitted. "He promised me I wouldn't be alone."
"Sounds like Chris," Pride said, smiling.
"He showed up on my dock last night, fishing. Said Jaybee was coming, that he was a friend he had once trusted, and I could trust him. Standing next to him was some dark haired guy in a uniform I didn't recognize, some dark green one, I think, and he was glowing in a way I've never seen," Ray said.
"Seems to me, Chris is keeping his promise," Tammy said.
"Yeah, but Jaybee is the only name I got, so I have no clue who I'm supposed to be looking for," Ray admitted.
"Then don't. He'll come," Pride said, reassuringly.
"And we'll vet him to the max," Tammy promised, grinning.