Tony was leant back in his chair watching Kate across the bullpen. The journey back from interviewing officer Carter's fellow officers had been a very quiet one, silent in fact. Tony mentally hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. ‘Why didn't I say something? I know why, because you're a big stupid idiot that's why. Kate must think you're a right loser now, well done. Well, even more of a loser than she already does' thought Tony miserably. He watched Kate as she sketched. He would love to look at that sketchpad one day. He had no doubt in the ability of Kate's sketching, as he had seen it before when she did murder scenes and head shots for the cases. But they say that the soul of an artist goes into every piece of work they create as well as their thoughts and dreams. Also that by just looking at one piece of art be it painting, sketch or sculpture, that you could instantly tell everything about it's artist and learn more about the them than could ever be learnt through simple conversation. Tony longed to know Kate's feelings towards him. He was certain that she thought he was an idiot. He thought he was an idiot. But there were some moments when their eyes connected and he could swear that he saw something in her eyes that wasn't total dislike towards him. Like in the car earlier. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just him. Kate coughed and pulled her hair out of eyes. He hated it when he couldn't see her face. It was the type of face that Tony thought would never lose its beauty. Even as age grew near; the subtle smile; the perfect nose and the inviting eyes would always remain. He could stare at her forever. Kate looked up.
"Why are you staring at me?" Kate said, a little harsher than she had meant to. Yep it was definitely just him. He could see nothing in her eyes at that moment and it convinced him that he was just fooling himself. Caitlin Todd would never see him the way he saw her. He was sure of it. At that moment the elevator doors slid open and Kate's question was left unanswered.
"Officer Carter was ready for a date" said Carrie walking towards the bullpen.
"Probably with that Mandi King" said Tony "While the cats away…" he laughed. Kate just looked at him like he was a child. "What…?" said Tony innocently.
"And ducky says that the murder weapon was a large glass bowl type object " said Carrie ignoring Tony's immature comments
"A bowl?" said Kate
"Well a bowl shaped object, I'm thinking fruit bowl since Ducky also found dried orange peel embedded in the vic's head" said Carrie
"There wasn't anything like that at the scene" said Tony
"Hang on a minute" said Kate typing something into her computer "look at the big screen" Kate had pulled up McGee's crime scene photos and was scrolling through them. "There" she said stopping at one photo in particular "There's dried leaves and what looks to me like dried orange peel under the dresser there. I noticed it when I was at the scene but I just thought it was a lazy man not clearing up after himself"
"Hmph" said Tony
"If it was your apartment Tony I would have been right" said Kate
"I'll have you know that…" Tony was cut short Gibbs slapping him on the back of the head.
"The case Tony"
"Sorry Gibbs" winced Tony
"Potpourri!" said Carrie
"What?" said Tony looking at Carrie.
"Potpourri. Dried leaves, orange peel, I think its potpourri"
"Makes sense" said Kate. She still hadn't made up her mind about Carrie. The more she got to know her the more she liked her. She was strong, not unlike her self, but that still didn't stop her feeling jealousy towards her. It hurt when Tony talked about girls when she was there, but full on flirting right in front of her eyes was not something Kate thought she would be able to handle. "So the murder weapon could be a glass potpourri bowl?"
"That's what I think" said Carrie looking at Kate. Tony got up and walked towards the big screen, everyone turned to watch him.
"Your eyesight going Tony?" said Kate
"No!" said Tony defensively turning quickly to look at Kate before returning his gaze to the screen. He was now a couple of foot from it. "What's that?"
"What's what Tony" said Kate "there is nothing there"
"There's a mark on the surface of the dresser" he looked closer "A ring. I think there was a bowl stood there" Everyone moved closer at squinted at the screen.
"He's right," said Gibbs "Good job DiNozzo" Tony turned and gave a smug look towards Kate. She tightened her gaze. Tony's face fell and he quickly turned back to the screen. "Why are we all still standing here? Get to work!" said Gibbs
"I'll go see the wife again, see if she knows anything about Mandi King" said Kate
"No" said Gibbs "Tony, you do that. I want you Kate to help Carrie and go back to the crime scene. See if you can find this bowl"
"Can't I do that" said Tony. Gibbs glared at him. "I'm on my way to the wife's now" replied Tony and grabbed his coat as he left the floor. Kate didn't look happy at her being paired with Carrie either.
"Your car or mine?" said Carrie smiling at Kate. Kate smiled back faintly.
***
Abby and McGee were now back at Abby's lab. McGee had got the tape and they were running the tapes on one of Abby's wide screens and had the times and dates of emails showing on a different one. They'd made there way through about half of the tapes so far and identified which woman it was.
"Its no use" said Abby "She's always wearing that black baseball cap. There's no way I can get even a half decent shot of her face."
"Be patient" said McGee, knowing this would anger Abby. She was cute when she got angry.
"Patient! Watch who you're calling impatient McGee, Do you want to have kids?" replied Abby angrily but with a hint of good humour.
"I don't know yet," said McGee feigning shock at Abby's remark. ‘Crap!' thought Abby, ‘We're not even together and I'm asking him if he wants children!' Mental head slap as she was tried frantically to find a way to take back what she had just said.
"Oh no McGee, I was just joking, meaning that I would kick your…"McGee had started to smile. "McGEE!!" she said hitting him on the arm. McGee instantly stopped smiling.
"Oww!" he said painfully.
"Serves you right" said Abby triumphantly but McGee noticed the trace of concern in her voice.
"THERE!" shouted McGee and Abby jumped
"Where?" she said looking around
"On the screen Abby, rewind that bit" Abby rewound the tape 30 seconds and played it again.
"There" said McGee again. The woman with the baseball cap had bumped into someone on her way out of the café and the jolt meant that she had lifted her head just enough to get a clear shot of her face.
"YES!" shouted Abby and enlarged the image. "Hi-five McGee" she said turning around on her stool and raising her hand. McGee returned the hi-five and they were both smiling
"I'll go upstairs and show Gibbs" said McGee and started walking towards the door. Abby smiled as McGee left the lab. Sometimes the man seemed so intelligent but at other times he could seem so stupid. Now was one of the intelligent times. ‘My kind of man' she thought happily to herself, and she span her self around on her chair several times smiling.
***
When McGee stepped into the bullpen, he was surprised to see only Gibbs there.
"Where's everyone else Boss?" questioned McGee
"Working," said Gibbs like it was a stupid question
"Right Boss" said McGee walking over to his computer. He pulled up the picture of Mandi King onto the big screen. "This is Mandi King," he said triumphantly
"Good work McGee" said Gibbs and looked at McGee
"I'll um…start scanning her picture through different databases," said McGee sitting down behind his computer screen so he could avoid Gibbs glare. Sometimes when Gibbs looked at you, you could almost feel it burning.
***
Kate and Carrie were cruising along in Carries car. They had been silent up until now.
"I think we've got off on the wrong foot" said Carrie "You seem a little cold towards me". ‘Great' thought Kate, she still hadn't decided on how she felt towards Carrie yet.
"Sorry" said Kate simply "Its just…"
"Just what?" said Carrie.
"Nothing" said Kate not wanting to get into this conversation.
"No, go on," said Carrie. ‘What the hell' Thought Kate ‘I'm gonna go for it'
"Me and Tony…" Carrie cut her off
"Aah, I see. You and Tony have this ‘thing' going and you think I'm going to be a threat to it"
"Umm, yeah kind of" replied Kate quietly embarrassed at how stupid that had sounded
"Let me tell you now" said Carrie almost laughing, "Tony is not the man for me. He's big headed, obnoxious, arrogant…"
"…sweet, caring, and he's good looking" continued Kate. Carrie laughed
"Ok. I'll give you the good looking part, he has got a certain charm I suppose" Kate felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"You mean that?" said Kate. Carrie had stopped laughing now and her face expression was soft.
"You really like him don't you?" said Carrie. Kate blushed slightly
"Well…yeah" she said quietly. She hated that she'd gone all mushy and bashful. She was such a loser.
"Does he feel the same?"
"No!" said Kate, "He doesn't know how I feel and you can't tell him ok?"
"How will you know if he feels the same about you if you don't tell him?"
"Promise me you won't tell him" said Kate nervously "You just can't, If he doesn't…"
"Tell him" said Carrie "Otherwise…"
"Promise me!" said Kate loudly slightly panicking now
"OK. I promise!" said Carrie "I will carry it to my death"
"Good" said Kate and the car returned to silence
"You should defiantly tell him though," said Carrie but there was no reply. A couple of minutes later and they pulled up to the house. The front door still had the criss-cross of crime scene tape suck on the front of it. "We're here," she said and they both got out of the car. They walked up the path and let themselves through he door. "Right what are we looking for again?" said Carrie
"Glass bowl, potpourri, anything we missed first time around really" replied Kate
"I'll do a scout around the outside" said Carrie
"Tony did that" said Kate
"No harm in doing it twice though" said Carrie and went back out the front door. Kate started climbing up the stairs. Carrie walked around the side of the house and noticed a gate at the edge of the garden. She went through the gate and ended up in a wide alleyway, wide enough for a car to fit down. Wheelie bins littered each side of the alley, each one by its own gate. She lifted the lid of the one next to her own gate she had just come through. "Damn, trash collectors been here already" she said. She walked around the other side of the bin. "Hello!" she said and she bent down to find three dried leaves on the ground. She took the camera out of her bag and took a picture. Then she lifted one of the leaves to her a nose and smelt it. "Potpourri" she said. She raised her gaze and came head to head with a bush. As she looked deeper into the bush, she thought she saw something glint in the light. She reached into the bush and extracted a small rectangular metal object. "A phone!" she said cheerfully. Just as she said that Kate came through he gate.
"Nothing knew in the house. Now Tony's pointed it out, the dust ring on the dresser is really obvious. We should have noticed it before," said Kate
"We weren't looking for things that weren't there though remember?" said Carrie "Look what I've found here" she said as she flipped open the phone. "There's potpourri on the ground there" and she pointed to the ground "and I've just found this phone in the bush here"
"How the hell did Tony miss that?!" said Kate in amazement
"I only noticed it because we were looking for the potpourri" said Carrie "From up there they look like all the other dead leaves around here, the grounds covered with them. Plus the phone was really quite far into the bush. I only noticed it because I had already bent down to look at those dried leaves"
"Still…" replied Kate
"Hmm" replied Carrie. "There are a lot of text messages on this phone from a Mandi. I'm pretty sure this is the vic's. The last one reads… ‘I finish work at 10pm. I'll swing round yours at about 10.30. Be ready for a rough night! Mandi XXX'"
"Definitely our vic's" agreed Kate.
"It was sent the night of the murder and fits the time frame Ducky gave us. I think this is our woman" Said Carrie. Kate's phone buzzed.
"Picture message from Gibbs" she said. "McGee and Abby managed to get a picture of Mandi from the Internet café tapes" She scrolled down the message and a picture popped up.
"I know who that is!" exclaimed Kate with shock!
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
Carrie and Kate have an close chat and a secret is revealed. Kate also gets a big break on the case.