Chapter 11:
The phone call came early in the morning. Both Gibbs and Tony were already awake, getting some much needed coffee before heading into the office.
Dispatch had called Gibbs’s cell, having been instructed the night before by the man himself that Tony was not going to be the agent on call that night. Gibbs had thought it best that Tony have a break from being the one to fill everyone in on the case; he had done enough of that as it was.
“Gibbs,” he answered his phone with his usual abruptness. After listening to what was being said on the other end he said, “We’re on our way,” and hung up the phone.
“What’s happened?” Tony asked immediately after Gibbs had hung up.
“There’s another body,” Gibbs told him as he moved to grab his gear before heading towards the door, with Tony not far behind him.
“Where we headed?” Tony questioned from the passenger seat once they had pulled out of Gibbs’ driveway.
When Gibbs hesitated to answer, alarm bells went off in Tony’s head. Something wasn’t right. Taking a closer look at his boss, Tony could see the small signs of worry on his face.
“Gibbs? What is it?” Tony questioned uncertainly.
“The body was found by your neighbor, Mrs. Perkins, in the parking lot of your apartment building,” Gibbs finally answered him.
Tony stared at him. “You’re kidding me, please tell me you’re kidding,” Tony said with dread.
Gibbs shook his head. “I wish I was, Tony.” The regret in Gibbs’ voice was evident.
Tony sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “He’s taunting me, daring me to catch him.”
“He’s taunting us,” Gibbs corrected him. “Morris has to be monitoring us somehow. How the hell else would he have known you weren’t at your apartment last night?”
Tony shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t. Like I said, he’s daring us to catch him. Dumping a body at my apartment is his way of mocking us. It might not have mattered if I was home or not.”
Gibbs didn’t like the sound of that. If Morris didn’t care if Tony had been home or not, then that meant that the chances of Morris going after Tony personally just went up. Revenge was a dangerous game; one Gibbs had no intention of letting Tony be part of.
“You should think about getting a surveillance team set up around your house,” Tony suggested, breaking Gibbs from his thoughts.
“I doubt Morris will try anything,” Gibbs stated.
“Probably not,” Tony agreed. “But then again, we don’t know how far he’s capable of going to make sure we know he’s here.”
Tony had a point. They had no way of knowing what Morris’ psyche was like, what kind of games he planned to lure them into playing. One thing Gibbs did know, he wasn’t planning on letting Tony go anywhere alone until Morris was caught.
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The rest of the team had arrived only a few minutes behind Gibbs and Tony, which they were both grateful for, but for different reasons. Tony had wanted the chance to take everything in; it was where he lived after all. Gibbs had merely wanted to observe Tony, wanting to make sure his senior field agent was ok. He didn’t doubt that his senior field agent would be able to work the scene; he was worried that Tony would become too absorbed in the work to deal with anything else. It was no secret to Gibbs that Tony often allowed work to distract him from his own personal feelings. After all, Gibbs tended to do the same thing.
Tony’s posture told everyone that he wasn’t ready to discuss anything not related to processing the scene, so McGee, Ziva and Ducky tried their best to act as if it were any other crime scene.
“Not much of a mystery for the COD, is it Ducky?” Tony stated once they had reached the body.
Ducky gave a sigh as he answered, “Probably not. Give me a moment and I’ll see about locating the pocket calendar.”
“Where’s Palmer?” Tony inquired.
“He got a flat tire on the way in this morning. He should be at the office by the time we finish up here,” Ducky responded.
As Ducky set to work, McGee and Ziva started to analyze the area while Gibbs and Tony headed over to get a statement from Mrs. Perkins. The body was partially hidden by a dumpster and Mrs. Perkins’ car. It was conveniently positioned so that someone simply walking by would not take notice, but easily spotted when someone approached the driver’s side of the car.
“You think the cameras might have caught something?” McGee asked as he pointed towards the security cameras overlooking the parking lot.
“Only if he wanted to be seen,” Ziva replied as she snapped a picture of the pocket calendar that Ducky was holding up for her to see before placing it into an evidence bag.
Ducky turned back to the body, looking deep in thought. He checked the body again, but still nothing. “This young man has no identification.”
“Really? I didn’t think Morris took souvenirs from his victims,” McGee wondered out loud. “Vaughn didn’t have any identification, either. Is it possible we are dealing with a copycat?”
Ziva looked thoughtful. “I do no believe so. The body being placed at Tony’s apartment is too much of a coincidence. Why would a copycat go after the investigators of the original crimes?”
“A copycat could always be trying to be recognized as the real killer. Knowing he can perfectly imitate another’s style and is able to fool us can be part of the thrill for him,” Ducky explained. “The presence of a pocket calendar and the condition of the body contradict the possibility of a copycat, though. None of these details were ever released to the public.”
“He’s changing his M.O.,” McGee stated. “Morris is killing to get Gibbs’ and Tony’s attention, not just because he was hired to.”
“But why take anything away from the victim? What is the purpose of that?” Ziva wondered, clearly frustrated.
“It is quite the mystery,” Ducky agreed. “But now one has to wonder if this young man is even in the Marines at all.”
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Mrs. Perkins was a 52 year old woman who taught high school history. She had been on her way to work when she had found the body. There hadn’t been much information that she could give them and she seemed more interested in fussing over Tony than worrying about the fact that she had just found a body. Gibbs, of course, was greatly amused by the amount of attention that the older woman was giving Tony.
“The killer isn’t after you, is he Tony?” Apparently Mrs. Perkins thought her time was better spent asking the questions.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Mrs. Perkins,” Tony tried to assured her.
“You’re not answering my question, young man,” Mrs. Perkins interrupted. “I’m no fool. If you don’t want to say anything about your investigation to me, fine. But do not give me your ‘I’m fine’ speech.” It was oddly entertaining to see her raise her finger and shake it in Tony’s face.
It was obvious to Gibbs that Tony wasn’t sure if he should be embarrassed or not by his neighbor’s display of concern towards him.
“I will personally see to it that Tony will stay out of trouble, ma’am,” Gibbs stepped in before Tony got himself into more trouble.
Mrs. Perkins looked at him, and Gibbs had to wonder if she looked at her students that way when they misbehaved in the classroom. She must have seen what she was looking for, because she gave him a nod. “Good. I could use the help.”
Then she turned back to Tony, who seemed to actually shrink under her evaluating gaze.
“When was the last time you had a decent meal? Don’t think I don’t keep track of how often you order out,” she scolded him.
“Last night,” Tony grinned in triumph. “Had dinner with Abby, you can call her and she will tell you I cleaned my plate.”
Mrs. Perkins merely rolled her eyes. “Cheeky bugger, aren’t you?”
As much as Gibbs was enjoying the show, he knew that it was time to get back to work. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Perkins. Give us a call if you can think of anything else.”
“Oh, of course,” she said. “And you give me a call if he starts being a nuisance.”
“Hey!” Tony started to protest, but a look from both Gibbs and Mrs. Perkins quieted him.
Laughing, Gibbs replied, “You bet.”
As they headed back towards the crime scene, Gibbs couldn’t resist teasing Tony a little. “Well, that was interesting. Didn’t know you had a mother hen.”
“As if you have room to talk,” Tony retorted. “You’re just as bad as she is.”
“Yeah, well, you need it,” Gibbs said with a smile.
“No, I don’t,” Tony said quickly.
“No one asked you,” Gibbs said lightly before speeding up to get within earshot of the rest of his team, leaving Tony to look at him with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, Jethro. Perfect timing, as usual,” Ducky said by way of greeting.
“What have you got?” Gibbs requested as Tony caught up to him.
“Well, there are the expected signs of the usual methods of torture,” Ducky began. “Several blows to the face and stomach area. I found a pocket calendar inside his front right pocket. Haven’t found any forms of identification, though.”
“He took Vaughn’s too. Since when does he start taking souvenirs?” Tony asked.
“As far as we know he’s a one-man team now. Circumstances change, so maybe he’s adapting to the change by taking trophies. Doesn’t have to share them,” Gibbs said.
“Or he’s using it as a way to keep track of those he kills while going after the two of you,” Ducky pointed out.
Before Gibbs or Tony could reply McGee and Ziva approached them.
“I’ve got the security footage from the entire apartment,” McGee said. “Everything is bagged and tagged too, Boss.”
“And I have finished as well,” Ziva said, indicating with her camera that she had been photographing the scene.
Gibbs nodded. “Alright, Duck, you’re clear to move the body. Let’s pack up and get everything to Abby.”
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Tony rode with Gibbs back to the office. He wanted to find out what the older man thought about Morris’ new incentive to killing again.
For the first few minutes the drive was made in silence. While Tony was trying to figure out a way to get Gibbs to tell him what he was thinking, Gibbs was busy trying to figure out how he could keep his promise to Mrs. Perkins and keep Tony safe.
Eventually Tony threw in the towel and spoke. “Alright, Gibbs. Out with it.”
Surprised by the upfront way Tony was speaking, Gibbs asked, “What?”
“You know damn well what. You think Morris is targeting me. So what if he is?” Tony said. “What I want to know is why now?”
Gibbs spared him a brief glare before he turned his focus back on the road. “So what if he’s targeting you? What the hell do you mean by that?”
Tony sighed. “I’m not trying to ignore the threat, Gibbs. Honest. I’m just trying to see the bigger picture, not get distracted by thinking Morris is gonna make me his next target.”
“There’s more going on here than just getting revenge,” Gibbs stated after thinking about what Tony had said.
“Exactly,” Tony replied. “Morris isn’t stupid. He’s gotten away with everything so far, so why risk getting caught now? It’s been years. Something’s changed.”
“The question is what?” Gibbs wondered.
“Have you considered the possibility that Morris actually was hired to do all of this?” Tony questioned.
Gibbs considered what Tony was saying. It was a possibility they were going to have to look into. Not to mention that Morris’ new behavior patterns would be easier to explain if there was an outside force influencing his actions.
“So someone else hires Morris to get our attention? And then what, kill us?” Gibbs asked.
Tony shrugged. “We have pissed a lot of people off over the years, Boss. What better way to make sure we get what’s coming to us than to hire someone who also has a grudge against us?”
“It would make covering their tracks easier to do by pinning the blame on someone else,” Gibbs agreed.
“Now the only question is who has the resources to find and hire Morris?” Tony pointed out.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Gibbs stated as he made a hasty move to cross two lanes to get to their exit in time.
Chapter End Notes:
Yay! Another chapter this month! I think I am getting better, lol. Hope you all enjoyed it, I really had fun with this one including Mrs. Perkins. I will take a poll of sorts if anyone wants to see her again at some point in this story. Right now she’s sort of just a side character to fill in a bit, but I wouldn’t mind developing her a bit more if anyone is interested. As always, reviews are welcomed with open arms! Appreciate you reading and reviewing!!!