Chapter Thirty
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Petty Officer Woodman said, trying to feign ignorance about the situation, but Gibbs’ gut told him that this was the man responsible for the situation Tony was in right now, whether it had been his idea or not was another question that Gibbs didn’t have the answer to, but he sure as hell wanted it.
“Don’t play the lovable idiot with me. The man you raped was a member of my team and I take any attacks on them very, very, very seriously,” Gibbs said, leaning closer and closer to the Petty Officer’s face as he spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Woodman repeated, trying to move his face so that he wasn’t in Gibbs’ eye line, but he couldn’t move away because Gibbs was right in his face.
“You’re not leaving here until I get some answers.”
“I’m happy to answer any questions about the drugs, but this rape? I know nothing about it.”
“Do not mess with me. The man you raped was an agent of mine, a dear friend, a valued colleague and you attacked him, you attacked him because you were told to and I want to know why you did it and who told you to do it?” Gibbs asked, his voice low.
“I don’t know…”
“WE HAVE YOUR DNA!” Gibbs shouted.
“My…my…my DNA?” the Petty Officer stuttered.
“Did you honestly think you would get away with attacking and raping an unarmed Federal Agent? That he wouldn’t report it? Preserve evidence? Go to a hospital to get checked out? That, as his colleagues we wouldn’t search high and low to get him justice? That he wouldn’t recognise your face, your stance, the way you were itching for a fix?” The fact that Tony had done pretty much none of those and had instead washed away vital evidence and chosen to try to take his own life than tell anyone was irrelevant, the suspect didn’t know that and if Gibbs had his way, he never would.
“I want a deal.”
“You have nothing to deal with,” Gibbs stated.
“I can give you my supplier.”
“I don’t want him, I want whoever paid you in heroin to raped my agent.”
“Nobody did.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not, I spotted him on his run, took him down and raped him,” Woodman admitted.
“Why?” Gibbs asked, sitting back in his chair. He knew the confession would come now and all he had to do was ask the right questions and he’d get the answers he wanted.
“I needed a fix.”
“Why didn’t you rob him?”
“He…er…he didn’t have any cash,” Woodman lied.
“He had $40 in his pocket, you took his pants off, you raped him and not once in his statement does he mention you searching him for money, which you would have found easily if you’d looked.”
“How do I know you’re not making that up?”
“Because we ran every possible forensic test on those clothes and we have an inventory of everything he had in his possession. He left his gun and cell at home otherwise you’d probably be down in our morgue with a gunshot wound to your forehead.”
“Okay, so I didn’t check.”
“Then why rape him, why not just mug him?”
“I needed the fix, I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“How did you know which of his shoulders was injured?” Gibbs asked, changing the direction of the questioning to confuse the suspect in the hope that he’d say something he’d regret later. It usually worked, the question was, would it work this time?
“I…I didn’t.”
“Then why did you grab him by that one and push him down and keep the pressure on that one shoulder, if you didn’t know he’d recently suffered a gun shot wound to it,” Gibbs asked.
“I just grabbed him and when he shouted out, I knew it was a sore point for him so I used it to my advantage.”
“Nice try. You’re either working for someone or you were and they either gave you enough money to buy yourselves enough heroin to last you a while or they paid you pure - in drugs. Now, tell which is was and I might consider a deal.” Gibbs sat forward, staring straight into the Petty Officer’s eyes, he wasn’t letting him leave that room until he had his answers, not while Tony lay recovering from emergency surgery - a direct result of the overdose that this man drove him to take.
“I’ll admit to the drugs and the rape, but I’m not saying anything more until I get a lawyer,” Woodman said, before sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. He looked so pleased with himself that Gibbs had to resist the urge to slap that smile of his face and let him know how serious he was about getting answers.
Instead, he stood up and turned out to the blackened mirror, he motioned for the tape to be turned off and said, “Get the Petty Officer a drink while we call his lawyer for him.” After that, he went out of the door and joined McGee and Ziva in the corridor.
“He confessed, why are you pushing for a name of someone who we do not know even exists?” Ziva asked.
“It’s something Tony said in his statement, that Woodman favoured his left shoulder when he grabbed it and leant on it for Tony to keep still. Also, why would an obvious drug addict like Woodman not notice the $40 in Tony’s pocket? Why didn’t he just take that and mug Tony? Why rape him instead? He doesn’t come across as the kind of man who would get off on it, so why did he do it? I think he was paid to; someone set Tony up, someone who knew that Tony had been injured in that shoulder and knew what route Tony usually ran at night. I want that person too, not just Woodman, I don’t just want the puppet, I want the puppet master,” Gibbs explained.
“I’ll go through the cases again, see if anyone stands out that might have known Tony was injured. I’ll check his most recent cases first. It would make sense that it was someone who was involved with the case that Tony got hurt on,” McGee said, heading for the elevator to the bullpen so he could start tracking down the “puppet master” that Gibbs was so desperate to find.
The lawyer - a Mr. Gareth Cooper - arrived forty minutes later and then demanded everyone leave the observation room and all tapes be turned off so that he could talk privately with his client. Gibbs did everything by the book and actually got them to turn off the tapes and video and ushered Ziva out of the observation room - he was determined that the Petty Officer have no reason to get the case thrown out of court. He was going to Levenworth for a long time for his attack on Tony.
After he was done talking with his client, he motioned for Gibbs to join him in the interview room, whilst Ziva re-entered the observation room and told the man to turn back on the video and audio.
“I have told my client to cooperate with you if there’s a chance of a deal,” Mr. Cooper said.
“What kind of deal are we talking about here?” Gibbs asked.
“You don’t prosecute for the drugs, get Petty Officer Woodman into a rehabilitation program so he can come off them and you change the charge from rape to sexual assault. It means he’ll serve less time in Levenworth. The dishonorable discharge is inevitable, but you have to put in a good word with the judge so he’ll be lenient when sentencing,” Mr. Cooper explained. His client said nothing, just looked at Gibbs.
“I won’t prosecute for the drugs, that’s fine, but I won’t reduce the charge and he will serve the appropriate time in Levenworth. He raped a Federal Officer, and he’s admitted to it, on tape. I also want the name of whoever paid him to do it before I agree to any deal,” Gibbs replied. He was determined that this man go down for Tony’s rape and he was not going to prosecute him on a smaller charge, he wanted people to know that this man was a rapist, and he wanted people to know for the rest of Woodman’s life.
“Okay, we won’t push for the smaller charge, but if he gives up the person responsible, you have to promise to ask the judge to be lenient when sentencing and that he’s allowed to attend a rehabilitation program whilst in jail.”
“Okay. Now, give me the name,” Gibbs said, looking at Petty Officer Woodman and giving him the full blast of his stare.
“I want police protection,” Woodman replied, still stalling for a better deal.
“You’ll be in custody, that’s the best kind of protection you’re going to get.”
“No, no, I’ve heard of people being killed in prison.”
“You think people are going to want to kill you after they hear you raped a Federal Officer? We put most of them there; you’re going to be a hero!” Gibbs told him.
“I still want protection.”
“Fine, I’ll arrange for you to be put in seclusion,” Gibbs replied, rolling his eyes.
“You promise?” Woodman asked.
“I swear it on my heart, okay? Now give me the name.”
Woodman took a deep breath in and let it out, wiped the sweat from his brow and looked Gibbs dead in the eye. “Jonathon Kamisnski.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?