Chapter Fifty-One
Tony was the first one up the next morning. The alarm had been set for six am because that was usually the time Gibbs got up to get into work for seven am, but Tony hadn’t been able to sleep so was up long before the alarm went off. He was worried about seeing his rapist in court today, he knew that he’d have his ‘family’ around him because they’d all given evidence and now it was just up to Woodman and then the prosecution would rest and as far as he knew there were only a few people the defense planned to call so the trial could be over that day, but he wasn’t sure and it scared the hell out of him.
He hadn’t met Woodman before, never come across him in his line of work or when he was investigating Kamisnski when he worked for the Baltimore P.D. even though the pay slips that Woodman had given him said he worked for him around the same time. The only time their paths had crossed had been the night Tony had been raped by him and now they were going to be in the same room, across from each other while Woodman gave evidence to help keep his sorry ass from being put in jail for the full extent of his crime and in with general population where it was likely he’d be killed within a week. Criminals had morals and although he’d raped a Federal Agent, he’d still raped a man and some criminals didn’t look on that too kindly, which was one of the many reasons that Woodman was in seclusion along with Michelle Lee.
Gibbs found him sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of lukewarm coffee when he got up at six am. He grabbed himself a cup from the percolator and sat opposite Tony.
“How you feeling today?” he asked, taking a gulp from the warm cup.
“Numb in some ways, terrified in others,” Tony admitted.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really, but I will because Dr. Clark says I should rather than leave it bottled up. He said if I do that then one day I’m just going to explode.”
“Okay. What’s the problem?” Gibbs asked, putting his hands round his warm cup of coffee and looking Tony in the eye.
“I don’t think I can cope with seeing Petty Officer Woodman today. I mean, it was hard enough yesterday seeing Michelle after she’d betrayed me, but Woodman? He did more than betray me, he raped me, attacked me, held me down where I was most vulnerable and just attacked me and I did nothing to him, nothing. How can someone do that to another human being?”
“I don’t know. I know I couldn’t and I know that you don’t have it in you, but some people do, it’s why NCIS still exists because evil people still exist in the world and are intent on making innocent people suffer.”
“But why did Kamisnski choose me?”
“Why did you choose Kamisnski?” Gibbs asked, turning the question around.
“I didn’t choose him necessarily, he just came to my attention and I stayed with it.”
“You can to his attention when you started to investigate him and stick your nose where he didn’t want it to go, so he paid for Woodman to rape you, to do something most people wouldn’t do for a million dollars, let alone $10,000 worth of pure heroin.”
“Do I have to go today?” Tony asked, draining the contents of his cup.
“No, you don’t have to do anything, Tony, but I promise you that if you don’t face him now you’ll regret it later. You don’t have to come with us, but we’ll all be there with you if you do and we’ll help you face him together.”
“Kinda like getting back on the horse when it throws you off, huh?”
“Yeah, kinda like that.”
Tony sighed and got up to get another cup of coffee, once it was poured and he’d added milk and sugar, he turned to look at Gibbs. “I’ll come, it’s something I need to do as part of my recovery.”
“Okay, go grab a shower and I’ll make some breakfast,” Gibbs told him. Tony drank his coffee quickly, dumped the cup on the side and headed upstairs to use the en-suite bathroom to shower and get dressed and ready to face the day in court.
~*~
Tony was dressed in the same suit he had worn the previous day, but with a light blue shirt instead of the one he’d worn then. Abby was out of her court clothes, but was still dressed smarter than usual - as if she wanted to make a good impression on the jury from the observation area of the courtroom. Gibbs had opted for a black suit with a nice tie that Tony had brought for him many Christmases ago, but he’d never worn before. He figured it would show Tony that he was there for him and even though they’d only been together a few months, presents brought before that still meant something to him.
McGee and Ziva couldn’t make it to the morning portion of the trial as they had paperwork to go over at the Navy Yard - the only reason Gibbs was there and not at work was because he was still take sporadic days off as ‘personal leave’ and had booked off the whole of the trial so that he could be there for Tony - especially today with Woodman giving evidence.
“Ready?” Gibbs asked, taking Tony’s hand and squeezing it gently, as they approached the door to courtroom one where the trial was being held.
“As I’ll ever be,” Tony replied, sounding and looking as nervous as he felt.
Abby grabbed his other hand, “oh, Tony, don’t worry, you’ll get through this and we already know Woodman’s sentence.”
“We do?” Tony asked, looking confused.
“Yeah,” Abby said, “it came through last night, he requested a judge only trial. He was sentenced to ten years in Levenworth, has to register as a sex offender once he’s released, been dishonourably discharged from the Navy and is also receiving treatment for his drug addiction.”
“What about Michelle?” Tony asked, suddenly interested in whether her case had been heard yet.
“I dunno, she’s a civilian so she’ll be tried in civilian court. As far as I know she’s still being held in Central Holding until she can be transferred over to Metro for sentencing and the trial. Who cares what happens to her anyway?” Abby replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“So, it’s just Kamisnski left?” Tony asked.
“Yep and it looks like the case’ll be wrapped up in a few days and then the jury just have to decide if he’s guilty on all the charges and if he’s not all, then which ones and how long to send him to Levenworth for, preferably not the same area as Woodman coz he’d well, he’d kill him for testifying today. Not that I’d mind, one less rapist in the world,” Abby replied, shrugging her shoulders again. “Come on, let’s go and get a good seat.”
She pulled on the hand of Tony’s that she was holding, which in turn, pulled Gibbs along and soon they were down the front of the courtroom, in seats that gave them a good view of the judge, the jury and the prosecution’s table. Abby decided against sitting them behind the defense because she didn’t think Tony would cope with being so close to Kamisnski - or would she for that matter because he was high on her ‘list’.
They all rose when the judge entered and took his seat, the jury was led in and sat down and they were reminded briefly of what had happened the day before with who had given evidence. It was mostly for the juries benefit so that they could continue to follow the case.
“The prosecution calls Petty Officer James Woodman to the stand,” Lieutenant Watson said, standing up.
The bailiff that had come to collect Tony the day before disappeared behind a door and came back with a guard who was handcuffed to Woodman. After he was sworn in, he took a seat in the witness box and Watson approached him.
“Please can you tell us your full name and title, for the jury?” he asked.
“I’m Petty Officer James Woodman of the United States Navy,” he replied, his voice shaky.
“Can you please tell us what you were doing the night of April 13th of this year?”
“I followed, attacked and raped Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.”
“You admit this crime?”
“I do.”
“You have been charged with this crime?”
“I have.”
“What sentence have you received?”
“Ten years in Levenworth with no chance of early parole as well as being registered for life as a sex offender.”
“Why did you rape Anthony DiNozzo?” Watson asked.
“Objection! This calls for speculation,” the defense lawyer, Lieutenant Marrow, shouted.
“It’s important to the case, your honour,” Watson argues.
“Overruled. Petty Officer, please answer the question,” the judge said.
“I was paid $10,000 worth of pure heroin to stalk, attack and rape him.”
“Who paid you this money?”
“Lieutenant Commander Jonathon Kamisnski.”
“Did you know him before he approached you to do this?”
“Yeah, I worked for him as a runner when he sold drugs to small time dealers. I got into the habit of keeping some back for myself so he fired me, but he knew I’d do it for that amount of heroin.”
“Was getting clean part of your sentence?”
“Yeah, I’ll spend some of the ten years in a rehabilitation program to help me stay off heroin and other drugs. I don’t want to be on them now that they’ve cost me the job I loved in the Navy.”
“No further questions.”
Lieutenant Andrew Watson - the JAG prosecution lawyer sat down and Lieutenant Jeffery Marrow - the JAG defense lawyer stood up and settled himself across from Woodman.
“You’re a self-confessed, drug addict, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve been dishonourably discharged from the Unites States Navy, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve been sentenced to ten years without parole in Levenworth, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve been sentenced to appear on the sex offenders register for life, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So, basically, you’re a criminal, a felon.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And we are meant to believe that you didn’t just attack and rape Special Agent DiNozzo for the money to buy drugs?”
“I didn’t search for any money, sir.”
“Yes and the NCIS officers have already testified that there was $40 in his back pocket.”
“Yes, sir. Kamisnski told me to attack, rape him and get away and that he would pay me in pure heroin.”
“Where’s that heroin now?”
“It was seized when I was arrested.”
“So, you don’t have it?”
“No, sir.”
“I see. One more question, if you were me, would you believe a self-confessed rapist and drug addict like yourself?”
“I…I don’t understand the question,” Woodman said, sounding confused.
“Never mind. No further questions, your honour,” Marrow said and Woodman was led away.
Tony ran out of the courtroom before Gibbs or Abby could stop him, he stopped when he found the men’s room and once he was inside, he heaved and vomited the lovely breakfast that Gibbs had made him. He cried and cried and didn’t hear Gibbs enter and only found out he was there when Gibbs put a hand on his back and rubbed soothing circles to ease the cramps of dry heaving.
“You did good, Tony.”
“He’s gonna go free, I can feel it in my bones.”
“He’s not, the trial isn’t over yet. We always knew that Woodman was a dodgy witness, just breathe and we’ll get a cup of coffee before we go back in there,” Gibbs told him and Tony obeyed. They sat on the men’s room floor, holding each other, waiting for Tony to stop crying before the left and found the same bench they had say on the day before.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?
Chapter End Notes:
Again, I am not a lawyer so please point out any mistakes...I've researched to the best of my ability.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!