"How did you manage it?" Tony asked, sitting at Gibbs' kitchen table as he reached for his third slice of pizza.
"Director Shepard knows you're no killer. She knows you aren't a flight risk." Gibbs stated, taking a quick swallow of his beer before reaching into the pizza box again himself.
Tony nodded and chewed his pizza thoughtfully. "I have to get rid of everything. The bed, the furniture, all of it."
Gibb shook his head. "You have plenty of time for that. You're going to say here until we find out what happened to Sharon."
"Thanks, Boss. I can't handle going back there."
"We have a busy day tomorrow. Agent Lewis needs a formal statement from you and we have a meeting with the director in the morning." Gibbs stated as he cleaned the pizza box and the beer bottles off the table.
Tony nodded, stretched and yawned. It was now 1 a.m. He had not slept for nearly 20 hours, since he had woken up beside Sharon. Besides struggling with the actual incident, he was struggling with his feelings for Sharon. They were not officially dating. They frequented the same bar and had talked at the times when neither one came in or picked up a date. Which, by Tony's count, was twice. Though he had seen her in the bar, he guessed close to a dozen times. She had been a really nice woman. She worked, he thought she had said, in a congressman's office. She was, well, he was unsure of her job. He was as unsure of her job as he was about his feelings for her. He would tell as much as he could remember to Jason Lewis and his team when he gave his formal statement. Tony stood up and headed off to the spare bedroom.
Gibb finished cleaning up the kitchen. He couldn't figure out this case. He knew his friend, his senior field agent. Tony was no murderer. A womanizer, maybe, but not a murderer. But there had been no forced entry. Tony had confirmed to him that few people had his key. The locks didn't look as though they had been picked. Agent Lewis's team had picked up no fingerprints besides Tony's and Sharon's. But there was a easy explanation for that. The intruder could have worn gloves. There had been evidence of sexual activity on Sharon's body. But there was no semen, Tony had admitted to wearing a condom. She had had Tony's DNA under her fingernails. Which Ducky had told Gibbs could be very easily explained. Ducky had put the time of death for anywhere from an hour before Tony left for work, until an hour after, a two hour span of time. Gibbs mulled all these things over and nothing was making sense. It seemed to be a half-hearted attempt to frame Tony for murder. It made Gibbs 'gut' work overtime.
The next morning in the car on the way to NCIS Tony voiced Gibbs concerns. "Why shoot her like Kate was shot? Ari's dead, we know that. The guy would have had to stand directly over her and shoot her to get the angle Ducky said the bullet traveled. I don't think it was a coincidence, Gibbs. He could shot her anywhere in the head. Why walk up to her, risk waking her up? Risk struggling with her and leaving DNA evidence behind."
"He wanted her to know who was going to kill her?" Gibbs said simply.
"Okay." Tony agreed. "But why at my apartment?"
"Her husband, her boyfriend found she was cheating, followed the two of you...." Gibbs started.
"And sat in his car and waited until I left in the morning?" Tony asked.
"Found out where you lived, came back, and waited until you were gone."
"Why not just kill me when I left in the morning?" Tony reasoned.
"He kills you, she just finds another guy. He kills her...."
Tony nodded. "She never cheats again."
"We're still missing something here. He would have had to break into my apartment. This random guy. We both know my apartment was not broken into. The locks weren't picked either. I have a dead-bolt. You can't pick a dead bolt."
"So, you're sure you threw the dead bolt when you left."
Tony nodded. "I always lock the dead bolt when I have 'company,' just so they will be safe when I'm not there."
"Then the murderer has keys."
"I don't give out keys to girlfriends, well, not anymore, anyway. I learned my lesson after I came home to a couple of ruined Armani suits and having my apartment trashed a couple of times. I've changed locks since the last one, too." Tony sighed.
"I think we have discounted the boyfriend theory." Tony paused, thinking out loud. "So what, somebody came in to kill me. I wasn't there, so they killed Sharon? Wouldn't someone who wanted to kill me at least take the time to get to know my schedule?"
Gibbs sighed. "How long has it been since we had anything that even resembled a regular schedule?" Gibbs stated, speaking of the long nights and equally long cases.
Tony nodded.
"Things aren't looking good for me, are they Boss?"
Gibbs couldn't do anything but shake his head.
Chapter End Notes:
I don't know that deadbolt locks cannot be picked. But for the sake of my story, I am saying they can't be.