Back in the game
"You killed an innocent man"
"He murdered my son, he deserved to die."
"He was already dead. You killed a dead man walking" S.A. Buchanan talking with a suspect
With the new evidence in hand, Team Gibbs was energized to get these dirtbags behind bars.
While Ziva, Tony, McGee went through the transcripts again, just to be sure there was no detail they might have missed, Buchanan and Gibbs looked at a map on the plasma.
"The red dots are where our victims were murdered;" says Gibbs "and the blue numbered dots are the hospitals where they went in the last four weeks before their murders." He looks at Buchanan, who has a very deep frown on her face "We have five murders, three hospitals in different parts of the city, with different lists of nurses, doctors, and administrative staff."
"Three victims went to the same hospital south of DC, but the other two went to completely different ones, one in the North and the other downtown."
"We will have to cross-reference the list of the three hospitals to see who was on duty when each of the victims came in." says Buchanan.
"McGee!" shouts Gibbs.
"Already on it, Boss."
"Try to access specially the janitorial staff list. Sometimes hospitals do not hire cleaning crews on their own, they hire third party companies. They would also have both access to the peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide and the necessary mobility to cover a very large area, as they are not bound to only one hospital," says Buchanan.
"I think I found something," says McGee. Gibbs moves to look over McGee's shoulder, Ziva and Tony crowd over him. Buchanan stays standing before his desk.
"All three hospitals use the same cleaning crew." He says the name of a big cleaning company in DC area.
"Get me the list of everyone who was on duty when our victims visited the hospital," says Gibbs.
"Oh…"
"What?"
"530 hits, Boss"
"Cross-reference them. Check if any of them worked in each hospital on the exact day our vics went there." McGee shakes his head, desolated. "I still have 140 hits."
"Damnit," Gibbs looks back at the screen as if he is mad, feeling in his gut that the time is running out. If they don't catch these dirtbags, someone else would be dead. Soon.
"Cross-reference with the high school lists," suggests Buchanan "either if the employee studied or have children studying in there."
More silence, only the noise of McGee's fingers on the keyboard, while McGee did his magic with the computers. "Twenty five hits."
"Now select only those employees who are male, a single parent with children, either divorced or a widower."
"Five hits." Gibbs makes a sign to McGee and he brings the employment pictures of the five suspects up on the plasma. "Why single parents with children?" Gibbs wants to know from Buchanan.
"Because…" she pauses to think before answering "the older unsub is the dominant one, who led the younger one to murder." She looks at Gibbs "If there was a feminine figure in the game, he would never have such power over the other one."
"So they are relatives," says Ziva.
"Probably father and son. Or in a relationship similar to it," She turns to Ziva "however, we still don't know what was the trigger point."
"What is the trigger point?" asks Tony.
"Whatever led them to murder. What was the turning point that made them decide that these people had no right to live."
"McGee, Buchanan, you with me. We take the first three. DiNozzo, Ziva, you check the other two."
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Gibbs drove to the address of the first suspect in his usual style, so when he stopped the car McGee was green around the gills. He slowly exited the car and supported himself against the hood of the car, trying to regain the feeling in his trembling legs.
And Buchanan was giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Can we do it again? Please, please with cherry on top?" she says with a smile to Gibbs.
He is amused. "Were you not afraid?"
"Are you crazy?" an astonished McGee wants to know.
"Nah, I like your driving."
Gibbs snorts and goes to front door of the suspect's house muttering under his breath. "She likes my driving."
"Are you crazy?" McGee wants to know again.
"No, but you forget that dad was a flyboy. Nothing like speed to warm up a girl's body." She smirks at him "and of course, I flew in one F-16 when I was only fifteen. Nothing describes the feeling of 3G force on your insides."
"Are you coming or not?" barks Gibbs from the door. Buchanan holds McGee's arm and guides him on his trembling legs to the door.
Two interviews later, they had dismissed the suspects as they both had perfectly good alibis. They got back in the car and left to check the third.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Meanwhile, on the way to talk to the other two suspects, Tony and Ziva were talking about the new addition to their team.
"So, Tony, what do you think of her?"
"Her, who?" he pretends to be dense.
"Special Agent Buchanan."
"I think," he turns the car to the left, going with the traffic, "that there is more than meets the eye." Pause "She's hiding something."
"She's hiding something." Ziva's voice is full of irony.
"Yes, Ziveer," he mispronounces her name on purpose, "she's hiding something."
"After all she has been through, don't you think she's entitled to it?" she says, mentioning the drama they watched when Ducky revealed the tragic story of her last team.
"Even if she has gone through that, I don't think that's what she's hiding."
"What do you mean?"
"She's hiding something bigger, darker." He shudders dramatically. "She gives me the creeps."
"She gives you the creeps because she's a shrink, and you are concerned that she will profile you and tell Gibbs that he'd better have you committed."
Tony frowns. "There's that too," he continues, "I am just uncomfortable with idea of someone walking around my mind. Looking at my secrets."
"Do you have secrets, Tony?" Ziva wants to know, smirking at him.
"Why, don't you?" He retorts. It is her turn to be uncomfortable.
They stay in silence for a moment.
"She bonded well with McGee."
"Too well. There is a story in there."
"And of course, you won't rest until you find out."
"No. Have you seen how he looked at her?"
Ziva remembers the look in McGee's face, but she had noticed something as well.
"Have you seen how she looks at him?" She retorts.
"I'm telling you, there is a story there."
"This is the address." Ziva changes the subject.
Their talk with the first suspect is a bust, but when they visit the second they are given new piece of evidence.
"Listen, I don't remember these guys," says the suspect, looking at the pictures of the victims. He is a man in his forties with thick pugilist arms. "They were probably treated in the ER, and that's not the area I clean in the hospital. I usually work on ambulatory or the oncology department."
Tony looks frustrated at Ziva, and stands up to leave. "Thanks for your time."
"Have you spoken to Eugene?"
"Eugene?"
"Yes, Eugene Hartmann. He always asks to be assigned to clean in the ER. I never understood why he would want to be close to all that gore and blood." He says rubbing his own arms up and down. "I usually clean the oncology department, where people are all silently dying. He always wants to check who is coming and going in the ER." He gives the pictures back to Ziva. "If these guys were in the ER at anytime, Eugene would remember them."
"Thanks for your cooperation."
They leave the house, and Ziva looks at their list of suspects. Eugene Hartmann is the third on Gibbs' list of interviews.
"We have to warn Gibbs," says DiNozzo, over Ziva's shoulder. Meanwhile, she dials, trying to reach him.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Meanwhile, in Eugene Hartmann's house, Gibbs, McGee and Buchanan were talking to the elder Hartmann.
"Yes, I was working in the ER at these days, but I don't remember these people," he says after barely looking at the picture of the victims. "I have a very hard job, I don't stay looking around these poor bastards that come to the hospital," he says, picking some dirt from his shirt. He is a slimy man, with oil slicked hair and a whitish beard which he kept nervously touching while talking to the agents. He's sitting on a love seat that is falling apart.
"We would like to you to come with us to NCIS so we can…" Gibbs keeps interrogating the suspect with McGee. Both of them are sitting on a ratty sofa that had seen better days, in a room in which the smell of mold and rotten food was overwhelming. Everywhere you look you could see newspaper piles and discarded fast food containers. There was a little shrine of pictures and trophies in the corner, which was the only place relatively clean. Buchanan approaches it and sees pictures of Mr. Hartmann with two teenage boys.
"Are these your boys, Mr. Hartmann?" Asks Buchanan.
"Yes, young Jimmy and the oldest Ernest. My boys."
"And both attended St. John HS in Dale City." She points to the trophy of the basketball team from the High School.
"Yes, but now only little Jimmy goes. Ernest died last September." She looks at Gibb and tries to convey an urgent message to him. The door opens. "Here is little Jimmy." A tall teenager comes in, with greasy hair falling over his face and a Metallica T-shirt.
The moment he sees the strangers in the room, he bolts.
McGee and Buchanan start to pursue him, meanwhile Gibbs turns to Mr. Hartmann and tells him to stand up so that he can cuff him. Mr. Hartmann's face goes through a transformation, as the old man suddenly attacks Gibbs with a knife he was hiding under the cushions of the love seat.
However, Gibbs is Gibbs, and after some moments struggling with the suspect, he has him cuffed on the dirty floor.
His phone starts ringing. He checks the ID, and answers. "Yes Ziva." "Hey Gibbs, it is Hartmann," says Ziva. "I know, I already have him cuffed. McGee and Buchanan are going after the son, we will be back shortly." He disconnects.
Meanwhile, McGee and Buchanan are running after the youngest Hartmann. They see him dashing inside one of his neighbors' empty house and follow him. They pick up their guns and, once inside the house, slowly follow him. They approach with care, checking every room to ensure that it is clear.
"Jimmy, we want to talk to you," shouts Buchanan. She looks at McGee, who signals with his head that he is going to the next room and he needs cover. Buchanan gets into position and sees McGee entering the room, checking all sides.
She follows him, and they see that they are in a corridor leading to the back of the house. There are wooden stairs leading to the second floor, but some of the steps are rotten. He did not go upstairs, as they would have heard him. They follow him to the end of the corridor, McGee in front with Buchanan covering his six. Only their controlled breathing can be heard. McGee approaches the end of the corridor, and prepares to go beyond the doorway when Buchanan holds him back. He looks at her, asking what silently. She has a strange expression on her face, and she closes her eyes in concentration for a few seconds. When she opens them, she signals to McGee to keep silent. She attaches herself to the wall where the steps lead to the upper floor. She stretches her hand, grabs a piece of rotten wood from the stairs and throws it into the corridor ahead.
Jimmy jumps and attacks them with a baseball bat, screaming and cursing all the time. He hits the wall above Joy's head, and for a couple of centimeters he would have bashed her head to a bloody pulp. McGee jumps at him and struggles, trying to get the bat away from the teenager. The teenager head butts McGee, and prepares to bring down the bat on him when Buchanan hits him with her gun, knocking him unconscious. She cuffs him, and looks up at McGee.
McGee is holding his nose in his hands, and Buchanan is breathing heavily due to the activity.
"Are you ok?"
"I think he broke my nose." His voice is muffed by his hands.
"Let me see," she steps over the body of the teenager and straddle McGee's legs, examining his face with soft hands. McGee decides that now is not a time to be brave.
"It hurts," he whines. She smiles at him and after a short examination, declares "it is not broken, just bruised." She gets a paper handkerchief from one of her pockets and gently dries the blood coming from his nose. He is looking at her with a guarded expression. She leans down and kisses the tip of his nose. "All better," she says.
"Indeed it is," he answers.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.