Meeting Ducky
"I was under the impression the whole LA BAU team was murdered. Killed by the hands of a lunatic."
"Yes, they were."
"Yet, here you are."
"The whole on duty team was murdered, Dr. Mallard. The keywords here are on duty." S.A. Buchanan talking with Ducky
The door of the morgue slides open. McGee and Buchanan enter the autopsy and find only Jimmy putting away the autopsy tools.
"Where's Ducky, Jimmy?"
"He is cleaning up after the autopsy, Agent McGee." He is looking at the new agent, who is staring at the stiff corpse duly sewed up on the table.
"Jimmy, I would like to introduce you to our newest team member, and my partner, Special Agent Joy Buchanan."
Joy takes her eyes off the corpse and directs them to Palmer. "Buchanan, this is Jimmy Palmer, Dr. Mallard's assistant."
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Palmer." She says airily, already directing her gaze back to the corpse.
"Nice to meet you too, Agent Buchanan." She starts walking towards it and Jimmy follows her "And I'm not a doctor yet, as I have yet to graduate."
"Uhm," her attention is totally focused on the corpse. McGee walks up to her and stands by her side. "Anything interesting?" he directs the question towards Palmer, but his eyes never leave Buchanan.
"Oh, we established that Mr. Phillips died of severe blood loss, directly related to the stabbings. The first blow, in his lower abdomen on the right side, severed several arteries vital to life. The other stabbings were not as deep or deadly, barely hitting any vital organs." He goes around the table while he explains, and point to the lacerations while he speaks. "He was also severely beaten, cracked two ribs, some internal damage, but nothing life-threatening."
"Where you able verify the order of the attack?" Palmer looks at her, confused.
"Order of the attack? What do you mean?"
"Was he stabbed first? Or beaten first? Was it alternated?"
"I don't know, I …" stammers Palmer
"Indeed my dear, very pertinent question," interrupts Ducky. He walks towards them, drying his hands in a towel. He directs his question to McGee without letting his eyes deviate from the stranger in his autopsy.
"Who is this lovely lady, Agent McGee?"
"This is Special Agent Joy Buchanan. She is the new team member in Team Gibbs."
"Really."
"Yes, and she will also be my brand-new partner." He says this with a hint of smile in his voice.
Ducky's eyes study the new agent carefully. The impeccably tailored suit speaks of taste and the high-heeled shoes give a feminine touch to the ensemble. Shoulder-length brown curls framed a naturally tanned face, which bespoke Latino ancestry and days spent in a much sunnier climate than DC. Full lips that could easily drive a man to distraction, but definitely her eyes were the most impressive feature. Deep soft brown pools studied him with mild curiosity, but gave no hint of whatever could be happening behind them.
And he notices that the same scrutiny he studied her she applied to study him.
"You will like to know, Ducky, that she is a profiler," adds McGee.
Ah, that explains a lot.
He looks in her eyes and gives a brief nod. Something shimmers in them and she acknowledges him. Nothing but a light curiosity shines in them now.
"Tell me, Agent…" he pauses to look at McGee. "Buchanan" he answers the unasked question. Ducky continues "what made you ask about the order of the attack?"
She looks at McGee, and at his silent permission she exposes their theory.
"If he was stabbed first then beaten, we can see here a very rare case of an unsub who changes his M.O. during a crime being committed. If he was stabbed, beaten then stabbed again, it creates a break in the M.O. that could suggest that we are dealing with two unsubs."
"Two unsubs?" Asks Jimmy confused
"It is what profilers call possible suspects. It stands for Unknown Subject," says McGee, proud of his new-found knowledge in profiling.
"Ah."
"I see. I remember a case I had back in 1979 where the same victim had been stabbed and poisoned. We had a hard time to figure out which had happened first because…" Ducky starts remembering his past. Buchanan looks at him for some seconds carefully following his story, looks at McGee with a frown in her face, What, he simply shrugs and mouths silent It's Ducky, and she looks at Ducky again and he is still spouting the story. "So, that's why I have never drunk whisky with beer again. A very good cautionary tale."
She has a very empty expression on her face.
"Dr. Mallard."
"Yes, dear."
"Dead body here."
"Ah."
He returns to his explanation.
"Our poor petty officer was first stabbed here," he points in a point to the side of his navel "on his back, which immediately sent him into shock." She nods, they already knew that "then he received stab number two and three here" he points to two other lacerations in his front "after he was defenseless lying on the floor; he was then brutally beaten on his torso here" he points to the marks "and here" he points another set of marks "however their aim were more to bruise and cause pain, than murder." Pause "Then he was stabbed again, after he was beaten, but these stab wounds were received postmortem."
"The beating itself would not have resulted in his death," interrupts Palmer.
"Indeed, Mr. Palmer," says Mallard with a brief glance to his pupil. He looks at Buchanan "the stabbings killed him, not the beating."
She glances to McGee, then walks around him towards the wall where the x-rays are on the light wall.
"Were you able to verify the type of knife used?"
"A short one, serrated blade. I collected some residue in the wounds and sent to Abby for analysis. Hopefully once we get a suspect and his knife we can compare to see if they match."
"Can't you make a 3-D rendering of the knife before that?" silence fills the room. She turns around to look at them, and sees their confused faces.
"How?"
"You input the x-rays in the computer along with a tomography of the body, and the computer can give you the approximate model of the blade according to the negative impression inside the wounds."
They look confused.
"We don't have such equipment," says McGee.
"You guys don't?" she asks incredulously.
"No," McGee says to her.
"I wasn't even aware such technology exists," says Dr. Mallard.
"Let me make some phone calls," McGee smiles at her, which does not goes unnoticed by Dr. Mallard and Mr. Palmer.
"Another thing," she approaches the body, stands close to McGee, invading his personal space and points to something in the body. "Have you noticed that?"
"What?"
"This," she points to the marks of fists on the torso.
"What are you seeing, my dear?"
"Each impression of the left fist made exactly the same mark once it came in contact with skin. Over and over."
Ducky leans over the body to look closer at what she is pointing to.
"Second finger, left hand."
He looks up to her."Indeed, there is some kind of faint mark, but it is impossible to discern with the amount of bruising on his torso."
"Do you think we can enhance the area and fiddle with it in the computer to have a better idea?" she asks McGee.
He frowns "We might," he looks at Ducky. "Have you e-mailed the autopsy pictures to Abby?"
"Of course."
"Wanna meet the last member of our team?"
"Sure." They politely say goodbye to Ducky and Palmer and leave the room, all the time talking about the evidence uncovered.
Palmer is smiling. "She seems to be a nice person" he looks at Dr. Mallard and notices a preoccupied expression on his mentor's face "and she seems to get along well with McGee."
"Yes" he answers gravely. "A little too well." He murmurs sotto voce.
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