To call the day a slow day at the office would be an understatement. Gibbs spent the day looking though old case files. McGee was upgrading their computers, and Ziva was redoing her report for the third time. Gibbs took one look at it and threw it back on her desk.
"Not good enough"
Ziva looked about ready to explode. She didn't expect any special treatment because she was Israeli, in fact she would have been pissed if Gibbs gave it to her, but to spell check her report once again was almost too much for her. She gave an annoyed grunt and turned her focus back on the computer.
Tony had been unusually quite all morning. On days like this he would normally hassle his co-workers because he hated doing paperwork. But there was no paper-throwing contest and no annoying videogames when Gibbs wasn't there. Gibbs looked up from his work and noticed McGee glancing over at Tony. He had noticed it too. He turned his own focus to his senior field agent. Tony was looking very concentrated, which in itself was weird. He usually looked relaxed and carefree, even when he did his best work. Something that use to annoy Kate endlessly. But not today. Gibbs studied him for a minute;
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs finally barked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Tony' head snapped up, "Yeah, Boss?"
"What're you doing?"
Tony looked at him puzzled, "finishing the Carter-report like you asked me too… why?"
Gibbs though for a second, not knowing just what to say. Why did he call for Tony? Just because he was finally acting like a professional agent and doing his job without too much noise?
"Aren't you done yet? I want it on my desk after lunch!" Gibbs finally barked to excuse himself.
"Sure thing, Boss" Tony said and went back to work.
But Tony wasn't really telling Gibbs the truth. The Carter-report had been done for almost two hours, and at this minute he was going through the mysterious life of Jerry Holmes. Anything he could find on the old man. Bank records, criminal records and anything else he could find. He found Jerry's retirement record, the deed for his old house and some bank statements, but nothing before 1979. It was like Jerry didn't exist until that year. ‘This was what Abby would call hinky', Tony thought to him self, and suddenly a strange though appeared. He turned his attention back to his computer, and after two hours he knew a lot of strange thinks about the old poker-player.
Tony smiled to himself. ‘That old con-artist!'
It was almost 11.30 a.m. and Tony decided to check out Jerry's old house on his lunch break, when his phone rang. It was Abby.
"I'll be right down" Tony got up and headed for the lab.
"DiNozzo! Where are you going?"
"Just running down to Abby for a second. Be right back"
Gibbs looked irritated, "and your report?"
Tony smiled, "it's on your desk"
Gibbs looked down and right in front of him was Tony's report. Damn, the kid was getting sneakier all the time. How the hell did he…? He was slowly turning into Gibbs.
Tony didn't wait for Gibbs' responds and jumped into the elevator and pressed the button.
Abby was standing ready when Tony walked into the lab.
"You're still not going to tell me what this is about?" she asked, her voice filled with accusation.
"That depends on what you found. Did you find anything?"
"Well, your guy here, if it is a guy because I didn't have time to do a DNA-test, has serious health problems. Bad liver, failing kidneys and don't even get me started on his cholesterol. God, I'm beginning to sound like the Duckman".
"Anything else besides his bad choice in lifestyle?"
"Yes! I found something hinky" Abby smiled and her fingers ran across the keyboard.
Tony walked closer to the screen.
"See this?" Abby pointed to a chart on the screen. One column was higher than the others and it was blinking.
"Yeah, what is it?" Tony's knowledge in chemistry was limited.
"Digoxin. It's a drug used to treat patients with heart conditions. Angina, those kinds of things. But they are usually in very low doses because it's very hard to control the concentration in the plasma and it's extremely toxic. Normally you'd find…."
Tony cut her off, "Abs, the short version. Did it kill him?"
"Yep, definitely! The concentration suggests a one-time dose of more that 200 mg. Anything higher than 20 mg and you're history".
"Could it be an accident? Maybe he took too many pills by mistake?"
"No way! This stuff usually comes in pills containing 0.25 mg. Do you know how many pills that is? It's like over 800 pills! It only leaves two possibilities: either he intended to kill himself, which is unlikely with that many pills or he was given it intravenous, and that usually means one thing…"
"Murder" Tony finished her sentence.
"Yep, your guy here was probably murdered" Abby said, finishing her presentation.
Tony thought about it for a minute. This changed the situation. If Jerry was really murdered; who did it, and why?
Lost in thought he didn't notice Abby staring at him.
"So, now are you going to tell me what this is all about?"
Tony frowned. He actually wanted to bring Abby in on his little mystery, but didn't like to bring anyone in on it, before he knew for sure what this was all about.
"Sorry Abs. Maybe later" He gave her a smile and a thank you and left before she could ask again.
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Everyone was surprised when Tony said no thanks to lunch, especially because McGee was paying because of an old bet with Tony. They all stared at him when he went for the elevator; then stared at each other.
"Anyone know what's going on?" Gibbs asked the rest. Both Ziva and McGee shook their heads. Gibbs didn't like that answer. Tony was not acting like ‘Tony'. Something was up.
___________________________________________________
The house was old and had seen better days. It was made of wood, built like southern houses with a huge porch and a rocking sofa hanging down from the ceiling. The front porch was covered with leaves and an old ivy plant covered most of the railing. The plant seemed to be eating the house slowly; it's mission to one day cover the entire house. Tony tried to imagine what it had looked like in the good old days, when Jerry bought it. It must have been beautiful. He wondered why Jerry hadn't sold it when he moved to the retirement home.
Walking up the front stairs, Tony scanned the surroundings. It was a typical American suburban neighbourhood. Some kids were play down the street, and occasionally a car passed by, but other than that it was very quiet. Tony turned his attention back to the house and noticed that a few of the windows were broken. Probably the neighbourhood kids playing baseball or something. Tony could already imagine the stories about the old con-artist who used to live here. Now the house actually looked a little haunted which only would add new fuel to the stories.
Tony tried looking in through the windows but couldn't see anything. When he grabbed the door handle he found the door unlocked. Automatically his senses intensified, like a reflex. Occupational hazard, he thought.
He walked into the hallway and was amazed. The house was even bigger on the inside. He started walking around the house, occasionally lifting a book or touching a surface. Walking through the many rooms brought memories back to Tony. The house had an uncanny resemblance to Charlie's parent's house, an old childhood friend. Tony and Charlie used to spend hours playing hide and seek in that house. There were so many hiding places. It once took Charlie 2 hours to find Tony. He's found the perfect spot in the attic. So many hiding places.
‘I don't even know what I'm looking for', Tony thought,
‘a key maybe? So, if I was an old con-artist, where would I hide a key?'
Tony sighed, it was almost impossible. Like finding a needle in a haystack. He looked at the time. He had to get back soon or Gibbs was gonna suspect something. Knowing his boss, he probably already did.
Tony took a quick look upstairs. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but Tony had a fealing that someone else had been here recently. The floor was covered with a thin layer of dust and there were footprints here and there. Maybe Jerry came to visit his old home. Tony turned and headed downstairs again. But suddenly he stopped his walk down the stairs. In the middle of the hall, a huge chandelier was expanded from the ceiling. Tony had seen it earlier but didn't take much notice of it. Now he studied it closer. It was actually beautiful, a small ring on the top and long rows of glass-pieces led down to a bigger ring, where the light bulbs where. Then long rows of glass-pieces hung down, assembled in the middle and creating long arches. It wasn't the shape in it self that caught Tony's eye. It was the fact that all the little glass-pieces were in the shape of spades, club, diamonds and hearts. The perfect chandelier for a card player like Jerry. Tony wondered if Jerry had had it made especially for him. Then he thought he saw something hiding up in the chandelier, but he before he could look closer, another feeling hit him.
A chilling feeling; he was not alone in the house.
Tony looked around the hall and his hand instantly went to his gun. He took two steps down, and suddenly several loud shots rang through the house. It took a while before Tony noticed that something was seriously wrong.
Then pain.
His legs started to give in, and he tumbled down the last three steps. The gun fell out of his hand, his fingers losing all strength. He landed on his back and had to fight to keep his eyes open. He frantically turned his head from side to side, but didn't see anyone. He tried to lift his head, and then he noticed the red colour spreading across his chest. He led his head fall, suddenly very tired and his eyes fluttered. ‘Have to stay awake' he whispered. Then he closed his eyes…
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony finds out the truth about Jerry's death, but he's not the only one....