Tony watched Warren through the one way glass. The guy looked as wired and tired as Tony felt. He probably didn't sleep last night any more than Tony had. Killing his brother, dumping the body, cleaning out Earl's hotel room and then trying to figure out what to do from there likely kept Warren busy.
Tony yawned, rubbing at his gritty eyes. Spending two hours running around D.C. visiting various branches and searching Warren's safety deposit boxes had been invigorating at the time, but now left him feeling drained. It was oddly disappointing to find only money. Tony kept hoping there would be something exotic, something interesting like jewelry, antique coins, even stocks and bonds would have been more exciting after the fifth box filled with hundred dollar bills.
Tony grimaced. As a rough guess, he estimated each of the ten boxes they'd found held almost two hundred thousand. If he was right, they'd recovered nearly two million in cash. Combined with the investments and real estate McGee and Lee had located, they'd managed to track down just under three million. It was a tidy sum of money, one Tony briefly fantasized about what he'd do with if he'd stolen it the way Warren had.
Maybe he could convince Gibbs to indulge his secret desire to travel. The former Marine had told him he'd never gotten to go anywhere just for fun. Every trip he'd ever taken had been courtesy of the Corps or NCIS.
It didn't matter where they went or why. They could afford to go anywhere, for months on end. Hell, they could even take Mike and his family...maybe a cruise to the old country. It would be fun for everyone. No need to worry about Momma C's dislike of flying that way, and stuff to interest everyone with enough space they wouldn't get on each other's nerves; it was perfect.
Once they got done with traveling, he could help Zeke open his own design firm. Could pay off the mortgage Sammy had on the farm. And see to it Sammy's soon to be born son or daughter could go to the college of his or her choice. He could fund more research for Gabe. Set up a workshop for Gibbs...one bigger than the former Marine's basement so he could build a sailboat large enough to spend weeks on. They could explore the coastline, spend weeks by themselves. And if there was any money left over, he might even get himself a Ferrari, a red one like Magnum had.
Tony rolled his eyes at his own imagination. Hiding it was obviously the last thing he'd have thought to do with three million at his disposal, especially not in US currency, in banks in D.C. But then, courtesy of his father's influence, Tony knew a lot about how off shore accounts worked. For all his ability to embezzle, it was possible Warren simply didn't know how or didn't have the contacts necessary to set up something outside the country. It wasn't as easy as they made it look on TV.
If Warren's apartment was anything to go by, the guy did spend a nice piece of change on clothes and jewelry. Not nearly as much as Tony might have, but there was no denying the man had good taste. Shame all those clothes would become evidence and probably be lost in the system.
Tony sighed again. At least most of what was stolen could be returned with relative ease. Tony was glad Warren hadn't stocked his boxes with anything smaller than one hundred dollar bills. Counting all it, logging each bill into evidence was going to take hours as it was. Tony was very grateful that job had fallen to Lee, McGee and Abby.
"Who knew paper could be so heavy?" McGee mused when he'd hefted one of the bags Tony and Ziva had dropped off in Abby's lab.
"Think of it as positive proof that paper used to trees," Tony had responded with a wan smile. He'd lugged the bags from the van. He knew how damn heavy they were. "And one more reason to carry plastic."
"This is going to take forever," Lee had said, staring in horror at the small mountain of bags.
"Not forever," Abby countered with a bright smile before it morphed into a grimace, "it will just feel like it."
Ziva held up a drink tray she'd brought with her. It held two cups of coffee and a Caf-Pow. "I brought you this."
Abby had grinned, taking her drink and sucking on the straw with obvious delight. McGee took a coffee with a casual nod. Lee was more hesitant, demurely taking the offered beverage with a quiet 'thank you', barely making eye contact. Tony wondered how long it would take before Lee stopped being afraid of Ziva. Given how long it had taken McGee, Tony added another month to his initial estimation.
Tony refocused his attention to Warren. He watched him fidget, hands constantly in motion---rubbing his face, brushing through his hair, tapping against the table. Oh yeah, the guy was more than nervous; he was scared to death. You should be scared, Tony thought, studying Warren as the man gave in and got up to pace. Gibbs was just outside the door, reviewing the evidence file. It would be show time soon. Tony glanced at his watch. He gave Warren less than twenty minutes before he broke.
"Do you think we got it all?" Ziva asked, looking away from Warren to make eye contact with Tony.
"God, I hope so." Tony did not want to continue looking for stolen funds. What he wanted most was to lay down for eight hours...with Gibbs.
Tony's gaze returned to the interrogation room when Gibbs opened the door and stepped inside. He stifled a shiver. He loved watching Gibbs do this. The man was so clearly in control of the room, strong and confident, sharp and focused. God, what a turn on. Tony mentally reined himself in. Now was not the time to lose his focus.
Warren had stopped pacing when Gibbs entered, putting his back to the wall. He reminded Tony of a mouse suddenly aware of a cat nearby. Tony smirked. Freezing was instinctive and positively useless.
"Sit down," Gibbs ordered calmly, no inflection in his voice.
Warren licked his lips nervously, hesitantly stepping over to the table and sitting down so he faced the one-way mirror. Gibbs pulled out the other chair, angling it slightly so that when he sat down, Tony had a clear view of Warren's face and Gibbs' profile.
The silence stretched for several minutes. Ziva looked askance at Tony, clearly wanting an explanation for why Gibbs had not immediately started to question Warren. Tony smiled.
"Thinking he's not going to have to ask any questions." Tony murmured, nodding to Warren. The man was still fidgeting apprehensively. He'd start talking in another minute or less.
"Such a nervous ninny." Ziva snorted derisively. "Hard to believe he could kill anyone."
"Thinking the murder was more a crime of passion." Tony shrugged.
"So pissed on his brother he lost it and beat him to death?"
"Pissed at, or pissed off," Tony corrected softly, unable to not chuckle. "Pissed on is an entirely different subject."
Ziva shook her head, sighing heavily. "English, as Americans speak it, makes no sense."
"Are you telling me that Israeli doesn't have any colloquialisms?"
"Not as many as you have...or quite so...so...colorful."
Tony grinned. "Pity."
He sobered when he heard Warren start speaking. Attention once more drawn to the tableau in the other room.
"Are you going to read me my rights now?"
Gibbs handed him a piece of paper. "Everything you need to know is there." Icy blue eyes appraised Warren before offering him a pen. "When you are finished, sign the bottom."
Warren's hand shook when he took the pen. He bit his lower lip as he read over the rights. He looked up, a desperate gleam in his eyes. "What if I don't sign?"
"Then I sign." Gibbs tipped his head toward the glass. "And the people in there will witness that I gave them to you. And the video tape recording of this meeting will be offered as corroborating evidence that you had the opportunity to review your rights."
That was directly out of the procedural manual. It wasn't something they usually had to do. But there was no way this case would get thrown out on some technicality. Even if all they had to tie Warren to Kinsac's murder was circumstantial, the embezzlement would stick.
Warren swallowed hard, eyeing the mirror apprehensively before finally signing the form. Gibbs took back both the sheet of paper and his pen. He then laid out photos of Kisnac's body in the alley and a shot of his face in the morgue. Tony knew the usual reaction was to look at the photos, natural curiosity got the better of most people and they couldn't resist glancing at what was put in front of them. Warren was no exception. He looked down, paling considerably before looking away.
"Hard to look at, aren't they?" Gibbs asked, his tone soft. "Not every day you see handiwork like this."
Warren swallowed hard. He kept his eyes fixed on a point over Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs tapped one of the photos making sure Warren was still aware of its presence even though he refused to look down again. He idly shifted one, studying it closely before spinning it back toward Warren.
"Must have hated him a lot to do that kind of damage."
"I didn't hate Earl!" Warren denied, eyes blazing with righteous indignation.
"No?"
"No!" Warren clenched his jaw, looking away again.
Tony traded a look with Ziva. Warren sounded like he actually meant that. So why the hell did he do all this?
"Tell me what happened," Gibbs ordered.
"Why?" Warren hissed. "You won't believe me anyway."
"You are going to jail for murder. It is only a question of how long," Gibbs informed him calmly. "Could be a long time. Could be short."
"Short?" Warren frowned.
"Murder with this sort of forethought and brutality could get you the death penalty."
"Forethought?" Warren choked. "It wasn't...I didn't kill him."
"No?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "So how did he end up dead?"
"It was an accident," Warren protested earnestly, hands making helpless gestures.
"You accidentally bludgeoned him to death?" The sarcasm in Gibbs' tone was biting.
Warren flinched, sitting back as though he'd been slapped. Tony could sympathize. That tone got the same reaction from just about everyone.
Warren shook his head. "He was already dead. When I did...when I did that...he wasn't breathing. No pulse. I swear."
"Our medical examiner says he was alive."
Tony's eyes narrowed at Gibbs' bald statement. According to Ducky's report a few of the blows Kinsac had received had occurred before he died. Had the man received aid, he likely could have survived the initial trauma. The ME had indicated the rest of the damage occurred post mortum and hadn't actually killed him. If Gibbs was trying to get a reaction out of Warren by saying he'd beaten Kinsac to death, he succeed.
Warren leaned forward, eyes wide, breathing harsh. "No. No, that...can't be." Warren shook his head. "He went to a bar and got drunk. He got into a fight."
A fight? Tony cocked his head. Kinsac didn't have any defensive wounds, and there wasn't any bruising on his torso or hands. But he was definitely drunk. So maybe he was too drunk to fight back...and if hit hard enough in the head to fracture his skull, Kinsac likely went down without ever hitting back.
"What bar?" Gibbs asked.
"The Hayloft."
Ziva immediately pulled her phone and started seeking information. Tony left her to it, still watching Gibbs and Warren.
"The bouncer...he said Earl started hitting on some biker dude's girlfriend. They dumped him in the alley when they were done letting him know he should leave her alone. It's where I found him. He...he wasn't breathing when I got there...I...I didn't know what to do."
"CPR wasn't an option?" Gibbs leaned forward as well. "Maybe calling 911?"
"He wasn't even supposed to be in Virginia!" Warren shouted. "If his PO found out, they'd have sent him back to prison."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Why would you care about where he ended up?"
"He was my brother," Warren said as though it explained everything.
"Cain and Abel were brothers, too," Gibbs noted without missing a beat.
"We weren't like that."
"So tell me what you were like."
Warren ran his fingers through his hair, clearly agitated. "My mom hated his mom and didn't think Earl and I should even speak to one another, much less hang out together. She beat me black and blue for even mentioning his name. Couldn't even act like we'd give each other the time of day in school in case my mom talked to teachers or the other kids. But we were friends."
Warren looked like he wanted to get up and start pacing again, but Gibbs' gaze held him firmly in his seat. "When Earl and his mom moved away, we stayed in touch. Letters, couple of phone calls when I could sneak one in. I don't know what the happened with that girl in Georgia. To hear Earl tell it, she said yes and only cried rape after her parents found out. Don't know if that was the truth or not, but I stuck by him."
"Stuck by him?" Gibbs raised both eyebrows. "How exactly did you do that?"
Tony was wondering the same thing. The warden said the only letters or calls Kinsac had gotten were from his mother. And Kinsac had told his cellmate he and his brother didn't exactly get along. Why lie about it to a guy who probably didn't give a damn? But then, not everyone saw a need to be honest with his cellmate. If Warren was telling the truth, they'd been lying about the true status of their friendship for years. Maybe it was just second nature.
"When Earl got arrested, my mom made me promise I wouldn't contact him. She said he was just bad news and his being in jail proved her right all along." Warren snorted. "Like we were so much better or something. She can be such a bitch. No wonder my old man bailed when he could."
"How did you stick by Earl?" Gibbs asked, obviously trying to get Warren back on track.
Warren sighed. "I got around my promise by sending letters to Earl's mother. She was nice enough to pass them on. She'd send me e-mails every couple of months or so to let me know how he was doing. I told him I'd help him when he got out. Find a way for him to get a fresh start."
"So you knew he was getting out early?"
"Yeah." Warren bit his lower lip. "I was going to surprise him. Help him get a new life, put being in jail all behind him. Show him how much money--" Warren stopped speaking abruptly.
"We already know about the money, Eli," Gibbs told him quietly. "We found you at the bank, remember?"
Warren nodded jerkily. "R-r-right."
"You've been stealing for several years now, haven't you?"
"Yeah." Warren sighed. "Since I offered to help Earl when he got out. Was so damn easy. Just a little at a time. No one even noticed. Not like the Navy needed all of it."
Gibbs jaw tightened. The former Marine was clearly not pleased by the lack of remorse in Warren's tone. "You said you found Earl dead in the alley?" Gibbs asked, his voice painfully neutral.
"Yeah." Warren looked a little green. Tony would bet good money Warren had puked when he realized Earl was dead. If the vomit was still there, it would tie Warren to the scene.
"If you didn't kill him, why did you to bludgeon his face and cut off his hands?"
Warren swallowed convulsively. Doing it apparently hadn't been easy for him. He took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together and explain.
"I thought if...no one could ID him--" Warren shook his head and started again. "All the money was in his name. I couldn't give it back. And I didn't want to! I liked having nice things. Never got anything I really wanted. This was supposed to be Earl's chance at a new start, no reason for that to be wasted. Could have been my new life too!"
Ah yes, greed. Tony's lips curled in an ironic smile. Warren might claim to have stolen the money for his brother but it wasn't all just for Earl. Not even close. He saw Gibbs expression harden and knew he was thinking the same thing.
Warren's hands tightened into fists on the table, knuckles bleaching white. "I figured as soon as the cops found Earl, they would know he wasn't even supposed to be in Virginia. They'd have started looking into why he was here. Wouldn't have been that hard to link him to me. I mean, you guys did."
Tony blinked. They'd only linked Kinsac to Warren because they needed DNA to confirm the identity. NCIS never would have been called in on the case if Warren hadn't left his wallet and military ID on the body. And while Warren might have thought his brother's death would result in a thorough investigation, having worked for local law enforcement, Tony doubted police in either DC or Georgia would have looked into it as closely as NCIS had. Parolees ran often enough not to make it out of the ordinary for Kinsac to have ended up in Virginia without any discernible reason. They might not have even been aware the stolen funds if not for the bank statement in Warren's mailbox with Kinsac's name on it.
Tony shook his head. Had Warren left Earl's body where he died, NCIS would never have been involved. The investigation would likely have focused on the bar and the 'biker dudes' that he fought with. Warren's name might never have come up at all. Lord, what a mess.
Warren sighed heavily. "I thought if...it looked like I was the one who'd been killed, I'd have more time to get the money. There wasn't anything to tie me to Earl. Nothing that I thought would lead anyone to me so fast."
"Just your DNA."
Warren flushed and looked away. "I didn't know his was even on file."
Tony could see Ziva rolling her eyes. "He is pathetic."
"Not quite the criminal mastermind we were expecting," Tony agreed, "but he did manage to steal a nice bit of money without too much difficulty."
Ziva pursed her lips. "True."
"Hayloft?"
"I have the address for the bar. We can go as soon as Gibbs is finished."
"Looks like he's wrapping up now." There wasn't much more to ask Warren that they didn't already know. "You want to gas up the car?"
Ziva grinned. "Only if I'm driving."
Tony let slip a heavy, put upon sigh. "Fine, you can drive."
Ziva all but danced out of the room. Tony grinned to himself. He was going to ask Gibbs to send McGee with her. It wasn't like he needed to verify Warren's story. Tony was certain the man was telling the truth. Kinsac's murder wasn't their case any more. Everything related to it would be turned over, with the exception of the money. That was definitely not going anywhere, any time soon.
Tony slipped out to wait by the door to the interrogation room. Gibbs gave him a look when he stepped out. He clearly thought as little of Warren's intelligence as Ziva had.
"You get an address for that bar?"
"Yeah, Boss." Tony nodded, walking with Gibbs as he headed down the hall. "Ziva's gassing up the car."
Gibbs nodded. He stopped, blue eyes appraising Tony. Tony raised an eyebrow, not sure what Gibbs was looking for.
"You okay?"
Tony smiled, relaxing. "Tired, but I'll live."
"We should already be done with this damn case."
Tony shrugged. "I know." Having to verify Warren's story, and then turn everything over to local law enforcement just added several hours to their day.
"Send McGee with Ziva." Gibbs raised hand, using one knuckle to gently caress Tony's jawline. "You might be able to catch another cat nap."
Although the very idea sounded incredibly appealing, Tony couldn't resist the instinctive need to protest. "Gibbs, I'm fine. I-"
"I know you are." Gibbs smiled softly, blue eyes warming. He lowered his hand, stepping away. "And I'm going to see to it you stay that way."
"Boss?"
"DiNozzo." Gibbs gave him a hard look. "This case has already taken longer than it should have...I need you to be ready for it, if it drags out any longer."
Tony nodded. As long as Gibbs wasn't coddling him...well, not just coddling him, Tony was okay with it. "You going to tuck me in?" Tony teased, winking.
"Later." Gibbs grinned. He called back softly over his shoulder as he walked away. "Being ready for the job, isn't all I need you for."
Tony could feel his face warm, but it didn't dampen his smile. He was sure the agents he passed on his way to his desk wondered about it, but at the moment, Tony didn't give a damn.
Author's Chapter Notes:
the case takes a small turn.
Chapter End Notes:
Was trying to add a small twist to the case, similar to what they do in the show.