Tony parked the truck behind the sedan. He got out, taking a deep breath of the frigid air, enjoying the sharp, crisp bite of it. Winter wasn't his favorite time of year, but he didn't hate it either. As long as he was dressed for it, the low temperatures didn't bother him unduly.
Thinking of dressing for the weather, Tony's gaze slid over to Ziva. "You okay there Nanook?"
Her scowl was partially obscured by the heavy scarf that hid the lower half of her face. "I hate the cold."
He grinned back at her. "You leave any clothes in your closet?"
Her gaze narrowed, assessing him. "At least I'm not wearing the same clothes I had on yesterday."
She pulled her scarf down, smirking at him. "Will your secret lady friend not allow you to leave any of your things at her place? Or perhaps you are afraid she will think it would be a sign of something more permanent?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "There is no secret lady friend, Ziva."
She snorted, arching an eyebrow. "You are lying."
Tony bit the inside of his cheek to keep from denying her assertion. Blending truth and lies was tricky business. For now, Tony was fine with her thinking he was involved with someone, as long as she didn't know who. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be ready to confess to that the love of his life was not only male, but also their boss.
"If you two are done discussing the status of your wardrobes, maybe we could actually get to work, "Gibbs growled, walking passed them, coffee in hand.
"On it, Boss." Tony responded with a quick grin, settling his backpack more securely on his shoulder. He didn't have to look to know Ziva was moving next to him and McGee was brining up the rear. After a ride with Gibbs it usually took the younger agent a moment to recover his balance.
Tony stifled a yawn as they closed in on the site blocked off with yellow police tape, halogen lights mounted on tripods pushing back the predawn darkness. He hadn't intended to spend all night at the office. But when Marcus had stopped by his desk asking if he'd mind helping out, Tony considered saying no for all of a second. Helping out another team was definitely more attractive than going home alone to his empty bed. And Marcus was quick to sweeten the deal by offering him dinner. So Tony stayed, thinking he could still leave around midnight. He hadn't expected them to actually make a major break through on Marcus' case. Most of the time his 'campfires' spawned new theories or avenues for them to investigate, but rarely solved a case outright.
A uniformed cop stepped forward to meet Gibbs. Tony stopped, behind Gibbs, just to his left in his usual position. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch, to make a physical connection. The brief contact they'd shared in the elevator seemed like a long time ago.
Tony shook his head. There was a dead man waiting for them to find his killer. Now was definitely not the time or the place. Head in the game, DiNozzo, Tony told himself, keep your head in the game.
"I'm Special Agent Gibbs. This is Agents DiNozzo and McGee. And Officer David." Gibbs brusquely told the cop, waving a hand in the direction of his team.
The cop's introduction was just as abrupt. "Officer Delcray."
"What do you have for us, Delcray?"
"Like I told Agent DiNozzo on the phone, we think the guy is one of yours."
"Think?" McGee asked, frowning. "You don't know?" He traded a look with Ziva, both of them clearly wondering what they were doing out in the cold for a case that might not be theirs.
The cop grimaced, pointing behind him with his thumb over his shoulder. "You'll see."
"DiNozzo, sketch the scene. Ziva, McGee work the perimeter." Gibbs ordered, blue eyes still focused on the cop. "Tell me what you've done so far."
Tony unpacked his camera and began taking pictures. He frowned, glancing around. The body lay in the center of the alley, visible from the street. There had been no effort to conceal it.
Eyeing the body, Tony nodded as his initial thought that this might be a dump site and not where the murder took place was confirmed by the lack of blood under or around the corpse. There was no cast off blood splatter on the building walls either.
The only footprints Tony could see were all the same size and depth in the snow. Eyeing the size of the victim's feet and his shoes, it was clear the prints weren't his so he didn't walk into the alley. The footprints were probably from the cops and not their perpetrator.
The dusting of snow on the body and lack of tracks made it clear the body had been lying in its position before the snow that fell around one. He looked around, hoping to spot a security camera, but given the surrounding buildings were warehouses he wasn't too surprised not to find any. No way to find out what vehicle might have been used to dump the body.
Gibbs walked over, leaving the cop behind. "Body dump?"
"Looks that way, Boss." Tony's eyes narrowed, as he continued to study the body. "Did Officer Delcray saying anything about our guy missing body parts?"
"Yeah." Gibbs pursed his lips, checking his notes and then the body. "His hands."
Tony made eye contact with Gibbs. "Where did they find his ID?"
"Wallet was in his jacket pocket."
"So why beat the hell out of his face and take his hand then fail to take his wallet if whoever killed him didn't want us to ID him?" Tony swallowed hard, suddenly feeling the need to step back from the body. "You don't think this might be like with Ari? Where they want us to know he's Navy? Draw us out for target practice?"
Tony didn't feel so foolish about his reaction when he saw Gibbs looking around warily. There didn't appear to be anything nearby that would explode. Tony reminded himself, the local cops had gotten close enough to the body to locate his wallet. If the body had been wired they likely would have triggered it then. In spite of that fact, Tony still measured the distance between himself and the rest of the team, unconsciously making sure he could get Ziva and McGee out of the alley quickly if he had to.
"Warren's file say what he did?" Gibbs asked.
"Worked in the budget and accounting office."
Both of Gibbs' eyebrows rose. "Anything related to weapons of any kind?"
Tony shook his head. "No top secret clearance was listed in his file."
"So no palm print or actual fingers needed to operate anything?"
"God, I hope not, but I don't know for sure." Tony winced. "I didn't have time for a thorough review of the intell, Boss."
Tony cursed mentally. He should have checked. He should have made sure that Warren wasn't vital for some product development or research before they left. He should have made sure Warren wouldn't have been the sort of target a terrorist would find attractive. Tony started eyeing the dark rooftops, looking for any tell-tale sign they were being watched.
"Took both hands this time, Tony," Gibbs said quietly, neatly cutting off Tony's thoughts and stopping his rising anxiety. "Ari only needed one, so he only took one." Gibbs rested one hand on Tony's shoulder, steadying him. "Taking both implies whoever did it was looking to make identifying the victim harder. Could have just overlooked his wallet. We've had sloppy killers before."
Tony nodded, accepting Gibbs' logic and calm reassurance. This case wasn't like the one that got Kate killed. He shouldn't have to worry about a sniper taking out one of his teammates.
"Get back to work, DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered, squeezing Tony's shoulder once before letting go.
"Right, Boss." Tony nodded, raising his camera again.
He was glad no one was looking at him when Ducky and Palmer pulled up in their truck. Tony didn't want to have to explain why what should have been familiar made him flinch. He took a deep breath and told himself to stop letting his imagination run wild.
Tony's expression turned wry as he considered how their cases always surpassed anything he'd ever come up with anyway. Even his favorite movies didn't have plots as far fetched as some of the things he'd encountered at NCIS.
"Probie, did you check the dumpster?" Tony asked as McGee made his way past him, still working the perimeter.
"Not yet." McGee looked up, making eye contact. "Why?"
Tony pointed to the body. "Our vic is missing some pieces."
McGee glanced at the body. He lost a little color as his eyes took in the extent of damage done to Warren's face. He swallowed hard before once more looking at Tony
"Both hands are gone." Tony kept his tone neutral, his posture relaxed. No reason for McGee to get spooked the same way he'd been just a moment ago. If he didn't look or act worried, McGee might not think any more of it than just and odd case detail.
McGee cleared his throat. "Guess I know what Delcray meant now."
Tony nodded. "Unless his hands are in this alley, it's going to be up to Abby to confirm if it's Warren or not."
"DNA doesn't lie," McGee murmured.
If this was Eli Warren, his DNA should be in the armed service database. If it wasn't they would have to figure out who John Doe was and why he had Warren's wallet on him. Tony wondered why anyone would want to kill a guy who according to what little he'd read of Warren's file was basically the military version of a CPA. It was no doubt something Gibbs would expect them to find out.
"Good morning, Ducky," Ziva greeted the ME.
"Good morning, my dear." Ducky smiled warmly at her. He greeted the rest of the team before turning his attention to the body.
Gibbs crouched next to the older man. "Time of death, Duck?"
"That will be hard to determine, Jethro." Ducky looked up, shaking his head. "The freezing conditions will have a dramatic impact on his liver temperature, and will have hastened the onset of rigor mortis." He sighed heavily. "I'm afraid an accurate time of death may have to wait until I get him home."
Ducky studied the extensive damage the face. "Judging by the discoloration and swelling still apparent, as a rough estimate, I'd say he was alive eight to ten hours ago."
He raised one arm, tsking as he regarded the damage to the wrist. "It appears his hands were removed after he died. Given the shaky hand that undertook the act, it is no doubt small comfort to you, young man, to be unaware of the desecration."
"What do you mean?" Ziva asked, looking over Ducky's shoulder. "The killer was nervous?"
"If not nervous, then certainly unfamiliar with the task. You can see here," Ducky pointed to the ragged edges along the upper side of the wrist, "that whoever removed his hands was most likely new to the act of dismembering a body. The cut is not smooth, and far more force than necessary was applied than would be required if the one doing the cutting were comfortable with the process."
Ducky shook his head. "There is a science to removing limbs, you know. It isn't just hack and slash. The first---"
"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs cut him off. And for that Tony was grateful. He really didn't want to know how people discovered the right way to cut up a body. From the look on McGee's face, he wasn't the only one grateful for Gibbs' intervention.
"McGee, Ziva, check those dumpsters."
"On it, Boss." McGee sighed, looking unhappy by the prospect but smart enough not to argue. Ziva shot Gibbs a dirty look but like McGee she knew better than to say anything.
"You done sketching, DiNozzo?"
"Yes, Boss." There wasn't much to record of the scene. The photographs he'd gotten covered everything readily visible. The dusting of snow wasn't enough to obscure any details.
The asphalt wouldn't have left them much even without the snow. Their best bet was whatever evidence lingered on the vic's clothing or body. Ducky and Palmer would sort out most of that back in the lab and get it to Abby for analysis.
"Help McGee and Ziva then."
Tony reluctantly nodded. Dumpster diving was never his favorite activity. At least they weren't in the restaurant district. Hopefully the trash would be paper and cardboard or something equally innocuous. Tony didn't really care as long as it wasn't putrid.
He was relieved to find the dumpster he picked for his search contained nothing. No garbage, nothing rancid, and no rats. Unfortunately, there were no hands either. It was strange to consider that a bad thing.
"Damn." Ziva cursed softly, letting the lid on her dumpster slam shut.
"No joy in Mudville?"
"Mudville?" She frowned at him. "Is that movie?"
"Poem. Casey At The Bat." Tony grinned, knowing his answer surprised and confused her. "There is no joy in Mudville--mighty Casey has struck out."
"Baseball?" She asked hesitantly.
"Very good, Officer David." He pointed to her dumpster. "No hands?"
She sighed, breath frosting out in front of her in a cloud of white. "Just bags of shredded paper."
"Probie, any luck?"
"Lots and lots of cardboard and a months worth of old newspapers, but no hands." McGee looked at him. "You?"
Tony shook his head. "Empty."
Ducky and Palmer loaded the body for transport. The snow created a crude outline of where the body had been. Gibbs waited for them to report, and took their lack of success in stride. Although the search was necessary, he clearly hadn't expected them to find the hands nearby any more than Tony had. It wouldn't have made sense for their perp to have dumped the body and the hands in the same place?even if he was careless enough to leave the wallet behind.
"Okay people, lets head back to the office and see if we can find out why anyone would want to kill Petty Officer Eli Warren."
"If that even was Eli Warren," McGee pointed out.
Stating the obvious was never well received by Gibbs. So the hard look he gave McGee came as no surprise.
"Yeah, McGee, that too."
McGee ducked his head, looking sheepish. Ziva looked smug. Tony could understand both reactions. They'd all earned sarcastic barbs from Gibbs and probably would again, which was what made it fun to see someone else getting the edge of his tongue and temper.
Tony made sure he got shotgun position in the sedan on the way back to the office. It really wasn't that hard. He'd already agreed with Ziva to let her drive back. And Gibbs' dig at McGee practically guaranteed the computer whiz would want to put some space between himself and their boss.
Tony sighed as he settled into the seat. "Might want to make sure Ziva's not too close behind us."
"She's not that bad, Tony."
Tony snorted, turning to look at Gibbs. "Three fender benders in less than a year. Four, if you count the one where we cut off the ambassador's car."
"Good point." Gibbs chuckled dryly. "Think McGee is okay riding with her?"
"He was willing to show her around D.C." Tony chuckled. "Course that was when he was driving, and I'm thinking he doesn't have as much confidence in her driving is he once did. He's quicker to say something to her about it than he used to be."
"More like he's less afraid she'll gut him for speaking his mind."
Tony smirked. "That too." McGee was definitely coming into his own a little at a time.
Gibbs held out his hand in a blatant invitation. Tony took it, intertwining their fingers. He unconsciously checked the review mirror, making sure the truck was far enough behind, before raising their joined hands to place a soft kiss on Gibbs' knuckles.
"You think we can stop by some where for a donut or something?" Tony asked, his stomach rumbling loudly. "I didn't get breakfast."
"Sure." Gibbs nodded, squeezing his hand.
"Thanks."
Gibbs smiled. "I could do with more coffee anyway."
Tony laughed. "Naturally."
Author's Chapter Notes:
continuing the investigation.