Chapter Text
The MCRT had spent the morning at a crime scene about an hours way drive from the Navy Yard. The call had come in at 0800 that an identified marine of the name Henry McNeil was killed in the woods. The scene itself wasn't one of the worst they’d seen, surprisingly organised for the assumed spree killer motive. When the team arrived, local Leo's were canvassing the area, starting to mark up potential evidence and taking photos before Gibbs dismissed them from around the body to let Ducky through.
Slumped against the trunk of a tree, bound in place by a thick expanse of rope was the body. Drying strains of blood ran down the right arm, left leg and the face of the victim all stemming from three gunshots wounds. From a preliminary examination, there wasn't much more to note apart from the haunting expressing of fear on the marines face.
“What ya got Duck?”
“Jethro I may be good at my job but I’m afraid I’m going to need longer than two minutes before I can reveal anything useful about this man's demise,”
Turning away from Ducky and the body, he watched Jimmy fight with the gurney and DiNozzo, Ziva and McGee make there way through the clearing towards him.
“DiNozzo, witness, Ziva, evidence and McGee, photos,” he barked out.
He was met by a chorus of “yes boss” and “yes Gibbs”, before he turned back to Ducky, an expectant look on his face. Noting the expression, Ducky began.
“Well Jethro as it seems this man..”
“Henry McNeil,” Gibbs interrupted.
“Right, well, Mr McNeil, was tied to this tree and shot three times, once a graze to the arm, the second to his left thigh and then one to the front of the head, which I can confidently assume was the fatal shot. Judging by the ligament marks I would say he was tied up before he was killed.” Ducky surmised.
“Time of death?”
“The body’s still warm and rigour mortis hasn't set in yet so I’d estimate between 2 and 3 hours ago, anything else will have to wait until I complete the autopsy”
“Thanks Duck,”
Two and a half hours later, the scene was processed and the team were heading back to base at the Navy Yard. With a brief stop for some coffee, it wasn't long before they were in the bullpen trying to piece together what had happened to McNeil. McGee and Abby were in her lab sorting through the evidence, Ducky and Jimmy beginning the autopsy and Tony and Ziva working background on the victim.
“What happened to our witness?” Asked Gibbs, walking into the bullpen and towards Ziva’s desk where his two agents were working.
“Uh he was getting checked out by paramedics on the scene then he was going to be escorted here,” Replied Tony.
Nodding in response, it was 20 minutes later that Gibbs got a call from agent Fielding to say the witness was waiting in the conference room to be interviewed. Standing up from his desk and throwing out the now empty coffee cup from his desk, Gibbs headed towards the conference room.
“I’m agent Gibbs, I’m just here to ask a few questions about what you saw today,”
“Yeah, of course, anything I can do to help,” Replied Andrew Lane, a criminal defence lawyer who was with Henry McNeil when he died.
“Can you just run through what happened please,”
“Um yeah, so me and Henry were going hunting, we used to do it all the time but I hadn't seen him in five or so years, we were just walking through the forest and then we heard rustling in the bushes, we though it was maybe a deer but it was a man. He was wearing camouflage too so we assumed he was hunting like us. When we realised it wasn't an animal we called out, didn’t want him assuming us to be something to shoot at. He came closer and then he pointed the gun at Henry, told me to run as fast as I could and hope he didn’t catch up. I didn’t want to leave Henry but I panicked, I didn't know what else to do, I figured if I ran far enough I could get a signal, call for help but I couldn’t. When I heard Henry screaming I tried to hide in the bushes so the guy didn’t see me then I could go to try and help henry but then he kept screaming and I couldn’t see him. When I found him, he was dead. I got a signal and called for help but the guy was gone and it was too late for Henry.” Lane finished. He took a deep breath, holding his head in his hands.
“Can I ask how you knew McNeil? If you don’t mind.”
“We grew up together, same high school, we used to go on weekend hunting trips after we graduated,”
“You said you hadn't seen him in five years, why was that?” Asked Gibbs.
“We had a fight, over a girl, I moved towns the same week and we were both too stubborn to get over it before I left. I came back to visit and figured it was time we got over it. Didn't expect anything like this to happen though.”
“Nobody ever does,” Sighed Gibbs, patting Lane on the shoulder. “Thank you for your help, that should be all we need for now, we’ll be in contact with updates,”
“Agent Gibbs?” He was met with the older man turning around, a raised eyebrow in question. “I’m a little apprehensive about this guy coming back to um finish the job,”
“We can set you up in temporary witness protection while the case is ongoing, I will file the paperwork and until then you can wait here at NCIS. That way there will be no risk of him getting near you,”
“Thank you, I appreciate your help, I hope you find him sooner rather than later.”
“We will do our best sir,” Nodded Gibbs who turned and left the room.
Walking back up the to the bullpen, he stopped on the way for coffee then sat behind his desk. Getting out the paperwork needed for the temporary witness protection, he got to work filling it out. Fifteen minutes later, after refereeing two bickering matches between Tony and Ziva and one DiNozzo head slap later, he was heading up to the Director’s office for her signature.
Ignoring Cynthia as usual, he barged through the doors to find her sat behind her desk, on the phone. She didn’t jump or appear surprised at his interruption, he presumed he was probably the only one with the habit of barging in uninvited. He took a seat on the sofa in the corner of her office and waited for her to finish.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this time?” She smiled, sarcasm dripping out of her voice.
“I need you to sign this, a temporary witness protection for the witness to our case,”
“What’s the magic word?”
“Pretty please,”
She smirked. “Pass it here,” She said, reaching her hand over her desk.
Instead of passing it over, he came behind the desk, reached forward and spun her chair so she was facing him, before passing over the sheet of paper. A poorly disguised smile crept over her face and she grabbed a pen to adorn the paper with her signature. Skimming over the document briefly, her eyes froze over the name of the witness. Andrew Lane.
“What’s the case?”
“Marine found tied to a tree, shot three times,” He said casually, his gaze fixed out the window behind her.
“What did the witness say?” She asked, a slight shake in voice noticeable.
“You tryna take my case Jen?” Asked, Gibbs, turning around from the window and facing her.
“Jethro I’m the Director, I have a right to information about any case and I don’t need to be questioned,” She snapped.
“Him and the victim were out hunting, witness got told to run while the shooter killed, when Lane found McNeil he was dead and the shooter was gone, he called emergency services then we got the call.”
“McNeil?”
“Henry McNeil was the victim, why the interest? Missing the field work?” He teased but the smug look left his face as he watched the colour drain from Jenny’s.
“Agent Gibbs, I’m afraid I’m going to need my office back I have a meeting coming up,” She dismissed, the shake in her voice clearer now and he didn’t miss the way her fingers started tapping on the desk in front her. That was a nervous tic she picked up years ago. It may have been years since were partners but he could still read her like an open book.
“Everything ok Jen?”
“Just fine, here is the paperwork for your witness,” She said, her eyes not meeting his and instead following the now signed bit of paper she held out for him to take.
He said nothing else but watched her carefully as he left the room. Something about the case had completely shifted her mood but he had no idea why. There was no gruesome detail that could have caused it, she had tough skin, he was well aware of that and he knew exactly how much worse she had already seen as an agent and what she would have overseen so far as Director.
The twitch in her right eye when she kicked him out for the ‘meeting’ she was about to be a part of, tipped him off to the fact it was a lie. She just wanted him out of there, but why? That was a problem he would deal with later. For right now he wanted an update with the case.