Chapter Text
Chapter One
For the past several months, young women had been turning up murdered in the northeast part of the country. The FBI had been searching for the killer without success. The case that brought NCIS into the investigation was the murder of a 21-year-old petty officer. She had just joined the Navy and was stationed at Naval Air Station, Oceana, as an electronics technician. Petty Officer Victoria Elkins and some other new recruits had been at a weekend technical seminar at a hotel in DC. They had gone out for drinks and the petty officer had left the club with a man she met. Her roommate reported her missing after she failed to return for the next morning's session. Her body was found, two days later, killed in the same manner as the other victims.
Because the case had now become a joint investigation with NCIS, Special Agent Tobias Fornell was brought in to brief the team on what the FBI had already gathered.
Seven women had been murdered in a similar manner. All the victims were in their early to mid-twenties; all had gone out partying with their friends, but left the group some time during the evening. The FBI had found witnesses in five of the cases. Each of those witnesses said that the victims were approached by a single man. The women drank, danced, and then left the club with the man. The description in each case was similar - tall, dark hair, handsome and very charming.
"The perp seems to target younger, inexperienced women," Fornell said. "He either gets them drunk or takes advantage of their inebriated condition, separates them from their group of friends, gets them out of the club, then kills them."
"Were they sexually assaulted?" asked Ziva.
"No," replied Fornell, "there's no sign of any sexual activity on the victims. They're simply taken out and strangled, their bodies are then dumped. The killer takes a trophy: the victim's panties."
Gibbs put his cup of coffee down and stared thoughtfully at the pictures of the seven young women. "Any sign of a struggle: skin under fingernails, scratches?"
"Not so far, Gibbs." Fornell ran his hand over his face. "We've been severely lacking in any hard evidence. This guy is good. He's smart and he knows how to hide his tracks. He's also starting to get cocky; he calls and leaves a message on the tip line. I expect we'll get another one about your petty officer."
"You think he's still in the area?" asked Tony.
"Don't know," replied Fornell. "Right now we're working on that assumption. He tends to make multiple kills in a location, then moves on. So far, this is the first in this area."
Ziva stated the obvious, "We need to find him before he finds another victim."
Gibbs looked at her. "Ya think, David? Fornell, a fresh pair of eyes might be able to help, can you get the files on the other cases to McGee? McGee, I want you to look them over, see if anything jumps out at you. Tony, you and Ziva go and talk to the petty officer's roommate. Find out who she partied with and see if they can identify the guy she left with. See if the bar they were at had any security cameras and get the tape to Abby."
"Right, Boss." The agents set off on their assigned tasks.
~0~0~0~0~
Later that afternoon, Gibbs strode back into the squad room. Tony and Ziva had returned and were working at their desks.
"Report, DiNozzo," barked Gibbs.
Tony got up from his chair and walked over to his boss' desk.
"Petty Officer Elkins was fresh off the farm, according to her roommate. She had never been away from home before she joined the Navy. Her roommate said she was really sweet, very innocent and trusting. She was gullible, but some of the older recruits sort of adopted her and treated her like a baby sister, protecting her."
"They didn't protect her very well that night, though," interjected Ziva.
"That's because her main 'big brother' wasn't with them that night," replied Tony. "Petty Officer Edward Kirkland was one of the recruits who looked after her. He wasn't at the training, so he wasn't there to go drinking with the group. I talked to him, while Ziva was talking to some of the other officers, and he was really broken up about the murder. I'd watch out for him, if he gets any idea of who the killer is, he'll go after him."
"Yeah, well, he better not figure out who the killer is before we do or I'll fire your asses and hire his," growled Gibbs.
"Yes, Boss," answered Tony. "So anyway, I talked to the folks Petty Officer Elkins went drinking with, they were still pretty upset. They all gave the same description of the man she left with: tall, about 6' 3", dark hair, medium build, good-looking, smooth talker."
"Sounds like you," interrupted Ziva.
"You think I'm good-looking and a smooth talker?" Tony asked, breaking into a smile. "Ow. Sorry, Boss."
"Was there a security camera at the bar?"
"As luck would have it," replied Tony, "there was. They were at one of the more upscale hotel bars. I had the tape sent down to Abby's lab."
"Good. McGee, did you find anything interesting in the other cases?"
"Nothing that Fornell didn't already tell us, Boss, but there was this." McGee rose from his desk and clicked the remote to bring up a picture on the plasma screen.
"What is it?"
"One of the witnesses had pictures from the night her friend disappeared. She says that she's pretty sure the guy in the back of this picture is the man the victim left with."
The picture on the plasma screen was fuzzy, having been enlarged by the FBI lab in an effort to make out the features of the shadowy man in the background. Unfortunately, it only confirmed the general description given by the witnesses; none of the facial features were clear enough to make out.
"Send that down to Abby, see if she can work some magic on it."
"Yes, Boss."
"You know, Tony, if I didn't know better, I'd say that was you in that picture." Ziva stared thoughtfully at the plasma screen.
Tony cocked his head and squinted up at the screen. "You think so?"
"Yes, I do," she replied. "And he sounds a lot like you, especially the part about picking up the younger women."
"Just because I date younger women does not mean I go seeking them out," protested Tony. "They just seem to gravitate toward me."
"They're drawn to you?"
"Yes, they're drawn to me."
"Like matter being pulled into a black hole?" McGee joined the conversation.
"Who asked you, Probie?" Tony scowled.
"Come on, Tony," continued Ziva. "You like your women young, you like to impress them with your experience and je ne sais quois. When they want something more than 'fun', you dump them."
"I don't just dump them." Tony was starting to get angry. "I move on, and they move on. I show them a good time, have a little fun..."
Ziva interrupted, "Show the innocent young women the ways of the world?"
"Enough of this," Gibbs stopped the conversation. "McGee, go down and help Abby with the video from the bar and the picture. Ziva, if you're finished painting Tony as a pedophile, maybe you can transcribe the interviews the two of you had with the witnesses. Tony, you're with me." Gibbs glared at Ziva before he headed toward the elevator. Tony grabbed his pack and ran after his boss.
Tony was quiet on the elevator ride down to the parking garage.
"Don't let her get to you, DiNozzo," warned Gibbs. "She knows your buttons and she'll push them if she has a chance. Don't give her one."
"She's got a point, Boss," Tony said, thoughtfully. "This guy does sound a lot like me."
"No, Tony, he doesn't. This guy is a cold-blooded, ruthless killer," Gibbs replied. "He stalks his victims, picks the weaker, younger ones of the pack, separates them and kills them. He's a predator. You're not."
"But the description, the young women..."
"So you're both handsome, charming men who like young women. You're commitment-phobic; younger women usually don't want commitment yet, they're not listening to their biological clocks, so you date younger women. The perp goes for them because they don't know enough to be careful, don't know how to protect themselves."
Tony looked doubtful, but said, "Okay, Boss." The elevator doors opened and they headed for the car. "Where are we going?"
"To Fornell's office, to check out some more information he has."
"You think I'm handsome and charming? Ow..."
To be continued...