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Gibbs situated himself at her kitchen table at her insistence while she poured them coffee. He could sense a wariness in her, understandable given how she had been treated in the past.
"Agent Gibbs…" she started to say as she sat next to him but he interrupted.
"Jethro."
"Jethro. Am I still a suspect?"
Gibbs regarded her with a soft look on his face. He had spent two days sorting through evidence and old notes. Nothing pointed to her as a suspect. Except Canning's notes. He was fixated on her as the killer. It was why he had shut her out of the investigation and why he refused to follow up on anything she provided.
Canning had written a detailed report about the Rosemary's behavior, calling her cold and unfeeling, not visibly upset at the death of her husband. He seemed particularly intrigued that she had shown no emotion at the funeral. They had videotaped the funeral, hoping that the killer would have made an appearance in the crowd. Gibbs had watched it and paid close attention to Rosemary. How Canning could say that she displayed no emotion he would never know. He had watched her sitting there, ram rod straight, with her jaw clenched so tight it made his teeth ache to watch. But it was her eyes that convinced him. He saw the pain and anger in them. The same pain and anger that he had seen in the mirror after losing his wife and daughter. She did not kill her husband.
"Not in my opinion, Rosemary." He said honestly and reached over and hooked a finger under the familiar ball chain around her neck and pulled out from her t-shirt what he expected to find, her husband's dog tags and two gold bands. He had seen the chain on her neck at the range but it wasn't until he read up on the case that he put it together.
"Canning thought so." She said quietly.
"He and I have never agreed on anything before, why start now?"
He got a chuckle out of her and was glad.
"So where do you want to start, Jethro?"
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It had taken them three hours fueled by two pots of coffee to plow through the case file and now Gibbs wanted her to recreate the investigation from her point of view.
"Which one of my points of view, Jethro?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well do you want the point of view of the grieving widow or the trained investigator?"
"Are they so different?"
"Completely."
"Okay then, give me both."
She was saved by the bell, the doorbell that is. She glanced at the clock, "Oh god, I forgot about Ernie."
Gibbs chuckled, "His date with the lawnmower?"
"Yeah, sort of. It's um, complicated."
They heard Ernie use a key in the door and open it. A moment later a little flying person landed in Rosemary's lap wrapping her in a hug.
"Aunt Rosie!"
"Hi pumpkin. Where's Papa?" she asked as she squeezed the little girl in a big hug.
Ernie entered the kitchen a moment later carrying, swinging his keys around his finger. He stopped dead in his tracks seeing Gibbs. He looked between Rosemary and Gibbs, his eyes wide. He didn't sense any tension in the room that was good. And they appeared to have her husband's case file spread out on the table that was really good. Maybe this Gibbs would actually get the job done and give her some closure.
"Agent Gibbs." He said extending his hand.
"Jethro." He stressed shaking the other man's hand.
The little girl turned to face Gibbs, she looked about eight, with unruly raven curls and her father's dark hair and eyes. She was a beautiful child.
Rosemary leaned down near her and put her head on her shoulder, "Angela, this is Jethro. Can you say hi?"
She gave him a shy little wave and he smiled, "Hello Angela. That's a beautiful name."
Angela turned to whisper in Rosemary's ear, unfortunately it was loud enough for the two men to hear, "Aunt Rosie, he has pretty eyes."
Rosemary laughed and whispered back, "Yes, he does. But we won't tell him that okay?"
The little girl nodded conspiratorially and Rosemary looked at Jethro, and gave him a wink when she saw that he was blushing.
The little girl looked at all the piles of papers on the table. Gibbs had prudently closed the folder of evidence photos when Angela first entered the room. She asked Gibbs, "Are you helping Aunt Rosie find out who took Uncle Joey?"
Ernie spoke up from near the coffee pot, "Jethro is a detective for the Navy, sweetheart. It's his job to solve crimes for them. I'm sure he'll do a good job helping Rosie."
After meeting him on the range Ernie had done a little digging on one Special Agent Gibbs. He had seen the intensity in the man's eyes when he told him who Rosemary was and just knew that he wouldn't let it lie. The man's tenacious reputation was towering. He was the best the NCIS had, and if he and his team couldn't solve Joey's murder, no one could.
Wanting to distract the girl, Rosemary asked, "So where is your report card? I heard that they were sent home yesterday. Hmm?"
Angela fished in her knapsack and pulled it out triumphantly, "Here is it!"
She snuggled next to Rosemary who ooh'd and ahh'd over it, "This is a fantastic report card. I swear you get smarter every day." She stood up and reached up on top of the refrigerator and pulled down a brightly wrapped gift. "And you deserve a present."
Angela squealed when she opened the dvd she had wanted and hugged Rosemary, "Thank you, Aunt Rosie. Can I watch it now?"
"Sure pumpkin, go ahead. Yell if you need help."
Angela headed for the living room and Rosemary turned to Ernie with a smirk, "She definitely takes after her mother. "
Ernie laughed, "Don't I know it. She's got more brains in her thumb than me. She gets more and more like Frannie was the older she gets." He cracked open the refrigerator and peeked in and got a smack on the arm for his trouble.
"Get out of there, Weeble. It's for later."
"But, but…"
"No buts. After the concert."
Gibbs watched them interacting and stored it all away. Rosemary was certainly not the ice queen that Canning had made her out to be. And Ernie was interesting, he suspected that the stocky Italian was protective of Rosemary and would be a bear if antagonized.
"So Jethro, you gonna get this guy?" he asked with a nod towards the case files.
"Yeah. That's the plan."
"You need anything let me know. Alrighty then, the lawnmower is calling me." He put his mug on the counter and headed towards the backdoor, "Oh, what time are you taking Angela?"
"Appointments in an hour and a half, then you can pick us up here at five."
"Gotcha."
On that note he stepped outside.
Jethro didn't ask but she could see the question in his eyes, "Angela has a school concert tonight, she sings in the chorus. I'm taking her to the hairdresser for a special treat, sort of a girl's day out."
"How long ago did her mom die?"
"She died a few months after Angela was born. Angela never knew her."
Gibbs nodded, and lost himself briefly in a memory of Shannon and Kelly getting ready for a school play. He tucked it away quickly but not before a flash of pain crossed his face.
Rosemary caught it but didn't press. And she decided to lighten the mood.
She smiled and said lightly, "You know, I just realized that I should probably explain about something you overheard at the range."
He raised an eyebrow, "Gonna explain the One-ten?"
She chuckled, "No. Whipped cream fantasies." She went to the fridge and pulled out an enormous layer cake filled with whipped cream and strawberries. "Ernie has a sweet tooth. And I like to bake. So I make him and Angela treats all the time. But this one is his favorite."
Gibbs laughed, "So that's what I would have won?"
She put the cake back in the refrigerator and leaned her hip against the counter and challenged, "I don't know Jethro, is that your whipped cream fantasy?"
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