Chapter 8
As Kate walked out onto the floor, she was surprised to see that her desk was already in use. Blonde hair cascaded down the back of Kate's chair, hiding the face of the woman that sat there. ‘Who the hell is sitting in my seat' she thought, angry that someone had disregarded her right to a personal space. As she cornered round and entered the bullpen her mouth hung open at a familiar sight.
"Carrie!" Kate's face lit up and she dumped her bag on the desk.
"Hey, Kate," Carrie said happily, beaming back at her. Her voice, as per usual, sounded as if she'd just got out of bed, raspy yet smooth. She stood up from her seat, revealing that she had grown since they last met; she was now whole two inches taller. Kate looked her up and down jealously.
"I can never get over how good you always look," Kate said. Carrie blushed and smiled at Kate.
"Well…" she said slowly.
"Oh…right! Sorry," Kate replied and jumped forward, giving Carrie a massive hug, Carrie laughed as she did so. After a full 5 minutes, they finally detached from one another.
"So tell me, what are you doing over our way?" Kate inquired.
"Well, Gibbs rang me yesterday saying that he needed my help. Who am I to disobey Gibbs?" They both shared a laugh.
"Gibbs was never one to be disobeyed," Kate agreed and then grabbed Tony's chair from the other side of the bullpen and dragged it over to her own desk. They both sat down.
"So? What's been happening here while I've been away?"
Kate smiled before launching into a full account of the past 6 months, Carrie listening intently.
***
McGee stepped off the elevator to see two girls huddling and gossiping in the bullpen. ‘God,' he thought to him self ‘this place is getting more and more like a schoolyard.' He walked over, standing that little bit taller to assert his authority.
"Right you two; you have no right to…Carrie! Kate!…I thought you two were teenagers the way you were acting!"
"So what are you trying to say Tim? That we're old now?" Carrie asked, staring at McGee.
"What?…No that's not…I didn't…" Carrie laughed loudly and leaped up onto McGee almost suffocating him with her grip.
"I was kidding, Tim! You never could take a joke."
"Sorry…" McGee replied quietly, his voice being cut by Carries strangling hold. McGee's reply just made Carrie laugh more, and she let go of him.
"So how's my favourite MIT chum?" she smiled revealing a dazzling set of almost perfect teeth.
"I'm fine," he replied, matching Carrie's smile, "Me and Abby…Well, I'll let her tell you herself, come down and meet them!" McGee strode over to the elevator, and Kate and Carrie followed.
***
As the three of them entered Abby's lab, they were surprised by the sound of snoring. They walked through the lab, which was empty, and through into the adjoining office. Tony and Abby were both lying on the floor fast asleep. Tony was lying on his back, mouth wide open, almost vibrating the floor with his snoring. He had his arm around Abby, who had her head on Tony's chest and apparently could sleep through a sound that could rival to the Blitz. Carrie could see an amount of shock on both Kate and McGee's faces, and coughed loudly to wake the two sleepers. Tony carried on snoring. Carrie stepped over to the side and grabbed a nearby bottle of water. She emptied it right on to Tony's face.
"Woops," she said innocently, and was met by a loud sputtering mixed with a few choice words from Tony's rather colourful vocabulary.
"Who the hell!…I was trying to…Carrie!"
Abby had already stood at this point and was over by McGee, her arm around his waist. Tony quickly got to his feet and then swayed a bit, a confused look on his face. "Woah…head rush." After a second or so, he recollected his senses and gave Carrie a huge embrace. They separated and Carrie was the first to speak.
"You were snoring," Carrie said.
"I don't snore!" Tony replied, outraged.
"I know you don't, Tony, but you were then," Kate said. Tony looked over to Kate and gave her a smile with something implied behind it. Kate smiled back, and their eyes connected for a second.
He turned to Carrie, "So what brings you here?"
"Gibbs asked me to come over; and before you ask, I have no idea why."
"Oh, well welcome back!" he said warmly, grinning. There were a few moments of silence while they all tried to take in everything that had just happened, and then Kate broke in.
"So what was the evidence you found yesterday, Tony?"
Tony again looked confused for a few seconds, and then answered, "Oh…that…It was a syringe."
"You found evidence?" McGee asked.
"Yes," Tony replied, "I was driving through the neighbourhood from where the first wife was abducted, and got out to have a quick look." This got a quick glance from Kate. That neighbourhood was at least 5 miles away from the route between NCIS headquarters and her apartment. Why had Tony been driving out there? "I found the syringe in the woodland the other side of the road where we found the phone."
"Have you tested it yet? For what it contained; fingerprints and such like?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah," Abby said. "The syringe at one time contained a substance called Phenobarbital which is a sedative used by the medical and veterinary communities. We linked it to the case be cross-referencing a sample of the blood we found at the end of the syringe with a sample from the hairbrush the first husband gave us in case we had to identify any bodies. It was a match. There where no fingerprints on the outside of the syringe either."
"Abby and I checked the video from the second abduction, and you can see that the kidnaper was wearing latex gloves. He was prepared," Tony said.
"So this was definitely the syringe used to inject the victim with Phenobarbital?" McGee asked.
"Well, I'm 99% positive," Abby replied.
"What does that mean?" Carrie asked.
"Well, I suppose there is a chance that this was stabbed into her in the past, and then traces of the drug put inside the syringe, but that would just be stupid. Why would anyone do that just to throw away the syringe?"
"Even Tony wouldn't be that stupid," McGee said jokingly. Tony walked over and reached behind McGee giving him a short sharp slap to the back of the head. "Hey!"
"Plus," Kate added, "We don't know that the syringe was from that particular night; it could have been an old one."
"So the victim regularly dosed herself up with Phenobarbital then?" Tony replied.
Kate gave him a look and then replied, "I'm just saying."
"No Tony; Kate's right," Carrie said "I've been to a lot of court cases and I've seen cases get thrown out that had a lot more evidence than this; and besides without fingerprints we haven't got a lot to go on."
"I suppose not," Tony replied in a subdued tone. At that point they were all interrupted by the sound of elevator doors opening. They filed out of Abby's office and into the lab just in time to see Gibbs standing in the elevator.
"Come on, a body has just been found," he said simply, and the doors closed in front of him leaving everyone looking blankly at a silver wall.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
Carrie arrives at NCIS and the results of the tests on Tony's evidence are revealed.