Kline and Barrowman Market Research turns out to be three dozen people entering the information from interest surveys into a database and another five dozen using that database to make sales call. No one there has ever heard of Elena Dalton or been sent for any sort of training in New Mexico.
“If she was in this kind of trouble why didn’t our dashing hero rescue her and deliver her back home?” Tony asks as they get back in the car.
“There isn’t just one kind of trouble this might be Tony.”
“Prostitution fits. A severe negative reaction to compliments on her appearance. Refusal to wear feminine clothing at Cortez’s apartment. Lying to her mother about a job keeping her out nights.”
“Your psych minor’s showing,” Gibbs teases. “I’m not saying you’re on the wrong track. Just that prostitution might be too much. Stripping I think.”
Tony hesitates before shrugging, “Could be.”
“But you don’t think it is.”
“This girl is in some kind of serious trouble. And she thinks she deserves it.”
“Maybe.” Gibbs concedes, “Or she was just in too deep. Cortez could have been shot for trying to get her out of it.”
“I don’t think so. If it was a message it would have been messier.”
Tony calls Abby again, “Hey sweetheart, you busy?”
“Still trying to back trace the blackmail email, why? What‘ve you got?”
“Nothing exciting. I just need an employment history. If I had access to a computer I’d pull it up myself.”
“No problem. Name?”
“Elena Dalton. Same address as Cortez’s next of kin.”
“She had a series of jobs in various fast food restaurants over the past five years and then six months ago she started working for Shahrazad Inc. A high end escort service. Everything seems above board there.”
“Above board Abbs? At an escort service?”
“No warrants or police action of any kind and two filings with the labor board about terminations stemming from inappropriate contact with a client by an escort.”
“That does seem surprisingly upstanding for an escort service,” Tony concedes.
“That’s all I’ve got on it Tony. I could get you more if you and Pop want but that means setting aside the email.”
“No Princess I don’t think you need to do that. Aside from the location of Elena Dalton it’s doubtful Shahrazad Inc has anything to do with the case.”
“Is Pop there?”
“’Course he is. Hold on a second Hon.” He switches to speaker, “Go on.”
“Like I said Pop, Grandpa Jack called about Thanksgiving. It seems Great Uncle Frank invited him for Thanksgiving and he felt it was only fair to give you a chance to change your mind about him joining us.”
“Tell Jackson I expect him at eleven o’clock to start making Grandma’s cornbread. I promised my little girl a proper family Thanksgiving. That means not just her parents and stepfathers but her grandfather as well. And ideally your brother and his family as well but I’ll admit limiting the invasion of my space isn’t something I object to.” He sighs slightly. “Baby girl, I want Thanksgiving to go as we’ve planned it. Don’t you dare tell him but I’ve missed my father and so long as he doesn’t try to cause trouble in our family I’ll… well maybe ‘be glad’ is wrong. I’ll be relieved to see him again.”
“I’ll speak to him tomorrow. Talk to you both later.”
“Later, Sweetheart.”
“Bye baby girl.”
“Forget to tell me we got married?” Tony teases.
“Pretty sure we’ve been married from the first date.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ziva knocks on McGee’s door and has to wait rather a long while before he opens it. “Any progress?”
“Nothing useful. We finished back tracing the email but the account was a free one and the terminal is at a cyber café in Lakewood.”
Ziva nods, “That makes sense. Zachary Johansen lives in Lakewood.”
“What did you find on Johansen?”
“He has never held down a job for more than a month and his MySpace page talks about someone ‘stirring the pot’ and ‘messing with a good thing’.”
“Did you get a hard copy of his photograph?” She pulls one from the file. “Let’s go see if any of Lt. Cortez’ neighbors recognize him.”
“And if they do not?”
“I’ll recheck the surveillance on the entrance to the building now that we have a face to look for.”
“We should call Gibbs while we are on our way.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We’ve got movement Boss. Looks like our girl.”
“I see her. How do you think we should handle this?”
“Let’s stop her before she hits the elevator, it’ll probably best if she doesn’t see the crime scene tape.”
“You go ahead, be charming. Stall her until I can scare the hell out of her.”
“You sure you want me flirting?”
“As you told me, when you do it for a case it doesn’t mean anything.”
“I appreciate that, but what I meant was given what we know of Elena Dalton wouldn’t that be as likely to make her run as barking ‘stop police!’?”
Gibbs chuckles slightly, “Point taken. Why don’t we just call her name and introduce ourselves then?”
“Miss Dalton?” Tony calls as he jogs across the street. She turns, clearly startled. “Excuse me Ma’am, but I need a word with you.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Special Agent DiNozzo, this is Special Agent Gibbs. We’re with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.”
Worry clouds her features, “Is Diego in trouble?”
Tony allows himself half a seconds hesitation to glance at Gibbs, “I’m sorry to tell you he was murdered early yesterday morning.”
Gibbs steps forward and uses the tone usually reserved for young children and Abby, “We know this is a shock as well as an overwhelming loss but we’d appreciate it if you could spare us a little time. It would help us catch his killer and we could transport you to your mother’s while we speak. I’m sure she could use your help.”
At that she visibly crumples, “He can’t be dead. He just can’t.”
Tony offers her a steadying hand, “I’m so sorry Ma’am, but he is.”
“But… He’s always been there for me. He’s always been the strong one. The level headed one.” She gives a pained laugh, “He always said I’d wind up dead in a ditch if I didn’t straighten my life out.”
“Are you in some sort of trouble now Ma’am?”
“No. Diego got me out of a bad situation about six months ago and things have been quiet for both of us ever since.”
They get into the rental and Tony contorts himself a bit to face her, “Might that have been a reason for someone to target your cousin, Ms. Dalton?”
“No. No, well I don’t think so…”
“What sort of trouble were you in?”
“I had fallen in with the wrong crowd. I was being pushed to do things I wasn’t comfortable with and I felt trapped by the situation.”
“We are aware of where you really work,” Tony informs her quietly. “What exactly was going on?”
“I was working as an exotic dancer and Nero, one of the bouncers, was pressuring me to become one of his girls. He thinks he’s a big time gangster and a pimp. Mama’s getting older but she can’t really afford to retire and I need to start supporting both of us but there’s just no way I was doing that. Diego found me the job at Shahrazad. The girls are nice. The clients are respectable. And if anybody tries anything the company helps file assault charges. All I do is look pretty and act like the man whose arm I’m on is the most charming thing I’ve ever seen.”
“If it’s that easy why did you need help to get there?”
“They don’t take just anyone. For one, Agent DiNozzo, if I had your manners I’d be no good to the service at all. I have to convince everyone from the suspicious business partner to the generous benefactor to the wait staff that I belong there. That I met him in Paris or over cocktails at a charity event. If I seem out of place to even one person I haven’t done my job.”
“Fair enough. How angry was Nero when your cousin intervened?”
“He did some posturing, made some threats. He had to or risk someone else doing what Diego did. Everyone knows what happens to a guy like Nero if people lose respect for him. But they talked. I don’t know what was said exactly but Nero told his boys they made a deal.” She sniffles, “Diego knew his limitations, he wasn’t trying to save the world. He didn’t even ask me to try talking the other girls into leaving. He just wanted me safe.”
“You’re sure Nero wouldn’t come after Diego?”
“Well, no. But I don’t think he’d bother.”
Gibbs and Tony exchange a glance but before either can speak Gibbs’ phone rings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Boss? We showed Johansen’s picture to Lt. Cortez’s neighbors. Two of them said they’d seen him a couple of times in the days before the murder. But the neighbor across the hall said both times she saw him he was with a ‘blond, slender, about five ten, green eyes and a nervous demeanor.’”
“Sounds vaguely familiar. Any idea who she is?”
“Ziva mentioned that it sounds like someone from Reslin Avionics.”
“Check it out.”
“On it Boss.”
Ziva leads the way as they arrive at Reslin, causing the security guard to make a highly suspicious and hushed call. He seems surprised when she asks to speak to “Dr. Coltrane’s assistant.”
He makes another, calmer call and nods at them, “Ms. Hollis will meet the elevator on the fourth floor.”
Ziva smiles at him, “Thank you.”
McGee can’t suppress a surprised expression.
When the elevator doors close Ziva glares at him, “Is it so incomprehensible that I am polite?”
“To some random security guard? Yes.”
“I have all ready established my role as ‘good cop’ here, I shall continue so long as it is useful.”
“Is that was Gibbs was in a mood about when you got back yesterday?”
“Gibbs is always in a mood.”
“Not lately. I think it’s because he’s got the next future ex-Mrs. Gibbs in the wings. In comparison to his usual mood he’s been a ray of sunshine the past month or so. He hasn’t been growling or smacking us as much. He’s not like a dog protecting it’s bone every time we get a case. Which is odd considering how much the director’s been nosing around. And I think he keeps taking Tony out with him because Tony’s so caught up with his new boyfriend he doesn’t notice a thing.”
McGee can see Ziva suppressing her immediate response but thinks nothing of it, “I had assumed his teaming himself with Tony more often was meant as a show of confidence in our abilities. No matter what you might say to Tony you know as well as I do he is the senior field agent and Gibbs puts a good portion of the supervisory responsibility in his hands. Or had you not noticed that it is always Tony that signs off on our performance and compensation reviews, not Gibbs?”
McGee has the good sense to look entirely pole-axed, “Tony really does write our reviews?”
Ziva shrugs, “He has written all of mine at least.” She studies her team mate for a moment, “Does it really disturb you that much? He was team leader for a time, surely you realized he was above you in the ladder of command.”
“Chain of command,” He corrects automatically before checking any other response in defference to their arrival on the fourth floor.
“Officer David, How may I help you today?”
“We have a few more questions Ms. Hollis.”
“Certainly. If you’ll follow me I’ll just let Dr. Coltrane know that you’re waiting.”
McGee steps a bit closer to her at that, “Actually Ms. Hollis, it’s you we’d like to speak to.”
That obviously startles her. “Oh. Well, just let me inform Dr. Coltrane that I’ll be unavailable for a few moments then.”
McGee and Ziva trade glances as Hollis steps into her office but don’t say a word until she’s lead them into a conference room down that hall.
“I’ll give you all the help I can, obviously, but I didn’t really know Lt. Cortez all that well.”
McGee checks his ‘notes‘, “I understand there was a problem with the Lieutenant’s security access a few weeks ago?”
“Dr. Harvey tightened the access group for the test of the Mark 3 prototype and forgot to include Lt. Cortez on the approved list security was working from. It was an honest mistake. Day to day Lt. Cortez didn’t spend much time in the testing lab. His primary function between test flights was stress testing the materials and participating in simulations for the development lab.”
“Were there any prior problems between Lieutenant Cortez and Dr. Harvey? Even professional disagreements?”
“There were never any professionally problems between them actually. They clearly didn’t like each other, but they didn’t let it effect the project.” She seems to be relaxing, “Dr. Harvey was hoping to secure a long term, exclusive no bid contract with the Maple Key project and Lt. Cortez was sure it would save lives if it worked. They were both very invested in its success.”
“And how does Dr. Harvey get along with the rest of the staff here?” Ziva presses gently.
“No one likes Mitchel Harvey very much, Officer David. He’s a hard man. Demanding. Rigid. Not exactly the type of person you’d want to spend time with. But he’s brillant and professionally actually very respectful. He credits good work and never forgets that without the staff he’d be just another out of work idea man.”
McGee makes a show of checking his notes, “What about you Ms. Hollis? How did you get along with Lt. Cortez?”
Her tension returns instantly, “I rarely so much as spoke to Lt. Cortez. As you know I’m Dr. Coltrane’s assistant and Dr. Coltrane is the chief administrator at our facility. I am of course privy to his meetings with Department heads and project chairs but he didn’t interact with the Lieutenant so neither did I. I believe the most I ever spoke to him was a few weeks after they brought him on the project when he asked to sit with Mary St. Clair, one of the other assistants, and myself.”
“Where were you between 11 PM Sunday and 2 AM Monday?”
“At home, asleep. Where else would I be?”
“One of Lt. Cortez’s neighbors seems to think you were in his building.”
“I don’t know what’s you’re talking about.”
Ziva pulls Johansen’s picture out of a file, “Do you know this man?”
“Of course I do. That’s my boyfriend Zack. Zack Johansen.”
McGee and Ziva share a look. “When was the last time you saw Mr. Johansen?”
“He stayed with me last night.”
“Do you happen to live in Aurora near Colfax Ave.?”
She laughs genuinely, “Neither of you are from around here, are you?”
“No, we are not.”
“Colfax is one of the longest surface roads in America. Everywhere in Denver is near Colfax, you‘ll have to be more specific.”
McGee takes an assessing look at the map in the file, “Near Potomac and East 13th then.”
“No, I live on Franklin and East 37th.”
“Then you’ll need to come with us, Ms. Hollis.”
Her panic is palpable, “Why would that be?”
“We have footage from an ATM you passed by at 11:18 PM Sunday night putting you 40 yards from Diego Cortez’s building. Lying about your whereabouts clearly requires further investigation.”
“You may come with us quietly and not arouse the interest of your coworkers or we can restrain you and lead you out of the building in disgrace.”
She makes no verbal answer but gets quietly to her feet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do you think she was covering for him?”
“I think she really believes they worked something out. She kept saying things like ‘guys like Nero’ but I don’t think she had any idea what it takes to remain top dog in that world. Maybe Nero got nervous, decided Cortez had to go before he tried it again.”
“So, friendly cop, pissed off cop or disdainful federal agents?”
“Let’s play it by ear.” Gibbs lets the silence settle for a few blocks before glancing over at Tony, “Why’d you let McGee get to you at breakfast?”
“Get to me?” Tony is genuinely confused.
“You flinched like he’d hit you when he said three months didn’t make you an expert.”
“Of course you caught that,” He grumbles. “I just forgot for a second.”
“Forgot?”
“That he wasn’t talking about us. That he had no idea what he was talking about at all. The reaction was to him claiming you and I wouldn’t last. But he was talking about me and some imagined man he’s thought up. Probably imagines you’re the twenty-something doctors’ without borders poster boy with a tiny eight year old wunderkind on your hip.”
Gibbs laughs, “She was cute as a button and her mother says she was always whip smart. And are you calling me old there sex machine?”
“Not at all. What the hell would I want with a twenty-something doctor? I’d have to house train him, and I’m sure as hell not up for that.”
“This is the place. You want to take the back or the front door?”
Tony eyes the building in question, “I’ll take the front, try to blend in with the afternoon crowd.”
“No touching. And I’m giving you five minutes before I come in signal or not.”
“On it Boss.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Zack said we were just looking for an old friend of his. Said they were both involved with the same stock broker and the other guy was rocking the boat. He knew the street address but not the apartment number. We hung around in the lobby for awhile Saturday afternoon but it didn’t get us anywhere. Zack made some calls and found out his friend lived on the fifth floor. When we got upstairs he showed me Cortez’s picture and I panicked a little. I told Zack we should just leave. He wouldn’t so I headed home alone. I had barely made it out of the building when I heard the shot but I couldn’t believe Zack would do that. Am I going to go to jail? For helping Zack find Cortez?”
“If you help us find Zachary I’ll make sure they know you cooperated with us.”
“He’s staying at the Motel 6 on I-85 near 16th Ave.”
McGee exit’s the interrogation room, “Could you hold her as a material witness for us Detective Spencer?”
“Assuming you have a material witness order.”
“Of Course.” He motions Ziva out the door, “Call Gibbs, let him know we have a suspect and we’re headed to pick him up.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What in the name of hell made you suggest he branch out? Even if he hadn’t taken a swing at you one of the strip club patrons was sure to.”
“He knew I didn’t belong there. Said I was awful nosy, I figured taking a swing at me for being queer was better than considering that I might be a cop.”
“And it never occurred to you he might not aim for your pretty face?”
“It never occurred to me he’d get his buddy behind me to do it for him.”
“Do we need to go to the hospital?”
“No, he just bruised a couple of ribs.”
“Only you would consider a couple of bruised ribs a good out come.”
“I can now tell you for a fact there’s no way Nero’s our guy. He’s so stupid he would have left some big, flashy gangland message to prove he’s the biggest bad guy around. Hell he‘d have practically signed it.”
“True. But whoever our guy is, he isn’t much brighter.”
Tony’s phone rings and after a short conversation he offers a sheepish smile, “Sounds like we’re about to find out, McGee and Ziva just picked up their suspect.”
As they speed through the streets of Denver Tony notes that the locals are better equipped to react to Gibbs’ driving than the folks in DC generally are. Some of them might even drive worse, objectively speaking. When they arrive both McGee and Ziva are waiting with Detective Spencer.
Gibbs asks a mild, “He confessed?”
“Um, no Boss we were waiting for you.”
“You’re a big boy now McGee you can handle this on your own.”
Ziva briefs Gibbs as Tony observes the interrogation. It doesn’t take much at all to break Johansen. When McGee mentions that his girlfriend gave him up he just starts talking. First about the aerosol release of the neurotoxin they were developing at Hillcrest. Next about the cover up and Montrose’s settlements being conditional on all the families remaining silent. About his dependence on the settlement payments. Finally about Cortez’s statements that Montrose deserved to pay for the deaths, not in money but in jail time.
Tony just shakes his head and rubs his sore back.
Gibbs walks up behind him, and confidently replaces Tony’s hand with his own, “Want a massage when we’re done?”
Tony hums appreciatively, “After dinner.”
“Delegate the booking.”
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry for the wait all, several factors, including a typing inhibiting injury, contributed to the delay, but it's no excuse. Sorry.
While the factoid about Colfax Ave. is true the author would like to point out she is only marginally aware of the geography of the city as she is only an occassional vistor. The streets all exist, but that's as much as I can say.
While the factoid about Colfax Ave. is true the author would like to point out she is only marginally aware of the geography of the city as she is only an occassional vistor. The streets all exist, but that's as much as I can say.