Rule 39: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence (Tony DiNozzo Love Story)

Compromised Scene

Heading back to the Admiral's office I make a small detour towards the kitchen where Ziva is questioning the Admiral's daughter.

"Excuse me, I just had a couple of questions if you don't mind Agent David," I say and she nods.

"Ma'am I'm sorry for your loss," I say to the woman before me.

"Angela, thank you," she says.

"Angela, I was wondering when you first entered your father's office if there appeared to be anything strange? Anything out of place?"

She shakes her head no.

"No, everything seemed normal for the exception of my father, why?"

"Was any of the furniture out for any type of repairs or anything? Your father's desk chair or any other chairs in the room?"

"No, my father would have a fit if anyone touched his chair besides himself. If it needed repairing he did it himself in the workshop out back, why are you asking detective?"

"Just trying to get a full understanding of the scene, so we can make an accurate configuration is all. Could we take a look at your father's workshop? There may be some information that may lead to why this happened."

"If you must but please don't make a mess," she replies.

"One more question, the small office in the back of the house who does that belong to?"

"It's mine, I use it whenever I come over and need to work on assignments for work."

"When was the last time you spent time in that space?"

"I don't know, maybe a week or so. I haven't been over a lot lately. Dad said he was working on his book and wanted some space, so I've been working out of my apartment or at my boyfriend's."

"Thank you so much Angela, this helps a lot," I say before returning to the office.

"There's a separate office space in the back portion of the house, daughter confirms it's hers. She said she hasn't used the space in about a week because the admiral asked for some space while he was writing his book. The desk chair is missing from her desk and I just asked her if any of the furniture including her father's desk chair was out for any repairs. She also said that if the chair needed any type of repairs the admiral would have done them himself in the workshop out back. She gave us permission to take a look."

"Let's go."

McGee and I make our way to the back of the home and McGee takes some photos of the desk area and the space in which a chair would be. We make our way outside to the workshop that looks like a small tool shed. Opening the door, we find that it's not at all that small inside and that there's quite a bit of space inside. As McGee is taking some photos, I clearly make out that there isn't a desk chair within the room.

"McGee, there's no chair in here," I say.

"I also noticed that. So, what do you think is gong on? The daughter replaced the chair with her own or someone else came in and killed the admiral and replaced the chair?"

"I think the daughter might be involved but I can't say for sure, she genuinely seems upset about the death of her father but that could be guilt masked as grief."

"So we're looking for a chair. The chair can possibly lead us to the murderer, but first we need to find out what they were looking for," Tim says.

"We're not just looking for a chair, we're looking for a very old and bloody chair," I say as I walk out of the workshop.

"Why would they shoot him, move him to the middle of the room, get rid of the chair and replace it with a new one?"

"Maybe because what they were looking for wasn't where they were looking," I offer as we head back towards the front of the house.

"Are you saying whatever they were looking for was in the chair?" Tim exclaims.

"Not exactly, but the chair clearly means something in all of this otherwise whoever killed him would have left him in the chair in the first place. They wouldn't have gone to the trouble of moving him and getting rid of the evidence. The only area of the room that there is disarray is behind the desk where the admiral must have been when he was shot. We'll need Abby to check his computer and see if there's any information on that end, but the murmurer clearly was looking for something in those drawers. We'll need to dust to see if there are any prints, I just I don't see the point in all the extra work that was put in. There's something we're missing." We get to the front of the house and see Gibbs speaking with Tony.

"Hey you update Gibbs, I'll check in with Ziva and get those drawers dusted for prints." McGee says and I nod as I walk towards Gibbs.

"What'd you find?" He asks.

"Crime scene has been compromised. Someone moved the body and removed evidence. The Admiral was shot in his desk chair and whoever did it, exchanged his for a different one. There's another office space located at the back of the house it belongs to the daughter. There's no desk chair in the space and the one in the admiral's office doesn't match the rest of the decor. Already confirmed with the daughter if the chair was out for repairs and she said that no one was allowed to touch it but the admiral and there was no sign of it in his workshop in the backyard. I asked if she noticed anything strange about the room besides the obvious and she said no. She said that she hasn't been in the office space for about a week as the admiral asked for some space to work on his book. Desk drawers have been searched, whatever the murderer was looking for was somewhere on the desk. Early signs of rigor are saying that he didn't get shot standing up and land on the floor like a plank."

Gibbs nods and glances towards Tony and I do as well. He's looking at me and I turn back to Gibbs.

"Is McGee still taking shots?"

"Yeah, he's also dusting for prints in the drawers," I say. Gibbs nods.

"Okay, I want you to take a sweep of the house and see if anything else seems out of place and have Ziva help. DiNozzo, go help McGee process the scene."

"Gibbs, Tim and I—," I start.

"I need to make sure someone else comes to your conclusion before we start accusing Admiral Baxter's daughter for murder or accessory to murder. Now go," he says and I nod as I turn.

I re-enter the house and grab Ziva's attention from the office as I feel a familiar presence come up behind me. As I ignore the urge to turn around and hug him to me and kiss him to let him know that I never stopped loving him, I force myself over to Ziva and tell her what Gibbs wants us to do.

After thoroughly searching the house, Ziva and I find only one other place that isn't tidy like the rest of the house. Admiral Baxter's daughter's room. Looking around I notice that her room is white with black and gold accents.