Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
▪︎
Lauren crossed her arms as she stood behind the interrogation glass watching on as Gibb's questioned Ramsey.
"Scuttlebutt has it that you and Thumper mixed it up in the paraloft,"
"We exchanged words, sir."
Gibbs swung Ramsey's locker keys in his hand. "And fists."
"A punch or two was thrown. Nothing serious." Ramsey frowned glancing down at his hands, "But I damn sure wasn't angry enough to kill him, Sir."
"Well maybe you only meant to scare him but Thumper was on painkillers and didn't have enough time to pull his reserve."
"I didn't touch his chute, Sir. How could I? I'm on suspension and the paraloft is under lock and key."
Lauren turned to Tony as he quietly opened the door and joined her. "What did you find?"
"Hardware store where our guy did one-stop shopping. Clerk's a bit fuzzy. He does remember a marine in a real hurry to copy a key."
Lauren hummed, turning to Kate who pursed her lips with a shrug.
"All you needed was a key," Gibbs continued, holding up a very specific key, "Like this one. I found this in Thumper's personal effects."
"If that's the paraloft key, you won't find one like that on my key chain."
Lauren frowned, this kid was either extremely confident in his ability to cover himself or telling the truth.
"I've messed up some rigging, sir, but never intentionally." He told Gibbs, his tone becoming desperate as Gibbs tried to match Ramsey's keys to the one he found in Thumpers effects, "A guy jumps with one of my chutes he puts his life in my hands. I would never breach that trust, Sir. Never."
"Now," Gibbs clenched his jaw, lifting the keys to eye line, showing a matching pair, "are you going to tell me that was a plant, too?"
"It had to be," Ramsey said breathlessly, "I'm not guilty, Sir."
"They're always so sincere when they say that." Tony shook his head.
"What if I was to give you an offer to prove that?" Gibbs nodded to the corporal.
"Anything,"
"Are you willing to give us a sample of your DNA?"
Ramsey inhaled deeply and straightened his shoulders, "Someone put that box in my locker and that key on my key chain. How do I know that you don't have my DNA on something else they planted, too?"
