Checkmate

Strategy

Emma sat at her desk, furiously typing her incident report. She pointedly jabbed at the keys which in her mind represented Alex’s stupid face. He noticed too. He looked up at her with laughing eyes and an infuriating half smile. He stood up and walked behind her desk, crouching down next to her seat. She refused to make eye contact but now fighting a smile. “You know, I find it hard to believe that you are this upset just because I almost died. I think you are jealous that I saved the day.” He challenged her with his lilting voice, and she took the bait. She turned on him with a playfully threatening glare. “I could kill you with this keyboard right now. So I suggest you get back to your own desk before you find the spacebar stuffed down your throat and a shift key in your eye socket.” Alex tilted his head as if to surrender, began to turn away, then quickly snatched the keyboard off her desk. “Now who’s in trouble?” Emma laughed and lightly slapped his arm and he knew that she was no longer angry. From behind them, an irritated voice said “Will you two keep it down? I am actually working.”

Emma bent towards Alex and whispered “Sounds like he has a spacebar up his butt!” James continued to glare, disgusted gaze landing on Emma. “I heard that you know. Very mature.” Alex looked at James then nodded in agreement with him. James looked pleasantly surprised and went back to work, fast fingers hammering out his own incident report. As soon as the coast was clear, Alex mouthed to Emma ‘Up his butt,’ with a jokingly serious nod. Emma had to fight not to laugh out loud.

Meanwhile Marshall and Joseph were working out a plan of attack on how to investigate the other murders the Capris were accused of committing in order to find who hired them. NCIS would only handle the murders of the different petty officers. Three had been killed. Only one was proven to be connected to the Capris, but the others were likely also connected. The first was a low ranking seamen killed outside a bar on base. The next was a petty officer 2st class found dead just outside a restaurant she frequented off base. The final one the petty officer 1st class found inside his home by his wife and young daughter. That was the one with the print.

Marshall rubbed his temples. His hair was definitely graying, almost more salt than pepper. “We have to treat these cases as separate entities. A killer is hired. By whom? Tackle each one separately and keep me updated.” Joseph nodded and stood up. “By the way, when are you going to take that time off with your wife you talked about?” Marshall asked. Joseph turned with a sad smile on his face. “When the job is done, and the job is never done.” The director nodded in silent agreement.

Joseph hurried down the stairs. “Alright guys, after you submit your incident reports to the director, go home. It’s been a rough day.” He looked directly at James, who seemed even crankier than usual. All three of them settled down behind their desks and began typing. The only sound was the clicking of keys until slowly each member of the team stood up, gathered their things, and left. James was already on the phone with a taxi service before the elevator doors closed. That reminded Joseph that he no longer had a car. He would just wait here for a ride home. Oh well. I wanted to see what they found anyway.

He grabbed a snack out of his desk and sat back in his chair, legs propped up on his desk. He ran his fingers through his thick black hair, allowing his eyes to close for just a moment. Before he knew it, Clara was leaning over him, bright pink lips whispering his name as she shook his arm. Her dark green eyes were bright. “Joseph? Joseph! Sir, wake up. You should go home, it’s getting late.” Her soft Georgia accent was apparent in every word she said. He quickly sat up, nearly ramming into her in his rush to stand up. “Oh hey Clara. Yeah I guess I fell asleep…” Well that was kind of obvious. “Where’s Samantha?” Clara gestured towards Samantha’s lab upstairs. “Thanks,” Joseph said, already heading towards the elevator. Clara tilted her head and smiled broadly, spinning gracefully and bouncing away towards autopsy.