NCIS and Murdoch Mysteries

International Incident

Gibbs walked in his front door and tossed his keyring into the change dish on the cabinet to the right. He rubbed his eyes, shook his head and walked into the kitchen, drawing a beer bottle out of the refrigerator and opening it with his hand against the counter top. He shook his head and drank half the bottle in one gulp.

He thought for a moment, grabbed a second beer and went to sit down on the couch, placing the second beer towards the end of the coffee table. After taking a drink, Gibbs sighed and opened the case file in front of him. This case was not going smoothly for his team.

The exchange agent from their Canadian counterpart (Detective Edward Wessex) had been found dead - murdered, and as yet there were no suspects. McGee was tracking down calls and messages on the Canadian agent's cell phone and so far nothing out of the ordinary had turned up. What little forensic evidence Ducky found on the body was being worked on by Abby's Army of lab machines. Ellie's interviews of the agent's co-workers hadn't turned up anything out of the ordinary.

They were missing something somewhere, Gibbs could feel it in his gut.

"I appreciate the thought, Probie," Mike's gravelly voice came from the chair in which he sat, "but I brought my own." Mike hoisted his flask and took a drink. "But you know I can't drink something from your side of ... life."

Gibbs smiled and reached over to shake Mike's hand. Well, as good as you could shake hands with a ghost.

"So, spill it," Mike continued, as Gibbs was leafing through the file. "I heard you all the way from the beach I was on with the most beautiful senora I've seen since I came over, and let me tell you," Mike warned, "if I cane here for nothing, I'm going to be pissed!"

Gibbs responded, "It's this case, Mike. Something's missing, I know it. But I don't know what the something is, and it's driving me crazy. Not only was the victim, Wessex, a fellow agent, but he was, well, on loan from Canada, so we've got two federal governments breathing down our necks!"

Mike smiled and moved the unopened beer bottle back towards Gibbs, saying, "Here you go, Probie. I think you're going to need this."

Gibbs caught his old partner's smile and asked, "What? Do you know something? Tell me!"

"Now hold your horses, Gibbs, I'm getting to that," Mike responded a little testily. He took another drink from his flask and pointed his finger at Gibbs. "I've met your stiff, Wessex ... uh ... over here."

"Is he here now," Gibbs looked around, "Why can't I see him? Can he talk to us? What information does he have?

Mike took the top off Gibb's second beer and handed it to him. "I'm not going any further until you take another drink and calm down! You're on edge," he said.

"You see," Mike added, "he's not been dead 24 hours so he's still kind of a Probie at all of this," he waved his hands around, "and he can't show up to most people quite yet."

Gibbs interjected, "But I could see - and her you - right after you were ... well ..." "Killed," responded Mike, "don't worry about words. You can't scare me or make me feel badly. I'm dead!" Both Mike and Gibbs laughed.

"To the point, Mike," Gibbs said.

Mike related, "We show up for our family and close friends almost immediately," waving his hand between Gibbs and himself. "And only if the living person allows it ... if they believe. The rest of it - touching or talking to people, moving objects, comes later."

Gibbs asked further, "Well can he tell you and you tell me?" Mike answered, "Not yet. We never knew each other before a few hours ago. He can't speak to me, or I can't hear him just yet. It's really pretty amazing he and I can see each other even. He must want to hep you find his killer something powerful."

Suddenly, the papers in the case file ruffled. They they began turning one by one with a small pause in between. After about a dozen flips, the book rested. When no one moved for a few seconds, the book shook side to side a few times.

Gibbs looked at Mike who said, "Oh, I get it! Eddie," he turned his head and nodded to what appeared to Gibbs to be empty space, "I hope you don't mind if I call you Eddie. Eddie here must think there's something on this page that's pertinent to the crime. Take a look at it Probie."

Sitting down on the couch, Gibbs did just that. The file was open to the page showing the agent's core team in Canada and the cases on which he was working before he became the NCIS liaison. Gibbs and Mike scanned the page for a moment.

The Mike clapped Gibbs on the shoulder and said, "I think I know someone who could help. my grandfather had a friend on the Toronto Constabulary, an Inspector. I bet he could give us background on the Canadian aspects of this case." "Well," Gibbs responded, "Call him up or however you all ... get in touch with one another and get him over, or down ... just get him here now!"