Not OTT...as a matter of fact, you could have used some more derogatory terms coming from his mouth without problems. Pure racists don't limit their language and you shouldn't either - but I suppose it's possible that you haven't heard much of that sort of language.

Another good job with this one. Looking forward to more.

Cheers!

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Your use of the elder's names for the NCIS team throughout his dialog with them was fantastic. And, yes the names fit very well. Well done.

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Hmmmmm...you seem to have changed Hope's rank from Lieutenant to private. Well now...

This is already pretty suspenseful and I like it.

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Of this entire chapter (which was pretty darn good), I loved your A/N the best.

I've been able to spend some time with my great grandson recently before his parents whisk him away to Italy for the next three years and he is not only a blessing to us all, but a joy to be around. (He's nine months old, named Ryan, and laughs at all his great granpa's antics.)

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Minor correction. While the chapter taken as a whole is good, the murdered man's rank does detract a bit. The US Marine Corps does not have the rank nor title of lieutenant junior grade. That is a US Navy rank. The Marine Corps officer ranks start with second lieutenant, then first lieutenant and on to captain, major, lieutenant colonel and colonel. Additionally, the only means by which a person who has not completed a college education can become a commissioned officer is to earn a "battlefield commission" which happens very rarely any more. So, a young marine who has not finished college and has less than two years in the service would probably have the rank of private first class (E-2) or lance corporal (E-3).

Nothing else stands out.

Offered in the spirit of helpful criticism.

Cheers.

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Once again, you’ve come up with a fine case fic with lots of interesting characters and details. Your victim in this one particularly grabbed at me. He managed to have a more robust presence than any other NCIS victim I can think of. Perhaps due to the flashbacks that let us see him objectively or perhaps it’s because you made him an artist with such promise, whose work was already affecting so many people in such good ways. I think the loss of someone who can create such beauty as you describe strikes me as particularly sad, even if it’s fiction.

I like how gentle both Ziva and Tony are with Sunny. It’s nice to see Ziva develop that capacity.

You make me want to see this painting that Jaime created. And you make me want to meet the Howakhan people and see their piece of the bay.

I like that Sunny took out the big, bad, bilious bigot, and used one of his own beer bottles to do it.

How marvelously creative of you to drop a house on Tim and Tony. It’s always fun to see what new sort of mayhem you will find to fling at our boys.

As always scouse, i loved it :D Great ending to a great story :D i really do love the brotherly love you have going between Tony and Timmy :D its just so gosh darn cute :D off to read some more of ur super stories :D

See hehe Tony can still save the day :D well mcgee anyway lol great chapter again...i can't believe i've not read this one sooner...well i started to read it but somehow didnt continue but im glad i have now...great story...can't wait to see how you wrap it all up in the next chapter :D

And oh how evil that cliffie is...must read next chapter :D Great pace and action as always :D TOny was just a little too late...come on! he can still do it, even with a building on top of him hahah go go go ! great job !

AWWWWW i loved the names you gave everyone :D and poor Tony feeling responsible...he wasnt to know that that nasty peice of work was going to be mixed up in it all...but he will fix it ! Great chapter :D

Argh i really hate hastings...nasty peice of work, off to read the rest of this great story :D...tho i have a feelin that things are going to go wrong fairly soon

Enjoy u'r writing... U have a great style.. Keeps interested and moves at nice pace

Thanks for the stories:)

I enjoyed the complexities of the crime. While you were trying to show how ugly bigotry can be, you showed a little yourself. "Redneck" haw become just as nasty a term as many other racial/ethnic slurs. It implies people who work outside, especially those from the South, are stupid, irrational, bigoted, uneducated, and generally disgusting. In the US there is prejudice of all kinds, but having lived overseas for many years, rest assured Americans are no more prejudiced than any other country I have lived in. Once I was in a Central American country and was asked to dinner by some very lovely people. Once the wine started flowing they started telling jokes. They were horribly anti-Semitic and then they started telling Mexican jokes. It was embarrassing as I was a guest and didn't know what to do. Also, having lived in Arkansas for several years, I get tired of them picking on that state as the center of racial hatred. Trust me, Chicago and New York City have a tremendous racial problem and they are quite north of the Mason-Dixon line. Sorry I've gone on so long. I do like your writing and I am working from oldest to newest. Thanks for writing and sharing.

I am finally weighing in on your wonderful story, Scouse!

Poor Tony, never gets a break...

"They could joke about it if they liked, but it seemed to always be Tony's misfortune, that when he was trying to act for the best, people believed the worst of him." - so very true.

I love the way you paint Tim and Tony's friendship - it's something we see sadly too little of on the show.

Very interesting character you've created in Jamie Hope. And I'm happy to see Sunny again!

To answer your question, no, you did not go OTT with Arthur. There are times when I like my villains to be cut-and-dried, and I wanted not to ever feel one shred of pity or sympathy for him. His words and actions were perfectly in-tune with the nasty person he was. Holding back would have been a serious mistake. We got just enough out of Arthur (and enough for our imaginations to imply certain things) to fully understand how terrible he is.

I had to chuckle a little at Gibbs' assessment of Tam and Sunny. Yeah, we know Gibbs really is a big ol' softie, somewhere in there.

I had a big smirk on my face when Ziva shot down Arthur's 'pure-blood' pretense. "Enough already about ancestors", indeed.

You've written another beauty, scouze (as if there was any doubt). Thanks for sharing it and all your awesome OCs yet again.