Chapter Fourteen: TV Detectives

Balboa took great pleasure in tightening the handcuffs around Danny's wrists while Fornell did the same to Calhoun. Their boss, Major Raimey, looked on in disgust but remained silent. He'd just spent the last half hour in his office with the two agents, doing his best to persuade them that they couldn't arrest his men but in the end it had been futile. When the agents had threatened to bring him in too, he'd backed off.

"Any chance you can cuff our hands in front of us for the trip to the city?" Danny asked. "It's like an hour drive without traffic."

"I dunno," Balboa replied. "Did you cuff Tony's hands in front of him?" His question was met with silence but that came as no surprise.

An hour long ride turned into an almost two hour ride thanks to an accident just outside the city. Once they finally arrived, Danny and Calhoun were separated, processed and taken to two different interrogation rooms. Balboa and Fornell stood in the observation room between both rooms and watched the men.

"We focus our attention on Danny," Fornell suggested. "He's the one with the connection to Tony."

"I agree," Balboa replied, "but let's let him simmer for a little while longer."

After a trip to get some coffee and making sure they had all the information they needed organized in the folder they'd be taking in with them, they decided Danny had been stewing long enough and headed in.

Their questions were originally met with defiance and denials which the agents allowed, knowing Danny was just digging himself into a deeper hole with every lie he told, but their patience soon ran out.

"Cut the crap, Price," Fornell demanded as he slammed his fist down on the table. "You've been sitting here running your mouth for the last hour and a half and now we've got you contradicting yourself and contradicting the evidence we've collected. That's embarrassing and I'm sure you've been around the block enough times to know exactly how it's going to go over in court."

"We're subpoenaing your financial records," Balboa added. "There are agents searching your house as we speak. It's over, Danny."

Danny leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at both men defiantly. "There's nothing more to tell."

Jethro had just headed off towards the elevator to head out for another cup of coffee when Tony appeared next to him.

"We're not having naughty time in the elevator," Jethro informed the man, "so don't even ask."

"I see you're still not seeing the real potential of this little mobile room," Tony muttered, "but that's not why I'm here. Abby found something. She told me to bring you with me."

Jethro pushed the button that would take them to Abby's lab and waited for the elevator to take them there.

"Last chance to spice your day up," Tony offered before the elevator stopped. "I'll give you head."

The elevator jerked to a halt and the doors opened. Jethro looked over at Tony exasperatedly before stepping off and heading over to where Abby was standing behind her desk.

"I found her lover," Abby's said excitedly, skipping the hellos, "and the reason there's no pictures of her with her boyfriends."

"Who?" Tony asked. "How? Where?"

Abby hit a couple keys on her computer as she spoke. "Thanks to Tony's discovery of her online handle, I was able to follow her around cyberspace. I hit the jackpot on Twitter."

"She was at the Brantley Gilbert concert?" Tony asked, reading one of the tweets. "Shows her taste in music is questionable."

"Well, Brantley Gilbert just broke your case," Abby said, "so you might have to rethink your opinion."

"About country music? Never."

"What's the break, Abby?" Jethro asked.

"Spending a little quality time with Brantley Gilbert and my fiancée," Abby read. She clicked on the attached picture and there was no mistaking the facts.

"That's Amanda," Tony said, "one of Jordyn's roommates."

"Jordyn was a lesbian?" Jethro asked.

"Either that or bisexual but considering the lack of guys in her life, I'm guessing lesbian. So, the question now is how did she get pregnant? Did they pick a sperm donor? Or was she raped?"

"Considering everyone we've talked to so far talks about how important her career is to her, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she was raped," Tony said. His face scrunched up in disgust. "She was a lesbian and she was raped. It's like she was doubly violated."

"Aww," Abby whimpered.

"We need to head back to Quantico and talk to Amanda," Jethro said. "We'll stop for coffee on the way."

An hour and a half later, Jethro and Tony were sitting in their car with a Marine in Jordyn's unit and what they now knew to be her lover, Lance Corporal Amanda Grainger.

"We found Jordyn's Twitter account," Tony informed the younger woman gently. "We know your secret."

"Talk to us, Amanda," Jethro urged. "You obviously loved her. Help us get justice for both of you."

Amanda stared back and forth between both men for several long moments before finally opening her mouth. "We were always so careful," she said. "We knew both our jobs were at risk but Jordyn was having a harder and harder time hiding it. Not being able to kiss or hold hands in public, pretending like there was nothing special between us at work." Her head dropped into her hands with a sigh. "It was so hard for her."

"I can't imagine it being any easier on you," Jethro guessed.

"It wasn't," Amanda admitted, "but we talked about it and both of us decided we wanted to stay in. We loved being Marines as much as we loved each other. So, we decided to stick with it but we exchanged rings and agreed to get married next summer. That would be good enough until we could have something more."

"Was a baby in your plans?" Tony asked cautiously.

Amanda couldn't hold back the tears any longer and once they started, she had a difficult time stopping them. Jethro offered her his handkerchief and he and Tony gave her a moment to compose herself.

"Jordyn and I went out with our unit to celebrate somebody's birthday. I don't even remember whose birthday it was. It was just an excuse to let loose and have a little fun."

"What happened?" Jethro prodded when Amanda didn't continue on her own.

"We were all drunk," Amanda admitted. She hesitated again but continued without prompting. "Jordyn and I got separated. I went looking for her and I finally found her in the alley behind the bar. This guy was pinning her to the wall with his body. At first I thought she was being mugged but then I realized she was being raped. By the time I got there, the guy was just finishing up. He was too drunk to even care that I'd stumbled on them."

"Why didn't Jordyn report it?" Jethro asked.

Amanda shook her head and sighed heavily. "She knew it would just turn into a he said she said and she didn't think it'd go anywhere since they were both drunk and she didn't wanna risk any career repercussions. She didn't want to go through the humiliation, have her name dragged through the mud and she figured the guy wouldn't even be punished anyways so she just put it out of her head. We both tried to put it behind us."

Tony cringed as he thought about the investigation surrounding him, where he was the victim but had somehow ended up under the microscope too. His heart went out to the young lance corporals, feeling helpless under a system that didn't quite protect them.

"And then you found out Jordyn was pregnant," Tony prompted.

Amanda frowned and nodded. "We'd only known for a week," she admitted. "I tried to talk her into aborting it but Jordyn didn't believe in that. She wanted to have the baby and give it up for adoption."

"Who else knew?" Jethro asked. "Did her rapist know?"

"Jordyn told him. She knew he'd find out when she started showing and for some reason she wanted to give him a heads up."

"When did she tell him?" Jethro asked.

Amanda thought back before answering. "The Thursday before she died."

Jethro nodded as he put his notebook aside and looked directly into Amanda's eyes. "Who raped Jordyn, Amanda?" he asked. "If the guy was going to find out about her pregnancy, he had to be someone in your unit, right?"

Amanda swallowed hard but held eye contact with Jethro. "Promise me you won't drag her name through the mud," she whispered.

"I promise," Jethro replied.

The Lance Corporal looked to Tony and then back at Jethro. "Corporal Eric Preston."

"He in your unit?"

Amanda simply nodded.

Jethro and Tony sent Amanda back to work then called legal to get a warrant for Corporal Preston's arrest. While they waited for it to come through, the two headed to the bar where Amanda said everything had happened. It had been over a month since the crime had been committed but they still looked around, interviewed employees, talked to a couple barflies, swabbed surfaces and asked about security footage which had long since been deleted.

"Our crime occurred at a dirty bar over a month ago," Tony said, "and the actual crime scene is outside in the elements. It's gonna be damn near impossible to prove rape. The fact that she's gay might help but she kept that a secret. Any decent defense attorney is gonna have a field day with that little tidbit."

"Just means we need a confession," Jethro replied, causing Tony to laugh. "What?"

"Rape is already damn near impossible to prove," Tony pointed out, "but on top of that, we have no victim to testify, no evidence to nail him with and since he's most likely our killer, he'll know confessing to rape is most likely going to lead to a murder charge. No way in hell are we going to get any confession out of Corporal Eric Preston."

"Oh ye of little faith," Jethro replied. "When we get back, you'll watch and learn."

"I kinda wanna put money on that but your cocky confidence is scaring me off a little."

"I could use a little extra spending money," Jethro teased, taunting Tony a little more.

"And how, exactly, do you plan on getting him to confess?"

"Guilt," Jethro answered, "and wits. His guilt and my wits."

"Well I can hardly wait to see this," Tony said.

After the warrant came through, the two arrested Preston and headed back to the Navy Yard. By the time they got him settled in the interrogation room, Balboa and Fornell were just finishing up with Danny Price.

"How's it going?" Jethro asked as they crossed paths in the observation room.

"We've got enough circumstantial evidence to build a strong case," Balboa answered, "but neither of 'em are willing to give anything up."

"We just arrested them today though," Fornell added. "Maybe if they have a little time to simmer, they'll reconsider."

The group exchanged formal nods and handshakes then went their separate ways. Jethro called Abby up to observation then left Tony in observation while he and Abby went into interrogation.

"Watch and learn," Jethro told Tony before he left.

He bypassed the soft and gentle approach completely when he was face to face with Preston.

"Open your mouth," he ordered sharply.

"Sir?"

Jethro slammed his hand down on the table, making Preston jump. "Open your mouth," he ordered again.

Preston obeyed and Abby collected the DNA sample she'd come for then left Gibbs alone with Preston.

"That DNA sample my forensic scientist just took," Jethro said, pointing towards the door Abby had just exited through, "that's gonna match up to the fetal tissue taken from our dead Lance Corporal, Jordyn Harrison."

Preston opened his mouth to defend himself but he stuttered and stumbled and couldn't get a coherent thought out. Did he deny everything? Did he admit to consensual sex? He hadn't even realized NCIS was onto him and now he was face to face with a very intimidating agent who was demanding answers from him.

"You lie to me and I promise you things are gonna be so much worse for you," Jethro promised. "So much worse."

Preston's heart was beating out of his chest as he tried desperately to catch up with Gibbs. "Jordyn," he said. "You're talking about Jordyn, right? I don't know what you're thinking but that was consensual. We were both drunk and we both regretted it as soon as we sobered up but I did not rape her."

"I didn't say anything about rape," Jethro pointed. "You got a guilty conscience?"

"Sir?"

"Jordyn was found murdered in the front yard of her childhood home," Jethro said. "I wanna know how she got that way."

"I-I-I don't know how she got that way, Sir. I don't know what happened."

"Well let me tell you what I know," Jethro said, his demeanor calm and confident. "I know Lance Corporate Hamilton never looked at a guy twice in her entire life. She was gay, Preston, so that bullshit story about consensual sex?" He lifted the table up slightly and slammed it down with a loud bang, startling Preston again. "I'm not buying it! What did I tell you about lying to me?" he demanded with a finger pointed in the man's face.

Preston leaned back in his chair, trying to put some distance between himself and his interrogator. "Is this about rape or murder, Sir?" he asked.

"Well, Corporal, interesting you should ask because I'm thinking whoever raped her, murdered her to stop her from having their baby and you know what else? I think that someone was you."

Preston's eyes widened and he swallowed hard. He was quiet for a long time, trying to avoid eye contact with Jethro but unable to resist the urge to peek at him in an attempt to try to read his expression. Discomfort and shock quickly turned to anger and frustration as his not so perfectly crafted plan fell apart before his eyes and it was his turn to slam his fists down on the table.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"Tell me," Jethro said sharply.

"I was drunk. We were both drunk!"

"My sexual orientation doesn't change when I'm drunk," Jethro pointed out. "She did not want to have sex with you, Corporal."

Preston slowly shook his head back and forth. "No," he said, "she didn't."

"How'd you find out she was pregnant?" Jethro asked.

"She told me and then I overheard her talking to Amanda," Preston admitted. "Jordyn refused to get an abortion and Amanda was pushing her to press charges. I didn't wanna go to jail."

"So you murdered her instead, and now you have little chance of ever getting out of jail," Jethro pointed out. "You really didn't think this one through, Eric."

"I panicked, Sir."

"Get yourself a good lawyer. You're gonna need one."

Jethro walked up and down the aisle in the hardware store where the interior doors were displayed while Tony followed behind him like a little lost puppy.

"It doesn't matter how many times you walk back and forth in this aisle, the door that you want isn't gonna magically appear," Tony told his lover. "I doubt they even make it anymore."

"I can't get something that doesn't match," Jethro said.

"Well you shouldn't have put your fist through the bathroom door!" Tony said.

"You shouldn't have gotten kidnapped!" Jethro countered.

"So this is my fault?"

"May I help you gentlemen?" one of the store associates asked.

"Are these all the interior doors you have?" Jethro asked. "Do you have anything older?"

"These are all the doors we have in stock," the associate answered. "If you're looking for something older, you might get lucky at one of the restore shops, sometimes thrift stores have stuff like that, an estate sale at a house that's a similar age or you might be able to find something online. You won't find anything like that at a big name hardware store though. They all about the latest and the greatest."

"Thanks for your help," Jethro replied with a smile. As soon as the man walked away, Jethro delivered a head slap to Tony, causing him to shriek and rub at the spot.

"What was that for?" Tony demanded quietly.

"For causing a scene," Jethro replied.

"You started it," Tony grumped, although the grumpiness was turning back to good natured fun. "What do you wanna do?"

Jethro sighed as he considered his options. "Let's just go," he said. "I'll switch the bathroom door with one of the doors upstairs that way company won't see the hole. We can keep an eye out for an adequate replacement."

"Next time you decide to punch a hole in something, do it in the drywall, will ya?" Tony joked. "It's a lot easier to replace."

Balboa danced around the punching bag in the NCIS gym, throwing punches and ducking away from the imaginary enemy fighting him. He threw jabs and delivered upper cuts as his feet moved in perfect rhythm with his arms. Sweat trickled down his back and dripped from his forehead but Balboa didn't stop until his cell phone started going off.

He unfastened the Velcro on one glove with his teeth, pulled it off then removed the other glove and tossed them towards his gym bag as he grabbed his phone and water bottle.

"This is Balboa," he greeted before squirting some water into his mouth while he listened.

"This is Officer Drummond over at the jail," the man greeted. "Prisoner Danny Price wants to see you."

Balboa wiped the hand towel he kept in his bag over his forehead as he listened in surprise. He hadn't expected Danny to break so quickly or easily. He was planning on long hours of intense interrogations. "We'll be there later this morning," he replied. "Thanks."

Two and a half hours later, he was sitting in a private room in the jail next to Fornell with Danny sporting his orange jumpsuit on the other side of the table.

"You wanted to chat?" Balboa asked, giving off the impression that he had better places to be.

"I'll talk," Danny reluctantly agreed, "but first I want something from you guys."

"What do you want?" Fornell asked. He kept his tone even and gave off the air of almost being inconvenienced. Neither he nor Balboa we're going to make anything easy on Danny.

"I wanna do my time either in the Midwest or out west," Danny answered.

"Why?"

"Because nobody knows me out there," Danny answered.

Balboa and Fornell shared a look then turned back to the prisoner.

"Done," Fornell replied.

"But only if you tell us the truth," Balboa added. "Now talk."

"Calhoun and I arrested Tony," Danny admitted. "We took him to Baltimore and beat him up until he started seizing."

"Why?" Fornell asked.

Danny broke eye contact and looked down at the table. He chewed nervously on the inside of his lip, hesitating before answering. "To protect my secret. Our secret."

"Who is 'our'?"

"Me," Danny answered before hesitating again, "and Major Raimey. I don't know who else or even if there is anyone else."

"What's the secret?" Balboa asked.

"We were getting a cut in a money laundering scheme," Danny answered. "We sent potential clients to our contact and if they decided to do business, we got a cut. The more clients we sent, the more money we made."

"You don't know who all was involved?" Fornell asked.

Danny shook his head. "Raimey said it was safer that way. If one person got caught or grew a conscience, they wouldn't be able to take the whole operation down."

"What does all this have to do with Tony?" Balboa asked.

"At first, when Raimey told Calhoun and I to go get Tony, I thought Tony was in on the whole scheme," Danny said. "I thought Raimey was just trying to keep him quiet but he was so confused about why we'd grabbed him and taken him to Baltimore and he was even more confused about the beating. Later on, Raimey finally admitted Tony wasn't in on the scheme but he said he thought Tony knew about it and we had to keep him quiet."

"What about you?" Balboa asked curiously. "What do you think?"

"I think if Tony knew anything, he would've used it to try to stop the beating," Danny admitted. "I think the beating was just Raimey's way of getting back at Tony."

"Getting back at Tony?"

"For lying to him. For presenting himself as someone he's not," Danny said. He looked between both men and continued on when he saw that they were waiting for him to explain himself. "For being gay."

Balboa narrowed his eyes. "Is that why you agreed to do it?" he asked. "You took pleasure in that beating, didn't you? You were happy to get back at Tony for being gay, weren't you?"

Danny's jaw clenched but he remained silent.

"How do you know he's gay?" Fornell asked.

"His dad outed him," Danny explained, desperate to make them understand.

"Did you know his father's been following him around, telling lies about him ever since he graduated from college?" Fornell asked. "That man will say anything to turn people against Tony, uproot him from the life he's built for himself and make his life miserable."

"Are you saying he's not gay?" Danny asked.

Fornell shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he answered, "and to be honest I could care less. Tony is Tony. I haven't known him anywhere near as long as you have but he's damn good at his job, has a good head on his shoulders and you won't find a more loyal friend. Nothing else matters."

"Am I gonna get my deal or what?" Danny asked coldly.

Jethro straightened out his shirt and tucked it into his pants, buttoned and then zipped them as he came around the front of the car, all while Tony leered approvingly.

"If you're gonna have to readjust everything whenever you get out of the car anyways, you might as well take me up on the road head offer," Tony commented. "That'd be a much more fun reason to have to readjust."

Jethro shot a glare back at his partner as he continued up the front walkway.

"Sorry," Tony said, despite not looking the least bit apologetic. As soon as Jethro turned his back to him again, Tony smirked. One day he would talk the man into road head.

Jethro knocked on the door and waited until it was unlocked and opened. "Ma'am," he greeted with a formal nod of his head.

"Please, come in," Peggy said, stepping aside and welcoming the agents into her home. "Can I get you guys anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? Ice water?"

"No thank you," Jethro said. "We'll be quick."

"We just stopped by to tell you we got Jordyn's killer," Tony said. "Not only did she help us catch him, she helped stop a violent rapist from victimizing more women."

"I'm sure you already know this, Ma'am," Jethro said, "but your daughter's a hero. Her sacrifice wasn't in vain. She made her country proud."

"Thank you both," Peggy replied.

"We're sorry for your loss," Jethro said.

Two sets of bare feet were propped up on the coffee table and there were two ice cold beers on the end tables on either side of the couch. Reports had been done, their case had been closed and it was time to relax and unwind.

The playfulness had already started. There had been ass pinching and nipple twisting, crotch grabbing and slapping and tickling of any body part they could reach.

The fun came to an abrupt halt when Jethro's cell phone started dancing across the coffee table.

"Noooo," Tony groaned while Jethro reached for it and answered.

Jethro was on the phone for less than a minute before he hung up and tossed it back onto the coffee table. "Put your pants on," he told Tony. "We have a case."

"But, but we're both all hot and bothered now," Tony whined. "Lemme suck your dick real quick… Road head?... Why can't we be like those TV detectives and roll up to the crime scene tomorrow morning?"

The End

Author's Note: The end kind of snuck up on me so I'm guessing it really snuck up on some of you guys. If I realized it was so close, I would've given you guys a heads up in the last chapter. Thank you all so much for all of your support, especially while I had family in town and wasn't responding to reviews! You guys really keep me going and knowing you're enjoying my stories and waiting for more keeps me inspired to continue writing. I can't thank you all enough!