The Third DiNozzo

Chapter 6 ~ Searching for Clues

McGee and Aspen left the forensic lab and headed down towards the Autopsy lab. As they rode down the elevator, Aspen had some flashbacks to her time at the FBI. Luckily before they became too in the front of her mind, she pushed them back and cleared her throat.

"You alright, Aspen?" McGee asked curiously.

"Yeah. Yeah!" Aspen said tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "This case is already so confusing."

"Tell me about it. So far the only good thing about this case, is that you were able to knock Tony down off of his high horse."

"I just learned how to deal with that cocky personality all too well at the FBI," Aspen said as the elevator came to a stop. 

"Time for you to have your first taste of Autopsy, Aspen. You ready?" McGee asked as they both got ready to exit.

"Yep. Been to multiple Autopsy at the FBI, NCIS shouldn't that much different." Aspen said fixing her blazer.

"Well, I'll warn you. Ducky tends to go on tangents all the time, and Palmer ... well he tends to drop things, break things, and even lose things. So be watchful when he's holding evidence." McGee said as the door opened.

"I think he'll manage," Aspen muttered as they walked into the Autopsy room. As they walked into the Autopsy lab, they immediately got greeted with a loud clatter as Palmer bumped into the silver stray holding all the equipment, knocking all the instruments to the floor. He started spouting apologizes as Aspen and McGee approached the table. 

"It's alright, Mr. Palmer!" Ducky said with a sigh as he lifted up his face shield and looked over at McGee and Aspen. "Ah, hello Timothy! Aspen." Palmer banged his head on the bottom of the autopsy table trying to look up and see them. McGee shook his head, while Aspen couldn't help but chuckle at how cute it was. 

"Hey, guys!" he said getting up and placing the contaminated instruments on a separate tray, and rushing over to grab another tray full of clean and sterile instruments. Jimmy lifted up his face shield and smiled brightly over at them. McGee politely waved back, while Aspen tried to hide a smile as she noticed he had a blood smear on his shield. 

"What have you got for us, Ducky?" McGee asked walking over beside Ducky. 

"Well, what poor Majorie went through in the end, speak words," Ducky said pulling back the skin and muscle to show her heart. "The pair of scissors, priced her Aorta, causing her to bleed out within seconds. However, before that, she experienced some blunt force trauma to the right temporal lobe." 

"She also has some defensive wounds on her knuckles as well, right?" Aspen said moving closer and getting down by the hands. "Either defensive or offensive I can't be for sure."

"Good eye Aspen, very good eye." Ducky applauded Aspen as he picked up her right hand. "These are mainly defensive wounds, with a few offensive wounds. My main conclusion is she was attacked and tried to fight back."

"Any other indications of an attack, Duck?" McGee asked leaning over her left side. 

"I'm afraid not, Timothy," Ducky spoke sadly. "The only definite thing I can say is that the cause of death was scissors to the heart."

"Thanks, Duck," Tim said waving for Aspen to follow him out. Aspen thanked Ducky and looked around to thank Palmer but found he was nowhere to be seen. 

"Um, where did Mr. Palmer go?" asked Aspen.

"He probably went out to the van. He is constantly forgetting things out in the van, one time he actually forgot his glass-" 

"Well, when you see him, tell him I said thanks for us!" Aspen said cutting him off and rushing out after McGee. Once she was gone, Ducky sighed and poked his head out into the garage. 

"She's gone, Mr. Palmer," called Ducky, and out from underneath the van Palmer crawled.

"Thanks for telling me, Dr. Mallard," Palmer spoke rapidly as he got up and starting taking off his, now dirt-covered, blue autopsy gown.

"Next time, don't go running off Jimmy. Miss Jacobs won't bite." Palmer just lowered his head and nodded.  

Aspen and McGee got back up to the bullpen and informed the team of what they discovered, everyone began to type away at their computers. All of them except for Aspen. She was too busy racking her brain to figure out what that phrase in that email could mean. 

"Aspen? You okay?" Ziva asked looking over from her desk. Aspen sat up and leaned back in her chair.

"What if she stayed in contact with her Foster dad?" Everyone now looked up and over at her. "I mean think about it, if he was the only father figure in her life, it makes sense she would want to KEEP him in her life."

"Not only for support but for that classic fatherly love," McGee said as he clicked through his computer and pulled up phone and email records of Majorie onto the plasma. "Here it is, over 200 calls, texts, and emails between the two of them dating back to early 2005. However, all come to a stop once she joins the Academy." 

"What does that mean?" Tony said getting up and scanning the plasma. "She stopped communicating with her Foster dad, big deal."

"You don't understand, Dinozzo. If a Foster child goes to that length to stay in contact with their Fosters parents even once they get reunited with their birth parents, they don't stop communicating unless something happened between them or something came between them." Aspen said getting up and pointing to the last emails on the screen. 

"She seemed to be the one, trying to communicate. He was the one who stopped! We need to find out why he stopped and why her friend and family said that she basically owed him." Aspen finished as she walked back over to her computer and began typing. 

Aspen was one of the fastest agents at the FBI when it came to locating where someone is. Many agents were jealous of her in that regard. She typed and typed until she grabbed a pen and scribbled down two different addresses. 

"He has two places of residence under his name, an apartment in Annandale and a house not far from the base on 56th and Melody Drive." Aspen walked over and waved the paper in front of DiNozzo's face. 

"How did you get this information so fast?" He asked snatching it from her hands.

"I have my ways," Aspen smirked while walking back to her desk. "It was one of the few things I could do at the FBI, according to many other agents." Gibbs walked in and they all updated him with their findings. 

"DiNozzo, David, go to his house that's not far from here. McGee called Annandale PD and get them to check on his apartment.  Jacobs read through those emails and texts and try to find any clues about their relationship we may not know." 

"Yes, boss." they collectively replied at once, before all rushing off in their separate ways. <cGee sent all the emails and text to Aspen and she sat down with a pen and paper and began to take notes of anything that may hold clues to the case.