"Agent Gibbs, this is Det. DiNozzo. He'll. . ."
"Turn over all of the evidence and get out of the way," Gibbs stated. DiNozzo flashed Gibbs a lady-killer grin.
"Will act as a liaison between Baltimore PD and NCIS," Capt. Graves continued as if he'd never been interrupted. The young man in front of Gibbs didn't bother to put out his hand in greeting.
"Agent Gibbs, I'll fill you in on the way to the site. We have three civilians and one Naval officer involved in this. Lt. White is the one you're worried about. Lenore Grimes, Lorie Loveless, and Martha Pagent are my concern. If you don't like that, I really don't care. This is the preliminary report form our ME. Lt. White's on the way to NCIS as we speak." DiNozzo handed over the papers.
"Why weren't we called at the scene?" Gibbs demanded. DiNozzo glanced up from his papers. Gibbs caught a glimpse of amused green. The young man wasn't looking where he was going and the other officers in the bullpen avoided him unconsciously.
"Yo, Wunderkind, where's the Brown file?"
"On your desk, Dickweed."
"Who's the old man?" The speaker was a young grinning African American man with incredibly white teeth.
"Fed."
"Sucks to be you. You want paper or plastic?"
"For what?"
"When I clean out your desk after the funeral?"
"Don't you mean the IAB?" a young woman interjected.
DiNozzo rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to shoot this one. I might need him. Where's Anderson?"
"Waiting for your pansy ass at the crime scene."
"Aw, Pookie, don't you love me no more?" DiNozzo shot back. General laughter followed them. "Assholes, all of them," the young detective confided softly. "Anderson's the lead on the case."
"No, I am. Why wasn't I called at the scene?" Gibbs hated repeating himself, but the detective's interactions with his teammates intrigued him. He was short-handed and he saw a lot of himself in the detective.
"Lt. White wasn't in uniform. I called as soon as I made a positive ID."
"You called?"
"Yeah. That's why I get to play go-between." Tony grinned. "They always give me plum assignments like this."
"Who'd you shoot?"
"Crooked FBI agent. Only winged him, but it kept Anderson alive so it's all good."
Gibbs reviewed the ME's file. "Keys," he demanded.
"No," DiNozzo replied. "It's my ass if the car gets trashed so just buckle up and read the file." DiNozzo shoved the rest of the file into Gibbs' hands before opening the car doors. Gibbs smirked. He'd give the man enough rope to hang himself on this case and see how he did.
****
Anderson was nearing retirement age and looked every year of it. His hair was grey, face wrinkled, and teeth tar-stained. "Took you long enough, kid. You leave me with a crying maid again, I'll tan your Yuppie ass."
"Love you too. I took her statement before I left. Parsons still printing?"
"Lot of prints. She'd love the help?" Anderson raised his voice at the end.
"Tell Wunderkind to keep his cute little butt out there. He's already got his sketches."
"Parsons, bella, let me help. I won't get in the way."
"Last time you helped, Billy took more shots of your ass than the scene."
DiNozzo sighed with an exaggerated pout. "I never have any fun."
Anderson gave a rusty chuckle. "You bring my cigs, kid?"
"No, you promised to quit. Agent Gibbs, this is Mike Anderson. He's the lead on our side of the fence."
"Gibbs," Anderson greeted. He gave DiNozzo a tiny shove. "Go solve a crime or something."
DiNozzo smiled fondly at the older detective. "Right, boss," he said cheerfully. He left the two men alone and joined the officers who were canvassing the area. He was greeted without the wariness Gibbs had expected. "This is my case now, Anderson."
Anderson laughed outright at that. "You're funny for a Fed. The kid bring you up to speed? Way I see it, this had nothing to do wit her being Navy and everything to do with being a pretty girl."
"Let me be the judge of that."
"You don’t have a partner?" Anderson raised a brow.
"Posted to sea," Gibbs informed him. He sort of missed Burley, but not that much. "I'm going to look at the scene."
"I wouldn't. Parsons is a real bitch about crime scenes."
Gibbs ignored him and stepped inside as he pulled on his latex gloves. He surveyed the controlled chaos of the five person team. A large black woman looked up. "Who the Hell are you?"
"Agent Gibbs, NCIS. This is my scene."
"Oh, I don't think so. Anthony Daniel DiNozzo!" Her voice held the sharp note of command familiar to children everywhere. DiNozzo was there a moment later.
"Yes, my beautiful lady?"
"Get him out of here right now," she ordered.
"He's a Fed."
"So shoot him. Out. Both of you."
"Parsons, did you want some help on the upper levels? We could print those for you. I know that shoulder's still got to be sore."
Her face softened. "You're a manipulative brat. Out. Now. Or I tell the captain you'll love running the kid's campaign."
DiNozzo shuddered. "Come on, Gibbs. We can go over the witness statements."
Gibbs shook his head. "Nope. This is my crime scene."
The young man frowned. He chewed at his lip. Gibbs almost felt sorry for him, being stuck between him and the PD. "So you're going to come speak for the 'Mr. Policeman' campaign? That's nice of you. I'll call and let the PR group know."
That made him pause for a moment. "What age group?"
"Oh, everything from Pre-K on up. I think the Kindergarteners will love you. You just have to teach them how to dial 9-1-1 and to run to a policeman in uniform if they're in trouble. You'll need a set of blues." He looked Gibbs up and down. "I'll make a guess on the sizes and you can try them on when we get back to the station."
"I haven't agreed yet."
"Yes, you did. You haven't left and Parsons' actually runs the thing right now. If I get stuck with it, so do you."
Gibbs snorted. "Last I looked you're not my partner and Baltimore PD isn't my group."
DiNozzo smiled at him. It was a brilliant smile and Gibbs felt his stomach clench. Yeah, the boy was hired. "Yes, but if this case is yours, then you get to deal with the politics, that means you get to run the campaign."
The former Marine granted him a snort of vague approval.
TBC