Therapy Time Part Four
Title: Therapy Time
Author: Spiceblueeyes
Pairing: None
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,010
Spoilers: None that I can see.
Warnings: Suicide of OC, violence, angst, brief mentions of child abuse.
Summary: The team gets a case that unsettles Tony more than he wants to admit.
Author's Notes: This is both my first ever NCIS story, and the longest story I've ever written, so I'm excited about it. The story was beta'd by devo79 who is awesome and really helped me make the story better.
Be sure to check out the totally cool art that kj_svala made for the story, she's very talented. You can find it here.
“Suarez was hiding from everyone. The only person who could have seen him, he stopped talking to her. Stopped taking her calls.”Tony explained. Henry scribbled something on his notepad. “Sometimes I wonder if things would have ended differently if he hadn’t done that.”
“Who was she?” Henry asked.
“Her name was Lily Stevens. He met her in the foster system, and they managed to stay in touch.”Tony said.
“They must have been very close.” Henry commented.
Tony looked off into the distance. “I think they were.”
~*~*~*~
The rest of the day didn’t turn up any more leads, and since Lily Stevens wasn’t coming back until tomorrow the team was able to go home at a reasonable hour, for once. Gibbs said they would talk to Suarez’s doctor tomorrow as well, to get more information about his state of mind.
“What are your plans for tonight Tony?” Ziva asked as she packed up and got ready to head home.
“I got a hot date.” He smiled mischievously, thinking about his DVD player, his big screen high definition TV and the literally hundreds of DVDs he had to choose from. He let Ziva assume his date was with some bimbo, when really all he wanted to do was veg in front of one of his favorite movies and stop thinking for a while. If he was lucky he might even get some good sleep tonight.
“How do you always have a date Tony? I would have thought you’d have gone through the entire female population of D.C. by now.” McGee teased him on his way past his desk, heading to the elevator.
“Always leave them wanting more, Probie!” Tony threw back at Tim, who was already at the doors.
“You are a swine.” Ziva said as she walked out of the bullpen, but the smile on her lips took the sting out of the words.
Tony got up to follow her, hefting his back pack. “DiNozzo!” He turned quickly at the voice.
“Yes Boss?”
“Try to get some sleep tonight.” Gibbs had that quirk to his lips that was pretty much as close as he ever got to smiling.
“Yes Boss.” He gave a mock salute and headed out. Time to go home.
Back at his apartment he sifted through his DVDs, trying to pick which one he was in the mood for. He ended up choosing From Russia with Love, a James Bond movie with Sean Connery playing Bond, classic. There were few things in life that a Bond movie couldn’t make disappear for a while, he’d learned that when he was a kid.
When the movie was over he used the remote control to turn off the tv and then just curled up on the couch to sleep, too tired to get up and go to bed.
The next day Gibbs beat him to the office, the result of having actually slept that night. He was still there before Tim and Ziva though. They showed up not too much later and they all got down to work. Tony and Ziva were planning on being at Lily Steven’s apartment when she arrived from the airport. Before then they were compiling all the information they had so far. Gibbs went down to autopsy to get the official report from Ducky, but it didn’t contain any surprises. Susan Killigan had died of a gunshot to the chest. Other than being the reason they were there, it didn’t really do much to add to the investigation.
They updated the BOLOs and called some of the other members of Suarez’s unit. The first call Tony made was to a Jason Smith. It rang three times and then the line clicked and a voice said, “Hello?”
“Jason Smith?” Tony asked.
“Yeah,” the voice confirmed. “Who’s this?”
“My name is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, I work for NCIS.” Tony knew that since Jason Smith was in the Navy, he wouldn’t have to explain that NCIS was not the same thing as CSI.
“You’re calling about Rafael.”Jason sighed. It wasn’t a question. “I heard about what happened, or what they say happened. But I gotta tell you, I don’t really believe it.”
“Why not?”
“Rafael was a good guy. He was solid. You always knew he’d have your back.” Jason explained. “He saved my ass a couple of times and I know I’m not the only one. I just can’t see him killing that woman.”
“When was the last time you saw him?” Tony inquired.
“Ah, it was when we were shipped back home. He was already here because he’d been injured, and a bunch of us went to see him as soon as we got back to the States.” Jason answered.
“How did he seem to you?” Tony fiddled with the pen in his hands.
“He seemed fine. You know, for a guy who’d been tortured and all.” Jason laughed a little, “Actually we were all a little surprised that he was doing so good. I know I would have been a mess.”
A frown appeared on Tony’s brow as he pondered this. “What do you mean?”
“Those fucking bastards burned him, cut him, hurt him real bad. But when we went to see him he was laughing and acting the fool, like always. I wouldn’t have believed he gone through something like that if I hadn’t seen him when I pulled him outta there myself.” Tony heard a small sound that was maybe Jason shaking his head.
“Have you been in any contact with him since then?” Tony asked.
“No, I haven’t seen him at all actually. I called him a couple of times but he never called me back.” Jason paused. “I figured he was just being Rafael, you know? Out on the town, lots of hot dates, showing off his news scars to the ladies.”
Tony shook his head, this didn’t add up. People didn’t go out and buy expensive and serious illegal drugs because they were ‘fine.’ “Thank you for the information. Call us if you hear from him.” Tony told Jason.
“Sure, man. No problem.” Jason said. However his tone was dismissive. It was unlikely that Rafael would contact him, but if he did, he wasn’t going to tell anyone. The bonds forged under enemy fire were strong.
Tony hung up the phone and sat back, thinking. He watched Ziva talk on the phone to someone else. When she hung up, he asked, “Did you get anything?”
“No, I did not.” She said, “all anyone seems to be saying is that the Rafael Suarez they know would never hurt anyone like that. Most of them are denying that he did it at all.” She seemed upset by that. Tony knew that people who like Suarez weren’t going to believe it until shown proof, which NCIS had, but they weren’t going to release the video surveillance tape to the public.
What people are saying about him and what he did don’t match up Boss.” Tony said, looking at Gibbs working at his desk.
“I know.” He replied.
Tony looked at the clock, “Ziva, we better head over to Lily Stevens’ apartment. Other than his foster parents she’s the person who’s known him the longest. Maybe she can give us some insight.”
“I hope you are right Tony. Suarez has disappeared very thoroughly, I do not know if we will be able to find him.” She said as she grabbed her gun and badge.
“We’ll find him!” Gibbs barked at them.
“Yes Boss!”
“Yes Gibbs.”
It wasn’t a wise move to disagree with Gibbs, but privately Tony had his doubts as well. They hadn’t gotten any hits on Suarez’s credit cards, bank account, cell phone, nothing. The only lead they had was the phone call Suarez had made to NCIS, but since McGee hadn’t been able to trace it in time it was a dead end.
They headed to the elevator quickly, subtly racing to the car. It went unspoken that the first one there would get to drive. Ziva won, damn her, and so the ride was more nausea inducing than Tony preferred.
They headed to the elevator quickly, subtly racing to the car. It went unspoken that the first one there would get to drive. Ziva won, damn her, and so the ride was more nausea inducing than Tony preferred. But thirty minutes later they were at Lily Stevens’ apartment building, all pieces still attached. Though Tony thought he might have left his stomach behind somewhere.
Instead of waiting right beside her door and possibly spooking her, they hid in the stairwell down the hall and kept an eye out for her arrival. When a woman walked down the hall with a suitcase in tow Tony checked her face against the picture McGee had printed out for them of Lily Stevens. It was her. She stopped at the correct apartment and dug into her purse, searching for her keys.
“Ms. Stevens?” Tony and Ziva stepped into sight and approached her.
“Um, yeah.” She said cautiously, eyeing them.
“We’re from NCIS,” They both held up their badges for her to see. “I’m Special Agent DiNozzo and this is Special Agent David.” Tony gestured to first himself and then Ziva.
“We’d like to ask you some questions about Rafael Suarez.”
“Rafael? Is he okay? Is he in trouble?” She asked.
“Maybe we should sit down.” Tony looked pointedly at the still locked door.
“Um, okay, sure.” Lily took out her keys and opened the door. She stepped inside and pulled her luggage in after her. “Come in.” Ziva went in first and Tony followed, closing the door behind him. “Would you like anything to drink? Or eat? I don’t have much in the fridge because I was out of town, but I have some soda.” She called out from down the hall, where she just chucked her suitcase into her room and came back. “Or I could make coffee?”
“No thank you.” Ziva politely declined.
“I’ll take a soda.” Tony said. Ziva elbowed him when Lily turned around to go get it. “What?” He whispered, “I’m thirsty.”
She came back and handed him a Coke and Tony nodded in thanks. “Um, we can sit in the living room.” Lily headed in and sat down on a brown loveseat and Tony and Ziva each took a chair across from her.
“Ms. Stevens,” Ziva began. “Have you been contacted by Rafael recently? Spoken to him at all in the past week?” Lily shook her head.
“No, I actually haven’t seen or heard from him in over a month. He hasn’t been answering my calls or e-mails.” She looked distressed.
“What can you tell us about him?” Ziva asked. Tony had his handy notepad and pen ready.
“Well, we’ve been friends for a long time. He’s like the big brother I never had.” Lily had a soft smile on her face as she remembered. “I met him when he lived across the street from me with the Millers; they were his foster parents at the time. He was 15 and I was 13. He was this big tough kid, but he was always really nice to me, and he wouldn’t let the other kids on the street pick on me.
She shook her head slightly. “My parents were about to file for divorce, and they were fighting all the time. My dad was drinking and they both pretty much ignored me. Rafael saw me, cared about me. At the time it felt like he was the only person who did.” Lily wrung her hands together. “He was only with the Millers for a year, but after he left we kept in touch. When he had access to a phone he would call, and he would go to the school library to e-mail me. When he graduated and told me he was going to join the Navy, I wasn’t really surprised. I wanted him to go to college first, but he hated school, couldn’t face four more years of it.”
“Why weren’t you surprised he joined the Navy?” Tony asked, pausing in his note taking.
“My Dad was in the Navy. He used to tell stories from his glory days all the time, over and over again. Whenever Rafael came over he would listen to my Dad with this longing expression on his face. My Dad talked about his Navy buddies like they were family, and I think Rafael wanted that more than anything else in the world.” She took a deep breath. “So he enlisted as soon as he turned 18.”
Tony nodded, he could relate. Family was the reason he’d stayed at NCIS past his usual two year mark. They were the closest thing to family he’d ever found, since his own barely qualified for the term family.
Abby and Tim were like the little brother and sister he never had. He picked on them, but he also cared about them deeply. Gibbs was the father figure, stern, but always there when you needed him. Ziva was, well…Tony glanced at her. She was more complicated, the older brother, and hot cousin all rolled into one. She probably wouldn’t appreciate that description though.
“If you are so close, why has he not been talking to you lately?” Ziva asked. And people say Tony is insensitive, he glared at her.
Lily sighed, “It’s been that way ever since he was sent back from Iraq. He was hurt pretty badly, and he got a medal for it, but something was different somehow.” She bowed her head, “I don’t know what was wrong, he wouldn’t tell me. After a while he stopped talking to me at all.” Tony wrote that down on his note pad. “I’ve been scared for him.” She said.
“What seemed different about him?” Tony asked.
Lily waved her hand vaguely in the air. “It’s hard to explain, sometimes I wasn’t even sure if I was imagining it or not. But he was more…distant.”
She shrugged, “whenever I asked him about it he would laugh it off or make some excuse. And most of the time he seemed fine, smiling and laughing and joking around. Just like always.”
Tony flipped his notepad closed and stood up, Ziva and Lily followed suit. He held out his card and she took it. “Thank you for helping us Lily,” he smiled at her. “If you think of anything else, or if he contacts you in any way, please don’t hesitate to call.” She nodded.
They left quickly after that, and once they were out of the apartment and out of earshot Ziva said, “everyone keeps saying that he was behaving ‘just like always.’ However, unless he was ‘always’ killing people in the market then this is wrong, yes?” She looked at Tony.
“Yeah, whatever was going on with him, it doesn’t seem like anyone knew about it. Even his closest friend.” After the initial fight over who was going to drive, which Tony won by pointing out that if she wrecked another company car there may be an international incident, the drive back to the office was quiet, neither of them felt like talking, too busy trying to make sense of a man who told everyone he was fine and then killed someone while grocery shopping.
~*~*~*~
“Who are you close to Tony?” Henry asked, his voice was soft, like he didn’t want to startle him.
“Why are we talking about me so much? Aren’t we supposed to be talking about the case.” Tony was confused, and a little angry.
“Why can’t we talk about both?”Henry asked reasonably.
“Because I don’t want, or need, your shrink-y head games. All I need is you to sign those papers that say I get to carry a gun again.” Tony pointed at the desk, where those exact papers lay.
“I’m not playing games with you Tony; I’m just trying to do my job.” He shifted in his seat, “so let me do my job, so that in…” Henry glanced at his watch, “thirty minutes, I can let you do yours again.”
Tony huffed. It was a dignified huff, maybe, but a huff none the less. “Fine.”
“Thank you,” Henry said wryly. “So, who is it that you feel close to?”
“I still don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Tony grumbled.
Henry just smiled, “answer anyway.”
~*~*~*~
On to part five.
Author: Spiceblueeyes
Pairing: None
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,010
Spoilers: None that I can see.
Warnings: Suicide of OC, violence, angst, brief mentions of child abuse.
Summary: The team gets a case that unsettles Tony more than he wants to admit.
Author's Notes: This is both my first ever NCIS story, and the longest story I've ever written, so I'm excited about it. The story was beta'd by devo79 who is awesome and really helped me make the story better.
Be sure to check out the totally cool art that kj_svala made for the story, she's very talented. You can find it here.
“Suarez was hiding from everyone. The only person who could have seen him, he stopped talking to her. Stopped taking her calls.”Tony explained. Henry scribbled something on his notepad. “Sometimes I wonder if things would have ended differently if he hadn’t done that.”
“Who was she?” Henry asked.
“Her name was Lily Stevens. He met her in the foster system, and they managed to stay in touch.”Tony said.
“They must have been very close.” Henry commented.
Tony looked off into the distance. “I think they were.”
~*~*~*~
The rest of the day didn’t turn up any more leads, and since Lily Stevens wasn’t coming back until tomorrow the team was able to go home at a reasonable hour, for once. Gibbs said they would talk to Suarez’s doctor tomorrow as well, to get more information about his state of mind.
“What are your plans for tonight Tony?” Ziva asked as she packed up and got ready to head home.
“I got a hot date.” He smiled mischievously, thinking about his DVD player, his big screen high definition TV and the literally hundreds of DVDs he had to choose from. He let Ziva assume his date was with some bimbo, when really all he wanted to do was veg in front of one of his favorite movies and stop thinking for a while. If he was lucky he might even get some good sleep tonight.
“How do you always have a date Tony? I would have thought you’d have gone through the entire female population of D.C. by now.” McGee teased him on his way past his desk, heading to the elevator.
“Always leave them wanting more, Probie!” Tony threw back at Tim, who was already at the doors.
“You are a swine.” Ziva said as she walked out of the bullpen, but the smile on her lips took the sting out of the words.
Tony got up to follow her, hefting his back pack. “DiNozzo!” He turned quickly at the voice.
“Yes Boss?”
“Try to get some sleep tonight.” Gibbs had that quirk to his lips that was pretty much as close as he ever got to smiling.
“Yes Boss.” He gave a mock salute and headed out. Time to go home.
Back at his apartment he sifted through his DVDs, trying to pick which one he was in the mood for. He ended up choosing From Russia with Love, a James Bond movie with Sean Connery playing Bond, classic. There were few things in life that a Bond movie couldn’t make disappear for a while, he’d learned that when he was a kid.
When the movie was over he used the remote control to turn off the tv and then just curled up on the couch to sleep, too tired to get up and go to bed.
The next day Gibbs beat him to the office, the result of having actually slept that night. He was still there before Tim and Ziva though. They showed up not too much later and they all got down to work. Tony and Ziva were planning on being at Lily Steven’s apartment when she arrived from the airport. Before then they were compiling all the information they had so far. Gibbs went down to autopsy to get the official report from Ducky, but it didn’t contain any surprises. Susan Killigan had died of a gunshot to the chest. Other than being the reason they were there, it didn’t really do much to add to the investigation.
They updated the BOLOs and called some of the other members of Suarez’s unit. The first call Tony made was to a Jason Smith. It rang three times and then the line clicked and a voice said, “Hello?”
“Jason Smith?” Tony asked.
“Yeah,” the voice confirmed. “Who’s this?”
“My name is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, I work for NCIS.” Tony knew that since Jason Smith was in the Navy, he wouldn’t have to explain that NCIS was not the same thing as CSI.
“You’re calling about Rafael.”Jason sighed. It wasn’t a question. “I heard about what happened, or what they say happened. But I gotta tell you, I don’t really believe it.”
“Why not?”
“Rafael was a good guy. He was solid. You always knew he’d have your back.” Jason explained. “He saved my ass a couple of times and I know I’m not the only one. I just can’t see him killing that woman.”
“When was the last time you saw him?” Tony inquired.
“Ah, it was when we were shipped back home. He was already here because he’d been injured, and a bunch of us went to see him as soon as we got back to the States.” Jason answered.
“How did he seem to you?” Tony fiddled with the pen in his hands.
“He seemed fine. You know, for a guy who’d been tortured and all.” Jason laughed a little, “Actually we were all a little surprised that he was doing so good. I know I would have been a mess.”
A frown appeared on Tony’s brow as he pondered this. “What do you mean?”
“Those fucking bastards burned him, cut him, hurt him real bad. But when we went to see him he was laughing and acting the fool, like always. I wouldn’t have believed he gone through something like that if I hadn’t seen him when I pulled him outta there myself.” Tony heard a small sound that was maybe Jason shaking his head.
“Have you been in any contact with him since then?” Tony asked.
“No, I haven’t seen him at all actually. I called him a couple of times but he never called me back.” Jason paused. “I figured he was just being Rafael, you know? Out on the town, lots of hot dates, showing off his news scars to the ladies.”
Tony shook his head, this didn’t add up. People didn’t go out and buy expensive and serious illegal drugs because they were ‘fine.’ “Thank you for the information. Call us if you hear from him.” Tony told Jason.
“Sure, man. No problem.” Jason said. However his tone was dismissive. It was unlikely that Rafael would contact him, but if he did, he wasn’t going to tell anyone. The bonds forged under enemy fire were strong.
Tony hung up the phone and sat back, thinking. He watched Ziva talk on the phone to someone else. When she hung up, he asked, “Did you get anything?”
“No, I did not.” She said, “all anyone seems to be saying is that the Rafael Suarez they know would never hurt anyone like that. Most of them are denying that he did it at all.” She seemed upset by that. Tony knew that people who like Suarez weren’t going to believe it until shown proof, which NCIS had, but they weren’t going to release the video surveillance tape to the public.
What people are saying about him and what he did don’t match up Boss.” Tony said, looking at Gibbs working at his desk.
“I know.” He replied.
Tony looked at the clock, “Ziva, we better head over to Lily Stevens’ apartment. Other than his foster parents she’s the person who’s known him the longest. Maybe she can give us some insight.”
“I hope you are right Tony. Suarez has disappeared very thoroughly, I do not know if we will be able to find him.” She said as she grabbed her gun and badge.
“We’ll find him!” Gibbs barked at them.
“Yes Boss!”
“Yes Gibbs.”
It wasn’t a wise move to disagree with Gibbs, but privately Tony had his doubts as well. They hadn’t gotten any hits on Suarez’s credit cards, bank account, cell phone, nothing. The only lead they had was the phone call Suarez had made to NCIS, but since McGee hadn’t been able to trace it in time it was a dead end.
They headed to the elevator quickly, subtly racing to the car. It went unspoken that the first one there would get to drive. Ziva won, damn her, and so the ride was more nausea inducing than Tony preferred.
They headed to the elevator quickly, subtly racing to the car. It went unspoken that the first one there would get to drive. Ziva won, damn her, and so the ride was more nausea inducing than Tony preferred. But thirty minutes later they were at Lily Stevens’ apartment building, all pieces still attached. Though Tony thought he might have left his stomach behind somewhere.
Instead of waiting right beside her door and possibly spooking her, they hid in the stairwell down the hall and kept an eye out for her arrival. When a woman walked down the hall with a suitcase in tow Tony checked her face against the picture McGee had printed out for them of Lily Stevens. It was her. She stopped at the correct apartment and dug into her purse, searching for her keys.
“Ms. Stevens?” Tony and Ziva stepped into sight and approached her.
“Um, yeah.” She said cautiously, eyeing them.
“We’re from NCIS,” They both held up their badges for her to see. “I’m Special Agent DiNozzo and this is Special Agent David.” Tony gestured to first himself and then Ziva.
“We’d like to ask you some questions about Rafael Suarez.”
“Rafael? Is he okay? Is he in trouble?” She asked.
“Maybe we should sit down.” Tony looked pointedly at the still locked door.
“Um, okay, sure.” Lily took out her keys and opened the door. She stepped inside and pulled her luggage in after her. “Come in.” Ziva went in first and Tony followed, closing the door behind him. “Would you like anything to drink? Or eat? I don’t have much in the fridge because I was out of town, but I have some soda.” She called out from down the hall, where she just chucked her suitcase into her room and came back. “Or I could make coffee?”
“No thank you.” Ziva politely declined.
“I’ll take a soda.” Tony said. Ziva elbowed him when Lily turned around to go get it. “What?” He whispered, “I’m thirsty.”
She came back and handed him a Coke and Tony nodded in thanks. “Um, we can sit in the living room.” Lily headed in and sat down on a brown loveseat and Tony and Ziva each took a chair across from her.
“Ms. Stevens,” Ziva began. “Have you been contacted by Rafael recently? Spoken to him at all in the past week?” Lily shook her head.
“No, I actually haven’t seen or heard from him in over a month. He hasn’t been answering my calls or e-mails.” She looked distressed.
“What can you tell us about him?” Ziva asked. Tony had his handy notepad and pen ready.
“Well, we’ve been friends for a long time. He’s like the big brother I never had.” Lily had a soft smile on her face as she remembered. “I met him when he lived across the street from me with the Millers; they were his foster parents at the time. He was 15 and I was 13. He was this big tough kid, but he was always really nice to me, and he wouldn’t let the other kids on the street pick on me.
She shook her head slightly. “My parents were about to file for divorce, and they were fighting all the time. My dad was drinking and they both pretty much ignored me. Rafael saw me, cared about me. At the time it felt like he was the only person who did.” Lily wrung her hands together. “He was only with the Millers for a year, but after he left we kept in touch. When he had access to a phone he would call, and he would go to the school library to e-mail me. When he graduated and told me he was going to join the Navy, I wasn’t really surprised. I wanted him to go to college first, but he hated school, couldn’t face four more years of it.”
“Why weren’t you surprised he joined the Navy?” Tony asked, pausing in his note taking.
“My Dad was in the Navy. He used to tell stories from his glory days all the time, over and over again. Whenever Rafael came over he would listen to my Dad with this longing expression on his face. My Dad talked about his Navy buddies like they were family, and I think Rafael wanted that more than anything else in the world.” She took a deep breath. “So he enlisted as soon as he turned 18.”
Tony nodded, he could relate. Family was the reason he’d stayed at NCIS past his usual two year mark. They were the closest thing to family he’d ever found, since his own barely qualified for the term family.
Abby and Tim were like the little brother and sister he never had. He picked on them, but he also cared about them deeply. Gibbs was the father figure, stern, but always there when you needed him. Ziva was, well…Tony glanced at her. She was more complicated, the older brother, and hot cousin all rolled into one. She probably wouldn’t appreciate that description though.
“If you are so close, why has he not been talking to you lately?” Ziva asked. And people say Tony is insensitive, he glared at her.
Lily sighed, “It’s been that way ever since he was sent back from Iraq. He was hurt pretty badly, and he got a medal for it, but something was different somehow.” She bowed her head, “I don’t know what was wrong, he wouldn’t tell me. After a while he stopped talking to me at all.” Tony wrote that down on his note pad. “I’ve been scared for him.” She said.
“What seemed different about him?” Tony asked.
Lily waved her hand vaguely in the air. “It’s hard to explain, sometimes I wasn’t even sure if I was imagining it or not. But he was more…distant.”
She shrugged, “whenever I asked him about it he would laugh it off or make some excuse. And most of the time he seemed fine, smiling and laughing and joking around. Just like always.”
Tony flipped his notepad closed and stood up, Ziva and Lily followed suit. He held out his card and she took it. “Thank you for helping us Lily,” he smiled at her. “If you think of anything else, or if he contacts you in any way, please don’t hesitate to call.” She nodded.
They left quickly after that, and once they were out of the apartment and out of earshot Ziva said, “everyone keeps saying that he was behaving ‘just like always.’ However, unless he was ‘always’ killing people in the market then this is wrong, yes?” She looked at Tony.
“Yeah, whatever was going on with him, it doesn’t seem like anyone knew about it. Even his closest friend.” After the initial fight over who was going to drive, which Tony won by pointing out that if she wrecked another company car there may be an international incident, the drive back to the office was quiet, neither of them felt like talking, too busy trying to make sense of a man who told everyone he was fine and then killed someone while grocery shopping.
~*~*~*~
“Who are you close to Tony?” Henry asked, his voice was soft, like he didn’t want to startle him.
“Why are we talking about me so much? Aren’t we supposed to be talking about the case.” Tony was confused, and a little angry.
“Why can’t we talk about both?”Henry asked reasonably.
“Because I don’t want, or need, your shrink-y head games. All I need is you to sign those papers that say I get to carry a gun again.” Tony pointed at the desk, where those exact papers lay.
“I’m not playing games with you Tony; I’m just trying to do my job.” He shifted in his seat, “so let me do my job, so that in…” Henry glanced at his watch, “thirty minutes, I can let you do yours again.”
Tony huffed. It was a dignified huff, maybe, but a huff none the less. “Fine.”
“Thank you,” Henry said wryly. “So, who is it that you feel close to?”
“I still don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Tony grumbled.
Henry just smiled, “answer anyway.”
~*~*~*~
On to part five.