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It had been almost six months since Tony had returned from his stint as an Agent Afloat and he was different. Gibbs was troubled by it, because if Tony had been one of the best agents he ever worked with before he was now the best agent he had every worked with. Tony never missed a beat, always finding the missing link in a really tough case. He still let Ziva and McGee find leads, but if the team was stumped he would step up and find that missing link in the case and run with it. Just like the case they were working right now.
Tony was already at his desk when Gibbs got in to work.
“Hey, boss. I got a lead on the case. I was just double checking on it before everyone got in.”
Gibbs just raised his eye brows and waited for Tony to start talking again.
“Well, I’m pretty sure that the boyfriend did it. Our suspects name is Thomas Patterson. He had motive, opportunity, and I found his phone number in a disposable phone that was in the lieutenant’s car.”
Gibbs blinked in confusion at Tony’s statement, but before he could ask his next question, Ziva and McGee arrived and he asked Tony to continue to explain his theory to the others. When Tony was done it was McGee that asked what Gibbs and Ziva were thinking.
“So the lieutenant found his wife’s extra phone and started looking for her boyfriend. The boyfriend found out and decided that he would what, take out the competition?”
“No, the boyfriend doesn’t belong to the wife. The lieutenant was seeing this guy on the side and I think that when our good lieutenant decided to break it off he got pissed and went after our vic,” Tony replied calmly and patiently.
“Um…Tony how did you come to that conclusion,” McGee asked while Gibbs and Ziva just looked puzzled?
Tony tried to stay calm, he know even if no one else knew that this was his last case. He took a deep breath before he began to explain his theory to the team.
“Okay, I ran the location on where he called the lieutenant from, all the calls originated from either his apartment or a gay bar that he frequented. I went to the bar and questioned the manager and bartender just to make sure that Patterson didn’t work there. They both confirmed that both Patterson and the Lieutenant were both at the bar on numerous occasions. When I showed them a picture of the Lieutenant’s wife, but neither had ever seen her. I have Patterson’s address and work schedule and I called legal for a search warrant for both his car and apartment. I’m just waiting for them to get back to me.”
When Tony looked up from his notes he saw Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee all blinking at him. He knew that Director Vance had walked up behind him during his explanation, so he was not surprised when he spoke.
“DiNozzo…I’m impressed. When did you find time to work this theory?”
“Oh, hey Director Vance,” Tony pretended to be surprised by him “I worked on it yesterday and I went to the bar last night.” Before Tony could say anything else his phone rang.
“Got the warrant, Boss” Tony said after he hung up.
“Let’s go pick him up. DiNozzo you’re with me,” Gibbs snapped.
“On your six, boss” replied as he grabbed his gear and headed to the elevator.