Gibbs, Tony and McGee stood in Observation looking through the glass at the man in the chair. He appeared to be a little nervous, but not overly so.
"We're clear then?" Gibbs looked at Tony and McGee.
"Crystal. You're sure about this?" Tony turned to face the silver-haired man and studied him in the bluish light.
"Yes, it'll be more believable this way. McGee, Abby tell you what she got off the entrance camera?"
Tim gazed up at the ceiling as he recited a list. "He's wearing a gold signet ring, goldtone watch with a leather band, carrying a pen in his shirt pocket. She says that the pen is our best bet for duplication, but needs a clearer shot to verify the brand and type."
"As soon as you get it—"
"She'll have it down in her lab, Boss." Tim stepped over to the surveillance tech and explained what they were looking for.
"Now, get in there, DiNozzo. And make it look good." Gibbs growled as Tony straightened his shirt and tie, preparing to go into Interrogation.
Tony swung the door closed forcefully behind him as he entered the small room. "Well, Paolo, seems you come from a very interesting family. Makes me wonder what you're doing in the States as a lowly hospital intern." He grabbed a chair and turned it around, straddling it while he fixed his gaze on his interviewee.
Paolo, for his part, acted as though he were sitting at a table in a corner bistro, waiting for the impertinent sever to stammer apologies for spilling the soup on him and daring to blame the customer for causing the accident.
Tony was unfazed by Muñez's hauteur and tossed a picture onto the table from the file that he carried. "Care to tell me what you know about Petty Officer Dan Michaelson?" It was the interrogator's turn to wait, but Paolo simply shrugged and remained silent. You do remember him, don't you? You should. You cut off his thumb." Tony tossed yet another picture on the table, this one of the severed thumb that was currently in Ducky's Autopsy lab. "We found your print on it. Matched it up with your hospital ID, there, Paolo."
"Doesn't mean I cut his thumb off," Paolo spoke, sullenly. "Just means I touched him."
"So you just held his thumb while someone else hacked it off. Nice." Tony shook his head with a mirthless laugh. "No, you did the dirty work, I'd bet on it. And you dumped the body out at Maria Elena's farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Finally, you lured two federal agents out there and took potshots at them."
"What is 'potshots'? You saying I was shooting at someone? I wasn't shooting at anyone! And who is Maria Elena? I don't know no Maria Elena. I'm a good boy, I was working hard at the hospital." Paolo's sudden flow of words didn't fool his questioner.
"You were working when, Paolo?" Tony asked silkily.
With a bang the door flew open and a slickly dressed man stepped in. "Don't say another word Paolo." He turned to Tony and stated, "I'm Benton Ellsworth, Mr. Muñez's lawyer. He has nothing to say to you on this matter."
Tony nodded to the young man waiting by the door. He received a nod in return before Ellsworth's escort closed the door to the interrogation room. "Now, what is this all about?" the lawyer blustered as he took a seat next to his client.
Tony shifted his chair around and grinned. "I thought you knew since your client obviously 'has nothing to say to me on this matter'."
"Don't be cocky, it doesn't become you." Ellsworth sneered.
The agent merely raised his eyebrows and stared back at the lawyer and his client for a full thirty seconds, letting them sweat. Then he began to speak calmly.
"Mr. Muñez has been brought in to answer some questions in the death of Petty Officer Dan Michaelson. His fingerprint was found on the severed thumb of the victim, which was sent to NCIS along with a map. The map not only led two of our agents to Michaelson's body, but into a trap. I am simply trying to ascertain what your client knows about Michaelson's death and the trap set for our agents."
"That's not what it sounded like when I walked in here."
"It's always difficult when one bursts in on a line of questioning. There is so much room for misinterpretation." Tony agreed with a smile. "Why don't we start over? Paolo? Do you have your green card and some other identification with you? We'll just run a check on all this, make sure everything is up to snuff while we finish up this interview."
Paolo fished up the requested documents as he asked, "Señor Ellsworth, can they do this?"
"Yes, Paolo, they do have the right to check your papers. But since everything is in order, there's nothing to worry about," the attorney said placatingly.
Tony took the proffered items, sealed them in a evidence bag, and left the room briefly. Tim and Gibbs met him in the hall.
"What did Abby come up with, McGee?" Tony asked, twirling the evidence bag between his index fingers.
"Store-bought Quillan," Tim said, checking his watch. "In fact, she should be getting back from the corner drugstore with its duplicate right about now."
Tony looked dubious. "She got the correct model, just from the picture of the cap? How does she know it's not different at the bottom?"
"It's not a cap, Tony; it's a clip. The brand name and logo were clear."
"Tony has a point," Gibbs commented. "We need to see the whole pen. Think you can get him to take it out?"
"Get me something he needs to sign, I'll get him to take it out." Tony said with a smirk.
Tim nodded as he turned and headed for the lab, then turned back a moment. "Hey, Tony. When I bring these back? Don't have a pen on you."
Gibbs watched from Observation as Tony walked back into the Interrogation Room. The agent slid easily into his seat and picked up his questioning once again.
"Now, Paolo, I'm confused. You say you didn't cut off Michaelson's thumb, you don't know Maria Elena de la Cruz and you know nothing about the shooting that went on at her farmhouse where the Petty Officer's body was found. Is that correct?
"Yes, yes, that is correct," the hospital worker agreed fervently.
"Then tell me why, in addition to your print on the dead man's thumb, we found your prints all over the package it was sent in?" Tony lied smoothly while flipping through the file. Gibbs chuckled quietly at this blatant attempt to drive a wedge between the lawyer who would want to shut his client up and the client who would deny everything.
Predictably, Paolo paled then began stammering denials, while Ellsworth loudly overrode the upset young man's words. Gibbs could clearly picture the self-satisfied grin DiNozzo was having to swallow. In the midst of the cacophony, there was a knock at the door.
"Enter!" Tony called out, almost too happily as McGee joined Gibbs back in Observation.
"What did I miss?"
"Just DiNozzo being DiNozzo," the older agent commented with a smirk.
The same young man who had escorted Ellsworth to the interrogation room now brought back Muñez's ID, the evidence bag now marked several times. Tony took it from him and the young man cleared his throat.
"You have to sign, Sir."
"I know I have to sign." He started to reach in his coat pocket for a pen, then remembered McGee's words. He patted himself down and looked to the kid. "You gotta pen?"
"No, Sir."
Tony looked across the table and pretended to spy Paolo's pen. "You don't mind, there, do ya?" And he proceeded to snag Paolo's pen from his pocket. Once he'd signed for the evidence, he held up the pen and examined it.
McGee was already talking to the surveillance tech, making sure to get the pictures of the pen they needed, while Gibbs focused on the remainder of the interview.
"Nice pen, Paolo. All we get is government issue crap. Ah, well. Thanks." He handed the pen and ID back to their rightful owner.
While Muñez put his belongings away, Ellsworth stated with heat, "My client categorically denies your allegations. All of them. Now unless you intend to charge him with something, I insist you release him immediately."
"Well, there is the matter of his print on the thumb. This is an official interrogation into this matter. I do need him to sign a statement. I'll have it typed up for you in just a matter of minutes and once he signs that, he's free to go. For now." Tony shifted focus. "But Paolo, don't leave town. I'm not done with you. I still think you're more involved in this than you're letting on. And I'm going to prove it." With that, Tony gathered up his file and photographs and left the room.
Tony opened the door to observation and slipped in quietly. "Did you get what you need?"
"Perfect pictures, Abby said," Tim told them as he entered just behind Tony.
Gibbs nodded. "Good. Is everyone ready for phase two?"
"Ready when you are," Tony told him.
Ten minutes later Tony brought in Paolo's typed statement for him to read over and sign.
"Take your time, Muñez, make sure we got it right. You don't want to sign the wrong thing," the agent admonished.
"He's right, Paolo, take your time, and look it over carefully," Ellsworth urged. Tony lounged against the wall, inspecting his nails as the pair consumed a full quarter hour assuring themselves that NCIS did not put any incriminating words in Paolo's mouth. He tried not to grin.
Finally, the statement was signed and Paolo and his lawyer were escorted out of interrogation. Tony led them down the hallway and along the windows near some of the agents' desks.
Gibbs, as had been prearranged, was at his desk and could be seen draining a cup of coffee, just before pitching it in to a trashcan filled with empty coffee cups. Tony blinked at the sight before him; while he knew the plan, he was unprepared for the sight that met his eyes. There was a slightly disheveled look about normally impeccable Marine and he looked to be muttering quietly to himself. Tony threw a surreptitious glance over his shoulder and saw Paolo whispering frantically to his lawyer.
Suddenly, as they neared the desks closest to the man, he looked up and caught sight of the passing trio.
"Ari! Where are you taking him, DiNozzo?" Gibbs was half out of his chair as he asked the question. The man's startling blue eyes had a slightly wild look about them and Tony found himself blinking yet again at the act his superior put on.
"Uh, Boss, this isn't Ari. This is Paolo Muñez and I'm releasing him." Tony nearly stammered.
"The hell you are…" Gibbs growled menacingly as he launched himself across the squadroom and attacked Paolo, his hands around the South American's throat.
"Gibbs! What the hell are you doing? This isn't Ari! We ran his prints!" Tony started hauling on his boss, trying to separate the two as Ellsworth began prying Gibbs hands off Paolo's neck.
"McGee, get over here and help me!" Tim, who had been standing, watching the whole scene, dumbfounded, now tackled the pair, shoving Paolo over on top of Gibbs.
As McGee and Ellsworth continued to wrestle with Gibbs and Muñez, Tony raised his voice, so as to be heard over the din. "Look, Mr. Ellsworth, Señor Muñez, this is all a misunderstanding. Special Agent Gibbs has just been having a difficult time lately," Tony leaned to the side and winced as McGee took an elbow in the chest. "Ever since that incident where he was drugged in the hospital after his accident. He keeps insisting he's seeing Ari everywhere. The doctors insist that work is the best thing for him." He spread he hands out in a helpless gesture as Ellsworth looked up at him, a rip in his Armani – if Tony wasn't mistaken – shirt. "He is getting better. This is only the third 'Ari' he's attacked this week."
Ellsworth simply glared up at Tony as he and McGee finally succeeded in separating the two combatants. Tim wasted no time in snapping a pair of handcuffs on the still snarling and struggling Gibbs before trying to lure the man away, while Tony slipped between now-restrained man and Paolo.
"Gentlemen, this way, please." Tony hustled Muñez and his lawyer toward the elevator while McGee dragged a still thoroughly furious Gibbs back toward their desks.
"I'm gonna have your badges for this, Special Agent DiNozzo," Ellsworth snarled. "You can't just cover this up."
"Shut up," Paolo hissed, seeing Gibbs pause and half turn back toward them. "I don't care, man, just get me out of here! You people are loco!"
Tony escorted them into the elevator and as the doors closed on them Ellsworth glowered and Paolo's face held only the barest hint of a smile.
As they waited for the trio to be safely away, Gibbs muttered, "By the way,McGee, where did all those empty coffee cups come from?"
"I collected them from everyone on the floor. This place is way too caffeinated, Boss."
Gibbs rattled the handcuffs once the elevator doors were closed. "And you think I drink too much coffee." Gibbs just shook his head and Tim stared,
uncertain.
Unlocking his superior, he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "How'd we do?"
"Well, I have a new pen." Gibbs shook his sleeve and out dropped Paolo's pen. The agent straightened up tidied his hair and re-buttoned his polo before examining his prize and McGee grinned at the sight of his boss' transformation.
"Then it worked?"
"Of course it worked, McGee. Do you think he'd have calmly walked out of here with our bug in his pocket if it hadn't?" The older man glared at Tim. Then with a jerk of his head he turned on his heel, tossing over his shoulder as he went, "Time to check in with Abby and see how we're doing."