Breath on a mirror

Chapter 3

Although it was early and his wife was sleeping upstairs, both Dex and Jethro were sat at the table drinking coffee when a car pulled up outside the house.

"That them?" Gibbs asked Dex.

"Yeah, the gruff one is Mike Franks, he was my commander once upon a time, before he made the lateral move into law enforcement," Dex got up and walked to the door before Mike or his partner could ring the bell.

"Springfield." Mike said, "So why am I and my boss here at this time of the morning."

"Come on in." Dex said and ushered the two men into the lounge.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. This is Mike Franks and Albert Massey NIS."

Massey, an older greying man, stood in front of Franks and extended his hand. Jethro shook it and invited them in as a sleepy Shannon walked down the stairs in her dressing gown.

"Mrs Gibbs?" Massey asked.

She nodded, "Tony's sleeping." She said to Gibbs.

He smiled and nodded, kissing her cheek he put the water on to make her tea and switched on a fresh pot of coffee.

All five adults sat around the table while the water boiled.

"I called around after your phone call last night Dex." Franks started, "We got a report from Baltimore police. There was an accident on the beltway last night."

"What does this have to do with the kid?" Dex asked.

"Anthony Dante DiNozzo Senior, was killed last night in a head on smash with a truck."

Shannon's hands flew to her mouth with shock, "Oh my God!" she breathed.

She looked up to two terrified green eyes that stood looking at her, "Tony?"

They looked over to see the small tired boy in pajamas, holding a bear and looking worriedly at the group of adults all staring at him.

He blinked dropping the bear he was holding.

"That him?" Franks asked quietly.

Dexter nodded.

"Anthony…." Franks said walking over to the small boy and crouching down.

Tony stood looking at the men and noticed Mike's badge. "Are you a policeman sir?" he asked.

Mike nodded, "In a way, we are with NIS, we investigate crimes that happen to service personnel or their dependants."

Tony's eyes grew wide, "But I paid sir, I mean I know I should have asked, but...but...they said it would be ok, I left money for the food I took….I didn't mean to stay longer." He stood up to walk to the stairs, hopefully before the policemen took him away they would let him get dressed.

"Tony…" Shannon said, "They just want to talk to you."

Tony nodded, "May I please get dressed first?" he asked.

Mike looked worried, "You gonna be ok?" he asked.

Tony nodded, "Yes sir, I will be...I'd just rather do this dressed, these pajamas don't belong to me sir, Mr. Gibbs let me borrow them."

Mike looked at Bert confused, they had never had a child interview like this before, however the rules stated that the child should be allowed to ask for what he wanted that would make him comfortable.

"Alright son, you get dressed and we will talk when you get downstairs." Bert Massey told him.

Tony walked into the room he had spent the night in and started shaking. His father was dead and there were two policemen downstairs.