Oblivious | Leroy Jethro Gibbs

2.3

"What's the theory?" Gibbs asked.

"Okay, every time you lace up your Docs or cinch your laundry bag you leave some skin cells behind. It's the same with a parachute rigging." She stopped in front of her computer and microscope and clicked a button lighting up the monitor. "I pulled skin sampled from the deployment bags of the chutes that were futzed with."

Lauren crossed her arms standing on her tiptoes to look over Abby's shoulder. "You get a DNA signature?"

"All nine knots had a number of different sets of skin samples, but there's only one set that's common to all nine."

"The saboteur," Gibbs spoke up.

Lauren 'ooo'ed under breath nudging her elbow into Tony's side to garner his attention. She wiggled her eyebrows up at him smiling as he chuckled.

"Our riggers of record pack the chutes," Kate spoke over the silliness, "then someone came in and repacked them, leaving some skin behind."

"Corporal Ramsey," Tony nodded.

Abby shrugged, gesturing to the monitor. "Depending on how much he knows about forensics. He is either very smart or dumb."

"There's got to be other chutes that Corporal Ramsey packed in the para loft inventory for comparison." Gibbs theorised, looking to Abby for confirmation.

With a wince, Abby shook her head, "Hmm. Negatory. I checked. They were all packed since he's been suspended."

"Well, there's an Armed Forces DNA registry." Kate told them, "All military personnel are on record, right?"

Lauren watched Gibbs' expression fall and frowned as he sighed.

"Yeah," He breathed out, walking around the desk.

"Then we've got our guy," Kate smiled.

"No," Gibbs sighed, "All we've got is a pile of dead skin. The only thing you can use the DNA registry for is to identify a body."

Lauren slipped off her hat and rubbed her forehead. This was getting ridiculous. This poor man fell a ridiculous height and died slowly and painfully due to a fellow soldier and they couldn't even confirm who.

"Well," Kate scoffed, "There has to be a way around that."

Gibbs smirked looking at his team before Kate, "See? Now you're thinking like an NCIS Agent."

▪︎

Lauren sat at her desk, leaning back in her chair and staring at her blank screen. She clicked her pen and sighed.

"That is the twenty-second time you have clicked that pen since they went into the interview." Tony drawled from his desk across from hers. He put his hand over his handset and raised a brow at her.

Lauren scoffed and put her pen down, "What's with the counting?"

"What's with the 'tude?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and picked at her nails. "It's just Gibbs," She sighed, "He's acting strange today."

"Oh?" Tony looked back down at his papers, afraid she would be able to read his expression.