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"Feel free to skip that part," Hughes muttered as he slipped his hands into his pockets in a show of defeat.
"I'll wait for you out in the hallway," Brook replied, careful not to touch anything as she made her way past Ento. "We have a lot to discuss."
"...sorry it took so long. Fill me in. The FBI forensics team is right behind me."
Brook and Detective Hughes stepped out into the hallway where two federal forensic agents were suiting up in the paper space suits to take over the scene. She waited to speak to Hughes until after they had both shed their gloves and booties in a nearby hazardous waste receptacle placed outside the room by the ME and her team. They then walked a few doors down so that they couldn't be overheard.
"Did it help?" Hughes asked wryly, although the previous anger in his tone was missing. "I guess I should count my blessings that you know him. Who knew you had any friends?"
"Acquaintance," Brook corrected, not in the least insulted by his quip. "When I became a consultant for the FBI over eight years ago, I asked to survey their academy. Agent Ento was on some federal exchange program from NCIS to the FBI as an instructor at Quantico. At first, he treated me like I was just any other cadet. His mistake. Let's just say that we eventually came to a resolution. I'll do my best to smooth things over for you."
Brook caught site of Theo getting off the elevator. He must have noticed Agent Ento's arrival downstairs, as well as the other two federal crime lab techs he had in tow from the FBI. Walking around the perimeter of cones and yellow tape that had been set up to ensure that the area around the hotel room wasn't disturbed, Theo finally joined them.
"General Graham is trying to get ahold of you."
"I know." Brook had purposefully not answered his calls. Now wasn't the time for updates. "What did you find out?"
"There was an issue with the video surveillance feed last night," Theo explained to no one's surprise. "Nothing was recorded after ten o'clock last night until about nine o'clock this morning."
"The unsub was here," Brook murmured, piecing together a timeline. "I got here around nine o'clock. Theo, this means that we were here in the lounge last night while the unsub was figuring out a way to disable the security system and set up this horrific scene."
"The NCIS SAIC arrived with another colleague." Theo took out the miniature notebook that had been in the interior pocket of his leather jacket. "His name is Lionel Ingram. I gave him the run down on what we know thus far, and he's headed down to the station to speak with Derek now."
"Derek will know enough to keep his mouth shut until he can speak with his own lawyer," Brook said, though she wasn't confident on how this would all play out without one of them to monitor the situation. "Detective, do you mind heading to the station yourself? Please make sure that Derek gets his one phone call. We know this entire situation was set up by our unsub. He somehow was able to steal Derek's cell phone, causing him to backtrack down this hallway. The white hand towel in front of the victim's room was bright enough against the dark grey carpet that it had caught Derek's eye. He noticed his cell phone on the floor, picked both the phone and the towel up off the ground since the cleaning crew's cart was close by, and you know the rest. We know that forensics will find minuscule spatters of blood on it, along with Derek's DNA."
"It doesn't help that there were no working cameras in the hotel," Theo replied, tucking his notebook back into place. "Speaking of which, I did tell Agent Ingram what we suspected, and he ordered one of the other forensic technicians to the security room. The unsub either paid one of the guards off or he slipped inside the room when the guards were out."
"You are trouble with a capital T, aren't you?" Hughes muttered as he began to walk toward the elevator bank at the end of the hall. He called back over his shoulder. "I'll go make sure that Agent Tonkel is handled with kid gloves, but I can only do so much if this Ingram tries to take Tonkel into federal custody."
"Handing out orders, Sloane?" Adrian came out of the hotel room just in time to catch Hughes' departing words. "Last I checked, you weren't a consultant for the FBI anymore."
"Last I checked, I still held the record for the best closure rate," Brook fired back, though not because she was a narcissist. She'd leave that to her brother. "I'm telling you here and now that NCIS Agent Derek Tonkel did not murder that woman. He is being set up, just as seven other men have been in the past six to eight years. I know that the FBI doesn't usually work with those in the private sector, but I can help them solve this case, sparking NCIS any further embarrassment and keeping your agent out of jail."
"You meanIcan helpyousolve this case, especially since you're going to want to use my agent as bait," Adrian theorized as he held out his hand to Theo. "NCIS Agent Ento."
"Spe—Theo Neville." Theo cleared his throat after his slip. He'd gotten so used to giving his title that it had become somewhat ingrained in him. "I work with Brook. I agree with her. We can help. Tonkel is being set up, and he is now our best chance at catching this unsub."
"I'll have Ingram keep Tonkel at the station while you fill me in on what is going on and the FBI forensics team wraps things up so that the body can be removed to the coroner's office," Adrian replied, pulling out his phone to make the call. "Did I overhear you say that Tonkel has a lawyer?"
"No, but we wanted to make sure that nothing he said to any of the officers was leaked to the press," Theo explained while Brook mulled over the various methods they'd used to narrow down the identity of the unsub. "He—"
"Shit," Brook murmured as a sense of dread washed over her. Theo had made mention before of Nick Dorn representing three of the men in their investigation, but he'd had no contact with the other four. Or had he? "Shit. We need to get to the station. Do you know what lawyer Derek was going to call?"
Brook didn't wait for the men to follow.
She hurried down the hallway, having no doubt that they would trail after her.
"We were assuming that the unsub was witnessing the grief of the family by showing up at the funerals of the victims, but he would have had a front row seat in court if he was an attorney," Brook exclaimed as she quickly pressed on the button with the down arrow. "Adrian, how does the Staff Judge Advocate work? Can military lawyers cross state lines? Theo, call Bit. Have him find out the names of all the lawyers who were involved with each of the cases, even those who were only remotely involved in the investigation. A complete list."
"Fuck," Theo muttered as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Nick Dorn was the lawyer for Austin Ridley, Bobby Anderson, and Steve Laurey. Their cases were all in North Carolina. Considering that Derek works out of Cherry Point, he'd probably be permitted to contact a military lawyer from that base."
"Highly doubtful," Adrian said with a shake of his head. "It's not that easy. SJA only has marine officers serving as lawyers. They don't represent non-military personnel in civilian cases."
"What about the other four inmates? Who handled their cases?"
"All different lawyers," Theo replied from memory.
"Have Bit look into the bailiffs, court stenographers, judges, the whole gambit." The elevator doors slid open to reveal an officer that Detective Hughes had most likely ordered to remain behind until the scene was cleared. "Also, any of the officers involved with the arrests. Transfers happen all the time, and I don't want to miss anyone. I want a complete list of everyone involved with each of these cases. The whole damned deal, from inception to grave."
