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"You think someone died here?"
Ziva looked up from her notepad and blinked slowly. "Tony," she waved her arms around at all the gravestones, "we are literally at a cemetery."
"Oh, is that what this is," he replied sarcastically, "I thought parks and rec had really outdone themselves for Halloween this year."
Ziva rolled her eyes at him, and flipped to the previous page in her notepad.
Tony snapped another photo of the blood trail leading to—or was it away from—the gravestone in front of them. "People tend to be dead by the time they're brought to a cemetery."
Ziva nodded at the blood trail. "With that amount of blood loss-"
"Could've been a blood sacrifice."
"You watch too many movies."
"It's Halloween month, Ziva, some people-"
"Month? It's a whole a month now?"
"It is if you're spooky enough...or Abby." He lowered his camera. "Do you think Abby is spooky?"
Ziva pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. It was midnight, colder than expected, and Tony's mind had begun to wander.
"I...no, I do not think she's spooky. Now can you please focus on the crime scene so we can go home?"
"Hmm, could be a goat." Tony scuffed at a twig with the tip of his shoe.
"Yesterday you said Gibbs was the goat?"
He looked up at her confused. "What?"
"What?" She replied testily.
Tony pointed at the ground. "The blood, Ziva, it could be goat blood." He looked to his right. "In fact..."
The light of his flashlight followed a trail on the ground that Ziva could not see. Something white in the bushes seemed to reflect the light beam. They unholstered their guns and walked closer.
A small nod at Tony to make sure he was ready, and Ziva pushed away part of the bushes with her left arm, gun at the ready.
"What?"
Tony lowered his firearm, then holstered it. "I was right, again."
Ziva glared at him. "You said it was a goat." She pointed with her gun. "This is a poorly constructed, bloody mess of papier-mâché.”
"Shaped like a goat." He crouched down next to it to get a better look.
Ziva huffed.
Tony ignored her, and reached out to touch the red, blood like substance covering much of the "victim". He raised his fingers to his nose, then lowered them to his mouth and licked them.
Ziva made a sound of disgust. "Why would you do that?”
Tony rolled his eyes and held up his hand in the light. "It's some kind of syrup."
"You did not know that."
"I have enough experience with Halloween pranks to assume it would be."
"I thought we should never assume, always verify."
"I verified it...with my tongue."
“I am definitely writing this in my report.” She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “I cannot wait for Ducky and Abby to read it.”