Fop

Tony couldn’t believe that Gibbs had let Senior join them on a case. They were tromping through Patapsco Valley State Park heading towards the waterfall that had led to the death of a petty officer. Senior looked completely out of place in his suit, expensive shoes, and fancy hat.

Senior had been spending the night at Gibbs’ house when they got the call and had somehow weaseled his way in, mystifying Tony as to what Senior was up to. As he watched Senior try and brush mud from his shoes, Tony couldn’t help wondering what Gibbs was thinking. There was no place for a fop at any park, let alone as deep into the park as they had to go to get to the crime scene.

Senior was doing his best to avoid getting dirty, far more concerned about his clothes than about the dead petty officer. Tony shook his head in disgust. He may like designer clothes and wear them frequently, but even he knew they had no place in a park especially not with the rain of the past two days. Doing his best to ignore his father, he sped up taking the lead through the deer trail, at best, that they were on.

The sun was just rising over the horizon on this chilly morning as they reached the waterfall now sparkling in the sun. Ducky, Palmer, Bishop and McGee headed down to the bottom of the waterfall to retrieve the body, find evidence, take pictures, and sketches from the pool of water the body floated in.

Gibbs, DiNozzo, and Senior remained to see if there was any evidence of foul play at the top of the waterfall where the petty officer went over. Senior spotted something silver sparkling on the side of the waterfall. Leaning out over the edge to get a closer look, he lost his balance.

“Dad! Watch out!” Tony yelled. He may think it was crazy for Senior to be here, but that didn’t mean he wanted him dead. Fortunately, unlike the petty officer, Senior didn’t tumble over the edge of the waterfall and just landed flat in the squishy mud next to it as he tried to reach the shiny silver thing he’d seen.

Tony immediately moved to help Senior back up and spotted the silver thing that Senior was reaching for. Setting Senior back on his feet, Tony wanted to smirk at the mud covering Senior from head to toe.

Tony carefully made his way down the side of the cliff beside the waterfall to retrieve the silver bullet lodged in some tree roots. “It was no accident, boss. I’m sure Ducky will confirm that the petty officer was hit by this bullet.”

“Be careful, DiNozzo.” Gibbs barked. He had no desire to lose an agent, regardless of whatever evidence Tony had found. “Let’s get out of here.” Gibbs ushered everyone out. He was pretty sure Tony had found the key evidence, but if not they had specialized teams for this.