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Chapter 4

Jethro dropped a hefty envelope on Tom’s desk then took his customary seat with his coffee.  “You’re welcome.”

Tom gave his agent a flat look for his attitude before picking up the envelope and examining it curiously.  It was obviously an invitation and it was addressed to him – “Thomas Morrow, Director, NCIS” – in fine, if not fancy, calligraphy.  He flipped it over and opened it then pulled out the contents to peruse.   Moments later he looked up in surprise.

“Compliments of Mr. Adler,” Jethro said and jerked his chin towards the desk.  “Keep reading.”

Tom warily went back the invitation and other contents.  He moved the invitation to the back of the stack then did the same with the RSVP card, stamped RSVP envelope, and the directions card.  He stopped to carefully read the details card, the only thing left that Gibbs could want him to pay attention to, then looked up.  “A worthy cause,” he said.  “I didn’t know the events the law firm held were for charity purposes.  Or is this a special occasion?  And does Mr. Adler have the authority to invite me to his cousin-in-law’s Valentine’s Day bash?”

“He does,” Jethro said then gave a weary sigh.  The more he learned in this case, the more he figured out, the more he hated it.  “The Misters Adler are frat brothers.  Five years living in each other’s pocket in a small frat house in Columbus Ohio as they earned their degrees from Ohio State University.  They consider each other brothers.”

Tom froze for a moment.  “Well, I suppose brothers doesn’t really add more political risk than favored cousin-in-law,” he said neutrally.

Jethro shrugged noncommittally.  The politics of this mess wasn’t his purview.  “All three of the events the law firm holds each year are partly for charity purposes, in addition political hobnobbing.  The one in September – National Suicide Prevention Month – is the baby of Velitchkova and supports various suicide prevention charities in honor of the friend he lost to suicide when he was a teenager.  The one in June is Mark’s and supports Habitat for Humanity because his family was a recipient of one of their houses and he’s paying it forward.  The one in February is Adler’s.  It’s focused on sexual violence, with the majority of the money raised being required to be used towards directly supporting rape survivors,” Jethro pause a moment and took a settling breath.  “It’s held on Valentine’s Day because that’s the anniversary of a family member’s rape and attempted murder.”

“That’s…,” Tom started then stopped and looked away with a grimace. “That explains some things.”

“Yep.”

Tom let out a huff and looked back to Gibbs.  “Are you putting that in your report?”

“Tony knew exactly what he was giving me when he told me the purpose of the events and gave me those invitations,” Jethro said with grim certainty.  “Of course it’s going in my report.”

“You got an invitation?” Tom asked in alarm.

Jethro snorted in amusement.  “I’m not going, Tom.  I don’t have the patience for that level of schmoozing.”

“Thank God you’re self-aware,” Tom said dryly.  He picked up his invitation to one of the more coveted local soirees and waved it at Gibbs.  “Thank you.”

Jethro waved a dismissive hand.  “Since I was there, I had a computer geek at Norfolk dig into Master Chief Adler’s early career, initial application and entrance physical, news and trial archives in her hometown for when she was fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.  Not much there, really.  Nothing in the papers and the court documents that aren’t sealed don’t mention Adler as the victim.”

“They would have been sealed since she was a minor,” Tom said.  “She deserved that.”

“Agreed,” Jethro said with a nod.  “There’s a note in her intake physical about the emergency hysterectomy as a result of a knife assault but nothing about a sexual assault.  Neither seems to have impacted her during bootcamp, her mechanic training, or her initial deployments.  Her performance reviews have nothing but praise for being a quick learner and a stellar mechanic.”

“All right.  Your point?” Tom asked curiously.

“I’m getting there,” Jethro said and finally picked up his coffee and took a few sips.  “The first accusation against Master Chief Adler for being homosexual came during bootcamp and was dismissed almost immediately as the boy who levied the accusation also levied the same accusation against every female in his cohort after they wouldn’t have sex with him.  The boy ended up doing extra PT the whole of bootcamp.”

Jethro’s lips twitched at Tom’s disgusted snort.  “The second came after she finished “C” school at the top of her cohort.  That accusation was also dismissed immediately as a case of jealousy.  The third came when she was promoted to Petty Officer 2^nd Class on the minimum timing.  Dismissed as jealousy.  The fourth came a year later and initially looked more credible and was actually investigated.  The investigator found nothing, but he did note that he advised Adler to get married to stop the accusations.  That was mid-April 1989.  The Misters Adler graduated mid-May 1989.  Ophelia and Tony Adler married mid-June 1989.”

Tom tilted his head in thought.  “You think the marriage was arranged.”

“I do.  Or one of convenience,” Jethro said and took several sips of his coffee while he watched Morrow work through that thought.

“Unusual,” Tom said in bemusement.  “Certainly not practiced much here in the States, but hardly illegal.  And they seem to have made it work well enough.  They’ve been married, what, ten years?”

“Twelve,” Jethro corrected.

“And if it worked for them then why not for others in the same position?” Tom asked rhetorically, humming when Gibbs nodded.  “Interesting.”

“It makes plausible deniability easy to claim.  They weren’t helping hide homosexual sailors, they helped arrange meetings and marriages for their friends to stop all the false accusations of homosexuality like the Master Chief went through,” Jethro said and saw Tom nod.  “Also, there’s a level of veracity added when you find out that Tony Adler has arranged meetings and matches between his civilian friends.”

“He has?” Tom asked in interest.

“Yep.”

Tom chuckled a bit.  “I think I’m very much interested in meeting Mr. Adler in February.”

“Have fun with the politicians.”

~~Pasta!~~

“Hell of a commute for lunch, Gibbs.”

“Wanted to update you on the case,” Jethro said as he stepped close to the plexiglass and watched Tony cut half a dozen bits from a skinny log of pasta dough then drag two fingers along the pieces, causing them to curl over.  “What are you making today?”

“This is cavatelli,” Tony said as he picked up his pieces in one hand and held them out next to the plexiglass.  He maneuvered his fingers to allow the pasta to roll over each other for several moments before he tossed them onto a tray to his left.  “These can be made with a specialty machine but I’ve got some customers that are purists.  And should you be updating me?  Seems like investigation details are something that would be confidential at the very least.”

“It sounds better if I say I’m updating you than if I say I’m confirming what you’ve already heard,” Jethro said dryly and chuckled a bit when Tony smirked at him.  “What’s on the menu today?”

“Spaghetti with Spicy Cayenne Tomato and Garlic, Bucatini with Asparagus and Lemon Basil, and the cold option is Fusilli with Spinach and Roasted Sweet Potatoes in a Maple Vinaigrette,” Tony supplied easily as he tossed another set of cavatelli onto the tray.

“Sounds delicious,” Jethro said as he watched the cavatelli process for several moments.  “I looked into the things you told me about.”

“Which things?” Tony asked curiously.  He’d dropped a number of subtle and no-so-subtle hints to the agent when he’d dropped by three days ago.  By that time, Tony had heard from Petra, Rosalin, and Laura and all three women had told him that Gibbs had been respectful, considerate, and, above all, non-accusatory.  As such, Tony had decided to give out some information and see what the man did with it.

“All of them,” Jethro said and was gratified when he saw a look of surprise cross Tony’s face briefly before the man controlled himself.

Tony was silent for several moments, letting his hands work through the familiar motions without attention, and contemplated the man across from him.  He was surprised at the claim.  Not everything he’d hinted at was all that important, though some of it was.  However…  “Maybe you could be specific,” he requested.  No telling what Gibbs had or hadn’t picked up.

“You suggested we look into HR departments where Maesson had served…,” Jethro started.

“I’m sure I did no such thing,” Tony interrupted, staring at Gibbs pointedly.

Jethro huffed, half in amusement and half in impatience.  He understood that Tony used word games to protect his wife and his friends, but having to talk around the edges of the problems was a nuisance.  “You were curious where Maesson had learned about the timing of shore leaves of your friends when they were stationed on different ships,” Jethro corrected reluctantly and sighed when Tony smirked at him.  “We’re picking apart those threads.”

“Good,” Tony murmured.

“We’re still working on that, but so far that alone has allowed us to fully clear Petty Officer 1^st Class Courtney and Petty Officer 2^nd Class Ivers.  Those investigations have been closed,” Jethro said and nodded when he saw that Tony already knew.

“You expressed surprise,” Jethro sarcastically emphasized, “that Maesson knew the specific trails Laura Marinos had biked with her club.  We found the link, brought that person in for talk, discovered a well of jealousy and lust, and closed the investigation against Petty Officer 1^st Class Viktor Marinos last night.  He was informed this morning.  You’re not surprised.”

“I got a call from Laura this morning,” Tony confirmed in amusement.  In truth, the Marinos accusation/investigation was the one that vexed him the most of the three.  Courtney and Ivers were, in fact, both gay.  And while they were strict about adhering to the UCMJ and worked hard to pass as straight, sometimes they slipped or they encountered people that had superior gaydar.  As such, those accusations were, unfortunately, somewhat expected.  But Viktor and Laura were both straight and just old-fashioned enamored with each other.

“The truth, Tony, is that those investigations were closed so quickly only because of you,” Jethro said intently, again catching another fleeting look of surprise.  “The way your mind works in connecting details and determining the right questions to ask of the right people made the investigations some of the easiest I’ve ever done, while still being detailed and complete.”

“Thank you,” Tony said softly.  He knew his mind worked well making disparate connections between small, sometimes innocuous, bits of information he heard in random situations.  He knew he had a knack for getting people of all types to talk to him in more depth than they would anyone else they just met.  It’s why he had friends and contacts coast to coast, from Japan to Bahrain.  But only Steve had straight up told him that the ability was a boon and made an appreciable impact on his work.

“You’re welcome,” Jethro said, uncomfortable with how much a simple compliment had obviously affected the man.  So he dove right into why he was here this time.  “Maesson had more names.  More sailors he’s accused of homosexual acts, along with his version of evidence.”

Tony snorted.  He could just imagine what type of evidence the man had compiled given the questions Gibbs and Agent Todd had asked him.  Bits and bobs of random things that had just enough ambiguity to seem plausible but missing context, at the very least, and sometimes missing the mark entirely.

“I’d like to talk through everything with you,” Jethro continued.  “But you’ve got to have figured out by now how much I hate dancing around questions.”

“That was pretty clear within minutes, Gibbs,” Tony said with a grin, finishing up with the last of the cavatelli from this ball of dough.  “Hold that thought a moment while I change out my workspace.”

Jethro nodded and watched while Tony picked up the tray of finished cavatelli and took it over to the drying racks.  He made a detour to the side and picked up another ball of pasta dough out of a bowl and made his way back to the wooden-surfaced workstation in front of Gibbs.

Tony pulled a blob from the dough ball and started rolling it into a snake with his hands.  He raised an eyebrow and looked at Gibbs expectantly.

“Will you trust me?” Jethro asked bluntly.  “Trust me to speak plainly to me and trust me to not use anything you say against you, your wife, your friends?”  Tony paused and immediately became wary and Jethro was sad to see it.  Sad, angry, frustrated, sickened.  Jethro hated DADT, hated that it made people hide, made them not trust others, made them fearful, not only to just be themselves, but even to simply interact with others freely without having to guard themselves every minute from an inadvertent slip.  He hated being involved in the investigations, hated sending them for prosecution, despised it when those cases ended in dishonorable discharges.  He wanted Tony to trust him, but that expression told Jethro it wouldn’t be that simple.

“Perhaps we could get there in time, Gibbs,” Tony said seriously, returning to rolling out his dough.  “I like you.  I feel you are a good person with good intentions.  But we’re not there yet and I can’t risk it right now.”

Jethro merely nodded, having expected that answer.  He’d expected that answer, in fact, since the thought of asking had first occurred to him.  He’d hoped for a “yes”, of course he had, but he was a realistic man.  That’s why he had spoken to Tom and then bit his tongue and talked to the head of the legal department.  “What about a compromise?”

“I’m not sure what we could compromise on, Gibbs,” Tony said, unwilling amused.  “I’m really not willing to compromise on the safety of my wife, of my friends.”

“What are your thoughts about becoming a confidential informant?”

~~End Part 1~~

Part 2 = CI Tony