NCIS (2003–…): Season 1, Episode 17 - The Truth Is Out There - full transcript
The body of a petty officer falls from a ceiling at a nightclub; Gibbs and company investigate; Ducky says that someone dressed the victim after he died. Gibbs finds $40K in cash; he finds the connection between a prank and an inheritance.
(PEOPLE WHOOPING)
(TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
MAN: Come on, baby,
let's get back out there.
Hey!
(EXCLAIMING)
(EXCLAIMING)
TONY: Kate, I've been meaning
to ask you something for a while.
KATE: What's that?
What do you do with your leftover cereal
when there's not enough to eat
but there's too much to throw away?
'Cause I was having
Cap'n Crunch this morning...
Tony, I'm really not in the mood today.
Well, I was just trying
to take your mind off him.
- KATE: Who?
- The one that got away.
Tony, I'm not thinking
about that damn terrorist.
Sorry.
Look at Gibbs, okay?
He's been growling
like a wounded bear since that night.
Well, he is wounded,
and he always growls like a bear.
It's his way of never letting anyone
know when he's hurting.
- Yours is to be moody.
- I'm not moody!
TONY: Well, what do you call it?
I feel sorry for whatever his name is.
- Sorry?
- Yeah.
I wouldn't want Gibbs on my ass.
- We're never gonna see that guy again.
- Maybe not. But Gibbs will.
- OFFICER: Identification?
- Gibbs. NCIS.
Right through here, sir.
Kate, you ever been
in a men's room before?
No. Have you?
(CHUCKLES)
- Where've you been, Jethro?
- Someone knew his shortcut, Duck.
G.W. Parkway was like
a parking lot this morning.
I came on the G.W. Parkway
after stopping at the hospital
to visit with Gerald.
- How is he?
- He's gonna be in rehab for months.
I want that terrorist on my table, Jethro.
- Kate?
- Photos.
- Tony?
- TONY: Laser sketch.
- Talk to me about this case, Ducky.
- It's an odd one.
Yes, our young friend here
expired at approximately 1:00 a.m.
Do we have an I.D.?
Yeah, Petty Officer First Class
Chris Gordon.
He's a S.K. stationed at Pax River.
All this happened
from him falling out of the ceiling?
Hardly. He suffered
multiple traumatic injuries.
His fall through the ceiling
only added insult to injury.
Still waiting for the odd part.
Someone dressed him
after he was killed.
That's odd.
Well, I'll know more
when I get him on the table.
- GIBBS: What'd you find there?
- Safety glass, I think.
- Did you find his cell phone?
- What makes you think he had one?
Scrape marks on his belt
where he carried it.
No. No cell phone.
One obvious question, Duck.
How did Petty Officer Gordon
end up in the basement ceiling?
(POLICE RADIO CHATTERING)
TONY: Blood.
There's a trail
leading out to the parking lot.
- What about inside the door?
- We'll get there.
Tony, do a 100-metre perimeter search.
Kate, you keep snapping.
Hey, boss, check this out.
GIBBS: Brake marks.
That's what I thought
when I was first walking up.
But if they were brake marks,
they'd start out light
and gradually darken.
Front-wheel drive. He was accelerating.
It looks like somebody
ran over Petty Officer Gordon
when he came out of the club,
then hid his body.
And nobody saw it?
At least one person did.
Whoever ran him down.
Preserve this area for evidence.
Where's the guy
who runs this nightclub?
We took his statement, then let him go.
Are you in the habit
of letting material witnesses go
before they talk to investigators?
He had to leave.
Why did he have to leave?
(BELL RINGING)
(STUDENTS CHATTERING)
- Darin Spotnitz?
- Maybe.
- How about now?
- Definitely.
Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS.
Special Agent Todd,
Special Agent DiNozzo.
- What's NCIS?
- Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
- Is this about last night?
- It is.
Look, I already told the police all I know.
GIBBS: Then tell us.
(SIGHING) I didn't see anything.
Don't know nothing.
Let me guess, Honours English?
Recognise him?
Come on, there were,
like, 537 people there last night.
You didn't answer my question.
No, I don't recognise him.
I wasn't working the door.
- Who was?
- Antwane.
- Does Antwane have a last name?
- Mann.
Oh, with two "n's".
How do we find Antwane Mann
with two "n's"?
(CLEARS THROAT)
Nice PDA.
Actually, it's a Motorola A388.
It's a PDA plus cell phone
and internet connection.
Here's his home number,
cell number, business number
fax number and address.
Kate.
Right.
- You want me to beam it to you?
- Sure.
- How old are you?
- Eighteen.
Seventeen.
In two months.
GIBBS: You run this moving nightclub
by yourself?
That's right.
- Do you have any employees?
- Well, I hire them as subcontractors.
That way they're responsible for 100%
of the FICA and Medicare.
- Not just half.
- I'm sure they appreciate that.
Yeah, well, any business school
professor will tell you
that the objective of any company
is to motivate your employees
so that they provide
superior goods and services.
That's why professors
rarely ever succeed in business.
But you do.
Yeah. I have no fixed costs.
My direct costs are controllable.
My purchases are 210, net 30.
My break-even is 212 people.
My shots are dispensed by a machine
to prevent any free drinks,
and I have internal controls
to insure that all cash is accounted for.
What's the deal with your hair?
How do you think
a guy from Lexington Park
ends up an hour away
at a party in Alexandria?
It's easy. It's a Darin Spotnitz party.
Put a name brand on it,
you know it's a name brand.
I mean, no one ever thought to put
a brand name on a party till I did it.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
- Sorry. I should take this.
- I wouldn't.
Or they can just leave a message.
So what exactly does
a Darin Spotnitz party mean?
Killer music, great drinks,
and hottie factor off the charts.
GIBBS: How do we get in touch
with you?
Are you gonna tell
my parents about this?
They don't know?
Well, it's kind of illegal
for me to be in a nightclub.
KATE: So if his break-even is 212 people
and he had 537...
$25 a head.
That means that he cleared
$8,125
in one night.
(LAUGHS)
I should've majored in business.
WOMAN: Petty Officer Gordon's
quarters are around the corner,
second door on the right.
Somebody tossed this place.
- How can you tell?
- Furniture indentations on the carpet.
No fingerprints or smudges
on the icebox or the microwave.
No sign of forced entry.
KATE: Who would have access to
his room?
- The guy he shares a head with.
- Or his C.O.
How do you know
he shares a bathroom?
E5 and below,
you have up to four roommates.
You share a head.
E6, you get your own space,
but you share a head.
E7, own room, own head.
- Like a sorority.
- Yeah.
- Wonder what they were looking for?
- I wonder if they found it?
I wonder when you two guys
are gonna stop yakking and get to work.
Looks like the guy was burning DVD's.
That reminds me, I gotta return Gigli.
It's a week overdue.
Apparently he was immune to germs.
This guy was way into reality shows.
Real World, Simple Life, Punk'd.
Punk'd?
Jeez, Gibbs.
Even I know what Punk'd is.
Punk'd is an MTV show
where they play tricks on celebrities
while secretly filming it.
- Like Candid Camera.
- What's Candid Camera?
What is it, boss?
Funny thing about stereos,
you can't hear the music
unless the speakers are connected.
$40,000. All 100s. Non-sequential.
Now we know
what they were looking for.
And didn't find.
$40,000 seems like
a pretty good motive for murder.
How does an E6 Petty Officer
making $2,310 a month
manage to squirrel away
$40,000 in cash?
Good question.
I'm guessing
it's not because he's frugal.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
- Can I help you?
- Master Chief, NCIS.
You got a minute?
- Is this about Petty Officer Gordon?
- It is.
(HORN HONKING)
Keep your eyes open.
These guys drive like
they're at Indianapolis.
You were
Petty Officer Gordon's Section Chief.
- Yes, sir.
- Good worker?
He was one of the best.
He was a bit of a practical joker.
I occasionally had to remind him
of the time and the place.
- He get along well with his mates?
- Oh, yeah.
There were four guys in particular
he was in tight with.
I called them the five musketeers.
- Are they here?
- No, they work the 16 shift.
We looked over Gordon's quarters,
found $40,000 in cash.
Any idea where he could've got
that kind of money?
No, sir.
Master Chief,
according to your records,
you've been here 10 years.
I'm sure you know what goes on
at this base more than most.
That's correct, sir.
If you had to come up with a way
that an E6
- could accumulate that kind of money...
- Drugs, maybe.
Although I'd bet my last dollar
that Chris wasn't involved with drugs.
I don't suspect gambling neither.
- You don't think sailors gamble?
- Sure they gamble, but it's dollar-ante.
If there was a regular big game,
I'd know about it, ma'am.
Gordon was in supply.
Any chance he was getting kickbacks?
No chance at all.
He wasn't high enough
up the food chain
to influence who got contracts
or what was purchased.
He'd have to be at what, your level?
Yes, sir.
KATE: Gibbs wasn't real subtle
with that kickback comment.
Wasn't trying to be.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
Ducky, you got some good news for me?
Well, it depends
on your definition of good news.
Not the answer I was looking for.
It seems the more I delve
into our young friend here,
the more bewildered I become.
It's usually the other way around.
Yeah, Petty Officer Gordon
had multiple lower leg fractures,
tibia, fibia.
Here. Massive abdominal bruising
and echymosis
and a subdural haematoma
from a skull fracture.
- Consistent with being hit by a car?
- Entirely.
So that's pretty straightforward.
What's the mystery?
There was a white substance
on his hands.
I sent it up to Abby.
I could venture a guess
as to what it might be.
Sure. Venture away.
Baby powder.
Powder? Was this powder applied
or from incidental contact?
Most definitely applied.
- Why?
- I haven't the faintest idea.
And that's not all.
This sliver of safety glass
is one of many
I extracted from his skull.
- What's that stuck to the tip?
- Latex, I believe.
Abby will be able to confirm.
But the latex was between the glass
and his skull.
Meaning he was wearing something
rubber on his head when he was hit?
Yet, we know someone dressed him
after he was killed,
based on the condition of his clothes
and the bloodstain patterns.
I can see why you're confused, Duck.
It's grey latex.
- Rubber?
- One and the same.
Probably couldn't be used as a hat.
Yeah, well,
not if you grew up in Dorkville.
I grew up just west of there.
(ABBY GIGGLING)
Latex is, um,
very popular in certain circles.
- Yeah? What kind of circles?
- Oh, hey, Gibbs.
I don't know if you're ready for this.
It might upset your delicate sensibilities.
- I'll stop you.
- Okay.
Maybe he was wearing a latex hood.
Like bondage gear, S&M, fetish...
I dated this guy once
who just wanted me to bounce
up and down on a balloon...
Okay, stop.
Gibbs, that is no weirder
than a 350-pound guy
with half his body painted yellow
and the other half painted green,
wearing nothing but shorts
in 10-degree weather
and a big plastic piece of cheese
on his head saying, "Go, Packers!"
Ab, that's apples and oranges.
There's a fetish for that, too.
- What do you got?
- I matched the tyre track.
Turns out it's not real popular,
but not terribly unpopular.
Kind of like
my little brother in high school.
Those are the five cars
that come equipped with that tyre.
Next.
All the blood samples
from the bathroom,
the parking lot, the ceiling, the stairs,
were all from the victim.
No drugs.
And the blood alcohol level was 0.10.
Legally drunk.
In all 50 states
including the District of Columbia.
That might explain how he ended up
where he did in the parking lot.
Been there, done that.
What about the stuff
he had on his hands?
Baby powder.
- Any ideas why?
- I don't know.
Guys have all kinds of strange rituals
before they go out.
This one guy,
he does a full upper body workout
just seconds before his date
so he can be all pumped.
- Does Tony know that you know?
- Does Tony know that you know?
(LAUGHING)
You know, maybe it came from the car.
- The baby powder?
- No, the latex.
Latex has a lot
of commercial applications.
I'm having a computer programme
e-mailed to me
that'll recreate the accident
based on the injuries.
- It'll give me a better idea.
- Let me know.
Hey, Gibbs, do you have any fetishes?
I got three ex-wives.
I can't afford fetishes.
- Tony, are you a GS-9 or a GS-11?
- I can't tell you.
Why not?
Because if I do,
you'll know how much money I make.
- So?
- That's personal and confidential.
I'm sorry,
you give me
every single detail about your dates.
- You leave out nothing.
- That's bragging. Money's personal.
It's 1520.
We're quitting early?
We're going to Pax River.
To pick up Gordon's buddies
who come on at 1600.
The four musketeers.
BOWMAN: We drove to the club
after hearing about it
from a guy on the Eisenhower, sir.
GIBBS: Why all the way to Alexandria?
We were bored
with the clubs around Lexington Park.
We knew everyone there
and we wanted to meet
some new people.
Plus we heard this guy Darin Spotnitz
threw some awesome parties.
How'd you get there?
I drove.
- GIBBS: You only take one car?
- Yes, sir. We got there around 11:00.
Okay, then what?
We paid our $25, went inside,
did a lap around the place,
had a few drinks.
Petty Officer Gordon
was with you the whole time?
Until he met a babe.
- You know her name?
- No, sir. Sorry.
- She and Gordon hit it off, huh?
- Oh, yeah.
- What time did he leave?
- Around midnight, with the girl.
I figured he just went home with her.
And you were headed for Pax River.
Our deal was if one of us got lucky,
he was on his own
in terms of getting back to base.
- That happen often?
- Not really.
We found $40,000 cash
in Gordon's room.
$40,000? You're kidding.
GIBBS: Any idea
where he got all that money?
No, sir.
What kind of car you drive?
Audi A6.
350Z.
Escalade.
Taurus.
Taurus is one of the five cars
that uses the tyre.
WONG: Two years now.
Your car on base?
It was.
I loaned it to my brother a few days ago.
Where is he?
On his way to Phoenix
to visit a girl he met on the Internet.
A bunch of guys go to a club,
one of them meets a woman
and leaves,
then turns up dead.
- Their stories are pretty consistent.
- A little too consistent.
- Do you think they're lying?
- I think they're well-rehearsed.
But if that's what really happened
and they're telling the truth,
then their stories should match.
They all gave a consistent description
of the mystery woman.
Eyewitness accounts
always widely vary.
These guys are in the military, Gibbs,
so you'd expect
more accuracy from them
than you would the general public.
They're storekeepers,
Kate, they're not SEALs.
We know what happened to Gordon.
What happened to the girl?
KATE: We have no name,
and the description was basically,
"She's super-hot."
So it doesn't narrow it down much.
Except for Wong,
for Second-Class Petty Officers,
those guys have some pricey rides.
Put out an APB on Wong's Taurus,
and talk to Antwane Mann, two "n's".
What can I do for you, brother?
Haircut? Manicure? Waxing?
Definitely not a waxing.
How about you, Kate?
I'm special Agent Todd, NCIS.
This is Special Agent DiNozzo.
Are you Antwane Mann?
Proprietor of Soul Clips.
Kind of ironic.
- What's that?
- You own a hair salon and you're bald.
- I'm not bald.
- You're taller than your hair.
I shave my head.
It just seems redundant.
We understand that you were working
the door last night
- at the Darin Spotnitz party.
- That's right.
My man, Darin.
The boy knows how to throw a party.
So you work as a bouncer
and you own this business?
Hey, I don't plan on working forever.
I wanna retire at 50.
- How are you gonna do that?
- By investing.
Really. In what?
- Kate, the pictures.
- Oh, right.
I wanna show you a few pictures.
See if you remember any of them
from the club last night.
That's a waste of time.
I mean, there were over 500...
Hey, I remember him.
I notice people's hair.
You know, him and his buddies
were the only ones had cuts like that.
Are these the buddies
that were with him?
Yep.
- Do you remember what time he left?
- He didn't.
He came in the club around 11:00.
They found him dead a few hours later.
So he didn't leave
with a woman around midnight?
No.
But he did.
Why would all four lie
about who left with the woman?
To protect Wong.
- Or the woman.
- GIBBS: Or themselves.
From what?
That is the $40,000 question.
We're missing something.
The evidence doesn't make sense.
Haven't you already run every known
terrorist through this programme?
I'm running it again.
TONY: We know Gordon was
purposely run down in the parking lot,
probably died from a fractured skull,
and somebody hid his body
in the warehouse ceiling.
From the $40,000 we found hidden
in his room gives someone a motive.
A motive.
For who? For what?
I mean, nothing ties him to the money.
Do you want us to bring in Wong?
Nope. Not until we know
where that $40,000 came from.
What do we do?
Same thing Deep Throat told
Woodward and Bernstein.
Follow the money.
Something's bugging me
about the money.
It's not just $40,000 in cash.
It's $40,000 in non-sequential $100 bills.
- So?
- Well, why all hundreds?
If it was drugs
it wouldn't be all hundreds.
- Or gambling, or even theft.
- You're right.
Where would you go
to get all hundreds?
Bank.
And what makes you go to a bank
requesting non-sequential $100 bills?
- Ransom?
- Blackmail?
Blackmail's good.
Who's he blackmailing?
I have no idea.
This programme rocks.
It includes vault, fall, yaw, tip-over,
rollover, combined speed,
linear momentum...
Abby.
Oh, come on, Gibbs.
You know you love it when I talk tech.
What do you got?
Well, at first I thought the latex
might have come from the car.
But the latex primer used in the car
is located in the undercarriage
which he never hit.
So he had to have been
wearing the latex.
- I already knew that.
- Yes, but that was speculation.
- This is confirmation.
- Okay.
What else?
I used the victim's measurements
and the location of his injuries
to determine the height of the vehicle
based on point of impact.
(BEEPING)
And then I used a database
for vehicle grill dimensions.
Can you believe someone put together
a database of vehicle grill dimensions?
I was about to call Ripley's.
I had this boyfriend once,
not the balloon guy,
but this one was like a computer genius.
He put together
a database of databases.
I mean, it seems obvious in retrospect,
like the Pet Rock.
- Abby.
- Yes?
You're spending too much time
talking to Ducky.
Okay, bottom line.
The car that hit Gordon
was definitely a Taurus.
- You're positive?
- Absolutely.
Unless it was a Mercury Sable.
- You find something interesting?
- Pre-paid phone card.
Why would you have
a pre-paid phone card
if you have a cell phone?
Well, I can think of one reason.
Phone cards are impossible to trace.
Unless you physically have the card.
So you think maybe
he used his phone card
in his blackmailing scheme
to cover up his tracks?
That's what I'd do.
So if we trace his calls...
We should have a pretty good idea
of who he was blackmailing.
List of calls sorted by phone number
and frequency of calls.
- Who's number one?
- Bartex Corporation.
- What do they do?
- Let's Google them and find out.
TONY: There we go.
"Bartex Corporation is
a diversified conglomerate
"deriving revenues from a number
of wide-ranging industries.
"Paper and forest products,
natural gas distribution,
- "aerospace..."
- Get into the facts.
"Bartex was recently awarded
a $200,000,000 design contract
"for the next generation
of carrier fighter jets by the U.S. Navy."
- Things get curiouser and curiouser.
- Seems like we're back to kickbacks.
But Master Chief Nutter
said that Gordon
wasn't high enough
on the food chain for kickbacks.
Maybe he was lying.
Or maybe Nutter was taking kickbacks
from the Bartex Corporation,
and Gordon found out
and started blackmailing him.
That works.
Tony, did you check out all the Tauruses
that had parking permits at Pax River?
Yeah. All except for Wong's,
which is allegedly somewhere
between here and Phoenix.
APB's haven't turned up anything.
- Did you check Mercury Sables?
- No.
But they're the same car.
I have a list of permits here.
Four Sables have base permits.
And this is interesting.
Master Chief Nutter drives a Sable.
GIBBS: Why is that interesting?
We think that when Gordon found out
that Nutter was taking kickbacks,
he blackmailed him.
It gives him motive, murder weapon,
and accounts for the cash.
Easy enough to find out.
All we have to do is look at his car.
Let's go.
(MAN CHATTERING ON P.A. SYSTEM)
- Is Master Chief around?
- No, sir.
- You know where I can find him?
- He didn't say where he was going.
Well, what do you do
if there's an emergency
- and you need to get a hold of him?
- We call his cell, sir.
(PHONE RINGING)
Talk to me.
Hey, Abs. Gibbs.
If I give you a cell phone number,
can you trace it and give me a location?
Yeah. As long as it's a newer phone
with a GPS chip,
not one of those ancient old bricks.
- How accurate?
- Within 100 metres.
We gotta jump through any legal hoops?
Well, it's kind of a grey area.
How grey?
(LAUGHS) Charcoal.
How long does he have to stay on?
All he has to do is answer.
Okay, here's the number.
GIBBS: Area code 702, 555-0127.
Okay, it's dialling.
NUTTER: Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Okay, he's at 18900
Beallsville Road.
Any idea what's there?
The Bartex Corporation.
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(CAR HORN HONKING)
Agent Gibbs, what are you doing here?
I was gonna ask you the same thing.
Personal business.
Do you care to elaborate?
Look, you can talk to me now,
or we can do this
in front of Admiral Barnes.
It's your choice.
- Bartex is one of our vendors.
- And?
- Can we keep this between us?
- No.
They've offered me
a position with their company,
and I'm seriously considering taking it.
I didn't want to let anyone know
until I made my final decision.
Can you pop the hood of your car?
- Why?
- Because I asked.
TONY: No body work.
The windshield is original equipment
according to the manufacturer's specs.
It hasn't been replaced.
No way this car hit Gordon.
Forty-mile zone ended
two miles back, boss.
Limit's 65.
I only mention it
because you usually drive
slightly faster than Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Boss?
- What?
- Do you want to stop for a burger?
- No!
I would've bet a month's salary
it was Chief Nutter.
- You would've lost.
- I always lose when I bet.
- Don't tell me. You had the Cubs.
- Red Sox.
(LAUGHING)
She bet on the Sox, boss.
Not again.
We are not going to lose again!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
We are going back to that warehouse
and we are staying until we nail
whoever hit Petty Officer Gordon.
They lied about coming in one car.
Wong's Taurus hit Gordon.
They made up the story
about his brother.
- They? Not Wong?
- They were in it together.
Okay, so, they were all
in a conspiracy to do what?
- Kill their buddy for $40,000?
- Maybe.
Or maybe they just wanted payback.
- You lost me, Gibbs.
- Me, too, boss.
Tony, you check out this lot next door?
A hundred-metre perimeter search
didn't reach the lot.
Then we do 200!
- What are we looking for?
- Answers!
- Do you have plans tonight?
- Not really.
Good, because the last time
Gibbs was like this,
I didn't go home for a week.
KATE: The sad part:
That would actually be an improvement
over my social life.
Gibbs!
Tony?
GIBBS: Looks like our latex.
Must've gotten snagged
when somebody slipped
through the fence into the parking lot.
Not someone. Petty Officer Gordon.
Okay, flash and bag it.
- Any idea what this stuff is?
- Of course.
- What?
- Evidence.
(LAUGHING) That's a good one, Kate.
TONY: I don't know, boss.
This lot is trashed.
GIBBS: It's gotta be fresh, Tony.
Less than 48 hours old.
- What you got, boss?
- Maybe something.
Do you think
that was left by our four musketeers?
Oh, yeah.
Damn it, Gibbs.
If you know what happened, tell us.
Patience, Kate. Patience.
All right, keep looking, everybody.
Watch your step.
- He doesn't know.
- Wanna bet?
- Kate, get a photo.
- Yeah.
TONY: I've got some fresh butts over
here. Petty Officer Morgan smoked.
And Petty Officer Carter.
We'll get DNA from this.
Looks like they had
some kind of tripod over here.
KATE: Are you about ready to tell us
what you're thinking?
They filmed it.
Filmed what?
Not a pretty sight, is it?
- Did you have to cut him up like that?
- Oh, yes.
An autopsy is required
in a murder investigation.
Sir, can I please be excused?
Oh, that chance ended three days ago,
Petty Officer Carter.
Twenty bucks Carter wets his pants
before Morgan.
Think this'll work?
It'll work.
- You got my videotape ready?
- Abby's cleaning it up right now.
All right. Let's do this.
TONY: We never put four people
in the same interrogation room, ever!
Do you wanna know why?
Because we don't want them
comparing stories
or conspiring to hide the truth.
But in your case,
we're willing to make an exception.
I know what happened.
Now it's just a question of time.
As in how much time
you'll spend at Leavenworth
if you don't cooperate with us.
It was all a joke.
- It was just a stupid...
- Shut up, Carter.
I want a lawyer.
You know, if I was you, Wong,
I'd want a lawyer, too.
(STAMMERING)
What if we cooperate, sir?
Morgan, all they have
is a strip of rubber.
If they can charge us,
they would've already.
TONY: What about your car, Wong?
Do you know how hard it is
to wash blood stains
off a car these days?
- Are you saying you have my car?
- You saying we don't?
- There's no way you have my car.
- Are you sure about that?
What is this, "bad cop, dumb cop"?
My car is long gone.
- My brother...
- I don't need your car.
I have this.
Never put anything on videotape
that you don't want to be seen.
Just ask Paris Hilton.
GIBBS: You had your chance to
come clean.
It would've helped with the sentencing.
Wait.
I'll talk, sir.
It was an accident.
We didn't think
anyone was gonna get hurt, sir.
Whose idea was it?
It was Gordon's, sir.
He was planning it for months.
It was payback for the time
when Wong set him up
on a blind date with a transvestite.
Don't you see
what they're trying to do here?
We have to stick...
Gordon is laying on a slab down there
because of us, Wong.
Yeah, maybe you can live with that.
I can't.
GIBBS: Who was the girl?
Somebody's girlfriend?
Hooker?
She was a call girl, sir.
(TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING)
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
GIBBS: And you hired her
to lure Wong out of the club
into the parking lot for your joke.
(LAUGHING)
I'm sorry!
Or maybe not.
Do you wanna dance? Come on!
- Is your car in the parking lot?
- Yeah.
Let's go!
GIBBS: Must have been some girl,
Petty Officer Wong.
Who was in charge
of the setup in the vacant lot?
It was me and Gordon, sir.
- This is gonna be legendary!
- Yeah, it is, dude.
Let's do this.
Man, Wong is going to piss his pants!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Let's get it set up.
CARTER: Hurry up, man.
She's gonna bring him out soon.
- Dude, where's the camera?
- I thought you had it.
You left it in the car, you moron!
Let's go!
Seems like
you guys had it all organised.
What went wrong?
Wong panicked, sir.
(MOANING)
You go, girl!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
It's showtime.
What's wrong?
- Did you see some lights?
- No.
Cue the dry ice.
Tell Gordon to haul ass.
Wong is gonna have a heart attack!
You don't seem
like the type that scares easily,
Petty Officer Wong.
WONG: I didn't know.
I didn't know it was Chris.
What's that sound?
- What the hell is that?
- ZOE: Oh, my God!
It's coming right at us! Do something!
(SCREAMING)
Where the hell are my keys?
I can't find my keys!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
(SCREAMING)
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
No!
MORGAN: He was our best friend,
Agent Gibbs.
And we killed him.
That was a pretty good practical joke.
Too bad your buddy died.
- It was an accident, sir.
- GIBBS: What about the $40,000?
Are you telling me
no one knew about that?
Sir, none of us had any idea
that Gordon had that kind of money.
We never should've
tried to hide the body.
But it was an accident, sir.
Is that true, Petty Officer Wong?
No one knew about it?
The only thing
I am guilty of here is manslaughter.
You saw the tape.
- Is he talking about this tape, Tony?
- I think he is, boss.
This isn't your tape.
But you're in it, Wong.
GIBBS: Twenty-two-year-olds cashing
$40,000 inheritance cheques
is something bank tellers tend to notice.
You noticed it, too.
It was...
It was an accident.
We have a witness.
KATE: Did Wong know
that it was a prank?
How much was he giving you
to keep your mouth shut?
$1,000.
He knew it was a prank?
ZOE: He said his friend
was trying to get even with him.
You knew it was Chris.
- Hey, you got any plans tonight?
- I did. Too late now.
(CHUCKLES)
Wanna grab some Chinese
at the new place down the street?
Sure.
- Wanna ask Gibbs?
- He's busy.
- Doing what?
- Same thing he does every night.
(TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
MAN: Come on, baby,
let's get back out there.
Hey!
(EXCLAIMING)
(EXCLAIMING)
TONY: Kate, I've been meaning
to ask you something for a while.
KATE: What's that?
What do you do with your leftover cereal
when there's not enough to eat
but there's too much to throw away?
'Cause I was having
Cap'n Crunch this morning...
Tony, I'm really not in the mood today.
Well, I was just trying
to take your mind off him.
- KATE: Who?
- The one that got away.
Tony, I'm not thinking
about that damn terrorist.
Sorry.
Look at Gibbs, okay?
He's been growling
like a wounded bear since that night.
Well, he is wounded,
and he always growls like a bear.
It's his way of never letting anyone
know when he's hurting.
- Yours is to be moody.
- I'm not moody!
TONY: Well, what do you call it?
I feel sorry for whatever his name is.
- Sorry?
- Yeah.
I wouldn't want Gibbs on my ass.
- We're never gonna see that guy again.
- Maybe not. But Gibbs will.
- OFFICER: Identification?
- Gibbs. NCIS.
Right through here, sir.
Kate, you ever been
in a men's room before?
No. Have you?
(CHUCKLES)
- Where've you been, Jethro?
- Someone knew his shortcut, Duck.
G.W. Parkway was like
a parking lot this morning.
I came on the G.W. Parkway
after stopping at the hospital
to visit with Gerald.
- How is he?
- He's gonna be in rehab for months.
I want that terrorist on my table, Jethro.
- Kate?
- Photos.
- Tony?
- TONY: Laser sketch.
- Talk to me about this case, Ducky.
- It's an odd one.
Yes, our young friend here
expired at approximately 1:00 a.m.
Do we have an I.D.?
Yeah, Petty Officer First Class
Chris Gordon.
He's a S.K. stationed at Pax River.
All this happened
from him falling out of the ceiling?
Hardly. He suffered
multiple traumatic injuries.
His fall through the ceiling
only added insult to injury.
Still waiting for the odd part.
Someone dressed him
after he was killed.
That's odd.
Well, I'll know more
when I get him on the table.
- GIBBS: What'd you find there?
- Safety glass, I think.
- Did you find his cell phone?
- What makes you think he had one?
Scrape marks on his belt
where he carried it.
No. No cell phone.
One obvious question, Duck.
How did Petty Officer Gordon
end up in the basement ceiling?
(POLICE RADIO CHATTERING)
TONY: Blood.
There's a trail
leading out to the parking lot.
- What about inside the door?
- We'll get there.
Tony, do a 100-metre perimeter search.
Kate, you keep snapping.
Hey, boss, check this out.
GIBBS: Brake marks.
That's what I thought
when I was first walking up.
But if they were brake marks,
they'd start out light
and gradually darken.
Front-wheel drive. He was accelerating.
It looks like somebody
ran over Petty Officer Gordon
when he came out of the club,
then hid his body.
And nobody saw it?
At least one person did.
Whoever ran him down.
Preserve this area for evidence.
Where's the guy
who runs this nightclub?
We took his statement, then let him go.
Are you in the habit
of letting material witnesses go
before they talk to investigators?
He had to leave.
Why did he have to leave?
(BELL RINGING)
(STUDENTS CHATTERING)
- Darin Spotnitz?
- Maybe.
- How about now?
- Definitely.
Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS.
Special Agent Todd,
Special Agent DiNozzo.
- What's NCIS?
- Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
- Is this about last night?
- It is.
Look, I already told the police all I know.
GIBBS: Then tell us.
(SIGHING) I didn't see anything.
Don't know nothing.
Let me guess, Honours English?
Recognise him?
Come on, there were,
like, 537 people there last night.
You didn't answer my question.
No, I don't recognise him.
I wasn't working the door.
- Who was?
- Antwane.
- Does Antwane have a last name?
- Mann.
Oh, with two "n's".
How do we find Antwane Mann
with two "n's"?
(CLEARS THROAT)
Nice PDA.
Actually, it's a Motorola A388.
It's a PDA plus cell phone
and internet connection.
Here's his home number,
cell number, business number
fax number and address.
Kate.
Right.
- You want me to beam it to you?
- Sure.
- How old are you?
- Eighteen.
Seventeen.
In two months.
GIBBS: You run this moving nightclub
by yourself?
That's right.
- Do you have any employees?
- Well, I hire them as subcontractors.
That way they're responsible for 100%
of the FICA and Medicare.
- Not just half.
- I'm sure they appreciate that.
Yeah, well, any business school
professor will tell you
that the objective of any company
is to motivate your employees
so that they provide
superior goods and services.
That's why professors
rarely ever succeed in business.
But you do.
Yeah. I have no fixed costs.
My direct costs are controllable.
My purchases are 210, net 30.
My break-even is 212 people.
My shots are dispensed by a machine
to prevent any free drinks,
and I have internal controls
to insure that all cash is accounted for.
What's the deal with your hair?
How do you think
a guy from Lexington Park
ends up an hour away
at a party in Alexandria?
It's easy. It's a Darin Spotnitz party.
Put a name brand on it,
you know it's a name brand.
I mean, no one ever thought to put
a brand name on a party till I did it.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
- Sorry. I should take this.
- I wouldn't.
Or they can just leave a message.
So what exactly does
a Darin Spotnitz party mean?
Killer music, great drinks,
and hottie factor off the charts.
GIBBS: How do we get in touch
with you?
Are you gonna tell
my parents about this?
They don't know?
Well, it's kind of illegal
for me to be in a nightclub.
KATE: So if his break-even is 212 people
and he had 537...
$25 a head.
That means that he cleared
$8,125
in one night.
(LAUGHS)
I should've majored in business.
WOMAN: Petty Officer Gordon's
quarters are around the corner,
second door on the right.
Somebody tossed this place.
- How can you tell?
- Furniture indentations on the carpet.
No fingerprints or smudges
on the icebox or the microwave.
No sign of forced entry.
KATE: Who would have access to
his room?
- The guy he shares a head with.
- Or his C.O.
How do you know
he shares a bathroom?
E5 and below,
you have up to four roommates.
You share a head.
E6, you get your own space,
but you share a head.
E7, own room, own head.
- Like a sorority.
- Yeah.
- Wonder what they were looking for?
- I wonder if they found it?
I wonder when you two guys
are gonna stop yakking and get to work.
Looks like the guy was burning DVD's.
That reminds me, I gotta return Gigli.
It's a week overdue.
Apparently he was immune to germs.
This guy was way into reality shows.
Real World, Simple Life, Punk'd.
Punk'd?
Jeez, Gibbs.
Even I know what Punk'd is.
Punk'd is an MTV show
where they play tricks on celebrities
while secretly filming it.
- Like Candid Camera.
- What's Candid Camera?
What is it, boss?
Funny thing about stereos,
you can't hear the music
unless the speakers are connected.
$40,000. All 100s. Non-sequential.
Now we know
what they were looking for.
And didn't find.
$40,000 seems like
a pretty good motive for murder.
How does an E6 Petty Officer
making $2,310 a month
manage to squirrel away
$40,000 in cash?
Good question.
I'm guessing
it's not because he's frugal.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
- Can I help you?
- Master Chief, NCIS.
You got a minute?
- Is this about Petty Officer Gordon?
- It is.
(HORN HONKING)
Keep your eyes open.
These guys drive like
they're at Indianapolis.
You were
Petty Officer Gordon's Section Chief.
- Yes, sir.
- Good worker?
He was one of the best.
He was a bit of a practical joker.
I occasionally had to remind him
of the time and the place.
- He get along well with his mates?
- Oh, yeah.
There were four guys in particular
he was in tight with.
I called them the five musketeers.
- Are they here?
- No, they work the 16 shift.
We looked over Gordon's quarters,
found $40,000 in cash.
Any idea where he could've got
that kind of money?
No, sir.
Master Chief,
according to your records,
you've been here 10 years.
I'm sure you know what goes on
at this base more than most.
That's correct, sir.
If you had to come up with a way
that an E6
- could accumulate that kind of money...
- Drugs, maybe.
Although I'd bet my last dollar
that Chris wasn't involved with drugs.
I don't suspect gambling neither.
- You don't think sailors gamble?
- Sure they gamble, but it's dollar-ante.
If there was a regular big game,
I'd know about it, ma'am.
Gordon was in supply.
Any chance he was getting kickbacks?
No chance at all.
He wasn't high enough
up the food chain
to influence who got contracts
or what was purchased.
He'd have to be at what, your level?
Yes, sir.
KATE: Gibbs wasn't real subtle
with that kickback comment.
Wasn't trying to be.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
Ducky, you got some good news for me?
Well, it depends
on your definition of good news.
Not the answer I was looking for.
It seems the more I delve
into our young friend here,
the more bewildered I become.
It's usually the other way around.
Yeah, Petty Officer Gordon
had multiple lower leg fractures,
tibia, fibia.
Here. Massive abdominal bruising
and echymosis
and a subdural haematoma
from a skull fracture.
- Consistent with being hit by a car?
- Entirely.
So that's pretty straightforward.
What's the mystery?
There was a white substance
on his hands.
I sent it up to Abby.
I could venture a guess
as to what it might be.
Sure. Venture away.
Baby powder.
Powder? Was this powder applied
or from incidental contact?
Most definitely applied.
- Why?
- I haven't the faintest idea.
And that's not all.
This sliver of safety glass
is one of many
I extracted from his skull.
- What's that stuck to the tip?
- Latex, I believe.
Abby will be able to confirm.
But the latex was between the glass
and his skull.
Meaning he was wearing something
rubber on his head when he was hit?
Yet, we know someone dressed him
after he was killed,
based on the condition of his clothes
and the bloodstain patterns.
I can see why you're confused, Duck.
It's grey latex.
- Rubber?
- One and the same.
Probably couldn't be used as a hat.
Yeah, well,
not if you grew up in Dorkville.
I grew up just west of there.
(ABBY GIGGLING)
Latex is, um,
very popular in certain circles.
- Yeah? What kind of circles?
- Oh, hey, Gibbs.
I don't know if you're ready for this.
It might upset your delicate sensibilities.
- I'll stop you.
- Okay.
Maybe he was wearing a latex hood.
Like bondage gear, S&M, fetish...
I dated this guy once
who just wanted me to bounce
up and down on a balloon...
Okay, stop.
Gibbs, that is no weirder
than a 350-pound guy
with half his body painted yellow
and the other half painted green,
wearing nothing but shorts
in 10-degree weather
and a big plastic piece of cheese
on his head saying, "Go, Packers!"
Ab, that's apples and oranges.
There's a fetish for that, too.
- What do you got?
- I matched the tyre track.
Turns out it's not real popular,
but not terribly unpopular.
Kind of like
my little brother in high school.
Those are the five cars
that come equipped with that tyre.
Next.
All the blood samples
from the bathroom,
the parking lot, the ceiling, the stairs,
were all from the victim.
No drugs.
And the blood alcohol level was 0.10.
Legally drunk.
In all 50 states
including the District of Columbia.
That might explain how he ended up
where he did in the parking lot.
Been there, done that.
What about the stuff
he had on his hands?
Baby powder.
- Any ideas why?
- I don't know.
Guys have all kinds of strange rituals
before they go out.
This one guy,
he does a full upper body workout
just seconds before his date
so he can be all pumped.
- Does Tony know that you know?
- Does Tony know that you know?
(LAUGHING)
You know, maybe it came from the car.
- The baby powder?
- No, the latex.
Latex has a lot
of commercial applications.
I'm having a computer programme
e-mailed to me
that'll recreate the accident
based on the injuries.
- It'll give me a better idea.
- Let me know.
Hey, Gibbs, do you have any fetishes?
I got three ex-wives.
I can't afford fetishes.
- Tony, are you a GS-9 or a GS-11?
- I can't tell you.
Why not?
Because if I do,
you'll know how much money I make.
- So?
- That's personal and confidential.
I'm sorry,
you give me
every single detail about your dates.
- You leave out nothing.
- That's bragging. Money's personal.
It's 1520.
We're quitting early?
We're going to Pax River.
To pick up Gordon's buddies
who come on at 1600.
The four musketeers.
BOWMAN: We drove to the club
after hearing about it
from a guy on the Eisenhower, sir.
GIBBS: Why all the way to Alexandria?
We were bored
with the clubs around Lexington Park.
We knew everyone there
and we wanted to meet
some new people.
Plus we heard this guy Darin Spotnitz
threw some awesome parties.
How'd you get there?
I drove.
- GIBBS: You only take one car?
- Yes, sir. We got there around 11:00.
Okay, then what?
We paid our $25, went inside,
did a lap around the place,
had a few drinks.
Petty Officer Gordon
was with you the whole time?
Until he met a babe.
- You know her name?
- No, sir. Sorry.
- She and Gordon hit it off, huh?
- Oh, yeah.
- What time did he leave?
- Around midnight, with the girl.
I figured he just went home with her.
And you were headed for Pax River.
Our deal was if one of us got lucky,
he was on his own
in terms of getting back to base.
- That happen often?
- Not really.
We found $40,000 cash
in Gordon's room.
$40,000? You're kidding.
GIBBS: Any idea
where he got all that money?
No, sir.
What kind of car you drive?
Audi A6.
350Z.
Escalade.
Taurus.
Taurus is one of the five cars
that uses the tyre.
WONG: Two years now.
Your car on base?
It was.
I loaned it to my brother a few days ago.
Where is he?
On his way to Phoenix
to visit a girl he met on the Internet.
A bunch of guys go to a club,
one of them meets a woman
and leaves,
then turns up dead.
- Their stories are pretty consistent.
- A little too consistent.
- Do you think they're lying?
- I think they're well-rehearsed.
But if that's what really happened
and they're telling the truth,
then their stories should match.
They all gave a consistent description
of the mystery woman.
Eyewitness accounts
always widely vary.
These guys are in the military, Gibbs,
so you'd expect
more accuracy from them
than you would the general public.
They're storekeepers,
Kate, they're not SEALs.
We know what happened to Gordon.
What happened to the girl?
KATE: We have no name,
and the description was basically,
"She's super-hot."
So it doesn't narrow it down much.
Except for Wong,
for Second-Class Petty Officers,
those guys have some pricey rides.
Put out an APB on Wong's Taurus,
and talk to Antwane Mann, two "n's".
What can I do for you, brother?
Haircut? Manicure? Waxing?
Definitely not a waxing.
How about you, Kate?
I'm special Agent Todd, NCIS.
This is Special Agent DiNozzo.
Are you Antwane Mann?
Proprietor of Soul Clips.
Kind of ironic.
- What's that?
- You own a hair salon and you're bald.
- I'm not bald.
- You're taller than your hair.
I shave my head.
It just seems redundant.
We understand that you were working
the door last night
- at the Darin Spotnitz party.
- That's right.
My man, Darin.
The boy knows how to throw a party.
So you work as a bouncer
and you own this business?
Hey, I don't plan on working forever.
I wanna retire at 50.
- How are you gonna do that?
- By investing.
Really. In what?
- Kate, the pictures.
- Oh, right.
I wanna show you a few pictures.
See if you remember any of them
from the club last night.
That's a waste of time.
I mean, there were over 500...
Hey, I remember him.
I notice people's hair.
You know, him and his buddies
were the only ones had cuts like that.
Are these the buddies
that were with him?
Yep.
- Do you remember what time he left?
- He didn't.
He came in the club around 11:00.
They found him dead a few hours later.
So he didn't leave
with a woman around midnight?
No.
But he did.
Why would all four lie
about who left with the woman?
To protect Wong.
- Or the woman.
- GIBBS: Or themselves.
From what?
That is the $40,000 question.
We're missing something.
The evidence doesn't make sense.
Haven't you already run every known
terrorist through this programme?
I'm running it again.
TONY: We know Gordon was
purposely run down in the parking lot,
probably died from a fractured skull,
and somebody hid his body
in the warehouse ceiling.
From the $40,000 we found hidden
in his room gives someone a motive.
A motive.
For who? For what?
I mean, nothing ties him to the money.
Do you want us to bring in Wong?
Nope. Not until we know
where that $40,000 came from.
What do we do?
Same thing Deep Throat told
Woodward and Bernstein.
Follow the money.
Something's bugging me
about the money.
It's not just $40,000 in cash.
It's $40,000 in non-sequential $100 bills.
- So?
- Well, why all hundreds?
If it was drugs
it wouldn't be all hundreds.
- Or gambling, or even theft.
- You're right.
Where would you go
to get all hundreds?
Bank.
And what makes you go to a bank
requesting non-sequential $100 bills?
- Ransom?
- Blackmail?
Blackmail's good.
Who's he blackmailing?
I have no idea.
This programme rocks.
It includes vault, fall, yaw, tip-over,
rollover, combined speed,
linear momentum...
Abby.
Oh, come on, Gibbs.
You know you love it when I talk tech.
What do you got?
Well, at first I thought the latex
might have come from the car.
But the latex primer used in the car
is located in the undercarriage
which he never hit.
So he had to have been
wearing the latex.
- I already knew that.
- Yes, but that was speculation.
- This is confirmation.
- Okay.
What else?
I used the victim's measurements
and the location of his injuries
to determine the height of the vehicle
based on point of impact.
(BEEPING)
And then I used a database
for vehicle grill dimensions.
Can you believe someone put together
a database of vehicle grill dimensions?
I was about to call Ripley's.
I had this boyfriend once,
not the balloon guy,
but this one was like a computer genius.
He put together
a database of databases.
I mean, it seems obvious in retrospect,
like the Pet Rock.
- Abby.
- Yes?
You're spending too much time
talking to Ducky.
Okay, bottom line.
The car that hit Gordon
was definitely a Taurus.
- You're positive?
- Absolutely.
Unless it was a Mercury Sable.
- You find something interesting?
- Pre-paid phone card.
Why would you have
a pre-paid phone card
if you have a cell phone?
Well, I can think of one reason.
Phone cards are impossible to trace.
Unless you physically have the card.
So you think maybe
he used his phone card
in his blackmailing scheme
to cover up his tracks?
That's what I'd do.
So if we trace his calls...
We should have a pretty good idea
of who he was blackmailing.
List of calls sorted by phone number
and frequency of calls.
- Who's number one?
- Bartex Corporation.
- What do they do?
- Let's Google them and find out.
TONY: There we go.
"Bartex Corporation is
a diversified conglomerate
"deriving revenues from a number
of wide-ranging industries.
"Paper and forest products,
natural gas distribution,
- "aerospace..."
- Get into the facts.
"Bartex was recently awarded
a $200,000,000 design contract
"for the next generation
of carrier fighter jets by the U.S. Navy."
- Things get curiouser and curiouser.
- Seems like we're back to kickbacks.
But Master Chief Nutter
said that Gordon
wasn't high enough
on the food chain for kickbacks.
Maybe he was lying.
Or maybe Nutter was taking kickbacks
from the Bartex Corporation,
and Gordon found out
and started blackmailing him.
That works.
Tony, did you check out all the Tauruses
that had parking permits at Pax River?
Yeah. All except for Wong's,
which is allegedly somewhere
between here and Phoenix.
APB's haven't turned up anything.
- Did you check Mercury Sables?
- No.
But they're the same car.
I have a list of permits here.
Four Sables have base permits.
And this is interesting.
Master Chief Nutter drives a Sable.
GIBBS: Why is that interesting?
We think that when Gordon found out
that Nutter was taking kickbacks,
he blackmailed him.
It gives him motive, murder weapon,
and accounts for the cash.
Easy enough to find out.
All we have to do is look at his car.
Let's go.
(MAN CHATTERING ON P.A. SYSTEM)
- Is Master Chief around?
- No, sir.
- You know where I can find him?
- He didn't say where he was going.
Well, what do you do
if there's an emergency
- and you need to get a hold of him?
- We call his cell, sir.
(PHONE RINGING)
Talk to me.
Hey, Abs. Gibbs.
If I give you a cell phone number,
can you trace it and give me a location?
Yeah. As long as it's a newer phone
with a GPS chip,
not one of those ancient old bricks.
- How accurate?
- Within 100 metres.
We gotta jump through any legal hoops?
Well, it's kind of a grey area.
How grey?
(LAUGHS) Charcoal.
How long does he have to stay on?
All he has to do is answer.
Okay, here's the number.
GIBBS: Area code 702, 555-0127.
Okay, it's dialling.
NUTTER: Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Okay, he's at 18900
Beallsville Road.
Any idea what's there?
The Bartex Corporation.
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(CAR HORN HONKING)
Agent Gibbs, what are you doing here?
I was gonna ask you the same thing.
Personal business.
Do you care to elaborate?
Look, you can talk to me now,
or we can do this
in front of Admiral Barnes.
It's your choice.
- Bartex is one of our vendors.
- And?
- Can we keep this between us?
- No.
They've offered me
a position with their company,
and I'm seriously considering taking it.
I didn't want to let anyone know
until I made my final decision.
Can you pop the hood of your car?
- Why?
- Because I asked.
TONY: No body work.
The windshield is original equipment
according to the manufacturer's specs.
It hasn't been replaced.
No way this car hit Gordon.
Forty-mile zone ended
two miles back, boss.
Limit's 65.
I only mention it
because you usually drive
slightly faster than Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Boss?
- What?
- Do you want to stop for a burger?
- No!
I would've bet a month's salary
it was Chief Nutter.
- You would've lost.
- I always lose when I bet.
- Don't tell me. You had the Cubs.
- Red Sox.
(LAUGHING)
She bet on the Sox, boss.
Not again.
We are not going to lose again!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
We are going back to that warehouse
and we are staying until we nail
whoever hit Petty Officer Gordon.
They lied about coming in one car.
Wong's Taurus hit Gordon.
They made up the story
about his brother.
- They? Not Wong?
- They were in it together.
Okay, so, they were all
in a conspiracy to do what?
- Kill their buddy for $40,000?
- Maybe.
Or maybe they just wanted payback.
- You lost me, Gibbs.
- Me, too, boss.
Tony, you check out this lot next door?
A hundred-metre perimeter search
didn't reach the lot.
Then we do 200!
- What are we looking for?
- Answers!
- Do you have plans tonight?
- Not really.
Good, because the last time
Gibbs was like this,
I didn't go home for a week.
KATE: The sad part:
That would actually be an improvement
over my social life.
Gibbs!
Tony?
GIBBS: Looks like our latex.
Must've gotten snagged
when somebody slipped
through the fence into the parking lot.
Not someone. Petty Officer Gordon.
Okay, flash and bag it.
- Any idea what this stuff is?
- Of course.
- What?
- Evidence.
(LAUGHING) That's a good one, Kate.
TONY: I don't know, boss.
This lot is trashed.
GIBBS: It's gotta be fresh, Tony.
Less than 48 hours old.
- What you got, boss?
- Maybe something.
Do you think
that was left by our four musketeers?
Oh, yeah.
Damn it, Gibbs.
If you know what happened, tell us.
Patience, Kate. Patience.
All right, keep looking, everybody.
Watch your step.
- He doesn't know.
- Wanna bet?
- Kate, get a photo.
- Yeah.
TONY: I've got some fresh butts over
here. Petty Officer Morgan smoked.
And Petty Officer Carter.
We'll get DNA from this.
Looks like they had
some kind of tripod over here.
KATE: Are you about ready to tell us
what you're thinking?
They filmed it.
Filmed what?
Not a pretty sight, is it?
- Did you have to cut him up like that?
- Oh, yes.
An autopsy is required
in a murder investigation.
Sir, can I please be excused?
Oh, that chance ended three days ago,
Petty Officer Carter.
Twenty bucks Carter wets his pants
before Morgan.
Think this'll work?
It'll work.
- You got my videotape ready?
- Abby's cleaning it up right now.
All right. Let's do this.
TONY: We never put four people
in the same interrogation room, ever!
Do you wanna know why?
Because we don't want them
comparing stories
or conspiring to hide the truth.
But in your case,
we're willing to make an exception.
I know what happened.
Now it's just a question of time.
As in how much time
you'll spend at Leavenworth
if you don't cooperate with us.
It was all a joke.
- It was just a stupid...
- Shut up, Carter.
I want a lawyer.
You know, if I was you, Wong,
I'd want a lawyer, too.
(STAMMERING)
What if we cooperate, sir?
Morgan, all they have
is a strip of rubber.
If they can charge us,
they would've already.
TONY: What about your car, Wong?
Do you know how hard it is
to wash blood stains
off a car these days?
- Are you saying you have my car?
- You saying we don't?
- There's no way you have my car.
- Are you sure about that?
What is this, "bad cop, dumb cop"?
My car is long gone.
- My brother...
- I don't need your car.
I have this.
Never put anything on videotape
that you don't want to be seen.
Just ask Paris Hilton.
GIBBS: You had your chance to
come clean.
It would've helped with the sentencing.
Wait.
I'll talk, sir.
It was an accident.
We didn't think
anyone was gonna get hurt, sir.
Whose idea was it?
It was Gordon's, sir.
He was planning it for months.
It was payback for the time
when Wong set him up
on a blind date with a transvestite.
Don't you see
what they're trying to do here?
We have to stick...
Gordon is laying on a slab down there
because of us, Wong.
Yeah, maybe you can live with that.
I can't.
GIBBS: Who was the girl?
Somebody's girlfriend?
Hooker?
She was a call girl, sir.
(TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING)
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
GIBBS: And you hired her
to lure Wong out of the club
into the parking lot for your joke.
(LAUGHING)
I'm sorry!
Or maybe not.
Do you wanna dance? Come on!
- Is your car in the parking lot?
- Yeah.
Let's go!
GIBBS: Must have been some girl,
Petty Officer Wong.
Who was in charge
of the setup in the vacant lot?
It was me and Gordon, sir.
- This is gonna be legendary!
- Yeah, it is, dude.
Let's do this.
Man, Wong is going to piss his pants!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Let's get it set up.
CARTER: Hurry up, man.
She's gonna bring him out soon.
- Dude, where's the camera?
- I thought you had it.
You left it in the car, you moron!
Let's go!
Seems like
you guys had it all organised.
What went wrong?
Wong panicked, sir.
(MOANING)
You go, girl!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
It's showtime.
What's wrong?
- Did you see some lights?
- No.
Cue the dry ice.
Tell Gordon to haul ass.
Wong is gonna have a heart attack!
You don't seem
like the type that scares easily,
Petty Officer Wong.
WONG: I didn't know.
I didn't know it was Chris.
What's that sound?
- What the hell is that?
- ZOE: Oh, my God!
It's coming right at us! Do something!
(SCREAMING)
Where the hell are my keys?
I can't find my keys!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
(SCREAMING)
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
No!
MORGAN: He was our best friend,
Agent Gibbs.
And we killed him.
That was a pretty good practical joke.
Too bad your buddy died.
- It was an accident, sir.
- GIBBS: What about the $40,000?
Are you telling me
no one knew about that?
Sir, none of us had any idea
that Gordon had that kind of money.
We never should've
tried to hide the body.
But it was an accident, sir.
Is that true, Petty Officer Wong?
No one knew about it?
The only thing
I am guilty of here is manslaughter.
You saw the tape.
- Is he talking about this tape, Tony?
- I think he is, boss.
This isn't your tape.
But you're in it, Wong.
GIBBS: Twenty-two-year-olds cashing
$40,000 inheritance cheques
is something bank tellers tend to notice.
You noticed it, too.
It was...
It was an accident.
We have a witness.
KATE: Did Wong know
that it was a prank?
How much was he giving you
to keep your mouth shut?
$1,000.
He knew it was a prank?
ZOE: He said his friend
was trying to get even with him.
You knew it was Chris.
- Hey, you got any plans tonight?
- I did. Too late now.
(CHUCKLES)
Wanna grab some Chinese
at the new place down the street?
Sure.
- Wanna ask Gibbs?
- He's busy.
- Doing what?
- Same thing he does every night.