Transcripts - Forever Dreaming

Get a room!

Sorry!

Jerk!

My hero.

We should get back to the party.

Yeah, okay.

So, how long have we been gone?

I don't know. Time kind of stopped.

Are you being serious?

Totally. My sincerity and sarcasm sound shockingly similar.

That's what it takes?

I've been trying to get a laugh out of you all night.

So, that's what you've been going for, huh?

What is this? Motor oil?

I think this car's leaking.

Let me turn it on.

It's not oil.

Jason, what is it?

NCIS Season 8 Episode 17 One Last Score

Big cutbacks in federal spending is the hot topic on Capitol Hill this week, with legislators vowing to trim the federal budget while spending and staffing cutbacks are likely at many federal agencies...

McGee, I was watching that!

Not anymore. Time to hit the showers.

Is your shower not working?

Why, do I smell?

I cannot smell you from there.

And you're part bloodhound.

Come closer.

The answer is Drakkar Noir, vintage 1988.

He buys it off e-Bay. Never forget your first love.

You smell fine, McGee.

Thank you, Ziva.

Like lilacs.

A masculine lilac, I'm sure. The kind that storms beachheads, likes bloody steaks and smacks girls' bottoms.

McGee's shower's broken.

No, it's not.

I said it was late and it's time to...

Hit the showers.

It's an expression!

But hitting things does fix things.

Only according to Gibbs, the Fonz and the far-too short-lived Stephen J. Cannell classic Riptide.

Did you shower today?

No.

You should.

I shower three times a week like Brad Pitt.

Preserves my natural aroma.

Boy, Director Vance wasn't kidding about making changes.

We are gonna lose some people.

We already have.

NCIS investigative assistant found dead in the garage.

Good, you got your gear. Come on. Let's go.

Somebody stinks.

LEOs bagged the guy's personal effects.

Temporary NCIS I.D. says "Oliver Froman".

Procurement Fraud Division hire.

Hired a few months ago. Just let go.

Is Terry Thomas still supervisor at the Fraud Squad?

That'll be a fun interview, huh?

No surveillance cameras, no line of sight from adjacent buildings.

Ducky, can we move the body yet?

No, no yet.

I know local law enforcement managed to reach the man's pockets, but we can wait.

Almost got it.

I've got the liver probe and...

I'm stuck.

Agent McGee, how soon can we move this poor fellow's car?

This is not his car.

Don't rush on my account! I'm fine, I'm fine!

I'm fine.

I'll get the jack.

Thank you!

So exactly what happened?

Well, we were at Paul's birthday party at the pizza place.

And me and Lauren took a step outside to get some fresh air.

And she's making fun of me 'cause I watch Victorious on Nickelodeon.

But Victoria Justice is hot, right?

So I said that. She got this crinkly face. Then I said,

"But not as hot as you."

And then she smiled, and I planted one on her.

And there was tongue.

About the body, kid?

Her body was slamming.

The dead body?

Yeah, that kind of sucked because it was my first kiss.

They get better.

Well, usually in the morning, always after work.

Then sometimes in the afternoon, depending on what we're working on.

I don't know. I guess I'd say I shower about 18, 19 times a week.

Surprised you have any skin left.

What do you say, Doctor?

I'd say the cause of death is likely massive blood loss from multiple s*ab wounds to the abdomen, and the time of death, roughly two hours ago.

Corresponds with the gate ticket. Time-stamped at 7:55 p.m.

So he did drive in.

Just not in this car.

Let's go hunting, McGee.

What about you, David? When do you feel like showering?

After just about any conversation with you.

I used to shower in the mornings, but when I'd leave the house with wet hair and it was cold outside, I'd get a stiff neck.

Apparently, that's not just an old wives' tale.

Then I started blow-drying, but Tony would notice I was using a hair dryer, and he wouldn't let me hear the end of it. Of course...

That was the end of it.

Looks like he packed everything he owns in here.

Froman was on the move.

He lost his job and he hit the road.

Yeah, with all his meager possessions.

Well, these aren't his.

These are NCIS property tags.

All this stuff was seized.

This guy was looting the office.

Froman was last hired, so first fired. It wasn't personal.

Bet it felt personal to him.

Every department's getting shaved back.

You know, he was one of the few temporary hires.

He knew that, but nobody likes... being let go. It's a horrible feeling.

You have been through it yourself?

I was... a customer service rep.

I answered phones before NCIS.

And they fired you?

Yeah. With no explanation.

Gibbs, Terry Thomas.

He was Froman's boss.

Got Froman's computer. Hard drive's been wiped.

I'm gonna take it downstairs, see what kind of security breach Froman might be.

He had access to... active cases we were in the process, process of prosecuting.

Notice?

Gave him two weeks.

He picked up his final paycheck Friday. He was just supposed to be a temp.

But one case was lingering.

Big case. Lot of seized property.

Prepping for auction.

Who?

Leona Phelps.

Go.

You know, he'd be terrible at customer service.

Liver?

Spleen.

Interest?

Psycho.

Aren't they all?

The movie, Palmer.

Disgruntled employee steals from the office on the way out of town.

Stops for a little while and winds up dead just like Marian Crane in Psycho.

Spoiler alert, okay? Haven't seen it.

You've had 50 years to catch up on the story of Norman Bates.

The character inspired by the exploits of the Wisconsin cannibal Ed Gein.

Yeah, that's right, Duckman.

The unassuming Gein was known to give gifts to his neighbors of smoked venison that he prepared himself.

When the authorities finally tracked him down, they found his smokehouse filled with human body parts.

Gein was said to have remarked,

"I never k*lled a deer in my life."

Oh! That's gross!

Kidney?

Liver.

And this is perforated in an upward direction.

The k*ller is likely right-handed.

13 s*ab wounds in total.

And judging by the angle of the incision, he or she knows how to handle a blade.

He didn't used amateurish downward stabs like the fictional Bates in the shower scene...

That short Kn*fe, narrow blade.

But repeated, rapid, upward thrusts.

You knocked.

Trying to stay on your good side.

What, is that so hard?

Well, has been lately.

You have an update on the assistant?

He helped himself to property he was supposed to be processing, including Leona Phelps.

Leona Phelps is considered the Madoff of the Navy.

She ran the National Armed Forces Credit Union till she segued to the private sector.

She built what basically turned out to be a financial house of cards.

NCIS took her down last year.

Yeah, minimum sentence at a country club.

The least of the charges.

She's left behind a trail of broken lives, but so far, none of the billions that she was responsible for investing.

She's appealing her conviction.

Nothing disrupts that prosecution, Gibbs.

What about the scene?

Time stamp says he pulled in 20 minutes before.

Parked, he walked down two levels.

He got slashed deeper than your budget there.

Duck said lividity shows that he was dead before he was stuffed underneath the car.

Do you think this could be a case of wrong place, wrong time?

I'll let you know.

Any of these personal decisions affect my team?

I'll let you know.

Hear me now?

Sorry. Had to drop you at Security.

No, I'm at the Home Office.

It looks exactly the same, actually...

Maybe our dead guy was running from something, maybe he was running to something.

But if the guy was leaving town, then where was he going?

Closest family members are cousins on his mother's side.

They live in Topeka, Kansas.

You don't go see family after losing your job and pulling the plug on your big city adventure.

Working for NCIS is a "big-city adventure"?

I'll find someplace to stay.

As long as it's comfortable.

Where do you go?

Open road?

With a trunk full of stolen goods.

Friend's place, then.

I pulled phone logs from his office and his personal cell. Nothing.

He would call ahead.

Not if you want to surprise them.

All right, call me later.

What kind of friends? They have a criminal record?

You can't have a criminal record and work for us.

And you.

Work for us?

For NCIS? E.J. Barrett.

You work in this office?

I think this is my desk right here.

Let me ask you, does the glare from that skylight bug you?

'Cause it's a lot of light, and...

Is this thing bolted?

I want my desk this way, which would...

How about if we go ask Abby and McGee if they want to track down...

Let's take the stairs.

Come on. Let's get some air.

It's leather, McGee.

It's leather fiber.

Leather is skin.

I try not to think about that.

It's flesh.

It's tanned, stretched, processed, dyed, dead flesh.

You're making it hard not to think about.

You know, there's a wide range of leathers other than your typical moo-based ones. There's pig leather, and there's sheep leather, and there's goat leather.

And then there's chamois, and your high-end exotics, like lizard and ostrich and hippo...

Hippo.

Do you want me to stop digging through Froman's computer and pay attention to you?

I'm trying to isolate the DNA from the fibers Ziva collected underneath the car.

Why would you want to get the DNA of that fiber?

There were no fingerprints at the crime scene.

There were no fingerprints on the crime victim.

No fingerprints on this gum wrapper.

The attacker wore gloves.

Leather gloves.

No, I saw what happened.

You and me are having a conversation, we're trying to work something out...

It is a violation.

There is an expectation of privacy in our own office.

And she's just chatting away. She's right over the hedge.

It is over the edge!

It's "over the top, " but it's pushing you over the edge.

And you know what I think?

... forget trying it on.

What are you guys talking about?

Tanning hides. You?

The same.

Easy.

So you think our psycho's got a flesh collection?

Think he's got a pair of gloves?

Finally. All right, I am in.

Let's see what Froman was up to.

We did not find that.

According to his history, he printed out the specs for a warehouse earmarked for the Phelps case.

Her entire estate was deemed the result of a criminal enterprise.

Rather than secure her 400-acre residence in Virginia, NCIS took possession of all her possessions.

And relocated them to a secure warehouse.

Well, this is a location, guard schedules, security codes, and inventory.

These printouts were nowhere in the items we recovered.

If Froman was selling details on how to rob the entire warehouse, and the buyer k*lled him rather than pay him...

Then we're not looking for a psycho.

We're looking for a crew.

There's gonna be a heist.

Leona Phelps preyed on active and retired sailors.

She lost billions of investor dollars through various shell corporations and ponzi schemes, while amassing a vast personal fortune.

NCIS confiscated and relocated all of Phelps' possessions to a warehouse in Tysons Corner.

Her artwork, jewelry, furniture, and various collectibles would recover 75 million at auction.

She was a notorious pack rat.

Among other things.

Froman had access to the details?

Possibly tried to sell them.

Like Heat.

The movie, the Michael Mann movie.

Private security on the warehouse?

We'll take over and get the inventory.

Take Ziva.

Where we going, boss?

Camp Cupcake.

Gonna visit Ms. Phelps in Alderson Prison?

Schemer like her was probably involved.

E.J., I.J.

She's new.

He's old.

Wouldn't put it past her. Robbing herself.

You've met Phelps?

Briefly.

She was transferring operations to Europe when my team brought her to Director Vance's attention.

You have a team?

I'm team leader. I have two other agents.

We're transferring here. To D.C.

Where from?

Spain.

Rota, Spain.

You mean: Rota.

Rota...

I could never do that.

Inventory list.

Yeah. Let's do it.

It's unassuming from the outside, you know.

Just an old warehouse.

Built in the '70s, I think.

Modern security measures?

We got the place wired with cameras. Keypad entry.

Got these swipe cards here.

Three-man teams.

Two men work, one man naps.

You know the drill.

But ain't nothing gone missing.

How would you know? Place looks like Xanadu.

We ain't never had any of these paintings come to life and jump out the frame.

You referring to the Olivia Newton movie?

Weren't you?

Xanadu.

Citizen Kane's house.

That's a little embarrassing.

For both of you.

But really, how would you know if somebody took Rosebud out to go sledding?

Nice.

Hasn't been anyone unauthorized in here. Save you two.

This is a cush gig. None of us want to mess with that.

Tempting as it may be to play with the toys.

These are Steve McQueen's sunglasses from The Thomas Crowne Affair.

Now, that was a heist.

She can't be all bad.

Mr. Wilson, we would like to amplify your security, since your protection measures may have been leaked.

You all want to set up shop? Fine by me.

Feel free to check your list twice. Holler if you need anything.

Thank you, thank you.

These thing sold at a European action a few years ago for $70, 000.

That... is ridiculous.

I had the opportunity to transfer to Europe a few years back.

I've never heard you say that.

I heard Director Shepherd offered you a team.

So where was it, exactly?

Spain.

Rota, Spain.

You people better be watching my things.

Little help, Leona?

Perfect.

If I have to play another damn volleyball game, I'm going to strangle someone.

Well, that'd be good.

Get you a nice room in the supermax.

Yet another cheap suit, hell-bent on railroading me into a conviction.

And they say money's supposed to buy justice.

It clearly can't buy class.

Am I talking to you, or your acid-tongued little errand boy?

You don't care about any of the lives you've ruined.

Your things have been relocated.

What?

It's the first you've heard of it?

I'm locked in this hole.

Your lawyers didn't tell you.

At pushing five figures an hour, I avoid small talk, with my defense team.

That's tough. Well running dry?

I'll be fine.

Sure.

Billions unaccounted for.

Investing carries inherent risk.

So does lying to a federal agent.

I didn't ask to talk to you, Agent Gibbs.

It was the other way around.
And as charming and clever as you may find yourself, it's not mutual, so get to it.

This is... is supposed to be in the villa in Seville, and this is... all my furniture.

This is...

This is... everything.

We suspect that someone might be trying to rob our facility.

A heist.

Who do you suspect?

I don't know, who do you suspect?

I'll be late for my pastry class.

Martha Stewart started it when she was here.

Take care, Agent Gibbs.

It's one of Tony's movie myths.

I've never had a good time in a women's prison.

What a horrible woman.

Video depositions.

Everything we have on her victims.

Looking to put a face to her crimes?

Tony and Ziva?

Said they plugged the holes in the warehouse security system with motion detectors. Monitoring now.

Figure since this crew left the body behind them, they'll probably strike quickly.

Do you need any help with the...

I can play a DVD, McGee.

Navy Pension Fund deposition...

It's really sad.

A lot of hardworking people forced out of retirement after having their pensions depleted.

Grace Mullen.

My husband Benjamin and I were advised to move his Navy pension to the Phelps Fund.

That's all gone now.

Ben managed to find work washing floors at Lincoln School.

He always kept a straight back.

"I'm back swabbing the decks on the Lincoln."

He joked about that.

Paintings come to life.

Guy probably thinks he's like Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum.

He's playing baseball with himself.

He's a working stiff.

No magic there.

Fiddle Faddle?

What?

You want something to eat?

I have an apple if you'd prefer.

He's gotta have dreams.

He can't just go to work, punch the clock, walk the b*at, wake up, go back, do it all over again.

Here.

Why do you keep pushing food on me?

Because your blood sugar is dangerously low...

Unless something else is bothering you.

My name is Ruleo Medilla.

I drove a sanitation truck in Detroit before I took partial disability.

You need something, Barrett?

You need anything, Gibbs?

Night.

Censor is tripped.

Wilson, what's your 20:00?

I'm at the guards office.

You have any men on the floor?

Negative.

We have visitors.

False alarm, Wilson.

Copy that.

Hey, boss, couldn't call ahead?

Nope. I came in the way they came in.

The heist isn't coming.

They pulled it off already.

What?

Like a thief in the night?

But nothing's missing.

No. Nothing on this list.

So what did they take?

Phelps went straight to this page.

So something interested her here?

There's a couple options.

I like this desk.

It's old-growth wood.

Craftsman laid.

It belonged to William Faulkner.

I love his writing.

Total genius.

It was worth learning English just for The Sound and the Fury.

Or that chapter in As I Lay Dying, the one with the five words where Vardaman says,

"My mother is a fish."

I don't really like his books that much, but I'm a big fan of the movies he made based on other people's books, like The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not. I mean he gave us Bogey and Bacall.

God bless you, William.

Dovetail joints don't go with nails.

They've been here. It's been jimmied.

There's gotta be a manual release somewhere.

They did not care about this desk.

Only what was in here.

What was that?

Hey, you brought me a new desk.

It's an old desk.

Did you find anything on your leather DNA project?

Turns out it's impossible.

It's improbable. It's just highly unlikely.

Can't really determine much other than the type of cow.

What is that on the plasma?

That's a different case. That's for Special Agent Barrett.

Have you met her? She talks to herself. It's weird. You'll like it.

I do not like all the shuffling of desks.

You know what, evidence garage, it's right over there.

Careful.

A man was k*lled for this.

He was k*lled for what was inside of it.

We do not even know what that was.

Challenge accepted.

What kind of a cow?

It's a calf. Holstein.

Tacky, Agent Gibbs.

I especially hate the bracelets.

Not your favorite jewelry.

What do you want now?

Secret panel in your desk, it was empty.

Looks like it was pried open with a screwdriver.

I was robbed.

Would you like to file a claim?

Against you?

For damages? Sure.

No, for your loss.

We'll need to know what was in there.

What's the theory?

Well, it must've been valuable.

They went straight for the desk.

Didn't touch anything else.

Maybe you arranged it yourself.

Interesting theory.

It was yours.

Two seconds into hearing about the case, you jumped right to it.

Broken clocks and blind squirrels.

Really? Just a lucky guess?

I'm still just getting the lay of the land.

Where'd you find that chair?

It was over there in the corner.

So what's your quick read here?

She hates feeling like a prisoner, Gibbs salts the wound, keeps her emotional. He stays cerebral.

That's how you get a captain's "C" on your jersey.

You a jock, DiNozzo?

Basketball.

Some other stuff.

Varsity?

Team captain. Once upon a time.

I was a cheerleader myself.

I never got past JV, though.

Kept getting distracted by the boys.

I got to run. I got a meeting with the director.

She'll want a deal.

I know.

What does he want?

Anybody else know about the panel?

I had nothing to do with this crime, Agent Gibbs.

I'm the victim.

However, I can tell you exactly who you're looking for.

But you need to do something for me.

When they've got all the information they can gather about the victim, I'd like him to come back here with you.

You been able to find everything you...

Thank you, EJ.

That didn't last long.

Knocking on my door.

Leona Phelps wants to cut a deal.

Deal for what?

The name of Froman's k*ller.

She could have the name of Jimmy Hoffa's k*ller.

There's no way we're going to reduce the charges against her.

No, that's not what she asked for.

Then what does she want?

Get out of prison.

No.

House arrest, pending her appeal.

She knows who targeted her.

You don't make deals, Gibbs.

This one's a steal.

Using the few clues from the garage m*rder and the warehouse break-in, I focused on substantial unsolved heists in the area, over the past ten years.

Here's what I found.

Six years ago, casino cage, Atlantic City.

Two-man team goes in with hot iron.

Three guards get bloody.

One gets aced. Stick up man goes toes-up on the carpet.

The other goes out the door with 27 million clams.

Getaway driver scoops him curbside, g*ns blazing.

They dump and burn the ride on the Jersey border.

And then they are Casper.

McGem City, where does that get us?

Unless you built a proton pack in your spare time we can't bust ghosts, The guy they left behind has a rap sheet as long as a...

As long as a...

What's really long?

This presentation.

The FBI tracked down known associates of the dead guy and they found nada.

27 million, split two ways?

That's "one last score" kind of money. They're gone.

White sand beaches and umbrella drinks for the rest of your life.

Who would come back from that?

That question has to wait till we come back.

Boss, McGee thinks he's got a lead on the crew.

I got a quicker one.

Ziva, let's go.

Where we going?

To spring Leona Phelps from Camp Cupcake.

You made a deal with her?

You did quick work, Gibbs.

Name.

We met in 2005 at my office at home to discuss a business proposition.

Among the many objet d'art, he was particularly preoccupied with the Faulkner desk.

Your favorite hiding place.

Yes.

His name is Otto Brackin.

McGee, Otto Brackin.

I know. Wait, how do you know?

What do I know?

He was a cellmate of the guy who d*ed in the casino heist.

They did a two-year stretch together at Ossining.

Where is he now?

Virginia State Police found his body a few hours ago. He's dead.

Virginia PD says the motel room where they found Otto Brackin's body was trashed. Major struggle.

Lacerations were on his liver?

Identical wounds to those on Froman.

Same Kn*fe, same style, same k*ller.

Job's done. So, what? He turns on his partner?

There's no honor among thieves. What, they fight over the split, maybe?

Or something went sideways?

Grand Theft Otto here matches the physical description of the second stick-up man from the cage robbery.

Leaves the getaway man outstanding.

Why is that outstanding?

Motel manager got plates and a description.

Got a BOLO out on the car. Lexus, stolen.

This is the second guy to get gutted on this caper.

And somehow this woman's at the heart of it.

It's a heist movie.

So there's just one question that we have to answer, What would Steve McQueen do?

You know, it seems unfair. You get to go home for giving us the name of a man who's recently been m*rder*d.

A deal's a deal, Ziva.

You ought to muzzle your pups, Agent Gibbs.

They all seem to have a problem with barking.

No, this one's problem's definitely her bite.

I couldn't have predicted Brackin's death.

And I certainly couldn't have anything to do with it from the inside.

Is that why you wanted out so badly? Didn't look so terrible to me.

You've obviously never had your freedom taken away.

A real gift for reading people, this one.

Perception is reality.

If I'm seen as a criminal, I'll be treated as a criminal.

Despite the lack of hard evidence on the part of prosecution, incarceration sure gives the appearance of guilt.

Kind of empty without all your beautiful things.

They're nothing... next to freedom.

Do not get ahead of yourself.

If you go beyond that door, we will know about it.

Fine.

But other than that, you leave me alone.

No police presence!

That was the deal.

Enjoy solitary confinement.

We steal for a living.

We pull off that one last score, McGee, we're set for life.

But the cheese is hot.

Where do we stash the cash?

Of course, we take a meeting with Leona Phelps, the unscrupulous money manager.

She's not gonna ask questions.

Right.

If we invest our stolen money with her...

She'll clean it up, and we'll be fine.

Till the whole thing goes pear-shaped.

And we're broke.

That's it.

She doesn't just ruin of good people. She ruins the lives of bad people too.

The crooks have to come out of retirement.

They've got to pull off one last, one last score.

I'll cross-reference the names of Phelp's victims with criminal records.

Bet we come up with someone who served time with Brackin.

What are they after?

You want to know what was in the desk?

Absolutely.

Believe it or not, I found a collagen fiber that I determined to be deerskin.

Deer?

I also found traces of cellulose mixed in the linen as well as thermochromic ink in the wood.

High-end paper and security ink.

After referencing the Secret Service ink and paper libraries, that is where Leona Phelps stashed her Italian-made, leather-embossed, one-of-a-kind bookkeeping ledger.

So, all the missing money, I'm thinking "secret account" somewhere.

And it's all in the ledger, which was all in the desk.

Keyword,

"was".

I thought the deal was, I get left alone.

Me, too.

That was how Otto convinced me to invest my money with you.

We were never gonna work again.

You ruined that.

Mr. Medilla...

I'm sorry to hear about your partner.

We found the guy who could get us in that warehouse.

We went to all that trouble.

The damn ledger wasn't even there.

I can imagine you must have been very upset.

I was.

I would like to have it now.

You want money.

I understand. I can get you money.

I do.

And more than that...

I want your blood.

It's Gibbs.

DNA from the gum wrapper matched Ruleo Medilla.

He's the last member of the crew. Phelps lost all their money.

She knew it was them as soon as she heard the word "heist".

She knew what they were after. Same thing the prosecution's after.

Same thing you're after.

She had to get out and get it first.

It's a smoking g*n.

What's next?

Bullitt.

She's on the run.

Help!

He's got a Kn*fe!

Please!

Ziva, stay with her!

You violated your house-arrest agreement.

But for this, you're going away for life.

Like Doc McCoy in The Getaway.

No, not really.

McQueen had Jewison, he had Yates, he had Peckinpah right there, guiding him, navigating him. Molding him.

You would have made a great director.

Yeah, well, already got one of those.

McQueen also had Jacqueline Bisset, Faye Dunaway and Ali MacGraw.

You notice the new girl likes to shower here before she goes home?

Did you hear me?

You know, I was offered your job.

I turned it down.

Thank you.

Towel, please?

So, why would you do that?

I wanted this team, here in D.C. The varsity.

How'd Gibbs feel about that?

He left.

He gave it to me.

You know, I was pretty good at it.

I mean, I made a couple rookie mistakes, but I was figuring it out.

And then Gibbs took it back?

He did.

The previous director, Shepard, she, she saw something in me.

Kept an eye on me.

Smart woman.

There are rules against this.

No, there aren't.