08x21 - Dead Reflection

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "NCIS". Aired: September 2003 to present.*
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The cases of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
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08x21 - Dead Reflection

Post by bunniefuu »

Good morning, Washington, D.C.

It is 6:45 A.M., man, and a chilly 59 degrees, so let me warm you up with a little Jamaica Josh.


You got in early.

I was lost all weekend without my credit cards.

I was just about to cancel them when I got your text.

Where'd you find the wallet?

In the copy room.

Found it when I was mopping behind the shredder.

How the heck did it get there?

Beats me.

You saved me a fortune.

Couldn't go shopping.

Wish my wife would lose hers.

Had your coffee yet?

As a matter of fact, I was thinking...

Come on.

I'm buying.

Any distraction on a Monday morning's a good one.

It was floating in your gin and tonic?

Real eye-opener.

That must've really freaked you out.

Thought I needed a drink before; Really needed one after.

Now, where's the eyeball now?

Ducky has it.

He's not smiling.

When is he?

Special Agent Barrett and her team are taking over the Port-to-Port case.

Her "team"?

Agents Cade and Levin are finally en route.

I'd appreciate it if you gave them a warm welcome.

They're top-notch agents.

Maybe you can pick up a few pointers.

What did she mean by that?

What are we doing, boss?

Dead lieutenant.

D Ring, Pentagon.

Let's go.

Her C-5 and C-6 vertebrae are shattered.

And?

No visible signs of bruising or ligatures.

Which suggests?

That her neck was broken efficiently.

Someone had martial-arts skills.

Approximate time of death?

How long was Lieutenant Ross under your command?

She came aboard last summer.

August.

I can't believe something like this has happened.

In the Pentagon, for God's sake.

When's the last time you saw her?

Friday.

She had taken some personal time off last week.

Doctor's appointments.

Said she wanted to come in this weekend to catch up.

What exactly does your department do?

Recordkeeping, mostly.

We're part of the Joint DOD Command Center.

Sensitive stuff, huh?

Some.

But mostly we handle routine documents.

Got it.

Duck, you got a TOD?

The lieutenant d*ed between 2:00 and 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday?

Yeah. On my way.

The Pentagon, boss... one of the most secure buildings in the world.

There's several rooms just like this one, covering different rings throughout the building.

Why don't you tell him how many sides it has.

We pulled this video from 2:13 Sunday afternoon.

Seems friendly enough.

And then... watch this.

Pretty professional.

No question what happened.

Petty Officer Donner.

You ever have a m*rder case this easy, Boss?

Do you need something, David?

No, I'm fine.

Lieutenant Ross's roommate's here. Being brought to the conference room.

I'm not sure how I feel about that woman.

I know what you mean.

She is what my Bubbe David would call a real nidchefet.

I can only guess what that means.

Loses something in translation.

Neither Donner nor his wife were at the residence.

You put out the BOLO yet?

Yes, Tony.

What'd you find?

Both Petty Officer Donner and Lieutenant Ross worked in the same department.

They were both very friendly and cordial to each other.

None of their coworkers noticed any animosity.

There is no apparent motive for him murdering her, Gibbs.

Petty Officer Eric Donner was formerly attached to a covert Navy Special Warfare unit and trained in hand-to-hand combat.

But an injury two years ago sidelined him to the clerical job he has now at the Pentagon.

What's she doing with that geek?

I have no idea.

Donner's wife is named Kelsey.

She's a civilian security guard at the Indian Head Naval Support Facility.

Our victim, Lieutenant Ross, was an Annapolis graduate, born in Missoula, Montana.

Her parents and a younger brother still live there.

She married?

Single. Shared an apartment with a roommate in Alexandria.

That roommate's actually here, being brought to the conference room.

McGee, take DiNozzo. Go.

Ziva, you're with me.

We appreciate you coming in, Miss Park.

Do Lauren's parents know?

Casualty Assistance Officers are notifying them.

When was the last time you saw her?

Sunday morning.

We had coffee at Starbucks before she went in to the office.

Did you think anything of it when she didn't come home?

She was seeing someone.

It wasn't unusual for her to spend the night out.

But she normally called.

Who was she seeing?

We just need a name.

I guess now, under the circumstances, I can tell you.

He's married.

What's his name?

I don't know.

Really.

She felt uncomfortable talking about it, and I didn't press.

I knew Lauren.

She'd tell me when she was ready.

Did she ever mention a Petty Officer Eric Donner?

I don't think so.

Never seen him.

Got a call you were looking for me. What's up?

Trying to find your husband.

Something happen to Eric?

When did you see him last?

Friday morning before he left for work.

You didn't see him this weekend?

No.

You do live together?

Yeah.

Everything okay between you?

I got a text from him Friday night that said something came up.

And he said he was going to call on Sunday, and... he didn't.

And you weren't worried.

I'm used to not knowing where my husband is.

For six years, he was attached to the Navy Special Warfare Unit.

Everything he did was secret. Black ops.

He was gone a lot, and he couldn't tell me anything.

Eric didn't like being tied to a desk at the Pentagon.

He always wanted to get back into Spec Ops.

That's what I thought happened this weekend.

Something went wrong, didn't it?

That's why NCIS is looking for him?

Your husband is a person of interest in the m*rder of a coworker.

Did he ever mention Lieutenant Lauren Ross?

I don't think so.

I think she knows more than she's telling us.

Ya think?

Let's stake out her house.

Looks like one of Barrett's team must have arrived.

Didn't notice.

You're an investigator; You're paid to notice.

What are you doing? Don't mess with their stuff.

Oh, my gosh!

This is "ginormous"!

I haven't seen anything this big since John Candy's jockey shorts in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Take the jacket off.

You think this guy's the Hulk or what?

I am an enormous, big dumb oaf.

The big dumb oaf has an I.Q. of 160.

You must be DiNozzo.

I was warned about you.

He doesn't like it when people wear his hat.

Miss Sciuto is expanding the DNA search.

All I can tell you now, Special Agent Barrett, is that the owner of the detached orb is male, had undergone LASIK surgery and, based on the condition of the retina, is in his 30s.

You're welcome.

Very thorough young lady.

She's just doing her job.

My priority's the m*rder of Lieutenant Ross, Duck.

I got a suspect. I need to wrap it up. You said you found something?

I haven't begun the autopsy yet, but, I thought you should know the lieutenant was eight to ten weeks pregnant.

Salads are not stakeout food.

They should be.

At least they don't stink up the car.

Want one?

No!

Your loss.

Did Gibbs say anything to you about Agent Barrett?

You know, about... dating?

Are you sure he knows?

He's Gibbs.

He knows everything.

He did read her the riot act, though.

That's not good, Tony. I mean, you should talk to Gibbs.

You and him go way back!

It's like the big rhinoceros in the room that no one wants to talk about.

Elephant.

It's "an elephant in the room."

It's not a hippopotamus, it's not a rhinoceros.

It's an elephant.

What about you and C.I. Ray?

I told you. It's over.

So you...

Haven't talked to him?

He left messages, and... texted, and e-mailed, but...

I have not read them.

Is he still in Washington?

Wait.

Is that Donner?

That is most definitely not Eric Donner.

Well, then, who is it?

Whoever he is, he's getting a little squeeze from Mrs. Donner.

I'm going to download these pictures, send them to McAbby.

They can run some facial recognition.

I think it's easier if I run his license plate.

No, this is easier.

No, it's not.

I'll bet you.

I hope this doesn't take too long.

It shouldn't.

We're only running the image against Naval officers.

You in a hurry?

Yeah, sort of.

Okay, got him.

Commander Nelson Tunney.

Great.

We got a name.

Yeah, I know. Commander Nelson Tunney.

If you already knew, then why did you keep us here so late?

Sorry. Ziva ran the license plate.

Let me talk to him.

Tunney was Petty Officer Donner's former C.O. in a Naval Special Warfare unit.

Good work.

Thought you were going to meet me in the squad room.

Sorry. No, something came up.

We're still on for tonight?

Let me just get my coat.

It's been a surreal experience, Agent Gibbs.

We've made crisis counselors available to the staff, but...

It has been hard to focus.

I understand.

Have you found Petty Officer Donner?

No. Not yet.

I can't believe there was any problem between him and Lieutenant Ross.

We have reason to believe they were having a sexual relationship.

You ever see any evidence of that?

Why would you think so?

We know she was dating a married man.

You sure?

She was pregnant.

Our M.E. is testing the fetus' DNA for a match.

Can I talk?

Don't bother.

I'll save you the time.

Look, I am the married man having the affair with Lauren.

And most likely the father.

Commander Tunney, this way, please.

Excuse us. Sorry.

There you are.

Told you I didn't like your old cologne.

This one's way worse.

It's not me. It's the commander.

How late did you and Ziva work last night?

I gotta get in there.

Commander, when was the last time you saw Petty Officer Donner?

Last week.

Where?

A sports bar on U Street.

I just got back from the Middle East. We got together to catch up.

How was he?

Seemed fine.

Kelsey Donner thought her husband might have been on assignment with your unit.

Yeah, Eric told me that he was bored with his clerical job at the Pentagon, but trust me, he wasn't doing anything for Spec w*r.

You're sure?

He was injured a couple years ago, in an accident.

He had to drop out of the unit. He could never pass the physical.

When was the last time you saw Mrs. Donner, Commander?

She called yesterday, after she talked to you guys.

She was pretty upset.

I stopped by last night to console her.

You're saying something...

What, what, what?

Still messing with that?

Yeah. They're talking, I just, I can't figure out what they're saying.

So, how did last night go?

Last night?

Yeah. You and Special Agent Cade.

He's great.

Have you talked to him?

Not really.

You should.

Simon doesn't know anyone in Washington.

He's living out of a hotel, still looking for a place.

Thought I would show him around.

Maybe I can get a reflection of her lips off this mirror here.

So where did you and Simon go?

We went to an Indian restaurant, and he spoke Hindi with the waiter.

And then we took a cab to a club in Georgetown.

We had a conversation in Swahili with the driver.

So he's a linguist...

Yeah. He's very, very, very smart and endearing.

He's a jock, too. He played football in college.

Where?

Yale. He's all Ivy League.

Well, I hope you didn't show him all your tattoos.

You're jealous.

Let me take a look at this thing.

Their lips are moving, but it's distorted and out of focus. I'm gonna have to work on it.

These are Petty Officer Donner's text and phone records.

His phone's not transmitting right now. The last communication was the text.

Donner sent his wife on Saturday.

From where?

Cell tower in Fairfax County.

There he is!

About time, man.

Cade.

I thought you were gonna the hotel first.

I came straight from Dulles. Fine?

Good.

What's that?

Photos.

A British sailor k*lled in Singapore.

Has some similarities to the Port-to-Port case.

It's probably nothing, but I thought you should see it.

I'll load it up.
Meet the neighbors, Gayne.

Special Agent Gibbs, DiNozzo and David.

Heard about you.

How are you?

Yeah, Gibbs.

Got it loaded.

Put it up on the big screen.

Like they have a "big screen."

Jumbotron!

Where'd you get that?

Steve in I.T. hooked me up. Pretty nice?

It's very, motorized.

It's cool?

Gear up.

Virginia State Police found Petty Officer Donner. Let's go.

Is he talking, boss?

Nope. He's dead.

Get the tire tracks.

Duck! Tell me what happened.

I don't think he d*ed in the accident.

There's no apparent trauma to the body.

So, what? Car drifted off the road, came down the embankment?

What's the cause of death?

No idea.

But there is something odd.

He's no longer in rigor.

Meaning what?

He's been here long enough so that he's stiffened, and then un-stiffened.

You can tell by the skin slip, discoloration, marbling... been here a while.

How long?

At least four days.

That can't be.

We got video of him k*lling Lieutenant Ross at the Pentagon two days ago.

This man could not have been there.

Are you sure he's been dead four days, Ducky?

At least. Heart att*ck.

Myocardial infarction, to be exact.

Congenital condition, in his case.

Probably never knew he had it.

It's not reflected in his medical records.

We sure this is Eric Donner?

Fingerprints, dental records, DNA, all match.

Burn scars on his lower extremities, consistent with injuries received in a shipboard fire two years ago.

Poor man was hospitalized for weeks.

So you're telling me this guy couldn't have k*lled his co-worker two days ago?

What's more, I was right.

Donner was dead when he was put in the car.

The blood-pooling indicated that the body had been moved.

Sounds like you got a messy one, Gibbs.

Like I should talk. I got two dead bodies down here and an eyeball. I'm getting nowhere.

Double-check. Everything.

I was planning to.

What can we do for you, Agent Barrett?

I got a thought.

Need a crash course on the physiology of the eye.

Mr. Palmer is your man.

He's been a student of the subject for most of his life.

My father is a research ophthalmologist.

Every night at dinner, he would pontificate on the wonders of "the spherical organ".

The eyeball.

First you tell me my husband k*lled someone at the Pentagon on Sunday.

Now you're telling me he d*ed two days earlier, on Friday?

That's not possible.

I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Donner.

How did Eric die, Agent Gibbs?

Heart att*ck.

He's never had heart problems.

This is crazy.

He couldn't have d*ed on Friday.

I have text messages from him on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

We're aware of that.

Any idea what he might have been doing in Fairfax County?

We think its possible his body was moved.

He had a heart att*ck, and his body was moved?

By who?

Maybe by whoever sent you these texts.

Are you sure he wasn't working for his old Special Warfare unit?

Talked to his former C.O., Commander Tunney.

He wasn't.

They were good friends.

Nelson Tunney risked his life to save my husband during a fire.

They stayed in contact.

That's why I thought...

95 percent.

That's as high as the program will allow.

Then either the program or Ducky is wrong.

Maybe he has an evil twin.

No siblings.

Tell me what else he did at the Pentagon on Sunday beside k*ll Lieutenant Ross.

Well, we reviewed the security video and followed every one of Donner's steps.

From getting out of his car to entering and leaving the building.

In the process, we found this surveillance sh*t of Donner entering a restricted area before his confrontation with Lauren Ross.

What's behind the door?

Don't know. There's no surveillance cameras inside.

Tony's got a call in to Captain Painter.

What'd he say?

I have a call in to him.

The room, 3D315, you're asking about, is a file room.

Why isn't there video surveillance in there?

It holds documents of the highest security level of the Joint DOD Command.

No photography or recording devices of any type are allowed.

What kind of documents?

Top Secret orders.

SITREPS of covert ops. Stuff like that.

You have to understand. These are hard copies documents so sensitive they're not committed to electronic databases.

Petty Officer Donner had clearance to enter the room?

I.D. card, along with a four-digit code that changed weekly, allowed access.

Will we be able to determine what file he accessed?

Good luck.

You have almost 70 years and several hundred thousand files to go through.

What you working on?

Wood.

What's the occasion?

I thought we could talk.

So talk.

You know, I look up to you, Boss.

I've learned a lot from you over the last ten years.

You've been a great teacher.

You got a point, DiNozzo?

I've always thought that the head-slaps were a sign of affection.

Today, in the squad room, I was expecting one and I didn't...

I didn't get it.

Are you pissed at me?

Rule number 12.

"Never date a coworker."

Yeah. I know.

She's pretty great, though.

EJ and I have a lot in common.

She's easy to be with, you know?

It's nice to have somebody to talk to...

NCIS doesn't have any policy against it.

You know, there are married agents, and technically, EJ and I...

We don't work together. We're on separate teams.

My team.

My rules.

Sleeping with Barrett's a bad idea.

No offense, but my personal life is my business.

It's gonna affect your work.

No, I won't.

Already has.

I know what you're thinking.

That I've lost focus, that I've taken my eye off the ball.

I depend on you.

Must be important.

Yeah, Abbs?

Can you turn the music down?

Geez.

Is that what you wanted to show me?

This is something that Ducky asked me to analyze, and it can wait.

I know what Lieutenant Ross said before she was k*lled.

How do you know?

Because I read lips.

Did you forget?

Okay, watch carefully.

"I didn't expect to see anyone here today."

"What's up?"

"I was just catching up on some work."

Look at Lieutenant Ross's face.

Something is not right.

All right. Check out the reflection in the mirror.

I enhanced it and then I sharpened the image.

"Where are you going?"

"To call security. You're not Eric. Who are you?"

Gibbs, she knew that guy wasn't Petty Officer Donner.

You and Gibbs talk?

Tried to.

Didn't go well.

What did he say?

Well, he gave me a scolding.

It was like talking to my father.

He told me what not to do.

Only made me want to do it more.

How did you leave it with him?

I don't know.

Gibbs and I have hit a rough patch.

You're going to have to make some choices.

Glad I'm not you.

You on stakeout again last night?

Two nights in a row. I thought I'd hear from you.

There was something I had to do.

We have to kind of cool it around the office from now on, you know what I mean?

You mean around Gibbs.

He intimidates you.

Let's just say he presents a challenge.

He sees what he shouldn't see, hears what he shouldn't hear.

He's like Alec Baldwin in The Shadow.

And the Shadow always knows.

You're scared of him.

I'm not.

You should be.

Thank God.

You didn't go home last night?

Bert and I spent the night on the floor.

Well, you two both sound excited.

Last night, I examined Petty Officer Donner's body once more, hoping I'd missed something. And I had.

Inside his external auditory meatus, his ear canal...

I found traces of a foreign substance.

Major Mass Spec and I identified it as calcium alginate powder.

It's a fast-curing medium used for making molds.

Dentists make impressions of the mouth with it.

It's also perfect for making single-use molds of body parts, hands, feet, faces...

We think someone made a life cast of Petty Officer Donner's face.

We're sure that's not Donner.

But whoever it is, they copied Donner's face, but they couldn't copy his voice.

These things are incredibly realistic, and really hard to make.

A mask?

I love it.

Right out of Mission: Impossible III.

Where Cruise pulls off the mask to reveal the evil Dougray Scott.

That was M: I-2, DiNozzo.

I'm sorry. I know my movies.

M: I-3. Directed by John Woo.

You're right about Woo. But it was M: I-2.

I was on set, standing next to him when he sh*t the scene.

You're right.

Did you meet Tom Cruise?

Nice guy.

Well, that was a movie. This is real life.

So was that 20-year-old Chinese kid seeking asylum last October.

He got through Customs.

He got on a plane in Hong Kong wearing a mask that made him look like a 90-year-old Caucasian man.

He bought it on line for something like $1, 200.

Boss, the CIA's Office of Technical Services has an arm that creates and utilizes realistic disguises, including silicone masks.

Donner was attached to Commander Tunney's Spec Op Warfare unit.

They do covert ops.

Maybe they have a similar division.

Aren't you guys already investigating Tunney?

I saw you bringing him in to the conference room yesterday.

You know Tunney?

No. His picture was in a file that I glanced at.

He and his Spec w*r unit are under investigation for the m*rder of a local tribal leader k*lled in Afghanistan.

Tunney denied he was ever in the area where it occurred.

You remembered the face?

Special Agent Cade has a photographic memory.

Of course he does.

Find out if Spec w*r uses masks.

Ziva, come on. You're with me. You're gonna go find Tunney.

Did Abby say anything to you about Special Agent Cade?

The Hulk? No.

I think she's fascinated by him.

I know what's going on in that paranoid little brain of yours, Timmy.

You're not the smartest kid in the class anymore and you don't like it.

No, it's not that. It's just, I enjoyed it more when it was just us.

Doesn't it bother you, having Barrett's team around?

My life was a lot simpler before she got here.

How so?

Gibbs is giving me grief about sleeping with her.

You're sleeping with Special Agent Barrett?

Catch up, Tim. Whole Navy Yard knows about it.

You the guys from NCIS?

We're looking for Miles Hogan.

Hold your creds up!

Thank you.

I've never seen guys get cleared so fast.

Normally it takes, like, a poly and a two-week background check.

We are federal agents investigating a m*rder at the Pentagon, Miles.

Yeah, right.

I was told to give you my full cooperation.

Here you go.

Thanks.

We were going to ask if you had the capability of making a mask, but guess we have our answer.

That is so realistic.

Can I ask you a question?

This mask bears an uncanny resemblance to the master of suspense himself.

Is this Alfred Hitchcock?

I call this one The Mole.

He's made of super-thin silicone that looks and feels real right down to the pores.

I'd rather that you...

Look on the inside. Feel this.

It's smooth?

It stretches over the wearer's face.

It moves with the facial muscles.

Stroke the, stroke the hair.

Each one of these is individually punched.

Mr. Hogan, we believe this man is wearing a mask.

Okay. This a joke.

Come here for a second.

This is the positive I made the mask from.

It was a rush job. I worked 36 straight hours on this last weekend.

Thank God for Caf-POW!

You admit that you made the mask?

Yeah. It's what I do here.

Petty Officer Donner had a mask made of himself?

No. He was dead.

You made a mask of a dead guy?

You don't find that a little strange?

A lot of what I do around here is strange.

You didn't tell anyone what you did?

I work in one of the most clandestine divisions of one of the most clandestine agencies in the world.

I tell anyone what I do, I can go to Leavenworth for the rest of my life.

And if I get a call from upstairs, I do what I'm told.

Who called?

Commander Tunney.

He heads up one of our units.

I made the mold of Donner at Tunney's apartment.

They told me that there was an undercover sting, and then, Donner had a heart att*ck on Friday and d*ed, and if he didn't show up at a drop on Sunday, then, a year and a half of undercover investigation would have been, wasted.

Commander Tunney was gonna wear the mask and make the drop?

Do you know where the commander is now?

No, I haven't seen him since I gave him the mask Sunday morning.

Thank you, Miles.

Yeah. Gibbs.

Boss, Commander Tunney was wearing the mask.

He wasn't at his apartment. We tracked him to Indian Head, we're almost at the base.

We're still in his building. We'll check his office upstairs.

All right, we'll meet you there.

Commander Tunney got into the Pentagon's parking lot with Donner's car.

Then he used Donner's clearance and face to gain access to the restricted file room.

What's so important to go through all that trouble?

What do you think Miles would charge to make a mask of Gibbs?

I wouldn't go there. You're in enough trouble with him already.

You smell that?

What?

Cologne.

It's Tunney's!

Boss, the old man! It's Tunney.

Go.

You go to the left.

Give me an excuse.

You think you would've got through customs with that disguise?

I have before.

We can place you in the Pentagon wearing the Donner mask.

Got you cold for the death of Lieutenant Lauren Ross.

We know about the covert op in Kandahar. Things get out of hand?

You're being investigated for the death of a tribal leader.

You denied being in the area.

You lied, Commander.

It was easy to narrow down what we were looking for in the command center file room, once we knew it was you.

This op report places you 100 miles from the village the night the tribal leader was k*lled.

It's got your fingerprints all over it.

I wrote it.

But problem is, there are no other prints on the report.

Not your C.O., who supposedly read it, or a clerk who would have filed the report.

You substituted this report for the original, the one that would have placed you in the village.

Donner was going to make the switch because you saved his life, but he had a heart att*ck, you had to go in, wearing the Donner mask.

This was all about a cover-up?

Your own words were going to hang you.

I was protecting my unit.

We were doing our jobs.

It's a dirty job no one else wants to do.

Brass needs intel. No one cares how we get it, until something goes wrong.

Tribal leader got k*lled.

Things happen.

Sometimes there's collateral damage.

Like Lieutenant Lauren Ross.

Interesting theory.

Highly unlikely.

Let's give it a sh*t.

What's the Autopsy Gremlin up to?

All righty, here we go.

You want the honor, Special Agent Barrett?

No. You do it.
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