- A distracted texting driver runs over the dead body of a Naval officer; Gibbs and company investigate; they find a connection to a previously unreported rape of a drugged victim. The team figure out everything, and they catch the bad guy.
- In Chesapeake, Virginia, in the burbs of Norfolk, a distracted texting driver runs over the dead body of Tate, a Navy ensign; Gibbs and company investigate; the gang pursue a clue from the XO of Tate's ship; Tony and Ellie check out a derivative lead. McGee learns that Tate reported to the NCIS a sexual assault on Holly, a woman fellow officer, who first refuses to admit the rape but later both describes the incident and expresses bristling noncooperation; however, Abby lends a sensitive feminine hand, which persuades Holly to cooperate. Tony and Ellie, acting on a tip, after a tough start, question a suspect; with help from Abby and Jimmy, they also figure out what caused Tate to die. McGee and Abby, acting with persistence, find a new lead, which the gang then pursue; basic detective work directs them to the rapist, whom they take to the chat room, where a woman agent belts him, and Gibbs cuffs him.—DocRushing
- In the suburbs, a man texts and drives in Chesapeake when he hits something. There's a dead body in the street.
At NCIS, McGee and Tony are on day two of a cleanse diet. McGee is loving it and Tony is pretending to. Gibbs interrupts with the body of the week: a dead Navy officer. Ellie takes along her bacon and egg sandwich to finish in the car.
On site, the victim is Ensign Lester Tate and his body shows signs he was in a fight. The driver is beside himself, in a public service announcement to not text and drive.
Gibbs and McGee head to Tate's ship to speak with his commanding officer Louis Wexler. They learn Tate rented a house for a week of leave with his pal, ensign Thomas Burke.
At the apartment, Gibbs, McGee and Tony bust in when they hear a noise inside. Burke throws his hands up and proclaims he didn't do it.
Later, Burke tells the team he left Tate at a bar called the Silver Leaf around midnight when Tate started ordering shots. They ask him what he meant by "I didn't do it" and he plays dumb and asks for a lawyer.
At the bar, the bartender says he threw out Burke and some other guy after they started fighting about a girl.
Back in the morgue, Duckie says Tate died of having his head smashed against the pavement.
In the office, McGee goes over Tate's phone records and find multiple calls a few days at to NCIS's own Family and Sexual Violence unit.
Vance summons Gibbs to meet with Special Agent Maureen Cabot with the unit. Tate reported a rape on behalf of a friend who's now refusing to cooperate. She was drugged and unconscious during the attack and thinks she met her attacker in a bar.
Gibbs goes back to the ship to speak to Ensign Holly Farrell, who bristles when she sees Cabot with him.
Back at NCIS, Farrell repeats her denials that anything happened. Then she worries that her telling Tate what happened got him killed.
She tells them what happened. She went out with her fellow junior officers, including Burke and Tate, on a leave in Key West. On her second margarita she felt way drunker than she should have and returned to the ship, where she had her own quarters. The next morning she came to and felt beaten up. She tried to forget about it until Tate asked her what was wrong.
Abby interrupts and Gibbs asks her in the hall how long a roofie would stay in Farrell's system. Not long enough for them to test now. Farrell is upset he told Abby and again they try to convince her to let them investigate, but she refuses.
Back in the office, they've confirmed Burke was home like he said when Tate was killed.
Gibbs is summoned to meet with Vance and Cabot, who says they can't convince Farrell to let them investigate until she's ready.
Abby goes to the conference room to talk to Farrell. Farrell apologizes for not being more trusting. Abby tells her nothing makes her "sadder, or madder, or badder" than when she hears about assaults against women (she also apologizes for rhyming). Abby assures Farrell she can trust Gibbs and Cabot. Abby hugs her.
Farrell changes her mind and confesses that she went and had a rape kit taken in Key West after her attack. She agrees to cooperate.
Back at the bar, the bartender goes through photos of all the men from Farrell's ship but doesn't recognize anyone.
Bishop gets an order of chili cheese fries and Tony tries to contain himself. Then the bartender comes over and points out a man who just entered the bar. Tony and Bishop try to talk to him, but end up chasing him out the back door -- where he runs headlong into a Dumpster and knocks himself out.
Back in interrogation, Ellie and Tony talk to Eddie Patch, who's an ex-con, which he says is why he ran. He says he was hitting on a woman at the bar and Tate interceded, so they fought. He came back last night looking to take him on again. They're convinced he's a lowlife, but not their guy.
Abby joins Gibbs and Vance with the preliminary results from Farrell's rape kit. There was no DNA but they found ketamine --a horse tranquilizer- in her system.
Gibbs, McGee and Cabot got to see Captain Daniels and Commander Wexler. Daniels agrees to help anyway he can. When McGee says they can't get a search warrant for his ship, Daniels orders Wexler to do an inspection and he invites McGee to tag along.
Cabot interviews the other junior officers who were out that night with Farrell. Burke says he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and was upset to learn about her attack.
Junior Lt. William Greco has a selfie with all the guys back in their bunks at the end of the night. He has another of all of them in the bar.
The search turned up nothing useful.
Duckie comes up and tells Tony and Bishop that Tate had an epidural hematoma and could have walked a ways before he died.
Palmer joins them to report on the asphalt from Tate's wound, which had old burnt vegetable oil in it.
Back at the bar, Ellie and Tony talk to Fred the bartender, who says he threw Tate and the scumbag out the door in opposite directions. They walk Tate through it and conclude Fred accidentally threw Tate into the Dumpster. He's horrified to learn what he did, but they're convinced it was an accident.
Later, Gibbs and Cabot update Farrell, who is at least glad to learn Tate wasn't killed because of what she told him. McGee and Abby join them. McGee checked Navy personnel against ketamine use. Three years ago Lt. Monica King was examined by a civilian doctor for a separated shoulder and found to have ketamine in her system. She left the Navy two months later.
They didn't find anyone who was stationed both places.
Later, Vance, Cabot, and Gibbs talk to Monica King in MTAC from Atlanta, Georgia. She can't believe they want to hear about it now. She describes going to the Officer's club with fellow officers and getting woozy on her second drink. She only remembers flashes of the attack, but didn't know who it was. She told her XO and he asked what he was supposed to do without a name.
Later, McGee looks up people stationed on both ships and comes up with the XO, Wexler.
In MTAC, Wexler is combative and defiant.
Cabot lays out seven other attacks they discovered on women under his command. He says he doesn't recognize any of the women in the photos. "Because they're not unconscious?" Gibbs says. When Wexler charges him, Cabot lowers him with a stiff hand to the jugular. They arrest him.
The next morning, Ellie reports that Fred the bartender is only going to be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Tony notices McGee swallowing and finds a pepperoni stick in his file. McGee admits he's been eating them the whole time. He offers one to Tony but he can't be bought for anything less than steak, creamed spinach and French fries. They all head out, McGee's treat.
Gibbs and Abby walk with Farrell in the park. She's having a hard time believing Wexler attacked her, but is looking forward to testifying at his court martial. She's heading to a memorial for Tate, even though she knows her ordeal will be a popular subject of discussion.
She hugs Abby and salutes Gibbs. Burke comes to pick her up and she greets him with a hug and a Gibbs head slap.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content