NCIS s04e10 Episode Script
Smoked
Check that eyebolt.
- Just let that on.
- Secure eyebolt.
All right, get ready, ladies.
Put your backs into it.
Come on, I used to do this when I was your age by myself.
- Sure, you did, boss.
- Yeah, right.
See these pythons? I could lift a 400-pound load back in the day, huh? I even remember her name: Lisa Scarpizzee.
Yeah, well she was a hell of a woman though, huh? All right, let's move this thing out of here.
I've got a furnace waiting to go in.
Push her out, guys.
Come on, here we go.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Hey, Manny? Yeah? Looks like a partial obstruction in the smokestack.
Yeah, I see it from up here, boss.
Probably carbon buildup.
All right, clean it out.
Doing that now.
Anybody that doesn't want to make an ash of themselves, step back.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold it up, Manny.
We've got more than just carbon coming down here.
Copy that.
Finish McGee's book yet? Halfway.
You? I'm on chapter seven, page 103.
"Maybe someday "Lisa would find the courage to tell agent Tommy "about her dream, the two of them together, their "bodies covered in sweat as they made love on the crystal white sands of her homeland.
" I'm gonna kill him.
- Kill who? - McGee.
Have you read this book? Apparently McGee thinks Ziva's in love with me.
There's a reason they call it fiction, DiNozzo.
Boss, just got a call from dispatch.
Construction crew found a dead body.
Where? Chesty Puller High School in Quantico.
Student? Uh not sure.
Take the truck, I'll meet you there.
How many times do I have to tell you it's not about you guys.
I'm driving.
Comfortable back there, Gore Vidal? For the last time, Deep Six is fiction.
Fiction based on us, yes? No.
Look, if you don't believe me, read the disclaimer in the front of the book.
You buying that, Lisa? Didn't think so.
Nice knowing you, Probie.
Ziva It's just a book! You know, in chapter eight of McGee's book, your character does the exact same thing to Agent Tommy.
Turns out she has this whole secret photo album of him.
Fascinating, Tony, but I wasn't taking a picture of you.
More interested in the wildlife.
Ugh! We've pulled rats, cats and birds out of chimneys before, Agent Gibbs.
Hell, one time even a St.
Bernard, but this is my first mummy.
Reminds me of that urban legend.
Which one is that? Guy dresses up like Santa, you know, for Christmas Eve to surprise his girlfriend, but he never shows.
She's convinced that the bastard dumped her, badmouths him all over town.
Until they find the poor soul's body months later still clutching the little box with her shiny new engagement ring.
And the moral of course is "It's never a good idea to get married.
" No.
"It's best not to judge someone until all the facts are in.
" I like mine better.
Any of your crew touch or move Kriss Kringle? No.
Most of 'em were halfway to Manassas before the dust even settled.
There's no I.
D.
on him.
Judging by what's left of the mullet, I think it's safe to say he wasn't in the military.
You think, DiNozzo? Hey, I need a TOD, Doctor.
Considering we've been working together for over ten years, I am well aware of that, Agent Gibbs.
DiNozzo, when he gets one, run it through Missing Persons over the same time period.
Where are you going, boss? To the roof, to figure out how he ended up there in the first place.
What happened to you? Uh, creative differences with my coworkers, boss.
A lot of that going around these days.
Don't you think it's about time you and Gibbs made up, Ducky? Made up? I wasn't aware we were fighting, Ziva.
Come on.
Ever since he retired Gibbs didn't retire, he quit.
Okay, so he quit, but he's back now.
You need to cut the man some slacks, Ducky.
I agree.
Except the term is "slack.
" Judging by the decay and the condition of his skin, I'd tentatively place the time of death at two to four months ago.
Works for me.
Time of death was two to four months ago, boss! Bag and tag the ashes, Probie.
We'll pick you up after we coordinate with the MPs.
Doctor, I'm going to be laying the bag out here and the burrito over here.
Palmer, I need a favor.
You want to ride back with us.
How'd you know? I read your book.
And for your information, I've never had sexual relations with a corpse.
That character was not based on you.
His name was Pimmy Jalmer, McGee.
He's French Polynesian.
Doctor, I'm going to get the gurney now.
It was only a dream.
Come on.
Haven't you ever heard of symbolism? The life of an artist is never easy, McGee.
They'll all get over it, eventually.
Thanks, Ducky.
By the way, do you know if Tony has finished it yet? Not yet.
Well, him I'd watch out for.
None of the local missing person reports match our John Doe's description, Tony.
And there's no record of anyone going missing on base, civilian or military, during that period.
Are you even listening to me? I'm getting close to the end, Ziva.
You know, McGee is really starting to nail your essence here.
"Stakeouts "long, endless hours "fueled by cheap food "and even cheaper coffee.
"But tonight, Mossad Officer Lisa didn't seem to mind, "because she was getting to spend it with Agent Tom "Agent Tom " You're behind me again, aren't you? Lucky Guess.
You know, I think McGee's right.
He was, was he? It takes almost all of my willpower to resist the urges I have when I'm around you, Tony.
Maybe it's about time I just give in, yes? And by "give in, " you mean? - Letting loose.
- Ah Doing what comes naturally to me.
Yeah, I thought I was picking up that vibe the first time we went undercover together.
You were? In fact, I almost did it the first night in the hotel room.
Hmm.
Really? But my father wouldn't approve.
Because I'm not Jewish.
Because he gets very angry when I kill a co-worker.
Like I believed you for even a second.
I'm sure you didn't.
You two done playing grabass? Oh, he started it.
I'm ending it.
Oh, I Next person who mentions this book will be deep-sixed by me.
I can completely live with that, boss.
My point exactly, DiNozzo.
You I.
D.
our victim yet? We're running him against missing person cases reported over the last six months, Gibbs.
No hits yet.
Um, I'm afraid that's my fault.
It seems my initial time of death wasn't completely accurate.
As you will see, his body is almost perfectly preserved.
Perfectly preserved for a rotted corpse, that is.
Guy looks like a piece of beef jerky, Duck.
Gum tissue rots faster than the outer flesh, due to the high degree of bacteria inside the mouth.
As you can see, his gums are almost intact.
Maybe he was just a good flosser.
Shutting it, boss.
How'd he die? Well, the "how" I'm still working on.
It's made particularly difficult by the means by which his body was preserved.
He was quite literally smoked inside that chimney.
Smoked? Yeah, like a fine cut of meat.
So he really is a beef jerky.
In a manner of speaking, yes, Tony.
It's also the reason why my time of death was so far off.
More than two to four months, Ducky? It would seem so.
How many? I would say we're looking at closer to five or six.
Don't be so rough on yourself, Doctor.
We're already running the past six months.
Not months years.
Abby, they hate me.
They don't hate you, McGee.
Ziva tried to kill me yesterday.
Well you did base all the characters in your book on us and didn't ask our permission.
Deep Six is a work of pure fiction.
You described everything in my bedroom.
Not everything.
You still have those Fantasize later, Hemingway.
I got a match on two of Old Smokey's fingerprints.
- Whoa! - What's wrong? The match file is restricted.
I can't access it.
That's not possible.
NCIS has top-level clearance.
Duh, McGee.
I work here, too.
Can you tell who's blocking it? I could if they weren't in the process of deleting the file from the server.
What the hell is this? I was wondering that myself.
We got two matching fingerprints from the victim and AFIS just kicked us out.
And now they're deleting the file.
How? Working on it, boss.
It looks like some agency doesn't want us to know who the mummy is, Gibbs Inbound G-Five from Ibiza, Spain.
Tango-Eight, I want every bag coming off that plane tagged with a GPS marker.
Eagle Six, remain in over-watch.
Tango-Eight is on his own, unless I clear you for backup.
Solid Copy, Eagle Six remaining in over-watch position.
Bring up Tango-Eight's feed on the big screen.
Hey, there.
How y'all doing? Toss 'em down, bro.
Ooh.
Louis Vuitton.
Y'all aren't too friendly, are you? This is Eagle Six.
Cabin crew are exiting.
Tango-Eight, La Grenouille's people are about to deplane.
The smile was for me, dear boy.
There's more luggage.
Yes, sir.
Good flight? Very nice, Kort, very nice.
Martin, where's he been keeping you? The African market.
Cape Town, mostly.
- Not bad.
- Good.
I need to see the passengers.
We've arranged a meeting.
Things are going well.
Isolate and freeze frame.
How long have you been here? Well, long enough to put your luggage in the trunk.
How long have you been working the line? I haven't seen you before.
Oh about five months, I'd say.
You know, part-time.
Weekends, nights, that sort of thing.
Can you keep your eyes off her next time? Probably not.
An honest man.
Thank you, sir.
Eagle Six, confirm four GPS markers.
Eagle Six.
Four GPS markers confirmed.
Signals are long and strong.
Bravo Zulu, Tango-Eight.
Bravo Two hours.
Gibbs is going to murder me.
How long's Tony been doing errands for the director? Pretty much since you retired.
She trusts him.
To do what? You'd have to ask Tony that.
Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! I did it! Well, you mean "we.
" There is no "we" in McGee.
I traced the connection back to the system that deleted the fingerprint match.
It's a government server in Arlington, Virginia.
Routed into AFIS directly at the source.
Our mystery hacker is The FBI.
Uh, yeah.
Sounds a little anticlimactic when you say it.
How did you know that? I'm looking at 'em.
You've got something that belongs to me, Gibbs.
Petri dish, Mr.
Palmer.
There's something weird in this young man's stomach.
Is that is that what I think it is? A distal interphlangeal joint.
A human toe.
He was a cannibal, Ducky and a serial killer.
I've been hunting this bastard for 12 years, Gibbs.
What's his name? You don't know.
We know the prints you ran through AFIS matched two of the prints from his crime scenes.
Fourteen kills all women drugged, strangled, left to rot near rural, interstate highways.
Every one of them missing the toes on their left foot.
They were gnawed off.
How'd he die? Well, we're still working on that.
I can tell you when.
Five-and-a-half years.
That's a pretty accurate guess.
It wasn't a guess.
It was the last time he killed.
You want to know why I restricted access to his prints.
For starters.
We didn't want local LEOs trying to bring him down on their own.
That sounds like the FBI.
Well, this guy was a ghost, Jethro.
Fourteen murders, all we ever got from him was two partials and a single strand of hair.
We never even got close.
I am more interested in what he was doing on my Marine base, Tobias.
As soon as I find out, you'll be the first to know.
We got a deal? I'll have my M.
E.
swing by and pick up the body.
After I find out who he is and how he died.
I've spent 12 years working on this case.
Well, then waiting a few extra days shouldn't be a problem.
Is there anything else I can do for you while you're grinding the knife in? I'm gonna need a sample of that hair and copies of your files.
A few bottles of bourbon would be a nice gesture.
What do I get, besides a headache? Tobias, I am going to show you what your serial killer looks like.
I've been rehydrating Smokey the Bear's head since yesterday.
It makes it easier for identification.
And I've uploaded every local missing person's sketch and photo into the comparison fields since the killings stopped.
As soon as the rendering algorithm is complete, we should have a fairly accurate likeness of what Slim Jim looked like when he was still alive.
As long as the quadrant system and scales are within the program's proscribed McGee less talk, more of the the computer chip doo-da.
Making with the doo-da, boss.
"Doo-da"? Yeah, it's a technical term, Tobias.
You wouldn't understand.
Pretty cute for a serial - killing cannibal.
Well, I've got an 86% match on a Charles Bright, reported missing from Dale City, five years, seven months ago.
Our profiler was convinced he'd have at least one body buried near his home.
Why? Something for him to gloat over, Ab.
Relive the rush anytime he wanted to.
That's good, Gibbs.
We need an address.
* Do-do-do, do-do-do * * Do-da.
* * Do-da.
* * Do-da.
* That address still good? Uh, wife still lives there.
Karen Bright, she's the one who reported him missing.
There you go, Fornell.
You're turning the case over? No.
I just want you to get my search warrant for me.
I do miss you.
I do.
Stop.
No, no.
What's wrong with this picture? Besides being late over two hours? Why is the spawn of the FBI sitting at my desk? Warrant just came in via the FBI.
I made sure NCIS was a co-server.
Warrant for what, Lee? The serial killer's home.
It covers the grounds and residence.
Serial killer? I only missed like two hours Snooze you lose, DiNozzo.
Grab your gear.
I already have my gear.
Fill you in on the way.
Let's go.
Today, DiNozzo! Geez.
What do we tell her? The truth, we found her husband.
And the whole serial-killing cannibalism thing? Not until we have to.
Hi.
Your mom home? Who is it, Amy? It's the police, Mom.
Mrs.
Bright, I'm He's FBI Agent Fornell, I'm NCIS Special Agent Gibbs.
You, you found him, didn't you? You found my husband Charlie? His body was discovered yesterday in Quantico.
It was an accident, wasn't it? He was a building inspector.
The cause of death is still undetermined.
He would have never abandoned us.
Everyone else thought it, but I always knew it couldn't be true.
They found Daddy.
They finally found him.
I'm sorry about that, Jethro.
She could have been a twin to some of his victims.
The loving husband, murdering and eating women who look like his wife.
It'll probably be McGee's next bestseller.
It amazes me how the truly sick ones are always the best liked pillars of the community.
They're successful because they blend in, Tobias.
They go to church, they coach Little League baseball.
I was on the team that nailed Bundy, Gibbs.
And I'm familiar with sick, charming bastards.
That's probably why we get along so well.
Oh, I found something, boss! Found some bones fragments.
Our serial killer spent the last five years getting smoked and tenderized in the Puller High School chimney, only to fall out during the installation of the new furnace.
I want to know how he ended up that way, DiNozzo.
Boss, he was a building inspector for the D.
O.
D.
When he disappeared in April, 2001, he was checking structures at Quantico and Little Creek.
Puller High School was on his list.
It could have been an accident.
He could've fallen to his death while inspecting the school.
How? Think about it.
He couldn't just walk on the military base.
If he drove, they would have found his car.
A 2000 Honda Accord disappeared with him.
Fourteen victims, spread out from All of 'em looking pretty much like his wife.
Number 15 found in his own backyard by yours truly, with the FBI digging for more.
Why exactly are we letting the FBI dig for more? They're doing our manual labor.
Well, this is the last one, Ducky.
Unless they find more.
Yeah, well, this one's also a female, judging by the width of the pelvic bones.
With the almost complete lack of tissue, I think I'll refrain before I offer a tentative time of death.
Especially after the last time.
Yes, I do deeply apologize for that.
No, problems, Ducky.
We all make mistakes, yes? Did I ever tell you about the time I shoved a French police officer off a cliff? There was a lake below.
Yeah, the man was all right, but they still issued a warrant for my arrest.
Gibbs and I managed to keep two steps ahead of them.
Eventually we escaped across the English Channel in a sailboat.
You and Agent Gibbs were fugitives? Yes, for a short while.
Until a young upcoming NCIS agent had the charges dropped.
Jenny.
I mean, Director Shepard.
Yeah, she was the one who commandeered the boat.
Director Shepard stole a boat? She wasn't the director of NCIS at the time, McGee.
Everything's going to be okay.
- This is all a big - Mrs.
Bright, I need to know how your husband ended up in Quantico.
He worked at all the bases.
Don't you people understand you have him confused with someone else? Some kind of monster? Sweetheart.
Go get your brother, okay.
We're going to go to Grandma's house.
Go on.
Can't they just leave? My husband was one of the most loving men on the planet, Agent Gibbs.
He treated everyone with kindness and decency.
Ask anyone who knew him, Agent Gibbs, anyone.
They're removing four bodies from your backyard.
Do you know how many old, unmarked graveyards are in Virginia? When was the last time you saw him? He was driving to Little Creek.
He was supposed to call when he got to his hotel.
That's a long way from Quantico where he ended up.
I knew.
I knew something was wrong when he didn't call.
You ever have one of those feelings? When you know something terrible has just happened? Once.
And did it? He didn't do these things, Agent Gibbs.
And I'm sorry, but there's nothing you people can do or say to ever make me believe this.
Stashing four bodies in the yard, that's more than just gloating, Gibbs.
Well, they could be his first kills.
I think we're running out of room.
Yes, it won't be lonely in the Mallard Inn tonight.
How could someone do the things this man did, Doctor? In some cases, there's a physiological defect in the hard-wiring of their brains.
A mechanism that precludes the ability to feel genuine emotion.
Did you find anything weird in this guy's brain? Like a tumor or a physical abnormality? I did not.
Then how do you explain him? I can't.
There is also evil in this world, and even armed with all our science and degrees, it remains impenetrable.
Perhaps because its depths are unfathomable.
There's a very good book that I Oh.
I seem to have left my bag in the van.
Be a good lad and fetch it for me before you leave for the night.
You got it, Doctor.
Oh.
Thought you might be needing a refill.
Thanks.
Today certainly brought back a lot of memories.
Yeah.
It also made me realize that since your return I've been acting a little like a An ass? Well, something like that.
I didn't notice.
Yeah, you and I have been through a lot over the years.
Look, I-I I hate to use marriage as an analogy Then don't.
Just tell me what I did to piss you off.
The night you retired, you asked me to drive you home.
You didn't say a single word the entire trip.
No explanation, not even a good-bye.
I was kind of still recovering from the coma, Doctor.
And Kelly and Shannon? All those years of friendship together, and somehow you failed to mention that you have a family? Had.
Had a family.
You know how I feel about apologies, right? Yeah, they're a sign of weakness.
Not between friends.
I am sorry, Ducky.
I should have told you.
And I should have told you something months ago.
Welcome home.
Thanks.
Hope you had a better day than I did, Miss Jeanne Benoit.
I've been thinking a lot about you lately and I'm really, really trying to figure out a way to not screw this up.
Tony.
Hey.
I thought you were sleeping.
I was.
So how was your day? Well you ever see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Original or remake? Either.
Neither.
It was a lot like that, but worse.
How about you? Kind of like a cross between Trains, Planes and Automobiles and The Muppets Take Manhattan.
That is a heady, heady brew of strange cinematic references, and I don't know what to make of it.
I interned at the Children's Ward today.
- Ah - I felt kind of like that, too.
Beautiful and clever.
So why aren't you kissing me? And she's a mind reader.
Not exactly.
Stop Are you on medication? Just had a good night last night.
Doing what? The usual.
The usual what? Night.
You had sex, didn't you? What? It's okay to admit it.
I mean, we're all adults here.
That's a subject I'd be willing to debate, Officer David.
Where's Gibbs? Well, he must have known you were coming, because he's not here.
It was really more of a courtesy call, DiNozzo, letting him know about these orders from Justice the ones where the FBI is taking over your case.
You sure he's not around? These are pretty clear-cut orders, Agent Fornell.
"And NCIS is hereby ordered to turn over full jurisdiction of the Bright case to the FBI" by end of business today.
" Who did you have to sleep with to get these? Director, please.
A serial killer falls down a chimney on a Marine base.
Is that a logical way to decide jurisdiction? It's been working for us since around 1882.
Sadly, Justice doesn't see it that way.
The FBI's invested 12 years in this investigation.
And my people made more progress in just three days.
Now, I can see how that would be embarrassing.
I'll get over it.
No hard feelings, Jethro? No.
Just need you to look at something before you leave.
You got that mustache in a box, don't you? It took more time than I care to admit, but I finally managed to solve the riddle of how our friend died.
You may need this.
Look closely.
In the area of his abdomen, do you see anything resembling wounds? No.
No, neither did I, until I took a second look at the CAT scan.
You see, smoking desiccates flesh, which is why it is the preferred method of preserving meat in less technologically advanced - societies - Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did he die, Doctor? Well, as the moisture was lost, the victim's tissue, which protected the vital organs, shrank.
You see these little black dots? oh, yeah.
He was stabbed repeatedly and fatally.
With what? A safety pin? No, as I just explained, the shrinkage of the flesh is deceptive.
Most likely it was an ice pick or a Phillips-head screwdriver.
Somebody killed your serial killer, Fornell.
On a Marine base which means it is still our jurisdiction.
I've seen a lot of things since I became a cop, Ziva, But this a guy tortures and murders 19 women and then gets off on eating their toes? Whoever whacked this sick freak did us and the world a favor.
And our job is to arrest them.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Justified or not, still a crime, Ziva.
In this country, you cannot take the law into your own hands.
Unless it's your little sister wanted for murder, right, Probie? You know what I mean.
What if this was your sister? Or her? My point is that we cannot just investigate the crimes that we want to.
McGee's right.
Does anybody have a problem with that? No, boss, it's just Just what, DiNozzo? Some days this job really sucks.
Yeah? Well, it's about to get worse.
Ziva, you and Tony are with Sacks on this one.
Doing what? Coming up with a list of people who wanted Bright dead.
Besides everyone in this room? Except for McLawyer over there.
Tony, all I was saying Go check on Abby, see if she needs any help.
Running a little late today, are we, Tobias? You're enjoying this, aren't you? Oh, only slightly more than a lot.
Come on.
What? Ducky's got something for us.
There wasn't any recoverable tissue from any of the remains.
All four bodies were completely stripped to the bone.
Yeah, I can see that, Duck.
How long were they on the ground? Shallow graves, exposed to the elements, all four women could have been there for, ooh, decades or for as little as six months.
We know it's got to be at least five years.
Do we, Tobias? Yes, unless Bright figured out a way to climb in and out of that smokestack.
For what it's worth, I agree with you, but down here, we deal in facts.
Meaning you don't know? Well, not yet.
Couldn't have told me that on the phone, Duck? Yes, I could have, Jethro, but that's not the reason I asked you down here.
I took the liberty of reviewing the profile that the FBI prepared on our serial killer eight years ago.
In order to disguise his predatory nature, Bright had to be methodical, precise, cautious almost to a fault.
Your point? Well, if the FBI's finest couldn't get to him, it makes me wonder who did.
He knew his killer.
That's good work, Ducky.
How else could someone get close enough to him to stab him to death with a screwdriver?! - DiNozzo? - Yeah, boss? Concentrate on the high school.
Someone there had to have a personal connection to Bright.
- On it.
- Find him.
I'm a forensic scientist, McGee.
I don't need anyone checking up on me.
What I do need is to date those bones.
The ones that we found in Beef Jerky's backyard.
"Marty"? Yes! Why didn't I think of that? Marty got his degree in forensic botany at Penn State.
The roots grew into the bones.
So if Marty can I.
D.
the plant, he can probably give us a rough estimate as to when they were buried.
Way to go, McGee! How did you know what Marty majored in? I didn't.
Who is he? He's just a friend.
"Being with you makes me believe size truly doesn't matter.
Abby.
" Okay, he's a really good friend.
Where the hell did you learn how to type? Do you mind? Your breath's taking the starch out of my collar.
- What've we got? - What've we got? Um, the teaching staff still present from five years ago all claim not to have known Bright.
Well, if they murdered the guy and stuffed him down a chimney, that's not surprising.
Tony? Running down a list of substitutes who used to teach back then.
His wife's a teacher, third grade.
See if she ever worked at Puller.
We checked for Brights already, boss.
There are none.
Check her maiden name.
Her maiden name is Burris, Tony.
Burris Okay, got one hit: Karen Burris.
Subbed for social studies and Western history in 2001.
Social security number listed is the same as Bright's wife.
My mama always told me big things come in small packages.
What a coincidence.
Mine always warned me about tattooed girls bearing samples.
I'm talking about your lab.
I love it.
Yeah? Pretty sweet, huh? Sweet! I'd kill for half this equipment.
Really? What would you do for all of it? What's your crazy ninja sense telling you? She's scared.
I mean, about whether she shanked Beef Jerky and dropped him down the wishing well.
What would you do if you woke up one day and you discovered you were married to a monster? Happened to my father all the time.
We usually just moved.
Ah, that explains it.
Karen, you were a substitute at Lieutenant General Lewis Puller High School.
I - I've worked a lot of schools in the area.
What does that have to do with this? Considering we found your husband petrified in the chimney there, quite a bit.
Karen we know this is hard but we're here to help.
It's important that you tell us the truth.
When'd you find out? Find out? That your loving husband was murdering women who looked just like you? I told you, my husband didn't do those things.
He removed the toes from their left feet.
We think that you know why.
You mind taking off your shoe and showing us your left foot? Please.
Karen? Your husband was an evil man.
That thing was not my husband.
It wasn't the man I married.
It had to be stopped, don't you see? I had no other choice! Yeah, you could have gone to the police.
And have my children live the rest of their lives knowing that monster was their father? No! I had to.
I had to protect them from it.
Gaultheria procumbens evergreen shrub, more commonly known as wintergreen or checkerberry.
We need to see the photo where the sample was recovered from.
It was taken from between the fibula and the tibia.
Go back to the wide shot.
No.
.
Go to that quadrant.
That's your wintergreen, about five meters from the remains.
Judging from the thickness of the root, annual growth rate and the soil samples you brought me, we can calculate roughly how long the body's been buried, plus or minus six months.
You can tell it was a live sample by the tiny little offshoots forming off the main root.
Want to see? Abby? In her position, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing, Tony.
McGee was right, about taking the law into your own hands.
She's lucky she wasn't his last victim.
Karen no one should have to live through what you did.
Believe me when I tell you that there's no jury in the world that wouldn't sympathize with you.
It's not me.
What? What do you want to bet that's McGeek? Rule number 22: Never, ever bother Gibbs in interrogation.
Tony, I don't think it's McGee.
Got it, Abbs, thanks.
You okay, Karen? You're gonna get through this.
Get away from her, Tobias.
The bodies in the yard are not from five years ago.
They're older? No.
They're more recent than that.
Her husband wasn't the serial killer.
She is.
I got to tell you, Jethro, that was that was How in God's name could we have missed that? I don't think God had much to do with it, Tobias.
You know what's really got me freaked out? If her husband's body hadn't gotten hung up going down that chimney five years ago, she'd still be out there.
We'd never have caught her.
I can do you one better than that.
No, can't top that, Jethro.
What was a toe doing in her husband's stomach?
- Just let that on.
- Secure eyebolt.
All right, get ready, ladies.
Put your backs into it.
Come on, I used to do this when I was your age by myself.
- Sure, you did, boss.
- Yeah, right.
See these pythons? I could lift a 400-pound load back in the day, huh? I even remember her name: Lisa Scarpizzee.
Yeah, well she was a hell of a woman though, huh? All right, let's move this thing out of here.
I've got a furnace waiting to go in.
Push her out, guys.
Come on, here we go.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Hey, Manny? Yeah? Looks like a partial obstruction in the smokestack.
Yeah, I see it from up here, boss.
Probably carbon buildup.
All right, clean it out.
Doing that now.
Anybody that doesn't want to make an ash of themselves, step back.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold it up, Manny.
We've got more than just carbon coming down here.
Copy that.
Finish McGee's book yet? Halfway.
You? I'm on chapter seven, page 103.
"Maybe someday "Lisa would find the courage to tell agent Tommy "about her dream, the two of them together, their "bodies covered in sweat as they made love on the crystal white sands of her homeland.
" I'm gonna kill him.
- Kill who? - McGee.
Have you read this book? Apparently McGee thinks Ziva's in love with me.
There's a reason they call it fiction, DiNozzo.
Boss, just got a call from dispatch.
Construction crew found a dead body.
Where? Chesty Puller High School in Quantico.
Student? Uh not sure.
Take the truck, I'll meet you there.
How many times do I have to tell you it's not about you guys.
I'm driving.
Comfortable back there, Gore Vidal? For the last time, Deep Six is fiction.
Fiction based on us, yes? No.
Look, if you don't believe me, read the disclaimer in the front of the book.
You buying that, Lisa? Didn't think so.
Nice knowing you, Probie.
Ziva It's just a book! You know, in chapter eight of McGee's book, your character does the exact same thing to Agent Tommy.
Turns out she has this whole secret photo album of him.
Fascinating, Tony, but I wasn't taking a picture of you.
More interested in the wildlife.
Ugh! We've pulled rats, cats and birds out of chimneys before, Agent Gibbs.
Hell, one time even a St.
Bernard, but this is my first mummy.
Reminds me of that urban legend.
Which one is that? Guy dresses up like Santa, you know, for Christmas Eve to surprise his girlfriend, but he never shows.
She's convinced that the bastard dumped her, badmouths him all over town.
Until they find the poor soul's body months later still clutching the little box with her shiny new engagement ring.
And the moral of course is "It's never a good idea to get married.
" No.
"It's best not to judge someone until all the facts are in.
" I like mine better.
Any of your crew touch or move Kriss Kringle? No.
Most of 'em were halfway to Manassas before the dust even settled.
There's no I.
D.
on him.
Judging by what's left of the mullet, I think it's safe to say he wasn't in the military.
You think, DiNozzo? Hey, I need a TOD, Doctor.
Considering we've been working together for over ten years, I am well aware of that, Agent Gibbs.
DiNozzo, when he gets one, run it through Missing Persons over the same time period.
Where are you going, boss? To the roof, to figure out how he ended up there in the first place.
What happened to you? Uh, creative differences with my coworkers, boss.
A lot of that going around these days.
Don't you think it's about time you and Gibbs made up, Ducky? Made up? I wasn't aware we were fighting, Ziva.
Come on.
Ever since he retired Gibbs didn't retire, he quit.
Okay, so he quit, but he's back now.
You need to cut the man some slacks, Ducky.
I agree.
Except the term is "slack.
" Judging by the decay and the condition of his skin, I'd tentatively place the time of death at two to four months ago.
Works for me.
Time of death was two to four months ago, boss! Bag and tag the ashes, Probie.
We'll pick you up after we coordinate with the MPs.
Doctor, I'm going to be laying the bag out here and the burrito over here.
Palmer, I need a favor.
You want to ride back with us.
How'd you know? I read your book.
And for your information, I've never had sexual relations with a corpse.
That character was not based on you.
His name was Pimmy Jalmer, McGee.
He's French Polynesian.
Doctor, I'm going to get the gurney now.
It was only a dream.
Come on.
Haven't you ever heard of symbolism? The life of an artist is never easy, McGee.
They'll all get over it, eventually.
Thanks, Ducky.
By the way, do you know if Tony has finished it yet? Not yet.
Well, him I'd watch out for.
None of the local missing person reports match our John Doe's description, Tony.
And there's no record of anyone going missing on base, civilian or military, during that period.
Are you even listening to me? I'm getting close to the end, Ziva.
You know, McGee is really starting to nail your essence here.
"Stakeouts "long, endless hours "fueled by cheap food "and even cheaper coffee.
"But tonight, Mossad Officer Lisa didn't seem to mind, "because she was getting to spend it with Agent Tom "Agent Tom " You're behind me again, aren't you? Lucky Guess.
You know, I think McGee's right.
He was, was he? It takes almost all of my willpower to resist the urges I have when I'm around you, Tony.
Maybe it's about time I just give in, yes? And by "give in, " you mean? - Letting loose.
- Ah Doing what comes naturally to me.
Yeah, I thought I was picking up that vibe the first time we went undercover together.
You were? In fact, I almost did it the first night in the hotel room.
Hmm.
Really? But my father wouldn't approve.
Because I'm not Jewish.
Because he gets very angry when I kill a co-worker.
Like I believed you for even a second.
I'm sure you didn't.
You two done playing grabass? Oh, he started it.
I'm ending it.
Oh, I Next person who mentions this book will be deep-sixed by me.
I can completely live with that, boss.
My point exactly, DiNozzo.
You I.
D.
our victim yet? We're running him against missing person cases reported over the last six months, Gibbs.
No hits yet.
Um, I'm afraid that's my fault.
It seems my initial time of death wasn't completely accurate.
As you will see, his body is almost perfectly preserved.
Perfectly preserved for a rotted corpse, that is.
Guy looks like a piece of beef jerky, Duck.
Gum tissue rots faster than the outer flesh, due to the high degree of bacteria inside the mouth.
As you can see, his gums are almost intact.
Maybe he was just a good flosser.
Shutting it, boss.
How'd he die? Well, the "how" I'm still working on.
It's made particularly difficult by the means by which his body was preserved.
He was quite literally smoked inside that chimney.
Smoked? Yeah, like a fine cut of meat.
So he really is a beef jerky.
In a manner of speaking, yes, Tony.
It's also the reason why my time of death was so far off.
More than two to four months, Ducky? It would seem so.
How many? I would say we're looking at closer to five or six.
Don't be so rough on yourself, Doctor.
We're already running the past six months.
Not months years.
Abby, they hate me.
They don't hate you, McGee.
Ziva tried to kill me yesterday.
Well you did base all the characters in your book on us and didn't ask our permission.
Deep Six is a work of pure fiction.
You described everything in my bedroom.
Not everything.
You still have those Fantasize later, Hemingway.
I got a match on two of Old Smokey's fingerprints.
- Whoa! - What's wrong? The match file is restricted.
I can't access it.
That's not possible.
NCIS has top-level clearance.
Duh, McGee.
I work here, too.
Can you tell who's blocking it? I could if they weren't in the process of deleting the file from the server.
What the hell is this? I was wondering that myself.
We got two matching fingerprints from the victim and AFIS just kicked us out.
And now they're deleting the file.
How? Working on it, boss.
It looks like some agency doesn't want us to know who the mummy is, Gibbs Inbound G-Five from Ibiza, Spain.
Tango-Eight, I want every bag coming off that plane tagged with a GPS marker.
Eagle Six, remain in over-watch.
Tango-Eight is on his own, unless I clear you for backup.
Solid Copy, Eagle Six remaining in over-watch position.
Bring up Tango-Eight's feed on the big screen.
Hey, there.
How y'all doing? Toss 'em down, bro.
Ooh.
Louis Vuitton.
Y'all aren't too friendly, are you? This is Eagle Six.
Cabin crew are exiting.
Tango-Eight, La Grenouille's people are about to deplane.
The smile was for me, dear boy.
There's more luggage.
Yes, sir.
Good flight? Very nice, Kort, very nice.
Martin, where's he been keeping you? The African market.
Cape Town, mostly.
- Not bad.
- Good.
I need to see the passengers.
We've arranged a meeting.
Things are going well.
Isolate and freeze frame.
How long have you been here? Well, long enough to put your luggage in the trunk.
How long have you been working the line? I haven't seen you before.
Oh about five months, I'd say.
You know, part-time.
Weekends, nights, that sort of thing.
Can you keep your eyes off her next time? Probably not.
An honest man.
Thank you, sir.
Eagle Six, confirm four GPS markers.
Eagle Six.
Four GPS markers confirmed.
Signals are long and strong.
Bravo Zulu, Tango-Eight.
Bravo Two hours.
Gibbs is going to murder me.
How long's Tony been doing errands for the director? Pretty much since you retired.
She trusts him.
To do what? You'd have to ask Tony that.
Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! I did it! Well, you mean "we.
" There is no "we" in McGee.
I traced the connection back to the system that deleted the fingerprint match.
It's a government server in Arlington, Virginia.
Routed into AFIS directly at the source.
Our mystery hacker is The FBI.
Uh, yeah.
Sounds a little anticlimactic when you say it.
How did you know that? I'm looking at 'em.
You've got something that belongs to me, Gibbs.
Petri dish, Mr.
Palmer.
There's something weird in this young man's stomach.
Is that is that what I think it is? A distal interphlangeal joint.
A human toe.
He was a cannibal, Ducky and a serial killer.
I've been hunting this bastard for 12 years, Gibbs.
What's his name? You don't know.
We know the prints you ran through AFIS matched two of the prints from his crime scenes.
Fourteen kills all women drugged, strangled, left to rot near rural, interstate highways.
Every one of them missing the toes on their left foot.
They were gnawed off.
How'd he die? Well, we're still working on that.
I can tell you when.
Five-and-a-half years.
That's a pretty accurate guess.
It wasn't a guess.
It was the last time he killed.
You want to know why I restricted access to his prints.
For starters.
We didn't want local LEOs trying to bring him down on their own.
That sounds like the FBI.
Well, this guy was a ghost, Jethro.
Fourteen murders, all we ever got from him was two partials and a single strand of hair.
We never even got close.
I am more interested in what he was doing on my Marine base, Tobias.
As soon as I find out, you'll be the first to know.
We got a deal? I'll have my M.
E.
swing by and pick up the body.
After I find out who he is and how he died.
I've spent 12 years working on this case.
Well, then waiting a few extra days shouldn't be a problem.
Is there anything else I can do for you while you're grinding the knife in? I'm gonna need a sample of that hair and copies of your files.
A few bottles of bourbon would be a nice gesture.
What do I get, besides a headache? Tobias, I am going to show you what your serial killer looks like.
I've been rehydrating Smokey the Bear's head since yesterday.
It makes it easier for identification.
And I've uploaded every local missing person's sketch and photo into the comparison fields since the killings stopped.
As soon as the rendering algorithm is complete, we should have a fairly accurate likeness of what Slim Jim looked like when he was still alive.
As long as the quadrant system and scales are within the program's proscribed McGee less talk, more of the the computer chip doo-da.
Making with the doo-da, boss.
"Doo-da"? Yeah, it's a technical term, Tobias.
You wouldn't understand.
Pretty cute for a serial - killing cannibal.
Well, I've got an 86% match on a Charles Bright, reported missing from Dale City, five years, seven months ago.
Our profiler was convinced he'd have at least one body buried near his home.
Why? Something for him to gloat over, Ab.
Relive the rush anytime he wanted to.
That's good, Gibbs.
We need an address.
* Do-do-do, do-do-do * * Do-da.
* * Do-da.
* * Do-da.
* That address still good? Uh, wife still lives there.
Karen Bright, she's the one who reported him missing.
There you go, Fornell.
You're turning the case over? No.
I just want you to get my search warrant for me.
I do miss you.
I do.
Stop.
No, no.
What's wrong with this picture? Besides being late over two hours? Why is the spawn of the FBI sitting at my desk? Warrant just came in via the FBI.
I made sure NCIS was a co-server.
Warrant for what, Lee? The serial killer's home.
It covers the grounds and residence.
Serial killer? I only missed like two hours Snooze you lose, DiNozzo.
Grab your gear.
I already have my gear.
Fill you in on the way.
Let's go.
Today, DiNozzo! Geez.
What do we tell her? The truth, we found her husband.
And the whole serial-killing cannibalism thing? Not until we have to.
Hi.
Your mom home? Who is it, Amy? It's the police, Mom.
Mrs.
Bright, I'm He's FBI Agent Fornell, I'm NCIS Special Agent Gibbs.
You, you found him, didn't you? You found my husband Charlie? His body was discovered yesterday in Quantico.
It was an accident, wasn't it? He was a building inspector.
The cause of death is still undetermined.
He would have never abandoned us.
Everyone else thought it, but I always knew it couldn't be true.
They found Daddy.
They finally found him.
I'm sorry about that, Jethro.
She could have been a twin to some of his victims.
The loving husband, murdering and eating women who look like his wife.
It'll probably be McGee's next bestseller.
It amazes me how the truly sick ones are always the best liked pillars of the community.
They're successful because they blend in, Tobias.
They go to church, they coach Little League baseball.
I was on the team that nailed Bundy, Gibbs.
And I'm familiar with sick, charming bastards.
That's probably why we get along so well.
Oh, I found something, boss! Found some bones fragments.
Our serial killer spent the last five years getting smoked and tenderized in the Puller High School chimney, only to fall out during the installation of the new furnace.
I want to know how he ended up that way, DiNozzo.
Boss, he was a building inspector for the D.
O.
D.
When he disappeared in April, 2001, he was checking structures at Quantico and Little Creek.
Puller High School was on his list.
It could have been an accident.
He could've fallen to his death while inspecting the school.
How? Think about it.
He couldn't just walk on the military base.
If he drove, they would have found his car.
A 2000 Honda Accord disappeared with him.
Fourteen victims, spread out from All of 'em looking pretty much like his wife.
Number 15 found in his own backyard by yours truly, with the FBI digging for more.
Why exactly are we letting the FBI dig for more? They're doing our manual labor.
Well, this is the last one, Ducky.
Unless they find more.
Yeah, well, this one's also a female, judging by the width of the pelvic bones.
With the almost complete lack of tissue, I think I'll refrain before I offer a tentative time of death.
Especially after the last time.
Yes, I do deeply apologize for that.
No, problems, Ducky.
We all make mistakes, yes? Did I ever tell you about the time I shoved a French police officer off a cliff? There was a lake below.
Yeah, the man was all right, but they still issued a warrant for my arrest.
Gibbs and I managed to keep two steps ahead of them.
Eventually we escaped across the English Channel in a sailboat.
You and Agent Gibbs were fugitives? Yes, for a short while.
Until a young upcoming NCIS agent had the charges dropped.
Jenny.
I mean, Director Shepard.
Yeah, she was the one who commandeered the boat.
Director Shepard stole a boat? She wasn't the director of NCIS at the time, McGee.
Everything's going to be okay.
- This is all a big - Mrs.
Bright, I need to know how your husband ended up in Quantico.
He worked at all the bases.
Don't you people understand you have him confused with someone else? Some kind of monster? Sweetheart.
Go get your brother, okay.
We're going to go to Grandma's house.
Go on.
Can't they just leave? My husband was one of the most loving men on the planet, Agent Gibbs.
He treated everyone with kindness and decency.
Ask anyone who knew him, Agent Gibbs, anyone.
They're removing four bodies from your backyard.
Do you know how many old, unmarked graveyards are in Virginia? When was the last time you saw him? He was driving to Little Creek.
He was supposed to call when he got to his hotel.
That's a long way from Quantico where he ended up.
I knew.
I knew something was wrong when he didn't call.
You ever have one of those feelings? When you know something terrible has just happened? Once.
And did it? He didn't do these things, Agent Gibbs.
And I'm sorry, but there's nothing you people can do or say to ever make me believe this.
Stashing four bodies in the yard, that's more than just gloating, Gibbs.
Well, they could be his first kills.
I think we're running out of room.
Yes, it won't be lonely in the Mallard Inn tonight.
How could someone do the things this man did, Doctor? In some cases, there's a physiological defect in the hard-wiring of their brains.
A mechanism that precludes the ability to feel genuine emotion.
Did you find anything weird in this guy's brain? Like a tumor or a physical abnormality? I did not.
Then how do you explain him? I can't.
There is also evil in this world, and even armed with all our science and degrees, it remains impenetrable.
Perhaps because its depths are unfathomable.
There's a very good book that I Oh.
I seem to have left my bag in the van.
Be a good lad and fetch it for me before you leave for the night.
You got it, Doctor.
Oh.
Thought you might be needing a refill.
Thanks.
Today certainly brought back a lot of memories.
Yeah.
It also made me realize that since your return I've been acting a little like a An ass? Well, something like that.
I didn't notice.
Yeah, you and I have been through a lot over the years.
Look, I-I I hate to use marriage as an analogy Then don't.
Just tell me what I did to piss you off.
The night you retired, you asked me to drive you home.
You didn't say a single word the entire trip.
No explanation, not even a good-bye.
I was kind of still recovering from the coma, Doctor.
And Kelly and Shannon? All those years of friendship together, and somehow you failed to mention that you have a family? Had.
Had a family.
You know how I feel about apologies, right? Yeah, they're a sign of weakness.
Not between friends.
I am sorry, Ducky.
I should have told you.
And I should have told you something months ago.
Welcome home.
Thanks.
Hope you had a better day than I did, Miss Jeanne Benoit.
I've been thinking a lot about you lately and I'm really, really trying to figure out a way to not screw this up.
Tony.
Hey.
I thought you were sleeping.
I was.
So how was your day? Well you ever see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Original or remake? Either.
Neither.
It was a lot like that, but worse.
How about you? Kind of like a cross between Trains, Planes and Automobiles and The Muppets Take Manhattan.
That is a heady, heady brew of strange cinematic references, and I don't know what to make of it.
I interned at the Children's Ward today.
- Ah - I felt kind of like that, too.
Beautiful and clever.
So why aren't you kissing me? And she's a mind reader.
Not exactly.
Stop Are you on medication? Just had a good night last night.
Doing what? The usual.
The usual what? Night.
You had sex, didn't you? What? It's okay to admit it.
I mean, we're all adults here.
That's a subject I'd be willing to debate, Officer David.
Where's Gibbs? Well, he must have known you were coming, because he's not here.
It was really more of a courtesy call, DiNozzo, letting him know about these orders from Justice the ones where the FBI is taking over your case.
You sure he's not around? These are pretty clear-cut orders, Agent Fornell.
"And NCIS is hereby ordered to turn over full jurisdiction of the Bright case to the FBI" by end of business today.
" Who did you have to sleep with to get these? Director, please.
A serial killer falls down a chimney on a Marine base.
Is that a logical way to decide jurisdiction? It's been working for us since around 1882.
Sadly, Justice doesn't see it that way.
The FBI's invested 12 years in this investigation.
And my people made more progress in just three days.
Now, I can see how that would be embarrassing.
I'll get over it.
No hard feelings, Jethro? No.
Just need you to look at something before you leave.
You got that mustache in a box, don't you? It took more time than I care to admit, but I finally managed to solve the riddle of how our friend died.
You may need this.
Look closely.
In the area of his abdomen, do you see anything resembling wounds? No.
No, neither did I, until I took a second look at the CAT scan.
You see, smoking desiccates flesh, which is why it is the preferred method of preserving meat in less technologically advanced - societies - Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did he die, Doctor? Well, as the moisture was lost, the victim's tissue, which protected the vital organs, shrank.
You see these little black dots? oh, yeah.
He was stabbed repeatedly and fatally.
With what? A safety pin? No, as I just explained, the shrinkage of the flesh is deceptive.
Most likely it was an ice pick or a Phillips-head screwdriver.
Somebody killed your serial killer, Fornell.
On a Marine base which means it is still our jurisdiction.
I've seen a lot of things since I became a cop, Ziva, But this a guy tortures and murders 19 women and then gets off on eating their toes? Whoever whacked this sick freak did us and the world a favor.
And our job is to arrest them.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Justified or not, still a crime, Ziva.
In this country, you cannot take the law into your own hands.
Unless it's your little sister wanted for murder, right, Probie? You know what I mean.
What if this was your sister? Or her? My point is that we cannot just investigate the crimes that we want to.
McGee's right.
Does anybody have a problem with that? No, boss, it's just Just what, DiNozzo? Some days this job really sucks.
Yeah? Well, it's about to get worse.
Ziva, you and Tony are with Sacks on this one.
Doing what? Coming up with a list of people who wanted Bright dead.
Besides everyone in this room? Except for McLawyer over there.
Tony, all I was saying Go check on Abby, see if she needs any help.
Running a little late today, are we, Tobias? You're enjoying this, aren't you? Oh, only slightly more than a lot.
Come on.
What? Ducky's got something for us.
There wasn't any recoverable tissue from any of the remains.
All four bodies were completely stripped to the bone.
Yeah, I can see that, Duck.
How long were they on the ground? Shallow graves, exposed to the elements, all four women could have been there for, ooh, decades or for as little as six months.
We know it's got to be at least five years.
Do we, Tobias? Yes, unless Bright figured out a way to climb in and out of that smokestack.
For what it's worth, I agree with you, but down here, we deal in facts.
Meaning you don't know? Well, not yet.
Couldn't have told me that on the phone, Duck? Yes, I could have, Jethro, but that's not the reason I asked you down here.
I took the liberty of reviewing the profile that the FBI prepared on our serial killer eight years ago.
In order to disguise his predatory nature, Bright had to be methodical, precise, cautious almost to a fault.
Your point? Well, if the FBI's finest couldn't get to him, it makes me wonder who did.
He knew his killer.
That's good work, Ducky.
How else could someone get close enough to him to stab him to death with a screwdriver?! - DiNozzo? - Yeah, boss? Concentrate on the high school.
Someone there had to have a personal connection to Bright.
- On it.
- Find him.
I'm a forensic scientist, McGee.
I don't need anyone checking up on me.
What I do need is to date those bones.
The ones that we found in Beef Jerky's backyard.
"Marty"? Yes! Why didn't I think of that? Marty got his degree in forensic botany at Penn State.
The roots grew into the bones.
So if Marty can I.
D.
the plant, he can probably give us a rough estimate as to when they were buried.
Way to go, McGee! How did you know what Marty majored in? I didn't.
Who is he? He's just a friend.
"Being with you makes me believe size truly doesn't matter.
Abby.
" Okay, he's a really good friend.
Where the hell did you learn how to type? Do you mind? Your breath's taking the starch out of my collar.
- What've we got? - What've we got? Um, the teaching staff still present from five years ago all claim not to have known Bright.
Well, if they murdered the guy and stuffed him down a chimney, that's not surprising.
Tony? Running down a list of substitutes who used to teach back then.
His wife's a teacher, third grade.
See if she ever worked at Puller.
We checked for Brights already, boss.
There are none.
Check her maiden name.
Her maiden name is Burris, Tony.
Burris Okay, got one hit: Karen Burris.
Subbed for social studies and Western history in 2001.
Social security number listed is the same as Bright's wife.
My mama always told me big things come in small packages.
What a coincidence.
Mine always warned me about tattooed girls bearing samples.
I'm talking about your lab.
I love it.
Yeah? Pretty sweet, huh? Sweet! I'd kill for half this equipment.
Really? What would you do for all of it? What's your crazy ninja sense telling you? She's scared.
I mean, about whether she shanked Beef Jerky and dropped him down the wishing well.
What would you do if you woke up one day and you discovered you were married to a monster? Happened to my father all the time.
We usually just moved.
Ah, that explains it.
Karen, you were a substitute at Lieutenant General Lewis Puller High School.
I - I've worked a lot of schools in the area.
What does that have to do with this? Considering we found your husband petrified in the chimney there, quite a bit.
Karen we know this is hard but we're here to help.
It's important that you tell us the truth.
When'd you find out? Find out? That your loving husband was murdering women who looked just like you? I told you, my husband didn't do those things.
He removed the toes from their left feet.
We think that you know why.
You mind taking off your shoe and showing us your left foot? Please.
Karen? Your husband was an evil man.
That thing was not my husband.
It wasn't the man I married.
It had to be stopped, don't you see? I had no other choice! Yeah, you could have gone to the police.
And have my children live the rest of their lives knowing that monster was their father? No! I had to.
I had to protect them from it.
Gaultheria procumbens evergreen shrub, more commonly known as wintergreen or checkerberry.
We need to see the photo where the sample was recovered from.
It was taken from between the fibula and the tibia.
Go back to the wide shot.
No.
.
Go to that quadrant.
That's your wintergreen, about five meters from the remains.
Judging from the thickness of the root, annual growth rate and the soil samples you brought me, we can calculate roughly how long the body's been buried, plus or minus six months.
You can tell it was a live sample by the tiny little offshoots forming off the main root.
Want to see? Abby? In her position, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing, Tony.
McGee was right, about taking the law into your own hands.
She's lucky she wasn't his last victim.
Karen no one should have to live through what you did.
Believe me when I tell you that there's no jury in the world that wouldn't sympathize with you.
It's not me.
What? What do you want to bet that's McGeek? Rule number 22: Never, ever bother Gibbs in interrogation.
Tony, I don't think it's McGee.
Got it, Abbs, thanks.
You okay, Karen? You're gonna get through this.
Get away from her, Tobias.
The bodies in the yard are not from five years ago.
They're older? No.
They're more recent than that.
Her husband wasn't the serial killer.
She is.
I got to tell you, Jethro, that was that was How in God's name could we have missed that? I don't think God had much to do with it, Tobias.
You know what's really got me freaked out? If her husband's body hadn't gotten hung up going down that chimney five years ago, she'd still be out there.
We'd never have caught her.
I can do you one better than that.
No, can't top that, Jethro.
What was a toe doing in her husband's stomach?