- Gibbs and company investigate the murder of a member of the US Navy; EJ has investigated three previous similar deaths, so Vance gives her the lead. A suspect turns out to be another victim. Ziva's boyfriend is something else. [Continued.]
- The Virginia SP calls the NCIS about a body wearing the stripes of a captain in the Navy; Gibbs and company investigate; McGee says that the victim is not a captain but rather a seaman; Ducky comments on the seaman's eyes; Duck and Palmer describe the unusual cleanliness of the corpse. The gang track the movements of the apparent killer; Gibbs and Tony visit the victim's pad, where they meet EJ, who has investigated three similar deaths with identical MO. Tony and EJ make peace, but Gibbs and EJ do not. McGee identifies a suspect and finds a local address, so Gibbs invites him to his chat room. However, Gibbs receives from a reliable source that the suspect is not the right man, so the gang reexamine the evidence; then they pursue a different suspect, who turns out to be another victim. Ziva's boyfriend proves to be something else. Gibbs gives EJ an order. While Tony and Ziva talk over drinks, another customer sends her a message. [To be continued.]—DocRushing
- At a loud bar, a guy finishes chugging his beer and splashes all over a blonde. He tries to apologize, but makes it worse. A while later, security helps him out the door. He's walking down the street when he sees a talking baby doll in an alley. Just sitting there, saying "Play with me, please play with me."
He bends down to investigate when someone grabs him and slits his throat from behind.
Ziva comes in to work, talking to Ray on the phone, all glow-y. She's meeting Ray in New York next weekend and they're going to the opera. Tony asks why they haven't met him.
Gibbs announces the body of the week: a dead naval officer in Virginia.
The victim is wrapped in plastic in a field. His ankles are bound. Duckie cuts open the plastic wrap. The man is in a dress uniform. He's clean, with no defensive wounds. He's been dead about five days.
McGee runs his prints and finds he's seaman Derrick Balfour -- but he's wearing an officer's uniform. There's a Metro card in his pocket from after he was killed. His eyes were positioned to look toward DC.
At the office they find he was scheduled to ship out for his second tour in Afghanistan in a few weeks. He has an old drunk and disorderly charge, but cleaned up. Ziva learns about his clubbing.
Ziva turns around to find her boyfriend Ray Cruz standing there. She introduces him and they learn he's CIA. Tony instantly doesn't like him.
In the morgue, Duckie tells Gibbs that Balfour died from his throat being slit. There's no trace evidence. His fingernails were manicured and cleaned. He had traces of cleanser on him. Duckie thinks it might be someone in law enforcement.
Vance drops in. Gibbs bristles at the meddling but plays it cool.
Upstairs, Tony and Ray chat in the men's room. Tony is proud of his "C-I-Ray" nickname for him. Ray announces he's in love with Ziva.
He says he wants Ziva's friends to be his friends. He mentions she has said Tony is like a brother to her. Tony doesn't seem thrilled with the characterization.
Ray gets a text. Back in the office, he tells Ziva he has to see an old associate.
They find charges on Balfour's card after he was killed. Someone is staying in Balfour's apartment.
Tony and Gibbs go to the apartment. The super opens the door. They find a neatly made up, empty apartment. There's an out of place chair upside down outside the fridge, which is completely empty. In the freezer, they find a flower in the ice cube tray.
E.J. Barrett strolls in, saying a killer has killed three dead navy men in nine months. She's been tracking him since Rota, Spain. The killer leaves things. She claims the case.
Back at the office, angry Gibbs barges in on Vance, asking why Vance didn't tell him. They're calling him the Port to Port Killer. The victims are always wrapped in plastic and cleaned. At the last body in Guam, he left a peanut at the scene.
Vance reiterates that EJ has the lead.
At work, Tony gives EJ grief for just showing up at the crime scene. He says she should have mentioned it last night when she was at his place wearing his Elvis Costello t-shirt. She suggests they end things since they're on the same case. He agrees. Then invites her over to dinner that night. She offers to bring wine.
The flower left in the freezer was rare. The weapon was surgical. The cleaner was iodine-based and only sold to hospitals.
Abby is having a hard time adjusting to Barrett, mostly because she hates change. Gibbs hugs her and assures her nothing will change.
Later that night, over a candle light dinner in the break room, Ziva rants about EJ, saying she doesn't trust her. Ray says he has something to tell Ziva, but they're interrupted when she gets a text message. He says it can wait.
Later, EJ briefs the team on the suspect profile from her side of the room. She suggests they come over. Tony starts to, but Gibbs says they're fine where they are. A line is drawn in the sand.
The suspect is wealthy and entitled. He's killed in Japan, Guam, Spain and now US. They think he's multi-lingual.
EJ thinks the killer isn't going anywhere. Gibbs asks if it's a hunch. She challenges him, saying she thinks the killer is smart and high-achieving. But Gibbs disagrees.
McGee finds an old email to Balfour from a rich kid med school drop-out named Bruce Leitner. He's been to all three of the countries where murders occurred recently. He has an apartment in Georgetown.
EJ talks to Leitner in interrogation -- for about 15 seconds before Gibbs joins her and tells her she's in his chair.
She stands. Gibbs steps over her questions. Leitner admits he hated Balfour. Gibbs shows him the autopsy photo. He doesn't let Leitner answer EJ's questions. Leitner says Balfour made a move on his girlfriend.
EJ tries to ask him questions but Gibbs takes her out of the room.
In the hallway he lectures her on the right way to run an investigation. She wants to prove Leitner was in all four cities at the time of the murders, but he thinks they should tie him to Balfour's and go from there. Abby calls him.
EJ follows him to the lab. Leitner got a DUI a while back and had blood drawn. He had a rare virus that traced back to a Spanish fishing village, which proves he was in Spain at the time of the Rota murder. Barrett gloats.
In the elevator, Tony stops it to tell her not to tangle with Gibbs. She points out Gibbs isn't on Vance's good side at the moment.
Then she mentions the case might take a while to wrap up. She says she could get used to the office. She's cozying up to him when the doors open and Ziva and Ray see them.
EJ says hi to Ray. Ziva asks how they know each other. He's the CIA liaison on the Port to Port Killer case and has been the whole time. Ziva is pissed.
In the park, he says it was need to know info and he wasn't allowed to tell her. Ziva is really angry and doesn't believe he's being honest with her and is using her. He says he loves her, but she doesn't believe him.
Finally, he tells her Leitner isn't the guy --he's a mule for the Syrian government that they've been tracking for 16 months.
Ziva storms off.
At the office, she immediately tells Gibbs that Leitner isn't the guy. That's enough for Gibbs. He announces it but EJ is skeptical.
They look at the crime scene photos. The uniform Balfour is in has the wrong medals. Gibbs wants to look into airline hubs.
He orders EJ to stay put.
In MTAC they find Esprit airline goes to all the murder cities. Six employees have naval records and one was in the murder cities when the crimes took place -- Nathan Finney, a retired F18 pilot. He has an address outside of Alexandria.
Gibbs, the team and EJ head to Finney's house. It's empty. But there's a bouquet of the rare flower on the back porch on top of a large freezer. There's a body inside.
It's Finney. In autopsy, Duckie finds he's been dead about six weeks.
Vance reads both EJ and Gibbs the riot act, demanding results.
Outside his office, Gibbs asks if she's sleeping with Tony. She says it's not against policy. He says it's against his policy. He doesn't trust her and tells her to leave his team alone.
Ziva drinks alone at a bar. Tony joins her. (It's a club soda.) She insists she's fine, but Tony insists on company.
Tony reminds her that Ray has a sworn duty to protect what he knows and Ray cares about her. She says he lied and it's over.
She asks Tony about EJ. He says he understands her.
The bartender brings Tony a drink, saying a guy in a booth ordered it for him. They look and no one's there. Tony looks in the glass and sees an eye ball frozen in an ice cube.
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