Plot

Gibbs and company investigate a body wearing a dress-blue uniform of a three-star admiral; Tony recognizes the victim; they first suspect another P2P killing; however, Ducky suggests otherwise. The gang find both the killer and the motive.

The Virginia SP calls the NCIS about a plastic-wrapped body wearing a dress-blue uniform of a three-star admiral; EJ and her team have left town, so Gibbs and company investigate; Tony recognizes the victim as his former partner as a homicide detective for the Baltimore PD; Tony experiences flashbacks (which include Gibbs) from his time as a city kitty. The MO appears to be that of the P2P killer except in one detail, which leads Duckman to contact Gibbs about two serious matters. Abby points to one suspect, so her three musketeers bust him, but he proves to be not the right one. The gang persist, and they eventually figure out both the most recent killer and the motive for the killing. The flashbacks show the path of Tony from Baltimore to the Navy Yard. [The P2P case to be continued.]—DocRushing

A man microwaves himself dinner but is jumpy when he hears a dog bark outside. He reaches for his gun and checks out the window. Reassured, he sits down to his TV dinner and a beer. He takes a swig but is immediately concerned. He sniffs the beer then tries to stand. He wobbles. He reaches for his gun and tries to crawl but collapses.

Someone comes in and stands over him. With gloves on, they pour more beer down the mans throat until he stops breathing. Death by brewski.

Tony comes in to work super agitated about having lost his cell phone. He tears through his desk, but comes up empty.

Gibbs arrives with a report from McGee written in tech speak about the eyeball from the Port to Port Killer opening MTAC. They still don't know who it belonged to. Tony offers that Barrett and her team left for Hawaii last night following a new lead.

Gibbs lends Tony his phone, so Tony takes the call about the body of the week.

They arrive to find the victim shrouded in plastic wrap. Gibbs tells them not to call Barrett. The victim is in a three star admirals uniform. They unwrap his body first and find a fortune cookie. They cut open the plastic to his head. Ducky estimates he died about 12 hours ago, right around when Barrett left town. They remove the plastic and Tony freezes. Its his old partner.

Later Ducky talks to the victim Danny Price in the morgue. The body was cleaned and given a manicure like the others and killed with the same knife. He was also sedated. Tony volunteers they worked homicide in Baltimore together. He was a reservist. Ducky offers that he had cirrhosis, indicative of a drinking problem. Tony says he was asked to retire after Tony left for NCIS. He has a tattoo of a scorpion on his forearm.

Flashback to Baltimore 2001, Danny showing off his fresh tattoo. Tony makes a movie reference and laughs around with the hookers. The major announces Tony is the winner of the stationhouse pool championship. He wins a Mighty Mouse stapler. They work on the Franklin murder. Their suspect is Joey Peanuts.

Gibbs visits Abby in the lab. She tells him what the fortune in the cookie said: Keep your friends close but your enemies closer She traced it back to Dau Huang Fortune Cookie Company and can tell it was put in at the factory, which means the killer had access.

They wonder what the fortune means. Gibbs knew Danny, too.

Danny and Tony stakeout Joey Peanuts. They're eating Chinese. Danny gives him a fortune about love, telling him he was brave to ask out his high school music teacher. He lectures Tony on dressing like a slob, but Tony doesn't care because he plans to be married before he has to dress nice. They see Joey with another guy and get out to approach him. Both men take off running. Tony follows the other guy and tackles him. The guy punches him but Tony sits on him and draws his gun, telling him to freeze. It's Gibbs.

Ziva and McGee go to the fortune cookie company. Dao Huang is a Russian guy, who points out China is next to Russia and his parents emigrated there. He sees his company's logo on the cookie, but says it isn't one of his sayings. It's a forgery. He says it could have been made from one of the trays taken in the robbery a few weeks ago, along with the safe.

Back in Baltimore, Tony confirms Gibbs is NCIS. Gibbs claims he was undercover and let Tony catch him. Gibbs got a tip someone was using a Navy payroll office to launder money. Tony ruined the sting, but he points out Gibbs was supposed to notify Baltimore PD what he was doing. Tony realizes Gibbs wanted to get busted to gain street cred. I don't like being played but, well played, Tony tells him.

Ziva recaps the robbery at the bakery, which was five weeks ago. There was no evidence left behind. There was a report a junkie did it.

Gibbs asks Tony if he's OK. This has nothing to do with that, ancient history, Tony says cryptically. He says he is concerned that Abby is right that the killer is targeting their friends. We protect them by catching the killer, same as you did before, Gibbs tells him.

Danny and Tony interview Joey Peanuts, who claims he doesn't know the victim. His prints were at the scene. Finally Joey admits he was in his car a week ago picking up a duffel bag with $50,000 of dirty money. He claims hes just a courier, his boss does the laundering. Joey says the victim was mad about the size of the vig and threatened to kill his boss if he didn't get a refund. They think his boss killed Franklin first.

Ziva proclaims the junkie a dead end. Ducky comes up to say there was a minor error in one of his reports five weeks ago. Palmer transcribed the knot type as a constrictor instead of a double constrictor. This matters because Danny was tied with the single constrictor. We have a copy cat, Jethro, and one who has access to our internal records, Ducky says.

McGee is running a check to see how they were hacked. Gibbs tells the team to re-run everything, maybe this killer isn't as careful.

Tony comes in and announces he found his phone. He lets slip that he left it at EJs. But there was a message from Danny from two days ago. He says hes been thinking about things and isn't the only one who saw what he wanted to. He says they need to talk.

Cut to Tony and Danny watching Joey Peanuts wait to hand off cash to his boss.

Danny asks about the engagement ring he found in Tony's jacket. Tony confesses he asked Wendy to marry him and she said yes; he's taking the ring to get resized. They see Joey's boss arrive, he looks like a military man. Tony wonders why anyone would want to be a navy cop.

Ziva is analyzing tax receipts to find people who bought three or more of the items the Port to Port killer did. Gibbs scans the faces and picks out Peter Sears, who he saw at the crime scene. They find him in the photos. He's a computer tech. Gibbs cites Rule 35: Always watch the watchers.

Back at the department, Tony and Danny play Joey's tape for the Major, in which the suspect says he took care of their problem permanently. They didn't pick him up because Gibbs wanted to trail him.

Gibbs calls, the suspect is Lt. Ian Floyd, he works in the payroll office. He tells them the weapon was a P 99, he had the evidence transferred. Gibbs dodges a call from a wife, but answers the one from the divorce lawyer. Tony is impressed at the speed of the ballistics report. NCIS Agent Chris Pacci gives Gibbs the personnel file he requested on DiNozzo. He says his ulcer is acting up and jokes that its going to be the death of him.

The team busts in on Peter Sears, who is psyched to be getting arrested. There's a body wrapped in plastic on his floor. It's a mannequin.

Back at NCIS, Tony lays out all the Port to Port paraphernalia Sears had. Sears freaks out. I'm the worst loser on the entire planet. I haven't even started yet and I got arrested, he moans. He says he hasn't done anything yet.

They check his alibi, he's a part time birthday clown and was working when Danny was killed.

McGee reports two guys were just arrested in Ohio and claim they have info on the fortune cookie bakery robbery. And he found EJ issued an update to local LEOs that included the constrictor knot info. He stole the report while doing tech work at a police station. The copycat is someone who had access to that report.

Tony chases Lt. Flynn down an alley and almost catches up when Flynn draws a gun. After some banter, Danny pops out with a gun and disarms Flynn. So thats how its gonna be? Flynn says.

Tony pays a visit to Danny's place. There's a picture of Danny, Tony and the major. McGee calls Tony, who says he's following a hunch.

McGee reports they caught the bakery robber, but he was in Dayton when Danny was killed, so he's not the copycat. Tony plays the voicemail from Danny again, in which he says he's been thinking about things, old friends, TV dinners.

Flash back to Tony paying a visit to Danny as he sits down to a TV dinner. Tony says he's spent the last two days trying to pretend to didn't see betrayal in Flynn's eyes when Danny arrested him. Tony pulled Danny's phone records and found tons of calls to Flynn over the last two months.

Tony accuses him of being a dirty cop. Danny admits he was sending potential clients to Floyd, and if they laundered money he got a kick-back. He claims he had no idea Floyd was involved in their murder. He asks what Tony's going to do, then gets up and throws away his TV dinner.

I'm going to take a walk, I guess if you're still here when I get back Ill have my answer, Danny says as he leaves out the back.

Tony whirls around to the open front door behind him. Gibbs walks in. He had a hunch.

Back in the present, Tony hears Danny say in his message that there are things I messed up, things right in front of my face I should have seen. But I'm not the only one who saw what he wanted to. We need to talk, better late than never.

Again, Tony whirls around to find Gibbs in the front door. Tony says he always wondered why Floyd didn't turn Danny in. Theres only one reason to be afraid of sending a dirty cop to jail, Gibbs says. (if) theres another one you can't, Tony concludes.

There was a silent partner Danny didn't know about, but learned about recently. He thinks Danny was looking for redemption.

Tony pays a visit to his old department to a round of applause. The Major greets Tony warmly, but he starts out telling him he got the fortune cookie trays from the evidence locker. Tony says Danny figured out Floyd wasn't the killer and was going to turn him in. The Major knew Tony wouldn't drop it so he tried to distract him with the Port to Port killer.

Back at NCIS, Ducky and Abby tell Gibbs that she didn't send Ducky the email about the typo in the report, but someone wanted them to know there was a copycat. They think the email was from the real killer.

As the team goes off to check it out, Tony remembers visiting NCIS with greased hair, shades and a leather jacket in jeans.

Gibbs shows Tony around and he explains hes leaving Danny alone, but also can't go back to Baltimore. He says he's not sure he wants to be a cop anymore and earns a Gibbs head slap. Gibbs cites Rule No. 5 is: You don't waste good, and tells Tony he's good.

Gibbs takes him to Human Resources: Agent Application Division. Tony walks in to see a smoking hot babe at the desk. So much for his fiancée.