A Year of NCIS, Day 227: Prime Suspect (Episode 10.17)

Episode: Prime Suspect, Episode 10.17.

Air Date: March 5, 2013

The Victim: I don’t think they ever named her.  She’s not military.

Emotionally Traumatized, But Ultimately Irrelevant, Witness Who Finds the Body: A lady is showering.  She hears, and we see, a door in her apartment open.  But she brushes it off.  From a perspective outside the door, we see the lady’s cat emerge from the bathroom and jump on the bed. 

An intruder approaches the bathroom, the music gets creepy. The lady ends her shower, steps out of the tub and cleans the fog from her bathroom mirror.  Then the bathroom door opens, and she turns, startled.  If you were expecting a marital misunderstanding before the happy couple find an actual body, then the show got you.  Because this lady is the victim, and she gets stabbed to death by a person unknown.  While her cat screeches.

Hell of an opening.

Plot Recap: We open on a television news reporter describing the attack on the woman.  The reporter attributes the attack to a serial killer, the Dead Rose Slasher, back after a three-year absence. 

We see Gibbs, mid-haircut at a barber shop, watching the report.  He tells his barber, Frank, that he helped Abby add a third deadbolt to her door the previous night.  The news shows a sketch of the killer and, at that point, the barber has had his fill and turns off the TV.  Gibbs asks about a fishing trip and the barber says he didn’t feel like going.  He says he’s worried about his son, Cameron, who, since he got out of the Navy is listless, jobless, and depressed. Gibbs plays it off and calls Cameron, “a kid.”  Frank says Cameron’s mother had a way of getting through to him, but he doesn’t.  Gibbs compliments Frank on raising Cameron, but Frank is concerned because the DRS sketch looks just like Cameron.  Gibbs thinks it’s a generic sketch that looks like a bunch of guys.  Frank has other concerns: the murders started when Cameron was a student at nearby Hamilton, where the first victim died.  Then they stopped while he was away for three years in the Navy.  Gibbs shakes his head again and calls it a coincidence.

Wait, what?  Who is this man?

Frank calls Gibbs out, so we don’t have to, for his sudden change of hearts on coincidences.  Frank asks if Gibbs remembers Cameron leaving college.  We learn Cameron was an amazing left-handed QB and he lost his scholarship to injury.  Frank says he was too ashamed to tell Gibbs the truth, but Cameron was accused of date rape.  Eventually all the charges were dropped, but he still got kicked out of school. 

Gibbs is still running interference and says it was a long time ago.  And I have honestly never seen a man so desperate to implicate his son for murder.  Frank says Cameron wasn’t home the nights of the last two killings, and I’m starting wonder if Cameron is hoovering up all the beer and potato chips the way I did once when I lived with my parents between jobs.  What other reason could there be for trying this hard to get your kid picked up for questioning by the feds? 

Franks asks what he should do.  He says he can’t go to the police and implicate his own son.  Although he kinda already has.  Hope Cameron doesn’t off a sailor or a Marine.  But even then, Gibbs offers to get involved and work his connections for evidence that will eliminate Cameron as a suspect.  Frank would like Gibbs to do this without mentioning Cameron’s name, since if Cameron finds out, it will cause tension in their relationship.  Yeah…like when Metro tries to pin the murders on Camron anyway.

Yeesh.  There are quite a few ways that this can go wrong, but Gibbs is walking out the door, so let’s get to exploring them.

Dorney’s back!  NCIS’ favorite off-screen Probationary Special Agent, Ned Dorneget, enters the squad room and returns McGee’s video game controller.  Tony thinks Dorney should be studying for the GS-11 exam instead of playing video games.  McGee assures him that Gibbs was the last person who took the GS-11 and that it’s obsolete, but Tony claims Vance wants to reinstate the exam.  Tony by himself would be suspect, and Dorney doesn’t bite, but Ziva backs Tony up.  Tony tells Dorney he can ask Vance himself.  And Vance does appear, looking for Gibbs, but since it’s Haircut Tuesday, Tony says Gibbs will be a bit late.  Vance says to send Gibbs along when he arrives and leaves.  Dorney wimps out and does not take the opportunity to determine if the other agents are fucking with him about the GS-11.

Abby arrives.  She has sent McGee a security video that he pulls up.  The agents gather and briefly discuss Vance’s mental state as the director walks up the stairs.  But then they turn their attention to Lance Corporal Douglas Alexander and a mystery passenger leaving the base at Norfolk.  Lance Cpl. Alexander stole over $120k from the base store where he worked and promptly vanished.  So far, NCIS has had no luck locating him.  McGee says he’s a big guy- 6’5”, 220- and should stand out.  Abby was able to enhance the passenger’s face.  It’s an attractive woman and facial rec has identified her as Melissa Tourney. 

Gibbs arrives and stays just long enough to tell the team to find Tourney, and to get an unwanted compliment on his haircut from Dorney.  Then he gets the news about Vance seeking him, and heads in the opposite direction towards the elevator.

We move to a crime scene, presumably where our victim was killed in the opening.  Bart the reporter is badgering Detective Shard about the victim’s name, and Shard says Bart can find out when everyone else does at the police chief’s press conference.  Gibbs walks up and introduces himself.  Shard seems leery.  Of all his rules, “Always tell the truth” appears nowhere in the collection, so Gibbs makes some shit up and says he’s investigating an attempted homicide and the suspect favors the sketch of DRS.  He asks what the sketch is based on and Shard says a witness saw a perp running from the scene of Victim #2’s murder three years previous.  The current girls all fit the same profile, the weapon is the same, the victims are posed the same way, and the killer leaves a dead rose.  Shard has no fingerprint or DNA.  Gibbs asks if they have anything that can eliminate his suspect, and Shard says the stab wounds suggest the killer is left-handed.

Oopsie.  Like a certain left-handed ex-quarterback.

Shard asks if Gibbs’s suspect is left-handed.  Gibbs plays dumb and says he’ll check.

Gibbs is back on his real case, and Ziva backgrounds Tourney.  She’s a professional dancer who works under the name Misty Blue.  Gibbs says that sounds like a stripper, and Tony, having just caught the lunch show at Tourney’s place of employment, confirms this.  Gibbs just stares.  Tony calls it following a lead.  McGee laughs to himself.  Torney’s co-workers said that she met Lance Cpl. Alexander a few weeks back and they’ve been hot and heavy ever since.  She hasn’t shown up for work the last three nights.  Ziva checked out her apartment and she has moved out.  McGee has tracked Tourney on a flight to the Bahamas.  She appears to be traveling alone and has booked a room.  Tony suspects that Lance Cpl. Alexander will show soon enough and volunteers for a field trip.  Gibbs surprises everyone and actually lets him go.  But he has to take Dorney.  Which is a total win because Dorney is gay and will offer neither competition (McGee) nor blockage (Ziva) for anything Tony wants to do with his free time.

In autopsy, Ducky is coming down from a jog.  He is cardio-rehabbing after his heart attack last season.  Till Death Do Us Part, Episode 9.24.  Gibbs confirms that Ducky is still friends with Tom Hubbard, the Metro M.E., and asks Ducky to work Hubbard for information about the DRS autopsies.  But without letting on who is asking. 

McGee sees Dorney off at the elevator.  He warns Dorney not to let Tony probie him.  Dorney is far too confident that this won’t happen.

Ziva has apparently been requisitioned into Gibbs’s pro bono case.  She backgrounds Cameron Dean, including the date rape allegation.  Cameron joined the Navy after leaving college, served overseas for three years and is now in the reserves.  McGee says he seems to have straightened out but is currently living with dad and collecting unemployment.  He has no criminal record.

McGee would like to know why they are looking at this fella.  Gibbs, surprisingly comes clean, and compares the photo of Cameron to the DRS sketch.  Ziva notes the likeness.  Gibbs says it’s not their case and he’s not going to give a kid over to the police on a father’s paranoia.  So, if they don’t want to help, he’s prepared to let them off the hook.  They’re all in, though and Gibbs, at McGee’s request, hands over Cameron’s cell phone number so they can discretely check him out.  Gibbs also sincerely thanks them.  Which is rare enough that they probably feel really warm and fuzzy inside.

Gibbs is sanding something in the basement when he hears someone upstairs.  Vance comes down, says he has an hour left with the babysitter, and asks if he can join.  Vance was at group bereavement counseling.  Well, allegedly.  He couldn’t make himself go, so he’s eating his feelings in the form of double chocolate brownies.  Gibbs asks how he’s doing.  Vance needs space and is sick of sympathy looks.  He means Abby, and Gibbs lightly defends her as someone who cares too much.  It’s a feature, not a bug.  He thanks Vance for the brownie but then asks why he’s really there.  Vance says Metro called and wants to know why Gibbs and Ducky are sticking their noses in the DRS case.  Gibbs says it’s nothing official and he’s just helping a friend.  He doesn’t identify Frank but says Frank has been there for him.  Vance lets it go at that.

McGee is at a bar, surveilling Cameron.  He transmits a text to Ziva, who enters and sits down next to Cameron.  Cameron seems to have his eye on another gal, sitting at a table, working on her computer.  McGee snaps her picture while Ziva engages Cameron in conversation.  Or tries to.  Cameron is still interested in the other girl.  And when she gets up to leave, he breaks it off with Ziva to follow her.  Since the girl fits DRS’s profile, Ziva and McGee decide to follow.

Off to the Bahamas.  Tony is lounging poolside.  Dorney arrives, late.  He blames a 3:00 AM wake-up call he got from the front desk for keeping him awake and causing him to sleep late.  Also, Dorney is dressed in a suit, so he’s not exactly blending in.  Tony reports that Tourney is nearby and tells Dorney to look discretely.  But Dorney is terrible at discretely.  Either way, the assignment is to wait around for Lance Cpl. Alexander to meet up with Tourney.  And hope it takes him a few days to get there so they can enjoy themselves. 

Tony sends Dorney to buy beachwear at the gift shop and then calls home.  He laughs about the wake-up call and Ziva and McGee tell him to stop being a dick.  Tony plays nice and turns the camera feed to some attractive ladies for McGee to look at.  That lasts about as long as it takes Gibbs to ask for a progress report. 

Gibbs turns off the feed and asks his agents about Cameron.  They report on their evening and say that Cameron followed the girl to her place but never approached her, and then he went home to his dad’s.  McGee is starting to get the connection and asks if Frank is Gibbs’s barber.  But Detective Shard is in the squad room and wants to chat about why Gibbs is nosing into his case.  He would also like the name of the suspect.  Gibbs says he has nothing to share because all he has is a passing resemblance to a sketch.  He asks if there’s anything besides left-handedness that would eliminate his guy and now Shard knows Gibbs’s suspect is left-handed. 

Gibbs gets a call from Ducky and blows off Shard.  But Shard smells a rat.  He introduces himself to Ziva.  And takes a sly look at Cameron’s file on her desk.

Gibbs visits Ducky.  And lets him know he could have been more subtle.  But Gibbs isn’t mad and moves on to what Ducky knows.  Ducky says the two recent murders are identical to the old ones.  The killer is absolutely left-handed, and the same knife was used.  This we knew, but Ducky says all the victims were intravenous drug users.  Which Shard omitted to tell Gibbs.  Ducky says there may be more.  He says Hubbard the M.E. has a twitch tell when he has a good hand at bridge.  During their conversation about the DRS, Hubbard was twitching up a storm.

In the Bahamas, Dorney has white zinc lotion all over his nose and is wearing a silly Panama Jack hat.  Tony is making Dorney go-fer him food, and even Tourney is amused by this odd couple off to her right.  Dorney has had his fill though and refuses to return the burger to get one without mustard.  He even whips out his NCIS manual and quotes a rule to Tony.  Weatherly does an amazing job here because one quick smile conveys amusement at both Dorney having an NCIS manual on a beach, and the fact that Dorney actually thinks he will have to take a GS-11 test.

Tourney is still laughing at them and Dorney notes it.  Tony says she has been staring at him and thinks it’s time to make contact.  It has hit a point where it will draw more attention if he doesn’t.  So, Tony wanders over.  He offers to join her, and Tourney figured Tony and Dorney were an item.  Dorney holds up his ladies fashion magazine, smiles shyly, and waves.

In fairness, bickering gay couple is the perfect cover for an op like this.

In the squad room, the home team is watching Bart the Reporter describe another DRS victim, found at a hotel frequented by addicts.  McGee is hopeful that it’s not the girl from the bar, but Ziva doesn’t think she fits the drug user profile.  Vance is there too and asks where Gibbs’s guy was the previous night.  Gibbs’s phone rings and he figures it’s Shard calling to ask the same thing.  It’s Shard, but he’s calling as a courtesy to let Gibbs know he’s picking up Cameron for questioning.  He’s cocky enough to say he got Cameron’s name by reading it upside down on “that cute agent’s” desk.

Gibbs hangs up and reports to the rest.  Ziva asks how Shard got the name, but Gibbs, having pulled Ziva into this, chooses not to add to her burden and ignores the question.  He tells her to make sure the girl is still alive and tells McGee to haul Cameron in for questioning before Metro finds him.  Vance offers to run interference with Metro.

Gibbs visits Frank.  He asks if Cameron was home in the morning.  Franks says he wasn’t and is concerned as to the implications.  Gibbs waves that away but tells him about police interest.  And then admits NCIS got careless.  Frank is angry and regrets involving Gibbs, and Gibbs can offer only scant comfort. 

Cameron is in interrogation.  Gibbs joins. Vance watches from observation.  Cameron claims he was looking for work in the morning.  He describes it as first come first serve day labor at a construction site.  Gibbs shows a picture of the girl from the bar and asks why Cameron was following her.  He gets agitated and then sees the sketch of the serial killer and gets it.  He claims he was following the girl as a favor to a shipmate stationed in Bahrain.  It’s his wife and he thinks she’s cheating. 

Vance gets a visit in observation from Shard.  Who is not happy.  He beats on the window at Gibbs and even threatens Vance with obstruction if Gibbs has fouled up the investigation.  Gibbs is over it and comes into observation with his mean face on.  And his creative mind.  He tells Shard they’re holding Cameron for 24 hours for stalking a Navy dependent and shows him the photo of the girl.  He also makes sure to tell Shard they verified she’s alive.  Shard isn’t convinced that this means Cameron is innocent, particularly given he’s a dead ringer for the sketch.  Gibbs demands access to Shard’s files.  Shard says Gibbs has “big ones,” but Vance moots the point by saying that he spoke to Metro and learned how backed up they were with cases.  He offered help and the chief decided a fresh set of eyes would help. 

Gibbs and Vance make a good team.  That’s a solid political angle that Gibbs could have never pulled off, but Gibbs gave cover with his Navy dependent stalker bit. 

Lance Cpl. Alexander finally makes his appearance in the Bahamas.  Dorney is studying his manuals and notices him in the lobby.  He texts Tony, who is about to re-apply sunscreen to Tourney.  Tony gets the text, and Tourney wonders if his friend is checking up on him.  She also gets a text and announces her friend has arrived.  Tony calls her “too good to be true,” and bids his farewells.

In the lobby, the young lovers link up.  Tony walks up and wants Tourney to introduce him to Lance Cpl. Alexander.  Lance Cpl. Alexander gets suspicious of hanky-panky, but then Tony flashes his badge.  Lance Cpl. Alexander thinks he has been set up and turns to run.  Dorney is blocking the way, and gets slugged to the ground for his trouble.  Tony winces and then gives chase to the perp.  To his credit, Dorney follows.  Tony tackles Lance Cpl. Alexander and Dorney awkwardly lands on his head, but they make the collar.  Tony gives Dorney a hard time for saying, “Please stop!” though.

Back home, Vance joins Abby in the elevator.  He wanted to chat.  She’s worried she’s in trouble.  He asks for a favor: help for his daughter Kayla on her science project.  Abby is naturally excited…in a way you would not be if your boss asked you to babysit.  But it’s clear from the earlier chat that Vance wants Abby to feel useful, so she’ll stop wondering how to help him.  He’s managing her good intentions, so he doesn’t have to face the hangdog pity in her eyes.  Abby does ask how Kayla is handling her mom’s death, and Vance says she’s good but could benefit from the presence of a strong adult woman.  Then Abby asks if Vance would mind if she gave him a hug.  He lets her…

…and is saved by the appearance of Metro’s forensic examiner Ramsey Boone, who is excited about working with Abby, who he knows from way back.  Ramsey leans in for a hug from Vance too, but that will be quite enough of that.  Vance leaves and Abby and Ramsey look at the evidence and high five over the impending all-nighter.

The next morning, McGee reports that Cameron’s buddy in Bahrain confirmed his story.  Ziva reports that Cameron was on the wait list for the construction company.  And Tony exits the elevator with Dorney and his collar.  Lance Cpl. Alexander wants his lawyer, but Tony doesn’t care.  He sends the prisoner off to lock-up with Dorney.  Tourney is being detained pending extradition, McGee gets a too-small t-shirt as a souvenir.  “It’s good to be back,” Tony crows.

In the lab, Gibbs has double Caf-Pows.  Ramsey introduces himself and recognizes Gibbs by Abby’s description of his haircut.  Abby appears and says Shard was holding out alright.  The slasher left a plain silver wedding band hidden in the mouth of each of his victims.  The only people who know that are Ramsey, Shard, and Tom Hubbard.  And the rings are the link between the recent murders and the murders from three years prior. 

Oh yeah, and they found the killer’s DNA.  Ramsey and Abby start a mutual admiration society as to who found what until Gibbs gets mad and yells, “Where’d you get it?!”  Abby found a teensy bit of blood on the thorn from the rose left with victim #2.  It’s not Cameron’s blood.  But it does belong to a fella named Leo Winkler.  Who also matches the sketch.  But who is dead.  Which means that the current slate of killings is being committed by someone else entirely. 

Tony and Dorney get caught up.  Dorney is especially bummed that he has missed out because he is obsessed with the DRS case.  Ziva notes that “Abby and her boyfriend” solved the first three murders, and McGee angrily says that Ramsey is not her boyfriend. 

Ziva reveals that Leo Winkler died in a bar fight.  Ducky explains that Winkler was born to a drug-addicted woman whose name was Rose.  He was killing women like his unwed mother to keep them from having children first. 

Gibbs and Cameron are walking together.  Gibbs asks if he wants a ride.  Cameron would like to know why he was suspected and followed.  Gibbs admits someone thought Cameron looked like the police sketch.  And then Frank steps off the elevator and Cameron figures it out.  He decides he’ll take the stairs rather than hang with his father.  Gibbs catches up and asks Cameron what he would do in his dad’s shoes.  Cameron says his father has no idea who he is and never believed in him.  He turns to leave and Gibbs says not to cut his dad out because he only gets one father.  Cameron pauses and Gibbs says to talk to his father.  But Cameron leaves.

We still have a killer to catch.  In Vance’s office, Shard says the wedding band evidence was a kept a secret to discredit false confessions.  He admits he never considered a copycat, but only himself, Hubbard, and Ramsey knew about the wedding band.  Shard swears by this, but then pauses when Vance asks if the information was on any electronic databases.  He says he gave a redacted summary to Bart the Reporter when the case went cold, figuring publicity would generate leads. 

Shard has handed over a copy of the summary to NCIS, and the sloppy asshole forgot to redact one reference to the wedding band.  Ziva reports that Bart the Reporter never got another lead story after DRS went cold the first time, and Bart was rumored to be on the chopping block at the TV station.  A few more killings later, and Bart the Reporter is back on top.  Gibbs sends Ziva and McGee to run down Bart.

Vance and Abby are exiting the elevator and discussing Kayla’s science project.  They walk into the evidence locker area so that they can look at Abby’s research on Kayla’s behalf.  Then they see Dorney, and Vance asks how his eye is doing after it’s sudden encounter with Lance Cpl. Alexander’s fist.  Dorney is fine, so Vance asks a follow-up about why Dorney is highlighting old manuals.  Dorney says he is preparing for his GS-11 exam.  Vance says they haven’t given the exam in over 20 years and asks who told Dorney otherwise.  Dorney fingers Tony and Vance says, “Dorneget, you’re being probied.”  Dorney says that Ziva confirmed it, and Abby says that this is because Tony did the same thing to her, and she studied for three months. 

Vance…Vance is all in for getting Dorney some payback. 

Fun.

Dorney appears in the squad room with a red folder looking for Tony.  But work first.  Ziva has surveillance video of Bart the Reporter’s car and license plate near an alley where the most recent victim’s body was found.  McGee tracked Bart’s cell phone and it was turned off for the period matching the TOD.  Even Shard figures Bart should have left the phone at home, turned on.  Although, if that’s the best they got…Shard is not optimistic about a search warrant.  Until Dorney notes that Bart is left-handed.  Everyone turns and Dorney says he watched all of the reports the previous night and Bart holds the mic with his left and wear a watch on his right.  That’s still super-thin, but not TV search warrant thin.

Back to pranks.  Dorney looks around and then drops the red envelope on Tony’s desk. 

Bart is reporting on location.  Gibbs and Shard approach and Shard announces a break in the case.  They tell him about the DNA and Winkler’s death and the copycat.  They show Bart pics from the warrant search they did of his house.  Gibbs notes that the camera crew has been filming this entire exchange, so he gleefully narrates Shard’s arrest of Bart on camera.

Tony returns to the squad room.  Dorney is there too, to watch the carnage.  Tony opens the envelope. It’s Tony’s expense report from the Bahamas.  With a note from Vance.  The report has been rejected and Tony is being audited for the last two years.  He howls with rage and Dorney smirks and escapes.

We close in Frank’s barber shop on Haircut Tuesday.  As Gibbs pays and leaves, Cameron comes in.  An acoustic guitar song plays, and Frank asks if this is Gibbs’s doing.  Gibbs tells him to have a nice day and leaves the men to talk.  The camera follows him to his car, and he looks back at the sign of the barber shop which, amusingly, says, “Frankie’s Crew Cuts.”  Then Gibbs pulls out his phone, dials a number, and says, “Hey, Dad.”    

Quotables: None.

Ziva-propisms: None.  Amazing.

Tony Awards: None.  Even more amazing.

Abby Road: Abby kept it together.

McNicknames: McGander.  Gibbs calls Tony, “Skippy” when he tells him to behave himself in the Bahamas.

Ducky Tales: Ducky tells bridge stories.

The Rest of the Story:

-Dorney was last seen in Up in Smoke, episode 9.23.  But he gets mentioned all the time.

-The Metro M.E. is named Tom Hubbard.  He has been mentioned before, in The Inside Man, Episode 7.3.

-Vance, and his kids, are still getting over the death of his wife.  Shabbat Shalom, Episode 10.11.

-McGee and Abby used to date.  Reveille, Episode 1.23.  It was years ago, but he’s still possessive.

-Gibbs and his father didn’t speak for nearly two decades, so he knows that of which he speaks.  Heartland, Episode 6.4.

Casting Call: Nobody jumps out.         

Man, This Show Is Old: Nothing really dates this one, other than the cavalier dismissal of Cameron’s date rape incident.  Just because an accuser drops or doesn’t pursue criminal charges doesn’t mean it didn’t happen (doesn’t mean it did either), and a show today would thread that needle more carefully.

MVP: Dorney.  Come on, he got face-punched and still chased the perp.  And he came up with a solid clue.

Rating: This one is a good mystery, and the Tony/Dorney odd couple adventure was a lot of fun.  Vance and Gibbs worked well together, and it was fun to see Vance getting in on office pranks.  Actually, everything Vance did in this episode was good.  Solid, low-key Vance episode.

It’s also nice to see Gibbs look fallible.  He got personally involved in a case that wasn’t his, fouled up his approach in dealing with the kind of cop he ordinarily disdains, pissed off his friend, and had to make it right.

All in all, a well-crafted one and done.  Seven Palmers. 

Next Time: A Marine dog handler dies, and his dog helps out on the case.

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Alex Barfield is an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. When not practicing law or writing about NCIS, he chases his children around, volunteers at his church, grumbles about exults over Atlanta sports (Go Dawgs! Go Braves!), and looks for other television shows to obsess over. He can be reached at albarfie@hotmail.com or on Twitter at @AlexBarfield1 or on Facebook.