Náhodná svědkyně nahlásí na policii vraždu námořníka, kterou viděla v okně vedlejšího domu. Policisté nic na místě údajného napadení nenajdou a vzdávají se vyšetřování. Na základě tohoto hlášení pošle Gibbs McGeeho vyslechnout svědkyni. Problém je v tom, že v době údajného činu byla svědkyně opilá a natočený záznam údajné vraždy je bezcenný, protože začala nahrávat až poté co v okně vedlejšího domu nebyl už nikdo vidět. McGee však i přesto svědkyni věří a povolá Gibbse a jeho tým na místo činu. Na základě její výpovědi a důkladného prozkoumání místa agenti zjistí, že muž měl dvojí identitu. V posteli objeví důkladně ukryté dva kufříky. V jednom byla zbraò a ve druhém pravděpodobně větší obnos peněz. Když se zanedlouho najde i tělo námořníka, je výpověï svědkyně potvrzena. McGee je pověřen, aby hlídal byt oběti pro případ, že by se vrah vrátil na místo činu. Když telefonuje se svědkyní stane se svědkem jejího napadení, ale na pomoc jí přiběhne pozdě a její vrah mu uniká. McGee se rozpomene, že vrah nosí hodinky na pravé ruce...

The elevator opens on the squad room. Tony walks out listening to another man explain groundhog's day to him. Kate is on the phone making a dental appointment; she is in obvious pain. McGee sympathises. Tony can read upside down. He also knows facts about Kate and McGee that they wish he didn't. Most likely source, Abby. Gibbs enters and sends McGee out alone. McGee seems unsure about going alone; is it a vote of confidence or a test?

McGee arrives on scene and talks with the local LEO in charge. The detective doesn't think there is anything, that the witness was up too late, drinking too much. He makes reference to a video, laughs, and leaves.

McGee arrives at Erin's apartment and she wonders whether he will believe her. Erin shows McGee the video, which has nothing on it since she started the camera after the event was over. But she insists that she saw what she saw and that it was definitely a sailor, he was in his service dress blues. She works for DOD and she knows uniforms. She also went to MIT and is reading a book that McGee is familiar with.

Back at the squad room, Kate is still downing pain pills. Tony offers help through a hypnotist. The phone rings and it's McGee. He thinks there's something there. Gibbs ask do we roll or not? McGee thinks about it for a very long moment and then says we roll.

The NCIS truck with the rest of the team arrives at the crime scene. Tony hopes that McGee has more than the witness' sweet smile to go on. McGee is anxious but determined to be right. The apartment manager lets them into the apartment. It is empty, rented by a civilian named Thorn. Thorn travels a lot and is not currently in residence. Gibbs closes the door on the manager.

Gibbs questions McGee as to why they are there. The bottom line is McGee went with his gut. Gibbs asks McGee what they should do. McGee just stands there. Kate finally says she'll dust for prints. Tony says he'll shoot. Gibbs snaps on his rubber gloves and tells McGee they are not spending a lot of time on this.

Back in Abby's lab, McGee is hovering and irritating Abby. McGee wants there to be proof of the sailor; Abby tells him she's no magician. McGee says that Tony said that Gibbs was testing him. Abby agrees that Gibbs probably is. Gibbs tested Abby and Abby passed. And now McGee needs to go away so that Abby can do her work.

McGee is sitting at his desk, worrying when Tony gives him the crime scene photos. Tony also helpfully reminds McGee that performance reviews are next week. Kate reports on the missing sailors in the area. Abby calls to say that she has a match on the only viable print from the crime scene. The print is of Keith Dillon, who is the only sailor missing in the area. McGee is happy. He was right to pursue it and Erin was not wrong, she saw something. His happiness is short-lived however. Gibbs reminds him that their being right means that a sailor may be dead.

Keith Dillon's head shot is on the plasma. He is still missing from his job in the motor pool. They gear up and go back to the apartment to see what they missed. McGee is still second-guessing himself. "You did want me to get the truck, yes?" Gibbs just looks at him.

Erin is looking out her window into the window of Thorn's apartment. Kate and Tony are re-enacting the strangulation Erin witnessed. Erin gives a few set-up directions and then Kate and Tony go at it for real. As they collapse to the floor, Erin says that's just what it looked like. Kate wins out, giving Tony a shot to the sternum. Tony is face first into the carpet and then starts sniffing. Tony calls for the ALS. Tony finds a urine stain on the carpeting. As the team heads back down to the truck to get their gear for a more thorough investigation of the apartment, they run into the apartment manager. Gibbs asks him for information on Thorn and then closes the door on him again.

Erin comes down to the truck and questions McGee on what they found. Kate chastises McGee for giving her too much information and they head back into the crime scene. They are doing a thorough gathering of evidence when Gibbs decides to open the couch. He recognized it as a convertible sofa bed, having slept on one for seven months. Tony remarks that would be after the third wife. Gibbs' look reminds Tony that it really is none of his business.

Opening the couch reveals the mattress has two cut-outs, both cut-outs have a case in them. Case number one has a pistol in it; case number two is empty. The manager meets them in the hallway as they are removing the couch. He provides Gibbs with a copy of the lease agreement and tries to tell them they cannot take the couch. Gibbs brushes past him. The manager then tries to get a receipt for the couch. The team just keep walking.

Gibbs and Tony are at the motor pool. Tony is flirting with a female driver; Gibbs is interviewing Dillon's CO. The CO doesn't have much information on Dillon, he was a loner. He did want to be a SEAL but didn't make it. The CO pushes Gibbs for why NCIS is investigating a sailor who has only been UA for a couple of hours. Gibbs reluctantly tells him they have a report of a sailor being strangled and found Dillon's prints at the scene, but no body. Tony is still flirting with the driver as Gibbs screams for him. Gibbs asks if Tony got her number, Tony says he wasn't hitting on her and neither was Dillon. The driver was interested in Dillon, but Dillon had a girlfriend. Gibbs asks for the name, Tony replies "Meg. Fits a hot chick like that." and gets a Gibbs-smack. Gibbs meant the girlfriend's name.

Back in the squad room, Abby is giving Kate a pep talk on going to the dentist. Gibbs comes in and wants to hear about the urine test. It was human urine, no drugs, not diabetic, not pregnant. She's working on the DNA and the ballistics, but she did find something in the sofa. As she walks away, Abby mutters she needs an assistant. Gibbs response, "It's not in the budget."

Kate feels that Thorn is an alias. Nothing on his rental application is legit. Thorn paid everything in cash and they didn't bother to check anything on the application. McGee is running down the gun they found in the mattress. Tony reports on Dillon's apartment. No way to tell when he was last there and the girlfriend isn't living there. Then Tony says they are intimate, but not at the moment. Kate scoffs at how he knew that. Tony pulls out an evidence bag and says gynelotrimin. Jill Meyers has a yeast infection and he's calling the pharmacy to get an address. Kate stands there with a horrified look on her face. Gibbs remarks: You may not admire his methods but you gotta love the results. Gibbs leaves to see what Abby has found, with McGee tailing behind.

Down in the evidence locker, McGee asks for a report. Abby wants to know if she has to answer the newbie. Gibbs asks her to humor him. The empty box had traces of cocaine, but that doesn't mean it was cocaine. Could just be money. McGee doesn't understand and Abby insults him. All US money is contaminated with cocaine. McGee thought that was an urban myth so Abby will prove it to him. She asks him for a bill. McGee gives her a hundred; he likes to be prepared. Abby calls him a boy scout. Abby lectures him on how cocaine gets on the bills and walks away, back to work. Gibbs is leaving. McGee wants his hundred back. Abby plays with him, but returns it.

McGee's cell phone rings. The local LEO who dismissed Erin's initial complaint is calling. They've found the body in a port-a-potty on a construction site.

At the crime scene, McGee tells Tony it was his gut and his gut was right. Tony indicates that McGee's certainty came from an area lower than his gut.

Kate is trying to shoot photos but the smell from the port-a-potty is getting to her. She tells Ducky that he is up and they comment on how disgusting port-a-potties are. Gibbs and the detective talk, someone tried to make it look like a mugging. The detective compliments McGee's instincts, Gibbs scoffs. Then Gibbs hollers to McGee to get his coffee. The detective leaves, asking to be kept posted.

Ducky examines the body in the port-a-potty. The body was definitely moved, definitely strangled, based on the marks probably by an electrical cord, and he's been dead 12 to 14 hours. Tony goes to get Kate to start the search grid. Kate is in extreme pain, bad enough to ask for Tony's hypnotist's number.

McGee comes up with Gibbs' coffee. Gibbs takes a drink and then asks McGee what they do next. McGee outlines what they need to do while we watch Ducky and Mr. Palmer place paper bags over Dillon's head and hands and tape the bags shut. Gibbs approves of McGee's list of tasks and McGee is pleased, feeling he has passed the test.

Ducky is examining the body. He finds synthetic fiber in Dillon's hair. Ducky speaks to Dillon, saying that the attempt at making his death look like the result of a robbery was amateurish, not a very good red herring. Mr. Palmer says that's a funny expression and Ducky explains its origins, demonstrating how to drag a smoked herring along the ground. Mr. Palmer says he finds it fascinating, yet when Ducky offers to explain white elephant to him, Mr. Palmer finds he must get the evidence up to Abby immediately. So Ducky explains white elephant to Dillon's body.

Abby is in her lab firing the gun found in the couch. McGee and Erin are in her lab supposedly working on a composite sketch of Thorn. Abby reacts in her usual jealous mode when McGee pays attention to another female, but the bottom line is that Erin does not know what Thorn looks like and she and McGee are busy doing software things. Mr. Palmer shows up with the sample from Dillon's hair. Abby is not amused.

Tony and Kate track Jill Meyers down to the bowling alley she works at. Turns out Jill is married, her husband is serving in Iraq. Jill says there is no way her husband knew about Keith and that she was going to send him an E-mail breaking up with him. Keith wanted Jill to quit her job and move in with him. Keith was expecting to come into some money but Jill didn't know how. All she knew for sure was that he was angry about not making it as a Navy SEAL.

As they walk away, Kate is distressed that Jill would break up with her husband through e-mail while he was serving in Iraq. Tony says he will never marry, there's no up side to it. Kate says married men live longer. Tony says it just seems that way. Then he lectures Kate on anthropology and marriage and cave men. Kate calls Tony a Neanderthal.

Back in Abby's lab Gibbs arrives and turns off Abby's music and she complains. Gibbs doesn't understand how she can work with that on, but Abby says it helps her concentrate. Right now, she's concentrating on the fiber Ducky found. It's from the lining of a trunk of a car. Gibbs drops off the application for the gun purchase and asks her to pull a print off it. He turns Abby's music back on as he leaves, directing Abby to do the print work NOW.

Back in the squad room, McGee is getting ready to take a shift watching Thorn's apartment. Kate has rescheduled her dental appointment again but she has seen the therapist. Gibbs wants a report. Kate starts and Tony interrupts to say it was all about the money. They think Thorn took the money and he is coming back for his weapon.

McGee is in Thorn's apartment, talking to Erin on the phone, talking about how he ended up as an NCIS special agent given his educational background. We hear thumping and realize that someone is breaking into Erin's apartment. She tells McGee she will be right back and goes to investigate. Erin realizes someone is trying to break in and she rushes back to her bedroom and locks the door. She tells McGee someone is trying to break in and McGee says he'll be right there. The bedroom door is kicked in and McGee sees this through the window. McGee races down the stairs and into the street with the cell phone still pressed to his ear. He gets there but it is too late. Erin is dead on the floor. McGee gets down to look at her and is struck from behind. The assailant runs out of the apartment. McGee gets up, shoots, and takes out a lamp. McGee tries CPR but it is useless.

Out on the street there is a big gathering of police and emergency vehicles. McGee is being treated by an EMT. Gibbs and the detective are talking about what McGee did or did not see. Gibbs tries to claim the crime scene but the detective is having none of it.

Kate comes over to talk with McGee and he is full of recriminations. All the things he should have done or should have done better. That he did what he should have and that he tried his best doesn't matter; that it is not his fault doesn't matter. The end result is the same: Erin is dead and he didn't save her.

Tony is interviewing the apartment manager when the detective shows up and takes over. The manager is describing someone in dark coveralls fleeing the scene. Tony looks at Gibbs and backs off as Gibbs' phone rings. Abby tells him she got a match off the gun, it was used in two unsolved murders. Gibbs half-smiles and tells Tony to cancel Ducky, they're leaving.

Back in the squad room, McGee is just sitting at his desk staring, not doing any work. Tony is tracking down the files on the other two murders. Tony comes over to McGee and tells him that he can either sit their and second guess himself or he can get back on the job and catch the bastard. Gibbs shows up and Tony goes to report on the other two murders. It looks like both murders were hits. McGee is still just sitting there. Kate shows up having finally had her root canal. She reports there was nothing to it thanks to Tony and his hypnotist. Kate suggests that they try the hypnotist on McGee to help him recover memories of the crime scene. Gibbs is more than skeptical but finally says why not. McGee doesn't think he can be hypnotized, which elicits that half-smile of Gibbs.

They're all back in the apartment and McGee is hypnotized. The hypnotist is describing the process and saying being back at the scene helps. Gibbs notes that a whack to the head helps as well. McGee is completely hypnotized and starts recalling what happened after Erin came back to the phone. McGee cannot see the attacker's face but he can see his hands and a watch. The hypnotist brings McGee out of it.

Gibbs is on the phone with Abby who has managed to pull a print off of the gun purchase agreement. And she matched it. Petty Officer Dillon and Thorn are one and the same. Thorn was the alias Dillon used when he was being a hit man. So who murdered Dillon and Erin? Whoever stole the money from the sofa.

McGee keeps flashing back on the watch. McGee realizes that the watch was worn on the right wrist. He leaves the apartment and goes and bangs on the door to the apartment manager's apartment. There is no answer, but the manager appears in the hallway, carrying a bag of groceries. His watch is on his right wrist. He had keys to Thorn's apartment and the detective had told him that Erin witnessed the killing. Gibbs tells the manager that they will be matching the fibers in the trunk of his car to the fibers found on Dillon's body. The manager shoves his bag of groceries at Tony and tries to run for it. He makes it to the street and runs out into traffic where he is hit by a car and falls to the ground.

McGee catches up to the manager and pins him to the ground with his knee, pointing his gun right into his face as the manager begs him not to shoot. McGee fights with himself, wanting to kill the man. Gibbs is on the sidewalk shouting at McGee. "If you're going to shoot him, you should have done it while he was running." Gibbs takes charge of the suspect.

Back in the squad room, Tony is playing with his food. Kate criticizes him and Tony starts a food fight. McGee asks them to stop as he is trying to write something. Tony offers to help but McGee just wants quiet. Tony begins reminiscing about his first report. Kate says Gibbs made her rewrite hers twice. Tony had to redo his first report five times. Gibbs comes in saying it would have been more but he took pity on him. Gibbs delivers McGee's report to him telling him good job. Gibbs also tells Tony and Kate that if there are any more food fights in his squad room, he'll join in using peas. Not frozen, in the can.
Tony and Kate realize that McGee is not writing his report so they come over to see what it is.

Tony reads: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kendall. McGee is writing a sympathy note.