NCIS s02e08 Episode Script

Tell me he's asleep.
Dr.
Byers saw to that.
Gave him Percocet before she left.
If I were her, and he called me in at 2:00 in the morning, I would have killed him.
Yeah.
It's Gibbs.
No, you did not wake me up, DiNozzo.
Okay, I'll meet you there.
Hey, can you drop me by Bethesda? Ho.
You got here quick.
Where were you? Home asleep.
Asleep, maybe, but not at home.
I got you on your cell.
Drop it, DiNozzo.
Do not make this a challenge, Kate.
I will find out.
See ya.
Looks like you and I were the only ones flying solo last night, McGee.
Speak for yourself.
'Morning, Boss.
Where? First floor.
A - wing.
Some kind of explosion.
Guy went up in flames.
Name? Commander Michael Dornan, Safety Officer on the Kennedy.
It just got back from the Gulf.
Yeah, Friday.
Been complaining of chest pain.
Had open heart surgery four days ago.
Doctor who led the team that operated on him is on the way in.
I'll talk to him.
Uh, that would be a her, boss.
Commander Janice Byers.
Come on! Whoa, that had to hurt.
What the hell happened here, Duck? The source of t conflagration appears to be internal.
The majority of the damage is confined to the torso.
He was receiving oxygen through a nasal canula.
Still, it would have needed a source of ignition and I seriously doubt it could've caused this kind of damage.
Could he have been smoking in bed? Corpsman saw him ten seconds before the explosion.
Dornan was out cold.
Hey, boss Listen, I know this may sound far-fetched, but Will you spit it out, McGee? Spontaneous human combustion.
Where's the surgeon? She's in the waiting room.
Just got here.
Probie, what are you thinking? Spontaneous human combustion?! It's an urban myth.
Actually, Tony, we shouldn't disregard the notion.
Stories of the phenomenon go way back - to the Bible, in fact.
Although it wasn't popularized until Dickens.
Charles Dickens? Yes.
He used spontaneous combustion to kill off one of his characters, Mr.
Krook, in the novel Bleak House.
It caused a minor uproar.
Dickens was accused of perpetuating the age-old superstition.
I saw that movie.
The silent version or the British mini-series? They were talking.
Commander Dornan was complaining of pain.
He insisted the night staff call me in.
"Insisted"? The commander liked to throw his weight around, especially with the junior nurses and the corpsmen.
Normal post-op pain? To appease him, I did an echocardiogram and he was fine.
I gave him a Percocet for the pain so he could fall sleep.
Oh, Jethro, I'll be uh - You headed back? - Yeah.
Commander Byers, this is Dr.
Mallard, our M.
E.
Dr.
Byers is the surgeon that operated on the victim.
Dr.
Mallard's a man of few words.
I don't have any more questions for you right now, Doctor.
Thank you for your time.
Sure.
What exactly was the procedure? Aortic valve repair.
Congenital aortic stenosis? Acquired.
and the prognosis? Everything went well.
I was expecting Commander Dornan to be back on active duty in two months.
Ah thank you.
Uh, I may have to ask you a question or two after the autopsy.
I'll give you my numbers.
Too bad you didn't get to bed at a sensible hour.
I mean, to sleep, cause obviously, you were in bed.
I get it, Tony.
McGee Yeah, boss? Stay here.
Meet with the engineers and the plant manager.
I want this oxygen system completely checked out.
On it, Boss.
Everything in this room goes back to Abby.
Everything? Right.
Background the victim.
This is the beginning of a very long day.
Yeah.
Too bad you had such a short night.
I must say, I was very intrigued by your doctor.
I'm not quite re why.
Did you find her that way, too? Looks like he burned from the inside out.
It does, doesn't it, Mr.
Palmer? Oh, that's the remains of his stomach.
Make sure they get to Abigail for content analysis.
Uh, Doctor? Yes? Does it help you to talk to them? They're still human.
What we do is very invasive and impersonal.
It helps me establish a relationship.
Hey, Gibbs.
I hear you're not a fan of SHC.
That a band? No.
Spontaneous human combustion.
Don't waste my time, Abbs.
If you read my Master's thesis, you may become a believer.
Doubt it.
I can show you photos of what was left of a 240-pound woman.
Yeah, but you won't.
She was sitting in a chair.
All that was left were blackened seat springs, a section of backbone, one foot still in a satin slipper and ten pounds of ashes.
The rest of her apartment was untouched.
Abby, you know what? Just tell me what caused the explosion.
Ooh! A bribe! That always works.
So I checked out all the electrical equipment from the hospital, trying to find the source of ignition.
Nothing; everything's in perfect working order, including this monitor,which recorded the victim's vitals up until the point of blastoff.
Somebody went a little postal with the fire extinguisher.
It complicates finding trace evidence.
The commander was being barbecued.
I doubt they were concerned with forensics.
- True.
- You don't know what caused the explosion? Other than SHC? All right, get with Ducky.
Maybe together you can solve it.
Roger that.
When he's finished slicing and dicing, we'll go bang heads.
Don't cause any sparks.
No, that's more than enough for now.
Thanks for your time, Doctor.
I was thinking of becoming a doctor.
You.
A doctor.
Anthony DiNozzo, comma M.
D.
Let me guess: a gynecologist.
Ooh, no, I was thinking more dermatologist.
Normal hours.
Big bucks.
Never an emergency.
I mean, nobody ever died from a zit.
I had a terrible case of acne as a kid.
Of course you did, Probie.
Boss, plant engineer says oxygen is supplied to the rooms through a central system.
They did a complete check and everything was in order.
Day shift concurred with night shift: The commander was a pain in the ass.
Divorced, ten years ago, no kids.
Wife's happily remarried, living in Santa Fe Parents are retired.
One sister, and they're being notified by CACO.
DiNozzo Harrison? Hi.
It's Harrison.
I'm glad you called.
I never cease to be amazed by your skill, Abby You know, when I was a young M.
E.
, we used to recreate crime scenes using interns.
You also used to listen to "records" and do the jitterbug.
Actually, I was quite the hoofer.
Let's see it, Abbs.
Based on the condition of the body, the burn patterns and debris scatter, we were able to recreate the explosion.
Doesn't tell us much.
Watch when I rotate it That's the point of ignition.
What caused the explosion? Well, this was taken from that area of the mattress.
I also provided Abby with epidermal scrapings from the victim's upper left torso.
And the spectrometer found minute traces of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate on both.
Matches.
Light my fire, McGee.
Someone struck a match and ignited the oxygen.
Well, according to the corpsman, the commander was asleep.
This was no accident, Gibbs.
Barbeque Boy he was murdered.
Get back to Bethesda.
Review their security tapes.
Find out how someone got into that hospital room and then managed to get out without being seen.
On it, boss.
Start a timeline.
the explosion.
I want to know every doctor, nurse, orderly, visitor that went into that hospital room.
Okay.
You two are going to Norfolk.
Dornan spent the last nine months on the Kennedy.
I'll get the car.
What are you so jazzed about? He knows that the first person you'll be talking to is the NCIS Agent Afloat.
Special Agent Paula Cassidy.
You're kidding.
She was reassigned there.
What am I missing? Paula Cassidy is a rather attractive agent that DiNozzo drooled all over last year when we were at Gitmo.
Enough talk, Agent Todd.
Let's go.
Okay, Zero-two-32-eight-Q would be this way.
Last time we were on a carrier, you were the one who got lost.
Not me.
I wasn't lost.
I was momentarily disoriented.
Like you were with Paula in Gitmo? I'm not the type to kiss-and-tell, Kate.
It's not like you to be discreet, Tony.
She's something special, isn't she? Is he something special? Who? Mr.
Short Night Harrison.
Six is two down this way.
No.
It's this way.
Trust me.
I'm right.
We have to check in with the XO.
Why don't you take care of that? Why don't you? Because I outrank you.
That'll be six up and three to the left.
She is something special.
Enter.
I was expecting Gibbs.
Disappointed? Hi.
You've been back a week.
You didn't call.
Oh I've been gone months.
I didn't get any e-mails.
Well, I figured you'd be too busy to reply.
You were at sea with 5,000 men.
I had trouble choosing.
Guess I'm a hard act to follow.
Actually, I was afraid of making the same mistake.
Ooh, wow.
Full contact.
There.
Nice.
Let's start over.
I'll go back outside and do this again.
It won't change anything.
Commander Dornan really blew up? Literally.
There was no accident? Doesn't look that way.
Was he having trouble with anyone aboard the ship? Safety officers are generally disliked.
They have the authority to stick their nose in anyone's department; no one can say a word.
That sounds like Gibbs.
So Commander Dornan made enemies.
Made an art of it.
Definitely sounds like Gibbs.
So I've just been pulling files of all the people he put re put on report.
Could be the record for a cruise.
How the hell did pure oxygen accumulate in the chest cavity? I do not know, Jethro.
I mean, lungs, I can understand.
The commander was receiving oxygen through a nasal canula.
But the fire originated outside the lungs in the cavity.
Dr.
Byers! You're early.
No traffic.
Copies of Commander Dornan's medical records.
Ah! Thank you.
We were finished, weren't we, Jethro? We were, Ducky.
Ducky? Yes.
It's something I was tagged with in school in my youth.
I used to resent it.
Now I quite like it.
So do I.
Well, have you finish the autopsy? Yes.
Oh, oh, yes, there was one question I wanted to ask you.
Why did you choose to perform a valve repair as opposed to valve replacement? It was a close call, but Commander Dornan was insistent.
If we replaced the valve, he wouldn't be able to go back on active duty.
Ah, yeah.
True.
But the team felt that the valve was repairable, and it was.
Ironic, though, isn't it? We saved his life only to have him die in a freak accident.
I'm afraid it wasn't an accident.
I reviewed the hospital's surveillance tapes with security.
Between the end of visiting hours and the fire, all but five people can be identified as hospital personnel.
I downloaded them onto my laptop.
You eliminating the hospital personnel, McGee? No, boss.
No.
Definitely not.
I'm gonna check them all out.
In the meantime, I'm going to run the five images through the face-recognition system.
Just give me one second and I will have them up on the plasma.
Agent Cassidy.
Special Agent Gibbs.
Agent Cassidy pulled files on everyone Commander Dornan put on report.
Not a people-friendly guy.
Yeah, we'll have to get into all that.
You ready? Yeah.
My first pass at facial recognition will be against a database of military personnel and government employees.
I can save you the trouble.
That's Ensign Evan Hayes.
He's in the Engineering Department on the Kennedy.
Commander Dornan rode his ass.
More than the other young officers? Yeah.
He did not like him, and I'm not sure why, but it got so bad that Ensign Hayes verbally threatened him.
DiNozzo, give me the Report of Investigation.
There isn't one.
Commander Dornan asked that I not write one up.
That he would handle it himself.
NCIS special agents do not look the other way because they're asked to, Agent Cassidy.
That wasn't what happened.
Yeah? What happened then? I felt sorry for the kid.
He didn't deserve the abuse.
Some people can handle it and he couldn't.
And I didn't think it should show up on his record.
Get Ensign Hayes in here, Agent Cassidy.
DiNozzo, you go with her to make sure.
Is that Dornan's surgeon with Ducky? Ducky's older, Kate.
He's not dead.
Ensign Hayes went U-A, Agent Cassidy.
Isn't most of the ship on leave? Not Ensign Hayes.
Commander Dornan put him on Rivet Watch.
He was restricted to the ship.
Two days ago, he walked off.
This is his quarters.
We've put out calls.
Can't find him.
Thank you, Chief Velat.
We're going to take a little look around.
Scuttlebutt's Commander Dornan was murdered and Ensign Hayes did it.
You've been in the Navy long enough to know not to listen to scuttlebutt.
Yes, ma'am.
But I wouldn't blame him.
Dornan rode him from the minute he came aboard.
Why do I get the feeling you know why, Chief? Captain Dornan and I both served under Ensign Hayes' father, Captain Hayes.
Dornan was a lieutenant then, who needed to be put in his place, and, boy, did the old man do it.
This cruise was payback time.
I got to go topside and make a phone call.
Thank you.
The EKG and the IVAC recycle at timed intervals.
I was able to salvage the last seven minutes of Dornan's vitals.
I thought you could use them.
Thank you.
Are you making a statement with this tie, Ducky? Oh, too much, you think? Oh, no, no, no.
You can pull it off.
So, what's the big event? Dinner date? Oh, too ordinary.
What then? I thought I'd show her something that reveals who I am.
If she gets turned on, too, we haven't wasted our time.
You're the man, Ducky.
Mm.
Why can't I find someone like you? Well, if this doesn't work out, I am available.
I'll be right back.
Evan! What're you still doing here? You promised me you'd go back to your ship.
I can't, Coach.
Now, come on- a two-day absence can't be that serious.
It's more than that.
What? Did you call your father? No.
He could help you.
Commander Dornan put me through hell because of him.
You can't blame everything on your father.
You've got to take responsibility for yourself.
You're throwing away your career.
I I never wanted to be in the Navy.
But you are.
Promise me you'll go back to your ship, all right? Set things straight.
Hey, Coach! We're ready.
All right, all right.
I'll be right there.
Hey, you're going back.
Hey, Coach.
Thanks.
Keep me posted, huh? Ensign Hayes was recorded on the hospital security tape at 0203.
The explosion that killed Commander Dornan wasn't until 0317.
Where was he in between those time Find him and you can ask him.
Any hits on his cell phone or credit cards? Nothing.
Kate.
Dornan punished Hayes with port watch.
He was one of the few left on board.
Most of the others have scattered.
They were away for nine months.
The few I could track down haven't heard from him.
Ensign Hayes was your typical Navy brat.
His family moved around a lot when he was young.
Went to high school in Alexandria when his father was assigned to the Pentagon.
Talk to the parents? The mother.
When Captain Hayes retired, they moved to Scottsdale.
She seemed a little concerned because she hasn't heard from her son since the Kennedy made port.
E - mail his photo to the locals.
It's done, boss.
DC, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.
You need anything from your sleeping quarters? What you're thinking that's against regs.
Great.
You can handcuff me.
It's not going to happen, DiNozzo.
We're both game players.
Too much alike, huh? We would drive each other crazy.
Crazy's good.
Yeah.
Hey.
What you working on? Stomach contents.
Gastric juices and glandular secretions.
This is whacked.
What is whacked? Something's is missing that should be here.
I going to have to lock you up for the night, Commander.
No! Don't put me back in the dark! Abby, you made me almost Made you almost what? Jimmy You know what! Where's Ducky? He left early.
Can you get him on his cell? Something wrong? I guess he doesn't want to be disturbed.
When you asked me out, I didn't expect to be touring the basement of the Smithsonian.
This is where they prepare the exhibits.
Can't you just feel the history, Janice? Where do we start? This is my favorite.
These were used by army surgeons Joseph Woodward and Edward Curtis at the postmortem of Abraham Lincoln, performed in a guest bedroom at the White House.
The Lincoln Bedroom, hence the popular misconception.
Lincoln never slept there.
How do you have access to this? Oh, I consulted on Lincoln's autopsy.
That is the ball fired by Booth that killed Lincoln.
These bits of bone are skull fragments.
You're are an unusual man, Ducky.
Would you care for a bite to eat? We just got here.
How does a woman like you end up in the Navy? My father's a retired Chief Petty Officer.
You ever contemplate private practice? Actually, my obligation to the Navy is up.
I'm leaving next month to accept an offer from Columbia Pres.
New York.
Now that is exciting.
Thanks.
NCIS, Special Agent McGee speaking Thanks.
What? Why are you being so, tough on Agent Cassidy? I haven't done anything to her yet.
You made her spend the day, alone, with DiNozzo.
She survived.
They're on their way back.
Wait, boss, one second.
Okay.
Got it.
Thank you, ma'am.
Ensign Hayes just made a charge on his credit card.
A hotel on Braddock Road, Alexandria.
Contact DiNozzo and Cassidy.
Have them meet us there.
You man the phones.
Kate, come on.
Let's go.
Gibbs, NCIS.
May I see that, please? Okay.
What can I do for you, Agent Gibbs? You just checked in an Evan Hayes.
What room's he in? It would be illegal to release that information.
We're investigating a crime and we need to speak with him.
Then I suggest you get a warrant.
Hayes is in the United States Navy.
As you just saw, I'm a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
I don't need a civilian warrant.
You are absolutely correct there, sir.
You need the military equivalent, a DD-553.
You a law student? Second year at Georgetown.
Gonna give you a lesson tonight in practical law.
I'm going to ask for Hayes's room key, politely, and you're going to hand it over.
Key? Hotels haven't used keys in years.
If he has to wake up a judge, nobody is going to be happy.
Okay.
But announce yourself first.
That's in compliance with the recent Supreme Court decision.
All right, Tony, you're with me.
Kate, seal off the hallway.
Paul, you got the service elevator.
We announce, and then we go in.
Okay.
NCIS! Get your hands up! Get your hands in the air.
Up, up, up! Get 'em up! Party's over.
Get up! Where's Ensign Hayes? Put your hands down.
One of you checked in as Evan Hayes.
DiNozzo, search them and find the credit card.
Let's see some I.
D.
Just give it to him, Jonathon! Thank you, Jonathon.
Where'd you get this? A guy gave it to me.
Gonna have to do better than that, Jonathon.
Look, I swear it's the truth.
Okay, we were hanging out after swim practice and this strange guy just walked in.
Really spaced.
He he just handed me the card and said that we should have a good time with it.
That he didn't need it anymore.
It's true, mister.
He was trying to get rid of us.
He said he wanted to use the pool.
And you didn't think that was a little weird? Well, yeah, but, I mean, he said could party with his credit card.
Where's the pool? Alexandria Central High.
Agent Cassidy! You and DiNozzo baby-sit these people until their parents get here.
And collect their car keys.
Aw Come on, man.
Nobody likes a whiner, Jonathon.
Nice shirt.
See? I knew we'd end up in a hotel room tonight.
Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS.
Get down on your stomach.
Spread your arms and legs.
Quickly.
I'm done taking orders.
Do it now, Ensign Hayes! No, son.
You don't want to do that.
Then put the weapon down.
Can't.
I've got to cover my partner.
Isn't that right, Kate? Right.
A woman? I would never hurt a woman.
Okay.
I'm holstering my weapon, okay? All right, your turn.
I've been trying to pull this trigger all night but I can't 'cause I'm a coward.
You're not a coward.
You just don't want to die.
I can't spend the rest of my life taking his orders.
Commander Dornan pushed a lot of people's buttons.
Not just yours.
Commander Dornan he's he's not my problem anymore.
This is the only place I ever felt safe.
It's the only place, I was ever happy.
All right.
Let's talk about it.
It's too late to talk.
Don't do it.
That's Evan.
He was troubled but I had no idea he was suicidal.
He was suspected of murder.
Murder? Evan? No way.
We think he killed a superior officer at the Bethesda Naval Hospital Tuesday.
Tuesday? When? A little after 03:00.
That's impossible.
He was with me.
He called.
He woke me and my wife up.
He wasn't making any sense.
I told him I'd come get him.
I picked him up in front of the hospital around 2:00.
You must have the wrong time.
No, I'm certain.
Well, it's not possible because Agent Todd, I'll meet you up in the squad room.
No, Gibbs, that would mean How long were you with him? We sat up talking all night.
About what? Mostly his father.
They had a lot of problems.
Ensign Hayes tell you why he was at the hospital? Said he wanted to confront someone who was giving him a hard time, but he lost his nerve.
Ensign Hayes has an alibi? What's going to happen? Nothing.
You did everything by the book.
I killed an innocent man, Gibbs.
It was suicide-by-cop, Kate.
Get over it.
We focused on the wrong guy.
No one went in or out of Commander Dornan's room between the time the corpsman checked up on him and the explosion.
What about the corpsman? I checked his record against the commander's.
Their paths never crossed until the commander came in for surgery.
There were four others on the security video you couldn't identify.
Right.
I've cleared three of them.
One is still unknown.
And I'm on it.
Go back to the ship.
Go over your files again.
Agent Gibbs, I need to explain There's nothing to explain, Agent Cassidy.
You didn't file a report.
Now two naval officers are dead.
Would it have mattered? We'll never know.
DiNozzo, go down to the lab.
Go over all the physical evidence from the hospital room again.
Uh, what am I looking for? I'll figure it out.
Good morning, Mr.
Palmer.
Oh.
Is that the Ensign Agent Todd shot? Yes, sir.
Oh, dear.
Oh, Abby wanted you to see this as soon as you got in.
Mr.
Palmer, I want Commander Dornan's remains back on the table.
Kate, how are you? Well, I shot an innocent man, That give you y ideas? I'm sorry.
I need a service record.
Stop playing with my equipment.
Well, I haven't had a woman say that to me in a long time.
Sorry.
You break anything, you're dead meat.
What you working on? Evidence analysis report, DiNozzo.
I think you misspelled tetrafluoroethylene.
I'm a great speller.
Don't you have somewhere else to be? Gibbs told me to go through physical evidence.
Oh, he expects you to find something that I didn't? Just another set of eyes, Abbs.
I really need to finish this.
Sorry.
Dornan's personal effects? Yeah.
Ooh.
He didn't only have heart problems, this guy was blind.
Did you find any trace of cigarette ash? In an oxygen fire? I don't think so.
Wait.
I did find something that might be a cigarette filter Abby I think I know how the oxygen was ignited.
Here's the service record you asked for, Ducky.
Thanks.
Thanks, Kate.
Abby, what do you got for me? Not me.
Cecil B.
DiNozzo.
Stalag 17.
GI uses a cigarette as a time fuse to blow up a Nazi train.
Come on, guys.
Don't try this at home, McGee.
It's for grownups.
DiNozzo How do people do this? Okay, cigarette becomes a time fuse.
Check this.
In real time, it takes about 12 minutes for it to reach the matches.
Cool, huh? The killer placed it next to Dornan's side, under the tented sheet, next to the open oxygen line.
Then he left the room.
Who was there 12 minutes before the fire? Dr.
Byers.
She was the one who murdered him? He wasn't murdered.
Commander Dornan died as a result of his surgery.
Only Dr.
Byers made it look as if he was murdered.
Who was she trying to frame? No one.
She was covering her mistake.
In 1995, she was the subject of a malpractice investigation on a heart valve repair, almost identical to the one she performed on the commander.
So how do you know that he was dead before the fire started? I compared Dornan's previous EKG's to the last IVAC recording.
That heartbeat wasn't his.
She still could have murdered him.
Well, not intentionally.
Duck You trust my gut on this one.
Everything is fine.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Ducky, what a pleasant surprise.
Special Agent Gibbs.
Janice, there was no Percocet in Commander Dornan's stomach.
I'm glad it's over.
Dornan was in pain and demanding to see me.
I rushed to the hospital, did an echocardiogram, and realized not replacing the valve was a mistake.
It was failing.
Why didn't you operate immediately? When I told him, he became hysterical.
He went into cardiac arrest.
I tried to resuscitate him but couldn't.
A second failed valve repair would end my career and the job at Columbia Pres.
I panicked.
I tried to cover up.
I placed the EKG sensors on my own chest.
I turned off the audible alarm, cleared the record data and reset the time/date stamp ahead 15 minutes, disconnected the oxygen tube from his nasal canula and inserted it into his incision so the oxygen could accumulate in his chest cavity.
Then using one of his own cigarettes and a matchbook I placed it on the bed.
On my way out, I stopped the nurses' stationand told them that I had sedated him and he was resting and to check on him in a half hour.
Janice you didn't kill him.
But I did by not replacing the valve in the first place.
This is Paula.
Leave a message.
Hey, it's me.
Come on, just cause you're pissed at Gibbs is no reason not to return my calls, right? So dial the number, 'cause you've got it.
Okay.
Sometimes, you've just got to know when to let go, Tony.
You don't really expect me to take advice about women from you, do you? I could stay here and argue the point, but I have a date.
So now what? I don't know.
You can't let any woman affect you like this, Duck.
Especially one you didn't know that well.
My concerns are more immediate.
I have two tickets for the opera tonight.
She was going to accompany me.
Jethro? No.
I wonder if Kate would be interested.
Do you know where she is? No.