Smoked (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Smoked
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 4
Episode = 10


Airdate = November 28, 2006
Production = 4x10
Writer = John C. Kelley, Robert Palm
Director = Dennis Smith
Guests = Scottie Thompson as Jeanne Benoit, Liza Lapira as NCIS Special Agent Michelle Lee, Joe Spano as FBI Agent T.C. Fornell, Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer, Don Franklin as FBI Agent Ron Sacks
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Twisted Sister
Next = Driven

"Smoked" is the 80^th episode of the drama television series "NCIS". This episode ties up a previous plot strand by marking the mending of Gibbs' and Ducky's friendship. It is also the second and final appearance of Marty Pearson, the little person romantic interest for Abby, as Michael Gilden, the actor who portrayed him, committed suicide one week after the episode aired.

Plot

A team of builders uncover a body concealed in the chimney of a school on the Quantico base. As the body has been inside the chimney for so long, it had literally become smoked, leading to trouble for Ducky when it comes to determining the time of death. After giving an initial estimate of a few months, he soons discovers it is actually nearer to five and a half years. He and Jimmy are stunned when they discover a foreign object in the dead man's stomach; a human toe.

Back at the office, Abby attempts to identify the body using fingerprints, but during her search, the file begins to delete from the system and when FBI agent Fornell shows up at the office, the investigation becomes even more complicated. Fornell tells the team that the fingerprints Abby scanned were from an unidentifed serial killer that his team have been hunting for 12 years and makes it clear he wants to take over the investigation. He reveals details of the killings to the team, including that the murderer chewed off the toes of the victims. Gibbs and the team are reluctant to hand over control of the investigation, considering the body was found in their jurisdiction.

After Abby discovers a likely facial match from the missing person database, Gibbs and Fornell visit the last known address of the missing man, and find his wife and two children still living there. Upon seeing the wife, Gibbs and Fornell realise the striking similarities between her and the multiple victims of the killer. When the rest of the team arrive to search the back garden, Tony finds a skull in a shallow grave and a full-scale investigation ensues.

A lengthy investigation follows, during which several more bodies are located in the family's back garden. Ducky discovers that the dead man was murdered, and further speculates that he likely knew his killer. This insightful information leads the team to discover that the dead man's wife had strong connections to his place of death and after an interrogation by Gibbs and Fornell, she quickly confesses to the murder, claiming that she discovered 'the truth' about her husband's killing spree and wanted to save her children from the revelation. In addition to the facial similarities of the wife to the victims, Gibbs discovers another parallel when he asks the wife to remove her shoe. She is missing three toes, like the victims. Gibbs and Fornell are initially sympathetic to her, but following forensic examination of the skeletal remains discovered in the garden, Gibbs receives a phonecall from Abby. She tells him that the bodies had been in the ground for less time than the supposed killer had been dead. Gibbs instantly realises that the dead man was not the killer, and the wife was. Fornell appears stunned, especially when Gibbs reveals he is still wondering how the toe got into the stomach of the dead husband, when they now know him to not be the killer.

Meanwhile, McGee must deal with the fallout of the team discovering the truth about his book, that they each have a character based on them.