Witness (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Witness
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 2
Episode = 14


Airdate = February 15, 2005
Production = 02x14
Writer = George Schenck Frank Cardea
Director = James Whitmore, Jr.
Guests = Danica McKellar as Erin Kendall Conor Dubin as Jeremy Pryor Jack McGee as Det. Curtis Floyd
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = The Meat Puzzle
Next = Caught on Tape

Witness is the 14^th episode in the 2^nd season of the TV series "NCIS".

Plot

A woman is relaxing in her home when she looks out the window and sees a struggle across the street. She immediately gets a video camera and frantically tries to tape the masked figure in black and the man across the way.

At the NCIS office, Kate has a toothache and needs a root canal, but she is afraid of going to the dentist. Gibbs walks in and sends McGee to investigate the report of a woman who saw a struggle across the street. McGee goes alone because the police department doesn't think anything bad happened, but the woman was insistent.

The detective at the scene, Detective Floyd, says that nothing happened; no sailor was strangled, and there was no sign of a struggle. The man who lives in the apartment, Mr. Thorne, is actually a civilian. McGee goes to visit the woman, Erin Kendall, anyway. She says that she knows it was a sailor because of his uniform. Her video is no good; the figures are not visible because she got there too late. There seems to be a chemistry between McGee and Erin; they both went to MIT.

McGee calls Gibbs and says he thinks something might have happened and that they should move forward with the case. The remaining team members rush to meet him at Erin's apartment. McGee explains that there is little hard evidence but that he has learned from Gibbs that he has to go with his gut.

Abby says that the crime scene produced few quality prints. She finds prints from a missing sailor, Petty Officer Keith Dylan. While McGee is happy that he is right about something having happened, Gibbs points out that it means a sailor may have died.

DiNozzo and Kate reenact the strangling across the way while Erin, McGee, and Gibbs watch. Erin says that it looked exactly like that. DiNozzo falls to the ground, starts sniffing the floor and asks for the alternate light source (ALS); he detects urine on the floor.

Gibbs opens the convertible sofa in the apartment and finds two suitcases. One is an empty gun case. The other may have contained drugs, they guess.

Dylan's commanding officer says that Dylan was a reliable officer, and he is surprised that he is late for work today. DiNozzo finds that Dylan had a girlfriend named Meg.

Abby found that the urine is definitely human, and she is analyzing the DNA in the epithelial cells found in the urine. The second box at Thorne's place had traces of cocaine, but 4 out of 5 bills contain levels of cocaine that can be detected. Thus, this case probably contained money. Kate reports that Robert J. Thorne must be an alias because all his bills are under phony names, and he has paid everything in cash. DiNozzo finds that Dylan's home is messy, his girlfriend does not live there, and she currently has a yeast infection.

Detective Floyd calls McGee to inform him that he has found the body of a sailor. Ducky says that the time of death was 12 to 14 hours ago, corroborating Erin's story. Gibbs asks McGee how they should proceed. McGee thinks they should look for a connection between Thorne and Dylan, watch both apartments, and obtain a composite sketch from Erin and Thorne's building manager, Jeremy Pryor.

DiNozzo and Kate visit Meg to ask about Dylan. She is surprised and saddened to hear of his death. Kate notices her wedding ring, but she says that her husband is in Iraq and would not have known about Dylan. Dylan said she could move in with her and he would provide with her with his large sum of money. She has never heard of Thorne.

Abby found that the fibers found on Dylan came from a car. Gibbs asks her to analyze the prints found on the gun application.

McGee is on the phone with Erin, having a casual conversation. Erin panics when she hears noises and sees a doorknob turn. She screams as someone attacks her, and McGee rushes across the street from Thorne's place, which he was watching. Erin is not moving. McGee bends down to tend to her, and the attacker hits him. McGee shoots at him but misses his target.

Detective Floyd says that his medical examiner will take Erin because this is a case of a civilian killing another civilian. McGee feels guilty about not being there to save Erin, but Kate says that he was exactly where he should have been.

DiNozzo interviews the Pryor, who woke up due to the gunshots. Detective Floyd interrupts and says he will take over the interview.

Kate says that her hypnotist really helped her with her fear of the dentist, so she recommends that McGee undergo hypnotism in order to better remember the appearance of the attacker. He goes through the motions of what he did when he was on the phone with Erin and what she said. The hypnotist asks him to look at the attacker's face, but he can't see it. The attacker is wearing a jumpsuit and jacket. He is wearing a large watch on his right wrist.

Abby finds that the gun from Thorne's couch was used in two unsolved murders. Thorne's gun application has prints that match Dylan's corpse - they are the same man. Dylan was probably a hit man with an assumed identity. The killer of Dylan and Erin was probably the person who stole the money from Dylan's second suitcase. McGee realizes that Pryor wears his watch on his right wrist and has the keys to Thorne's apartment. Shocked, he runs off into traffic and is hit by a car.

Back at the office, McGee asks for quiet while writing up his first report. Kate says that for her first report, Gibbs made her rewrite it twice. DiNozzo had to rewrite his five times. Gibbs walks by and congratulates McGee on passing on the first try, so Kate and DiNozzo realize he is currently working on something else. They find that he is writing a sympathy note to Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, and they remark that it is a nice thing for him to do.