False Witness - Recap

A young man awakens to a post-party apartment. He trips over a baseball
bat in the hall, and helps himself to a piece of cold pizza in the
living room. When he goes outside to grab the morning paper, a DVD falls
out of it, labeled "Play me". He does so and sees a figure approaching
his front door, and a surgically-gloved hand opens it. He drops the
pizza. The camera shows him in bed, asleep. A knife is held to his
throat. He murmurs "oh my god" as he watches.

McGee recounts a bizarre dream that included Ziva and Gibbs. She's
laughing when she tells him she doesn't know how comfortable she is that
he had a dream about her. They find a very serious Tony already hard at
work. Ziva thinks they must be being set up. After a bit of back and
forth, they declare themselves even. Gibbs says great, that means he
doesn't need to hear about it. Up and at 'em, they have a missing petty
officer to deal with. He's accompanied by DDA Gail Walsh. The missing
man is the one who found the DVD, Petty Officer Jerry Neisler. He is the
only witness in a capital murder trial that starts in two days. Gail's
entire case rests on Neisler's testimony.

They arrive at the Neisler home. This is the last place Gail saw him,
when she dropped him off six days ago. He was supposed to check in every
day. McGee spoke to the neighbors. They didn't even know anybody was
staying there. Neisler was supposed to have gone on a hunting trip with
his best friend. Tony's still not himself, as he gives credit where
credit is due for an idea that he presented to Gibbs, which originated
with McGee. Gail fishes Ziva for information about the men on the team.
She says there's nobody better than Gibbs, and DiNozzo is "also
capable". The DDA has noticed that Tony doesn't wear a ring. Is he
single or did she overstep her bounds. Is he involved with Ziva? Ziva
reacts in total horror. So Ziva won't mind if she .... Ziva points out
that they're in the middle of an investigation, and a trial. Gail says
she knows, she just likes to keep her options open. She goes on to ask
Ziva if she knows that the majority of people meet their spouses at
work? This is not something Ziva has had high hopes for.

McGee is worried. The feathered turkey in the fridge is a straight line
just waiting for Tony, and he won't take it. Ziva discovers that Jerry
took his shotgun with him when he left. Gibbs asks the DDA for her
files, and Gail makes a pointed request for Tony to come help her carry
them. The files, they are very heavy. McGee figures that's the end of
Mr. Professional, but he figures wrong. Tony says he's staying put, and
McGee can help Gail.

Tony and Ziva fill Gibbs in on Jerry Neisler's background. Ziva defines
his background as 'interesting.' Gibbs asks for specifics. Despite good
reports from his CO's, he was repeatedly transferred. They think there
may be issues, but Gail disagrees. He was an only child to two
psychologist parents. Ziva asks what that means, exactly and Gail says
you'd have to meet Jerry.

Ziva and McGee continue to try to pry the old Tony out of new Tony's
shell, with no success. Gail starts talking about the trial case. The
defendant is Samuel Hayes. His wife is dead, his daughter is a ward of
the state. McGee is floundering. Maybe the disappearance has nothing to
do with the trial? After an awkward pause, Gail asks Gibbs how he wants
to split things up. Her investigators can take care of the BOLOs and
local hospitals. Gibbs' people will track Jerry's movements, starting
with that hunting trip alluded to earlier.

Ducky is dictating a long list of -ologies to Palmer. They're for his
Facebook list of interests. Gibbs explains Facebook as "That thing that
some people do things with." Ducky says the term is social networking,
and Gibbs agrees. Gibbs wants to know what Ducky found out about the
turkey. Tail feathers indicate that this turkey is from either Kansas,
Oklahoma, or Texas.

Gibbs finds Abby doing the Turkey Trot in her lab. She ran the DNA on
the feathers. During her investigation, she found that when some states
have turkey overpopulation problems, they do a catch-and-release to
other states. The bird was in the system, so she was able to pinpoint
exactly which hunting ground it was released to. Jerry's credit card
was last used just a few miles from the grounds in question. So maybe
that's where he is hiding out. As Gibbs leaves, she cues up the music
and starts dancing again.

Gibbs and David start questioning park personnel if they've seen Jerry.
They find him; he feared they were there to kill him if he was going to
testify. He's very relieved to find out that he's safe. Ziva's phone
rings, and it's Gail. He tells her not to answer it, because she is the
only person who knew where he was. He didn't tell anybody. Gibbs takes
the call and tells Gail they have not found Jerry. Not a sign of him.

Gibbs, Tony and McGee are looking at a copy of the "Play Me" DVD. The
original is down with Abby, and they're making a go at finding the guy
who recorded it. Tony almost reverts to normal, but he doesn't and it's
driving McGee crazy. Gibbs slaps McGee upside the head with a folder so
he'll disengage. David discovers that not even Gail's assistant knew
where Jerry was in hiding. She was literally the only person who knew
his whereabouts.

They can't get anything on the emails that were sent to Jerry, so they
decide to try to check things out from the direction of the trial.
Samuel Hayes was a private investigator for years. He was a totally
stand-up guy until his world fell apart. His wife was killed in a car
accident. He started drinking. His daughter was made a ward of the
state, and Samuel slid even further. He started taking whatever work he
could get. He robbed a brother and sister in an alley, and killed the
sister. Jerry saw it happen.

Gibbs brings the brother in for questioning. She was his big sister,
always looking after him. She was killed because Hayes was shooting for
Matt, and she threw herself in front of him. He doesn't remember what
happened next, just the blood. He made the mistake of telling the cops
he couldn't be sure it was Hayes. Gibbs tells him that's not a mistake,
he just wants to make sure the right guy pays for this. Matt says they
know who did it, there was a witness. Gail told Matt that Jerry is
missing. Their parents taught them to forgive and forget, but all Matt
wants right now? Gibbs says "Payback" but Matt corrects him. "Justice."

Abby is taking measurements of Jerry's face. with those dimensions,
she'll be able to extrapolate the size of the hand holding the knife.
Jerry noticed that Gibbs is interested in Abby, and shares everything he
noticed with her. He can see why she'd want to keep things casual,
because what if he's "The One"? Abby is obviously married to her work,
and it's too soon to meet "The One." He asks if they're done, and Abby
can't get rid of him fast enough.

Tony shows up with a long list of people that Hayes has worked for. If
Hayes gets convicted, he could cop a plea and rat out any of these
lowlifes. Tony especially finds Smitty Brown to be of interest. He deals
weapons and drugs, and has been making lots of visits to Hayes in the
joint. Gibbs tells Tony to pick him up, but Tony can't. He disappeared
the same day that Jerry received the DVD. Gibbs asks him if he's feeling
okay, and Tony says he's never felt better. When Gibbs leaves, Abby
suggests to Tony that he stay away from Jerry.

Gibbs asks Hayes if he knows who Brown is. He admits that he helped with
collections when Brown's clients were behind on their payments. Gibbs
wants to know where he is. He was Hayes' only visitor; what did they
talk about? Samuel claims he doesn't remember. Gibbs gets out before and
after pictures of the young woman that was murdered and asks Hayes if
his old boss told him he'd make the witness go away. Hayes continues to
remain tight-lipped. What does Gibbs think he can do? The DA is already
asking for the death penalty. Gibbs notes that it's an airtight case.
Hayes calls for his prison guard to let him out - he's done talking.

Gibbs takes Jerry home with him. Jerry does to him the same thing he did
to Abby. He recalls seeing Hayes at a hearing once. Gibbs reminds him of
Hayes, i.e., sad and lonely. Gibbs cuts him short and sends him to the
basement. Jerry asks if he can use the phone, so he can call his CO. He
had already called him once. Gibbs sees headlights and shoos Jerry off
to the basement. He looks out the window and relaxes. Gail bursts in,
asking where Jerry is and aiming heated words at Gibbs. He tells her
they need to talk, and invites her to take a seat. She remains standing
and angry. There was an attempt on Hayes' life after Gibbs left. The
trial has been postponed, and that just puts Jerry in more jeopardy.
He's not helping her case. He's going to ruin it.

As they arrive at the office the next day, Gail is still jumping Gibbs.
She demands that he hand Jerry over to her. He tells her that Jerry was
aware that she was the only person who knew where he was. So how did
they find him? Gail thinks that whoever was threatening him had to be
following him. She wants to know what else he's withholding. After a
long pause, Ziva tells her they think they know who is after Jerry.
She's about to fill Gail in, but Tony interrupts and tells her all about
Smitty Brown. She's going to use her connections to try to help them
find him. He tells her to have at it, but Jerry will remain with him.
She says only under the condition that she be kept in the loop.

Abby has some new information. She found a couple of dead pixels on the
"Play Me" video, so she used that anomaly to compare to other online
videos. She got four matches. By measuring the hands in the video she
got a match to a guy named Joe Casey. Gibbs orders a BOLO, but that
won't be necessary. He is a current resident of the county morgue as of
this very morning.

Casey was a small-time, 'gun for hire' thug who was gaining a
reputation. Ducky is fading in and out of his conference with Gibbs and
McGee. He does manage to tell them that several of the organs appear to
have freezer burn, but the body doesn't. The county ME told him that he
thinks Casey was mauled by an animal. Palmer lets them in on the cause
of Ducky's discomfiture. He's received several provocative emails from
ladies who were taken in by his Facebook profile. They return to the
business at hand. Jimmy has discovered that one of the victim's tattoos
is brand-new. It had only just begun healing when he was murdered.
Literally minutes after completion. So if they can find the parlor -
McGee finishes the thought as he's heading for the door. "Somebody may
have seen something." Gibbs congratulates Ducky on his work. Jimmy
starts to point out that it was his work, but stops and congratulates
Dr. Mallard.

Ziva points out the alley across from the tattoo parlor as the site
Casey's body was found. The tattoo parlor in question is the only such
place within a five-mile radius. She and McGee reach the conclusion that
Tony isn't joking. Now they're becoming concerned. Ziva thinks one of
them need to confront him. As they are standing there, Smitty walks out
of the tattoo parlor. They bring him in for questioning, and Gibbs and
Tony take over.

They pull out a hunting knife they found in his car. It injects frozen
gas into internal organs, which would explain the strange case of Casey.
It's used by hunters to bring down big game. He bluffs until he hears
their scenario, and becomes grimly serious. He didn't try to kill
anybody. Casey tried to kill Brown. He heard, just like they did, about
the missing witness in the Hayes trial. He put the word out on the
streets to see if he could find out who it was. They can ask anybody.
That's when he met Casey. He didn't know who Casey was working for, but
it wasn't him. Smitty told him to back off the witness. Casey made a
move, and ... it was self-defense. End of story. They don't get it. He
doesn't want Hayes out of prison. He needs him in prison. He needed a
guy inside the joint to help him out with this little side business he
had going. His last dealer got executed. Hayes agreed to be the new guy.
All the pay he wanted was payments to some life insurance policy he had.
Tony doesn't believe him. Hayes was about to get the death penalty.
Smitty doesn't know what Hayes' deal was. He just knows what their deal
is, and he can prove it.

Gibbs shows Jerry a picture of Smitty, and he doesn't recognize him.
Tony informs everyone that the rest of Smitty's story does check out.
McGee finds out that the payments to the insurance policy were being
made like clockwork. Ziva found out that even if he is put to death, the
life insurance policy will pay. His daughter is the beneficiary. They
still don't know who tried to kill Hayes in prison.

According to Ducky, nobody. The prison doctor informed him that he know
believes Hayes wounds were self-inflicted. He disguised his suicide
attempt, so the life insurance policy would still pay out. Jerry solves
the case, he thinks it's quite obvious. He doesn't want to beat the
murder rap, he just wants to die and leave one last gift to his
daughter. Another sad guy. So who has been intimidating the witness?
Somebody has been trying to get Hayes out of prison.

McGee finds lots of calls to Smitty's burn phone from the DDA, Gail
Walsh. She's brought in and questioned. Ziva asks him what's going on.
He finally breaks and admits that Brenda Bittner crashed her car and
checked herself into a depression treatment facility. When he found out,
he decided he'd been far too cavalier with people's feelings. He thinks
maybe he's having a midlife crazy. Ziva grabs him and tells Tony it's no
such thing. He's just growing up. He needs to find balance. And yes,
it's true; he does need to treat people more respectfully, especially
when it comes to matters of the heart. But he needs to be true to
himself. Tony DiNozzo. The class clown. And that is why they love him.

They join the interrogation already in progress, as Gail assures Gibbs
she's going to have his badge. He nails her dead to rights on the Smitty
situation. Gail claims she had a good reason. She's having a secret
relationship with Smitty. What?? He's a good-looking guy! If anybody
found out, they could argue that the entire chain of evidence had been
tainted. Too bad she couldn't have said something earlier. Now Gibbs has
to tell the judge.

McGee and Tony wait to hear the results from the hearing. The case has
been thrown out. Hayes walks, plus they never got to find out who was
threatening Jerry. When asked how the victim's brother took it, Gibbs
says he wasn't there. McGee says the trial notes indicate he attended
every single hearing.

Hayes throws a manila folder in the garbage just as Matt grabs him and
hauls him into an alley. Does Hayes have anything to say to him. Gibbs
and Tony pull a gun on Matt. Hayes knows what Matt did, hiring a guy who
tried to kill Hayes' daughter. They know Matt tried to scare Jerry out
of testifying, but they don't know why. Hayes was going to get death.
Matt knows that people can live a very long time on death row. He wanted
Hayes out so he could get justice now. If he stayed inside, it would be
13 years before Hayes died. His sister, she was all he had left. And
Hayes took her. If Matt kills him, his life is as forfeit as his own
sister's. He promises Matt he'll plead guilty, hell; he'll even sign the
confession right now. And then they can pretend this never happened. As
Ziva disarms him, Matt says "I miss her so much."

Palmer is in tears. Apparently, Jerry spoke to him. Tony is still all
standoffish, and McGee says he has to have another talk to him. When
Ziva enters her password, there's confetti, flashing lights, and
Christmas music. She glares at Tony and says "YOU!" He look worried and
says "Too much?"

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