Programa de TV: NCIS - 22x12
Seriously, man.
How hard is it to pick a lock?
If you think it's so easy, why don't you have a go at it next time?
The plan was simple: Open vault.
Steal money.
You couldn't even get past step one.
I was doing fine.
You set off the alarm.
Princess NoisyPants over there was trying to have a tea party.
That is no way to address your future queen!
That dragon had enough gold, we would've been set for life.
Well, then maybe taunting it wasn't the best idea.
Guys!
The game's over.
Ne mon, linguate!
I cast a curse of silence upon thee.
Another word and the great fairy spirit will take thy breath.
We done?
Yeah.
Great.
See you all next week. "
I cast a curse of silence upon you."
Yeah, right.
Get real.
Curse of silence isn't even in the fairy spell book.
How hard is it?
Open vault.
Steal m...
Thank you for the call.
I'm always happy to talk to a fan.
Yeah.
Who are you texting?
What?
Well, you're grinning like a boy who just got a puppy.
Your sister, uh, wants me to ask you, what happened with Alex McGreevy at the eighth-grade science fair.
Okay, first off, Alex McGreevy is an idiot.
And second, he...
Oh, no, no, no.
I'm not doing this.
This is exactly what I was afraid of when the two of you - started dating.
-Thank you so much.
I got to go.
NCIS.
This is McGee.
Someone forward the switchboard to his desk or something?
Better.
The next Thom E.
Gemcity book just got leaked.
Oh.
Yeah, it's been like this all morning.
Yeah, I think that was me.
Well, that is, uh, very generous of you.
Uh, I'm your manager, so I get ten percent.
But, uh, I am not looking for new representation currently.
Thank you.
Told you giving an advance copy to that Marine's agent last Christmas was not a good idea.
Oh, come on!
People wouldn't be calling if they didn't like it.
So, who was it?
A publisher?
Agent?
Ooh, Tom Clancy's lawyers?
I'm just not ready for it to be out yet, you know?
I mean, it needs a rewrite.
I mean, if you have enough "Rick Soares" in there, how bad can it be?
I already told you, any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Tell that to, uh, Pimmy Jalmer.
I just, I want it to have depth, you know, more depth.
You know who had depth?
Kenny Rogers.
The chicken guy?
Yeah, I was listening to "The Gambler" on the way in.
He had a whole life philosophy going on there.
Yeah, I'm more of an "Islands in the Stream" guy, myself.
Of course you are.
Parker.
Gotcha, we're on our way.
Body.
Alexandria.
There is enough Rick Soares, in there right?
Don't play with me.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Here's what I got so far.
Local PD got a call about 6:30 this morning.
Victim's name is Victor Chan, Marine Corps reservist and data scientist at Quantico.
FBI have a new "barbarian" division I'm not aware of?
Did you guys know that in Ancient Greece, the word "barbarian" just meant "different"?
As in someone who didn't observe local customs?
I'm pretty sure wearing animal fur and a tunic isn't the custom anywhere in the lower 48.
I'm not sure he was driving.
What is he, six-five?
Yeah, give or take.
Well, the driver's seat and the mirrors are set up for somebody about a foot shorter.
It doesn't look like he braced for impact.
Uh, so someone drove him out here, set him up behind the wheel, pushed it down the hill?
Then took off on foot.
I got footprints back at the road.
Still doesn't explain the outfit.
This might help...
Let me see that.
Wow.
A lot of D20s in here.
Twenty-sided dice.
Used in tabletop role-playing games.
Actually some really nice ones in here.
These look like they are resin-made...
McGee, McGee, McGee...
Man, you're way cooler than that.
Well, looks like Chan was on his way home from a night of make-believe adventure.
I wonder if someone took things a little too seriously.
Judging by the outfit, I'd say that answer is yes.
I was talking about the killer.
Okay, first step: let's find out where Conan here was last night.
He was with me.
At my place.
Kasie?
How did you...?
KASIE: I got the Bandium alert on my way to work, but it has to be a mistake, okay?
Because Victor was fine When he left my...
Damn.
How's Kasie doing?
Well, she lost a friend.
So she's taking it pretty bad.
So it turns out Victor Chan was a Renaissance man.
Like, for real.
Graduate degrees in computer science and art history.
Chan was also a member of MENSA and the D.C.
Model Train Society.
And for the past six years, he has been an analyst for the FBI Crime Lab.
This guy is a forensic scientist?
Well, according to Kasie, everyone in the party was.
Not a group you want to play Clue with.
At least one friendly face in the mix.
Wait, Kasie had a forensics party with Carol and I wasn't invited?
Not gonna lie, that kind of hurts.
Probably better you weren't there.
Yeah, you're not kidding.
According to toxicology, uh, Victor Chan had conium maculatum in his system.
Hemlock?
Aw.
You read that Toxic Plants of North America book I got you for your birthday.
Jimmy?
Focus?
Right.
Uh, based on the rate at which this toxin is metabolized, it would appear that Victor was poisoned...
Whoa!
During Kasie's game night.
So one of the guests - must have done it.
Ugh.
Who wants to be the one to tell Kasie that her apartment is now a crime scene?
Okay, let's divide and conquer.
McGee, track down everyone that was at Kasie's place last night.
We'll head over and take a look.
Timothy McGee, aka "Thom E.
Gemcity"?
Okay.
This is getting a little ridiculous.
Listen, I do not need an agent, okay?
Daryl Thomas, DoD.
The Pentagon has a few questions about your new book.
I am telling you, there is no way that anybody in my house poisoned anyone last night, especially Victor.
We've known him for years.
Kasie, we're just following the evidence.
Yeah, you got to trust the process.
Yes.
It's just a lot easier to trust the process when it doesn't involve your personal, private business.
Yeah, we hear you, Kase.
We'll be discreet.
Uh, Torres, living area.
Knight, bedroom.
Oh, whoa, wait.
No one went in the bedroom last night.
They all stayed out here.
So you know we have to treat this just like any other investigation.
Right.
I can't interfere.
It's just...
there are some...
there's a few things that I'd rather you didn't see.
Like Parker said, we're gonna be discreet.
Oh, dear God.
Um...
Jess, meet Ernesto.
Ernesto, meet Jess.
That's a lot of dishes in the sink.
These from last night?
Yes.
I was planning on washing them today.
I just didn't know that I was going to have company.
We'll need to...
whoa, whoa, ho, ho, ho.
You need to leave that be for a minute.
We need to get these back to NCIS, test them for poison.
Great.
Now everyone at work will think I'm a slob.
And why would we think that?
Hey, Kasie?
Yes?
Why do you got three microwaves?
Ah!
Okay.
Okay...
I get it.
You're thinking, "She's a hoarder."
Hey, we're not passing - judgment here.
I'm judging a little.
Here we got something.
Under this table.
Hey, smells musty.
Hemlock smells musty.
That's not mine.
Kase, if that isn't yours...
You're not seriously thinking that one of my friends brought that here?
What I'm thinking is that we should probably save the questions for someplace a little more official.
How long have you guys been doing game night?
Um, since college.
It started off as a study group for Intro to Forensics.
It just...
never stopped.
This room does not have a friendly vibe, by the way.
And Carol joined later?
Yes.
Yeah.
Um...
You were there when we met.
Jimmy and I were bleeding from the eyes...
I got to ask, to your knowledge, does anyone in the group have motive...
to kill Victor Chan?
No!
No.
I-I-I mean, yes.
Sometimes Max and Victor would get into it whenever Max would cheat on his critical roles...
She said I cheat?!
I was picking up - the die to read it.
-Max!
We found this in Victor's email.
Can you read it? "
I'm going to kill you. "
I'm going to boil your teeth and make a necklace. "
I will dry your intestines and make a stringed instrument to play at your funeral."
See where I'm going here?
So what?
You think this means I poisoned him?
You should see the stuff I send my mother.
She's still alive.
Max can be a hothead, but he-he's harmless.
Okay?
I promise.
And what about Carol?
How was she with the rest of the group?
You know Carol.
She's a ray of sunshine.
Like, always.
This is crap.
Parker, do you know how many times I've saved your team from some world-ending virus?
And we appreciate it.
I work for the CDC.
Don't you think if I wanted to get rid of Victor, I'd use something more interesting than hemlock?
I think that you, above all people, would know to use something that anyone can get their hands on.
Well, I didn't.
Somebody did.
Who had motive?
Motive's not my thing.
That's more Ilene's area of expertise.
Anyone who spent more than 15 minutes with Victor is going to have motive.
Do you know how many times I had to listen to him lecture about the difference between "less" and "fewer"?
And you think that's reason enough to kill him?
Not for me it's not, but...
from a professional standpoint, I know there are many things that can be a trigger.
You're a profiler, Ms.
Smyth.
Please, it's "Ilene" or "Doctor."
I probably don't have to tell you this, but behavioral analysis can be unreliable.
What a terribly unsurprising thing for you to say.
You seem like a man who likes hard facts.
Have you ever considered why that might be, Alden?
Please, it's "Special Agent Parker."
Enlighten me.
Could it be that there are some things in your life that aren't black-and-white and that makes you uncomfortable?
You see, "fewer" is for things you can count. "
Less" is for collective nouns, like sugar or bubonic plague.
It's like watching an episode of America's Next Top Nerd.
Where you been?
DoD.
They had some questions about my new book.
Apparently, it's a little too close to reality.
Like, classified reality.
You wrote something too realistic?
And they won't tell me what it is.
I mean, I got to go to this meeting at the Pentagon, and I don't know what they're bumping on.
I don't know if it's robot dolphins or the moon base or what.
Moon base?
What's the book about?
Main character's a hot new cryptologist.
Delena Fleming.
Hmm, okay.
Not at all based on your wife.
Well, the book itself, it's-it's more of a statement about the nature of joy.
Well, can't wait to read.
Yeah?
That would be great, man.
Thank you.
I'm gonna send it to you right now.
Just flag anything that might be classified.
What?
I mean, you're asking me to make a book report?
That'd be great, man.
Thank you.
All right, labs came back on that vial.
Nothing toxic.
Just some herbal memory enhancer.
Then where the hell was the poison?
It was in the fondue.
You're lucky to be alive.
No, I'm not lucky.
Victor was a double-dipper, and there was no way that any of us were going near that s...
Kasie?
The fondue was from Craig.
There was a Craig at game night?
You said there was just four.
No, he couldn't make it.
He texted that he was busy with work, and he was gonna send snacks in his place.
Well, he sent one hell of a snack.
How do you even send fondue?
It just doesn't make sense.
Why would he do it?
Well, we're gonna find him and ask him.
That's gonna be a problem.
Landlord found him this morning completely unresponsive.
MPD figured it was home invasion.
Sure, two of Kasie's friends end up dead on the same night by random coincidence?
That tracks.
Yeah, it'd be like drawing every monastery 12 games in a row.
You do play Carcassonne?
What happened to good old Monopoly?
Time of death was before the get-together at Kasie's that I wasn't invited to.
Which makes Craig here our first victim.
The killer must have strangled him, then sent the fondue.
As one does.
Craig was never trying to poison his game-night buddies.
No.
Someone else is trying to kill all of them.
I can't believe Craig's dead.
Two down, four to go.
They were trying to kill us all.
That can't be right.
Who'd want to hurt us?
That's what we're trying to figure out.
We're debriefing Carol again.
We'll do the rest of you one by one.
Have we figured out who's gonna get Craig's stuff yet?
Max, this is evidence, not probate.
Forget about the stuff.
We have to figure out who the killer is.
I bet there's a whole lot of people who have it in for you.
And everyone else?
What exactly do you do at game night?
Are you being serious right now?
It's literally called "game night."
This guy.
We play D&D sometimes, uh, Ferrets & Phalanxes, uh, Yahtzee.
No one is getting killed because they play Yahtzee.
Is that all?
Sometimes we talk about cases.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's like a forensic science roundtable.
Actually, Craig had been bogarting discussion time with a lot of really weird questions.
Yeah, obscure aspects of blood spatter, membrane permeability.
Yeah.
Fluid dynamics.
Mm-hmm.
Saturation thresholds?
What was he was working on?
He wouldn't tell us, and we couldn't figure it out.
That says something.
I'm sure his old boss would know.
Oh, you know who might be able to help?
Professor Davis.
That's our old teacher.
I used to go to her with difficult cases.
Did you guys hear she got divorced?
You have such a mommy complex.
Okay, fine.
You reach out to the professor, I'll talk to Craig's boss.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're not gonna leave me alone with them, are you?
You'll be fine.
Just try not to shoot anybody.
Security called.
Craig's boss just checked in - at the gate.
-Oh, thank you.
What are you reading?
Anything good?
Uh, McGee's new book.
Torres sent it.
And?
Does it have "depth"?
Well, I'm only a couple pages in.
But so far, there's a flesh-eating virus and an Icelandic archer.
Any sign on how they replace Agent Tibbs?
I could send it to you.
Eh, I'll wait for the paperback.
Actually, who am I kidding?
Okay, yeah, go ahead.
Agent Parker?
Yeah.
Fletcher.
This is, uh, Special Agent Knight.
Ed Fletcher, Baltimore crime lab.
You know, you didn't have to drive all the way down here, Captain Fletcher.
We could have done this - over the phone.
Craig wasn't just a coworker, he was a friend.
Driving down here was the least I could do.
Well, thank you.
Sorry for your loss.
I've been working forensics a long time.
Craig was one of the best.
His case files, as requested.
Mind if I ask what you're looking for?
Craig had been asking his colleagues about some strange topics lately.
We think that's what might have got him killed.
There's nothing too strange in any of those files, just run-of-the-mill cases.
Nothing really that would rise to the level of murder.
Of course, it could be something not in those files.
Craig definitely seemed like the type to have a white whale.
A white what?
Whale.
It's the one case you can never let go.
Don't worry, you'll get there.
I've got, like...
ten.
Okay.
White whale.
You got any ideas there?
No.
Craig may have been the type to have one, but...
he wasn't the type to share.
Look at them.
Time of their lives and they don't even know it yet.
Intro to Forensics.
This is where we all met.
Hey.
Hi.
Any chance you need a study partner?
Move along, junior.
Oh, Kasie Hines.
Ooh, honey.
I am so sorry to hear about Craig and Victor.
How's everybody doing?
And tell Max it's okay to cry.
Uh, Jessica Knight, Professor Annabel Davis.
Nice to meet you.
Kasie and her crew are my all-time favorite students.
I still use them as examples in my class.
Professor, we need your help.
Sure.
This makes it seem like Craig was looking into some sort of collodion process.
Like, photography?
Well, lithography, to be more specific.
But I'm impressed.
I took photo studio as an elective.
Thought it was gonna be an easy A, but not so much.
Uh, how do you get lithography from questions about hemoglobin and chemical diffusion?
Well, there is a technique, but nobody teaches it because nobody uses it anymore.
It uses, uh, like, a developer that acts a lot like blood.
Oh, so Craig wasn't interested in blood spatter, he was looking into vintage photographic techniques.
I don't know.
This feels like a stretch.
Well, you said to trust the process.
So this is where it leads.
Keep going with that.
Okay, well, photochemistry uses some very specific reagents.
If the killer was looking into a collodion process, there's only a handful of chemicals he could have used...
...and they're all hazardous.
Which means we can track them.
Which may lead us to our killer.
Ah, look who's the teacher now.
McGee.
Hazmat database.
We need to look for any shipments of potassium cyanide.
Attention, customers.
Please ensure all storage units are securely locked at all times.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you for choosing our storage facility.
Just talked to the manager...
Oh!
What?
McGee, how many times am I gonna tell you?
Just don't sneak up on me like that.
What are you talking about?
You could literally see me coming...
Oh.
Who were you texting?
No one.
I was playing Monopoly Go!
Yeah, and by that, you mean Knight's sister again?
Manager.
What did he say?
Well, not much, until I told him that we traced an illegal shipment of potassium cyanide to one of his units, and he gave me the key.
Right here.
Unit 42.
It was rented to a William Baden.
Contract was done online.
Must have been that, uh, white whale that Craig was after.
Kasie seems to think so.
Oh, wait.
Uh, cyanide.
Aren't we supposed to wear-wear a mask or something?
Nah.
Not anymore.
Got an app for that.
See this thing right here?
Toxic-gas detector.
You hear "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, you run.
Wow.
You're so cute sometimes.
Oh, we're good.
Good so far.
Good?
Yep, we're good.
I don't know what, uh, any of this is...
...but it looks shady.
You don't forge a permit for potassium cyanide to bake cookies.
Let's see what we have here.
We have a gun.
We got some cash.
And we got an ID.
Wow.
Look familiar?
Is that...?
Yeah, Kasie's friend Craig with a fake ID.
And a lot of cash for his pay grade.
This is Craig's storage unit.
Why do I get a funny feeling that Kasie's friend wasn't investigating a crime...
He was committing one.
So, we originally thought that Craig was using your game night buddies to help solve an old cold case.
And now you think he was using us to commit a crime?
All because he has a fake ID?
Didn't all of us have a fake ID at one point?
No comment.
Yeah, it's, uh, it's not just the ID.
Went through a laptop we found.
Turns out he was hacking into Baltimore PD's evidence logs.
To do what?
Captain Fletcher thinks he might've been erasing records.
Sorry, Kasie, I'm gonna go with "bad guy."
So, what kind of bad guy things was he up to?
Well, you processed the equipment, Kasie.
It's all you.
Look, Kase, I know he was your friend, but...
whatever he was doing got him killed.
And the rest of your friends could still be in danger.
There is a reason why they're all in protective custody right now.
The, uh...
chemicals, the photographic equipment, it looks like Craig was set up to make printing plates.
Printing plates, as in...
As in the kind you could use to...
counterfeit something.
Like that cash?
No, the cash is real.
We think he was using it to buy equipment.
He probably didn't want to leave a paper trail.
And none of the color dyes match the specific colors he would need to counterfeit cash.
So what was he counterfeiting?
I think I know.
And either I'm right, or Craig is the luckiest man alive.
Aside from, you know, the fact that he's dead.
When I heard that our victim had a huge Ferrets & Phalanxes card collection, I wanted to take a look.
Victoria and I love that game.
Ferrets and...?
Phalanxes.
It's, uh, um, like The Gathering, but with fewer trademark issues.
Magic the...
what?
They're CCGs.
Collectible card games.
Yeah, you play the game, you collect the cards.
There's a huge market for the rare ones.
The more rare the card...
The more it's worth.
Look, how much we talking about here?
This F&P card alone, it's worth big bucks.
Like mucho big bucks.
How do you know?
It's still sealed.
I X-rayed it.
What?
That's cheating.
And that's a limited edition Mecha Ferret.
Can someone please give me a dollar value?
Ten thousand.
Each.
Each?
Mm-hmm.
How many does he have?
That's a good question.
Hmm.
Hey, what are you doing?
I'm opening it.
No, no, no, you can't open another man's cards.
He's dead.
It does not matter, okay?
It is a violation of every ethical collector boundary.
Listen, finding out what kind of card you have is a very personal thing.
Or...
maybe you don't want to know what Craig was really up to.
Okay, fine, but let me do it.
I was his friend.
If he was using my game night to commit crimes, I should be the one to prove it.
It's another Mecha Ferret.
Looks like your friend was counterfeiting these cards.
That means there's over $100,000 worth of playing cards in just this bundle.
I'll tell the others.
They're not gonna be happy about this.
Please get that vacuum cleaner out of the sink!
You're gonna electrocute yourself.
Oh, relax, I turned the water off.
I'd be more worried about him starting a fire.
Please.
I'm a professional.
How's it going with the package foil?
Ooh!
Uh, based on the arcing...
You know, I don't think that metal is supposed to go in there.
I should have a rough material breakdown soon.
Okay, good, because Carol needs the microwave to incubate her cultures.
Uh, Carol?
Do you need help with that next batch?
Because based on the smell, please say no.
Do not come in here.
This is a biohazard.
I may have overdone it with the solvent And Kasie is running out of gelatin.
I had a whole case of gelatin.
And what are you doing with my Frenzied Ferret card?
You know, comparing the substrata of the authentic card to the fake one.
I told them to stop, but they threatened to pin a murder on me.
Mm.
And Carol's creating microbiota samples from everything Craig may have touched.
Okay, all of you literally stop before I hog-tie you.
I have some news about Craig.
Oh, we already heard.
Criminal forging.
I totally saw that coming, by the way.
McGee called, and, um, I filled them in.
Whoa!
Oh, my God!
Clearly, Craig got in over his head with the wrong people.
Oh, and they obviously killed him.
And then tried to take us out, too, because we were helping him.
And now we're helping NCIS.
And, um, other than ruining my shower curtain, how's it going?
Uh, we're still in the information-gathering phase?
Yeah.
Did any of you think to check Craig's online calendar?
Oh.
Cool.
So, I hacked Craig's password on the ride over.
Look.
Every event has a name, except for these five.
Nick, these dates and times look familiar?
Yep.
They all match the log book of when Craig stopped by that, uh, storage unit.
Maybe meeting up with a buyer.
That could be our killer.
Oh, look, look, there's another meeting coming up tonight.
Whoa, look at that.
Looks like a job for Rick Soares.
Hey, it's been a blast.
I'll give you three guesses who is not cleaning this up.
So, did they really threaten to pin a murder on you?
Yeah, I think I caught Max lifting my prints off a fridge.
That's where Craig's meet was supposed to happen.
Uh-huh.
Perfect place to sell underground counterfeit collectibles.
You know what?
Now that I think of it, McGee's new book actually has a subplot involving counterfeit Cialis.
Cialis?
Like the...
Yeah, yeah.
That one.
Have you read any of it?
Uh, well, I started skimming it.
I-I'm a skimmer.
Well, you need to do more than skim.
Uh, "Rick Soares" has some pretty steamy scenes.
It-It's not what I expected.
It-It reads more like an erotic thriller than a spy novel.
Whoa.
Our Timothy McGee?
Is that the one we're talking about?
Yeah.
Sounds kind of hot.
I feel kind of weird now that I said that.
This conversation never happened.
Here for the game?
Yeah, sorry we're late.
Huh?
You're early.
Oh.
Then we're sorry we're early.
Round's almost done.
You can join the next one.
Or if you're looking to buy, the "Big Guy" will be here soon.
Ferret Ambush, three spirit points.
You're gonna pay for that.
I'll take care of him.
I conjure the Legendary Ferret Commander.
Ten spirit points.
I don't suppose you know how to play this ferret thing?
That's a lot of cash.
You think our killer's sitting in there?
You want to bust them and find out?
I vote we wait for this "Big Guy."
Sounds kind of promising.
Brave Defender blocks your Ferret Brigade.
I counter with Sneaky Ferret.
Mecha Ferret.
No way.
That's the card that Craig was counterfeiting.
Where did you get a Mecha Ferret?
From me.
And I've just come across another one, if you're in the market.
Actually, uh, I'm actually in the market, Captain Fletcher.
The only question I have is, where did you get a Mecha Ferret card?
He doesn't look like a runner.
You want to give him a head start?
Wearing those boots?
Probably about, what, ten...
ten more seconds?
This could be a down payment on your house.
And that's just what we found in your trunk.
Your Warlord of Whiskers here goes for near five grand on eBay.
The real ones, at least.
Which this one isn't.
So how long have you and Craig been forging these cards?
I don't need to talk to you.
How'd it work?
He cooked them up, you unloaded them at that game?
Or at least until you got tired of the partnership and took Craig out.
Wait, what?
Then you started making cards yourself.
Don't play dumb, Fletcher.
We found counterfeiting equipment in your basement.
You're trying to railroad me.
You tried to kill our forensic scientist.
Taking Craig out - wasn't enough.
No...
And you were worried your buddies would talk at game night.
You are way off base here!
So you tried to kill them, too.
You don't have a single shred of hard evidence tying me to those murders.
We have motive.
And we know that you were working with Craig.
I wasn't working with Craig, okay?!
He was investigating me.
At least, I'm pretty sure he was.
All right, go on.
Look...
I got a gaming habit, okay?
I've been struggling.
Skip ahead 30 seconds.
Yes, I was making cards.
Craig started getting suspicious, I'm not sure how.
Skip ahead another ten seconds.
All that stuff you found in that storage unit.
I-I'm guessing Craig went undercover to try and replicate my process on the DL.
He was a good kid.
He wouldn't come at me until he had his facts straight.
And those are...?
I was counterfeiting.
But I didn't kill Craig.
And I sure as hell didn't try to kill your forensic scientist, or poison any fondue.
Okay, and we're just - supposed to believe you?
No.
Believe the flight logs.
I was on a red-eye from Albuquerque when all this was going down.
You got the wrong guy.
Which means the right guy is still out there.
And whatever they're up to, it's got nothing to do with my cards.
Captain Fletcher was telling the truth.
He was waiting for a connecting flight in Albuquerque when the killer fondue showed up.
On his way back from a gamer convention.
Which means he's not our killer.
And this case has nothing to do with trading cards.
Back to square one.
Again.
Maybe we're not.
Well, we'll take it.
What do you got?
- Knowledge, which, you may know, is power.
What's the one thing that we know for sure?
That I clearly underestimated the pop culture value of ferrets.
Understandable.
But guess again.
And go back to the beginning.
Someone tried to kill everyone at your game night.
Bingo.
But the question is why?
What do we all have in common?
At first, we thought it might have something to do with one of the cases that we discussed at game night.
We went through those.
There's nothing there.
- No.
Because that's not the only thing that we have in common.
And it has been under our noses the entire time.
Intro to Forensics.
Right.
Professor Davis's class.
She wasn't just our professor, she was our mentor.
But before that, she was the head of forensics for the Maryland State Police Department.
Now, I pulled her old case files to see if anything had changed recently.
And sure enough, a convicted gang member that she testified against was recently paroled.
Look familiar?
That guy tried hitting on me.
At least, I thought he did.
Your professor put this guy away and now he's taking her class?
Uh, something tells me he wasn't there to learn.
Where's Davis now?
Torres is trying to get ahold of her.
She's got a Forensic Toxicology class in 20 minutes.
Hello?
She just cancelled all her classes.
Or someone cancelled them for her.
No, Chancellor Johnson.
I did not cancel my classes.
I'm fine.
Well...
Maybe it's a server glitch.
I'll have the dean's office look into it.
Well, I'm here, if you can figure it out.
Ah.
And there's at least one student here.
Okay.
Well, looks like you're getting a private lesson.
No.
You're the one who's going to get a lesson.
Collin, what's going on here?
And even now, you still don't recognize me?
My name is Jesse Winston.
Yeah.
Now you remember.
NCIS!
Drop your weapon!
Jesse...
We don't want to shoot you.
Whatever happened before is over.
What happened before is she ruined my life!
You sent me to prison for something I didn't do!
It wasn't my job to decide your guilt, it was just to state the facts.
I didn't rob that liquor store, so none of your "facts" could say I did!
And while I was in prison, I lost a brother and nephew to the street because I wasn't there to protect them!
Last warning.
Drop it!
You killed Craig and Victor.
You tried to kill them all.
You took away everyone I ever cared about.
And I wanted you to know how it feels.
Now it's your turn to lose everything.
You all right?
No.
Are you hit?
No.
Then we split up.
Knight and I went to her house, Torres and Parker got to the school just in time.
But she's okay?
She's pretty rattled, but she's okay.
Yeah, Knight should be done taking her statement.
I got to head to the Pentagon.
More book stuff.
If there really is classified information in there, I'm worried they're gonna try and pull the whole thing.
Whew.
Well, I think it's safe to say the parole board made a big mistake with this one.
Could have been a lot worse.
Yeah, I could be dead.
Max!
What?
♪ Let it go ♪ ♪ That's just how he masks his pain ♪ ♪ What he meant to say was...
♪ I'm just glad you're okay.
Oh.
Thank you.
Oh, my gosh.
First of all, it's because of all of you guys.
But especially you, Kasie.
I-I just can't tell you how proud I am of you.
Once a teacher's pet, always a teach
How hard is it to pick a lock?
If you think it's so easy, why don't you have a go at it next time?
The plan was simple: Open vault.
Steal money.
You couldn't even get past step one.
I was doing fine.
You set off the alarm.
Princess NoisyPants over there was trying to have a tea party.
That is no way to address your future queen!
That dragon had enough gold, we would've been set for life.
Well, then maybe taunting it wasn't the best idea.
Guys!
The game's over.
Ne mon, linguate!
I cast a curse of silence upon thee.
Another word and the great fairy spirit will take thy breath.
We done?
Yeah.
Great.
See you all next week. "
I cast a curse of silence upon you."
Yeah, right.
Get real.
Curse of silence isn't even in the fairy spell book.
How hard is it?
Open vault.
Steal m...
Thank you for the call.
I'm always happy to talk to a fan.
Yeah.
Who are you texting?
What?
Well, you're grinning like a boy who just got a puppy.
Your sister, uh, wants me to ask you, what happened with Alex McGreevy at the eighth-grade science fair.
Okay, first off, Alex McGreevy is an idiot.
And second, he...
Oh, no, no, no.
I'm not doing this.
This is exactly what I was afraid of when the two of you - started dating.
-Thank you so much.
I got to go.
NCIS.
This is McGee.
Someone forward the switchboard to his desk or something?
Better.
The next Thom E.
Gemcity book just got leaked.
Oh.
Yeah, it's been like this all morning.
Yeah, I think that was me.
Well, that is, uh, very generous of you.
Uh, I'm your manager, so I get ten percent.
But, uh, I am not looking for new representation currently.
Thank you.
Told you giving an advance copy to that Marine's agent last Christmas was not a good idea.
Oh, come on!
People wouldn't be calling if they didn't like it.
So, who was it?
A publisher?
Agent?
Ooh, Tom Clancy's lawyers?
I'm just not ready for it to be out yet, you know?
I mean, it needs a rewrite.
I mean, if you have enough "Rick Soares" in there, how bad can it be?
I already told you, any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Tell that to, uh, Pimmy Jalmer.
I just, I want it to have depth, you know, more depth.
You know who had depth?
Kenny Rogers.
The chicken guy?
Yeah, I was listening to "The Gambler" on the way in.
He had a whole life philosophy going on there.
Yeah, I'm more of an "Islands in the Stream" guy, myself.
Of course you are.
Parker.
Gotcha, we're on our way.
Body.
Alexandria.
There is enough Rick Soares, in there right?
Don't play with me.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Here's what I got so far.
Local PD got a call about 6:30 this morning.
Victim's name is Victor Chan, Marine Corps reservist and data scientist at Quantico.
FBI have a new "barbarian" division I'm not aware of?
Did you guys know that in Ancient Greece, the word "barbarian" just meant "different"?
As in someone who didn't observe local customs?
I'm pretty sure wearing animal fur and a tunic isn't the custom anywhere in the lower 48.
I'm not sure he was driving.
What is he, six-five?
Yeah, give or take.
Well, the driver's seat and the mirrors are set up for somebody about a foot shorter.
It doesn't look like he braced for impact.
Uh, so someone drove him out here, set him up behind the wheel, pushed it down the hill?
Then took off on foot.
I got footprints back at the road.
Still doesn't explain the outfit.
This might help...
Let me see that.
Wow.
A lot of D20s in here.
Twenty-sided dice.
Used in tabletop role-playing games.
Actually some really nice ones in here.
These look like they are resin-made...
McGee, McGee, McGee...
Man, you're way cooler than that.
Well, looks like Chan was on his way home from a night of make-believe adventure.
I wonder if someone took things a little too seriously.
Judging by the outfit, I'd say that answer is yes.
I was talking about the killer.
Okay, first step: let's find out where Conan here was last night.
He was with me.
At my place.
Kasie?
How did you...?
KASIE: I got the Bandium alert on my way to work, but it has to be a mistake, okay?
Because Victor was fine When he left my...
Damn.
How's Kasie doing?
Well, she lost a friend.
So she's taking it pretty bad.
So it turns out Victor Chan was a Renaissance man.
Like, for real.
Graduate degrees in computer science and art history.
Chan was also a member of MENSA and the D.C.
Model Train Society.
And for the past six years, he has been an analyst for the FBI Crime Lab.
This guy is a forensic scientist?
Well, according to Kasie, everyone in the party was.
Not a group you want to play Clue with.
At least one friendly face in the mix.
Wait, Kasie had a forensics party with Carol and I wasn't invited?
Not gonna lie, that kind of hurts.
Probably better you weren't there.
Yeah, you're not kidding.
According to toxicology, uh, Victor Chan had conium maculatum in his system.
Hemlock?
Aw.
You read that Toxic Plants of North America book I got you for your birthday.
Jimmy?
Focus?
Right.
Uh, based on the rate at which this toxin is metabolized, it would appear that Victor was poisoned...
Whoa!
During Kasie's game night.
So one of the guests - must have done it.
Ugh.
Who wants to be the one to tell Kasie that her apartment is now a crime scene?
Okay, let's divide and conquer.
McGee, track down everyone that was at Kasie's place last night.
We'll head over and take a look.
Timothy McGee, aka "Thom E.
Gemcity"?
Okay.
This is getting a little ridiculous.
Listen, I do not need an agent, okay?
Daryl Thomas, DoD.
The Pentagon has a few questions about your new book.
I am telling you, there is no way that anybody in my house poisoned anyone last night, especially Victor.
We've known him for years.
Kasie, we're just following the evidence.
Yeah, you got to trust the process.
Yes.
It's just a lot easier to trust the process when it doesn't involve your personal, private business.
Yeah, we hear you, Kase.
We'll be discreet.
Uh, Torres, living area.
Knight, bedroom.
Oh, whoa, wait.
No one went in the bedroom last night.
They all stayed out here.
So you know we have to treat this just like any other investigation.
Right.
I can't interfere.
It's just...
there are some...
there's a few things that I'd rather you didn't see.
Like Parker said, we're gonna be discreet.
Oh, dear God.
Um...
Jess, meet Ernesto.
Ernesto, meet Jess.
That's a lot of dishes in the sink.
These from last night?
Yes.
I was planning on washing them today.
I just didn't know that I was going to have company.
We'll need to...
whoa, whoa, ho, ho, ho.
You need to leave that be for a minute.
We need to get these back to NCIS, test them for poison.
Great.
Now everyone at work will think I'm a slob.
And why would we think that?
Hey, Kasie?
Yes?
Why do you got three microwaves?
Ah!
Okay.
Okay...
I get it.
You're thinking, "She's a hoarder."
Hey, we're not passing - judgment here.
I'm judging a little.
Here we got something.
Under this table.
Hey, smells musty.
Hemlock smells musty.
That's not mine.
Kase, if that isn't yours...
You're not seriously thinking that one of my friends brought that here?
What I'm thinking is that we should probably save the questions for someplace a little more official.
How long have you guys been doing game night?
Um, since college.
It started off as a study group for Intro to Forensics.
It just...
never stopped.
This room does not have a friendly vibe, by the way.
And Carol joined later?
Yes.
Yeah.
Um...
You were there when we met.
Jimmy and I were bleeding from the eyes...
I got to ask, to your knowledge, does anyone in the group have motive...
to kill Victor Chan?
No!
No.
I-I-I mean, yes.
Sometimes Max and Victor would get into it whenever Max would cheat on his critical roles...
She said I cheat?!
I was picking up - the die to read it.
-Max!
We found this in Victor's email.
Can you read it? "
I'm going to kill you. "
I'm going to boil your teeth and make a necklace. "
I will dry your intestines and make a stringed instrument to play at your funeral."
See where I'm going here?
So what?
You think this means I poisoned him?
You should see the stuff I send my mother.
She's still alive.
Max can be a hothead, but he-he's harmless.
Okay?
I promise.
And what about Carol?
How was she with the rest of the group?
You know Carol.
She's a ray of sunshine.
Like, always.
This is crap.
Parker, do you know how many times I've saved your team from some world-ending virus?
And we appreciate it.
I work for the CDC.
Don't you think if I wanted to get rid of Victor, I'd use something more interesting than hemlock?
I think that you, above all people, would know to use something that anyone can get their hands on.
Well, I didn't.
Somebody did.
Who had motive?
Motive's not my thing.
That's more Ilene's area of expertise.
Anyone who spent more than 15 minutes with Victor is going to have motive.
Do you know how many times I had to listen to him lecture about the difference between "less" and "fewer"?
And you think that's reason enough to kill him?
Not for me it's not, but...
from a professional standpoint, I know there are many things that can be a trigger.
You're a profiler, Ms.
Smyth.
Please, it's "Ilene" or "Doctor."
I probably don't have to tell you this, but behavioral analysis can be unreliable.
What a terribly unsurprising thing for you to say.
You seem like a man who likes hard facts.
Have you ever considered why that might be, Alden?
Please, it's "Special Agent Parker."
Enlighten me.
Could it be that there are some things in your life that aren't black-and-white and that makes you uncomfortable?
You see, "fewer" is for things you can count. "
Less" is for collective nouns, like sugar or bubonic plague.
It's like watching an episode of America's Next Top Nerd.
Where you been?
DoD.
They had some questions about my new book.
Apparently, it's a little too close to reality.
Like, classified reality.
You wrote something too realistic?
And they won't tell me what it is.
I mean, I got to go to this meeting at the Pentagon, and I don't know what they're bumping on.
I don't know if it's robot dolphins or the moon base or what.
Moon base?
What's the book about?
Main character's a hot new cryptologist.
Delena Fleming.
Hmm, okay.
Not at all based on your wife.
Well, the book itself, it's-it's more of a statement about the nature of joy.
Well, can't wait to read.
Yeah?
That would be great, man.
Thank you.
I'm gonna send it to you right now.
Just flag anything that might be classified.
What?
I mean, you're asking me to make a book report?
That'd be great, man.
Thank you.
All right, labs came back on that vial.
Nothing toxic.
Just some herbal memory enhancer.
Then where the hell was the poison?
It was in the fondue.
You're lucky to be alive.
No, I'm not lucky.
Victor was a double-dipper, and there was no way that any of us were going near that s...
Kasie?
The fondue was from Craig.
There was a Craig at game night?
You said there was just four.
No, he couldn't make it.
He texted that he was busy with work, and he was gonna send snacks in his place.
Well, he sent one hell of a snack.
How do you even send fondue?
It just doesn't make sense.
Why would he do it?
Well, we're gonna find him and ask him.
That's gonna be a problem.
Landlord found him this morning completely unresponsive.
MPD figured it was home invasion.
Sure, two of Kasie's friends end up dead on the same night by random coincidence?
That tracks.
Yeah, it'd be like drawing every monastery 12 games in a row.
You do play Carcassonne?
What happened to good old Monopoly?
Time of death was before the get-together at Kasie's that I wasn't invited to.
Which makes Craig here our first victim.
The killer must have strangled him, then sent the fondue.
As one does.
Craig was never trying to poison his game-night buddies.
No.
Someone else is trying to kill all of them.
I can't believe Craig's dead.
Two down, four to go.
They were trying to kill us all.
That can't be right.
Who'd want to hurt us?
That's what we're trying to figure out.
We're debriefing Carol again.
We'll do the rest of you one by one.
Have we figured out who's gonna get Craig's stuff yet?
Max, this is evidence, not probate.
Forget about the stuff.
We have to figure out who the killer is.
I bet there's a whole lot of people who have it in for you.
And everyone else?
What exactly do you do at game night?
Are you being serious right now?
It's literally called "game night."
This guy.
We play D&D sometimes, uh, Ferrets & Phalanxes, uh, Yahtzee.
No one is getting killed because they play Yahtzee.
Is that all?
Sometimes we talk about cases.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's like a forensic science roundtable.
Actually, Craig had been bogarting discussion time with a lot of really weird questions.
Yeah, obscure aspects of blood spatter, membrane permeability.
Yeah.
Fluid dynamics.
Mm-hmm.
Saturation thresholds?
What was he was working on?
He wouldn't tell us, and we couldn't figure it out.
That says something.
I'm sure his old boss would know.
Oh, you know who might be able to help?
Professor Davis.
That's our old teacher.
I used to go to her with difficult cases.
Did you guys hear she got divorced?
You have such a mommy complex.
Okay, fine.
You reach out to the professor, I'll talk to Craig's boss.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're not gonna leave me alone with them, are you?
You'll be fine.
Just try not to shoot anybody.
Security called.
Craig's boss just checked in - at the gate.
-Oh, thank you.
What are you reading?
Anything good?
Uh, McGee's new book.
Torres sent it.
And?
Does it have "depth"?
Well, I'm only a couple pages in.
But so far, there's a flesh-eating virus and an Icelandic archer.
Any sign on how they replace Agent Tibbs?
I could send it to you.
Eh, I'll wait for the paperback.
Actually, who am I kidding?
Okay, yeah, go ahead.
Agent Parker?
Yeah.
Fletcher.
This is, uh, Special Agent Knight.
Ed Fletcher, Baltimore crime lab.
You know, you didn't have to drive all the way down here, Captain Fletcher.
We could have done this - over the phone.
Craig wasn't just a coworker, he was a friend.
Driving down here was the least I could do.
Well, thank you.
Sorry for your loss.
I've been working forensics a long time.
Craig was one of the best.
His case files, as requested.
Mind if I ask what you're looking for?
Craig had been asking his colleagues about some strange topics lately.
We think that's what might have got him killed.
There's nothing too strange in any of those files, just run-of-the-mill cases.
Nothing really that would rise to the level of murder.
Of course, it could be something not in those files.
Craig definitely seemed like the type to have a white whale.
A white what?
Whale.
It's the one case you can never let go.
Don't worry, you'll get there.
I've got, like...
ten.
Okay.
White whale.
You got any ideas there?
No.
Craig may have been the type to have one, but...
he wasn't the type to share.
Look at them.
Time of their lives and they don't even know it yet.
Intro to Forensics.
This is where we all met.
Hey.
Hi.
Any chance you need a study partner?
Move along, junior.
Oh, Kasie Hines.
Ooh, honey.
I am so sorry to hear about Craig and Victor.
How's everybody doing?
And tell Max it's okay to cry.
Uh, Jessica Knight, Professor Annabel Davis.
Nice to meet you.
Kasie and her crew are my all-time favorite students.
I still use them as examples in my class.
Professor, we need your help.
Sure.
This makes it seem like Craig was looking into some sort of collodion process.
Like, photography?
Well, lithography, to be more specific.
But I'm impressed.
I took photo studio as an elective.
Thought it was gonna be an easy A, but not so much.
Uh, how do you get lithography from questions about hemoglobin and chemical diffusion?
Well, there is a technique, but nobody teaches it because nobody uses it anymore.
It uses, uh, like, a developer that acts a lot like blood.
Oh, so Craig wasn't interested in blood spatter, he was looking into vintage photographic techniques.
I don't know.
This feels like a stretch.
Well, you said to trust the process.
So this is where it leads.
Keep going with that.
Okay, well, photochemistry uses some very specific reagents.
If the killer was looking into a collodion process, there's only a handful of chemicals he could have used...
...and they're all hazardous.
Which means we can track them.
Which may lead us to our killer.
Ah, look who's the teacher now.
McGee.
Hazmat database.
We need to look for any shipments of potassium cyanide.
Attention, customers.
Please ensure all storage units are securely locked at all times.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you for choosing our storage facility.
Just talked to the manager...
Oh!
What?
McGee, how many times am I gonna tell you?
Just don't sneak up on me like that.
What are you talking about?
You could literally see me coming...
Oh.
Who were you texting?
No one.
I was playing Monopoly Go!
Yeah, and by that, you mean Knight's sister again?
Manager.
What did he say?
Well, not much, until I told him that we traced an illegal shipment of potassium cyanide to one of his units, and he gave me the key.
Right here.
Unit 42.
It was rented to a William Baden.
Contract was done online.
Must have been that, uh, white whale that Craig was after.
Kasie seems to think so.
Oh, wait.
Uh, cyanide.
Aren't we supposed to wear-wear a mask or something?
Nah.
Not anymore.
Got an app for that.
See this thing right here?
Toxic-gas detector.
You hear "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, you run.
Wow.
You're so cute sometimes.
Oh, we're good.
Good so far.
Good?
Yep, we're good.
I don't know what, uh, any of this is...
...but it looks shady.
You don't forge a permit for potassium cyanide to bake cookies.
Let's see what we have here.
We have a gun.
We got some cash.
And we got an ID.
Wow.
Look familiar?
Is that...?
Yeah, Kasie's friend Craig with a fake ID.
And a lot of cash for his pay grade.
This is Craig's storage unit.
Why do I get a funny feeling that Kasie's friend wasn't investigating a crime...
He was committing one.
So, we originally thought that Craig was using your game night buddies to help solve an old cold case.
And now you think he was using us to commit a crime?
All because he has a fake ID?
Didn't all of us have a fake ID at one point?
No comment.
Yeah, it's, uh, it's not just the ID.
Went through a laptop we found.
Turns out he was hacking into Baltimore PD's evidence logs.
To do what?
Captain Fletcher thinks he might've been erasing records.
Sorry, Kasie, I'm gonna go with "bad guy."
So, what kind of bad guy things was he up to?
Well, you processed the equipment, Kasie.
It's all you.
Look, Kase, I know he was your friend, but...
whatever he was doing got him killed.
And the rest of your friends could still be in danger.
There is a reason why they're all in protective custody right now.
The, uh...
chemicals, the photographic equipment, it looks like Craig was set up to make printing plates.
Printing plates, as in...
As in the kind you could use to...
counterfeit something.
Like that cash?
No, the cash is real.
We think he was using it to buy equipment.
He probably didn't want to leave a paper trail.
And none of the color dyes match the specific colors he would need to counterfeit cash.
So what was he counterfeiting?
I think I know.
And either I'm right, or Craig is the luckiest man alive.
Aside from, you know, the fact that he's dead.
When I heard that our victim had a huge Ferrets & Phalanxes card collection, I wanted to take a look.
Victoria and I love that game.
Ferrets and...?
Phalanxes.
It's, uh, um, like The Gathering, but with fewer trademark issues.
Magic the...
what?
They're CCGs.
Collectible card games.
Yeah, you play the game, you collect the cards.
There's a huge market for the rare ones.
The more rare the card...
The more it's worth.
Look, how much we talking about here?
This F&P card alone, it's worth big bucks.
Like mucho big bucks.
How do you know?
It's still sealed.
I X-rayed it.
What?
That's cheating.
And that's a limited edition Mecha Ferret.
Can someone please give me a dollar value?
Ten thousand.
Each.
Each?
Mm-hmm.
How many does he have?
That's a good question.
Hmm.
Hey, what are you doing?
I'm opening it.
No, no, no, you can't open another man's cards.
He's dead.
It does not matter, okay?
It is a violation of every ethical collector boundary.
Listen, finding out what kind of card you have is a very personal thing.
Or...
maybe you don't want to know what Craig was really up to.
Okay, fine, but let me do it.
I was his friend.
If he was using my game night to commit crimes, I should be the one to prove it.
It's another Mecha Ferret.
Looks like your friend was counterfeiting these cards.
That means there's over $100,000 worth of playing cards in just this bundle.
I'll tell the others.
They're not gonna be happy about this.
Please get that vacuum cleaner out of the sink!
You're gonna electrocute yourself.
Oh, relax, I turned the water off.
I'd be more worried about him starting a fire.
Please.
I'm a professional.
How's it going with the package foil?
Ooh!
Uh, based on the arcing...
You know, I don't think that metal is supposed to go in there.
I should have a rough material breakdown soon.
Okay, good, because Carol needs the microwave to incubate her cultures.
Uh, Carol?
Do you need help with that next batch?
Because based on the smell, please say no.
Do not come in here.
This is a biohazard.
I may have overdone it with the solvent And Kasie is running out of gelatin.
I had a whole case of gelatin.
And what are you doing with my Frenzied Ferret card?
You know, comparing the substrata of the authentic card to the fake one.
I told them to stop, but they threatened to pin a murder on me.
Mm.
And Carol's creating microbiota samples from everything Craig may have touched.
Okay, all of you literally stop before I hog-tie you.
I have some news about Craig.
Oh, we already heard.
Criminal forging.
I totally saw that coming, by the way.
McGee called, and, um, I filled them in.
Whoa!
Oh, my God!
Clearly, Craig got in over his head with the wrong people.
Oh, and they obviously killed him.
And then tried to take us out, too, because we were helping him.
And now we're helping NCIS.
And, um, other than ruining my shower curtain, how's it going?
Uh, we're still in the information-gathering phase?
Yeah.
Did any of you think to check Craig's online calendar?
Oh.
Cool.
So, I hacked Craig's password on the ride over.
Look.
Every event has a name, except for these five.
Nick, these dates and times look familiar?
Yep.
They all match the log book of when Craig stopped by that, uh, storage unit.
Maybe meeting up with a buyer.
That could be our killer.
Oh, look, look, there's another meeting coming up tonight.
Whoa, look at that.
Looks like a job for Rick Soares.
Hey, it's been a blast.
I'll give you three guesses who is not cleaning this up.
So, did they really threaten to pin a murder on you?
Yeah, I think I caught Max lifting my prints off a fridge.
That's where Craig's meet was supposed to happen.
Uh-huh.
Perfect place to sell underground counterfeit collectibles.
You know what?
Now that I think of it, McGee's new book actually has a subplot involving counterfeit Cialis.
Cialis?
Like the...
Yeah, yeah.
That one.
Have you read any of it?
Uh, well, I started skimming it.
I-I'm a skimmer.
Well, you need to do more than skim.
Uh, "Rick Soares" has some pretty steamy scenes.
It-It's not what I expected.
It-It reads more like an erotic thriller than a spy novel.
Whoa.
Our Timothy McGee?
Is that the one we're talking about?
Yeah.
Sounds kind of hot.
I feel kind of weird now that I said that.
This conversation never happened.
Here for the game?
Yeah, sorry we're late.
Huh?
You're early.
Oh.
Then we're sorry we're early.
Round's almost done.
You can join the next one.
Or if you're looking to buy, the "Big Guy" will be here soon.
Ferret Ambush, three spirit points.
You're gonna pay for that.
I'll take care of him.
I conjure the Legendary Ferret Commander.
Ten spirit points.
I don't suppose you know how to play this ferret thing?
That's a lot of cash.
You think our killer's sitting in there?
You want to bust them and find out?
I vote we wait for this "Big Guy."
Sounds kind of promising.
Brave Defender blocks your Ferret Brigade.
I counter with Sneaky Ferret.
Mecha Ferret.
No way.
That's the card that Craig was counterfeiting.
Where did you get a Mecha Ferret?
From me.
And I've just come across another one, if you're in the market.
Actually, uh, I'm actually in the market, Captain Fletcher.
The only question I have is, where did you get a Mecha Ferret card?
He doesn't look like a runner.
You want to give him a head start?
Wearing those boots?
Probably about, what, ten...
ten more seconds?
This could be a down payment on your house.
And that's just what we found in your trunk.
Your Warlord of Whiskers here goes for near five grand on eBay.
The real ones, at least.
Which this one isn't.
So how long have you and Craig been forging these cards?
I don't need to talk to you.
How'd it work?
He cooked them up, you unloaded them at that game?
Or at least until you got tired of the partnership and took Craig out.
Wait, what?
Then you started making cards yourself.
Don't play dumb, Fletcher.
We found counterfeiting equipment in your basement.
You're trying to railroad me.
You tried to kill our forensic scientist.
Taking Craig out - wasn't enough.
No...
And you were worried your buddies would talk at game night.
You are way off base here!
So you tried to kill them, too.
You don't have a single shred of hard evidence tying me to those murders.
We have motive.
And we know that you were working with Craig.
I wasn't working with Craig, okay?!
He was investigating me.
At least, I'm pretty sure he was.
All right, go on.
Look...
I got a gaming habit, okay?
I've been struggling.
Skip ahead 30 seconds.
Yes, I was making cards.
Craig started getting suspicious, I'm not sure how.
Skip ahead another ten seconds.
All that stuff you found in that storage unit.
I-I'm guessing Craig went undercover to try and replicate my process on the DL.
He was a good kid.
He wouldn't come at me until he had his facts straight.
And those are...?
I was counterfeiting.
But I didn't kill Craig.
And I sure as hell didn't try to kill your forensic scientist, or poison any fondue.
Okay, and we're just - supposed to believe you?
No.
Believe the flight logs.
I was on a red-eye from Albuquerque when all this was going down.
You got the wrong guy.
Which means the right guy is still out there.
And whatever they're up to, it's got nothing to do with my cards.
Captain Fletcher was telling the truth.
He was waiting for a connecting flight in Albuquerque when the killer fondue showed up.
On his way back from a gamer convention.
Which means he's not our killer.
And this case has nothing to do with trading cards.
Back to square one.
Again.
Maybe we're not.
Well, we'll take it.
What do you got?
- Knowledge, which, you may know, is power.
What's the one thing that we know for sure?
That I clearly underestimated the pop culture value of ferrets.
Understandable.
But guess again.
And go back to the beginning.
Someone tried to kill everyone at your game night.
Bingo.
But the question is why?
What do we all have in common?
At first, we thought it might have something to do with one of the cases that we discussed at game night.
We went through those.
There's nothing there.
- No.
Because that's not the only thing that we have in common.
And it has been under our noses the entire time.
Intro to Forensics.
Right.
Professor Davis's class.
She wasn't just our professor, she was our mentor.
But before that, she was the head of forensics for the Maryland State Police Department.
Now, I pulled her old case files to see if anything had changed recently.
And sure enough, a convicted gang member that she testified against was recently paroled.
Look familiar?
That guy tried hitting on me.
At least, I thought he did.
Your professor put this guy away and now he's taking her class?
Uh, something tells me he wasn't there to learn.
Where's Davis now?
Torres is trying to get ahold of her.
She's got a Forensic Toxicology class in 20 minutes.
Hello?
She just cancelled all her classes.
Or someone cancelled them for her.
No, Chancellor Johnson.
I did not cancel my classes.
I'm fine.
Well...
Maybe it's a server glitch.
I'll have the dean's office look into it.
Well, I'm here, if you can figure it out.
Ah.
And there's at least one student here.
Okay.
Well, looks like you're getting a private lesson.
No.
You're the one who's going to get a lesson.
Collin, what's going on here?
And even now, you still don't recognize me?
My name is Jesse Winston.
Yeah.
Now you remember.
NCIS!
Drop your weapon!
Jesse...
We don't want to shoot you.
Whatever happened before is over.
What happened before is she ruined my life!
You sent me to prison for something I didn't do!
It wasn't my job to decide your guilt, it was just to state the facts.
I didn't rob that liquor store, so none of your "facts" could say I did!
And while I was in prison, I lost a brother and nephew to the street because I wasn't there to protect them!
Last warning.
Drop it!
You killed Craig and Victor.
You tried to kill them all.
You took away everyone I ever cared about.
And I wanted you to know how it feels.
Now it's your turn to lose everything.
You all right?
No.
Are you hit?
No.
Then we split up.
Knight and I went to her house, Torres and Parker got to the school just in time.
But she's okay?
She's pretty rattled, but she's okay.
Yeah, Knight should be done taking her statement.
I got to head to the Pentagon.
More book stuff.
If there really is classified information in there, I'm worried they're gonna try and pull the whole thing.
Whew.
Well, I think it's safe to say the parole board made a big mistake with this one.
Could have been a lot worse.
Yeah, I could be dead.
Max!
What?
♪ Let it go ♪ ♪ That's just how he masks his pain ♪ ♪ What he meant to say was...
♪ I'm just glad you're okay.
Oh.
Thank you.
Oh, my gosh.
First of all, it's because of all of you guys.
But especially you, Kasie.
I-I just can't tell you how proud I am of you.
Once a teacher's pet, always a teach