NCIS

And Bonnie here is a bromeliad.

Please don't ask me to spell that.

And so she needs to be kept moist,

but not soggy.

Also...

she likes to be whispered to.

Full disclosure.

I probably won't do that last part.

I appreciate your honesty.

And your excellent note-taking.

Don't sound so surprised, Mr. Harding.

I am surprised, Libby.

Why? Because I'm young

and people my age are usually cynical?

No. Because you agreed to apartment sit

and people my age don't usually pay well.

Picking ten albums from your record collection

does seem fair to me.

Just not the Manilow, okay?

Okay. Boomer.

I guess I asked for that one.

Okay, so we still have to go over the living room plants.

Wait.

You didn't say your vacation was someplace warm.

My price just went up. Jealousy tax.

What? I always wear that shirt whenever I visit...

...Idaho.

12 albums.

Or your plants can slowly die

along with the rest of the planet.

I'll let you think about it.

Be back later.

Oh, Libby.

Hello?

How did you get this number?

Don't try to find me.

Libby?

Is that you?

You know, this is the third time

Kasie has sent us out for a supply run.

Yeah. She either needs to stop throwing parties

or we need to stop agreeing to be her gophers.

First it was Ducky's birthday, then it was Susan in HR

with a housewarming. And then...

now it's a.. it's a retirement party

for a guy I don't even like.

Oh, come on, everybody likes the professor.

Not everybody.

He was my favorite instructor at FLETC.

Kind of a cross between Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society

and, uh, the professor on Gilligan's Island.

What? No way.

More like the dude from Whiplash.

If the professor were a pathological hard-ass,

why would federal agents from around the world

come to his party?

I don't know. Maybe you should ask them.

Can we help you?

Yes.

Where do you keep your extra staples?

Hey. I don't.

I've got them in my upper right drawer, Agent Boone.

Thanks, Jess. Sorry about the invasion

of privacy, but we were given direct orders.

Uh, by General Hines?

Yes. We got here a day early for the retirement party, and

Kasie put us on decorating duty.

Well, she's hard to say no to. Yeah, tell us about it.

Hey, look, it's the least we can do for the professor...

after all, his classes

on threat response have saved me more than once.

Hey, he was the one who suggested I switch

from D.C. Homicide to NCIS. The man changed my life.

You're not the only one.

Yeah, that's for sure.

Listen to this. Over the last 30 years,

the professor has taught

47,410 federal trainees

and recertified 60,902 active personnel.

That's, uh, wildly specific, McGee.

Kasie asked me to crunch the numbers.

She's giving a toast later, and she knows

the professor can be a real stickler for details.

He always used to say, "You can't spell details without..."

"Dotting the I's and crossing the T's."

Well, FLETC will, uh, miss his mantras.

I never thought the cockroach would actually retire.

The cockroach? Mm-hmm.

See? I'm not the only one who hates the guy.

No, that was his nickname at the FBI. We loved him.

Well, whatever you called him, we, uh...

we had lunch last week, and he, uh,

definitely seems happy to be hanging up his spurs.

Wow, happy? Like Gibbs is in Alaska?

Speaking of... he probably knew the professor.

Any chance of Gibbs showing up to the party?

I doubt it.

Although, you know what? The professor

did mention that Gibbs and him went

on a few fishing trips back in the day.

So you're saying there's a chance?

No, there's not.

Because the party's off.

I'm... I'm very sorry

to have to report Professor Dale Harding

was found dead this morning in his apartment.

What happened, Director?

The initial report suggests that he died by suicide.

Suicide? That.. that... that can't be right.

No, it can't.

Then I guess we got work to do.

Well, this is awkward.

But I think you all forgot something.

Like what?

It was a joke. I thought

you were gonna take the next elevator.

You're obviously welcome to any of our crime scenes.

Your crime scenes? Interesting.

She's special agent in charge of the entire Pacific Rim, Nick.

I'd choose your next words very carefully.

No words is also a choice.

Very true. Amen.

All right, all I'm saying is that

this is not the Pacific, this is D.C., and, uh,

we do things a certain way here.

Mm.

Does that way include moving the body

before you process the scene?

Oh. Hi, guys.

Uh, Jimmy, what are you doing?

Yeah. Who authorized you to release the body?

We did.

Agents Callen and Hanna.

Agent Tennant.

McGee! Oh, it's been a while.

Yeah. What the hell are you guys doing here?

I guess it hasn't been long enough.

Still using the old DSLRs, huh?

Standard-issue equipment. Unlike, uh, color-dye gloves.

Well, you know, they work the same as yours.

Well, until the dye rubs off

and contaminates the evidence.

Look, we're not trying to step on anyone's toes coming here.

We were in D.C. for the professor's party.

We heard the bad news when we landed.

We had to find out if it was true.

And was it?

We never got to see the body.

It was true.

And it was not pretty.

Single gunshot under the chin.

Fresh GSR, consistent blood spatter.

It was suicide.

I had lunch with the professor a few days ago,

and he seemed fine.

Talking big about retirement plans.

Like a trip to Cabo.

He had a ticket to leave at the end of the week.

Yeah, suicide doesn't make sense.

Not for the cockroach.

Your class called him that, too?

Out of respect.

You and Parker have high opinions of primitive insects.

They're survivors. And so was Dale Harding.

The man taught incident preparedness

and threat response, and one of his many mantras was "Adapt

and overcome."

Well, I guess he forgot his mantra.

He didn't forget.

He had to have had a good reason.

That means we're missing something.

Yeah, like a cell phone.

Someone call The Guinness Book of Records.

I think we have the most senior

field agents at a crime scene.

Yeah, I heard the NCIS Great Lakes office is

on their way, too.

I'm kidding.

You, uh, said something about a cell phone?

Yes. We were talking to the next door neighbor Libby.

And she said she heard the gunshot

at 7:40 a.m.

Said she knocked, but no answer.

Building manager unlocked the door ten minutes later

and they found the body. Libby know the professor?

Yeah. She was with him moments before the gunshot.

Said he was alone and cheerful

when he got a call on his cell phone.

Except I didn't see a cell phone here.

Anyone else?

Then where the hell is it?

I might have an answer. According to the access log,

this computer was last used at 7:45 a.m.

That's five minutes after the gunshot.

Five minutes before the body was found.

Yeah, means someone else was in this apartment.

Are you sure it was a suicide?

Because, rule number three: always double-check.

I did double-check, and you don't have

to quote Gibbs' rules to me.