NCIS

He's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill me.

6:03, Felix. Coach is gonna kill you.

I'm sorry, Coach. My alarm didn't go off.

Coach?

Commander? Sir?

This is weird, right?

That's one word for it.

I think it's kind of nice.

Well, looks like the, uh, new guy

is trying to score some brownie points.

Or in this case, pastry points.

I think Parker said these are Polish kolaczki.

Wait, wait, wait. What if this is a test?

To see who prefers

plain over powdered sugar?

Well, maybe.

What does taking plain over powdered sugar say about you?

It says I'm hungry.

Hey, I'm serious, guys. We barely know this guy.

What if he's playing mind games?

Or he's just trying to be nice his first week on the job.

I'm not that easy. Me, neither.

Well, now I feel like I should put it back.

Morning.

Morning. On it.

Whoa. What's the rush?

You didn't come in to tell us we have a body, or...?

No. How was everybody's weekend?

Good.

Uneventful.

Same.

Anybody catch that Nats game last night?

Special Agent McGee.

Yeah. Uh, one sec.

Uh, dispatch has a body. You want to talk to them?

Um, yeah.

Okay, got it. Thanks.

Guess they don't have your number yet.

We got a dead sailor at the Navy Athletic Complex in Norfolk.

Well, in that case, my delicious mind games will have to wait.

Let's roll.

How did he hear us?

Victim is Navy Commander Henry Davis,

head of the All-Navy Sports program.

Worked with some of the best athletes in the world.

I had a buddy who played basketball in the Army.

Serious work.

Even more so in this case.

The other military branches,

your sport is your primary mission.

Navy athletes are expected to compete

at an international level while maintaining

their active-duty assignments.

Dual threats.

One of the athletes found him early this morning.

Yeah, I would say rigor suggests the time of death

was between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m.

You got a cause of death, Doc?

The only visible wound here

is a blunt force trauma to the temple.

Whoever, uh, killed him

definitely had their pick of murder weapons.

You got shot puts, hammers,

javelins.

Headwind and tailwind versions.

Wow.

I didn't have you pegged as the track-and-field type, McGee.

I contain multitudes, Agent Parker.

Just curious, what, uh, type

did you have me pegged as?

Uh, maybe "pegged" was the wrong word.

Well, in any case,

I don't think that the murder weapon came from this room.

This wound here appears to be a burn.

From what?

I'm not sure.

I've never seen dermal stippling quite like this before.

So what are we looking for?

I don't know.

Then I guess we keep looking.

Commander's office is right next door.

No, you-you don't understand.

I'm never late.

Why were you this morning?

Coach and I have been doing two-a-days

to get ready for the Military World Games.

Time trials are next week.

Practice, plus my regular-duty assignment.

It caught up with me.

I overslept.

It's hard enough to handle one career.

You handle two.

I c... I couldn't do it without Coach.

So the two of you were close?

I was heading down a bad path as a kid.

Drinking, fighting.

Joined the Navy 'cause my guidance counselor

thought it'd straighten me out.

Well? Did it?

Not really.

I was looking at a dishonorable discharge

until Coach Davis heard I was all-state in high school,

asked me to try out for the Navy team.

Running turned things around for you.

No.

Coach Davis did that.

He gave me a place to belong.

Gave me something else to do other than drink.

You any idea who might want him dead?

That's just it.

No one would.

I mean, Coach is the...

Coach...

wasthe best,

on and off the track.

Well, he was the best on the track, that's for sure.

Commander Davis has quite the hardware collection.

Ah, must be the awards that didn't fit

in the trophy case outside.

Hmm. This guy's a regular John Wooden.

The basketball coach.

I loved his book on leadership.

Pyramid of Success. Good stuff.

Mm.

I wonder if the commander read it, too.

Sure seems like he knew the winning secret.

Speaking of secrets...

You got something?

Hidden compartment.

Drugs.

Yeah. The performance-enhancing kind.

Testosterone, metenolone.

Wonder what our coach was doing with steroids?

Commander Henry Davis, decorated officer

and former world-class runner himself.

He worked his way up

to become head of the All-Navy Sports program.

These athletes compete in everything

from the Military World Games to the Olympics.

I'd hate to find out that the drugs

in the commander's desk had something to do with that.

Could be why he was killed.Yeah.

Maybe somebody found out the coach

was doping his athletes, got upset.

Not athletes.

In addition to his administrative duties,

Davis coached one person at a time.

Someone who was stationed locally

and who he saw extra potential in.

That narrows down the list.

Davis was currently training Petty Officer Felix Cross.

We questioned him this morning,

but that was before we knew about the drugs.

Let's see what Felix has to say now,

and have him pee in a cup while you're at it.

Yeah.

Who did the coach work with before Felix?

Petty Officer First Class Jamie Anderson.

Now let's talk to him, too.

Let's start working our way back.

Actually,

Petty OfficerAnderson

was killed last year, not in combat.

Some sort of car accident.

That makes two dead. That's a small world.

You got details? No,

but Anderson's parents still live in D.C.

Bring them in. Let's have a chat.

Hi, Jimmy. Oh, McGee. Great timing.

I was just about to call Parker down for an update.

Well, I like updates.

Would you like an update?

I would love an update.

Let's do an update.

I finally figured out

what our mystery stippling was here.

Commander Davis was killed by...

a gunshot.

No entry wound.

That's because there was no bullet.

This man was killed by a blank round.

Not the most effective choice of murder weapon.

No, but it works.

Even blank rounds aren't entirely blank.

Right, they use a wadding to hold in the propellant.

Which, in this case, was gunpowder.

Hence the burn on the temple.

So he was shot point-blank? Yeah.

The paper wadding was ejected from the barrel

and shattered his temporal bone.

The bone fragments pierced the brain.

Death was instantaneous.

Think this could have been a suicide, maybe?

I didn't find any GSR on the victim's hands,

so that means someone else pulled the trigger.

Why try and kill someone with a blank round?

Eh, starter pistols could use blank rounds.

At least they used to before everything went digital.

A track coach murdered with a starter pistol.

Pretty symbolic.