[Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of "NCIS"]
A loophole in the law frees Navy Petty Officer Kyle Friedgen when a judge throws out DNA evidence in the murder case of his ex-girlfriend Joy Vanatter. But Friedgen's wife leaves him and his shipmates are harassing him, so he asks to be court-martialed to get his day in court.
Friedgen's attorney Carrie Clark meets with Gibb at his favorite diner to talk about her client. He swears he is innocent but no one believes him and he wants a chance to prove his innocence.
Gibbs takes the case and the investigation begins. Friedgen and Vanatter dated in high school and he got her pregnant when she was 16. She had an abortion. A year later they had a violent argument and he got arrested for abuse. He was put on probation. At 18, he enlisted in the Navy and has a clean record. Two years ago, he married Hanna and they are expecting their first child.
Carrie says all the evidence is circumstantial. The evidence the judge threw out was a syringe with Vanatter's blood that was found in Friedgen's car. Friedgen swears he can't explain the syringe. He says he got a call from Vanatter that morning, but he didn't meet her. He just wants his life back.
DiNozzo and McGee go to Baltimore to get the police file on Friedgen. The police explain they checked out Friedgen because of the texts on Vanatter's phone and their previous history. Plus, he didn't have a verifiable alibi, so he became a person of interest. Then they found the syringe.
Bishop and Jake go out to dinner after a show at the Kennedy Center. Bishop says she wishes they could do it more often. Then she asks Jake to tell her why he wasn't at the hotel when the bomb went off in Dubai. He says the NSA is asking him the same question because there is a leak at the agency.
McGee and Abby go through the evidence from Baltimore. Ducky comes and gets the autopsy results and sends for Vanatter's body. It hasn't been buried because no one has claimed it.
Gibbs goes over the evidence then heads to Norfolk to talk to Friedgen's shipmates. He learns from Friedgen's commander that Friedgen was four hours late checking in the night of the murder and Friedgen's shipmates think he is guilty of murder.
Bishop goes to surprise Jake at lunch and catches him with another woman. She comes back and asks Abby to pull up the footage of Jake in the cab from Dubai. The same woman is in the cab. Her name is Taylor Matthews and she is with the NSA's version of internal affairs. Bishop thinks Jake is in trouble.
DiNozzo and McGee hit the mean streets of Baltimore and catch up with an old drug-dealing snitch of DiNozzo's named Cheech. Cheech tells them Vanatter came into some money and was looking to buy a higher grade of heroine but she wasn't hooking to pay for it. She got the money from some uptown suit, who was into S&M.
Abby discovers that the serial numbers on the money found on Vanatter's body are newly minted and were delivered to Norfolk, where they put into an ATM. The bills were withdrawn by Friedgen.
Gibbs confronts Friedgen, slaps him, and tells him he knows Friedgen lied. Friedgen says he met with Vanatter to give her money because she threatened to tell his wife about their past. But it wasn't for drugs. Vanatter had gotten into some trouble and needed to get out of town.
Bishop goes to see Gibbs, who is building another boat in his basement. It is after midnight. She has been driving around because she didn't want to go home to an empty apartment. She tells Gibbs that Jake says he is working, but she isn't sure. She tells Gibbs she thinks Jake is being investigated because there was a leak at the NSA. Gibbs asks if she sees the irony in her asking him for marital advice. Gibbs says just because Jake can't tell her the details, he can tell her how he feels. Get him to talk.
Jake comes home and Bishop is waiting for him. She tells him for months now, things have been different. At first, she thought he was having an affair. But then she saw him being reprimanded by Taylor, so she knows he is in trouble at work. Jake stops her and admits he is having an affair with Taylor. Bishop storms out.
Abby discovers the syringe had cheap heroin in it, which Tony and McGee find strange since Cheech said Vanatter was using better quality stuff. Ducky says the coroner's report was accurate, but he is doing a more detailed tox screen. The heroine in the body and the syringe don't match, so they realize it may have been planted in Friedgen's car.
Bishop comes back to the office and announces that Jake is having an affair. Gibbs sends her to Baltimore with DiNozzo to take her mind off of it. When they get there, they discover that the assistant state's attorney checked out evidence on Vanatter's last drug bust.
They take the evidence back to Abby, who says the syringe has never been used. From the number on it, she learned that it was only manufactured three months ago.
McGee says the state's attorney had evidence thrown out once before – for the very same reason as in Friedgen's case. He is a smart guy. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. They arrest him.
Friedgen thanks the NCIS team for helping him get part of his life back. He has the Navy but things will never be the same with his wife.
Bishop tells Gibbs she made a decision. Jakes shows up at their empty apartment and finds a note that Bishop is going home to Oklahoma and asks him not to contact her. She doesn't know when she will be back.
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