Trama

A Marine private first-class returns from Afghanistan to his hometown in time for a welcoming party for him during homecoming week; however, when he arrives, he staggers in, mortally wounded, then collapses and dies; Gibbs and company investigate; Ducky says that death resulted from stab wounds. Ziva spots a piece of evidence, but it becomes hard to obtain it; Tony and Ziva find that the victim had started with a disadvantaged childhood, became adopted into a military family, then enlisted in the Marine Corps and established an impeccable record. Abby finds some interesting electronic evidence, then Tony and McGee find something while hiking, and McGee makes some new friends. Abby makes important discoveries; the gang learn about multiple identities, a forged letter, stolen funds, and a hidden relationship, and they rescue from death a man who then dies. Eventually they put the pieces together, and they get help for someone who needs help.—DocRushing

A teenager named Nathan serves booze to guests at a surprise party. The guest of honor walks in the house. Then he drops dead.

McGee and Ziva try to get Tony to stop moping by giving him presents. Ziva gives him two tickets to female mud wrestling. McGee got him the same thing. Gibbs comes in with the body of the week. He's Private First Class Thomas Hill, he just returned from Afghanistan. He was about to be the Grand Marshall in a Homecoming parade. Duckie announces the victim was stabbed. Ziva and McGee follow the trail of blood to a cell phone in the street, but before they can get to it, a street cleaner runs it over.

Cut to Tony unloading piles of dirt from the cleaner in the basement and Ziva and McGee sifting through it. Private Hill was in foster care as a child and was adopted by a Marine family. They couldn't find anyone to say anything bad about him.

They meet with his family. His step-sister Lindsay, who's been with the family for two years, blames herself for not meeting him after work. His dad mentions they almost lost their house last year. His mom says something was bothering him a few days after he came home.

In the lab, Abby looks at the cell phone from the street sweeper. Pfc. Hill's blood is on it, but Abby has to crack its code. Abby found Hill spent the last three days trying to hack into the Virginia state database. GPS shows six months ago the laptop was off a remote trail in the woods.

McGee and Tony head to the coordinates, where Tony pays McGee $200 to dig. Homecoming has made Tony feel guilty about boarding school, when he strung a kid up by his tighty whities.

McGee digs until he finds a lockbox, which he picks open. They find about $50,000 in cash.

Gibbs visits the morgue, where Duckie reports Hill was injected with a sedative against his will before he was killed.

At the Homecoming parade, McGee and Ziva meet Nathan, Lindsay's not quite boyfriend. Ziva as Mr. and Mrs. McCormick if he ever showed interest in computer hacking or had a lot of cash. Mr. McCormick objects to the questions and ends the interview. The parents leave, but the remaining teenagers heckle McGee.

Back at the office, Tony is trying to track down "Stinky John," the kid he strung up by his undies. McGee volunteers to help find him.

At the big screen, Tony reports that the McCormicks were six months behind on rent, but recently paid it all off in cash. Ziva found two syringes near the crime scene. Abby got prints off them. They belong to Curtis Beane, who's been on parole for years.

They visit his job, Second Chance Tacos. His boss says he hasn't seen him in two days and is worried about him. The restaurant employs all ex-cons. The manager promises Curtis wouldn't have done it.

Abby has cracked the phone but there's no address book on it. She found surveillance photos of Lindsay. Hill wasn't the killer's target.

Gibbs and Ziva meet with Lindsay and the McCormicks, telling them they thought someone wanted to kidnap Lindsay. The McCormicks say the bank reduced their mortgage. Lindsay's birth parents live with an anti-technology commune in Pennsylvania. She got beat up by her parents a lot and ran away. She doesn't know where they are now.

Around the screen, Tony thinks Hill and Curtis were in cahoots on something and Hill took more than his fair share so Curtis tried to kidnap Lindsay.

McGee reports to Tony that he found his old nemesis John, but he's getting on a plane to leave the country tomorrow.

Gibbs stands guard at the McCormick's. The parents are asleep, but Lindsay brings him coffee. There's a noise outside and Mr. McCormick goes to the door with Gibbs. He drags in Nathan. He sees the file on Curtis and recognizes him as someone who flagged him down for directions, but then panicked and ran.

Tony calls to report Curtis Beane just showed up at work. At the restaurant, Curtis is up on the roof, saying he can't go back to prison. He starts to tip over the ledge, but they grab him. They find a needle sticking out of his arm.

Back at the office, McGee thinks it means it's an open and shut case.

Ziva examined the supposed bank letter and determined it was a forgery. She found the file on the laptop, which didn't leave the state when Hill was overseas. Ziva ran Lindsay's DNA -- it matches the blood on the second syringe. Abby also got a rough estimate of her age -- she's 27, not 17.

They find multiple fake names and records for her. She lives with foster families for two years then bails when she's supposed to turn 18. They wonder if it's why Hill was trying to access the Virginia database.

Tony goes to talk to his old classmate John. He's tall, good-looking and getting into a Town Car. Tony stumbles through an apology. John is surprised that Tony is the one who's sorry.

Gibbs interviews "Lindsay," and shows her the needle. She maintains her lie. Gibbs is about to arrest her when she says that she was waiting for Tommy when someone stuck her with a needle. Tommy told her to run and she did, then woke up in a field half an hour later. He shows her the old yearbook photos under different names, but she says they must be fake.

In the morgue, Duckie thinks Lindsay believes her story. The signature on the forged bank letter is in her handwriting; she paid off the bank.

Her medical file shows lots of old scars, which prove her had a rough past of some kind. Gibbs notices one that looks like a grid. Cut to the taco boss taking a taco out of the deep fryer with a metal holder with a grid pattern.

Gibbs shows him a photo of Lindsay and Pfc Hill. He says he doesn't recognize either of them. But state records show she's his niece and he got custody when she was 11, after her parents died in a car crash. He tries to run, but they grab him.

He says she stole Curtis' money years ago and then just randomly ran into her and wanted his money back. The store owner says Curtis operated a robbery ring with guys from the shop, but they know the manager was really the leader.

Gibbs and tony take "Lindsay" back to the McCormicks before taking her to the mental hospital for an evaluation. She sees the McCormicks and is afraid to talk to them, but Gibbs urges her to. The McCormicks tell her nothing has changed between them.

Tony tells Gibbs about his own apology. Apparently Lindsay wasn't the only one reinventing her past; John strung Tony up. Tony says he's been telling the story that way for years and doesn't know when he flip-flopped it.

Gibbs assures him he doesn't have to tell McGee, but Tony thinks he should.