The Truth is Out There (NCIS)

Infobox television episode
Title = The Truth is Out There
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 1
Episode = 17


Airdate = 16 March, 2004
Production = 1x017
Season list = Infobox NCIS season 1 episode list
Episode list = List of "NCIS" episodes
Prev = Bête Noire
Next = UnSEALed

"The Truth is Out There" is the 17^th episode of the drama television series "NCIS".

Plot

A Petty Officer is found dead at an underground rave party. Although he was discovered after he fell from a basement ceiling, tire tracks outside the warehouse suggest his death was caused by being hit by a car. Ducky also postulates that the petty officer was dressed in his clothes after his death.

A search of his rooms reveals $40,000 in cash and it is theorised that he or his commanding officer were receiving kickbacks from suppliers. While his CO "had" been in contact with a particular company, an examination of his car ruled him out as a suspect.

Suspicion also falls on the remaining "four Musketeers", a group of sailors he was friends with. They had visited the party as a group. During interrogation, they all produce an extremely similar recollection of events, leading Gibbs to believe they are fabricating the story that Petty Officer Gordon had left the party with a girl.

One of the group owned a car matching the tire marks found at the scene of the crime and the NCIS team suspects that one or more of them may have run over Petty Officer Gordon for the money. Several members eventually confess that the death had been an accident, payback for a prank Petty Officer Wong had pulled on Gordon. They had set up a call girl to entice Wong out to his car and filmed them. Gordon had dressed up as an alien in order to scare them but in a panic, Wong had run him over. However, it is revealed with the assistance of that call girl that Petty Officer Wong had known about the prank at the time, knew about the $40,000 Gordon had received and had deliberately run over him.