NCIS Season 23, Episode 7 Confirms What We Suspected About The Death Of Parker's Mother

Contains spoilers for "NCIS" Season 23, Episode 7 — "God Only Knows"

Fans knew that Alden Parker (Gary Cole) was in for a huge shock after last week's episode, where Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) revealed to Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) the truth about the death of Parker's mother after accessing her original autopsy report. This week, Jimmy shares what he knows with Alden in "God Only Knows." He explains that there's no way Eleanor Parker could have died in a car accident; her injuries aren't consistent with a front-end collision. Jimmy specifically notes that an acute trauma of the occipital bone is impossible in that sort of wreck — she had to have been hit from behind. 

Because of this, Jimmy suspects that Eleanor was murdered, and he asks Alden's permission to have his mother exhumed. Alden is annoyed by this idea, and initially refuses to accept Jimmy's findings. But after confronting and solving the case of the week, he finally caves and lets Jimmy proceed. After a couple of seasons of mystery, it looks like Eleanor's death might finally be solved — and not a moment too soon, as the case has been tormenting Alden for a long time now.

The death of Alden's mother has been bothering him since Season 21, when he experienced a vision of a young girl named Lily. Though Alden knows her name, fans come to learn that he doesn't know the girl at all. As he tries to figure out why he keeps having visions of Lily, Alden slowly learns that his father, Roman Parker (Francis X. McCarthy), lied about what happened to Eleanor.

Alden had initially been told that Eleanor died years after she abandoned Alden and his sister. But Roman confesses that Eleanor didn't abandon the children; she died in a car accident. She was at fault, and was driving drunk at the time. Alden soon discovers, thanks to archival newspaper photos, that Lily was at the scene of the accident. The elder Parker later hints that he didn't tell Alden everything he knows about his mom's death, but Roman died in the Season 22 finale before he could explain himself.

The possibility that Eleanor was murdered throws a whole new light on all of this information — and leaves the viewer wondering why Lily keeps visiting Alden. Is the ghost trying to lead Alden to his mother's killer? Is she tied to the crime somehow? Or is something else afoot? Hopefully, Jimmy's autopsy skills will finally give Alden — and the show's viewers — some kind of closure on both mysteries.