A cop car arrives outside Riverside Park on a cold winter night, and two officers get out. There is a man with dog who called them. The man says he heard a gunshot in the park. One of the officers asks if anyone has come out. The man says no, so the cops walk in slowly, flashlights out. They find a body, shot through the head.

One of them goes through the pockets for ID, then groans, "Oh, man."

There's a badge in his pocket.

Cut to everyone, including Van Buren, at the scene. A canvass is set up as Logan, Briscoe, and Van Buren discuss the case. The decedent was Bobby Marino, a sex-crimes detective. He took one to the head, through-and-through. Briscoe thinks aloud that he must have walked right into it. His holster his empty; gun nowhere to be found. His wallet is still there, however. "Eleven bucks, about right for a cop," Lennie says.

So far, they've called his partner, who has no clue why he'd be in that park. The partner will meet them at the hospital.

During all of this, Logan is distant, and distractedly says he'll have to call Marino's wife. He tells Briscoe that he grew up with Marino. They lived three doors down.

'''(opening credits)'''

Marino's wife, Judy, shows up at the hospital, as upset as one is when you learn that your husband was just murdered. Gently, Logan tells her that PBA worker will help her with the paperwork. Does she know why Marino in the park? She's confused. Working? His partner would know all about it. She just knows that she came home to message telling her not to wait up.

The next morning, Marino's partner is as in the dark as they are. Riverside Park is a place where sex crimes happen, but not in winter. Weather gets cold, the perverts commit crimes in warmer places. Briscoe asks the partner if maybe Marino could have been there meeting a snitch, maybe had a bad habit to feed...

Neither partner nor Logan like what ''that'' implies. The partner gets defensive. Marino's only bad habit was work, he says. He and Marino cleared 82% of their cases. The conviction rate was 91%. That's good enough for anyone, the partner says, before walking off.

At the 2-7, the detectives discuss the case with Van Buren. Marino's gun hasn't turned up, nor any shell casing from the murder weapon. Forensics is searching the park for the bullet. Van Buren is skeptical. "In that park? Good luck." Nothing useful was found in his desk or locker.

Van Buren gets the same idea Lennie did. Maybe Marino had a secret habit? Logan heatedly defends Marino. He knew the guy since kindergarten. He was clean, he was solid. His life was work and family, family and work. Well, his work created enemies. Van Buren tells them to check that angle; maybe an angry defendant murdered him in revenge.

She takes a call as they leave, and promptly calls Logan back. Cragen, now on the Anti-Corruption Task Force, wants to speak with him.

Cut to Cragen's office, where Logan is snapping at two Internal Affairs detectives. Yes, he says, I saw Marino take a bribe. A deli owner comped him a piece of pie. You wanna arrest his corpse? Cragen irritably tells Logan to stop screwing around, and he does. Logan tells the IA officers that Marino did sex crimes, which isn't exactly a gold mine. But narcotics is, and Logan is told Marino did that at the 1-5 before his sex crimes work. A lot of cops at the 1-5 drive around in corvettes. "Yeah, well Marino drove a five-year-old Dodge."

The last time Logan and Marino spoke was a couple weeks ago. It was a couple minutes, a nothing call.

Cragen sends IA cops out and talks to Logan alone. Logan tells him that he ate at Marino's house a couple times a year, and never saw anything that would make him think Marino was corrupt. "Well, that's good." Cragen says. But he tells Logan that it's about to hit the fan at the 1-5, and maybe someone saw Marino as a liability.

Logan is disgusted, "You think another cop killed Marino?" he says.

"My fourteen-year-old plays spin the bottle on a computer. I'm telling you anything is possible."

Cragen gives Logan a list of names they're looking at, at the 1-5. If any of those names comes up, let him know. This can get ugly... so keep your famous temper under control.

"This is a waste of time," Briscoe says, back at the 2-7, as he looks through Marino's papers, "If he was having lunch with his old friends, he wouldn't be stupid enough to put it in his date book." Logan, again defending his friend, says he'd be stupid not to.

"Unless he had as much to hide as they did."

"For the last time, Lennie, he was clean!"

Briscoe says okay, okay, and makes [[UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson Neil Degrass Tyson's]] exasperated gesture. But he continues. The command log has him off-duty in Riverside three times in the last month. Did he have something on the side? Logan tells him to spit it out, ''what'' on the side?

Briscoe has had enough. He asks Logan if he wants to Marino's eulogy or find the guy that killed him.

Marino's wife Judy can't shed any light on it. Bobby never seemed unhappy with the 1-5, never mentioned anyone there. She's baffled when told her husband wasn't in Riverside Park for work. They had no friends in that neighborhood. Briscoe carefully tries to ask about a possible affair. Judy is weary. It was fine between them. Bobby had his moods, but they had been married fifteen years. Recently, Bobby had been having nightmares, pacing at night. Briscoe says there are shrinks on the payroll. Could he have been talking to one of them?

Judy doesn't know. Then she remembers something. Bobby might have been talking to his old priest. A guy named Father Joe. Logan recognizes the name, "Father Joe... ''Krolinsky''?" Judy says he called when her husband wasn't around but didn't leave a number. He would try to call Bobby at work.

Back at the 2-7, Briscoe and Logan are calling parishes in New York and New Jersey. No trace of Krolinsky. A sudden flash of BoringButPractical inspiration hits, and Lennie calls the DMV. "What, priests don't drive?" As it turns out, Krolinsky lives less than two blocks from where Marino was shot.

Krolinsky is an amiable, fatherly old man, telling Logan how good it is to see him again. But it's not "Father" anymore: he hung up his robe fifteen years ago. He's now married with two kids. "Don't wait too long, I almost did." Did he speak with Marino? Yes, they traded phone calls. Krolinksy's company had transferred him to New York and he met Marino's mother by chance on the subway. She put them back in touch. He's shocked to learn of Marino's death. Before the detectives leave, Logan asks Krolinsky [[AndAnotherThing One More Thing]]... where was he on Tuesday night? Krolinsky is aghast. I was here with the kids, he says, am I a suspect?

We jump to Logan in Cragen's office, telling him something he's never told anyone. Father Joe Krolinsky was a PedophilePriest. He "put the moves" on Logan once. Marino was involved. The kids all knew it, but what could they do about it? The parents loved the guy. Cragen listens, and tells him that he has to bring Van Buren and Briscoe in on this.

He does so, offscreen, and the three discuss Krolinsky. The only thing on his record is a 1968 arrest for Sex Abuse 3, a catch-all misdemeanor that means nothing. The case wasn't pursued. Krolinsky bounced around parishes from Ohio to Buffalo, five places in twelve years. Then he quit being a priest for a more conventional life. He's a senior supervisor at Dominion Life, and by all accounts has the perfect life: wife, kids, a good paying job. It would be a shame if someone like Marino upset that apple cart. They decide to learn more about Krolinsky's alleged molesting.

One of Logan and Marino's mutual friends now tends a bar. Marino had come in to speak with him after twenty years. He had gone straight to the point, Father Joe, who molested them both. Marino was really worked up but didn't know what to do. Neither did the bartender. The bartender doesn't want revenge: he had gotten over it, or at least past it. He settled up with Father Joe in his head. That's all he needed.

The duo speaks to another victim, who is most clearly ''not'' over it. He's dripping with contempt for the ex-priest. Marino had called in about him. He'd been keeping tabs on Krolinsky, and had an idea of suing him. Krolinsky offered him money to go away, and Marino called to ask what he thought about it. He said he'd get back to him.
Briscoe asked what ''did'' he think of it. "I already know what I want to do to Father Joe. Taking his money isn't part of it."

Cut to Briscoe and Logan at a payphone. Logan is trying to get in touch with the crime lab, who had beeped him. Briscoe floats the idea that Mari no was blackmailing Krolinsky, and Krolinsky murdered him instead of paying. The crime lab picks up. The bullet has been found.

A technician fills them in at the lab. The bullet was found seventy yards away. Then the WhamLine comes: it came out of Marino's gun. The state had his lands and grooves on file. Both detectives are shocked, but Briscoe works it out first. [[AteHisGun Was there gunshot residue on Marino's gloves?]], he asked. It was never checked; the gloves were found in his pocket.

This turns the focus to the cops who found the body. Confronted with the gunshot residue and the forensically matched bullet, they confess. Marino committed suicide. It was obvious-- the gun was in his hand. So, they got rid of the gun and put away the gloves. Exasperated, Logan asks them what in hell were they thinking. If it goes on the books as a suicide, his widow will only get fifty-thousand dollars. If Marino was killed in the line of duty, she could get several times that.

Soon after, Kincaid is speaking with the detectives and Van Buren. [=McCoy=] has agreed to let the NYPD treat it as an in-house matter. Most likely the two cops will get a thirty-day suspension. Logan wants to keep pushing on Krolinsky. There are four victims, that they know about. It's all past the statute of limitations, Kincaid informs him, and also shoots downs Logan proposed loophole (the Krolinsky had left the state) by telling him that the extension in that case only is good for five years. She admits there might be possibilities with the 1968 arrest, but they don't know anything about it.

Stewart Waller was ten years old when Krolinsky molested him. His father was on the road most of the time, and Father Joe took up the slack. Waller's mother adored him. One day, the priest asked him to stay after choir practice. Logan gently coaxes him on as Waller, with difficulty, continues his wretched story. Father Joe then asked him a lot of questions, whether or not he had a girlfriend, then came more personal topics, until it became "Show me yours, and I'll show you mine." When... ''it''... was over, Father Joe started crying, saying they'd sinned and God would punish them both if he ever told.

Briscoe is surprised. Krolinsky was only charged with a misdemeanor. "Did you tell the police this?"

Waller didn't. His parents learned what happened when they found [[{{Squick}} a mess]] on his new pants, which his mother burned. Mom and Dad had a screaming match over it, and Stewart was told he could only tell the police that Krolinsky touched him through his clothes. Waller lets out his deep bitterness. He used to be a happy kid: then he was molested, betrayed by the priest he revered, and finally betrayed by his own parents.

[=McCoy=]is unimpressed when he talks to Kincaid. So Krolinsky is a criminal, how does that get them past the statute of limitations? Kincaid argues that they refile the 1968 misdemeanor as a felony, based on new evidence. [=McCoy=] agrees.

Krolinsky is picked up at his home. He and his lawyer, Joan Zinns, meet with [=McCoy=] and Kincaid. Zinns dismisses [=McCoy's=] case as a thirty-year-old misdemeanor, based on the imaginings of a vindictive child. Krolinsky pipes up, saying that he told Waller that he couldn't be on the choir, and Waller ran to his parents with a made-up story. Zoans gives [=McCoy=] her motion to dismiss.

They argue it in the judge's chambers. Zinns says that [=McCoy=] is making an end run around the statute of limitations and violating Krolinsky's right to a speedy trial. [=McCoy=] can only lamely respond that the violation is what Krolinsky did to Waller. Which the state didn't prosecute thirty-years ago, says the judge, it had had its bite at the apple. Case dismissed.

"It was a noble effort," Schiff tells [=McCoy=] later, but there is nothing they can do about it now, if Father Joe has been behaving himself. [=McCoy=] doubts that. He's prosecuted pedophiles before, they defy rehabilitation. "Even golfers retire," says Adam. Not willing to give up, [=McCoy=]and Kincaid decide to talk to the church.

A priest informs them that he personally reviewed Krolinsky's church file which... [[{{Understatement}} doesn't say much for their success in dealing with Krolinsky's problem]]. Reports and accusations followed him wherever he went. Kincaid is incredulous, "What were you waiting for, polaroids?" Of course not, says the priest. They relieved him, sent him to doctors, and didn't assign him to a new parish until they said he was cured. The church did the best it could, from what they knew at the time. It believed that that faith and care would be enough. Now, the priests says, we people put like Father Joe, in your hands.

[[{{Film/Spotlight}} Bullshit.]]

Later, Kincaid and [=McCoy=] review the church file. One-hundred reports of molestation, and only one made to the police. In Buffalo, the church sent him without warning, and he immediately became supervisor of altar boys. But all of it is stale, Kincaid concludes, even the latest cases fall outside the statute of limitations. [=McCoy=] has another idea.

Krolinsky tried to bribe Marino. That bribery would be an element of conspiracy, in this case to molest children, starting with the earliest victims and extending to the bribe. Conspiracy extends the statute of limitations. Who did Krolinsky conspire with? The Roman Catholic Church. The church, as unindicted co-conspirator, doesn't need to have intended to conspire, or have known everything Krolinsky did, the shell game they played with him was enough. As he later tells Schiff, it's the only way to nail him.

Briscoe and Logan look through financial records for evidence of Marino's bribe and find something. Krolinsky withdrew fifty-thousand dollars from his accounts. But Marino didn't have it; the Anti-Corruption Task Force looked through his finances. Perhaps, his wife?

As it turns out, Judy Marino has purchased fifty-thousand dollars in Treasury bills in her children's names. She found the money in an envelope a week after Marino died, with a note telling her to use it for the kids.

Krolinsky gets interrogated again, with [=McCoy=] and Zinns present. It's revealed that the state has the church file and that even the Archbishop wants him put away. Krolinsky, who sincerely sees himself as a sympathetic man with a horrible sickness, a person whom others should be rooting for, starts spilling himself out to Logan over his lawyer's warnings.

"I was a very sick man, that's why I left the priesthood. I'm a different man now, Mike, you should be happy how I turned out. I have a wonderful family-"

"[[NoJustNoReaction No, no, no]]," Logan says, getting up, "I can't listen to this crap." He leaves.

[=McCoy=] says that the jury won't care either but leaves when Zinns asks for a moment. Logan tells him and Van Buren that Krolinsky is lucky he didn't smack him. [=McCoy=] and Van Buren's view of Krolinsky is about the same. After a second, Zinns calls them back in and informs them of her client's defense.

As a matter of law, she says, payment between accomplices isn't an element of conspiracy, meaning payment doesn't extend life of conspiracy, meaning the [=McCoy's =] case died via the statute of limitations. Back when he "had his illness," Krolinsky says Marino used to invite boys to visit with him. Or as Zinns puts it, Marino was his pimp. Krolinsky gave Marino the money as belated gratuity. Now Logan looks like he wishes he ''did'' smack him.

The prosecutors discuss the case later, [=McCoy=] disgusted that Krolinsky is blaming his victim. Kincaid points out that this might work, if he was comping Marino twenty-five years ago, the jury might conclude that this was payment for service rendered. The jury won't believe an admitted child-molester, [=McCoy=] responds. Schiff comments that Krolinsky's victims all have a reason to lie, as well.

At a bar, Logan is drowning his sorrows with Cragen. The trial will now turn on whether or not Marino took a bribe or was a pimp. Logan reveals a secret: Marino tried to recruit him, so Logan decked him. When Marino had called him, he had a feeling what it was all about, but he avoided the subject. He couldn't handle it.

Cragens says that his take on it is [[DrivenToSuicide neither could Marino]]. Seeing Father Joe again brought it all back. He never even realized that he was the victim.

In court, [=McCoy=] is direct-examining the victim who knew about the bribe. He recounts how Marino recounted that he was offered money but didn't know what to do about it. On cross, Zinns questions him on his friendship with Marino, if Marino had taken him to ball games at Shea stadium, and, most importantly, where Marino got the money to do so. The witness eventually snaps that Father Joe molested him, leading to a "disregard that!" from the judge.

At the 2-7, Logan walks in discussing another case with Briscoe, when a process server hands him a subpoena.

Zinn has Logan testify to his relationship with Marino. They were a year apart, lived on the same block, and so on. Logan is asked if Marino made a proposition to him about Krolinsky . After some hostile non-answers, Zinns gets permission to treat as hostile. [=McCoy=] can sense something not-good is about to happen.

Zinn asks him straight out, did Marino suggest he trade sex for baseball tickets?

Logan [[{{Beat}} pauses]] for a long second. "Yes, he did."

Zinn ends questioning, walking back to her chair while Logan calls out that Marino was a victim. [=McCoy=] calmly say he has no questions but reserves the right to call Logan later.

On the courthouse steps, [=McCoy=] aggravatedly tells Logan that he should have been told. Logan, not having a defense to that, rants about the court system and storms off. [=McCoy=] and Kincaid then discuss the case. Character witnesses are coming next, one of which interestingly isn't Krolinsky's wife. She hasn't been in court the last couple days.

In Schiff's office, [=McCoy=] defends Logan, who he sees as having been in an impossible position. Schiff's response is that Logan has destroyed his case. Marino was an accomplice; therefore, it wasn't a bribe, therefore nothing extends the conspiracy. That jury will acquit, Schiff says.

Poor Schiff. Juries in this universe will acquit on hormones if that makes the DA's life harder. Then, confronted with the most emotionally charged crimes possible, those juries will now acquit on the most technical grounds conceivable if that makes the DA's life harder.

But what if a thirteen-year-old can't be an accomplice? Psychologist Olivet, who is present, make the case that the power dynamics are such that the child can never truly consent. The adult is always in control. Schiff is skeptical, but she assures him that study after study bears it out. He still wants [=McCoy=] to [[CatchPhrase make a deal]].

Kincaid enters. Krolinsky's wife moved to New Jersey three days into the trial. They visit her at her apartment. Cracking the door, she nervously tells them that she just wanted to get away from the publicity. She just wants to protect her boys is all, she says, and closes the door on them.

Protect them from what? Kincaid wonders, they have the same newspapers here. [=McCoy=] suspects that it has more to do with her husband. They decide to hit Family Services.

The social worker remembers the case well. Three years ago, Mrs. Krolinsky came in in tears, having walked in on her husband and children doing "something God didn't intend". The case worker scheduled an interview, but before it happened the wife came back in apologizing to anyone and everyone. She'd made a mistake. Without her cooperation, investigating would be a waste of time. The record was kept on file, in case she changed her mind. The case worker was wondering when the DA would call back. A couple months ago, [[WhamLine that sex crimes detective, Marino, was doing a work-up on it]], but he never called back.

In [=McCoy's=] office, Krolinsky says this is all wrong, his wife made a mistake. That doesn't matter, [=McCoy=] says. He'll will be entering the report, and that Marino had it, into evidence in rebuttal, to show Krolinsky's motive to pay Marino off. It's conclusive evidence in the Bribe vs. Pimp argument. Zinns, sensing that the game is up, offers a plea: drop the ancillary charges and agree to concurrent sentences on lesser charges, amounting to a two-and-a-half-to-seven-year sentence.

[=McCoy=] refuses point-blank, "Your client is about to convicted on nineteen counts of Aggravated Sex Abuse One. They'll be planting tomatoes on Mars before he gets out."

Krolinsky becomes terrified, "For God sake, Mr [=McCoy=], IHaveAFamily!"

"[[NoSympathy I feel sorry for them.]]"

"Listen, I want to get help! I'm a sick man and I want to get help!"

"''You're an adult!'' Your victims are children. There is nothing you could say that could me feel sorry for you."

After a moment, Zinns tries again. He'll plead to the charges as C felonies, with concurrent sentences. [=McCoy=] says he'll agree to that, but Krolinsky does the maximum fifteen years. "Consider it a gift."

At sentencing, the judge asks if the defendant wants to say anything before sentence is imposed. Krolinsky does and turns to the gallery to apologize to all of the people he offended. He is then sentenced to fifteen years.

In a cell before his prison transfer, Krolinsky gets a visit from Logan. "We called you Father. How could you do that to us, even to your own kid? How could you do that?" The ex-priest can say nothing to that, and a guard comes in to take him out, leaving Logan alone in the room.

!!Tropes present in this episode
* BrokenPedestal: Logan calls out former priest Krolinsky, for taking advantage of boys like him and Marino: "We called you 'Father'. How could you do that to us? You even did it to your own kid! How could you do that?"
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Billy Marino, who helped Father Joe get more children to abuse. However, according to Logan, the blame is all on Father Joe, since Billy was only 13 years old at the time.
* CorruptChurch: While Krolinsky was still a priest, his superiors did not turn him over any of the times he got caught. Instead, they sent him to "treatment" and transferred him to other parishes whenever he was deemed "cured" of being a molester.
* PedophilePriest: Father Joe was a serial child molester.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Porter_(Catholic_priest) James Porter]] case, also featured in the film ''Film/{{Spotlight}}'' and the [[Series/LawAndOrderUK UK series]] episode "Confession".
* SuicideNotMurder: Billy Marino had been manipulated by then-father Krolinsky into providing him with other boys to abuse. The point came when Marino could no longer cope with the shame.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse:
-->'''Van Buren''': There's people like him [Krolinsky] in every neighborhood. Could be the Little League coach, your kid's favorite teacher... it's too bad they don't glow in the dark.
* VillainsWantMercy: The former priest Krolinsky uses his family to plead for mercy. It doesn't impress [=McCoy=]/
-->'''Krolinsky''': Please, {{I have a family}}.
-->'''[=McCoy=]''': I feel sorry for them.
* WouldHurtAChild: Joe Krolinsky is a serial child molester. Including at least one of his own children.