Cab driver Daniel Johnson is found dead behind the wheel. He was carrying $15,000 to repay a loan shark and took the money from his wife Denise's (Creator/LisaGayHamilton) business account without her permission. Logan and Briscoe identify the killer, Charlie Kovac, but then find that he's been murdered too. They discover Denise used to work at a restaurant that hired Kovac as a plumber, and she had access to her boss's gun. The gun is a match for the weapon that killed Kovac, so Denise is arrested.

Denise now runs her own restaurant and has ambitious plans for it, but her husband frequently blew money on get-rich-quick schemes. If she had tried to divorce him, she would have owed him half her business. So she hired Kovac to kill Johnson, and then shot Kovac herself. But the prosecutors struggle to prove a connection between Denise and Kovac. Her lawyer gets the count of Johnson's murder thrown out. Now, she can be convicted only for Kovac's murder, and the prosecutors are not allowed to mention her involvement in her husband's death.

Kincaid discovers that a few months previously, Johnson was almost shot by ''another'' would-be robber, Dewey Latimer. This happened at the same time and on the same day of the week as Johnson's murder - when Denise knew he had a regular passenger to collect. Latimer accepts a deal to drop the charges against him in return for his testimony against Denise. [=McCoy=] announces that the prosecutors will now present Kovac's murder as Denise taking revenge for Johnson. Her lawyer has her testify that, while she's sorry her husband died, she doesn't blame the killer. Johnson's death was a relief because he was so irresponsible.

[=McCoy=] then says that he'll bring in Latimer as a rebuttal witness to testify to Denise's credibility. Even if she appeals upon conviction, the appellate judges will know she's a killer, and won't let her get away with it. Denise says she grew up in poverty and has worked hard all her life to make something of herself, but all Daniel did was throw away her efforts. She had him killed, and then shot Kovac because he was trying to hit her up for even more money. Denise accepts a plea for murder. Kincaid is somewhat dumbfounded that even after killing two men, Denise still sees herself as the victim in this situation.

!!Tropes present in this episode
* AssholeVictim: It's not hard to see why Denise hated her husband Daniel, he was spending mostly her hard earned money as fast as they made it. It doesn't excuse her actions though.
** The same goes to Kovac, who murdered Daniel and tried getting more money from Denise. When the authorities find his dead body, they are more happy that they were spared the paperwork and the tax payer's money was saved.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Johnson and Denise's marriage seems to have been a constant battleground.
* BatmanGambit: [=McCoy=] was planning on using Latimer's testimony as bait in order to lure Denise's lawyer into returning to the stand and convince everyone she was a murderer, whether because she hired a hitman or her killing the hitman. Had it failed, Denise and Latimer would have walked. Luckily for [=McCoy=], Denise fell for the plan.
* CrazyHomelessPerson: One of these is caught trying to use Johnson's credit card, and inadvertently leads the detectives to Kovac.
* DealWithTheDevil: [=McCoy=] agrees to get Dewey Latimer (who's a hired killer) out of jail in exchange for implicating Denise.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Logan and Briscoe brought a child protection service worker with them so they could take Denise' son away with an innocent lie so to protect the child from seeing her mother be arrested.
* HitMan: Denise hired two of them to kill Johnson.
* ItsAllAboutMe: As Kincaid points out, Denise caused the deaths of two men, but can only talk about it in terms of how ''she'' was affected.
%% incorrect trope -> * OwnGoal: One of Daniel's get-rich-quick plans was a pyramid scheme in which he had got in on the ground floor. He brought potential investors over to Denise's restaurant and gave them the run of the menu. The ate $1,500 worth of food, drank 6 bottles of $300 wine (wholesale cost) and got so hammered they couldn't sign anything; before being asked to leave for disturbing the other customers. Aside from the loss of stock, and the monetary loss of buying into the pyramid scheme in the first place, this all occurred whilst the [[ContrivedCoincidence critic]] from the New York Times was in to review the place and left early out of disgust for the group's behaviour. All in all, that's less of an own goal and more running the length of the field to score a touchdown against your own team; then scoring the 2-point conversion on them as well.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Appears based on the murder of Anthony Riggs, a Persian Gulf War vet who was killed by his wife Toni Cato Riggs shortly after he returned.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Daniel Johnson. Everyone apart from his wife loved the guy for his generosity (admittedly with ''her'' money, not his) and his charm. The titular "Purple Heart" medal was awarded to him after all, everybody seemed to love the guy!
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Latimer made a deal for his release from prison in exchange for his testimony, which he was never required to give. Whether the DA's office made good on the deal regardless is never shown.
* WhatTheHellHero: Schiff gives one to [=McCoy=] for his deal with Latimer, basically calling it a desperate move in a case he's slowly losing. It doesn't help that he didn't even consult anyone about the deal to begin with, which further angered Schiff.