Businessmen Jack Peterson and Gerry Jackson are in deep financial troubles. The kind that you can't solve normally. To that effect, they have been approached by a Dr. Frank Donati with a gruesome idea; fake Gerry's death for the life insurance money. This kind of faked death requires a body, and thus a man with similar looks to Gerry is sacrificed to the plan. Jesse, having seen the death of "Gerry" at Community General, starts wondering about the death.
"Murder Can Be Murder" displays symptoms of the following tropes:
- Bluffing the Murderer: When starting to hone in on the plan, Mark and Steve psych Jack out in believing he could go down for Gerry's murder. In a panic, Jack goes to Donati's office and warns him about how much the cops know, including the syringe that was used to kill Dean. Donati keeps a cool head, and shows Jack that he has the proper syringe on him and the cops don't. Unbeknownst to Donati, Jack is wired, and he just confessed.
- Chekhov's Gun: Just before leaving the bar with Jack, Dean Stroll gets his hand stamped with the bar's logo as a means of coming back in later. Jesse eventually remembers that "Gerry" had that stamp on his hand when he came into the hospital.
- Faking the Dead: The crux of the plan is killing a man who resembles Gerry, killing him in Community General, and cremating the body once the death certificate has been signed. Gerry would take off for the Caribbean, but he can't go through with the plan.
- Fiery Cover Up: After killing Gerry, Jack and Frank burn the body in Dean's car to keep it from being identified.
- He Knows Too Much: When Gerry's conscience won't let him flee the country after murdering Dean Stroll, Jack and Donati are forced to kill him and destroy the body to keep the scheme going.
- Identification by Dental Records: Defied; Donati makes well sure to bash Gerry's teeth with a tire iron to make sure he can't be identified this way.
- Insurance Fraud: Jack and Gerry are trying to save their necks by faking Gerry's death and having Jack cash out the $2,150,000 life insurance policy.
