Van Buren has been ordered to clear a backlog of cold cases, so Briscoe and Green start with the 1981 murder of 16-year-old Mary-Beth Moseley. Briscoe's former boss Tommy Brannigan was the lead on the case, but he can't explain why vital notes and evidence are missing from the archive. Mary-Beth briefly dated Michael Sarno, who's from a prominent family in politics. At the time, another girl had reported Michael for rape, but his powerful father paid her to withdraw her allegations. A witness comes forward to say that he and Michael were once in a group therapy session together, where Michael confessed to killing a girl; Michael's lawyer gets this evidence suppressed.
McCoy becomes determined to win the case after being threatened by Michael's father, an important ambassador. When McCoy can't produce key evidence, including the murder weapon and the statement of a witness who heard Michael threaten to rape Mary-Beth, the defence insists this evidence never existed. Carmichael looks into how it could have disappeared from the property room where it was kept. She speaks to a now-retired clerk who suggests that someone tried to sign out evidence without permission. When she and McCoy ask Brannigan about it, he's evasive and won't answer their questions.
McCoy questions Brannigan in court about Al Holsick, Brannigan's former senior who's since died. Holsick's driver removed the evidence in Mary-Beth's case, and soon afterwards, Holsick took up a new job with Michael's father. Brannigan confesses that Holsick told him to get the evidence into the property room so it could be "taken care of", and gave him a promotion in exchange. McCoy offers a plea deal for manslaughter; if Michael doesn't take it, the DA's office will charge his father with obstruction of justice. Ambassador Sarno threatens McCoy and Carmichael again, but Michael takes the deal. Some time later, Briscoe visits Brannigan. Brannigan says "Do you forgive me, Lennie?" and Briscoe answers, "All day long."
This episode contains examples of:
- The Ace: Mary-Beth was considered one of the most beautiful and popular girls in school, and was a star student, horse rider and pianist.
- The Alcoholic: Michael is one, and Briscoe also discusses his past alcohol abuse.
- Ate His Gun: Doesn't happen in the episode, but Brannigan sarcastically asks if Briscoe expected him to do it after the trial.
- Dirty Cop: Holsick had evidence to the murder removed, and then resigned from the force in order to be employed by the murderer's father.
- The Hedonist: Michael Sarno was definitely this as a teenager and would not take no for an answer.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Briscoe and Green wrangle with a DMV official who's reluctant to bring up old records for them.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mary-Beth's mother is still alive, 20 years after her murder.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: The police brass threaten to send Van Buren somewhere with "less pressure" if she can't raise her command's clearance rate.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: This trope comes into play with Michael, who raped Mary-Beth and at least one other woman.
- Revisiting the Cold Case: Van Buren is encouraged tondo this, and Briscoe and Green revisit the Mary-Beth case.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the Martha Moxley murder case and the renewed interest in it.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: How the Sarno family got the murder investigation to go away and Michael's girlfriend to drop her rape accusation.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Brannigan agreed to Holsick's terms because he wanted to make his father proud by getting a top promotion.
