Directed by Steve Cohen Director
Written by Robert Nathan & Giles Blunt
The body of a missing Broadway producer, Joshua Foster, is found abandoned in a Dumpster. He died five years previously and his corpse was refrigerated. Foster's business partner Gary Wallace becomes the prime suspect with the discovery that their then-current show was running out of money. Logan and Cerreta learn that Wallace's driver was hired to kill Foster. The killer has since died, but it turns out the mastermind behind Foster's death was his fiancée Leslie Hart. She had helped him finance the show via her connections to criminal kingpin Elliot Ketchum. Foster thought Hart was having an affair with Wallace, so he threatened to abandon the production and turn her over to the police. She had Foster killed, then continued to profit from the show.
Stone is disgusted at how manipulative Hart is, and he resolves to have her sent to jail. He reluctantly grants Ketchum a lenient plea deal in exchange for his testimony. But since two of the key witnesses are criminals and the third is Hart's jealous ex, the case is in jeopardy. So Stone and Robinette have the killer's accomplice testify to Wallace's involvement in the murder. This forces Wallace to flip on Hart, and he tells the jury that she took out a hit on Foster. Furthermore, Stone is allowed to produce evidence of Hart giving a completely different story under oath in the past. She is convicted of murder. Stone tells Schiff that Hart sees others as pawns rather than people, and may not even have understood the significance of Foster's death - in her mind, he just "left the stage".
This episode contains examples of:
- Deal with the Devil: Stone has to make one with Elliot Ketchum in order to get Hart convicted.
- Fat Bastard: By all accounts, Foster was one.
- Gold Digger: Hart initially planned to marry Foster for money, but found him so unbearable that she instead came up with a scheme to have him killed and reap the profits from his show for herself.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Hyland was previously in love with Hart, a fact that Hart's lawyer uses to imply that he's perjuring himself out of jealousy.
- High Hopes, Zero Talent: Hart wanted to be a star but was severely lacking in talent and stage presence.
- Loophole Abuse: Ketchum uses every single loophole in the legal system to keep himself out of jail. Stone himself uses a couple of these during the case.
- Manipulative Bitch: Hart is one, and Stone's determined not to let her get away with it.
- May–December Romance: Hart and Foster, which causes Logan to be suspicious as to what Hart was getting out of the relationship since Foster was broke.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the murder of Roy Radin.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Hart used her connections with Foster and Ketchum to their maximum advantage.
