A man drinks and searches desperately for something as pounding music plays. He goes outside, smokes a cigarette. He says he's sorry… we hear a gunshot and then he's found dead.
Shaw thinks neighbors should have heard something. Cosgrove doubts it. The uniform reports that there are no witnesses, maybe a robbery. The man was shot three times and was a CEO at a store that is closing down.
The victim has an ex-wife who is a diplomat who has been in Australia all year. His daughter is on her way down. Neighbours say he's a stand up guy. Security system shows the survelliance video was deleted after the shooting.
Shaw and Cosgrove head to a restaurant where the victim was before his death. They find out he was with a girlfriend, there was a fight, and one left early.
The girlfriend is shocked and saddened. They've been seeing each other four months and making life plans together. Does Melinda (his daughter) know? She says they had a disagreement but that's healthy and normal. He was in a bad mood from stress last night and wouldn't talk to her so she left. She regrets that now. She is sure his problem had to do with work.
Someone at Alex's company says it wasn't Alex's fault that the company was closing. The CFO threw a paperweight at his head. They may have been having an affair. She is not there.
The cops stop Sonya on her way out to the airport but she won't talk without a lawyer. She is arrested.
Sonya denies having an affair and is insulted by the suggestion. She says she was yelling at him about fraud. He secured a loan when it was her job and had inflated the company's earnings to get the loan. She was angry but didn't kill him. She didn't think he was cut out for corporate life. He did what the CEO told him.
Shaw accuses the CEO of killing Alex to cover up what he had done. CEO denies it. He went there to calm Alex died. Projections are made up numbers so he doesn't see this as a crime. But Sonia has no financial imagination. So Alex followed orders since he was a former soldier. He was alive and well when the CEO left.
Dixon calls and wants them at the crime scene. Melinda says Alex's Distinguished Service Cross is missing.
The cops find out a car registered to a guy, Shane Reisner, that Lockett gave a dishonourable discharge to was circling his block all night.
A man at Shane's apartment says Shane died three days ago.
Reisner completed suicide and they don't know who was driving his truck. Violent finds that the truck is near Newark.
Shaw recognizes Reisner's associate, Vincent Martinez. Frank says it's the funeral, let's arrest him now. Shaw says no, we need to do this discretely. He insists on respecting the funeral.
The cops go inside and keep an eye out. Martinez pays his respects at the coffin. Frank looks angry. Martinez decides to run. Frank runs after him. The cops catch him when he almost gets hit by a car. Frank asks Shaw if that was discreet enough.
Martinez denies any involvement. He was at a bar with other military men. Shane's lungs were so shredded he could barely leave the house and he was dying. Suicide was a shortcut. He says all the men in the unit are sick because of exposure in Iraq. He doesn't know who drove the truck but his alibi is airtight.
Dixon thinks Martinez knows who killed Lockett. FIngerprints are traced to another soldier, a Luke Fallon who has a gun that matches the murder weapon. He is currently on a bus in Queens.
The cops find him at a military cemetery. He has Lockett's medallion nearby when he is arrested.
McCoy has got a call from the Undersecretary of Defense wanting an update on the murder of their colonel. Price can't prove Fallon was at the scene but can get Martinez to testify that Lucas was in the truck. He will be a hostile witness though.
Martinez testifies. He refuses to say if he saw the defendant the day of the murder or not and refuses to say whether he gave Fallon his truck. He is held in contempt and arrested.
Price needs to salvage his case. The DA's office is hoping to find surveillance video but there isn't any. They think Fallon was dumping the weapon. Price said that Reisner would go to a park after his treatments. The cops find the park.
Later, Shaw testifies. He has found the gun. It is registered to Luke Fallon. No cross-examination.
Prosecution rests. Defense wants to change their plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
McCoy meets with Price and Maroun. Apparently Fallon has a brain tumor that no one knows about. Probably caused in the burn pit. McCoy says that strengtens motive. But the defense will claim the tumor caused insanity. Maroun thinks the jury will see Fallon as the victim as he shot the man who gave him cancer. McCoy agrees and says they have to show the jury what they are doing.
The expert testifies as to the connection between burn pits and these tumors. She says Luke had a blackout the night of the murder and that the tumor caused him to shoot Lockett.
Price cross-examines. He points out that the tumor didn't make Fallon borrow a truck and drive to the scene of the crime with a gun, or drive around the block until Lockett was alone.
Fallon testifies about the burn pits being deadly and how hard it was to breathe around them. Lockett wouldn't do anything about it. He says right after Shane killed himself he was upset. Shane had debt because he lost his VA benefits when he was dishonorably discharged. He went to tell Lockett what he had done. But Lockett refused to apologize. He got angry and he doesn't remember anything until he'd already killed him. He didn't go there to hurt him, but it was second nature to have his gun with him. Cross-examination will be the next morning.
An officer from Public Affairs wants to talk to the DAs. He has something they need to see. It's a report showing in 2008, Fallon got into an argument with three civilians and shot and killed one of them. The report was classified at the time and he was dishonorably discharged. However it has been declassified now. Price is happy. Maroun says it also distracts from the Army's culpability for the burn pits. Price says winning the case is more important.
Martinez is given the report and told that Fallon is a murderer. Martinez says the report is BS and Fallon was told to use deadly force but there was bad intel. The Army used Fallon as a scapegoat after it went down.
Price doesn't want to use the report now. McCoy says Martinez could be lying again. Maroun thinks it's too convenient that this evidence showed up now. McCoy says the tragedy of the cancer diagnosis. They have no proof the report is a lie. If he can't get the conviction another way he needs to use the report.
Maroun and Price try to find another way. Price finds that Lockett was offered a cushy position a week before he retired, but turned it down.
Cross-examination begins. Price asks him why he distinguishes between in combat and out of it. He says he was following orders but Lockett was giving them. Price has a statement from Lockett about why he retired. He retired because his superiors would not allow him to stop using burn pits. He has Fallon read a passage aloud. He learns that Lockett says he was forced to do something harmful and couldn't participate in this anymore. Fallon is shocked. The defense attorney tries to object but is overruled as Price points out that Fallon did not let Lockett explain before he killed him. Fallon says he thought… he begins to cry.
The jury finds Fallon guilty.
Melinda thanks the attorneys and goes to talk to some soldiers. Maroun says Lockett died for following the chain of command. He was just following orders, but does that make what he did right?