Welcome back, everyone! And what a way to come back than to see one of your favorite Law & Order characters make a dishonorable exit? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Two guys are rolling a third guy down the street in a desk chair, but he seems to be slipping off. The cops are actually there when you want them, and notice that things look weird. Dumb and Dumber (to one of the nameless cops) explain that he's drunk but he said they could use his credit card for booze so they're wheeling him in since the liquor store checks photo IDs. I don't feel like liquor store clerks get a lot of firsts, but I have to wonder if this would be just that. The dude slips off the chair, however, to reveal a nice red stain on his shirt.
Nameless cop brings Lupo up to speed, the guy, John Singer, had been dead for hours and there was no weapon on the two guys who also pretty much exonerate themselves with their low collective IQ. Green shows up, saying he got delayed heading out the door, and the boys go to look at the crime scene. There they find a convenient cell phone whose last call received was from someone named Angela.
Angela was John's girlfriend who just moved in. She tells them that after work he was refereeing a college basketball game in Midtown -- something he did for extra money. As all grieving partners, she has no idea who would want to hurt him. She does admit, though, that he'd stay out all the time and if she asked where he went he'd say he needed his space. Clearly then, moving in was the natural step after deception. He called her after the game and said he was going for drinks with an equipment manager named Daniel Hoyt. Daniel tells them he invited John for cheap drinks and lap dances to unwind after the game they just called, which had been really close and therefore stressful for the refs. John turned him down saying he was going home to his girlfriend. Daniel also adds the gem that he brought a redhead in tight jeans to a couple of the games, and they'd wave to each other during the game. Aw, and I thought that was only for henpecked professional athletes. John claimed she was a real estate client.
Back at the office, Anita is there to offer her really obvious suggestion to go through his calls, which Green says will take a while -- in real estate, he made about 100 calls a day. Lupo thinks he found something on the credit card, a coffee shop where he went a couple of days a week, out of his way. Green takes a look and starts chuckling inappropriately at the "Four Cousins Coffee Shop" and it's lack of romantic ambiance. While Lupo (pro) and Green (against) argue about if coffee shop food gets a woman In The Mood (answer: depends on the situation and the company, frankly) Anita reads over and remarks that it's right near where he was killed and tells them to go check who he was meeting. She then also comments that if "And by the way, if either one of you ever want to take me out, I choose him." She hands the file to Green and he smirks at Lupo.
We "bum bum!" into some law offices and meet the aforementioned redhead, who is rather upset at his death. When Green suggests that she saw John a lot, she leads them into a file room to admit that she knew him through Gamblers Anonymous. Green looks thoughtful and comments on how there's just the teeniest, eensiest bit of conflict with a gambler who refs college basketball games, but she says he bet on sports but never basketball. However, he'd also stopped going to meetings.
Outside Lupo makes a comment about the gambling and Green, with a knowing tone, tells him it's a hard habit to break. Green thinks that John would know people who did bet on basketball and Lupo says he'll run the phone numbers they have against bookies. The scene, we learn, is at a Tiki Bar. Really, is that where the bookies are hanging out these days? They seem too fun and brightly colored, too...drinks served in coconut shells for gambling. Although then again, this bookie looks more like an accountant. Then again, most of what I know about gambling addiction comes from , so you probably shouldn't listen to me. He says he stopped taking money from John after a guy came up to him, said he was garnishing John's winnings, and beat the pulp out of AccountantBookie. He's still sporting the roughed-up face to prove it. Although I guess maybe that's new since this was a few weeks ago. The guy isn't surprised about what happened "last night." He explains after some prodding that there was too much money on the underdog, and Green guesses that John was supposed to fix the game but didn't. Eventually they get him to tell them that the guy who beat him up was black with blonde hair. Oh my God, it's Dennis Rodman!
The guys are watching the game in question and unfortunately, the team that John was supposed to help win couldn't buy a basket. As Green explains, John could ignore fouls but not shoot baskets for them, so they still lost. AccountantBookie calls them over to look at someone but then says it's just a guy who looks similar because of his cauliflower ear. (I don't think I want to look that up.) Lupo's pissed at the false alarm, but Green seems to be on to something. To Lupo's surprise he gives a lame excuse about visiting a friend in the hospital and leaves for the night. You'd really think after investigating people for so long he'd be smoother at this.
Later that night, Lupo is out in the park in his bathrobe, while his dog stares up at him, decidedly not doing what he's out there to do. But it's convenient timing since Lupo's phone rings. He shows up at a murder scene to find blond-haired, cauliflower-eared bookie dead with a gun in his hand, having fired one shot. Unfortunately for all of us, when he's directed to the shooter he looks up to see none other than Green sitting on some steps being questioned.
Anita is out of the office for the first time this season and Green tells her (looking not so hot with a puffy nose, almost like he'd been crying) that he was defending himself. He's so wooden, however, that it's about as convincing as his excuse to leave earlier. She sends Lupo to comb the scene, and they turn around and are greeted by Sergeant Cole and Detective Bernard of internal affairs. Get to know and love Bernard, folks, because in this age of the internet we already all know he'll be around for a while. Anita calls them off until Green can speak to his attorney and file his report. Green looks like he might barf.
All of that must have happened since now he's in questioning, and they note the incredible coincidence that Green knew about the gambling club and went there just to see if anyone there might know Cauliflower Ear -- Buddy. Cole explains (for the sake of the viewing audience, really) that the club was in a "corruption zone" where cops weren't supposed to go. When he suggests Green had been there before, his lawyer steps in to say he's only answering questions about this case. Cole says they get to decide what's pertinent and then Bernard asks again if Green knew Buddy (Bunny?) was a regular there. When the lawyer interrupts he puts up his finger and closes his eyes with a "Shhhhhh" that I haven't yet decided was amusing or annoying. He tells Green that if he's got a history with the club and the guy he shot, he should tell them now rather than waiting for them to dig it up in an investigation, and he does it all in that annoying tone you take when you're trying to convince someone you're only there to help them when you're really there to nail their balls to the wall. He asks again how he knew Bunny (finally, someone enunciates!) would be there, and Green grudgingly admits he'd been there before.
Green walks back and gripes about being treated like a criminal while Anita sympathizes. She tells him that Bunny's gun was the one that killed John and assures him he killed a guilty man. But there's still an investigation, and Bernard comes out and calls Lupo to be interviewed. And this is where things really devolve into a stereotypical cop show. Lupo protests that it was fine that Green left work when he did and that it was a mutual decision to call it quits for the day, while they bully him about what he should have been doing. Then, holding a paper cup of coffee, Cole walks around and gets in his face to ask if Green was lying to Lupo, or if Lupo is lying to them. "Or is it BOTH?" It's overacting, that's for sure. Lupo comes back out, clearly agitated, and after straightening the stuff on his desk he leaves, giving Anita the 'friend in the hospital' line. She seems to get it, says, "Give him my best," and he's out. thing he's in his car taking pictures of Cole and Bernard interviewing a witness on a street corner. He gets out and Bernard comes over to meet him, and they have a very gruff, manly argument where Lupo first tries to discredit the guy they are talking to and then says he's still working on John's murder, but Bernard takes him by the arm and leads him away, telling him to back off. Before he leaves, he notes a box of empty liquor bottles.
He was able to trace those, through the box they were in, to being signed for by someone named Katherine Halsey, who he's now trying to bully into admitting she runs the club. She won't look at him and is more concerned with feeding her birds. She finally admits to bartending there, and says that the guy who Cole and Bernard were just interviewing came in that night saying Bunny had pulled a gun on someone -- a common occurrence, apparently. She then says she feels sorry for Green, and Lupo is surprised she knows him. She drops the bomb we all saw coming from miles away, that he used to go there a lot. The last time he was there was a couple of years earlier, when he beat up Bunny; the rumor is that Green owed him money and didn't want to pay. I'll give Jeremy Sisto credit for doing a very good job looking like he's just been shattered to realize his partner isn't who he thinks he is.
Lupo is waiting for Green when he gets home with some groceries -- looking quite good in casual street clothes, I might add. Green finally admits that he used to have a gambling problem but didn't think that needed telling all over the place, but Lupo is more mad that he didn't reveal his history with Bunny. Green asks if Lupo thinks he went there to "whack him." Lupo asks if he did, and Green takes off his glasses and tells Lupo he has to trust him. Unfortunately, it's a little bit late for that. Man, this week the show is really flip-flopping from overdone to well done and back again like crazy. In a really good, understated scene, Anita comes up to Lupo and asks how his "friend in the hospital" is doing, and Lupo tells her not too good. She asks if he wants to talk about it and he begins to ask what happens if he does, and she interrupts to say he knows that. Lupo takes a moment, choked up, to say that Green helped him get through his brother's death. But after a moment, he hands his notepad up to Anita to read. She does and then leaves.
Cole and Bernard are now in Cutter's office with Connie, and they all complete each other's sentences to announce the finding -- that they think that Green, knowing Bunny was about to be arrested, killed him so that he wouldn't spill their history. Cutter and Connie are clearly troubled by the idea of all this, but Bernard insists that Green lied to internal affairs and to Lupo, and asks if they don't want to figure out why. Cutter says they'll take it to the grand jury and dismisses them. Back at the station, Cole tells Green he's suspended without pay effective immediately, and he silently hands over his gun and his badge to them and Anita, then leaves.
Cutter tells Jack about the grand jury and explains that Green is looking at Murder Two. Surprised, Jack tells him, "The man's been in my office a hundred times. I just kind of assumed he wasn't a murderer." Jack warns him that Green's a good cop and he has to be absolutely sure, but Cutter tells him that he has to force himself to be objective and follow the facts. Bernard is then laying them out, that Green left the office and filled up with gas in Jersey an hour later, no idea why there, and then an hour and a half after that he's back in town and shooting Bunny. Also, they haven't found his "sick friend." They discuss motive and look at his financials, Cutter musing about if he used his police authority to get out of debt. Lupo has arrived and heard this, and bangs into the office, but Cutter tries to shoo him out. Before he does, he tells Lupo he's calling him as a witness.
Connie runs out after Lupo to find out what he'd come there for, and he tells her there's something she should see. What it is, we don't know, we just go to the Grand Jury Room. Street Corner Witness is telling the grand jury about how he saw Green shoot Bunny, whose back was to him, outside the club. Cutter goes to sit but Connie jumps up with questions of her own. She asks him about his police record, leading to the fact that he doesn't like cops. The guy agrees, "Because they shoot people in the back." She then asks if he knows someone named Henry Antrum. Apparently Henry signed a statement that Street Corner told him he was going to "get even with the pigs" by framing Green for murder. Cutter looks less than pleased at this unexpected turn. Out in the hallway they argue about if it's murder, throwing out the scenario we've already heard, and they both are clearly on different sides of the fence. Cutter thinks Green lured Bunny into pulling his gun so that it looked like self-defense. They're stopped when he's handed a paper.
Green goes to the station to get some personal stuff from his desk, including his datebook, and Anita comments that maybe she should have read it, as there's a lot she didn't know about him. He claims that he fell back into gambling first when Lennie left and then again when Lennie died. Anita can't believe that's how he found comfort. Then the phone rings. She tells him he's been indicted and says she'd like to help. Bernard shows up like an omnipresent ghost and she tells him they heard, and Green uses that as his cue to leave. Anita asks Bernard about internal affairs -- he was drafted in, which means he's a good detective, and he could try for homicide after his two years was up. He then defends IA and she agrees it should exist, but can't believe it's nailed Green. He asks what she'd do with the facts he found, and she schools him by pointing out all of the questions still unanswered, telling him she thinks he's only done half an investigation. He takes a file and leaves, thanking her.
Lupo is on the stand, and Cutter finally gets him to admit that he was a little bit surprised when Green left for the night during a fresh murder investigation. He also gets Lupo to admit that the only thing different about this case than all the others where they didn't go off the clock for at least the first 48 hours is that Green had something to do. At his table, Green just stares into the distance. up is Katherine, telling them Green used to be a regular and beat up Bunny, telling him to "let it go" or that he'd make sure he did time for a felony -- that he'd find something to arrest Bunny for. Then he didn't come back until the night of the shooting, when he went inside and asked where Bunny was. He apparently then asked if anyone else was looking for Bunny -- something that seems to strike a chord for Lupo, and he gets up and leaves the courtroom. He brings Anita to the street outside the club and takes her through some different scenarios, basically leading to the fact that Green might have shot towards Bunny's back as Bunny was also shooting in that direction at the mysterious "someone else" who was looking for him.
Bernard storms into the office to demand what's up, and Lupo throws the bullet from Bunny's gun, which they found. Bernard wonders who Bunny was shooting at, to which Lupo gives a pointed "Yeah." Hmmm, I wonder if these two might wind up respecting each other's different strengths and find some way to work together? Lupo wants to know how Green knew someone else was after Bunny, pointing out that there might be a phone at the gas station in Jersey. Bernard asks Lupo to take a ride with him. "What, me and you?" Man, my head hurts from the anvil that just landed on me. As they leave, Anita happily notes that he's doing the other half of his investigation.
While Lupo waits for the operator to figure out what calls were made from the pay phone, he and Bernard chat -- Bernard hates dogs because of his nickname in Catholic school -- St. Bernard. He glares at Lupo for guessing right off the bat. Lupo gets the numbers, and Bernard makes the call to cross-check them with Green's cell phone; Lupo admiringly notes, "St. Bernard!"
They end up at the home of someone named April Lannen in Jersey City. She's cagey, saying she used to know him. She denies getting a phone call from him until they press her, and this goes back and forth with her being a pain in the ass and Lupo trying to find out what they talked about, and if she knew of Bunny. She goes inside to her child, ending the conversation, and dismisses her nanny. The nanny then leaves, and St. Bernard calls after her to find out if April left the house that night.
Party in Jack's office, cops and lawyers invited! Turns out that April called the nanny that night after she talked to Green, and then left. Green showed up a few minutes later; when he found out she left he said, "Oh, crap," and took off after her. Presumably then she's the mystery person, Bunny was shooting at her and Green then shot at him, which would be justifiable. Bernard thinks it's weird that Green never mentioned April that night, since he'd be off the hook with this story. Cutter then muses about them being accomplices, which sends Lupo into a rage, so Jack breaks things up and sends the cops away. They figure Green's a murderer or protecting April from something... but what could that possibly be? Jack tells him the way to get something out of Green is if he has to protect her from her own murder charge, so they should threaten to indict her.
April shows up at Green's apartment, freaking out about the possible charge. He says he won't let anything happen and thinks this is his fault, she thinks he saved her life, he thinks that she wouldn't be involved if not for him. She then talks about how she loved the "action," and how it used to be crazy fun, and now it's like a bad dream coming back to her. He promises he'll take care of everything and kisses her on the forehead.
Connie comes in to tell Cutter that Green's attorney called and she thinks he's going to take a plea, and Cutter victoriously says it's because they turned up the heat on April. He then wonders what their relationship was. Connie defends that they both don't gamble any more and remarks on April's good job for the school board. Conveniently, Cutter is looking at their audit reports just then.
Green and his lawyer are there for the meeting, and offer a plea of Man Two and six months in jail. Cutter asks why the change of heart and the lawyer asks if he wants it or not. Cutter boldly tells them there's no deal. The lawyer asks him what that's about, and Cutter says that's what he'd like to know, and calls in Connie. She comes in with April and Cutter tells her that he's about to plead guilty, yada yada, the grandstanding we've come to know and love, yada. He keeps riding April and Green tells her not to say anything. Cutter then drops the discovery that April was embezzling money when she was deep in gambling debt, and says Bunny knew that. Green corrects that Bunny knew that Green lost money. Cutter points out that story is going to send Green to prison, and after a lot of back and forth, April decides to come clean. She had gone that night to tell Bunny to disappear so that he couldn't be arrested and squeal on them both. Ed tries to get her a lawyer but she shakes off the suggestions, explaining that he feels guilty since he taught her how to gamble, and then he was able to stop and she wasn't. Enter the embezzling, which didn't pay the whole tab, so she then had to start doing sexual favors for Bunny's friends. And that is why Green beat him up, to let her go, and it worked and she cleaned up her act. The night of the murder, Bunny thought April said she was calling the police and shot at her, so Green shot at him. So thankfully he won't have to leave us completely disgraced -- he's a hero. He still tries to protect April but she's at peace with coming clean. Green has tears in his eyes at what's going on, and asks Cutter why they're doing this. He answers, "We thought you were worth saving." Clearly, he doesn't think so.
At the office Anita is telling him that there are no charges and dismissal isn't automatic, but he tells her that he "broke every rule in the book." She tells him he can fight it, clearly hoping he will. But he sits and admits he's too worn out to fight. She tells him that April will be okay, but gently suggests that it wasn't just about her. He says that he's been a cop, a gambler, and a bunch of other things that don't go well together, and asks how she does it. She tells him to put one foot in front of the other. Smiling, with tears in his eyes, he thanks her and says, "I'll let you know where I land." He then calls to Lupo and thanks him, and Lupo asks if the thanks is for the evidence that got him arrested or for finding April whom he clearly did not want found. Smiling, Green tells him, "For being a good cop." Lupo stares with his mouth hanging slightly open, I guess dumbfounded at the idea, and Anita watches sadly but proudly as Green takes his things and leaves. Somewhere, Dick Wolf is lifting one of those $10,000 martinis to toast the great job Jesse L. Martin did on this show.