Directed by Richard Dobbs
Written by Wendy Battles & Marc Guggenheim
Tommy Vega (Gary Busey), a formerly popular lounge singer, is Green and Briscoe's top suspect in his wife's murder due to the inconsistencies in his story, especially when it turns out he and the victim Beth-Ann were divorcing. Vega's manager Art Cahill is arrested when the murder weapon turns out to be his; he says he kept the gun for protection and anyone with access to his office (including Vega) could have stolen it. After discovering Beth-Ann reneged on an agreement to give Vega sole custody of their daughter, Southerlyn and McCoy work out that Vega shot her himself and then had an accomplice move the gun. The DAs offer Cahill immunity in exchange for his testimony at a Grand Jury hearing. He won't admit to involvement in the murder but says that Vega wouldn't kill Beth-Ann for custody - their daughter wasn't biologically his.
With proof that Vega knew the truth about the child's paternity before the murder, McCoy gets him to agree to testify to the Grand Jury by threatening to indict his sons (one or both of whom were his accomplices.) At the hearing, McCoy pushes the angle that Beth-Ann had tricked Vega into marriage by making him think her daughter was his, then conned him out of money for a custody agreement she never planned to honor. An enraged Vega confesses that he didn't care about not being the biological father - he had raised Beth-Ann's daughter and loved her as his own, and now he wasn't going to let her be taken away from him. He accepts a plea deal.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: This is why Vega's once-promising career stalled.
- Berserk Button: Under questioning from McCoy, Vega snaps whenever McCoy mentions the paternity of his daughter, saying he doesn't care what the paper says; he is the father.
- Blackmail: It turns out Beth-Ann had tried to blackmail a famous ex-baseball player with her knowledge of his tax fraud, although he's quickly eliminated from the investigation.
- Con Woman: Beth-Ann Vega.
- Daddy DNA Test: This proves that Beth-Ann's daughter wasn't Vega's.
- Gold Digger: Beth-Ann, by all accounts.
- Groupie: Beth-Ann was one, and was fixed on the idea of being with a famous man.
- Honorable Marriage Proposal: It appears that Beth-Ann used this to manipulate Vega into marriage, making him think her daughter was his so that he'd marry her to legitimize the child. It's ultimately subverted - Vega always knew the baby wasn't his.
- Loving a Shadow: The victim's sister sees Beth-Ann's affection for Vega as this.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Subverted in that Vega didn't care about this and saw Beth-Ann's daughter as his either way.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Vega saw Beth-Ann's daughter as this for him: a chance to be a father again and redeem himself after throwing away his career.
- Papa Wolf: Vega is this for his children.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Pretty much everyone on the case assumes Vega killed his wife because she was divorcing him or costing him money. He killed her because she threatened to take his daughter away.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley, wife of the actor Robert Blake.
- Suddenly Shouting: Vega does this whenever McCoy suggests that Beth-Ann's daughter wasn't his.
