Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green investigate the death of 53 year-old Marjorie Hallenbeck who was found in a hospital solarium. She had been beaten and then seemingly hit her head on the corner of a coffee table, dying from a ruptured spleen. She had checked herself into the hospital the previous day for tests and hospital security insist nothing out of the ordinary happened during the night. The family says some of her jewelry is missing and the police initially suspect an orderly, Vic Fazioli, with prior convictions for burglary but he has an alibi. Her husband suffered from Alzheimer's and a purchase in the hospital gift shop leads the police to believe she may have been seeing someone else, who turns out to be a con man who preys on wealthy widows. The solution to the murder lies elsewhere however and presents the DA's office with an ethical dilemma.
—garykmcd