When fellow officer Chris Thormann (Lee Tergesen) is shot in the line of duty, his friend Crosetti takes it personally and presses a reluctant Giardello to assign him the case. A man (Larry E. Hull) claims to have witnessed the shooting and says he will testify in court. Meanwhile, Bayliss and Pembleton continue their investigation into the murder of Adena Watson, and the two become frustrated with each other when nothing new develops. Pembleton requests a new partner, but Giardello refuses. Elsewhere, as Bolander prepares for a date with Blythe, he strikes up an unusual friendship with his neighbor (Luis Guzmán), a lonely Latino cabinetmaker who has built a coffin in his apartment. Meanwhile, Howard, Felton and Lewis uncover information that helps advance several outstanding homicide cases, including that of Calpunia Church, the elderly woman suspected of killing her husbands for insurance money.

Bayliss and Pembleton bring in arabber Risley Tucker (Moses Gunn), the prime suspect for the murder of Adena Watson. Since Tucker has already been interviewed by police multiple times, the detectives have only one more chance to get a confession before Tucker goes free. The three men spend 12 hours in the interrogation room, nicknamed "The Box", and the detectives try multiple tactics to get him to confess, from intimidation to emphathy to lying. Tucker remains adamant that he did not kill the girl, and eventually turns the table on the police by identifying their hidden insecurities. Although Tucker admits to harboring pedophilicfeelings for Adena, the interview ends without a murder confession and Tucker goes free. Bayliss now questions whether Tucker was the killer at all, but Pembleton believes he was, and expresses a new respect for his partner Bayliss.