His Hour Upon the Stage (10 Dec. 1991)

The frozen body of a fledgling Broadway producer is discovered after it's being dumped in a restaurant freezer and there for over five years. That makes it a homicide and those three holes in head and chest make it a homicide. Nobody likes cold cases especially Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth.

They zero in on the responsible parties which turn out to be the deceased's producing partner Frank Converse and the deceased girlfriend Finn Carter who became a star as a result of appearing in the last property the victim produced.

When it gets to the District Attorney it's a question of assigning the blame in portions and who gets the biggest share. It becomes obvious that Carter is the prime mover in the homicide and the motive turned out to be some shady financing of the show itself. For most of the episode Carter seems just out of reach. Not helping is the fact that the actual shooter was picked up on another charge and died in prison. But Richard Brooks is the one who makes the connection between Carter and the deceased hit man which nails her in court for Michael Moriarty.

Jerry Orbach says he loves it when they're stupid, I love it when they outsmart themselves.