Plot

Reese and Finch are given the number of a teenager killed two years ago, making Reese question the sources fallibility.

The latest social security number the machine spews out is that of teenager Theresa Whitaker. The problem is that Theresa was supposedly killed two years earlier in what was deemed a murder/suicide of her entire family on a boat, the killer being her father, Grant Whitaker. However, Theresa's body was never recovered, presumed drowned and swept away by the current. Reese quickly discovers that it wasn't a suicide, but rather a contract hit. They have to figure out who contracted the hit and why, and why they didn't kill then fifteen year old Theresa. They also have to figure out if the hit had any connection to Grant's now supposedly grieving brother Derek and/or Derek's ex-wife, Elizabeth. But first, they have to find Theresa, who probably has trust issues having been underground for two years. Because of her situation, Finch has a certain empathy for this case. Meanwhile, Finch recalls telling a disbelieving associate of the back door into the system. And Carter hits a stumbling block in discovering who Reese is as all his records have been redacted.—Huggo

Harold Finch meets John Reese and tells him that he should protect the teenager Theresa Whitaker. However, they go to the cemetery and Finch shows her tombstone and questions whether the machine has worked properly. They decide to investigate Theresa's death and Reese asks her file case to Detective Lionel Fusco. Soon he learns that her family was killed by a hitman at the harbor, but Theresa's body was never found. Meanwhile Finch poses of insurance agent and learns from Theresa's aunt, Elizabeth, that an empty casket was buried in her grave. Finch and Reese conclude that Theresa is alive and in danger due to a business of her father Grant and her uncle Derek with dangerous people.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reese gets into an elevator with a middle-age man and two younger men. He talks to the older man about his affair and refers to his wife hiring two men to kill him. The two younger men standing in the rear of the elevator start exchanging looks as they realize that Reese is referencing them, then they react. Shots are fired, bones are heard to break as Reese takes them out, and then offers the older man some advice: "Time to see a good divorce lawyer."

The next day Reese calls Finch, who tells him the next case will be "unusual."

Carter arrives at the scene of the two men Reese killed in the opening scene.

Finch says the next case is 15-year old Theresa Whitaker. They are at a cemetery and Finch tells Reese that Theresa and her family were murdered two years ago.

Flashback three years to Finch talking to another man, Ingram (Brett Cullen), during the earlier stages developing his machine. Ingram acts as the ultra-private Finch's front in the project.

Theresa's father, a real estate developer, took the family on a weekend sail and supposedly killed them all. But only the father, mother and brother's bodies were found.

Reese tells Fusco to get him Theresa's file.

We see Reese watching old news coverage of the crime. He thinks it was a professional hit, but he can't explain why Theresa wouldn't have been killed. Reese's only lead is Deacon Paige, a kid she used to hang around with.

Finch meets with Theresa's aunt Elizabeth (Molly Price) under the guise of an insurance inquiry. She divorced Theresa's father's brother in part because he never recovered from the crime. She tells Finch they never had children but loved Theresa like a daughter.

Reese locates Deacon at a skate park. After knocking the kid's cell' 'phone out of his hand, he picks it up and holds onto to it while asking him about Theresa's whereabouts. Deacon says he doesn't know anything. Reese syncs with Deacon's cell phone and immediately afterward sees that he just sent a text to someone named "T" telling the person to bolt because "NYPD is here." Reese scans the area and spots Theresa (Valentina de Angelis) near an ATM. After a foot chase, she cuts him on the hand with a box-cutter as he tries to grab her and gives him the slip.

Reese discovers that for 17 years Finch has worked as a software engineer grunt at a company he secretly owns. He tells him Theresa is still alive and has been stealing people's account numbers and passwords from ATMs. Finch wants to look at her father Grant's finances.

Fusco connects Reese with a guy who is piped-in with the contract killing industry. Reese roughs him, and two of his friends up as Fusco from a distance looks on in amazement. Reese gets the name of a contract killer named Solnick.

Reese meets with Solnick (Michael Medeiros) in prison. Solnick says he wouldn't have killed the girl. Recently somebody on his block told him he thought he killed the girl and paid a price for the insult.

Finch thinks Solnick could be in danger if the people who hired him to kill Theresa's family found out he didn't finish the job. Grant was apparently an investor in a company named Landale.

At Landale Reese spots the missing uncle Derrick. Finch locates Theresa online and tells him where to find her.

At a laundromat Reese tries to assure Theresa he's there to protect her, but a contract assassin (Ritchie Coster) sneaks up from behind. The guy gets the best of Reese and throws him through the storefront window. But Reese recovers in time to shoot the guy just before he can kill Theresa. Reese takes off to catch Theresa and we see the other guy was wearing a bullet-resistant vest.

Reese takes Theresa to a hotel. She says she doesn't know who targeted her family and had never seen the guy from the laundromat before. She says that right before her father was killed he said it was Derrick's fault. Finch shows up to watch her.

Reese grabs Derrick and brings him to where his brother's family was killed. Landale is a front for dirty money and they killed Grant and his family when the deal went south. It turns out that the property has finally been fixed and is now worth 50 or 60 times what it was a few years ago. Since Theresa would be the legal heir, Landale wants her dead.

Finch talks to Theresa about Elizabeth.

We again flashback to Finch speaking with Ingram about what the machine was intended to do. The man is concerned that they aren't helping all of the other people.

The thug from the laundromat is waiting for Derrick when he gets home.

Reese tells Finch that the man who ordered the hit was Calhoun, Grant's business partner.

Derrick is killed when he won't give up any information about Theresa.

Reese sees Calhoun meeting with a councilman about the land. Calhoun assures him they will be able to break ground in less than a month.

Carter finds Derrick's body with a picture of Theresa in his mouth.

The assassin intercepts a call from Theresa to her aunt Elizabeth. She hangs up without uttering a word, but it is enough for the hit man to learn where she is. He sends Calhoun a text message saying that he has the girl in his sights. Reese rams into Calhoun's car and tells him to call off the hit. When he says it's too late Reese calls Finch and tells them they have to leave.

Finch and Theresa manage to elude the hit man long enough for Reese to arrive and save the day at the last possible second.

Reese calls Carter and says he wants to sit down face-to-face.

At a public park Carter finds only Theresa who tells her "my friend said I could trust you." Theresa is pretty mum about Reese and Finch. She is reunited with Elizabeth.

Reese returns to Finch's work to find he has left "his day job." Reese phones Finch who is exiting the lobby of the office building with his "personal effects" in a small cardboard box which he deposits in a trash can. Finch tells him he's not ready to trust him.

As Finch exits the building, he passes a bust of Ingram who we see has died in 2009.