"But if we..." " But how can?" " Jesus Christ." "So this means that..." " What?" " So no one killed any homeless men." "No serial killer." "Some were random killings, some were natural deaths that were likely manipulated." " But they're not linked in any way." " But why?" "The detectives used the money to fund a case against the drug traffickers responsible for the slayings in the vacants a year ago." "Last week's arrests and seizures were a direct result." "So let me just understand this." "So I've been going out there for weeks, slamming the Governor for his neglect of the homeless and declaring how we will stop at nothing to find the person responsible for preying on the homeless and all the while..." "Hey, Norman, this is my ass here." "That's true, boss." "But it does have a certain charm to it." "They manufactured an issue to get paid, we manufactured an issue to get you elected governor." "Everybody's getting what they need behind some make-believe." "The detectives involved will be suspended and ultimately fired, at the least." "Beyond that, a criminal prosecution on fraud and perjury charges is probable." "You're saying we call a press conference and we say," ""By the way, all that stuff about homeless people getting killed" ""and the Governor cutting the safety net" ""and us doing everything in our power to catch the guy," " "guess what, the joke's on us?"" " Not to mention that the evidence against the traffickers arrested last week is tainted." "That case could collapse as well." "I don't fucking believe this." "You two are on point here." "Word of this gets down to Annapolis, the Governor's gonna wreck me with it." "And if it comes to that, you guys drop on your swords, so help me." "How does word not get out once we suspend the detectives?" "Never mind sending it to the grand jury for a criminal case?" "The cops that did this, they gotta go." "You cannot be telling me I have to live with this." "Deputy, Counselor... if you two will excuse us, we are going to discuss this first as a matter of public policy." "Until we can reason the best way to address this, do nothing and speak to no one about any of this." "If this becomes public in the wrong way, a lot of people who were legally responsible for the situation, good people who were, nonetheless, in a supervisory role here... are going to suffer." "And that's not the outcome that anyone wants." "What Mike is saying is that we need to be very careful about how to proceed." "I wish I was still at the newspaper so I could write on this mess." "It's too fucking good." "Lester." "What brings you down?" "We don't have anything scheduled from you today, I don't think... 40,000 from the Showboat on the boardwalk." "26 at the Borgata." "80 over the last year at the Taj Mahal and that's just the Atlantic City casinos." "I like to play." "So what?" "You lost three times your salary over the last two years." "I ran you through Sentinel Title and came back with seven pages of liens and a third mortgage you folded on two months ago." "Gary, you're done." "What do you mean?" "We found sealed grand jury papers in the houses of drug dealers and we've got people naming you on it." "You have a problem, Gary." "But you have friends in this courthouse, lifelong friends." "Cop to the problem, give up the names of those that bought from you." "Disbarred?" "Yeah, no doubt." "But you play it clean from this moment on and we both know you'll probably walk." " Why did you look at me?" " I ran the finances on everyone who worked this unit over the last couple years." "You were the only bogie." "If the S.A.O. Weren't so screwed up, they'd have been running background checks as a routine." "But I guess you knew that." "I always wondered if they'd get their shit together." "But that's Baltimore, isn't it?" "So what happens now?" "Well, for starters... you're gonna make a phone call." "McNulty, Freamon, Sydnor..." "Any one who has the smell of this on them should be gone." "Before the close of business, they should be suspended and, before the end of the week, indicted." " I know, but..." " But what?" "We're gonna let this shit stand because it'll hurt Carcetti to air it out?" "Instead of cleaning house like we need to, he's up there figuring out how to hide the dirt." "I got a mind to call the Governor myself and just let it fly." " Cedric, you can't." " Why not?" "If I let this thing stand, I might as well just roll over and play dead for every police who knows about this." " We cover this up..." " Cedric, you can't do anything." "Those are your detectives." "They need someone to blame, they will measure you for it." "I don't give a fuck." "And they'll fire me." "You heard Steintorf." "I was in charge of this thing." "I was on that wiretap." "This is my career." "This is everything." "You go public and it hurts Carcetti." "Maybe he doesn't get to be governor but he is still the Mayor, and Bond is still my boss, and you know the weight will not fall on them." " It never does." " Christ." "Everything I worked for, all those years in that courthouse..." "Please." "25 cents." "Baltimore Sun." "Sir, Baltimore Sun." "One quarter." " Keep it." " Thank you, sir." "Thank you." "People tip pretty good, don't they?" ""...paying him for what he had done to us." ""I'm sorry for him, man, really," ""but I still can't let him come up from the basement."" " You gonna put all that in the paper?" " That's the plan." "Even the parts about Sherrod?" "Yeah." " What good is a story like that?" " Like what?" "Like me, Sherrod." "Gettin' high." "Not gettin' high." "My sister, all that shit in there." "What good do any of that do to put it in the newspaper?" "People read it, they think about it." "Maybe see things different." "I don't know, man." "Bubs, you don't want me to do this, I won't do it." "I don't know." "Baltimore Sun." "A little bit of sun." "Sun paper." "Look, Rupert, go public with this thing if you want but your shop is gonna come out looking worse for letting it happen in the first place." "The better move is to shut it down quietly and then deal with those responsible through back channels." "We'll bury these guys softly and in a hole so deep no one will ever get close to digging them up." "I can see that." "Commissioner, do you agree?" "Well, it is a little more problematic for me." "The offenders are in my shop, are they not?" "Can I have a word with you in private, Bill?" "Hey, if Rawls isn't in, I'm not either." "I wouldn't worry about Bill Rawls." "I believe he's about to have one of those road to Damascus moments." "I can see what you're thinking in there." "I can see the gears grinding in that head of yours." "You're thinking, "Hey, I might have some wood on Carcetti here." ""There's no way they can pin the blame on me for this fiasco" ""without doing their boy Daniels, too." You're thinking we'd have to fire Daniels to fire you and that wouldn't sit well, given how much we've already sold Daniels." "Isn't that what you're thinking?" "You're telling yourself maybe there's a way for you to leverage this, to get yourself a full term as commissioner, to delay Daniels a few more years in exchange for you shutting the fuck up and doing what you're told." "And you know what, Bill?" "You're not far off." "You do have a little leverage here but just a little." "I wouldn't overplay your hand." "How would you play it?" "I'd shut the fuck up and wait your turn and, when Tommy gets to the statehouse, he brings you with him to be State Police Superintendent." "Because while you may be a shade too white to run the Baltimore department, you're just about right for the M.S.P." " I have your word?" " And I have yours." "Back channel is the way to go." "See?" "The Police Commissioner done fell off his ass." "Can I help you?" "I need to see Mr. Prezbo." "Someone will come down." " Are you a student here?" " Ms. Donnelly, it's me, Duquan." "It's good to see you but you're not a student here so I can't let you inside." "I just came past to see Mr. Prezbo." "Well, he's teaching right now." "I know." "I can wait." "You're gonna have to stay outside." "After the bell, I'll tell Mr. Pryzbylewski you're out here for him, OK?" "I'm going to surprise you with something." "You already have." "I got a tip from an informant about a leak out of the grand jury unit." "Sad to say it's checked out." " We know about the leak." " But do you know who it is?" "Gary diPasquale." "Decent enough guy but he's got a bear of a gambling problem and a bank of drug lawyers who are willing to pay for their look-sees." "Troy Sanders, Marvin Bronfman," "Dennis Cray, Sid Silverstein." "And the pick of the litter?" "Maurice Levy." "I kid you not." "Gary is their leak?" "He broke right away." "He was ready to give it up." "Needed to." "One-party consent call implicating Maury Levy." " Where's Gary now?" " He went up to the second floor to hand in his letter of resignation and went home to wait for the sword to drop." "He's OK, he's better than you'd think." "You know, if we can turn Levy and some of these other drug lawyers, we can route the drug money all over town." "It's sad business, I know, but at least we know the truth now, right?" "The truth, you say?" "Duquan, hello." "Snatch-pops." "Damien." "You lost your mind?" " But I said snatch-pops." " I don't care." "You're gonna buy him a new sandwich, and past that, you're gonna ask Mr. Williams for a broom to clean that up, you understand?" "Right now or you're mine for another week of detention." "I don't want to hear another word." "It looks like you got the hang of it." "What's up with you?" "Ain't nothing." "You still at Southwestern?" "Well, I'm, like, needing a semester off, you know?" "I'm outdoors now." "And..." "I was hoping maybe I could get with you and borrow some money, so I can get a place and some clean clothes and get myself settled so I can go back to school." "You're on the street?" "I got people ready to give me a really good place if I can come up with some money for it." "How much do you need?" "Couple of hundred." "But if you could go one fifty more," "I can enrol in the G.E.D. Program down B.C.C.C., then I could get my G.E.D. Without having to go back to Southwestern." "Then I can get my work permit." "I don't think you're eligible for a G.E.D. Program if you're still of age to attend high school." "Yeah, you are." "I'll tell you what." "Give me a couple minutes, I'll drive you down there." "If you are eligible, I'll write a check right to the bursar's office." "No, Mr. P., you ain't got to go through all that." "Besides, I ain't got the time to go down there today." "But, you know, I'm gonna." "I can do it, if that's what you want." "And I don't even care about the money." "But understand I'm gonna go down to B.C.C.C. In a few days and find out if you're enrolled." "And if you are, I'm gonna say, "Great." ""Duquan can come past with his certificate when he gets it," ""and we're still friends." ""And he can still rely on me."" "But if you aren't enrolled, then..." "Well, I imagine I'm not gonna see you again, am I?" "No, Mr. P." "I'm definitely gonna enroll." "You'll see." "I'll get my stuff." "I'll meet you in the lot and we'll go find a bank machine." "Jay, all I'm saying is we've run down all the leads we had, all the office reports are in and, at this point, barring any new developments, I don't need all this fucking manpower." "Fuck me, Jimmy." "Last week you were crying for every swinging dick you could get your hands on." "The case has gone quiet." "There's no red ribbons, no bodies, no disappearances." "Not a fucking word on the cellphone." "This thing's useless." "You don't want the wiretap either, now?" "The judge gave us 60 days." "Once that runs out, then..." "Motherfucker, you were the one who was all semper fi for this serial killer and now you're fuckin' the dog." "I'm ready to work the case." "But short of any new leads, what the fuck do you want me to do?" "I can't make shit up, can I?" "It is what it is." "If I send the surveillance teams back, don't come crying for more manpower tomorrow, you hear?" "Shit is like a war, ain't it?" "Easy to get in, hell to get out." "Pearlman knows everything." "Daniels, too." "They figured it out." " How?" " I don't know." " Jesus." "What are they?" " I don't know." "She made it clear there are not to be any further homeless killings." "Nothing more on this case whatsoever." " Does she know about Marlo, that our case?" " She knows everything." "Daniels knows." "They went to the E.C.U., dialed up the wiretap number and up pops Marlo's cellphone." "Why aren't we fired?" "Why aren't we in fucking bracelets?" "I don't know." "Oh shit, Lester." "We gotta get outta here." "We gotta think this thing through." "Jesus fucking Christ." "Look, meet me down at Kavanagh's in ten minutes, all right?" "How much?" "200." "Damn, boy." "Teacher must love your black ass." "C'mon with it." "They gonna put out testers up on Poplar Grove." "We gonna be late for it." "C'mon, boy." "C'mon." "Deputy." "To be continued." " Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck." " What's the matter?" "Cottage cheese for lunch again there, Carl?" "Just because it happened doesn't mean it's news." "There's always a salmonella outbreak somewhere." "I don't see why we have to cover this one..." "What's the first rule of rewrite, Spry?" "Shoot it down." "Did you read this?" "We are crediting our own coverage with changing the Governor's mind?" "I'm already to the jump and there's not a quote from anyone crediting us with anything of the sort." "The guv is restoring funding, all right." "That's 'cause Carcetti's been beating the shit out of him on this issue." "We're just an afterthought." "Whiting can smell the public service Pulitzer?" " Seems so." " You get a chance yet?" "Yeah, yeah." "I read it." "And?" "Beautiful." "No, no, no." "I mean it." "You got some real Joe Mitchell stuff on the page there." "Really makes me feel like I know this guy and his world." "You just pulled it all through the keyhole." "Thanks, Gus." "We get some good art, I'm gonna push for the Sunday front." "Well, I gotta make sure the guy is good with it." "What do you mean?" "The part of the story about the kid bothers him." "When he told me about it, he was just talking..." "You told him you were writing about him?" "I know, but..." "I'm putting the guy's life out there." "I wanna feel clean about it." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "I remember clean." "Obviously, they're not in a hurry to go public 'cause we ain't cuffed." "They're pretending on this case like we're pretending." "Why?" "Carcetti." "He's exposed on this." "How?" "Just blame it all on us, on the department." "To kill us, they'd have to kill Rawls, Daniels and half the chain of command." "And he made those guys." "It's his police department." "So he opens himself up right when he's out there, running for governor." "So they want us to do what?" "Run it down quietly?" "That's no problem." "Six months from now, after the election, they might decide to open up and grand jury us." "We could still go to jail and, if not," "I expect to be back in the pawn shop unit and you are gonna ride the boat." "So what?" "It was worth it." "Wasn't it?" "Depends." "Are they gonna let the case against Marlo and his people stand, knowing what they know?" "Why wouldn't they?" "It still works on the seizures and cellphones." " It works without the illegal tap." " Yeah, it does." "And they made a big deal about dropping Marlo." "They called that press conference and linked him to all the bodies." "For them to drop the case now..." "You know, you think about it, we've got almost as much on them as they do on us." "That Tom Wolfe wannabe thinks he's gonna get a phrase like that past me?" "No fuckin' way, motherfucker." "It's like a sweater with the threads hanging off." "Pull any thread..." "Mostly exaggerations and too-perfect quotes, sometimes on the record." "I called some of them back, asked if they really said those things." "You know what the city housing commissioner told me about the quotes in the flipping story?" "He wished he'd said some of them but that he'd never been that smart in his life." "Someone takes the time to... re-report this stuff, it'll get ugly." "What're you gonna do?" "I don't know, Robert." "I don't know." "Keep my name out of it." "No bail." "They're claiming a propensity for violence and witness intimidation at the bail review, trying to have you held as the kingpin." " They can do that?" " They can try." "Depends on which judge they draw." "So they ain't got no bail for Chris, right?" "I mean, he got the murder one." "Monk neither." "Too much weight in his car and he's on parole from the '04 charge." "Best I could do was spring Mr. Wagstaff on 300,000." " He show that kind of money?" " Put up his uncle's house on surety bond for a third of it." "Bondsman is fronting the rest on a fake lien." "Right now, the important thing is not bail, the important thing is this..." "I need you to tell me who else knew your clock code." "I told you." "Me, Cheese, Monk, Chris" " and the supply." "That's it." " No one else?" "No one else even had my cell number, except you." "What?" " There's a lie in here somewhere." " I ain't lying." "I don't mean you." "Look, the police say the source told them that you were re-upping on the day and word of that might have slipped out." "That's possible." "If you were wholesaling all over town..." "They only grab your cells when they arrest you and then they have to go get warrants before they can look at the photos on the phones." "And it's only when they get to the photos and break the code that they have enough to type a charging document for you or Chris, right?" "I mean, you aren't caught with drugs." "But they had the arrest warrants on both of you within a couple hours." "Which means that they broke the code almost instantly, no time at all." "They wiretapped me." "My investigator thinks so." "But he doesn't know for sure which unit ran the tap or who manned it." "It doesn't add up." "You gettin' out." "You ain't." "You hit the streets, you round up as much muscle as possible and get that boy." "He did Snoop 'cause he knew we was on him." "He knew we was on him 'cause he the one talked about the re-up." "Get your shit together, man." "The bondsman came in with Levy." "A'ight." "I'm on it." "Man, you got a dollar?" "C'mon." "Pal." "Pal, you all right?" "OK, here it comes, the dreaded crab claw." "You know what happens when crab claw goes..." " It's all crab tonight..." " No crab claw!" "Yes, crab claw!" "Yeah!" "Crab claw does it again." "Six!" "Six and I'm out..." "Yeah." "Where?" "You're fucking kidding me." "It's more bull..." "It's bogus, Jay." "I'm telling you..." "OK." "I gotta go." "I have to keep running the string out." "I've no choice." "You said the bosses know." "Some do, some don't." "The ones that do want us to keep pretending." "We stop pretending, then..." "Listen, we'll finish this tomorrow night, OK?" "I'll see you in a bit." "What do you think?" "I mean, puttin' my shit in the streets?" "Well, it's you." "He's got you." "Yeah, well." "I mean he's got what you're about." "The guy likes you, that shows through." "I mean, you know, he's saying this giving back that you're doing, he's putting that up against Sherrod." "He ain't letting' you off the hook for shit but he's just puttin' it all out there." "You know, the good and the bad." "You know what?" "The bad don't bother me to have out there." "Shit, I know the bad." "I ain't lying' to no one about the bad." "Scared of somebody calling' you good?" "A lot of folks volunteer places." "A lot of folks share at meetings." "Plenty of motherfuckers wake up every day and not get high." "Man makin' me sound special for doin' what the fuck I need to be doin'." "Read it." ""You can hold back from the suffering of the world," ""you have free permission to do so" ""and it is in accordance with your nature." ""But perhaps this very holding back" ""is the one suffering you could have avoided."" "Fran-zee Kafka." "Who's he?" "Some writer." "You read his books?" "Fuck no." "But you remember Flubber?" "He handed that to me the night that he had me start leading the Saint Martin meeting." "I kept it ever since." "What it mean to you?" "You want these?" "Yeah, my man say he need it back and not to make any copies." "He say he ain't supposed to show it to me before it goes in the paper." "I mean, if I let him." "You gonna?" "Thanks for the crabs." "Gray van." " You get the tag?" " I couldn't see it from where I was." "Describe the driver." "White." "Six foot." "Not heavy, not skinny either." "Clothes?" "Nothing I noticed." "Kinda nondescript." "Nondescript?" "I was surprised, I guess." "I just thought, "Whoa, what's he doing?"" " Funny it being you to see this." " It's weird." "If an interview doesn't run late, I'm not even here tonight." "You mind if I get inside?" "I gotta check in with my desk." "You need anything else, you got my number." "Yeah." "That guy's an asshole." "This smokehound can't remember a thing." "Only motherfucker he remembers messing with him is the fella that found him." "Whatever happened before that is anyone's guess." "Someone try to kidnap you, drag you into a van?" " OK." " Who was trying to hurt you?" "My father." "But he was a drunk." "Detective, there's a vagrant over here says he saw something." "What did you see, fella?" "McNulty?" " Johnny Weaver." "Tactical." " Fuck you." "Why didn't you say so?" "J.W. Tryin' to keep your cover?" "It's better if everyone here thinks I'm one of the regulars." "Anyway, what's the ruckus with Petey?" " The drunk?" " Yeah." "Sun reporter says he's going into his building, he sees a guy trying to drag him into a gray van." " It's bullshit, right?" " Yeah." "Petey was laying there 45 minutes before that preppy cocksucker even parks his car." " Thanks." " No problem." "Gimme a dollar, make it look right." "Thank you, Jimmy." "What about the reporter?" "You could charge false statement, you know." "You lock up every liar, there's no room in B.D.C. For anyone else, right?" "More trouble than it's worth." "Jay, it's horseshit." "I'm going home." "Yeah." "Brought home some crabs." "I already made dinner." "Put 'em in the fridge." "Cold for lunch tomorrow, if you like." "I can't eat 'em all." "We don't run this shit, especially not off the front." " I saw what I saw." " Alma is on the phone with police P. I.O." "And they are telling us on the record and off that they are discounting any report of a possible abduction." "That doesn't mean they're doing their job, and it doesn't mean we..." "Our job is to report the news, not to manufacture it." "Fuck you, Gus." "Nice." "I know they're jealous of how much play his stories get but the truth is..." "We cannot run this shit." "Are you suggesting that Scott made any of this up?" "You ever notice that the guys who do that, the Blairs, the Glasses, the Kelleys, they always start with something small, just a little quote that they clean up." "And then it's a whole anecdote, and, pretty soon, they're seeing some amazing shit." "They're the lucky ones who just happen to be standing on the right street corner in Tel Aviv when the pizza joint blows up and the human head rolls down the street with the eyes still blinking." "The pictures were sent to him." "The police have confirmed..." "It always starts with something true, something confirmed." "But then you've got a son of a bitch who just happens to be walking in the Guilford entrance when the mysterious gray van comes..." "Gus, this has gotten personal between you and Scott and it's affecting your judgment." "I'm moving the story through the state desk." "You should go home, think this through." "We'll talk in the morning." "Maybe you win a Pulitzer with this stuff and maybe you gotta give it back." "It's in my notes, Gus." "Everything that happened, everything that guy said when I got to him." "Every last word is in my notes." "Home earlier than I thought." "Yeah." "Home." " He hit again." " Who did?" "The serial killer." "Get a grip, motherfucker." "You don't believe me?" "Check out his left wrist." "You fuckin' with me again, Bunk?" "Copycat." "Call McNulty." "Get him down here." "Been going over the charging documents on the Partlow-Stanfield drug arrests." " Problematic to say the least." " How so?" "They grab the phones and, minutes later, they've cracked an elaborate code that implicates everyone." "No one's that brilliant, not at the B.P.D., anyway." "You don't know Lester Freamon." "I know what I know." "And this feels to me like an illegal wiretap." "Your guys were on those phones, tracking my clients" " long before they went near any drugs." " Untrue." "We get into discovery and I'm going to have no problem knocking down that bullshit about a source of information." "And my sources around here tell me that, with all the budget cutbacks, the only wiretap you all have had up this year has been on the homeless killer thing." "Whatever else you're running is illegal." "Sources?" "Title threes are supposed to be secret." "Are you saying you have a source of information inside the courthouse?" "It's a figure of speech." "What I'm saying is that there's shit in the blood of your case, and, if you wait until this goes past indictments," "I'm gonna run wild with it." "We should talk." "Out of court." "Fuck me." "Is it enough?" "Do you have enough?" "It has to be." "It should be." "You can't look at everything that Robert found, at the pattern, and not see what this fucking guy's about." "You know that." "I know that." "What, you don't think so?" "I think that if you do this, these son of a bitches will do you." "Come." "Sorry." "There's been another homeless murder." "South Baltimore." "Careful, Gus." "I can't protect you." " No fucking way." " Dead for a while." "And I can assume, Jimmy, from the fact that the ribbon ain't red and the fact that you don't need another body because Marlo is locked up..." " I got nothing to do with this." " Wonderful." "We've eliminated one suspect." "You see what you started here?" "The bosses are gonna toss it back to you." "No doubt." " The bosses know it's bullshit." " What?" " Daniels knows." "Pearlman, too." " How the fuck you?" " How much longer does this..." " Can you give us a minute?" "You turning the world upside down with your bullshit." " How are you not in jail?" " I don't know." "The lie's so big, people can live with it." "Jesus fucking Christ, Jimmy." "I told you." "I fuckin' told you it was going to come to this." "You played with fire, didn't you?" "And now we're all getting burned reporting live from South Baltimore, where police have found the body of what appears to be another homeless man." "This one killed and left in a vacant lot short while ago have refused so far..." "Did somebody not get the message?" "You're not killing them yourself, McNulty, at least assure me of that." "And the one you disappeared?" "He's OK, last I checked." "Good." "That's a start, I guess." " I thought you got a message." " Copycat." "I got nothing on this one." "Jesus." "How did you do it?" "How did you get 'em by the medical examiner?" "Some were real and I just linked 'em with the ribbons." "Some I juked as strangle jobs." " If it matters, I know now..." " Fuck what you know now." "This was all for money, McNulty?" "You couldn't live without the O. T?" "The Stanfield case." "It was that." "I know where it went, but you got paid, too." "You and Freamon and maybe a dozen other guys." "It wasn't about the money." "Down the road, when we settle on this, and we will settle on this," "I don't expect any of you will ever see another hour of O.T. Again." "I don't expect any of you will be doing police work ever again." "And the only reason this isn't before a grand jury right now is because our mayor can't live with that." "Oh, yeah." "The Mayor knows your name." "So this is your last case." "Work it." "If you're half the detective you think you are, you'll put this one down fast and take us all off the hook." "The longer this goes on, the worse the payback's gonna be." "But what does he really know?" "What he knows now isn't half of what he'll learn when we get to discovery." "They won't be able to produce a credible source of information." "They don't have to if it's not a registered C. I. A source is only..." "If he can raise doubts in a judge's mind, we could be compelled to reveal our source." "At that point, we're giving up the wiretap." "And he gets the paperwork from the phone company." "Which has Stanfield's number on it." "God." "The only thing we can do is barter." "Then barter." "This can't go to court." "We do have some leverage." "What?" "Let's just say Mr. Levy has problems of his own to deal with." "Make this go away... and the Mayor will not forget that you did so." "Nor will I." "Jimmy, ass up an' help us with this." "Shit is funky." " We should take this into the box." " Where's the pocket contents?" "We have questions about the reported kidnapping..." " Those two bags there." " Yes, ma'am." "Well, that would seem to be the newspaper's problem." "I get another fucking call about a gray van," "I'm burning that fucking newspaper building to the ground." "What?" "Your homeless guy from days ago, what was in his pockets?" " Bullshit." " You got business cards?" "Yeah, but every card has an alibi." " Let me see." " I thought we were done with this." "So, where you going with this?" " I think it's down." " Motherfucker, you ain't that good." "McNulty, what's up with this?" "You OK, Gus?" "Yeah, I'm good." "What?" "Alma, what's up?" " It's empty." " What's empty?" "The pad he waved at you, saying it was all filled with notes." "It's empty." "Every page." "Thanks." "What the fuck is that about?" "Alma, TV has police on a sweep of the homeless under Hanover street." "I'll get right to the point." "Please do." " You have Stanfield, right?" "He's your client?" " Yeah, him and his people." "I have some stuff, straight from the grand jury that you're gonna wanna see sooner rather than later." " Is this a title three case?" " You'll find it interesting, I promise." " All right." "When can you meet?" " Tomorrow, after work." "Same money, right?" " Yeah, the money's the same." " Good." "We can grand jury Gary diPasquale tomorrow, along with that one-party consent call." "Or... here's the deal." "No court trials." "Partlow pleads to all of the bodies in the vacants and takes life, no parole." "We'd want the second shooter, too, but Pearson's beyond that now." "Metcalf and Wagstaff plead to possession with intent." "Stanfield takes ten years on conspiracy." "You're blackmailing an officer of the court." "The moment you came in here and offered that quid pro quo, you were guilty of obstruction of justice." "You're right." "I could get six to eight years." "And for bribery of a state's attorney and the violation of grand jury secrecy, you could see ten to twelve." "I'll be out a couple years before you." "You come home, first round's on me, I guess." "So you'll let me walk to keep this case out of open court?" "That file must be dirty as hell." "The conspiracy charge on Stanfield falls without the cellphones and you and I both know that if someone does some digging, they're gonna find an illegal wiretap and you're gonna lose the phones." "Everhart, 274," "Maryland 459, Ceccolini, 435," "US, 268." "Lying cops don't automatically kill a case." "But that's a lot of risk on appeal." "And a lot of dirt for your office to show." "No." "You're scared of the light." "Partlow takes his chances on the legit murder charge only." "The conspiracy count goes and Stanfield and the rest walk." "Stanfield walks but the case goes on the stet docket, not dismissed outright." "And, although I can tell you there are people in this city who can't tolerate a scandal at this particular moment, that dynamic changes after November." " The elections." " After November, no one is going to care as much about showing dirt." "If Carcetti wins, he's in Annapolis." "If he loses, he's an incumbent mayor who can take a hit or two." "So tell Mr. Stanfield that this is his only window." "Partlow pleads to all the murders and both lieutenants plead to the drugs." "Then Stanfield retires." "He's done." "We even get the scent of him on the street ever again, this case comes off stet and goes to trial." "And if we have to put a few cops in jail right behind him, so be it." "We'll bring the evidence and take a hit." "Your client walks away now... or the both of you don't walk at all." "Let's go." "Get up." "That's mine." "It's yours." "I know." "Do you have a card?" "That's not a card." "We met before, d'you remember?" "Liar." "Black liar." "Why'd you kill your friend?" "He drinks." "He's always drinking." "But you put a ribbon around his wrist." "Like the others." " Yeah." " Did you see that on television?" "The ribbon on the wrist?" "Did you hear about that from other people?" "Why'd you do the thing with the ribbon?" "Nobody understands." "You don't understand." "I always know what I'm going to do... before I do it." "OK?" "I always know what I'm going to do." "Did you kill the others?" "Did you kill all of them?" "Every one of them." "I did it because I knew I was going to do it." "I've killed millions." "OK?" "And they all killed me." "So you did all the murders?" "You're a coward." "I can tell." "Do you have a card?" "Jimmy, reporter's in there waiting for a photo array." "What?" "Jay, he's bullshit." "I know he is but the newspaper made such a fuss, the major wants us to jerk him off, just to say we did." "Hey, detective." "No gray van either." " What?" " He doesn't have a gray van." "No gray van." "And he didn't call you on the phone either, did he?" "He didn't call you the first time and he didn't call you the second." "I did that." "Yew mortify me in fronta my fatha..." "And those pictures you got." "I took those." "And the missing guy?" "He's my second cousin." "We sent him up to Atlantic City with a roll of quarters." "And you know why I can tell you all this?" "Because, you lying motherfucker, you're as full of shit as I am." "And you've got to live with it and play it out for as long as it goes." "Right?" "Trapped in the same lie." "Only difference is I know why I did it." "But fuck if I can figure out what it gets you in the end." "But hey, I ain't part of your tribe." " You're not serious?" "You can't..." " No." "No, I'm a fucking joke." "And so are you." "Now get the fuck out of here." "You walk." "Chris eats the murders, every last one, takes life without parole." " No parole?" " No shot." "They've got him cold on the one with the D.N.A." "Can you sell that?" "Is Chris loyal?" "Yeah." "As long as I take care of his people." "Cheese and Monk are looking at up to twenty for the drugs." "But there's gonna be no assets investigation and you come home with all your money." "Why they letting me walk?" "They don't wanna but there's some shit in their case and they'd rather not show it in court." "But here's the rub." "If you stay in the game, they will." "They definitely will." "Right now, with an election going on, they're willing to give you a bye." "But after November, if they even think you're still a player, they can take this case down off the shelf and the shit in the case might not be enough to keep you free." "You understand?" "Give up the crown." "Well, that's the deal, kiddo." "There's not a lawyer who could get better for you." "How'd that go, boss?" "Kiddo, you are a gold mine to me." "You know that?" "You've taken this law firm to a whole new level." " Me?" " You don't tip me to that bad wiretap," "I've got all kinds of trouble." "But now, if Marlo takes the deal, he's gonna get a walk after being charged in a multimillion-dollar drug seizure." "That doesn't happen very often and, when it does happen, the name and number of the defense attorney goes in the front pocket of every respectable drug trafficker." "You're a genius for what you brought me on this." "I'm just doing what I do, right?" "You need to know something, all you gotta do is ask." "That's what a detective is, right?" "Here." "You should come over for dinner tonight." " Yvette's making brisket." " Your house?" "You're mishpocha now." "If you say so." "It's down." "Not that this thing is ever going to trial." "That guy has N.C.R. Written all over him." "Can't argue." "A padded room at Clifton T. Perkins is definitely called for." " He go for all of them?" " No, sir." "Just the last two." " He deny the others?" " He ain't exactly denying anything in there." "I mean, he'll cop to anything we damn please." "Then go back and get it." "Excuse me?" "If he's N.C.R., what the fuck is the difference if he cops to two or six?" "Either way, they tie his arms and feed him green Jell-o." "Sir, he did the last two." "Motherfucker." "You are a cunt hair away from indictment and you see fit to argue with me?" "I did what I did." "I know." "And now I'm standing responsible for two fresh murders." "I know what I've done here." "But I'm not doing this." "This is over and all of our citizens can rest soundly in the knowledge that the man responsible has been apprehended by the diligent efforts of investigators." "Mr. Mayor, is he being charged with all of the murders" " or just two?" " It is my understanding that..." "We are charging the last two incidents but it is my understanding that he is suspected in all of the crimes." "We're waiting for D.N.A. Test results." "Indications are that he may be mentally incapacitated and therefore additional prosecutions would prove redundant." "I would also like to credit Deputy Commissioner for Operations Daniels with not only bringing these cases to their proper conclusion but also for solving last year's slayings in the vacant rowhouses." "He has given us such excellent work that I think that now is as good a time as any to announce that we will be sending the deputy's name forward to the city council for confirmation as Baltimore Police Commissioner." "Acting commissioner Rawls, to whom I am also extremely grateful, will serve in an advisory capacity pending new responsibilities at City Hall." "You should be working the main bar on the arrest with Alma." "I..." "We're going to want your byline in this coverage." "Yeah, I don't feel so well." "My stomach..." "I think I gotta go home." "Sorry." "Having ducked the bullet on that homeless mess," "I want you to know that the Mayor and I both appreciate your discretion." "But right now we can't take our eyes off the ball when it comes to crime overall." "Looking at your weekly U.C.R. S from the districts," "I am not seeing the kind of decline that's going to measure out to a ten per cent drop in the quarter." " They're clean." " Excuse me?" "The stats are clean." "They're gonna stay clean." "Either we fix this Police Department and the crime goes down or we don't and the crime stays up." "Commissioner, we're talking about a little help in the next couple quarters." "That's all." "No." "I can't." "You're quiet on the homeless fiasco but this makes you squeal?" "Tell the Mayor his stats will be clean before the election, after the election." "You're right." "They can't fire you." "Not without it bouncing back on City Hall." "If you don't mind being buried in some backroom unit, you can stay for as long as you can stand it." "Or until you get the pension." "But, at the same time, I can't let you do police work." "Not anything that's going to find its way into a courtroom." "I won't do that." "For both of you, that's over." "So Marlo walks." "Or you go to jail." "And you couldn't do any better with Levy?" "I mean, giving up the money..." "I got what I could." "You lost the money trail, Lester, when you decided to start colouring outside the lines." "This isn't on me." "What the fuck you mean you selling?" " I'm sellin' the connect." " How much, yo?" " Ten million." " Goddamn." "Or a high bid if I hear ten from more than one of y'all." "Y'all think it ain't worth that, I stick that shit back in my pocket and y'all can go back to runnin' that stepped-on New York shit." "You don't mind me askin', why you sellin'?" "I mean, even from inside here, you can take a slice for just layin' in the cut, nigger." "Ain't gonna be in here long." "Case they got against me already falling' apart." "But the truth is," "I'm done with this gangsta shit." "I've been there, done that." "You something' else other than a gangsta?" "Businessman." "Yeah, Tall Man," "I can't get that shit wrapped around my head neither." "Anyway, y'all can't get my price up, maybe y'all pool your money." "But supply only gonna deal with y'all after I make the intro." "Then I'm out." "You've got a problem." "I thought Daniels was your boy." "We both got a problem if crime doesn't drop." "Carcetti loses the statehouse and you aren't mayor." "And even if he wins, Nerese, you're stuck with a Police Commissioner that won't work with you." "I'm not stuck with anything." "Daniels either comes around or he's done." "We just anointed him." "We can't go back on that now." "He knows it." "Either he learns his place or he'll be offering to resign." "You ain't the only one knows how to play this game." "What to say about this piece of work?" "Fucked if I don't find myself without the right words." "Me, as gifted a golden throat as any of you cocksuckers being loosed from religion, are ever likely to hear." "What can I say about the dearly departed?" " I mean, really..." " He died young." " Too young." " Not even 40 years old." "Though, had it lived, his dick woulda been 134." "Shut up." "It's coming to me." "He was the black sheep, the permanent pariah." "He asked no quarter of the bosses and none was given." "He learned no lessons, he acknowledged no mistakes." "He was as stubborn a Mick as ever stumbled out of the Northeast parishes to take a patrolman's shield." "He brooked no authority." "He did what he wanted to do and he said what he wanted to say and, in the end, he gave you the clearances." " He's natural police." " Yes, he was." "I don't say that about many people, even when they're here on the felt." "I don't give that one up unless it happens to be true." "Natural poh-leece." "But Christ, what an asshole." "And I'm not talkin' about the ordinary, gaping orifice that all of us possess." "I mean an all-encompassing, all-consuming, out of proportion to every other facet of his humanity chasm." "From whose borne, if I may quote Shakespeare, no traveler has ever returned." " The fuck did I do?" " Shut the fuck up." "You're dead to us now." "Here's his partner in crime." "Now, now." "Be gentle." "Be gentle." "I'm a civilian now." "Be gentle." "Your papers went in?" " Yeah, this afternoon. 32 years." " And four months." "Y'all did a fine job with him, you did." "He look to be about ten years younger than I remember." "Well, c'mon, there's enough room for both of you to be laid out." "One at a time." "You don't crowd a man at his own wake." "Come on, Lester." "Come and snuggle." "Keep our secrets, Jimmy." "I got Shardene with me tonight." "If you gentlemen will spare us this unfortunate homoerotic lapse," "I will conclude my elegiac remarks." "Then do it, you gabby motherfucker." "To conclude." "To conclude," "I say he gave us 13 years on the line." "Not enough for a pension but enough for us to know that he was..." "Put the fucking song on." "...despite his negligible Irish ancestry, his defects of personality, and his inconstant sobriety and hygiene," "a true murder police." "I say this seriously." "If I was laying there dead on some Baltimore street corner," "I'd want it to be you standing over me, catching the case." "Bullshit." "Because, brother, when you were good, you were the best we had." "Shit, if you was lying there dead on some corner, it was probably Jimmy that done ya." "Fuck you!" "If you caught the case, you'd be standing there pissing in my ear." "How did Nerese Campbell get it?" "You think I asked?" "Do you think it even matters?" "She gave it to me because she thought you'd listen to me." "So now they want me to go." "The way she expressed it is that she wanted you to stay if you could come to your senses." "Come to my senses." "She wants me to juke the stats for Carcetti, this quarter and the next, hide the crime, get him elected as governor and make her the Mayor." "So do it." "Burrell juked them before you." "Warren Frasier before him." "And, after you're gone, Rawls or whoever will juke them." "So what?" "I'll swallow a lie when I have to." "I've swallowed a few big ones lately." "But the stat games, that lie, it's what ruined this department." "Shining up shit and calling it gold, so majors become colonels and mayors become governors." "Pretending to do police work while one generation fucking trains the next how not to do the job." "And then..." "I looked Carcetti in the eye." "I shook his hand." "I asked him if he was for real." "This is the lie I can't live with." "If I do, then Nerese has me in her pocket whenever she wants me." "And I'm no good to anyone like that." "Then go." "Withdraw for personal reasons or health reasons." "Whatever." "You've got your law degree." "You're not gonna starve." "But if you don't go, they'll wreck both of us." "There's not enough in here to indict me." "And the joke of it is," "I've seen enough the last few days to have them indicted." "For what?" "Then use it, Cedric, or at least threaten to." "People will get hurt." "People I care about." "Then you're done." "There's enough in that file that you'll never make it through confirmation hearings." "And enough so that my career is dead before it even gets started." "The tree that doesn't bend breaks, Cedric." "Bend too far, you're already broken." "Marlo on a walk." "And the money, she gave that away, too." "Yeah." "We don't get to follow the money." "Hey, wondering' where you was." "I didn't know if I should come out on this here." "Why the fuck not?" "Was me who told Daniels." "I didn't want to do it behind your back but... it had to be done." "Anyway, it was great being on the job with y'all." "I just wanted to say that too, I guess." "So what?" "You ain't gonna drink with me?" "I am if you want." "Detective, if you think it needed doing..." "I guess it did." "You coming?" "Milton came with 600." "And Little Glen is in for three." "I got five from me and I got five from Chinaman to cover." " We still short 900." " I can go that." "No thing." "What?" "Motherfucker, where you get that kind of scratch?" "You don't think Cheese know this here game?" "We selling' dope an' coke in Baltimore, nigger, any of y'all ain't got that kind of money need be ashamed." "You still puttin' up more than your share with that." "The way I look at it, we all gonna be more than paid once we own the connect, so..." "Shit, nigger, we was good when your uncle had it." "You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo." "See that?" "See now, that's just the wrong way to look at it 'cause Joe had his time and Omar put an end to that." "Then Marlo had his time, short as it was, and the police put an end to that." "And now, motherfucker, it's our time." "Mines and yours." "But instead of just shutting up and kicking in, you gonna stand there cryin' that back-in-the-day shit." "There ain't no back in the day, nigger." "Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here." "There's just the street and the game and what happen here today." "You right." "When it was my uncle, I was with my uncle." "When it was Marlo, I was with him." "But now, nigger..." "What the fuck did you do that for?" "Now we short the nine." "That was for Joe." "This sentimental motherfucker just cost us money." "Hey, Alma..." "I just heard." "The Carroll County bureau?" "That's how they punish me?" "Why not just send my ass all the way to Pennsylvania?" "What'd they tell you?" "That I did an excellent job, that this had nothing to do with anything but trying to make the county bureaus stronger." "Alma, I didn't tell them about the notepad." "I left that part out." "I told them." "When I heard you were in trouble, I went to Whiting, told him I thought you were right about Scott." "I told him about the notepad." "Did he make all of it up?" " The calls from the killer?" "The pictures?" " Some, not all." " Why?" " Look around." "The pond is shrinking." "The fish are nervous." "Get some profile, win a prize, maybe find a bigger pond somewhere." "Whiting, Klebanow, Templeton..." "They snatch a Pulitzer or two and they are up and gone from this place." "For them, that's what this is all about." "Me?" "I'm too fucking simpleminded for that." "I just wanted to see something new every day and write a story with it." "Alma, you'll write your way outta Carroll in no time, watch." "About as fast as you edit your way off the copy desk?" "Congratulations, Sergeant Goette." "I know you'll do well in the Eastern." "Glad I got to do this at least." "Congratulations, Lieutenant Carver." "Thank you, sir." "I'm just sorry it won't be you I'm serving under." "Word gets around?" "It's on W.B.A.L. Today." "They said you're leaving for family reasons." "I guess I got some kids somewhere I don't even know about." "They say on B.A.L. Who they're sending up" " as acting commissioner?" " Say it ain't so." "Ladies and gentlemen, as what may be my last official act as a Baltimore police officer, allow me to congratulate all of the promoted officers, their families, their fellow officers and their friends." "You ain't careful, they may make you major, then you'll be truly fucked." " Good job." " Thanks." " Proud of you." " Thanks." "See now, there you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck." " Lehman's squad was up." " I needed the O.T." "Yeah, now you got a shooting with no wits, no suspect and no prayer of it going to black." "Picking up the phone like a goddamn rookie." "Shame on you." "Stop squealing' like a bitch." "An' make sure you don't step on that shell casing behind you." "I ain't gonna kick no shell casings behind me." "It's there on the side." "I'm gonna step back and kick no shell casing you don't mark with letters and numbers." "I understand." "And you gotta be in the system." " They sent you the form." " They told me that wasn't good enough." "They said they wanted the other paperwork." " And you applied for S.S. I., Mr. Belton?" " Yes, ma'am." "Well, let's go inside and look it up on the computer." "Hey, you remember me?" "I brought this guy in a few weeks back, just wanted to see how he was." "He wandered out after a couple nights." "Sorry." "Where..." " Where do the homeless go around here?" " Different places." "Down by the river, over in the warehouse district." "Some of the places I don't think it would be safe for you to go." "I'm police." "Well, I used to be." "Wait here." "I'll see if I can find you a map." " Thanks." " Come on, Mr. Belton." "...and if the major could find his ass with his hand, he'd know that we have more than enough to be up on a pen register." "Lieutenant Carver told him so." "But fuck if he isn't trying to shut this thing down." "Alls I'm sayin' is a phone call or two and you're gonna find out that they're getting some kinda pressure from somewhere to sit on this thing, even though we've tied three killings to this crew." "Does the Police Commissioner know?" "Him?" "He wouldn't know police work if it took down his front door on a warrant." "Just... keep my name out of it." "New Westport is like Howard Street ten years ago, except the land's cheaper and there's more potential for mixed use because of the waterfront location." " There you are." " You can't put a price on a water view." "Yes, you can." "You definitely can." "Andy, he's gotta meet Tommy and they're leaving early so let me borrow him for a moment." "Sure, no problem." "Nice to meet you, Mr. Stanfield." "You know who you were talking to?" "Andy Krawczyk." "Very connected." "Very big with development around the harbour." "He's someone you're gonna wanna know well." "But kid, do not..." "Do not get in a room with him alone." "You want me in there with you, believe me, otherwise guys like that will bleed you." "I want you to meet Tommy Flanagan before he leaves." "Yeah, gimme a minute." "I need to..." " Bathroom?" " Yeah." "Down the hall to the right." "Hey, watch that stuff." "You'll put on weight." "But next time, I want you to make sure that you watch this money..." "Don't." "Don't do it." "Time to give that up." "Do you know who I am?" "Name's Vinson." "Used to be Marlo's bank, but Marlo ain't around no more and you still moving money for other players, so I'm thinking some of that money need to be mine." "Shit." "You just a boy." "That's just your knee." "That motherfucker shot me." "Nice doing business, gentlemen." "No way, that's bullshit." "I heard it different." "The real story about Omar is that a bunch of cops made it look like them New York boys killed him." "But it was them." "They're the ones that really killed him." "Listen, motherfucker, I know what happened to him." "Them police had nothing to do with it." "No New York boys neither." "So Omar's got an A.K., right?" "But he's surrounded." "It's like eight, nine motherfuckers up there and they all got nines." " But he like, "You all think you..."" " Fuck you lookin' at?" " You, nigger." " Do you know who I am?" "Nigger, you know who I am?" "Shit!" "Yeah." "...on me, all right?" "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "This is a great day for Democrats and it's a great day for Maryland." "I hope I get this by e-dot." "OK, three minutes, for Christ's sake." "Don't get your panties in a knot." "Commissioner Valchek." "Madam Prosecutor, gentlemen..." "The first case up and I have to recuse myself." "Your Honour, I appreciate your concern." "Congratulations, Superintendent." " Welcome aboard." " Thank you, Governor." " Happy to be aboard." " Thank you." "Larry." "Let's go home."