"A-boom-boom ba-too ba-too ba-too boom boom" "Bam ba-dam bam ba-dam bam ba..." "All that from overnight?" "All that from Freamon." "He's out early today rooting through empties." "You know what he is?" "He is a vandal." "He is vandalizing the board." "He is vandalizing this unit." "He is a Hun, a Visigoth, a barbarian at the gate, clamoring for noble Roman blood and what's left of our clearance rate." " And you sit here doing what exactly?" " A hot shot, maybe." "I got a sack in the box, says he owns one from a couple days ago." "White Coat Alley." "What the fuck is wrong with you people?" "Is everybody on a crusade to make more murders out of bullshit?" "The mope's confessing, Jay." "He walked up to the Western desk to do it." "Well, at least when you go to manufacturing a murder, Eddie, you already have a suspect in hand." "I respect that part of your game." "Oh, that others might learn." "I need a witness for the statement in box number one." "Yeah." "Let me dump my shit." "I'll be there." "Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun" "Sodium cyanide." "You're telling me, if we do a full tox screen on this kid, he comes back positive for cyanide?" "Yeah." "That's what I'm saying, OK?" "You need to lock me up because I killed that boy, I did." "I did it." "I did it." "So just lock me up and be done with it, all right?" "Where'd you get the cyanide?" "You, you getting sick there, bunky?" "When's the last time you had your medicine?" "No." "No, I'm not getting high anymore, OK?" "Let me ask you again, where'd you get cyanide from?" "If you're saying..." " Fuck!" " I'm sorry." " Shit." "He got my fucking sleeve." " Just calm down." "We'll get something to clean this up, and maybe a soda or something." " Get some sugar in you at least." " I'm sorry." "He settles down, I'll Miranda." "Yeah." "Fuck." "Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock" "Steals like my ex-wife's lawyer." "Jesus." "Get up there." " Come on, come on, come on!" " Give me a sec!" "Come on." "Call 911." "The mutt in box one just tried to hang himself." "When you walk through the garden" "Watch your back" "Well I beg your pardon" "Walk the straight and narrow track" "If you walk with Jesus" "He'll save your soul" "Gotta keep the devil down in the hole" "He's got fire and the fury" "At his command" "Well, you don't got to worry" "Hold on to Jesus' hand" "We'll be safe from Satan" "When the thunder rolls" "But you gotta keep the devil" "Down in the hole" "Oh yeah, mm" "We'll be safe from Satan" "Gotta keep the devil" "Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole In the hole" "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole Keep him in the..." "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole Keep him in the..." "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "No idea on this one." "Two in this block and three off Lanvale." "They cluster." "When they found a block they liked, they came back on it." " One in the next block, across Gilmore." " That makes nine." "Scary thing is we're only looking at one district." "Shit." "One sector." "How far you think they might have roamed?" "There's only one way to find out." "Excuse me." "Daniels." " How we doing with forensics?" " That's the colonel's domain, but my understanding is that we're sending a lab team to every house." "So far we're finding nine-millimeter casings." "Once they start scoping at the morgues, we'll probably have slugs to go with them." "Tracewise, we're laser-printing around every body and vacuuming every crime scene for hair and fiber, but, of course, these are vacants." "It'll take our lab a year to sift that many bags of dirt." " Is this all from one drug crew?" " Probably." " Marlo Stanfield's bunch." " Where are we on them?" "Major Crimes was working wiretaps until three months ago," " but we came down on those." " Can we get back up?" "Trying, but Stanfield's people may have changed up the pattern." "Well, Colonel, whatever you need." "Actually, what I need is Patrol." " Patrol Division?" " That was Detective Freamon on the phone." "We found two more at Lafayette and another on Lanvale." " Jesus Christ." " Starting at the first scene, we've been going door to door, but there's no telling how far the shooter wandered." "And with 15,000 vacants in the city, it'll take my people weeks to cover that ground." "He brings this case in, he'll be closer to the throne." "Look, I wouldn't worry about Daniels." "He's a long way from my chair, as are you." "You made your move too soon." "I did." "Politics doesn't suit you." "Stick to operations." "And don't you ever cross me like that again." "Get it out to all the bulletins." "Leander, go downtown." "Run a flyer for every roll call." "Show them the nails and the screws in detail." "All right?" "You grab a couple of those nails and hit all the hardware stores." "Find out exactly what the model is that we're looking for." " What do you need from me?" " Herc." "I'm serious." "Get hold of him." " How's he looking?" " Pretty good, considering." "No worse than before he hung himself." " The fuck are you going?" " West Side." "Freamon found another." "Fucking Freamon." " He a transport?" " Borderline." "BP and pulse are normal." "We gave him Ativan for withdrawal." "Hey, you want to go to a hospital?" "Let me ask you something." "What kind of a fellow rigs up a hot shot, then walks into a police station to talk about it?" "Huh?" "Who does that?" " You want us to wait?" " No." "What is in your head, fella?" "The hot shot was for this motherfucker that's been beating on me." "And the boy?" "He was dipping." "I knew he was." "I..." "I just didn't..." "I didn't think..." "The child had no one for him." "No mother, no family." "He in the street like I'm in the street." "So I tried to, um..." "Like I ain't know who I am, right?" "Like I'm pretending I ain't been a dope fiend my whole damn life." "Just lock me up, man." "'Cause I killed that child." "The shot wasn't for the kid." "Let's throw this one back." "This sad-ass motherfucker's carrying more weight than we'll ever put on him." "What about the clearance?" " Fuck the clearance." " Cut him loose?" "Shit, he'll go off a roof or some shit." "My luck, I'll catch that call too." "Maybe D ward over at Bayview, something with soft walls." "Is you out of your mind, nigger?" "You think I'm-a pay you twice for the same motherfucking package?" "I'm in the same box here." "Faggot took my shit same as he took y'all's." "Man, that's on your own people." "Your guys was the ones doing security." "Hey, they worked it the same as we did the last dozen shipments." "Y'all was fine with it up until this, right?" "Ain't no one have a problem with it till the motherfucker gave us one." "Thing is, Joe, we called a quorum on this, took a vote that says it's your people need to make this right." "No, no, a co-op means share and share alike." "You share the good and you share the bad." "All right." "I'll dig deep and do the full shipment if that's what y'all need," "But don't even think about coming back to me for a re-up after this, 'cause when that good raw shit comes straight off the boat, it's gonna be mine only, seeing as how y'all can't find the heart to stand with me now." "You want to quorum up again, think it over a little?" "Yeah, I thought you might." "I'll get word back that we need a fresh shipment, and right quick, and you can think about what we need to do to improve security, make sure it only happens the once." "What's up, young 'un?" "Which one of your people was in charge of the stash?" "I mean, I want to talk to him." "My nephew." "My sister's boy." "I can't give him up like that." "I can't do it." "My connect had people there when the shit went down." "If that's what you need to make you believe, you can hear it straight from him." " Gente." " Huh?" " What's up?" " ¿Todo bien?" "Yeah." "Good." " OK?" " OK." "We are rich." "That's what I'm talking about." "Butch." "My man." "Mm." "Right, now, girl, you sell that off slow, you feel me?" "'Cause word gonna get around." " They gonna come back on you now." " Nah." "None of that." "Yo, anybody ask about me on another job, tell 'em, "Kimmy been retired," all right?" "Be easy." "How much you got left after splitting with the Mexicans?" "26 raw." "Mm." "Gracious." "Only problem, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to put that out on the street." "I ain't no drug dealer, Butch." "You feel me?" "Mm." "Shit, we just stole too much this damn time." "So, what am I gonna do, Butch?" "Well...... you could come give Joe a call." "Offer to sell the shit back to him for 20 cents on the dollar." "Joe, Joe oughta find some humor in that." "I know you do." "I understand there's a waiting list." "The thing is this kid has already been in a foster home." "Right." "And now his foster mother's been hospitalizeed, so..." "Right." "No." "Is there a supervisor that I can talk to?" "I'm gonna be a little late for roll call." "Gotta get this kid settled." "What's wrong with DSS?" "On the phone with them right now." "They're talking about a group home." "Either you come up with a guardian, or he goes to Social Services." "No two ways about it." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Need your help." "Get dressed." "I'm suspended with pay, pending a full trial board." "Can't do nothing for no one, Kima." "Fuck what they say." "This here's police work, and I'm asking if you police." "All right." "Listen up, you mutts." "This is complicated." "It isn't complicated if you went to college or..." "I don't know, your mothers actually stopped drinking for a minute while they was pregnant." "But for Baltimore City Police, this is complicated." "Anyway, this right here is for the Major Crimes homicide investigation into the bodies being found in the vacant houses here in the Western." "Command now wants all the districts to check every vacant in the city." "That means you will need to go door to door to every vacant house in your post and look at what was used to board it up." "Most will have the Phillips head screws that HCD uses, like this here on the flyer." "But if you see a house that's been boarded up with nail-gun nails like these shown here, call your sector sergeant immediately." "You can enter the house but, if you find a body, do not disturb the crime scene." "All told." "What I don't understand is why they keep busting my balls about this." "Daniels gave me a slap on the wrist for the thing with the minister." "Marimow got bounced just before he could fuck me up on anything else." "You sure we on the right block?" "Yeah." "Put them on the curb right here, more or less." "And then you fired the nail gun into the asphalt, right where they sat?" "Yeah." "Right next to the little broad's leg." "So who tells these IID fucks to start running through my paperwork, looking for who the fuck cares?" "I mean, it's not like they caught me stealing or brutalising motherfuckers, right?" "Bunk." "Yeah, it looks like it could be." "Is that about right?" "Yeah." "Must have worked itself free." "I took them nails to Ballistics." "Comparer said he could match anything out of that gun, and maybe the nail gun itself, if we could get it." "I know they'll take my stripes, but you don't think they're gonna go past that, right?" "Herc, what'd you do exactly?" "Lost the camera I took from ISD without my lieutenant's approval." "And what evidence I got from the camera," "I put to a made-up informant." "Son, they're gonna beat on your white ass like it's a rented mule." "Fuck." "Make him sign it." "...to himself, that cocksucker." "I hate that bastard." "He called him cocksucker." "Damn bedside." "You're gonna break that call button." "Look, I'm sorry." "I don't mean to bother y'all, but I don't get but four channels." " That's all you get." " What about my man over there?" "He has insurance." "And insurance pays for his cable hook-up." "Only reason you're admitted is that fracture." "Soon as we can discharge you, we will." "All you gangsters wash up in our ER like it's your due." "You could stand out there slinging drugs till you get shot or cut, have us put you back together free of charge so you can do it again." " Gangster, huh?" " Oh, you're not that?" "I pulled your admissions." "You were here in '90 for a gunshot wound, and, three years before that, you were here for chest surgery for a cutting." "Long time back, yeah." "And I see you're still at it." "Dennis Wise, I'm Howard Colvin." "Are you police?" "I used to be but now I'm a bit of a teacher up at Tilghman." "I got a little problem and you know Carver over at the Western, he said you might be able to help me." "I went up to, uh, your gym." "They told me what happened." "What is it that I'm supposed to know about?" "It's Namond Brice." "Yeah." "What's the problem?" "Oh, sh..." "Well, I've just come to care about the kid." "You heard it was Little Kevin?" "I seen one of the police step out the household with his necklace." "That's Kevin up in there, yo." "This motherfucker be killing niggers just to do it." "See?" "Nigger killing motherfuckers just 'cause he can, not 'cause they snitching," "not 'cause it's business, but 'cause this shit just come natural to him." " Yo, Bodie, man..." " I mean, Little Kevin is gone." "This nigger don't feel nothing." "And all them motherfuckers in them row houses," " nobody mean a fucking thing to him." " Bodie, calm the fuck down." "Fuck Marlo, man!" "Fuck him, and anybody that think it's all right to do people this way." "You hear me?" "Fuck all y'all motherfuckers." "Get the fuck off me, man." "That's his friend in the bag." "It's like that nigger ain't fit, man." " Fuck up that police car!" " Take his ass downtown." " This motherfucker goin' down." " You see that shit, yo?" " Lock his dumb ass up." " Attica!" "Attica!" "Attica!" "The number of victims discovered shot to death in the boarded-up buildings..." "How flattering for us." "Knocks the school deficit off the front page." " There's your silver lining." " Those bodies are on Royce." "School deficit should be too." "Should be, but that'll play out in the next fiscal year." "By then you're out of Teflon." "So I take the governor's money, then two years from now, when I shake the hand of any voter in the DC suburbs, they say," ""You're the guy who needed my tax dollars to bail out your school system."" "If you take his check, you lose votes in Prince George's and Montgomery, and you can't beat him statewide without the counties." "Two years from now, if you're governor, you can help the city from Annapolis." "He's the mayor now." "I agree we can't fix the city schools but we can't let them get any worse either." "Go to Annapolis." "Eat his shit." "If we lose control of the schools," "Nerese and the teachers'll rip you but the rest of the city'll see you did it for them kids." "Kids don't vote." "Taking a risk with our supply, ain't you?" "I mean, setting up a meet with anybody other than us." "Got to." "The boy crave reassurance." "Boss, you get that boy Marlo in line on our connect, he might try to go round the co-op, go round us." "You know what I'm saying?" "Cautious as those Greeks be, who you think they gonna trust?" "They know us." "They don't know him." "Damn." "Look at this nigger coming round." "Easy, son." "Easy." "Yeah." "I knew I'd find you boys in here, burning that oil after hours." "Nigger, I'm-a kill you twice." "Oh?" "So you don't want your shipment, huh?" "Say your piece." "Well, it just so happens I got some halron for sale." "Marketwise, you fellas look like buyers." "You feel me?" "This some shameless shit." "Ain't no shame in my game, dawg." "I'm here about the business." "Ain't that right, Joe?" " How much?" " 20 on the dollar." "Ten, nigger." "Don't make me say 25 now." "That's 400,000." "How about we take your faggot ass in the back room and get into some diabolical brutality, find our shit the old-fashioned way?" " Feel me?" " Oh, I feel you." "Sound like a plan." "But I don't know, though, Joe." "You think Omar gonna give it up?" "20 on the dollar it is." "Say, how's she ticking, Joe?" "Oh." "I'll be in touch." "And he thinks I'll help the schools, help the city a lot more if I'm governor two years from now." "Thinking that way it wouldn't just be about me if I don't take the money." "Are you asking me what I think?" "I think you'll do the right thing." "For real, I'm telling you the truth." "It tickles." "You sure you want to do this?" "I don't wanna hurt you." "Nah." "Detective Crutchfield, do you have a moment?" "Yes, ma'am." "Is something wrong?" "I've got a question on these reports." "Were they all found in the basement?" "No, ma'am." "We found most in the basement, but some are on the upper floors too." "Can you be specific in the 24s, for my sake, anyway?" " No problem." " Thanks." "How many so far?" " 17." " Christ." "That's a lot of red names." "It's your first red ball." "Yeah." "I thought I'd get a nice quiet domestic or two to start me off." "We got national press on this already." "You'll be fine, Ronnie." "Just don't let any of these guys see you sweating." "Hey, I need a case dropped." "To tell Mello to sign off I need a friendly ASA." "He kicks out a radio-car window, and you wanna give him a walk?" "What's the date range as per decomp?" "The one on Mount Street looked about a week?" "Some a few days, some are skeletal at this stage." " They all head shots?" " Multiples, most of them." " Black males, 15 to 25?" " Uh-huh." "No, some older." "We got one in a security guard's uniform here somewhere." " You laser-print?" " Mm-hm." "Vacuum the rooms?" " Yes." " Gluco for blood?" "What's the geography?" "13 on West Side, Baltimore to Winchester, Schroeder to the Grove." "The Eastern boys found four more on Monument Street." " East Side?" " That threw us." "We're casting a wider net now," " searching the vacants citywide." " My number's 23 in the office pool." " I still have hope." " Hell of a case, right here." "You know, if I was police, I don't think I could lean back on it." "You?" " Not if I was real police." " Right." "Right." "Thank you, Detective." "What's up?" " Calvin, you done already?" " Yeah, I'm done." "Attention, a reminder." "Answer sheets must be turned into the office by you and only you immediately upon completion of the tests." "Thank you for your cooperation." "Where are we on the nail gun?" "A Hilti DX model." "High end but common among contractors." "Is it what Sergeant Hauk saw in the back of Chris Partlow's truck?" "We showed him one, and he thought so." "Then we dragged his ass back down to the block where he did the car stop." " Anything?" " We found what might be a hole where he said he fired into the street but no nail, even after sweeping the block with metal detectors." "Probably took a ride in some bastard's radio but now it's in a tire pile somewhere." "So our next move is a search and seizure on that truck." "And a court order for hair and blood from Chris and Snoop both." "With everything we're pulling out these houses, we might get lucky with tracework." " What's your PC?" " Herc sees the nail gun." "Nothing wrong with owning a power tool." "What's the PC on Chris and Snoop specifically?" "A witness." "The boy who was told by a co-conspirator who the murderer was." "The boy is a source." "He's not a witness." "If he's just a source, you don't have enough." "But with the links between some of these bodies and Stanfield, we have a pattern." "Weak." "Very weak." "Oh, fuck it." "Give me an hour." "You haven't left me alone all week." "Every time I come out of the pool, you want to dry me off without a towel." " Dennis Wise." " Hey, man." "Yeah." "Were you able to get some word?" "On my say-so, he willing to sit and hear you out." "But what you asking him for..." "I don't know." "Good luck, though." "If you see my man Carver again, you tell him he owe me one now." " All right, man." "Appreciate it." " You got it, bro." " All right." " Y'all coming back with a warrant?" "The roughneck in room 232." "From what I know, he runs a gym program for kids." "He got himself shot for trying to pull a kid off the corner." "Look, you need to speak up now or face the fact that you never spoke at all." "They wouldn't let me see my son at marches." "Said there wasn't much left by the time y'all found him." "We did the best we could with the information we had." "Word come to me that a man named Chris and a girl named Loop or Snoop or some such took my son and killed him." "Told I would never see my boy again." "Why can't you just make an exception and move his name to the top of the list, see that he gets another foster parent?" "The list is the list." "Some clients have been in group homes for years." "He was in group homes for years." " Now he's gotta go back..." " Please don't raise your voice." " If you're going to raise your voice..." " Please." "There's gotta be some way that he doesn't have to go..." "Yeah, there is." "There's gotta be." "How about..." "How about if I take him." "As a foster parent?" "The screening process takes three to four months." "This child can't be in your custody, Sergeant." "He needs to come back under our supervision per the juvenile order." "Mm." "Think you all that for hassling niggers and shit?" "I know I'm all that." "I'm thinking about some pussy." " Yeah." "Me too." " M-hm." "They dumped their tools." "Nothing under the seats." "Nothing in the glove box." "Registered to some little old lady, no doubt." "These guys know the drill." "Can you see these two riding tame?" "Come on." "Aw, shit." "There it is." "Whoa." " Uh-huh?" " It ain't even our truck." "But I need to hear it from you." "From me?" "This is not my affair, huh?" "It is what Joe says." "I'm only here right now for Joe, who I trust, who I respect, who I worked with for many years." "You, I do not know, and I don't need to know." "But because this thing goes wrong for Joe, then..." "Well, how am I supposed to know this ain't no setup?" "How am I supposed to know your people ain't in on it too?" "You know because Joe says and because I say." "And you trust your people like that?" "I talked to my driver." "I looked into his soul." "Chris and Snoop just been popped with a gun charge, found in the truck." "Call the bondsman." "But first, put a follow on him right there." " Who, white dude with the hat on?" " Mm." " What, he a problem?" " Nah." "I just need to know more." " All right." " All right." " Satisfied?" " $90,000 to you in the morning." "We'll put a hunt on Omar later, after the heat on them empty houses give way." "The fuck are you doing here?" "You think that charge gets dropped without somebody showing you some special love?" "You hungry?" "Come on." "All right." "Might be a surety bond on this Chris Partlow, given all of his priors." "Pearson woman, not so much." "All right?" " What's this?" " Court order." "We get blood and hair." "14 head hairs, 14 body hairs, two blood samples each." "It's a lot of houses, a lot of deeds." "Who knows what you left behind?" "We still in the city?" "Cylburn Arboretum." "Pimlico's right up the hill." "This is nice." "I ain't no snitch." "Didn't say you were." "I've been doing this a long time." "I ain't never said nothing to no cop." "I feel old." "I been out there since I was 13." "I ain't never fucked up a count, never stole off a package, never did some shit that I wasn't told to do." "I've been straight up." "But what come back?" "You think if I get jammed up on some shit, they'd be like, "Yeah." "Bodie been there." ""Bodie hang tough." "We got his pay lawyer." "We got a bail."" "They want me to stand with them, right?" "But where the fuck they at when they supposed to be standing by us?" "When shit goes bad and there's hell to pay, where they at?" "This game is rigged, man." "We like the little bitches on a chessboard." "Pawns." "Yo, I'm not snitching on none of my boys." "Not my corner, and not no Barksdale people, or what's left of them." "But Marlo, this nigger and his kind, man, they gotta fall." "They gotta." "Well, for that to happen, somebody's gotta step up." "I'll do what I gotta." "I don't give a fuck." "Just don't ask me to live on my fucking knees, you know?" "You're a soldier, Bodie." "Hell, yeah." "I remember you." "You used to be a roll-up on Pennsie and Fremont." "Yeah." "It was my old post." " I came up with CBS." " Calhoun, Baker, Stricker." "Yeah." "I used to have to bang up on y'all all the time." "I remember that too." "Yeah." "I ain't a cop now, right?" "I mean, like I told Cutty," "I'm sort of like a teacher now, and that's how I come to know Namond." "Only reason I'm even here is Cutty spoke for you." "He say what I'm asking?" "Your boy... is smart and funny" "and open-hearted, and he got some flex in him." "And I ain't see it at first, 'cause he was always acting out, always full up of corner talk, you know, just talking shit to hide himself." "But he could go a lot of places and do a lot of things in his life, be out there in the world in a way that didn't happen for you and me." "I mean, you know, our kind?" "Shit." "Man, we both know we gonna go to our grave forever knowing what block Bentalou dead-ends at, or who got their liquor license over at the Underground, or what corner Tater man got shot on when he come out the Musical Lounge back in '88." "It's a vision in gold." "The West Side we knew... it's dead, man." "You know, people in the game nowadays," "I mean, it's a whole different breed." "No code, no family, and damn sure no respect." "You send Namond out on the corner now," "I'm giving him maybe one, two years before he down at the morgue." "And maybe, if you're lucky, up here with you." "Maybe, maybe not." "That's the game." "I'm talking about Namond here, Mr. Brice." "He's a lot of things, a lot of good things." "Before you know, he might surprise all of us given half a chance, but he ain't made for them corners, man." "I mean, not like we were." "That's why I come down here because I gotta believe that you see it, being who you are and all you've been through." "You know your son." "It's in your hands, man." "You asking too much." "Yeah, but I'm asking." " You sure it was the boy Bodie?" " I seen him come from out the Central Booking on Eager Street side." "Then he got in some car with some white dude." "Police?" "What kind of car, a Caprice?" "No, a hooptie, I think." "They on you like a motherfucker." "They jacking you up, pulling all your work out them houses, right?" "We can't have nobody snitching on us now." "We ain't sure it's that." "What, you wanna let it go?" "Risk it?" "Send a message." "Maybe give it to your pup, get him started." "You and Snoop, y'all lay low till this shit here blow down." "Boy worked for Bodie." "First time, best be someone he ain't know." "You hear what Joe said?" "Joe's saying this cocksucker who stole our shit wanna sell it back to us for 30 on the dollar." "Joe's saying it's another 90 to buy back our share." "Mm." "Dag, yo." "Thought you forgot about me." "Why don't you wait outside, all right?" "You spoke to his father?" "If it goes the way I think, he'll be back with his mom by tomorrow." "Big day all round tomorrow." "Delegate Watkins got us 30 minutes at the mayor's office." "Icicles!" "Get 'em while it's going!" "Icicles!" "Come on!" "Yo, Spider, what's the count?" "I don't even think we gonna sell out today, man." "Icicles!" "Icicles!" "Yo, Bodie." "Yo, Bodie." "Icicles!" "Icicles!" " Yo, Bodie, you better run, yo." " Yo, this my corner." "I ain't running nowhere." "Bodie, is you crazy?" " Shit is on!" " Run with it, motherfuckers!" "I don't give a fuck!" "I'm right here!" "You ain't putting me up in one of them empty-ass houses, neither." "Bodie, come on, man." "Come on, you skinny-assed bitch!" "Come on!" "I don't know about this." "Mayor's office." "Yes." "Actually, you want the Department of Housing and Community Development." "Look, I don't know about this, man." "I just..." "Ma'am, uh..." "Uh, if, uh..." "Oh, sorry." "If the mayor prefers not to, um..." "If he, like, feels more comfortable with Dr. Parenti alone, you know, because of the drug-legalisation controversy last year..." "I don't think Mayor Carcetti is in your meeting." "He's in Annapolis." "OK." "Thank you." " What up?" " What up?" "Still asleep?" "Early bird get that worm." "Hm." "How you liking the crib?" "Fine, thanks." "Must feel good to be on your own." "Yo, where you get that ring from?" "Took it from a nigger." "Why?" "You want it?" "Nah, nah, you keep it, shorty." "I'll go get Bug ready for school." "You ready to put in work?" "Two things, then." "First, we're gonna give you the corner up on Payson." "Used to be Bodie's old corner." "Now it's yours." "Crew that up." "Run that shit." "You get the points on that shop." "Then we got this other thing." "Yo, if I ain't stepping on nothing, who was that we dropped for you, yo?" " Bug's daddy." " Word?" "That's not how you spell "paraphernalia"." "How the fuck do you spell it?" " Hey, fellas." " Not like that." "McNulty." "Hey." "You're four to 12, right?" " You heard about Bodie?" " What about?" " Bodie, from up Payson." " Yeah, yeah." "What?" "Shot dead on his corner." "Midnight shift caught it." "Check the readout." "Sergeant, get your ass in here." "God damn it, Sergeant, you're on the brink of insubordination." "You call DSS right now and ship him out." "That's an order." "Lieutenant..." "I got $235, if it helps." "How would that help?" "Maybe we can get a foster spot like that." "Pay somebody." "This is tracking, plain and simple." "No, it's a socialisation process." "But to any parent who complains, you're still segregating them." "But it's for their benefit, and for the benefit of the teachers trying to teach." "And you're proposing to expand this to every middle school?" "With enough grant money and your support, yes." "By September." "But you wouldn't be teaching test curriculum?" "These would be the children left behind, so to speak." "Yeah, but as it is, we're leaving them all behind anyway." "We just won't admit it." " What we mean to say is..." " Gentlemen... we'll be in touch." "So, what, that's it?" "After a two-minute hearing, they stick a fork in us?" "I'm a liability in there, man." "Seems like every time I open my mouth in this town," "I'm telling people something they don't wanna know." " It's not you." "It's the process." " The process?" "We're gonna get the grant." "We study the problem, we propose solutions." "If they listen, they listen." "If they don't, it still makes for great research." "What we publish on this is gonna get a lot of attention." " From who?" " From other researchers, academics." "Academics?" "What, they gonna study your study?" "When do this shit change?" "And you put him out, huh?" "He need to get hard." "Well, if he out, then he out." "Oh, no, you not." "You ain't gonna take my son away from me..." "Remember who the fuck you talking to right here." "Remember who I am." "My word is still my word." "In here, in Baltimore and in any place you can think of calling home, it'll be my word, they'll find you." "Man come down here to say my son can be anything he damn please." "Except a soldier." "Yeah, well, look at me up in here." "Who the fuck would want to be that if they could be anything else, De'Londa?" "Hm?" "So... did you cut me off too?" "You still got me." "We'll get by." "But you gonna let go of that boy." "Bet that." " OK, now?" " It's Omar, baby." "For your bank?" "That's for your pain, Butch." "I be my own bank now." "Mm." "They ain't follow you?" "Nah." "Joe played it my way." "He had to admit my word was better than his." "You feel me?" "Let's go, then." "Yeah, it's in the van, in the garage in the back of 2249 Polk Street." "The key gonna be in the cinderblock." "You steal this much, and this ain't over." "This ain't over." "Thing about that Republican ass, it's not the flesh of his political fathers." "Jesus." " You left it on the table." " Smug son of a bitch." "He was gonna make me beg, then call a press conference so the world could see me on my knees." "Don't worry." "Two years and we'll make him pay." "Icicles, icicles!" "Got those icicles!" "Time-out!" "Time-out!" "Shakedown!" "Corner's indicted." "Go on." "Get." "Except you, motherfucker." "On the wall." "Sorry about Bodie." "I ain't jacking you up." "I'm trying to do right for your boy." " Who dropped him?" " Y'all did." "They took him out 'cause he was talking to y'all." "Word is they seen him with the police down at Central Booking." "So cuff me or kick my ass off this corner before you do me the same." "Hey, Duquan." "Don't you need to be at Douglass?" "I'm on my way there, yeah." " Where's your book bag?" " Oh, it's, um..." "I'm-a stop past the house and get it." "It's a present for all you did." " It's for your desk." " That's great, Duquan." "Thanks." "Stop past any time, let me know how it's going with you." "OK." " But I ain't want to go back." " Program's ending, Zenobia." "Yeah, boy." "Back to genpop." "Yes." "Pack my bags." " What about you?" " I mean, this was all right... but maybe it's time." "Why are you up?" "You're working four to 12." "What's the matter?" "It's the thing with these bodies." "Lester and them are getting up on it." "It's under Daniels." "He's got suction now." "He can deliver." "You want in." "I just feel like I owe it now." "To who?" "To this kid." "Corner kid." "Getting ready to turn him, you know, wrap him up and give him to Lester as a present." "He one of the bodies in the houses?" "No, they dropped him in the street." "Maybe I'd be different, you know?" "Different?" "Yeah, no more of the... drinking and the whoring and all that." "All that anger." "'Cause I'm better now here with you." "No more playing "Jimmy Bust Balls" with the world." ""Jimmy Bust Balls"?" "I swear to God, Beadie, that son of a bitch nearly killed me." "It's OK." " What?" " You tried." "You don't need to feel bad." "Thanks." "Hey, yo, look at this!" "Randy Wagstaff." "All right, Randy, this way." "Ain't no fuckin' thing, man." "Take that top bunk over there." "Five-0." "Are you sure?" "I'm not asking 'cause I can't use you." "I'm asking for your sake." "I think I can do this and keep myself away from myself, if that makes any sense." "But I gotta tell you, we're not gonna get Marlo Stanfield or anyone else above the street," " not on street rips." " What do you suggest?" "Either a wired CI or a Title III." " That's what makes this case." " You sure?" "Maybe you do this fast and clean and simple." "Then you don't do it at all." "Chain of command, Colonel." "How in the hell do we kick up percentages in math and reading both?" "You believe the numbers?" "38% proficient. 8% advanced." " What?" " "Proficient" means they're at least two grades below their level." ""Advanced" can mean they're at grade level or a year below." "They score 'em like that, and... they say we're making progress." " OK." "I'm still learning." " Nah, you're gonna be fine." "Albert, Zenobia, Namond, good to have you back with us." "Yeah." "Your worst nightmare come right back on you." "Say, no, I'm just playin'." "OK." "Everyone open to 121." "Who figured out the first problem?" " Kareem?" " 164." " Correct." "How'd you get it?" " Don't know." "Come." "Show us." "Oh, just when you think you're done..." "What's that one?" "20?" "22." " Anybody heard from Bunk?" " Ballistics say the guns match to nothing." " Opened and closed." " Mm." "And they cleaned the prints." "Well, maybe we find a witness." "Maybe trace lab gives us a hair or splatter or something." "But short of that, we're gonna have to go proactive." "Where are you on the new wire?" "Back to square one." "We're in here for the long haul." "How you happen to pick this place for us to stage?" " Lemel?" " Mm." "They closed it a few years back, and I knew it was near a lot of our crime scenes." "I went to school here back in the day." "Got a decent education, now that I think on it." "You try and talk to him?" "Didn't know what to say." "Only heard from my sergeant this morning." "Guess I missed the 24 they wrote on it." "And he really tried to do himself?" "It wasn't just for show or nothing?" "Bubs' got some problems, but insincerity ain't one of them." "Shame's some tricky shit, ain't it?" "Makes you feel like you want to change, and then beats you back down when you think you can't." "When was the last time y'all talked?" "More than a couple of years, since he last got on the wagon, I think." "If he's up in D ward, he's cleaner than a motherfucker right now." "Oh." "You coming?" "Maybe later." "Can't believe he'd leave that money on the table." " Why not?" " School." "Kids." "Shit." "You ain't done enough of this here, I suppose." "They always disappoint." "Closer you get, more you look." "All of them." "Who you going with next year?" "If he tries for Elijah's seat, I might stay with Royce." "If not, there's this young buck out in Salisbury thinks he can snatch up the First District seat." "Hm." "Mistletoe." "Come get 'em." "Mistletoe!" "How y'all doing?" "Ain't so much money." "Mistletoe!" "You can look at 'em in the eye now." "No matter who he is or what he's done, you look 'em right in the eye." "I'm still your father." "Some people think they jive me" "But I know they must be crazy" "Can't see their misfortune" "Maybe if they're lazy" "Walk through all the fire" " The case against..." "Fly through all the smoke" "See my enemy" "The end of the road" "Walk on pines and needles" "See what they can do" "Walk on gilded splinters" "With the king of the Zulu" "Come, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Come, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Till I burn up Till I burn up" "Put gris gris on your doorstep" "Soon you'll be in the gutter" "I can melt you just like butter" "A-a-a I can make you stutter" "Walk through all the fire" "Walk through all the smoke" "See my enemy" "End of the road" "Walk on pines and needles..." " What you want?" " See what they can do" "Walk on gilded splinters" "With the king of the Zulu" "Come on, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Come on, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Till I burn up" "Till I burn..." "Right to the body." "That's right." "Keep it moving." "Where your eyes at?" "What you looking at?" "Come on, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Come on, come, kiddy come, come" "Walk on gilded splinters" "Come on, come, kiddy come, come" "You cannot be out here." "Y'all need to find something constructive to do with yourselves." "Go on." "Walk on gilded splinters" "Come on." "Answer the question." "Michael." "Michael." "The gun." "Na', you're gonna be late." "Go on." "Go." "Boy, where's your plate?" "Yo, Tyrell, wait up."