Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
The department’s senior officers question McNulty about the serial-killer case, and he struggles to answer. Omar keeps hunting Marlo’s crew, but Kenard kills him in a corner store. Carver joins the investigation and recognizes Freamon’s unauthorized wiretap. Beadie returns home and presses McNulty about his absences; he admits the deception to her after confessing to Kima. Bunk investigates Omar’s murder and finds a list of Marlo’s men, then agrees to delay a warrant against Chris so Freamon can pursue the wiretap lead. Sydnor decodes Marlo’s clock messages as locations in a street atlas.
Dukie tries for a legitimate job, but Poot says he is too young; a junk dealer offers him work instead. Carcetti turns the homeless deaths into a campaign issue and bargains with political allies for support. At the Sun, Terry confronts Templeton about invented details. Gus promises to investigate and cuts an unsourced anecdote from Templeton’s story about a vigil, prompting the reporter to complain to Klebanow. Freamon asks federal prosecutors to take the Davis case, but they refuse. Gus stands by his decision to enforce the paper’s standards and leaves the newsroom. At the morgue, a worker corrects Omar’s tag after spotting it on the wrong body.