"They don't teach it in law school." - (Assistant State's Attorney) Pearlman
Detective Lester Freamon and Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty huddle in the utility closet of the homicide unit. Freamon has rigged a phone wire to mask as Marlo's cell number and orders McNulty to stick to the script as he dials a number. When Scott Templeton answers his cell phone at the Baltimore Sun, McNulty reads from a scripted serial killer rant, accusing Templeton of making things up about him in his newspaper reports. A panicked Templeton, shocked to get an actual call, rushes to alert the other reporters and editors to what's going on and to get Det. McNulty on the phone.
Ignoring his buzzing cell phone, McNulty starts to enjoy his performance and, playing up a heavy Baltimore accent, he begins to ad lib. Meanwhile, in the wire tap listening room, Vernon Holley springs into action to trace the first call he's ever picked up on the serial killer tap.
In a tourist-heavy area of the Baltimore Harbor, Detective Leander Sydnor waits with a cell phone in one hand (the cell that the phone company paperwork has linked to the serial killer wire tap) and a police radio in the other. McNulty's serial killer warns Templeton that they won't even be able to find his victims any more, as Freamon sends two photos of McNulty's homeless foil, "Mr. Bobbles," over the re-routed phone line. When Sydnor hears over the police radio that the call has been traced to the Inner Harbor, he switches off the cell, wraps it in foil, and pockets it. As the police swarm the area he shows his badge and pretends to help search for the serial killer's cell phone.
Back at the Baltimore Sun, Managing Editor Thomas Klebanow and Executive Editor James C. Whiting III gather around Templeton as he relays what the killer said. Just as they ask if the guy threatened him, Templeton receives an alert on his cell phone: the photo of a new apparent victim -- the homeless man that McNulty dumped in Richmond.
Best. Show. Ever.
