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A guilt-ridden, drunken McNulty (Dominic West) tells Daniels (Lance Reddick) the case "was just a way to show everyone how smart I was." Stringer (Idris Elba) shows up in the pit to tell D'Angelo (Larry Gilliard Jr.) and Bodie (J.D. Williams) that they won't be using payphones anymore. And there won't be a re-up either, as the narcos took the main stash. Shardene (Wendy Grantham) agrees to go back to the club wearing a wire. Levy (Michael Kostroff) tells Avon (Wood Harris) to take stock and figure out where he needs to "clean up." With the Barksdale being extra careful, the wire has gone cold. Burrell (Frankie R. Faison) wants Daniels (Lance Reddick) to back off the case, and takes two detectives from the unit. Rhonda (Deirdre Lovejoy) gets called in by her boss, who tells her to let the unit know he's giving back some suspicious campaign contributions. Wallace (Michael B. Jordan) returns to the pit, and Avon is worried about him. D'Angelo stands up to Avon, practically begging him, "Just let the boy be." Shardene can't get too close to anyone important, and she's scared. Freamon (Clarke Peters) gets her to take some measurements in the club, so they can figure out where Avon's office is, and bug it from next door. Herc (Dominick Lombardozzi) finds out he did well on the sergeant's exam. Daniels gets more flack from Burrell, who threatens to expose something about Daniels' past if the unit doesn't back off the money trail. Stringer asks Bodie to do a job for him. Avon is clearing out his office, but the new bug catches him telling D'Angelo to go to New York to make a buy, and the unit moves on the information. This episode was scripted by crime fiction author George Pelecanos (King Suckerman).