The Nguyens prepare to sit down to a late dinner in their family restaurant, Saigon
Rose; they invite their security guard, Larry Jones, to join them. Tom and Lucy
Nguyen wash dishes in the kitchen, when they suddenly hear gunshots come from the dining room;
they dive onto the floor and fearfully wait for the shooting to stop. Meanwhile, at
the squadroom, Pembleton, Munch and Lewis, all of their partners missing, wait for
something to happen. Pembleton answers the call and takes Lewis with him.
The two detectives inspect the scene; four family members and one security guard shot
dead with a 9-mil and robbed of all their valuables, and two shellshocked witnesses who were in
the kitchen when it all happened. Cox rolls Jones' body over; they are surprised when
they discover that he was a cop. Officer Toinette Perry shows up and is aghast at the
scene. Pembleton and Lewis interview Perry, who tells them that she and Jones are
police officers moonlighting as security guards at Saigon Rose; she also says that
it was known around the neighborhood that the Nguyens kept a lot of money in the
restaurant and that the shooter may be someone living nearby.
Giardello informs Falsone that all charges on Georgia Rae Mahoney have been dropped
and that she has decided to stay in Baltimore; Falsone says to himself that there's
unfinished business (read: Kellerman) that Georgia Rae wishes to attend to. Meanwhile,
Ballard and Gharty have a late dinner of their own at Brickie's, the best crab place
in town.
Pembleton and Lewis go back to the squadroom; Bayliss wants to help on the
case. Pembleton tells him to rustle up any ex-employees or customers who had a bone to pick
with the Nguyens. Frank and Meldrick interview Tom and Lucy Nguyen together, who
readily tell them that they heard two black voices, and that one of them belonged
to none other than Officer Toinette Perry. Frank and Meldrick visit Jones' wife in
the early morning, who tells them that Perry was an affirmative action hire and that
she was so lousy at being a cop, there couldn't have been any other way she entered
the force.
Ballard, looking a little green, faints in the squadroom; Gharty immediately takes
her to the hospital, where it is revealed that Ballard was in anaphylactic shock,
brought on by a sudden adult onset allergy to shellfish. Eventually she is released,
feeling a little foolish that she almost died from eating crab. Meanwhile, back at
the squadroom, Falsone confronts Kellerman and informs him about Georgia Rae; Kellerman,
angry that Falsone is delving into the Mahoney shooting a little too deeply, draws his
gun on him; Falsone does the same to Kellerman. They eventually come to their senses
and walk away from each other, Falsone aiming gunshot sounds at Mike's ears.
Bayliss pulls Perry's file and finds out that she is indeed a lousy cop; she had
even failed her initial psych screening, but the ruling was somehow overruled by her
father, who is currently missing. Pembleton tells Bayliss to take Falsone and round up
Curtis Lambright, Perry's cousin and the person she was probably with when she was at the
restaurant. Bayliss and Falsone visit Lambright at home, where they find a 9-millimeter
handgun "in plain view."
Pembleton and Lewis bring Perry into the Box and slowly apply pressure on Perry's
alibi: they find several things about it that don't mesh with each other. Tension
mounts when Gee suddenly interrupts the interview to tell Frank and Meldrick that Lambright
is in custody and that all the slugs came from one gun. Lewis leaves to talk to
Lambright, while Pembleton stays in the Box with Perry. Lambright tells Lewis that he
and his cousin had originally meant to simply rob the place, but Perry had gone out of
control and massacred Jones and the Nguyens in cold blood.
Kellerman finally reveals to Cox what really happened the day Luther Mahoney died;
Cox tells them that Lewis and Stivers should be notified about Georgia Rae and her
surveillance tape, which Kellerman thinks is a bad idea. Back at the squadroom, Lewis
re-enters the Box and tells Perry what Lambright told him; Perry, in a last-ditch effort
to save herself, tells the detectives that it was Lambright who shot everyone. Upon
hearing that piece of news, Lambright tells Lewis to check his uncle's
basement. Munch is sent over to Perry's father's house, where he discovers a human
skeleton buried under the basement floor, which appears to be that of Perry's father.
Note: this story is based on a real-life crime committed in New Orleans.
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Starring
Richard Belzer Det. John Munch
Andre Braugher Det. Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond Det. Mike Kellerman
Michelle Forbes Chief ME Julianna Cox
Peter Gerety Det. Stuart Gharty
Clark Johnson Det. Meldrick Lewis
Yaphet Kotto Lt. Al Giardello
Kyle Secor Det. Tim Bayliss
Jon Seda Det. Paul Falsone
Callie Thorne Det. Laura Ballard
Guest Starring
Camille McCurty Ali Ofcr. Toinette Perry
Vanessa Brown Lucy Nguyen
John Tran Tom Nguyen
Dion Graham Curtis Lambright
Ellen McElduff Billie Lou Hatfield
With
Russ Carter Ofcr. Larry Jones
David Elias Dr. Eisenberg
Lisa Newman-Williams Jane Jones
Susan Rollman Nurse
Ellie Wang Mrs. Nguyen
Music heard in Saigon Rose
Charley Miller Lullaby Peace Dreams
The Subdudes All the Time in the World
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