Credits. Walking through the garden? Here are some helpful tips. 1) Watch your back. 2) Walk the straight and narrow track. 3) Keep the devil way down in a hole. 4) Pack a hearty lunch.

"Just 'cause they're in the street doesn't mean that they lack opinions," says Gus. And if they do, we can just wait around for Templeton to conjure some up. I'm just saying.

Here's a breaking news bulletin from the Baltimore Police Department's one-man Fictional Homicides Unit -- a fabricated serial killer is now responsible for four sort-of-but-not-really murders of homeless men. And it's possible, as the police comb through more case files, that they can spin more murders out of whole cloth. McNulty is relaying this information -- minus my jerky commentary, of course -- to Alma Guttierez over at the Sun, and she is buying it hook, line, and sinker. "And the motive now seems sexual," McNulty says, looking around to make sure that no one is eavesdropping (or possibly to make sure that someone is there to recognize his genius). Sexual, Guttierez asks -- like sodomizing-homeless-men sexual? McNulty declines to get into specifics: "Just say the killer is acting from sexual compulsions. Anything more detailed than that, we have to keep in the case file." Yes, we wouldn't want to tip our hand to the fictional character we created in our imaginations, would we? Alma isn't sure this latest tidbit will be enough to get the story any better play than the last time.

Gus calls Alma over for an update on what's shaking with the police beat. There's an update on a domestic homicide in Hampden, as well as a pair of drug-related murders in Baltimore. Your victims' names on those latter two killings: Joseph Stewart, found in his dining room, and Nathaniel Manns, found in an alley garage. Hey! We know that first guy! And that second guy, too. We could totally give Alma background on those stories -- now if only she'd call. Oh, and there's been another homeless, Alma says, which does not get Gus's attention. "The detective on it says it's related," Alma continues. "He says it's sexual." Now that gets Gus's attention. He probes Alma for details, which she doesn't have at this point. "Write what you got," he tells her, promising to bring it up at the four o'clock meeting with the other editors. May I suggest "Fake Madman Terrorizes Real City" as your headline?