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RIDE ALONG Music List Recap A dispatcher reports a "34-S, now a Signal 30." Boulet tries to pass it off as a drunk and disorderly so they won't have to take her to the scene, but Jodi's researched the codes and knows it's an aggravated shooting that's just graduated to murder. She calls for a ride to the scene -- she's getting the story one way or another. She says the country sees New Orleans as a corrupt, murder-prone sideshow. If they're not, then prove it. She knows they've been burned before, but she's not like that. They arrive at the scene, Jodi taking pictures. It seems at first like a simple case: a drug dealer killing another drug dealer. However, the victim is 27-year-old Travis Frederick, who doesn't have a record. A cigarette stub with red lipstick implies that there's a witness. They go to Tad Gormley Stadium, where Travis worked as a janitor. His boss thinks they're there about the “other murder.” Turns out there was a shooting in the men's restroom last week. A teenage dealer (or “buzzard”), Keeshawn, was shot in the head. Looking at the logs, Boulet realizes that Travis would have been working on the roof at the time and had a perfect view of the killing. Boulet finds the bathroom murder was investigated by Detective Ray McPherson, whose report doesn't mention any witnesses. But Travis must have talked to somebody. Maybe it was the girl with the lipstick? They go to a laundromat and meet up with Nicky, a homeless addict Boulet and Cobb often turn to for information. Nicky rambles a bit about how Felice is missing, and is probably out with Mabel, who is nothing but trouble, running around and causing problems. Boulet asks him if there's any word on the street as to who killed Keeshawn, but Nicky's off in his own world. Time to do this the hard way -- interrogate the local "buzzards." They find a group of them and Boulet and Cobb set to work intimidating them, scaring them and pushing their faces down onto the dashboard of their car as Jodi takes pictures. They finally find that word is that Caveman killed Keeshawn. Caveman is one of the 112 worst criminals in New Orleans. Murder charges never stick because Caveman kills any witnesses personally. Boulet confronts Detective McPherson. Travis was indeed his witness, but he says there's no way Caveman could have found out. The reason he left Travis out of his report was to protect him. Boulet and Cobb aren't sure they believe McPherson. Afterwards, in the car, Jodi floats the idea that McPherson's a corrupt cop. Boulet ignores her. She persists. Boulet finally snaps that they are investigating. They’re not going to jump to conclusions and edit the evidence to fit their assumptions -- or hers. Suddenly, Boulet sees something and slams on the breaks. He runs into a rickety, abandoned house, Cobb and Jodi behind him. Turns out Boulet's after a cat -- this is Nicky's Mabel; Felice died during the storm. Travis's credit card history shows he spent a lot of time at the Half Moon Bar. The bartender there says he spent a lot of time with a Hayley O'Keefe. They interview her, but she won't talk. She's got a history of writing bad checks, including one for her son's medical expenses. They use that as leverage to threaten to put her away for ten years so she won't see her son for a long time. Maybe her son will even be taken away. Jodi, watching from the observation room, is horrified. Embry explains that Boulet and Cobb will say anything to move the murder investigation forward. They're lying to her, just like the Supreme Court affirmed they could. Cobb and Boulet say they can protect Hayley if she just comes forward; she finally fingers Caveman as the shooter. Jodi goes along with the SWAT team sent to arrest Caveman. Glue Boy questions whether it's safe for her to be there, but Boulet and Cobb explain that most criminals who see all this hardware coming at them will surrender quietly. However, as they hop out of the van, Boulet eyes a man across the street, watching. A spotter. Right at that moment, Jodi takes a picture. As the flash goes off, the spotter runs inside and starts flicking his balcony light -- a signal for Caveman to run. Cobb and Boulet give chase, but they are too late. He escapes. Why did Caveman run? He usually has no problem with being arrested. He must have known there was a witness, but how? F.A.S. was the only unit that knew about Haley. The notion of corruption once again raises its ugly head. And now Haley won't talk. She's terrified. Caveman killed his own girlfriend by slamming her head in a car door. She'd rather go to jail than talk; at least her son won't be an orphan. She insists on being booked out front, so everyone knows she's not a snitch. Caveman's escape is blamed on Jodi's flash. She tries to apologize, but Boulet and Cobb won't hear it, and they refuse to take her along with them again. However, Jodi follows them back to the laundromat where Boulet gives the cat to Nicky. Nicky insists that it's Felice's cat. He doesn't like cats. He says to give it to Felice when she gets home. Then he has a moment of clarity -- he buried Felice after the storm. She's never coming home. Boulet gently tells him that Felice would have wanted Nicky and Mabel to take good care of each other. They then notice Jodi watching. They confront her outside; she says she's leaving soon, but thanks them for opening her eyes and sharing as much as they did. She's going to write a column called "Everyday Heroes," a positive column. That night, Boulet and Cobb discuss the idea of a corrupt cop in the unit. Cobb says if there's an internal investigation, they're going to start asking questions about his own history, stuff they didn't ask when he signed up, and find a great big hole. Boulet says they need to find the rat on their own, then. In the morning, a fuming Embry shows them Jodi's article. It’s a demolition job entitled "Bad Cop/Bad Cop." Jodi drives up, looking anguished. Boulet and Cobb are furious, but she swears she wrote the article she said she would. Her editor called it a puff piece and rewrote it from her notes. Then why is her byline on the story? Why didn't she insist on having her name taken off? Boulet realizes that it's because it's on the front page. Jodi says if she fought her editor. She would be fired and the story would be written anyway. Boulet says he understands. He just thought that maybe Jodi was different. Perusing the article, Cobb realizes that it implicates Nicky as a witness, even though he's not. They race to the Laundromat but he's not there. They go to the house where they found Mabel and see Caveman exiting. Cobb rams his car into Caveman's as backup arrives. Caveman is arrested. Inside the house, they find Nicky shot in the head three times. Jodi arrives, asking what happened. Cobb coldly says that she got her story, as Boulet, choking back tears, just says "I'm sorry" to Nicky's lifeless body again and again. Outside, a shaken and teary-eyed Jodi tells Boulet that she's going to do what she should have done in the first place -- call her editor and quit. She will then call the Editor-in-Chief and ask for a retraction based on editorial bias. Not that it will change anything. Boulet just tells her that this is a crime scene and she needs to leave. Later, Boulet agonizes to Cobb that everyone thinks they know New Orleans, but they don't. Boulet's got Mabel in his arms, but Anaya's allergic. He passes the cat off to Cobb. The partners head off to the Half Moon Bar. Just another day in New Orleans.
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