Finnegan's Wake (Homicide: Life on the Street)

An old man wanders into the homicide squadroom, claiming to have information on the 1932 death of an eight-year-old girl named Clara Slone - the oldest unsolved murder in department history. The squad reopens the case with Det. Tim Bayliss as the initial primary, but its similarity to the Adena Watson case — Bayliss' first case as a primary detective, which still haunts him — motivates Lt. Al Giardello to reassign the case to Det. Paul Falsone, who is thrilled by the opportunity to close a case that is a part of Baltimore history. Falsone gets permission from Giardello to partner with Thomas Finnegan, a detective who was obsessed with the case until his retirement in 1974; Finnegan eagerly steps up to help Falsone solve the case. Finnegan initially charms the entire unit with his mixture of charisma, Irish tradition, and professionalism, although Finnegan's nostalgia for the days when Baltimore police were mostly Irish eventually offends Meldrick Lewis when Finnegan refers to black suspects with the racial slur "spooks." His derisive comments about Italians and women serving in the department rile Falsone and Laura Ballard as well. However, Finnegan also persuades a dive team to keep searching a particular area until they find a revolver that proves to be the murder weapon.

Falsone and Finnegan are declared heroes when they eventually close the case, and Falsone takes great pride in writing Slone's name on the Board in blue ink as a cold case that has been solved. The happy ending is bitter for both Bayliss (who is again haunted by memories and nightmares of the Adena Watson case) and Lewis (who is left disturbed by Finnegan's racism). Bayliss does, however, find some comfort in visiting Slone's younger sister with Finnegan in order to tell her that the case has been solved.