R.J. Decker (2026) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[Mellow surf rock music playing]
[sighs]
Don't try to eat it through the wrapper.
- I'm sorry, what?
- The candy bar.
You try to eat it through the wrapper,
I owe my friend a hundred bucks.
[scoffs] Uh, why would I try to eat it
with the wrapper?
You've been staring at it
for ten minutes now.
It's like you're trying to skip
the opening it and chewing it part
and just beam it straight to your stomach.
I'm sorry, you've been watching me
for ten minutes?
Me and my friend.
She thinks you're an unhoused individual.
This is Florida. You can just say
"crazy homeless guy," it's okay.
She thinks you're a crazy homeless guy
who's gonna eat that thing
through the wrapper.
- But not you.
- Mm-mmm. So what's the story?
Why are you eye-sexing a candy bar
on the steps of a courthouse?
I'm on trial.
A few months back, I caught
this kid stealing camera equipment
out of the trunk of my car.
You're a photographer?
I was.
- Commercial? Fashion?
- News.
Anyway, I caught this kid and I…
- Yeah, I sort of… sort of lost it.
- You lost it?
- I beat him up.
- You beat up a kid?
He wasn't a kid. He was 20 years old.
And, as it turns out,
the son of a state senator.
It didn't matter
that he had 40 pounds on me
or that he threw the first punch.
He made up some story
about me thinking he was a drug dealer
and then attacking him
when he wouldn't sell me meth.
Doesn't explain the candy bar.
It's sort of my favorite.
Today could be the last day of my trial,
meaning I could be going home
in a few hours, or
You could be going to prison.
Where I'm told candy bars are
in short supply.
Thing is that I keep…
I keep thinking if I eat it,
I'll be jinxing everything.
Well, look,
I don't know a lot about prison,
but I know a little.
And you're right,
candy bars are hard to come by.
But I can think of something
in even shorter supply.
["Built For Comfort" playing]
[car squeaking]
Some folk built like this ♪
Some folk built like that ♪
But the way I'm built ♪
You shouldn't call me fat ♪
Because I'm built for comfort ♪
Believe this is yours.
I ain't built for speed ♪
Good luck today.
Thanks.
But I got everything
All that a good girl need ♪
[newscaster] Clay Gregory was questioned
yet again today by homicide detectives.
The investigation into the murder
of his wife is ongoing…
Turn that off, would you?
I'm kind of tired of that guy.
[chuckles] Bro, try to cut it closer
next time.
You still think it goes to the jury today?
Just one witness left.
The cousin, right?
The one who said she was there that day?
- Stepsister, bro. The stepsister.
- Stepsister. Stepsister.
- And you're sure she wasn't there?
- Yeah, no one was there. Why?
I was going over her statement last night.
It's very detailed.
All rise.
[door opens]
Superior Court of the State of Florida,
Broward County,
Department 342, is now in session.
Judge Anna Yu presiding.
Mr. Accosta, next witness.
State calls Emi Ochoa, Your Honor.
[door opens]
["Joy" playing]
[bailiff] Raise your right hand.
Do you swear the testimony
you're about to give is the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
I do.
Would you please state your name
and relationship to the victim?
Yes, I'm Emi Ochoa.
Lucas is my stepbrother.
And that's the man who almost killed him.
[no audible dialogue]
I don't want you anymore
'Cause you took my joy ♪
I don't want you anymore
You took my joy ♪
You took my joy, I want it back ♪
You took my joy, I want it back ♪
I'm gonna go to West Memphis
And look for my joy ♪
Go to West Memphis
And look for my joy… ♪
Thank you, Ms. Ochoa. You're excused.
[sirens wailing]
["Kicking Up Dust" playing]
[engine revs]
Kick dust ♪
[horn honks]
Kick it up ♪
Kick it up, kick it up, kick it up ♪
You gotta kick it up ♪
[music fades out]
[tools whirring]
[mechanic 1] I told you I needed a 2019.
- Man, don't give me that.
- Different parts, Darius.
You want me to go put it back?
I'll go put it back.
I'll give you half.
Half?
Plus I get a slice of that pizza.
[mechanic 2] Jefe. Problema.
Come on, man.
I checked this thing top to bottom.
Ain't no…
[Intriguing music playing]
Beautiful dog.
- Thanks.
- Beautiful.
I swear she is the spitting image
of another dog I know, Friday.
Friday's an emotional support dog.
Her owner, Dylan, he's eight.
He has autism.
Friday helps him, makes him happy,
or at least she did until someone
stole her out of a yard the other day.
You-You have a nice day, yeah?
Dylan's mom, Amanda,
she put these up all over the place.
Next day, someone emailed her,
said he had the dog
and for 10,000 bucks,
she could have her back.
I know what you're thinking
Ten grand for a dog
But, see, the house
this guy stole her from?
It was nice. It was real nice.
One of those great big ones
up in Coral Ridge.
Guy didn't know that Amanda
was just the housekeeper
and that her bosses let her dog
play outside while she works.
[dog nap per] So you're
gonna arrest me now?
No, I'm not going to arrest you.
I'm not a cop.
I'm a PI. I'm also an ex-con, like you.
Eighteen months, Apalachee. Assault.
Marion Correctional. Possession.
I didn't want to take her.
I wasn't even planning it.
- [stammers] I was just
- It's okay. It's okay.
Hey, listen, take this.
After I bring her home,
I want you to call him.
He's a friend of mine.
He helps find jobs
for guys like me and you.
Tell him R.J. sent you.
[Mellow surf rock music playing]
Hey, Tebow, how you doing?
Gonna be a hot one today. Stay hydrated.
And… nope.
- Hey, Arj.
- Hey, morning, Freddie. How you doing?
[dog growls, barks]
Chester! A little help here?
[Chester] Tom Petty.
Come here, Tom Petty. Good.
Arj, I told you,
you got to keep a treat on you.
You give Tom Petty a treat,
he'll leave you be.
Or maybe, you know, stop giving him
a free run of the entire trailer park.
- Ever thought about that?
- Seen Tebow this morning?
His mom was looking for him.
Yeah, he's out by the mailboxes.
He's doing his scary clown thing again.
What is the point?
Well, his mom says it's an experiment
- in phenomenology.
- [phone chimes]
Really, I think it's more to do
with Tebow being crazy as hell.
Uh, Chester, I almost forgot. I signed
for a package for you yesterday.
It's in here by the door.
Uh, do you mind bringing that out?
Uh, I'm not comfortable
going in there since the, uh…
You know, the sinkhole.
Yeah, okay, I understand.
So, uh, you talked to management
about getting your trailer moved yet?
I did, twice.
I think their hesitation
may have something to do
with me being two months behind on rent.
["Captain America" playing]
[person] "Florida man tries to chew
through handcuffs following arrest."
Now, it is a fascinating read, sir,
but I'm afraid there's nothing in here
that identifies you as the subject.
You understand,
I can only give you a free drink
if you can prove
you're the Florida Man in question.
Captain America, we love you ♪
Another one for the wall.
Captain America, you're grand… ♪
[knocks]
Cellie! Usual?
Uh, it's a little early.
And you get that every time
you call me "Cellie,"
you're announcing to your patrons
we're both ex-cons?
Well, if it weren't for ex-cons, R.J.,
I might not have any patrons.
- This is true.
- [chuckles]
You texted. Cut to the chase.
Well, I'm afraid the chase, old buddy,
is Clay Gregory.
[Tense music playing]
[newscaster] Police have confirmed that
the woman found dead in the trunk of a car
is Rhoda Batista, the high school teacher
who was reported missing yesterday.
The car was involved
in a brief chase with police last night.
This morning, it was found abandoned,
leading to the discovery of the victim.
This, of course, is eerily reminiscent
to the murder of
Broward County Herald journalist,
Maya Gregory, several years ago.
Just like Rhoda Batista, she was found
in the trunk of her car, strangled.
In both cases,
the murder weapon was a wire coat hanger.
Maya Gregory's husband, Clay Gregory,
was a person of interest at the time,
but has never been charged.
You know, it's funny.
Year and a half sharing
a six-by-eight space with you,
and I still can't read your mind.
I'm thinking it sure would be nice to
know where Clay Gregory was last night.
It would, but it's safe to assume
Fort Lauderdale's finest
are all over that, yeah?
You know, the reason I wanted you
to hear about this from me
is 'cause I know
there is a very straight line
between what happened
to your reporter friend
and what you did to that kid
who broke into your car a few days later.
Wish, he wasn't a kid.
He was 20 years old.
And he was bigger than you,
and he threw the first punch.
Remind me, which one of you
ended up at Apalachee with me?
The truth, Cellie, is you were
carrying too much hurt around
and you unloaded
on the first best person came along.
[R.J. sighs]
Don't go making the same mistake
now, you hear?
[Mellow Western music playing]
[people chattering]
R.J. freaking Decker,
as I live and breathe.
- They let you out already?
- No, Bill, I escaped.
- Don't tell anyone, okay? How you doing?
- You back at the newspaper?
Uh, matter of fact, Bill, no. I'm, uh…
- I'm a PI now.
- [chuckles]
- You're serious?
- As a dead lady in a car trunk.
You heard what happened
and thought Clay Gregory.
Well, to be fair, Bill,
he did kill my former colleague,
his wife, the exact same way.
You are a dog with a bone, old buddy.
The night Maya died,
he didn't have an alibi.
Then it comes out
he was having an affair, so
You're leaving out
the part about a cigarette butt
that was found in the car
with his wife's body.
DNA wasn't a match.
Okay, Bill, you and I both know
he could've picked up any butt
from any gutter and put it in the car
to throw off forensics.
Detective Ragsdale.
Are you aware you're associating
with a known felon right now?
- Detective Abreu. Hello, how are you?
- Let me guess.
He wants us to put cuffs
on Clay Gregory for this.
I mean, it'd be nice
if you put cuffs on him for something.
Mm-hmm. Just a reminder
My case, not yours.
And sharing information with a civilian,
let alone an ex-con, would be bad.
How is everything at the trailer park?
You making new friends?
Only every single day.
[exhales]
Clay Gregory didn't kill anyone
last night.
What do you mean?
He was visiting family in Topeka,
flew in this morning.
We have footage of him at both airports.
So if you were hoping this was
the murder we would get him on,
think again.
[newscaster] When asked about
the still-unsolved Maya Gregory case,
police did acknowledge the similarities
to the murder of Rhoda Batista.
By all accounts, Clay Gregory
is apparently
not a person of interest at this
[phone buzzing]
Decker Investigations.
- [woman] Hi, is this R.J. Decker?
- Yep, it is.
Great, I'm looking
for a private investigator.
I was wondering if you might have
some time this week to meet in person
[static]
- [line distorting]
Ma'am, I'm sorry, bad reception.
Would you mind
repeating what you just said?
- Ma'am?
- [static continues]
[sighs]
- [distorted] Are you there, Mr. Decker?
- Yeah, I'm here.
- I'm very interested in meeting.
- Hello?
- Decker?
- Yeah, I'm here. I can hear you.
Can you hear me? Ma'am? Ma'am?
[line disconnects]
What can I say, except it's pretty obvious
there's a serial killer loose
in Fort Lauderdale.
And maybe if the police hadn't
wasted so many resources on me
after he killed Maya,
they would have caught him back then.
["La Carrera" playing]
This ain't the first time
My life has come to this ♪
Oh, oh, oh ♪
[doorbell rings]
A sinkhole opened up
outside your window three weeks ago
- and you didn't come to stay with us then?
- Hi, Catherine.
You know,
you're the dumbest ex-husband I ever had.
Palmetto Pastures? R.J., seriously?
That's the best you could do?
[sighs] Well, the price is right, Cath.
What can I say?
If it's a money thing,
you know I don't mind helping.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's temporary. Just like me staying here.
I'll be out of your hair in no time.
You'll see.
Great. It's great.
Roomy.
How'd your better half take the news?
- Said she wanted to talk to you.
- Mmm.
She's in the garage.
[exhales]
You wanted to see me?
[spouse] One week.
[R.J.] Beg pardon?
You can stay here one week,
and then you go.
Mel, if you think I want to stay
- longer than one week
- One week, felon. Say it with me.
One week.
No, I won't talk to you
about Clay Gregory.
No, no, no, no, no, no,
I was gonna ask about Sofia.
Oh, yeah. She's still draining threes
like Steph Curry?
Like Sabrina Ionescu.
And asking me about my kid
isn't gonna score you anything.
Just the person who called the police
about the red BMW the other day.
They interacted
with the guy who abandoned it.
Said something, did something, am I right?
I just wanna know what they saw.
Maya Gregory was your friend.
I get it, but this case,
it's about Rhoda Batista,
and it's got enough eyes on it already.
I don't also need some pretend PI
looking over my shoulder,
let alone one flopping in my pool house.
[R.J. sighs]
You know, I've started to wonder
if you don't like me
because you're under the impression
I might be the closed-minded type
who'd be embarrassed, maybe even angry,
that his ex-wife ended up
marrying another woman.
Hand to heart, Mel
[whispering] it doesn't bother me.
I knew Cath was bi from day one.
I mean, hell, we even entertained
the occasional third party back then.
Okay. I got work to do.
Try not to get sent back to prison today.
[Clay speaking in Spanish]
My Spanish is a little rusty.
You didn't just happen to confess
to murdering two women, did you?
Decker. What's it been? Two years?
Eighteen months with good behavior?
You go to prison one time,
and suddenly it's all the jokes.
I saw your ex's piece in the Herald
this morning.
- Oh, yeah?
- It's good stuff.
It reminded me of the way
Maya used to write.
All gas, no brakes.
Yeah, Maya was something, wasn't she?
- Before she died
- Before you killed her.
Before she died, you met me, what?
Once? Maybe twice.
You hardly know me.
So how can you be so sure I killed Maya?
You were cheating on her.
I was getting away with it.
So why kill my wife?
This new murder,
the one from a couple days ago
Rhoda Batista was her name. She was
a teacher. She had a mom, three sisters.
I'm sure you've heard by now,
I was on an airplane when it happened.
- I didn't do it.
- I know you didn't.
Then why are you here?
Would I be right in assuming
that the insurance policy
you had on Maya never paid out?
Of course it didn't.
Because the insurance company,
like pretty much everyone else
in the state of Florida,
knew you killed her.
This new murder, though, I don't…
Maybe it changes things.
Like you said,
you were on a plane when it happened.
You think I hired someone?
Told them to commit a murder just
like Maya's when I was at 40,000 feet?
Yeah, police started thinking,
"Hey, maybe he didn't kill his wife."
Then the insurance company.
Suddenly, you're, what?
Six figures richer? Seven?
This has been fun,
but I've got work to do.
Me too, Clay. Me too.
[Intriguing music playing]
[phone buzzes]
Decker Investigations.
[woman] Hi, I called last night.
We got cut off.
Hi, yes, sorry about that.
I would have called you back,
but your number was blocked.
- You're still up for meeting?
- Absolutely.
Then how about we do it over a drink?
You name the place.
Oof. Uh, yeah. Do you know F.M. Station?
I'll find it. See you at 7:00.
7:00 works, but, um, can I
[line disconnects]
Didn't get your name, again.
[person] Yes?
Hi, ma'am. My name is R.J. Decker,
I'm a private investigator.
I-I'd like to ask you a few questions
about what happened yesterday.
Me? Why me?
You're the one that called the police,
aren't you?
You saw the person who dumped the car.
If I was,
I don't think the police would tell you.
[chuckles] I knew it was you
from the flowerpot.
- Cómo?
- The one you threw at the suspect?
I saw little pieces of it on the ground.
See, most of your neighbors,
they like to use their balconies
for storage.
You like to grow things.
Yeah, you must have, what,
a couple dozen plants out there?
So you saw the guy park,
and when he popped the trunk,
you saw what he'd done.
That's why you threw the pot at him.
All I'm looking for is a description.
I even brought you a few pots
to replace the ones you broke.
[witness] The man was short,
maybe 5'2", Black.
His back was turned, so I didn't
see his face, just his terrible hat.
What was so terrible about his hat?
There was a penis on it.
Penis? Did you say a penis?
Worse, an angry penis.
What made you think the penis was angry?
The face and the two little arms
flexed like this, like it wanted to fight.
- Like this?
- Mm-hmm.
Huh.
- Is this what you saw?
- Ay, Dios mío.
- Yes.
- It's not what you think it is.
It's a jumbo shrimp.
Specifically, it's the logo for
the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp,
Triple-A affiliate to the Miami Marlins.
Does that help?
["Stranger Blues" playing]
[chattering]
Like your hat.
Thanks.
- [chuckles]
- What?
No, it's just,
I wish I could have seen your face
when you found that dead lady
in the trunk of that car.
[dishes clattering]
Darius.
[whispering] Hey, kid, deep breaths.
Deep breaths.
No need to pull Mom into this. Come here.
I didn't hurt that woman, okay?
I'm not a killer.
Well, given she had about six inches
and 20 pounds on you, I'd tend to agree.
The thing is, Darius, you are a car thief,
and you did steal that Beamer.
You just didn't know the first person
who drove it left a body behind.
Who are you, man?
What is this?
Me? I'm a PI. Yeah.
As such, I do the occasional job
for an insurance company.
That company insures cars,
and so they keep pretty meticulous records
when it comes to car thieves.
So I'm on a list?
Yeah, you're on a list.
That's how I found you.
Someone saw the logo on your hat,
so I checked the list for car thieves
originally from Jacksonville, and bam.
There you were.
Pinched last year for joyriding
in someone else's Lambo.
I'm a minor.
All that stuff is supposed to be sealed.
Yeah, well, hey.
Insurance companies, what can I say?
I tried to do the right thing, okay?
I left the car trunk open
so somebody would see the lady
and the police would arrest
the person who owns the car.
Well, the person who owns the car
has an alibi
described by Channel 7 as "ironclad,"
not to mention
zero connection to the victim.
That's why I think the car was
actually stolen twice the other night,
first by the killer and then by you.
What I don't know,
what nobody knows except for you and him,
is where the car was abandoned first.
Where did he leave it before you stole it?
[laughter]
[R.J.] Hey, hey.
Uncle R.J. We're making ropa vieja.
Wanna help?
Uh, actually, kiddo,
I need a quick word with your mom,
and then I have to go meet a client.
- Do you need to bring a gun?
- No, sweetie, I don't even own a gun.
- It's because you can't own a gun.
- Can we just, uh, please…
So this guy stole the car first,
dumped it in the lot,
and then the kid you found
stole it a second time.
Yes, he's the one who ended up
in a car chase with police,
but this guy, Popeye Calves,
he's the one that killed Rhoda Batista.
On orders from Clay Gregory,
in order to clear his name,
make a play for Maya's
life insurance money, or both.
All I could get tonight
was video from a hardware store,
but you canvass the area,
maybe you find video
from a different business,
gives us Popeye's face.
We find him, he gives us Clay.
Hey.
Were you sleeping with Maya Gregory?
I'm asking as a wife, not a cop.
If it's something that's gonna come out,
I'd rather know now.
No, I wasn't sleeping with Maya Gregory.
Truth is,
I didn't even know her that well.
She died,
this person you didn't know very well.
And it was, what, one week later
you lose it on some kid
who breaks into your car?
Few years back,
I'm still working at the Herald.
City desk sends me out
on what they figured
was a routine drug homicide.
Someone smelled something awful coming
from the trunk of a car, called the cops.
I show up
just as they're drilling the locks
[smacks lips] trunk pops open.
I'm expecting the usual.
Gangbanger, no ID,
multiple gunshot wounds.
Not a woman with a hanger
wrapped around her neck,
and not someone I knew.
Can you guess what I did?
Took her picture.
I'm thinking, "Hey, it's Maya,
it's Maya from work."
But I just keep bracketing the shots,
changing the angles to get more of
her hair, but not the face, not the face.
No, the papers won't print faces
of the dead.
That's policy.
You were doing your job.
"Shoot everything."
That's what they expect.
Nine times out of ten,
they'll only use your most vanilla pic,
the one that tells the story,
but won't upset.
Thing is, the photographer…
Yeah, he remembers all of them.
The next day I quit. I'd had enough.
But then it comes out
that Clay's having an affair,
and I don't know, I started following him,
I started taking his picture.
I didn't catch him in the act of anything,
but when I looked at him through my lens,
I swear I could see him.
I could see who he really was.
And my cameras, all of a sudden,
they were my eyes again,
and they were gonna help me
do something good.
And then stupid Lucas Ochoa
broke into your car
and tried to take them from you.
This new career you picked,
it's hard not to notice
you're still taking pictures.
It's cheating spouses.
Guys faking injury
to collect on disability.
For now.
But you stick with it,
and you and I both know you're gonna
start seeing the ugly stuff again.
Mel, I stick with it, maybe
some of the ugly stuff doesn't happen.
- She here?
- Seated at our finest table.
[R.J.] Okay.
Let me guess.
You're still mad about the candy bar?
[Emi] Did you not hear me say I'm sorry?
[R.J.] Did you not hear me say
what you could do with your apology?
[chuckles] I did. I assume
it's an expression you learned in prison?
Do you think this is funny?
You think lying about what happened
between me and your stepbrother,
getting me shipped off to Apalachee for
a year and a half is some kind of a joke?
No, but you mess with one Ochoa,
you mess with every Ochoa.
Oh, right, the Ochoas.
Fort Lauderdale's answer to the freaking
Borgias. How's your dad, by the way?
Gonna run for governor?
Or would that put too many eyes on him?
Make it too hard for him
to accept all those bribes?
- State Senator Ochoa is very well, thanks.
- After that day in court, I looked you up.
I saw you were
one of his special consultants.
I'm curious, did you tell him how you
consulted me right before you testified?
Because, wow,
"special" would be putting it mildly.
I thought you were gonna
consult my damn legs off.
Can we please talk about why I called?
[stammers] If you think I want a job
from you, you're out of your mind.
There is no job.
There is just me wanting to say I'm sorry.
I thought I should do it face-to-face,
but I knew if I didn't pretend
to have work for you, you wouldn't come.
[laughing] Are you saying you lied
so you can apologize for lying?
Tell me I pulled you away from something.
You heard about the teacher
they found in the trunk of the car?
I am this close
to proving it was a murder for hire,
with the bill footed by Clay Gregory.
- What?
- Clay Gregory is like
a Teflon Scott Peterson.
He's this town's whitest white whale,
and you're gonna…
You.
Tell your dad I said hi.
[Mellow Western music playing]
[phone ringing]
- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, where are you?
- The trailer.
- The one in the crater?
Yeah. The other day, I told Mel
about all the surveillance pics
I took of Clay Gregory after Maya died.
Figured I'd go through 'em again,
see if I missed anything.
And?
Pretty sure his hairline's
starting to recede.
Well, I'm heading to a press conference.
It's supposed to be an update
on Rhoda Batista,
but since I'm sleeping with the lead
detective, I already got the scoop.
The footage that you found
led to more footage
from a different business
that showed the guy in the hoodie.
- Popeye Calves.
- What?
Uh, nothing. Continue.
It showed him getting into a silver sedan
and driving away.
Bad news is, the camera is too far away
to give a good look at his face
or his license plate.
Progress is progress.
Go home, okay? I didn't think
that trailer was safe before the sinkhole.
Hey, Tebow, how you doing, man?
Moving on from the clown thing.
Good for you. Sort of five years ago.
[chuckles] Tebow?
[gunshot]
[Tense music playing]
[grunting]
[panting]
[Tom Petty growling]
- [gunshot]
- [attacker screaming]
Tom Petty just saved my life.
[Mel] Park's clear. No sign
of the guy who shot at you.
- [R.J.] Yeah, it was Popeye Calves.
- You saw his legs?
No, I didn't need to. I paid Clay a visit.
I told him I knew he hired someone
to commit a murder
that looked just like Maya's.
Obviously, he called Popeye,
told him I had to go, but this is good.
Clay's getting sloppy.
Not only did Popeye fail to kill me
No, he left blood evidence, his gun,
and God knows what else behind.
Any of it gives us a name,
Clay's as good as done.
I told R.J. he was welcome to still
stay with us, but he wouldn't hear it.
Someone tried to kill him tonight,
and your doorstep is the last place
he'd wanna bring that much danger.
And your doorstep's okay?
You know me and R.J.'s story, don't you?
You were cellmates at Apalachee.
Ah.
Right. That all he told you?
Well…
When your ex and I met,
I was doing a stretch for holding up
a convenience store in Coral.
But the thing is, I was innocent.
A common refrain around Apalachee,
mind you.
"I'm innocent."
And yet, in my case,
it was the God's honest truth.
[sighs]
R.J. was the only one who believed me.
And he wasn't a PI yet,
but he got himself a contraband phone,
- and started looking into it.
- [chuckles]
Made some calls, sent some emails,
chipped away at the State's case,
and finally,
he was able to prove the robbery
was the work of someone else,
and the perpetrator
just happened to leave the scene
in a vehicle that looked
remarkably like mine.
They only arrested you
'cause you had the same kind of car?
Well, that, and I'd also robbed
other convenience stores in the past.
Point is, I was exonerated.
But, because the gears of justice
grind slowly,
it amounted to me being released
just one day earlier than I would've.
So R.J. didn't really
change much after all?
He changed everything.
'Cause the very first thing I did
was I bought a scratcher.
And that scratcher
paid out a million bucks.
And that million bucks
bought me this bar.
[chuckles]
I'm not released this day
instead of the next,
who knows what becomes of me?
[shutter clicks]
[car door opens, closes]
- Uncle R.J.
- [R.J.] Mm-hmm.
Do you have any pencils in here?
I have to do my homework.
I was picking her up from school
when you called. What do you got?
Remember how I told you I spent some time
following Clay after Maya was killed?
Last night,
before Popeye Calves showed up,
I was going over some of my old photos
and I remembered this guy.
[Mel] Why do I recognize him?
Probably because you've driven behind
a city bus sometime in the last 15 years.
That's where he does
most of his advertising.
Ah, sleazy plastic surgeon guy.
Yeah, with a name that sounds made-up.
Yep, Dr. Adrian Noble.
That's his practice over there.
Turns out,
Adrian Noble was not his real name.
It's actually Cecil Gregory,
as in Clay Gregory.
- They're related?
- Cousins. Get this.
Back in 2020, old Cecil tried
opening a second office in Miami.
Did not go well.
He was losing money hand over fist,
or at least he was,
until an electrical fire broke out
and the whole place burned down.
He walked away
with a seven-figure insurance payout.
Electrical fire.
And Clay is a commercial electrician.
If you were a total sleaze
and your cousin helped you bilk an
insurance company out of a million bucks,
what wouldn't you do for him?
Okay, so you think Adrian Noble isn't just
Cecil Gregory, he's Popeye Calves too.
Yeah, all we have to do is look for
Tom Petty's bite marks on his legs.
The guy who sings
"Free Fallin'" bit someone?
No, sweetie, Tom Petty's a dog now.
That's him? There's a hole in your plan.
He's wearing long pants.
Right.
Hey, show's over there.
Hey, brother, you got the time?
Yeah, it's, uh it's 3:30, buddy.
Hey, what are you [grunting]
[gasps] Oh, my God.
No bite marks.
No underwear either.
Yeah, he's not our guy.
No, 'cause odds are
our guy's already in custody.
My captain said there was a break-in
at a veterinary clinic this morning.
Silent alarm got tripped.
A couple of patrolmen responded,
caught the perp trying to sew up
some wounds on his leg.
He claimed they were from trying
to climb over a barbed wire fence.
When they took him to the hospital,
doctor who treated him
- said they were…
- Bites from a dog.
There's a team searching his residence,
2018 East Bishop.
Are we going to a crime scene now?
You're going home,
but if your uncle R.J. promises
no one else will lose their pants today,
maybe he can meet me.
- See you, kiddo.
- Bye, Uncle R.J.
Ah. So what's this,
Bring Your Ex-Con to Work Day?
Captain said our guy's name is Wade Ennis.
Two N's. That's him over there.
Come on. There's something you should see.
- [police radio chatter]
- [Mel exhales deeply]
[R.J.] What's with the wheelchair?
What's with any of this stuff?
This is what I want to show you.
[Mel] Cigarettes?
Same weird brand as the cigarette butt
found in Maya Gregory's car
a few years ago,
the one with the DNA
that was not a match for Clay.
So you think Clay never
actually laid hands on Maya?
He hired this guy for her murder
and the one from the other night.
Okay, that's one possibility.
[officer] Detective Ragsdale.
Sorry, what?
Look, I know what you think you saw
when you were following
Clay a few years back,
and yet there's evidence here to support
what he's been saying the last few days,
which is that his wife and Rhoda Batista
were both killed by a serial killer.
Talk to this Ennis guy. Talk to him.
Tell him there's a deal
if he serves up Clay,
watch how fast he flips.
- [Wade] Never seen him before in my life.
- Wade.
How many times I gotta tell you?
I don't know no Clay Gregory.
I'm a serial killer.
I'm a slave to my deviant passions.
You realize you're looking
at the death penalty, yes?
You seen them, like, true crime
documentaries about guys like me?
We get, like, special treatment in prison.
Hell, I-I think there might be
visits of the conjugal stripe.
If you're just a serial killer,
why'd you go after Mr. Decker last night?
How'd you even know about him
if it wasn't for Clay Gregory?
I'm a riddle wrapped in a mystery.
You're a moron wrapped in stupid.
You should take it from someone
that's actually been to prison.
Guys like the one you're pretending to be,
they don't do so well.
You think the State's gonna
be the one to put you down?
Nah, it'll be some guy named Red
or Leon or Bubba,
and they're gonna be twice your size
and half as smart,
and when they do it, Wade, it'll be ugly.
It'll hurt.
So do yourself a favor, and give us
the guy that put you up to all this.
Give us Clay Gregory.
I do not know Clay Gregory.
I do not know him here or there.
I do not know him anywhere.
Whoever he is, Slim,
whatever it is you think he did…
Sorry,
but I'm afraid
he's gonna get away with it.
[Gentle music playing]
[sighs]
- [knock on door]
- [door opens]
I heard on the news someone confessed
to killing those two women.
- Congrats?
- [chuckles]
Oh, you still think
Clay Gregory hired him to do it.
His name is Wade Ennis,
and I think because he knows
he's going to prison no matter what,
he might as well take all the credit
and go in as Florida's answer
to Hannibal Lecter.
You here to offer me another pretend job?
I have this acquaintance.
Someone I may or may not know
through my father,
someone who may or may not
be his specialist in,
oh, let's just call it cybersecurity.
The most crooked politician in
the state of Florida has his own hacker?
Let me show you how not surprised I am.
The point is, I may have asked him
to dox Wade Ennis,
and so this may be a hard drive
filled with everything Wade's done online
over the last couple of years.
Emails, credit card statements,
eBay transactions,
stuff the police won't be able
to get their hands on for days.
Figured we dive in together,
maybe we find something
that connects him to Clay Gregory.
Call me a fool… ♪
The other night, when I tried to apologize
for what I said at your trial,
you didn't want to hear it.
I was hoping you might
let me try one more time.
If you think I don't know
it was under orders from your father
It was.
But if I hadn't lied to protect Lucas,
there would have been consequences.
But it was still wrong,
and…
I'm sorry.
What about everything that happened
before you testified?
It's hard to imagine that was
on Dad's orders.
I knew where you were heading
in a few hours.
- You didn't.
- So, guilty conscience?
- Guilty conscience.
- Nothing more?
Zip.
If you ever decide to follow
in your dad's footsteps,
you're gonna make
one hell of a politician.
Oh, what-what makes you say that?
Because I can tell when you're lying.
I just don't mind it.
But this new love is so strong that… ♪
[Emi sighs]
- [R.J.] Huh.
- What?
When I was at Wade's house today,
I noticed he was using a wheelchair
like a piece of furniture.
I figured it was something
he stole off someone's curb,
but according to this,
he bought it brand-new.
[Emi] So?
So it was the same week Maya was killed.
Okay, so, maybe she fought back,
stabbed him in the leg or something,
and he needed the wheelchair
to get around.
No, he bought the wheelchair
a few days before,
a few days after he started
Grubhub-ing every meal.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That went on for two weeks straight.
So, after Maya dies,
he's hurt and he's housebound,
but he had to know he'd be hurt
or why else buy the wheelchair?
Little while ago, you said you were
looking at receipts from Wade's pharmacy.
Can you pull them up again, please?
Yeah.
Yeah, around the time we're talking about,
someone prescribed him antibiotics.
It just doesn't say who.
- Is there a name you're looking for?
- It's more like one I'm expecting to see.
About a year and a half ago,
I sprained my ankle.
A year before that
was the first time I had COVID.
Okay.
Both times, I was prescribed medication.
Both times, I kept what I didn't use
in case I needed it again.
The point is my doctor's name
is right there on the bottles.
Locked. Of course it is.
Okay, look, just because I kept
my old prescription bottles…
A psycho killer wouldn't?
Great. Just great.
[R.J.] They biting today, Clay?
'Fraid not, Deck.
This time of year,
the best fishing's off a boat.
Now that Maya's life insurance
is paying out, I think I may get one.
Or didn't you hear
they finally got the guy who killed her?
Yeah, I think you mean
the guy you paid to kill her.
[sighs] Detective.
Seriously.
Back then, how many times
did you people go through my finances?
Did you ever find a penny out of place?
We didn't.
But it turns out that's only because
Wade Ennis wasn't paid with money.
I don't think you could have gotten
into bed with a dumber killer for hire.
Wade was supposed to kill Maya
on a Wednesday,
but he went ahead and did it on a Tuesday,
which wouldn't have been a problem,
except Wednesday was the night
you were planning on having an alibi.
[Mel] But then again,
Wade's stupidity cut both ways.
He left a cigarette butt in Maya's car,
and that led to DNA
which was undeniably not yours.
Before we knew Wade's name,
I was calling him Popeye Calves.
His swole lower legs, after all,
were his most identifying feature.
It turns out they were not the result
of hard work in the gym.
They were implants.
More specifically, they were payment
for choking the life out of poor Maya.
You wanted to hire someone to kill her.
You asked for references from not just
the sleaziest person you knew,
but a sleazy person who owed you.
Your cousin, Cecil.
Didn't take him long
to think of a guy named Wade
who wanted calf implants,
but couldn't pay for them.
Wade took the job because what's one life
against shapelier
and more contoured calves?
Bought himself a wheelchair
for after the surgery,
then he went and did the deed.
I don't know, Deck.
It's hard to imagine there's any record
of my cousin performing that surgery.
No, there isn't.
But there is a record of him
prescribing antibiotics to him.
Seems the surgery wasn't done
under the best conditions,
and Wade got a bad infection.
How do I know all this?
Because old Cecil
already copped to all of it.
He's under arrest, Mr. Gregory.
And now, so are you.
Hey, you end up at Apalachee,
you count on me
asking some old friends to say hello.
[officer] Let's go.
["Fort Lauderdale Chamber
of Commerce" playing]
Girls on the beaches commit a sin ♪
If they don't show
Yards and yards of skin… ♪
Mmm. I still don't get why you won't
let me write about what happened.
Cath, in case you hadn't noticed,
everyone is writing about what happened.
No, they're writing
about Clay Gregory getting arrested.
They don't know that you were
the driving force. No offense, sweetie.
Well, my story, as you know,
is, uh is complicated.
So you went to prison.
So what? This is Florida.
Going to prison is like a rite of passage.
Plus, you're trying to get
a business off the ground.
You think people aren't gonna want to hire
the PI who brought down Clay Gregory?
I'll think about it. In the meantime,
since Mel here has decided I can stay
in your pool house indefinitely
- Uh, mmm. I said…
- [Catherine scoffs]
…you don't have to rush to find a place.
I suggest you give her all the glory.
Hey.
I just wanted to say congrats
on getting your guy.
Huh.
This is the part where you say,
"Hey, thanks for doxing
that maniac he hired.
- "Now we're even."
- Even?
You think helping me out one time
makes up for 18 months in prison?
- I mean, it was, like, a pretty big help.
- It was a start.
I'll let you know when we're even.
- What's up, Arj?
- Dewey.
Ugh. You and this place,
you were made for each other.
- What do you mean, the bar?
- Florida.
Weirdest state in the union.
None of it ever phases you, huh?
You treat everyone exactly the same.
Is there some other way?
That's the law in Fort Lauderdale ♪
Oh, hey, I almost forgot.
Pretty girls 18 to 23 ♪
If their technique
Ain't what it should be ♪
Get love instruction for free from me ♪
Through the courtesy of ♪
The Fort Lauderdale
Chamber of Commerce ♪