R.J. Decker

Previously on R.J. Decker

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.

Those heels are gonna put you on your ass, Em.

-Why are you really here? -I'm here to talk about this.

What you're doing here, I respect it. But is it wise?

You have a new CRO, someone who, with a single call from me,

will violate you back to Apalachee.

Accept the offer.

You get sent back, I don't believe you'll ever get out.

Well, I think I-I realized what I wanted to say.

-What? -Screw your dad.

Lucas was sent to steal your camera. It's time you found out why.

On Chicago Avenue, we need a rescue team, over.

- Sir. -Yeah?

You mind telling me one more time what happened here tonight?

Yeah, I was walking to my car. Saw the guy had broken into the trunk.

He sees me, he takes off with my camera.

I'm a photographer, I can't lose my camera,

so I chase him down.

Caught him, he started throwing punches, I punched back.

I called the cops.

Yeah, see, that's not the story we're getting from him.

Okay.

Would you please turn around, show me your hands?

Hey, R.J.

-You okay? -Mm-hmm.

You sure this is the right next move?

It's the only next move.

I appreciate all of you being here.

Mel, I think you're the only one that hasn't met Emi yet.

Yeah, pero We can skip the formalities, yeah?

You said there's things you need to tell us.

Let's cut to the chase.

Uh, Emi's father, the other day he had my CRO replaced,

threatened to use a guy to have me sent back to prison.

Emi and I may know a way to have Victor sent to prison instead.

We're here to ask for your help.

Lucas Ochoa breaks into my car. He runs off with one of my cameras.

I chase him down, there's a fight followed by a-a joke of a trial

and an 18-month prison sentence.

That whole time, I thought he was just some spoiled rich kid.

That he did what he did because he felt like doing it.

Turns out that was wrong.

He was sent there that night. By his father.

My father thought there were pictures on the camera's SD card

that could prove damaging.

Lucas was supposed to steal the camera and destroy it.

Well, what were the pictures of?

I don't know.

I didn't find out about any of this until things went sideways

and Lucas ended up in the hospital.

I dug up some of my old notes, and according to the dates,

the pictures had to be from my last two assignments at the newspaper.

One was the birth of a baby hippo at the zoo in Miami.

Unless Victor was the father,

I doubt those were the pictures he'd be worried about.

The other more likely candidate was a mob-style hit

that went down in a fancy restaurant, Il Sapore.

I remember that. I wrote a couple articles.

The victim was a financial adviser, Peter Bellwether.

A man in a ski mask gunned him down at his table.

- -I was the first newsperson

on the scene that night. I got there even before the yellow tape went up.

Obviously, I don't remember capturing anything

that would have been damaging to someone like Victor,

but according to Emi, there has to be a connection.

Probably too much to hope Daddy did the shooting himself?

He'd never put himself at that much risk.

But obviously you do think murder's in his repertoire, right?

Aside from the part he asked me to play in R.J.'s prosecution

he's kept me siloed from anything criminal.

All I know for sure is that

the possibility of R.J.'s photographs coming to light made him very nervous.

Hence Lucas being sent to steal my camera.

When that didn't work, Victor needed me on trial

so my camera would end up in an evidence room.

That way, a friend of the family, maybe a cop on the payroll

or a crony at the DA's office could sneak in and steal the SD card.

In other words, the pictures are long gone.

Actually, they aren't. The SD card reached me before my father.

I told him it was destroyed,

but the truth was I gave it to someone to hold on to.

I felt terrible about what I had said at R.J.'s trial.

I thought, I don't know, I might need it someday.

After this, I'm gonna go get it.

I was hoping you could go through your old notes

from when you wrote about Peter Bellwether's murder,

see if there's anything that didn't make the articles

that could help us figure out a connection to Victor.

-Absolutely. -You want me to go to the station,

go through the old case files, look for the same.

If you wouldn't mind, but wait. Uh, before you go,

there's something you both need to know.

It's about the break-in at the house.

- - Hey.

I just want to say thanks for hosting. I appreciate it.

Would you believe that wasn't my first cabal?

I put a little, uh, coffee and pastry thing together a couple of weeks ago

for a group who believed the moon landing was real.

- -Just wasn't our moon.

What are you doing? What is this? Address books?

I still know a few guys that know a few guys.

None of them traffic in murder, but you never know.

Maybe somebody heard something once about that restaurant hit.

Maybe they know how it connects to your girlfriend's daddy.

She's not my

I know you think I should just accept his offer,

get my record expunged, be done with him. I know that.

Look, I wanted to promise you, I get sent back to Apalachee,

I will do my absolute best to not get murdered there.

There ain't a snowball's chance you get murdered there.

'Cause you go back, I go back.

I'll punch Victor Ochoa in his big dumb face or something.

I'll make sure I'm around to watch your back again.

Hey, you never, uh, told us where your not-a-girlfriend stashed the SD card.

You need help getting it?

Actually, it's something I gotta do on my own.

- -

Hey.

How's the return trip to the murder of Peter Bellwether going?

Poorly. I mean, he was by all accounts well-liked.

But?

He was a finance guy. He could've been in bed with anyone.

A cartel, an oligarch

A certain Florida state senator?

If he was working with Victor Ochoa, so far, I'm not seeing it.

How's it going at the station?

Got a little sidetracked, but I'll be there soon.

-I'll let you know if I find anything. - Okay.

That sucks.

Detective Mel Abreu.

I was just driving by when I thought I saw a guy messing with your car.

-He must have taken off running. -Yeah, I guess so.

Would you like to file a report?

No, I'm okay.

Evidence. I'll run some tests.

You never know what might tie somebody to a crime.

Have we met before?

You look so familiar.

Just have one of those faces.

-Yeah. -Hmm.

Hey, how's it going?

I'm about to have a conversation with one of your patrons.

It's possible he might throw a few punches.

This is for you to not call the cops

until at least three of them land,

or two, you know, if they're good ones.

Lucas.

Hey.

Emi sent me, okay? I need to get something from you.

First, I thought it was time we talked.

Emi wanted to come get the SD card,

but I told her no, I had to do it.

'Cause I've owed you an apology for a long time, Lucas.

Yeah, I was going through something two years ago.

I had lost someone and, uh, my job.

All the things I was seeing.

Those are excuses.

I'm not here for excuses. I'm here to tell you I'm sorry.

And I'm sorry, Lucas.

See? That's how messed up my family is.

I mean, you kicked my ass, but only 'cause I tried to rob you.

Then I lied to the cops about what happened.

Then I lied in court.

But you, you're the one here to apologize.

But here's the thing, I'm not sorry.

What I saw in your eyes that night, you had to go away.

You hadn't,

you were gonna kill somebody.

The, uh, SD card, Lucas. I really need it.

Before you ask,

I never looked at what's on there.

I didn't actually know how.

All that ever mattered was it was leverage against my dad

if me or Emi ever needed it.

Hey, be careful, okay?

I know you beat me up and everything,

but I don't want you to, like, die.

I appreciate that.

I've been combing through these like it's the Zapruder film.

I don't know. All the pictures I took were after the murder.

Maybe your dad just convinced himself I captured something.

No, there has to be something.

The other night when I told you about Lucas and your camera,

that it was one more thing I kept from you.

I mean, you could have told me to go to hell, but you didn't.

This thing I've been doing the last few months, um,

ex-cons call it reentry.

A big part of it is forgiveness.

Some of it's for yourself and some of it's for others.

I look at you. I see you trying to change.

I see you trying to live your life in a different way.

And I do. I-I

I think you're going through a reentry too.

You know, it's funny.

Before you and I met, I-I'd only ever heard your dad was corrupt.

But this, all this

makes me think he might be connected to organized crime,