R.J. Decker

Previously on R.J. Decker...

I'm Emi Ochoa. Lucas is my stepbrother.

And that's the man who almost killed him.

I was working on the robbery at Mel and Cath's house.

Is this a suspect?

Getting too close to a family like mine could earn you a return trip to Apalachee.

- Is that what you want? - I don't know what I want.

Pleasure to finally meet you.

I thought it was time

- you and I had a chat. - About?

What exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?

Are you sure I can't interest you in a drink?

No. I won't be staying long.

I asked you what your intentions are towards Emilia.

I'm still waiting for an answer.

Well, obviously, we're gonna get married,

pop out a couple of kids

and do everything we can to make sure

they don't turn out to be terminal narcissists like their grandpa.

I think what you're really asking Victor... may I call you Victor?

...is what are my intentions towards you?

Am I coming for you

because of what you and your family did to me two years ago?

Am I using Emi to get back at you somehow?

The answer to both questions is no, because the truth is, Victor,

I know this is gonna blow your mind,

I haven't really thought about you much since I got out of Apalachee.

I do find that hard to believe.

So I'd like to make you an offer.

Stay away from my family and in exchange,

I'll see to it that your criminal record gets expunged.

Given your new profession,

the risks you have to take for your clients,

things like trespassing, invasion of privacy...

to always be skating on such thin ice, not wise for a man on conditional release.

One false move, you could find yourself back in prison.

What if I don't want a single damn thing from you?

Then you will definitely find yourself back in prison.

Your conditional release officer was Lucy Penmar, correct?

What do you mean "was"?

You're gonna get notified soon that she's been reassigned.

You have a new CRO.

Someone who, with a single call from me,

will violate you back to Apalachee.

That look.

I imagine that's the look you gave my son Lucas right before you assaulted him.

Yeah, I imagine it was.

By all means, Mr. Decker. Come at me.

See how that goes.

Think about my offer.

Just don't think long.

See? That's me. I'm that Florida man.

Hey, Cellie, help me out here.

Got "Florida man tries to claim beehive as passenger in HOV lane."

Free drink or no?

I mean, I respect the full-tilt weirdness,

but all that driving can't be good for the bees, right?

I need to talk to you.

Hey, man, what is it?

So, you turn down Mr. State Senator's offer,

you go back to prison.

You accept it, and then boom, got yourself a clean slate.

You ask me, partner, this one's easy. Take the damn offer.

What he's doing is illegal. He's the one that should be going to prison.

Right, 'cause politicians with money and power and zero scruples,

they go to prison all the time, right? Yeah.

I don't understand. What's going on? Are you mad at me?

Damn straight, I'm mad!

I mean, this whole thing you got going on with Emi Ochoa, it's wrong,

and you know it's wrong.

And would you like to know how I know that you know it's wrong?

Because if you didn't, you'd have told me about it a long time ago.

You would have told Catherine, Mel, somebody.

- Wish, I-- - No, no. no, no, no, no, no.

Uh-uh. No, no. You play with fire,

and now I'm supposed to blame the matches 'cause you got burned?

Do you love her?

We haven't even been on a date.

That's not what I'm asking.

No.

She's my friend.

Well, then I repeat myself.

Accept the offer.

Because you were built for exactly 18 months in prison, R.J.

Not a day more, not a second.

'Cause when you see wrongs, you can't stop yourself from trying to right them.

That ain't sustainable in a place like Apalachee.

It ain't survivable.

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

- Mr. Decker. - Mm-hmm?

We can do this in the kitchen if you'd be more comfortable.

Uh... I'm, uh, I'm good. Just a bit more of a bird guy myself.

I'm a goldfish man.

- My dad was a little different. - Yeah.

Like I was saying, his body was found about a week ago.

He was dumped in a pile of green waste, leaves, branches, palm fronds.

Just off the service road out by Seabreak Golf Club.

Do the police know where he was killed?

No, just how. Back of the head.

The killer used a blunt object, something heavy.

The Seabreak, that's out near Pompano, right?

Yeah. Unfortunately, Pompano PD is feeling a little JV.

That's why I called you, actually.

You don't think they're on the right track?

They have asked about my dad's criminal record twice,

as if this has something to do with two stolen cars back in 1986.

And they're beating the wrong bushes.

He got out of Tomoka three years before I was born.

He did his time, and he learned his lesson.

It is possible to make a mistake and come back from it, you know?

I do.

Terrence, I gotta ask, what's the deal with all the snakes?

- These are Burmese pythons. - Yeah.

After Hurricane Andrew, a bunch of them got loose in the Everglades.

Now they are everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

They'll grow to be 20 feet.

They can crush and swallow gators, pets, even kids.

Yeah, I heard about this. The state's got its own bounty program, huh?

Mm-hmm. After he retired, Dad started working for some researchers,

tagging specimens, logging GPS data, mapping out breeding zones.

And of course, every summer, there's the Python Bounty Blitz.

It's a ten-day contest, open registration, big prizes.

I think that may be what got him killed.

How so?

Winner takes home 50 grand.

And Dad won the last two years running.

This year, he jumped out early again.

He had three snakes on day one,

topped the leaderboard, and then he was gone.

Yeah, well, Terrence, people have killed for a lot less than 50,000 dollars.

That's why I was hoping you could talk to the people who are in the lead now

before the contest ends and they all, you know, slither away.

You up there?

That's me in third. Should be tied second.

Man, big daddy on the hook this morning.

He come up, grab me by the ankle, and, well, bye-bye shoe.

Wow, look at that. I'm glad he left the foot.

My name is R.J. Decker.

I wanted to talk to you about someone that wasn't so lucky. Curtis Middleton?

- He was my dude. - Yeah.

They figure out what happened to him yet?

I think it might have something to do with this contest,

but I'm trying to get a sense of where the people in the roundup were

the night of the murder.

Oh. No telling.

Who else do you think I should be talking to?

Where were you the night of the murder?

I was at night school, wrist-deep in a dead raccoon.

I'm training to be a taxidermist.

Anyone else can vouch you were there that night?

Suppose anyone at the bingo parlor.

You and Curtis, you guys got along okay?

- We was peaches and cream. - So you were buddies then?

We're talking about the guy with the hook for a hand?

- I'm sorry? - I guess it's a different Curtis.

- Who else should I be talking to? - Teddy Tran.

- Teddy Tran. - Teddy Tran.

- Teddy Tran. -

So why do you think your name's on the tip of everyone's tongue, Teddy?

- Bro, envy. - Yeah?

- Check the board. I'm up by four snakes. - Yeah.

Guys start getting a little weird when there's big money on the line.

Yeah, that's my theory too, but I'm working off the premise that

Curtis would have been ahead of you on the leaderboard

- if someone hadn't killed him. - You're not a cop, so...

No, I'm not a cop.

Okay, I just wanna know where you were the night of the murder.

I was alone, just like half the field.

I was out near Hillsboro Canal.

Well, that's pretty near Pompano, where Curtis's body was found.

Listen, man, you're late to the party, all right?

I've already been cleared.

Yeah. Pompano PD grilled me for three hours straight.

Hooked me up to a lie detector and everything.

And you passed?

Even when they tried to rattle me. Showed me pictures of Curtis.

I mean, it was messed up, man.

Just seeing him like that,

his head all caved in and his body all sandy.

Sandy? What do you mean sandy?

Like he was down at the beach. I told them it didn't make no sense.

What do you mean?

Look, I don't know if he took the night off,

but pythons don't go to the beach, bro.

Hey, I just tried to find you at your place.

I need to tell you something. It's important.

Call me back.

- Nice shot. - You must be Mr. Decker.

Crystal said you were looking for me. I'm Jeff Gillibrand, the GM here.

I'm happy to chat, but you really can't be out here in denim.

Well, I'm, uh... I'm not teeing off. I'm investigating a murder.

It's just our policy.

Okay.

What's your policy on moving dead bodies?

Curtis Middleton.

Your grounds crew said they found him on a green waste pile up the road.

That's right.

Well, I'm told there was a lot of sand stuck to his skin,

and we're miles away from a beach, so, you know, weird.

Unless of course, you found him in one of your sand traps. Is that possible?