Scoundrels Episode 1.08 Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Things are crumbling like a week old cookie here in Palm Springs. Up is down. Left is right. Breakfast is dinner. I'm Officer Potts, quite possibly the last decent person left in this town. Well, and believe it or not, maybe Cheryl West. One thing she is not is a snitch. Everyone thought she ratted Luther Wallace out to us, but it was a coincidence that she ended up at the drug bust. Word is this led to a pretty big blow-out between Cheryl and Wolf when he called her out on snitching. From Wolf's POV, I get it. He's behind bars, unable to do anything, and he's worried about her. If my special lady friend was on a drug dealer's hit list and there was nothing I could do, I'd be on edge too. Apparently she left in a huff when she found out that an unnamed "someone" was still paying the family lawyer to continue working on Wolf's appeal. What a weirdo family. You'd think that would make her happy. It's like she wants him to stay inside.

Okay, my fingers are shaking as I typing this next statement... Breath, Potts. Man up... Heather West is married. God, that feels horrible. Grant Wilby used to be my favorite actor. His portrayal of the straight laced and streetwise Rick Hardy was the reason I got into law enforcement. I remember the day they cancelled that show. I was eleven and I cried. Strong men do cry. That was the day I picked up my first squirt gun and plastic badge, and set out to arrest the executives who took my favorite show off the air. I didn't get much past the driveway before Mom called me in for dinner, but from then on I knew I was going to enforce the law. Just like my hero. Today I took down the Rick Hardy poster that once held a place of honor above my bed. I wanted to burn it, but decided instead to roll it up and store it in the crawl space under my mother's house. I know Heather has her doubts. Marriage is barely real in California. All it takes to get a divorce in this state is half a reason and a whole paycheck. I'm praying she comes to her senses and that this chapter of my life ends swiftly. Wait, I mean her life.

Meanwhile, Logan has been trying to figure out who's been paying J.J. to work on Wolf's appeal. Now look, we've been watching J.J. for months and I have a hunch Cal is the one paying. We know that little punk ripped off the car at the "Guerero Mall." Alibi-Schmalibi, that's got to be the money he's using. One thing Cal didn't count on was that J.J. abuses narcotics. That money was snorted or shot or smoked faster than Cal could steal it. After Cal found that out, J.J. was rushed to the emergency room with a broken nose. He claimed it was an accident. Logan must have smelled something fishy in his father's case file and he decided to take a closer look. Ever since he graduated law school that jerk fancies himself some kind of lawyer. What he found was a shocking revelation that I'm not ready to deal with. I can't talk about this.

Cal's "girlfriend" Tanya has been staying over a lot lately. My mother would never let me have a girl in my room without us leaving the door open. She's not only sleeping there, she's been buying expensive toys. A waterbed, really? Cal was cool with the thing at first, apparently the act of making love is more fun, but he's not happy she's spending the money he rightfully stole. One of their evening wave making sessions was interrupted when someone tossed a garden gnome through the patio window. Cal assumed this was a message from Luther. What does Cal think Luther was saying, "Cheryl West sleeps on the lawn?" After that incident, Cal organized round-the-clock security for Cheryl, which turned out to be the worst protection detail in history. She wasn't threatened at all and snuck out in the middle of the night, right past the people who were supposed to be guarding her. She checked herself into the Yucca Tree Hotel and promptly started drinking. How do I know this? Oh, God, I'm still not ready to talk about it.

So let's move on to Hope, the last, but not the least of the criminal Wests. We know that her grandfather, Grandpa West, is an expert safecracker. Hope's convinced that he needs to get back to "work." I.E. safecracking. J.J. has a safe and can't remember the combination, drugs make you stupid, and Cal thinks some of his money might be locked inside. Once they got to J.J.'s, Grandpa cracked that safe like it was a walnut. They found no money, but Hope did find some photos. Photos that proved... No more stalling, I have to come clean with this revelation, which could very well send me into therapy for life. So here we go...

Sergeant Mack MAY have, and I stress MAY have, tampered with evidence in Wolf West's arrest. This is a tough one ‘cause in the detective world there is right, wrong, and then there is the truth. The line separating those three things is just about as thin as my father's hairline. One thing is true, dog track betting slips or not, Wolf West heisted those lobsters. So the Palm Springs Police Department needed a little push to get to the finish. What I don't understand is why Sergeant Mack needed to go that far. Granted, Mack is going through a lot. So maybe he wasn't in his right mind. I'm going to reveal a secret that he confided in me, and only me, so if word gets out on the street about what I'm going to tell, I'll know who told. Sergeant Mack hooked up with Cheryl. Like lip to lip and tongue in mouth making out. I hope "criminal" isn't contagious, ‘cause Mack might have just caught something he'll be ashamed of. This burst of passion was of course before Cheryl found out that Mack set up her husband. She's gonna flip her lid when she puts it all together. Wolf West is going to walk and Sergeant Mack is locking lips with his woman. One good thing is that we traded one West for another. Wolf may be out, but Cal took his place. Tanya called and ratted him out for the car heist after they broke up. She thought it was an anonymous call, but nothing is anonymous in the digital age. I found that out the hard way with online dating when the site matched me with my mother. Who knew she was putting herself out there again?

Palm Springs is a nightmare. Wolf is out of prison. Heather is married. Mack is... I don't know what's going to happen to Mack. It only gets worse for the man who taught me everything I know. Sergeant Mack was over at the West house proclaiming his love to Cheryl when Wolf got home. That couldn't have been fun. As for me, I'm being strong. Someone has to stand still in the center of this spinning universe. I'll bare the weight of everyone's world on my shoulders. I'm a soldier. Officer Potts out.