Bad Bet

Yeardley Smith (0:02)

Hey, Small Town Fam, it's Yeardley. I want to remind you that if you want access to bonus episodes and regular episodes a day early and ad free, and our community forum and other behind-the-scenes goodies, you got to go to smalltowndicks.com/superfam, and then in the top right-hand corner, hit that little tab that says Join. Then, listen to the end of today's episode for a sneak peek at today's new bonus episode.

Hey, Small Town Fam. It's Yeardley. How are you guys? I hope you're all wonderfully well. I am so happy you're here with me. We are going to take you back to the 1980s today, with one of our favorite oft returning guests, retired Deputy Constable Tom. So, to refresh your memories, if you've been listening for a while, or if you're brand new here, Tom has given us several cases over the years. He gave us The Worlds End in season 8, Burke and Hare in season 13 He also wrote Ruxton, The First Modern Murder, which we based a mini series on in the summer of 2024 That one is such a good series. If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend you give it a listen. Tom is a wonderful, elegant storyteller, and the cases he brings always have a touch of irony. For instance, today's case starts out as one thing and then turns out to be something completely unexpected. When you hear what actually happened in this case, I'm guessing you're gonna be as slack-jawed as I was. And I'll say, without giving anything away, of course we all want to be highly thought of, and maybe especially by our mothers.

But really? Really, dude? Oh, God. Oh, my God.

Small Town Fam, here is Bad Bet.

Hi there. I'm Yeardley.

Detective Dan (2:21)

I'm Dan. I'm Dave.

Paul Holes (2:23)

And I'm Paul.

Yeardley Smith (2:24)

And this is Small Town Dicks.

Detective Dan (2:26)

Dave and I are identical twins and retired detectives from Small Town, USA.

Paul Holes (2:30)

And I'm a veteran cold case investigator who helped catch the Golden State Killer using a revolutionary DNA tool.

Detective Dan (2:36)

Between the three of us, we've investigated thousands of crimes, from petty theft to sexual assault, child abuse to murder. Each case we cover is told by the detective who investigated it, offering a rare personal account of how they solved the crime.

Paul Holes (2:50)

Names, places, and certain details have been changed to protect the privacy of victims and their families.

Detective Dan (2:55)

And although we're aware that some of our listeners may be familiar with these cases, we ask you to please join us in continuing to protect the true identities of those involved out of respect for what they've been through.

Yeardley Smith (3:15)

Today on Small Town Dicks, my friends, I'm so happy that you're here, because I'm here with, guess what? The usual suspects. I have Detective Dan. Hey there. Hey there.

I'm Detective Dave.

Detective Dan (3:29)

Hello.

Yeardley Smith (3:30)

Hello. Hello. And we have the one and only Paul Holes.

Paul Holes (3:34)

Hey, hey. How's it going?

SPEAKER_4 (3:36)

Hey, hey, Paul.

Yeardley Smith (3:38)

So great to see you. I always love sitting down with the crew and Small Town fam. We are so excited today because we love all our guests who come on the pod, but we do have a few returning favorites. And today, we have a very big deal in the house. We have retired deputy constable, big deal, four-star Tom.

Tom (3:57)

Nice to see you all.

Yeardley Smith (3:59)

It's so good to see you, Tom. Thanks for sitting down with us today.

Tom (4:02)

Good to be back on Small Town.

Yeardley Smith (4:04)

It's great. And as you can hear, Tom, obviously, he's not from around here, as we say. Tom is actually...

Tom (4:11)

From Brooklyn.

Yeardley Smith (4:12)

He's from Brooklyn.

across the pond in the UK. So I always love that. I always ask Tom, so Tom, what time of day is it there? What are you eating? Is it tea time?

Tom (4:25)

Yeah, it is 6 p.m. here. And you guys really have got to get yourself across here.

Detective Dan (4:31)

I feel like if we show up in Scotland, everyone's going to think Paul Holes is Sam Ewan.

Yeardley Smith (4:38)

Which would not be bad. Sam Ewan is very popular.

Detective Dan (4:41)

He's a good-looking dude.

Yeardley Smith (4:43)

Oh, but we digress. Here we go. Tom, please tell us how this case came to you.

Tom (4:50)

Okay. This is an interesting case which goes back to the 1980s. I was an inspector in the Serious Crime Squad and late one evening, round about November 1984, I got a call middle of the night, about midnight, that there had been a shooting, and that one of our local criminals had been shot dead in the street. In one of our local housing schemes, I suppose you would call them your projects, a high crime area.