Chapter 15
The two men exited the Crown Vic and walked toward Hollis’s bloodstain.
It had become a fixture on the concrete.
Finn formed a box with his fingers, squinted one eye, and framed the window above them as if he were looking through a camera lens.
“Seems like the right vantage point,” he said, crouching. “That’s got to be our window.”
“How should we handle this?” Capes asked. “We don’t want to be accused of witness tampering.”
“We’re just looking to have a conversation,” Finn said. “We’ll knock and see what comes of it.”
Capes followed Finn across the street to a residence and stood at the bottom of the stairs while Finn ignored the doorbell, knocking hard three times with the fat part of his fist.
“Excuse me? Who are you?” a woman’s voice asked from the porch next door. She drew the attention of both men.
“Ma’am, we’re looking for the people who reside here,” Finn said. “We’d like to talk to them.”
“You police?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Capes looked on in silence as the woman came off her porch and began shuffling toward them.
“Both of you are police?” she asked, looking hard at Capes.
“Do you know the people who live here?” Finn asked, overlooking her question.
“Been knowing them for decades,” she said. “I remember the day they moved in.”
“Well, you must be the right person to talk to.”
“All that depends, Officer. I don’t know who the hell you are.”
“I’m Officer Doyle, and this gentleman is Capes.”
“What kind of name is Capes?” she asked. “And you still didn’t answer my question. You a cop?”
“No, ma’am. Just a concerned citizen. And my name is actually short for Capers…that’s my last name.”
“Uh-huh. Y’all smell like trouble, and we’ve had enough trouble over here.”
“We aren’t here in any law enforcement capacity,” Finn said. “We’re just hoping to talk to your neighbors.”
“Well, I’m Mrs. Gaither.”
“It’s a pleasure, ma’am,” Capes said. “Please know we aren’t looking to cause any trouble.”
“How do I know that?”
“You’ll just have to trust us,” Finn said.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
Finn looked perturbed. “Beg your pardon?”
“Not you,” she said. “I’m talking to Mr. Capes.”
“No, ma’am. I grew up in Atlanta.”
“Thought so,” she said with her hands on her hips. “I heard a little bit of that accent peeking out. You remind me of my ex-husband. He was from Charleston—Low Country. I called it slow country.”
“Slow can be good.”
“Speak for yourself,” she said. “I liked the bottle and dancing too much for him. He decided to get up and leave one day. His loss, though.”
“Ma’am, we’re a little short on time,” Finn said. “Can you tell us anything about the folks who live here?”
“Lots I could tell you, but the question is, should I?”
“Mrs. Gaither, we’re just trying to help,” Capes said. “I promise you that your neighbors aren’t in any trouble.”
“Mr. Capes, you look like a stand-up man, but this guy here, whatcha say your name was…Doyle?”
Finn grumbled and stepped off the porch. “That’s right, Finn Doyle,” he said.
Mrs. Gaither sniffed and said, “Seems like we’ve crossed paths before.”
“I think you’re mistaken,” Finn said, becoming more aggravated than Capes had seen him yet. “Are you able to help us or not?”
“See, that’s what I’m saying,” Mrs. Gaither said. “I’m not sure I like your attitude.”
Finn sighed. “Just our luck. We’ve got a feisty one.”
“How about we take some time to chat, Mrs. Gaither? Just you and me,” Capes said. “You don’t mind, do you, Finn?”
Finn’s face was locked in disbelief. “You serious?”
“How about you wait in the car? I’ll join you when we’re done.”
Finn clearly looked slighted but began walking back to the Crown Vic muttering to himself.
Mrs. Gaither waited until Finn was gone, then moved closer to the short chain-link fence that separated the properties. “I know why you’re here,” she said. “It’s about that man those cops shot.”
“Did you see what happened that night?”
“I heard a commotion. Sounded like gunshots, but sadly, that’s not too uncommon around here.”
“And your neighbors? Can you tell me about them?” Capes asked. “Do you know if they saw anything?”
“I can’t speak to what they did or didn’t see, but the boy, Joey, left town this morning. He seemed to be in a hurry.”
“Joey?”
“Joey Henderson,” she said. “Lives there with his mother. She’s a personal assistant for a banker or CEO…something like that. She leaves the boy alone a lot, but he works. Some kind of night job.”
“How old is he?”
“Twenties.”
“And it’s only the two of them living there?”
“Well…” she whispered conspiratorially. “Sometimes Joey’s lady friend stays overnight for weeks at a time. Not that it’s any of my business. I may be old, but I’m no prude. The girl seems sweet enough.”
“Do you know her name?”
“Oh, I couldn’t be sure. I’ve only spoken to her once or twice,” she said. “Maybe Darla or Darisha.”
“You said he was going out of town?”
“That’s what he said. He was packing up his truck with luggage and food. Seemed like he was planning to be gone for a while.”
“Did he say where he was headed?”
“Philadelphia. Said he had family there. I remember because it was the first time I ever heard him speak of having family in the Northeast, and I myself spent two years at UPenn.”
“Is that right?”
“What, I don’t look like a college girl to you?”
“Not saying that at all, ma’am.”
“Oh, I’m just teasing you,” she said with a playful grin.
“I studied business for a bit before having to drop out. It’s the greatest regret of my life.
Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I had finished my schooling, but I fell in love, and well, you know how that goes.
But you didn’t come to hear my sad story… ”
Capes reached for the woman’s hand and held it between his palms. “Thank you for speaking with me,” he said. “You’ve been a real help.”
She blushed, her cheeks rosy in the unforgiving chill. “Oh, I don’t know about all that…”
“Just one more question,” Capes said, looking back at the Crown Vic, where Finn sat inside sulking. “Has anyone else come by the Hendersons’ home?”
“No, you’re the first and only.”
Capes reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a business card. “Well if they do, can you give me a call?”
Mrs. Gaither took the card and looked it over. “The Beau Lee Cooper Law Firm,” she said. “Is he big-time?”
“It’s a growing firm, ma’am.”
“Well, hell, any lawyer willing to take this kind of case has balls. I hope you all make them cops sorry they ever shot that man.”
“We’re going to get justice, ma’am.”
“I hope you sue them into the next century,” she said with more pain than anger in her voice. “Straight into oblivion.”
Capes understood how Mrs. Gaither felt. Hollis wasn’t her blood relative, but they were still family.
It was the collectiveness of the Black experience, something he believed had been transmitted across generations, beginning in ancient Africa, where the notion of the individual didn’t exist—there was no “I,” only “we,” and together we’d rise or fall.
Capes waved goodbye to Mrs. Gaither and began walking back to the car. Finn had lit a cigarette; he held it between two fingers as his arm hung out the window. Capes got into the car. Concerned the smoke would stink up his attire, he asked, “You mind putting that out?”
“So, is this how it’s going to be?” Finn asked. “I’m supposed to be your sidekick?”
“Sidekick? Nah, man.”
“Then what the hell was that?”
“Mrs. Gaither was uncomfortable with you being there. She wouldn’t have told us anything useful.”
“Uncomfortable? What the hell did I do to make her uncomfortable?”
“I can’t say, but you being there wasn’t going to get us anywhere,” Capes said.
“Now, I’m sorry if you got offended. That wasn’t my intention, but it’s like you said: We have to do whatever it takes to get justice for Hollis.
Even if that means letting me drive now and again, and you taking a back seat. ”
“I can handle that, but don’t forget who’s the cop in this relationship.”
“I’ll never forget that,” Capes said. “Now, will you please put out the damn cigarette?”
Finn flicked his cigarette into the street and rolled up his window. “Happy?”
“Thank you.”
Capes quickly gave Finn the rundown on what Mrs. Gaither said.
“Any idea how we find them in Philly?” Finn asked.
“No clue. But I want to check in with Gunderson Security,” Capes said. “Get a sense of how Hollis was behaving before he left work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just covering our bases.”
“You think Hollis was drunk or something? Then you don’t know him at all. I don’t care if the Cubs won the World Series. He’d never drink on a shift.”
“No,” Capes said. “God, no—that’s not what I’m saying at all.”
“Then what?”
“I’d never cast any accusations on him, but if he was driving erratically, we need to rule some things out.”
“Like what?”
“Medical emergency. What if he was experiencing something—stroke or heart attack? That would account for the swerving and maybe any odd behavior during the traffic stop.”
“Who said anything about odd behavior? Are you actually considering that the report was written with integrity?”
“We don’t know what really happened,” Capes said. “That’s the point I’m trying to make, and getting more information will only help us better piece things together.”
“Seems pretty black and white to me.”
“Information changes situations…”
“What’s that you just said?”
“It’s something Beau Lee likes to say. Information is currency. The more we have of it, the better.”
Finn couldn’t argue with logic. “I guess I’ve got blinders on,” he said. “But you’re right. We’ll leave no stone unturned. No surprises.”
“Glad we’re seeing eye to eye.”
“We’ll start at Gunderson like you suggested,” Finn said. “Retrace Hollis’s steps and get a feel for what he might’ve been experiencing before the traffic stop.”
“That’s the move,” Capes said. “The hours leading up to Hollis’s police encounter could be critical in this investigation.”
“You’re not so bad at this,” Finn said. “Shame about the felony. You might’ve made a good cop.”
“Nah, black polyester isn’t really my look.”
Finn laughed louder than the joke warranted, then shifted into drive and accelerated down the street.