Gwen, could you try to think
back to the morning of the attack?
- Who is Carter Nix? - [Crying] I don't know him.
- What's going on? Where is he? - Keep calm.
- I was at the downtown jail, - He's most likely
- and they said the same thing. - still in processing
- or just left processing. - If he's not there and he's not here,
then where is he?
I really think that you should listen to dad.
Talk to the police.
[Weakly] You really think confessing
would make things better?
Anything you wanna tell me about yourself?
I had some family issues here, and, I, um,
I could really use a job.
I have some news. I'm getting married.
And you're just telling me?
Mom, she's a woman of color. I didn't know how you'd take it.
Is there something on your mind?
Jenny hardly wants to be home anymore.
Ever since he got me arrested, things have been bad.
Something's going on with my sister,
and I wanna know what's up with her.
[Thud] Ow!
- Let her go! - This fool beat your sister! Go!
[Thudding] [Grunting]
- Check it out, check it out. - All: Ohh!
You want me to talk on Carter,
I get immunity, Witness Protection,
and drop all that extradition crap.
I'm not saying nothin' till I know you're for real.
What kind of gesture?
Get me someplace I'm protected.
[Beep, door buzzes]
[Door clanks]
[Slurps]
[Door buzzes]
[Clank]
[Men shouting indistinctly]
[Ball bouncing]
[Cheers and applause]
[Electricity crackling]
♪
[Dishes clatter]
- Hey, mija, you good? - Yeah, I'm good.
- Ã¿Tienes hambre? - I'm okay.
You sure?
I'm sure. I'll eat later.
So everything good with your sister?
I think so.
She talk about what's...
What's going on with her or anything?
It was nothing.
It wasn't nothing.
She was just messing around, and she got hurt a little.
By just messing around?
You keep talking about it all the time.
- You're just making her feel bad. - Okay.
- It was nothing. - Okay.
Assault with intent to kill.
Felony flight. Possession.
Any one of these charges would carry at least 15 years.
How much time you'd serve would depend
on if the sentences were consecutive or concurrent.
Some drug dealer was attacking Carter.
I was defending him.
The D.A.'s office wants Carter Nix
for the murder of Matt Skokie.
They're willing to discuss a plea deal with you
in exchange for testimony against Carter.
The co-conspirator, Hector Tontz...
He's already cut himself a deal.
Aubrey, it's not just murder.
They're calling what your boyfriend did a hate crime.
You have got to help yourself while you can.
That means testifying against him.
Russ.
Yeah?
- Can we speak in my office? - Yeah.
You're a felon.
There's a box on every job application...
That asks if you've ever been convicted of a felony.
You checked "no."
I've been made aware that's a lie.
Made... made aware? By who?
I'm gonna have to let you go.
[Stammers] But I-I come in here on time.
I'm... I'm good with the customers.
- I'm great with them. - Russ.
And I-I-I mean, you're going...
That a-arrest was... Almost 20 years ago.
I'm...
- I mean, who's telling you this? - Is it true?
If somebody saying things about me, I...
Is it true?
Okay. Well...
You lied.
And lying about being a convict makes you look even worse.
We have to let you go.
[Papers rustle]
You can... mail our company shirt back to us if...
If that's easiest.
[Sighs]
[Exhales deeply]
[Shatters]
[Planes roaring]
Man on radio: Faction on the Israeli/Syrian border.
The initial reports claim the Israeli jet fighters...
[Indistinct conversations]
Hi.
How are ya?
[Breathing heavily]
[Sizzling]
So what do people do here in Modesto?
Live their lives, pretty much.
How are you doing?
♪
Living my life.
So you still wanna meet my mother?
She's the one that wanted to meet me.
Mm.
I mean, how bad could it get?
Maybe I should meet your mom and dad at the same time?
Oh, no, no, no, no. No, no. No way. No way.
Getting them together... It's a recipe for...
"You know, hey, bigot mom, degenerate gambler dad,
[laughs] You wanna meet my fiancée?"
You're not being, you know,
maybe just a little melodramatic?
[Click]
Jackson: We are good.
What do you wanna know?
Palmer: Go over your testimony again
in very specific detail,
what you know about the night that Matt Skokie was murdered.
I was doing some things that night, you know?
Just trying to earn my keep, and, um,
- that tweaker, right... - Carter Nix.
Yeah.
I drive him over to this mini mall on Slauson.
He gets out, goes off. I wait.
Next thing, he comes back with some credit cards, cash.
What was his demeanor? Was he nervous? Out of breath?
I guess he was sketchy.
You guess? Or you know?
I know.
Did he say where he got the cards and the cash
or where he'd been?
He was all hyped about, um...
How he got "that bitch" to pay up.
That's how he said it.
Did he say anything else? Did he convey
that the crime was at all motivated by the victim's race?
He was all about, um...
"This white boy. This white boy."
He said white boy was talking crazy to him,
up in his grill.
Things got hectic, and he shot him in the face.
It's common knowledge the vic was shot in the face.
The girl had bruises all up her arms.
That common knowledge?
[Pen clicks]
Did you see the gun Carter used?
Yeah, I saw it.
He definitely... Wh-when he came back,
he... he had a gun.
- He had the gun with him? - Yeah, sure.
- Yeah, sure, or yes? - Most definitely.
He had a gun in hi...
He had it.
He had it in his hand.
Why you keep asking me about the gun?
Any other details you can remember?
Anything for the record?
[Scoffs]
I just gave you the murderer.
What more detail do you need?
[Whirs]
[Click]
[Door closes]
That it?
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
They letting me go?
After you give your testimony in court, that's the deal.
So what's the situation down in Sinaloa?
I'm just curious, you know, for myself.
Sinaloa.
You know the deal.
Lots of drugs and lots of cartels.
You're either in the life or you out the life,
and if you out, wrong people coming at you,
and if they come, then...
You gotta defend yourself.
Is that what happened?
Killed a guy defending yourself?
[Scoffs] I killed him defending somebody else.
Well, that's still self-defense.
The system don't work up here.
What makes you think it works down there?
And the guy I defended gets all scared of the cartel,
so he's gonna testify against me,
say I-I just put out one of theirs.
I ain't got no way out of that.
[Scoffs]
Why were you defending somebody else?
'Cause I was stupid. I ain't doing that twice.
[Engine revs, siren whoops]
[Engine turns off] Stop! Police!
Stop! Police!
[Tires screech, siren whoops]
We got him! We got him! Stop! Police!
I didn't do nothing! Get off me!
- Stop resisting! Give me your hand here. - [Groaning] You're hurting me!
Stop resisting! Stop moving!
[Handcuffs click, police radio chatter]
All right, get him up. [Dog barking in distance]
Real stupid.
Come on.
[Radio chatter continues]
[Telephone ringing in distance]
[Indistinct conversations]
Why are you hounding my son?
- That's not what we're doing. - No, I watch the news.
You messed everything else up with that boy who got killed,
and now you wanna make yourselves look good
by making my son look like a thug.
- Mr. Gutiérrez... - No, no, no, no.
You won't get away with this.
I'm taking you all to court,
and I'm coming after you personally.
We are not targeting Tony.
Oh, no? You yank my boy off the street again,
and that's not targeting?
We have a recording of Tony
assaulting another young man with a pipe.
[Scoffs]
We have a recording.
[Click]
Handle this fool. Come on. Beat his ass! Go!
Get him! Go!
[Grunting, punches landing]
Beat that fool down. Come on!
[Grunting continues]
That doesn't mean anything.
That's not your son?
No, you... you don't know the whole story.
We don't know the whole story.
[Click, recording stops playing]
Your son, the other men we picked up,
even the victim's not being cooperative.
Then... then that means you can't do anything. Hmm?
Because if he's not gonna be a part of it, then you can't...
That's a decision for the prosecutor.
What happened to this other boy?
Broken nose.
Lacerations. Fractured jaw.
He's still in the hospital.
Is he gonna be all right?
He's still in the hospital.
Look, Mr. Gutiérrez, I wanna help you.
I really do. I wanna find out what happened and why.
If there's a relationship between Tony and the victim...
No.
- If there's any information you can give us... - No, no, no, no.
You tried doing that last time.
I'm not saying anything without a lawyer.
♪
[Sighs]
♪
[Door opens, bells jangle]
[Footsteps approach]
Hi. I'm... I'm Barb. [Door closes]
Richelle, I'm so happy to meet you.
- Me, too. - So you're an officer.
- First sergeant. - Uh-huh.
I'm an N.C.O.
If I'd been an officer, the regs...
Mark and I couldn't have dated.
Your parents must be very proud.
They didn't want me enlisting. It kind of freaked them out.
But, you know, they came around.
And, yeah, they were proud.
May I ask where your family's from?
Oklahoma.
Originally?
Oklahoma.
[Inhales deeply] Well...
[Clears throat] I'm sure Mark must have, uh...
Well, I'm not sure what he's told you about me.
[Chuckles] He's told me a lot.
He was very specific.
You should know that I love my son,
but he's distressed.
We're going through a difficult time right now.
The things he... said about you,
he was saying them way before Matt was killed.
Look, I'm not gonna pretend I don't know these things,
that you have a problem with me...
- I don't have a problem. - Because I'm a woman of color.
A woman of color... Uh, white is a color.
Ms. Hanlon, Mark and I are getting married.
We're gonna have a family. We've decided that.
Can you just... Can you consider
that now might not be the best time
for Mark to be making that kind of decision?
I would ask you respectfully when Mark isn't so emotional...
Well, nothing's gonna change.
I know that's how you feel.
It's not just me. It's Mark, too.
No, it's you. You're the one sitting here.
If it was Mark, he'd tell me.
What does that say when a son
doesn't share parts of his life with his own mother?
It says you've been putting a lot of things in his head,
because the way he talks,
a lot of things I'm hearing from him,
I haven't heard them before.
I've known Mark for a year now,
and I have watched him work through some pretty awful...
- And all the hurt in his life keeps coming back to you, - I do think it's fair to ask...
- his father, growing up. - To just take a moment and ask...
- You can blame me all you want. - Is he marrying you
because he has something to work out with me?
♪
We can wait a month, three months, a year.
How we feel is not going to change.
[Door buzzes]
[Moans]
[Handcuffs click] [Moans]
Get off me! [Moans]
No! No! Aah!
[Screaming]
[Punches land] [Grunting]
[Screaming]
[Sobbing]
Where is she?
Where's Aubrey?
Please. What'd they do to her?
Please, God, tell me she didn't die.
I'm not here for her.
They've run me around. They've hidden you down here.
I-I-I'm asking as respectfully as I can.
I-I just need to know about Aubrey.
She's... arrested. She's wherever.
I don't know anything else.
What about Sean?
The man she tried to kill?
She was protecting me.
He's not dead, but he came close to it.
[Under breath] Aubrey.
[Normal voice] I'm sorry.
You stole and you hurt,
and all you want is forgiveness from your partner?
Not from the people you let down?
You wanted me to beg.
You're empty.
Yeah. Yes.
You don't care about anything but self-gratification.
You are empty inside.
I was. She saved me.
She can't help herself.
What could she possibly do for you?
She saved me!
I was... so middle class.
My life was like a collar on my throat.
Wouldn't let me breathe right.
Wouldn't kill me either.
Had to do that for myself.
When?
You don't know how down I was.
You don't know.
How could I? You didn't reach out to me.
You didn't talk to me.
I didn't know how.
[Crying]
You didn't feel like my sister anymore.
Aubrey saved me.
Aubrey saved me, and I wasted myself.
I-I have sinned. I have.
I... [sighs] When you first came to me,
you wanted me to confess.
I-I'll confess to whatever you wanna hear.
I do drugs. I-I sleep around.
I sleep with white women. I sleep with all of them.
[Laughs]
Yes, yes, I sleep with all the white women
I can find. [Crying]
Did... did you kill that man?
Yes.
- You shot him? You assaulted him? - Yes! Yes!
Yes, I shot him, okay? I shot him!
- I-I-I kept shooting him! - You assaulted that woman.
I shot them both! I shot her, and I raped her,
and I... I-I-I raped them both, okay?
I-I-I-I stabbed them, and I-I-I-I cut them open!
I buried them alive! I confess to all of it!
[Moaning]
[Handcuffs clanking]
But I...
[Lowered voice] I don't know how to make things right.
I don't know how to get Aubrey back.
I need you.
Please help me.
Please.
[Indistinct conversations]
♪
Richelle: Hey.
Mark: Hey. How'd it go?
Your mother was...
She was everything you said she would be.
It was a lot of "where is your family from?"
- That kind of stuff. - Yeah.
You should have been there.
[Smacks lips] Water's fine, thanks.
Sounds like I missed out on a good time.
I'm serious. You should have been there.
It's something we should have done together.
I have spent all the time I need with her growing up.
Her, Russ.
I came up here to support Gwen
and to be with her... [Feedback whines]
While she buried Matt.
You're the one that wanted to meet her.
Yeah. [Inhales sharply]
Well, she said something real interesting.
She asked me if I thought that you were
just marrying me to get back at her.
Oh, God.
This was a bad idea.
I knew I shouldn't have gotten the two of you...
Oh, and how does that work?
You and I spending the rest of our lives,
pretending that your family doesn't exist?
They're not my family.
You know?
I'm here to help my sister-in-law,
which is more than Matt ever did.
Is that the point?
To prove that you're better than Matt?
♪
Alonzo: What did you do?
Tony: What?
What did you do?
They showed me the video.
You beat a kid and you made a movie out of it.
Is that what you are now? You're a thug? Huh?
If you don't wanna say anything, don't.
Don't say anything to... to the cops,
to anybody, but you need to start talking to me.
Why?
I'm your father. I'm trying to help you.
You "helped" me last time.
You don't get to put this on me.
I did everything I could to help you...
[Scoffs] To get you out of trouble.
You get another chance, and you...
And you put a kid in the hospital.
You need to just keep your mouth shut
until they get you a lawyer.
[Door opens]
[Door closes]
You got to be cool, okay?
This is all nonsense.
It's not nothing.
They're just trying to come after you,
lie about you.
It was Joaquin.
Why?
What, why? I know what happened.
I know he was talking stuff about me,
and you got into it with him.
So me and my boys...
Your "boys"? What boys?
We got him.
Do you hear yourself?
Do you hear what you're saying?
I protected you!
Beating him is not protection, Tony.
That's getting payback.
Who protected you when you were smoking in the backyard, huh?
Who hid your beers and lied for you, huh?
So only protect you from papi but nobody else?
I beat his ass for you.
Don't you blame me.
And I'll do it again.
[Door opens]
Did he say anything? [Door closes]
He... didn't.
He didn't say anything to you?
Let's just go.
Pastor Bennett: Tom is well?
He's good.
It's hard for him, though,
trying to keep a business running through all of this.
You know, the bills... They just...
keep pilling up.
Gwen's not even out of the hospital yet.
How is she progressing?
She still has trouble walking.
She's been diagnosed with aphasia.
It's a brain dysfunction.
[Monitor beeping steadily, woman speaking over P.A.]
Pencil?
Eve: She sees objects. She knows what they are,
but she can't articulate them.
Horse.
And she has holes in her memory.
She can't remember her husband, drugs,
the other men she was sleeping with.
Your daughter getting better
is what's important, not those other things.
But at some point, they will be.
[Sighs]
How do we move on from something
my daughter can't even remember?
[Sighs]
And...
And if we don't tell Gwen the truth,
are we just living lies all over again?
[Sighs]
You do have your daughter back.
Start with that.
I was able to find this picture on Matt Skokie's Facebook page.
Was this taken when he was in the military?
After. He's dressed for an airsoft game.
I can only assume that's a friend of his
wearing a mask of the president.
You can see the caption. "Went hunting today."
Matt Skokie had a complicated Internet history.
From the I.S.P. information I could find,
he visited or posted on various sites
that supported so-called patriot movements
and anti-government groups.
The police found drugs on the property,
but the one detective they had investigating it
was reassigned... Chris Thompson.
A sister.
I've petitioned the police department
for their deposition
of one of Gwen Skokie's alleged lovers,
which, by the way, my sources say
she had more than a few.
Because it's not directly part of the case,
it's not in discovery. But to this point,
the police have not fully investigated a theory...
A jealous lover or lovers could have killed Matt Skokie.
Hi. I'm Colleen Sherrod, deputy mayor.
Aliyah Shadeed.
Attorney Timothy Little.
Nice to meet you.
Come. We'll go talk in my office, okay?
[Phone rings in distance] [Sighs]
It's very provocative reading.
The police mishandled things at every turn,
and the prosecutors are just adding to their mistakes.
There's no evidence showing
my brother ever touched that woman.
Well, it's not unusual for charges to be made
in the fog of arrest, and... Your brother fled jurisdiction.
If you falsely accuse someone
and then put the death penalty on them, they better run.
And that they're calling what supposedly happened
a hate crime? That's a slap in the face.
Meanwhile, the victim...
People are calling him a 9/11 hero,
not the anti-government drug dealer he was.
The victim's lifestyle isn't on trial.
What if the way he lived is why he was murdered?
I'm concerned for Carter.
I'm concerned for his emotional health.
All I'm asking is that the mayor's office
gets the city attorney to open up an investigation
into how this entire case has been handled.
The charges your brother's facing
are exceptionally serious...
Murder, a hate crime.
They deserve to be heard in court.
And I believe a preliminary examination
has been scheduled, and your brother's lawyers
will be able to make all the arguments you brought up.
After that, there'll be a trial.
They'll be opportunities for appeals.
So, sooner or later, the courts might get it right?
The mayor, all of us in his office,
are informed but objective.
It's the obligation of your brother's defense
to argue against the new evidence.
What new evidence?
Any relevant information
will be made available to both parties.
This is a county matter, not a city matter.
Other than being sympathetic, I... I'm not sure
what the mayor's office could do for you.
The right thing.
[Phone ringing in distance]
[Monitor beeping steadily]
It's not good.
It's only gonna get worse.
The police found the gun used to kill Matt Skokie.
When?
They found it, they confirmed it,
and they have testimony that puts the gun
in Carter's hand.
Opportunity is slipping away.
Say whatever you have to to separate yourself,
to save yourself.
You're my lawyer, right? You have to do what I say.
I'm an officer of the court.
I have to do what's in the best interest of my client.
I need you to get this to somebody.
Then I need you to get my family together.
[Knocking on door] Tío?
[Knocking continues]
[Insects buzzing]
Oscar: I just think it's a little overwhelming
for her right now.
And she feels more comfortable being around Esperanza,
having another woman she can relate to.
She's not a woman. She's a little girl.
She's not such a little girl anymore, carnal.
And for some reason, she feels she can't talk to you,
can't talk to Tony.
Look, do you remember when you and Roberta
decided to come to the states?
It all started with trouble at home, Ã¿qué no?
So what are you saying, she's just gonna run away?
No. She's not running away.
She chose to come stay with us for a while.
[Sighs]
Come on, carnal. Mira.
I want you to know me and Esperanza
take this very, very seriously.
Jenny: I can't be home right now.
Alonzo: Why not?
I just can't be here.
But why not? You're not telling me why.
Nothing is getting better.
It keeps getting worse and worse.
So you're just gonna run off?
And nothing's gonna get better while I'm here.
I just wanna be with tía and tío.
How... how does that make things better?
Tony needs to figure things out for himself,
and you need to think about Tony.
Oh. Well, I need to worry about both my children.
Don't worry about me. Fix things with Tony first.
Mija, I need your help.
I've been helping you since I was 10.
Since I was 10,
I've been trying to be there for everyone.
I just...
Please, papi.
I just need some time to figure it out.
[Clatter]
He was "made aware." That's what he said. [Clears throat]
He said he'd been "made aware" of my... my problems.
That you stole. That you were a convict.
Look, somebody is...
They... they leaked information about me.
Why would somebody do that?
[Sighs] Barb's out there on TV
saying the things she says.
She's attracting the wrong kind of attention.
So somebody has to take you down
to further their own agenda with the trial?
Somebody just wanted to stir up some crap.
How about that? I... [Sighs]
Sounds aggrandizing.
I'm not making things up. I lost my job.
It was your job, Russ. Same as Barb is your wife.
[Sips] Hmm. [Swallows] Was your wife,
and you need to deal with her. [Glass clatters]
I can't talk to her. You know that.
Hell, I can't even talk to my own son anymore.
I need help. So if you could just...
Give her some perspective...
Nobody gives that woman perspective.
- Barb has a heart. She does. - After all this,
you think that... that...
Yeah. I do.
She has a heart, you know?
And she's...
She just... she just needs to be mindful
of the whole situation.
I mean, why call attention to all of us?
But she... she hears that from me, and...
Right now I'm doing everything I can
to keep my daughter well and healthy,
and I'm not getting involved in your trouble.
Now wait a second. Wait a second here.
When you want... you wanted Matt's body buried in Oakland,
damn it, I got involved,
and that put me in a bad space.
You lied to me about your son.
Oh, come on. I...
You lied about his drug use, about his issues.
You lied on your job application.
I needed a job to pay for a lawyer
so I could fight for my own son's body...
For you. I did that for you and your family.
My daughter is still in recovery
because of you and your family.
I don't hold on to bitterness. It is not Christian.
But I'm not gonna walk a bad mile for you.
It's your family. You deal with it.
♪
Woman: Because this call is being placed
from a correctional facility,
it may be monitored or otherwise recorded.
To accept the charges on this call, press 1 now.
To decline, please hang up.
[Static]
Man: Hello?
Ã¿Sibila está allí?
Ã¿Quién?
Sibila.
Hector? Hector.
Sibila no está aquí. Ã¿dónde estás?
You can have a lawyer present.
[Beep]
[Recorder clatters]
I'll tell you what I know,
and I'll tell you what I'd be willing to say in court.
And this is the truth.
I don't know exactly when bad things started to happen,
but it was pretty soon after we met.
Bad things? Be more specific.
Sexual, psychological, mental, physical.
Bad things.
I kept telling myself it's not really abusive.
He loves me.
But, you know, same time, I was trapped, and he knew that.
He used it to control me.
You know, it all started with fear.
He liked to get me drunk,
said I seemed happier like that.
He liked to make me happy, he said.
He kept me wasted so I couldn't do anything
when his friends came over.
I would get passed around, and I couldn't defend myself.
I begged for them to stop.
But they covered my mouth
and laughed while they pounded away.
This happened all the time.
Carter got you drunk,
and he and his friends sexually abused you?
Carter didn't abuse me.
He loves me.
He'd never treat me the way my own brother did.
That's how it happened, right, Brian?
Brian?
You would take me in the garage
and we would camp out behind dad's car and get hammered.
- No, we... no, we didn't... - You called your friends over,
and they would play the Aubrey game... let's do something to Aubrey's ass.
What fits here? What fits there?
I can still smell the grass coming from that lawn mower
they used to bend me over. It would take days
to get the grease off my hands from that filthy floor.
You crazy bitch. That's, uh, that's not true. She's lying.
You know she's lying!
- Brian. Brian! - She's a drug addict!
- She's sick, all right? - Brian! Brian!
Why... why would you even say something like that? Why?! [Door opens]
- Brian! - Let's go.
It's not true!
- Get out. - I swear!
- Ask my friends! - Brian.
- Call them! - Brian!
[Door closes]
I am sick. I messed up.
I'm not mentally fit to testify against anybody.
[Recorder clatters]
[Door closes]
Why would you lie about your brother?
I did it for Carter,
'cause he saved me.
[Door clanks]
[Chuckles softly]
[Door buzzes]
[Door closes]
You look better. How are you feeling?
I heard from Aubrey.
Hmm. [Sighs]
Let me tell you,
I'm going through hell right now.
Everybody in the world is trying to pull us apart.
You don't know what it means to have some...
Just some little thing to hold on to.
I'm trying to give you something more.
What?
What are you trying to do?
You have to have faith.
You got to have it.
For me...
Man, faith is just the crap that fills up the space
where reality's supposed to live.
You gotta get real, aliyah.
I've tried.
I know.
I've tried to do what I can.
I know.
It's bigger than you.
Bigger than us.
Nothing you can do.
Now I don't wanna talk about it anymore.
We have 15 minutes.
What do you wanna talk about?
I don't know.
Nothing in particular.
[Voice breaking] But I know if I go back to my cell,
I'm gonna be alone.
I can't take being alone anymore.
Aliyah: Family is something we constantly take for granted.
I've been around and around Carter's problems
so much, so long, what I was missing is...
[Sighs]
I started calling him "my cause,"
and he's not just a cause.
He's not just someone to convert or save or elevate.
He's my brother. That's my brother.
And for my brother, I ask for the simplest thing...
For people to honor our right to assemble
and call attention to his situation.
I believe it's a right that's being willfully denied.
So we're going to set up here.
We're going to gather who we can,
and we're going to assemble anyway.
And I know what some people will say.
"They're looking for a fight. They're looking for trouble."
That's not true.
All I'm trying to do is speak on my brother's behalf.
If they let us do that peacefully,
then it's all good.
If we're greeted any other way,
then what happens isn't on us.
It's on them.