2.19: STRANGE FRUIT - Available!

[CC Fan]

Recap Provided by Cellogal

July 4, 1963

The episode opens to “One Fine Day” by The Chiffons. A suburban neighborhood is hopping with a good old fashioned neighborhood Fourth of July picnic. People hang American flags and place food on a buffet table, and then the camera cuts to an African-American family walking down the street, the mom carrying a plate of the ever-popular Jell-O With Stuff In It, festooned with tiny American flags. Her son is talking about a recent civil rights protest, telling his parents how the police turned fire hoses and dogs on the marchers. Mom says she’s just happy they left Biloxi, and the son continues, saying he thinks Dr. King is right, and the march on Washington next month could change a lot of people’s minds. Dad tells him marching in the streets isn’t the answer, that the answer is dignity, hard work, and education; the things that matter. The son quotes Dr. King, saying that the day our lives begin to end is the day we become silent about the things that matter. His expostulation is interrupted as he notices an attractive young African-American woman sweeping a sidewalk. He smiles broadly at her, and she returns his smile shyly. I really, really like this kid, which means, in Cold Case World, that I bet he’s a goner. Mom and Dad banter about where their son got his sass from, and are generally jovial and carefree.

They arrive at the picnic, and it becomes obvious that these desperate housewives have probably never had an up-close and personal encounter with minorities. A man introduces himself as Billy Jones and asks the man if he’s Donald Williams. He is, and they shake hands and banter about Donald’s recent move and his new job at the plant tomorrow. A blonde woman takes the Jell-O from Mom and introduces herself as Judith, Billy’s sister-in-law, and Mom introduces herself as Mary Williams. They exchange pleasantries, and then Mary points out her husband and son, Ezekiel, who tells Judith she can call him Zeke. “Zeke it is, then,” she says, as she looks around for her husband, Henry. She spots him and calls him over, then chats about Donald’s stint in the military, asking if they trained him to work on planes. He says he’s actually an engineer, and Billy says he’ll be overseeing operations at the plant. Henry’s surprised that Donald’s going to be Henry’s boss, and Judith introduces him to the rest of the Williams clan. He stares at them briefly, then says he better help Charlotte get some dessert. Judith tells Zeke to jump in the food line. Charlotte and Henry are making their way through the line, and Charlotte is delighted to see Jell-O, but her dad won’t let her take it, suggesting that she have cake instead. Charlotte protests that she doesn’t like cake; her dad insists that she loves it. The Williamses look on, discovering that racism, although perhaps more subtle in the North, is nonetheless, unfortunately present.

On a street corner, a small television plays Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech as people stand around and watch, and a group of African-American youngsters ride their bikes past. The boy in front gets off his bike, then exclaims, “Holy Moses!” and wonders what it is he just found. The other boys follow him, and the lead boy is shocked, and disheartened, to see that it’s a kid. He bends down to get a better look, but one of his buddies instructs the boy, Willie, not to touch it, saying they’ll put him in the slammer, then rides his bike off. Willie’s not paying attention; he crouches down by the body and picks up a piece of paper, which reads, “Nf3 Nc6.” He stares at it in confusion, and we see a glimpse of Zeke’s bloodied body.

His evidence box is placed on a shelf in the warehouse.

Present Day
Low-rent neighborhood. Lilly and Jeffries walk down the street, Lilly saying that the last known address was this flop house, and that word on the street is that the guy’s going to surface today. Jeffries gripes that he’d better surface, as he’s been wanted on this particular warrant for six months. Lilly asks if this group of guys loitering on the street is his posse, but Jeffries isn’t paying attention. He’s staring into an alley, and Lilly asks him what’s up. Jeffries, sounding wistful, says a body was found here forty-two years ago. Lilly asks whose, and Jeffries says it was a sixteen-year-old boy, Zeke Williams. Lilly asks if it’s a cold job, but Jeffries says it never came in, then goes on to talk about how every year, folks would leave flowers, but not this year. “People forget,” Lilly says, and Jeffries drops the bombshell: he was the one who found Zeke, and we cut briefly to Willie from the beginning. I scrape my jaw off the floor as Jeffries says he never forgot. Whoa.

Credits.

Exterior, PPD. Scotty walks up to Stillman and Vera, and Stillman greets him enthusiastically, telling him they missed him at First Thursdays. Vera jokingly says that Scotty shouldn’t worry, they put a couple cocktails on his tab. Heh. “Live it up,” Scotty remarks, and Stillman comments that it looks like Scotty was living it up himself. Scotty brushes it off, claiming to have been under the weather. “Can’t keep up with the barmaid, huh?” Vera asks, and Scotty glares at him and tells him to drop it. Stillman tells Scotty to take it easy, and Scotty brats that Stillman should tell Vera to take it easy. Vera gives Scotty his best innocent face and says he was just messing with him. There’s an awkward pause, and then Scotty says he’s heading in. Vera watches him go in, and comments, “Smellin’ like a brewery, too.” Uh-oh. Stillman looks pensive for a moment, then follows Vera inside.

Evidence warehouse. Lilly and Jeffries have pulled Zeke’s file, and report that he was reported missing by his parents the night of August 27, 1963, and his body was found the next day. Jeffries says he found the body in the territory of the Nineteen Diamonds gang, and the theory was that Zeke’s murder was drug-related. Lilly’s confused, saying Zeke was a straight-A student who had no record. Jeffries agrees, saying kids like him dreamt of being Nineteen Diamonds someday, not kids like Zeke. Lilly smiles, and makes a comment about gangs to dreams, and Jeffries chuckles, saying now he’s one of the good guys.

Lilly looks at the autopsy report and notes hemorrhaging and possible suffocation, but the body was too badly beaten to determine an exact cause of death. Lilly comments that there would be a lot of blood from a beating like that, and Jeffries says there was no mention of blood in the scene notes, leading our duo to determine that the body was moved. Jeffries wonders where from. He looks at a picture of the piece of paper he found, and comments that the cops at the time thought it was some kind of code, but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Lilly’s optimistic, saying that maybe they’ll get lucky this time.

Donald Williams’ apartment. He says Zeke’s death broke Mary’s heart, and she followed shortly thereafter. He says they both thought Zeke’s death was racially motivated, but the police wouldn’t listen, that they never could face their own Emmitt Tills. He explains that racism was supposed to be a Southern vice, but the North had its own version, just as deadly, especially when a black man was boss. Jeffries asks if Zeke had a run-in with someone from Donald’s workplace, and he explains that Zeke got a taste of what he had to go through every day.

Plant, where we hear The Four Seasons’ “Walk Like A Man” (and I want to tell Frankie to sing like a man. Seriously). Donald explains to Zeke what he does, that he oversees quality control. Zeke’s impressed that his dad’s the boss, and his dad says a man is limited only…”by his dreams,” Zeke finishes with a smile. He approaches a table of workers eating their lunch, gives them some instructions, and then tells them lunch ended ten minutes ago. They don’t move. He threatens to dock them the rest of the day, and a guy with a pompadour insists on a smoke first. Billy comes up then, repeating Donald’s orders. Pompadour asks if he can have a smoke, Billy says no, and tells him to get on the floor. Billy explains to Donald that sometimes the guys need a little kick, and Pompadour says, “You tell him, Boss.” Zeke’s clearly not okay with this, and asks Donald if he’s going to stand there and take it like that. He turns to Pompadour and his friend, and says that Billy’s not their boss, his father is. Pompadour’s friend comments that the boy’s got a mouth on him, and Donald’s hackles are up. He demands to know what he just called Zeke, and Billy steps in, reminding Donald that Zeke isn’t a man yet, and that’s all the guy meant. Pompadour’s friend confirms it, then they take off. Zeke looks disturbed by these events.

Donald says he never forgot the look on Zeke’s face, that he disappointed Zeke. Lilly asks if Zeke had any more encounters with Donald’s co-workers, and Donald says he wasn’t inclined to have another Bring Your Son To Work Day, so no. Jeffries asks if Donald told the police back then, and Donald did, then asks why they care now. Jeffries says he was the one who found Zeke in the playground, and that’s why they’re there, trying to make it right. Donald tells him he’s forty-two years late. Hey, cut Jeffries some slack; he was just a kid back then!

Squad room. Billy’s in there, telling a very drunk-looking Scotty that Zeke was out of line. Scotty groggily suggests that perhaps the boys decided to school him in the proper etiquette. Billy says they weren’t his boys, and that they were young and dumb, but not dangerous. Vera asks if Billy agreed with their philosophical outlook, and he says he was there for the job and the paycheck, not the politics. Vera asks if the boys ever brought up the encounter again, and Billy says not to him, because they knew where he stood on the issue: leave the boss’s kid alone. Scotty points out that someone didn’t leave it alone, and Vera says that if Billy’s got something to say, now’s the time. Billy says that Zeke was a good kid, but even good kids can play with fire.

Judith’s house, where she and Billy are carrying in groceries, accompanied by Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heatwave.” She’s complaining about Henry not knowing how heavy groceries can be. Billy suggests that she learn to drive, and she scoffs, saying Henry would say the idea was silly. They stop short when they get to the front door, seeing Zeke and the pretty young girl from earlier holding hands in front of the dining room table. Billy bursts in, and they drop hands. He demands to know what’s going on, and Judith asks where Charlotte is. She’s under the table, calling for her mommy. The girl protests that it’s not what Miss Judith thinks, and Billy lays into Zeke, demanding to know if he thought he could just pop into his brother’s house to chase some tail. Zeke takes off running, and Billy chases him, accusing him of carrying on in front of a child.

Scotty asks if Billy ever told the cops or his boss what happened, and Billy says no, that whatever was going on with the maid, Mathilde, wasn’t any of his business. Vera guesses that that whatever might have been what got Zeke killed, and Billy says he thought Mathilde already had a boyfriend, a real unsavory fellow who dealt dope and hung out in a North Philly gang. Billy thinks the gang was the Nineteen Diamonds.

Squad Room. Lilly and Jeffries recap for Stillman in a West Wing-style pedeconference. Lilly says that Zeke was in over his head, having hooked up with a gang member’s girlfriend, and Jeffries explains how this particular gang ruled the roost and spoke the language of retribution. Lilly says they’re looking for surviving gang members, but Jeffries isn’t optimistic, knowing the expected “shelf life” on the streets. Stillman asks about Mathilde, and Lilly says she no longer lives in Pennsylvania, but Jeffries has located Charlotte, who lives in Center City.

Charlotte’s place. She sits by a large painting, explaining it was a place she used to play as a child, then says she was nine when Zeke died. Lilly asks if she remembers the day her mother and Uncle Billy found Zeke in the house; she does. Jeffries asks about other guys coming around for Mathilde, and Charlotte says there weren’t any. Lilly asks about Mathilde’s supposed boyfriend, but Charlotte says if Mathilde had one, she never knew about it, that Mathilde loved Zeke like he was her one and only, and that day was the first time they met. Charlotte says Zeke came in looking not for Mathilde, but for her, because she and some neighborhood kids stole the Williams’ flag, he caught them, the other kids got away, but Charlotte didn’t. Jeffries asks if Zeke chased Charlotte into her own house, and Charlotte says Zeke didn’t hurt her. Instead, she says with a smile, he made his move.

Williams home, still hearing “Heatwave.” Charlotte watches nervously as two boys steal the American flag, asking if they’re sure they won’t get caught. One boy, Tony, explains that they’re replacing the flag with a Confederate one, saying the Williamses will like it because it has a cross, and “Negroes are real religious.” Charming. Charlotte hands Tony the Confederate flag and he puts it in the holder, but Zeke comes out and catches them. Charlotte explains Tony’s theory, and Zeke orders her to give him the flag back. She stares at him for a minute, he repeats the order, and then she takes off running. She gets home and hides under the table, but Zeke comes in after her. He then spies the chess set sitting on the table and starts moving a couple of the pieces.

Mathilde comes in, yelling at Charlotte for slamming the door, and Zeke tells her he wants his flag. Mathilde demands to know what he’s doing there, and he explains that Charlotte stole his flag and he wants it back. Mathilde tells him he can’t just barge onto other people’s property; he retorts that Charlotte barged onto his. Point for Zeke. He says he’s not leaving until he gets his flag, and Mathilde orders him to stay there and keep quiet. He introduces himself then, and extends his hand. She shakes it and gives him her name, and then Judith and Billy come in. They break apart quickly; Billy demands to know what’s going on, Judith asks for Charlotte. She hears Charlotte under the table and rushes to her; Mathilde insists that it’s not what she thinks, and Billy accuses him of walking in just to get some tail, then chases Zeke out. Judith demands to know how Mathilde could bring “that boy” into her house, Mathilde protests that she can explain, but Judith isn’t listening to her. She asks Charlotte if Zeke touched her. He didn’t, she says, but she points to the chess set and says he touched that. Judith goes over to take a look, then smiles slightly.

Charlotte reiterates her earlier statement that Zeke made his move, the Ruy Lopez: a chess opening. Jeffries realizes that the piece of paper found on Zeke’s body was a chess move. Charlotte says Zeke was a very good chess player, and so was Judith, happy to finally have met her match. Jeffries concludes that Judith and Zeke met again, and Charlotte says they met every afternoon; she and Mathilde would watch the games, and it was their secret. She says it went on until the day Zeke died.

Jones Home. Scotty, who looks to have sobered up some, asks Judith why the chess games were a secret. Judith says that it’s one thing to have potluck with your black neighbors, but another to invite their teenage son into your home. Scotty concludes that the world wasn’t ready for their kind of friendship, and Judith says the world treated her like a dumb housewife and Zeke like a boy, but they treated each other like much more: he was her friend. Scotty asks if she ever told the police about the chess games after Zeke’s murder; Judith says she didn’t think the games had anything to do with Zeke’s death, since no one in her world knew about them. Scotty asks about Zeke’s world, and Judith says they only went out in public once, wanting to be around their own kind: people who loved nothing more than the game.

A chess park, where we’re serenaded by Doris Troy’s “Just One Look.” Judith and Zeke stroll along, Zeke explaining that all the best players hang out in that park, and that a grand master’s coming next Wednesday. Judith asks him if he’s going, but he’s hoping to go to Washington for the march that day, but that his dad wouldn’t let him, since he doesn’t believe in that stuff. Judith says Zeke will find a way if he really wants to, and he asks if she thinks he should go. She begins the same quote from Dr. King that Zeke used at the beginning, and he finishes the quote, then she tells him he should do what he thinks is right. They stop for a minute, then Zeke gets all cute for a second and asks how you can tell if a young lady likes someone. Awww. Judith says you can tell by the way she acts: she smiles a lot, laughs at little things…like the way Mathilde does when Zeke’s around. Again, awwww. Zeke smiles adorably, then calls to Clyde, someone he knows, but didn’t know was a chess player, and introduces him to Judith.

Clyde challenges Zeke to a game of Blitz, where they have one minute each, and tells Zeke to play white, since it seems he has an affinity for it. Zeke sits down, and they begin the game, but they also begin arguing. Zeke says he thought they were playing a game, but Clyde asks if he’s playing black stud to his white queen. Judith suggests that maybe they should leave, but Zeke ignores her and orders Clyde not to talk about her like that. Clyde quotes Malcolm X, saying a man who doesn’t stand for something falls for anything. Zeke fires back with a Dr. King quote. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Man, Zeke’s cool. Clyde asks Zeke who the fool is, and suggests that it might be a black man who thinks he’s white. Clyde says bitterly that at least he knows what he is. “But not who,” Zeke retorts. Just then, the timer dings, and Zeke points out that the clock ran out on Clyde’s move, and therefore he wins. He coolly, awesomely, gets up, and, as a parting shot, gives him one more quote. “Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone…” then tells him that Malcolm X said that, too. Zeke just plain rocks. I know I’m going against my usual policy of not getting too attached to the victims, but Zeke is just so awesome that I can’t help it. Clyde fires a parting shot of his own, saying that Zeke forgot the last part of the quote. “…but if someone puts his hand on you, send ‘em to the cemetery.” Judith and Zeke leave as Clyde glares after them.

Judith explains to Scotty that Clyde did gardening work in the neighborhood from time to time. Scotty asks if they ever had any more run-ins with Clyde, and Judith says she never went back there, but Zeke may have. Scotty asks where the chess park is, and Judith replies that it’s at 19th and Diamond. This rings a bell, and Scotty tells her that’s where Zeke’s body was found. She knows.

Interview room. Jeffries tells Clyde that Zeke’s body was found less than a block from his little chess club. Clyde argues that it wasn’t his chess club, it was open to the public. “Not white public,” Jeffries corrects, and Clyde leans forward and condescendingly asks Jeffries if “Boss-man” sent him in there to talk to the black guy. Jeffries chuckles slightly and points out Clyde’s penchant for assaulting black police officers; Clyde says that’s an oxymoron. Jeffries concludes that Clyde thinks black police officers are race traitors, but Clyde corrects him, saying “blind, deaf, and dumb” is more like it. Jeffries plays along, saying Zeke must have been the worst kind of blind, deaf, and dumb for fraternizing with a white woman. Clyde says he didn’t have a problem with white women, just Judith. She got her hair done on Tuesdays, he says, and didn’t know what was going on in her own house. He says one Tuesday, he shared it with Zeke

[TVFan]

Jones home, where Gene Chandler sings “Rainbow.” Zeke comes up to find Clyde peeking in the windows. Zeke asks what they’re doing here, and Clyde says there’s something he should see. He crouches down, and Zeke says he’s not looking in there. They argue briefly, and Clyde reminds Zeke that he likes Mathilde, then entreats him to listen. Zeke comes over to the window and hears Mathilde’s voice, then sees Mr. Jones coming out tucking in his shirt. Mathilde comes out a moment later, buttoning up her dress, her face streaked with tears, and she catches Zeke looking in. They lock eyes for a moment, then she leaves. Zeke is agape with shock, and Clyde adds insult to injury. “You love white people so much; see how they love you back?

Clyde reminds us all that Zeke died the next day, and Jeffries asks if Zeke did something about what he saw. Clyde concludes that he must have done something, since he wound up dead.

Stillman’s office. Jeffries explains that Henry Jones died three years ago, thus eliminating him from the suspect pool as per the Dead Guy’s Never The Doer algorithm. Stillman asks if Judith knew about Henry’s indiscretions, but Lilly says Judith seemed out of the loop. Stillman asks about Mathilde, and Vera says they’re still looking for her, but he’s learned that Mathilde was a native of Delaware who moved to Philly for work, and she disappeared the day after Zeke was murdered. Lilly wonders what made her run, and Vera theorizes that it might have to do with the fact that she filed a report of rape with the old sex crimes unit, accompanied by an unidentified Negro male, clearly Zeke. Vera says that the only name on the report is the secretary who typed it up: Linda O’Hara, still alive and kicking in Philly.

Linda O’Hara’s place. She’s telling Lilly that it’s Miss O’Hara, since she never did have a ball and chain. A kindred spirit for Lil? Perhaps! They’re even wearing pretty much the same outfit! Linda’s proud that there are female detectives on the force, since they didn’t even have their first female cop until 1973. Lilly says it must have been rough, and Linda thinks this is an understatement, saying they put the female cops on the worst corners with no backup. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t kill ‘em off,” Lilly concludes. Linda says she never got past secretary, but it was their loss. Lilly hands her the report and asks if she remembers it, and she does. She says her superiors wouldn’t let her file the report, because back then rape was “when a lady changed her mind,” but Linda typed it up anyway because she believed Mathilde. She says Mathilde and Zeke were both brave, and she was the only one who believed her.

PPD. Linda’s asking Zeke if he saw what happened, and he confirms it, reassuring a tearful Mathilde that he told her they’d believe her. An officer comes up and asks what’s going on, Linda says Mathilde was raped. The officer asks her if she knows who did this to her. Zeke responds that it’s Henry Jones, owner of Emerson Bank, and the officer, seeming sincere in a kind of slimy way, says he knows who Henry is. He hands his nightstick to Mathilde, who takes it after a wary glance at Zeke. He then empties his coffee into a trash can and holds the cup out, asking Mathilde to show him what Henry did. Zeke protests that this isn’t right, but the officer, who’s got an evil grin now, says she can’t charge anyone with rape unless she proves it. He insists that she show him, so she tentatively takes the nightstick and aims it at the cup, but he keeps jerking it away from her, mocking her as he does so. She finally gives up and continues to cry, and the officer concludes that you can’t rape a woman if she doesn’t let you. Zeke’s seen enough. He grabs the nightstick and hits the officer in the arm with it, then emphatically puts the stick into the cup, arguing angrily that you can make a woman let you. Linda looks on with pride, clearly bowled over by the utter awesomeness that is Zeke, and then the officer punches Zeke in the gut, then arrests him for assaulting a police office. Mathilde runs off after a minute, and the officer orders Linda to throw the report away. She takes it out of her typewriter with a defiant look on her face.

Linda says right after that, the officer called Henry Jones, saying some uppity colored boy couldn’t humiliate an upstanding citizen, blah blah blah. Lilly asks how long Zeke was in jail, and Linda says her shift ended at midnight, and Zeke was still there when she left. Lilly asks if Linda reported it after Zeke was found dead, and Linda asks who she’d report it to: the police? Point for Linda.

Stillman’s office. Jeffries explains that the report wasn’t in Zeke’s evidence box because he was never officially arrested, so there’s no record of who got him out. Lilly says this means it allowed the police to call Henry and hold Zeke unofficially until Henry showed up to claim him. Stillman theorizes that maybe Mathilde saw it happen, then asks if anyone’s found her yet. Lilly and Jeffries shake their heads, but Scotty’s found her. Lilly’s incredulous, and Scotty grabs his notebook, saying he thought he told Lilly, but we can see by the way Lilly’s shaking her head at Stillman that he didn’t. Uh-oh. He fumbles through his notes, then finds what he’s looking for and tears it out, saying Mathilde lives in Ocean City, New Jersey. “Thanks for the heads-up; don’t put yourself out,” Jeffries says sarcastically, as he snatches the paper out of Scotty’s hand, and Lilly leaves without saying a word. Scotty gets up to go, too, but Stillman tells him to hold on a second. Are we about to see the Wrath Of Stillman? For everyone’s sake, I sure hope so.

Stillman, in disbelief, asks Scotty if he, in fact, found the witness and didn’t let them know. Scotty laughs it off with a shrug, offers an insincere apology, then says he thought he did. “You didn’t,” Stillman says icily. Yay! Wrath of Stillman! He closes the door, and even Scotty seems to know he’s in for it now. “You’ve been drinking,” Stillman observes, and Scotty says that’s crazy, but Stillman points out that he can smell it. Scotty says he was off the clock at lunch, and he’s fine. Stillman pauses for a minute, then tells Scotty he’s given him every shot he can, then orders him to get himself cleaned up and do his job, or he’s gone. Scotty nods in agreement, and Stillman orders him out. Yup, the Wrath of Stillman at its finest. Eerily quiet, but deathly certain. It’s about friggin’ time.

Ocean City. Lilly and Jeffries are sitting on the beach chatting with Mathilde, who tells them that she was sixteen, alone in the big city, miles away from her family, and that Zeke was her first love. Jeffries asks if she wondered why he never contacted her after she left, and she figured he forgot about her. Jeffries asks what she did after Zeke got arrested, and Mathilde says she waited outside for hours, and then Judith showed up. Mathilde says she thought Judith came to help, but she was the furthest thing from it.

Jail. Judith and Mathilde walk in, and Mathilde asks Zeke if they hurt him. Judith fires Mathilde on the spot, and then tells Zeke she never wants to see him again, since she knows why he’s in jail. Zeke protests that it’s not Mathilde’s fault, or his, what her husband did. She asks why Zeke couldn’t just keep his mouth shut, and he protests that she told him to do what he believed was right, and then gives her his favorite Dr. King quote again. She tells him that what he has to say doesn’t matter, and he argues that maybe here it doesn’t, but to those people going to see Dr. King tomorrow, it matters, then says that if that’s where he needs to go to get someone to hear him, he’ll go tonight, then asks her if she wants to come. An officer releases Zeke from jail, Judith thanks him, then tells Zeke to go to Washington, to go wherever he wants, but to get away from there, to get out of her life, and never come back.

Mathilde says it was almost morning when they left, and that Zeke took her to the train station, spent his last dime on her ticket to Wilmington, and promised to come back for her. Lilly asks where Zeke went after that, and Mathilde says he was going to walk, hitchhike, do whatever it took to get to Washington for the march, and that he meant what he said, and always did. Lilly realizes that only one other person knew where he was headed the day he was killed, and Jeffries has reached the same conclusion: Judith, his supposed friend.

Interview room. Scotty reminds Judith of her “the world wasn’t ready for your kind of friendship” theory, and Vera scoffs at the friendship, saying that when it hit the fan, she ran for cover. Judith says she admired Zeke’s tendency to break the rules, but she wasn’t as strong as he was. Scotty theorizes that she couldn’t stand all the neighbors knowing about Henry’s indiscretions with the maid, and Vera takes over, saying Judith told Henry where to find Zeke so Henry could shut him up for good. Judith says she said those things to scare Zeke and make him go far away, because she knew it was only a matter of time before Henry did something. Vera realizes that Judith was trying to save Zeke, and she says she owed it to him, because in some ways, Zeke saved her by caring about what she thought; that there weren’t too many who did. “Like your husband,” Scotty comments, and Vera asks why she told Henry where to find Zeke. Judith says she’ll regret that for the rest of her life.

Jones home. Judith sneaks upstairs, but Henry catches her and demands to know where she’s been. She says she spent the night at Marge’s, but Henry calls her bluff, saying a friend of Billy’s at the station house saw her springing Zeke from jail. Judith says she did it to keep Henry out of jail, but Henry asks her if she believes Zeke over her own husband. She can’t answer, and he asks where Zeke is. He grabs her and orders her to tell him, or she should pack her bags, and she’ll never see Charlotte again. She protests that he can’t do that. Billy pontificates that this would never have happened if it weren’t for “those people” moving in and taking over their neighborhoods, their jobs, and their women, then accuses Judith of sleeping with Zeke. She denies it, then says she doesn’t even know him. Charlotte appears at the top of the stairs with a piece of paper, which she says is Zeke’s winning chess move. Busted. Judith tearfully pleads with Henry not to take Charlotte from her, and he grabs her again and demands to know where Zeke is. She finally tells him that Zeke’s headed to Washington, and begs again for Henry not to take Charlotte. Henry picks up Charlotte and asks her if she wants to go see her friend Zeke, and Judith demands to know what he’s doing and starts to follow, but Billy shoves her back. She watches Henry and Billy leave with Charlotte and bursts into tears.

Scotty tells Judith that the piece of paper was found in Zeke’s pocket, and Vera concludes that Charlotte was there when Zeke was killed. Judith says that that day, she lost her one friend in the world; she couldn’t lose her child, too.

Interview room. Lilly tells Charlotte that she knows Charlotte was present at Zeke’s murder; Charlotte denies it, saying she was in bed asleep. Jeffries corrects her, saying she was with her dad and her Uncle Billy, looking for Zeke. Lilly appeals to Charlotte’s softer side, reminding her of how much she loved her dad and uncle, and Jeffries concludes that this is why she never told. They then show her the piece of paper containing Zeke’s winning move: the Ruy Lopez. She takes it from them, and Lilly continues, saying Zeke taught it to her, and Jeffries says she left it with him, because he found it on Zeke’s body. He continues, saying he was left in the middle of a playground, beaten so badly his own mother could barely recognize him, then we see young Jeffries say, “I was twelve.”

Charlotte says it was her fault, that she forgot the chess games were a secret. Lilly asks her to tell them where her father took them. She tearfully says it was a place in the woods where she used to play, that her dad put up a swing for her. “Show us where,” Jeffries says, and it dawns on me that the painting at the beginning must be of that exact place.

Woods. Charlotte walks Jeffries and Lilly to a large tree in a clearing, explaining that they found Zeke hitchhiking to Washington, and they made him get in the car and brought him here. We see the tree as she remembers it, with a swing hanging from it, as we segue to a flashback of what I already know is going to be the most heart-wrenching murder scene yet.

Charlotte rides in the car with Henry, Billy, and the two guys from the plant, accompanied by Opus 1 Music Library’s “Till Death Do Us Part.” They taunt Zeke, saying he’s not going to DC anymore. They pull up to the clearing by the tree, shushing Charlotte as they get out of the car. The radio station they’ve been listening to interrupts normal programming to bring them Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and I’m crying already as Charlotte hands Zeke the chess move and apologizes to him. The guys haul Zeke out of the car as Dr. King’s voice carries over the airwaves. Henry orders Charlotte to stay in the car, then they drag Zeke over to the tree and begin beating and kicking him, telling him to shut his big mouth and mocking him about DC. Charlotte cries as she watches. So do I. Billy orders Zeke to never tell anyone about this, especially not his dad, then spits in his face. Zeke gasps out, “You mean…your boss? I’ll tell him…I’ll tell everyone what you did to me, to Mathilde. You can’t stop me.” Oh, but they can. Billy says as much, and Henry pleads with him, saying enough’s enough. As Dr. King begins the most famous part of the speech, Billy and the other guys grab Zeke and haul him to the tree. Henry gets back in the car, and reminds Charlotte that she doesn’t want her daddy to go to jail. The other guys tie Zeke up and gag him as Henry and Charlotte look on, then fashion a noose out of Charlotte’s swing and drag him to the tree. Henry orders Charlotte not to look, then takes him in his arms and hides her eyes as she screams. To his credit, he’s crying, too. We see Zeke’s body hanging from the tree, interspersed with shots of Charlotte and Henry watching from the car, as Dr. King concludes his speech to wild applause.

Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit” plays. Scotty and Lilly get out of the car as Judith and Charlotte look on. Lilly gets Billy out of the car and escorts him in, followed by Scotty and Pompadour, then Vera and the other guy from the plant. Zeke’s dad and Mathilde are there, too, and they glance at each other and smile.

Jeffries goes to the playground where he found Zeke and pauses for a moment, seeing Zeke standing there smiling at him slightly. We see Young Jeffries looking back at Zeke for a moment before he disappears, and then Jeffries comes forward and lays a white carnation on one of the swings.