Chapter 3
It was Monday morning, October nineteenth and Kent left his mom’s house around eight that morning.
He headed off to his janitorial job at MIT.
A song came on the radio while he drove his Chevy Monza to the job. It was Johnny Cash’s song Folsom Prison Blues.
After hearing the introduction riff to that song, Kent had a flashback to June nineteen fifty-seven.
In Kent’s flashback…
Kent was five years old and sat on the couch in the living room of their Warner Robins, Georgia home. He had his Zorro guitar in hand while Henry had his Gibson acoustic guitar in hand.
Henry started the introduction riff to Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. Kent tried to play that riff but was nowhere close. Henry began to singing Folsom Prison Blues while strumming out the chords. Kent couldn’t keep up but still had a blast playing along with his daddy.
Back to reality…
Kent turned the radio station off, as he never liked hearing that song ever since his daddy was executed. In fact, that day in fifty-seven was the last time Henry played and sang that Johnny Cash song since he would have been arrested for murder a few months after that day.
He pulled his Monza into the employees’ parking lot at MIT, parked and headed off to his job.
It wasn’t long before he was pushing his cleaning cart down the hallways of one of the building.
He stopped the cart by the Ladies Room and heard a toilet flush. He waited.
After a few seconds passed, the bathroom door opened.
Melissa, a gorgeous brunette with shoulder-length hair, soft brown eyes, pouty lips, and shapely curves, walked out of the Ladies Room.
Kent’s heart fluttered at the sight of this beauty he’s seen many times before in this building. She was a secretary down the hall. “Hi, ah, Melissa, I was wondering,” said Kent and he wanted to ask her out for a date.
“What Kent?” she said and waited.
He got really nervous. “I was wondering, ah, I was wondering,” he said starting to ramble.
“You were wondering what?” said Melissa and started to get a little irritated.
“I was wondering if the bathroom was free of other female occupants,” he said chickening out with asking her out for a date.
“Yes, it is,” said Melissa and walked away down the hall.
Kent opened the Ladies Room door and pushed his cart inside.
He started cleaning the toilets and kicking himself for chickening out with asking Melissa out for a date.
It was now Monday night, and Kent was exhausted cleaning bathrooms all day.
Back at his apartment, Kent sat in the living room of his one-bedroom apartment and watched TV while drinking iced tea.
He flipped through the channels and didn’t see anything of interest on the main channels. He turned to the PBS station.
A documentary about men being executed that might actually have been innocent started. It was titled “Murdered by the States.”
Kent stared at the TV for a few seconds and couldn’t stomach watching this documentary. He immediately turned the channel.
But after a few minutes, Kent’s curiosity got the best of him, and he turned back to the PBS channel.
“We’ll cover the story of Henry Hollister executed by the State of Georgia in nineteen sixty,” said Sadie Kershaw from the TV while she started to go over the list of men the documentary would cover.
Kent stared at the TV that showed a mug shot of his daddy taken in fifty-seven when he was arrested.
He turned the channel then paced a little by the TV. He wanted to watch the documentary but didn’t know if he could stomach.
He got up off the couch and started to pace around the living room.
After a few seconds of pacing, Kent decided to be brave. He changed back to the PBS channel and sat back down on the couch. His stomach got nervous while he watched the documentary.
Twenty minutes had passed…
“And now for the story of convicted murderer Henry Hollister. He was executed by the State of Georgia on October eighteenth in nineteen sixty. Mr. Hollister was executed for the murder of seventeen-year-old Angie Abbott outside Warner Robins Georgia. Her body was discovered by hunters on Monday, August twelfth and it was believed she was murdered sometime between August ninth through the eleventh back in fifty-seven,” said Sadie while a high school senior picture of Angie appeared on the screen.
“Miss Abbott was the daughter of Colonel Richard Abbott stationed at Robins Air Force Base at that time.” “Mr. Hollister professed his innocence all during the trial and moments before he was executed at seven that morning on October eighteenth in nineteen sixty.”
Hearing all this started to flood Kent’s mind with memories of his last visit with his daddy at that prison. He felt like he wanted to cry and fought off the tears.
“A year ago, we were informed of a gentleman’s confession from his death bed that makes one believe Mr. Hollister might have in fact been innocent, meaning,” said Sadie while she paused and gave the camera a serious dead look with a raised right eyebrow.” “The State of Georgia murdered an innocent man,” she added then the show immediately went to a commercial break.
Hearing that caught Kent’s attention. He jumped up from his couch and rushed into his kitchen.
He rushed over to the phone that hung on the wall. He punched in a phone number.
“Mom, it’s me, Kent.”
“Why Kent, do you miss me already?” his mom said from the phone.
“No, I mean, yes. But that’s not the reason I called. There’s a documentary on the PBS channel called Murdered by the State. They are now talking about daddy and may have evidence to prove daddy was innocent,” he blurted out into the phone.
There were a few seconds of silence from the phone.
“Mom? Are you still there?”
“Listen Kent, that happened over twenty years ago. Nothing can bring back your father.”
“No, if they have evidence, maybe we could sue the State of Georgia for his death.”
There were a few more moments of silence from the phone. “Honey, I don’t want to go through all that again in court. It’s best we just forget it. We moved on with our lives and are doing fine.”
“Mom, we can’t ignore this.”
“Kent. Just let it go. I don’t want that heartache again. Now I have to go to bed. I love you.”
“I love you, mom,” said Kent, and he hung up the phone.
He went back to his living room and sat back down on the couch. The documentary came back after the commercial break, and Kent just had to watch. His curiosity was peeking in high gear.
“Fast forward over twenty years, and the execution of Henry Hollister has been long forgotten in the State of Georgia. Back in January of this year, we have a forty-two-year-old gay man named Derek Allen from San Francisco,” said Sadie, then another man appeared on the TV with Sadie. He was being interviewed in a living room setting. The name “Timmy Young” appeared on the screen.
“What exactly did your friend Derek tell you on his death bed?” said Sadie.
“Derek was dying of cancer and surprised all of us by stating he had a confession he had to state before he passed. It was something he said he kept inside of him since nineteen fifty-seven. It was something that ate away at him,” said Timmy and he it was apparent Timmy was gay with his mannerisms.
“What was this deathbed confession?” said Sadie.
“Yes, Derek said that he knew for a fact that Henry Hollister did not kill that seventeen-year-old girl Angie Abbott. He said Henry Hollister was innocent of murder.”
Kent sat up on the edge of his couch and was all ears. In fact, he turned up the volume to make sure he could hear everything.
“How did he know Henry Hollister was innocent?” said Sadie.
“He said he saw the killer strangle Angie Abbott. We recorded Derek’s confession,” said Timmy. “When we recorded it, that was the first I heard of this story.”
“Let’s play it,” said Sadie.
“Yeah, let’s play it,” said Kent.
On TV, Sadie had a Panasonic portable cassette recorder. She hit the play button.
“My name is Derek Allen, and I’m confessing something that has been eating away at me since August of nineteen fifty-seven,” said Derek in a strained voice that you could tell he was dying. He paused for a few seconds for a cough to subside.
“It happened on a late Saturday afternoon on August tenth in fifty-seven,” said Derek then he paused again to catch his breath. “It was in a secluded place in the woods not too far from the runways of Robins Air Force Base. There was an old, dilapidated cabin in the woods. It was called Meyers’ Cabin just off a dirt road off of route twelve,” he said then paused to catch his breath.
“It was a place known for guys too, you know, could hang out and be alone, all alone, if you know what I mean,” said Derek pausing again to cough and then he wheezed.
Kent was all ears and moved off the couch and sat on the floor near the TV.
“My lover and I were leaving the cabin and getting into my car when we heard a girl yelling,” said Derek, then he coughed. “She was yelling that she was going to tell her daddy that someone got her pregnant and won’t marry her. She also yelled out that her daddy will have him in Air Force prison for the rest of his life,” said Derek.
Kent was still all ears from the couch and inched closer to the TV.
“We got curious and snuck around the side of the cabin and snuck off in the direction of this female’s yelling. “We snuck through the woods and saw the clearing. We peeked around the trees and “I saw someone I knew was an Air Force officer at Robins,” said Derek and paused to catch his breath.
“He was strangling Angie Abbott,” said Derek then he paused and coughed then wheezed. “It wasn’t long before I could see she was dead,” said Derek paused for another wet cough and wheezing again.
“He removed all of her clothes and left her naked in the clearing,” said Derek then he coughed and wheezed again.
“He ran off with his clothes, and ran off to his Ford T-Bird, got inside and drove away.”
The voice of Timmy came on the recording. “Did you know the name of this officer?”
“Yes, he was my Commanding Officer and a well known Playboy around the base. Plus he had a temper that frightened me,” said Derek then he had another coughing fit.
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” said Timmy.
“I couldn’t. I was too scared and feared for my like,” said Derek in a strained voice.
“Why were you scared?” Timmy said, as he knew the answer but wanted in recorded.
“Because I was a gay man in the Air Force. And because I was with another gay Air Force man and we were lovers. We had to keep it secret or face being severely beaten up, given dishonorable discharges, or killed. We both loved being in the Air Force and wanted to make it a career,” said Derek then he went into another coughing fit, and it wouldn’t stop, so the recording ended.
“As you can tell by the tape he had another horrible coughing fit. We planned on getting the rest of his confession but,” said Timmy, and he paused while his eyes welled up. “But my Derek died two hours later,” said Timmy while his eyes welled up.
“Did he ever tell you the identity of his commanding officer?” said Sadie.
“No, and he didn’t have any of his Air Force records from his first enlistment,” said Derek.
“I understand. So did you ever know the identity of this other Air Force lover that was with Derek that night?” said Sadie.
“Derek said he kept in touch with him, as they eventually got different assignments, but he apparently died while in Vietnam back in sixty-nine. For the sake of his family, I’m not going to give out his name,” said Timmy.
“I understand,” said Sadie.
“Derek stated when he found out that his lover was killed in Saigon. Derek believed he was killed because some of the other soldiers found out his friend was gay and they beat him in a back alley.”
“Didn’t Derek retire from the Air Force?” said Sadie.
“Yes, he retired in seventy-seven and was able to keep his lifestyle a secret during his entire career in the military. “I’m also retired Air Force, and I was also able to keep being gay a secret all those years. Derek and I met while being stationed at Ramstein Air Base in seventy-one,” said Timmy.
“I want to thank you for coming forward with this story and providing more evidence that innocent men are being executed or I should say murdered,” said Sadie.
“It’s my pleasure, Derek wanted this made public and truly regretted not coming forward back in fifty-seven. He felt like he was responsible for killing Henry Hollister, but under the times back then, he had to save his own life,” said Timmy.
“We fully understand. So, there you have it, another innocent man executed by other state officials,” said Sadie
The documentary came back from the commercial break, and now Sadie was interviewing seventy-two-year-old retired Colonel Abbott.
“Colonel Abbott, what do you think about the death bed confession of Derek Allen?” said Sadie.
“Boloney. Henry Hollister murdered my daughter Angie back in August of fifty-seven. Pure and simple! I mean, this guy kept that as a secret all these years and finally told it on his death bed? No! I’m not buying that. Besides, Angie’s clothes, shoes, and purse were found hidden in Hollister’s attic in his garage. I’m satisfied that the real killer was tried, convicted, and got what he deserved,” said Colonel Abbott and he looked confident.
The documentary transitioned to another person, and it was fifty-four year old Chuck Chambers. Chuck had thinning hair and was a little chubbier.
Kent looked at the TV. “I’ll be,” he said and always had like him when he was a kid.
“So Mister Chambers, you were a Detective with the Warner Robins police department back in fifty-seven?”
“Yes, I was.”
“What do you think of Mister Allen’s death bed confession?”
“Well, I wish he would have come forward back in fifty-seven with that information. But I can understand being gay in those days would have been a death sentence,” said Chuck and he paused for a second. “I had a contact with the Air Police at Robins Air Force Base. My contact could have helped me investigate this officer.”
“What can you tell me about your investigation back then?” said Sadie.
“I had to do a discreet investigation.”
“Why?”
“Because Colonel Abbott firmly believed Henry was automatically guilty because his daughter’s belongings were found in Henry’s garage attic. I firmly believe he just wanted someone to pay for his daughter’s death. And he took the easy way out and didn’t care for a thorough investigation.”
“I take it that your investigation didn’t find any suspects?”
“No, I wondered if maybe someone was down at that cabin that day. Our department heard rumors that the gay guys used that place to be alone. But Chief Delaney at the time didn’t want to bother with them since he felt they weren’t bothering anybody. Plus I believe the Chief was afraid of who he would catch down there. He didn’t want to ruin any marriages.”
“What was Henry like?”
Chief Chambers paused for a second. “He was a great friend, a loving and caring father, and husband. I miss him dearly,” he said, and his eyes welled up.
“Do you believe the State of Georgia killed an innocent man?”
“Now that I’m retired from the police department, I can honestly say that I believe they killed an innocent man.” “And I find Colonel Abbott guilty of killing an innocent man by not allowing us to do a thorough investigation.”
“There you have it. Another innocent man killed by the states,” said Sadie with a serious glare.
Kent sat on the couch and just stared at the TV. “Daddy was innocent!” he said while he thought about Derek’s confession. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to call his mom but knew she didn’t want to hear it. So he sat and thought about what he heard. He also thought about old Detective Chambers stated that the Colonel just wanted someone to pay for his daughter’s death and didn’t care for a thorough investigation.
Kent returned to watching the documentary. “And now we’ll tell the story of Willie Malone of North Carolina executed for the apparent rape and murder of a young girl back in fifty-four,” said Sadie and then the show went to another commercial break.
Kent decided to watch the story of Willie Malone.
An hour had passed, and the documentary was over. “And there you have it. Some evidence that state officials murdered some innocent men. And this has one wondering why can’t they be brought up on murder charges? Maybe we should focus on outlawing capital punishment? Thank you for watching,” said Sadie then the ending credits started rolling.
Kent’s eyes lit up with an idea, while the credits rolled, he rushed to a small desk in his living room, and he jotted down Derek Allen’s name on a piece of paper.
He turned off the TV and got ready for bed.
Kent tossed and turned under the covers all night. That documentary and Derek’s confession and how his father was framed for murder weighed heavily on his mind. Kent’s blood started to boil. But who killed Angie? He wondered over and over in his mind.
He sat up in bed. “I can’t go to the police. A dying man’s confession on a tape recorder might not hold up in court. Especially since the murder happened so long ago. Plus that Commanding Officer could be already dead. He could have died in Vietnam. He could have also died from cancer or some other illness,” said Kent then he got up out of bed.
He paced all around his apartment, thinking about that documentary.
Tuesday morning arrived, and Kent went back to his job at MIT with his lunch box in hand.
All he could think about while he cleaned some bathrooms in another building was last night’s documentary.
He ate lunch in the janitor’s break room, and while he munched on his ham and cheese sandwich, he looked at a magazine and saw an ad for the new red with red interior nineteen eighty-one Z28 Camaro. “Man, I wish I could afford a new Camaro Z28,” he said, drooling all over that magazine ad.
He closed the magazine and went back to his sandwich.
A fellow janitor named Earl Heche entered the break room with his lunch box in hand. Earl was fifty years old and had been a janitor at MIT for thirty years now. In fact, Earl was the only friend Kent had at MIT.
“Hey Kent,” said Earl while he sat down at the table.
“Earl.”
There were a few seconds of silence between them while Earl opened up his lunch box.
“I saw that documentary on PBS last night,” said Earl while he removed a hoagie from his box.
Kent didn’t know what to say. He figured some of the guys at MIT knew who his father was, but nobody ever mentioned it. “So did I.”
“What are you going to do about it?” said Earl.
“Nothing I guess,” said Kent.
“I would try to sue the State of Georgia,” said Earl. “Or bring this Air Force Commanding Officer up on murder charges.”
“I don’t know who this Commanding Officer is and besides, that Derek Allen is dead. I don’t think a tape recording weighs very much in court,” said Kent.
Earl thought for a few seconds then his eyes lit up. “I have a younger cousin that works at the Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base. Maybe he can help?”
“How?” Kent asked.
“I think he could look up the records on this Derek Allen. Maybe find out who was his Commanding Officer back in fifty-seven,” said Earl.
Kent thought about Earl’s suggestion for a few seconds. “That might work,” he said as his curiosity as to the real killer was starting to peak.
“I’ll call Jerry this afternoon, and I’ll call you at home later tonight,” said Earl.
“Thanks, Earl,” said Kent.
It was quiet during the rest of their lunch. But Kent still had that documentary on the back of his mind.
Kent returned back to his cleaning cart after lunch, and he had a hard time focusing while cleaning the toilets.
It was six that night. Kent was back in his apartment eating a TV dinner that consisted of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and a brownie, at the small table in his kitchen.
The phone on the kitchen wall rang. Kent got up and headed over to the phone. “Hello, he answered the call.
“Kent, it’s me, Earl. I talked to my cousin Jerry, and he’s going to do some digging in their files. He said it might take him a week, but he’s confident he’ll find what you need.”
“That’s great. I’m surprised he would do that.”
“After I told him why this information was important, he was extremely willing to help. I recalled him always being sort of a crime buff. And I know he’ll do the best he can.”
“Thank you, Earl. You don’t know how much this means to me,” said Kent.
“No problem, my friend. I’ve always wanted to make sure the real criminals get what they have coming. So if you don’t mind, I told Jerry to call you directly at home.”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“Good, and let me know what if finds out.”
“I will. And thanks again. I’ll talk to you later,” said Kent and he hung up the phone.
Kent returned to his fried chicken TV dinner.