- This was a blood bath.
- There was two murders.
- He was really trying to make something of--of himself
and build a really good business for his family.
- Clyde was also my brother's godfather.
Clyde was definitely a major part of my dad's life.
That's when I kind of knew what--what death meant.
And it was permanent.
- A male subject had a portion of his skull blown open.
[suspenseful music]
- He had emergency surgery,
and he was in a coma fighting for his life.
A miracle happened, he wakes up from his coma.
- There were witness identifications
suggesting two assailants fleeing the scene.
- Here's the dying man's declaration.
They're asking, "Who did it?
Do you know who did this to you?"
He had said to the paramedic, "Tom shot me."
- The police began to believe that Tom must've been involved.
And so he is arrested and charged.
- The victimization is not limited
to the person whose life was taken.
- They found a piece of evidence
that was not introduced. It's a bombshell.
The verdict is wrong.
- An eyewitness, he is shown a lineup,
and he tells the investigators, "That's not the guy."
[dramatic music]
* *
- Newport Beach is a sophisticated,
cosmopolitan place
with extraordinarily high-end values.
- Newport Beach is like Beverly Hills by the sand.
Very high class.
If you drive down Pacific Coast Highway,
you'll see yachts, exotic car dealerships,
huge estate homes.
- Newport Beach is a place where there's almost no crime
and where violence is not heard of.
[suspenseful music]
narrator: If Orange County is the seat
of Southern California royalty,
then Newport Beach is its crown jewel.
This serene ocean-side community is home
not only to those seeking to enjoy their fortunes,
but those seeking to make them.
- My name is Richard Long.
Back in 1989, I was the detective sergeant
for the Newport Beach Police Department.
We were getting ready to end our day on March 14th
when the broadcast from communications came out
that there was what's referred to as a 211,
it's typically a bank robbery, in progress at the coin store.
The officer that arrived on scene had a male subject
who had a portion of his skull blown open
come walking out, almost Frankenstein style,
with the gun smoke behind him
into the arms of the police officer.
The officer got him outside,
was calling for paramedics for the injured gentleman.
Then other officers that arrived on scene,
they cleared the location,
and they found a female victim behind the counter.
She was a victim of multiple gunshot wounds.
And they found another male down on the ground,
who was the victim of double-tap gunshot execution.
Both of them were dead at the scene.
narrator: With one deceased female, one deceased male,
and a third victim clinging to life,
the scene is chaotic.
Investigators are able to identify the two dead victims
as Renee King and Clyde Oatts
and the surviving victim as Bill king.
- I'm Sharon Katchen.
I was the Orange County Bureau Chief for KFWB Radio
from 1986 through 2002.
Bill King was 36 years old, an entrepreneur.
He and his wife, Renee,
had two children, ages five and two.
And they bought the Newport Coin Exchange in 1985.
Bill King wanted to make money.
He figured out that if you buy gold and silver
and coins, rare coins,
those are things that will appreciate in value.
So he bought and sold them.
His wife, Renee, was his bookkeeper,
worked with him in the business.
And he was really trying to make something of himself
and build a really good business for his family.
Clyde Oatts was 45 years old.
He was Bill King's best friend.
Also, he was a commodities broker
and a family man.
narrator: The Newport Coin Exchange
had been the dream business of Newport resident
and father of two, Bill King.
But that dream has suddenly and violently
turned into a nightmare.
- This was a bloodbath.
Bill King had obvious head trauma,
but he was also shot in the chest,
and he was shot in the back.
- Part of his skull was dislodged.
Any sort of time that you see brain,
you are not going to see somebody survive.
- Here's the dying man's declaration.
They're asking, "Who did it?
Do you know who did this to you?"
And here is Mr. King, and he says, "It was Tom.
Tom shot me."
narrator: With Bill going in and out of consciousness
and unable to answer questions,
investigators have no way of clarifying who Tom is.
Hoping for answers, they focus on the gruesome crime scene.
- The evidence that was collected included
numerous casings from a semi-automatic pistol,
the typical fibers, the blood.
A lot of rounds that had been fired.
There was a counter that was dusted for fingerprints,
and we ended up with a palm print.
There were witness identifications suggesting
two assailants that were fleeing the scene.
They were described as young men
with high and tight type haircuts.
narrator: While robbery appears to be a motive,
authorities wonder, is there a chance
these killers could strike again?
narrator: The murders leave the idyllic community
reeling in shock
and a young family desperate for answers.
- My name is Kyle William King.
I am the son of William Daniel King and Renee Emilia King.
I was five years old, and I was at karate practice,
and somebody very nervously says,
"Kyle, a policeman's here."
And I kind of was excited like, "Oh, cool.
A policeman, yeah, sick."
He brought me to his car.
He let me sit up front with him.
And we--we got to drive fast to the station,
and I--I just kind of remember
how nice he was, and that was just,
I guess maybe the first red flag.
I think it was my grandma and my Auntie Pat.
They told me, you know my dad had been shot
and my mom is dead.
And I didn't really know what dead meant just yet,
I think, you know?
I--I think I remember there was a time
running around the house afterwards
and just being like, "Where's she at?
"She's gotta be here.
Like, I don't know where she is."
It's--and I feel--feel like...
That's when I kinda knew what--what death meant.
And it was permanent.
Yeah.
- Having three people shot in one night
in a robbery-homicide, that was unusual.
They're rare in the context of working
in a clearly massively affluent area
like Newport Beach.
- Those things don't happen in Newport Beach.
- Those acts of premeditation ramp this kind of criminality
up into the varsity levels of prosecution.
We didn't have an answer.
Somebody has to be held accountable.
This is somebody who is very well-versed
in handling a pistol.
- I'm being screamed on from every direction,
freeze, stop, get down.
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: On March 14th, 1989,
the Newport PD Homicide squad is
on the hunt for Tom,
the man they believe may have gunned down three people
inside a local coin store.
While store owner Bill King lost his wife, Renee,
and best friend, Clyde Oatts, in the shooting,
he still clings to life at a local hospital.
- Bill King was shot in the head.
Clyde Oatts was shot in the head and in the chest.
And then Renee King, who was behind the counter,
was shot through her neck while trying to run and flee.
The precision in the gunshot wounds suggested training,
suggested somebody who was skilled with a firearm.
It was the most skilled shooting incident
that I had investigated with my team.
There was a counter that was dusted for fingerprints,
and we ended up with a partial palm print.
And what it appeared in that particular instance
was the gunmen had put his hand on the counter
to reach over on top before what we believe
was a coup shot into Renee King.
But there was not a match to the palm print
that was in any fingerprint database
that we could identify.
- In addition to the evidence that the police found,
they also were able to determine
that about $45,000 in silver coins had been taken.
- The next thing that we found
that was of significant evidence was a receipt
Renee King had in her hands-- would have used that
to verify some sale information being attached
with an address to the Tustin Marine Corps air station
indicating the identity of an Eric Watt.
narrator: Although Bill King had mentioned the name "Tom"
before slipping into an unconscious state,
the receipt gives investigators
their first solid lead.
Detectives head ten miles east to the Tustin Marine Base
to look for Eric Watt.
- We didn't have any Eric Watt at the base.
There was an Eric Wick
that was assigned to that area of the Marine Corps.
- While the detectives were at the Tustin Marine Base
looking for Eric Watt,
they find a very helpful Marine,
his name is John Brady.
And he did say that a friend of his had confided in him
that he had been at the coin store.
And that he knew about the shooting.
John Brady named Eric Wick.
- The commanding officer ordered every marine
in the unit to submit to a fingerprint card.
And when that was done, we were able to identify Eric Wick
as the individual that left the palm print on the counter.
narrator: As investigators work to track down Eric Wick,
they are notified of an astonishing break in the case.
- So a miracle happened.
Bill King finally awakened
from his medically induced coma,
after about two weeks.
[apprehensive music]
* *
- I'm Bill King, and I was the owner
of Newport Coin Exchange
from 1985 till 1989.
I was the sad victim of a terrible event.
I was in surgery that night, like, nine hours
with eight or nine surgeons working on me the whole time.
I lost my eye as a result.
I have some physical problems as a result
of what happened.
But as far as my mental capabilities,
just as sharp as ever.
- I remember the first time I visited him in the hospital.
Looks like he just got out of war.
He was bandaged up around his head.
He had all these cables.
Had to walk around with a IV thing,
and I remember being scared of him,
but also like, "Thank God you're here."
I was super happy to see him.
It was just such a comfort to know that he was still around.
narrator: Having regained consciousness,
investigators are eager to speak to Bill King,
the massacre's lone survivor, and find out what,
if anything, he remembers about the tragic event.
- Police wanna talk to him.
He was the only eyewitness that truly knew who was there.
- The only memory I have other than, you know,
waking up consciously in the hospital, beyond that
was in the--in the ambulance.
And supposedly one of the guys in the ambulance said,
"Bill, who did this to you?"
Supposedly I said, "Tom shot me.
Tom did it."
- Somebody who's shot in the head
is going to have memory issues, even today.
- I couldn't remember to save my life
who the specific person was that shot me.
I knew it was somebody that I'd met before.
- Whether their statements are accurate, credible,
you can corroborate the evidence that's offered.
Those are all issues that have to be determined
through investigative steps.
- While Bill King is talking to the police,
he starts to answer, "Well, ask my wife, Renee,
she'll be able to tell you what happened."
And it's at that time that they tell him
that his wife was killed.
- Looking at this picture here,
it's Renee and our son,
Kyle, and myself.
[sentimental music]
Renee was just bubbly and fun and silly,
and nothing seemed to aggravate or get her down.
She was an extremely good mother.
- My mom was a go-getter.
My mom was nothing but pure comfort and--and smiles.
- And that's when the nurse, she informed me Clyde died.
Clyde Oatts, he was another one of these people
you just felt good to be around.
He's always just fun.
- Clyde was also my brother's godfather.
He was his best friend.
You know, Clyde was definitely a major part of my dad's life.
- We had two little boys, they had three little boys.
Clyde was very proud of his boys.
He would spend time with them and dote on them,
and he was a good father that way.
narrator: With Bill's miraculous awakening,
investigators ask him whether the name Eric rings any bells.
He suddenly recalls a chilling encounter
with a customer named Eric at his coin shop
six days prior to the shooting.
- Eric was at the counter.
He wanted to buy 33 Canadian Maple Leafs,
which are one-ounce gold coins.
I wrote out that purchase ticket, and I said,
"What's your last name, Eric?"
To me, that should've been a red flag.
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: In the spring of 1989,
the only survivor of an execution-style shooting
starts to regain his memory.
From his hospital bed,
Bill King describes an encounter
with a young man named Eric at his coin store
less than a week before the shooting.
- I wrote out that purchase ticket,
and I said, "What's your last name, Eric?"
And he's like, "What do you need that for?"
And he's all, "Okay, it's Watt. W-A-T-T, Watt."
"What's your phone number?"
"I need a phone number, Eric."
And then finally he gave me a number and he said,
"This is the number to the barracks,
"it's like a payphone thing.
You just ask for Eric, everyone knows who I am."
narrator: On March 14th, 1989, six days after that exchange,
the young marine was scheduled to return with cash
to buy the gold coins.
- Around 5:00, Renee and I are more or less
preparing to close the store.
Clyde and his wife Marlyn are gonna come over,
and we're all going to go out together.
So I'm in my office, Eric comes in the store.
I said...
And he's like...
And next thing I know I'm on the floor.
And I look down, and right here,
blood is just squirting out of my sternum.
This guy just shot me.
I became infuriated, and I jumped up on my two feet
and jumped up from behind the counter.
I don't know what I thought I was gonna do,
and he shot me again, and down I went.
Eric was out of my sight,
and with that I crawled into my office.
I had a shotgun in my office.
I was trying to stick shells into the shotgun.
Eric saw me with shotgun. He shot me again.
I got shot in the head right there.
Apparently, then he thought he did the job.
- Bill King was shot in the head.
Clyde Oatts was shot in the head and in the chest.
And then Renee King, who was trying to run and flee,
she ended up getting shot.
So we believe she was the third person shot
within seconds.
And the--and I might say the precision of the gunfire
into the decedents and into Bill King
was--was truly evidence of someone well versed
in handling a firearm.
[suspenseful music]
- The next thing that happened that I'm conscious of
is that I'm going out the front door to my store,
all of a sudden, I'm being screamed on
from every direction, freeze, stop, get down.
And I'm feeling gun barrels against my head.
Apparently, they think I'm the shooter or something.
And I just started screaming out,
"I'm the owner of the business,
I'm the victim," you know?
"Back off." And they did.
- So Bill King is able to tell police
that an Eric had purchased the $45,000 in coins
and that he had come to pick them up.
And instead of picking up his coins,
he pulled a gun and started shooting.
narrator: While Bill's memory of the events
don't include anyone named Tom,
his recollection of the exchange with Eric
provides important confirmation
about the investigative trail detectives are following.
- The intentions were to-- to bring him, Eric Wick, in,
and we probably would have interviewed him,
but we came across other information
from his non-commission officer in charge
that he had decided he needed to take an emergency leave,
and so he was fleeing the jurisdiction
and heading what we thought was up 395 to Reno
where he resided.
- Once they knew who they were looking for,
they learn that Eric Wick was a 20-year-old marine,
and he lived in Reno, Nevada.
- He had been very nervous,
obviously concerned that something was wrong.
When Eric Wick fled, we were in a place
of having a direct target now that we're gonna go after.
* *
- He had an accomplice.
He said there was someone with him.
- "We the jury in the above-entitled case
find the defendant..." and then there's a pause.
And the--the clerk's voice trembles
'cause she can't hardly get it out either.
[dramatic music]
[tense music]
* *
narrator: Armed with mounting evidence,
Newport Beach Homicide detectives have
a prime suspect for the deadly robbery
at the Newport Coin Exchange:
marine Eric Wick.
- Eric Wick was a 20-year-old marine
serving his country and was the son
of a very well-respected ranking FBI agent
in the Reno field office.
[suspenseful music]
The former police chief of Reno PD
was an--a former captain
from the Newport Beach Police Department.
So we had close personal relationships with this agency.
And so I got on the phone with him,
shared with him that we believed
we had some flight of a wanted felon
responsible for three shooting victims, two dead.
Eric's father was
somebody that the Reno Police Department
had very high regard for.
And they were all crestfallen that his son was now
a suspect in this.
- With the help of Reno police,
the Newport Beach police were able to take Eric Wick
into custody without further incident,
and his father at the time said that he just really
didn't believe that his son could do that,
and that he was gonna get him the finest attorneys possible.
In the meantime, a search warrant is executed.
narrator: The warrant carried out
by the Reno Police Department
gives investigators inside out access to Eric's Chevy Nova.
And what they find helps seal his fate.
- His Chevrolet Nova is searched,
and they find a nine-millimeter pistol,
and they found the gold coins
that matched the description of the coins
taken from the Coin Exchange.
narrator: Eric wick is transported from Reno
to Orange County
where detectives begin their interrogation.
- At first, he tried to deny that he was even there,
but he couldn't really tell them where he was,
or how his fingerprints got there.
Finally, he broke down, and he said it was him.
- I'm John D. Barnett, I'm a criminal defense lawyer.
In the mid-90s, I was representing
people charged with serious criminal offenses.
So Eric Wick confesses he's the lone gunman.
He confessed he shot people. It was just a robbery gone bad.
So he makes a full confession
where he implicates only himself.
narrator: With a full confession from Eric Wick,
the mysterious "Tom" that Bill King named
in the ambulance no longer seems relevant.
Three months after the heinous crime,
on June 14, 1989,
Eric Wick is charged with two counts of homicide,
one count of attempted homicide,
felony robbery, and burglary.
Now detectives hope that Bill
and any eyewitnesses to the crime
will confirm that they have the trigger man.
- One of the witnesses was a baker named Finn Olsen,
who was outside the Coin Exchange
around the time of the shooting.
- I told the police I had seen these two people.
So I could identify him? Said I'd be happy to.
And I walked in the room,
and I just took a quick glance.
They had five guys standing up there behind a glass wall.
I looked, and there was Eric Wick.
Right away I said the number.
* *
"Yeah, that's who did it."
narrator: Four months after the arrest of Eric Wick,
investigators get a call
from Wick's friend and fellow Marine
that threatens to blow the whole case wide open.
- Eric Wick tells John Brady,
yes, he did commit the crime, but he had an accomplice.
He said there was someone with him.
They wouldn't really name the person who was with him,
but he described the person as an older marine
who had taught him martial arts
and had been with him that day.
narrator: And that marine is a man named Thomas Merrill,
or as his friends know him, Tom.
Could this be the same Tom Bill King named
right after being shot?
- Tom Merrill was a 26-year-old sharpshooter
in the Marine Corps,
and he was bunkmates with Eric Wick.
- Detectives learn from John Brady that Eric Wick
shared a storage unit with a man named Tom Merrill.
John Brady and Tom Merrill
had helped Eric move some rifles into that storage unit.
That storage unit has a security code,
and the police were able to determine
that Eric Wick had used that security code
to access that storage unit the days after the shooting.
- John Brady said that he heard Eric and Tom
talking about doing a robbery.
Gaming it out.
- One of the reasons they looked at Tom Merrill
was that Bill King had said to the--to the paramedic,
"Tom shot me."
The Tom could've been Tom Merrill.
- The police began to believe
that Tom must have been involved,
and so they went after him.
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: More than a year
after a Newport coin store shooting spree
left Bill King seriously injured
and his wife and best friend dead,
20-year-old Eric wick confesses,
but now says he didn't act alone.
Police are on the hunt to find the man
he names as his accomplice, Tom Merrill.
- Tom Merrill was a lance corporal
in the United States Marine Corps.
- Merrill is 26 years old, a bit older.
He is a martial arts expert, and a sharpshooter,
and a bunkmate of Eric Wick.
- What the police knew about Tom is that
he helped move the weapons from his car to a warehouse.
So we know that he helped Eric after the shooting.
- When Thomas Merrill was initially questioned,
he told police that he had nothing to do with it.
The one problem that he had was he didn't have an alibi.
- It is about whereabouts and can you account
for where you were at, you know, 4:00
on a particular afternoon 18 months earlier.
And Tom's recollection of that was not perfect.
- So the police bring a photo of Thomas Merrill
to--to Bill King, and he doesn't recognize him.
He said, you know, here's the man
who said, "Tom shot me,"
and now he looks at a picture of--of Thomas Merrill
and he says he had no recollection
of ever seeing Thomas Merrill.
narrator: Nearly 18 months after the violent rampage,
Newport police turn once again to eyewitness Finn Olsen.
- You would think it works in Tom's favor
that neither Finn Olsen or Bill King
could put him at the scene of the crime.
You would think that that would help a lot.
But John Brady said Tom helped Eric.
Bill King told the paramedics that "Tom" shot him.
And the police believed that it could only be Tom Merrill.
And so he is arrested and charged.
narrator: In March 1991,
a preliminary hearing for Wick and Merrill
determines there's enough evidence
for both to face trial.
Three months later, the trial of both Eric Wick
and Tom Merrill begins.
I looked forward to the trial daily.
I had the same anticipation to go to that like I did
when I saw the Beatles when I was in eighth grade.
- Eric's defense was, "I'm not the shooter.
I was just being controlled by Tom Merrill."
He believed that if he could help
the prosecution convict Tom Merrill,
that he himself could then get a reduced sentence.
- Tom Merrill did take the stand.
He did assert his innocence.
But he didn't remember where he was.
And he was vulnerable to cross-examination
on the lack of memory.
Both Tom Merrill and Eric Wick were found guilty
of all the charges brought against them.
They get two very different sentences.
Tom gets sentenced to life
without the possibility of parole.
And Eric gets 36 to life for a single count
of first-degree murder.
narrator: Two murders, two convictions,
two vastly different sentences.
Renee King and Clyde Oatts' killers are now behind bars,
but was justice really served?
[suspenseful music]
* *
- I got a call from the lawyer in LA,
and he asked me to assist in trying to get Tom a new trial,
and if he got a new trial, to try the case with him.
Finn Olsen was an eyewitness.
He's shown a lineup with Tom Merrill,
and he tells the investigators "Not only I can't make an ID,
but that's not the guy."
That evidence did not get presented to the jury.
We had the evidence that was explosive.
The bottom line was Tom was denied that evidence
and showing that would have an impact on the trial.
He was granted a new trial.
narrator: On March 24th, 1995,
nearly four years after getting a life sentence,
Thomas Merrill has a second chance
to fight for his freedom.
This time, Finn Olsen is able to testify
that he did not see Merrill at the crime scene.
The defense also presents surprising new evidence
about where Merrill was right before the murders.
- When Thomas Merrill was initially questioned,
he had a lack of an alibi,
but in going through with dogged determination,
John Barnett finds out that, actually,
Merrill did have an alibi
and had the receipt to show for it.
- It turns out that Tom made a $20 withdrawal from an ATM,
which was about four miles from the robbery before the murder.
And this robbery was planned, and it boggles the mind
to think that if he's going to a robbery that he planned,
that he'd stop off at an ATM to get 20 bucks.
narrator: After six years of anguish for those involved
and eight days of deliberation,
the jury returns with a shocking decision.
- The jury was deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of conviction.
- A mistrial was declared.
And then they tried him a third time.
So hopefully, the third time is the charm, right?
narrator: Thomas Merrill's attorneys are able
to poke holes in another one
of the prosecution's main theories,
that Bill King told a paramedic at the crime scene,
"Tom did it."
- One of the first responders who was questioning Bill King
had a jacket on, and the jacket had his name on it.
And the name that Bill King was looking at
when he was asked the question, "Who hurt you?" was Tom.
He has been gunshot three times.
He's in terrible pain, he can't form sentences,
but he can see Tom on this paramedic's shirt.
That's where the Tom came from.
So that piece was extremely important.
Bill King, he's sitting with Tom's mom,
Sarah Merrill, during the third trial.
They're describing this horrific killing
about his wife being executed and him being shot in the head,
and who's he sitting next to holding their hand?
The defendant's mom.
And that's a more powerful statement
than any other of the pieces of evidence.
narrator: After deliberating for nine hours over two days,
the jury reaches a verdict.
- I can feel Tom's mom, Mrs. Merrill, behind me.
I have Tom next to me, and I can feel the tension.
There's a lot of emotions that go through your head and heart
because you know what the stakes are.
[dramatic music]
* *
- "We the jury in the above-entitled case
find the defendant Thomas Merrill..."
and then there's a pause.
And the--the clerk's voice trembles
'cause she can't hardly get it out either.
"Not guilty."
- My name's Tom Merrill.
When the verdict came back "not guilty"...
I was just dazed.
Knowing that I was not someplace,
knowing that I did not shoot any people.
For me to get to the point of view
that they believed I did...
I cannot wrap my head around that.
I met Eric Wick when I came to work at the armory.
We kind of bonded as the new people and most junior.
The amount of storage we had on base wasn't all that much.
We got a storage unit off-base.
Eric had this kind of duffel bag full of stuff.
It was like nunchucks, some wooden swords,
a couple of other things like that.
He also had an AK-47.
Eric Wick murdered two people and tried to murder a third.
He just tried to murder me
using the criminal justice system.
- There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind
that there was one sole robber, shooter,
and that clearly was Eric Wick.
- I spent about five years in prison.
Bill King had a lot to do with me being free.
To give half a damn
about somebody that the police were saying
was guilty of doing that to him.
I--I just don't have words.
I really don't have words.
- Tom, I would view as a friend in that somebody
I feel would watch my back or be in my corner.
[solemn music]
* *
- Since getting out of prison,
I've suffered from chronic PTSD.
Trusting anybody is difficult.
The long-term effects of depression,
the long-term effects of not being able to see the sun.
On a good day, I can walk a mile.
On a bad day, I've trouble making it to the toilet.
Oh, my God, my mother.
I really doubt I'd be free
without everything that she did.
My mom worked day and night on my case.
She always used these steno pads to write notes.
And I remember one, it was like...
"Renew Zoloft,
talk to attorney about this, get eggs."
Yeah. My mom's amazing.
* *
- The victimization is not limited to the person
whose life was taken.
All of the people that are left behind in the Oatts family,
in the King family, those children,
they suffer every day without their parent.
- Eric Wick took my mother.
Eric Wick took a part of my father.
He took away an entire trajectory of my life.
And he sent me down a rabbit hole of trauma.
For--for a long time, for 38 years.
You know, I didn't know if my dad was coming back.
I had my little brother.
So that's why I'm just
so thankful for everything I have now.
- My children couldn't have been blessed
with a better mother.
And that's how I see her.
- You know, when you do your nighttime prayers,
I'd always kinda like call the phone to Jesus
and be like, "Hey, can I talk to my mom?"
And I'd kinda just pray to my mom.
That was super comforting for me growing up.
Just kinda like--like, "Hey, Jesus, what's up?
"Everything's cool, man.
How's my mom doing, can I talk to her?"
And then just kinda just talk to her in my way.
I did that a lot.