Graham Waters

Living… in a broken family. His mother is a drug addict and his younger brother has accumulated three felonies by the age of 20. The three of them are hanging together by a few wispy fibers, and as the most stable member of the family, Graham charges himself with the task of keeping them together. He visits his mother frequently to check up on her and stock her fridge with groceries; she wants him to track down his brother and bring him home.

Profession… detective for the LAPD. He works alongside his partner, a Latina woman named Ria.

Interests… hoops. Graham spends much of his limited free time down in Compton, coaching youth basketball.

Relationship Status… single. Though he is sleeping with Ria, it is unlikely that either of them would call their arrangement a “relationship.”

Challenge… investigating a shooting in the parking lot of a San Fernando Valley convenience store. Conklin, a white police officer, shot and killed William Lewis, a black officer working undercover. It is the third time that Conklin fatally shot a black man, but this time there were no witnesses. Graham must tread lightly as he factors Conklin’s possible racial prejudices into the physical evidence at the crime scene, especially since Conklin is a fellow LAPD officer.

Personality… quiet, aloof, and brooding. Graham prefers to listen and watch rather than speak. He keeps his emotions under wraps, and when his id occasionally bubbles to the surface, it often comes in the form of a crass, hurtful remark. He is not an adept communicator, but his countless hours spent in silent observation and reflection have granted him insight into the nature of car-centric, spread-out Los Angeles. As he tells Ria, “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass.”