We had been spending a lot of time at the massive law library
located in Jasmine Coley's firm...
It was quiet and peaceful and away from everything and everyone...a perfect place for the five of us to work on our latest case, defending Eddie Lee
on charges of Capital Murder..
"Jazzy girl, thank you soooo much for letting us use your facilities to work on our case...It's quiet and free from intrusion..." said Yvette..
''Girl it's no problem...It's nice to have some friendly faces around this place.."said Jasmine..
"It's a nice day today...We are going to stretch our legs and go to Sam Mother's for lunch"I said.
"You comin Jazzy?" asked Bee Bee.
"Awww thanks, but me and my hubby are going to lunch today...by the water..."said Jasmine.
''Awww that's soo cute."said Sofia.
"Tell Dabnis I said hello.."said Yvette.
"Throw me the keys...I'll drive."said Kahlil.
II-
We arrived at Sam Mothers and found us a nice table to sit at that accommodated the five of us and a possible sixth..
''Ouuu ...I'm not too hungry , but I am thirsty..."said Ms. Yvette.
"Yeah Me too!" I said..
We ordered a round of Ice Teas
and Mimmosas
"Let's all eat healthy today...Salads everybody."said Bee Bee..
"That's fine by me.."said Sofia..
"Me too!"said Kahlil..
"Yeah I'm good with it." I said..
and so salads it was..
Ms. Jade walked in...
"Heyy guys." she said..
''So what have you found out?" asked Yvette.
"I looked at the club camera footage...Eddie and my cousin came in around 10:30...they sat in the back corner and talked until midnight...Benny Hanna is seen talking and joking with Eddie Lee several times in between 12:00 and 12:30..In fact he brought two more drinks for them....They left at around 1:52 am.. There is a break in the camera viewing between now and 3:00 am..."said Jade..
"That's strange.." I said.
"That's the murder happening right then."said Kahlil..
"I saw the Autopsy Report ….The Body was found around 5:00 am...It was estimated he died anywhere between 2:15- 3:00 am..The Police received an anonymous call at 4:45 am..and get this..When they got here..The place was locked up..."said Jade.
"That doesn't make sense at all."said Sofia.
"No it doesn't....The Bartender and the two waitresses were all recorded leaving right after Eddie and Jessica...Then the tape went blank for two hours.."said Jade.
"Somebody else was there..."said Bee Bee.
"Had to be." said Yvette...
"Heads up!" I said.
III-
Lt. Tragg walked into the diner.. He saw us and naturally he walked over to where we were sitting.
He had dressed down Gary Lockwood, Investigator for the District Attorney's Office, who he had absolutely no jurisdiction over whatsoever...
And Lt. Danny Ho... While Lt. Tragg had seniority over him, it meant very little, he paid him little to no mind..Just like his friend Lt. Sissy Van Buren..
Lt Tragg warned them against aiding Jade Lee at all in her investigation of the Benny Hanna murder..He had closed it and that was that he said..
Both men laughed after he had left..
"You guys have been missing for a few days huh? Still planning on defending that gangster.. huh?" he said.
We stopped talking about the case and continued eating our salads...and drinking our beverages.
None of us uttered a word to Lieutenant Tragg, it was as if he wasn't there...
"I'm telling you...Honey Mustard Salad Dressing is the bomb!"said Bee Bee.
"That's right...It goes with a lot of things.."said Kahlil..
"No, you got it wrong...Honey Dijon is the show stopper.."said Sofia..
''I gotta go with my girl Sofia...Honey Dijon is the truth ruth!" I said.
The four of us debated Honey Mustard Salad Dressing over Honey Dijon Salad Dressing...
"Jadddddddddde that saki is an Aphrodisiac....I was soo hot..I could hardly keep my clothes on in Gary's car on the ride home..."said Yvette..
"That stuff is powerful... No wonder my cousin called Eddie Lee..she was horny!"laughed Jade.
Ms. Yvette and Ms. Jade raved about the Saki they had at Eddie Lee's restaurant...It was as if Lt. Tragg wasn't there..
"You know Yvette...You've lived here long enough...You know about Eddie Lee..You KNOW who and what he is.."said Lt. Tragg..
Ms. Yvette didn't utter a word...She finished her Ice tea.....
"ARTIE!!! ENOUGH! ORDER SOMETHING OR GET OUT!! BUT LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!" screamed Sam Mother..Who was tired of Lt. Tragg harrassing some of his customers..
Lt. Tragg was beet red livid..He turned and stormed out!
Yvette high fived each and every one of us...
"Sooo proud of you guys." she said.
''We fixed him huh?" I said.
"But now we have to look deeper into Benny Hanna."said Bee Bee.
''Maybe he owed somebody else money.."said Sofia.
"That has to be it." said Kahlil..
"Eddie Lee is the only game in town in that neighborhood..If he owed anybody else any money...He would have to know about it and it would have to come through him...He told me Benny was square..and didn't owe him that much...I'm going to do more digging."said Jade..
''Well Jessica has done a great job of keeping him off the street and out of sight..."said Yvette.
"I just know she has.." I thought..
Thinking about my short fling with her and how she could keep a man totally enthralled in the bedroom... But that was a long time ago...I wouldn't trade Bee Bee for her for all the gold in the world..
"Let's get out of here and get back to work."said Ms. Yvette.
IV-
Eddie Lee and Jessica Lee left the rooftop, indoor pool.....They were holding hands and laughing..She had taken a few days off from her job and was spending all her time with him...
"I seriously don't know when I have had this much fun....I'm serious....enjoying a relaxing swim all day today with you....You have a fantastic body by the way."laughed Eddie Jones.
"You're no slacker yourself.."laughed Jessica..
"I mean when I'm not running that restaurant ,I'm counting money, running that floating crap game upstairs at my spot...handling business...but like these last few days...Going to the Zoo, then the Camden Aquarium, This swimming pool...It's been great Jessie...Don't you have to work?" asked Eddie.
"My dockets were clear...meaning I didn't have any upcoming cases....So I took a few days off..." said Jessica.
''Just to hang out with me..WOW! Nobody, Nobody has ever done as much for me before...I'm ...I'm speechless."said Eddie Lee.
"You should get indicted for murder more often huh?" laughed Jessica.
"Yeah...How about that?" laughed Eddie Lee.
They held hands and kissed softly..
as they looked at the pretty rainbow that appeared in the sky...
and in Chinatown, Ms. Jade was getting the skinny on the murdered Benny Hanna..
She interviewed every shop keeper, every Bar owner and everyone in the know in Chinatown...She is a beautiful and sexy woman...She's Chinese and she speaks the language...She got far more information and co-operation than Lt. Tragg got..
The four of us were enjoying the rooftop terrace of our building this afternoon..
Bee Bee and Sofia were folding their laundry....
Kahlil and I had brought Pizza and Cokes back for the four of us..
and a bottle of wine..
and some glasses....
Alexa sat on the table in the middle and played us the latest Hip Hop, Neo soul and acid jazz music..
Ms. Jade , who lived across the street from us , joined us on the rooftop..
''Howdy Neighbors.."she said with a smile...
''Heyyy have some Pizza Jade..."said Kahlil...
"Soda or wine?" I asked.
"Wine " she said..
"So you were in Chinatown..."said Sofia..
"How goes the great investigation?" asked Bee Bee..
"Well Benny Hanna did not owe anyone else any money...Like I said before..Eddie Lee has that neighborhood on lock...Anything like that would have had to of come from him...or through him...I checked his books...It was true..Benny Hanna paid him 75 large up top and on time...He let Eddie Lee host a party of 25 people there at his place and they all drank for free...and that knocked a couple of thousand off of his bill...He owed about 17 large...and with the money he was bringing in from that bar/bistro and his little side hustle...Escort girls....He would have paid Eddie Lee off soon..."said Jade Lee..
"So the bartenders and the cocktail waitresses are clear."asked Bee Bee..
''Yeah, no grudges...no recently fired?" I asked.
"None that I could find and they all alibied out....but there was one person, one person who was not on the scene ,who I haven't found yet who is of interest."said Jade as she helped us chow down on Pizza and sip wine..
''And who might that be?" asked Sofia..
''A woman! Benny Hanna had a thing for this woman...her name is Lydia...Lydia Hodge....Real name Lei Chin Song...A Chinese National ,who immigrated here legally 10 years ago and who got her citizenship a year ago...They say Benny was crazy about her...I want to know ,How Crazy?" said Jade.
who showed us a glossy of her....She was young, a little younger than the four of us....Very pretty!
"Ahhhhh study a man's troubles and at the core, it's always about some woman." sighed Kahlil..
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