Eating Brunch in Mabel Jenkins Soul Food Joint was a much needed break from eating at Sam Mother's joint...Nothing against Sam, but we had had it with Lt. Tragg coming in ranting and raving..
It was nice to have a relaxing meal...
Yvette and Gary were there when we arrived....They were sitting at the table with Dabnis and Jazzy...
"Hey Guys...There is a booth right to the side of us." said Ms. Yvette..
"Hey How are you guys doin?" said Gary..
"This is much more relaxing....Old Flat Foot doesn't venture this far into the hood." joked Dabnis.
"I'm glad....This will keep you and him from killing each other." said Jazzy...
They were feasting on Barbecued Ribs and Honey Barbecued Wings...
"Awwww yeah...I see what I want right now.." I said..."Besides Bee Bee..I always want her.." I said and hugged her..
She blushed and giggled like a school girl......
"Oh hush up.." she said..
"I'm ready to order...How about you Puddin Pop?" said Kahlil...
"Yes....."said Sofia as she took her seat...
Coming in behind us was Olivia, Donnie Ray, Beverly, Nelson and Josie..
"Well Hello Everybody..."said Olivia...
"I see you guys have discovered the alternative eating and meeting place."said Donnie Ray.
"Away from that raving lunatic! Jazzy told me about how he carried on yesterday."said Beverly..
"Had the nerve to stop by our place last night, asking if you guys were there and if we knew where you were and tried to threaten us with withholding evidence...Like we aren't lawyers and we don't know the law...After we got finished laughing in his face..We slammed the door in his face."said Beverly.
"Ahhh Just ignore him...Let him say what he's going to say.."said Nelson...
"Yeah but nobody wants to hear all of that while they're trying to enjoy their meal.."said Josie..
''Exactly...I'm close to filing a harassment suit.."said Dabnis..
Olivia and Nelson were all in Breakfast mode...They ordered Shrimp and Grits, Louisiana Style..The influence of Donnie Ray...
Still Beverly and Josie ordered the traditional Soul Food meal..Fried Chicken, Mac and Cheese and Mustard Greens.
It was so relaxing at Mabel's...You could hear yourself think...You could talk quietly and enjoy your food...And as always...Fellowshipping with Olivia, Beverly, Donnie Ray,Josie and Nelson was always worth our while..
The Best part was that we didn't have to hear Lt. Tragg's loud yelling and screaming about what a bad client we had, how guilty she was and how could we defend her?
II-
Jade walked in just as we were finishing our meal...Everyone else had gone...
"I re-interviewed everyone that was at that party.....
and I scanned the street and traffic cams as well as the building cameras.. I do have Ted going into the ladies restroom minutes after Kate went in...but naturally there is no film footage of him leaving.. I found something else interesting too...She wasn't the only one he was having sex with that night.. There was another woman...A Married Attorney
Crystal Pffeifer…. Tragg interviewed her, but he didn't get that information...I confronted her with film footage of them both entering the coatroom and two people complaining that the coatroom door was locked and film footage of them both leaving...Him fixing his trousers, lipstick on his face and his lapel..and her hair mussed up, her make up smeared and her party dress, wrinkled.. She Fessed up that she has been sleeping with him for five years, giving him information, inside information on clients, Attorneys, Partners...what have you...she asked me would any of this come out in the trial...I told her I didn't think it needed to since their sex was consensual and so far didn't seem to have anything to do with the murder...but that's for you to decide...I didn't make her any promises.."
I tracked Kate's phone...which went missing right after we saw her , when we were leaving...Whoever had the phone traveled down to the lobby...and texted him... "WOW...THAT WAS THE FIRST ORGASM I'VE HAD IN AWHILE....WHY DON'T YOU MEET ME IN THE BACK DRIVE WAY, AWAY FROM THE STREET CAM IN A FEW MINUTES AND ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU A HAPPY ENDING!"
He received this text and slipped back there and somebody whacked him with that hammer.."said Jade.
"I knew it...he was lured out there with the promise of sex.."said Bee Bee..
"My god...What a Horn dog...He had screwed Kate in the women's restroom and then screwed this Crystal person in the coat room...How much more sex did he need?" asked Bee Bee..
"Some of these guys never get enough.."said Yvette eying Gary....and me and Kahlil..
"Hey what are you looking at me for?" asked Gary Innocently...
Bee Bee looked at me and whispered..
"No matter how much I give you Hot Stuff, you still want more.." she said..
Which was the truth...I always tried to get a little more..Bee Bee was more entrancing than I ever imagined.
I smiled sheepishly...
Sofia said..
"I know what you mean Ms. Yvette."
Kahlil smiled sheepishly...
Jade busted out laughing..
III-
At Sam Mother's diner...
Lt. Tragg walked in...There was no sign of any of the attorneys he regularly jousted with....
"Hey Sam did that Asian Babe come in here today? The one who works for Yvette.." he asked.
"No...You've succeeded in running away some of my best customers...and I want it to stop...I'm not playing with you Artie..I mean it."said Sam Mother..
Lt. Tragg ignored him..
"She's been questioning people I already questioned in my investigation and checking Street,Traffic and building cams ...I can't have her interfering with my investigation..I've warned the detectives under me...NOT TO GIVE HER ANY ASSISTANCE!" he said.
''She's not..Your investigation is over...You've made your arrest and besides, she's doing her job,...They have to prepare a defense...She has to do a thorough investigation..She isn't bothering you at all and I want you to leave her alone if she does come in here..You hear?" said Sam..
Jazzy was allowing us to use the law library in her building...to work on the case..
"You'll have peace and quiet up here...He has no idea my law firm is in this building ,on this floor and that you guys utilize our law library.." said Jasmine.
"Thank You so much Jasmine..we really appreciate this."said Yvette.
"This is larger than the Law Library in town.." I said.
"Just a little bit...Some on now..We've got to structure are argument..."said Bee Bee, getting us all on point..
"We need more facts in order to structure a decent defense strategy.."said Sofia..
''We're getting there, aren't we Ms. Jade?" asked Kahlil.
"Slowly ...I'm still digging..."said Jade.
Here we worked for hours in peace, far away from any prying...
We knew Lt. Tragg had probably been up to our offices looking for us..but to no avail....
One Night he had the termerity to stop by Gary's house..
Gary and Yvette could see him from the Terrace...but he couldn't see them..
"I don't believe this guy...He really needs to get laid.."said Gary.
"You opening the door?" asked Yvette, giggling..
"NO! he can stand out there all night if he wants..I'll just mute the bell for an hour..He has no idea if we are here or not."said Gary...
"He's stopped by my place already...
And Liv told me he stopped by their place looking for us or information on us...They laughed in his face and slammed the door in his face.
And at his favorite watering hole, Curly's ,naturally he bothered ADA Karen Page.
"No they are not working with me...Not this week...I haven't seen them." Karen lied... Of course she knew we were across the hall in the huge law library... and we were ordering our meals from either Sam Mother's Diner or Mabel Jenkins soul Food Joint through Uber eats and it was delivered to us.
where we dined in our conference room. We were doing our best to avoid him at all costs and it was working..
He was frustrated that he couldn't find us...
He came to our apartment buildings...We just didn't answer the door..Without a warrant, he couldn't compel us to...
Finally he was called into his Captain's Office..
"Artie...I've received complaints about you from Sam Mother's place and from that attorney, Dabnis Coley...the one who sued the Police department and you..Apparently you've been harassing attorneys trying to prepare for a case..."said Captain Cantrell..
"That's a lie.."said Lt. Tragg...
''Well The D.A.'s office called here too..,.You've been trying to get into the conference room of the building where ADA Karen Page is now working....Now look...I want it to stop...simmer down..You do one more thing...One more screw up and you're back on the Marine Boat for a month...Now cool it...You hear?" said Captain Cantrell..
Lt. Tragg was seething...
"THAT DABNIS COLEY.....I'LL KILL HIM!" he seethed..
Inside Sam Mother's place on this day...
"Ouuuu you are soooo bad!" laughed Jasmine.
"It worked didn't it?" laughed Dabnis..
"Don't worry Dabnis...I can teach you how to play Bid Whist real easy..." said Yvette..
"Yeah she taught me."laughed Jade..
Lt. Tragg stormed in...
He looked at Jade..
"I've been looking for you young lady... Don't interfere or obstruct my investigation...and don't ask any of my detectives for any help!" he said.
Jade cracked up laughing....but didn't respond..He didn't have a legal foot to stand on..She was a licensed Private Investigator and she was running a legal investigation for the attorneys she worked for...He couldn't touch her!
He then turned to Dabnis..
"YOUUUUU!" he snarled...He was shaking with rage..
"Get out of my face...Don't say anything to me.." he said...
''That's enough...Baby That's enough...Let's pay our bill and go." said Jazzy softly...
"NO! Why have we got to kowtow around him?...Everytime we come in here..here he comes, yelling and screaming and disturbing our meal..I aint goin nowhere and he aint doin nothing to no one at this table."said Dabnis..
''WHYYY YOUUUU!"said Lt. Tragg.
"Arthur...I warned you...That's it! After this trial is over... You're going on the boat, Marine Patrol...One Month! That ought to cool you off." said Captain Cantrell...
This took the air out of his sails...
He walked out of the diner slowly...He was shook....
"Sam, give me a tomato juice..."said Captain Cantrell..
"It's on the house Captain.."said Sam Mother, smiling.. "In fact you and your wife eat free the rest of this week." he said..
''Why thank you..she'll like that.."he said, smiling.
IV-
That night after work , we all returned to the Bridge Highrise..Including Kate.
We Were here so much now...
It was like a second home..
"Your phone vanished from your purse, shortly after you left the ladies restroom...We saw you, you looked dazed....Do you remember anybody near you?" asked Jade.
"No..I...He had just bent me over the sink and had had his way with me for about a half an hour...I couldn't believe it...I wandered into the room..They were all dancing and drinking...a lot of people were around me.."said Kate..
"Anyone who could have picked your purse and gotten your phone...What else do you remember?"asked Yvette..
"I was trying to get in the coatroom...I was going to go and the door was closed and the door was locked...Several people complained that it was locked...and someone said the B-Mechanic for the night was downstairs...They said they were going to call him...I had a drink...and by the time I finished the drink...The door was suddenly open...I saw him coming out, his hair was al messed up..He was fixing his trousers and he had a wet spot in the crotch of his trousers...I could figure out what had happened..He had a girl in there..."said Kate..
"Mannn this guy was bold....doing that, that close to the party ...He could have gotten caught."I said.
"That's what made it that much more exciting to him...The fact that he, they could have been caught."said Bee Bee..
''Still that was risky, edgy.."said Sofia.
"Dangerous....Don't you get it? It wasn't just the sex act....It was the edge...It proved something to himself about himself..He needed to do that there in front of everybody."said Kahlil..
"I saw Crystal coming out...Fixing her hair...Her make up was smeared...So was her lipstick...I could figure out what had happened.. She has been sleeping with him for years...Rumor has it..She was his pipeline..Giving him the 411 on everybody, Attorneys, Partners, Clients.."said Kate.
"What about her husband? what does he do? he work for you guys?" asked Gary...
"Her husband is the nicest man....He deserved better than her..He's an Attorney too, but not with our firm...He's chief counsel for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange...
"Was he at the party?" asked Yvette...
"He could have been....I didn't see him.."said Kate..
"He wasn't on the guest list...I didn't interview him." said Jade..
"Whoever copped your phone had to know what he did to you...and had to know what he did with Crystal....This person had to have knowledge of that..."I said.
"Somebody was at that party that wasn't on the guest list...."said Bee Bee..
"But who?" asked Sofia..
''We gotta go over that film again..see if anybody shows up...that we missed."said Kahlil..
"I'm on it."said Jade.
"Hmmm....I can help you since we were investigating him anyway...I'll give you the names and addresses of two other attorneys there that were raped by him....and not blackmailed either..Straight up raped.."said Gary..
"How do you know this?"asked Kate.
"The District Attorney's Office has been investigating Ted Tyler for awhile now.."said Gary...
''Go talk to Hazel about that Hammer..Find out where it came from, if any other DNA or prints was found on it.."said Yvette..
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