Beverly and I were in the garage of the building the housed Dabnis's law firm....
"This , my dear Shortcake is where Joseph Turner's car was parked.. about three cars from where Dabnis had parked his car.." I said..
"Okay" said Beverly...
I took my flashlight and scanned the walls, I scanned them until I saw what I was looking for..
I took my tweezers and pulled the spent shell casing out of the wall..
Beverly put it in a plastic baggie she had brought with her...
"Just what I thought....The murder occurred right here....Turner was shot in the head...There is splotches of arterial blood spray right here...He was dragged to Dabnis's car which was right here...See the very minute blood splotches...and the car was driven to the street...All of that probably took less than ten minutes." I said..
"Which meant the killer took the front desk clerk out before he went up and he probably went up on foot.."said Beverly..
"Exactly....and he made the phone call as he was driving the car to the street...because he was probably wearing latex gloves , this explains the absence of fingerprints and DNA in the car and on the gun..which had the serial numbers filed off.." I said..
"This was well planned...The killer knew the entire layout of this place..and he got Dabnis's keys and knew where everybody was parked..You know what I think?" said Beverly..
"THE KILLER WORKED HERE!!! Maybe an intern or part time worker...A Maintenance guy...Somebody these high powered and important lawyers wouldn't even notice through the course of the day....We've interviewed Attorneys, Para-Legals and Administrative Assistants...That's the regular staff, but they probably have maintenance guys running through here everyday.."I said.
"Or delivery people.." said Beverly....
''YES!!!!It's obvious Tragg didn't come up here, nor did he send a team up here..or he would have noticed all of this."I said.
"He was so anxious to collar Dabnis that he never considered anybody else...This seems to be a pattern with him all the time.."said Beverly...
"You know, consistantly sloppy case work like this would have gotten him demoted and walking a beat again in New Orleans.." I said..
II-
In Court, Both ADA Yvonne Harris
and Lt. Tragg
Noticed that neither Beverly nor I was present in court today...
Olivia and Dabnis sat together comparing notes and watched Nelson and Josie go through Voir Dire..
We knew the type of juror we wanted...Needed...Young Black or white professionals , the type of individual who didn't neccesarily believe everything the police said...
Our questions were designed to find just that kind of juror....along with a good bit of Bait and Switch..
ADA Yvonne Harris was very intelligent and didn't suffer fools lightly... She knew the game..
We jousted with her...and
Nelson and Josie got 7 of the 12 jurors we needed in spite of ADA Harris..
Who gave as good as she got...
Olivia peered at Nelson and Josie..
She was as proud of them as she could be...And glad she had gotten both of them on her team...
"They both did very good Liv...We trained them well huh?" Dabnis joked..
"Yeah, how about that?" laughed Olivia..
Dabnis's new wife, Jazzy sat in the spectator section...She smiled.. Josie and Nelson had done a wonderful job...She looked hopeful.
"Okay" said Judge Markita Anderson... "The Jury is selected...Be ready for trial tomorrow at 9:00 am sharp..."she said..
Lt. Tragg smiled..
"Just a formality now...That ass hat is on his way to prison for life..Heh, heh, heh...Now about you, me and dinner tonight baby!" he said..
"Go back over that crime scene .If there are any holes in this case, plug them up.. Olivia's number two, her niece ,Beverly was not here today, Neither was her husband, Donnie Ray....
"You know why? Because they are out looking for holes in this case...Go over that crime scene again!!.."said Yvonne, who totally ignored Lt. Tragg's attempts at flirting.. She wanted desperately to win this case...She had only lost one time before..and that was to Yvette Jones and her team of young attorneys...She desperately wanted to win and to beat the much heralded Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West.
"What about me and you?" asked Lt. Tragg...
"There is no ME AND YOU!! Go back over that crime scene Lieutenant....I don't want any surprises." said ADA Yvonne Harris.
III-
Today at our home we sat down and discussed our findings...
"I've seen discovery...It's not a whole lot...but it's enough circumstantial evidence that if handled the right way..it could lead to a conviction..."said a wary Olivia, who was frustrated at this case..
"Maybe not Auntay.."said Beverly...
"The Phone number from the untraceable phone..The Burner phone...is the same number that called Dabnis and told him his car was outside...Now that call was made at 11: 15am... Dabnis caught the elevator and rushed to the street.....Judging by the estimated time of death...All of this occurred at the same time, meaning unless Dabnis was in two places at once...There is no way he could have physically left his floor, gotten to the street ,killed Joseph Turner and knocked out the Front Desk guy all at once."I said.
"There's more...This same number called 911 and Homicide at 11:10 am... That's five minutes BEFORE the estimated time of death..That's the so called anonymous calls that both Hazel and Lt. Tragg got telling them a shooting death occurred."said Beverly..
"And going a month back, Joe Turner got calls from this SAME Number...This same number... The Phantom Phone Number....That's your defense right there...The killer has been stalking Joe Turner for at least a month before he killed him.." I said..
''Wow! If only we knew who this killer was...All we have is a Phantom Phone Number." said Nelson.
"Shortcake...Tell your Aunt what we discovered." I said.
"Joseph Turner was hit with multiple paternity suits brought by , wait for it...Vonda Mittchell.. The same Vonda Mittchell that Dabnis used to date.. She was pregnant and unemployed and she practically depleted her savings with legal fees trying to get him to submit to a paternity test...
He used high priced lawyers to block the tests for years and denied paternity...
That boy, John Mitchell was born 18 years ago....in Atlanta and on his birth certificate...Joseph Turner was named as the boy's father...and Vonda Mitchell was named as the mother.. He was born in Atlanta, attended Atlanta public schools....Moved up here to Philly and graduated from Central High. She was lying about just moving back here a month ago...They've been here for a year...We have records of her calling Joseph Turner several times also.." said Beverly.
"Is he employed?" asked Olivia..
''Sure is...He's an UBER driver...He delivers food in the Center City area...He's probably been in that building a million times delivering food .."I said.
"He knew the whole layout didn't he?" asked Olivia..
"Now you see the picture...At first I thought this was a professional hit.. Then I realized..No..This was just a well thought out plan , by someone who had a lot of time... Maybe an intern or part time worker...A Maintenance guy...A Delivery guy...Somebody these High powered and important lawyers wouldn't even notice through the course of the day....We've interviewed Attorneys, Para-Legals and Administrative Assistants...That's the regular staff, but they probably have maintenance guys running through here everyday..and then it came to Beverly and me...Not a maintenance worker...but a delivery guy...He must have been in and out of this building a number of times, scoped the entire layout.."I said.
"Okay...I'm with you on this...but why Dabnis? Why single him out?" asked Nelson.
"Did he argue with him?"asked Josie..
"Yes..Openly on several occassions from what witnesses have told me..Not just Dabnis, but several of the Senior Attorneys felt Joseph Turner had betrayed them by helping his company leverage a buyout of their firm..Joseph Turner never lost his cool, he merely laughed at them...He and Dabnis nearly came to blows..Dabnis was an easy target....Our guy snapped a photo of his car keys somehow...Used a three dimensional copier to make a wax copy of the keys and when he made his move..he dragged the body to the car, Dabnis's car and called him...and sat the car in front of the building with the horn blowing..Knowing Dabnis would be caught in his car with the dead body and knowing witnessess would be around who heard the two arguing..." said Beverly..
"This is a good story a good narrative, but hard to prove..and it's very circumstantial.."said Olivia..
"I've got the spent shell and Beverly took photos of blood splatter..minute, but still I know what you mean...But drive home for now that it's physically impossible for Dabnis to have committed that murder...I'll do some more digging..I called the Atlanta area DMV for a drivers license photo..Once I know what the boy looks like, I'll have more to go on.."I said..
"Josie, you stayin over tonight? We'll order some pizzas..Call Paris..We 've got a lot of work to do..Structuring our defense.."said Beverly...
"Sure...I'll call him now.."said Josie.
"Let's get started "said Nelson...
Olivia stared at me...She walked over to me..
She kissed me passionately....
"Thank you!" she said..
I held her in my arms...
''You're welcome sexy..." I whispered..
IV-
Around the corner from us..
Dabnis stared at his pretty wife....The thought that he could very well spend the rest of his life in prison , far away from here, far away from her and be disbarred made him sick to his stomach...He felt like getting a gun and finding Lt. Tragg and shooting him to death..
That wouldn't solve anything....
He stared at her...She was so damn sexy and he wanted her so...
Jasmine stared at her new husband ..A man who had been her friend, her entire adult life and was now her husband...She couldn't lose him now , not now...She had finally found happiness, Had finally walked into the light..She couldn't be cast back into that...
She took her mini skirt off and her sandals..
Dabnis took her into his arms and kissed her passionately....she devoured his soft lips and he hers..
He slipped her panties down and unhooked her bra...she fondled his penis...
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm" she moaned..
They wound up in bed ,making sweet love...
Olivia and Beverly were great attorneys, Nelson was great too and they were nuturing Josie into a superstar...They were going to win this , They were going to knock the smirk off Lt. Tragg's face...she mused...
He sat in an unmarked car outside our house..
"The lights are still on...It's near midnight...They're scared...They don't have a case/...
They're all in there...The five of them, working like dogs...They're about to lose...I'm just glad I am a part of it.." he laughed...
Around the corner , Outside of Dabnis and Jasmine's open window he heard the bed squeaking something terrible..
The bed was squeaking loudly and the headboard was rattling..
"That's right...make all the love you can..,because soon you'll be sharing a cell with a huge guy named Bubba, who will make you scream like she is Dabnis...Hahahahahahahahahaaha." he laughed..
He dialed ADA Yvonne Harris..She answered..
"Hello? Who is this?" she answered..
"It's me...Arthur Tragg...I'm an hours drive from your house...How about you let me come over...Help you wind down huh? I've got a nice bottle of wine..It's a good port..." said Lt. Tragg..
(CLICK!)
He couldn't believe it...She hung up...
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." came the sounds from the window..
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" came Dabnis's booming baritone..
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