Early the next morning...We all had had a great night out...The little rowdy dow between Alonzo Williams and Greta Fallow , his ex-fiancé not with standing.. And had all gone home and had a nice restful sleep..
Today was another day in the life of working attorneys... It was nice to have a little lull like this...We had had one case after another ...
But that lull wasn't going to last but so long..Our doorbell rang...
Alfreda answered the door and saw a very attractive White Man and his sobbing daughter..At least she hoped this was his daughter and not his girlfriend..
"Hi ,May I help you?" said Alfreda..
"I'm Joseph Hughes..I'm an Attorney, from Hughes and Douglass Attorneys at law...
and this is my daughter, Assistant District Attorney, Brittany Hughes....We need to see Olivia and Beverly..." he said..
"I'll take you to them.."said Alfreda..sighing with relief that this was his daughter and not his girlfriend!
We were all in our conference room having coffee
and doughnuts..
"Hard to believe just a few weeks ago this place was packed... Me and you Neicy Poo, Donnie Ray and Bee Bee
were working a case.." said Olivia..
"Yeah and
Nelson, Keith Jones and Dabnis had a case..."said Beverly
"Yeah and Sofia, Jessica and Chip
were here and
Kahlil, Josie and Jazzy were here too! I miss them...We were up to our noses in cases and court appearences."said Nelson..
''So what, you guys are bored now? Enjoy the peace...It doesn't last long.." I said..
"You are so right..Here come Alfreda with Two Clients..." said Josie, smiling..
"Olivia, Beverly , this is Joseph Hughes an Attorney with Hughes and Douglas and this is his daughter, Assistant District Attorney Brittany Hughes... That's Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander, her niece and my daughter, Attorney Beverly West-East, My son in law, Attorney Nelson East..Olivia's husband, Donnie Ray Alexander, Investigator and our newest associate attorney , Ms. Josie Boyd.." said Alfreda.
"You don't know me...But I know of you guys...I've seen and heard of your work...My politics tend to swerve a little center of yours..but I respect your craft...I know you're the best defense attorneys money can buy and that's why I'm here..My daughter's boyfriend, Alonzo Calderone Williams, one of my firm's newest and finest young attorneys.. An African-American like yourselves has been arrested and charged with Murder..." said Joseph Hughes..looking around our office and admiring our set up.
''Daddy please...I believe we met briefly a few weeks ago.. You're friends of
Yvette Jones and Keith ,Sofia, Beatrice and Kahlil...I went to Penn Law school with them...I believe you met Alonzo too.. He didn't do this...He couldn't do this.."said Brittany.
''We saw him the night before last in the restaurant we were in.." said Olivia..
"He was having a rather loud argument with a young lady...and she poured her drink on him.." said Beverly.
"He explained to us that he thought she had sent some intimate photos of you and he to your father."said Nelson..
"She vehemently denied doing any of the such and as the argument got more heated...She wound up pouring her drink on him..." I said..
"She walked out...He was very embarrassed."said Josie.
''Well Now that same woman is very dead! Somebody tossed her off the roof of her apartment condo into the street...I'm certain Alonzo didn't do this...He's no killer."said Joseph Hughes..
"Oh My God..I imagine he's at Central Booking now.." said Olivia..
"Yes..I tried to tell that Imbecile, Lt. Tragg that he didn't do this...but he seemed to take such glee in placing cuffs on him..."said Brittany..
"Oh God...He's involved...???" asked Beverly..
"Yes...I hadn't seen him for a month...He shows up and this happens.."said Brittany..
"Yes..How about that?" I said..
I got to thinking...Lt. Tragg wanted ADA Karen Page.. as a result..B.L. was set up and wound up in the middle of a Murder case...He despises Dabnis...Soon he's involved in a murder charge...I had heard he had snaked his hands up this girl's dress and when her boyfriend stepped to him about it..He's charged with murder...There certainly was a pattern and all of these cases involved somebody getting photos..I know of course that Lt. Tragg was no murderer....but the photos being delivered triggered this entire thing...I was going to keep that to myself..but I wasn't going to forget it.
''Will you take our case? We can pay..."pleaded ADA Brittany Hughes...
"Liv?" asked Nelson..
"Liv?" asked Josie.
''We'll Take it!!.. We'll go up to Central Booking today and see about getting him arraigned.."said Olivia..
"I'll wire your legal fees to your account.." said Joseph Hughes... "Thank you very much.." he said..
"Thank you guys so much..." said Brittany..
Alfreda passed her a paper towel...
''Here sit down, stop crying...It's going to be alright.." she said soothingly..Brittany was younger than her own daughter, Beverly...She felt motherly towards her.
II-
And at Central Booking, Attorney Alonzo Williams, now a murder suspect and in need of an attorney himself found himself sitting in the interrogation room the detectives nicknamed the fishbowl not exercising his right to silence...but waging a war of words with Lt. Tragg..
''You're enjoying the hell out of this you cornball keystone copper...You know I didn't do this and if you think you're going to roll up to my girl's crib with any ideas of comforting her with your cheap champaigne forget it..She don't want to see you...She despises you!" he snarled..
Lt. Tragg laughed..
"Just keep talkin punk.. I've got you right where I want you.." he said quietly..
''You're an idiot.. So bad they ordered you to go to the FBI's Crime detection course...A course most good detectives volunteer for.." snarled Alonzo,,
"I wish we still beat people with Newspapers and Rubber hoses.."laughed Lt. Tragg...
"You date yourself Lieutenant.....Okay...Get out of here...Leave us to our client.."said Olivia..
"I had a bet with the Desk Sgt that Yvette Jones and her snot nosed kids were coming...He said no, it would be you and Beverly , Liv... I lost a dollar..I guess I should pay him huh?."laughed Lt. Tragg..
Beverly ignored Lt. Tragg , She instead looked at Alonzo...
"You alright?" she asked.
He thought Beverly was very attractive... He smiled..and said softly..
"Yeah...I'm good.."
"Your girlfriend's father thinks a lot of you...He's paying us for your defense.." I said.
"Really?" he asked..Seemingly surprised..
"Yes really and he said his firm would put up the money for your bail, provided you get it." I said.
"I think we can get you arraigned sometime this morning.."said Josie..
"Meanwhile...We brought you some coffee" said Nelson, opening a thermos and setting six cups on the table..
and setting out some hot , freshly baked doughnuts..
The aroma filled the room...
"Wowwww nice...Thank you...I'm starving.." said Alonzo..
"Did you know the good Lieutenant bought one of our clients..Steak and Eggs and hash browns for breakfast and hot coffee from outside of here once?" said Olivia..
"Unfortunately...You're not blonde and you don't look good in a mini skirt or have big breasts" laughed Beverly..
Alonzo laughed too..He loved Beverly's sense of humor...
''Sit tight...We'll see if we can get you out of here first.." I said as we left..
Lt. Tragg met us in the hall way, he was grinning from cheek to cheek, then he passed the five of us a familiar looking envelope..
"You know process service wanted to do this.., but I had to do this myself.." he said.
''What is this?" said Olivia, opening the envelope....
"AUNTAY!!! WE"VE BEEN SUBPEONAED!!!" said Beverly, now angry...
"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS...WE'VE BEEN SUBPEONAED AS HOSTILE WITNESSES FOR THE PROSECUTION...CAN THEY EVEN DO THIS?"asked Josie..
"I'm Afraid they can Josie...Even though we are Defense Attorneys..It just means we'll need an Attorney to rep us.." said Nelson..
"We were in the restaurant...We witnessed the argument.." I said.
"This is soo funny...You guys are his attorneys and you're going to be called to testify against him..Oh My god, The Sheer Irony...I couldn't have made up this scenario..."laughed Lt. Tragg..
"NO...YOU COULDN'T!" said Olivia sarcastically....Which of course went right over Lt. Tragg's head.
She knew that ADA Graham had actually issued the subpoenas , but she was appalled at the sheer glee Lt. Tragg seemed to get at serving them.
Beverly, who wasn't hiding her displeasure.. Surprisingly held her tongue.. She stormed out of the precinct...
I ran behind her...I put my arm around her... "It'll be okay..Come on Shortcake. Don't give him the satisfaction.." I said.
Nelson quietly walked out..He didn't say a word... He tossed his summons in the trash.
Even Josie, Even tempered , Sweet as pie Josie looked like she wanted to spit on Lt. Tragg, but she said nothing..She just walked out...
Lt. Tragg was laughing, but he wouldn't be laughing long....
III-
TWO HOURS LATER..
We stood in court with our client..
Olivia of course argued that our client had no priors and was the victim of a gross misunderstanding..
That he did not commit murder and was once again a victim of someone with a reputation for rushing to judgement." she said and angrily glared at Lt. Tragg.
Beverly cited his accomplishments.. Graduated from Central High, Attended Howard University, Law Degree from Columbia..Taught Law at Penn and was an Associate Attorney at Hughes and Douglass..Certainly not a criminal and as one who understood the law certainly no flight risk.
I smiled.. I knew how this was going to turn out..
Alonzo didn't..
Nelson did,...
Neither he nor Josie said a word...They didn't have to.
The Judge was Percy Reynolds...We not only defended him twice..but he despised Lt. Tragg…
ADA Graham frustratingly didn't even bother to offer a rebuttal..He knew how this was going to go..
He tossed his hands up and sighed..
Lt. Tragg was livid...
"Bail is set at $800.00 dollars.." he said and banged his gavel.
"WHAT? $800.00 dollars....This is a joke right?" said an astounded Alonzo Williams..
Brittany Hughes wrote a check for $80.00 and just like that...Alonzo was a free man!!!!
They kissed in the courtroom passionately...
The smile fell from Lt. Tragg's face....
"Well I'll be damned..!" he said...He hated the sight of these two kissing and slobbering over each other...He wished he was kissing her sweet lips, running his hands up her skirt...
Doesn't matter, loverboy was on his way to prison...He was going to make sure of that!
IV-
We went back to our Duplex/Office....We ordered our lunch from Jake's via UBER EATS... We did not need any trouble from Lt. Tragg today...
We ordered Burgers
Hot Dogs, Fries
and Onion Rings...
"Oh God...It feels so good to be out of that jail cell..." said Alonzo...
"Let's hope you can stay out.."said Brittany...
Soon they were all but ignoring their food and kissing passionately..
"My goodness..They remind me of Rockland and me, when you guys aren't here.." joked Alfreda..
Josie giggled as she munched her cheeseburger and onion rings..
"We all are famished...but we have to hear your story...That's why we brought you here and not Sam Mother's Diner...So we could have privacy..."said Olivia.
''We've been subpeoned.. They're going to ask us about the argument we saw and heard when we saw you in the restaurant....So we need to know the whole story..Everything.."said Beverly..
"They have a glass taken from her apartment with your fingerprints and DNA on it.." said Nelson...
"I was there earlier.....but not after you guys saw me.. I swear...I had a drink..That's all!" he said..
"Well start from the beginning...Tell us everything.." I said..
And while he was getting ready to tell me that...A Nefarious meeting was taking place at
At Sam Mother's restaurant...
Former FBI Agent, Turned Private Investigator , Burt Vandenburg walked in...He looked around , saw a very nervous Lt. Arthur Tragg and sat with him..
''Hi ya Burt..Can I get ya a coffee?" said Lt. Tragg..
"No...you can give me my money...I snapped those photos of that chick and her Black boyfriend like you asked and I had one of my operatives deliver them to the girl's dad like you asked...I only got $5000.00...I want the other $5000.00 up front..." he said..
"Cool it....Let me write you a check.." said Lt. Tragg who wrote him a check for $5000.00 ..He had paid the first installment in cash.. "I'm good for it.." he said..
"You'd better be." he said, pocketing the check and getting up leaving..
Lt. Tragg smiled... He had heard of Brittany's father.. An Attorney, A Political Conservative...He wondered how he felt about his little girl canoodling with an African American...and one of his staff Attorneys at that? That guys job was probably toast he thought and snickered..And his daughter was spending a mint on Olivia and Beverly's services...and Olivia and Beverly had to testify against their own client...This was good..He thought and laughed...
Meanwhile at our Duplex/Office...
"Once we have your whole story Alonzo, we can work around that, establish your alibi and determine who was on that terrace with her."said Olivia..
''Is it possible she jumped?" asked Beverly..
"Right now the M.E.'s office is calling her death "Inconclusive, but suspicious." Lt. Tragg may have jumped the gun in declaring this a homicide." I said..
''That about sounds like him."said Alonzo.
"Legally, you might be able to get this whole thing thrown out on that basis alone unless the M.E.'s ruling changes by the Preliminary Hearing." said Brittany.
''That's exactly what I'm thinking.."said Nelson.
"I know Hazel....We need to talk to her."said Josie.
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