One Day It Rained

 It poured down raining for the next two days...

Beverly and I let ourselves into the office...

"Nobody is in, the lights are off!" said Beverly...

"They are upstairs...In our place."I said.

The lights were out and there was a note from Alfreda to meet upstairs.. Olivia had closed the office for the day... It was Noon.. Perks of being the boss and having your own practice.

We walked upstairs to Olivia and I's domicile and sure enough ,everybody was there..

"Hi you two...Come in sit down.." said Olivia..

"Lunch is about to be served." said Alfreda.

"Mmmmm smells good." said Nelson..

"Yesss, it does ." said Josie.

"Mmmmmm smells like spaghetti.."said Beverly..

"Yes indeed!" I said as we sat down..

"You two get your plates first, since you just came in." said Olivia.

Several plates of Spaghetti was put down in front of Beverly, myself, Nelson and Josie.. Alfreda and Olivia served themselves and joined us..

It was served with salad...Everything was delicious....

"Mmmmm everything is delicious. Paris will be sorry he missed this." said Josie.

"My compliments to the two chefs." said Nelson.

"Thank Youuuu!" said Alfreda.

"Thank You...You're welcome." said Olivia.

"Mmmmmmmm this is delish."said Beverly..

"Yes indeed." I said..

Perfect meal for a rainy day like today...

We had no idea that Lt. Tragg was downstairs at our door..We had suspended the bells...Which we did sometimes because of his infrequent visits when we were meeting with a client or upstairs having a "Business Lunch" as we were today..

"The place is dark...It doesn't appear that they are here...They weren't in Sam Mother's this morning..They couldn't have possibly have left town the day before the preliminary hearing.

WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?" he bellowed..

'What do you want with them Lieutenant? They're just lawyers?" asked a uniform policemen..

"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEIR PLANS ARE..THEY ARE NOT GOIN TO RUIN MY INVESTIGATION!" he bellowed..

"You know you can't ask them that...And even if you do they aren't inclined to tell you."said the Officer.

"WHAT ARE YOU , A LAWYER?" snarled Lt. Tragg..

"I'm in my second year of law school...The department is paying for it...The Police Improvement initiative....I'm in an accelerated program at Drexel..."said the officer proudly..

"BAHHHHHHHH!" said Lt. Tragg as they got in their cars and pulled off.

II-

We were still upstairs chowing down...

"Bev and I did a lot of digging today....First off , the ADA you are facing, Jill Jenkins

"She is a Philadelphia Native, born and raised here and educated in Philadelphia Public Schools, 

She is the eldest of seven children and has five sisters and a brother. Her father, Michael Jenkins worked as an attorney for Shell Oil Company and her mother, Linda was a high school French teacher and homemaker.  She attended Hallahan, an all-girls Roman Catholic high school, from which she graduated .

 She was student body vice-president in high school. After high school, Jenkins attended Rhodes College, where she majored in English literature and minored in French. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa.

 In her graduating class, she was named most outstanding English department graduate. She then studied law at the Notre Dame Law School on a full-tuition scholarship. She was an executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and graduated first in her class in  with a Juris Doctor summa cum laude.

She was married to another lawyer working with her father at Shell Oil Company...The marriage lasted a month and ended amically...No children.

She moved to my home town of New Orleans where she was an Assistant District Attorney for many years, with a 102-2 record...Damn near perfect..

Then she taught law at Southern University for two years and moved back to Philadelphia.." I said.

"You know...I heard something about her....but I'll keep it under my hat for now...Now about this case?" asked Olivia.

"About that....On the day of the murders...Kayla, Jazzy, Josie and I saw Karissa in the lingerie store..She was gushing about her six month marriage and showing us her wedding bands..That's when Grace Butts overheard us...We were all in line at the counter and she said that she was his wife..They hadn't lived together for over a year...but she obviously knew that she was still his legal wife..We found records that show Cecil Butts was still sending her money monthly...He paid the morgtage on the house they used to live in and she got a small stipend..."said Beverly..

"Zoey told me as much, but that doesn't mean she knew about Karissa."said Olivia.

"After she saw you girls, Grace called Butts and Collins Investment Futures, Remember Tony Collins told us that Cecil Butts never talked to her, but he or somebody did for close to 15 minutes..That's a long call for somebody you're just blowing off... Then Karissa Butts called a little after that...She talked to Cecil and he told her he'd meet her at Sam Mother's Diner at 5:00 pm.. Both Cecil and Grace and Cecilia were all dead by 3:30pm.. according to the autopsy report... The Bodies were discovered by the Pilot who said he was late..He made a call to Butts and Collins Investment Futures also on the day of the murders..He discovered the bodies on the plane.." I said.

"Where was Karissa in between the time she ran into you girls in Bridget's store and when she showed up at Sam Mother's diner?" asked Nelson.

"According to her credit card records..She went to Bernadettes and had her hair done..She made several calls to Cecil's business phone and his personal smartphone...He never answered...She got gas from  a gas station not too far from Sam Mother's at around 4:00 pm." said Beverly.

"They were all dead by then...but she didn't know...Her phone records prove that because she was still calling Cecil's personal and business cell phones...She arrived at Sam Mother's Diner around 5:00 pm, ordered a Burger, Fries and a Coke and then some coffee and sat until closing, 7:30 pm.. She made more calls to Cecil's two phones..but by now the bodies were in the morgue....and the phones were in evidence." I said.

"Lt. Tragg should have checked that out...It was easy enough to see...Just like we saw it."said an exasperated Olivia.

"Lieutenant Tragg?  Livy, you forget who you're talking about." said Alfreda...

Nelson cracked up

So Did Josie..

"Lieutenant Stumble Bum!"laughed Beverly

As all three had a second helping of Spaghetti and Meatballs...

"Something has been bothering me since this very case began...Something that doesn't quite add up..Cecil and his girlfriend, Cecilia were on the plane, ready to leave...Karissa didn't know anything about the flight....HOW DID GRACE KNOW?  WHAT WAS SHE DOING ON THAT PLANE??" asked Olivia..

"That's A good question." I said...surprised that I hadn't asked that question myself..

"A man and his girlfriend are taking a secret flight to Miami overnite...Butt's current wife had no idea what they were planning to do...And there is no reason his estranged wife would know..No reason at all..UNLESS SOMEBODY TOLD HER!!!  I think she surprised them on that plane, but not the killer..I think the killer wanted her to be there too!"I said.

"Hmmmm , something to think about...Want some more?" she said as she served herself another helping of Spaghetti.

and added a helping for me..

"I do want some more...and I'm not talking about Spaghetti..." I said to Olivia.

Olivia blushed something crazy...

Alfreda smiled sheepishly and looked at both of us.

III-

CURLEY'S BAR-

ADA Jill Jenkins sat in the bar..It was pouring down raining..

She looked over the case file for the triple murder she was about to prosecute.....She didn't look too happy..

Her drink came to the table...A Citris Martini....She smiled to herself.. One thing Olivia Bennett-Alexander and I have in common besides being Attorneys...We like the same drink." she thought and smiled.

Another drink, a Margarita arrived at her table also..

Lt. Tragg walked over and invited himself to the table..He saw two drinks there but chose to ignore the second drink..

"Well Helllooooooo Counselor... I've been meaning to introduce myself.. I'm the chief Homicide detective on this case..We'll uh be working together... Closely I hope..Heh Heh heh." he said.

"Lieutenant...I've been a successful prosecutor because I've always had good detectives who made cases I could prosecute...I'm looking over this case and it looks weak..There are a lot of gaps in time...Unexplainable gaps in time that seem to lead me to think you may have arrested the wrong person."said ADA Jenkins..

"ADA Jenkins...I assure you...I put in the hours on this case.. 72 hours of hard nosed police work..THis woman, Karissa Butts wasn't even this guy's wife..As it turns out , he thought he had gotten a divorce from one of the victims in the Bahamas...but it wasn't valid in the U.S.  Knowledge of this and the fact that the victim was a walking lothario and on that plane with yet another woman must have driven her insane...Insane with rage....She's your killer...You can make bank on it..." he said..

"The Defense Attorneys, Olivia Bennett-Alexander, her niece, Beverly West and their team are not shabby..."said Jill Jenkins.."I've studied them.. They're very good!" she said.

at just the mention of our names ,Lt. Tragg bristled..

"They're ambulance chasers...Any case with the least bit of controversy...They're suddenly on it..." he snarled , Still Angry that he had stopped by our Duplex and not been able to locate us earlier today..

Unknown to him, we were upstairs, chowing down...

He was angry when he found out that Beverly and I had questioned and interviewed a number of people involved with the case before he had...That's why he had come to visit us...

"Funny Lieutenant,people say the same thing about you..." said ADA Jill Jenkins, smiling sweetly...

"Well different people have different opinions.....Now look here..about me and you...How about I order some uh dinner...You like New York Strip Steaks?" he asked.

"I'm flattered Lieutenant but I'm already having dinner with someone...They just haven't arrived yet" she said pointing to the Margarita, sitting there..

Just then a well dressed Black woman walked up to the table and sat down..

"Sorry I'm late Jill... It's raining something fierce out there.." she said.

"No problem...I ordered your drink of choice... Lieutenant Tragg, this is my room mate, Attorney Elaine Haskins...She taught Law with me at Southern University in New Orleans and we were both Assistant District Attorneys in New Orleans.. We both relocated to Philly and she's accepted a teaching position at Middleton Law School in Bayside, while I'm an ADA here in the city...We just found a place.."said Jill Jenkins..

"Oh how nice.." said Lt. Tragg...

''What's good Jill?"asked Elaine..

"Well here is a menu...The Lieutenant here says the New York Strip Steaks are good.." said Jill.

"Okay...then that's what we'll have two New York Strip Steaks.."said Elaine..

"Works for me...Uh Lieutenant...I'll see you in court tomorrow." said Jill Jenkins..

"Uh Oh...Yeah..."said Lt. Tragg ,finally realizing that three was indeed a crowd...

 

 IV-

It finally stopped raining and the five of us drove out to the Airport...

We were inside the plane..

"This is where it happened...Right here...Cecil Butts and Cecelia Bridges had just strapped themselves into their seats and were waiting for the pilot...They were probably having small talk...and then the killer boarded the plane..I think they knew the killer...They were shocked beyond belief when the killer pulled out a gun with a silencer and fired four shots..Two hitting Butts in the chest and the other two hitting Ms. Bridges in the chest...They were killed instantly...Then the killer hid and waited for Grace Butts....knowing she was coming and the reason why he knew ,because he told her...and when she arrived..She got it in the back of the head...

The killer slipped off this plane and into oblivion because he used a silencer and there is hardly anybody on this private strip ,unless they have a flight leaving." I explained.

"This is more sinister and deliberate than I thought... This isn't an angry, spurned woman...This is a well orchestrated plot."said Olivia..

"Wowwwwwww!" said Nelson...He felt a cold chill down his spine.

"Guys, this is the pilot, the one who found the bodies." said Josie..

"Hey guys...Like I told your two assistants.. That flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00 pm...At 2:00 pm when I came out to drive to the airport all four of the tires on my car had been slit.. I called the airport and said I was going to be about an hour or more late... I got to the airport , a little after four and I found them, all three of them dead....and no one in sight.." said the pilot.

"The killer stopped by the pilots house and flattened his tires to make sure that he wouldn't be at the airport on time...That gave him ample time to get to the airport and kill Cecil Butts and Cecilia Bridges and then wait for Grace Butts and kill her."said Beverly...

"Who besides our client would have a grudge against all of these people?" asked Olivia..

"I think I know...and by tomorrow at noon when that Hearing begins ....You'll know too! " I said.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)