VENTURES: Wife Exonerated

The door to the Judges Chambers opened..

Attorney and Law Proffessor, Elaine Haskins emerged from the Judges Chambers with a seductive smile on her face...She was fixing her lipstick and her hair..

"You Ready Honey?" she asked..

"I'm ready, Ready as I'll ever be.." said new Assistant District Attorney, Jill Jenkins..teasing her hair and fixing her lipstick...

"Ummmmmm that was nice, just what I needed.." she said.. "I think this case is a stone cold loser..This idiot Lieutenant left more holes in this case than a block of Swiss Cheese and I'm going up against some pretty competant attorneys.." said Jill.

"You're talking about that guy who was at our table the other night? I think he likes you.hahahahahahahahahahaa." laughed Elaine.

"He does...He's not very subtle about it either...Did you know he snaked his hand up my skirt..was rubbing my legs and tugging on the waistband of my panties the other day at the bail hearing?..I removed his hands and asked him.."WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"he was as red as a beet..." laughed Jill Jenkins..

"Well I'll be...There is an old hometown friend from New Orleans... "said Elaine Haskins..

"DONNIE RAY?? DONNIE RAY ALEXANDER IS THAT YOU?" said Elaine..

"OH MY GOD!!! ELAINE!!!!!...ADA HASKINS??" I said..

We hugged each other warmly!

"Elaine you know him?? He's the husband and Investigator for the Attorney I'm going up against."said ADA Jill Jenkins..

"YES I KNOW HIM!!!...Best Homicide Detective money could buy in the city of New Orleans..When he brought in a case...you can believe it was a solid case...He kept my record clean, nearly 100 percent conviction rate...I loved Donnie Ray...So you live here now..You're no longer in the New Orleans Police Department??" Elaine asked.

"I left about six years ago...I'm a Private Investigator now, got my P.I. license and I work for my wife's law practice here in Philadelphia... We got married in New Orleans though..."I said.. "In fact there she is..let me introduce you...Olivia, Beverly, guys come here, I want you to meet someone.." I said.

This is my wife ,Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Liv this is Attorney Elaine Haskins..She used to be my favorite Assistant District Attorney back in New Orleans.."I said.

"Pleased to meet you." said Olivia.

"Donnie Ray, she's gorgeous....She is sooo cute..."said Elaine Haskins..

"And this is her niece , Attorney Beverly West- East..."I said.

"Pleased to meet you." said Beverly..

"Her niece???...Why they're not too far apart in age...She's as cute as a button..One of you was an oops baby...I suspect it was you Olivia."said Elaine..

"My brother , her father ,is 12 years older than me."laughed Olivia, shyly...

"Uh Huh!...I figured...." laughed Elaine.

"This is her husband and our Associate Attorney, Nelson East..."I said.

"Pleased to meet you mam!" said Nelson..

"Charmed..." said Elaine, smiling at Nelson seductively...

And last but certainly not least...Our other Associate Attorney, Ms. Josie Boyd.." I said.

"Pleased to meet you mam."said Josie..

"Ouuuuuuu you're just as sweet as pie... Donnie Ray, you are surrounded by such beautiful people...And you're married and all...I'm so happy for you... You guys will have to show us around...The Hot places to dine and hang out...You still play the trumpet?" asked Elaine..

"Still do..I play at a club called Josie's...with their house band...I do a little lightweight recording too, but my main job is investigating for these guys...Keepin em honest.. So tell me what are you doing up here..?" I asked.

"I left the District Attorneys Office and began teaching law at Southern University...A Year later ,Jill came there too and was teaching..We moved in together..She's from Philly and she got this job offer..So We both moved up here a few months ago...I teach law at Middleton University in Bayside..." said Elaine..

"Ohhhhhh" I said.

Lt. Tragg walked over. He was always suspicious when ADA's and Olivia and crew were a little too chummy...He didn't hear the conversation..but he wanted to break it up..

"Uh Good Morning Jill...I believe it's time to go into court." he whispered..

"I'm a big girl Lieutenant...I can see my way to the courtroom." said Jill with a smile, while subtlely removing his hand from her butt.

II-

It was the first day of the Preliminary hearing in the case of Karrisa Duncan Butts, accused of the murders of Cecil Butts, her husband, Cecilia Bridges, his Administrative Assistant and Grace Butts, also believed to be his wife...

It was a triple murder and a capital case...Punishable by either life in prison or the Death Penalty...

Olivia ,Beverly and Nelson walked in with Karrissa, Flanked by Josie and Me..

"If we are lucky...We can get you out of here today and avoid a trial.."said Olivia..

"I think we can do it Auntay..This case has more holes than a block of Swiss Cheese." said Beverly..

"Sit tight Karissa...You're going to free soon...I know it."said Nelson..

"I wish I had your confidence..."said Karissa.

"It'll be alright."said Josie, rubbing her hands softly as we took our seat..

I had done a sterling investigation, much more sterling than Lt. Tragg...I had interviewed people he had interviewed and people he hadn't..Looked at financial records of everybody involved and explored hours of Street. Traffic and Business Cam tape...Barring some surprise, I had a good idea we could win this case and fast.

The Judge was new...Not Judge Percy Reynolds as we expected, but Judge Gwendelyn Baker..

"Oh My God, that's Gwen Baker..I took three of her classes in Law School...She's tough, but she knows her law...Jazzy and I got through her classes, but she made Kayla cry.." said Beverly..

"How did you do?" asked Nelson..

"I got a B in the first class...I Aced the second class and another B in the last class I took with her..Kayla got a B, a C and another B...She took her course again in the summer before our third and final year of law school to bring her C up...She did..She got a B...She was sooo upset."said Beverly..

"I remember when you two were going through that." said Olivia with a smile.

ADA Jill Jenkins began her argument...Charging Karissa with first degree murder of Cecil Butts, "A man who married her in a very expensive event wedding in the Bahamas"she said, showing enlarged photos of their wedding to the grand jury..

"Isn't it beautiful...??"she said, playing the jurors..."She thought she was married...Here are her husband's divorce papers from victim ,Grace Butts...But they aren't valid...They were never valid in the U.S. I'm not sure Mr. Butts knew..but he was still married to, though seperated legally from his second wife, Grace Butts...I understand the two wives even confronted each other in a lingerie store over the weekend.. This led to 27 phone calls to Mr. Cecil Butts from both women...He never talked to them..

He was with his new girlfriend Cecilia Bridges , victim number two and getting ready to take her to Miami Beach on a private flight the day they al were murdered." said Jill Jenkins..

She then looked Karissa directly in the face...

"Young Lady....I feel for you...I do...Thinking you were married to a man for six months, living with him, I understand you even stopped working...You were a what? Principal of a High School and this man was not only still married to another woman, but having an affair with still another woman....I feel for you...All ladies do...but that doesn't justify taking three lives..Three lives...You had legal recourse..You could have taken that and been done with the entire mess...Actually you could have just moved out...You weren't legally married ,you two had no children...You had options...but you chose murder and not just him, but two other people...

I have to speak for those all of those lives lost...You had no right to take them." she said dramatically.

Lt. Tragg sat back in his chair and beamed... They were both from the same school of the over dramatic..

Olivia smiled at the jurors..

"The Assistant District Attorney is correct, absolutely correct about some things...My client was married to a man , who was still married to another woman and I'm pretty sure he knew his divorce, which he got on the cheap in the Bahamas ,from a man we now know wasn't even an Attorney was no good in the United States...If he didn't know at first, he knew within months after he married again, which was why he was trying to see his original divorce lawyer, Ms Zoey Easter...He knew...He knew and he didn't bother to tell my client that they weren't actually married ...She didn't find out until the day he died when she ran into HIS ACTUAL WIFE, while buying lingerie to surprise him with that night..Not knowing that he was boarding a plane and heading to Miami with his Administrative Assistant..Who he had been having an affair with!" said Olivia.

Beverly had large glossies of Cecil Butts and Cecilia Bridges , taken by a Private Investigator hired by Grace Butts.

"If the Court please...These photos are exhibit A...Photos of the late Cecil Butts and Cecilia Briges taken by a Private Investigator, hired by the late Grace Butts...

Imagine her surprise when she found out the day she would die that not only was her husband married to another woman, but carrying on an affair with yet another woman.." said Beverly.

"So the ADA and I are in agreement ...There is no excuse for Cecil Butts's indiscretions and yes ,My client had all those options that she spoke about...but here is where we disagree...My client did not kill Cecil Butts, My client certainly did not kill Cecilia Bridges, who she didn't even know about and she did not kill Grace Butts, who she had met just hours before."said Olivia..

ADA Jill Jenkins showed the lurid crime scene photos and she interviewed Crime Scene Investigator, Uniformed Officers at the scene and Forensic Specialists..

Nelson and Josie went hard at them on cross ,getting them to admit that not one piece of Forensic evidence led them to our client.. No DNA, No Fingerprints, No eyewitnesses...

"I actually saw my client, who I knew from college on the day of the murders..We were in the mall buying lingerie.. She showed me her wedding bands and gushed over her new husband...Only to be interrupted by Grace Butts..After she saw us,We know ,because of phone records, which I have here that Grace called Butts and Collins Investment Futures, Cecil's business partner, 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..He's here and he will testify that his tires were slashed."said Beverly.

"According to her credit card records..Which we made copies of..Karrissa went to Bernadettes and had her hair done in betweem 2:30- 3:00 pm. 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 Olivia.

"She couldn't be doing this and murdering those three during that time

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." said Nelson.

"We ask that these charges be thrown out your honor...There is evidence here that she was nowhere near that plane when the murders occurred..But the question you should be asking is...WHY WAS GRACE ON THAT PLANE? HOW DID SHE KNOW WHAT THEY WERE PLANNING TO DO? THE ANSWER TO THAT AND THE KEY TO THIS MYSTERY IS IN THE NEXT WITNESS I INTEND TO CALL!" said Olivia, playing the dramatic part.

Judge Gwen Baker smiled...she was happy to see her former student, Beverly West trying a case in her courtroom....

"Okay...but I'd like to recess for lunch...It's Noon....Everyone be back at 1:30." she said.

III-

We naturally gravitated to Sam Mother's diner..

"I hated the look on Karissa's face when they took her back to the holding cell..She's afraid."said Josie.

"I understand her fear...She's facing the death penalty for three murders..."said Nelson..

"Heyyyyy what is this...Bev and I did a great job....So did you...I'm pretty sure the judge is going to throw these charges out.." said Olivia..

"I mean even the ADA has to see all of the holes in this case...She doesn't fit in the time sequence of the murders..We just proved that.." I said.

"Besides, the real show stopper is coming...No way this will be held over for trial..We are going nuclear."said Beverly...

Our Burgers, Hot Dogs and Fries Arrived...After being in court all morning, we chowed down...

"Mind if we join you?" asked ADA Jill Jenkins..

"You guys did a great job in there this morning."said Elaine Haskins...

"Look I may drop charges when we go back....I saw the holes in this case from the beginning..and I told that idiot Lieutenant to go back over the crime scene and bring me more...but he ignored me.." said ADA Jenkins..

"The minute I saw Donnie Ray was their investigator...I knew you were in trouble..He's thorough if nothing else.." said Elaine Haskins..

"Much more thorough than that sexist nitwit Lt. Tragg."laughed ADA Jenkins.. "Thank god I won a few cases before I got this loser." she laughed, picking up a menu..."Hmmm what's good?" she asked looking at the Menu.

Lt. Tragg walked in just then.....He was astounded seeing all of us eating together...

"Jill...Jill...I uh thought we would have lunch together before we go back to court.." he said with a laugh..

"What made you think that? You gave me a case with more holes in it than Swiss Cheese..You didn't check her alibi, the times, the places she was..The fact that she couldn't be in two places at one time..This case is a loser...What genius decided to make you a detective??" she snarled..

"Jill... Jill...Chill!" said Elaine...

Beverly and Josie were trying hard to hold their laughter....

Nelson was trying to shush them both...He didn't want a full scale war while we were trying to eat..

"Olivia ,you need to exercise control over your associates....Especially your niece." he snarled.

"I'll take that into consideration." said Olivia dryly....

"Now if you don't mind...We are eating!"said ADA Jenkins..

Lt. Tragg was furious...He was beet red...He stomped his foot and stormed out.....

IV-

We were back in court and Olivia called her last witness..

Tony Collins...

"Mr. Collins, how long were you and Cecil Butts partners?" asked Josie.

"Ohhhhh, not counting college I'd say 15 years,...We go back aways.."said Tony Collins..

Nelson pulled out a marriage license...

"This is a marriage license...You were engaged to Barbara Harvey, were you not?" asked Nelson.

He got very somber, very morose..

"Yes" he said quietly..

''She left you at the alter didn't she? In fact she confessed to you that she had been sleeping with your partner, Cecil Butts all along and she married him a month later didn't she??" asked Josie..

He was angry, he felt angry and betrayed by us for asking him these questions and opening up an old wound!

"But you stayed friends with him and partners..How could you do that? I know I would've killed one of my partners if they were messin with Bev behind my back and she left me to marry one of them.."said Nelson.

"He just loves me to death."said Beverly..

"I knowwww...it's so cute."giggled Olivia.

"We did fall out for awhile..A few months, but Barbara got us to talking again and we resumed the partnership..."said Tony..

"How did you feel when Barbara and Cecil divorced because of his cheating? He was cheating with wife number two, Grace Bambry, who you had also had a fling with once.."asked Beverly...

"I tried to get Barbara to come back to me...I got her a good lawyer, Arthur Trout and they cleaned Cecil's butt out..but Barbara was mentally unstable...She killed herself shortly afterwords.." he said, now trembling with rage...

"How long did you hold all of that pent up rage? When did you decide to kill him? We know that you talked to Grace Butts for twenty minutes....You told her that Cecil and Cecilia, who she knew were fooliong around were planning to take that plane to Miami..You told her the plane and the exact time it was taking off..It had to be you, because other than Cecil and Cecilia, no one else knew about the flight..YOU Booked it..."said Olivia.

Beverly showed a huge glossy...

"This is you, slashing the pilot's tires...We caught this on the ATM camera , across the street from where he lived.. That's how come he was an hour later..Getting his tires changed...That gave you time to go to the plane and shoot both Cecil and Cecilia and wait for Grace and shoot her too.."said Beverly...

"I SHOT THEM...YESSS I SHOT ALL THREE OF THEM!!! Cecil could have any girl he wanted..Why'd he have to take my fiance??He hurt her so bad, she killed herself.. Then two years later..I find out he's been screwing Grace, who I was sleeping with...And he married her and tossed her away like a used condom...I hated all three of them...I had a shot at getting them and I took it and I don't give a damn about doing it!!! DAMN IT!!!" screamed an enraged Tony Collins....

He seemed to want to unburden himself...He seemed as though he wanted to tell someone what he had done..

"Bailiffs take that man into custody.....I suspect uh that the people will move to drop all charges against Mrs. Butts" said Judge Gwen Baker..

"Yes..The People move to drop all charges against Mrs. Butts." said ADA Jenkins.

"YOU GUYS ARE THE GREATEST!! YOU GOT ME OFF!!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" said Karissa, glad to be free, glad to be going home..

''We told you.." said Olivia.

"Come Onnnnnn you think I was gonna let my first roomie go down on a murder rap?" asked Beverly.

"There were so many holes in this case..I don't understand how you got arrested in the first case."said Nelson.

"You know how!" said Josie sternly..

All I could do was laugh!

"It's always a pleasure to see one of my former students practicing in my courtroom..You handled yourself quite well Ms. Beverly..."said Judge Baker..

"Thank you mam!" said Beverly, blushing...

"That wasn't a loss honey...It didn't even go to a jury." said Elaine Haskins.

"Thank God for that...You guys know any nice quiet place you can go and have a drink? Not Curleys.." said ADA Jill Jenkins..

"As a matter of fact, I do..It's not too far from here..Want to follow us?" said Olivia..

Lt. Tragg was at the mercy of the press once again...

He felt sick, especially after all the interviews he had given prior to today just about declaring our client's guilt, only to see her freed and another person, the real killer exposed during the hearing.

"Heyyy Artie, lost another one eh?" asked one reporter...

"These losses must be getting to you." said another one..

"I know the lawyers love it when they found out you are the arresting officer.."said still another one..

"Lou, how many times a day do you get smacked, huh?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"Hey why don't you hook up with the defense attorneys? They do a better job catching criminals than you do?" said Lou,

"That's it Lou....THAT IS IT!" screamed Lt. Tragg.

Once again, a big brawl erupted..with chairs being thrown, fists flying, tables being knocked over and police officers trying to get in between Lt. Tragg and the press..

Business as usual!

EPILOUGE-

We took them to the new bar we had discovered a few blocks away..

They seemed to like the bottomless martinis....Even I broke and had one..

"This place is nice...I'm surprised it doesn't have much of a crowd...Especially in this locale.."said Elaine Haskins.

"It picks up at night...It's still early afternoon..As you can see Philly is not New Orleans...where they party around the clock."said Olivia.

"You'll get used to it." I said and smiled as I sipped my drink..

"That's what I told her.."laughed ADA Jenkins.. "Where is your niece?" she asked.

"I think they both went to the restroom a few minutes ago." said Josie as we all ordered a second round of drinks..

In the Martini Bar restroom, Beverly and Nelson were staring in each other's eyes..

which led to them devouring each others lips with smouldering hot kisses..

"OHHHH MY GOD HONEY BUN!!" said Nelson..

"OUUUUUUUU HUSSSSBANDDDDD!" moaned Beverly...

Nelson slipped her panties down and off and unzippered his trousers... Soon he was entering her slowly and gently....

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...Ouuuuu Hoooo Hooo Hoooo Hoooooooooooooo...OH MY GOD!!!

OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ...OUUUUUUUUUWEEEEEE!" she cooed as he thrusted slowly into her...She was so warm and wet....

He sat on the bench and Beverly rode him, moving up and down slowly and kissing him softly....

THIRTY FIVE MINUTES was all they both could take....

Nelson came like a gusher and Beverly's whole body trembled as her head went from side to side..and her nice shapely legs shook furiously...she was having an intense orgasm..

She got up off of him..

She cleaned herself off in the sink and fixed her hair and her make up...

"Ouuuuu that was fun...You'd better go out first ,so they won't get suspicious...Do you uh need a minute?" she asked..

"No, I'm straight.." said Nelson..

Back at the table, Olivia asked the question everyone had wanted to know..

"So...How long have you two been together?" she asked.

''About six years...I think I always knew that I liked women...but I tried to hide it..I married a guy, A lawyer who worked with my father as co-counsel at Shell Oil...He was a sweet guy..but it just didn't work out and after a month, we called it quits...I left Philly, got as far away as I could and wound up in New Orleans as an ADA.....After a brief stint in the D.A.'s office ,I wound up teaching at Southern University outside of Baton Rouge, where I met and fell in love with this Spicy Lady, Who had also been a New Orleans ADA and was teaching law too...We moved in together and then when we got this opportunity for me to come back here and for her to teach and here we are.." said Jill.