VENTURES: Keep Your Shirt On

A Rainy day in Philly....It was storming...

Sam Mother's Diner was packed..

Lt. Tragg and Assistant U.S. Attorney , Julie Baisden were having breakfast...

They both ordered the same thing, Egg fried hard...Yolks light...

Hash Browns..

Sausages

Hot Coffee

Orange Juice..

The place was packed..

An otherwise uneventful rainy day...until a man walked in...

A Black man, He was naked!

Three females screamed... a roar went up in the crowd... Sam Mother yelled out..

"HEYYYYYYY, WHOAAAAAA! WHAT THE HELL...MANNNN, WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?" he said.

"I-I-I can't remember what happened to them...Could I just have some coffee? I can pay you...I'm a lawyer." said the naked Black man...

"GEEEEEEZ MANNN, YOU'RE NAKED!" screamed Lt. Tragg...

"And you're stupid! But later on today...I'm gonna have on some clothes.." said the naked Black man..

"ALRIGHT LAUGHING BOY, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" said Lt. Tragg, who handcuffed him...

Julie Baisden couldn't stop staring at the man's well endowed physique..

"WOW!" she said ,continuing to stare... "Myyyyy goodness..He's ..he's...WOW! " she said.

"Sorry about this Julie...I gotta take this mope in...Sam , put the meals on my tab, you know I'm good for it."said Lt. Tragg.

"Okay Artie."said Sam.

Julie Baisden wasn't paying any attention to Lt. Tragg or Sam Mother..She just kept staring at the naked Black man..

"WOWWWW!" she said again....Marveling at his girth and size...

Sometime later in the interrogation room known as the ''Fishbowl"

After several cups of coffee, the drunken and naked Black man

addressed Lt. Tragg...

"Good Lieutenant...as I have told you, I am extremely sorry for walking into that diner naked..I was drunk.. I was at a party last night and had far too much to drink...I am sooo sorry...Thank you for letting me make my call..." he said.

"There could have been children in there....Geez , My girlfriend was in there you degenerate..I'm going to throw your ass under the jail.."said a very angry Lt. Tragg...

"You're going to charge me with indecent exposure...That's a misdemeanor at best and I'm a first time offender...I'll get a fine and be released..I told you, I am an attorney." said the man..

"YOU??? An Attorney?? HA! Yeahhhh right!" said Lt. Tragg...

"Well Actually he is!!"came the voice of Attorney Nelson East..."His name is Thomas Armstrong..He's from Bayside..I went to the Hotel you guys had the party at...I found your clothes.."said Nelson, tossing him his Wallet , his Boxers, undershirt, Socks, ,Suit, Shirt and Tie and his very expensive wing tips..

"Your car keys are in your pants ." said Nelson...

"Nelson...Thank you sooo much...Is Liv and Bev here? I don't want them to see me like this."said Thomas Armstrong..

"They're outside...I uh had to tell em what happened....They won't be coming in ,until you're fully dressed.." said Nelson.

Now fully dressed and sober ....Attorney Thomas Armstrong smiled.

"Thank you Nelson, Thank you soo much.." he said..

"Okay ladies...You can come in now.."said Nelson..

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS....I CAN'T SEEM TO ESCAPE YOU GUYS.....YOU CAN'T SAVE THIS GUY LIV...I'M AN EYE WITNESS...HE WALKED INTO SAM MOTHER'S DINER WITHOUT A STITCH OF CLOTHING ON!!! HE'S GOING DOWN!" screamed an angry Lt. Tragg, who noticed that I was missing as well as our intern...

"Stick to Homicide Lieutenant...This is Indecent Exposure, a misdemeanor at best..."said Olivia, which was what Thomas Armstrong had said. "He's a first time offender...He'll get a fine if that..and be dismissed" she added.

"Thomas, how are you?" said Beverly...

"Hello Mr. Armstrong." said Josie.

"I'm fine ladies. Liv...I'm so glad you guys came...So Sorry it had to be under these circumstances...Say ,where is Donnie Ray?" he asked.

"Uh, he's running an errand for me..." said Olivia..She didn't want Lt. Tragg to be anymore suspicious of what I was doing than he already was..

"We've got a Judge....We'll get you arraigned in a few hours...Keep your shirt on...Ugh...that didn't come out right,." said Beverly...

Nelson, Olivia, Josie and even Thomas Armstrong busted out laughing...

Lt. Tragg found none of this funny....

"Damn Pervert" he muttered under his breath.

II-

Juanita Townsend's former law firm office was very nice...A Huge photo of her was on the wall when we came in...

The partners who didn't know Bresha Williams was Juanita's niece, were very gracious when they found out who she was... They were more than eager to help us...

As it turned out, Juanita's old files were still there, filed just as neatly as they had been when she was alive.

"It's so nice that they kept these files, Isn't it Mr. Donnie Ray?" said Bresha..

"It sure is..I didn't think they'd be here...This is better than I thought." I said.

We went into a back room and began to go through her most recent files...The ones she was working on at the time of her death...

Here I saw the evidence gathered about two police officers , who were shaking down local businesses in a neighborhood.. They were literally loan sharks...and A Detective, Phillip Marlowe, who they were answering to.

Eddie Jefferson, was a motorist, whose father's grocery store mysteriously burned to the ground. He went to the D.A.'s office and testified that these three were shaking down his father and his father refused to pay...

She stated that she could get no co-operation from either Lt. Tragg or Captain Tragg, who were their superiors...So she had her investigators look into it, along with Internal Affairs...

All three men were indicted and brought up on charges of Extortion, Arson and Conspiracy....Eddie Jefferson, her main witness was arrested for drug possesion... He denied it..He claimed he was set up..

Without his testimony...Much of her case would fall apart...

Three Days before she died, She sent a message to the FBI, asking them to intervene..

Juanita Townsend was murdered on August 5, 2005 .....on August 9th 2005, Drug charges against Eddie Jefferson were dropped...as were the charges against Phillip Marlowe and the the two officers...

On August 16th 2005, Homicide Detectives Reed and Malloy were reassigned to another homicide case and the Juanita Townsend murder case investigation was shut down on orders from Captain. Jack Tragg.

Both police officers are now deceased as are Captain Jack Tragg and Lt. Arthur Tragg Sr. Eddie Jefferson is also now deceased.

Juanita Townsend's murder , while still open, remains unsolved.

"Gladys Daye....That's the woman who called her on the last day of her life.. had been defended by Juanita five times when she was a Defense Attorney, Prostitution, Drug Possession, Running a house of ill repute et al..She appears to be a career criminal... Your Aunt helped her do a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.

This woman miraculously avoided jail on a number of occassions... She apparently was your aunt's project..."I said..

"She kept records of Gladys Daye's bank accounts.. and look at this.. $2500.00 was entered in her bank account on August 6th 2005...The day after my aunt's murder..."said Bresha.

"I find it funny that Gladys needed to see her that night at that time and that what she wanted couldn't wait..." I said..

"It is weird..I think we need to find out more about Gladys Daye.." said Bresha.

"Yeah and I think we've found out all we can find here.." I said as the two of us left...

I needed to find out more about Gladys Daye and Detective Phillip Marlowe.

III-

Bree and I joined Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie in court with our old friend, Thomas Armstrong.

"Hey Guys...I didn't think we'd make it in time.."said Bree..

I hugged Olivia..

"We found out a little bit more, but not enough." I said.

"Oh Wow! Well anyway, We are waiting on the Judge to rule, He's pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, Indecent Exposure."said Olivia.

"We should be out of here soon..We are just waiting to see what the fine will be." said Beverly.

''He's a first time offender and no children were in the restaurant thank goodness or we could be looking at a few days or a month in the county jail." said Nelson.

"Well there won't be any jail time with this."said Josie.. "This is like a Traffic Ticket." she added.

"I'm so embarrassed...This is never going to happen again.."said Thomas.

"I certainly hope not." said Olivia.

"Accused of indecent expsoure...He was at a Bachelor party the night before and got very drunk, very drunk and left the party completely nude. He was arrested when he walked into Sam Mother's Diner, completely nude and still very drunk...It was not mentioned that he had smoked a great deal of weed also...Luckily for him, Lt. Tragg didn't bother to administer a urinalysis...That would have really gotten him in hot water."whispered Olivia to me..

I nearly laughed when Nelson

told us of the call he got from Central Booking this morning...

"My Husband was mad upset...It interrupted him from his favorite past time, watching me get dressed."joked Beverly.

Bresha and I decided to go to Juanita's old law firm , while Olivia and the rest went to get Thomas.

Here we all were in court...There wasn't even a prosecutor here, Just a Judge..

Judge Wong..We had been before her before..

Lt. Tragg yelled out..

"YOUR HONOR, I DON'T BELIEVE THIS MAN SHOULD GET BAIL...I WAS AN EYEWITNESS..

HE WALKED INTO SAM MOTHER'S DINER AS NAKED AS A JAYBIRD....I ARRESTED HIM!" he said.

"Lieutenant, He's pleading guilty!"said the Judge Softly... "Attorney Armstrong, you have pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, Indecent Exposure 1,Since you are a first time offender and I hope a last time offender , I am fining you $500.00." said the Judge before banging her gavel..

She went easy on him...She could have fined him up to $1000.00 dollars.

"Thank you your honor...I assure you this will never happen again."said Thomas as he peeled off five hundred dollar bills from his wallet.

Sitting in the visitor's section was Julie Baisden., who couldn't get over seeing Thomas naked this morning..She found out when he was being arraigned and came to the hearing..

"WOWW!" she said again as we walked out..

''Come On Let's get out of here..I'm famished.: said Olivia.

''So Am I." I said.

"I uh am hungry, but I'm guessing Sam Mother's diner is probably not the best place for me to go."said Thomas Armstrong.

Beverly burst out laughing.. "No it's probably not.." she said..

"Sam Mother might cut you, let alone Lt. Tragg is furious that you've been released and there is not going to be a big trial." said Nelson...

''What a moron..Did he really think we were going to trial over something like this.?"asked Josie as we left..

"Crimminy! Guy walks into a restaurant butt naked and he gets hit with a fine and released..Even When I win, I lose.."snarled Lt. Tragg..

"I wouldn't say that! Arthur..He committed a Misdemeanor..He's a first time offender...All he's going to get is a fine...It's not like he killed anybody!"said Julie..

''Ahhhhhh" snarled Lt. Tragg..

''Arrrrrthurrrrr, let's go into the Judges Chambers...I'm very horny right now! " whispered Julie Baisden..

"Whattttttttttttttttt?" said Lt. Tragg. He had a pleased as punch look on his face..

They slipped into the Judges Chambers..

They began kissing passionately..

"MMMMMMM ARTHUR, I NEED YOU!!!!" moaned Julie...

"AWWWWWW I'm here baby...I'm here for ya baby!" said Lt. Tragg.

.Clothing came off. Bras and Panties and Boxers came off..

and soon they were making sweet love on the couch...

"OHHHHHHHH ARTHUR!!!!

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU JULIE!!!

She was so turned on by seeing Thomas naked that she had to have sex immediately....

NINETY MINUTES OF SWEET LOVEMAKING CONTINUED!!

"Ohhhh Julie...Julie...You're driving me crazy kid..." moaned Lt. Tragg..

"Ouuuuuuu Arthur...Arthur...Just put it in me....UMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!" she moaned..

What they didn't expect was Judge Wong walking in on them after finishing her session...

"OHHHHHHHHH, OHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYY GODDDDD!!!" she screamed..

The door was cracked ..A few people saw what the Judge saw....

"OHHHHHHHHH MYYY GODDDDDD!!! " screamed Julie Baisden...

"AWWWWWWWWWWWW GEEEEEEEEEEZ!!" screamed Lt. Tragg...

"PUT YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON!!!" screamed Judge Wong..

IV-

We decided to eat upstairs in the stylish courthouse dining room..

We were all starving....

"Jack, this is Bresha Webb, Recent law school graduate and our intern for awhile.."said Olivia.

"Heyyy Bresha...You've picked a good group to intern with..."said Thomas Armstrong.

"I knowww...I love them!" said Bresha.

"Well Shortcake, we are still at kind of a brick wall...but I have two people to look into..The late Gladys Daye,the last person to call her and this Detective, Phillip Marlowe., who is still alive and still on the force." I said.

"Ohhh wow! Well tomorrow I'll be free to help you guys." said Beverly...

"Soooo nice, being able to have a peaceful meal..." said Josie..

"You aint never lied.."said Nelson.

"I can't thank you guys enough.. and I promise you...I will never get that drunk again....I-I guess I was just depressed because I'm seperated from my wife right now..Elizabeth moved out last month...and I just needed a reason to cut loose..We are still talking and still trying to work things out!!I went to that party and tried to drink everything in sight, even smoked a little weed... Next thing I know...I'm in Sam Mother's without a stitch of clothing. and getting arrested."said Thomas Armstrong.

"I'm so sorry to hear that... Be well Thomas...Lay off the sauce.."said Olivia.

"Yeah and keep your shirt on.." I joked..

Beverly stuck her tongue out at her husband Nelson..

"Seeee! You thought it was just me." she said.

Nelson burst into laughter..

"She's so crazy."laughed Josie..

"Girl I know."laughed Bree.

As we were coming downstairs and preparing to exit.. We stopped short of the Judges Chambers...

"Oh your honor, I AM SOOOOOO SORRY, THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!" said Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Baisden , who was as red as a beet, Her dress was barely buttoned up and she was carrying her shoes..

"Here! You forgot these!" said Judge Wong..

who passed her her panties and bra...

An equally embarrassed Lt. Tragg walked out..holding his shirt and his tie in his hands, his trousers unzippered, his hair unraveled...His suit jacket wrinkled and just barely on...

He was as red as a beet....

"Your Honor, I am sooo sorry.." he said.

"And you...You Hypocrite ! You were just in here talking about a man you arrested for indecent exposure this morning and I come in my chambers and both you and your friend here are naked in my chambers....I'm going to have to have my couch fumigated...Just get out!" said the Judge, who walked back into her chambers and slammed the door shut.