Swallowed By The Sea

 Once again, we were in court...Olivia, Beverly, Nelson, Josie and our intern Bresha were resting their case and presenting the closing arguments in the case of Evelyn Woods, a retired black school teacher accused of murdering her estranged husband..An abusive man, whom had violated several restraining orders. She maintained she was nowhere near the scene of the crime where he was found shot to death and that she didn't own a gun. The case had languished on for three weeks.

When she was charged with murder, Her Church and the School Board she once worked for started a GO FUND ME to pay for her legal fees...Which we had reduced because of her financial situation...She was retired and living on a fixed budget.

Her case had been brought to us by a friend, who believed in her innocence.

"I think we did a credible job...What do you think Neicey Poo!" said Olivia, holding her niece's hand and shaking a bit..For the first time in a long time, she wasn't sure....It had been a difficult case... I had started investigating this case as if the client was guilty and had come up with enough evidence to casr some doubt...

Beverly smiled at her Aunt...

"I think we did fine Auntay.." she said..

I had my fingers crossed.. Juries could be funny as I knew.

"We got this..It was 10 to acquit definitely... and I couldn't make hide nor hair of the other two.."said Nelson..

"Me neither..." said Josie quietly...We didn't wish to get our client nervous or upset...

"Mrs. Woods , Relax...Olivia and Beverly, Nelson and Josie did a fine job."said Bresha..

''Don't sell yourself short young lady...First year lawyer or not..you acquitted yourself well...I know your Auntie would be proud of you as I am..." she said and smiled.

Bresha did a double take...

"You knew my Aunt?" she asked..

"Yes...You remind me of her so much...At first I didn't recognize you...I haven't seen you since you were a little girl..but when I heard you speak and Olivia told me you were her intern....I knew you were Juanita's niece...Ohhh She didn't Live to see what you were going to become, but she's somewhere in the great beyond so proud of her little niece...Just as I'm sure Olivia is proud of her niece.."said Evelyn Woods.

"The Jury is back!" I said..

Judge Michael King entered the chambers...

ADA Chris Garcetti stood confidently... He was certain he had hit a home run this time...

The Arresting Officer, Lt. Tragg stood next to him..He smirked.. He was certain that this time..Olivia and Beverly had hit a brick wall..

"Bailiff, has the jury come to a decision?" asked Judge King..

"They have your honor.." said the Bailiff.

He was passed the verdict...He read it...His face did not betray any emotion...

"Read it!" he said.

"IN THE MATTER OF STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA VS. EVELYN WOODS... ON THE CHARGE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER, WE FIND THE DEFENDENT, NOT GUILTY.!!

ON THE CHARGE OF SECOND DEGREE MURDER, WE FIND THE DEFENDENT, NOT GUILTY..\!!

AND ON THE CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER, WE FIND THE DEFENDENT, NOT GUILTY!"

He said.

Judge King looked at the jury and said..

"I'd like to thank all of the jurors for a job well done....you are dismissed..." he said and banged his gavel.

"Ouuuuu thank the lord, Thank you Jesus!  Thank you, thank you, Thank You!!! My Long Nightmare is over.."said Evelyn Woods, hugging Olivia, Beverly and Myself..

"Oh you are so welcome....It was close there for a minute." said Olivia.

''You are sooo welcome Mrs. Woods."said Beverly, who said that Mrs. Woods reminded her of so many of her teachers from elementary school.

She reminded me of my elementary school teachers too!

"Oh and you two, thank you too.." she said ,hugging Nelson and Josie..

"You're soo welcome Mrs. Woods..I'm just happy for you.."said Nelson..

"Same Here..." said a smiling Josie..

''And this girl here, Bresha..She's going to be a great lawyer herself one day...I didn't recognize her at first..but after awhile..I began to realize who she was.. She is the niece of Juanita Townsend...You all are too young to know who she was..." said Evelyn Woods..

"I know who she was...I did a report on her for Black History Month when I was in high school..She was a Black Female Defense Attorney at one time and an Assistant District Attorney...Here in Philadelphia..She even had her own practice at one time...She was one of my sheros.."said Olivia ,who did a double take and looked at Bresha..

"She's your aunt? Juanita Townsend?????"she asked.

"Yes...She uh was my mother's older sister...I remember her vaugely when I was young...I was still quite young when she died...I thought the world had forgotten about her by now..That's why I never mentioned her.."said Bresha..

"Noooooooo...I remember her...She is one of many reasons I became an attorney.."said Olivia.

Mrs. Woods looked at Beverly, Nelson and Josie..

"You three are too young to remember her..but she was something...and her neice ,Bresha is going to be just like her..Thank you all so much for everything!"laughed Mrs. Woods as she waved and walked away..

In the distance...

Lt. Tragg was being roasted by the press, fists were flying and tables were being turned over and a big fight between him and the reporters had once again broken out..

ADA Chris Garcetti furious that he had lost in court again and to us, tossed his suit jacket up in the air and stomped his foot in anger..

''Donnie Ray, throw me the keys ,let's get out of here..."said Nelson..

I tossed him the keys..

"Through the side exit ladies." I said..

"Right behind you husband...Step lively ladies.."said Olivia.

"Don't have to tell me twice.."said Bresha.

"Let's go Josie."said Beverly..

''Right behind you."said Josie.

II-

We got home after the trial and sat down and relaxed...No one was going anywhere near Sam Mother's Diner today... Lt. Tragg was going to be on a rampage..

We all sat around our conference table..

Our Office manager, Alfreda, had set out two beautiful fruit bowls for us and a pitcher of Ice Tea..

Josie, like Beverly, took her heels off first...She poured herself a glass of Ice Tea.

Beverly sat in her husband's lap and playfully fed him fruit..

''So I am not the only niece who followed their auntie into law..Bresha , you are just full of surprises.."said Beverly..

"So tell us about your famous auntie Bresha..What is she doing now?" asked Nelson..

"She's dead Nelson...She was murdered years ago...2005, I believe...Her murder was never solved..." said Olivia somberly...

"OH?" I said...Now I was interested..The cop in me..

"Who is your Aunt Bresha?" asked Alfreda.

"Juanita Townsend, Attorney at Law....I was young when she died..but I remember , she was fly...Always dressed to the nines, like Olivia and Beverly and Josie...Everytime she came to visit, she always brought me something, a new outfit...something cool to eat...I always looked forward to her visits.. I remember when she died my mama was soo hurt..She kept a huge photo of her in our study and she always talked about her...When I enetered Law school she said. "Oh Aunt Juanita would be soo proud of you... Then one day I saw you two, Olivia and Beverly on the news. It was that show HARD BOTTOM..

You two had just won some big case...and the host talked about how you two and Nelson

had been Public Defender's Office and  had gone on to start your own practice and take on many cases and mentor other young attorneys...When I heard you were  going to speak at my law school and would take an intern...I had to be there.. I had to be your intern...."said Bresha.

"I've heard of your aunt.... Juanita Townsend.."said Alfreda..

''Like my baby girls here, Olivia and Beverly... Juanita graduated from Girls High School here in Philadelphia...She attended Howard University and Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C. She passed the bar in Pennsylvania, Deleware, New Jersey, New York and Washington D.C.

She returned to Philadelphia.. She started her own law practice after completing law school. At one point, she represented your father, Livy. It was something minor. She was also very active in the civil rights movement here in Philadelphia. After participating in the co-ordination of the Million Man March and the marches in Philadelphia.

 She rented voting machines and held classes to teach black residents how to vote for the candidate of their choice. She established the Independent Voters Association and was an active member of the Philadelphia Urban League and the NAACP Legal defense initiative..

She was making waves...First as a Defense Attorney and later as an Assistant District Attorney prosecuting police brutality cases specifically...The police, well certain police hated her guts..

On the night of August 5th 2005...Juanita Townsend's body was found floating in the Schuykill river

At first they thought she committed suicide..

and drowned...

Her car was just a block away...The doors were open, the windows were down and the keys were still in the ignition...

The Autopsy showed the cause of death was Blunt force trauma to the head...Meaning she was struck in the head and killed and her dead body was tossed into the river..

They found a palm print and a latent fingerprint on the car...but it turned up nothing..

Police began a murder investigation. Juanita Townsend was a highly-respected attorney and prosecutor, yet, her murder was never solved."said Alfreda.

"WOWWWW!! You really followed my aunt didn't you?" said Bresha.

''In the news...I liked her..She was a sharp Black sister...Like you said, dressed to the nines and articulate as hell...I loved her..I was mad that her murder was never solved."said Alfreda.

I was intrigued..I was a young cop walking a beat when this happened.. 

Olivia was about to graduate from law school...

Beverly, Nelson and Josie were still very young, hadn't met each other yet...Still in High School maybe...

And Bree, our intern , was even younger...

"Bree...I'd like to look into this....I know it's going to open up some old wounds for you...but wouldn't you like closure? wouldn't you want to know what happened?" I asked..

"I've always wanted to know just what happened..It's just that a lot of time has gone by..."said Bresha.

"Not that much time...I have a few friends in the police department.."I said..

"Uh Oh...My husband's nose is wide open.."said Olivia, laughing..

"Girl, you're supposed to do that..."laughed Alfreda..

"I try.."laughed Olivia..

"You two are soooo baddd!"laughed Beverly...

"We just finished a case...We have a little time, we can all pitch in."said Nelson..

"Yessssss."said Josie.

I kept thinking about Bree's Aunt, a successful and vibrant young woman in the prime of her life found floating in the river in the early summer morning..

III-

Tender was the night..

"Donnie Ray, do you think you can solve a mystery that is nearly 20 years old?  "asked Olivia..

"I'm gonna give it a try....I'm no longer a Homicide Detective, I don't have to play politics, I don't have the brass telling me what I can and can't do...I'm free..." I said.

"I set you free didn't I?" joked Olivia..

"You set me on fire baby!" I said..

Taking her in my arms and kissing her passionately.....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu, on fire?" asked Olivia in between kisses...

"On fire!' I said...

I took my clothes off and helped her out of her clothes....We had the day off tomorrow ,like we usually did after a big case...We continued kissing, Olivia's lips were so butter soft, the way I remembered from the first time I ever kissed her in New Orleans..I was near delirium...just kissing her...

I thrusted my tongue practically down her throat and while squeezing one breast with my hand... and I lifted her up and positioned her on me as I entered her and began thrusting away...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOD, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OUUUUUUUUUUUUUU HOOO HOOO HOOO HOOO, OH MY GODDDD YOU ARE ALL UP IN THIS!!!! UMMMMMMM!!!!! YOU MAKE IT SOOO EASY TO FORGET ABOUT ...OUUUUUU, THE PROBLEMS OF THE DAY!!! OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!" she screamed as I continued to thrust , harder and feverishly more.....

A HALF HOUR slowly oozed by...I felt so good...I wasn't even close to stopping..

"Ouuuu husband you are doing the damn thing...UMMMMMM" she said..

 I laid her across her bed , a few minutes later and I entered her softly and gently and began to stroke her softly and slowly....She moaned and put her arms around my neck and drew me closer to her..I kissed her neck, between her breasts, her cheeks....She continued to kiss my lips and my ears and my chest...

"Ohhh My God...I can't believe how good this  feels!" she moaned..

"Me neither!" I said.

She wrapped her legs around my waste and we began to move in a slow, yet deliberate rhythm for quite some time...She matched me thrust for thrust and even kissed my shoulder at one point...She was so soft...so moist and smelled so good...I was losing my mind....She was shaking and looking like she was on the verge of crying the entire time.......

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...OHHH MY GOODNESS...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she moaned loudly ,obviously not caring who heard us....

We made sweet passionate and intense love like this for EIGHT TO NINE HOURS.. Olivia began to shake and gyrate and tears began to stream down her face again....I was surprised at how passionate she still was ...

"It's sooooooooooooooo goooddd...Oh my godddddddddddddd it's soooooo gooood Oh my Goddd Donnie Ray....ohhhhh don't stoppp, don't stopp...don't ever stop...ouuuuuuuuuuuu" she screamed as I mounted her from behind on the floor of our bedroom..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..
OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" she screamed...

I came like a gusher....

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" I moaned...

She smiled....Her mouth was wide open as she stared at me...

"Wow!  THAT WAS AWESOME...WOW! OUUU HUSBAND...YOU WERE JUST SHOWING OFF IN THIS BED!! MYYYY GOOODNESS! ARE YOU ON SOMETHING? MY GOD...I DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE EVER GONNA CUM!!" she exclaimed....

I smiled and gently felt her breasts...I gently kissed both of them....She leaned over and kissed me again..

"You were so..so intense....You made me cum like four times..OUUUUUUU!." she smiled..she was still shaking as she continued to kiss me...

"You're not getting enough are you, wouuuuuuu?" she whispered.. "I do this to you? I turn you on like this?" she said...

"Yessss!" I whispered softly.....

She gave me a nice sloppy, wet kiss....I pulled her to me and kissed her too..She felt my still very hard and engorged penis...Her mouth opened wide..

"You make me hornier than any woman I've ever known"..I whispered...

"Ouuuuuuu...I guess I do....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."she laughed as we continued kissing and I mounted her once again...

"Oh My goodness!!!! DONNIE RAY!!!!  OUUUUUUUUU!" she replied smiling and slowly kissing me as I entered her again...She was so warm,so moist...so inviting..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray...ohhhh my goddd!..Ouuuuuuuu..." she cried out...as the bed began to squeak....The headboard slammed against the wall....She stared at me almost in disbelief.....

Another TWO TO THREE HOURS of sweet and tender lovemaking continued....We were both going to be very tired tomorrow ...but neither of us cared at the moment...Not like we had to be anywhere at any time..

She began to blow softly in my ear ,in between soft , wet kisses..which turned me on even more...and within twenty minutes... I exploded like a gusher ...Holding her tightly....Her body shook a little too..Tears ran down the side of her face..her body began shaking and her head turned from side to side...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...myyy goodnessss.." she exclaimed...still shaking like a church woman testifying......

We continued to hold each other for a few minutes....

"You okay?" I asked...

"I'm just fine..." she said, smiling serenely....

She smiled...

This was a nice stress buster after the day we had..

Yeah we were going to sleep late tomorrow...

IV-

TWO DAYS LATER-

We all sat in Sam Mother's diner..

.

We sat in Sam Mother's Diner having breakfast...

"My Husband should be here shortly...We are going to act legally as a represenative for you, your family in this..If he finds enough, maybe we can ask for an official investigation into this."said Olivia.

"Yeah Bree..This way it won't look like Donnie Ray is just a lone wolf, even though he is."laughed Beverly..

"I'm so nervous and anxious, just to find out anything.."said Bresha..

"Here comes Donnie Ray now.."said Nelson..

"Ouuu, make a place for him..."said Josie, clearing a space for me..

"Hey Guys...Here is what I have found out so far..

"Jaunita Townsend was viewed very much the way Liv, Bev, Nelson, Josie and I are viewed by the establishment today as thorns in their sides...It was bad enough when she was a defense attorney, but as an Assistant District Attorney prosecuting bad cops  and wife beaters as well, she was not well liked..

She was investigating three officers and a detective accused of beating up and framing a Black motorist.. These officers and the detective were under the command of one  Lt. Arthur Tragg Sr.. 

Father of our favorite detective." I said.

"Why am I not surprised.?" said Beverly...

"She lived with her girlfriend...I found this girlfriend...Jeanette Billings who told me-

"When I went upstairs about 10 to go to bed,the night of August 5th, she was sitting on the couch reading about a dynamic senator,who could be the first Black President named Barrack Obama.” She laughed. She said "Fat chance..being Black and with a name like that..." she said.

 When Billings woke up the next morning Juanita was not in her bed. 

“I went downstairs and asked my then boyfriend. who had spent the night with me  where she was..He said, ‘I was  asking the same thing.I got up to go to the bathroom last night and she was gone, Her bed hadn't been slept in. ”  

A check of her phone that night  showed she  had received a text late that night from a friend named Gladys Daye, who asked  Townsend to meet her to talk about a lawsuit against a beautician.  She texted back at 11:05 pm saying that she was a prosecutor now and didn't take that kind of case anymore..She said she would meet with her tomorrow and give her the name of some attorneys who might be able to help her.

She insisted that she meet her in a coffee shop in University City that night.. Juanita said she would.. That was the last that anybody heard from Juanita Townsend...

The Coffee shop is still there.   I found two people who worked at the  coffee shop back then and they said that Juanita never showed up there that night...They knew who she was because she used to stop there and drink coffee with witnesses and clients often or stop by there late at night and get a hot tea before she went home.

Gladys Daye died in 2009. Juanita said Gladys went out and waited at the Coffee Shop for Juanita, who never showed up...Then she called her the next day  and she said.. "I can't believe Juanita would curve me like that...Had me waiting for her for two hours..." she said. They thought it was weird because Juanita was as good as her word..If she told you she was going to do something or meet you somewhere...She always followed through...This night, she didn't.

But Juanita always said she didn't believe Gladys's protestations were sincere...She felt that Gladys 's later actions were a little suspect, but nothing  anyone could prove.

They found her purse down the street from the car.. her lipstick, credit cards, debit cards and about $250.00 in cash were still in the purse and another latent fingerprint was found on it.. An unused condom was also in the bag... She wasn't known to be dating anyone at the time.."

She was 43 years old...

Captain Jack Tragg pulled the two detectives off the case after a month and re-assigned them to something else and never looked into the case again..." I said.

"I keep hearing the name Tragg....Lt. Arthur Tragg Sr.. 

" I suspect he's the father of uh Lt. Tragg , who keeps arresting the wrong people and acting like a park ape when he loses."said Bresha.

Olivia smiled... "This girl is as sharp as a tack...The one and the same and Captain Jack Tragg is his Uncle.. My family has a complicated history with Jack Tragg...

Let me tell you about it.."said Olivia..

''Oh wow, there is no end to the surprises in this case." said Bree.

(TO BE CONTINUED)