VENTURES: A Perfect Murder, Maybe

A Typical Monday Morning in Sam Mother's Diner...

Two steaming hot cups of coffee were delivered to the table where Gary Lockwood, Investigator for the D.A.'s Office sat with his wife, Mrs. Yvette Jones-Lockwood, Senior Associate Attorney at McCluskey/Cozen/Connor & Pratt Law Firm..

"Today is different for you huh? You're going to lecture some students at PENN LAW SCHOOL, your alma mata eh?" asked Gary in between sips of coffee..

"Yeah...they've picked five top freshman, who have a little clique called the "Law Club" that I'll be lecturing.. Not one of them is a person of color...I know race shouldn't matter..but it's tied up in every single thread of American Society... I was so lucky to find my four, my special four.." she said wistfully,thinking about us..

Me, Keith Jones

My wife, Beatrice Evans-Jones..

her childhood friend, Sofia Garcia-Ahmed..

and my best friend, Kahlil Ahmed..

Two African-Americans, A Puerto Rican and an Arab.. All PENN LAW SCHOOL GRADUATES!!

All of us had just recently passed the bar and were desperately looking for a job, any job, when she plucked us up and offered us first an internship at her law firm, MCCLUSKEY/COZEN/CONNOR &

PRATT and then finally positions as associate attorneys.

We were fortunate to be given good jobs with a good salary at such a prestigious law firm right out the box.. We had checked around..We were doing exceedingly better than a lot of our fellow graduates, a lot who left Philadelphia for greener pasteurs elsewhere.

None of us wanted to leave each other or Philadelphia...Thanks to Ms. Yvette, we didn't have to...

"It's not everyday you get to go back to your old school and lecture...Bet you never thought you'd be going back to PENN to lecture did you?" laughed Gary..

"I sure didn't...This might be fun....My special four are so seasoned now...They hardly need me....Who knows...I might just enjoy this...Say how are you doing on your investigation?" Yvette asked..

Gary was reminded of ten days ago and what he was asked to do by Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Drake.

ADA Cheryl Drake was out of the hospital and eating breakfast in Sam Mother's Diner...a few days after her suicide attempt. Someone had sent photos of her and U.S. Attorney Todd Dellums in his condo, making hot, sweaty love to her fiance, An Esteemed Attorney from D.C. who she had planned to marry. She had put her home up for sale, was planning to resign from the D.A.'s office.. Marry him and become a partner in his law firm in Washington D.C. Once he saw the racy X-rated photos he called the engagement off.. She had to take her home off the market and hold back her plans to resign from the D.A.'s office. Distraught she had attempted to take her own life...She had been saved by an alert neighbor, who got to her in time..

"Gary, Rockland... I heard you guys had a fabulous vacation at Oak Island...

Down near Myrtle Beach."said Cheryl..

''We did..We were gone for a week..A very relaxing time." said Gary.

"I just realized you're married to Yvette Jones...I faced her and her squad in court recently

and Rockland, you uh are involved with the office manager

of Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece ,Beverly West.

I faced her and her talented crew in court recently too...So you guys were down there with all of them huh? Must have been nice huh?" said Cheryl Drake.

"Yes it was...Very nice, very relaxing...I uh heard you uh had a somewhat bad time...How are you doing?" said Assistant District Attorney Rockland Cambridge.

"I'm fine..I'm fine Now.." said Cheryl..she passed Rockland the large envelope with the damning photos of her and Todd Dellums.. Gary had already seen the same photos that were sent to Natasha Smith, Todd Dellums girlfriend. The envelope with the photos had the same letters, Cut from Newspapers and Magazines..No return addresses.

Somebody targeted me and U.S. Attorney Todd Dellums..This wasn't blackmail..It was targeted hate...I want you to look into this...I want to know who was behind this." she said.

Lt. Tragg was sitting at the counter...He overheard the conversation... He choked on his coffee..

"I been on this for ten days...I found the young lady who delivered the photos to ADA Drake's fiance.. she was an Exotic Dancer...had a few arrests for prostitution...She told me some guy...gave her $100.00 to place them under the door of the man's suite downtown...She didn't look into them and she didn't know what was in them..She just did what she was told and pocketed the cash...

I found the guy who gave the photos to Natasha Smith... He was just some kid...Had a juvy record...No recent troubles..He said a woman gave him $100.00 dollars in cash and told him to deliver the photos to Natasha Smith...

Can't find this mysterious guy or this mysterious woman....and since they dealt in cash there is no money trail...And none of these people knew either Todd Dellums of Cheryl Drake..so there was no personal bones to grind...

I had the letters and the envelopes tested for prints and DNA....None....No saliva, no nothing..I'm at a dead end Vettie." said Gary.

"Wowwwww Gary, I don't know what to tell you...Whoever is behind this knows how to cover their tracks.."said Yvette..

"I'll say and even if I do find out who is behind this...What can I do to them? This wasn't extortion or blackmail...Neither party was contacted or asked for anything...There is no law against taking photos and giving them to somebody.. This is really just a case of extreme pettiness."said Gary.

"I think a woman did this....Like you said ,it was an act of extreme pettiness...Look into some of Todd Dellums exes..."said Yvette.

Gary laughed..

"Uhhh you know Bee Bee

is his ex...They were engaged before she met Keith..." he laughed..

"Puh-lease, Bee Bee isn't thinking about Todd....Trust me.."laughed Yvette.

"How do you know Todd was the target....It seems like both were the target...Damn, I got about six open cases on my desk that I need to be investigating and I'm looking into some petty lovers revenge plot."sighed Gary.

"Poor Poor Baby....but I'm curious now myself...I want to know who did this..Don't give up."laughed Yvette.

And she kissed him slowly and softly...

"I'll see you later." she said as they both tossed a couple of dollars on the table and walked out.

Lt. Tragg had overheard the entire conversation...He was more than a little nervous...Gary was a damn good investigator...He was a good cop and a good detective when he worked Robbery-Homicide and later when he worked Internal Affairs.. He had already done better than he expected... He hoped that Gary didn't become a problem.

II-

Yvette sighed when she entered the classroom...She remembered attending lectures in this very room more than a decade ago with her best friend, Olivia Bennett....

She greeted the class of five students...

There was Madison McClean, Pretty, very good student..

Robert Atwell, Brilliant , Arrogant, Witty...

Gabe Cataldi, Brilliant, the bad boy!

Daryl Cross, the joker of the bunch....

and Natalie Townson, the beauty, the bombshell..everybody's crush....

These kids were out of central casting..

"Hello...I'm Mrs. Yvette Jones-Lockwood, Senior Associate Attorney at McCluskey/Cozen/Connor & Pratt and believe it or not...I attended lectures in this very classroom about a decade ago...." said Yvette, smiling pleasently...

"I've seen you on TV a few times...You and your crew have handled a lot of murder cases...Damn, you're hot Mrs. Lockwood." said Robert....

They all laughed..

"My God Robert, do you have to flirt with every woman you see?" said Madison... Yvette got the impression that there had once been something between them.

"Jealous?" asked Robert..

"Don't flatter yourself." said Madison....

"Tell Us about your murder trials Ms. Yvette..."said Natalie.

"Oh My God... My kids at work call me Ms. Yvette.."laughed Yvette..."Yes, I've defended people in close to 100 murder cases, what would you like to know?" asked Ms. Yvette.

"You ever heard of like a perfect murder?" asked Gabe Cataldi

''Well no murder is perfect because the murderer always makes a mistake.. There have been murders, several that were never solved...But with advances being made in forensics now of days...The Corpse will practically tell you who the murderer is."said Ms. Yvette "Or ISN'T!" she added.

''Spoken like a true Attorney" said Darryl Cross.

"So if you were going to commit a picture perfect murder , what would you do Ms. Yvette?" asked Gabe.

"Oh God...Do you have to be so gross?" asked Madison in disgust.

"Dude , for real , what's with you ?." asked Bobby Attwell

"Yeah, Gabe...." said Darryl Cross.

"Wellll like I said, Murders are easier to solve with advances in forensics because the body will tell you who the killer is or isn't...or might be... I'd get rid of the body first and then find somebody with a motive and frame them...It would take all of the onus off of you....Murders are harder to solve when there is no body....But hey you guys are lawyers to be...Not Killers right?" said Ms. Yvette..

They all busted out laughing..

Yvette steered the conversation away from committing murder....She got an eerie and unsettling feeling about the entire thing...But she liked these students...They were smart and eager.

They talked about other aspects of the law, They were engaged and asked good questions...The sign of a good lawyer.

She liked that.

III-

After a nice non eventful day of work...We all wound up in the Supermarket..

We were shopping for items because we were all having dinner at Bee Bee and my house tonight..

''We've got to buy a little extra...Chip and Jessica are joining us too." I said.

"Oh they are? Ohh, I thought it was just our group....That's okay...The more the merrier."said Bee Bee.

"I like this...Us living around our friends and fellowshipping with them like this."said Sofia as she filled up one of the two carts..

"Yeah, me too!" said Kahlil..

"It's weird with Ms. Yvette gone for a week, lecturing those students at Penn." I said.

''Yeah, the office seems kind of empty without her."said Kahlil.

''Awwwwwww you guys miss Ms. Yvette don't you? She'll be so touched when I tell her." said Bee Bee.

"I miss her too!" said Bee Bee.,

"Yeah, we have no one to dish with on our lunch break.."laughed Sofia...

A few hours later.. We all met at our house..

"Bee Bee your house is gorgeous.."said Jessica.

"It is...All of these houses are great...I'm so glad all of us were able to get them." said Chip...

"Thank You.....I'm glad to be here too...We were just talking about how we like living around all of our new friends and colleagues.."said Bee Bee.

''Yeah....Make yourself comfortable.." I said..

The rest of our guests arrived, Sofia and Kahlil, Ms. Yvette and Gary, who brought wine and Jade and Danny arrived behind them...

"Heyyyyyyy, we're here." said Sofia.

"We know to make ourselves comfortable.."joked Kahlil..

"Hey Guys....I missed you..."said Ms. Yvette...

'We brought wine....You should like this." said Gary.

"Heyyyyyy." said Ms. Jade..

"What's goin on guys?" said Danny Ho.

We had Grilled Lamb Chops with Honey Glaze, Potatoes and Carrots.

"Bee Bee, everything was delish!" said Sofia.

"Aye Mios Dios...Yes it was" said Jessica.

"Next week we want to have you guys and Olivia, Beverly and her team over our house for dinner to celebrate our latest victory a few weeks ago..Getting that guy off after 12 years...." said Chip..

"Yesss.. I'm looking forward to that....Really , our recent trip to Oak Island was celebration enough..but I'll take it..Let the good times roll." laughed Ms. Yvette as she held up her glass of wine.

"How is your lecturing gig at PENN?" I asked.

"It's cool..The students are freshmen...They ask good questions..." said Yvette.

''Ms. Yvette they missed you...They whined about you every day.."laughed Bee. Bee.

"They sure did.."laughed Sofia..

"No we didn't!....We didn't whine..." said Kahlil..

"Awwwwww...I missed you guys too!..I'll be done soon..Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone." said Ms. Yvette.

"Hey Gary, How's your investigation into who sent those photos to Dellums and Clarke going?" asked Danny Ho.

"It's hit a brick wall.. Whoever did this. knew how to cover their tracks..They used cash... They had em hand delivered..No DNA, No Prints.. No Nothing....Just destruction...." said Gary.. "Somebody really hated one of em or both of them."said Gary.

"I think it was Lt. Tragg..."said Jade. She was joking.... "He hated them both...They both complained to the Deputy of Operations and Captain Cantrell and got him put back on that boat...He hated them both."laughed Jade.

"You're joking, but you got a point...Only thing is..He was doing double shifts that entire week...I caught up to a guy and a girl who delivered the photos...They both described a totally different mysterious person who gave them money to deliver the photos and neither of them knew Todd Dellums or Cheryl Drake or the people they were delivering the envelopes to and neither knew what was in the envelopes...It was as if two different people with the same agenda were working simultaneously...but I ruled that out..If Lt. Tragg did indeed put this together...Nothing traces to him, not a thing..and even if I could prove he did this..Which I can't...Nothing could be done to him...He broke no laws.. "said Gary..

"Isn't that extortion?" asked Danny Ho!

''No!, taking some photos and giving them to somebody is not a crime... At no time was Todd Dellums nor Cheryl Drake contacted and asked for anything...They did the Hibbity Bibbity and somebody photographed them and passed the photos to their significant others...It's extremely Petty...but it's not against the law...

As we saw on Oak Island...Todd and his girlfriend have gotten back together...I even heard she's moved back in with him..

But poor Cheryl...All her plans were dashed....She was going to resign from the D.A.'s Office...She had already put her house on the market..She was going to get married and move to D.C. and become a partner in her fiance's law firm...And all for one hot afternoon...it's all gone... She tried to take her own life."said Ms. Yvette.

"I hear she took a leave of absence from the D.A.'s office and is under observation..."said Bee Bee.

''She wasn't my favorite person...I lost two cases to her in court and she kind of reveled in it..But wow, she's really going through it." said Jessica.

Beverly and Nelson told me that when they were Public Defenders she did the same thing to them."

said Sofia.

Reflecting on a conversation she had had with them after they defeated Cheryl Drake in court, just as we had the week before.

"Well at any rate...I want to wrap this thing up and get back to real investigatory work."said Gary..

"I hear that man." I said.

''Sure enough." said Kahlil.

IV-

ONE WEEK LATER-

"You Wanted to see me Dean Winters?" asked Yvette.

"Uh Yes Yvette...First off , I want to thank you...You did an excellent job with the students last week..They raved about you...but uh there is a slight problem..You uh told them that to uh commit the perfect murder they should get rid of the body...I know you were speaking of a hypothetical situation, but apparently and I sincerely hope I'm wrong.. but one of our students is missing..Robert Atwell..

He hasn't been seen or heard from in five days...The police found a lot of blood in his garage and a broken beer bottle...but nothing else...His car was there, so was his wallet and his keys. There has been no movement on his credit cards or bank cards... I mean there is still no proof that he is dead...but that was a lot of blood and he hasn't been seen like I said." said Dean Harry Winters.

''And you think I'm responsible for that? I just answered a question hypothetically..Which I shouldn't have done..I changed the conversation immediately afterwords..because I felt a little weird..But you can't hold me accountable for this." said Yvette..

"Now..Now..Now...Of course I'm not blaming you Yvette...but these are Freshmen, and they are young and impressionable...But of course who could have foreseen this ? And look...there is no proof that he is dead! Like I said." said the Dean..

"But I hear WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!" said Yvette ,who angrilly walked out.

"Ohhh Yvette...I-I meant no disrespect.." said Dean Winters as she walked away....

That night at Food Corner...

"You look sad Ms. Yvette, what's the matter?" asked Bee Bee.

"Ahh I tried to do something good and it went sideways...Remember when I was lecturing those kids at Law School last week? One of them asked me a question...They asked me had I ever heard of a perfect murder..I said that most murderers make a mistake, I admitted that there was a lot of unsolved murders, but I said that with advances in today's forensics....The Body tells you who the murderer is and isn't..ergo if I were going to commit the so called perfect murder....I'd get rid of the body...It was all hyperbole...A Hypothetical situation...Well guess what? One of my students has turned up missing..He's been missing for five days...A lot of blood was found near his house...but no sign of him...His car is there, His wallet, His house keys and his car keys...No movement on his bank or debit cards..." sighed Ms. Yvette.

"They can't blame that on you...That's just not fair...If somebody was murdered and right now, There is no proof, No real proof that a murder has occurred....Somebody was planning to murder that person all along...They were looking for a way to do it.. That's not on you."said Sofia.

Yvette smiled. "Mamasita...You are going to be my lead defense attorney." she said and hugged Sofia and kissed her forehead...

"She's right..and I've got an idea...We aren't busy....How about we round your students up and solve this murder or disapearence as it may be...We go up there with you next week and hold a totally different kind of class..."How to Solve a Murder 101? " I said.