VENTURES: A Getaway

SAM MOTHER'S DINER-EARLY MORNING

''Do you mean to tell me , he stood by your table the entire time you and your husband were kissing?"said an uncharactoristically annoyed Bresha.

''Well Not the whole time..I don't know how long he was standing there before we noticed him."said Beverly.

"He asked for Olivia...It was obvious she wasn't with us...but he continued to stand there for at least another ten minutes before he got the hint and just left." said Nelson.

"That's just rude...an invasion of privacy...There ought to be something that can be done about him.He shouldn't be allowed to harrass us like that." said Josie.

As their Pancakes

Hash Browns

Sausages

and hot coffees arrived..

Olivia and I and our clients, Kitty Wells and her fiance, Dex Lee walked in and sat at a table next to Beverly, Nelson, Josie and Bree..

"Good Morning everyody....Ready for court..?" asked Olivia, smiling..

Our Preliminary Hearing was starting late..At 11:00 am..So everyone was in here early ,getting breakfast...

"I'm ready Auntay!" said Beverly, smiling.

"I am too..It was nice for the prelim to start late like this..Give us extra time to eat...relax." said Nelson.

"Yesss." said Josie.

"I wish all the Prelim hearings started this late." said Bresha.

"Usually it's the other way around..They start at nine or even eight." I said.

''Oh My.." said Kitty

"None of you pull your wallets out...Your Breakfasts are on me this morning." said Dex.

Naturally, Lt. Tragg walked in and naturally , he walked over to our table..

''So, at last you've produced your client." he said.

"Our client was never hiding..She's been right here in Philadelphia the entire time...And now she's prepared to go to trial." said Olivia as diplomatically as she could.

"Now if there isn't anymore...Could you please leave our tables???..We are in the middle of Breakfast.." said Dex Lee.

Lt. Tragg laughed.

"Who is this Jamolk?" he said..

"This is my client, Mr. Dexter Lee, Founder and CEO of Silky Smooth Lingerie Inc. Ms. Kitty Wells is his fiance.." said Olivia.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh he sells panties huh? Fiance huh? He's bankrolling her defense...Ahhhhh I see, it all makes sense now...You know...I hear that at our woman's prison, they have trailers..Married couples get conjugal visits, twice a month.. Of course if she goes to death row all bets are off...Heh heh heh!"laughed Lt. Tragg..

"SHE'S NOT GOING TO PRISON!" said Beverly, finally breaking her silence.

"AND SHE'S NOT GOING TO DEATH ROW EITHER!" said Josie.

''Come On Lieutenant, we are trying to eat." said Nelson..

''Ohhhh Look, THE JUNIOR PARTNERS TALK..." laughed Lt. Tragg..

''Don't you have anything better to do?" asked Olivia, who was getting annoyed.

"I beleive I asked you to leave our table...NOW LEAVE! I WON'T ASK YOU AGAIN!!!" shouted a very angry Dex Lee.

"Cool it Dex..." I said trying to avoid a confrontation..

"APPARENTLY HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO I AM!!" snarled Lt. Tragg...

ADA Hayden King walked in...She walked up to Lt. Tragg..

"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! A MAJOR PEST , THAT'S WHAT!!!! DO NOT COME BY MY APARTMENT ANYMORE, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD/???? ANYTHING YOU NEED TO TALK TO ME ABOUT, YOU EMAIL OR TEXT OR CALL AND LEAVE A MESSAGE." she said loudly and walked away..

Petey S. walked in behind her.. He said to Dex.

''Dex Lee right? You own Silky Smooth Lingerie?" he asked.

''Yes I do, what about it?" he asked.

He pulled out a catalog..

"My girl likes this, this and this and I like this for her..I'd like to come by and uh give you some business if you don't mind.." he said.

''Sure..We are open until six." said Dex.

Lt. Tragg was so angry upon hearing that , he stormed out of the diner and went down the street cursing...

Petey S. looked at all of us and winked...

He knew how to get under Lt. Tragg's skin and it worked..

''Good Ole Petey S."said his law school friend, Bresha, smiling.

"Thank you so much." said Olivia.

"Yes, Thank You!" said Beverly.

"One good turn deserves another..Oh and Dex...I 'm serious about those panties man."said Petey S.

"PETEYYYYY!" said an embarrassed ADA Hayden King.

This brought guffaws of laughter from Nelson, Myself, Josie ,Dex and Kitty Wells..

Even though we were going to be on opposite sides in court..It was a momentary truce.

II-

In a preliminary hearing the judge must find that such evidence provides probable cause to believe that the crime was committed, and that the crime was committed by the defendant. There is a right to counsel at the preliminary hearing.The conduct of the preliminary hearing as well as the specific rules regarding the admissibility of evidence vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Hearsay is typically allowed. If the court decide that there is probable cause, a formal charging instrument (called the information in some jurisdictions) will be issued; and the prosecution will continue. If the court should find there is no probable cause, then typically the prosecution will cease. Many jurisdictions, however, allow the prosecution to seek a new preliminary hearing, or even seek a bill of indictment from a grand jury.

The key questions that a preliminary hearing normally addresses are Is there probable cause to believe the alleged crime occurred and did it occur within the court's jurisdiction? Is there probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime? If a judge determines that there is sufficient evidence to believe that the defendant committed the crime, it is said that the defendant is "held to answer" or "bound over" (in U.S. jurisdictions).

Judge Julie Wong was presiding over this hearing..It was a weird one at that...There was a crime committed.. A Murder..

Neither side-

The Prosecution- Assistant District Attorneys Hayden King and Peter "Petey S." Smith

or the defense- Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Beverly West -East, Nelson East, Josie Boyd and Bresha Williams

could prove that Kitty Wells committed this crime or that Kitty Wells did not commit this crime..

She didn't have an alibi...She said she was at home, alone..We didn't have one witness, not yet anyway..

who could place her at home..

She did not come to work on the day of the murder and no one saw her that day.

The Prosecution could not come up with a motive....All 21 of the witnesses who testified , testified that the two, Kitty Wells and Rod Tazzie were good friends.

The Murder weapon, found in the SUV next to him...had her fingerprints on it... Her DNA and fingerprints were found in the SUV..

The Autopsy photographs were shown with Rod Tazzie in the passenger seat slumped over , blood pouring out of his side like a siv...

Olivia and Beverly produced the ownership receipt, showing that the gun was purchased and owned by her fiance , Dexter Lee and that he tried to teach her how to shoot, thus explaining her fingerprints on the gun..

Nelson produced the police report showing the gun had been stolen a week prior to the murder.

Lucky for us...The sexual trysts between Kitty and Rod Tazzie did not come out... No one knew about it and there was no physical evidence of it...

ADA Hayden King brought up the recent thefts of designs from Silky Smooth Inc. and floated the theory that either Kitty or Tazzie or both were involved in the industrial espionage..

Josie and Bresha challenged her to prove that....She couldn't..

And so we came to an impasse..A Mexican stand off if you will..

Judge Julie Wong said

"There is enough here for this to be held over for trial...It is Wednesday...Trial will begin next Wednesday at 10:00 am.. Be ready for trial." she said.

"I knew now that I had to find out just who killed Rod Tazzie.. I had to find the real killer if we were going to have any chance of getting Kitty off.

Judge Julie Wong was finished for the day.

She looked over her notes and she looked at discovery...

"This is the weakest case I've ever seen in my life....It will be interesting to see how this is played. I can't believe the weak cases that are being brought before me...Doesn't anybody do any follow up investigating?" she asked...

There was a knock on the door...

It was former Judge, Now Attorney, Pinkney Bach...He was quite enamored with Judge Wong.

Pinkney walked in with flowers...

"For you lovely lady." he said.

"Awww thank you...You are so sweet." she said, blushing...

He pulled her to him and kissed her slowly and softly.

"And sooooo horny!" she joked, giggling in between hot, smouldering kisses...

"Ummmmmmmmm Pinkney!" she said in between slow smouldering kisses..

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Julie, I'm crazzzzy about you!!" he said.

"I'm crazy about you too." she cooed...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."he moaned...

He slipped his hand up her skirt...She moved it.. "No..Not in here..NO! " she said..

"Julie please....I've been thinking about you all morning, ..I need to have you..."said Pinkney...

"You are sooo horny!." she said, smiling. "Calm Down!" she said softly, giggling some more...

He slipped his hand up her skirt again,

softly caressing her thighs and hips...he tugged on the waistband of her panties...

"Ummmmm Lace." he said...

She was getting aroused..... "Ummmmmmm, you are soooo bad Pinkney," she laughed.

Pinkney smiled.."Let's go to my place" he said softly...

"Okay!" she said.. She took a paper towel and wiped the sweat off his brow..He was really worked up over her...She was simply amazed...

She loved being desired by a man like this...

He smiled.

"Thank you love and thank you for the flowers." she said.

She kissed him passionately....

"UMMMMMMMMMMM You're welcome." he said..

III-

"This is the damndest case...They don't even have a motive,,,We could argue on that alone."said Beverly.

"It's obvious we know so much more than they do...but still not enough.." I said,.

"I'm writing questions to ask Lucy Luckenbill when we get her on the stand.. None that she'll answer without some form of game playing."said Olivia.

"Let's make her a hostile witness." said Nelson.

"Why don't we key on her? Maybe she is the key to this whole thing..Let's look at her finances..See if she had any extra money coming in..Anything that looks weird.."said Josie.

''And let's study her movements for that day." said Bresha.

"Exactly what I was thinking." I said.

"Let's go someplace else to chill today...I don't feel like another battle royale with Lt. Tragg." said Olivia.

"Me Neither." said Beverly...

Nelson was holding Beverly around the waist and kissing her neck... Beverly was so angry after last night's confrontation with Lt. Tragg

That they had come back home..

and made crazy love the rest of the day and into the night.. I had told him when ever Olivia or Beverly are angry or upset about something..expect the most torrid lovemaking out of them at night.. He saw that I was right..

It was the perfect day to take a cruise on the Spirit Of Philadelphia at Penns Landing..we had a whole week to work on this case..

We closed up shop for the day and took Alfreda with us..

''This is what the doctor ordered...Nobody standing over us..Brow beating us and fussing." I said.

"Indeed...Just what we needed..a Break." said Olivia.

"Yesssssssssssssss!" said Beverly.

Nelson smiled, still thinking about the marathon sex, he and Beverly had the day before..

"Work Hard...Play Harder Bree, remember that!" said Josie.

''I will indeed." said Bree.

"Here come our drinks!" said Alfreda.

Martinis

Beers

And a pitcher of Ice Tea arrived..

We didn't discuss the case at all..We just relaxed, drank and enjoyed each other's company.

At Hayden's Apartment..She and Petey S. were discussing the case.

''We really haven't established a motive.. Her fingerprints on the gun, welll, it was stolen two weeks before. It belongs to her fiance, who was teaching her to shoot.. Her fingerprints and DNa in Tazzie's SUV..They were friends, He gave her several rides in his car.....Olivia and Beverly and company had an answer for everything.." said a frustrated Hayden King.

"You think they were lovers?" asked Petey S.

"None of the people we interviewed in the office or in the warehouse said anything about that..And there is no physical proof..It would just be hearsay..And if it were true..that would be one less reason for her to kill him." said Hayden.

''Something has been going on there. Designs of theirs have been flying out the window to other shops..Competitors.. Tazzie was guilty of doing this before..Maybe he was up to his old tricks and she killed him to save her fiance's business." said Petey S.

"Now that's good...We just have to place her at the scene.. Ouuuuuu Petey, you just earned yourself a kiss..." said Hayden..

"Ummmmmmmmmmm" he moaned..

"And a ride."she said as she slipped her panties off and eased down on his already nude body and began to move up and down, riding him slowly...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU PETEYYYYYYYYYYY!!! OHHHHHHHH!" she moaned..

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW LAWWWWWWWWDDDD!"he moaned loudly..

IV-

SILKY SMOOTH LINGERIE INC. A DAY LATER..

They didn't come in together, they came in at different times ,just like any other customers and they looked around..

"They do have some nice pieces in here..I might purchase a few things.." said Olivia.

"I see some things I want, but I've got no room for them...I gotta start throwing some things away..My Panty drawer is full.." said Beverly..

''You know if you don't buy anything Nelson will."laughed Josie.

"You know something ? even some of these things in here are knock offs..Look!" said Bresha.

"Yess..I definitely have some of these pieces...I got them from Bridget's Store..."said Olivia.

"I do too...I got this bra from Agent Provacative" said Beverly..

''And these Panties...I've got a pair slightly like them...I never knew it was so much competition in this business."said Bresha.

"Where Money is involved, there is always competition." said Olivia.

'Tazzie did work for Bridget...These were his designs...Maybe he brought them here and altered them slightly..I mean they aren't carbon copy." said Josie.

"You've got a point Josie." said Beverly..

While the girls shopped and looked around the store.. Nelson and I were camped out at the Warehouse.

"What you got?" asked Nelson...As I walked up to the car..

"I was up all night after we got back..doing financial autopsies of almost everybody your wife and I interviewed...and one stood out...

HER!!! Martika Summers...She's been withdrawing $2000.00 a month out of her bank account and transfering it quietly to another account.. Want to take a guess who's account?" I said.

"Lucy Luckenbill" said Nelson.

Bringing up an image of our happy psychopath....

"It wasn't Tazzie who was spiriting the designs out of here..It was her..After Tazzie stopped being blackmailed himself , he found out about her...Lucy has something on her...I don't know what...but she's getting payoffs and designs and she has been undercutting this business for about a year...My guess is after she runs this business into the ground..She's going to make another run at Bridget...She'll be big enough to stop her or at least be her biggest competitor." I said.

''But why? She 's already the second biggest business of this type in town." said Nelson.

''Why Be Number 3 or Number 2 when you can be number 1? I'm going to find out what she has on her and we are going to become her best friends and she in turn is going to help us solve a murder." I said.