ONE WEEK LATER-
Joseph Crawford removed from our case...
And the new Judge was Judge Michael King, who was getting used to seeing us...
Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie took delight in Objecting to all of his moves.. and cross examining all of his witnesses to death, comparing witness statements made to Lt. Tragg and the police to witness statements made to me and what they were saying now..
When he feverishly objected...
They recited law , predicates and past cases almost by verse, which frustrated the hell out of him and as the week drug on it was showing..He was frazzled..His hair was out of whack..he had tossed his suit jacket up in the air a number of times and pleaded with the judge to find them guilty of contempt..anything....They were well prepared...TOO WELL PREPARED!, he noted.
Judge King , his choice ,kept saying, "I can't find one thing they've done that is outside of the boundaries of the law.. Present your case counselor.." he demanded.
"Gotdamn Donnie Ray ,that wife of yours and her niece and those other two are givin him hell, He's about ready to have a stroke"laughed Melvin..
"But Donnie Ray...That slave key anklet was on her leg..she loved it..She never took it off..How did this woman, Lena Braithwaite get ahold of it?" asked Jonathan..
"Not one witness produced saw him there or heard him...He admits coming there, We know she called him two hours before her reported death...He arrived at the scene to trip over her already dead body which is how the blood got on his trousers and suit jacket..."said Nelson.
''He has no gun registered to him and the police has searched his home, his trash cans outside and the sewers for a 15 block radius and found nothing..."said Josie...
"THAT'S A BIG PROBABLY!!!!You've failed to produce any transactions going either way between either party...What proof do you have of any blackmail???...You have no proof of motive. You have a phone call, the last phone call she made..To him..at 10:00 pm.. Yet he didn't get to her apartment.. Proven by the street cam until twenty after midnight....The M.E.'s office says she was killed in between 11:30-12:00 am.. My client wasn't there." said Bresha.
"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT? Why of all the ..." screamed Special Prosecutor Gifford..
"CONTROL YOURSELF DAMNIT ,COUNSELOR!!!" said Judge King.... "Mrs. Alexander...I will take this matter into consideration and I'm going to adjourn this hearing for 48 hours...Mr. Gifford if you have a better case to make..I suggest you use the next two days to make it...Court is adjourned " said Judge King..
Special Prosecutor Giffords snarled at us..
"YOU....YOU...STILL UP TO YOUR STUNTS HUH? YOU HAVE OPPOSED ME EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!" he screamed.
"THINK IT'S FUNNY HUH? THINK IT'S FUNNY? IT WON'T BE FUNNY WHEN I PUT YOUR CLIENT ON DEATH ROW!" he screamed..
He then turned to Lt. Tragg.
who was himself angry that we had ,in his words "Twisted everything around.."
"THIS IS THE WEAKEST SHIT I'VE SEEN IN ALL MY DAYS AS A PROSECUTOR...GET BACK TO THAT CRIME SCENE..INTERVIEW MORE WITNESSES...TAKE A FORENSICS TEAM OUT THERE, FIND ME MORE EVIDENCE...YOU GOT TWO DAYS...GET ON IT!!!" he screamed..
"I BROUGHT YOU A SOLID CASE....IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE OLIVIA AND BEVERLY, IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" screamed Lt. Tragg, taken aback at being spoken to like that.
"BRING ME MORE EVIDENCE OR I WILL HAVE YOUR BADGE LIEUTENANT" he screamed.
"LISTEN YOU LITTLE SHIT...YOU WORK YOUR SIDE OF THE STREET AND I WILL WORK MINE..DON'T TELL ME HOW TO DO MY JOB!"he snarled..
"ARTIE!!! , PETE!! THAT'S ENOUGH!"bellowed Judge King..
The press was eating it up, snapping photos and recording every word, including our little exchange with him...
"SPECIAL PROSECUTOR GOES OFF ON DEFENSE ATTORNEYS AND ARRESTING OFFICER!"
was the big story... overshadowing the fact that a prostitute had been murdered in East Falls over the weekend..
He took out a bottle of water and some pills and took a swig along with about three pills.. His hands were shaking..
I watched him...Part of me thought the whole thing was staged..
"Seemed like something was off about him, I don't know..He just seemed out of sync."said his wife, Michelle.
We all got on the train and headed home..
II-
THE NEXT DAY-
We sat around the conference room table...
Speaking of our illustrious Special Prosecutor , here is the run down on him.
Peter Gifford
Born in Hyannis Port, MA.
Educated in Private and Prep Schools
was kicked out of one school behind a sexual assault incident with a young lady..
It never went to trial and was settled out of court..
Both of his parents are Attorneys..
B.A.- Administration of Justce, Trial Advocacy and Pre Law from Harvard University- Boston
JD- Dartmouth University Law School - New Hampshire.
Passed the Bar in New Hampshire, MA, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware
Associate Attorney-Biddle and Biddle-Boston, MA.
Resigned after charges of sexual impropriety with another attorney..
Settled out of court...
Taught Law at Dartmouth for Three years...
Assistant District Attorney-New York City, New York
Associate Attorney- Bach and Roach-Philadelphia.
Senior Associate Attorney -Bang and Bang ,Philadelphia.
Special Prosecutor., City of Philadelphia.
"This may have nothing to do with anything...but I found this odd.... The young lady who he was accused of assaulting at his prep school, the one that got him kicked out....She wound up dead, a year later..She was strangled and raped..It was never solved... And the young attorney at Biddle and Biddle who got him fired for innappropriate sexual advances.. was also murdered, strangled and raped two years after the incident...He was living in New York, but he was in Boston, visiting his parents that weekend...Doesn't mean nothing...but I just thought I'd mention it." I said.
Nelson put his arms around her waist...
"I'll take care of you baby.." he whispered in her ear...and squeezed her tight, making her giggle..
"They always this mushy?" joked Bresha.
"Glad you asked.. I did." I said.
Lena Braithwaite aka Lena Horne aka Lena Barnes aka Lena Brown aka Lena Stuckey aka Lena West..
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Educated in Atlantic City Public Schools..
One year of Atlantic County Community College.
Married to a local player named Ray Stuckey.
Divorced. Stuckey is serving a life sentence in Rahway State Prison, Murder
7 arrests for prostitution, no convicitons...
1 arrest for extortion, thrown out of court..
Moved to Philadelphia PA.
Did three months in PA. County lock up for Extortion...
Currently employed at Harry's Jewelry Store, Philadelphia PA.
"I was thinking the same thing." she said.
''She took it out?"asked Beverly..
"Yeah....It sat here for seven years...She finally got back on her feet and she and another woman come in here and took it out...I heard she bought a nice little house..Here is her original address.." he said.
Beverly and I went to the Pawn Shop of note in the area
and showed a photo of the Slave Key to the proprieter...
''Yeah ,I remember this..I got it appraised for Mrs. Marla Bailey....I definitely remember this.. Got her $12,000.00 for it.. She was in financial trouble at the time...She was about to lose her house...So she pawned this...It sat in here for seven years..." said the proprieter...
"She got a forwarding address?" I asked.
"Yeah this is it...and her phone number." said the Proprieter...
The Jewelry Store that Lena Braithwaite worked at was high end...
"I remember this piece of jewelry...She had it appraised...It was worth 24 large easy or more...She was with another woman...that's all I remember.." said her former boss..
That other woman had to be Marla Bailey...
III-
The Next day ,We found Marla Bailey's house...It was in a nice neighborhood..A Nice little house with land around it..
Marla Bailey was from Atlantic City...She was making a good living working in the Casinos when she met fast talking Philadelphian, Victor Bailey... He dressed nice, always smelled great, had a different car everytime she saw him and had the gift of gab...
Wasn't too long before he had swept her off her feet and after a whirlwind courtship, they got married..
He was a gambler..loved a good poker game and won big...ALL THE TIME!!
They moved to Philadelphia, they bought a house and she got a job at the local Casino in King of Prussia.
Vic kept winning and yet refused to get a steady job,like they would need..and when he started losing, it was her salary that kept the lights on....
She got pregnant, had a miscarriage and then got pregnant again....had another miscarriage.
Vic was stepping out on her...She found panties and bras that were not hers in his car under the front seat, in her car sometimes and once in their home..
She put Vic out for awhile...but let him come back...within a year...Vic was taking up with another woman, Helen Brooks...She had seen her maybe once or twice...Always wearing what looked like an expensive anklet with a matching key..
Victor asked for a divorce...Marla refused to give it to him.....He said he and Helen were leaving anyway...
Marla bought another house..She got a better paying job...A Government Job..She got out of debt...
Victor and Helen vanished shortly after Marla settled into her new house...They vanished memorial day weekend...Neither has been seen or heard from since.
Apparently ,patrons there remembered both of them...They didn't like Lena too much, they described her as a leech... They vaugely remembered Marla , who didn't talk much...Except to Lena.
"Her marriage sounds so much like my marriage to Elwood...If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were married to the same man... We both had two miscarriages..both found panties and bras that weren't ours everywhere they weren't supposed to be...I identify with her sooo much."said my wife, Olivia.
''Yeah this Victor Bailey does sound a lot like Butthead Elwood.."said Beverly, who still didn't like or have much good to say about her aunt's first husband.
"She seems to have done alright for herself.."noted Elwood as we went to the door of her house..
"Yeah she kept on keepin on...Didn't let a setback knock her down.." said Josie..
"That's the way you do it." said Bresha.
She was petite, shapely and had a pleasent demeanor about her...
"I had heard you were trying to get in touch with me... I was in Atlantic City..." she said.
Braithwaite.." I said.
"Oh yeah...I heard about him...Poor man, that whorish wife of his ran off with my husband, some seven years ago.." said Marla Bailey...who had photos of her and Vic in happier days all over her home.
"Oh HE'S CLOSE BY!! I mean, I imagine where ever he is, he isn't far....Vic didn't work...and no one can win but so many Poker games...you know what I'm sayin?" she laughed ruefully...
''Your Home is beautiful." said Beverly.
"Yessssss!" said Josie.
"Thank You...Vic loved my sense of style...Not just in clothing, but in design...the way I could put things together.. You know I'm from Atlantic City...I was making a good living working in the Casinos when I met fast talking Philadelphian, Victor Bailey...
He dressed nice, always smelled great, had a different car everytime I saw him and had the gift of gab...That man could talk..Hah Ha. Wasn't too long before he had swept me off my feet and after a whirlwind courtship, We got married..
He was a gambler..loved a good poker game and won big...ALL THE TIME!! He was good, at least in the early days..We moved to Philadelphia, We bought a house and I got a job at the local Casino in King of Prussia.
Vic kept winning and yet refused to get a steady job,like we would need..Couldn't get him to get a steady job...and when he started losing, it was my salary that kept the lights on....
Then I got pregnant, had a miscarriage and then got pregnant again....had another miscarriage.
Vic started stepping out on me ...I found panties and bras that were not mine in his car under the front seat, in my car sometimes and once in their home..
I put Vic out for awhile...but let him come back...within a year...Vic was taking up with another woman, Helen Brooks...I had seen her maybe once or twice...Always wearing what looked like an expensive anklet with a matching key.. Vic probably bought it for her.. He liked extravagant things.
Victor asked me for a divorce...I said absolutely not...Especially since I knew his little trollip was married too! He said he and Helen were leaving anyway... I said go right ahead...I'll be here when you come to your senses. Guess he never did.. I haven't seen either one of them in seven years." she said.
"Mrs. Bailey, actually Helen Brook's husband, Melvin Brooks bought this for her in New Orleans..he placed it on her ankle on their wedding night..She loved it, never took it off...and yet the Pawn Shop guy said you pawned this..and you came and took it out...and it was found in your friend, Lena Braithwaite's apartment the night she was found dead..How did you get it?" asked Nelson..
Marla Bailey hesitated...
"Apparently she must have taken it off..It was in with Victor's things.. Things he left behind." she said.
'Oh and Lena is not my friend...She once was, but she runs her mouth too gotdamn much...I guess somebody shut it for her...I uh feel so sorry for your client...Mr. Brooks, but I don't think there is anything I can say that can help him..I wish him well, would you all like some Ice Tea?" she said.
And she took out seven glasses and poured us all some ice tea...
There were two patches over by a tree in her back yard where no grass grew.. right next to each other..That seemed odd.. It seemed like it had been like that for awhile.. It just gave me a creepy feeling.
Bresha noticed it too, but didn't say anything..
We finished our ice tea, thanked her for her time and we all piled in the SUV and pulled off.. We still didn't have enough to help Melvin....
I had an eerie sinking feeling in my gut though...If only we knew more about Lena.
IV-
We finished the day in Curley's Bar.. Beverly and Nelson, Josie and Paris, Bresha and Tony were joined by Kayla and Ray, Jazzie and Dabnis, and Jessica and Chip...
Nice delicious Martini's...
Olivia and I were sitting with two Homicide Detectives, Reed and Malloy...
"You guys know about hunches...don't you?" said Olivia.
"Liv, Liv, come on...I'm surprised at you...You're a lawyer, a defense attorney at that...You know we just can't go in there ,dig up that woman's yard with just your husband's hunch...especially when we have no proof that the crime you're talking about was even committed ."said Detective Malloy.
"But..I do have what may be some good news for you...That prick of a prosecutor you guys are up against...may not be around much longer... A prostitute was murdered a few nights ago...It didn't get much news. coverage, but the doer left a lot of semen , a whole lot of semen...We ran the DNA through the system and we got a hit, from a murder in Boston, six years ago and another murder in Boston, two years after that...both unsolved and both with the same M.O. Strangulation and Rape... Both of the murdered girls in Boston were linked to Prosecutor, Pete Gifford, both accused him of sexual impropriety and got him booted from gigs and a year later, one was murdered, two years after the fact the other one was murdered and now this prostitute was murdered here...DNA match to the other two and they did a further DNA match that they couldn't do six years ago...They used the same method used to catch the Golden State Killer...and guess what...the match matches him!!!!!He's our guy!! We got a cup of coffee he tossed in the trash and got his DNA off the saliva on the cup and it was a .99 percent match...He's a sick bastard..." said Detective Reed.
''We are waiting right now for a judge to text us a warrant and we are going to take him..Tonight."said
Detective Malloy..
''So no matter what Judge King decides tomorrow.. You won't be dealing with Gifford next week, that's for sure." said Detective Reed.
''As for that other thing...That's Lt. Tragg's case..and you know we don't wish to meddle with his case."said Detective Malloy..."Why don't you run it by him? He might go along with it.?" said Detective Reed.
There was silence..
Then Olivia and I and both detectives busted out laughing....
(CONCLUSION NEXT)
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