VENTURES: Monday Is For Murder

PRELUDE- Monday Morning!

At Ms. Virginia's apartment.

"Ummmmm Jetty, let me go....I gotta take my shower..I gotta go to work, Don't you have to go to work?" Asked Ms. Virginia.

"Nah, I'm semi -retired...The Legal Ethics Board meets three times a week and today aint one of em.."he said. He squeezed her behind and hugged her.....

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" he moaned.

''Ouuu stoppp, let me get up.." she said, laughing...

"You are sooo nasty." she joked.

He joined her in the shower...

"Ummmmmmmmm. I'll drive you to work this morning." he said as the hot soapy water ran down both of their bodies..

''Ouuuuu aren't you sweet." she cooed, giving him a soft kiss.

MONDAY MORNING- THE ROUTINE!

Gary Lockwood, Investigator for the D.A.'s Office and husband of Ms. Yvette was off today...

He sat in the kitchen sipping his coffee and watched his wife, Yvette Jones-Lockwood, Attorney at law, Managing Partner and our supervisor run through her routine...

She got out of bed..Made the bed up...

Took a nice hot shower.. with a sweet and fresh smelling body wash, Lotioned down, put on a heavenly fragrance..

and proceeded to get dressed..

Put on a cute outfit...

Called ahead and ordered a tray of doughnuts, bagels and pastries for the office meeting later today and paid for it by phone..

She kissed Gary..

softly for three minutes..before applying her lipstick and hurrying out the door..

''See ya Babes..Love You!" she said.

"Yeahhhh, see ya..." said Gary...Who was more than aroused by that soft kiss from Yvette...

She saw us also walking towards the train station.

''Good Morning Ms. Yvette." said Bee Bee.

"Good Morning Ms. Yvette." I said.

"Good Morning Ms. Yvette." said Sofia.

"Good Morning Ms. Yvette." said Kahlil..

We lived a few doors from her and Gary and we like her took the train to work..

"Hello Boss Lady."said Ms. Jade , who also joined us..

As we walked towards the corner.. We saw Paris, who was married to Josie Boyd, Olivia's attorney

Kissing passionately...As she walked across the street to Olivia and Beverly's Office /Duplex

and he joined us...

Down the street from us, Another one of Olivia's Attorneys, Bresha Billips is kissing her husband, Attorney Tony Billips, who also worked with us in our building.

He soon joins us on our almost daily walk to the train station, two blocks behind our blocks.

.The train took us all straight to our building where we worked...Only Paris got off before we did. We all worked in the same building now..

"Hola Ms. Yvette" said Attorney Jessica Sanchez-Burrows..

"Hey Ms. Yvette and crew." said her husband, Attorney Charles "Chip" Burrows. The Innocence Project, who they worked for , moved into the Bridge Building at Penns Landing just days before Ms. Yvette and us moved into the same building..

"Hey everybody..." laughed Ms. Yvette.

"We thought you guys were going to drive in today." said Attorney Jasmine" Jazzy" Coley

who like her husband, Attorney Dabnis Coley, usually drove to work...

"Man this train is comfortable and quiet...I love this...I don't even drive in when I have a court case.. I ride the train into Center City." said Dabnis, rearing back..

"Yeah me too!" laughed Attorney Kayla Bennett_St. Jacques..

"This is cool, except for a night we might have to work late.."said her husband, Ray St. Jacques.. His law firm and Dabnis's law firm had both moved into the same building where their wives' law firm was..Near Penns Landing a year ago. The Train ran all night...but after the rush hour, it ran two hours apart.

So we all got off at the same stop and entered our building.

We all ate breakfast in our building's cafeteria...

Ms. Virginia was already there when we all arrived and finishing her meal...

"Uh Jetty drove me to work this morning." she said , smiling sheepishly...

''Ummmmmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm." said Ms. Yvette jokingly..

As we all laughed...

MONDAY MORNING! - Courthouse Holding Facility -"The Cooler"

For the third time and for the same reason-

Lt. Tragg was released from custody... He had violated Cease and Desist orders by being caught in our neighborhood without a warrant Saturday Night....None of us were home anyway...

We were in town at a tony new restaurant, celebrating with Olivia and Beverly...

Olivia, Beverly, Donnie Ray and Nelson were at this very moment..

having breakfast at Olivia and Donnie Ray's Domicile, upstairs from their office...

with the rest of their staff...Josie, Bresha and office manager, Alfreda. We all envied that they didn't have to go anywhere on a normal day ,except if they had to be in court.. and Josie and Bree merely walked across the street or down the street to work...No commute for them.

We were unaware that Lt. Tragg had been arrested and was in jail for the weekend.. He was released in time for him to go home, Shower and shave and get dressed and head out to work.. He had spent Saturday Night and all of Sunday in jail...and was just getting out on Monday Morning.

He sat in Sam Mother's Diner this morning, fuming..

He had his regular of fried eggs, hash browns, sausage and hot coffee...

He was livid... He knew ,though he couldn't prove that Assistant U.S. Attorney, Todd Dellums ,

who was now at the top of his list of enemies, was behind this..He of course couldn't prove it... He was arrested by Sherriff's deputies..but he suspected the FBI was shadowing him and had tipped them off under the direction of Todd Dellums.. He couldn't prove it..but he knew it was true.

He called up Private Investigator, Bert Vandenberg's office and was informed that he was" in New Orleans on a case."

"New Orleans? Nuts!" he said..

II-

IN CHINATOWN-

Crime Scene Forensic personnel were snapping photos and collecting shells....

"He was hit with two shells, in the chest...a big weapon, like a forty cal..said one of the men to an officer on the scene.

''He's the pit boss of my casino and card game in the upstairs of my restaurant." said Eddie Lee, the owner of one of Chinatown's most tony restaurants...which housed a semi legal card game on it's upstairs, peopled by unsavory types from the Russian Mob and Asian Triads..

A Black man, recovering from a hangover is in the corner, talking to police..

He is Lonnie Dellums, an Attorney, cousin of U.S. Attorney Todd Dellums...

"I didn't do this.. I don't know what the hell happened..He was like this when I got here.." he said.

Dr. Hazel Baylor and Dr. Marcy Martin had on latex gloves and were examining the body..

''What a mess, I hope a decent detective gets this case.. I heard our favorite detective was locked up over the weekend." said Dr. Hazel Baylor.

''Wellllllll he must be out...Here he comes." said Dr. Marcy Martin.

"What do we have here?" said Lt. Tragg, walking in with four uniformed officers.

"The murdered man is Benny Ling, he was my Pit Boss..He kept order during my card game upstairs."said Eddie Lee.

"You mean your floating crap game don't you?" asked Lt. Tragg, who like everybody knew about the

''Casino" on top of the tony restaurant.

''Whatever..Mr. Dellums over there was drunk and pretty damn disorderly and Bennie through him out..

Benny was late for work this morning.. Benny is never late... I came over here to see about Benny and found him on the floor with two slugs in his chest and this guy , drunk as hell ,standing over him.."said Eddie Lee.

Lonnie Dellums said "I didn't kill him...Me and Bennie ,we was cool...I owed him money...I came here to pay him what I owed him....5G's..I swear and the door was open and he was dead...I didn't kill him!"said Lonnie Dellums... "I'm an Attorney for godsakes." he said, sobering up and showing his ID and Drivers License ,plus a wallet full of money.,15 large at least. "I got lucky on the crap table last night,before I got drunk." he said. "Bennie did me a favor...He tossed me out before I would have lost my winnings, why would I hurt Bennie?" said Lonnie Dellums.

''Did you say your name was Dellums? Any relation to Todd Dellums, the U.S. Attorney?" asked Lt. Tragg.

"Yeah, he's my cousin...Look, I don't want him involved in this...I'm tellin you,I didn't do this..." he protested.

Lt. Tragg slapped handcuffs on him...

"Lonnie Dellums, it gives me great pleasure to place you under arrest for the First Degree Murder of Bennie Ling..you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law...You have a right to an attorney...Unfortunately, your cousin can't help you...If you can't afford one, an attorney will be provided for you...Do you understand these rights as I am reading them to you? You being an attorney ,I'm sure you do.Take him away boys."laughed Lt. Tragg.

"You know, you jump to a lot of conclusions and wind up arresting the wrong suspect half the time, No, the majority of the time...Why don't you wait for the autopsy report and the crime scene reports before you go jumping to the wrong conclusion? Why don't you look into the case a little and see if anyone else had a motive to kill this man...This guy here is drunk and doesn't seem like he had a motive...He called us and was here when we got here." asked Dr. Hazel Baylor, who made no secret of her burning hatred for Lt. Tragg.

"Now look Hazel...I know your husband is a Detective...But I was a detective long before he was...and I AM THE DETECTIVE HERE!!!...I MAKE THE JUDGEMENTS...I DON'T TELL YOU HOW TO DO AN AUTOPSY AND YOU DON'T TELL ME HOW TO RUN AN INVESTIGATION!" he bellowed.

Hazel angrilly stared him down!

"Come On Hazel, forget him..."said Dr. Marcy Martin, her assistant...

"Get this body out of here and get me the Autopsy Report ASAP!" he said.

''Why? You're not going to read it!" snarled Hazel.

The tension in the room was thick...Everyone was silent.

"I'm going to have a long talk with Duke...Next time I see him about your attitude.." said Lt. Tragg, who

couldn't for the life of him understand why Hazel hated him so,,, He forgot that a few years before , he tried to get her fired.

The Body of Bennie Ling was put in a white body bag and strapped to a gurney and rolled out....

Halfway across the city in our conference room...

Our meeting had ended..

we munched on the last of the doughnuts, bagels and pastries and finished the last of the coffee.

"Well that litigation went well...That's the kind I like..the kind where all parties are in agreement and leave happy." said Ms. Yvette..

"Yeah and the kind where they don't eat up all of the Doughnuts and Bagels....Remember that woman that was in here with her lawyer last week? " I laughed.

"Yeah, both her and her attorney were a bit overweight....They ate every thing."laughed Sofia.

"They sure did and had the nerve to be talking about going to a late lunch." said Kahlil.

''You guys keep me laughing." said Ms. Yvette.

Bee Bee was laughing too, until her phone started ringing...

''Who is this? It's from Central Booking..." said Bee Bee.

"Hello? Who? Oh wowww, I haven't seen you in years...How are you doing? WHAT? Oh my God! Well uh okay...I'll see what I can do...Geez Lonnie." said Bee Bee.

"Old friend or old flame?" asked Ms. Jade.

"An Old friend of mine, An old flame of hers"said Bee Bee ,pointing to Sofia. Lonnie Dellums, cousin of Todd Dellums is in trouble...He's been charged with First degree murder.. He's accused of killing Eddie Lee's pit boss in Chinatown.

Sofia sighed.. "When Todd and Bee Bee started going together, his cousin took an interest in me...We started dating... He was a nice guy...but he had a problem...Even then when we were teenagers , he liked to bet on the horses and there wasn't a card game that came by that he didn't feel he should be in.. He was always out of cash, always ducking and hiding from somebody...He went to Temple with us..blew his senior year Financial aid money on a crap game..His parents bailed him out, but he had to sit out a year of school.. As a result.. He graduated a year after the four of us did from law school...By then I was totally over him."said Sofia.

"You say he's Todd's cousin and you said he graduated from law school a year after we did..I take it he still likes games of chance eh? I think I vaguely remember having a class with him." I said.

''Yeah and if he was down in Chinatown at Eddie Lee's game... apparently ,he's up to his old tricks."said Bee Bee.

"I've met that guy...He's a very talented lawyer...very astute, but miles away from his famous cousin..He's not arrogant or haughty like his cousin."said Kahlil.

"That's why I can be in a room with him and not his cousin."said Sofia.

''Well, we going to see about him or not?" asked Ms. Jade.

"Let's go and let's hope Lt. Columbo hasn't put two and two together and discovered he's Todd's cousin..You know how much he hates Todd." said Ms. Yvette.

''From what I've seen on TV, the feeling is mutual."I said. "They had a big fist fight a few weeks ago..and he arrested Lt. Tragg...That's got to sting.'I said.

"Yeah and Todd was videotaped screwing that young New York Attorney he knew in Harvard and the tape was sent to his girlfriend, Natasha."said Ms. Jade.

"Co-incidence? I think not." said Kahlil.

"If he'd kept it in his pants, that wouldn't have happened...He gave Lt. Tragg the stick to crack him over the head with." said Sofia.

''And now I fear he's really got some leverage over Todd now, with his cousin in custody."said Bee Bee.

''So let's overturn the apple cart."said Ms. Yvette..

As we boarded the train and headed into town.

III-

Inside the "Fishbowl", the nickname the police gave to their interrogation room, Lonnie Dellums sat quietly, not saying a word.

He was a lawyer, He understood that anything he said could be used against him. He was in enough trouble. He had Bennie Lings's blood on his trousers, from when he leaned down and tried to take a pulse.. His situation looked bad...

Lt. Tragg took sadistic glee at having him in custody... He knew that he didn't like his cousin, U.S. Attorney Todd Dellums...

He had seen their fist fight on Television weeks before , Hell, who hadn't?

He knew Todd had arrested Lt. Tragg...But he had nothing to do with that...He and Todd, though cousins didn't even operate in the same social circles and they rarely if ever talked.. Todd had always acted as if he was better and smarter than practically everybody ever since they were kids...

He was surprised that Todd got Bee Bee Evans

but not surprised he couldn't keep her...He always liked Bee Bee.. Bee Bee was smart and strong willed, She couldn't be controlled the way Todd liked to control women and yet, the women he had that he could control, he soon became bored with them...When Bee Bee and Sofia and he himself went to an IVY League school like he did..He was incensed, a little bit jealous...PENN wasn't Harvard, but it was still IVY League..Todd didn't think he, Lonnie could keep up academically... He graduated a year later than Bee Bee and Sofia , but he passed the bar with a high score and got a job with a good law firm in Atlanta and then later with a good law firm in Washington D.C. , before returning to Philadelphia.

Bee Bee had gotten married to a fellow Attorney,

Keith Jones, who he had had a few classes with in law school

and Sofia had married another fellow law school student,

Kahlil Ahmed..also a fellow law school student, who he had had a few classes with....

He was at both of their weddings.. They now worked for a great law firm, McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt and were doing well...They had all bought houses...They were doing quite well.

''Alright! Where did you stash it? The Gun, the murder weapon..WHERE DID YOU STASH IT?" bellowed Lt. Tragg.

Lonnie looked at him and smiled.

"I'm stumped Elliot Ness, you tell me where I stashed it!" he said...Speaking for the first time.

"WHYYYYYYYYY YOUUUUUU!" snarled Lt. Tragg.

"Lonnie...Lonnie, Not another word!" came the soft ,calming voice of Bee Bee.

"Hi Lonnie...How are you doing? I haven't seen you since my wedding."said Sofia.

"Hey Mannnn." said Kahlil.

"Oh My God! Beatrice! Thank you for coming...And you brought Sofia and Kahlil and Keith, how you doin buddy?" said Lonnie, shaking my hand.

"I'm doing fine...." I said.

''Well you're all doing better than I am right now.." he said.

"Lonnie this is our boss lady, Mrs. Yvette Jones-Lockwood and our investigator, Mrs. Jade Lee-Ho." said Bee Bee.

''Pleased to meet you...We are going to try and get you arraigned tomorrow morning.. You just hang tight and remember don't say anything to ANYONE concerning your case."said Ms. Yvette.

''Hello."said Jade.

''Don't tell me you KNOW this guy?"asked Lt. Tragg.

"We grew up together in Fishtown..." said Bee Bee.

''We Went to Temple University together and three years of law school at University of Pennsylvania."said Sofia.

"And he's no killer....You've got the wrong guy Lieutenant!" added Kahlil.

''Listen...I'm the detective here and I know how to run an investigation!" snarled Lt. Tragg.

Ms. Jade laughed.. "Hahahahahahahahahahaha, that's a joke!" she said.

Lt. Tragg turned toward her...He hated Todd Dellums slightly more than he did her..

"YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD TO THE CONVERSATION ?" he snarled.

Ms. Yvette, wanting to be diplomatic said... "Okay, we are not going to argue the case here .....We can all argue it in court.. Lonnie, nice meeting you...You hang tight and we'll see you in the morning, okay?" said Ms. Yvette.

''You got it...Thanks again!" said Lonnie as he was handcuffed and escorted back to the cooler.

As we were leaving, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Dellums was there..

"Yvette, Bee Bee, thank you for representing my cousin...I was going to call you or Olivia...This is Lt. Tragg trying to get back at me.. It's a personal attack...It's petty, just like he is." he said loud enough for him to hear it.

"It's MURDER BUDDY....MURDER!!! I'm going to take your cousin down for FIRST DEGREE MURDER AND THIS TIME THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT PRETTY BOY!" snarled Lt. Tragg.

Todd Dellums lunged at Lt. Tragg... Kahlil and I grabbed Todd.

''Heyyyy man, Todd, Chill." said Kahlil

''Come on...We got this...Come on." I said.

"Yeah hold him back...Hold him back...because I'm ready to bust him in the mouth.." said Lt. Tragg.

"Guys, get Todd out of here... The Rest of you...Let's go!" said Ms. Yvette.

Jade laughed out loud defiantly as she walked out..

"Oh My God!" said Bee Bee, leaving behind her.

"Aye Mios Dios." said Sofia as she left.

It had been quite a Monday...

Bee Bee and I were home, alone..

''All that near violence today must have turned you on...You've been squeezing me and hugging me and kissing me the entire ride home on the train.. I was kind of embarrassed.." laughed Bee Bee.

'Well we are home now.." I said..

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

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ,talk about bedroom kisses." she said as I backed her into the bedroom..

continuing to kiss her and trying to slip her panties down..

''Ummmmmmmmm, remember the day I moved into the apartment complex and you came by and kissed me in the living room?" said Bee Bee.

"Yeah...Sofia almost caught us.."I laughed.

"If she hadn't of arrived when she did.. I was getting ready to slip my panties down and let you have me.." she confessed.

''Wow! I was that close huh?" I said.

"You were close a few times...You just didn't know it." she said as she stepped out of her panties..

I bent her over our dresser drawer and entered her doggie style and began to slowly move in and out of her..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" she moaned.

"WELL I KNOW IT NOW!" I said.. "OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

"YES YOU DO!!!! OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she cooed.

We sat on the side of the bed with Bee Bee moving up and down on me.. cooing and moaning..

and then finally in bed making sweet , sweet love for the next NINE TO TEN HOURS....

''Umm that was nice daddy"..She said as she fell asleep on my chest..

IV-

The Next Day....8:45 am

The arraignment wasn't until 11:00 am.. We had time. We all sat in our conference room. We had all Had had a good breakfast...

''Here's what we know so far.. Bennie Ling was the Pit Boss for Eddie Lee.. He made Lonnie Dellums leave that night because he was drunk and unruly... After winning 15 large on the tables."said Yvette.

''Yeah , he won and was kicked out...They were seen having a verbal altercation.. But two hours later after they had both calmed down and the place was closed for the night.. Bennie Ling or somebody texted Lonnie and Lonnie came over to pay him money he owed him.. That's when he found the body...He got blood on his trousers because he bent down and felt for a pulse... He immediately called 911 and waited there for them...Not something a murderer would do." I said.

"They haven't found a murder weapon...and his hands were checked.. They found no residue from any gun on them." said Bee Bee.

"They are checking Bennie Ling's cell phone now to see if the text message actually came from it.. Lonnie's cell phone definite shows that somebody texted him. Told him to stop by." said Sofia.

"Lt. Tragg should have been looking at all of this closely...before he made an arrest."said Kahlil.

''That's too much like right..Remember who you're talking about."said Ms. Jade as she showed us a dossier on our client.. Much of which we knew about.

Lonnie Dellums

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from Central High School

B.A. -Trial Advocacy/Pre Law/ Administration of Justice- Temple University, Philadelphia PA.

J.D.- University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Philadelphia PA.

Speaks French and Spanish Fluently

Passed the bar in Pennsylvania/New York/ New Jersey/Deleware/ Virginia/Washington D.C. /Georgia/

Associate Attorney at Bonnett And Saunders, Atlanta ,Georgia.

Associate Attorney at Leland and Sanders, Atlanta , Georgia.

Past President of the Atlanta Black Bar Association

Associate Attorney at Leland and Sellers, Washington D.C.

Taught Trial Advocacy at Georgetown University Law School

Senior Associate Attorney- The Koppelburg Firm, Philadelphia PA!

''Old Boy hasn't done too bad for himself " said Kahlil.

''No he hasn't."said Bee Bee, impressed.

''But I understand he's been a creature of the night." said Sofia.

"No trouble with the law, but he enjoyed the night life...he liked the ladies and a good card game.. Word is he left Atlanta because he HAD to...He owed a gambler some money and the husband of one of his many lady friends was hot on his trail... In D.C. His Gambling and Late Night activities got him dismissed from his firm...That's why he took a teaching gig at Georgetown until something came through here in Philly..And now he's been indicted for murder...I don't believe he's a killer either."said Jade.