VENTURES: Surprise Witness

Downtown Philadelphia.

THE OFFICE OF ERIC CHURCH, ATTORNEY AT LAW-

"This is them, These are the lawyers who subpoened you and the lawyers representing Bishop Coogan." said Eric Church, laying out the dossiers on us.

Olivia Marissa Bennett-Alexander

Graduated , Philadelphia High School for Girls

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

J.D.-University of Pennsylvania Law School

Passed the Bar, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Deleware, Louisiana, Texas, California

Speaks French and Spanish Fluently...

Worked as a Public Defender, -Philadelphia PA.

Worked for Bach and Roach LLC, as Associate Attorney

Founding partner-Alexander & West , Attorneys at law..

Divorced- Elwood Barnes..,Corporate Attorney

No Children, two miscarriages..

Married-Donnie Ray Alexander

Beverly Cheryl West-East

Graduated , Philadelphia High School for Girls

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

J.D.-University of Pennsylvania Law School

Passed the Bar, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Deleware, Louisiana, Texas, California

Speaks French and Spanish Fluently...

Worked as a Public Defender,-Philadelphia PA.

Founding Partner-Alexander & West Attorney's at Law.

Daughter of Olivia's Older Half Brother, James West... Olivia's Niece

Married to Nelson East.

Nelson Sean East

Graduated, West Catholic High School-Philadelphia PA.

B.A. Administration of Justice, Pre-Law- St. Johns University, New York City
Psychology Minor...

J.D. -St. Johns University Law School, New York City..

Passed The Bar , New York, Pennsylvania, Deleware, New Jersey, Texas, California

Speaks Spanish , French and Russian Fluently...

Worked as Public Defender, -Philadelphia PA.

Associate Attorney at Robert Foxworth and Associates.

Associate Attorney at Alexander and West , Attorneys at law.

Married to Beverly West

Donnie Ray Alexander

Born and Raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Educated in New Orleans Public Schools..

Associates Degree- New Orleans Community College-Administration of Justice, Pre Law

Homicide Detective, New Orleans Police Department, Retired.

Principal Investigator, Alexander and West Attorneys at law-Philadelphia PA.

Married to Olivia Bennett

Also a semi-professional musician

Josephine Boyd

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Raised in Red Hook Section of New York City

Bachelors of Science, Architecture from Fisk University

Master in Business Administration- University of Pennsylvania.

Para -Legal -Alexander & West Attorneys at law.

JD- Drexel University Law School..

Passed the Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware, New York, Texas, California

Associate Attorney-Alexander & West, Attorneys at Law, Philadelphia.

Married to Paris Boyd

Bresha Billips

Graduated from Philadelphia High School For Girls

B.A. Administration of Justice,/ Trial advocacy /Pre Law- Lasalle University, Philadelphia PA.

J.D.- Middleton Law School, Bayside ,Pennsylvania.

Passed the bar, Pennsylvania, Deleware, New Jersey, New York, California.

Speaks Spanish and French Fluently...

Associate Attorney at Alexander and West , Attorneys at law...

Married to Attorney Tony Billips.

"Yeah this is them alright...I recognize the three girls...Beverly, Josie and Bresha

,Shame they're involved in this....Mann as fine as they are, I wouldn't have minded a threesome...on the orgy tip, you know?.... And the guy, Donnie Ray,,,,

It figures he's an ex cop...He had that cop vibe all over him....The other guy was Beverly's husband, another lawyer., Nelson East.

He don't remember me, but I remember him, He's the Nephew of Fathead Newton......Olivia wasn't there...I never saw her." said Rock Muhammad.

"She wouldn't be there...She's the boss..Why should she be there?" said Eric.

''What do they want with me? I got a solid alibi....I was eating in Sam Mother's Diner..I got witnesses, Sam himself....and after that I was in Curleys....I got nothin to do with that murder...It wasn't me." protested Rock Muhammad.

"Then you stick with that and you got nothin to worry about. It's been my experience that when Attorneys subpoena somebody they have evidence or a witness or something or other..Have you told me everything?" asked Eric Church.

"Eric, I did not kill the broad...I was eating in Sam Mothers all morning...Then I went to Curleys Bar afterwords...That's the truth...I got witnesses who can place me at both places."said Rock.

''What about Pete? Where was he? was he eating with you?" asked Eric.

"I don't know where he was...He joined me at Curleys. We had a couple of drinks and we left."said Rock.

"You have any idea who killed him? I can't imagine...He wasn't into the street life like that...He didn't get high...Didn't party that much..I know he didn't Gamble.. You think maybe he was into somebody for some dough?" asked Eric.

''I wouldn't know...Maybe he was messin with somebody's girl or somethin...You know he loved the ladies." said Rock.

"Rock we've known each other since we were kids...You can't snow me...You know something about both his and Laura's deaths don't you?" asked Eric Church...

"Come on man!" said Rock..

"They didn't subpoena you for nothing...They've got something or somebody who knows something and is prepared to testify.....I don't even want to know...You figure it out and you deal with it before we get to court..." said Eric Church... "One of these Attorneys I happen to know... Bresha Billips...Used to be Williams....I was in law school with her.. We got pretty cozy one night...I tagged that thing.. Hmmm Maybe I can get in contact with her and find out what they have.."laughed Eric Church.

And at our Office/ Duplex-

"Olivia that is the most comfortable bed I have slept in in ages...Why I didn't want to get out of it." said Melody...

"I didn't want to get out of it either, but for a different reason....Heh heh heh."laughed Bishop..rubbing her legs.

"OUUUUUUUU...You are sooo nasty!" Mel giggled.

As we all sat around the table having coffee.. Pastries, Bagels and Cream Cheese and Dougnuts.

"Glad you're enjoying yourselves." said Olivia..

''Trial starts in a few days...We are all ready." I said.

''We're ready...You've already been here much longer than you expected to be.."said Beverly,.

"Well, it's almost over...We are going to get you out of this mess."said Nelson.

"Lt. Tragg is really stupid, we gave him more than enough to at least look into...Wonder what he's doing now?" asked Josie..

"Probably tearing the waistband off of someones expensive pair of panties....That's all he seems to be good at." said Bresha.

The entire table exploded in laughter...

"Girrrrllllllll pass me a Bagel." said Alfreda,laughing so hard, tears were flowing down her face..

Karen was laughing.... "I've heard about him....Heard he's gotten slapped a lot too!" she said.

"Well, not everyone slaps him...He does have a girlfriend.. One of the ADA's...She apparently likes it."said Beverly..

''If you're talking about Jill Jones...I don't think he's ripped hers off yet....I heard a rumor that she has a thing for Lawyer Bae...our handsome prosecutor." said Olivia.

''Well she might as well forget it...He belongs to ADA Diane Baronski..." said Josie.

"And she aint gettin nowhere near any of that." said Nelson, high fiving Josie.

"UMMMMMMMMM UMMMMPH, YALL GET ALL THE SCOOP! I LOVE IT!" said Melody.

I smiled and buttered my bagel.

''She gets all the scoop from the Lawyers in New York."laughed Bishop.

"I do nottttt." said Melody ,playfully swatting at Bishop.

"Oh Bree, I have some papers that need to filed at the courthouse...Could you run these over for me?" said Olivia.

''Sure Liv." said Bresha. She was so eager to please.. Being the youngest and the newest Attorney on our staff..she got the jobs of running and filing briefs at the courthouse for us...

When Josie was new , that was her job...

Beverly and Nelson hadn't done that for Liv since they were working at the Public Defenders Office.

II-

Bresha delivered the papers to the court to be filed...Then she sat down in the stylish cafeteria to have a drink...

She liked the Guava Punch they served.

''Hi Bresha..I like the Guava Punch too! Long time no see.. Haven't seen you since we passed the Bar...I've kept up with you...Heard you did some outstanding internships and had built up quite a resume. Heard you're working for Olivia and Beverly now." said Eric Church..

"Hi Eric...Wow....It has been a long time! How are you?" she asked.

Eric hugged her a little too tight and ran his hands along her body, her hips, her butt, squeezing her tight and moaning....

It was awkward...but Bresha eased out of his embrace and smiled..

"It has been a long time Eric..A very long time...." she said laughing nervously... remembering a time

two years ago.... The night they all passed the bar..

TWO YEARS AGO!

They were at a Night Club in Bayside.... She was his date...He had asked her out a couple of times during the three years they had been in law school and something had always come up to keep them from actually going out.. Now after they had graduated a few months before and had passed the bar they actually had gone out...

''We did it..We are Lawyers now...We actually made it..." said a happy Bresha.

"Yes we did my little Valedictiorian....We made it....Now let's go out there and slay some dragons.."said Eric..

She knocked down about ten drinks that night and had smoked two or three joints in back of the club with Eric...She was good and sloshed..

The D.J. was playing and everybody was dancing the night away....The recent graduates of Middleton Law School...

''I saw the Attorney ,Olivia Bennett-Alexander with you at Graduation and there when you took the Bar...She offering you a job or something?" asked Eric.

''She's offering me an internship which is cool because I live in an apartment complex about 7 blocks away from where her law practice is...I can walk there...It's a paid internship.." said Bresha.,

I've been there...I met her niece, Beverly, Beverly's husband, Nelson , Olivia's husband, Donnie Ray and

Josie and their Office manager.. They are all very nice people...I'm going to love interning with them" gushed Bresha.,

They have a Law Library

adjacent to the building

and a high tech media room

and to top it off, Beverly and Her husband have a beautiful domicile above the first floor.

and Olivia and Donnie Ray live above them...

"And they live across and down the street from other established attorneys who have agreed to let me intern with them too and pay me.." gushed Bresha. Speaking of her future neighbors and associates, Jazzy, Dabnis, Kayla, Ray, Jessica, Chip, Ms. Yvette,Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia, Kahlil and Jade..

All of whom she'd intern for and be paid handsomely for...

"That sounds great....Now uh...why don't you come with me...I uh want to talk to you...In private." said Eric..

"About what?" she giggled..

He led her downstairs... It was dark...There were bathrooms down here..but no one came down here unless the upstairs bathrooms were overflowing with people.

He kissed her passionately..She didn't resist.....She returned his passion.. They were downstairs kissing for at least An HOUR...

He lifted her gown up...

He slipped her panties down...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Bresha you don't know how long I've wanted to do this..." he moaned..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ERIC!!." she cooed..

He lifted her up and entered her slowly and gently...she was so soft and so wet...He was losing his mind as he went in and out...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU BRESHAAAA.."he moaned..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ERIC!" she cooed..

He sat her on the sink in one of the bathrooms and went to town, going in and out of her and experiencing her butter soft kisses....

She suddenly stopped.. and pulled her panties back up ...

''What's wrong?" he asked...

She ran into one of the stalls and vomited her guts out in the toilet.... while he came with wild abandon all over the floor...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned...not being able to control his explosion...

Bresha emerged from the stall after flushing it and washed her face...

"I'm sooooooo sorry Eric." she exclaimed..

"That's alright baby!" he said... "OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he moaned and ran into another stall and vomited his guts out... "OHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned..

Not a very romantic night or memory...

"That was uh some night...huh?" laughed Eric at the memory of it. He saw her only one other time and that was with a fellow Middleton Law school Grad, Tony Billips.

He knew Tony, but they weren't actually friends... Tony was his rival for Bresha's affections... He had apparently won. She was his wife now...He knew that.

''So Eric...What's new with you?" asked Bresha.

"I uh worked in the Public Defender's Office for a year and a half.. It was good practice.. and I now have my own practice... A Practice of one...I got a little office in a high rise in midtown...I got a few clients on retainer.. I'm not big time like your employers.." said Eric.

''I do alright.." said Bresha.

"You're doing better than just alright...You married, got your own home already....Working for a great law firm and with an assortment of great attorneys...You're doing great...So Bree...you guys are representing uh Bishop Coogin on that Costnor Murder case...You uh subpoenaed a guy, Marion Hodges..what's up with that? what's he got to do with it?" asked Eric.

"You know it's not good ethics to talk about a case before it comes to trial. Besides, what it to you?" said Bresha,.

''You sound like one of our law school text books...This is the real world...Didn't Olivia and Beverly teach you that? This is me and you...we have history....Now I'm not prosecuting the case.. I'm not involved at all...I just wanted to know what you have on one witness , that's all." asked Eric smoothly....

"You're reppin him aren't you? why didn't you say that from the beginning instead of beating around the bush...?" said Bresha.

"Okay...Okay...I'm his attorney of record...What have you got on him?" asked Eric.

''I'll tell you all about it,,,,Next week in court...Bye Eric...It was ..It was interesting, seeing you again."said Bresha as she got up and left.

Bresha returned to our Office/Duplex..

"Heyyy Baby Girl...You hungry?" asked Alfreda.

"No Thank you Ms. Alfreda. I stopped in the Cafeteria at the courthouse.." said Bresha.

"You got those forms filed? Beverly and Josie are in the Law Library doing research...Donnie Ray and Nelson are in the Media room,picking possible jurors." said Olivia. She was reading witness statements and looking over the Autopsy reports and an abridged Autopsy report.

"Got em all filed...No problem at all." said Bresha.. She peeked in the media room and waved.

''Hey Bree" said Nelson.

"Hey Bree." I said.

In our Law Library...Beverly and Josie were hard at work. They had been all afternoon.

They were researching Laws and motions having to do with and that might come up in our case, Predicates and Like cases.....

''Either of you two ever sleep with a guy years ago and run into him now and wonder how you could have ever done that or wished you hadn't?" said Bresha.

"Girrrrrrrrrl More than I care to name." said Beverly..

"Same Here..Spill the tea girl." said Josie.

III-

The Preliminary Hearings were just as we suspected..

Lawyer Bae, Assistant District Attorney Jake Patais was trying hard, but dying on his feet...

Olivia with Beverly, Nelson, Josie and Bresha were destroying all of his witnesses on cross and it didn't fare much better for him the next week either...

Nelson and Jake battled to a 9-3 split in jurors that went our way....

His girlfriend, Assistant District Attorney Diane Baronski sat with a pained look on her face...

He and Lt. Tragg had loud yelling and screaming matches after court everyday....

So bad that Judge Freeman and several uniformed officers had to come in between them,

while I sat and laughed quietly....

Bishop Coogan and his fiance sat in the courtroom confident...more confident than ever that we were going to win this case...

Rock Muhammad and his Attorney, Eric Church sat in the courtroom confused, wondering what we had up our sleeves...

Olivia and her two most trusted lieutenants, Beverly, her niece and Nelson, Beverly's husband, who had been with her since the Public Defenders Office were at their very best....

They attacked the prosecution theory now as they had during the preliminary hearings... They admitted to a sexual , a consensual sexual relationship between the two...but attacked the so called evidence..

For instance.. There were more than just Bishop's fingerprints and DNA in the hotel room...There were the prints and DNA of all of the other band members and the deceased Pete Gibson, a represenative of World Wide Booking, a rival agency that was trying to remove her from her present contract... The Loaded condoms with Bishop's DNA only proved he had sex with her, not that he had killed her...

Josie and Bresha attacked witness after witness... Two witnesses only heard them having sex two nights before ,which proved nothing...And the one witness who HEARD a loud argument and then heard a loud thump, never actually SAW Bishop in the hotel room that Sunday and could not identify Bishop by voice.

All of this and they hadn't begun their defense...

Jake Patais tried as hard as he could...but all of his objections were met with challenges by Beverly, Josie and Bresha ,

who had prepared well for this trial..

A Fact noticed by Judge Freeman, who smiled and nodded at Olivia.

who sat back and smiled like a proud mother...

ADA Diane Baronski sat in the courtroom looking on painfully as her boyfriend, ADA Jake Patais

was being handed his head on a platter by Olivia and her young attorneys...

She glared angrilly at Lieutenant Tragg who had given Jake a very weak case full of holes that the defense was feeding off of... Lt. Tragg felt as if Jake just wasn't good enough to deal with Olivia and company..He had seen other ADA's do much better against them... He didn't feel as though he did any wrong...

Rock Muhammad and his attorney, Eric Church sat in the courtroom too....They felt as though Olivia and her team were wiping the floor with the prosecution, enough so that they wondered what Rock's testimony would be needed for...He hadn't been called throughout the preliminary hearing, nor during the prosecution...Didn't seem like they needed him to get an acquittal...They hadn't begun their defense yet...

Eric couldn't take his eyes off of Bresha...our youngest attorney....

Her butter soft kisses that night two years ago...

How baby soft her skin was, how good she smelled , how wet she was...

How she nearly drove him to delirium that night in the basement, when they were making love in the restroom..

While Rock Muhammad kept his eyes on me... He hated cops...even ex-cops who were now investigators for Attorneys...but he had to admit...I had given them good intel....

Jake Patais carted out the one witness who had seen Bishop that day... He had seen him kneeling over the dead body of Laura Costnor in her hotel room...

Olivia called Dr. Hazel Baylor, Deputy Coroner and Dr. Marcy Martin, Deputy Coroner who testified that the time of death was around 12:15 pm , when one of the witnesses heard a loud argument and a thump.. Bishop was seen standing over the body around 4:30 pm.

Nelson produced a credit card receipt and servers, a waitress and an army of witnesses..Jazzy, Dabnis, Kayla, Ray, Jessica, Chip, Yvette, Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia, Kahlil, Jade, Virginia ,Kayla and Mel.

who all testified that Bishop was indeed in Bayside at Pancake Pantry until 11:45 am and was in route to his hotel but not yet there by noon or a little after when the murder occurred.

"I was also in attendance at this breakfast" said Nelson who showed his receipt.

Jake tried to intimidate the witnesses on cross saying that he knew they were all friends of the defense, lived on the same street, worked in the same building, and all attorneys except for maybe two people. He reminded them of what a perjury conviction could do to their careers..It was a cheap stunt that did not work. These were fellow attorneys, they didn't rattle under pressure.

Olivia had them produce their receipts as well as

Beverly, Josie, Bresha, Nelson and mine...

''We were all with him ...We all left at about 11:45...Give or take a few minutes...We got back in Philly, at my house about 12: 30....and then he and his fiance had to drive to Penn's Landing in a rental." Olivia produced a rental car agreement,,, she also had her two bus drivers testify.

"I doubt if he was the voice in the room your witness HEARD! and if he was kneeling over the body...He had just discovered it." said Olivia.

ADA Jake Patais closed his case the next day..... He knew he was dead in the water. He turned his anger to Lt. Tragg..

"YOU!!!! YOU!!!!! You never asked him for an alibi?? You never checked??? You never checked your witnesses statements??" he screamed..

"DON'T TELL ME HOW TO BE A COP!! AND I WON'T TELL YOU HOW TO BE A LAWYER!" screamed Lt. Tragg..

"SOMEBODY NEEDS TO TELL YOU...SOMEBODY NEEDED TO TELL YOU BACK IN THE GOTDAMN ACADEMY!" screamed Jake..

"BOYS!! BOYS!!! SHOW SOME DAMN DECORUM!" screamed Judge Freeman.

"LIEUTENANT TRAGG, YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" screamed Diane Baronski..

Lt, Tragg was furious. He stomped his foot and stormed out of the courthouse.

"Looks like our boys are a bit cross with one another." I said.

"Yeah, I got that impression." laughed Nelson.

"Olivia, you lawyered the hell out of this case girl...I am proud of you.."said Melody.

''Yes you did. girl." said Bishop.

''We still have our defense." said Olivia.

''Yes...That's going to be the real show stopper." said Beverly..

"I can't wait."said Josie.,

"Me Neither." said Bresha.

Rock Muhammad was sweating bullets...

"What is wrong with you? Your name wasn't mentioned once.. I don't think you're going to have to testify...Did you see the Prosecutor..My guess is he's going to drop charges soon..He's got no choice. He's lost this case and he know it.. Did you see the Jury?" laughed Attorney Eric Church.

Nightfall came.. It had been quite a day....Quite a week...Our defense began tomorrow...We had done good.

I stared at the moonlit sky...

I walked into our bedroom..

Olivia sat on our bed in her sexy lace Babydoll, looking at her laptop...

Mel and Bishop were in the spare bedroom and so loud, we could hear them in our bedroom with the door closed.

"UMMMMMMMMMMPH.."came a man's groan.

"OHHH MY GODDDDD BISHOP!"

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" came a woman's voice.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOU SEXY VIXEN...OUUUUUUUUU!" came Bishop's unmistakable voice..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU YOU'RE A BEAST!!!!" came Melody's coos..

"AWWWWWWW LAWD!" came a man's groan...

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO LAWWWWD! OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"came a woman's scream.

The bed was squeaking out of control and the headboard was silently slamming against the wall.

"Oh my God!!, Those two don't take a night off."said Olivia, continuing to read....

''Enough reading for tonight.. All that moaning is getting me horny!" I said, smiling...

She put her laptop away and we kissed passionately on the bed...

I took my shirt and trousers off and my socks and shoes..

I slipped her white lacey panties off...

We kissed each other softly and slowly....She took her hands and put them in my boxers and felt my rock hard erection..

"You are always horny."she laughed as I unhooked her bra..

We stood in the middle of the floor ,kissing...

really kissing and practically devouring each others lips..

"Especially around me." she whispered in between passionate kisses.

"Since the first night I met you, that's been true." I said.

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray….."she moaned..

"Oh my goddddd!..."she moaned softly as we crashed on the bed and we began to make sweet love....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm…" I moaned as the bed began to squeak beneath our combined weight...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu husband, you are sooo hard, soooo huge..." she moaned.....

I was losing my mind slowly....The way I always had when we made love...Olivia was so warm, so soft, sooo wet....I was delirious....

Before long we were making sweet love...Our bed making no noise, our headboard rattling out of control...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray...I love you soooooo much!" she cooed..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Olivia, you are driving me crazy.." I moaned..

She turned over and moved herself up and down on me...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I like this .."she moaned..

"Ohhhhhhh not as much as I like it.." I said..

The next EIGHT TO NINE HOURS was incredible...

Both of Olivia's legs were shaking furiously, her head was turning from left to right...she was sweating profusely....

"OH MY GOD!!....OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU YESSSSSSSSSS. OUUUU WEEE, OUUUU WEEEE..YESSS...YEsSSS….OHHH YESSS DONNIE RAY!!" she moaned..She was having an intense orgasm....

which caused her to kiss me more intensely.....

I was almost angry when I did start cumming….Olivia's screams and whoops seemed to get me more excited and to make me cum harder.....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Donnie Ray…..you make me cum so hard...." she sighed..

"You make me cum so much,..." I said..

We both laughed

As we lie in each other's arms...both of our bodies trembling...

We started kissing some more and before we knew it..

We were making love again for the second time...

"I never get enough of you." I moaned..

"I seee." she said and laughed...

ANOTHER THREE HOURS went by before we both climaxed and climaxed hard!

"My sweet husband, my good luck charm" said Olivia softly....

''You're my good luck charm." I said..as Olivia fell asleep on my chest...

"You're mine.....ouuuuuuuuuuuu that was sooo nice!" she cooed as we both drifted off.

IV-

Olivia began her defense.

She called her witness, Karen Walker, the Attorney turned Comedian.

And Karen testified what she heard the day of the murder... Just hours later.

Rock Muhammad remembered her now...Shee was drunk out of her mind....Now he was sweating bullets.

Karen was sober and clear headed now.

"As you know, I really bombed Saturday Night at Mulberry Street... I was depressed .....I drank myself into a stupor that night and passed out.... Sunday, I spent the day in Curley's bar... I was soused.. I had on the same clothes.. I hadn't gone home...I was still drinking..I was at the bar...There were two guys there.. a young guy....I didn't know him...but the older guy...Him I know..His name is Rock Muhammad..He's a manager and a talent scout...He fashions himself as that , but he's really a hood..

"Did you talk to Laura ? I told you to talk to her about getting out of that contract." said a bald headed well dressed Black man.

"I did...I-I-I reminded Laura of her promise last winter... She said she changed her mind and was staying put.. We..We We got into a big argument and and..and things got out of hand.." said the younger man talking to him..

"What do you mean out of hand?" asked the older bald headed man.

"We got into a physical type thing and I....I...I uh think I strangled Laura." said the younger man.

"YOU DID WHAT??" said the bald man loudly..

"It was an accident...I swear...Laura hit me first....Things got out of hand!" said the younger man...

"SHUT UP! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" said the bald headed man..

Karen had told us the entire exchange she heard.

"I don't think either one recognized me.. I was sloshed and my head was on the bar, like I was knocked out...but I heard every word and the younger guy confessed to Rock Muhammad that he quarreled with and strangled Laura Costnor...I can give you a description of the younger guy...but that's it...Rock Muhammad was livid that he had done that...but he didn't say anymore." said Karen.. " I need to stay here for a few days...I'm afraid..." said Karen. "Rock Muhammad is a stone cold hood.." said Karen.

"OBJECTION!!! THIS IS HIGHLY INFLAMMATORY TO MY CLIENT!! THIS IS HERESAY!" screamed Attorney Eric Church.

''You admit you were drunk, bombed out of your mind.. You don't know what you heard..You might have been dreaming you heard that." said Jake Patais on cross.

"I wasn't that drunk...I knew what I heard was a confession of murder and I laid my head down on the counter and pretended to be really sloshed and unconscious so that neither man would suspect that I had heard them." said Karen, a seasoned Attorney, who knew how to testify and knew how not to be rattled by an ADA.

Beverly had a six foot glossy of Pete Gibson which she showed the jury and Karen.

''Is this the man you heard confess to murdering Laura Costnor?" she asked.

"Yes! That is him, Pete Gibson!" said Karen.

The Jury gasped.

Nelson called Marion Hodges better known as Rock Muhammad to the stand. His intimidating nature did not intimidate Nelson, Nephew of Gangster, Fathead Newton, who once ran West and Southwest Philadelphia.

"Mr. Hodges...Are you saying this conversation never happened?" he asked.

"It never happened. As I told police, I hadn't seen Pete Gibson in two weeks" he maintained.

"That's not true Mr. Muhammad..." said Josie ,producing time stamped video taken from the camera at Curley's Bar on the afternoon of the murder that clearly showed him and Pete Gibson talking and Karen sitting next to them...just as she said.

''Did you know that Pete's DNA was found on Laura's body? My husband had it checked...It's in the Autopsy report, the abridged edition..." said Olivia.

''No, I wasn't aware of that." said Rock Muhammad, now furious at the turn of events.

''I think you knew...and I think you were furious that Pete ruined your deal and you called him Monday and lured him to his death."said Bresha.

"This is speculation, pure speculation." protested Jake Patais.

Beverly dialed a number on her phone.

The phone in Rock Muhammad's suit jacket rang. He looked as if he'd swallowed a canary.. I had hoped he'd be too stupid to ditch his phone.

"Pete got a text from you, from that number, asking him to meet him at Northeast Airport Monday afternoon. That's the last time he was seen alive. He killed Laura and YOU killed him for screwing up, isn't that what happened Mr. Muhammad?" asked Bresha,

"I- I want to speak to my lawyer." said Rock Muhammad.

"That's a good idea Mr. Muhammad!" said Olivia. "The Defense rests your honor." said Olivia.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER-

''This is the fastest a jury has come back in my career, I'm going to mark this on my calender." said Olivia.

"Mine too! Juries are funny, but not this jury." said Beverly.

"Is this good or bad?" asked Bishop.

"I think it's good.. Judging by how I read the jury..We got this in the bag." said Nelson.

"You haven't been wrong yet Nelson....I think we got this." said Josie.

"You know, I thought Lawyer Bae was going to drop the charges and that we wouldn't have ever gotten this far. He surprised me...He fought to the end." said Bresha.

Mel was nervous despite the positive talk...She clung to my hand nervously.

I rubbed her soft hands.. "It's going to be alright. Olivia and Beverly and the guys put on one of their best defenses." I said.

ADA Jake Patais was livid.

"You never read the Abridged version of the Autopsy did you? Hell I'll bet you never read the autopsy period. Never checked Gibson's phone...ahhhhhhh you are the worst." he said to Lt. Tragg.

Lt. Tragg looked like he'd swallowed a canary..

"Has the jury come back with a verdict?" asked Judge Freeman.

"Yes your honor, We have."said the Jury Foreman , who passed the Verdict to the Bailiff.

Judge Freeman read it, smiled and passed it to the Bailiff. ''Read it." He said.

"IN THE MATTER OF COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA VS. BISHOP COOGAN ON THE CHARGE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER, WE FIND THE DEFENDENT, NOT GUILTY!" said the bailiff.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEE!" Olivia and Beverly shouted and jumped up and high fived each other.

''I so appreciate you guys." said Olivia hugging Nelson, Josie and Bresha.

''We appreciate working with you Olivia." said Nelson.

"You've taught us so much and we've had so many experiences." said Josie.

"YESSSS!" said Bresha.

''And you, my good luck charm!" she said to me.

She rewarded me with a slow sensuous Kiss.

"We gettin married tomorrow, tomorrow...I don't wanna wait any longer." demanded Bishop.

"Oh...Okay." laughed Melody..

Rock Muhammad tried to slip out but not before Lt. Tragg grabbed him and put the cuffs on him.

"Not so fast Muhammad...You're under arrest, Murder one...The Murder of Pete Gibson." he snarled and marched him out of the courtroom.

"He finnally makes a good collar and the legwork was done by Donnie Ray, the investigator for the defense. Tragg is a joke , I never want to work a case he's involved with again." snarled an angry Jake Patais.