Ding Dong Dixie

Beverly and I walked out of court with her two clients....All smiles.....

''Thank you again Ms. West....We can't thank you enough." said Elmer Gentry...a small business owner...

"We would have never have been able to recoup that money that corporation owed us without your help.." said his partner, Silas Gordan...

"You'll definitely be hearing from us if we need you again." said Elmer Gentry....

"Smile Beverly...You won a big case..."I said...

"I know...and thank you for your help D.R.   It's not this case." she said.

"It's Nelson? You and Nelson have a fight?" I asked..

"Nelson?? Nooooo..I couldn't have a sweeter boyfriend...He's been great....He's stayin over tonight so don't call or knock on my door." she whispered and managed a smile...

"It's your dad and step-mom right?"I said.

''Yeah...Haven't spent much if any time with either of them since they been here and it's been a week.." she said.

''Malinda went to New York...Casting call for some TV show..She'll be back tomorrow...and uh ruh...Your dad?  I'm sure he'll be around...We are all supposed to go out this weekend." I said.

"Then they'll be gone and we still will not have spent much time together." said Beverly...

"I can't win with you." I said.

She smiled..."Nelson says that all the time." she said.

I kissed her on the cheek....

"Tell Nelson I said Hi." I said.

"You goin somewhere D.R. ?" she asked.

''Yeah...I got something else to do...See ya later Bev." I said.

II-

It didn't take me long to find the woman who had Bev's father in a jam....Her name was Diana Dixon..Her nickname was ''Dixie"..

Once Bev's father, Jimmy West gave me the specifics on her..Finding her house was easy...She was renting...She was "working" downtown in an office building by day and had been working as an exotic dancer 'Stripper"by night....I put a GPS unit under her car and he followed her in a rental car with tinted windows to her jobs and photographed her movemants mostly.


It wasn't hard for me to break into her apartment and wire it for sound and video...a few tricks I had learned as a cop from a former FBI agent who had taken a shine to me...Now I was able to listen and observe Ms.
Dixie...

For one thing...If she was pregnant, she was in the early stages...She hadn't started to show yet and she had two more than interesting visitors....

One was Football player Jamie Mitchell, Olivia's client, who had just got married recently and who we had just got out of a jam...He had been found with a dead white woman in his bed...We had cleaned that up for him and he had thanked us profusely...Had sworn that he would clean up his act and keep his nose clean and here he was keeping time with this young strumpet...

I had photos of him just grinning and leaving her house ,with her in the doorway just swooning...He passed her a fat envelope with dollars in it...She counted it...Kissed him on the cheek and lightly rubbed the crotch of his trousers and waved to him as she closed the door..

Another of her visitors was Black Millionaire playboy, Rollie Rollerson...He was more discreet...He had someone drive him up in a Black Lexus and he was wearing all Black and he quietly slipped into her house from the back...

And like Jamie Mitchell, He was seen leaving in the morning, giggling and stumbling and she was in the doorway in a sheer black neglige' with matching panties and bra just swooning...

Rollie's driver passed her a fat envelope...she counted the dollars and then kissed Rollie on the cheek.

"Dixie" as she was called was doing good business...

From watching this woman for a few days ,I found out that another man was visiting her...A white man!! I realized that this white man had been snapping photos of Rollie and Jamie and had turned them over to her for money....I wasn't the only person who had her house bugged...

I doubted very seriously that she was pregnant...but I didn't know for sure...

After a few days, I did see her in a maternity blouse with what seemed like a small baby bump!  If she was pregnant, it was possible that she got pregnant way after her encounter with Jimmy West...

Baby girl was good! I had to hand it to her...

III-

A day or two later, I walked out of court with Beverly's aunt and my wife, Olivia...I had done investigative work for her too...I had been busy the last few days and not just with Jimmy's little problem.

''Well husband of mine...you've done it again...Once again, I won big for my client and we didn't have to take it to trial, which is what I like....."she said.

"That means you're going to have to be especially nice to me tonight when we get home." I said slyly...

''Aren't I always?"she said looking very seductively at me...I smiled sheepishly...

''What about that uh other thing...My brother's little problem?" she asked...

''Glad you asked Livy...Here's what I've found..." I said. I opened up my briefcase and passed her the glossies of a young black woman ..that I took outside the girl's apartment....I also showed her photos of Jamie Mittchell and Rollie Rollerson going in and out of her house and envelopes being exchanged...At first Olivia smiled, then she shook her head in disgust...

''Men" she spat..

''Some men" I said.

''I know baby." she said and kissed me very slow and seductively.

IV-

"Her name is Diana , Diana Dixon .She was known to her friends as simply "Dixie"...She was also known to some as "Victoria Wiggins" in some circles.. I did a little digging as I promised I would do...

  Diana Dixon had been born here in Philadelphia had attended Philadelphia Public Schools up until the 10th grade..When she had dropped out of school...

She did a stint in the Peace Corps and earned her GED High school equivalent...She attended community college as a Fashion Design major for all of one school year and dropped out and then moved to New York City where she lived with a cousin and took several jobs as an Administrative Assistant in different offices..

She tried her hand at modeling and ventured into Stripping and Prostitution...High class...She had one misdemeanor arrest for soliciting...Charges thrown out! She next ventured into acting...In a couple of porn movies...and from there a few stints on reality television shows...

She was involved with a member of the New York Knicks Basketball team for a year...Accused him of sexual assault and attempted to sue him...She was paid a hefty sum to keep her mouth shut and the charges were dropped.....She was involved with two members of  The Brooklyn Nets.... Accused both men of sexual assault and attempted to sue them...Both cases were dropped... but not before she was paid a handsome sum out of court."I said.

"So she's done this before. She had burned her bridges in New York City so by then so she moved back to Philadelphia right?" asked Olivia..

"Exactly...She moved back to Philadelphia, a year and a half later and got involved with your brother..I've talked to a couple of people who were in the bar that night...even got video survielience of her..."I said..

''Is she pregnant?" asked Olivia..

"I don't know...I've got to find medical reports....I'm still working on it...but I do have copies of her texts to him asking him for close to a million dollars and threatening to go public ,if he doesn't...I even found the burner phone she made the calls from...I have it in a bag...I can prove blackmail...And I'm certain she's blackmailing Jamie and Rollie by now."I said.

"But if she really is pregnant and it's my brother's baby...All that is mute." said Olivia..

''Well maybe...but the fact that she's done this before and I can prove it and the fact that she's trying to blackmail him...I might be able to convince her to cease and desist and shut up." I said.

"If he's the father...it doesn't matter...He shouldn't be shielded...My parents and I practically raised Beverly, because he was young and irresponsible...If he's the father of that girl's child..Whether she is a grifter or not..
He's going to be responsible this time...regardless of what happens to his marriage." said Olivia.

"Okay babes...It's your call...I'm just doing what you asked...''I said.

Olivia smiled at me....Then she took my face in her hands and kissed me for a long time....right there in the courthouse hallway...

"Thank you baby, for always looking out for me and Bev...We are so glad you're part of our family now..One thing I am sure of...That for all of the wrong men I loved and could have loved...You are definitely the right one..I don't regret loving you at all." she said and kissed me again...

My last few years in New Orleans I had felt alone...No family, no wife, no children...and now I had a family...a new family and a new home....I felt a warm feeling inside...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)