Black And Blue

 This was not a typical Saturday morning....The reason why I say that is because on Saturday morning...We are usually not working...Beverly West, my wife's niece and partner in her law firm which was now officially called Alexander & West Ltd would be over her boyfriend ,Nelson East's apartment...just waking up....

She spent the night with him...but was home and showered and dressed early today..

And likewise...My wife and I, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander and me, Donnie Ray Alexander, Investigator for the firm...would be waking up and making love for the first time in the morning after a night of doing the same thing...

Today...We were up and out at a very tony Breakfast spot for a brunch...The occassion...Olivia's college room-mate and law school chum, Britney Marley-Peters was meeting with us...

She and Livy had been room-mates in college, had pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha together and then after graduation had both turned up in the same law school...getting their J.D. together..

Olivia had been her maid of honor when she married a handsome ,litigator named Evan Peters... Seven years their senior, who took an interest in the young attorney..

Olivia explained to me that while she had gone on to work in the Public defenders office...Britney had gotten a job in corporate America right away and with her husband, had moved to New York City and then eventually, D.C.

"If your girlfriend doesn't hurry up , Me and Beverly are going to eat up all of these pastries.." I joked...

"I don't think we can D.R.  They replace the bread basket with new pastries every minute...I need to stop...I want to be able to fit into my new dresses..." said Beverly.

"I'm sure Nelson won't mind if that butt of yours gets any bigger..I see the way he ogles it..."joked  Olivia...Beverly smiled...

"Some guy was checking me out last week and ran his car into the back of a parked car and  wanted to blame me for that." said Beverly...

''Oh you liked it." joked Olivia..

Just then, we saw an attractive light skinned Black woman ,dressed in tight jeans that clung to every curve...She looked like she had a black eye...She had apparently put on a lot of make up to cover it...but it failed..

"Olivia?? Olivia Bennett is that you?" she said...

Olivia smiled...

"Britney!!! How are you?" she said and hugged her old friend..

"Oh My Godd girlfriend...you look great ."said Britney....

"So do you!" said Olivia...

"Where is this new husband...I've heard about?" she asked...

Olivia put her arms around me...

"This is my hubby...We met in New Orleans three years ago and kept in touch...He was a cop back then...A Homicide Detective...He left the force eventually, moved up here, became a P.I. ...just in time for me to start my firm and came to work for me...The rest is as they say...History..." she beamed...

She looked at Beverly....

''And this is Bev, your cute little niece....All grown up.."she said hugging Bev...

"Hi Ms. Britney." she said.

"Ms? Girl, you better just call me Brit...Long as I been knowing your auntie..." she laughed..

"Beverly is an attorney too...She's my partner.." said Olivia..

"Ooooooh nice...I am so proud of you Livy...You got a private practice..." she said.

"Where is your husband?" I asked...

She sighed..

"Here he comes...He was looking for a place to park." she said.

Her husband was tall, about my height....Brown skinned and with a black goatee that made him look sinister...He was dressed in a nice knit and a nice pair of brown slacks..

He shook my hand first....

"What's up my man?" he said, smiling...

"Heyy man." I said..

He smiled at Olivia and hugged her...

"Heyyyyy girl, you still fine as hell...Sometimes I think I picked the wrong one of you two.." he said...

That may have been a compliment, but it was kind of a sideways thing to say with your wife standing right there ...not to mention me...

''Oh shut up Evan, you got the right person for you."said Olivia diplomatically!

He looked at Britney and said...

"Ahhhhh, she'll do."

Britney looked at him as if she wanted to strangle him....

Beverly and I both felt very uncomfortable....I wished he would just shut up.

I was close to telling him just that!

Beverly whispered in my ear..

"I don't like him D.R." she said.

Just then he noticed her...

"This your sister Livy?" he asked grinning from ear to ear...

"My niece..." she said.

"Ohhh yeah that's right...Jimmy's daughter....Wowwww...How is Jimmy? He still taking pictures?" he asked..

"Yes...He's out on the West Coast....Married too!" said Olivia..

"Good for him....and oh excuse me....You must be Olivia's husband...I'm Evan Peters...I'm a lawyer and a friend of your wife.." he said shaking my hand again...

"I'm Donnie Ray Alexander...I'm a Private Investigator...I do investigative work for her firm...Beverly here is her partner and also an Attorney." I said.

"That is cool...So Olivia..you left the Public Defender's office, had a corporate gig and then struck out on your own huh? That's how you do it..Look, let's sit down and eat  this good food.....I need a favor Livy." he said.

"Evan...We just got here" said Britney...

"I'm talking...I don't believe I was addressing you." he said...

All at once,I didn't like this clown myself...

The whole mood went sour after that....There was an eerie quietness amongst us...And I kept looking at that Black eye, Britney was sporting..

II-

This place served Mimosas and a variety of drinks as well as great coffee and pastries...

As we ate , Olivia addressed Evan...

"So you say you need a favor?" said Olivia...

"Yes...I could be indicted for Insider Trading in a few weeks and I'm going to need a good attorney..." he said.

"In D.C.?" she asked.

"Yes...I'll pay your expenses....Your niece and your husband too.."he said.

Britney asked me to pass her a bagel and some cream cheese...I was curious...

''What happened there? Your eye?" I said.

"Oh...I uh was in a car accident the other day...My head hit the dashboard..." she said.

I didn't question her further...

Beverly looked at me funny....I could tell that she didn't believe her...I didn't either.

 III-

 My wife Olivia sipped her coffee...

"So Brit, what have you been up to?" she asked...

Before Britney could answer...Evan answered for her...

"Nothing...Still working for some Jewish Law firm that has no intentions of making her partner...I'm telling her she should have been pro-active like you Liv...and of struck out on her own ..." he said..

"You didn't tell me that." she said.

We all got silent..He looked at her menacingly like he would have strangled her had we not been there...Then he started talking as if his wife hadn't said a word..

"There's this guy...a guy I was representing...A Russian named Dmitriv Roganoff..
First off, I work at Fleecum, Greesum and Run Associates at law...Dmitriv Roganof
an information technology employee with Fleecum,Greesm and Run, was charged Tuesday with generating about $397,000 in illegal profits from insider trading in eight stocks. Dmitriv was arrested by F.B.I. agents in New York City...Where he fled.

He was accused of trading on confidential information about corporate deals our law firm was working on during a three-year period, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan. Mr. Roganoff was charged with one count of securities fraud. I agreed to be an attorney for Mr. Roganoff ...But He and I have been known to hang out socially...You know, drinkin...whatever....

Dmitriv Roganoff's’s arrest comes more than three years after The FBI charged Claude Fleecum, one of our partner's nephew, with taking part in a 7 year insider trading conspiracy that netted him and his associates more than $32 million in illegal profits. Claude Fleecum is serving a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in December 2011 to stealing confidential information about corporate deals from Fleecum, Greesum and Run and three other law firms where he had worked prior to joining his uncle's firm.

The arrest of Young Claude Fleecum in April 2011, however, appears to have only stopped Dmitriv for a short time they say.

Federal authorities said that after Claude Fleecum was arrested, Dmitriv and an unidentified person “abruptly closed out” positions they had in shares of Lock 15, a Bio Tech organization and a client of ours that was in the middle of working on a corporate deal.

The FBI contend that Dmitriv then waited for about 18 months before resuming to trade on confidential information about the firm’s clients like Deleware Biotech and Lock 15." he said.

 "So let me guess....The feds now think you are the unidentified person that abruptly closed out positions you two had shares in ,right?" asked Olivia..

He smiled sheepishly...

"Heh Heh, heh...No grass grows under your feet Livy...I've had three visits from the FBI in the past week and one visit from the U.S. Attorney...I need a tenacious and skilled attorney like yourself...I was Dmitriv's friend...but I had nothing to do with any insider trading..." he said.

"Where is Dmitriv and Claude Fleecum now?" asked Beverly....

He smiled..

"Claude is in the federal penitentary at Lompoc ,in California....Dmitriv is in D.C.  Free on bail...And I think I am days away from being indicted." he said.

"Hmmm...You girls go on to D.C.   I'm going to Lompoc and I'll join you in D.C." I said.

Evan looked at Britney and took a pastry out of her hands...

"That's enough..You've had three....You can barely fit into those jeans now." he said softly...

She looked like she wanted to stab him...

"You used to like it...." she snapped..

"Not here Britney...Not here" he said in a whispered tone...

Beverly and I looked at each other...

No one else said a word for the next hour as we ate and drank coffee.....Britney had said that she had been in a car accident and that that was how she had gotten her black eye..but I didn't believe that....Beverly didn't either...And I'm sure my wife Olivia didn't, though I hadn't asked her...

IV-

Later that day we were relaxing in our duplex....

"I'm getting ready to go shopping..." she said.

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"Bev, Josie and Cherry Johnson and I are going to the mall...

You want anything?" she asked..

"What I want is in those jeans..." I said ,looking at Olivia salaciously.....

Olivia leaned over and gave me a wet ,sloppy kiss..

"I know...you've been staring at me all morning...You'll just have to wait until mama gets back....I'm going to have to really give you a nice send off...I won't be seeing you for a few days...You're going to Cali without me." she said...

I pulled her to me, on top of me rather and began kissing her passionately and hungrilly...She giggled.....Neither of us noticed that our door was wide open...

That is until we heard Beverly clearing her throat....

"Uhhhhh,You left the door open!!!..." said Beverly.....

"That's okay....We weren't doing anything.. Josie and Cherry here?" asked Olivia...who leaped up off of me and straightened her jeans, her blouse and her hair out...She looked so guilty that it was almost humorous...

Beverly had already seen us kissing....It was too late to hide it...I rolled over on my stomach and peered up at her...She smiled at me sheepishly and shook her head...

Beverly laughed....

"Yall wasn't doing anything???...okayyyyyy...But I didn't come up here to snoop or rain on your parade...I came to tell D.R. he can unpack his bags..." said Beverly...

She handed me a piece of paper....

"I looked up Lompoc Federal Prison and I googled Claude Fleecum Jr. ...He's dead!!! They found him hung in his cell yesterday as it turns out...Probable suicide, though they aren't sure right now...Guess he couldn't do the time." she said.

"Wow!  He was serving a 12 year bid...That's a lot of time for a guy like him...Ivy league law degree, Suburban upbringing...I can imagine...He'd become quite popular with some of the inmates....It got to him." I said, though this was pure speculation..

"So sad....a young guy like that....He had his whole life ahead of him before he got in this trouble..."mused my wife...."But the good news is...We don't have to be seperated.." she said.

"So can I uh see what's in those jeans?" I asked, half kidding...

"Sorry...you have to wait until I get back from the mall..." she said ,smiling...

"You two...I'm going downstairs....I'll call you when they get here....Oh, and close the door...." said Beverly, smiling...

"Thank you Freshie! Next time knock!" said Olivia, laughing at her niece..

"Next time close the door.." said Beverly as she walked down the steps to her floor..

"Now, where were we?" she asked as she plopped in my lap and kissed me...

"Livy...Do you believe that story your girl told about being in a car accident?" I asked in between kisses...

"Car Accident?? Is that what she said? I hadn't even thought about it..."she said stopping all of a sudden...

"Yeah that shiner she had looked like it came from a fist....This guy Evan...You knew him...What kind of guy was he?"I asked.

"Well not violent!! He's one of the smoothest litagators ,I've ever seen as far as being in the courtroom or at a hearing...He always was a bit of a control freak...but that's what Britney always said she wanted...There was a guy...another one of our law school buddies who loved her...His name was Sam...Sam something or other...Worshipped the ground Britney walked on...She said he was too much of a push over...She left him for Evan....Broke his heart..." said Olivia..

"Where is this Sam fellow now?" I asked.

"He married someone else..Has about four kids and got fat and is happy as a clam...He still practices law..."laughed Olivia...

"You said Evan is a control freak.....You think he would hit Britney?" I asked.

"I sure hope not..."said Olivia...

"She's all Black and Blue....And we are charged with keeping him out of the federal pen..Hell, we might be doing her a favor if he did go to the pen." I said.

Olivia leaned over and gave me another kiss.....it was soft and long......

"You are such a cop..."she said in between more kisses...

"Yes I am....I just worry about these things Livy" I said after we broke our embrace...she rubbed her index finger across my lips and whispered softly...

"That's not us...Donnie Ray...That will never be us..." she whispered...This time I kissed her....

"I know." I said as we kissed some more....

"Ummmmmmm...You keep this up and I may just call Bev and tell her I'm not going shopping afterall." she laughed..

(TO BE CONTINUED)