Not Watching Enough Television

JUNE 14,2014-

A boat floated by itself down the Delaware River...It was tied to another boat that looked just like it.. so far down you could barely see the Philadelphia or Camden skylines....The night before...People had been out on Penn's Landing eating, drinking and making merry at the many eateries and bars ...There had even been a live Jazz Concert....

Sometime around 4:00 am in the morning when all was quiet, when all the clubs were closed...When all the people were gone...A lone gunshot rang out!!!

The two boats and their contents wouldn't be found for hours...and by the time they were discovered ,the horrific sight inside the one boat would reveal...38 year old Attorney and Investment Banker, Charles ''Chucky" Thomas..
dead of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head....and a hastily scribbled note-

''I was tired of the bullshit!"  written in his handwriting...He had shot himself with a .38 smokeless...It had left a big hole in the side of his head and he had bled profusely.....The second boat had his personal things..A smartphone, a tablet and a briefcase filled with newspaper clippings about him and a photo of Attorney, turned talk show host...Betty "No Mercy" Mercy, host of the popular television show-'Hard Bottom" ,which took a look at the sensational and controversial legal cases of the day.  The photo had red devil's horns drawn on her head and a pitchfork drawn which she appeared to be holding...

A crowd of people sat around and gawked as the body was brought out of the water and just stared....

''Whoa...Isn't that the Selfie Stalker?" said one person...

"Yeah...Sick bastard took a nude photo of himself in that young girl's home..Guess he couldn't take the ridicule huh?"

"Yeah...wonder what his poor fiance thought...?"

"Nasty Bastard"



II- TODAY!

Olivia, Beverly and I stood in a department store buying sheets,pillow cases and towels...and last minute Christmas gifts. As a man,I ,Donnie Ray Alexander would have rather have been anywhere else but shopping with women on a Saturday..But I had promised her I'd help out...

 "Ouuu Donnie Ray...These are nice and they match the colors of our room." said my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander...

"They uh do...Let's get them." I said.

"Baby...I really wish you'd take more of an interest in this...I have to buy new bedspreads and sheets...for the holidays.." said Olivia..

"I need some myself .." said Beverly..

We both gave her the side eye....

''What?" she laughed....

''Beverly Denise....Are you blushing?" asked Olivia laughing...

"Everybody needs a change every now and then..." said Beverly diplomatically...Smiling...

As we were laughing.....I heard a female voice in the distance...

"Olivia....Beverly....That you?" came the voice...

They both turned around....

''Celeste??" they both said and ran over to an attractive light skinned Black woman and hugged her...

''Olivia Bennett...Beverly West...Look at you two...You've come a long way from our days in the Public defender's office..." she said.

"For one thing...I'm married now...It's Olivia Alexander...This is my husband, Donnie Ray Alexander..He's our firm's investigator.....Donnie Ray This is my dear friend, Celeste Tate...She and I started out as Public defenders...She moved on and became a prosecutor and an Assistant District Attorney." she said.

She smiled and looked me up and down......

''Wow....And I see Beverly followed you into private practice too." she said.

"Yes...This is my little protoge' here." said Olivia with pride....hugging her beloved niece.

"Then you three are just what I need..." she said...

"You need a lawyer Celeste..??You..the Assistant District Attorney??." said Olivia...

"Was the Assistant District Attorney...I left the city about three years ago...Went into Private Practice Myself...Up in New York...Would have stayed there too except that I met what I thought was the most amazing man....His name was Charles Thomas... An Investment banker...A real charmer...He was in New York City on business...He was a client of my firm....Sowe socialized a bit.. Got real cozy and then we started getting serious...I found myself commuting back and forth to Philly to see him...Since I was from here...I went on and quit my job and moved back here...Last Christmas...he gave me an engagement ring." she said.

"Ouuuuuuuuu Celeste....Congratulations...Girl!!!" said Beverly...

"Why Didn't you tell me girl?" said Olivia ..

"No need for that Bev....Livy...There's not going to be any wedding." she said...

But something about the way she said it sounded different from the "We broke up" type of thing..

"You two broke up?" I asked..

"No...He's dead!!  A Suicide!!!" she said.

"Oh my God Celeste..I'm so sorry." said Olivia..

"Oh My God...When did this happen?" asked Beverly..

"About six months ago....I am just getting myself together....I just stopped seeing a therapist..." she said.

"Ohhh Honey...I am sooo sorry..."said Olivia...

"When I found out you and Bev were in Private practice...I sought you out...I need your services Livy...You and I happen to know a certain judge....Juanita Corley..She highly recommended you two and your husband to me.." said Celeste.

"You don't think your fiance's death was a suicide do you?" I asked..The ex-homicide detective in me kicking in.

''Oh I'm sure it was a suicide.No problem there.." she said.

 

"Then what do you need my help for Celeste?" she asked.

"You guys don't watch a lot of television do you?" she asked puzzled...

The truth of the matter...was..no we didn't....Olivia and I spent most of our nights making sweet love and hardly turning a television on....

We were still newlyweds...and Beverly was either out with Josie and their friends at the club or over Nelson's apartment where I was certain they weren't watching television either...

"No...I'm afraid I don't." I said.

"Listen...Finish up in here and let's go get some drinks and I'll explain it all to you..." she said.

III-

Hours later we all met up at Aqua Bar....A stylish bar on the top floor of what used to be a warehouse...The Bar stretched the length of the the club....It had a marble top and beneath it was a floor length aquarium filled with exotic aquatic sealife...not just fish...The bar stools were shaped like jungle animals...and the barmaids..called Mermaids were shapely ,busty women who wore gold tops and green micro mini skirts and white shimmering sheer pantyhose...

There was two D.J.'s who played Old school and current Hip Hop and R&B music...Some nights they had live bands....

"My late fiance was nicknamed -"The Selfie stalker." said Celeste...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..I've heard of him...That was your fiance?? Nelson and I watched part of his story on Hard Bottom with Betty Mercy...a couple of nights when I was over his apartment.."said Beverly...

"Hard Bottom?? There is actually a TV showed called Hard Bottom?" I laughed...

''Yes it is..and it's the type of show you don't ever want to be on Donnie Ray...The host...Elizabeth Mercy was at one time an Assistant District Attorney here in Philadelphia...She has a perfect 100-0 record...Never lost a case..Sent many a bad guy to prison..."said Olivia..

"Then she got out of law and went into the Television host business....There was a serial killer named Haywood Coley Jr. who went on trial for several murders a few years back...She was a consultant for the Television network...She covered his trial...both of his trials...because he escaped earlier this year..Anyway..It was the case that made her a household name...She quit the D.A.'s office and wound up with a show where she takes on the controversial cases of the day."said Beverly...

''She tries people on television in the court of public opinion...She's terrible..she violates every law of juris-prudence on that damn show...I despise what she's become...She has a group of sychopants that act like a hanging jury and they yell and scream and lambast everybody on that show....Nobody can get a fair shake once they're on Hard Bottom....She talks over people, cuts in when they're trying to explain something and ridicules and slanders their lawyers...I don't know why anybody would agree to go on that show...They're already convicted and sentenced in the public's eye ."said Olivia..

"Okay babes...tell me how you really feel!" I said and laughed..

"Your wife is telling you the truth Donnie Ray....In April of this year...this girl in this photo Beatrice Priestly complained that she felt she was being stalked." said Celeste..

She showed us a photo of a very attractive and shapely young woman clad only in her panties and a green Philadelphia Eagles T-shirt...The t-shirt seemed too small...Her huge breasts were practically busting out of the shirt...

"My fiance knew her...but he swore to me that he was not stalking her...but this photo of him turned up on her cellphone..."said Celeste...

It was a photo of Charles "Chucky"Thomas, clad only in some tight biker shorts with a huge bulge that was obviously an erection protruding from them..He had a salacious smile on his face...

"WOW!" said Beverly...

"She had complained that she felt she was being stalked by someone...Then she called the police and swore that someone was inside her home...She said she was especially afraid because the man had taken a "selfie" with her phone while he was in the house...  Detectives examined the phone...They didn't find his fingerprints on the phone or anywhere in her home...and further investigation showed that this photo...Which I've seen before was on his Facebook page and it was taken in my bedroom...Not in her house..." said Celeste..

''So if the cops cleared him of any wrong doing what was the problem?" I asked.

"The problem is...She is the daughter of a prominent city council member....It was in the newspapers and Betty Mercy dragged him through the coals on her television show...Even let the completely false story that he was nude in the photo get passed around...People took that and ran with it..

ADA Keith Wallace called Betty Mercy and her producers and told them that the story was false and that the photo was not taken in that girl's house and that my fiance had never set foot in her house...but she continued to air the story and the accusations ....and an agency called Crime Stoppers Inc. also continued to air his photo and the story....The story caused him embarrassment at his job ,in his church and even amongst members of his own family and the community.....Liv I want you to go after that bitch and take her for three million dollars and I also want you to sue Crime Stoppers Inc...Have No Mercy Livy..Take em down."she said icily..

She downed another drink and began to tear up.....

"He wasn't perfect...but he was all I had....We were engaged...We would have had a life together...All that is gone now...I'm all alone!" she said.

"Celeste honey..I'll represent you and I'll sue them both for you if you want me to...but do you really think it's worth it?  Will this make you feel better? Honey I can tell you now that it won't...Charles is still gone...There will still be an emptiness where he once was..." said Olivia rubbing her friend's back and consoling her...

''And check this out....He might have been innocent of stalking her...but he knew her...They had some kind of connection or his photo would not have been in her phone in the first place...Are you sure you want to dig up all of that? " I asked.

"I want the truth....and I don't care where it leads....but mostly I want Elizabeth Mercy taken down a notch...She's about due." said Celeste..

"Okay...Consider it handled...We go to war!"said Olivia..

"Auntay....This isn't going to be a cakewalk...This woman has never lost and she has a TV audience...She could rake us through the coals.....but.........You know I ride and die with you Auntay...If you say we are going to war...Then war it is.."said Bev...

Olivia smiled and hugged Beverly...

"That's my girl." she said. ''We'll be alright..." she said,

"Your money is no good here Bev, Livy, Donnie Ray...Tonight is all on me...Thank you." she said.


Just then a familiar figure walked in...Attorney Nelson East....Bev's boyfriend..

He smiled...then he laughed....

''Celeste..Celeste Tate??" he said...

''NELSON!!!!!Oh My God...Look at you....Are you wearing Armani?" she asked...

"Yes...I work for Robert Foxworth and associates..."he said and pulled Beverly to him and kissed her in the lips...

"Robert Foxworth eh?  Wow...He and I had a little fling years ago....Ummmmm..Ummmmph, that man was something else...A good Attorney too!.." Celeste mused...

Olivia and Beverly cracked up laughing....

"He's happily married now." laughed Nelson...

''So I hear...There are still miracles in the world."joked Celeste.

"You moved up Nelson and I see that's not all you did...You snagged yourself little Beverly here....I see." she said laughing...

"Yeahhh, this is my fella." she said...

"Well good for you...You two make a nice couple." she said.

"Sorry about your fiance...He got a raw deal on Hard Bottom."said Nelson..

Olivia, me and Beverly all turned and looked at him....

''What?" he said.

"Now there is a man who watches Television." laughed Celeste..

(TO BE CONTINUED)