My Mentor

When I was up and awake...I did some of my best thinking in the early morning...It was daybreak and I had showered and shaved and made some coffee....

I was up staring out the window...I didn't wake Olivia up..She was tired...She and Bev had just finished a major trial that had dominated our lives for the past month..A class action suit against a major pharmacutical company...

She and Bev had prevailed...They were exhausted and here just three days later they would be defending the very attorney they had faced off against ,Tony Luke, accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in the bathroom of the same bistro that Olivia and I had had a brief tryst in ourselves just days before..

I heard Olivia stirring around...She had been in the shower and she was in the bedroom getting dressed...

I pored over my notes...Beverly and I had done a little digging into the young woman who was accusing  Tony Luke of assaulting her in the restroom..

I must admit...this was going to be an uphill battle...Things didn't look too good for Tony Luke, but he was adamnit that he had done no wrong and that the sex was consensual...

"Good Morning Lover!" said Olivia as she poured herself a tumbler of hot coffee...

"Hey baby.."I said..

I had Bacon on and was scrambling eggs in a pan...

It wasn't long before we heard a knock on our door...

I smiled..It was Beverly...

"Hey guys..."she said...

"You couldn't sleep either huh?" asked Olivia..

"Actually..I slept good...about nine hours...Nelson was such a dear...He said that he knew I was exhausted and he went home yesterday....He face timed me when he got home and we talked until I dozed off...He is such a dear..." gushed Beverly...

''We are all exhausted..I hope we can wrap this up quick..."said Olivia..

Beverly walked to the window...

"Isn't that sky beautiful?" she said..

"It is...I was I was noticing it myself ." said..

"It's rare that I'm ever up this early and when I am...The morning sky is not what I'm looking at."said Olivia as she opened the window..

She saw the sun rising and the rainbow......

"Oh My God...It is beautiful..." she said..

"D.R. , You got another egg?" asked Beverly...

"Sure..grab yourself a plate and  a tumbler of coffee.."I said as I cracked another egg and put two more slabs of Bacon in the pan..

II-

"Allison Hyde....She is your age Beverly...." I said..

"Born and Raised in Philadelphia PA... Attended Private Schools for most of her formal education.... Straight A student...Got her Bachelors Degree in Communications from Lasalle , Her Masters from Temple and just recently enrolled in Law school..
She is currently employed as a columnist at a local newspaper." I said.

''So she is a reporter...Did Tony know that?" asked Olivia..

"He knew..but according to him...she was not interviewing him and he explained to her that he couldn't talk about the case at all...They were seeing each other socially.."said Beverly...

"She has no criminal record and no black eyes of any type....She's held a number of jobs...Mostly administrative work and got high grades and praise from all of her employers...

Here is the story she tells.-

They went to the same Bistro, where We had been the night before...They laughed and talked and drank well into the wee hours of the night..It was near midnight..

''Excuse me...I have to go to the little girls room.." said Allison..

She was gone for close to ten minutes...

Tony Luke walked into the ladies room..

Allison was fixing her hair and applying make up..

Upon seeing him, she was shocked..

"What are you doing in here? You can't be in here..." she said ,stunned that he would be so bold as to just walk into the ladies room...

 ''I'm Checking you out baby..." he said laughing..

"Tony...you're drunk."she laughed...

He took her in his arms and kissed her slowly and passionately...She laughed ,but returned his kiss...They kissed for a few minutes..

"What are you doing? This is a little forward..."she said.....

He unzippered his trousers....

Her eyes got big as she saw his protruding manhood..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."she laughed..."Put that away.." she said..

 "I can't....You have to make it go down.."he replied..

"How am I going to do that? I'm the reason it's like that.."she said and stroked it softly with her fingers..

"Ouuuu,it's as hard as a baseball bat. Tony...Mr. Luke..calm down...We can't do this here..Not here..Not now.." she said..

 He reached up under her dress and ripped her panties off...

 "Stopppp, what are you doing?"she exclaimed..

 "You've been teasing me all night.....I know you want this just as much as I do.." he said and sat her up on the sink...She spread her legs and he entered her slowly...

 "Ouuuu Oh Mah goddd...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..Mister Luke, you don't have to do this..you don't" she moaned...


"Ummmmmmmmmmph...Yes I do....Ohhhhhhhhhh lawddd.."he moaned...

"Stopppp, we'll get caught.." she moaned..

"No we won't.." he said and sat her up on the sink...She spread her legs and he entered her slowly...

''Are you sure? This is a public bathroom." she whispered...

''Shhhhh...just relax...relax.....ummmmm..."he moaned...

"Ouuuuu, ohhhhhh, you are so...so...." she said.

"Hard and Huge...of course..."he laughed...

"Ouuuu Oh Mah goddd...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." she moaned...

"Yesssssssssss baby...yesss.." he moaned between soft kisses that grew more passionate....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.." she cried out...

"Ohhhhhhhhh girl...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....yes lawd...." he said.


"Ummmmmmmmmmph..."he moaned...


They began to actually get into a nice slow rhythm....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Tony,oh my goodness..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..We've got to stop...we've got to stoppppp..."
she cooed..

"The train done left the station girl...I can't stop now...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."he grunted.

An hour went by and he showed no sign of stopping ...They were kissing passionately and he was going to town...

"ALLIE!!! IS THAT YOU?" came a voice...It was the voice of a woman who was a friend of her mother..

''Allie, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?? WHO IS THIS MAN??

He pulled out, fixed his trousers and ran out...not saying a word...

Allison pulled her panties up quickly, but it had been too late..she had been seen..

"Allie, what was going on in here?" asked the woman , who obviously knew her..

"I-I was assaulted!"she said. 

 "What do you think Auntay? That is decidedly different from the way..Tony Luke told the story...I mean ,she's being assaulted for up to an hour and she wasn't screaming?? No one heard anything or knew anything until her mother's girlfriend walked in on them and even she has admitted that at first it LOOKED like they were having consensual sex..."said Beverly...

"Make a note of what she said...That's in the police report..."said Olivia..

"I saw the panties she was wearing...No seminal fluid or DNA from Luke at all in the panties and they were not ripped as she claimed...His fingerprints aren't on them at all...Which says to me that she may have taken them off willingly.."I said.

"He's a big man...he may have intimidated her into taking them off...I know..that's a stretch...I'm just saying what her attorney might say.."said Olivia..

"Before I worked Homicide...I worked in Special Victims Unit....I am familiar with this kind of case.."I said.

"Wow..I hit the jackpot when I found you..."laughed Olivia ,kissing me softly....

"This is largely a case of he said..she said...I hate that...The science doesn't support either one of them that much.."said Beverly...

She was right...

III-

 A week later in court-

Olivia ,Bev and I appeared in court and Olivia and Bev got the shock of their lives....

Allison Hyde's attorney was a woman named Belle Gaddes...

"Oh My God Beverly...Her Attorney is Belle Gaddes.."said Olivia..

"I know Auntay...I know...Looks like we are up against one heavy hitter after another.."said Beverly...

For the first time since I'd known both of these two women..I saw fear in both of their eyes....

"Who is she? Some Heavyweight?  You faced her before?" I asked..

"Donnie Ray...I used to Clerk for her ,when I was a law student....and after I passed the bar....I worked for her briefly...She lectured a few of my classes at Penn Law school...She was my mentor..."said Olivia..

"She lectured a few of my law classes when I was at Penn Law school and I clerked for her too on Auntay's recomendation when I was a law student...After I passed the bar...She wrote a recomendation for me....Helped me get my first job as an Attorney...She taught me so much..."said Beverly...

"Oh wow...so you have history..."I said..

"`I admire her so much...I never thought I'd ever be facing off against her, ever..."said Olivia..

"And here you are...In order to be the best ,you gotta beat the best...and you have....Morris Blatt, No Mercy Kersey, Tony Luke,Keith Wallace....et al...You're on the cover of magazines, On Television almost weekly now of days...both of you...You're practically celebrities...What have you got to be afraid of?  DO YOUR JOB!"I said...

Both Olivia and Beverly perked up...

 ''Wow!  You just ..You just made me feel so much better.."said Olivia..

"Wow...What a pep talk...What a way to put everything into perspective...."said Beverly....

They both kissed me softly in the lips...

"Uh ahhh,anything else you girls feeling some kind of way about?" I said...smiling sheepishly...

"Goofball!"laughed Beverly...

Olivia smiled and hugged me...

"I love you!"she said softly...

"MS. BENNETT!! IS THIS YOUR HUSBAND?" came a stern voice..She sounded like all of those teachers I had in grade school who had been strict and hard on me...but she was a surprisingly, strikingly beautiful woman with reddish brown skin and hair that was just starting to gray...

Belle Gaddes looked like she had been a head turner when she had been younger...She could still turn heads.

"Hello Ms. Gaddes....Yes..This is my husband...Donnie Ray Alexander....He's an investigator at my firm..."said Olivia..

She didn't crack a smile..

"So it's Mrs. Alexander now....And Ms. West....I see you're looking good...Doing well for yourself..A Partner at your Aunt's firm....You always were a quick study.."she said..

"Thank you Ms. Gaddes..."said Beverly....

"You two girls were my prize students...I've been following you two...Winning some big cases...You just beat another of my former students...Tony Luke recently....I am so disappointed in him..Assaulting a young woman in a restroom...So tawdry...But sooo him...He never could keep it in his pants...Tried to get in mine..I knew that would be his undoing..." she said snidely...

"I-I- think he's innocent mam.."said Olivia meekly..

"You do huh?  I guess as his attorney you're supposed to...Good luck with that....Nice seeing you and your niece again Ms. Bennett...Oh excuse me...Mrs. Alexander....Ms. West...."she said and she walked off..

"Come on girls...Let's go home..."I said as we headed to our SUV...

IV-

 I sat in Josies later that night with both Olivia and Bev...   Keyboard player, "88" was performing with Reed Nelson...

A big crowd had showed up to see those two perform-

In the hours before we arrived ..I had done my research on Belle Gaddes...

Born Beatrice Gaddes...In Philadelphia...She had gotten her Bachelors from Temple and her Masters from St.Joes...In Education....

She taught school in the Philadelphia School System for years and then on the Main Line...

She got married briefly to an Attorney...The marriage ended suddenly after only six months..

After her divorce...She went back to school...

To Law School at Penn and got her J.D.  Quickly passed the bar...and became first a Public Defender, then an ADA, specializing in Rape and sexual assault cases...She became a civil rights attorney for womens issues and Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual and Transgender issues...

Ironically ,She herself was raped at gunpoint in a parking lot one night...after a lecture at Penn Law School..

Her assailant was never caught!

Two years ago, She married her longtime partner...Attorney Mary Knowles...a beautiful African -American woman who looked more like a swimsuit model than an attorney...There was a 9 or ten year difference in their ages..

Her wife was only two years older than Olivia...

 I tapped my fingers to the music and slyly or not so slyly checked out Olivia, who was smiling...

"What you thinkin bout babes?" I asked..

"Being a woman...That's all..." she mused and rubbed my arm...

"Well you're definitely that.....I can testify.."I laughed...

Beverly and Nelson were kissing so passionately over in a corner, that I was certain they were going to be leaving for home soon...I was glad we came in seperate cars..

"I think I know how to win this case...In fact..we may not even have to go to court..."mused Olivia..

"My baby is sooo smart.."I said.

"It's been staring us right in the face the whole time...I can't believe I missed it.."she mused..

"Can't wait to hear this.."I said.

"Tomorrow...Let's just enjoy the afternoon..." she said..

It was a funny afternoon...It was just beginning to get dark...and outside...the sky was still beautiful...

(CONCLUSION NEXT-)