Morning dawned on the city....Olivia, Beverly and I drove to the Federal Building to bail out ADA Nina Rios who had been arrested the night before...and see her arrainged...
When we got to the Federal Building, To our surprise.. We saw Nina in the Hallway signing for her personal affects..
''Olivia, Beverly, Donnie Ray.. What are you doing here?" she asked..
"My question is...What are you doing out? I was going to pay your bail and offer to represent you." said Olivia..
''With your own personal money? Oh that is soo sweet Livy, but I couldn't have let you do that!" said Nina.
''Ahhh,I know you're good for it." joked Olivia..
"Wait A Minute...What are you doing out? If we didn't pay your bail...Who did?" asked Beverly..
"That's just it...I don't know...somebody paid my bail and sent a Public defender here to my arraignment.. The Public defender...I fired...I was going to get my own counsel..." said Nina..
"Well you got us...First thing you're going to do.. Is go back to your house and pack a bag...You're staying with Livy and Me for awhile...You'll want to shower and change your clothes...Then we'll put our heads together and try to figure this thing out." I said.
Nina looked puzzled..
"Nina...That's Non-Negotiable...You're staying with us and we are representing you." said Olivia...
Nina was in tears...
"Thank you...Thank you so much...I-I can't believe you'd do this for me..."she said.
"Nina...You're our friend.." said Beverly...
II-
We went to Nina's house....I cautioned everybody to say as little as possible...
I searched around for roughly 15 minutes and I found what I was looking for...Two well placed listening devices...I put them in a plastic bag and kissed Olivia...whispered in her ear that I'd be back shortly....I left her and Beverly there to help Nina pack a bag or two, shower and get dressed...
Me..I placed the two listening devices in the ladies restroom of a department store....Whoever was listening would get an earful whenever they decided to listen....
Then I went back and got Livy, Bev and Nina ..
and we drove to our house...
III-
At our place... Nelson, who had spent the night with Beverly was just waking up when we got back...
He was in the office talking to Josie...When we arrived..
"Josie..Lock the office up and come on upstairs...I'm fixing breakfast for us all.." said Olivia..."You too Nelson..."she laughed...
We had pancake batter already whipped up...I had whipped it up the night before...I poured Pancake batter ,while Olivia whipped up some eggs and made omelets and bacon....I had sausage cooking in another pan..
"Look at those two...They work so in sync...Who wouldn't want that?" asked Nina...
Olivia and I did make quite a good team...
Nina tried calling both of Connor's Numbers again...She got the same answer...The number was out of service.
Nelson gently rubbed her arm...
"Nina..don't bother...He isn't going to answer those numbers...They're not his to begin with."he said silently..
Beverly got plates ,knives ,forks and spoons for the six of us and Nelson poured tumblers of coffee as the food was prepared..
''Eat first Nina honey and we'll explain.." said Beverly.
We ate silently...Olivia and Beverly had been up all night studying legal precedents and ways to present a defense for Nina, while Nelson and I had did a little digging...
"Nina..When I saw your boyfriend, Conner Elswworth in court yesterday..I thought he looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I knew a Connor Elsworth from..."said Olivia.
"That's because she didn't know a Connor Elsworth!...She Knew a Billy Baldwin though...."I said.
"I don't understand..Who is Billy Baldwin?" asked Nina..
"Billy Baldwin is a gigolo...A grifter..A con man...He bilks Old ladies and young ones too out of their cash...And he's good at it too...Had half a dozen arrests over the years...Auntay and I both have represented him at one time...It's just been so long..we didn't recognize him..."said Beverly...
"What?" asked Nina.. Tears now flowing down her face...
"Connor Elsworth and Billy Baldwin are one in the same person...It's just one of several aliases he uses...He was paid good money to get close to you..." I said.
"But why? I'm not wealthy...." asked Nina..
''Why indeed? Did you notice that you met him right after the DNC came to you and asked you to run for State's Attorney?? You're popular ,you have a good record, a solid record and you're a good looking woman...That combination right there beats old Cyrus Proctor , who has had literally no competition for the past 8 years and would like to keep it that way..."I said.
"Harvey Drinkwater, the head of a Superpac that funds Cyrus and a lot of other people was the subject of a major federal prosecution.. He was about to be indicted...Until you allegedly let the cat out the bag...when that sensitive information was forwarded to the media and other outlets...His lawyers got wind of it and are arguing for a mistrial and possible dismissal." said Nelson.
"Which they will probably get and with you going to jail and being the likely democratic candidate, Old Cyrus Proctor is State's Attorney again ,hands down." said Beverly...
"Nice and neat...See how well this frame fits?" said Olivia.. "Didn't it all seem so neat that the FBI not only got tipped off, but they knew where you were at that very moment??...As well as the Press and the Media..?"asked Olivia...
"And those phone numbers Nina...Donnie Ray and I checked em out...Those numbers are listed to phones owned by the Republican State Steering Committee..."said Josie.
"I stopped by the Loft Connor Elsworth was listed as living at...The one he took you to Nina..It was bare...Like no one had ever lived there...No furniture...No Nothing...It was paid for by an unknown party...And the landlord said ...He only saw Connor one time....Connor Elsworth is a phony name....There is no one by that name listed anywhere in Philadelphia. Did you ever notice Nina, that in all the time you knew him, He always came to visit you?...You were only in that Loft one time.. He Never talked about any family, friends, etc..???" I said.
"Oh My God...I'm not some teenager...I'm too old to be taken like this...Oh My God..." she said.
"It's okay girl...It's happened to the best of us.."said Olivia.
"YESSSS!" said Beverly...
"We all have been conned.." said Josie...
"Bell Biv Devoe say Never trust a big butt and a smile...Never trust a Big Penis and a smile.." said Nina, smiling a little bit...
"Yes Lord..."said Olivia laughing...
Beverly and Josie high fived each other..."Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.."they both said.
I looked at Nelson and we just shrugged our shoulders...
IV-
''What can I do? I could go to federal prison for up to five years....I'm certainly going to be disbarred...I had nothing to do with the Drinkwater case...I didn't have any files in my office...How did it wind up on my laptop?" she asked.
"Billy Baldwin more than likely stole it..put it on a disc and slipped it on your laptop..." said Olivia.
"We made love yesterday morning...for a long time...and I drifted off to sleep in his arms...When I woke up...He was gone...That was when he put the bugs in my house and got to my laptop...Unfortunately...The FBI has my laptop...." said Nina..
"Me and Auntay are going to get you out of this...We are working up a motion now...to see the evidence the Feds has against you...Anybody could have gotten to your laptop..."said Beverly...
I directed their attention to my computer...
"I just found this...A certain employee named "Jack Connor" was employed at the Federal Building around the time Drinkwater was about to be indicted...I uh hacked into the Federal Employee website...This Jack Connor was a intern for an Attorney contracted by the government...He had access to those files.. Take a look at his work ID...
"Oh My God...It's Connor!" said Olivia, Beverly and Nina..
I smiled..
"No...It's Billy Baldwin alias Jack Connor alias Connor Elsworth... He is probably long gone...but we have a photo of him...We have proof that he worked in that office and we know that you two were in a relationship and he was in your house and had access to your laptop...Olivia, Beverly...This is your whole case...This man is the guilty party...Add to that his lengthy police record and this all but gets Nina off the hook."I said.
"But who hired him? Who paid him?" asked Nina..
"Probably Cyrus Proctor, but he's way too smart to have anything leading back to him in this..We won't get him,but at least we'll get you off and point the finger in the right direction and force Cyrus and his cronies to be on the defensive."I said.
"In a few days there will be a hearing...we hit fast and we hit hard."said Olivia..
"I want in on this...You girls will need a third counsel..."said Nelson..
"And we may need to be up late at night studying legal briefs and precedents...So Maybe you should pack a bag...and plan on staying a few nights.." said Beverly...
"I know it's a great sacrifice Nelson..but I'm grateful you are willing to do it..."said Olivia sarcastically...then laughing...She knew her niece and her boyfriend would look for any excuse to spend a few nights together...but Nelson had proved to be a very formidable and imaginative Attorney...She appreciated him helping her and Beverly with this case...One day she was going to steal him from Robert Foxworth and make him an associate.
''Where will I be sleeping?" asked Nina..
''We have an extra bedroom..."said Olivia..
"Buy yourself some earplugs..."said Beverly...
Josie cracked up laughing...
V-
Connor Elsworth AKA Billy Baldwin stood alone...He was contemplating using the .45 he had and killing himself..He felt so guilty about what he had done to Nina...He was indeed soft..To use the con man's vernacular...He had fallen in love with his Mark...
All he thought about was Nina...How soft her skin was...How good she smelled...How moist she was inside and warm...and how when he was making love to her...he felt so many things...How her soft moans and cooing made him cum like a gusher....
He had never felt that way...He had slept with and conned countless women...Never feeling a thing...But Nina.. She was different...
He has used the money Cyrus had paid him to bail her out...and he had arranged for a public defender to represent her...but she had fired him...She no doubt had legal counsel of her own...He knew that by now ..His phones had been cut off and she couldn't reach him...He called her home several times but she didn't answer...He stopped by her home...but she wasn't there...He broke in to retrieve the listening devices...but they were gone.. She'd found them...She was smarter than he thought...
