Not On His Life

The next day, I visited the crime scene with Beverly ,Olivia and Ellen...

He had a beautiful apartment....

"Nice place.." I said..

"Wonder how much this goes for a month?" asked Beverly...

"You know what they say baby...If you have to ask..." said Olivia with a smile..

"Believe me...He could afford it....That's all he talked about during our dinner....Well most of what he talked about..His six figure salary, the increase he asked for..oh and of course the lurid details of my books...He kept talking to me as though I was the protaganist of my novels....I kept saying...It's a story...I made it up..." said Ellen...

"Either you've got quite an imagination or people have shared some pretty lurid stories with you." said Beverly smiling..

"Yesssss." added Olivia...

"That's about 90 percent of it...Maybe ten percent is me...But I'll never tell." laughed Ellen...

I was still in a daze from the sex Olivia and I had had in the kitchen last night and the mini dress she was wearing today wasn't helping...I was distracted almost from my train of thought..

She kept looking at me and smiling...

I looked at the chalk outline on the floor.....

"Okay, so judging by where and how his body fell...He opened the door and his killer walked in....This is just enough to clear the door so that it closes behind them..." I said..

 "How do you know this?" asked Olivia..

'What makes you sure..?" asked Beverly...

I pointed to the chalk outline...

"Look how he's laying, facing the door...So his killer, who he must have known , because he let them in...There is no sign of any tampering on the door, comes in...They have a brief conversation...I'm going to say our killer is anywhere from 5"9- 5"10, judging by the angle both shots struck him...One right through the heart and one in the right temple...and one bullet over by the closet door..

That makes our killer left handed ,judging by where the gun fell...The killer didn't bring the bleach with them, they must have known where it was...So I'm saying this person may have been in here before...They wiped and bleached the gun down with paper towels from here....Bag and tag that bottle of bleach, we might want to have it checked for prints and or DNA...Take this trash receptacle..These paper towels may have some clues...I'm surprised the homicide detective on this case didn't already do this.."I said.

"You're forgetting who the lead detective is..."laughed Olivia..

"Yeah."said Beverly...

''We were over here...He had his hands up my dress and he spun me around and threw me up against the wall...He practically pulled my dress over my head...That's how he tore the sleeve...He was moaning and groaning and sweating and he yanked my panties down and tore my bra trying to unhook it." she said..

''WOW, he likes it rough, just like Clayton in 60 Shades of Play." said Beverly..

"He kept saying..I know it's you, I know it's you...I know you're the girl in your book,I know you like it rough baby.." said Ellen..

"Oh My God..." said Olivia...

"Okay, so you pushed him away and yelled stop right?" I said..

"I did and he did...He didn't take it any further...I put my dress back on, scooped up my under wear and ran down the hallway and down the back steps...My make up and lipstick were smeared and my dress was torn and my hair was all over the place...That's why the street cam caught me exiting out the side entrance of the building and running..." said Ellen...

"You didn't know that his boxers were drenched with a large amount of semen..."I said..

''We didn't have sex...He didn't rape me...He attacked me and probably would have ,but he stopped short of that...I don't understand how his trousers could be loaded with semen..." she said.

"It's in the report...Some was found on your dress..." I said..

"He ejaculated in his pants before the party got started...probably why he let you go, when you said stop...He was done....It happens...Lucky for you.."said Olivia..

"Don'tcha hate when that happens?" said Beverly...

We all busted out laughing.

Just then there was a knock and then a young woman walked in the door..

 "You guys cops?" she asked..

She was Blonde..She was shapely and attractive, but she looked like she'd lived a hard couple of years...Her face showed that hard living, hard drinking lifestyle...I knew...As a cop...I'd seen her type far too many times..

''Who are you?" I asked.

"I asked you first..." she said.

"I'm an Attorney....I'm Olivia Bennett-Alexander...and this is my niece...She's also an Attorney, Beverly West.." said Olivia..

"You may have heard of us.." said Beverly, smiling..

''As a matter of fact ,I haven't." she said.

'Well now you know who we are....Who are you?" I asked.

"They're lawyers...You don't look like no lawyer...You look like a cop..." she said.

"I'm a private Investigator...I work for them...Now, Who are you?" I asked.

''Who's the white chick?" she said pointing to Ellen...

With that I'd had enough, I put her arm behind her back and was about to give her the bums rush...

"Look...beat it..We are trying to do an investigation here.."I said..

"Okay, Okay,Okay...My name is Kelly, Kelly Carter...I live across the hall....I'm am actress...I was a friend of Brian's you might say.." she giggled...."Sometimes bed partner..." she said ,giggling...

"Were you here when this happened?" asked Olivia..

"No I was out...Shame though...He was goodd in bed...Tee hee..." she laughed...."You got a light?" she giggled.. and pulled out a cigarette with her left hand...

Olivia , who did not smoke...Kept cigarettes and a lighter for her clients that did...A holdover from her days as a public defender...

"You guys are lawyers huh....What? defending the person who killed Brian?" she asked.

''Accusing the person accused of killing Brian." said Beverly.

"I heard it was some chick who ran out of here with no panties on...hahahahahahahahaaha." she laughed..I could tell she was high...as High as a kite..

"Okay...we've played question and answer....BEAT IT!" I said..

"Okay, Okay...Geez!" she said and walked out....
II-

Olivia and Beverly and Ellen left....I continue to investigate Brian Gleeson..

He was well liked at his Television Station...None of his co-workers had a bad thing to say about him...I checked their financials, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Bank accounts and whereabouts...I cleared every single one of them....

He was killed exactly one half hour after Ellen says she left... I located the Uber Driver who picked her up...He confirmed that he picked her up...a little after 9:30 pm and drove her to a CVS, then drove her home..Her debit card verifies that...And she said she did not go back out....Her key card verified that...

So who ever killed him, must have come to his apartment...Just minutes after a distraught Ellen Johnson ran out with torn dress and ripped underwear...

Brian Gleeson was born and raised in New York City...Attended New York Public Schools, Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Journalism /Communications from St. Johns University...Worked at a few Radio and Television Stations for a few years and then matriculated to the D.C. area where he earned a Law degree at Georgetown...He passed the bar there....His fortunes changed then...He became a guest consultant on Marcy ''Have No Mercy" Kersey's popular talk show , which catapulted him to his own Syndicated Show...

He hadn't been lying...He was making a six figure salary...He was hagling for a raise...Another network was biding for his attention...I interviewed represenatives  from both networks..They confirmed that this was true, but didn't have a bad thing to say about him...

He had been engaged three times...and all three times the engagement had been broken off....The reason...His infidelities and his roughness in the bedroom.. I talked to all three girls...and all three girls talked about his insatiable need for sex and the fact that he liked it rough...He liked taking a strap to them and beating them and he liked throwing them up against the wall and practically ripping their underwear off..

I found several pairs of ripped panties and bras in his closet at his apartment...We could use all of this later...Still and surprisingly, None of them had any lingering animosity for him...Two were out of town the night of the murder and the one that was in town was with her husband....I could cross them off..

III-

Of course I relayed all of my findings to Olivia and Beverly when I got home....Tonight they were up in our humble abode...Working hard...studying legal briefs and reading law books..

'Well Donnie Ray, you got me some good solid evidence...enough for reasonable doubt...Enough to win this thing in the preliminary.." said Olivia..who gave me a sweet kiss..

''Thank you baby....Our Pizzas just came..Let's have some to eat..." she said..

Josie was spending another night with Beverly....So was Nelson...

Neither seemed to mind....

"Paris is down south ,visiting his relatives and won't be back until next week..Jo was kind of lonely ,so I said she could stay with me....Nelson...well you know Nelson...He loves staying with me.."said Beverly as we opened the Pizza boxes in the kitchen...

"You bought a new bed recently...Memory Foam....It doesn't squeak or make noise...So as long as you two don't make too much vocal noise...You're good ."whispered Olivia...

Beverly smiled..

"Mattress Firm is having a sale...You and D.R. need to get on that." she said..

I smiled..

This time there was enough food for everybody!

IV-

The morning news the next morning brought us some very unwelcomed news...

For one thing, this trial hadn't even begun yet and the media had turned it into a circus...Stopping short of calling it the crime of the century and reporting the lurid details...Saying Ellen was raped by Brian Gleeson and that she went back and shot him in a fit of rage...None of which was true..

Legal Pundits all weighed in, guessing that Olivia and Beverly were going to argue diminished capacity or temporary insanity...

 Olivia and Beverly couldn't go anywhere without paparazzi and Media types following them and photographing them and asking them about the trial..

''No Comment..."was all Olivia would say..

"You learn the answers to all of those questions once the trial begins." said Beverly, running away from the reporters at times.

Lt. Tragg, the arresting officer and Homicide Detective  gave one of his bombastic press conferences in which he talked of the "cold craven way she stared him down when he made the arrest" of the Nationally acclaimed Author , now murder suspect..None of this was true...Ellen  had turned herself in.

But what was most disturbing was the Prosecuting Attorney was none other than ADA Rockland Cambridge

Who Olivia and Beverly had faced before and won a trial over...

Snapping his record of 100 consecutive courtroom victories...The last person to beat him way back when was a young inexperienced attorney named Nelson East...

Reporters were now asking him...

"Mr. Cambridge , how does it feel to be once again facing the last Attorneys to beat you recently?"

"I am fully confident that I will get a conviction and put Ms. Johnson behind bars where she belongs...Lt. Tragg has assured me he has an airtight case against her, including film footage...I expect Mrs. Alexander to deal and soon..." said Rockland Cambridge...

He did not like Lt. Tragg's grandstanding and his press conferences... While he himself had answered a few questions....Like Olivia and Beverly ,he shied away from press conferences...

 Lt. Tragg had several more..He loved being in front of the cameras....He dressed immacculately ,always had a fresh carnation...Had his own make up guy and had his hair cut just right...He was listed as one of the city's most eligible bachelors... And nicknamed "Lieutenant Mcdreamy" by a woman's magazine...

A title that made his police colleagues laugh and ADA Cambridge bristle with consternation...

For once, ADA Cambridge and Olivia agreed on something..

That Lieutenant Tragg was using this trial to seemingly raise his profile...They both wished he'd shut up....

ADA Cambridge re-iterated again when cornered...

"I have no comment on anything Lt. Tragg has stated...but as I stated before..."I am fully confident that I will get a conviction and put Ms. Johnson behind bars where she belongs...Lt. Tragg has assured me he has an airtight case against her, including film footage...I expect Mrs. Alexander and Ms. West to call my office and proffer a deal and soon...Depending on what it is..I am open to listen.."he said.

Olivia and Beverly looked at the film footage and laughed...

"NOT ON HIS LIFE!"they both said.

The first day of the preliminary hearing...

Olivia and Beverly announced their plea of NOT GUILTY and said they did not plan to accept any deals...Their client was 100 percent innocent...

Josie was once again in court with them , acting as a Para-legal...

Olivia and Beverly had hired Nelson as a consultant...

And of course I was there as their investigator...

ADA Rockland  Courtland gave his first arguments....He clearly looked stunned seeing three Attorneys, Olivia,Beverly and Nelson who had beat him , now working together...Still he kept up his cocky veneer..

After three days of fierce arguing...The Judge ordered that the case be held over for trial...

Using Nelson's uncanny talent at jury selection...

Olivia and Beverly got a jury of six men and six women, all young, all reasonably educated and most sitting on a jury for the first time and excited about it...They loved this kind of jury...They weren't jaded and were more likely to pay attention to detail and not rush to judgement...

Outside the courtroom, ADA Nina Rios walked over to us...

"I hope you know what you're doing Olivia...He's very good...I know you two beat him the last time..but he's been very efficient since then..He's won 25 consecutive cases since then...He's a rising star.." she said.

''Are you dating him or something?" asked Olivia..

Beverly and Josie laughed..

"Him ? Noooo, but I'm just saying Chica...He's good...And he wants to beat you badly because of last time..He was in therapy for about a month after you last beat him...And since then , He's been on fire in the courtroom.." she said..

"She's dating him." I said...

"Noooooooooo.. No...I'm Not." she laughed..

We all busted out laughing..

"Look alive guys...Here he comes." he said...

ADA Rockland Cambridge walked over to us..

"Olivia...Beverly....and Nelson...Nice to see you again...

and who is this...an additional attorney?" he said looking at Josie...

"I'm a Para-legal.." said Josie..

"I don't intend to lose to you again...I've got an airtight case...I've got an eyewitness..Two for that matter..One human and one Street Cam....And a murder weapon...You should have asked for a deal...You could have pleaded her down to 5-10, She'd be out in 3..." he said.

"Why do that if she's innocent?" asked Olivia..

"SHE'S NOT!! SHE'S GUILTY AS HELL AND I INTEND TO PROVE IT....PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES LADIES!!! IT'S GAME ON!" he said..

Nelson looked at Beverly..

"Mmmmmmm can I take your big girl panties off tonight ?" he whispered..

"I love it when you talk nasty to me boo." she said and kissed him passionately..

Josie ,Olivia and I just smiled..

''Why is everything about Big Girl Panties when he's dealing with us?? That is soo sexist." said Olivia..'Does he ask males to put on their big boy boxers?" she mused.

 "I don't know...Maybe that's what is on his mind...Panties." I said.

ADA Nina Rios looked at the 5 of us..

"Good Luck Chicas...Laugh all you want...He's dead serious." she said..

 "So are we." I said.

I was confident the girls were going to hand Rockland Cambridge his second defeat in as many months...

It was late...Time to go home and unwind!

(TO BE CONTINUED)