Valley Of Roses

Olivia and Elwood were at the Laboratory of Dr. Kate Goggins...

"I am pleasantly surprised....A second visit from the distinguished Attorney, Olivia Bennett-Alexander...How nice.." said Dr. Kate Goggins..

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.." said Olivia...

"I just finished with your client...I got a saliva swab, Urine and Blood...That's more than enough for a DNA sample..." she said.. "He'll be out shortly..." she said.

''Thank you so much Dr. Goggins." said Olivia...She hadn't told Dr. Goggins that Elwood was her ex-Husband...and she hoped he hadn't mentioned it to her...She was beginning to wonder why she spent so much time around him anyway...A man she was divorced from for close to seven years..Why he was so needy now of days....She actually found him slightly more attractive when he was a raffish womanizer,leaving a trail of panties and bras in his wake..She was convinced that this new Elwood was only temporary..That in time, he'd revert back to his old ways...A Leopard didn't change his spots...And especially not a horny old leopard like her ex-husband, Elwood Barnes..

"No problem at all...A Paternity Suit...And he's an Attorney and old enough to know better...He should be married....Then again...Maybe not!" she said and shared a laugh with Olivia..

Elwood walked out...

"I'm ready to go.." he said.

"Thank you so much Dr. Goggins.." said Olivia..

"You're welcome Olivia, Tell your husband and that cute niece of yours I said Hello.." she said and waved..

''I will"she said and she and Elwood walked out of the facility....

"Livy,I really appreciate this...I can't tell you how much.." said a very grateful Elwood..

"I spoke with Tamika's Attorney, Yvette Jones...Turns out, I know her...We were in Law School together..She is bringing Tamika here tomorrow to submit her DNA...Turns out we both use Dr. Goggins...Actually, She's been using her for years...I found out about her through Donnie Ray." said Olivia.

Elwood smiled.. "Donnie ray??? For someone who is not from Philadelphia...He has certainly made himself at home here.."he laughed..

Olivia laughed too..For a moment, she was caught off guard....Then she got serious!

"Elwood...How much do you know about Tamika Carson?" she asked.

"Oh she's a Model from New York City...She modeled for Victoria's Secret exclusively, She did a few rap videos....and she was looking to get into acting..." he said.

''She's not from New York...She was born and raised right here in Philadelphia...Attended Philadelphia Public schools...She and I graduated from the same High School...Girls High.."said Olivia..

"Really?? You knew her?" he asked..

"No silly, she's a year younger than my niece, Beverly...I'm just saying, you know next to nothing about her and you might be having a baby with her.. Just a word of advice...If you're going to keep sleeping around...Know something about the woman...This time it's a baby, next time it's an STD..." said Olivia.

"I'm pretty sure I've gotten all of that out of me... I know this girl I'm living with now, Alexandria Miller...

She worked for me...At Cyclops for awhile...She is working somewhere else now...We agreed it wouldn't look right...Us involved and working together.." he said.

"That's smart... This is really serious huh?" asked Olivia, smiling..

"I think so....Look,I haven't tried to hit on you once since this began have I?  And you know by now I'd be asking for a kiss at least, wouldn't I?" said Elwood..

"This is true...."said Olivia with a smile..

"I've evolved Livy." he said.

"Hope Springs Eternal!" she said and winked.

II-

At Police Headquarters, Missing Persons Detective Sgt. Sam Smith and I met with Lt. Tragg,concerning the case..

"Look guys...for the past two days I've tried to find the Cabbie and the Office Manager..Not a trace of either of them...I checked their financials...Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Bank Accounts...No movemants at all...I checked their cell phones...Not one call made or sent to them....My theory is either they took a powder and ran off together...or they're dead....and your wife's client knocked them off.."said Lt. Tragg...

"I'm certain he did not.." I said..

''Look Lieutenant...I have been looking into this..Lonnie Mclucas was at his job, the day after the girl's body was discovered...The cabbie came there to see him at 10:30 am and left at 11:00 am...We know this...And McLucas didn't leave that building until after 5:00 pm..The Cabbie picked up three other fares...All who have been cleared....He then went to McLucas's house...And that is the last time he was seen.." said Sgt. Smith..

''Wrong...We got his cab on the Traffic cam heading towards the airport...I'm telling you, He took a powder." said Lt. Tragg..

''A minute ago you were saying Mr. McLucas murdered him..Now what is it?" I asked.

"McLucs didn't kill him...We know where he was exactly...We have witnesses......."said Sam Smith...

''What about the girl?" asked Lt. Tragg.

I didn't want to reveal too much to Tragg, so I hesitated on telling him that McLucas had fired her on the last day she was alive...

"She left work to go on her lunch break and that's the last time she was seen alive...Again...It couldn't have been McLucas...You had arrested him and had him in custody by then..You're his alibi.."I said..

"Her car is in the company parking lot...gathering tickets....It's been there a week...Mail has been piling up at her door..I seriously think both she and the cabby are dead...If McLucas didn't kill them...Maybe he had an accomplice.."said Lt. Tragg...

"Or maybe someone else is doing this...Maybe it's unrelated...Has anyone talked to his wife?" I asked.

Lieutenant Tragg smiled..

"Really Alexander??  She hired you and your wife...You didn't know that?  You don't think McLucas hired Hunt and then brought you, your wife and your niece in on this do you?" he said.

"Hunt comes from a very prestigious Law firm as does your wife and her niece...Mclucas has dough...but not that kind of dough for both of your services...That's the wife ,who has been standing by him...You want me to question her? Just say the word.." he said..

For once he had me speechless...I sure wished Olivia and Beverly were here now...I said no more..

"Cat got your tongue Donnie Ray?" he said and laughed.

I might be stymied ,because I didn't want to mess up my wife's case..but I hoped if there was any good cop in him, he'd at least start looking at Mclucas's wife ,who amazingly was not present during the trial...Not once... She took a trip with her father to California the first week and then went to Cancun with some girlfriends the next week...I found this incredible..

III-

The next day the trial resumed...

Armed with the new information we gleamed from Mclucas and my investigation...Calvin Hunt argued vigorously that his client was innocent...

The Prosecution attempted to use the disapperences of the Cabbie and the Office Manager as evidence that Mclucas was hiding something..

Olivia ad Beverly argued now that both were attempting to blackmail him and that he was going to pay them..Had every intention of paying them ,but that he never got to pay them...The Stripper ,Daysia was dead when he arrived..

They admitted that he should have gone to the police...but that he was afraid...  Hard to convince a jury of 11 whites and one African-American of that...

They produced the transcribed conversation the Office manager made and put in her wallsafe of the conversation between the Cabbie and Lonnie Mclucas... and read this part..

''She was dead when I got there...I was only in the house a minute...That's why I told you to wait..I had to drop something off..I didn't kill her.You know that." said Lonnie McLucas..

"You probably didn't...You don't look the type..but the police won't think that...I remember every fare and My GPS will prove I dropped you off there..It won't look good for a square like you.." said the Cabbie..

"What do you want?"

"For starters, I want a grand a month...Miss a payment...and I go to the coppers..Maybe..I go to your wife and your Father in law?"said the Cabbie.

Olivia argued that her client had every intention of paying him...She showed a bank transfer of exactly $1000.00 dollars and the check he had written that he never gave to the Cabbie..because he never showed up at work..

Beverly explained that the Office Manager , who unknown to Mr. Mclucas was a one time girlfriend of the Cabbie may have been in on the blackmail also...She showed copies of phone calls the two made to each other on the morning after the murder of the stripper...and the day after that...and a photo of the two together in Josie's the week before..

At this point...The Jury was swaying...Swaying in their favor..

Calvin Hunt was pleased....but he said...that still didn't prove who killed the stripper..There was no proof that either the cabbie or the office manager knew her..

"Calvin...we don't have to solve the murder...We just have to create enough reasonable doubt for a jury to say that Lonnie McLucas didn't do it.."said Olivia..

"Maybe they didn't know her at all...But once the murder was in the paper and he realized he dropped our client off at her house that night...He and his ex-girlfriend put this little half baked scheme of blackmail together.."said Beverly...

"And somebody put their little money grab to an end..but who?" asked Calvin as we stood in the hallway.

"My training as a Homicide Detective tells me to ask the obvious question...Who benefits from it all?" I asked..

Calvin sighed..

"He does...Lonnie Mclucas...He's no longer being blackmailed.."said Calvin...

"True...but he's at work when the cabbie vanishes...So we know he didn't physically do it.. and all of his calls were business related...He's in custody when the girl vanishes...So he couldn't have done that...So ask yourself..Who else would benefit?  Think about it....He was going to pay them...but that's not his money..." I said.

"Oh My God...Who's been paying for all this...Including our services all this time..??? Who hasn't bothered to attend the trial...?/" asked Beverly...

"Oh My God...His wife??? " asked Olivia..

"You guys have better instincts than Lt. Tragg....I couldn't get him to even consider it...He thinks Mclucas engineered the entire thing..I don't believe so...And my instincts have rarely been wrong."I said.

"I don't want to actually point a finger at the person who is paying us Donnie Ray, but-"said Olivia..

"There is no but...We don't have to solve anything...We just have to prove...Lonnie didn't do this..That's all...I think you have enough to prove he's innocent of that girl's murder.. I got the autopsy report...Her time of death is listed at around 10:00 pm...He and the cabbie didn't arrive until after midnight..She was good and cold by then...McLucas couldn't have done this...at 10:15 at least, according to his credit card...He was at Jakes, buying a hot dog..."I said.

Olivia smiled and whispered in my ear...

"I feel like giving you some right now...I'm serious..." she said..

I blushed a little..

Beverly smiled...

"Auntay stop making him blush....But you have my permission to really take care of him later...I'm going over Nelson's...So yall got the place to yourselves.." she joked..

"Thanks for your permission" joked Olivia.

"God...We have enough to rest our case tomorrow....Donnie Ray, you must have been one hell of a homicide detective...."said Calvin..

"You know...if Tragg wasn't so interested in being in front of a microphone and a gaggle of Cameras...He might have looked into this closer..."I said.

"You're right...Lonnie McLucas, should have never been arrested...Questioned maybe..but not charged.."said Olivia..

"Who are we talking about here? Lt. Tragg." said Beverly...

We all shared a laugh....

IV-

Attorney Yvette Jones happened to see us about to leave court...

"Olivia...So nice to see you....I was going to call you.." she said..

''Every one, this is my friend, Attorney Yvette Jones...We were in Law School together..She is representing the young lady who is accusing Elwood of fathering her soon to be born child.." said Olivia..who whispered to Yvette...

"No Names..."

Yvette nodded..

"So introduce me...This must be your husband.." she said eying me salaciously.

"I am...Donnie Ray Alexander...Investigator.."I said..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuu he's sexy Liv..and that southern accent...Hold on to him...." said Yvette..

"And you remember my niece, Beverly?" said Olivia..

"Of course I do, but she doesn't remember me....Hi Bev, You're your Aunt's partner now huh?" she said..

"I am...And I remember you Ms. Yvette." said Beverly, smiling...

"And this is Attorney Calvin Hunt... We are assisting him on this case..." said Olivia..

Calvin smiled..

"Ouuu child....you fine...You got green eyes too..You married.?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact I am..." said Calvin...

''All the good ones are.." she said, smiling..

I laughed.....

"Just wanted you to know, I saw Dr. Goggins..I turned in my client's Urine, Saliva and Blood sample...We'll have the results soon and then we can take it from there..." she said.

"Great...And after this is all over...You and I and Bev and my husband...all have to go out for drinks at Red Booth and maybe lunch..."said Olivia..

"It's a date...." she said.."Nice meeting yall." she said..

''She seems nice." I said..

"She does.."said Beverly...

"She is...That should make at least one of these cases less stressful.."said Olivia..

V-

"OH MY GOD, THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!" said Josie..

She had driven Olivia, Beverly and I to the home of Lonnie Mclucas...

"I'll say...Look at rose garden..It's like a Valley of Roses..." said Beverly...

'It's so silent, so peaceful." said Olivia..

"Yeah isn't it?" I said..

As beautiful as it was...Something was eerie about it...Very eerie..

Josie tripped over what seemed like a lump in the ground...

"Ooops." she said..

Olivia and Beverly helped her up....

It looked like a freshly dug grave....and not too far from it was another such patch of land , that looked like a freshly dug grave..

I looked around at the girls...

"Ladies...Look at this place....It's beautiful..It's a valley of roses....on the McLucas Property...Now look at this...Two plots.... just feet from each other....What is wrong with this picture?  I'll tell you...These are two graves....Your Cabbie and that Office Manager are right here..This is their final resting place.."I said.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)



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