Shift Of Loyalties

 In the downtown Miami Offices of Assistant District Attorney Bart Giblet, one of his Investigators walked in...

"Good Morning Mister G." he said and sat down...

''What have you got Dirk?"asked Bart Giblet..

"Nothing Mr. G.  Nobody under the names, Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Beverly West, Donnie Ray Alexander, Nelson East or Josie Boyd

is listed at any of the hotels or motels in Miami ,Dade County or Opa Locka...I checked and re-checked..." he said.

''They aren't using the law libraries for research?" asked Bart Giblet.

"No Not at all...They got a shipment of boxes at the Post office which they picked up the day they got here." said Dirk..

"They shipped their books and equipment here...They don't need to use the law library and the courts...Maybe they're staying with Millicent.." said Bart Giblet..

"I have a guy staked out at her house...Not one of them has made one appearence there...and we got her phone tapped..She hasn't made a call to them either...At least not from her home number or any cell phones.." said Dirk...

"They have to be staying somewhere...They got any relatives...friends??" asked Bart...

"Nope...None here sir." said Dirk...

"They rented a car...They have to have rented a car..." said Bart...

"No but Millicent Did...And she drives her own car to work..." said Dirk..

''Find that car and find out where they are staying...The trial begins tomorrow and so far I don't have a clue as to what they have planned..| said Bart..

"Why is this so important? The Detectives told you they might have another suspect in this murder..."said Dirk..

"I don't want to hear it...I want to nail this son of a bitch to the wall...When I ran for D.A.  he campaigned against me in his newspaper and on Television...That was one of the main reasons I lost..I said if I ever got a chance to pay this bastard back...I was gonna do it and now I got him by the short and curlies...Millie and those slick lawyers of hers got a bail reduction...But I called his newspaper's owner...Told him about a little incident between him and two hookers at my birthday party...Told him I still had the photos...He called up that paper and squashed any attempt they had at paying his bail..."said Bart Giblet...

''So this is a personal vendetta against him and the fact that the young lady defending him is someone you sent up for murder ten years ago and you couldn't stand the humiliation of losing to her right?

Especially since she had the good sense to know she was a little over her head..So she reached out and got those lawyers from Philly..

Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Beverly West and Nelson East...huh?" said Dirk..

''Whatever...Donnie Ray Alexander beat the crap out of an old washed up P.I. in Coconut Grove two days ago....What happened with the arrest warrant" asked Bart Giblet..

"Five people testified that the P.I. hit Alexander first and he was defending himself....And the old drunken P.I. refused to press charges...Cops laughed it off..." said Dirk...

''Damn it...Damn it...Find that car...Find out where they are staying..."said Bart...

"I'm On it Boss!" he said...But he felt terrible...When he became a cop and later on a Detective, this wasn't what he signed on for...Now he was an investigator with the D.A.'s office, assigned to this pompus jerk...Every Morning when he woke up he felt like a jerk...Carrying out his bosses personal vendetta against folks...The pay was good...but he couldn't sleep most nights...

II-

At this minute we were at the DNA lab in the county...

"We tested the DNA in the semen in the panties against Mr. McCray's DNA.. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander and Ms. West...It's not his...It is a match to the dead Mr. Lance Ricard.. It's a 99.9 percent match to Lance Ricard....That semen in the panties is his and the spermicide matches the type of condom found in his apartment.. The skin around the victim's neck is a match for him also...We got DNA and a latent print...The bloody rock had her blood and his sweat.....He more than likely is her killer." said the Doctor..

"That's the missing piece..." I said..

"It's more than enough.." said Olivia..

"We can win this in the preliminary....without a trial...Wait til Millie hears this.."said Beverly...

I had her return that car she rented...If Giblet had somebody looking for us...Any good investigator would know she rented two cars and that we had the other one...but he might not be looking for another rental...from another dealer...in another town like say Opa Locka...

She and Nelson and Josie had gone to fetch the new car...They were meeting us here soon...

III-

And At Bart Giblet's office...

"You won't believe this..They turned the car in and they didn't get another car...Maybe they left town.." said Dirk...

"No...No...This is some trick...I know it!  I KNOW IT!!!" screamed Bart Giblet...

"Look, what is this...a vendetta?  What do you care where they're staying?   You're wasting time and manpower on this...They haven't broken any laws..." said Dirk with disgust...

''Dirk you sound like you don't like your job.."said Bart...

"I'm beginning not to..."said Dirk...

''I can go over to the police department and find 10-12 detectives just like you, eager to move up..."said  Bart...

"I suggest you do that.."said Dirk....

"Is that a resignation Dirk?" asked Bart...

"Yeah....I'm done.." he said and walked out of the office...

IV-

Millicent stood outside the courtroom, she watched as they brought Kevin McCray in in handcuffs...

''Olivia...You,Beverly,Nelson and Josie have taught me so much...I wouldn't be here without you guys.." she said, gushing..

''We gave you everything you need to win this case....We'll be there to assist you in court...but the argument is yours..."said Olivia.

"Latch on to a good investigator like Donnie Ray here and you will never go wrong..." said Beverly, hugging me..

''She's right...Information is the most important thing...Not being surprised is the key to winning many a case..."I said..

''We are never surprised...We always know everything we need to know about everybody involved and I do mean everybody..." said Olivia..

"That was nice on your part Millie, serving his ex-wife, Belinda with a subpeona and forcing her to testify..."said Nelson...

''There's the Judge...It's showtime folks..."said Josie..

The Preliminary trial began...

Bart Giblet was brilliant and eloquent and as slick as canned oil to use Olivia's term...He painted a picture of Kevin McCray that was so slimy, so sleazy that he had me hating him almost...

He said that McCray, recently divorced...was a brutal womanizer and was trying very hard to pick up Danielle Richardson Ricard...A waitress...

Millie, Beverly and Olivia were equally eloquent....The first thing they did was call Belinda McCray... and the Private Investigator she hired...

She admitted under oath that she told him to call the police and tell them he saw Danielle Ricard with her ex-husband...but to leave out that she left with someone else...

The Private Investigator admitted that he saw Kevin McCray leave hours later and that he knew he was in a hotel room with a known prostitute....

Nelson pointed to time dated film footage of Danielle and her estranged husband leaving the bar, while Kevin was still there...Trying to pick up another woman...

Beverly and Josie produced his credit card slips which proved he was still in the bar long after Danielle had left with her estranged husband...

Olivia produced footage of Danielle's husband returning , with blood on his jacket an hour Later...She also brought up the fact that Homicide Detectives told ADA Giblet that they had another suspect and he still indicted Kevin McCray...

Bart Giblet argued mightily that this was speculation.... He foolishly cross examined Mrs. McCray and The Private Investigator...but they stuck to their story. They both were already in enough hot water...He went on to say that Olivia and Beverly were grandstanding...in a matter far removed from their Native Philadelphia..

Millie presented the panties and a report from the Doctor who conducted the DNA investigation...She stated that the DNA in the semen in the panties was a match for Mr. Ricard...Not Kevin McCray and that DNA taken from around her neck matched sweat and partial fingerprints of Ricard...Not McCray...

''We'll Never know what happened in that alley that night, but it's obvious My client was nowhere near there and is not the killer." said Millicent..

The Judge agreed and he dropped all Murder charges against Kevin McCray and asked that he be freed immediately...

Kevin McCray jumped up and smiled and hugged Millicent...Maybe a little too long..

"THANK YOU BABY!" he said, Free for the first time in weeks..

"Kevin, you've got an erection!!!" she gasped and pulled away....

"Oh,I'm sorry ...but uh how would you uh like to uh know about it a little better?? Huh?? In a private setting?/" he said and arched his eyebrow...

"In your dreams...Just be glad I got you off.." she said..

"You could uh get me off in uh another way..." he said..

"No Thank you....You're a free man now Kevin, Straighten your life out...Okay?" she said..

He smiled and looked at us...

"I take back every bad thing I ever wrote or said about you guys....And not just because you saved my ass....You guys are some great people, You really are...You showed me that...Not just you Olivia and Beverly, but your husband too, Mr. East and Ms. Boyd...You guys are great people and I'm going to write about this experience..and talk about you guys on Television...I swear....I can't thank you enough..." he said and headed for the door..

"You Know..I suppose he wasn't so bad.." said Olivia...

"No, he wasn't.." said Beverly...

''He was a charactor though." I said..

"Wasn't he though?" said Nelson...

''I think Millicent has the same opinion of him..."laughed Josie..

"Oh my God...He uses the fact that he was freed to grope me and he's got a boner..." she said..

''Ughhhhhhhhhhh!" she said..

We all laughed.....

ADA Bart Giblet stomped his foot, He was clearly frustrated losing...and losing like this in the Preliminaries...Without the case even going to trial..

Kevin McCray stopped and looked at him...

"Better Luck next time Bart.." he said and laughed...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" screamed Bart Giblet, kicking the trash can over..

Dirk walked over to Millicent...

"Hey Millie.." he said..

''Dirk, what are you doing here?" asked Millicent...

''It occurred to me that you might need an investigator...I mean Olivia and her people are probably going to be leaving  soon...I'm an ex- detective and ex Investigator for the D.A.'s office.." he said.

''Ex?? Don't you work for Bart Giblet??" she asked...

''I did until this morning...He wanted me to put a GPS device on your car and follow you to wherever Olivia and her staff were staying....It was so petty, I just couldn't do his bidding anymore...I want to do real police work or at least real investigating like Mr. Alexander..." said Dirk..

''Wellll..we always need investigators at the Innocence Project and when I go into Private Practice...I'll certainly keep you in mind.." said Millie..

"Uh this may be a little forward, but could we go out for drinks sometime? Dinner maybe?" he asked..

 Beverly whispered in her ear-

"Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl , he's cute...Don't pass that up..."

Josie seconded her...

"He wouldn't have to ask me twice.." she said..

Millicent laughed..

''We could go to lunch today..." she said..

"That would be great." he said and smiled...

''It's okay....Go ahead Millie...We have to ship our stuff back to Philly and begin packing..It was great working with you...and if you need us...We are just a long distance phone call away.."said Olivia, who hugged her...

''Oh Liv, thank you  guys sooooooooooooooooo much ,for everything!" said Millicent..

"I gotta return this car tomorrow, so let's get back and start packing guys..." said Nelson...

''Wow! Back to Philly....I'm ready, how bout you ladies?" I said.

"Sigh...I had fun on the beach at night and shopping, but I miss my baby....."said Josie..

''You've got the next three days off Josie...You earned it..You too baby.."  said Olivia, kissing her niece on the cheek..

Beverly gushed....

"Man, times like this...I wished I worked for yall...It's back to work for me.." said Nelson..

"One of these days....Nelson, you'll be working for us, then you'll get these perks too!" I said, Laughing..

"I keep telling him.." laughed Olivia as we all left the courtroom and got in the car....

ADA Bart Giblet stood there seething as we pulled off....and as his former Investigator and Millicent

walked out into the Miami afternoon....

EPILOUGE-

 Kevin McCray was as good as his word... He went on FOX, CNN and MSNBC talking about his experiences...Being accused of Capital Murder and narrowly dodging either life in prison or the death penalty...

He sang Olivia, Beverly, my, Nelson and Josie's praises , Said he was wrong about us and that we were the salt of the Earth....

He wrote a Best selling Memoir that helped him get out of debt...He paid off his second morgtage and that second car and moved into a nice condo himself..

The Book was optioned as a movie ,which brought in more money...

He went in AA and stopped drinking... He married wife number four...His AA sponser...Let's hope this marriage lasts...

 Dirk went to work for the Innocence Project as a staff investigator... He got to be closer to Millicent..

 They became a couple soon afterwords...

The five of us returned to Philadelphia....  It had indeed been a nice year... D.C. , Seattle, Puerto Rico, New Orleans and Miami...

My life wasn't bad...

That Friday Night found us at Josie's...Enjoying the music of five out of town D.J.'s

It was packed as usual.....

"Auntay, as soon as everybody heard you liked these Citris Martini's , seemed like every bar and bistro we've been to serves them now.." said Beverly..

who was showing off her new braids....

''I think you're right baby...but I'm not complaining.."laughed my wife...

"She's even got me drinking them..." I laughed...

FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins  walked over to us ....She hugged Olivia and Beverly...

''Hey Livy, Beverly.....Girl, I like your braids..." she said to Beverly..

"Thank you Sharon.." said Beverly...

"Liv, you did her hair?" asked Sharon..

"Noooooooooo, She had it done in Miami...before we left..." said Olivia..

"I found a hair dresser ,who owed us a favor..

She did it for free..."said Beverly,laughing...Thinking about Yvonne Riggins, Who did Her, Olivia and Josie's hair for free before they left Miami and showed them some nice stores to buy shoes and dresses in also on that last afternoon...Not to mention, a great restaurant!!!

They told her if she ever came to Philadelphia to definitely look them up!!!

''Speaking of which....I came to thank your husband...He's a man of his word...He gave me a $200.00 dollar tab at both Aqua Bar and here...Looks like I'll be drinking free for the next month or so.." said Sharon...

"Hey ,I gave you my word didn't I?" I said...

''Yes you did!...Liv, you got a gem there...Hold on to him and don't let go..." said Sharon...

"Don't say I never said anything nice about you Donnie Ray!" she said and looked at me and smiled..

''Oh I plan to hold on to him...." said Olivia , smiling..."I plan to.." she said, smiling at me...

"He's our good luck charm.."said Beverly,kissing me on the cheek..

''And you two are mine." I said..putting my arms around both of them, kissing them and squeezing them tight.

For Monique Pressley