Stepping Stone

 THREE WEEKS LATER!

The doorbell to D.A.'s Investigator, Gary Lockwood rang...It was a little after two in the morning...

He couldn't imagine who would be ringing his doorbell this time of night...

"Who is it?" he bellowed before looking at his hall tele monitor and seeing his boss, Assistant District Attorney, Rockland Cambridge standing in the doorway...

"Oh hey Boss...What are you doing here...?" he asked.. It was a Friday Night/Saturday Morning..

"I need your help...I-I need you to get on some things for me.." he said..

"Now? at two in the morning?  It's a Saturday..."said Gary...

''Well, well Monday...When you come in...

Olivia and Beverly are up to something...I think they are going to appeal the guilty verdict " said Rockland..

 ''Well yeah, that's what attorneys do for their clients when the verdict doesn't go their way..."said Gary..

"I need you to find out what if any new evidence they have so that we can counter act it...I can't have that verdict over turned.."said Rockland..

"It's out of your hands now...You got your conviction...You beat them...If they want to appeal, that's their right." I said..

''Don't tell me about the law...I'm the attorney here..I need to know what those two are up to, If they over turn the verdict, my victory is nullified..and I'll have lost to them again.."he said.

He had Olivia and Beverly on the brain ,Gary  thought...

''What do you want me to do?  I don't think they'll talk to me..They know I work for you..."said Gary...

"You're friendly with Donnie Ray, Olivia's husband..

"Buddy up with him at Josie's...He hangs out there...he plays with the house band on occassion, knock back a few drinks...find out what his wife and her niece have up their sleeves."said Rockland..

''Whatever you say.."said Gary wanting to close the door and get back to his room...He had no intention of doing any such thing...

"You-You..You've got somebody over here don't you?" asked Rockland..

"Yes I do and I'd like to get back to them if you don't mind.."said Gary...

''You seen Yvette? Yvette Jones?" he asked..

Gary breathed in deep, but didn't answer...

"Find out who she's seeing...I personally don't think she's dating anybody...but see if you can find out."asked Rockland..

"Hey Man,where is your woman? "asked Gary...

"I haven't seen or heard from her in three weeks...She doesn't answer my calls or my texts." said Rockland sadly....

Gary had heard about the slap....He had just missed seeing it..Rockland had gotten loud and a little too frisky with Alfreda and she had slapped him in the face..Alfreda also had taken umbrage to the way he was taunting Olivia,Beverly and Donnie Ray and celebrating a little too boistrously..

They for their part took it all in stride and didn't seem the least bit upset...but Alfreda,

      whose daughter is Beverly after all and who thinks of Olivia, the sister of Beverly's father as family didn't find him entertaining..

   Rockland had been miserable for the past three weeks and a bear to work for...Now he was drunk and keeping Gary from his company...

''One last thing...Find Alfreda for me..

  She's not in her apartment...I need to talk to her...  I miss her.." he said..

            "I'll get on those three things first thing Monday Morning...Good Night Boss...."said Gary ,who slammed the door and locked it and turned the lights out and headed for his bedroom...

In his bedroom, Attorney Yvette Jones sat on his bed in a gray Victoria's Secret T-shirt and Gray bikini panties with a pink stripe down the middle..

She shook her head when Gary returned...

''Was that Rockland? What did he want this time of morning?" she asked..

''YOU for one thing!He wants to know who you're dating ...I swear ,I was tempted to tell him you were here but then I'd never get rid of him.."laughed Gary.. "Next..he wants me to find out if Olivia,Beverly and Donnie Ray

 are planning to appeal the verdict from the murder case he won three weeks ago..and forth he wants me to find his girl Alfreda Johnson....

They've broken up and apparently she's missing.." said Gary..

"She's not missing...She's doing what I'm doing, avoiding his crazy ass.."said Yvette..

"I may have to move somewhere to avoid his crazy ass.." laughed Gary...

''Enough about Rockland...Come over here ,take off your clothes and get some of this crazy ass.."said Yvette..

Gary pulled her to him and kissed her and ran his hands down her panties...

"Ummm now that's some crazy ass..I can get with.." he said..

"Ummmm yeah.." Yvette laughed..

As she and Gary kissed passionately in the middle of the floor,with only the moonlight for a light....

 Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he moaned.....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."she quietly moaned...ad stroked hm softly.....

She continued to stroke him lightly......which was driving him crazy...

He licked and sucked her breasts slowly....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry.." she moaned..

Before she knew it...They were both in bed...making slow ,sweet love...

 His bed began to squeak and her headboard rattled slightly....

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Yvetttttttttttte...lawddddddddddddd girl.." he moaned..

"Ouuu...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned...

  SEVEN TO EIGHT HOURS slowly slipped by......

He had brought her to orgasm at least four times.....and he showed no signs of stopping anytime soon...

She blew in his ear and licked his neck...

''Yvettte, ouuuu you are driving me crazyyy." he moaned.


"That means I'm doin my job..." she laughed...


"Damn sure are girl...ummmmmph!" he moaned.

An HOUR Drifted by  and finally he came like a river...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." he moaned.....

"Oh Gary....stop showing off in this bed...just stopppppppppp..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she cooed..

She was cumming and cumming hard....

Her body shaking, tears flowing freely down the side of her face....

Rockland was adrift....He didn't know where Alfreda was and Yvette was missing too...Not in her apartment any night...Maybe she was seeing somebody!

II-

We were all worried about Alfreda...The day after she had dined with us...

I took her by her apartment and we got her enough clothes to last her for a few weeks...

We brought her to our duplex...

She stayed in the spare room on Olivia and I's floor...She had been with us the past three weeks.

We loved having her around...

She cleaned both our domicile and Beverly and Nelson's

who lived below us..While we were in court;...

and she cooked for us....

We had breakfast if we wanted it...Lunch and Dinner...Alfreda was only too happy to do these things for us..

Since we were spending our days at home working on an appeal for this verdict...

we didn't have to go to court or be seen..

 Everything was done in house..

Nelson was now helping us with the appeal...Olivia and Beverly had hired him as a consultant...

Josie was running back and forth to court ,filing briefs for us...

At night behind closed doors...

Olivia and I still got it on....

We weren't missing a beat.....We just couldn't run around the apartment naked like we were used to...but inside our room with a bed that didn't squeak, a headboard that didn't rattle and a door that was practically soundproof , we were just fine as was

Beverly and Nelson below us...

Still enjoying the newlywed experience...They made love every chance they got....

Alfreda wasn't exactly a prisoner...She went shopping in the two shopping malls across from us and she ate at the local eateries both in the mall and along the boulevard....Rockland was at work...He wouldn't be around to see her...but at night ,She was safely tucked away with us..

She looked rested and relieved....

Olivia said to me...

"She looks exactly how Yvette said she felt after they broke up...Rested and relieved..Rockland is very intense and a bit stalkerish.."said Olivia..

"I ran into Bee Bee Evans

 not long ago and she told me that Rockland comes to their office ,asking them where Ms. Yvette was the night before and if they know who she's seeing..He's nuts.."said Beverly..

"He saw me in court for a bail hearing last week and he asked me if I knew if you two were planning to appeal the Farber Verdict...I said...You  do know Beverly is my wife now and you know I live with Liv and Bev, I wouldn't tell you that if I knew...Which I don't." I said..

"You shouldn't have lied to him...Tell him we definitely are planning to appeal.."said Beverly...

"Better if he doesn't know..."said Olivia.

"This guy really needs therapy.." I said.

III-

As we had learned from past experience, Appealing a verdict in a closed case wasn't easy.....

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie appeared in court with what they thought was a compelling argument and a bit of new evidence not used in the first trial that they say could prove their clients innocence..

The Judge however didn't think so and thought their new evidence wasn't compelling enough to him...He denied their appeal...

We were undaunted  and next the girls found themselves in District court a week later with basically the same argument and they got the same result, appeal denied..

They say the third time is the charm... It wasn't...

They appealed yet another judge....and this judge also denied their appeal...

Olivia said...

''We've got another appeal hearing next week...I hate to do this, but we go at it from a feminist angle and see if that gets us some levity.."she said..

It didn't...For the fourth time their appeal was denied...

''Wow Auntay, this is frustrating.."said Beverly..

''We've got the State Supreme Court...If that fails....then what?" asked Josie..

"The U.S. Supreme Court.."said Nelson..

"Forget it...The time and money it would take to get us an audience would be exhorbit and judging by the way we are batting one thousand here....it wouldn't be worth it..We go to the State Supreme Court..If they turn us down...Then it's a wrap....We are done.."said Olivia...

I had never heard my wife sound so defeated before...Here she had appealed and reversed decisions on other cases tried by other attorneys, She'd saved people from a needle who were days away from execution, but she couldn't get a reversal on the case she tried and lost...

And so Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie went before the State Supreme Court with their argument...and they found a Judge that looked at the particulars of their argument and actually agreed with them...but he stopped short of over turning the verdict..

"You guys go back, Go back and do your home work, expand on this, bring me more compelling evidence and I'll overturn this verdict and order a new trial.." he said.

When Rockland Cambridge got word of this , He took a train to Harrisburg He approached the Judge and argued that it had been a fair trial there had been no prosecutorial misconduct and a jury had given a fair verdict... The Judge ,who unknown to any of us had seen Rockland's "Happy Dance" that day in person and was disgusted by it.. He was angry that Rockland was even talking to him..

He angrily changed his mind and decided to throw out the verdict and sentence right then and there and ordered a new trial...

He asked that Barbara Farber be removed from Death Row and returned to Philadelphia County lock up for women...

Rockland as usual threw a tantrum and found himself locked up for a day...For contempt...

IV- 

We celebrated mightily back in Philly....At Josies...It was wing night...

 ''Wow, just when it looked hopeless...We got a break.."said a jubilant Olivia.

 "And we owe it all to Rockland...He successfully blocked us four times , but the fifth time when he didn't hear what he wanted to hear , he threw one of his hissy fits and the Judge not only tossed out the verdict..He tossed Rockland in the cooler for a day.."laughed Beverly...

 "It says in the bible 'And I'll make your enemy your stepping stone.." I said.

 ''Didn't know you were a religious man Donnie Ray.."said Nelson...

"Oh Yeah.." I said..

"I'm not standing close to you , as much as I love you Donnie Ray, You're going to get struck by lightning for that tall tale." said Beverly...

 "I know right?" said Olivia...

Beverly and Olivia cracked up laughing...

 "How you feelin Ms. Alfreda?" asked Josie..

"Just wonderful baby girl...Just wonderful" said Alfreda...

"Here's your drinks girls and guys..Heard you got that verdict thrown out...Good Luck next time ladies."said Honey Brown as Citris Martini's were served to us all..

Olivia smiled and raised her glass..

''Thank You Honey.."she said.

''We are going to need it.." said Beverly..

"What did we do wrong?" asked Josie...

"For one thing, we got blind sided by our client...I won't make that mistake again."I said..

''Don't be so hard on yourself Donnie Ray...We all slipped up on this one.."said Olivia.

''Even down to the jury...We had six women...We played to them...but Rockland played to them better.."said Beverly...

''Case like this...You want more men...Younger men..I'll help you gauge the jury next time.."said Nelson..

"We start again ,from top to bottom."I said.

V-

A Night Later....11:30 pm...Gary Lockwood's doorbell rang again...

''Heyyyy you're out.." he said as he looked at a disheveled Rockland Cambridge...

"You look like hell!" Gary observed....Rockland's suit was wrinkled...He looked like he'd slept in his clothes and he smelled like he could use a hot shower and maybe some hot coffee..but he wasn't about to let him in...He had company!

"I gave you three jobs to do,Have you done any of them?.." he spat...

''Yes I have...Alfreda was not missing...

She was staying with Olivia and Beverly..

Matter of fact I saw them, their husbands, that cute little para-legal of theirs and Alfreda in Josie's tonight.."

said Gary....

"Good..I already know Olivia and Beverly were planning an appeal, they got the damn verdict and sentence thrown out...Oh, well what about Yvette, have you seen her?" he asked..

"Yeah,I've seen her..Seen her about an hour ago in Aqua Bar.." said Gary with a straight face.

 "It was Salsa Night, Lawd that woman can Salsa her ass off.." he said, nearly bursting into laughter..."And she's got the right kind of ass to do it...lawd!" he laughed..

''Alright, Alright, Alright...Was she with someone?" he asked..

''I couldn't tell...That place was packed....She appeared to be having a good time.." said Gary...

"She wasn't with her young charges?" he asked.

"No, but I saw them in Stoleys earlier.."said Gary...

"You Know, she might be meeting them in Stoleys...If you hurry you might catch up with her.."he said, trying mightily to keep himself from laughing...

''You made your rounds tonight.?..You've got somebody in your house right now don't you?"laughed Rockland slyly...

"I do...Sorry about Harrisburg..."said Gary..

"That old Jackass Judge tossed the verdict out and ordered a new trial.." said Rockland..

"Not to mention he tossed you in the cooler for 24 hours...What did you do?" asked Gary, although he could imagine..

"It's a long story....I've called Alfreda, She still won't answer my calls..I'm going to see if Yvette is home and awake..Maybe I can have a booty call  for old times sakes...You know what I'm sayin?" he said..

"Good Luck Boss...See you Monday.."said Gary, who slammed and locked the door before Rockland could say anything else..He was laughing so hard ,he had to hold his sides...

Yvette was lying under the covers laughing too...

"Gary you are soooooo badddd.."she said.

''Hey I told him the truth, Alfreda is staying with Olivia and Beverly...and I did see them all in Josies...I did see you in Aqua Bar and it was packed...I just didn't tell him we were together and we did see the kids at Stoleys.." said Gary...

''Alfreda is at Liv and Beverly's house...and I'm here with you..He's sure going to be disappointed tonight...No lovin for him..."said Yvette...

"And he sure could use some...He sure needs some."laughed Gary....

"I'll say.."said Yvette and they both laughed...

And at Josie's...

''Well I don't know about you...But I'm ready to turn in...I must be getting old."said Olivia..

"Come On Old Girl, let's go home.." I said.

Nelson ,Beverly and Alfreda piled into  My SUV...

"See You Guys.." said Josie, who got in her car and pulled off..

Rockland stumbled into Josies...

He waded through the crowd...There was no sign of any of us...He had just missed us...

He ordered A Citris Martini...Alfreda wasn't at home...he had been by our house...but we weren't home, because we were here..and Yvette was mysteriously not at home again...He was drunk and horny and tired...

He knew the minute he found out he'd be up against Olivia and Beverly that he'd be miserable..Oh why did he take this case?

(TO BE CONTINUED)