Assignment Houston

We sat emotionally outside the courtroom awaiting the verdict in this case.....Since I'd Known and worked for my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander

and her niece and partner, Attorney Beverly West-East..

This had been a normal scene at the end of a big trial...and this was a big trial..Not a Murder trial ,but a civil trial to keep our client from being deported and to get him a visa to continue to go to school here in the United States...

Our client, Alejandro Vinceramos A Venezeulan National had been arrested by Immigration agents in a sweep of illegal aliens...He had let his student and work visas expire.....

He had been detained in one of the area detention centers for illegal aliens...

A local musician named Pancho who plays percussion at Josies with the house band told me about the case of his friend one night when I was setting in with the band...

Me? I'm Donnie Ray Alexander....Former New Orleans Homicide Detective....Now a Private Investigator, exclusively for my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece and partner in her law firm, Attorney Beverly West- East..

I told them and they immediately jumped on this case....Immigration cases are somewhat complex....A conversation with Olivia's old law school room-mate, Attorney Yvette Jones

led to her loaning us two of her four young charges who specialized in

Immigration cases such as ours...Attorneys ,Sofia Garcia and her boyfriend, Attorney

Khalil Ahmed..

Their knowledge was immense and they helped the girls out a lot on this case...Acting as third and fourth chair...

Beverly's husband, Attorney Nelson East

had worked with them on an immigration case like this last year and had highly recommended them....

Josie, our para-legal walked outside to get us...

"The Jury is in guys..." she said...

"Thanks Jo.." said Olivia, who then addressed her niece Beverly, Sofia and Khalil ,

 who had all worked around the clock passionately on this case, sometimes staying over night with Nelson and Beverly...

''Whatever happens...You guys did your very best....I'm honored to work with all three of you...Such great attorneys.." she said and smiled weakly..

Josie and I followed them into the courtroom...

An all white jury of three men and three women ruled that Alejandro Vinceramos was a positive and good citizen, studying for his Masters and living here in the Unites States and he should be freed and allowed to continue doing good things...Which was what we wanted...

The Judge admonished him to get his Student and Work Visas updated immediately....Which Sofia Garcia assured the Judge would be taken care of..

She was ecstatic...She hugged Olivia and Beverly...

"You two are miracle workers...Just like Bee Bee said." she gushed..

 ''Hey Lady...You and your boyfriend aren't bad yourself...:said Olivia

''Yes....Kiss your man, he helped us immensely..."said Beverly , who hugged Khalil..

Khalil smiled...

"Thank you..." he said..

"Come Here Papi"said Sofia, who kissed him softly..

Our client Alejandro and his fiance...Who was also here on a Student and Work Visa thanked us all profusely and hugged us...

Our fees were paid by the Innocence Project...A Civil Rights and Advocacy Organization which defended lost causes like these...We were member Attorneys..

Olivia kissed me softly...

"I couldn't have done this without you baby..." she said..

"I'm sure we can uh work out my fee in bed tonight.."I said raffishly...

Olivia laughed...

"It's so easy to please you and so satisfying to me.." she said and kissed me again..

II-

Attorney Yvette Jones and our good friend,

Slim Johnson were waiting out in the hallway when we emerged from court...

"Hey Vettie, Hey Slim...I take it you guys were in court today?" said Olivia.

''Sure was...You guys looked good in there.."said Yvette..''All of you.."she added..

"Ms. Yvette, you've got some great guys here...They helped Auntay and me out a lot..."said Beverly...

''Sofia and Khalil have handled a number of cases like this.."said Yvette..

"They were instrumental in helping me get my citizenship recently." said an attractive Asian woman with them...

"Guys, let me introduce my investigator...Ms. Jade Lee, formerly a Homicide Detective with the Tokyo Police Department...Now A Private Investigator , assigned to me and my four guys...She really spreads herself thin.."said Yvette..

''We have a lot in common Ms. Lee.. I was a Homicide Detective for the New Orleans Police department before I met and married Olivia, Now I work for her and Beverly.."I said..

"I'm glad you all are here...I've got a juicy assignment for you..."said Slim Johnson...

"Oh?" said Olivia, smiling... "I could use yet another vacation.." she joked..

"Where Mr. Johnson?  Atlanta maybe?" laughed Beverly... We had just come back from New Orleans a few weeks before and had been in Hawaii a few weeks before that!

"Oh You guys got it like that huh?  Heard you just came back from Hawaii...and then went to New Orleans..You guys are some jet setters."laughed Yvette..

"It's Houston...Houston , Texas...A woman has been detained and her five year old daughter is imprisoned in one of these damn camps for children..."said Slim...

"Oh...Awwwwwwwwwwww..." said Olivia...

"This type of case makes my blood boil..."said Sofia..."I wish I could be in on it." she said..

"Perhaps you can...This case is different.." said Slim..

''How so?" I asked..

''The woman being detained is one of ours...She was no poor refugee slipping over the border...She's an Attorney and an Activist....She's been in the United States for years...But she's not an American Citizen...,She's from Brazil...Her name is Sofia...Like yours...Sofia Cruz...She came here with her mother...many years ago...She was educated in California ,where she got her J.D. and passed the Bar...She somehow migrated to Houston where she's been practicing law and been an activist in the Mexican and Latin Community for sometime now...Someone did some nosing and discovered she wasn't a citizen...Her child was taken from her and she's been detained...This case is right up your alley Olivia and Beverly...I've already called Nelson....He said if you guys are in...He's in.."said Slim..

"Wow Liv, you and Bev stay on the go.."said Yvette...

''Yvette...I called Mr. McClusky...He said this would be a great experience for you and your team...He authorized You, Mr. Jones, Ms. Evans, Ms. Garcia,Ms. Lee and Mr. Ahmed to go to Houston also to serve as consultants on this case to Mrs. Alexander and Mrs.West-East..Are you interested?" asked Slim Johnson..

"ARE WE INTERESTED? YOU HAVE TO ASK? What say you Sofia, Khalil? YOU GUYS IN?" asked an excited Yvette...

''YESSSSSSSSSSS! Wait til I tell Bee Bee.."said an excited Sofia...

''DO YOU HAVE TO ASK???Wait until I tell Keith."said Khalil.

''When Do we leave?" asked Olivia..

"It's Wednesday....You guys just won your case ...So relax tonight...Meet me at Yvette's office tomorrow and we'll discuss the logistics of the case, where you'll be staying..etc.  You'll be leaving on Monday...You guys should use the rest of the Week for down time.."said Slim.

III-

 Beverly's husband, Nelson East came down the hallway...He saw us and he smiled..

"Hey Guys...We just won our case.." he said..

He had been involved in a big Murder case himself..Keith Jones and Bee Bee Evans had been second and third chair on his case

 "Heyyy Guys."Said Keith Jones

"Hey how'd you do with that immigration case?" asked Bee Bee.

''We won...But guess what? All of us...Ms. Yvette, You,Me, Khalil, Keith, Ms.Jade..We are all going to Houston!!! We are going to work on a case with Liv and Bev...!!!" said Sofia...

You would have thought Sofia told Bee Bee she hit the lottery..

Bee Bee screamed and grabbed Olivia and Beverly and hugged them..

"OH MY GOD!!! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!  " she said...

 "I love her enthusiasm..."laughed Olivia...hugging Bee Bee...

"I do too." laughed Beverly..

"Let's have drinks at Josie's to celebrate...Josie's buying."said Keith, ever the Jokester...

Josie laughed and nudged him...

"You got jokes tonight.."laughed Josie..




IV-

Josie's was jumping tonight..It was Wednesday....

Hot Wings Night...

We got two booths next to each other..

 Olivia, Myself, Beverly, Nelson and Josie and her boyfriend Paris were in one large booth...and

Keith ,Bee Bee, Sofia and Khalil were in the other...

Beers were flowing

So was the drinks...

Yvette was sitting on Gary's lap, deep throat kissing him...

Beverly smiled..

"You two better cut that out.." she said..

"Nothing to worry about tonight...Rockland is with your mama Bev....I don't think we'll be seeing him tonight under any circumstances...They went to a movie over in Cherry Hill..."said Gary...

"You know his entire itinerary.."said Olivia..

"He probably wrote it.." I said..

Yvette cracked up laughing...

So did Olivia ,Beverly and Josie..

"So Liv, Beverly...I will finally get to work with you two...I mean everyone else on my team has..even Ms. Yvette...I'm beginning to think you guys don't like me.." joked Keith Jones..

''Now why would you think that?  I"m going to make sure you work closely with me okay?" said Olivia..

"Yes ,we might let you do opening arguments.."said Beverly smiling..

"Please let him do something...He's so envious of Me, Sofia and Khalil.."joked Bee Bee..

"Ever been to Texas before?asked Yvette..

''Yes..We had a case in Dallas/Ft, Worth a few years back...Me Olivia and Beverly." I said.

"Death Row case..."said Olivia..

"Larry North was there, I had to fight him off...I had just started seeing Nelson then...He didn't go with us...I sure wish he had of.."said Beverly...

"I had my time with Larry North too..While you and Nelson were on your honeymoon and I filled in for you.."said Bee Bee...

"I heard.."said Beverly...

"I was in San Antonio, Texas once...I had a Boyfriend...He was a J.D. in the Air Force.. I was down there with him for awhile ...A few years back...It's Hot in Texas...This time of year too.."said Yvette..

"Any beaches?" asked Sofia..

"Not where we are going, but I can drive us out to the gulf if we have any down time...I've been to Houston before..Not far from my native New Orleans ." I said..

"You'll be right at home there husband..." laughed Olivia.. She looked at Gary...

"You're going to miss your boo while she's gone aren't you?" asked Olivia..

"Not at all...I'm on Vacation as of Friday....I'll be down....Mid-week..I hope you have nice quarters..

" said Gary..

 "Nothing will compare to what we had in Hawaii....You should have seen it.."said Beverly as Bee Bee and Sofia listened raptly...

Josie added..

"One suite with three bedrooms, shower and bathroom in each and a kitchen and a living room.."she added..

''Damnn mannn that sounds fly.."said Keith..

"Yeah, but that was a well connected client paying for that...For this gig...Don't expect that.."cautioned Nelson..

"Long as we each have rooms...I don't mind."said Khalil..

"I'm just happy to be getting out of town for awhile.."said Yvette..

That was the sentiment of all of us..

V-

The next day we all met Slim Johnson in Yvette's office suite...

Attorney Slim Johnson met with us the next morning and explained the nature of the case....Then he showed us a photo of where we would be staying..

"Yvette, your  firm owns this place...There are eight bedrooms,  showers and baths in each room., a common area and a kitchen.."said Slim.

"That's not bad.." said Khalil...

"Not at all...Is the place air conditioned?" asked Keith..

''Keith?"said Bee Bee,laughing.

"That's a good question Bee Bee..It's Hot in Houston...especially this time of year."I said softly...

Sofia just chuckled and shook her head...

"Yes it has central air.."said Slim..

"Well that's good enough for me...We can couple up...Donnie Ray and I, Bev and Nelson

 er...I don't know how you guys will do it..room-mate wise."said Olivia..

''We like to play house.."said Yvette,looking at her charges and smiling..Keith and Bee Bee

and Sofia and Khalil...

She said..

''Which means You ,Jade and Josie will have rooms to yourselves."I said smiling...

"I won't be alone...Gary will be down Wednesday..." said Yvette...

"There is a complete law library in there and a computer..." said Slim..

"Good , we won't have to ship anything..."said Nelson...

"Here are your round trip air tickets...There is one for Jade...Here are the keys...And the company card...You can rent a couple of SUV's for transportation..."said Slim...

''We are all set.." I said..

"Houston here we come...This is going to be soooo much fun..."said Beverly...

"I know...We should all go shopping after we get out of this meeting.."said Bee Bee..

"I know right..You down Josie?" asked Sofia..

"Sure Am.."said Josie..

"We'd better go and pack"said Nelson...

"You're so practical...You know your wife and the girls are going shopping."laughed Olivia..

"I'm as bad as they are...Come on Livy Girl...We can at least get a pair of shoes or a handbag!"laughed Yvette ,who was giddy...

 At a Coffee shop a few blocks away, Jade Lee was having  coffee  with Gary Lockwood..investigator for the D.A.'s office..

"I'm excited about going to Houston with the guys..and working with Olivia and Beverly and their team.."said Jade.

 ''Yeah this sounds epic..."said Gary.

"I expect to see you in a few days...You aint lettin your girl Yvette out of your sight for that long are you?" laughed Jade...

"She is becoming addicting.."laughed Gary...

Unknown to either of them, ADA Rockland Cambridge saw them from outside the window..

"That damn Gary...He's tryin to put the moves on Jade Lee...I knew it!Ha ..Ha..Now if Only I knew who Yvette was seeing.." he thought as he walked on....

Liv and I and Nelson and Beverly and Josie headed back to the house..

''Wow...We are going to Houston...I might call my sister while we are there.."I said..

"I'm glad we have a few days before we go...I need my rest..." said Olivia..

"I hear you...I'm exhausted.."said Nelson..

"Josie and I are going out with Bee Bee and Sofia..

When I come back, I'll chill out with you."said Beverly....

I too was glad we had a break...The rest of today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday before we were off again..This indeed was going to be an epic trip..

(TO BE CONTINUED)