Investment In Murder

"WE THE JURY FIND THE DEFENDENT...NOT GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES!" read the bailiff..

"WE DID IT AGAIN AUNTAY!" laughed Attorney Beverly West-East as she high fived her aunt, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander..

''Yes, we did baby girl..but this was a close one.." said Olivia...

The defendent, a young man accused of first degree murder hugged both Olivia and Beverly...He had tears in his eyes...

"Thank you, Thank you two so much....I kept telling everybody that I didn't do this.." he said...

His wife and his daughter and his parents hugged them too..

"Thank you two soooooo much..."they all said..

Josie Boyd, our para-legal stood in the back of the courtroom with me,

Donnie Ray Alexander....Ex-Homicide Detective, Now Investigator for this law firm... Olivia is my wife and Beverly, her niece is my niece by marriage...

Olivia gave me a big kiss..

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I couldn't do any of this without you.."she said..

Beverly hugged me...

"Wow...you came through with that extra evidence at the last minute..."she said.. and they both hugged Josie, who as a Para-Legal ,helped them immensely in court...

"Thank you Jo.."said Beverly..

"My pleasure.." she said, beaming with so much pride in being part of the team...

As a homicide detective...I worked very hard to put criminals behind bars...Now as their investigator...I work to keep people OUT of jail...Funny how that works..

"I've got the best staff in the whole world...Come on, let's go home...."said Olivia..

As Beverly, Josie and I left the courthouse....

We were all unaware that we were being watched....Observed if you will by a young woman who was destined to be our next client...

II-

At a downtown bar, not far from the courthouse...Lieutenant Arthur Tragg sat talking to the bartender, Curly Howard...a former Detective himself..Now Bar owner.

''Hey Artie...That was you on that case huh? Looks like you got the wrong guy...He was innocent after all huh?.." said Curly..

"He wasn't innocent...He got himself two good lawyers...Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West, her niece..

That's all...and they got him off.."snarled Lieutenant Tragg..who was in a sour mood...

"I just can't catch a break....."he said as he drank his sixth beer...."Hey Curls, gimmee another.." he said..

Curly slid another beer to him....

A man walked over to Lt. Tragg...

"That your car out there? the 2018 Jag?" he said...

"Yeah, what about it? Who are you?" asked Lieutenant Tragg...

"Look buddy, who I am isn't important...What IS important is you're about to get a ticket."said the man...

"A ticket? I park there all the time...I'm a cop damn it!" screamed Lieutenant Tragg who ran outside to his car....There was no ticket....and no cop or parking official anywhere around..

He turned around...

"That guy was off his nut...Wrong car..."he said and turned to walk back into the bar..

His car exploded!!!....The explosion was so powerful it blew Lieutenant Tragg into the bar...through the doors...

"Geeeeeeeeeeeeeez" he said as he got up off the floor..

"Artie..you alright?" screamed Curly...

"Yeah,I'm fine.." he said...

Lt. Tragg and all of the bars patrons ran outside..

Lt. Tragg's brand new 2018 Jaguar was a shambles, blown to bits....The only thing left was the wheels...

"Oh My God....Call the fire department...MY CAR!!! MY CAR!!!!" he screamed.......

He looked around for the man who had told him he was getting a ticket...He was nowhere to be found...

III-

Far away from the explosion at our office...Another explosion was close to happening...

ADA Rockland Cambridge was kissing our new office manager, Alfreda Johnson passionately...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Alfreddddddddddddddddddddda....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."he moaned...

"Rocccccccccccccccklannnnnnnnnnnnnnd, the girls will be back soon....You've got to go back to work.....Stop all of this kissing before you have another, er accident like you had yesterday...."cooed Alfreda in between kisses...

"I know....I can't let you go..I can't help how I feel about you." he moaned..."Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.."

Alfreda saw our SUV pulling up through the window...

"Okay..Okayyyyyyyyyyyyy,well you're going to have to let me go baby....Go over there and sit down and calm yourself  down for a minute.."she whispered softly...

His Trousers were standing out like a circus tent...She shook her head...

''WOW!" was all she could think...

Rockland went and sat down....He was trying  to calm himself down....but it was hard when he was around Alfreda...

Olivia, Beverly and myself and Josie walked in....

 "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Alfreda, Hi Rockland" said Olivia

 "Hi Mommy, Hi Rockland.." said Beverly,kissing her mother on the cheek..

 "Heyy Mrs. J. , Hello Rockland."I said...He was sweating and Alfreda's lipstick was visible on his cheek and his lips..

 "Hi Ms. Johnson...Hi Rockland.."said Josie..

''From the looks on your faces , you won your case.. Sit down...There is some fresh brewed and sweetened Ice Tea ,waiting for you.."said Alfreda..

We were all pleasently surprised...

''Alfreda , you are a gem..."said Olivia.,.hugging her and kissing her on the cheek. Alfreda had been working for us a little over a month now and was indeed a gem...She had hot tumblers of coffee waiting for the five of us in the morning...Sometimes Doughnuts from Cakeman Raven's bakery..and now just what we needed...Cold Glasses of Ice Tea...

"Thank you Mommy." said Beverly, who wet a cloth and walked over to Rockland and wiped her mother's lipstick off of his lips and lapel and his cheeks..

"I do this for Donnie Ray and my husband all the time." she said and smiled at Rockland..

He smiled at her...

"Thank you..." he said, but he was visibly embarrassed...

Olivia poured him a glass of Ice Tea and passed it to him....

"Here Rockland...Have a drink with us.."she said...

Rockland almost felt ashamed..

He had once hated the both of them for besting him in court and they had battled numerous times...But outside of court, they had been nothing but nice to him and gracious...Rockland had to admit..They were both very nice girls..

"Seeeee Rockland, they aren't so bad, are they?" joked Alfreda...

He said nothing...

Nelson walked in just then...

"Ms Jay.  Hi ADA Cambridge." he said and kissed Alfreda on the cheek...

''Son in Law....You seem excited..Is that because Beverly is here or you got some thing to tell us?" asked Alfreda, who kissed him on his cheek...

He pulled Beverly to him and kissed her..

"Both" he said...

 "I'm always excited to see Bev." he said..

Beverly giggled like a school girl...

"But you guys haven't heard the latest...Lt. Tragg's car exploded in mid town today...It was totaled..The Police Bomb Squad said someone placed a bomb in it...timed it to explode as soon as he got in it..

In case you're wondering...It went off too soon...He's fine...but the car is totaled...." said Nelson...

"He's the luckiest guy alive right now!" added Nelson...

"Oh My God...Lt. Tragg is not my favorite person, but I certainly don't want him dead.."said Rockland..."Wowwwwwwwwwww!" he said..

 "He's pissed somebody off royally.."said Olivia..

 "For him that's a no brainer.."said Beverly...

"You're going to hell for that Bev" said Josie and both girls laughed...

"Yeah, some woman..."remarked Alfreda..

I smiled wryly...

"Oh yeah? Some woman huh?" I said......giving Alfreda the serious side eye and smiling...

"He looks like the fooling around type...He's pissed off some woman and she put a contract out on him.."said Alfreda...

Beverly cracked up...

"Mommy you are too much..."she laughed...

"Wow, that might not be too far from the truth......Somebody tried to take him out....I saw his car..That was a nice car...2018 Jaguar..."said Olivia..

"Shame somebody did that to that car.."I said...

We all busted out in gales of laughter...Even ADA Rockland Cambridge...

IV-

Out on the street, Lieutenant Tragg looked in horror as they towed away what little was left of his car...

"My car...Oh My God..My CAr.."he said..

"Be glad that wasn't you Artie...Somebody tried to take you out..."said Curly Howard...

"Yeah..."said Lt. Tragg ..."And I'm going to clear my desk and work on this case hard until I find out who did this..."he vowed...

At our office, we all kicked back and sat in the conference room,

laughing and talking about our cases...Rockland had gone back to work....

"I'm going to take the next few days off and do some much needed shopping, Groceries , the whole works.."said Olivia..

"Yeah, me too.."said Beverly ,who was sitting in her husband's lap...

Nelson just hugged her in between kisses..

She giggled like a school girl...

"I might head down to Josie's and see if they need an extra Trumpet player to set in with the house band.."I said..

"I'm still studying for the LSAT's."said Josie...

"Nelson and I will help you.."said Beverly...

"Hey Guys....This is Ms. Angela Benson..."said Alfreda ,who escorted a young Blonde into our conference room..

"Olivia Bennett-Alexander!!!!  ,Beverly West!!! I'm pleased to finally meet you...I've followed your cases for a long time now.."said the woman...

"Hi....What can we do for you? And can we start on Monday?" joked Olivia..It was Wednesday afternoon.

"Oh of course,I saw you both in court today....I know you just finished a case.."said the woman.."Oh excuse my manners...I'm Angela Benson..."she said..

"I'm Beverly West-East..."said Beverly..

"Congratulations on you and Nelson's  Recent Wedding.."said Angela Benson..

"YOU KNOW THAT??YOU KNOW ME?"said a very surprised Nelson..

"Yes counselor...I've followed you guys for awhile...Hello Mr. Donnie Ray.."she said to me..

''Hello."I said.

"Hi Josie.." she said..

"Hello."said Josie...

Most People know Olivia and Beverly....a few people know I'm her husband...but knowing Nelson and Josie means this woman is a fan...a groupie..

"Now that we have all of our introductions....Let's get down to cases...I'm here because I need you to look into my husband's case...His name is Ray Benson and he's been in prison for three years on a murder rap...He's innocent...I know of your other work...He didn't have a very good attorney his first
time out...He was convicted on some pretty circumstantial evidence.." she said.

''Where is he now?"asked Olivia..

"He's at Stanga State Prison.. Serving 10-Life...He's innocent.."said Angela Benson...

"Well, we can look into his case and we can visit him, but unless we find some really compelling and new evidence...It will be pretty difficult to get his sentence overturned.."said Beverly..

"My niece is right!!!...We will look into his case, but we can't promise you anything.."said Olivia..

"I just feel better with two competent Attorneys looking into his case as opposed to his original trial Attorney..."said Angela...  She then passed Olivia an envelope..

"This should take care of you and your staff and expenses..."she said..

Olivia looked at the check in the envelope...

"OH MY GOD!  You're really invested in this aren't you?" she said..

"I'm all in...Ray was arrested shortly after we returned from our honeymoon...I've been robbed of my one true love....I know he'd move mountains for me, It's the least I can do for him..." said Angela..

''WOW!  We in Auntay?" asked Beverly..

''We are in.."said Olivia.

"I want in on this."said Nelson...

"You're in.."said Olivia...

"I'll get on his case tomorrow..I'll see if I can get the case files..."I said..

"I love you guys....Thank you..."said Angela...

V-

Angela Benson looked at our Duplex/Office as she walked away...

"Nice.....Office on the first floor...Bev and her husband live right above

 and Liv and her husband

live above that..Nice..Real Nice Set up!"she thought..

She opened her purse and looked at her wedding bands...

"Damn Ray, we didn't get to enjoy one month of being married....Damn....That jackass Lt. Tragg arrested you and that stupid Public Defender got you sent up....Don't worry..I'm gonna get you out and make sure they pay dearly baby." she said to herself.....

Then she thought of Lieutenant Tragg...

"You got lucky today good Lieutenant....but I'm not through...before this is over, you and that lousy Public Defender will be taking dirt naps....Just Wait!" she said..

(TO BE CONTINUED)