From her apartment complex ,which was walking distance from us...
to our Duplex/Office..
Where I'd be waiting with Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie..
We'd ride three blocks to the apartment complexes where
Keith Jones, Bee Bee Evans, Sofia Garcia, Khalil Ahmed and Jade Lee eagerly awaited and we were all spirited off to the Federal Building downtown where..the Attorneys worked day in and day out on two cases in which we soon planned to bring law suits up with.
We ate all three meals in their fancy cafeteria...It was cheaper for one thing...and a lot easier than going out looking for a great restaurant...
Jade and I combed the streets of Philadelphia and it's neighboring suburbs...
I brought in 28 people..All African-Americans and Latinos who had been on a bus and turned away from going to the polls and held in custody on their bus until five minutes before the polls closed..
We discovered Under-Sherrif Burt Greavly and four of his deputies were responsible...
They were delivered summons to appear in court by Josie, who rode with us on the second Friday...
Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Karla Williams did interviews , took statements and filed affadavits...They video taped everything...
The Interviews were done at our Duplex/Office...At no time were they in the federal building where we were laying out the case.
II-
Yvette's case was more far reaching...
Jade and I were back on the streets..looking up the several people who had been thrown off the voter rolls.
She and I both said this felt like when we were on the job as Homicide Detectives ,out on the streets..It gave us a great rush..
Naturally we couldn't round up 33,000 voters thrown off the roles...but we rounded up 33 of the most blatantly fraudulent cases...
Yvette and company interviewed them at their downtown office..
We had these people come in and tell their stories...
Yvette, Keith, Sofia, Bee Bee ,Kahlil and Karla interviewed them all....on video tape and had them sign affadavits...
Josie passed out summons like it was water to 12 officials who may or may not have been in cahoots with the campaign of Tony Richardson's brother in law's opponent... Criminal charges might be brought up soon..
"Officially" They were all listed as Olivia and Beverly and Nelson's clients or Yvette and Associates clients....but they weren't paying us anything..We were being paid off the books by the government..
We told them if we got any money for them ,we'd take our fee off the top...It appeared we were trying the cases pro bono...
Something about this whole thing seemed a bit illegal...but we bore no responsibility one way or another and we were getting paid well to represent them...
U.S. Attorney Karla Williams was one of the sweetest nicest people ever..She worked closely with all of us and helped us as much as she could..
She was such a joy to be around until U.S. Attorney Tony Richardson showed up...
Her mood would change then...It would fluctuate from sadness to slight anger...
I wondered myself if they were romantically involved in some type of way....
III-
"Good Work..Good Work Guys...This is coming together sooner than I thought..." he said..
He kept a low profile...He couldn't be linked to this...
As news of the coming class action suits spilled out to the news media..It was
It was Crusading Civil Rights Attorneys ,Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West and their team and Yvette Jones and her team..
who were the face of the investigation.....
U.S. Attorney, Karla Williams said to the media
that the Federal Government would be "Monitoring the upcoming court cases and could possibly bring charges against anyone found guilty.."
Tony Richardson was not mentioned at all....Which was what he wanted...
He called Karla into his office..They hadn't been alone for two weeks...going on three..
"What is it?" she asked disgustedly...For two weeks,She had been so busy helping the two teams that he wasn't able to get near her...She was with us at our Duplex Office and with Yvette and her team at their downtown offices...She was hardly at the Federal Building and when she was ,She was working closely with both teams or fielding questions from the Press...
"I missed you..I can't stop thinking about you..." he said..He tried to back her into the wall....but she moved away from him...He tried to kiss her but she pushed him away...
"Stop ,Okay? We aren't going to play this game Tony..You got what you wanted a couple of weeks ago...Now leave me alone..." said Karla..
"That was nothing...A romp in the office...I need to experience you totally, mentally,physically,spiritually....ummmmmmmmmmmm.." he said softly...
"You know, two years ago when I first started working with you...a line like that would have made my panties wet and they'd of just slipped off..but now I see it for what it is...A line..One of many you've probably used over the years...What Line did you use on Glenda Brown??
Or that Judge's wife
and even worse..Olivia's cousin, Kayla...??
Does Liv even know??" she asked..
"They were all in the past..All I care about is you now!...." he said, trying to back her into the wall and kiss her again....She deftly moved away....
Karla knew where all of the bodies were buried he thought...She had
loyally covered up for him for the past two years....He had known she'd
had a deep crush on him and was just waiting for the opportunity to
exploit it..
He pushed her up against the wall and managed a brief kiss...She gave in despite trying to be strong and devoured his lips..
He devoured hers...
"Ouuuu Tony stoppppppppppppp...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."she moaned..
"I can't...I can't stop...Can you?" he moaned...in between hot smouldering kisses..
Finally she eased out of his embrace and fixed her clothes....
"Let's Stop this Tony...You're getting yourself all worked up for nothing.....We did it once...but that's it...No more kissing, no more grinding on me, groping me...That's it.."said Karla.
They had stopped just in the nick of time too..
Kahlil peeped his head in the office..
"Uh Attorney Richardson...You uh have a visitor.." he said..
"A Visitor? Who would be visiting me up here?" he asked..Annoyed..
She wiped her lipstick off of his face and his lapel...
"One of your other girls.."laughed Karla as he headed for the conference room...
IV-
In the conference room, Attorney Juanita Richardson of Washington D.C. Tony Richardson's wife was laughing and chewing the fat with Olivia, Beverly , Yvette and the others..
"So you're Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West....I've heard sooo much about you two.." she said.
"I hope it was all good."said Olivia..
"If it wasn't..It's not true.."joked Beverly...
"And you're becoming a rising star too Ms. Jones, Super -lawyer recipient.." she said..
"It was a team effort." said Yvette, looking at her team..
As we were laughing...Tony Richardson walked into the Conference Room..
"Juanita, what are you doing here? Where is the baby?" he asked..
"The Baby is with my mom....I came here because I have news...You're going to be a FATHER AGAIN!!!" she said..."I'M PREGNANT!!!" she said..moving her head back and forth...
Nelson, Josie and I 's mouths dropped....
Kahlil smiled and shook his head...
Karla's face betrayed no emotion...She stared blankly into space...
Olivia put her arms around her and hugged her..She whispered to Karla...
"It's Okay...We've all been there.."
Karla looked at Olivia and smiled weakly...
"He can't keep his hands off of me...This is what happens..." laughed Juanita Richardson...
Karla thought to herself.. "He can't keep his hands off of me either..."
"You just had a baby didn't you?" asked Bee Bee..
"About a year ago right?" asked Beverly...
"Yes...He's 11 months..and here I am knocked up again..." she joked..
We all clapped and whistled!!!
She kissed Tony...
"Aren't you excited?" she asked, gushing..
"Well uh Yes...Uh I'm just over joyed.." Tony said..
He looked like he was going to be sick.....
"If I had a cigar man,I'd light one up for you..."I said..
"It's okay....I'm good.."said Tony Richardson...
"Come on..Let's go out to eat...It's Friday and it's a quarter to five...Nobody will mind if you leave early..." said his wife...She was so happy...
The two of them left....
Olivia said to Karla..
"You look like you could use a drink..."
"Just one?" she asked and smiled..
"It's Friday...Come with us...Let your hair down..."said Yvette...
V-
We didn't work weekends...We took Karla to Josies....Our favorite watering hole...
We found three booths....
Karla sat with Me ,Olivia, Beverly and Nelson and Josie and Paris..
Across from us sat
Yvette and Gary, Keith and Bee Bee, Kahlil and Sofia...
Behind us sat Ms. Jade and Danny Ho..
a round of drinks arrived..
Karla looked around..
The bar was packed...She liked this place...Despite the crowd and the noise..She felt relaxed for the first time in a long time...
"Karla, you have to try these Citris Martinis...We call them the Olivia and Beverly Specials
"said Yvette.
"They came back from Seattle and raved about them...Now we all love them."said Yvette..
"Mmmmm this is delish.."said Karla..
who smiled..
"If you get tipsy...You can stay the night with us..We have plenty of room and we'll take you home in the morning.."said Olivia..
"So Karla...How long between you and him?" I asked..
"You noticed huh? I figured....For two years...I worked with him...I had a school girl crush on him when I first came to work for him...He is cute and sexy...but he was married...and I don't do married anything..He'd ask me out to lunch, drinks after work, but I always declined.. I wanted to, but I wouldn't....He's been trying to get in my panties for two years now..Up until recently....he hadn't succeeded.. I knew he was a womanizer...He spent the weekend with a young attorney here...A local..
While his wife was pregnant ..about to give birth... Then there was a Judge's wife...
and another young attorney"said Karla..Without naming Kayla...but we knew who she was talking about..
"I knew he was a dog...At the Christmas party we have at the Federal Building...He kissed me, in the lips unexpectedly as I was about to leave..I admit...I liked it...I let him, but I thought he was drunk.. Soon it became a regular thing...the kissing..I should have nipped it in the bud...but I didn't..Then it went too far..it became sexual..." she said and hung her head down...
"We all get caught up...It's nothing to be ashamed of..."said Bee Bee...
"Yeah....He is a very attractive man and seductive."said Sofia...
"I know, but I know better...I know better,I said I wasn't going to get caught up and yet I did...I tried to be his friend, his handler, his fixer...but instead ,I became his enabler, his plaything.." said Karla..
"The person I really feel sorry for is his poor wife...She's so happy and unassuming and about to have baby number two.."said Yvette...
"Yeah...that sucks.."said Keith Jones..
"Enough about Tony....Look our Christmas Party is coming up soon...I want all of you to come..It'll be a good time.."said Karla..
"I'm in...Is everybody else?" asked Olivia..
"Sure " I said..
"Count Me and Bev in"said Nelson.
"For you? Sure!"said Beverly...
"Me and Paris will be there.."said Josie..
"Just one more party to go to..and I love partying."said Paris..
"Gary, You and I will be there.."said Yvette..
"Of course." he said.,.,
"Bee and I are in..."said Keith..
Bee Bee raised her glass..
"Me and Kahlil are there too Soror.." said Sofia..
"Then it's unanimous.."said Kahlil..
"Don't forget us.." laughed Ms. Jade..
"We'll be there.." said Danny Ho..
"Awwwww you guys are great...Maybe I'll even have a plus one by then... We can party and welcome Attorney Richardson's new bundle of joy.." said Karla..
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