Night Of The Swollen Lip

We were back in court after a two day continuance....

ADA Harper had a new witness who while he did not see our client or place our client at the scene of the crime...He disputed one of our key witnesses...

This was the surprise Olivia and Beverly had warned about...

 Mark Dawkins ,upon seeing the woman confided in Nelson and I that this woman was from his past and she was in his words, "Certifiably crazy" and had nothing whatsoever to do with the case.."

''She must have something to do with the case...because Harper looked far and wide and found her..."I said.

It turned out she was a former tenant of one of our witnesses..  I immediately left court and did some digging..

I knew I'd have to work fast...

Eric Barnes hammered this witness on cross, but she wouldn't budge...Like our witnesses..she had been coached well...

ADA Ron Harper sat back and grinned...

I did a little research on the fly..It took me about an hour...After lunch when the trial resumed..I returned  and got the information to Josie.,...

Josie passed it on to Olivia,Beverly, Nelson and Eric..

 

The woman in question had had a sexual relationship with our client,Mark Dawkins...and an unrequited love that was never returned....This was three years before.He had put two restraining orders out on her several years ago and had wound up leaving their mutual place of employment after she falsely accused him of making inappropriate sexual advances...

Nelson brought this out brilliantly and in a way that didn't make him look like a bully....The woman broke down into tears...

 Thanks to my research, Beverly brought out three witnesses from their old company who talked about her vindictiveness toward Mark after their relationship ended and her vow "To make him pay in any way fashion or form one day for spurning her."

Olivia asked her right out if she were perjuring herself..Explained the punishment for perjury and asked her was she around the day of the murder at all...

While the woman wouldn't give a straight answer, she again burst into tears......

ADA Ron Harper, once Olivia ,Beverly and Nelson's friend was livid....He complained of them badgering the witness....

The Judge however would hear none of it...He called all of the attorneys to the side bar...

"Were you aware that this witness was nowhere near the scene of the crime? And were you aware that she appears to be batshit crazy?" he asked ADA Ron Harper..

"Your honor...I was assured that she was a charactor witness.." he said..

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Eric gave him the side eye..So did the Judge....

Within the next hour...Eric Barnes gave his closing argument...It was brilliant and very convincing....

Nelson said to me..

"Donnie Ray...I'm seeing 11 to acquit and one still not sure...despite all we've done..This jury might be hung.."he said..

I sighed...

"Yeah, you may be right..but I sure hope not...This case is just dragging on..and so much is at stake here.."I said..

Indeed....It was a Capital case in which a conviction could mean Life ,no parole or the Death Penalty...

Mark Dawkins looked afraid and weary of it all at the same time..

ADA Ron Harper gave his final sumnation and closing remarks and the jury was instructed to look at the charges and the law and come to a conclusion...

The trial  or this trial for all intents and purposes was over..

II-

A very attractive brown skinned young lady was sitting in the spectator section....Watching the entire last day of the trial...

She was Attorney Melody Brown...a former client of ours...Olivia and Beverly had represented her when she was falsely terminated from a job she had for refusing to lie...We had won her case and a large sum of money...She was in law school at the time...She had since graduated ,passed the bar and had been working as a public defender herself..

"Melody?? Melody Brown is that you?" asked Olivia during recess..

''Hi Ms. Olivia, Ms. Beverly...Josie...Donnie Ray and Nelson..Yes it is me.." she said..

"Ohhh wowwww look at you.."said Beverly, who hugged her and spun her around...

"Hey girl..I'm in law school too now...at Drexel."said Josie..

"Good For you..Good For You.." said Melody.

"Last we heard, you were at the Public Defender's Office..."I said..

"I was there for two years, then I got a job with the Innocence Project where I am now..."said Melody...

"Ohhhh good for you...The Innocence Project is paying our fee for this case.." said Olivia.

"Yeah.."said Beverly...

"I know...When I saw your names on a recent list of case files..I had to come to court to see you guys...I owe you guys so much..." said Melody..

Eric Barnes seemed mesmerized by the young lady....

"WOW! Who is THAT?" he asked...

Nelson laughed.

"Her name is Melody...Melody Brown, she is an Attorney...We once represented her...About two years ago when she was still in law school...She's graduated and passed the bar now..She was with the Public defender's office...You've never seen her?" asked Nelson..

"Nahhhh..I would have remembered her.." said Eric..

"So you just gonna throw Josie over like that huh?" Nelson joked..

Eric sighed..

"Josie has a boyfriend...She told me that last night...She told me she was flattered that I liked her so much and that if she were single ,she would certainly consider giving me some play, but she's not single and so it's not gonna happen..Then she told me..We will always be friends.Wouldn't even let me kiss her....I tried...She sent me home early man...I had to take a longgg cold shower...."he confided to Nelson.

"Ughhhhhhhhhhhh no guy ever wants to hear that..I feel for ya man.." groaned Nelson, who smiled..

Josie walked over and took Eric by the hand..

"Come here...I've got somebody I want you to meet." she said..

Eric walked over....

 ''Eric ,this is a friend of ours...Attorney Melody Brown..She used to be a Public Defender too.."said Olivia.

"Yes...She wants to meet you.."said Beverly..

"Hi Eric...I work for the Innocence Project now...I've brought you a brochure that talks about us and tells you who we are...I watched you there in court...I like your style...I think we could use an attorney like you...Just something to think about.." she said...

''WOW!"was all he would say...

I didn't think he was talking about her job offer...

 Josie smiled..

"I think they'd make a cute couple." she said..

"Do you now?"asked Nelson , smiling and giving Josie the side eye..

"What? I do? "said Josie innocently....

''Reminds me of you Nelson.."said Beverly, smiling sweetly..

''Me?"said Nelson...

"Yeah you! You were sweet on my Auntay until you met me....Then you fell for me.."laughed Beverly...

Both Nelson and Olivia hated that Larry North had blurted that story out to Beverly and to me...His mild attraction or crush on Olivia never amounted to anything...

"The Jury is back"said a very confident ADA Ron Harper..breaking up the uncomfortable moment...

"It's showtime!" I said...

 Eric was all smiles and still talking to Melody Brown...

She smiled.. "I think you'd better go now...The jury has returned...We'll talk some more after the verdict.." she said..

III-

"Has The Jury come to decision?" asked the Judge..

"Yes Your Honor we have " said the Jury Foreman who passed an envelope to the Bailiff, who gave it to the Judge..

ADA Ron Harper looked lustfully at Olivia..

Olivia ignored him...

Beverly whispered to her Aunt..

"He is so confident he won this won...I'd like to take that confident smile off of his face." she said..

"Patience Baby..Patience.."said Olivia..

 "I'm thinking hung jury.."said Nelson..

 "It's not Hung...They've come to a decision." I said..

Josie said nothing..

Eric and Mark Dawkins stood somberly..

"COUNT ONE...MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE- NOT GUILTY!"

"COUNT TWO- KIDNAPPING- NOT GUILTY!"

"COUNT THREE-USING AN INSTRUMENT IN THE  COMMISSION OF A CRIME-NOT GUILTY!!"

"COUNT FOUR- WITNESS INTIMIDATION- NOT GUILTY!"

Ron Harper's mouth flew wide open...

"Well I'll be damned!!!... Can we poll the jury?" he asked..

The Jury was polled...Nothing changed...

Beverly was ecstatic...She high fived her aunt..

"We did it Auntay!" she said..

"YES WE DID!!!" she  said and hugged her niece...

"Wow, I couldn't have done this without you guys...Thank you so much.."said Eric Barnes..who hugged both of them and kissed them on the cheek..He shook Nelson's hand...

''It was a team effort.."said Nelson..

Mark Dawkins burst into tears...

"Thank you guys...Thank you so much...I was certain I was headed for prison...Oh My god..This is a relief.." he said.

His mother, father and two sisters surrounded him and thanked his legal team...

"All in a days work.." I said happily...

"Wow ,so much was on the line.."said Josie..

"Hey why don't you guys join me at Josies tonight for Happy Hour?  It's Hot Wings and Shrimp night.. Would you come too Eric? As my guest?" asked Melody..

'' YESSSS!!!'Of course.."said Eric..

 "Sounds like you're in the winners circle dude!" said Nelson to him..

Olivia, Beverly and Josie looked at each other and smiled...

I couldn't help but think this whole thing was organized ...though I couldn't prove it...Probably never could prove it!

Nelson was looking at me thinking the same thing..

ADA Ron Harper was mumbling..

"I can't believe it...I lost...I lost to a punk kid...who was helped out by Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece.I can't believe it." he mumbled...

"I can't believe it...I just can't believe it."he muttered to himself..

Missing from all of this was Lt. Tragg...He didn't have a taste for the ribbing he got from the press after these trials...




IV-

Josie's was crowded tonight..

 "Heyyy Livy Girl, come on over...There are some booths over here.."said Attorney Yvette Jones, who was sharing a booth with her boyfriend, D.A.'s investigator , Gary Lockwood..

''Congratulations you guys...You won a big one.."said Gary, laughing...

 "I'm just glad it's over.."said Olivia as she led me by the hand to a booth right across from theirs...

I smiled gingerly....

Beverly and Nelson, Josie and Paris were on the dance floor , dancing to the cool grooves of the five d.J.'s who were spinning tonight..

Keith Jones,Bee Bee Evans,Sofia Garcia and Kahlil Ahmed were also dancing...

Jade and Lt. Danny Ho were sitting in a booth talking quietly..

 Zoey and Lem walked in....

 "Heyyy guys...Saw you ,Bev and your crew on Television this afternoon Livy..Congratulations.."said Zoey..

"You keep winning the big ones Livy.."laughed Lem..

"I'm just glad it's over and we won.."said Olivia..

 Micro Brews came over for us guys...

 And Martinis came over for the girls...

By now Beverly, Nelson and the youngins

had stopped dancing and came over just in time to chow down on the honey barbecued chicken wings..

and the honey barbecued shrimp.. They took several booths behind us...

Yvette fed shrimp to Gary...

And Ms. Jade fed chicken wings to Lt. Danny Ho...

After the week we all had , this should have been an uneventful night...but it was not to be...

Also in the crowd and drinking heavily was Elwood Barnes..

He noticed Olivia and I..

 We were kissing passionately....

and Zoey and Lem..

 Who soon were kissing passionately too!

He shook his head....He then saw that strangely familliar looking young attorney who had been working with us...

 Something about him!!!! Almost like he knew him or had known him....

He had no idea who the hot young woman was he was talking to quietly in the booth.....But they were getting along famously and talking for seemingly hours...

Despite the crowd...It was a night of sightings.....He spotted Alexandria...who he hadn't seen in three weeks!!!!..god she looked hot!!!Looked like a new dress she had on...

She was with a man he had never seen before...

and they were kissing passionately....trying to devour each other's lips it seemed...

"Oh Miles...We need to take this back to my place.."said Alex..

"Baby,I was just going to suggest that...Ummmm.."he said..

Elwood was furious...

He got up, stumbled a little bit and walked over to them....

"You Slut!!!  For three years ,I give you a place to lay your head and now ..now because of a simple mis-understanding you leave me and move in with him??Over here sucking face with him!!! YOU OPPORTUNISTIC SLUT!!" he snarled.. It was obvious he was drunk...

"Elwood, Elwood you don't mean that! I'm going to forget about the name calling..I'm going to let that slide..Let's not do this here..okay?...You've been drinking...For your information...I have my own place..I don't live with anybody..Alex said demurely...She didn't want a scene..

 "OH YOU DO HUH? YOU GOT YOUR OWNNNNNNNNNN PLACE, Huh whore?? You're ownnn place!" Elwood snarled.

''Don't you call her a slut or anything else  out of her name again you hear?" said Miles Ellis quietly but firmly..

"OH YEAHHH?? AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?" said Elwood...

By now a section of the bar was quiet..We could all see and hear the altercation that was about to happen...

Meanwhile over by the restroom...

"Thank you for the offer...I'll send my resume tomorrow to your office..."said Eric Barnes..

"You're quite welcomed."whispered Melody...

They stared into each others eyes

Pretty soon they were kissing passionately...

''Look pal, you've been drinking, let me call you a cab..or get you some water.."said Miles Ellis..

"GET OUTTA MY FACE! I DON'T NEED ANYTHING FROM YOU!!" said Elwood who grabbed Alexandria...

"YOU'RE COMING HOME WITH ME! YOU'RE GONNA GIVE ME SOME OF THAT THING TONIGHT BABY!" he yelled..

"Elwood let me go!!!..Take your hands off of me.!!!. "Elwood let me go!!!"said Alex..

" Take your hands off of her."said Miles who snatched her away..

"Butt Out!" said Elwood, who swung at Miles and missed...He swung again...Miles blocked his advance...
He swung again and missed again... but Miles didn't...He punched him in his face...
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu" moaned Elwood...who swung again and missed horribly....Miles punched him in his stomach... He bent down..."Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."obviously in pain...
Miles punched him in his jaw and knocked him over a table, knocking all of the drinks off of the table and sending Elwood spilling onto the floor..along with the table...

The bar was mesmerized....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, unnnnnnnnnnnnnnh..." groaned Elwood..

 Beverly cracked up laughing and grabbed Josie..

"Bum Ass got his ass kicked...I'm loving it.." she squealed...

 Josie was laughing too!...

"Oh My god!" said Bee Bee....

"Oh My Goodness." said Olivia..

"Ayee Mios Dios." said Sofia..

"WOW!" said Yvette Jones..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" said Zoey!

Elwood was getting up off the floor,

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, ummmmmmmmmm...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lawd...ouuuuuuuu" he moaned..

 I grabbed Elwood...

"That's enough.."I said.

 Gary stood by...

"Chill Man..." he said quietly...

 So did Nelson..

"Come on man...You've been drinking.." he said.

 Keith Jones said-

"I'll get him some water.."

and Kahll said -

''And a cold towel for his lip.."

 ''Everything Alright ?" said Danny Ho, who ran over to see if he could be of some help.

"Everything is fine..I can handle him.."said Elwood..Whose lip was swollen, his left eye was black and swollen and his clothes were ruffled...

I imagine his pride was hurt...So many women seeing him get decked...

''He's an Assistant District Attorney..I think you'd better cool it."I said..

Miles recognized me. .He straightened himself out..

"It's okay...I know he's drunk...No harm ,no foul...Heyy Gary.." he said..

''How ya doin man?" said Gary.

 "I'm good..Come on babe...Let's get out of here."he said to Alexandria..

"Okay." she said..She took one last look at Elwood ....

''Elwood don't come by my office again!!.. We have nothing to talk about! NOT NOW!!  NOT EVER! Security has been instructed to remove you and deny you entrance.." she said icily...

and took Miles's hand and walked out of the bar with him...

"Good for you girlfriend..That's telling him! "said Beverly, clapping..."What a night this was."laughed Beverly...."That was Miles Ellis..Who we faced in court...If he had of stayed...I'd of bought him a drink for decking bum ass." said Beverly..

"Sure was him....I see he has a girlfriend now...I'm happy for him."said Yvette..

"Yeah, that was Elwood's ex-girlfriend...She left him after she found a pair of panties in their bedroom.."said Olivia..

''Well that sounds familliar."said Zoey. As the entire booth broke into laughter...

"Somebody was fighting.."said Melody...

''Yeah, how about that." mused Eric..who pulled her back towards him..

''Did you know either of them?"asked Melody...

Eric thought then he said..

"No...No I didn't..."

He ran his hands slowly along her waist and pulled her toward him....

 "Now where were we?" he asked..

''You're fresh.."she said..

They began kissing again...

Olivia saw them and smiled..

"Well this turned out well." she said..

Beverly smiled at Josie, who was dancing slow with Paris..

"It did ,didn't it Auntay?" she said giggling...

They wouldn't admit it, but somehow I know one or all three of them had arranged this....

Quite a night at Josie's and quite an ending to another case.

EPILOUGE-

The Next morning...A Saturday Morning...

Olivia and I were up early....

We both fixed Breakfast which consisted of Pancakes , Omelets and a pot of hot coffee.....

Within minutes...Beverly and Nelson came up from downstairs...Along with Josie and Paris, who had spent the night with them...

 "Hi Auntay, Donnie Ray...What a great night it was last night.."said Beverly...

 "You're a little too happy about last night.." remarked Nelson..

 ''Yesterday was great...We won our case....We hooked Melody and Eric up.."gushed Josie..."Maybe we helped him get a better job too." she added..

''Yeah and we seen a fight to top it off..."said Paris...

"Oh that was insane...Elwood was drunk, calling that girl out of her name like that...That was un called for.."said Olivia..

''And Miles Ellis gave him what for.."laughed Beverly.."I loved it...I'm buying Miles a drink the next time I see him in Josies or Aqua Bar.."said Beverly...

''Elwood has been banned from Josies for a month...I heard Gus and his bouncers tell him that at around closing last night.."I said...

"Poor Guy...He's been having a bad couple of weeks..Lost his girl, got his ass kicked in the club and now banned..He doesn't know how lucky he is...That was an ADA he was fighting...He could have been brought up on assault charges.."said Nelson, all of which was true...

''Nonsense...If Elwood hadn't been sleeping around..He would still have his girlfriend...He made his own bed..and now he's got to lie in it."said Beverly...

''With a pair of panties!" said Olivia..

This brought everyone to loud laughter....

Which could be heard out in the street...

Elwood stood outside our Duplex/Office...He could hear the laughter from the top floor, Olivia's floor..He couldn't hear the conversation...but he could recognize the voices and laughter of his ex-wife, Olivia, her niece Beverly, myself and Beverly's husband, Nelson..He could smell the aroma of the food...They were having breakfast...

and he could make out two more voices...probably that sexy little para-legal..

and another male..

 He hadn't been home...He had slept in his car all night long...He thought about the happiness that eluded him...His loft was empty now...No woman in his bed..His bed hadn't been empty for a long time...

He walked over to his car, across the street...started it up and pulled off....