Mr. Miller

Early Morning....It was a morning for kissing...

Olivia and I were kissing passionately in our room..

"Olivia girl I could kiss you all morning.."I said in between smoldering kisses..

"That's not all you really want to do...but we have to go to work dear..."she said.

"Why do we have to go to work?" I asked jokingly wrapping my arms around her and just holding her..

''So we can have a roof over our head and a bed to kiss in with central air.."she said with a smile..

We both laughed....

And downstairs in their living room, Beverly and Nelson were kissing passionately...

"Be safe today baby girl....I want you to bring all that body ,all that lusciousness home..."said Nelson...

"I will, we are just going to look at an empty office.." she said...

Sanding right outside the doorway, Paris and Josie were enjoying a last kiss..

He had come by last night after midnight...Beverly had let him in like she usually did and he had spent the night with Josie in the other bedroom..

 "We are playing cards tonight, bring some food when you come.."said Josie..

"Sure thing...Wear something sexy.."said Paris...

"Boy Bye...I always wear something sexy.."laughed Josie as he left....

And standing right around the corner.....

 Alfreda

and Rockland were kissing passionately...

"You put it on me last night.." said Alfreda...

"I put it on you?  You put it on me...."said Rockland...

They had made love into the wee hours of the morning...with Alfreda being seemingly insatiable..

She had rocked Rockland's world......He was exhausted...

They had just stopped kissing when Beverly walked up.....

 Beverly and I were exiting ,when she saw her mother...

"Ma?" she said..

"Alfreda??" I said.

"What?" said Alfreda.. She seemed different, I couldn't put my finger on it....

''What?" she asked again..

"Nothing." said Beverly, who hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek...

Olivia came to the door...She too looked at Alfreda , who was glowing....

"Freda?" she asked..

"Honey it's just like that sometimes...."said Alfreda...she was swooning and glowing at the same time...It was obvious she had had some good sex the night before...

Olivia kissed me one last time..

"Mmmmmmmmm.."I moaned..

"There is more from where that came from.." she whispered..

"I certainly hope so.." I said.

"I suppose it is.."I said to Alfreda...

"You know!" said Alfreda ,smiling...





II-

I drove this time to the former offices of Austin Worthy/ Henry Hankerson and Stephen Jameson, Attorneys at Law.

"Donnie Ray, the crime scene tape has been cut..."said Beverly, who wisely snapped a photo of it with her phone..

"I won't have to pick the lock of this door...It's already open.." I said..as we walked in....

"Somebody has been here.." I said..

"And it wasn't the cops..."said Beverly, who snapped photos of everything with her phone..

We walked around...

"Somebody tossed this place.."I said..,

Beverly and I walked around...We didn't touch anything...We had on Latex gloves and latex booties..

"I wonder if they found what they were looking for?" she asked..

"It doesn't look like it was here...Come on Shortcake...Let's get out of here...before your Aunt has to raise bail for us." I said, looking at the chalk outline on the floor where the body fell..

"Hmmm, he was shot three times in the chest....Face to face...He had to know his killer...Hmmm." I said.

"Come on D.R." said Beverly...

We left and got back in the SUV and headed home..

III-

At The office...Olivia, Nelson ,Josie and Austin watched and Listened as Attorney /Accountant Lawrence Stephenson laid it all out...

"This is a mess, look at these bounced checks that you wrote Austin..."he said..

"That's not my handwriting...I didn't write or sign these checks..."Austin protested..

"If you didn't....Somebody was trying to set you up....No wonder your rent wasn't paid for months...and look at these other bills that went unpaid.." said Olivia..

"These books are all balanced though.."said Nelson...

"I suspect they are phony..."said Lawrence...

"Then where are the real books?" asked Josie..

"That could be the key to this mystery....What if your partner ,the late Stephen Jameson ,who was suing you discovered that it wasn't you who was writing the bad checks.. Wasn't you who was bleeding the company dry and that he confronted whoever was...That might be why he was shot to death..." said Lawrence..

"Lawrence you have just crafted my defense for this murder case.."said Olivia, smiling..

"So that shines the spotlight on the only other living partner....Hankerson..."said Josie..

"No.. Hankie wouldn't do this...He wouldn't..." said Austin...

"Did you have an accountant? Who did your books?" asked Olivia..

"His name is Miller...August Miller..I can give you his number..."said Austin...

''We are going to need that and an address" said Nelson.

IV-

Open court a few days later...

Olivia and Beverly sat with Austin Worthy...Voir Dire was about to begin....

Nelson, who had been hired by the girls was doing his thing......

The Prosecutor was ADA Ron Harper, who the girls had faced before...A very cut throat and ruthless prosecutor who wanted badly to win this case... He glared at Olivia, Beverly and Austin from across the court...

 "Ummmmph..that damn Olivia Bennett is a snack" he mused to himself.. He had unsuccessfully attempted to court her years before after her divorce from Elwood Barnes...but she wasn't interested.

 and her niece....lawddd… .she's a bit young for me...but I wouldn't kick her out of bed.." he mused..

"Austin Worthy...Mister hot shot....on Television as much if not more than Olivia and Beverly...Got a private plane and a boat....I'd love to take him down, take all that away from him...and lock his privileged ass up..." he thought..

.

Nelson went to work...Like the poker player he was.. He was questioning potential witnesses....He and Olivia had agreed on what kind of juror they wanted... Young ,White Millenial, possible jet setter or at least middle class....The type that likes sports, maybe that still parties a little bit...He was playing a shell game with ADA Ron Harper.

He would act like he had found a juror he really wanted...Knowing he would reject them.. ADA Ron Harper unwittingly went for the okey doke and rejected that juror.

Nelson would look at his wife, Beverly..

She mouthed the words "I love you" to him...Which made him smile..

Olivia nodded with approval.

Nelson who was excellent at sizing up a juror psychologically and asking just the right questions wound up getting 11 jurors..10 White,  1 Black 6 males ,5 females...All around His and Beverly and Josie's age, all millennials, all middle class..

Beverly mouthed the words to him again... "I Love You" and blew a kiss at him....He never in his wildest imagination imagined he'd be married to Beverly one day back when they first met as Public Defenders...

Judge Keith Marshall laughed... This was the second time a defense lawyer had snookered ADA Harper.. When was he going to learn? He mused and snickered...

Josie brought me a file I had been waiting for..

I smiled...It was the address of the accountant...August Miller...She also handed me a court summons....Olivia had procured this for me also...He was going to be served and we were going to check his books..

With the jury picked....

Judge Marshall said...

"Alright..We have our 12 jurors....It's Thursday....Everyone be here at 9:00 am Monday morning and be prepared for trial.." he said as court adjourned..

ADA Ron Harper walked up to Olivia as she was getting ready to leave court..

"Olivia Bennett-my my my...if you aren't a snack!" he said lustily staring at her...

She hated being called a snack, especially by him...She had just gotten used to being called Sexy Auntie.

"Olivia Bennett-Alexander....I'm a married woman." said Olivia.

"Whatever.. Whatever .Are you sure you want to take this loser case? This is practically a slam dunk....We have the murder weapon, a gun legally owned by your client, who was being sued by the victim...and the gun has only his fingerprints on it.. We got motive, we got a weapon, we got it all...If you want to make me an offer...I can plead it down to Manslaughter...10-20 instead of First Degree Murder..."he said..

"Why would I make a deal like that when my client is innocent?" said Olivia..

"Look, Manslaughter  one, 10-15....He gets paroled after 5 years....You can't beat that Liv..."said ADA Harper..

"How about Not Guilty?....He walks free, he doesn't get disbarred...?" said Olivia...

"Uh Uh...Not gonna happen..You sure you want to roll the dice on this one?" asked ADA Harper..

Olivia didn't blink...

"Yuppper.."she said..

"Damn you're a sexy woman. Stubborn as hell, but sexy..." was all he could say....

"My husband tells me that every night...."she said and walked away....

He grimaced.....and watched as Olivia walked away...

"Goodbye Ron, always a pleasure.." said Olivia.

"What did he want?" asked Beverly...

"Nothing...A whole lot of nothing.."said Olivia..

 "I could use a cold one right about now.."said Nelson..

 "It's Thursday....Crab Legs and Hot Wings night at Josies.."said Josie..

"I am so there.."said Austin...

"You guys mind me making a stop before we go to Josie's?" I asked.

"Where Baby?"  asked Olivia..

"I might as well serve Mr. Miller the accountant and snag his books...since I have this summons."I said.

"Oh yeah.."said Beverly...

"Give me the address...I'll drive.."said Nelson...

I tossed him the keys..

.

He and I and Austin sat up front...

Olivia,Beverly and Josie sat in the back...

We headed to the Accountant's home....but when we got to his block...What I saw was all too familiar...being an ex-Homicide Detective...

Crime Scene Tape...a chalk outline on the street and a body being moved..

I pulled up to the curve and got out of the car...

Reporters were snapping photos....Naturally, I saw Lt. Tragg...

"Alexander....What are you doing here?" he asked..

I showed him my summons....

"I came to serve this to Accountant August Miller.."I said..

"Well you're too late....He won't be taking any summons ever again...That's him in that body bag...Somebody shot him dead right outside of his house about an hour ago.."said Lt. Tragg..

"You can't blame my wife's client..He was in court all day with us..."I said..

"Well La Deee Dah...Someone he didn't kill for a change..."said Lt. Tragg..

"This clears him....Somebody is out to get the partners and our client...Don't you see how this all matches?" I said..

"Know something? Your wife and her niece are better attorneys....Leave the crazy theories to them.."he said and waved at Olivia ,Beverly and Josie..

"Hi Liv, Beverly, Josie" he said..

They knew they were being mocked...they didn't respond...

Austin and Nelson walked over to the body bag....Austin looked at his accountant...

"I don't believe this..Augie wouldn't have hurt a soul..He didn't deserve this.." said Austin...who then returned to the car...

We watched as the body was moved.....

 "What do we do now?" asked Olivia..

"We needed to see those books..That was our last chance.."said Beverly...

"No...the killer is getting desperate...He needs those books too and he hasn't found them yet...That's the key to all of this..Those books show who was stealing...I'm certain of it and it's the key to this whole case."I said..

"It would be nice to have them...."said Nelson...

"Can we win without them?" asked Josie..

"We can..but it's going to be an uphill climb."said Olivia..

"I don't like the way that sounded.."said Austin...

"Neither do we"said Beverly...

We got back in the SUV and pulled off..


(TO BE CONTINUED)