Rooftop Stories

The Rooftop of our building was nice...Nothing to brag about, but certainly clean and nice for hanging out and meeting in the summer months as many of us did..

It had a nice little wooden table and several chairs.. and plants surrounding the area..

You couldn't have a huge rooftop party , but it was nice for get togethers...

 We ordered Hoagies

 Pizzas

and Cokes...

Sofia and I and Ms. Jade had gone to the Medical Examiner's Office earlier in the day.

where Dr. Hazel Baylor

Co-operated fully with us and gave us a copy of the autopsy report...She even let us see the body, which hadn't been claimed as of yet...

Lieutenant Tragg hemmed and hawed about giving us a copy of the Arrest record and the police report..

 I called a local Judge and threatened to supeona the reports...

Jade did better, she called the Deputy of Operations...

Lt. Tragg begrudgingly gave Sofia copies of

The Arrest Record and The Police report..

Mission Accomplished..






II-

Likewise, Ms. Yvette, Bee Bee and Kahlil

met with our client and was waiting for us when we returned to the rooftop of our Apartment complex..

"Guys...I like this...this is cute."said Ms. Yvette looking around.

The food was spread out on the table and we sat down with our reports and our case files...

"We should meet out here more often.." said Bee Bee.

Our client ,Victoria Winters was with us...She was really nice, down to earth...Not at all what I had at least expected..

She looked around... We had brought up a small card table..

we had our laptops, tablets and phones on them....

We had the Autopsy report, the Arrest Report and the Police report also....

"My you guys have a nice little set up here...Not at all what I expected.." said Victoria.

"Have a seat...eat with us.." said Sofia.

"Yes, relax" said Ms. Yvette...

 There was enough Italian and Turkey Hoagies to go around

 as well as Pizza

and Ice cold Cokes...

 Kahlil

and I didn't have to be told..We dug in and chowed down...We were starving..

 So did Bee Bee

and Sofia..

As we ate ,of course the case came up...

"Victoria.. We've all read the Autopsy ,The Arrest report and the Police Report

We also read this unpublished book by your late fiancé...what we need to hear is your story." said Jade..

"Yes.. tell your side of the story..."said Yvette...






III-

Victoria began to talk-

"As you know.. My Father is a very successful Venture Capitalist.." she said..

Successful wasn't the word for it...The son of an African American Mother and white Father, Her father was loaded...a Multi Millionaire by the age of 50..He married a somewhat successful white woman, who was a Broker and they birthed Victoria Winters...Their only child..

"I grew up on the Main line, went to the best Prep schools, graduated with a B.S. in Journalism from St. Joes University, Got My Masters at Penn.... I started out as a Copy Editor at my present company and worked my way up to Editor...I didn't take any short cuts.

I got involved with one of your firm's partners...Robert Connor..

At first I thought he was just being nice...He used to come by and talk to our shareholders and our Publisher..and they put us on a retainer with your firm..Then he started paying un due attention to me..sending me flowers, pastries and coffee...little notes...Soon he was calling me all times of night and asking me out..

He was nice ,Established...I went out with him, Breakfast one time, a few Lunches, Dinners, a movie here and there, drinks...I knew he liked me, but At first he was just something to while away the boredom...

I was just working all day and going home sitting in my panties and  bra listening to music by myself." she said.

"I've been there." said Yvette..

I smiled, remembering a time I visited Yvette's old apartment unannounced

and found her in her panties and bra listening to Jill Scott on Alexa....

"I've been there too!" said Bee Bee...

Strange ,I never thought about Bee Bee spending afternoons alone....but I guess she did..

but I guess she did...Sofia and Kahlil were upstairs doing the Hibbity Bibbity...

And I was god knows where back then.....

''I should have never of let things get sexual...but I did and it did get sexual..Around this time..I met Harrison Boxley...He was the most wonderful and intelligent man I'd ever met...He had had several of his books published by us..He was closer to my age...Just 9 years older as opposed to Robert's 21 and he liked and understood more of the things I liked...

Before I knew it...We were seeing each other...He was separated from his wife and they were going through a nasty divorce...So I was stuck between Harrison and Robert.

Robert proposed to me and I said yes...but my heart wasn't into it....I broke it off..By then Harrison had gotten divorced and we moved in together...Soon he asked me to marry him and I said Yes.." she said.

"You discovered his body in the loft you two shared right?" asked Kahlil...

"Yes...I did!  His book had rankled a lot of feathers...Everybody from the Mayor and his wife to several people in city council and even the D.A.'s office...but they all understood it was just a novel,I don't think any of those people killed him...but during his last few days..He did  say he felt like he was being followed, watched...He always told me to be careful when I entered and to check my car thoroughly when I left.."said Victoria.

"You found his body at around 12:00 noon, You're seen on the camera running out of his loft..but you didn't call the police and report the death until around three o'clock why?" I asked..

She hesitated..

"These are questions an ADA is going to ask you.."said Yvette softly...

"I don't..I don't know...I was afraid...I was confused..." she said.."But I didn't kill him, I swear I didn't." she said.

''We have a life insurance policy you took out on each other for one million dollars a piece." said Bee Bee.

"I don't know anything about that...This is the first I'm hearing about this.." she said..

''These two things are what led Lt. Tragg to arrest you."said Sofia.

"Yes and he put on such a show...He didn't need the Tactical squad to arrest me, but that's who he brought..

along with the press corps...

who filmed the entire thing...Now I'm all over social media and Television and the newspapers...It's the crime of the century." she said..

"Yeah with him, every case is..."I said.

"He likes to see himself on television."said Kahlil.

"And hear himself talk.." said Sofia.

"Then when he gets it wrong and the press calls him on it..he attacks the press.."said Bee Bee..

"I know...I've seen some of his press conferences.." said Victoria..

Jade laughed...

"They're hysterical." she said.

"I see here that Lt. Tragg did interview Robert Connor,

 our partner..but he had an alibi..He was on the other side of town...In court, doing a serious litigation at the time.."said Yvette.

"I know he's one of your partners...but please don't get him involved in this at all..He's too close to this." she said..

"Uhh, We won't." said Yvette..

Bee Bee,Sofia, Kahlil and I and Jade said nothing...we sat there stone faced...

IV-

Night Fall came...

Yvette stood in the upstairs window of Gary Lockwood's house and stared out at the city...

She was wearing a pink and gray Victoria's s Secret Night shirt that came to her thighs...and a aqua blue Brazillian Panty...

Gary walked up behind her in his robe...

''You're deep in thought...planning your defense strategy?" he asked

Yvette smiled...

"Yes...we interviewed our client today up the roof of the apartment building the babies live in...It was really nice...We had Pizza and Hoagie and sodas and our client came up gave us her background..we looked at the autopsy reports, the arrest...the police reports and talked about that book.."said Yvette..

Gary wrapped his arms around her as they both looked out at the city...

"So ...Did she do it?" he asked.

"I don't think she did..Other people have motives...People parodied in that book, like a city official accused of passing anti-gay bills, but who is actually in the closet....An attorney of a huge law firm who suffers or suffered from erectile dysfunction..."said Yvette..

"Ouch" laughed Gary...

"YOU certainly don't suffer from it...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..I feel that big thing sticking in my back right now."laughed Yvette..."Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.." she moaned...

"One of your partners has motive....I mean after all..She dumped him..."said Gary..

Yvette's eyes lit up..

"YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?" she asked in amazement..

''Everybody knows about it! For months I seen him and her around town...at different Bars, Aqua Bar, Josie's ,Stoleys...Mulberry Street..I thought he was out with his daughter...but then I saw them kissing in the back alley one night and I said ...ohhhhhh that's his lady...Then a few months later, I see her kissing old Harrison Boxley in his car..and I wondered what was up.."said Gary..

''You're very observent AND YOU GET AROUND a LOT!"laughed Yvette..

"I'm a detective...It's my job to be observant....Plus I read the society pages...I knew who she was immediately. You were with me at Josie's when I saw them, at Aqua Bar on Salsa Night when I saw em and at Stoleys with the kids when I saw em...I just didn't bring it to your attention..I hadn't made the connection that he was one of your partners until later...He was just an old white guy with a young bi-racial chick.."said Gary..

"Hmmmmmmm this adds a new twist to things...but Bob Connor has an airtight alibi.. He was in court that day...I saw him." said Yvette..

"Well does anybody else have a stone cold alibi..?" asked Gary..

"Jade is looking into that?" said Yvette.

"Good to know..."said Gary ,who pulled Yvette to him...

Gary and Yvette kissed on his terrace for close to THIRTY MINUTES....she softly rubbed his penis with both hands...staring in his eyes..

He slipped her panties down and slipped her night shirt off...she opened his robe and slipped it off..
They stood on his terrace and kissed passionately...

Gary lifted Yvette up and entered her slowly...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu lawwwwd!" she moaned..

"Ummmmmmmmmmmm"he moaned..

They made love on his terrace for the next FEW HOURS!

in the backdrop of the city and the moonlit sky!

(TO BE CONTINUED)