Honolulu....Seems like I've been at these scenes so many times before......
I stood in the pouring rain the next morning with Gary Lockwood..
Gary Lockwood, like myself was once a Homicide Detective.....
Crime Scene Forensic guys were snapping photos of a man....
Gary looked at me..
"This was the dirty cop Donnie Ray....The cop who said his fiance was murdered by your client...His Name is Jack...well, Officer John Kehoe..." he said as Homicide detectives surveyed the scene..
A driveway behind some apartments in the low rent district..
"I knew Jack....At one time he was a halfway decent cop....He started playin the ponies, gambling, drinkin...runnin the women, coming to work half starched...It was just a matter of time before he got kicked off the force..."said one detective..
''What about his fiancé?" I asked.
"You know, he messed that relationship up.....We had to answer a couple of domestic violence claims..We did all we could to keep the poor guy from getting arrested ."said another Detective..
Gary and I had shown them our Identification...Told them we used to be Homicide Detectives...Gary was now an Investigator with the D.A.'s office in Philadelphia and I was a P.I. working for Attorneys.
They didn't mind talking with us...According to Gary ,they were a lot nicer than the two he and Jade dealt with the day before..
"His arms are clean...Not the kind of arms a junkie...even a recovering junkie would have.."said Gary.
"You're right...This was sloppily done...He was murdered....He was a drunk but he didn't shoot H. I know that for a fact."said the detective..
"Somebody gave him a hot shot.."I said. They loaded his system with enough pure heroin to kill him.
Gary said to me..
"Looks like our boy Swift is cleaning up...he's silencing anybody that can hurt him in trial.." he said..
"Yeah." I said solemnly as I watched the body carted away...
II-
THREE DAYS LATER-
Ralph Clanton's second murder trial began....
D.A. James Swift was sweating bullets...He didn't want to retry this case and unfortunately he had nothing new to offer...
He was equally angry that his investigator Harry Swain, may not have covered up enough and in his inability to locate us and wiretap our Air BNB, he had no idea what Olivia and Beverly were bringing to the table..
His first surprise was that the Lead Attorney was Jacqueline Bleu. Missing from work for a week, supposedly on a leave of absence...
Assisted by Olivia, Beverly and Nelson, with Josie and I as back up...
The trial didn't go as he thought it would... He of course called up CSI and Forensic evidence and showed the jury of 12 lurid photos of the shot to death young woman...
Olivia and Beverly hammered them about the DNA and presented DNA they established that had been tested by an Independent lab and the FBI...
Try as he may, he couldn't shake them on cross...
They of course brought up Lab Assistant , the now deceased Sunny Fairlane's drug use and proof from the other four trials that she had planted evidence,lied about DNA findings and sullied at least four cases and more than likely this one..
DA Swift denied knowing anything about this..and argued that whatever she may have done in those earlier drug cases had no bearing on the murder case..
Jackie and Nelson brought out a circus of witnesses who here to for had not been heard..Their testimony placing the defendant somewhere else at the time of the murder and also bearing out his argument that the two, who worked together had a consensual sexual relationship with no strings attached.
Totally unprepared for this testimony, DA Swift argued almost desperately that he acted in good faith and knew nothing about any wrong doing...he threw his buddy Harry Swain under the bus almost..
Jackie, Olivia and Beverly called Harry Swain to the stand..
They spent two days grilling him mercilessly about his work on all of the cases and this one in particular...They asked him about his friendship with the now deceased Jack Kehoe...His alleged sexual relationship with Sonny Fairlane, now also deceased...
He denied everything...He swore he had acted in good faith in making the arrest....
Seeing how badly he was losing the case..he asked for and got a continuance....
"Livy you got him sweatin…."said Yvette , who was present in court..
"He knows he's losing...That's why he asked for a continuance.."said Bee Bee.
"What about your star witness, Where is he?" asked Sofia..
''Where they can't get him ..On the Air Force Base...In Federal Holding..Whenever this continuance ends...We'll cart him out..."said Jacqueline..
"They want a continuance to see if they can find him and shut him up."said Keith Jones.
"That's what I figure." said Kahlil..
"His name is on the public record...but there is no address....They aren't going to be able to find him.."said Gary.
The doorbell at our Air BnB rang...Lucky for us...All of our cars were gone..
Paris answered...
"Hello" he said..
"What are you doing here? Who are you?" said Harry Swain...Paris was the only one of us he and his boss had never seen..
"I'm stayin here as a guest of Bert Crater."said Paris, who knew exactly who he was talking to...
"Can I come in?" asked Burt..
"No, Not without a warrant...What do you want?" he asked.
"Just you stayin here?" he asked.
"Me and My girl...that's all....Why? You a cop?" asked Paris..
Harry showed his badge and ID...
"I'm an Investigator with the D.A.'s office..."
"So what do you want with me? I work for Mr. Crater, who's staying in Singapore until the end of the month."said Paris.
"No one else is here? No Lawyers from Philly, some of em are Black...There's an Arab, A Latina and I think an Asian amongst them?" asked Harry...
"You're drawn man...It's just me and my girl...You got any questions...You take it up with Bob Crater.."said Paris and he slammed the door in his face and locked it..
Harry Swain shook his head...
"This was the last place...Bob Crater's place....If they aint here...Where could they be?" he said in frustration...He got in his car and sped off..
Paris closed the door... He was lucky he hadn't let Swain walk around...Several of the doors to the bedrooms were open...beds unmade...A testimony to the attorney's hasty retreat....
Bras and panties belonging to Bee Bee, Sofia and Josie were in a hamper...They had done their laundry the night before and had folded the items...but hadn't put them away..
Keith and Bee Bee had made sweet love in the basement laundromat late that night.....
Sofia and Kahlil had made love
really early in the morning on the sofa in the living room after everyone had gone to sleep and turned in..
and he and Josie had made sweet love
all night long in their room..
Had he of let Swain in...he'd of seen the unmade beds and all of the tell tale signs of a whole lot more inhabitants in this Air BNB than just him and his girl..He sighed a sigh of relief...
III-
Jade was back in town in Judge Kim Hyung's chambers...
For some reason she had to see him again...and he was glad to see her..
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh Jade....Jade!! Thank you for coming back..." he said.
"I shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist you....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."she moaned..
''Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.. this trial is going loopy..Your friends are very good...Ummmmm"he moaned..
"No more talk, let's just make love..."said Jade...
"Yesssssssssssss ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he moaned...
His bed rocked and squeaked something terrible...
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.." he moaned..
"Work me daddy, work me.."moaned Jade..
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he moaned..
EIGHT TO NINE HOURS of sweet ,sweet lovemaking continued in that room....
Jade's legs were shaking furiously and she was sweating...….sweat was running down the crack of the Judge's back...
Jade's head was turning from side to side...She was having an incredibly intense orgasm...
"Mmmmmm Jade...I can't get enough.." he moaned..
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu neither can I." she moaned.
He thought of the last time she was in Hawaii and the future they might have had....but that jackass ICE Agent..Shawn Columbsy...
had run her from the Island and unfortunately from him...
He had had an incredibly intense orgasm.....He would savor it....Knowing that this was the last time he'd see Jade....She was as far east as she could get, with a new life and a new man she had told him...
Later at our Air BNB...
Paris told us of his close call with Harry Swain...
"I'm certain I convinced him you guys weren't here...He never saw me ...I was only in court once..And I didn't let him inside..." he said.
"That's okay...Doesn't matter if he does know where we are now...They're damn near cooked.."said Olivia.
"Once we put our star witness on...there is nothing he can do."said Beverly...
"That was real smart , having the Federal Marshals take him to the same Air Force base where our witness is.."said Nelson.
"The way people are dropping like flies in this case...I wouldn't put it past them to try and kill Ralph too." I said.
Josie walked in...
''Donnie Ray...you got a special delivery today.." she said..
"Thanks..." I said.. I had called in a favor to the FBI in Philly....I had called in a favor like this before..Years ago on one of our first cases...I showed the contents to everybody...
My good friend, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins, Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Regional FBI/ATF had delivered for me..
As she had at least two times before...
"Can't say I'm surprised.." said Jacqueline..
"Me neither..."said Gary...
''Wow!, this is almost scary.."said Yvette.
"Now it all makes sense...You think he would have tried to kill us?"asked Keith Jones..
"Too many of us...He wanted to know where we live, so he could bug this place, clone our phones..Watch us"said Bee Bee.. She was absolutely right...
"Too many deaths would start to look suspicious.."said Sofia..
"Hey where is Jade?" asked Kahlil.
"She's been gone since this morning." said Paris.
Jade arrived an hour later...She looked exhausted...She had more documents and photos...She passed them to Yvette.
Yvette smiled..
"I suppose you got these from your source huh? Okay Ms. Lady....I won't ask anymore questions, but this is good work." she said and passed the envelope to Olivia..
"This is too good to be true.." said Olivia.
"This is like a cookie cutter win to this trial."said Beverly..
''Whoever your source is...They are damn close to this case."said Nelson.
"You don't have to tell us, but whoever it is must hate District Attorney Swift a whole lot and they must be close to him, very close." I said.
"You Look tired Ms. Jade."said Josie.
"I'm a good kind of tired.."said Jade, smiling and blushing... she went to her room and went to sleep..
''Ole Girl not only has a pipeline...but she obviouslygot some good pipe too."joked Jacqueline..
"How Do We say it girls?" said Yvette.
"THE POWER OF THE PAN-TAYYYS" said Olivia and Beverly in unison..
Bee Bee, Sofia, Keith, Kahlil,Josie and Paris cracked up laughing.
IV-
TWO DAYS LATER..
We were all standing outside of the courtroom waiting for the verdict...This had been a fast trial and our star witness had been the real show stopper...It would have helped if the real murderer, Jack Kehoe was alive to be punished..
''Livy, I know you got this...I've seen you and baby girl win cases with a whole lot less."said Yvette.
"Juries are a funny thing Vettie..Swift is no slouch...He fought a good fight..Plus he's a local..We aren't."said Olivia.
"The Man was desperate Auntay."said Beverly..
"I think we got this."said Nelson with his hand on Ralph Clanton's shoulder..
"I'm with Yvette, the girls have won with a lot less than they had for this case." I said.
"I'm crossing my fingers."said Josie.
"The Jury is back guys."said Bee Bee..
"I think you guys got this."said Sofia.
"I would really be surprised if you didn't.."said Kahlil..
"Yeah me too."said Keith Jones, pleased as punch that he and his colleagues four cases were over and that they didn't have to go to trial.
"Bailiff, will you read the jury's verdict."said Judge Hyung...
"We the Jury find the defendant Ralph Clanton, NOT GUILTY of First Degree Murder!!!!" he read..
We all sighed a sigh of relief.....
All Five of these cases were overturned...
"Oh Hell!" sighed District Attorney James Swift...This ruined his run for State Senate...he was looked at worst as being corrupt...at best negligent...5 cases , All his, all overturned...
There were calls for him to resign.....He refused.
Homicide Detectives arrested Investigator Harry Swain and charged him with the murders of Sonny Fairlane and Jack Kehoe... He faced Life with no parole...
He was offered a deal, unfortunately...He never got to stand trial...He was mysteriously found hung in his jail cell at county lock up with a hastily typed suicide note on the floor.
Judge Hyung ordered a thorough investigation of the District Attorney's office starting with James Swain and a censure..
Rather than face an investigation and any more public shame..James Swain resigned.. He left Hawaii as soon as he could and returned to San Francisco,where he is presently looking for work at any law firm that will have him...
We had done what we came to do....Clean up some corruption...The Innocence project was ecstatic..
Larry North called us and congratulated us on a job well done..
EPILOUGE-
Attorney Jacqueline Bleu packed her bags and waited for her UBER to pick her up..
"It was a good case...I was glad to work with you guys and see it through...It's going to feel good sleeping in my own bed for a change." she said.
"What will you do now?" asked Yvette.
"You gonna reform that Public Defenders office?" asked Olivia..
"No...that was my last case here....I've tendered my resignation....I'm moving back to Oakland...That's where I'm from...Perhaps Larry North will give me a job at the Innocence Project or I'll explore some offers I've gotten from other firms in San-Francisco..This was a long time coming...I just wanted to see this case through.." she said.
"It was a pleasure working with you." I said.
"Yes.."added Nelson...
Josie, Jade, Gary,Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia, Kahlil and Paris all said their goodbyes..
And we watched as she drove off....
We spent one last day in our Air BNB
and in the beautiful city of Honolulu and then it was time to pack up...
Get back on that plane and head back to Philadelphia...Home sweet home.. Mission Accomplished..
Judge Kim Hyung watched as we took off... All 13 of us.... He thought fondly of Jade..
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