A Deadly Testimony

Olivia was putting on eyeliner....She was in the bathroom of our Houseboat air bnb getting ready for another day of trial.

A week had gone by....She and Yvette had plugged holes in the prosecutions case...

The prosecution had of course paraded the Forensics and Medical Examiner's people through and shown the jury and public the grisly crime scene footage...but hadn't produced one eyewitness to the crime..

They had the gun in the car....but Yvette and Olivia argued...Why would a person who just committed murder...A Lawyer no doubt ,who understands evidence leave the murder weapon on the front seat of his car the next morning for the police to find?

It was a credible argument that baffled jurors and sent the dour Prosecutor into a tizzy!

He was equally disturbed for some reason that the younger attorneys were sitting right up front in the spectator section drawing all of this in..

I wonder if he knew how much they had practically organized this case...doing most of the legal research, doing profiles of the type of jurors they wanted and coming up with the questions that Yvette and Olivia were using..

Both brilliant attorneys in their own right...Their investment in and mentoring of these young bright attorneys paid off in spades...

"You look sexy.." I said..

"Thank you lover." she said and smiled..

I pulled her to me and kissed her passionately......

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm…..I must say....this feels good but we don't have time to get into anything this morning.."she said..

"I knowww...but I can dream can't I?"  I laughed..

"You're always dreaming about me ,aren't you?" she said softly....

as we kissed some more..

"I dream about you too!" she said in between more kisses...

"You do?" I asked..

''All the time.." she assured me..as we continued to kiss...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.." I moaned..

"Now go outside...let me finish getting dressed.." she whispered to me as she eased out of my embrace..

We all met in the living room..

 "This is the day we've been waiting for."said Olivia.

"Yes....The day we put on our defense.."said Yvette...

 "You guys did a great job of punching holes in the prosecution's weak case.." said Beverly...

 ''We didn't even call Constable Stumble Bum to the stand." laughed Nelson, speaking about Inspector
Bishop....

London's answer to Lt. Tragg.

"Oh but we plan to...He's next.."said Josie..

"Damn, I wish I was the one who had him on cross.."said Keith Jones..

''At any rate...This is going to be fun to watch.."said Bee Bee.

"This has been fun and very educational overall.."said Sofia..

"It has, even if we haven't taken part in the actual case."said Kahlil..

"Of course you guys did...You did the legwork, the research, you profiled the jurors and witnesses and you wrote the questions and the groundwork of our defense.."said Olivia..

''Which was brilliant by the way....This was a team effort...We couldn't have done this or gotten this far without you guys...Livy and I appreciate every single one of you and how you all contributed." said Yvette.

''And let's not forget our fine investigative team..."said Olivia, pointing to Myself, Gary and Jade..

who were sitting there in the kitchen..

"You guys did a wonderful job on such short notice..."said Yvette...

Paris was our unsung hero...He kept our Air BNB neat and clean, He collected our dry cleaning...He did the shopping and he helped cook for us...He was too happy to be able to travel with us...He also drove us to court...

"There's Hot Coffee and doughnuts on the table for everyone.."

He said as we all chowed down and got ready for court..

Unknown to us....

Attorney Roger Good stood outside of our Houseboat, observing..

II-

Our Defense Began...

Jack Fahey sat in between  his two attorneys...He began to notice how nice they smelled, how well they dressed and how sexy they both were...He was as pleased as punch...

They called Inspector Bishop...Simon Bishop...First of All...He made Lt. Tragg look like a genius..He tripped and fell on his way to the witness stand and knocked over the stenographer and his table...As both men got up off the floor, The stenographer glared angrily at him...

"Oh.....Oh Terribly sorry mate." he said..

This brought guffaws from the jurors and the visitors...

 "Oh Boy....this guy is a regular Steve Urkel..."said Nelson..

 "Stopppppppppppp……"said Beverly ,who was trying to hold in her laughter....

 "Oh My Godddd."laughed Josie...

 Sofia was smiling and putting her hands over her best friend, Bee Bee's mouth...

 "Oh My godddddd!" laughed Bee Bee, who like Beverly was shaking and laughing so hard it hurt..

 "THIS GUY!"said Keith Jones..slapping his leg and laughing...

''Class A. Boob" said Kahlil..who was also laughing..

 Yvette smiled and peered over at Olivia..

Olivia smiled and shook her head a little bit, holding her composure...

The Judge shook his head in disgust....

"Inspector Bishop , how did you first hear of this murder?" asked Yvette..

''We got an Anonymous call telling us that Mr. Williamson was dead at around 10:00 pm that night." he said..

"The coroner's report puts the time of death at  9:45 pm....So when you got that call at 10:00 pm, just 15 minutes later...didn't you find that suspicious, especially since the door to Mr. Williamson's flat was locked and there wasn't a soul stirring...This from your own report..?" asked Olivia..

"I didn't think about that.." said Inspector Bishop..

"How did you find...no, Why did you specifically get to Mr. Fahey's flat and look in his car?" asked Yvette..

"We got another anonymous call at around 4:00 am in the morning telling us the murder weapon could be found in his car."said Inspector Bishop..

"And you didn't find that the least bit suspicious?  If Mr. Fahey did kill Mr. Williamson for the sake of an argument...He's going to leave the murder weapon with only his prints on the front seat of his car? Doesn't that look like....well A FRAME?" asked Olivia..

"I OBJECT...SPECULATION!"said The Prosecutor..

"Mr. Fahey said he was at a night club during the time of the murder...Did you at least check his alibi?" asked Yvette...

"No I did not...I assumed he was lying.."said Inspector Bishop..

"That's a big assumption...You should have looked into his alibi....For the sake of fairness, he deserved that." said Olivia.

Olivia directed the jury to a Monitor....a 64 inch monitor..

"This is time stamped footage from the club Mr. Fahey was at.....on the night of the murder...and look at the time..  It says 9:52 pm...."said Olivia.

Jade and Gary had gotten the time stamped footage of Jack Fahey in the club at 9:52, dancing in between two girls with a drink in his hand...

"That club is halfway across town.....If the murder occurred at 9:45...There is no way, he could have killed Mr. Williamson and then driven that distance in seven minutes and be in the middle of the dancefloor....You should have checked his alibi..."said Yvette..

"Wellll I uhhhhh..uhhhhh..I...well I suposee I coulda."said Inspector Bishop..

"Yes, I suppose you could have...No Further questions ."said Olivia..

Frustrated and leaving the stand, Inspector Bishop, slipped again and slid across the courtroom floor..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he screamed...

The judge and the prosecutor shook their heads in disgust as he got up off the floor..

"Terribly sorry mates...It appears to be a bit slippery in here.."he said.

Beverly, Bee Bee, Josie and Sofia couldn't control their laughter at this point..

"My god, what a buffoon.."scoffed Nelson..

"This dude is too much.."laughed Keith Jones..

Kahlil was laughing so hard, he was shaking..


Jade and I and Gary just shook our heads..

This was too much...

III-

But the laughter was soon going to give way to tragedy....Jennifer Figg was called next.....

"Jennifer...You were Rafer Williamson's Mistress weren't you?" asked Yvette..

"I was...His wife knew about us..They uh had an understanding.."said Jennifer..

"He paid for your flat didn't he?  He paid for everything for you didn't he?"asked Olivia..

"He did." said Jennifer..

"And everything was going good until he saw these photos of Jack Fahey's car outside your flat and grainy photos of who he thought was Jack Fahey and you kissing right? But you never had an affair with Jack Fahey did you?" asked Yvette..

''No...Never...We barely spoke..I hardly know him!"said Jennifer..

''Who were you having an affair with?" asked Olivia..

No one saw the gun with the silencer on it...Or the man who had a newspaper covering it...

He fired one well placed shot..The shot hit Jennifer in her chest ,pulverizing her heart and killing her instantly...

She slumped over and blood rushed from her chest....

Pandemonium broke out..People began screaming, running for cover...

Gary and I grabbed Olivia and Yvette and took them down for cover..

Both women were scared to death...No one had expected this to happen.....

 Nelson fell on top of Beverly to shield her from anymore gunfire..

 "I appreciate this bae, but tell me this isn't a cheap way to get some?.."joked Beverly...They both giggled.

''Well I must admit...you do feel kinda good." said Nelson..

''Goofball" Beverly giggled..

She gave Nelson, a sweet kiss...

 Keith Jones did the same thing to Bee Bee..

 "Thank You bae...I'm okay..."she said.

 Kahlil held Sofia for dear life...

 "I'm okay bae...how bout you Josie?" asked Sofia..

"I'm okay..."said Josie..

Inspector Bishop had his gun drawn!

''Whoever the culprit was...They concealed that weapon and they didn't want to be seen." he said..

The look Jade gave him was priceless.

We watched as the body of poor Jennifer Figg was put in a body bag and wheeled out...

IV-

TWO DAYS LATER!

In wake of the murder of Jennifer Figgs, We were given a two day continuance...back in court..

Olivia and Yvette called their final witness,

Attorney Roger Good.

"Is it not true that you and Mr. Fahey were competing for Mr. Williamson's account?" asked Olivia.

"Yes...He wasn't pleased with Jack's work and he was getting ready to swing most of his work to me."said Roger Good with his superior attitude..

"That's not exactly true...You hired an accountant who is prepared to testify that you had him cook the books, You had the real set and he saw the set you prepared..Which you falsely told Mr. Williamson was Jack Fahey's doing...You also falsely made it look like Mr. Fahey was having an affair with the late Jennifer Figg, which he was not...Is that not true?" asked Yvette.

"That's preposterous." said Roger Good..

Olivia pulled out a machine...

"This is a remarkable Three D copier...Police found this in your flat....It copies Keys...You stole Mr. Fahey's keys and you made a copy....That's how you were able to get his keys from the Valet and drive them to Ms. Figgs flat so you could photograph them...That's not Jack in this grainy photo, which my husband had blown up...THAT'S YOU!!! You were having an affair with her..What's more, we found these plastic shavings near the car...The plastic is from the phony keys you put in the car ..That's how you put the gun, the gun you stole and that he reported stolen...on the front seat..."said Olivia..

"Nonsense....You can't prove any of it.." he said...Looking very embarrassed.....

Olivia and Yvette closed their case...

It took a jury a little under an hour to find Jack Fahey NOT GUILTY of FIRST DEGREE MURDER!!

Jack Fahey was exuberant...He hugged and kissed both of his attorneys..

"THANK YOU SOOO MUCH BOTH OF YOU...I OWE YOU ALL MY LIFE!!" he said..

 ''All in a days work."said Yvette..

"You owe these guys a thank you too...It was a team effort...They did the research and helped us structure your defense..."Olivia said pointing to Beverly, Nelson, Josie, Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia and Kahli....

He looked at us and smiled..

"I was crazy for ever doubting you guys...You did a fantastic job..." he said. He then looked at Gary and I and Jade..

"And you three knocked it out of the box...Tell Mike I said Thank you!" he said.

"Come join us for dinner..."said Yvette...

"I'd be honored.." I suppose this is your last night here huh?" said Jack...

"Next to last...."I said..

''Why Not?" said Jack.. "I'll bring Wine...I have a great port." he said.

The Judge walked by...

"I must say, I was pleased to watch you young ladies practice in my court...It was a pleasure...Please visit us again." he said..

Yvette and Olivia curtsied and said in unison...

"Thank you my lord!"

A fitting ending to a bizzare trial.

EPILOUGE-

Inspector Bean arrested Attorney Roger Good and charged him with the murders of Rafer Williamson and Jennifer Figg.

He was furious as police pulled him out of his flat in his underwear and spirited him off to jail.

The Body of Albert Vestly, The Valet at the club who gave Roger Good access to Jack Fahey's car, washed up in the river a month later....His throat had been slit....He had been dead for over a month..No one has been charged in his murder!

It was our last night in London...

We treated Jack to a Spaghetti Dinner..

and true to his word, he brought wine..

 ''Ahhh this is nice.." I said..

 "Wow, Our last night here.."said Olivia..

"You guys did go clubbing and do a little shopping didn't you?" asked newly freed, newly exonerated Jack."

 "Oh yeah, we did our shopping during that two day continuance."said Nelson..

 "And we visited quite a few clubs during the nights we took a break from working on your case.."said Beverly..

 "We never fail to have a good time, wherever we go."said Josie, who had law school to go back to.

 Paris had to go back to work in a few days...but he wouldn't soon forget all of these trips he went on with us. Houston, Honolulu, New Orleans,San Diego , New Haven and now London...

 "This was truly wonderful..."said Yvette..

 "Guess you gotta go back to Philly and face the music huh?" Gary said to Jack..

"No, Not really...You guys kind of cleared that up in the trial and before he died..Rafer Williamson said he had reconsidered..He even called Mr. McCluskey and Mikey Pratt on my behalf.. Plus Rafer's widow has once again retained me as Chief counsel...So although I will be back in the states..I won't be facing a firing squad...You guys pulled my nuts out of the fire.."said Jack...

 "A Happy Ending for everyone.."said Keith Jones.. who whispered to Bee Bee, "After everybody goes to bed...how about a real Happy Ending?" he asked..

 "Ummmmmmmmmmm I'll see what I can do Hot Stuff." she said, blushing slightly...

 "I was enjoying the trial until that poor girl got shot."said Kahlil..

 "Yes, Inspector Bishop was quite entertaining..Shame about that girl...She was just trying to do the right thing! "said Sofia..

''Inspector Bishop was entertaining...I'll never complain about Lt. Tragg again."
laughed Jade.

We ate and drank into the wee hours of the morning..

Tomorrow we'd all be on a plane back to Philadelphia.... Home.

FOR MONIQUE P.