The Moment Has Passed

Tender was the night....

The next few days....Olivia worked herself to near exhaustion....Framing our strategy and doing a work up on what kind of juror we wanted and our opening arguments...As it turned out..despite what we had turned into discovery...We were still ordered to prepare for trial.

Beverly worked with her.. Tirelessly well into the wee morning hours...They intended to blast Chris Garcetti

and hand him his worst defeat yet...They had offered him an out in which he would have saved face..He refused..Both women

were dead set on making him pay and in getting B.L. out of jail.. His show was now off the air, temporarily, pending the outcome of his trial..

His reputation was in shreds...Both Olivia and Beverly felt so sorry for him..

I had been a part of these two women's lives so long that this type of late night brainstorming was nothing out of the ordinary...

Nelson, now married to Beverly and having known Olivia all of his professional life. He too was used to these late night sessions....He didn't mind.. He joined us in late night sessions...pouring over cases and precedents and preparing the basic points for B.L.'s trial .He was up to his neck in briefs and writs...We were all truly family here!

On Friday night ,instead of being at Josie's, Stoleys, Aqua Bar or The Mermaid Crab Tavern...We were  at home , hard at work on the upcoming trial..

Josie and Paris had been spending the night the past three nights....

I was serving them endless cups of coffee...

Lawyers and Cops...We weren't that much different...

"This is the last night for this....Tomorrow is Saturday, Take five guys....We are as ready as we are ever going to be...Chris Garcetti's case is going to fall apart so fast, his head is going to spin."said Olivia..

''Let's eat breakfast in tomorrow morning and go shopping , get our hair done.." said Beverly..

"That's a great idea.."said Olivia..We all could use a break." said Olivia...

I was baffled by a lot of this case... It was a neat frame...but it seemed to have no rhyme or reason..

Olivia, Josie , Bev and Nelson worked into the wee hours of the morning...

Beverly and Nelson fell asleep on our couch...

I covered them both with a blanket...

Olivia fell asleep in the living room by our Ottoman...I covered her too...I drove Josie and Paris  home, They weren't spending the night tonight!

When I returned....Olivia was beginning to stir...

She woke up and kissed me softly.....She looked at Beverly and Nelson sleeping on the couch...

She quietly motioned for me to follow her into the bedroom....I did... and she softly locked the door, She quietly helped me out of my trousers.....

We kissed some more.....I lifted her up....She had already taken her panties off..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Donnie Ray, So glad I didn't miss this opportunity..." she cooed softly...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm so glad I didn't miss it either...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."I moaned...

We made quiet love in the corner and later on the side of our bed.....I was losing my mind...Olivia was so soft, smelled so good...and had butter soft kisses....


"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!" I moaned..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she cooed..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Oliva...Olivia.....Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!"I gasped...

"Shhhhhhh Not so loud Donnie Ray.....Bev and Nelson are in the living room...Is it that good?...It can't be!!" she said..

"You lyin to me.....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I moaned.. 

  Olivia giggled...

 We wound up on top of the sheets, making love with wild abandon....giggling a lot and trying not to make  any noise....

I was thankful our bed was quiet and didn't squeak....Our headboard only rattled a little bit...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmph! damnnnnn Olivia....you feel sooo good..." I moaned..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! So do you Donnie Ray....So do youuuuu, ouuuuuuuu!" she cooed..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Oliva...Olivia.....Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmph! I can't control myself...Ummmmmmmmmmmm"I gasped...

''Shhhhhhhh, we don't want to wake Nelson and Beverly..." she said.

Unknown to us...Beverly and Nelson had awakened

and walked downstairs to their floor...

Where they wasted no time making sweet love.....in their quiet bed........

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,I really like being married..." moaned Nelson...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, So do I Nelson...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"cooed Beverly in between smouldering hot kisses... 

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!" he moaned..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" she cooed.. 

''Girllll,I'm losing my minddddd!" moaned Nelson...

''Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu babyyyyyyyyyyyy!" cooed Beverly... 







II-

The Next morning as we had planned...we all ate in...

Josie and Paris joined us..

Olivia, Beverly and I and Nelson were gracious hosts...We served

 French Toast with Lemon and strawberries on the side...

 Hash browns

and sausages...

and steaming hot tumblers of coffee..

We were all chowing down...when our doorbell rang downstairs...

I walked to our door...It was Private Investigator...Burt Vanderburg....

''Come on up Burt..." I said.

He walked upstairs to our domicile...

He was amazed..

"Wowwww!  Nice digs you guys have here.." he said..

"My husband and I live a floor below.." said Beverly....

''Sweet" he said.. "Office downstairs...and you guys live upstairs.." he said.

"Can we offer you anything? There is plenty of food..."said Olivia..

"Thank you No...I'll just take coffee..." said Burt Vandenburg

We passed him a cup of coffee.

''We located Samuel Dole last night in Atlantic City...The guy who paid me to set B.L. up..but he's not going to be able to help you." said Burt...

"No? why Not?" I asked..

"Because he's dead!...Apparently he was shot to death by a Philly Detective....That guy,

Mike Grisly, who we talked to...Dole was his C.I..

Either he tracked him to that sleazy flophouse off the Boardwalk or he knew where he was all the time.."said Burt..

"Maybe he put up the front money....Where is he? What's he got to say about all this?" asked Beverly...

"He's Not Saying much, He's dead too!  We'll never know just what went down in that Hotel room, but

 It looks like they shot each other to death....

Nobody knows what it was about or anything...but they're both dead....I'll still testify...Sam Dole is the guy who hired me...and he gave me money to pay the girl after I took my pictures and gave them to him..everything was done in cash, so there is no paper money trail.." said Burt..

"What about this Detective, Mike Grisly?" asked Olivia..

"I don't know anything about him....Nothing at all...Never seen or heard of him until the other day when your husband and I questioned him about Sam Dole..."said Burt.

"He said Sam was his Confidential Informant when  he worked the streets.. He was working over in Evidence."said Burt.

 "Oh wow! That's where detectives go to die isn't it?" said Beverly.

Josie cracked up..

"Pretty much!" I added..

"If he was the big mastermind of this plot...The question again was why?  What did he have against B.L.? What did he gain from any of this??" asked Olivia.

"Those are all good questions Liv. But unfortunately...He can't answer any of them!" said  Nelson.

 "Something is just off the beat, off the rhythm about this entire case.."said Josie..

''I swear, nothing matches.." said Beverly...

III-

Lieutenant Tragg sat in his office...He was sweating bullets....

"Stupid Stupid Jackass.....No wonder he was working in Evidence....All he had to do was sit tight...There was no warrant out on Dole...Nobody knew where he was...Nobody had a clue...His dumb ass had to go to Atlantic City and try to kill him....He couldn't even do that right....Killed him and got himself killed..."What an idiot...I'm going to miss him though..."said Lt. Tragg...

He knew it would come out that Grisly hired Dole or it might not...Vandenburg never saw Grisly...He was hired by Dole and the girl was hired by Dole and paid by Dole...There is absolutely no connection to Grisly from anybody involved.. Living or dead...Dole was the only person who actually saw Grisly...Funny how things work out...With Grisly and Dole dead...and everything transacted by cash...There was nothing that tied him to the case at all...

Still, Lt. Tragg knew that neither Vandenburg nor Dole killed that girl....Who did though?, if not B.L.? Then WHO?? he wondered..

He thought of Her...Karen Page....He hadn't seen her in two weeks.. Since she had vanished from the rooftop bistro they'd been dining in...

He had called her numerous times and her phone had went to voicemail...He hadn't seen her around the courthouse and he didn't dare stop by her office...

He had come that close to taking her home and getting laid...He hoped the moment hadn't passed.

And at County Lock Up....

"I never saw either of these guys in my life...I swear."said B.L. looking at two glossy photos of Detective Mike Grisly and Samuel Dole....

''Who are they?" he asked.

ADA Karen Page ,who was with us looked at the photos...

"I do recognize this guy...Detective Mike Grisly...He works in or rather he worked in Evidence Con trol.. He was a gossip...Talked a lot...I was going to request that he be moved to somewhere else..but I never got around to it.."said Karen..

 ''Well this guy....Sam Dole paid the private investigator to tail you and photograph you with Doreen Clark, the hooker." said Olivia to B.L.

 "And he paid that hooker also to drug you and take you to the motel.."said Beverly...

 "He was the former confidential informant of this detective...Mike Grisly." I said.

 "Grisly wasn't on the street anymore..He was working evidence control. He said he hadn't seen Dole in close to three years."said Nelson..

"And he traveled to Atlantic City to find this guy?" asked B.L.

"It looks like he tried to kill him and wound up getting shot himself.. They're both dead..."said Josie..

"This is the damndest thing...I don't know why...Like I said...I never heard of this Detective Grisly before..or this guy Sam Dole...Never seen him before in my life...Never heard of either of them...Why would they try and set me up?" asked  B.L.

"That's what we are trying to find out...Grisly, Dole and Doreen Clark are all dead..They can't tell and neither Grisly or Dole killed this girl.  The P.I told us after he got the photos and paid her off, He left..He left her alive and you snoring on the bed..."I said.

"If all they planned to do was set me up....Why kill the girl?  She had done what she was paid to do.."asked B.L.

"That's what I'd like to know.." said Karen.

"That's the 800 pound elephant in the room."said Nelson..

 ''What if one had nothing to do with the other?  What if the set up was seperate and the killer used it as an opportunity? Kind of like ,he walked into it..." asked Beverly.

"Neicy Poo you might be on to something...B.L. Whoever set you up...Was gunning for you personally...The photos were never delivered to the press or media or even your TV station... Just to Karen...."said Olivia.

"Makes me wonder.."said Karen..

"That was aimed at you...But someone else was in that Hotel room …..There was semen in her panties and inside of her...She had sex with another man that night...and the DNA is not a match for you at all..."I said.

"I slept through all  that?  Wowwww!  So whoever murdered her , killed her after the set up....I was there unconscious and a perfect foil for them.....The killer just used the situation for his convenience.."said  B.L.

"That's what it looks like....That's what is so Off the Beat, Off the Rhythm in this case.."said Josie..

"Hang in there baby....If anybody can get you off...Olivia and Beverly can.."said Karen...

B.L. whispered in Karen's ear...

"I beg to differ...I believe you can..uhhh get me off!" he said..

Karen turned beet red and laughed..

"You are sooo bad.." she said..

and kissed him softly before we all left...

IV-

CURLY'S BAR- A Day Later!

 ADA Karen Page sat alone..

She was sipping a Coke with a lemon...

Lt. Tragg walked in...He was in a rare good mood... He had successfully gotten his revenge on B.L.  He had set him up and he had lost his girlfriend and his show was temporarily off the air...His murder trial began tomorrow...He couldn't wait...

He hadn't seen ADA Karen Page in two weeks since  she had vanished at the Tony Restaurant he had taken her to..

''Karen...what are you drinking tonight?" he asked..

"Just what I'm drinking...A Coke...and Water...I do bad things when I drink....I'm going to stop.."she said.

 ''Nahhh, you're fine baby! I haven't heard from you in two weeks..Everything okay?" he asked..

"Yes, just dandy.....I went with Olivia, Beverly, Nelson, Donnie Ray and Josie

to see

 B.L. yesterday...He's in good spirits.." she said, smiling...

"YOU DID?" said Lt. Tragg in shock...

"Yes I did...and from talking to Liv and her team...

I know for a fact that B.L. didn't kill anybody...

and that he was set up....Everything...the phony text from a burner phone..The hooker who fed him a phony story and drugged him and then posed for phony photos that were delivered just to me..The whole thing...He 's innocent and he was telling the truth all along.."said Karen as she downed her Coke and began drinking her water..

"Well you know...Things aren't uh always what they may seem...There are uh two sides to every story and the ADA thinks he has a pretty strong case against B.L.   I'm just uh saying..B.L.'s trial starts tomorrow...All the facts will uh be laid out...We'll see. " he said..

"You seem to be enjoying this too much, Seeing him in jail, on trial for his life....His show off the air..It's not nice to revel in other people's misfortune.." said Karen..

''Okay, but look..Who cares about him? Let's get back to where we were before we were so rudely interrupted.." he said and snaked his hand under her skirt....

She removed his hands....

"Let's not!" she said..

"Come on baby...loosen up....loosen up...Why I was just minutes from going back to your place..." said Lt. Tragg...

"That's why I stopped drinking...That moment has passed..."said Karen...

"Babbby!" he said and attempted to put his hands back under her skirt...

"Stop it.!..like I said...The moment has passed.."she said..

She finished her soda and her water....This time she did go to the ladies room.. When she came back , she tossed a few dollars on the table...

"Good Night Lieutenant..." she said and walked out..

"I DON'T BELEIVE IT!" said Lt. Tragg, stomping his foot...He had moved mountains to get Karen alone and away from B.L. and he still couldn't sell it...

He remembered the words of his now deceased friend, Detective Mike Grisly...

"Alright...I'll go...but that was some pretty expensive snatch....I just hope she's worth it.."said Mike Grisly as he grumbled and walked off..

Lt. Tragg looked at his watch...He had ruined a man's life...And three innocent people had lost their lives. All for a woman and he still didn't get her.. Perhaps , it wasn't worth all of this. The Moment had indeed passed


(CONCLUSION NEXT)