A Bad Night in the City.....perhaps every night is a bad night in the city...Every night at some time or other..Someone is breathing their last breath....
2:00 AM , Shots are fired...Two shots....A scream is heard!!!!
Within an hour, the police are on the scene and a crowd has come around....
Crime Scene Investigators and forensics personel are collecting the shells, in the row house looking for a possible murder weapon and fingerprints, other clues...
Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor is on the scene , investigating the scene....She sighs and takes a deep breath when an all too familiar police car drives up..
And he gets out!!!! The Detective she despises the most... Lt. Tragg!!! She is married to a Detective in the Criminal Investigation Division...Unfortunately, this crime wouldn't come under their jurisdiction...She so loved working with her husband and his partners and their Lieutenant... Tonight though, she was stuck with him...Lt. Arthur Tragg...
He got out of the car ,flanked by three uniformed officers who looked like they never got so much as a dust ball on their uniforms...
He looked at the body....A young athletic African-American Man...
"He's a cop!! I know this kid...Tony Broward! Good cop, was about to take the detectives exam...What happened?" he asked.
"He took a shot to the back of the head....killed instantly...Glock Nine Shell ,, he may have been shot with his own gun.."said Hazel... "We found another shell, apparently two shots were fired..the second one didn't hit anything." she said.
She passed him Officer Broward's service revolver..It was in a plastic bag...It had been wiped clean of prints....
"Fan Out!!! 15 block radius, knock on doors, talk to people, I wanna know anything, anybody knew about this guy.."said Lt. Tragg...
"He was living with his fiancé..."said Hazel...
''She around?" asked Lt. Tragg.
"No!." said Hazel...
"Okay...bag him up....Have your report on my desk ASAP!"said Lt. Tragg..
The body of the young police officer was bagged up and put in a van ,headed for the Medical Examiner's office..
Some hours later, Officer Broward's fiancé, Tammie Ellis was arrested...She was in a sheer nightgown, sporting a black eye and another eye nearly closed...a bloody nose and bruises on her torso...She was quiet...She said nothing... She was read her rights...She refused to say anything..
II-
Morning came.....
A Nice morning in the city....A beautiful morning that didn't require us to have to work..
My wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett- Alexander
Her Niece, Attorney Beverly West-East
and her husband, Attorney Nelson East sat in our conference room going over their latest cases...
A sort of end of missions report...
Our newest Attorney, Josie Boyd sat in with us...She too had wrapped up a few cases...
I sat back, relieved that my docket was also cleared...I had been the investigator on all of their cases...I'm Donnie Ray Alexander, formerly of New Orleans ,Louisiana....I used to be a Homicide Detective before the night I met Her..
Olivia Bennett, a bored and lonely attorney from Philadelphia ,vacationing..She had recently divorced her serial cheater husband and had won a huge settlement...She had bought this Duplex /Office that she and I and Beverly and Nelson call home...and she was busy incorporating her law practice...
I eventually quit the N.O.P.D. Got My P.I. license and moved to Philadelphia ,where I found her and her niece, Beverly...
Her partner in the new law firm...
They introduced me to Josie,
Then their Office Manager/Administrative Assistant, eventually their Para-Legal and now an Associate Attorney with them as well as Beverly's then boyfriend, now husband,
Nelson East, Also an Attorney and also an Associate Attorney...
While we were in the conference room,
Beverly's Mother, Alfreda Johnson was in the front office ..She was our new Office Manager... Years ago, she and Olivia's older brother, Jimmy West had Beverly... Olivia was 9...She and Beverly bonded and were more like sisters than Aunt and Niece...
Alfreda was kissing her boyfriend, Assistant District Attorney Rockland Cambridge..
"Awwwwwww, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Alfreda I'm going madd."Rockland moaned in between kisses..
"Rocklannnnnnnnnnnnnnnd…..don't you have any work to do? You can't stay here and kiss me all morning.." she said in between more slow and soft kisses..
Another Assistant District Attorney and one time opponent of the girls popped his head in the office...
"Uh...Ohhhh..Ahhhhh excuse me.." he said..He had heard that Rockland was dating Beverly's mother, but this was the first time he actually saw her...She was a stone cold fox...No wonder Beverly was soo sexy...Look at her mother , he mused..
"Uh Hi Rockland.." he said..
Rockland straightened up..
"Uh Hi ADA Ellis." he said..trying to straighten up..
"I-I-I uh need to see Olivia and Beverly...Are-Are they in?" asked Miles Ellis.
"Sure, I'll take you to them...Are they expecting you?" asked Alfreda...
"Uh nooooooo they'll be really surprised to see me."said Miles..
'Follow me.."said Alfreda.
''I'd be glad to" Miles thought to himself....
III--
"Hey Guys, Miles Ellis is here to see you."said Alfreda...
"Hi Miles...Never thought I'd see you here." said Olivia..
''Ditto on that, how's Karla?" asked Beverly..
"Karla is just fine.."said Miles...
I could tell by the weary look on his face that he was troubled and upset......
"How you doin man?" I said.
"Hi Miles.." said Nelson..
"Hey Donnie Ray, Nelson...and congratulations are in order for you little lady...Graduated from Law school and passed the bar recently...Way to go." he said to Josie.,
"Thank you.."said Josie..
"Nice place you guys have here.."said Miles Ellis, admiring the huge law library, the monitors and laptops and the conference table...
"I understand you guys live here...?" he asked.
\
"My husband and I live on the top floor and my
Niece and her husband live right above this conference room.."said Olivia..
"Nice , Nice..." said Miles..
"Sooooo I figure this is not a social visit...What can we do for you?" asked Olivia.
"A few Nights ago, a young African-American Police Officer, Anthony Broward was shot to death in his own home..and it looks like with his own gun... His fiancé, Tammie Ellis was arrested and charged with his murder...She was found wandering around in the night in her night gown." said Miles...
He showed us a photo of her at the time of her arrest...she had on a sheer night gown...You could see her panties...She had on no bra...Her eye was blackened, another eye was nearly closed and there were black and blue bruises on her body..
''She looks like the police beat the crap out of her.."said Beverly.
"Oh My God!" said Josie..
''What happened Miles?"asked Nelson..
"Cops didn't do this..She was like this when they found her...That's why they snapped the photos, to make sure it was known they didn't lay a finger on her.."said Miles.
"Was she his girlfriend?"I asked.
"Fiance ! But it was a very volatile relationship....I was called over there on several occasions to get in between them...He was violent..he hit her and he and I nearly came to blows on several occasions.."said Miles..
"Lets' head out...we were on our way to Sam Mother's Diner."said Olivia
''Sure."said Miles..
As we left...Beverly yelled to her mother..
"Mom! We are going to Sam Mother's , do you want us to bring you anything back?"
Alfreda and Rockland were kissing passionately...
She eased out of his embrace..
"Bring me an Ice tea and a Fish Sandwich.." she said..
Rockland moaned.....
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.."
IV-
At Sam Mother's Diner...
We had Ice Teas
and Cheese Steak Hoagie's..
"Guys, Tammie didn't do this...I know her...She's lots of things, but she's no killer."said Miles..
''What does she say happened?" I asked.
"That's the thing....She hasn't said a word...I went to visit her and she can't remember A THING, SHE HAS NO MEMORY of what happened that night...Her fingerprints aren't on the murder weapon..which is the only thing in her favor...Well, there were no eyewitnesses to the murder...As an Assistant District Attorney, I can not advocate for her...but I'd like you to do so...I will pay you for her legal fees."said Miles..
"Okay....we'll look into it..."said Olivia..
"Her last name is Ellis...Is this your sister Miles...?"asked Beverly...
"She's my EX-WIFE Bev!!...We were once married!"said Miles..
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