It was a familliar scene...A suspect sitting in "The Fishbowl" , the nickname detectives gave the interrogation room...
Lt. Tragg had turned the temperature up in the room...
Attorney Christopher Daley was sweating like a stuck pig and he had been up for the past eight hours facing a barrage of questions from Lt. Tragg, who drank an Ice cold Coke in front of him...
Still he wouldn't crack...Wouldn't say a thing..Finally ,near the brink of pure exhaustion he said.
"I'm an Attorney, A Defense Attorney.. I've always coached my clients to dummy up when in here..You think I'm not going to take my own advice...I got nothin to say to you." he said..
"If you want to sleep , have a cold drink again...You'll talk....Now we have the murder weapon with your prints on it...we got you cold....Make it easy on yourself...Confess, I can talk to the D.A., get him to go easy on you."said Lt. Tragg.
"Bite me!" laughed Christopher..
"Interview over!" said Attorney Jasmine Coley...
''Tell me Lieutenant...Does this tactic ever work?" I asked as we walked in..
"What are you doing here?" he asked me..
''He is my investigator...This is my client...You either charge him or let him go." said Jazzy..
"I liked you better when you were an Assistant District Attorney...Okay boys, read him his rights..He's being charged with first degree murder of one Charles Townsend.. He has a right to remain silent, if he refuses...Anything he says can and will be used against him...He has a right to an Attorney..If he couldn't afford one , we would provide one for him, but I see he has one already...Satisfied Jazzy?" said Lt. Tragg..
''Yes I am Lieutenant...Sit tight Christopher...I'm going to try and get you arraigned as soon as possible." said Jasmine.. "Come on Kevin." she said as we left..
"Top of the morning to you Lieutenant!" I said as we left...
He stomped his foot..He hated my guts...The feeling was mutual.
II-
We met our spouses at Sam Mother's Diner..
I kissed Sepia as soon as I saw her..
"Hey Baby, make settlement on that house?" I asked.
"Sure Did! " she said..
''Come here sexy, give daddy some sugar.." said Dabnis ,
Kissing Jazzy,
She giggled like a school girl...It was quite obvious ,she was madly in love with her new husband..and he was crazy about her..
A Pitcher of Ice tea arrived
along with a salad
Ham Salad sanwiches
and chicken salad sandwiches..
Lt. Tragg stormed in...He couldn't just walk in and order his food, he had to stop by our table and say something smart...
He looked at my wife Sepia
and then looked at Jazzy and remarked...
"You two guys are the luckiest guys in the world.." he said, shaking his head..
"Yeah we know that...Imagine if either one of these women had wound up with you?" remarked Dabnis, who despised Lt Tragg.
"You know , I owe you a good ass kickin..." he snarled..
''You know what I told you...If you feelin froggy jump...I won't lock you out the restaurant this time..I'll beat you like I'm yo daddy."said Dabnis..
"OH YEAH!"screamed Lt. Tragg.
"Baby, ignore him....He's just trying to get your goat...You know that...Ignore him!"pleaded Jazzy..
"Yes, don't let him goad you.."said Sepia..
I said nothing, I sat back and smiled..
"What are you laughing about?" he snarled..
"ARTIE!! EITHER ORDER YOUR LUNCH OR GET OUT!! I'VE TOLD YOU ABOUT HARRASSING MY CUSTOMERS!" screamed Sam Mother.
"Alright!" said Lt. Tragg as he angrilly walked away....
"Olivia told me that she ,Bev, Nelson, Donnie Ray and Josie just ignore him
...They act like he isn't there when he starts talking...Yvette said she and her gang do the same thing..
He eventually walks away."said Jazzy..
All of the people named just happened to be in the diner today, They waved at us and looked at us in sympathy ,when they saw Lt. Tragg...
"Let's get to that arraignment and then back to your office, so we can talk about what I've found out so far.." I said.
III-
Hours later, after getting Christopher released on bail..
We met in the conference room of Jazzy's law firm..
"Thanks for getting out of that hell hole guys...Did you see the look on Traggs face when the Judge granted me such low bail? It was priceless." said Attorney Christopher Daley, glad to be out on bail..
and in an air conditioned conference room..
He has famished...He gulped down the pitcher of Ice Tea
and devoured the Italian Hoagie we got him..
"Christopher, you did a very stupid thing...As if you didn't have enough trouble...If you had just did what I say, perhaps you'd be free and clear...Kevin traced your calls...It was Townsend ,who was blackmailing you..."said Jazzy..
"And something else...I stopped by the M.E.'s office... Townsend had terminal pancreatic cancer...He only had about six weeks to live... He'd of been dead in a few weeks..All you had to do was lay low..Now you're charged with his murder.."I said..
"Ohhh mannnnn." said Christopher.
''So here is what you're going to do...You screw up again , you fail to do what I say and I'm dropping this whole matter...Are we clear? You are to register yourself into a hotel or a motel...Use your real name...and stay out of sight..Keep a low profile..Don't go anywhere ,unless I know it...I'm going to give you a Portal, so we can keep in touch...I'm serious Christopher...You're in serious trouble..Another thing..Don't eat in Sam Mother's diner anymore...find someplace else...Keep your distance from Lt. Tragg."said Jazzy...
The Bank Robbery was the work of Two men, James McClain, who looks an awful lot like Jason Prescott and Ralph Ulec.... The two took the bank down strong...They stole 12 million dollars...From what I've been able to ascertain...It looked to be an inside job...The bank robbers, both with long rap sheets and neither thought to be a genius had a complete knowledge of the layout of the bank and they knew the safe's electronic combonation and the exact time to hit the safe ,when it wouldn't attract attention...They stole 12 million in cash and bearer bonds, none of which was ever recovered.. I talked to my friends in law enforcement...Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division as well as The FBI and ATF.
They discovered latent prints and DNA that led them to McClain and Ulec...but both were dead when they fell upon them and neither had the money on them or the bearer bonds...They found the car used in the hold up....It was bleached clean of Prints and DNA.. They discovered the shot caller, An African immigrant that owned a pawn shop named Oleg Mboli..He too was shot to death.... The entire case against Jason Prescott was given to them by a snitch, a Snitch named Jimmy Hibbler.." I said,
"The CID and The FBI/ATF was certain they had cracked the Bank Robbery Gang, but a certain Lieutenant, Lt. Arthur Tragg took it upon himself to insert himself into the investigation...The security guard killed was a personal friend of his...An ex-cop and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.. He was the one who shook up Hibbler and Hibbler gave them Jason Prescott as the only living member of the bank robbery crew... Prescott had done time with both McClain and Ulec and had been seen with both of them in the days before the Bank robbery, but he always maintained that he had nothing to do with the bank robbery and he was in another part of town at the time..but Tragg would hear none of it...He arrested him and charged him with Bank robbery and conspiracy to committ murder... The actual shooter was McClain, who was now dead along with Ulec amd Mboli..
"My case against Prescott was that he was the wheel man, the getaway driver.....We always knew that McClain was the one who killed the guard...and McClain and Ulec are both on the film from the bank hold up...They were both dead by the time Prescott came to trial...He's done six years of 10-25 year sentence for Conspiracy to committ bank robbery and accessory to murder."said Jazzy. 'The funny thing was that Prescott always maintained that he did not know Oleg M'boli, had never met the guy...He didn't have to have known him if McClain and Uleg had hired him to drive."said Jazzy.
''Somebody drove the getaway car....If it wasn't Prescott, then who?" I asked.
"At this point...who knows? The main players, McClain, Uleg, "M'boli and Dwyer are all dead."said Jazzy..
"Somehow Charles Townsend ,the Attorney has a link to one or all of these nefarious guys..."I said.
"Believe it or not, Lt. Tragg actually made a good collar..He arrested the man who murdered Mboli, Ulec and McClain...a man named Eddie Dwyer, a contract killer...and a Heroin addict..." I said,.
"I can provide you with the rest of the story...When asked about Jason Prescott, Dwyer didn't know who we were talking about...and I had a waitress,Rita Gallagher. who told me that Prescott was across town having breakfast at her diner at the time of the Bank Robbery..I knew that and I could of used that in my defense, but I held both of those facts back because my partner, Charles Townsend told me to..I swear to you, I didn't know anything about McClain, Uleg, M'Boli or this Dwyer charactor.. I got handed this case...Charlie didn't want to take it.." said Christopher Daley...
''And I won the case and an innocent man has been sitting in prison for six years...You are disgusting."said Jasmine, now truly disgusted with Christopher.. ''Where is Dwyer? did he tell you who hired him?" asked Jazzy.
"No...He was murdered in County Lock Up...Somebody shanked him a week after he was arrested..He never revealed who hired him...So your two bank robbers were murdered and the shot caller who set the whole thing up was murdered and the person who killed all of them was mirdered and the money and the bearer bonds never were recovered..."I said.
"And my partner, Charles Townsend, the only person alive who knows who was behind this whole thing, discovers he is terminally ill and starts pressuring me to reopen the Prescott case...and he's murdered...Meaning the string puller is still a mystery..."said Christopher.
''What about this waitress, please tell me she's still alive." said Jazzy.
''As far as I know...That's your job to find her.."said Christopher to me..
"She's Precott's Alibi...I'll find her and we'll start looking at your late partner..Who he knew, who he talked to..and what have you....I'll be going...Do you need anything else from me right now Jazzy?" I asked.
"No Kvein...You've done a great job so far...Thank you...I'll be in touch." said Jazzy as I left...Let me get you a Portal.." said Jazzy to Christopher..
He observed her sexy body and the mini skirt she had on seemed to accentuate her sexy curves...He smiled wryly as she bent over and went into a drawer to get a Portal unit...
"You know Jasmine...as you well know....I have a huge penis and I'd love to put it inside you again...Ummmmmmmmm." he whispered in her ear..
He was aroused...His trousers were standing out like a circus tent....something that didn't go un noticed by Jazzy....
It wasn't the first time a man had said that to her...She turned without smiling...
"That ship has long since sailed...So let's not revisit it's shores okay? I'm married , Happily Married..and right now I'm not too thrilled with you and what you did at all..I'll do the best I can to keep what you did from seeing the light of day...but honestly...YOU DESERVE TO BE DISBARRED! That one hundred thousand dollars paid for a lot didn't it?" asked Jazzy...
"Charles and I got a hot investment tip...We made it grow several times after that...I bought a house, a yacht...went on some nice trips...and a car...I've done pretty well for myself.. I know what I did was wrong..That's why I came to you...You no longer prosecute cases.." said Christopher..
"And because I don't , because I'm your attorney...I can't divulge what you've told me...You're brilliant..."said Jazzy...
''No...Nooooo....Jazzy, It's not like that at all.....Jasmine...I still would like just one afternoon with you...I swear, I could be discreet, no one would have to know...Just Me and You...Come on...I want you so bad I can taste you...Give a drowning man his last request.." he whispered...
"Apparently you haven't had a crises of conscience...I'm going to walk out of here...Give you a chance to calm down and then I want you to leave..Take this Portal
and keep a low profile.." said Jazzy..
Those few minutes to calm down probably saved Christopher's life...
His car exploded in the parking lot just minutes before he got to it... Someone not only wanted him framed for murder...They wanted him out of the way period...
IV-
At CID Headquarters , I met on the rooftop with Lt. Sissy Van Buren.
"Sissy, thank you so much for letting Christopher stay in one of the rooms here...It's the only place he is safe..." I said.
"No problem Kevin... We are not going to tell Lt. Tragg his whereabouts.. You and Ms. Coley are just going to have to deal with him on that...I don't envy you...But at least here amongst my detectives , these federal agents and all of these cops...He's safe.."said Sissy..
"Kevin, Lieutenant Van Buren, I can't thank you enough..."said a very grateful Christopher Daley..
"Did you find that waitress?" he asked.
"No Not yet...but from what I've ascertained.. She is still alive.. I'll find her.."I said.. "Just sit tight." I said.
Sepia was waiting outside in her car...I had had her come in the back through the parking lot..
Jazzy and I had spirited him out from the back and brought him here...
"He'll be safe here Jazzy..."said Sepia.
"Yeah...whoever is behind this is really cleaning house...Both Bank robbers, the shot caller and their killer...That was six years ago....Now Charlie Townsend who was the only one who knows this mystery man's identity and next..Christopher...even though they failed in their attempt to kill him...They've succeeded in shaking him up.."I said.
"But he doesn't really know anything.."said Jazzy..
"He knows enough....He might know more than he's told any of us.." I said.
"He better have a Crisis Of Conscience soon and fess up." said Sepia.
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