Attorney Charles Townsend's funeral was attended by many in the legal community...
His burial was even more interesting..
"Wow, unbelievable that a man so crooked had so many people say so many nice and heartfelt things about him.." I mused..
''They didn't know him...Not all of him, they only saw his public face."said my wife, who for a realtor was as wise as could be about human nature.."
"Ummmm Christopher that's a nice fragrance you're wearing.."said Jasmine, complementing him..
He had also shaved his beard and moustache completely...
"How would you like a better whiff of it... Naked?" he whispered to Jasmine...
''Don't start...you're taking a chance even being here...You're on trial for his murder." said Jazzy.
"I had to be here..I knew you'd be here...Jazzy stop playing with me...I want you sooo bad, I can taste you....Ummmmmm I'd like to taste you ...Please, come back to my room with me...Please??" he pleaded..
''Would you stop? Please?" said Jasmine forcefully.
I noticed an attractive woman in red at the funeral...
I saw Charlie Townsend's widow walk up to her..
"You've got some nerve rolling up in my husband's funeral...You homewrecker...GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!" she snarled..
''Alright..Let's not make a scene...I'll go!"said the woman in red..
and just like that she turned and left..
"Interesting exchange." said my wife Sepia, who like me had heard the entire thing..
"Yeah...How about that?" I said.
"Who was that? Do you know her?" Jazzy asked Chris..
"Velma Hopkins, Charlie's girl...They'd been fooling around for years...I didn't know Mrs. Townsend knew about them."said Christopher.
''The Wife always knows."said Jasmine..
"Okay?"said Sepia, high fiving her.
My mind was already leaning in one direction...
''Jasmine please...Come back to my room with me...I need you...I need you sooo bad.." begged Christopher..
"Get ahold of yourself...I'm your attorney , nothing more and after this is all over...I don't want to see you for awhile.." said Jasmine as we all began to leave the burial..
II-
TWO WEEKS LATER...
The Murder trial of Attorney Christopher Daley was in full effect...
Judge Keith Morrison was presiding
ADA James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor fresh off losses to Olivia, Beverly and company and Yvette Jones and crew was not about to lose this.. He was crisp and articulate and personal with the jury of six men and six women..
For a week he had hearded the theory , based on phone records that Charles Townsend was blackmailing Christopher Daley either for money or some dark deep secret being revealed as the reason that Christopher had murdered him...
Jazzy argued that this theory was conjecture , based on hearsay and challenged ADA Taylor to prove it..He couldn't..
He produced a handful of witnesses who testified that things had been tense between the two in the past two weeks before the death.. and Jazzy went hard on them on cross , getting them to admit that they had no proof , otherwise than hear say, second and third person talk around the office , not one bit of proof and she appeared to be pulling it off..
No mention of the James Prescott case or the mysterious Bank Robbery of six years ago and all of the equally mysterious deaths surrounding it...
He paraded the usual Officers on the scene, Forensics specialists who testified the defendent's fingerprints were on the murder weapon as well as the crime scene investigators...
Jazzy questioned them all but didn't make much headway...
Lt. Tragg, who had eased his anger towards her after two weeks regarding the Prescott trial smiled..
This wasn't Olivia and Beverly and their team, his constant foils, who more than once made him look like a fool..
and This wasn't Yvette and her crew either, who were worse because they were so young..
. This looked like a win for the prosecution and thus him..
Not to knock Jazzy, she was a very good attorney, but both he and Jumpshot Jim felt as though she was a little out of her league here...
Dabnis sat in court everyday...watching the proceedings and his pretty wife like a hungry wolf..
Jazzy wasn't playing all of her cards...She was waiting for the Prosecution to rest...
Jim "Jumpshot" Jim Taylor rested his case...One hundred percent certain he had "scored a winning basket" to use his lingo.
He told an adoring press...
"I'm satisfied that the jury believes that Mr. Daley killed his long time partner after a brief falling out.." He said..
"Falling out about what?" asked one reporter..
He didn't answer...He tried to deflect....
''You mentioned Blackmail, Blackmail about what?" asked another reporter..
"Well perhaps the defense will spell all of that out next week..but it doesn't matter...Mr. Daley is guilty...It's a shame...because he's a very good attorney...I hate to see one of us, the legal fraternity go bad!" he said..
Lt. Tragg, not to be undone was also speaking to the press..
"Daley seems like a good guy...Talented Attorney, Princeton man, Princeton Law Degree, years of experience...but I'm afraid he went off the deep end..We caught him with the murder weapon in his hand." he said.
"Any chance that he could be innocent? That somebody else might have done this?" asked a reporter.
"No....I did a thorough investigation...He's our guy."said a confident Lt. Tragg.
I stood off to the side watching the whole thing and smiling...Both of them, so full of themselves...so sure and both so wrong on all counts...I couldn't wait until a few days from now when the defense opened up it's case.
I hadn't seen Jazzy or Dabnis since court had adjourned for the day...I had no idea that she and her husband Dabnis were in the locked Judges Chambers..
"You are such a horn dog Dabnis, We gonna get caught in here!" she giggled.
They were kissing passionately........
"The door is locked and I saw Judge Morrison leave for the day.." whispered Dabnis..
He lifted his wife's mini skirt up and had his hands down in her panties, while he kissed her hungrilly..
"I couldn't wait, you looked so damn good up there.." said Dabnis..
"Maybe you need to stay home or go back to work the rest of this case. If you're going to get this excited...You see me everyday.." she giggled..
He picked her up and slowly entered her..His trousers and boxers were down to his ankls..
"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..I DON'T SEE YOU ENOUGH!!!" he moaned as he stroked her softly...
Soon he had her on the carpeted floor, going to town inside of her...
"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU DABNIS!!! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOODNESSS..OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU YOU ARE SOOO NASTY....OUUUUU!" she moaned..
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned..
She had never behaved like this in court with any man... Her husband Dabnis was a freak, she couldn't imagine knowing him as long as she had and not seeing this side of him... but she hadn't been sleeping with him either.
Christopher walked up to me as I was leaving the courthouse..
"I just want to say you've done a hell of an investigation...You're every bit as good as Jasmine told me you were and if I get out of this...I may call on you myself for my future cases.." he said..
"Oh By the way did Jasmine leave?" he asked.
"I don't know...I haven't seen her since court adjourned." I said..
The doors of The Judges Chambers opened..
Jasmine emerged...She was fixing her dress and her hair...She looked like she was in a daze..She was putting her lipstick on...
Dabnis emerged behind her..He was straightening his suit jacket...It was wrinkled and he was fixing his trousers...He had a pleased as punch grin on his face...He had lipstick on his shirt collar and his lapel..
Christopher was furious....He stomped his foot and stormed out of the courtroom...
III-
A FEW DAYS LATER
Jazzy began her defense...
I had been in court with Olivia and Beverly, Nelson and Josie and Yvette and her guys, Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia and Kahlil as well as Jessica, Chip, Kayla, Robert Foxworth and many others...None had the sheer determination, ruthlessness and cut throat attitude that Jazzy had in court..It made her effective as a prosecutor and as a Defense Attorney...
Jazzy told me that Olivia Bennett-Alexander
taught her everything she knew..And I could see that...Olivia was cut throat too, So was Beverly and Yvette,
but in a seductive way...Jazzy was a whole nother beast...
I liked what she was doing...In just a few days of her defense ,she had made the jury forget everything the prosecution had done the week before...No mean feat because Jumpshot Jim was a very good Assistant District Attorney..
The defendent, Christopher had a sour look on his face and sat very quiet and contrite the next few days.. He was furious at the thought that Jazzy and her husband had made love in the Judges Chambers.. I didn't know why..They're married...Newlyweds...What did he think they did when they were home???
Jazzy had confided in me that Christopher had propositioned her for sex several times and she couldn't wait until this trial was over, to put some distance between the two of them.. She said that if Dabnis found out, he'd kill him!
She said that she had one more witness to call...
''She's grasping at straws...She's got nothing..."laughed a confident ADA Jim "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor..
Lt. Tragg laughed..
"Nothing at all...She didn't prove a damn thing..All she did was waste the jury's time and lull them to sleep."laughed Lt. Tragg
He was so glad this wasn't Olivia and Beverly or Yvette Jones and her kids...he was certain he had this in the bag!..
"I call Mrs. Stephanie Townsend, The widow of the deceased." she said..
The courtroom grew quiet...
Stephanie Townsend was surprised herself.. She walked up, was sworn in and sat down...
Jazzy showed her a photo..Defense exhibit A of her car, parked in front of her estranged husband's townhouse office at 11:45 pm....It was lifted from a Street Cam and from the ATM cam at the bank across the street..
"That's your car isn't it?" asked Jazzy..
"Yes..Yes it is.." said Mrs. Townsend nervously..
"This was taken on the night of your husband's murder ,just 15 minutes before the coroner says he was murdered....You had come to have it out with him hadn't you? because you found this in YOUR CAR..." she said.
She pulled out a pair of panties and a bra.
and these weren't yours were they?" she asked..
The jury gasped.
"NO! THEY WEREN'T!" said an angry Stephanie Townsend..
"Ooops, those are mine!" blurted out Velma Hopkins, who was in court..
The Jurors burst out into howls of laughter..
"Order...Order in the court.Please control your outbursts"said Judge Morrison, staring at Velma Hopkins and smiling raffishly...
"How long had you known about Your husband and Ms. Hopkins?" asked Jazzy..
"For a year." she sighed..
''This is people's exhibit A, the murder weapon.. A Meat cleaver...It belongs to a set...Here is the catalog photo of the set.... Police entered your house and went in your kitchen...You have that same set...This was the only piece missing...This is your meat cleaver isn't it?...Your mistake was , after you killed your husband..You left it there.. and you would have been caught sooner, except my client arrived, just minutes after you left....at midnight and he pulled the meat cleaver out of your husband's back, thus getting his fingerprints on it, Am I correct Mrs. Townsend?" asked Jazzy..
"I've got nothing more to say....I think I would like to speak to an attorney." she said.
"That's a good idea...The Defense rests...."said Jasmine, smiling..
IV-
A DAY LATER-
We were all in the courtroom awaiting the verdict...
"Relax baby, you got this...I saw you that last day...You did an excellent job!"said Dabnis..
"Oh, you are bias...You think EVERYTHING I DO is excellent.." said Jazzy...
"YES I DO, and then some." said Dabnis..
"Awwww, you're my biggest fan." said a grateful Jazzy...
She rewarded Dabnis with a kiss...
"Here comes the bailiff." I said.
For a man on trial for his life, Christopher seemed a world away...He was sad because Jazzy was here with her husband.. He wasn't even thinking about the verdict..
"Bailiff, if the jury has come to a decision...Let me see it and then read it!" said Judge Keith Morrison.
The bailiff passed the verdict to the judge, who read it and passed it back..
"Read it." he said.
"COUNT ONE, USE OF AN IN STRUMENT OF CRIME, NOT GUILTY!" he said.
"The most serious charge, COUNT TWO, MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE...NOT GUILTY" HE READ...
The jury was polled and they unaninmously said - "NOT GUILTY"
ADA James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor was livid...
"I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! YOU ARE THE WORST DETECTIVE ON THE FORCE!!!! YOU MISSED THE CAR, YOU MISSED THE MEAT CLEAVER BELONGING TO A SET!!! YOU MISSED EVERYTHING!! I WISHED I HAD HAD MRS. COLEY'S INVESTIGATOR! OHHHHHH!" he screamed and punched Lt. Tragg in the jaw..
''OOOF, why you prissy little pretty boy!" yelled Lt. Tragg back, who in turn slugged him in the jaw and in the face....
He slugged Lt. Tragg in the stomach...
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" he moaned and slugged ADA Taylor in the stomach and then punched him in the jaw! "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" moaned ADA Taylor...
The two wrestled each other and fell to the floor knocking over the prosecution table and breaking a pitcher of cold water, which spilled all over the courtroom floor.
The Jurors and visitors screamed and ran for cover...Pure pandemonium was breaking out as the two men rolled around the floor and slugged each other...
The press was eating it up, snapping photo after photo of the melee....
"HEY!!!...HEYYYY!!!ORDER!!!.ORDER!!....BAILIFFS, GRAB BOTH OF THEM, A LITTLE TIME IN THE COOLER WILL COOL THEM OFF..." SCREAMED Judge Morrison...furious at what had taken place in his court...
Dabnis howled with laughter...He slapped his thighs..
."OHH MY GOD!" screamed Jazzy.....Olivia and Yvette had told her about his melee's with the press after they had won cases...but she never expected anything like this!
I must admit...I was laughing too...
Lt. Tragg glared at me with a white hot hatred as both he and Jumpshot Jim were handcuffed and walked to the elevator that would lead them to the holding cells upstairs.
... My investigation had shown him up once again...
Christopher Daley laughed,.
He had a good reason to be happy...He was cleared of Murder charges and The Prescott case never came up...His license was safe.
"Thank You Kevin, Thank you for a sterling investigation.." he said.
''You're welcome, but your attorney deserves the praise..She got Jason Prescott freed from an unjust prison sentence and got you off and didn't even have to mention it...You're free and clear." I said..
He turned to thank Jazzy but...
Dabnis and Jazzy were kissing passionately in the corner...
"Perhaps some other time." he said and he walked away and left the courthouse...A Free man..
CASE CLOSED!
EPILOUGE:
Sepia , Kimmie and I sat in Sam Mother's diner the next day, having breakfast...
"Ouu Look, The top story in the news is Prosecutor and Police Detective get in brawl after verdict in Murder Case..."said Sepia.
I laughed..
"Judge Morrison gave them both 72 hours in the cooler..so there goes their weekend..They won't get out until Sunday afternoon.." I laughed..
as pancakes arrived,
Hash browns
and sausage..
Sam topped off both Sepia and my coffees.
"How did you figure it all out?" asked Sepia..
''When I talked to Charles Estep , he damn near admitted everything he did do, then he said..he didn't kill Charlie , He asked me , why would he? He knew Charlie was dying and he said he had no dog in the fight to clear Jason Prescott...He didn't know him and Prescott didn't know him either.. I knew he was telling the truth and I relooked at the entire murder scene...I scanned the cameras and checked every car on the street and I saw Mrs. Townsend's car there just minutes before the time of death and gone moments before Christopher Daley arrived to find him dead.. She was the only one who could have done it...I looked at the Meat Cleaver and got the catalouge number.. On a hunch, the police got a warrant and went back in her house and found the set...The cleaver was the only one missing...It was hers...Game ,Set, Match...She was the killer."I said.
"Lieutenant Tragg could have done this...It was simple detective work..."said Sepia..
"That's why he couldn't do it...It was too simple ,even for him....Poor Mrs. Townsend was arrested and charged with the murder... And I hacked into both of uh the late Mr. Estep's off shore accounts and emptied them and returned the money to the bank they had been stolen from...So... Mystery solved.."
I said..
And we had a nice peaceful breakfast in Sam Mother's diner, not having to worry about an angry Lt. Tragg...
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