Season Of Changes

 In the weeks after Ms. Yvette announced her and Gary 's engagement , a lot was going on..

For one thing..Olivia, Beverly, Donnie Ray , Nelson and Josie

 were working four related wrongfully convicted cases .... Four men convicted under very strange circumstances by a Judge and an Assitant District Attorney who it turned out were having a lurid affair and pressuring detectives and witnesses in the cases as well as jury tampering..

The case was so complex that they hired Bee Bee and Me, Keith Jones.

and  Dabnis and his wife, Jasmine Coley as "consultants"

To help them out...

Ms. Jade was aiding Donnie Ray in the investigation of all four cases..

We all took a train ride to Stanga and stayed in an Air BNB

a few days while visiting the four prisoners.. and had gotten them transferred to Philadelphia.

To the Curran Fromhold Correctional facility while they awaited their wrongful conviction hearings...

Lt. Tragg ,who had been the arresting officer in all four cases was livid..Livid that these cases were being brought up again...They were all ten years old...These four guys had been locked up for ten years for crimes they may not have been guilty of.. 

They all were defended by green attorneys , just out of law school and easily intimidated by the seasoned ADA who prosecuted them....Former ADA Josette Krause and over ruled by the Judge who was obviously on her side , 

Former Judge Alden Cox considering they were sleeping with each other.. Both ,now in Private practice badly wanted these cases to go away...

Innocence Project Attorney and Activist, Jessica Sanchez-Burrows had discovered the discrepencies and had brought it to the attention of the Wrongful Conviction Unit...

ADA Karen Page called out the heavy hitters...Olivia and Beverly and her crew and some of Yvette Jones's people...

As a result , Lt. Tragg 

was making it a living hell for Ms. Yvette and Gary,

who were trying to enjoy a meal in Sam Mother's Diner...

Yvette kept telling him that Bee Bee and I were hired by Olivia and Beverly as "consultants"on the cases and that was all she knew...She hadn't seen either of us in weeks, which was partially true.. She hadn't seen us...but she talked to Olivia every night..She knew what the cases entailed..She just wasn't about to tell him...

His daily visits to Olivia and Beverly's Office/Duplex availed him nothing..

Alfreda wouldn't let him past the door and she informed him...They weren't in...

Trying to find us at The Headquarters of the Wrongful Conviction Unit was a bust...

Unknown to him...

We were five floors up from the conference room in Jazzy's law firm's law library studying , researching, preparing cases and preparing for the hearings...

ADA Karen Page was happy to be working with us again...

Most days we ordered our breakfast and lunch delivered to us in the conference room by UBER Eats or Door Dash and had dinner and drinks in Camden

and had dinner at our spot over in Camden...

and drinks at our Camden Waterfront Bar....

II-

If you thought we missed our other two counterparts... Sofia and Kahlil.. you were wrong...We saw them everyday...The Four of them were working four cases of Immigrants, wrongfully convicted and facing deportation...

All four, Three men and one woman were married to American born citizens, had children born here and had been upstanding citizens.. Convicted of a single murder, the Murder of an ICE agent..and facing deportation...

The Innocence Project and the Wrongful Conviction Unit were jointly working on these cases...

Beverly, Nelson and Josie were piggy backing on these cases, helping them out too...

Jade and Private Investigator, Kevin Morris was helping out on these cases...

We were very busy and for the most part out of sight ...I liked being busy.....

Donnie Ray called me to the side one day..

"Hey youngin...I got it...." he said and opened the box...

"You like it?" he asked..

"Oh My God, Do I? " I said..

I pulled an envelope out of my coat pocket...It was the last of the payments I owed him for the ring..

Donnie Ray pocketed the cash and smiled...He passed me the box with the ring in it..

"Always like a paying and happy customer." he said to me..

"Thanks man.." I said.

"Good Luck to you pal." he said and patted me on the back..

III-

Saturday was a literal girls day at Olivia and Beverly's house.. We were off as far as work was concerned..

In Beverly and Nelson's apartment.... Beverly, Josie, Kayla, Jazzy, Jessica Sanchez-Burrows, Bee Bee and Sofia were busy putting invitations together and preparing them to be mailed... They had booked the church and were working on getting their sizes together for their gowns...They were all going to be brides maids

"Auntay is going to be Ms. Yvette's maid of honor...That's something...She was mine, I was hers in both weddings...That first one I would like to forget..and now she's Ms. Yvette's..."said Beverly

"You know you're going to be mine Bev.."said Josie, smiling at her best friend...

"Bev you were mine..." said Kayla..

"And you were mine.."said Jazzy...

"You know you're going to be mine.."said Bee Bee to Sofia..

"And you're going to be mine."said Sofia.

"These two are sooo cute.." said Beverly, hugging them both...She considered them her little sisters.

"They are...I just love them.." said Jessica.

Upstairs in Olivia and Donnie Ray's apartment.. Olivia and the rest were looking at Yvette's wedding dress and talking about who was going to cater the wedding reception...amongst other things..

"Vettie girl, we are going to send you and Gary off right." said Olivia, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek..

"Awwww thank you...I wondered if this day would ever come.."said Yvette...

"Awww I knew it was coming as soon as I saw him hanging around you...He was as you say, Gone Baby Gone!" said Ms. Jade...which was met by howls of laughter.

"I haven't had this much fun since we were planning Beverly and Nelson's wedding" said Zoey..

"Ummmmm Ummph, what a time that was." laughed Alfreda...

''Well Vettie, with you getting hitched..That's the last of our crew..All of us are going to be married ladies..Sexy Married Ladies said FBI/ATF Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Hopkins..

"Wowww this is so exciting...All of this going on with these big cases happening at the same time."said Karen Page..

"I've some things to show you Vettie...For your honey moon...These pieces will drive Gary wild!"said Bridget Jones who owned two lingerie stores...

"Ouuuu honey...That might kill him.."said Yvette..

Which was met with Howls of Laughter.

IV-

As for the guys... Most of us were in Josie's..

quaffing down cold ones and drinking.

"Woww...This is nice..all of us guys having a night out...Just us guys." said Donnie Ray..

"Yeah it is..Won't be too many more of these for me soon."Joked Gary Lockwood..

"Gotta give your players cards up huh Gary?" joked Nelson..

"We all did..."laughed Ray St. Jacques..

"Aint it the truth brother?" said Dabnis...

''Well not all of us not yet..."said Chip,looking at  Kahlil and Paris, the only single guys amongst us.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!"laughed Kahlil..

"They're just jealous...That's all Kahlil."laughed Paris.

"Hey ,where's your boy Keith, speaking of single guys?" asked Detective Tony Hopkins...

"He'll be here...He had some business to take care of.."said Kahlil..

I was standing in front of a house, yes , a house three doors down from Ms. Yvette's house..

"This will be perfect for the two of us...A Basement with a washer /dryer and two floors above" I said.

"Actually these houses are three stories...There is an extra floor..."said Bonita Foxworth, realtor..

"I love a man that plans... You've put a down payment on a house...Wow...It was just yesterday ,I was renting you and your buddy those apartments...Used to be a lot of senior citizens in these houses...sadly they've all died or moved out..."said Sepia Morris..

"You and your new wife will be amongst friends Keith...Kayla Bennett-St. Jacques and her husband live at the corner..

and two houses down and  Jessica Sanchez-Burrows and Chip live two doors down"said Bonita.

as I looked at the block...

and your boss, Yvette Jones 

lives three doors down from them.. and two doors down from where you will be living...

This is nice... Your lease will be up soon...and with this deposit, I'll hold this house for you and take down the for sale sign...There is a place right next door to you that's also for sale..Your friend, Kahlil was around here looking at it.."said Sepia.

"I know, he told me about it..." I said..

"Nice...Uh have you even proposed yet?" asked Sepia..

"Uh no...I tried to get my courage up to do it the other night but I got cold feet.." I said.

"Well  you'd better get around to it."laughed Bonita... "Men." she laughed..

"Bee Bee is crazy about you...Take her out to a nice lunch or dinner...She'll say yes..." said Sepia.

I smiled.

(TO BE CONTINUED)