Eddie's Triumph

Visiting room , CFC, The Day before the trial...
 

Eddie Jefferson was visited for the second time by his wife, Board of Education member, Kim Jefferson.. This time they were alone..

He had told her to wear a dress that allowed him to see her breasts and a short dress...She giggled ...It had been a long time since he had talked nasty to her like this..She loved it..

She sat on his lap and kissed him slowly,passionately like she hadn't kissed him in awhile..

"Ummmmmmmmmm.." she moaned..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he moaned..

He rubbed her shapely and smooth legs and then slowly ran his hands up her dress...She looked at him in astonishment at first..

"OUUUUUUUU WHAT YOU DOIN?" she asked..

He didn't answer...He ran his finger down into her panties...Deep down...

"OUUUUUUUUUU!" she moaned..."Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu you are soooo badddddddddddddddd! Ummmmmmmmmm" she said, smiling...... "EDDIE...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" she moaned....but she didn't move his hands...She smiled at him sheepishly and then slowly unzippered his trousers..

"OUUUU LAWWWWWWD!" she exclaimed..looking at his huge and erect penis...She rubbed it softly...

"Ummmmmmm loook at youuuuuuu!" she whispered...

She just looked at him...She smiled at him........Devilishly......... "I-I -Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...I like what you're...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...Doing to me husband...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu , Oh My godddddddd...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned..She was sweating..

"You know what??....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu , ummmmmmmmmmmph that feels soo good...Ohhhh!" she moaned.... She was sweating and tears were running down her face....She was shaking a little bit...She laughed nervously and turned her head from side to side...

He slipped her panties down and off...

She looked astonished...

"We are going to get caught"she said.

His trousers dropped to the ground.. She positioned herself on top of him 

She was good and wet...She moved as slow as she could , Up and down on his throbbing penis..

"OHHHHHHH MY GODDDDD! OUUUUUUUUUUUUU EDDDIE!" she cooed.."OOOUUU

HOOOO  HOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO OUUUUUUUUUUUU ,OH MYYYYYY!" she giggled.

It didn't take her long to have a full blown orgasm...Her body shaking, trembling...sweating profusely ,head turning from side to side..tears and sweat flowing down her face as he continued pumping into her.....

"OOOOOOOOOOO MY GODDDDDDD!!! OUUUUUUUUUUWEEEEEEEEEEE!  UMMMMMMM!" she cooed loudly.

She no longer cared about being caught...She was feeling so good...she continued to move up and down on him, moving a little faster as the chair they were in began to rock furiously....

ONE HOUR AND A HALF WENT BY...

"Hurry up baby...Hurry up before we get caught...Get that nut baby!  GET THAT NUTTT! OUUUUUUUUUUUUU! Come on...Give it to me...Give it to meeeeeeeeee...OUUUUUUUUUUU!" she moaned as Eddie came and came hard.....

"OHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned deep and hard...

"YESSSSSSSSSSSS  BABY YESSSSSSSsss..OUUUUUU GET YOURSSSss!!!MMMMMM!" she cooed  softly.

She climbed up off of him quickly and pulled her panties up and straightened up..She passed him tissue from her pocketbook ,so he could clean himself up...

"Thank you baby...I was a fool to ever stray....You have my word ,I will never stray again.." said Eddie.

"It was my fault too...I was always working...I didn't give you the attention you needed...That's gonna change...This is mine and I want more of it.." she said..

And they kissed some more....

''MMMMM , We'd better stop all of this kissin before we wind up doin it again.." she giggled.

"That wouldn't be a bad thing.." he laughed...

"OUUUUUUU, you are sooo badddd!" she giggled.

He refused to resign from City Council and if acquitted , he still planned to run for Judgeship...He wasn't giving up..He was moving on, Thinking positively...

We certainly were in good spirits...I passed Olivia my full file..My investigation was nearly finished.

"This is just what we need...Shame we didn't have it during that week long preliminary..."said Olivia.

"Jumpshot Jim thinks he's going to hit a home run and I could tell by the way he was speaking so dramatically last week that he's ready to put on a show.."said Beverly..

"I'd feel the same way if I was him...He thinks he's holding all the cards..but unfortunately , he doesn't know about our ace in the hole." said Nelson..

"I was at the courthouse this morning and Lt. Tragg was holding a press conference...He was saying that even with "celebrated attorneys Olivia Bennett and Beverly West and associates he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting acquitted." said Josie..

"He's sang that tune before..."I laughed..

"And we've sent him home ,singing a different tune..."laughed Olivia.

"Yes we have and I look forward to doing it again.."said Beverly..

''Let's take it to em...This looked like a slam dunk for them at first.."said Nelson.

"Just goes to show...Things aren't always as they seem." said Josie.

Olivia smiled sweetly at all of us..

II-

The first day of the trial began with an overcast sky... I'm not s superstitious man, but I thought it might be an omen..a bad omen..

Our client, Eddie Jefferson had his wife bring him a brand new tailored suit...He had had his hair and beard cut and trimmed at the jailhouse...He looked immaculate...He was all smiles for the press as his trial began...

''Welll Eddie certainly looks dapper...You would think he was trying this case instead of being the defendent." said Olivia.

"I noticed...I like his style of dress.." I said..

"Honestly?" laughed Beverly...

''Donnie Ray is a Clothes Horse himself as well as a foodie." said Josie.

Nelson said nothing, He was glad everybody was obviously very loose to begin.

Olivia and I, Beverly, Josie and Nelson followed him in...We wisely told the reporters that we had no comment...

James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor, The Assistant District Attorney and Homicide Lt. Arthur Tragg were all smiles for the press too as they entered the court..

Young Judge, Clifton  Berger  smiled and waved at the press too as he entered....

Nora Desmond, not on trial this time, but her name once again involved in a sensational trial was there too.. 

She told the reporters...

"I have nothing but the greatest faith in Councilman Jefferson's Attorneys...They were mine you know...They are beasts in court...ADA Taylor is in for more than he expects." she told them....

She was right...

Nelson had been training Josie the science and psychology of Jury selection and he was allowing her to help him pick jurors..

This trial was like no other trial..We knew what kind of juror we wanted and what kind we definitely did not want..

"Jumpshot Jim" Taylor was no match for Nelson and the twin team up of Nelson and Josie put him even farther back in the game...

They wound up getting all 12 of the jurors we felt we needed...A feat not achieved in any trial before..

"Can't ask for anymore than that." said a jubilant Olivia..

"Sure can't Auntay...We're starting with an advantage.."said Beverly..

You couldn't tell Assistant District Attorney James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor this...He began his opening statement by telling the jury...

"This case is sooo open and shut, you shouldn't have to be here.." he said.. He explained how , showing bank receipts that Famed Defense Attorney and City Councilman Eddie Jefferson had been blackmailed by the deceased, Julian Roach and that after the payments escalated...He took a gun and forced him to go to the bank and withdraw all of the money he had taken from him through blackmail...

"While Mr. Jefferson's righteous anger at being blackmailed is understandable...He went too far..Way too far...He beat him to a pulp...broke his windows, broke his laptops and his cameras and finally, shot him to death... and that is why we are here today.....Mr. Julian Roach was no angel....He worked at the Television station, he reportedly had a thing for TV personality Nora Desmond, who he worked for...He discovered she was having an affair with City Councilman Eddie Jefferson and he began blackmailing him...All of this led to the tragic event that caused him to lose his life...It won't take me long to show you why Mr. Jefferson here is guilty of First Degree Murder." he said.

Olivia smiled..

"No you shouldn't have to be here....My client didn't make the wisest choices...Having an affair with Ms. Desmond was not a wise choice...Confronting his Blackmailer violently wasn't a wise choice..but he certainly did not murder him....Beat him up...Yes..but he didn't murder him and when this trial is over..You will know that.." said Olivia..

"He's going to show you his bloody clothing he was wearing that night.. He's going to show you a gun...A gun owned by my client that IS NOT THE MURDER WEAPON, WAS NOT FIRED THAT NIGHT and has nothing to do with the case...In fact he will not be able to produce the murder weapon..Why?, because he doesn't have it and he doesn't have the right guy either..."said Beverly ,smiling slyly....

Lt. Tragg glared at both Olivia and Beverly angrily...He hadn't been able to get anything out of them and had no clue what rabbit they were planning to pull out of their hat in this trial.

Jumpshot Jim called 19 eyewitnesses who saw Eddie Jefferson enter Julian Roach's apartment and heard yelling and screaming..

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie had studied witness statements closely...And on cross took apart their statements like surgeons dealing with what they originally said to Lt. Tragg, what they said to me and what they were saying now..

Jumpshot Jim objected numerous times..

But Judge Berger was forced to rule in our favor...He could see that we had used good judgement and was applying good law to the situation..We had anticipated each objection...

Even got these eyewitnesses to admit that they saw no  gun before Eddie and Julian left for the bank or after..

One witness said that he saw Eddie Jefferson leaving hastily around 3:45 pm and then heard gunshots after he left...That was real important and we hung to that...

Jumpshot Jim showed the jury video footage of the two of them in the bank..getting money out..At gunpoint he said.

Nelson had the film blown up...He asked where was there any evidence of a gun? ....Being a lawyer...Eddie was smart enough not to enter the bank with his gun on him...He had left it in the car under the front seat...There was no film footage of him with a gun....

Josie and Beverly on cross talked to all 22 of the witnesses from the bank...going over their statements to Lt. Tragg, To me and now and none of them detected a gun or any undue stress in Mr. Roach's demeanor the entire time they were in the bank.

ADA Taylor's Slam Dunk case was fizzling slowly.....Sinking more like it and we hadn't even begun our defense and he realized it....

A week of this and now he was showing the jury photos of the death scene and the bloody clothes Eddie wore that day and parading the Crime Scene Investigators, Police and Detectives on the scene

and Forensic specialists...

He produced the gun found on Eddie at the time of his arrest...

Olivia smiled..

"That gun was never fired...It was loaded when it was taken off of him...I have several police experts who will testify to that...A parafin test was done on my client at the time of arrest and it was negative...No gun powder residue was found on his hands.. The autopsy report says that two .22 caliber bullets caused his death....This is not the murder weapon..." she said.

Jumpshot Jim closed with an impassioned argument...but he could tell he had completely lost the jury....

Judge Berger shook his head...

''For such a slam dunk case it sure fell apart in the seams.." he muttered to himself , then laughed..''That Olivia, she hasn't changed and she has always coached Beverly and Nelson well...They were champs in there" he said to himself with Pride.

III-

We sat in Sam Mother's Diner...

Enjoying Milk shakes..

"Well I'm quite pleased with the way things went...We didn't give too much of our strategy away in Pre-lim and we gut punched him during his entire argument..I saw the look of defeat on his face."said Olivia as she sipped her milk shake.. "Ummmmmmmm this is good!" she said.

"Maybe...But now we've got to put it all together. Bring it home.." I said.

"And we will...We've already shed more than reasonable doubt....He had all of those witnesses and we made them all look suspect...Question themselves..Thank god Eddie had the good sense to not brandish that gun openly. The only person who actually knows he was taken by force of arms is Mr. Roach himself and he's not alive to tell anyone.."said Beverly...

"We've taken his gun completely out of the equation...Plus we got that one witness to say they heard shots AFTER they saw Eddie leave...."said Nelson..

"Nobody sympathizes with the deceased....The jury sees him for what he was...A Blackmailer..A grifter, who got caught..."said Olivia..

"Heads up....Here comes Walking Agita!" said Beverly...

Lt. Tragg walked over to our table...

"You know Liv, your little courtroom stunts and antics have amazed me for years....How you bend and twist every little thing , every little thing and totally mesmerize a jury and get an acquittal...But you're not going to win this time...The jury saw his bloody clothes, with the victims blood on it..They know he forced this guy to take money out of his bank account..I could run wild and charge him with illegal detainment, kidnapping even..."said Lt. Tragg..

"I suppose you could if you had a gun...but you don't have a gun...Not from any witness in the apartment or the bank! 

It's clear , from your own men that he didn't fire that gun you took off of him and he didn't fire a gun period...The M.E.'s office will attest to that....Plus , you and I know that that gun you have is NOT THE MURDER WEAPON!!"said Olivia, trying to keep from laughing in his face..

"Soooooooo what have you got? Mr. Roach returned money to our client that was his anyway...Mr. Roach was a Blackmailer...A grifter...The Jury got that from ADA Taylor himself.."said Beverly..

''So they'll acquit a man for murder for that?  Look I feel for the guy...If I was being blackmailed for that amount I'd be pissed too..Might even do the same thing Jefferson did, except murder...I wouldn't kill the guy.."said Lt. Tragg..

"No you wouldn't....You're a cop...And Mr. Jefferson didn't kill anybody either."I said.

"And we've already talked to you more than we should."said Nelson , ending the conversation...

We didn't intend to give him anything...anything he go back and tell ADA Taylor about....We still had a hand to play...

Josie walked in...She saw Lt. Tragg at our table so she whispered in my ear....

"Gary got the warrant and the subpeona was served.." she said.

"Good Job Josie..."I said.

"Get you one of these to go girl, They are delish"said Beverly ,letting Josie sip her milk shake..

"Ouuuuuuu yeahhhhh!" said Josie..

Lt. Tragg angrilly stormed out! He had learned nothing new..

IV-

TWO DAYS LATER-

The first day of our defense also began with an overcast sky... Like I said.,I'm not a superstitious man, but I thought it might be an omen..a bad omen..Then again, it hadn't been the last time..

Our client, Eddie Jefferson had his wife bring him yet another  brand new tailored suit...He had had his hair and beard cut and trimmed at the jailhouse...He looked immaculate...He was all smiles for the press as his trial began...

"Look at him....That arrogant, strutting peacock...He's as guilty as hell...everybody knows it...He's going down...Olivia and Beverly don't have enough to save him.."muttered an angry Lt. Tragg.

"Lt. Tragg looks worried."laughed my wife, Olivia..

"He should be...So should ADA Taylor..This case is much like his basketball career, one set shot, one jump shot...No defense..."I said, remembering his days at Duke...He was not my favorite player..Guess you can tell.

Beverly, a Basketball fan herself, laughed... "I know right?"

"You're right about Ole Jumpshot...He looks like he just got benched..."laughed Josie..

Nelson howled with laughter at Josie's remark...

Olivia and I, Beverly, Josie and Nelson followed him in...

We wisely told the reporters again that we had no comment...

ADA Taylor knew he hadn't done enough...He had to savage any witness we produced in the same way we had savaged his many witnesses. He figured the bloody clothes and just the fact that Jefferson was at the victim's apartment should be enough to convict him.

James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor, The Assistant District Attorney and Homicide Lt. Arthur Tragg  entered the courtroom, they were not all smiles and definitely did not look as confident as they had before...This case was supposed to be a slam dunk...A nearly impossible case to lose...And yet Jumpshot Jim had amazingly lost the jury just like that and had really produced no other evidence except that Eddie Jefferson beat the deceased , which the defense wasn't trying to dispute but may have left before someone else, the murderer came back and finished the job...

Young Judge, Clifton  Berger  smiled and waved at the press too as he entered....He had known Olivia ,Beverly and Nelson when he had been a Public Defender...He knew how tenacious and good the three of them were back when they didn't have the luxury of an investigator like me and he saw that skill demonstrated in his courtroom in the past week and a half..He was curious to see what kind of defense we had.

Nora Desmond, not on trial this time, but her name once again involved in a sensational trial was there too.. 

She told the reporters...

"I told you they are beasts...Look how they tied up ADA Taylor last week...He thought he had a slam dunk to use his jargon....He didn't prove a thing...Certainly not murder." she said.

She was right...

Olivia called the witness from the apartment last week who testified that he heard gunshots AFTER he saw Eddie Jefferson leave the apartment..

On Cross ADA Taylor badgered him , asking why he didn't tell Lt. Tragg that at first...

He said he wasn't sure at first...

Beverly and Josie brought up two witnesses that Lt. Tragg never talked to...They lived across the street, and one was specific about what time she saw Eddie Jefferson leave and that she heard gunshots...Two to be exact, after he left....

The other witness lived across the driveway....He never saw Eddie Jefferson at all...but he saw a Blue 

Camaro drive up in the driveway and a man walk inside..

He heard two gunshots and saw the man run out and jump in his car and pull off..

ADA Taylor asked him why he didn't tell the police this.. 

He said that he called Homicide twice and tried to tell his story and that no one took him seriously...

ADA Taylor glared angrilly at Lt. Tragg, who eased down in his chair..

We had saved the best for last...We called Eriq Toussaint to the stand...

He came to the stand....He was no longer charitable toward Olivia...He was confused as to why he was even being asked to testify...Angrier that a few days before , The Police had issued a search warrant of his apartment..He wanted answers...He was about to get them.

"State your name sir...Your real name."said Olivia.

''Eriq Toussaint" he said..

"That is not your real name...Come on now.."said Beverly ,who produced his birth certificate...and Bank ID." Your real name is John Eric Tucson isn't it?" she said and showed The Birth Certificate and the Bank ID to the Jury...

''Yes." he said.

"You work at the Television Station with my former client, Nora Desmond....You're her personal assistant and publicist......You knew Julian Roach didn't you? In fact both of you guys were competing for Ms. Desmond's affections were you not?  I have credit card receipts and debit card receipts that show that you both bought her breakfast and sometimes lunch and paid for her drinks at the bar and you both bought her gifts...nice gifts ,cards and flowers over a period of time you both worked there and I have employees...your colleauges ,who are prepared to testify that you two didn't like each other too much...Am I correct? Do I have to call them?" asked Olivia.

"I knew him, I didn't like him so what?" he said.

"You were in love with Nora...In fact it's fair to say you are still in love with Nora Desmond...but you and Julian had competion, didn't you, besides each other....an older man named Richard Baker...You knew Richard Baker was married and carrying on with another woman, Gloria Tucker.. You made sure Richard Baker's wife found out about their entanglement didn't you as well as Gloria Tucker's boyfriend...and things worked out just the way you planned.. Both of these people got themselves murdered and you got them out of the way...When Nora got accused of the murder, you supplied us with enough information to cast doubt on her guilt and help us win her an acquittal ,didn't you?  We didn't know you were our secret benefactor at the time...but we figured it out!"said Beverly..

"Okay you're crazy. All of this is a made up narrative....I didn't secretly feed you any information...I had nothing to do with any of that." he said..

''If the court please...I would like to remind counsel that they aren't trying the Nora Desmond case...They already got her off.."said Jumpshot Jim..

The Jury laughed.. He laughed.. He had got a good one in...

"Are you going somewhere with this line of questioning?"asked the Judge..

''I promise you, we are your honor."said Olivia, who felt strange calling this guy, who was 8 years younger than her and just a year older than her niece, Beverly "Your Honor."

"With them out of the way...You realized you had another problem...Eddie Jefferson....before you could figure out what to do with him...You found out your rival was Blackmailing him...And you wanted a piece of the action..."said Beverly..

"You're both batshit crazy.." said John Tucson..

''Well Julian Roach was taking my client for five large for three months..When you got on to him..It bumped up to 10 grand...and we know because here are the bank records...Here are the transfers from Julian Roach's account to yours...John Tucson.." said Nelson who showed the jury transcripts on a 55 inch monitor...

''You started asking for more money and Julian started hitting my client up for $15 large....and making bigger transfers to you...Then the money stopped..I don't know why...Only you and Julian know that....He stopped paying you...You didn't know that Eddie Jefferson had discovered what he was doing and had gotten most of his money back and had put a beat down on him that afternoon... You came in and you shot him twice with a .22, killing him....You just wanted him out the way...With him dead and Eddie Jefferson out of the way, accused of his murder.. You had a straight line to Nora Desmond..didn't you?" asked Nelson..

"This is Crazy...Crazy...None of what you say is true or can be proven." said John Tucson.

"Our eyewitness said a Blue Camaro drove into the back driveway...You drive a Blue Camaro don't you?"said Josie.. "In fact...This is your car on the street coming out of his driveway, caught on Street Cam, at 4:15 pm...Co-incidence Mr. Tucson?" asked Josie, smiling...

Olivia placed a plastic bag on the table..in it was a .22 caliber pistol..

"Recognize that?   It's a .22 caliber...It's registered to you... The Investigator for the D.A.'s office and some cops got a warrant...Took it from your apartment, the same day you were subpeoned to appear in this trial.. It's been tested.. It comes back positive...The bullets from this gun are the same bullets that killed Richard Baker, Gloria Tucker andddddddd, wait for it...Julian Roach...You my friend are a serial killer. Is THAT proof enough for you ? Defense rests your honor.."said Olivia..

"I'll be damned..." is all he could say and he hung his head..

"Him? He killed all three???..I never had a clue."said Lt. Tragg.

''Story of your career...You never had a clue.." snarled ADA Jim "Jumpshot Jim"Taylor.

Beverly heard the exchange and howled with laughter...

"Be nice Honey Bun:" said her husband, Nelson, always protective of her...

She appreciated his concern...She turned towards him and planted a wet kiss on his lips.

Nelson felt warm inside.

James "Jumpshot  Jim" Taylor realized he was beaten...

"Your honor.....in light of this new information...The people move to drop all charges against Eddie Jefferson." he sighed and slumped down in his chair...totally flabberghasted.....

"I don't believe it..How could  you be soooo stupid...Obvious clues..Obvious clues and you missed all of them....." he said

 to Lt. Tragg, who was as red as a beet..

"DON'T CALL ME STUPID ,PRETTY BOYYYY!" he bellowed...

"So be it!  Mr. Jefferson, you are free to go...Baillifs , take Mr. Tucson into custody..." said Judge Berger....Bailiffs took the handcuffs off of Eddie Jefferson, he was a free man.

Eddie and his wife, Kim Jefferson were in the back of the courtroom kissing passionately...

and moaning...

"OHHHHH I can't wait to get you home..." he moaned..

"Ouuuuu Eddie, I'm ready to take all of my clothes off right now in this damn courtroom...OUUUU!" she cooed.

"That lyin dog...I almost went to jail because of him...lawdddd....We got to screen the people we hire at that station better.." said Nora Desmond, speaking of her former lover, Eriq Toussaint aka John Tucson.

And the deceased , Julian Roach, who had also worked at the Television Station with her... One was a Blackmailer and the other a triple murderer...

She failed to mention two married men she had had relationships with that caused all of this..Perhaps she needed to make better choices in men!

 as she spoke to the press after the trial.

I pulled Olivia to me..

"Come here and give daddy some sugar.."I said.

"Ummmmmmmm I want to give you more than that...After the great job you did.."said Olivia.

rewarding me with a passionate kiss. We were both oblivious that cameras were snapping..

The caption in the next days paper read.. "FAME DEFENSE ATTORNEY OLIVIA BENNETT-ALEXANDER RECEIVES CONGRATULATORY KISS FROM HER HUSBAND, INVESTIGATOR,DONNIE RAY ALEXANDER after successfully defending and winning an acquittal for City Councilman ,Eddie Jefferson, accused of Murder."

''Two straight cases and they were related in more ways than one."said Beverly..

''Wow that was two straight cases...I hope we can get a break in between the next time we are in court.."said Nelson..

"I guess not being a public defender has spoiled you guys huh?" said Josie.

"Yes, it has...We aren't taking any cases for the next week...I'm closing the office...We all can use a little R& R." said Olivia.

"I'm all for that."I said..

"Nicely done Olivia...You guys are great...It was an honor having you work in my court.." said Judge Berger..

James "Jumpshot Jim" Taylor refused to talk to the press...He just stormed out of the courthouse..He hated losing...

Likewise, Lt. Tragg, equally embarrassed, headed out the side exit that we always used....He knew the press was waiting for him....He didn't feel like the drubbing he knew he was going to get if he faced them.

Instead, the press was entertained by the always entertaining City Councilman , former Defense Attorney, Eddie Jefferson who was there with his arms around his wife..

"I've made mistakes...We've all made mistakes fellas, but I've learned my lesson....I want to thank my brilliant defense attorneys...Why I couldn't have defended this case better myself.." he said as they all laughed..

Along with his wife...We stood and snapped photos with him...

''Are you planning to resign from City Council Mr. Jefferson..?" asked a reporter.

"No I am not...In Fact, I can't wait to get back to city council" he said.

"We hear you may be up to run for Judge...Are you still doing that?" asked another reporter..

"I don't see why not..but right now...I'm gonna go home and be a good husband.." he said.

His wife smiled..

''Well guys, our job here is done."said Olivia.

"Throw me the keys Donnie Ray.  I'll bring the car around.."said Nelson..

I tossed him the keys...

"Everybody loves a Happy ending..And this one was." said Beverly...

"And Look, the sun is coming out."said Josie..

Indeed, the sun had come out...There was a rainbow in the sky...A good omen..

EPILOUGE-

John Eric Tucson was tried and convicted of Three counts of First Degree Murder and sentenced to Death by Lethal Injection..

It should be noted that the prosecutor was Gerri Williams, who had originally prosecuted Nora Desmond for two of the same  murders...This was a nice win for her..

Jumpshot Jim Taylor was furious, he complained bitterly about how he should have prosecuted that case and how much of a doofus Lt. Tragg was..

"He's a disgrace to the force.." he whined endless for two nights on our friend, B.L. Benz's TV show 

HARD BOTTOM..which had covered both the Nora Desmond trial and The Eddie Jefferson trials.

His new frequent guest host, Judge Benny King also weighed in...

"Kid, I thought you had a slam dunk case...No pun intended..I said No way Olivia and Bev could win this..but then I saw Artie was involved and wellll , heh , heh,  heh.." he laughed.

At Sam Mother's Diner..

Lt, Tragg was having his usual breakfast of Fried Eggs, sausage and Hash Browns..

"Hey Sam...Where is my coffee?" he bellowed...As usual, he was in a foul mood.

"Comin up Artie."said Sam Mother.

Lt. Tragg peered across the diner at our table..

''Donnie Ray, even I thought we might have to take a plea when we first got this case...But you kept telling me we could win it." said Olivia.

"Once I started talking to witnesses and getting conflicting statements.. I knew you had a shot..When I was a detective..This always used to happen, Which is why I would go back and interview some people over and over again to make sure their story was straight and why I interviewed people uh he didn't...Somebody is always around who sees something that nobody else did..Who hears something nobody else heard...I learned that as a Homicide Detective..." I said.  "But it was Bev who broke this case open..See..I pondered the thought that this guy either had a partner or somebody was puttin the squeeze on him too, once I saw the bank account and followed the money.."I said.

"I followed the money and it led to John Tucson...Once I found out that John Tucson and Eriq Toussaint were one in the same...It was easy to figure out what was going on...He was wiping out all of his competition for Nora..But I never figured that he killed those other two people who Nora was blamed for." said Beverly..

" I figured that out when we found out about the car and Donnie Ray got Street cam photos of the car..I knew he had killed Julian and I figured out ,he was the pipeline during Nora's trial that steered us incorrectly toward that man's wife and the woman's boyfriend.." said Nelson.

"We didn't know for sure until the ballistic test came back on the gun that John Tucson had killed all three people."said Josie.

"He did all that for that one woman...Blackmail, murder of three people damn...What kind of hold did she have on him...On all of those men for that matter?" asked Paris..

"Come on Paris, we have to explain that to you?" asked Nelson..

''Tell him girls" I said.

All three women yelled out in unison-

"THE POWER OF THE PANTAYS!"

and we all laughed as our breakfast was served.

FOR  CAITLIN