Miserable Little Man

 We sat in the conference room in the building at Penns Landing where

The Wrongful Conviction Unit was housed.. With Lt. Tragg around , we decided it would be better to move our operation here for privacy.

"Well Loves let's look at where we are...We have cleared Billie of all wrong doing in front of the Legal Ethics Board.. " said Yvette.

"I've got a line in to a friend of mine at the courthouse...I'm trying to find out who the Judge and the ADA are going to be..."I said.

"Kahlil, Sofia and I have been doing research and are looking up predicates for your argument to supress the blackmail evidence."said Bee Bee.

"It's coming along...We have what we found here for you to review "said Kahlil..

"Yes...the sooner a preliminary hearing is granted...the quicker we can move on this."said Sofia.

''Here is what my investigation has turned up so far..."said Jade.  We know Mr. Gant was blackmailing a lot of people...He was angry that he had been disbarred and he seemed to take pleasure in blackmailing Attorneys.. He blackmailed

Former ADA Billie Lawrence and Douglass Hellerman.. Hellerman is not an attorney..He's a city official, which I imagine was just as good.. I found he made several phone calls to Hellerman and sent

photos of the two making love to him as well...

Neither Billie Lawrence or Hellerman paid him..He had an appointment book, On the day he died ,Heller man was supposed to make his first payment of 150K... He met Billie just days before in Blue Bar according to his appointment book..She refused to pay....He didn't do anything because he had Hellerman on the hook, but Hellerman never met with him...In fact , we know where Hellerman was on the day of Gant's most likely death....

She showed us a photo of someone we knew, Attorney Merlin Mims...

"Remember this guy?" laughed Jade.

"Ouuuuuu I certainly do...That racist, Merlin Mims..."said Sofia.

"The Hector Llamas Deportation case...What a racist prick...He was being Blackmailed too?" asked Kahlil.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh was he? Mr. Anti-immigration hired a maid from Venezuela...An illegal immigrant to work for him...She also gave birth to a child recently...HIS CHILD...He had his name taken off of the birth certificate and he quietly paid her a cool two million dollars for her silence... He made sure she got a green card as well...If this got out...Especially in the far right circles he travels in, his reputation, not to mention his funding would go out the window...I have cancelled checks in the amount of 300K in payments made to Louis Gant..

"He was making good money......Why was he living in a rent controlled Apartment complex with that kind of dough?" I asked.

"Maybe he was planning to move out... At any rate...Does this guy have an alibi?" asked Yvette.

"Unfortunately he does...He's been in Florida for the past week.....All of these people met with him at Bars, Hotels, restaurants...Billie, Doug Hellerman and Merlin Mims appeared to not even know where this guy lived or too much else about him... I've looked at Street and Traffic Cam footage as well as a Bank ATM footage from around his apartment complex...and neither Mims, Hellerman or Billie Lawrrence was anywhere near his apartment complex that entire week or before."said Jade.

"Billie said she never knew where this guy lived or much if anything about him..She didn't know he used to be an attorney...Nothing. "said Bee Bee.

"Douglass Hellerman said he didn't know him or where he lived either.."said Sofia.

"But somebody apparently did know where he lived and they killed him..Question is who?  Is Lt. Tragg looking into any of this?" asked Yvette in frustration.

"No...His entire investigation is based off of Billie Lawrence being blackmailed and killing him to keep sordid information about her and Douglass Hellerman from coming out."said Jade exasperated.

"Well why not Doug Hellerman?? He was being blackmailed too? He's also in those photos."said Kahlil.

"He had less to lose...He woud just be an unfaithful husband...He and his wife were seperated anyway at the time...Billie could have been disbarred, could have been censored and the embarrassment of all of that coming out would have been cataclysmic..She stood to lose far more than Doug Hellerman."said Yvette.

"And he slept with her!  Don't look at me like that.. This seems wayyy too personal to him..He either slept with her or was rebuffed by her...This is sweet payback!" I said.

"Noooooooooooo, Billie doesn't look that desperate or horny....."said Bee Bee..

"And her tastes have to be better than that!" said Sofia.

"Ummmmm I don't know...He hasn't look at any other suspects...And here we have two others and they haven't been questioned..He's just set on her."said Kahlil..

"That's how he does everything...That's why his investigations are so slap dash..He overlooks half a dozen things."said Ms. Yvette..

"Agreed" said Jade.

II-

CURLEY'S BAR-

Lt. Tragg was having lunch with Judge Michael King..

"I tell ya Mike, Nobody can beat Curleys when it comes to the Corn Beef Special..." he said as he munched on his sandwich..

"This Pulled Pork sandwhich isn't too bad either."said Judge King..

"Hey Curls...you got any slaw?" he asked..

"Coming up guys.."said Curley...an ex- Homicide Detective , who had served under both Lt. Tragg's Father and his Uncle..After retiring..He bought this Restaurant/Bar, renovated it and did a pretty good business..Not just cops and ex cops came here...but Attorneys too...He loved the business..

He bought a tub of cole slaw for both men...

"Soooooo Artie, what do you want? You didn't invite me here and spring for lunch for nothin."said Judge Mike King..

"Yeah, I hear you're the Judge on the Billie Lawrence case...The last Judge and the ADA recused themselves.." said Lt. Tragg..

"Yeah I am and from what I've seen in discovery you haven't got much if any case against Billie...Damn Artie..She was one of us...An Assistant District Attorney..Why are you pressing this...She shouldn't have even been charged..Yvette Jones and those four young guns of hers are going to carve you and the ADA up like a Thanksgiving Turkey unless you get some more evidence..I know you got a motive, but you have no physical evidence, no murder weapon, no prints, no DNA...When the preliminary hearing starts...I might throw this out...I know Billie...I liked her..She tried cases in my court...She was always professional and by the book..A little theatrical sometimes, but all lawyers are."said Judge Michael King..

"You never were Mikey.." laughed Lt. Tragg.

''Sure I was..You probably want to know who the Assistant District Attorney is on this case don'tcha?" said the Judge...

Just then, We all walked in and took a large table.

"Okay we are not going to engage him in anyway guys...We don't answer any questions...We are polite and we will speak, but we are not going to discuss this case at all."said Ms. Yvette.

"He hasn't done any investigating at all..No recanvassing or nothing." said Jade.

"You would think the brass would be concerned about the number of cases he has screwed up."said Bee Bee.

"They might be...but the last few cases, Us and Olivia and Beverly, we have revealed the true murderer during the trial.."I said.

"Does he get credit when we discover the killer?" asked Bee Bee.

''Who knows? The important thing is that we get our clients off." said Kahlil.

"Exactly!" said Yvette..

Several Shrimp Baskets with Cole Slaw

and a basket of Fried Chicken came to our table..

along with Beers and waters...

''Welllllll look who is here, some of your favorite people."laughed Judge Michael King..

Lt. Tragg looked at us... His plain clothes cop, who Gary had told us about had lost us this morning as we all headed to our destination in several different ways.. 

Gary had told us about his Breakfast with Lt. Tragg. He had been highly offended by his questioning of him about what he and Yvette talked about...When he found out a plain clothes man was tailing us..He told Yvette who he was and we knew to avoid him and lose him..I'm sure he was never aware of it..

"To answer your question, The Assistant District Attorney is 

 Amanda Cole....I believe you two worked together before..And Artie behave yourself..Keep your hands to yourself..aren't you tired of having your face slapped?" asked Judge King..

Lt. Tragg got up...He walked over to our table...

We paid him no mind and answered no questions...We were busy chowing down, Passing Fried Chicken and shrimp and Onion Rings to each other and spooning up Cole slaw...We were hungry...

We also had two different conversations going..

Yvette greeted him and munched on a Shrimp....

Jade questioned him mockingly..

"Have you recanvassed that crime scene? Got anymore physical evidence.?" she asked.

"I don't need you to tell me how to run a murder investigation...I'd better not hear of you manipulating or moving anything from my working crime scene.." he bellowed..

"How would you know if I did? You never recanvass your crime scene?" laughed Ms. Jade.

We howled with laughter as we all continued passing shrimp and fried chicken to each other and munching..

"Pass me a chicken wing Kahlil."said Yvette..."Goodbye Lieutenant" said Yvette as nicely as she could.

He was livid...He stomped his foot and stormed back to his table..

"Artie, you really shouldn't be talking to them at all..They're not going to tell you anything and legally you can't make em...All you doing is making yourself a laughing stock and getting yourself all worked up...

ADA Diane Baronski and ADA Jake Patais aka ''Lawyer Bae" walked in holding hands..

Now Lt. Tragg angrilly walked over to their table.

"Well look who it is...The man they call "Lawyer Bae"  They should call you Lawyer Babe since your girlfriend here or is it your mother had you recuse yourself from this trial.." he sneered.

"Get Away from our table , GET AWAY NOW OR I'M GONNA..." he said.

"You're gonna what Junior? You'll do whatever mommy tells you."snarled Lt. Tragg..

"In my entire life I've never met a more pathetic and petty miserable little man  as you...NOW GET AWAY FROM MY TABLE!!!For your information...I had nothing to do with his decision to recuse himself from the case...Both he and  Judge Morrison are good friends of Billie Lawrence.They didn't think they could try the case fairly...That's why they both recused themselves..I could have taken this case...But I looked at Discovery and I passed..Poor Mandy Cole...She's been on a roll lately..Winning 25 straight court cases and now she gets stuck with this loser of a case you have presented...No Physical Evidence, No prints, no DNA, No Murder weapon for godsakes.. I wouldn't touch this case with latex gloves... NOW GET AWAY FROM OUR TABLE before I call management!"said Diane Baronski..

 

"Lucky for you Toy Boy, Your mommy saved you.."snarled Lt. Tragg..

"Saved me from who? YOU?" laughed ADA Jake Patais..

"Despite the age gap...I think they make a cute couple.."said Bee Bee looking at Diane and Jake.

"Yeah they do make a cute couple.."said Sofia.

''She's maybe 8 or 9 years older than him, but it works for her...for them" agreed Ms. Yvette.

"Ahhhhhhhhh, Younger Guys never did it for me..but whatever works for whoever."said Jade.

Lt. Tragg was livid as usual, he stomped his foot and stormed off.

"You Kahlil, you want that last Shrimp ?" I asked.

"Nah, you can have it!" said Kahlil.

Judge Michael King just shook his head...

III-

We were in the walk up apartment of Casey Bailey..

''So who are you guys again?" he asked.

"My name is Jade Lee, I'm a Private Investigator...and these are my associates,

Attorney Keith Jones

Attorney Sofia Garcia-Ahmed

Attorney Kahlil Ahmed

and Attorney Beatrice Evans-Jones

We are representing the woman accused of killing Louis Gant..."said Jade..

"I heard about her...Hell, If I had the dough...I'd send it to her defense fund, which is you guys...If she did kill Gant she did the world a favor.. I hated that piece of shit...Excuse me ladies." he said.

''Heyyyy Sofia and I grew up in Fishtown...We've heard cussin done right."said Bee Bee..

"Yes sirrrrr." added Sofia.

He was put at ease by them...He smiled.

"You knew Mr. Gant?" I asked.

"No, my dad knew him....My dad was the finest man I ever knew..He was an Attorney just like you guys..He's the reason I entered law school....Drexel Law School... I just finished recently...well last year..I haven't passed the bar yet...I failed it last year...I'm going to try again.."said Casey.

"Sorry to hear that pal."said Kahlil..

"I couldn't concentrate on anything after my father killed himself.." he said.. He pulled out a glossy..It was of his father.

"That was my dad, Jacquin Bailey... Father, Husband, Attorney....a great man...My mom died of Cancer when I was 14. Dad finished raising me, went to all of my soft ball and soccer games, was the loudest one there...Was at my high school graduation, my college graduation and there when I finished law school.. I wanted to be like him...He was so proud of me...

Then he began to come home, sweating, shaking...He wouldn't tell me what was wrong...I found out he was taking out money, large chunks of money totaling $250.000.00 over a period of six months...I followed him once..

He met with a man, a man I later found out was disgraced Attorney, Louis Gant...He gave him an envelope...He told him he couldn't pay him anymore..He told him that he had given him his life savings and that he would have to re-mortage his home to get any more cash...And that heartless bastardtold him he didn't care..To get him his money or else..

My dad had apparently embezzled a huge sum of money from his law firm...He had repaid it over time..but Gant had the records...If he made these records public, My dad would be fired and disbarred..Disgraced..

He didn't know that I had ever found out about it...He was in agony..One day I came home and..and..

I found my dad hanging...hanging from the ceiling...He chose to take his life ,rather than go on another day paying this man money...I couldn't concentrate on m studies...I failed the bar...Do you know this crumb had the nerve to call me and threaten to blackmail me?? I told him to go to hell that I wasn't paying him a red cent and I told him that I knew his name and that I was calling the police..I never heard from that piece of human excretement again." said Casey.

"Wowwww! That is some story man." I said.

''I see why you hate him."said Kahlil.

"Would you be willing to testify as a charactor witness for us?" asked Jade , who had him sign an affadavit."

"I'd hate to see her go to prison for something I KNOW SHE DIDN'T DO!" he said..

Something About the way he said that stuck in the back of my head..

IV-

We all went home... Our doorbell was ringing....

I peered out the window...

"It's Lt. Tragg." I said,.

He was staring at our home..

"Don't answer the door...He has no warrant and we don't have to talk to him..Such a Miserable little man."said Bee Bee..

We had a garage in the back of our home and both of our cars was in the garage....He had no idea if we were home or not..

He finally got tired and walked next door to Sofia and Kahlil's house..

He rang the doorbell...He leaned on the doorbell..

Kahlil peered out of the top floor window..

"Ahhh it's Lt. Tragg...I wonder what he wants?" asked Kahlil.

''Who cares? Don't answer the door..What a miserable little man, he's got nothing better to do."said Sofia.

Bee Bee was there with a Night gown on that came to her hips and was very sheer....My eyes nearly popped out of my head..

"Come to bed hot stuff. Don't worry about Lt. Tragg." Bee Bee cooed.

 I suddenly had a huge erection...Which she noticed...She giggled....

''Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….Look at you! Ouuuuuuuuuu!" she said..and giggled...

I walked over to the bed..

Bee Bee smiled.......She stared at me again...

"WOW!" she said and laughed...

 "Mmmmmmmm.. Hot Stuff!" she said..kissing me softly as we fell on my bed...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Bee Bee." I said..

"Ouuuuuuuu ....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my godddd!" she moaned as I entered her softly..

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm Bee Beeeeeeee!" I said..

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" she said.

   We began making sweet love and our  bed began to squeak out of control...

Next door.

Sofia and Kahlil were also making sweet love....

 He had her undressed and had her on top of him, riding him like a surfer rides a wave within minutes..

"Ouuuuuu Papi,." she said..

"Oh Mamasita." he said..

"Ummmmmmmmmmm!" she moaned..

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" he said..

"Forget about everything papi except me.." she said softly...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." he moaned..

as they made sweet love....

But Lt. Tragg wasn't done , he  walked a few doors down to Yvette and Gary's House...

He rang the bell...

Yvette peered out the window....

Gary asked...

''Who is that?" 

"It's Lt. Tragg....You know, he's really becoming a pain in the ass.." said Yvette..

"To Hell with him,Miserable Little man.... Come here sexy..." said Gary...

"OUUUUUUUUUUU!" moaned Yvette as she eased down on Gary...

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" he moaned.

It was late..

Lt. Tragg knew we were all at home...We  had to be..but he also knew that none of us was coming to the door..He was livid.and he was also worried...This was his weakest case yet...The Deputy Of Operations and Captain Cantrell were becoming increasing alarmed at the number of arrests he was making that turned out to be the wrong suspect...They were making the news and was making the police department look foolish...and here was another high profile arrest that just might go sour..

He was miserable tonight...and it was his own fault!

(CONCLUSION NEXT)