Beautiful Mistakes

The "Fish Bowl" the nickname the detectives gave to the interrogation room...

Anson Gilbron sat , staring at Lieutenant Tragg..

"This gun is back kid...It's a ballistics match to the Beamer murder...A match...And I found it in your car, bleached down in a plastic bag under the seat of your brand new car...Heh heh heh....I don't know what to tell you to say at this point kid...

 This gun has got you cold....for Murder in the first degree... I know all about your Landscaping and Pool cleaning business...You're making good money especially at uh a certain residence...Amy St. James....she's younger, good looking, Blonde...I think maybe you had a thing for her...I think Beamer told her to get rid of you..That it wasn't good for appearences and you took umbrage to that...and ya killed him.."said Lt. Tragg.

"You don't know what you're talking about....I didn't kill that man.. I didn't even know him. or anybody, that's not my gun, never seen it before..and you're all wrong!!I got nothin else to say.."said Anson Gilbron..

"And that's a good idea...Don't say anything else.."said Kahlil..

"WHATTTTT?" said a surprised and exasperated Lt. Tragg, who looked behind him..

"Missed us didn't you?" asked Yvette , smiling...

"Good Morning Lieutenant !"said a smiling Bee Bee..

"Hola Lieutenant!" said Sofia.

"Good Morning Good sir.." I said.

Jade , who had a passionate dislike of him said nothing...Jade couldn't bring herself to pretend to be cordial to him.

''You guys are representing him? Well, I've got the murder weapon right here, it's a match, found in his car and I happen to know, he was romantically involved with your former client, Amy St. James. " snarled Lt. Tragg.

''Amy St. James???"said Yvette...The look of surprise in Yvette's face was obvious..

"He has a Pool cleaning and Landscaping business Ms. Yvette..He was there the day we probated her will, you just didn't notice him."said Sofia..

"You didn't know did ya? They were lovers...So was Beamer and St. James..Junior here killed his romantic rival.Heh heh heh!" said Lt. Tragg.

"You're as wrong as two left shoes on both counts..." laughed Anson Gilbron.

''Anson!!! Dummy up!" said Kahlil.

"We are going to get you arraigned before judge...Then we'll talk." said Yvette...

"Yeah, that'll be some conversation..Heh ,heh , heh..." laughed Lieutenant Tragg..

''Did you check his car for other prints? , Additional DNA?? Just askin.." asked Jade.

"His car is being dusted for additional prints as we speak...I don't need you to tell me how to run an investigation..."said Lt. Tragg.

"Of course you don't....Byyyyyyye...." said Yvette.

''Sit tight..We'll get you out of here.."said Kahlil.

"Goodbye Anson" said Sofia.

''Goodbye Anson.."said Bee Bee.

''Hang in there buddy." I said as we left...

"Yeah, I'll do that." said Anson.

II-

We didn't want to take a chance running into Lt. Tragg at Sam Mother's Diner, so we went to the cafeteria over at the courthouse.. Surprisingly..he never ate there or thought to look for us there.

Pancakes for almost all of us, except Yvette and Jade..

Sausage

and Hash Browns was the order of the day..

Ms. Yvette and Jade had Omelettes..

We had Kariffs of Orange Juice and Coffee for the table.

''Ms. Yvette, It won't be easy getting my friend out on bail..He has a sheet...He did four months in County Jail for failure to pay child support.. he has a now ten year old son....He uh was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to distribute....Charges were tossed out, lack of evidence and he did another four months in debtors court recently for failure to pay some county taxes...he just got out of jail in December.He's uh made a few mistakes in life.." said Kahlil.

''Yeah, Beautiful Mistakes. " said Yvette... She sighed. "Well none of those are felony convictions...Maybe we can work around it.."said Ms. Yvette.

"As usual Lt. Tragg has a skelaton case,full of circumstantial evidence." said Sofia.

''Yeah, but depending on the circumstance or the type of client you have...Sometimes, that's enough.." I said.

"Whether of not, we've got a lot of questions to ask him.."said Bee Bee.

''We've got a lot of questions to ask a lot of people." said Ms. Yvette.

"You said his office was trashed and his safe was blown...Hmmmm, obviously, somebody was looking for something..I wonder if they found it?  I'm going to stop by his condo." said Jade.

"Be careful Jade... Lt. Tragg is looking for a reason to snatch your license..Take One of the guys.."said Yvette.

"I'll go with her.."I said.. "I'm sure you guys can carry on without me for a few hours..."I joked..

"I think I'm the only one who can't live without you baby, but I'll try.."joked Bee Bee..

Ms Yvette, Sofia,Kahlil and Ms. Jade Broke out into laughter...

III-

"HOLY CRAP, Look at this place!" I said..

The Condo belonging to the recently deceased Stanley Beamer  was in complete disarray! Everything was strown all over the place..

Jade looked around in amazement..

"Somebody was feverishly looking for something...Feverishly....I don't know if they found it.."said Jade.

"You think this guy was maybe blackmailing somebody?" I asked.

'That's exactly what I think....Keith, give me a pen..." said Jade, who put on latex gloves. She stood on a footstool... She took the pen and lifted up one of the ceiling panels and discovered...

a phone!!!!!!

"That's an old iphone.."I said.

"It's still on...I remember this phone I had one like it about 7 or 8 years ago.." said Jade, who turned the phone off..  ''Excuse me.." she said and went into the bathroom...She came out, took her latex gloves off and put them back in her purse. She passed me my pen...

We continued to look around..

Lt. Tragg and six uniformed police officers walked in..

''What are you doing here.? This is an active crime scene...Did you remove anything?" he snarled.

"Nope!" Jade lied...'We are here investigating and observing...My employer's client has been accused of murdering this man...We checked here looking for evidence, as I see you are doing..You're getting better Lieutenant , you are actually recanvassing." said Jade sarcastically..

"WHHYYYY YOUUUUU!!!" snarled an angry Lt. Tragg lunging at Ms. Jade..

I got in between the two of them..

"Hey ,Hey , Hey, Hey..Come on now...Let's let cooler heads prevail....We were here just observing the condo of the deceased person our client is accused of killing. Ms. Lee brought me along, An Attorney

,so that this very thing wouldn't happen...I assure you no improprieties have occurred here." I said..

''Joe, Chuck..Frisk her.!" demanded Lt. Tragg. It was if he hadn't heard or cared about a word I said.

''Oh No...Any one of these guys touches me, I'll bring you up on sexual harrassment..Unless you have a female officer here, which I see you don't...I'm not going to be touched."said Jade.

"She is within her rights Lieutenant....We'll just leave...There is no more need for any unpleasentries.." I said.

Jade and I walked out..

"Wow, you really sounded like a lawyer in there." she said and laughed.

''Yeah I know, I surprised myself." I said and we both laughed.

Lt. Tragg didn't find our banter amusing at all..

"If I find out you tampered with this crime scene...That's your license Jade...I swear!" howled a very livid Lt. Tragg.

On the ride back....

''Did you hide that phone in that apartment, for us to go and pick up later?" I asked.

''No, I stuffed it in the waistband of my panties..that's why I went in the bathroom and closed the door.If they would have frisked me, they would have found it..I'm so glad there was no female officer there with them..I'm glad you were there...It's nice to have a lawyer with you when you're investigating.. Ms. Yvette was right to have you come with me." said Jade, smiling warmly at me..

At Amy St. James's house...

"I knew Anson Gilbron...He , his company cleaned my pool and did my landscaping...They did great work...I don't know who I'm going to call on now that he's been incarcerated..." said Amy St. James.

"He was here working the day Sofia and I probated your husband's will."said Yvette.

''Uh yes, he uh might have been...He had people who worked for him..I'm not sure." said Amy.

''He told my husband and me that he was here that day...He said he remembered seeing Ms. Yvette and us when we were here." said Sofia, staring at her hard and surprised that she was trying to lie.

"Lieutenant Tragg says that you were having a romantic or sexual relationship with the deceased Stanley Beamer and Anson Gilbron and his death was because of a romantic rivalry between the two men for you!" said Kahlil..

Amy got as red as a beet and began to sweat a bit!

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT? Nothing could be further from the truth...I didn't have any romantic and certainly not a sexual relationship with either of them...Anson was my pool cleaner, my landscaper for god's sake..and Stanley Beamer was my late husband's attorney...He was old enough to be my father..please..I resent even being asked such a question." said Amy St. James.

"We had to ask...We are representing Mr. Gilbron..."said Bee Bee..

"I don't give a damn who you're representing....I resent being asked a question like that.." said Amy St. James.

Ms. Yvette had zoned out of our conversation...she was staring out the window at the Water Fountain in the yard..

Something about the way it sat there was eerie...foreboding!!!

IV-

THE NEXT MORNING-

We were in District court for the arraignment of our client.. Once again, we were facing ADA Curtis  Loader.

"Oh No, Not you guys again!" he snarled.. 

"I don't know who is more miserable, the Assistant District Attorney or Lt. Tragg!" I whispered in Ms. Yvette's ear..

Ms. Yvette looked at me and giggled that sexy little laugh of hers...

''Not only does he not wish to see us, he probably doesn't wish to see the Judge either , particularly this Judge.. Judge Berkley Green."laughed Bee Bee..

"That particular Judge was one of our professors when we were in law school.. He has a pretty little daughter, who was one of our classmates..She practices law in New York now.. He caught future ADA 

Curtis Loader in the back hallway, with his daughter's dress up, her panties pulled to the side and him in mid stroke at a party , just days before graduation...He was not a happy camper..He hit the ceiling.." said Sofia.

''Yeah, I remember that...Wowwwww~!"laughed Kahlil.

He tried to get him kicked out of law school..but of course, no one was going to do that, especially to two consenting adults...We were 25 years old,all of us.. Loader graduated of cousre and so did the Judge's daughter...And after she passed the bar, he made sure she moved as far from Philly as possible." I laughed.

Jade cracked up..

"You guys had quite a time in law school." she said.

Judge Green looked at us, his former students.. and smiled... He hadn't seen us since we graduated and then at ADA Curtis Loader...he grimaced..

"Oh Nooooo That's Judge Berkley Green, he hates my guts." said ADA Curtis Loader..

''What did you do?"asked Lt. Tragg..

"He caught me banging his daughter in the back hall, during law school.." admitted ADA Loader.

Lt. Tragg smiled.

"Didn't know you had it in you kid." he laughed..

ADA Curtis Loader argued that the client,

Anson Gilbron was  a felon...

"He did four months in County Jail for failure to pay child support.. he has a now ten year old son....He uh was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to distribute....Charges were tossed out, lack of evidence and he did another four months in debtors court recently for failure to pay some county taxes...He just got out of jail in December. Now he has been charged with a felony, Murder in the first degree..He is a danger to the public and should not be on the streets" he argued.

Ms. Yvette argued that none of his prior charges were felonies.. The child support charge and four month stay in the county jail was six years ago...It had since been rectified.. The possession charge involved a small amount of marijuana and was three years ago...The charges were thrown out, no jail time was ever served..and the tax charge was rectified...None of these charges were violent...She argued that he ran a successful Pool cleaning and Landscaping business and employed ten people...

Kahlil and I brought all 10 of his workers out to testify on his charactor...

Sofia and Bee Bee brought in 20 of his 21 clients...All white, all suburban who told of his company's great work and of Anson's genial nature in general.

"I certainly don't see this man as any threat...I'm setting bail at $900.00 dollars  " he said..

"$900.00 dollars?? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND??" screamed an emotional ADA Loader..

"EXCUSE ME?" said the Judge...

ADA Curtis Loader grabbed his briefcase, stomped his foot and stormed out of the courtroom..

"WOWWWW! You guys actually got me out on bail..Outstanding..." said Anson...

"That doesn't mean you're out of the woods... If I were you...I'd check into a hotel for the time being, USE YOUR REAL NAME!!! Pay in cash and keep a real low profile.."said Ms. Yvette.

Bee Bee passed him a Portal...

"We will communicate with you through the use of this Portal..."she said.

Sofia passed them a phone..

"This is what is generally known as a burner phone...We will contact you by this number... Here is the number you contact us by...This and Only this." said Sofia.

''Damnnnnn, the three of them are soo fine..and they smell so good..How do you two concentrate on your work? I'd be walking around with a boner all day long.."whispered Anson to Kahlil.

"We've been around each other so long, it's no big deal.."said Kahlil diplomatically...

"Yeah, really..." I said.

''Yeah right!! You guys don't fool me." he laughed..

A little while later..

Mr. Cozen, one of the partners met with Ms. Yvette..

"First off Yvette, great job on the uh St. James will probate and excellent job on that uh criminal case...

Ms. St. James however paid us for the work you guys did..You'll be duly compensated...but she asked that uh you not be her attorney of record anymore..She would like for us to assign another attorney..did something happen?" asked Mr. Cohen.

"No, I asked her a few questions about her relationship with our present client and the man he is accused of killing..Lt. Tragg told us that they both were her lovers..As Attorneys we had to ask..I'm sorry if she felt offended.." said Yvette..

''Ahhh well don't worry about it..Good Job guys as usual." said Mr. Cohen, leaving her office..

Gary walked in afterwords...

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah..Yeah.." said Yvette..

"I know a nice new Pan Asian Cuisine restaurant, you down?" asked Gary..

''Sure...but first...come here...I need a kiss."said Yvette..

Gary took her in his arms and kissed her passionately..

(TO BE CONTINUED)