A Call For Help!

Josie's was hopping tonight...It was Thursday...Fried Chicken wings night...Thanks to Mabel Jenkins's Soul food restaurant, Fried Chicken, Fried Shrimp, Gumbo and an assortment of catered goodies was being served tonight...

Tonight ,I had a strange feeling of Deja Vu, like I had lived this before..

All week long..Josie's had live entertainment paid for by Chris and Chess's company...and catered food, donated by Mabel Jenkins and several of the neighborhood's eateries..

All free of charges...we all were munching the delicious fried chicken platters being served...

Me, Donnie Ray Alexander, In house investigator for my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett Alexander and her niece, Beverly West...

debuted my new little group....

A Keyboardist, A Bassist, A drummer and A Guitarist...with me, playing the trumpet tonight...

Josies was packed to capacity almost every night...

Reed Nelson and 88 reunited and reunited their Quintet and played Monday and Tuesday Night Sets..

Downtown Rob Brown and Bone Hampton played  Late Tuesday Night and Wednesday Night and tonight..

My band shared the bill with the Liquid love Band..Featuring..Blind Man Chazz on the keyboards

and Sax man, Dutch Van Buren....

Oh it was a star studded night, despite the fact that the star D.J. ,who had wowed a lot of people at Aqua Bar last year could not make it tonight...He had instead been replaced by a comedian...who was set to appear after the break...

Gus, who owned Josies and still tended bar said to Beverly and Josie..

''Sorry that D.J. you girls raved about last year couldn't make it tonight girls...I know you all wanted to see him.. He said he'll definitely be here next Friday night.."he assured them.

"That's okay Gus...The live music has been good.." said Beverly...

"So are these Fried Chicken wings.." laughed Josie...as she munched on a wing...

"Who is the comedian Gus..? That's replacing our D.J....He'd better be funny.."laughed Olivia..

"You mean She'd better be funny...It's a woman...She's an Attorney, like you girls...She moonlights as a Stand up comedian at night.. She was here before a couple of years back...She was terrible..She has a new act and I hear it's a little better. I'm giving her a second chance." said Gus..

"Hmmmm, seems like I've heard that combonation before...but I can't put my finger on it.." said Beverly...

"Yeah, Me too. but noooo, It can't be.." laughed Olivia..

"Hey Shortcake, here comes your hussssband!" said Gus,laughing...

Attorney Nelson East walked over to Beverly and kissed her..He had just arrived...

"Hey Gus...Hey honey bun!" he said.

"Mmmmmm I like the taste of your lipstick.." he said..

"Ummmmmmm, Gladd you like it.." said Beverly...

"Come on Josie, Bree...Let's leave these two....Donnie Ray's set is starting.." said Olivia..

Josie just laughed and followed Olivia...

So did our new intern, Bresha.

Sitting in the crowd was a young man, who kept looking at us intently....

I noticed him...I wasn't sure if he was looking at Olivia , who was getting a lot of male attention in her yellow, form fitting dress or Beverly and or Nelson..

but he seemed to be zeroed in on those three...

II-

 My new band came on next .We played 7 numbers on our set ... We were met by raucous applause...

Next I did a Trumpet solo and we broke into our signature number...A Number that had the entire crowd dancing and jumping...  Even Gus was from behind the bar, snapping his fingers and grooving to the beat....

Sitting down front, by herself and beaming with pride was my number one fan, Olivia...At least three men asked her to dance...She refused politely and explained that she was the Trumpet players girl...She then turned her attention to me and smiled and clapped animatedly...

After we were done..We got a standing ovation...I walked over to Olivia...

"Wow Babes..This suit s definitely going to have to go to the cleaners...I'm drenched in sweat.." I laughed..

''Wow, you are...Look at you..." she laughed... "You guys were so good baby....and I'm not just saying that because I'm your wife ,either..." she said..

''Well we could always go back in the foyer and uh you could show me how much you appreciated my performance..." I said raffishly..

"You're too sweaty....and never in here as packed as this place is.." she said..."But I will join you in the shower when we get home.." she said and winked at me...

Beverly, Josie , Nelson  and our intern, Bresha Williams were sitting in a booth with Paris, Keith Jones, Bee Bee Evans, Sofia Garcia Ahmed and Kahlil Ahmed.

Symphony Sam walked to the stage...

"Ladies and Gentlemen ,don't forget to show your waitresses how much you appreciate them...Tip generously... Except Honey Brown...!" he said... The audience laughed..

 Honey Brown, Gus's second in command and Manager playfully gave Symphony Sam the middle finger which caused the crowd to explode in laughter...

"And now our featured guest...She's an Attorney by night and a Stand Up Comedian by day....So laugh at her jokes or she'll sue you.." said Symphony Sam..

The Crowd laughed....

"Show your love for Ms. Karen White.." he said..

Nelson drooped down in his seat....

"Awwwwwwwwwww HELL!!! I thought she gave this up.." he said..

"What's the matter buddy?" asked .Keith Jones.

"That's Nelson's ex.... She's an Attorney....She moonlights as a stand up comedian...We repped her once on a murder charge...She was charged with murdering a heckler...I kid you not" laughed Beverly...

"OHHHHH WOWWWWW!" laughed Kahlil...

"No wonder he slumped down in his seat,."said Sofia.

"This ought to be good."laughed Bresha..

"Oh we are going to have a treat tonight.."laughed Bee Bee..

"Ohhhhhh mannnnn."laughed Keith Jones..

''Don't bet on it being a treat....She is nottttt funny, I remember three or four years ago."chided Josie.

"Yeah, she was terrible."remembered Paris.

"Josie and Paris are right..." said Beverly...

''She's not lying.. Oh My God!!!!"said Nelson.

"Damn...I remember her....Nelson's ex-girlfriend....She was an Attorney...She gave it up for Stand Up Comedy." I said.

"Yes..We heard her before...Remember? She was awful....She should have went back to practicing law...It couldn't have been as bad as her stand up.." said Olivia...

III-

Karen came on the stage...She was met by applause...Obviously these people hadn't heard her stand up routine...

"Hello yall...As Symphony Sam Said... I am a practicing Attorney...Yeah, I went back..I practice in the day and do this at night so you better laugh at my jokes or I'll sue your asses..." she said..

That was met with only light laughter...

She told her first joke...Nothing...She then went into another long monolouge that went nowhere...Again nothing...

She then chided the crowd for not laughing...

She went into another long monolouge that got no laughs at all...

"Tough crowd tonight...heh heh heh...." she said and went into yet another monolouge...It went nowhere..

"Oh My God....She is terrible..I hope she's better in the courtroom."said Bresha..

"I can't tell you how many times I have heard that."said Beverly..

"Oh My God, tell just one funny joke. Please! " said Nelson almost pleadingly...

Karen began doing impressions.....

Again, no laughter....

"Last time, there was a heckler here...The woman she was accused of murdering....SHE WAS FUNNY." said Josie..

''Yeah, she got more laughs than the comedian " said Paris..

Keith ,Bee Bee, Sofia and Kahlil all laughed...

Karen thought she had scored and looked at them...

"My ex is here with his wife and some friends...Let's give them a healthy round of applause folks..They laughed.." she said.

But the crowd was silent..

"Oh My God...I actually feel bad for her." said Beverly..

"Ohhhh man, I feel bad period."said Nelson..

"Donnie Ray, you're done for the night aren't you?" asked Olivia..

"I sure am....Let's Go Home." I said.

"GOOD IDEA...Come on babe, let's get out of here...."said Beverly...

"Great Idea..."said Nelson.. "You guys coming?" asked Nelson..

''Right behind you."said Paris.

"Yesss."said Josie.

''I'm right behind you. Good Night guys, We are out!" said Bresha.

''If you're out, we out!"said Keith Jones..

holding his wife, Bee Bee's hand as she followed us..

"Let's go Papi." said Sofia

"Don't have to ask me twice..."said Kahlil.

All 11 of us quietly slipped out...So did half of the crowd..

Karen was in the middle of yet another meaningless monolouge that was going nowhere and getting no laughs....Within minutes...Half of the crowd left was buying drinks and talking  AND LEAVING, and she was still going on...

The man I had noticed staring at us...shook his head.. He got up and left too!

There was no sign of him in the parking lot...Maybe I was paranoid in my old age...

IV-

What I didn't know is that he had followed us...

"Good Night everybody..." said Beverly...

"Yeah, we deserve a good night after that performance.."said Nelson..

They kissed each other and went inside..

"Let's go up baby.."said Olivia to me, holding my hand..

"Good Night all." I said.

"Good night." said Bresha, who followed us inside..

''See You Guys.."said Josie..

''Yeah, later guys."said Paris as they walked inside..

He and Josie were staying with Beverly and Nelson and Bree was staying with us..

"Good Night!" said Keith Jones...

"Outside of that comedian, we had a good night."laughed Bee Bee..

"The music was good." said Sofia.

"Yeah the music was good." said Kahlil...

They walked to their houses across the street...

''Wow, they all live here huh? I knew Nelson had a thing for Bev, even back then....Looks like they hooked up...I see matching wedding rings and Ms.Olivia apparently has married again..wow...They still together...Them three...Wonder who all those other folks are?  They have an office and a rooming house..Nice set up..I hope they can help me...I hope they remember me.." said the man..

FRIDAY MORNING-

We all met in the conference room...

Alfreda arrived with breakfast...

Hot Coffee and doughnuts and Bagels..

"How did everybody sleep? Whoooo wasn't that comedian brutal?" asked Olivia as we all sat down and began munching on our doughnuts and spreeading cream cheese on our bagels...

"Oh My God Auntay!  I really thought she had given up being a comedian..."said Beverly...

"If she hasn't...She should have.." I said.

"Bree, I foolishly dated that woman at one time...It was short lived...It was before she decided to moonlight as a comedian...She actually is a pretty fine lawyer..."said Nelson..

"We defended her once... She was accused of killing a heckler in the audience...Right there in Josie's Bar and Grill.. She was innocent...but I gotta admit, the heckler  was funnier than she was.."said Josie..

Bree laughed so hard, tears were flowing down her cheeks... We all were laughing...

"Hmmmmph, she really sucked huh?" said Alfreda.. "There goes the doorbell...I'll get it." said Alfreda...

She walked in with a young gentleman...

"Liv, Bev, this man says he knows you guys..."said Alfreda..

"Ms. Olivia, Ms. Beverly, Nelson...It has been a long time..Remember me?" said the man, the same man I saw looking at them last night in Josie's..

"Tyrell? Tyrell Johnson?? Look at youuu!"said Olivia.

"Oh My God...You've got a goatee...I like it!" said Beverly..

''Heyyyyyy man...You good?" said Nelson.

"You mean am I clean? Yes sirrrrr...Going on six years now....I got my G.E.D.  and I went to Community College, got an associates degree and I'm uh working downtown in an office, trying to maintain....I saw you guys last night in Josies....I see you and Beverly finally hooked up huh?" said Tyrell Johnson..

''Hooked up? we've been married almost four years now." said Beverly..

"And we went together four years before that." said Nelson...

"Cool...I knew you always had a thing for each other, even back then...And Ms. Olivia...I suspect you are no longer Olivia Barnes huh?" he said..

"Ohhhhh no..noooo, I divorced him years ago and went back to using my maiden name..Bennett and got maried again and added Alexander to it...This is my husband, the man you saw playing the trumpet with that band last night, Donnie Ray Alexander....He's also an ex-Homicide detective and my firm's in house investigator."said Olivia...

"Pleased to meet you Tyrell..." I said.

"Tyrell, let me introduce you to the rest of my staff... This is Josie Boyd..

Another Associate Attorney.....

"Ms. Alfreda Johnson, our office manager..."

"And Ms. Bresha Williams, a young Attorney who is interning with us...."said Olivia.. "Guys this is Tyrell Johnson..a former client of  all three of us, Beverly, Myself and Nelson, who we represented when we were Public defenders.." said Olivia.

"They actually kept me out of prison....I was arrested on drug charges three times and all three of them repped me and got me acquitted...Then Ms. Olivia gave me a stern lecture about life and gettin myself together and I actually listened...I went to rehab , at least three times and got clean and got out of the street life...I'm finally turning a corner.." said Tyrell..

This sounded great..but I knew he was here for a reason...He was in some kind of trouble or about to be..Cops instinct!

''So I guess you all are wondering why I'm here?" he said..

And here it was....

"I need your help...My Moms died a few weeks ago...They said it was an accident...but I believe she was murdered....and I think my Pops did it!" he said.

''What? Are you sure?" asked Olivia.

"We are lawyers, we aren't cops..."said Beverly...

''You should go to the police." I said.

''I know, I know, but the Police and the Medical Examiner's Office ruled it an accident. Here me out..

Listen to my story and if you see any merit in it...Could you have her body exhumed and have them take another look? Please...I know it's asking a lot...I-I have a little money socked away...I can pay it." he said...

''Wow..an exhumation....That's a tall task."said Josie.

''You guys have the best cases."said Bresha.

And there it was, our next court case..

(TO BE CONTINUED)