A Third Party

 

KEITH JONES-

Born in Philadelphia PA. 

Mother, Nancy Jones, Court Stenographer

Father, Judge Keith Morrison

Graduated from West Catholic High School

B.A. Administration of Justice, Trial Advocacy, Pre Law- Howard University

J.D.- University of Pennsylvania Law School

Fluent in Spanish, French, German

Passed Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware and New York.

Associate Attorney- McCluskey/Cozen/Connor/Pratt

Married to Beatrice Evans

BEATRICE LYNN EVANS -JONES

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from Philadelphia High School For Girls

B.A. -Administration of Justice, Trial Advocacy ,Pre Law- Temple University

J.D.-University of Pennsylvania Law School

Fluent in Spanish and French

Passed Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Deleware

Associate Attorney- McCluskey /Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Married to Keith Jones

SOFIA CARMELITA GARCIA-AHMED

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from Philadelphia High School For Girls

B.A. -Administration Of Justice, Trial Advocacy, Pre Law-Temple University

J.D.-University of Pennsylvania Law School

Fluent in Spanish and French

Passed Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware and New York

Associate Attorney -McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Married to Kahlil Ahmed...

KAHLIL ABDUL AHMED

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from Central High School

BA.- Administration of Justice, Trial Advocacy, Pre Law- Temple University

JD- University of Pennsylvania Law School

Speaks Arabic languages fluently, fluent in German and Russian.

Passed Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware and New York

Associate Attorney-McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Married to Sofia Garcia

YVETTE DENISE JONES-LOCKWOOD

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from North Catholic High School

BA-Trial Advocacy, Pre Law, Administration of Justice -Lasalle University

JD -University of Pennsylvania Law School

Fluent in Spanish, French and Russian

Passed Bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware and New York

Married to D.A. Investigator-Gary Lockwood.

Senior Associate Attorney-McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

JADE LEE -  born in Mainline China as Mulan Xi Dan...Daughter of a Chinese Businessman and School Teacher. Both Defected to Japan, where she was educated in Japanese Public Schools in Tokyo.

She did two years in University of Tokyo....graduating with the equivakent of an Associates Degree, joined the Tokyo Police Department, worked her way up to Homicide Detective...Had one of the highest clearence rates of any detective on the Tokyo Police Force.

Quit the Tokyo Police force and immigrated to the United States.. Changed her name legally to Jade Lee. 

Became a naturalized American Citizen three years ago...Works for Yvette Jones at McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt as an Investigator.

ADA Gail Brady liked to know all there was to know about the Attorneys she would be up against...She was quite impressed by us.. She looked at our individual files.

''A Bunch of Ivy Leaugers" she snarled dismissively.... 

She had  also graduated from the Philadelphia High School For Girls, but had come to law a completely different way...She Had gotten a B.A. in Communications /Journalism from Northwestern and had written a column on a couple of Mid-western newspapers for a few years, before getting a Radio show in Denver, Colorado for three years...She got homesick for Philadelphia and returned taking a run into local politics...After two unsuccessful runs for office..She decided to go to law school...She attended and graduated from Villanova Law School and passed the bar in Pennsylvania, Deleware, New Jersey and New York..

After a brief romance with D.A. Garcetti, she wound up with a job as an Assistant District Attorney..She had her eyes on other things though...like a run for States Attorney..or  possibly a federal appointment.. For now this would do...It paid the bills.

She realized the case against Jetty Dukes was very circumstantial...and it looked suspect...She needed to do more research into what actually happened.

II-

And meanwhile at our office we were just beginning to put the pieces of the case together.

"So let's look at what we have or rather what they have as so called "evidence." said Ms. Yvette.

There is this gun.. a.40 caliber conveniently found under the passenger seat of Jetty's car..

The murder weapon." she said.

"Jade and I checked it out . It's genuine.." I said. We had gone to police headquarters after we had sprung Jetty Dukes..

"It's a Ballistics match...An entire clip was emptied into the murder victim and even though the gun has been bleached down and no fingerprints, DNA, Blood or Brain matter was found on the gun...The M.E.'s office is certain that this gun was used to pistol whip the defendent."said Jade.

"Then we have the problem of how did the gun wind up in Jetty's car?" asked Bee Bee..

"That's a good question..."asked Ms. Yvette.

"The police found wax shavings near his car...Which means somebody used one of those  three

dimensional printers to copy his key...I figure, somebody copped his car keys during the Ms. Panties tryouts and made a copy...Which explains how so much got in his car, the panties, the bra and four thousand dollars." said Ms. Jade.

''And you know who I think could get close enough to Jetty to pilfer his keys ? Our little friend, Debbie Jackson." said Sofia.

talking about the young girl, the young underaged girl who got Jetty in this mess in the first place..

"Yeah that was the first time, to plant the panties and the bra...but she was still in the hospital when Durbin got killed...She didn't plant that gun and she didn't have that money either...Remember, Durbin had beat her up and taken her money." said Kahlil.

"There has to be someone else involved in this...Someone in the background...Silently pulling the strings.. Someone had an awful lot of information...They knew Jetty was inebriated at that party. They knew Jetty had opted to sleep it off in a hotel room that night, rather than drive."said Yvette.

''Which was the correct thing to do."said Bee Bee.

"Bee Bee and I checked that hotel registar...Jetty was the only one who checked in that night and he was alone...That girl, Debbie Jackson never registered there as a guest."said Jade.

"But could she have visited him there that night?" I asked.

"She could have, but Jetty says he was so tanked , he passed out in his clothes on the bed..He says he got no visitors that night.. I believe him. He is a horn dog supreme...but he's not one to lie."said Yvette.

"And yet she was there ,first thing in the morning when he checked out....Somebody had a lot of information.."said Sofia.

"Yeah. From the very beginning, somebody has had a lot of information, too much...Durbin and the girl worked Jetty, but neither of them  put this together..  Even after the girl is gone and Durbin is dead...Money that he took from the girl is in Jetty's trunk with his blood smeared on it and the murder weapon is in Jetty's car under the passenger seat conveniently for Lt. Tragg to find and how does he know where to look in the first place?" asked Kahlil.

''All good questions...Questions I intend to ask at trial...But questions I hope we have the answers for..

I think Lt. Tragg got an anonymous tip...How else would he have fallen on Jetty and even known he was being blackmailed? Jetty never told the police and Durbin and Jackson certainly wouldn't have told the police.. No..There is a third party here, behind the scenes behind all of this." said Yvette, solemnly.

III-

Ms. Yvette's husband, Gary Lockwood, Investigator with the D.A.'s office walked in...

"Heyyy Guys...Your Boss lady in?" he asked.

"Oh Hey Gary...She's in her office..."said Bee Bee..

"Just knock on the door...She may be on the phone." said Sofia.

"Here she comes now!"said Kahlil..

"You look like you have some good news for us." I said.

"Yes, come to think of it you do."said Jade, smiling.

"I've got news...Don't know if it's good news or not..Depends on how you look at it!" said Gary.

"Heyyyy husband....What news do you have for me?" said Yvette..

Gary relayed a conversation he had had with ADA Gail Brady earlier...

"She came to my office earlier this morning...and she said.

"I know you work for ADA Rockland Cambridge and ADA Karen Page

of the Wrongful Conviction Unit.. I asked around and they said that you're one of the best investigators we have working for us...I also know that you're not busy working for them right now, So I asked if I could borrow you temporarily.." she said.

"Borrow me for what?" I asked.

"I want you to take a further look into the Richard Durbin Murder...I'm prosecuting Judge Jetty Dukes for the murder and I don't know...Something isn't right, it's a little too neat...Murder weapon conveniently in his car, along with a trunk full of money with the victims blood stains on it.. Just too easy too neat...There are some missing peices and somehow I feel like maybe a third party is involved, you know?" she said.

"So I asked her...'You're not satisfied with Lt. Tragg's investigation? Which I knew she couldn't be or she wouldn't be asking for my help...

"Between me and you...NO!  I've seen him goof up a number of ADA's cases...They all sigh when they get a case and find out he's the investigating detective and arresting officer...He's more interested in getting in a female ADA's panties than he is in investigating a crime....Everytime I talk to him, he's staring at my chest and paying me no mind.." she said.

"You do know that I am married to Attorney Yvette Jones-Lockwood, who is defending Jetty Dukes don't you? You do know you're putting me in an awkward situation right?" " I asked.

"I'm not asking you to reveal anything you two have discussed in private... You don't look like the type who pillow talks anyway...And plus, anything you find will be in Discovery...She and her young associates will see it...Just like I'll see what they have eventually." she said.

"Alright , but you do realize you have put me in a very awkward situation." I said.

"Some of life's best situations are awkward hun....First thing you can start doing is to locate that girl, Debbie Jackson, the one who was blackmailing Jetty Dukes...I understand, Durbin beat her up and she checked herself out of the hospital and out of the city..." she said.

''Which brings me to my news.. I knew that Jade had turned the city upside down searching for her...So I checked her debit and credit card charges and found a number of recent purchases made in New York City...I sent a photo of her to the Chief of Detectives in N.Y. P.D. and within three hours, they located her and detained her.. She waived extradition and was sent back to Philly with a NYPD escort..

They arrived at 30th Street station a couple of hours ago..

and I was there with a tactical squad of policemen to take her into custody..

"Long story short....The Prosecution now has her in custody..." Gary said.

Ms. Yvette laughed. 

"Gail Brady is as slick as canned grease....but I have to give it to her..She's smart...I don't care that she has Debbie Jackson in custody....We have questions to ask her.. And I'm betting she had help getting out of here and somebody, a third party is real nervous right now!"laughed Ms. Yvette.

"How Did uh Lieutenant Tragg take it? Or does he even know?" I asked..

We all knew how Lt. Tragg felt about Kevin Morris, Donnie Ray Alexander and our own Ms. Jade.. 

All brilliant private investigators , all more thorough than he could ever be...

He arrested Kevin Morris once,

 tried to have his license pulled.. Failed miserably at that!

He Arrested Donnie Ray Alexander once too!..

but his famous wife and her niece, Attorneys Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West sprung him...

and Ms. Jade..

He hasn't arrested her yet, but he's waiting for a reason to arrest her and pull her license..He hates Private Investigators.. but Gary Lockwood, he's different...He came up through the ranks under Lieutenant Tragg, ,making Detective..making Sergeant in Robbery-Homicide. And then going to 

Internal Affairs and making Lieutenant... Getting in a little trouble and heading back to Robbery-Homicide after being busted back down to Detective... Eventually switching over to the District Attorney's Office, where he has distinguished himself as an Investigator.. No , he was different...He has no license to pull and Lt. Tragg has no jurisdicition or authority over him..

"He didn't take it well...He came to Rockland's Office and gave me a tongue lashing for interfering with his investigation....I told him to take it up with the D.A.'s office...

ADA Gail Brady and him had a knock down drag out! They were still yelling when I left...As you can imagine, I find the whole thing funny, but I thought I'd give you guys a heads up and uh this conversation ,never happened right?" said Gary..

''What Conversation? What Visit?" asked Kahlil.

"You came to see Ms. Yvette like you always do."said Sofia.

"Our lips are sealed."said Bee Bee..

"And speaking of lips.." said Gary raffishly as he took Ms. Yvette in his arms...

"OUUUUUUUUUUU!" she cooed surprisingly...

He kissed her passionately for a few minutes...

"Mmmmmmm I like the taste of whatever lipstick you're wearing." he said as he left our office..

IV-

A FEW HOURS LATER-

We were all at Food Corner.. end of a long day...

We were all sharing a large Pizza and a Coke.

"Mmmmmm this Pizza is Delish.." said Bee Bee..

"It is...Mannnn what a day this was.." I said, taking a bite of Pizza.

"I can't wait to get home and get out of these heels..."said Sofia. Taking a bite of Pizza and sipping a Coke.

''Well, Debbie Jackson is on ice...she can probably answer a lot of questions." said Kahlil..

"I'm trying to wait for Jade...She did some digging...She said she had something for us.." said Yvette.

"Oh here she comes now." she sighed.

"Sorry I took so long guys...but I did some digging...I talked to Dag Habersham and a lot of the people around the Ms. Panties pageant.. The only person who wouldn't talk to me was Nash Devlin..

one of the other judges....I had heard that there was a lot of bad blood between him and Jetty Dukes.. Jetty told me that he can't stand him... I was curious as to why and then I delved into the history of the man....

He was married at one time...He had a son , a son named Nash Jr.  Some years ago, Nash Jr. and two other guys robbed a jewelry store...A Night watchman was killed..  Nash Jr. was not the triggerman, but it was his third serious offense..He had done two years for another armed robbery and was on probation for yet a second one...This one was serious though and Judge Jetty Dukes sentenced him to 10-20 in the State Pen... He did 11 years and surprisingly was paroled... Three months after he was released...He was found hanging in his apartment..An apparent suicide..

Nash Devlin Sr. was inconsolable...Some say he blamed Jetty Dukes for his son's death and what he called an "Unbelievably harsh sentence..." and he vowed revenge.. said Jade.

"Framing him and Blackmailing him for considerable amount of cash and getting him thrown off the Ms. Panties contest would be a considerable start."said Bee Bee.

"Yeah, it would explain how he knew so much..."said Sofia.

"There's more...Nash Devlin is a good friend of Debbie Jackson's family...She's his god-daughter..He recruited her for Ms. Panties, knowing she was under age...What's to say he didn't recruit her for this Blackmail scheme? Oh and guess who visited her in the hospital besides her mother and father?  Nash Devlin!!! Co-incidence???" asked Jade.

"If he heard that Richard Durbin had beaten her up....Suppose he found Durbin and beat the snot out of him and then murdered him and decided...Here is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone...and voila....He frames Jetty Dukes on a Murder rap that could send him up for life....Game set Match!" said Ms. Yvette.

''One last thing...Nash Devlin owns a bottling company...Richard Durbin drove a truck for one of Nash Devlin's distributors years ago and was in prison with his son...He knew him...."said Jade.

"That's too much of a co-incidence."said Bee Bee.

"Mr. Devlin has a connection to all of the players in this drama."said Sofia.

"It fits....It fits...It all makes sense...Devlin is our mysterious third party behind the scenes, pulling the strings.." I said.

"It's beautiful, but we need proof.. We've got to tailor a defense around that narrative that a jury will believe."said Kahlil.

''Yes we do!....Let's table this for now and hold that thought guys...Good work Jade...We've got a few more days before the preliminary hearing..but let's call it a night....My Husband is up waiting for me ,I'm sure.."laughed Ms. Yvette...

We all paid our bills and walked out together..Headed for home!

(CONCLUSION NEXT)