A crowd of people gathered as the man was put in the ambulance.
"I am Sean Shotwell...The Attorney for Judge Merlin Merkins...Uh he apparently suffered a Massive Heart Attack last night and he's being rushed to the hospital.. He's in grave condition... He's been under a lot of stress lately... He was recently hit with a Racial discrimination lawsuit by several attorneys and we were preparing to fight these allegations in court as soon as he was finished with this very controversial trial...and now was just recently hit with another court summons in which an attorney he jailed for contempt of court is suing him for false detainment , libel and slander...Being hit with these two suits stressed him out and led to this.. All of his court appearences have been cancelled and another judge will be assigned to his present case in a few days..It was set to start again tomorrow, but that probably won't be happening. That's all guys." he said.
"Good for that rotten son of a bitch...Maybe his old hateful ass will retire." said Roscoe Jenkins...
And then he was the target of another suit two years ago that got him suspended for six months without pay..." said Yvette..
''Sounds like a real sweetheart and speaking of sweethearts ,heads up."said Jade Lee.
"Artie, take it easy."said Sam Mother..
"WHYYYY YOUUUUU!" screamed a livid Lt. TRAGG!!!
"LIEUTENANT TRAGG!!!! The Judge has been removed from our case...That gives you more time to review that crime scene....but instead...You're in here starting a fight with an Attorney and risking being sued...ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?? GET ON THIS CASE OR GET OFF OF IT AND I'LL GET AN INVESTIGATOR FROM THE D.A.'S OFFICE!!!"said ADA Susan Knight.
Lt. Tragg saw the high fiving and cheering and hugging and was disgusted..
"You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves..Cheering because a man had a heart attack, is gravely ill....He is a damn good man...You all are partially responsible for his condition..Hittin the man with lawsuits because you can't deal with his rulings...You can't take a little discipline, because he didn't take any guff, he demanded respect...All of a sudden he's this...R-R-R- RACIST....That's the card you guys always pull when you can't have your way and it sickens me and disgusts me!" bellowed Lt. Tragg..
"You know...the only thing that would've made me cheer louder is if you had of been in that ambulance too!" said Dabnis Coley...
"I'LL KNOCK YOU THE HELL OUT!! SAY ONE MORE WORD, JUST ONE MORE!"snarled Lt. Tragg..
"Anytime you're ready...if you're feelin froggy just jump! I heard your Uncle Jack said those same things to some guy years ago and the guy took him outside and beat the livin crap out of him..Put him in the hospital...He was never quite the same again.. Now I believe that was 49 words." said Dabnis.
''Well why don't you do that sugar britches??...because I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU TOO!"he snarled and stormed out... He slammed the door so hard, the glass shattered and fell out...
"ARTIE YOU OR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS GOING TO PAY FOR MY DOOR! " screamed Sam Mother..
It was an emotional morning.
II-
Former Judge and now private Attorney Pinkney Bach had spent his first night with Judge Julie Wong at her condo...He was crazy about Judge Julie Wong...He found himself at work, thinking about her...He called her at least twice a day...He was in love with Judge Julie Wong...He was in love for the first time in his life!
And naturally...They were in bed making love..
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh work me , work me soul daddy, work me like a job...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, oh my goodness.. You are soooo damn BIG! UMMMMMMM!!!!." moaned Julie, who also would find herself thinking about him too at work and eager for his phone call.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" he yelled loudly..".OHHHHHHHHHHH LAWWWD!" he yelled.
''Pinkney please!!! I have neighbors and the window is open...you want everybody to know we are up here doin the nasty?" said Julie, giggling...She loved that she turned him on so....
"I don't care if the world knows how good I feel...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" he moaned..
She laughed...
''Glad you're enjoying yourself..but I do care....I have to live here...Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, ..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! OH MY GOOODNESSS....OUUUUUU!" she giggled..
The bed was squeaking out of control and the headboard was slamming up against the wall so hard, the paint and the plaster was coming off...
"OHHHHHHHHHHHH OH OHHHHHHHHHHHH JULIE!!! UMMMMMMMMMMM!" he moaned..
They had both gotten off early... He had finished his trial at 11:30 and was done for the day and she had finished her hearing..
and in her bedroom minutes later...
Alfreda howled with laughter as we told her what transpired in Sam Mother's diner this Morning..
"Here let me help you with that.." said Roscoe as he helped her take the remaining cups and saucers into the kitchen area...
"Damn!!! You fine as hell, If you're ever free...I hope I'm still alive."said Roscoe and they both laughed ...
''I think Attorney Jenkins is sweet on your mama ,neicey poo!"said Olivia, smiling.
"Oh I picked that up a day ago...and I think she did too! Good thing Rockland isn't here. He's been busy this week." laughed Beverly.
"I'm sweet on you Honey Bun."said Nelson, who pulled Beverly to him and kissed her softly...
and slowly..
"I know that baby.I'm Sweet on you too boo!"said Beverly to her husband.
"You've been sweet on my niece ever since the day you first laid eyes on her, when she came to work with us at the Public Defenders Office." said Olivia.
"That's so sweet."laughed Josie.
"It is.."said Bresha.
'' While you guys work on trial preparation ...I have to go out...Got some digging to do.." I said as I left..I had to start working on the Helen Green Murder....
''Whoever killed her picked the perfect time, during the period when everyone in the neighborhood was worried about the rapes.." said Olivia.
"It would be thought that she was the fourth victim, which it was and one suspect would be blamed for the carnage."said Beverly...
''And meanwhile, the real Queen Village Rapist was in Kensington, far away, raping someone else... He wouldn't even be tied to that." said Nelson..
"Enter Johnny Honeywell..drives a delivery truck, was working on the nights of the rapes, but not the night of this murder...Still he's a registered sex offender, despite the fact that it was a statutory rape charge , between a consensual sexual relationship with a 15 year old girl ,when he was 18...It still makes him an easy target."said Josie.
"Wait...I seen that guy on TV...He's white, about 5 foot 6 ,if that and kind of dumpy....He don't look nothin like your client."said Paris.
''Exactly and all of the victims described their assailant as being 5 foot 6 or 7 and dumpy...but it was dark...They couldn't see, one thought he was Black, another thought he was white.. He was working on the night of the three rapes...but the night of the murder , he wasn't working." said Bresha.
"That's circumstantial like a mug....How did he wind up being charged with all that? Three rapes and a murder?" asked Tony.
"Because Lt. Tragg is a lazy cop, he doesn't do the extra leg work...He ignored the women's descriptions and the fact that our client never crossed paths with any of them...and wasn't working that night... He found an easy target...and created this boogeyman to make himself look like the heroic cop who brought him in...It's about him being on Television , solving the big case..."said Olivia.
"Helen Green's rape and murder was on a completely different night." said Beverly..
"That's another thing..HELEN GREEN WAS NOT RAPED!" I said.
''What?"asked Nelson.
''She wasn't raped?"asked Josie.
"No, she wasn't..I stopped by the M.E.'s office and I talked to the Lieutenant of Special Victims Unit.
"Hi Julie." said Olivia
"Hi Julie." said Beverly.
"She's soooo nice...What is she doing with him?" asked Bresha.
"Bree, I've asked the same question myself." said Josie.
"One of the great mysteries." said Nelson , smiling.
"You girls ready to go home?" I asked..
''I am..Come on Josie." said Paris.
"Unlike you good people..I gotta work tomorrow."said Tony with a smile..
Julie listened like she always did, but she began to think...Arthur Tragg was becoming less and less fun to be with...The thrill was definitely going.
TWO DAYS LATER-
''Why baby? No one knows I'm your father." said Roscoe Jenkins , who was visiting with her...
"It's a matter of Public record, it can easily be looked up and if it's discovered that I hired Olivia and Beverly
"Speaking of that Jackass...
"He's out of his coma and as mean as a rattlesnake to all of the Staff at the hospital...He should be going home soon....I think he wanted a way out of this trial, so he and his lawyer would have time to defend him against that Racial Discrimination suit....If he loses that suit...He could possibly be removed from the bench...Do you know how that would hurt his pride? It was a bunch of white mostly female attorneys who brought that last suit against him , where he wound up being suspended without pay for six months....That through him into a tail spin...Imagine this.. a group of attorneys of color getting him removed from the bench... He'll have to turn in his Klan card." said Roscoe laughing, thinking about the young attorneys who were presently suing Merkins, including his niece, Joanie Wong.
He loved that he was around to see it and be a part of it.
"Yeah....that Bully is finally going to get his come uppance..."laughed Roscoe... who looked at his watch..."Well look, I gotta go...After this is all over I'm gonna take us all out to lunch..Everybody.."said Roscoe, hugging and squeezing his daughter...
"I Love you too baby!" said Roscoe as he exited her condo...He truly loved his only child...He had really loved her mother once...but racial and cultural differences kept them from getting married, from staying together..Maybe it had been a mistake to start a romance with her mother...but their daughter was definitely no mistake..Their daughter was the best of them both!
They had both gotten off early... He had finished his trial at 11:30 and was done for the day and she had finished her hearing..
She was about to get undressed ,when her doorbell rang...It was Pinkney...He had never been to her condo before and she gave him the grand tour...She knew that that was not what he really came for..
He had her undressed ..
While at our Home/Office..
"OH MY GOD....I wished I had been there....To see the look on his face and see the door slam and the glass break.." she said.
"I wished you'd been there too....Anybody ever tell you , you have a sexy laugh?" asked Roscoe.
"I've been told I have a lot of sexy things." said Alfreda , as she collected the cups and saucers..
"You Beverly's mama huh? Wow...I see where she gets her good looks from...You aint still with Olivia's brother are you sugar?" asked Roscoe.
"Oh Nooooo. He's married, He lives in San Francisco...but I am taken , I go with an Assistant District Attorney. But I am flattered." said Alfreda smiling..
It was amazing how things had broke our way...The real Queens Village Rapist had been captured and three charges against our client , Johnny Honeywell had been dropped.. A conviction on all of these charges would have definitely led to a death sentence for him... This Helen Green murder conviction could still lead to a death sentence. depending on how far ADA Susan Knight wanted to run with it.
Judge Merlin Merkins, clearly no friend of ours would have been hard to try any case against...He was now in the hospital and officially off the case..God only knows what Judge we might get..but could anybody be worse than Merkins?
III-
I went to the Queen Village Bar that Helen Green was last seen alive in...Just four days after the last rape.. She left at closing.. The Bartender offered to drive her home, She told him that she'd be alright..
and that she was going to an after hours spot..He told her to be careful because three women had been recently raped not too far from there. She said she had mace in her purse and wasn't worried. She walked out of the bar that night and was never seen alive again.
I went to the After Hours joint...They knew Helen...but they said that Helen never made it to the after hours joint that night...
I met with Olivia, Beverly, Nelson, Josie, Paris, Bresha and Tony that night at Curleys for drinks where I told them what I had found..
Helen Green didn't fit the pattern of the other rapes...With the exception of one assault...The Queen Village rapist overpowered the women, sexually assaulted them, slobbered all over their bras until he ejaculated....but he didn't strangle or try to hurt them..He usually fixed his clothes and ran off into the night. He raped four women...None of them was seriously hurt....He wasn't overly violent.. He was very awkward....
Helen Green was strangled....They did a rape kit on her post mortem...No sign of semen , no sign of the spermicide usually found on condoms or any sexual penetration...Unlike the others there was no saliva on the bra or panties...Someone strangled her...and considering the high fear in the neighborhood at the time about the rapes...They figured her murder would be lumped in with the rapes, which they were and an innocent man ,who isn't guilty of either is sitting in jail..
Now I've got to look into Helen Green's life and find out what was going on with her." I said.
''Welllll look who it is..Auntie and Niecey and friends... Things worked out pretty good for you guys...Judge Merkins is in the hospital in a damn coma...So he's out...You'll probably get a judge of your choosing..and I'm officially off the case...Lucky You!" he snarled.
We drank our beers...
Lt. Tragg walked in with his girlfriend, U.S. Attorney, Julie Baisden...
We said nothing.
"Hi Olivia, Hi Beverly" said a very apologetic Julie Baisden...She liked us and was embarrassed that Lt. Tragg was taking his anger and bitterness out on us.
We all got up and paid our tab and quietly filed out...
''A Good case, A damn good case. And a Tough as nails judge ,who wasn't taking any guff off of them and they stressed the man out so bad that day with their shenanigans, he had a heart attack...And that ding bat prosecutor...She blames me!!! Throws me off the damn case...Crimminy.." he complained.
IV-
TWO DAYS LATER-
"They've assigned me to be the judge in your upcoming case...but I recused myself..." said Julie Wong..
and their team to take over the case ,imagine how that would look for all of us? It just wouldn't look kosher..It would be very Awkward...you know that Daddy!" said Julie Wong.
Roscoe hugged his daughter and kissed her on the cheek...
"You're right...You've already did enough to help me... Who will be presiding?" he asked.
"Judge Keith Morrison....
"He's tough and fair and he's not the ogre that Merlin Merkins was.." said Julie Wong.
Not to mention that right after that, he'd be before the same board fighting his contempt ruling on himself..
Being defended by the same attorneys who practically ran Judge Merkins out of this present trial and who successfully got Merkins removed from their trial five years before.. The Irony tickled him pink...This bully, this tyrant, Merlin Merkins was finally being taken to task after all these years.
"That is ironic."laughed Julie.
"I love you daddy.."said Julie Wong..
(CONCLUSION NEXT)
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