No Shows

 The "Fishbowl" the nickname the detectives gave to the interrogation room...

Murder Suspect, Attorney Thomas Prescott sat in the interrogation room...He had been here all night..

He drank his third cup of coffee... And talked quietly with detective Roger Dantley about something they both loved...Baseball and how good , the Phillies were doing this year.

Detective Dantley was not a Homicide Detective and knew that as an Attorney, Thomas Prescott was not going to talk about his case...So he didn't press him...

''Detective Dalton...Funny to see you here...I thought you were with Bunco Squad." said Yvette.

"Hello Ms. Yvette...We meet again...I still am with Bunco Squad...I'm fillin in for Artie , He called out...Something her rarely does.."said Detective Dalton.

"Oh Joy...That's good!" said Jade Lee.

"I see you're not part of the Arthur Tragg fan club eh? funny thing, so many people aren't these days." laughed Detective Dalton.

''Yvette, thank god you guys came." said Thomas Flannagan...

"You just can't stay out of trouble, can you young man?" joked Bee Bee.

"We brought you coffee and doughnuts." said Sofia.

She and Bee Bee  poured cups of coffee for all of us and spread out enough doughnuts

Bagels and cream cheese for all of us.

"We are going to try to get you arraigned and released in a few hours..." I said.

"Here's more coffee." said Kahlil 

putting the Thermos on the table.

"Thanks Guys.." said Thomas.

"Well that's my cue to leave...When you're done, just call the desk officer.. I'm goin home and get some shut eye...So long you good people."said Detective Dalton.

''So Long Detective." said Yvette as he left.. 

"Yvette...I swear to you, I didn't kill this guy....I knew him...of course..but our paths hadn't crossed in months...I was home in my apartment alone..I swear..." said Thomas Prescott.

''Shhhhhh, we never talk particulars of a case in here...The room may have ears...You sit tight..We have a judge lined up and we'll have you arraigned and on the street again..Once we have you out..I want you to go to a hotel and register under your own name..We'll give you a Portal and a Phone..

at that time...Don't tell us where you are staying until you get settled...." said Yvette..

"Okay Vettie, you're the boss!" said Thomas Prescott..

We drank coffee and ate the doughnuts and bagels and talked about everything but the case until we were finished..

The Duty Officer came in and took him back to his cell.

"It's Nice that we didn't have to go back and forth with Lt. Tragg." I said.

"You think he's sick?" asked Kahlil.

"I don't care...I'm just glad we didn't have to go back and forth with him.."said Yvette.

"If we are lucky, we'll have him arraigned and sprung before he even knows who his lawyers are." said Jade.

"Can we be that lucky?" asked Sofia.

"Hope Springs Eternal girlfriend." said Bee Bee.

We all laughed heartedly!

II-

We were in courtroom B... We had a good Judge, Percy Reynolds, friend to us all..

He had read the charging docket and he knew Lt. Tragg was the arresting officer..He was rather surprised that he wasn't in court...He didn't have to be.. But he liked to be there sitting up under the prosecutor, brown nosing and letting everyone know, he was the case detective..

Today he was a no show.

A New Assistant District Attorney, Hayden King, was right up his alley...Pretty and Blonde..

was late and very unprepared for the case...Two things that perturbed the judge..

That was not the case with us..

Ms. Yvette argued that there was little to no physical evidence drawing our client to the murder...and that the entire case was based on hearsay and rumors.

Bee Bee and Sofia  marched charactor witnesses from our office...Other Attorneys who once worked with him and Attorneys and former clients from his new firm.LEGAL HUSTLERS to vouch for his sterling charactor.

I argued that he was still an officer of the court and not a flight risk!..

Kahlil simply argued for reasonable mercy and cited three simular cases...

Jade stood in the back of the courtroom looking for signs of Lt. Tragg.

Judge Percy Reynolds set his bail at $1000.00 dollars..

Yvette wrote a check for $100.00 and passed it to Sofia.

She passed it to the bailiff...

And just like that, Tommy Prescott was a free man...

"Damn, that was pretty easy...Thanks guys." said Tommy..

"Now remember, go to a hotel and sign in using your own name.."said Bee Bee.

''When you get settled..You call us." I said.

Here is a Portal and a burner phone and a number..Don't lose this...We'll be in touch until trial dates.." said Kahlil.

Passing him a Portal and a phone.

"Lt. Tragg has been known to hassle people , needlessly, even when they are out on bail, even try to arrest them again...So please keep a low profile." said Jade.

"Got'cha...I'll grab a few things from my home and vanish....like a ghost..Yvette, guys...I can't thank you enough...Thank you sooooo much for everything." said Thomas Prescot as he called an Uber and took off..

"Guys...I think it would be a good idea for all of us to keep out of sight this afternoon...You don't have to go back to the office..And I'd advise you against eating in Sam Mother's diner..

"We are having dinner at my house tonight..Why don't you and Gary and Jade, you and Danny Ho come eat with us.. We are having Olivia and the gang over too." said Sofia.

"That's a great idea...I'll call Gary...We'll be there.." laughed Yvette...

There was a reason Lt. Tragg didn't show up....He and Julie Prescott had spent all the night before and all this morning at her condo, making love..

On her living room floor..

"OH YES...YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! OH YEAH.....OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssss!!! LIEUTENANT!!! OUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!" she screamed..

On the sofa and on the side of the bed...kissing softly ,while she moved up and down on him...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH JULIEEEEEE!!! JULLIEEEEEEE!!! OHHHHHHHHH
GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!" he moaned..

On top of their bed....Her riding him like a surfer rides the waves...

and finally back in bed, making sweet, sweet love...

They had been at it for the past  SIXTEEN HOURS, only stopping to get a cold bottle of water...and to both call out of work today...

She had apparently gotten over her grief at the loss of Claude Beezos...

They took a nice hot shower together....

"Wowww...I'm glad I was able to help you uh get over your grief..." said Lt. Tragg..

"Thank Youuuu Lieutenant!" she whispered...."Meowwwwwwwwww!" she purred..

"Geez.." he said as he left her condo and headed home to change clothes and take another shower and then to the station house....He was feeling pretty good.. That was going to be short lived.

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT???" he screamed out once he got back to headquarters..

''Artie, calm down...you know the drill..His attorneys came here..Met with him...Got him arraigned and he made bail...Happens all the time..He's a lawyer, first time offender, minimum flight risk...What are you gonna do?" asked Detective Dalton...

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do...I'm gonna give Vettie a piece of my mind, that's what I'm gonna do!!" he yelled and stormed out of the office..

Detective Dalton sighed..

"I wonder if he's got it to spare." he said and laughed.

III-

After we left the courthouse...We went shopping at our local supermarket..

"How many are you having over tonight Sofia.?" asked Bee Bee

"Counting us eight, Olivia, Donnie Ray, Beverly, Nelson, Josie, Paris, Bree and Tony and Chip and Jessica.  That's 18 isn't it?" said Sofia.

"Ouu girl we'd better get to shipping then.." said Bee Bee.

"Yes indeed.. We are going to need the afternoon to fix this food." laughed Sofia.

Both Sofia and Bee Bee were excellent cooks and they loved to entertain as I was learning now that we had homes..

They bought two Roast Beefs and prepared them ,along with potatoes and a salad and red wine..

"Sofia...You and Kahlil's house is beautiful and everything looks and smells delicious." said Beverly.

"Yesssss thank you for inviting us.." said Olivia.

''Yes, this is certainly a different way to spend a Thursday Night." said Nelson.

''Especially since we just wrapped a case up."said Donnie Ray.

"Yes...I couldn't think of where I wanted to eat tonight or what I wanted to do." said Josie.

"Thanks for inviting us to this delicious dinner.." said Paris.

"I'm with you Josie, I didn't know what I wanted to do tonight either." said Bresha.

"This is nice." said Tony...

''Everything is delicious Sofia. Thank you for inviting us." said Jessica.

''Yes, thank you and Kahlil again for inviting us." said Chip.

''You're all very welcome." said Sofia.

"We thank you for coming..."said Kahlil..

I nudged Kahlil..

"We did alright in picking wives, didn't we?" I laughed..

"You better know it.." laughed Bee Bee, overhearing us..

"Right about now, Lieutenant Tragg is learning that Thomas Prescott was arraigned and released on bail." said Jade..

"Yeah and his anger is more than likely off the chain...I can imagine..Which is why All of you are off tomorrow..It's Friday...We can work remotely...Olivia already said we can use their conference room."said Yvette.

Danny Ho laughed...

"He's going to head straight for Sam Mother's...Then over to your building to wait for you to come in..and he's going to hit the ceiling.." he said.

"I think I'll eat at the courthouse cafeteria tomorrow..I don't want to hear it."laughed Gary

Tonight though...We were safe and sound in our homes, enjoying dinner with our friends.

The next day as promised... Olivia and Beverly opened their office up to us....In fact , we would be working there remotely for the next three business days...It was nice walking across the street to work..

Ms. Yvette, Myself, Bee Bee, Sofia and Kahlil were here... 

Ms. Jade was on the street, investigating.

We used their conference room table which rivaled ours at our office.....

Went in the back to use their immense law library, which they had just  added on a year and a half ago.. to do our research and prepare

and of course , we had our own laptops and devices, allowing us to work remotely...

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson, Josie ,Donnie Ray and Bresha couldn't have been better hosts.. Helping us look up trial testimonies and predicates..Helping us interpret law and just fellowshipping with us..

We had all of our meals delivered by UBER, GRUB HUB or DOOR DASH...

 Our client, Thomas Prescott booked himself into a hotel under his own name and stayed put, like we told him...

We kept him up to date on the defense strategy and the case by Portal

and smart phone, just like we said..

And Ms. Alfreda kept a look out for unmarked police cars as such!

"Olivia, thank you so much for letting us work remotely here at your place...You are a doll."said Ms. Yvette, kissing her good friend on the cheek and hugging her.

"Ohhhhhhhhh Vettie if you don't hush up...You're my sister and your guys are like my babies too!" said Olivia, smiling..

IV-

WEDNESDAY- At our Office!

"I told you, they aren't in....They're working remotely today!" said Para-Legal, Tracy Collins..

"AND I WANT TO KNOW FROM WHERE? I had a man stop by their homes and they're not there and I stopped by the law library downtown and they aren't there..NOW WHERE ARE THEY?" bellowed Lt. Tragg.

"I really don't know...but they are working remotely...That's all I know..." said Tracy..She was actually telling the truth...She had no idea where we were, but she did know how to contact us if needed...

"I've been here Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Today....NOW I WANT ANSWERS!" bellowed Lt. Tragg,

"Well, I haven't got them." said Tracy , who then walked away and headed back down the hallway..

Lt. Tragg hadn't seen us...He had been up to our office, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday....with no success...He couldn't find Thomas Prescott either... None of his favorite attorneys were in Sam Mother's joint either...or Curley's for that matter.

Jazzy and Kayla 's building , which housed their law firm and THE WRONGFUL CONVICTION UNIT, which they shared with Assistant District Attorney Karen Page.

Had a stylish new cafeteria on the building's top floor..They had told us all about it and had invited us down.

It had just opened up a few weeks ago..

Their husbands, 

Attorneys Ray St. Jacques

Dabnis Coley and Karen's boyfriend, B.L. Benz, host of HARD BOTTOM

loved eating there with their wives and significant others

Far away from Lt. Tragg and his annoying ranting and raving...and needling..

The "No shows" of all of his adversaries was bothering him...He could've used this time to investigate the case thoroughly, but of course , he didn't.

He happened to see Ms. Jade coming out of the Medical Examiners Office...

"AND JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" he bellowed.

"I'm investigating a case for the attorneys I work for... I have a copy of the autopsy report....You should read it ...It's good reading..A Copy of the Police report of the incident and some crime scene photos..That and signed affadavits of witnesses...All things you should have done already.."said Jade.

"HAND IT OVER!!" he demanded.

''I will not...This information is pertinent to the defense needed to be put on for our client." said Jade.

"You're going to force me to arrest you and pull your license for obstruction of Justice!" growled Lt Tragg..."Not to mention with holding evidence in a homicide." he sneered.

"As a lawyer you still make a lousy cop... I have in no way impeded you from performing your duties , which is the definition of Obstruction of Justice..and I am not withholding evidence... Everything I have in my possession has been sent to you at least a week before.. You haven't read the reports have you?" asked Jade.

She had him over a barrell and he knew it.. She was right...He hadn't read any reports or did any further investigating of the case..He had been at Julie Prescott's condo making love...

"Good Day Lieutenant." said Jade as she walked away....

He growled angrilly and stomped his foot.

''We are going back in the office tomorrow...We can't hide out forever guys." said Ms. Yvette.

"We have to craft a defense...but his alibi is he was home alone....What can we do with that?" I asked.

"There is no physical evidence , DNA, Prints what have you that places him at the scene..."said Bee Bee.

''And the whole case is based on the fact that they had a verbal confrontation three months before ,because he confronted Claude about sleeping with his wife.. The whole thing is hearsay...Lt. Tragg's cases are getting loopier and loopier."said Sofia.

"You guys are ignoring the elephant in the room...There was another woman involved..He was sleeping with Tracy...We have to question her about this...And there is possibly , another woman involved.. A pair of panties, a bra and some lingerie was found at his duplex and they don't belong to Julie Prescott or have her DNA on them..."said Kahlil.

"That was all in the police report..Jade scanned and emailed them to our laptops..." I said,

"Jade thinks of everything." said Bee Bee.

"Don't she though?" said Sofia, Smiling.

"Tomorrow , everything comes out...We interview Tracy, discreetly....If she's innocent ,I don't want to jeapordize her relationship with Julie..We interview Julie and we find out if there was any other women involved..." said Yvette.

We had done all we could do, leading up to the preliminaries...Now we had to build a real defense.

(TO BE CONTINUED)