Mercy

 MONDAY MORNING-

Special Prosecutor Maureen "Reeny " Thomas had gone an entire week without having a drink...She had gotten her hair done and bought herself a new wardrobe...She was ready for trial...At least she thought she was..

"You called a continium for a day? What for? I'm prepared to go." she said to District Attorney John Garcetti..

"I want to make sure... You missed that important hearing  because you uh overslept....You appeared at the second hearing and Olivia and Beverly gained this woman's release...They're beating us every step of the way...People are looking at this case...There is a strong feeling about people who kill cops ....I need us to look strong...I've brought in another special prosecutor to assist you...Nick come in here."said District Attorney John Garcetti..

Nick Volley, an attorney from a Cherry Hill firm just back from D.C. agreed to work as an Assistant Special Prosecutor..

"Hello Maureen, I've heard a lot about you." he said.. He'd heard she was a brilliant attorney who tended to get very friendly after a few drinks and her panties easily slipped off.. He wanted to try out that theory...

"I don't need any help with this case." she said..

"I say you do...Allow Mr. Volley to be brought up to speed and be ready at 9:00 am tomorrow for trial."said District Attorney John Garcetti

"Good Luck You Guys." he said and left...

"Come on Maureen...I don't bite and it won't be so bad." said Nick...

She sighed...

"Here's the files" she said and passed him the case file...

She noticed him staring at her legs and her breasts., She smiled.. "Men" she thought...

TUESDAY MORNING- Voir Dire

That extra day had actually given me a day to thoroughly vet more of the members of the jury pool

from home..

Nelson and Olivia worked hard on the questions they wanted to ask and were ready for Voir Dire..More than ready...They knew the type of juror they wanted.

A new attorney, Nick Volley , who none of us knew was now handling Voir Dire..

''Sooooo they've carted out a new golden boy huh?" said Olivia.

"Looks like our boy, D.A. Garcetti doesn't trust our girl.." said Beverly...

''She's cleaned up well, New Hairstyle..New Wardrobe...She actually looks good, like she's laid off the bottle." said Josoe.

"Maybe...but he's not hedging his bets...I worked for John for years...I know how he thinks." said Nina Rios, a former Assistant District Attorney.. Now working in the private sector at the Women's Law Center..

The jousting began...

Nelson was at the top of his game with his questions..

Nick may have thought he was, but he was no match for Nelson...He was a fish out of water...

Both Maureen and Lt. Tragg winced at his performance..

She hung her head and looked at her laptop for notes

on the case...

Lt. Tragg was totally entranced by her new hair do and her new clothes.. Her legs looked extra nice today../.Once again , his hands were up her skirt...rubbing her legs and running his fingers along the waistband of her pantyhose.. He was as red as a beet,The look on  his face, as pleased as punch...

"Ummmmmmmmmm" he moaned silently... That was enough..

She removed his hands...

"STOP IT!" she said loud enough for us to hear it at her table..

Nick Volley sat down next to her on the other side.. He was completely upset about his poor performance.. 

Nelson had lulled him into traps and then had mercillessly closed the door on him...

We got 11 out of the 12 jurors we wanted...Nelson was a little upset...He felt as if we should have gotten an even dozen..

His wife, Beverly was pleased with what he had done..

"I could take all of my clothes off right now ,I'm so aroused." she playfully whispered in his ear...

Knowing that got him aroused..

She giggled at how easily she turned him on.. "He must really like me." she often mused.

"Good Job Nelson..Good Job...Already, Things are breaking our way.."said Olivia.

Josie looked at our client..

"That's good for us." she assured Kathryn Flaherty , who sat with us...

She turned to Nina, who sat on her other side and said silently..

"Thank you Nina."

''Don't Mention it Mami." she said.

Lt. Tragg glared at us with an Icy hatred he had never before felt.

Judge Crawford's eyes were on not only Olivia...but Beverly also..

both women were now entrancing him....

I made sure Nelson and I were by their sides constantly...

II-

Maureen ''Reeny" Thomas was a very good Attorney and when she was on top of her game, there were few better..

She made the victim, Bill Flaherty, a very human and sympathetic figure.. She showed him as the Straight A student he started out to be... A very successful Football Player, who took his high school to the State Championship his senior year...

He and Olivia were the same age and he and she even shared a Magazine cover the year she won the State swimming competition and he took his high school to the state championships..

"AREA STATE CHAMPIONS" it read.

Showing the jury the pictures.. 

"Yes.. he and opposing counsel actually posed for a picture together.." she said.

"Oh My God...I forgot all about that photo.." said Olivia...realizing now she had actually met Bill Flaherty once, just briefly!

Both Judge Crawford and Lt. Tragg were salivating over the photo of Olivia in the bikini....

"LAWWWWD HAVE MERCY!!! THAT WOMAN!" mused Judge Crawford, salivating..

"I can't hate a woman that looks that good in a bikini...VA VA VA VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!  DAMN YOU OLIVIA, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO DAMN SEXY?" mused Lt. Tragg.

Beverly, Josie and Nina all looked at Olivia and smiled..

Maureen Thomas continued...He was a straight A Student, A Great High school Football player, Graduated from College and became a cop.   She left out the fact that he flunked out of law school.

She didn't mention his alleged beatings of his wife either, only saying there was "some tension" in the marriage..

She showed the jury the Autopsy report , The Crime scene photos and brought up that he was shot in the back first...then shot an additional four times by his wife..

She brought in several police officers, 1 sergeant and 1 lieutenant who spoke of his great service and what a good cop he was...

We cross examined practically all of the witnesses to the crime, but we didn't make much headway..

with what she presented..there wasn't too much we could challenge except when she said that he had taken out two restraining orders on her..

"There were no restraining orders filed against him...I checked and doubled checked." I whispered to Nelson.

Nelson asked her to produce the two restraining orders...He said he had no record of them and they were not part of Discovery..

Maureen was forced to admit that he never filed them , but had gone to police headquarters and written a letter of "Intent to file"

Nina argued that a letter of  "intent to file" is not an actual filing and so there for he did not file any restraining orders..

Maureen  had to admit that this was true..

A Major blow for the prosecution.

After a week of testimony she closed and asked the jury to find Kathryn Flaherty guilty of First Degree Murder... A conviction which carried the death penalty as a sentence.

Nick Volley really hadn't been needed...He had helped her prepare the witnesses everyday...And he had gone over testimony with her...but she had basically run the show..Just like she said she was capable of doing..

Kathryn Flaherty burst into tears..She didn't see how we could get past that presentation...She felt as if Maureen "Reeny" Thomas had buried her..

''Don't Cry....This is far from over...We haven't begun our defense yet and we have one."said Olivia.

"Yes..we have one...Just be patient.."said Beverly...

"This will all work out." said Nelson..

Josie and Nina both rubbed her hands and her back and assured her everything was going to be alright.

A DAY LATER-

We began a robust defense...Olivia delivered an opening statement...in which she described Bill Flaherty as what he was... A MONSTER...behind the smiles, behind the good policeman persona..

A MONSTER who had terrorized and beat his wife to the point of a descent into  madness....She said she was going to attempt to prove this and asked the jury for mercy...

She said she believed he was jealous of her success in the legal profession and angry and bitter that he had flunked out and been cut from the football team all in one year....For the first time in his life, he wasn't THE MAN....He now had fallacies and they had been exposed..It fed into his biterness and it turned him violent.

She brought up his father's history of domestic violence against his mother  and said that that fed into his later dominance and violence towards all of the women in his life..

Her opening was very moving  anand very dramatic...She left the jury gasping... Some of the female jurors were in tears...

Judge Crawford couldn't keep his eyes off of her..He watched her every movement...Her every word and began to sweat.. He thought about both Olivia and her niece , Beverly...

and  the panties both women might be wearing..

"HAVVVVE MERCY!" he said under his breath.... He was sweating and breathing heavily......

For the next two days with the help of a 60 inch monitor.. Beverly and Josie showed the jury the 127

actual Domestic Abuse complaints , along with photos of Kathryn Flaherty , her eyes blackened and nearly swollen shut...Her face swollen, She ,wearing tinted aviator shades and heavy make up..

The Jury was horrified..

I must admit...They kept it interesting...Testimony like this could put a jury to sleep...But they kept it at it's dramatic peak, explaining what every complaint was about and interviewing every policeman who took the calls...as well as dispatchers...

The Jury hung on to every word...

Like I said , they kept it interesting..

Judge Crawford certainly thought so...He couldn't take his eyes off either woman..

"MERCYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! Olivia keeps some fine women around here.....LAWWWWWWD!" he kept thinking to himself....staring at Beverly and Josie.

for the next two days...Nelson and Nina interviewed the 10 policemen who answered all of the calls and grilled them on why they almost never arrested him and why he was never disciplined..  They asked his Sergeant and his Lieutenant these questions.. They couldn't answer.

Olivia called Kathryn Flaherty herself to the stand...It was the fifth day of our defense..

 Her face was still swollen from the last beating..This wasn't lost on the jurors.

"Now Kathryn...In your own words...Tell us your story..don't leave anything out.." said Olivia..

"Tell them what you told us." said Nina.

"When I met and started dating Billy , He was different..Different when we were in high school..."He had been so different in high school...A football hero...Mr. Popular... He was the Co-Valedictorian of our class.

 Then in college...We both majored in Administration of Justice, Pre Law, Trial Advocacy...He wanted to be a lawyer also. But he didn't apply himself.. Sex and parties began to interest him more.. and drinking.. He barely graduated.. He spent a lot of his time in my room trying to screw me and wanting to spend the night..and when I would duck him so I could study...He found other young ladies who were willing. 

 He just barely made it into law school...His father pulled a few strings...but he didn't last the first year..He flunked out!!!! While I went on to finish, graduating with honors.. he sulked like a big baby. I passed the bar and worked as a Public defender for awhile and then An Assistant District Attorney before coming to work at the Women's Law Center.. 

 Bill went to the Police Academy...Graduated and was a patrolman... We hooked up again, We got married.. Everything was fine for awhile..Then the beatings started.. He was smart enough to hit me where the public wouldn't see the bruises , but after awhile..He didn't care...You saw me Nina, I came to work with Sunglasses on, to hide my blackened eyes..Heavy make up to hide my bruised cheekbones.. 

I left him before.. He hired a Private Investigator to find me. He found me , brought me bouquets of roses...Promised to never strike me again...Then he broke my collarbone... 

 His new thing was raping me when he got angry, ripping my panties completely off, my bra too and just taking me....He did it at home...He did it at work once..in the ladies lounge..he didn't care who came in...It's as if he resented me because I became a lawyer and he flunked out...and he got cut from the football team in college...He was no longer Mr. Popular." she said.

'He was cheating on me with another woman...I think she was a cop too...I think I saw her once.. I had had all I could take.. He was out..I thought he'd be at work..so I packed two bags and I called an UBER..

I was waiting on my UBER..and he surprised me..He came home early..and he found my suitcases under the bed.. He slapped me!

He took my phone when it rang and answered it..Told my driver not to come...Then he demanded I take my clothes off.. He ripped my blouse open and ripped my bra off forecfully and then ripped my panties off.. I had had enough...I couldn't go on like this..he'd find me whereever I went...I'd never be safe from him.. I took his service revolver and I shot him....Four or five times..I don't remember...He fell backwords and did not move anymore..then I was free...Now I'm free of him once and for all." she said blandly..

Olivia and Nina looked at the jury....They were stunned with what they heard and what they saw..

''Are any of these beatings documented?" Nelson asked her softly. The same question I had asked her a week before.

"Yes...I called the police on him several times...127 to be exact  and a neighbor called the police once.. I refused to press charges.. I still loved him and I was afraid of what he'd do when he got out.

"When he broke my collarbone..He was arrested..but they let him go and I didn't press charges.." said Kathryn..

''Beverly showed the stunned jury the  X RAYS of her broken collar bone.

She and Josie interviewed the Doctors and Nurses, who attended to her many times...

Olivia asked her... "Why didn't you leave him?" beating the Special Prosecutor to the punch and asking the question, practically everybody wanted to know.

''He'd of just got out and hurt me more." said Kathryn..

"After you got out of the hospital the last time...What happened?"asked Nelson..

"He did chill on the hitting..after that.. Then the raping began...He took particular joy in ripping my panties off, so that I couldn't wear them again and mounting me...He was a beast.." she sighed...

Olivia showed the jury the crime scene photo of the ripped panties and bra on the bed room floor..

The Jury gasped...

Everyone was moved...

Including Judge Crawford,  who adjourned court until tomorrow....

He walked over to Olivia and whispered in her ear..

''So far you are doing an expert job...After that prosecution last week...I didn't know if you could counter act that...She did do an excellent job...but you have all but made everybody forget about her prosecution. Your other lawyers are very well prepared...Good job Olivia."  

For once he was talking about law and not nonsense.

"Thank you, your honor." said Olivia...

"Let's get out of here, grab a couple of cold ones." I said.

"Curleys??" asked Beverly...

"I'm too tired to go anywhere else.." said Olivia..

''Curleys it is..Throw me the keys." said Nelson.. "You down Jo?" asked Nelson.

"I'm down." said Josie..

"Me and Kathryn are going back to my place and chill...see you guys tomorrow." said Nina.

"I didn't think we had a chance at the beginning of this week...but you guys are making believers out of me." said  Kathryn...

Her testimony had made the difference, that and all of the evidence I had dug up had definitely shifted the jury from being hostile to being sympathetic...It was playing well for us in the media and the court of public opinion too.

III-

We all found a nice table in Curleys and we ordered our drinks..

"I'm pleased with what we did guys...I think tomorrow we'll drive the nail in the coffin.." said Olivia, who was sitting in my lap...

"I have to hand it to that Maureen Thomas person, she was good..." I said.

''Auntay and I went up against her before..She's very thorough as you saw...but she was severely handicapped this time.. severely handicapped"said Beverly...who was sitting in Nelson's lap.

''Yeah, she had Lt. Tragg as her investigator.." said Nelson...

We all burst into raucous laughter...

"Speak of the devil." said Josie..

Lt. Tragg walked in and made a bee line for our table..

"YOU GUYS HAVE DONE IT THIS TIME ...YOU'RE DESTROYING THE CHARACTOR OF A DEAD MAN WHO CAN NOT DEFEND HIMSELF!!!!  YOU GUYS HAVE NO SHAME!!! HOW MUCH IS THAT WOMEN'S LAW CENTER PAYING YOU?" he screamed..

Our drinks arrived...We ignored him as much as humanly possible and drank our drinks... I wanted to gut him, I seriously did...Nobody should have to put up with his  constant harrassment..

Ignoring him, Beverly said to Olivia..

''Auntay, there is Madam Special Prosecutor and her assistant over there.."

''I see."said Olivia.

It had been a rough few weeks... This trial had really taken it's toll on Maureen..she had prepared for it..and still managed to be surprised by what Olivia and Beverly and their team had brought to the floor..  She blamed this on Lt. Tragg...He ws so sure he had an open and shut case..He never bothred to

do any investigating..She might have went at this case completely different had she have known all of these unflattering things about  the victim...She was certain she could have made Olivia a proffer.. 

"I should have listened to you Nick...we should have hired an investigator or gotten one from the D.A.'s office..We really got blindsided ." said Maureen..

"It's too late now..Maybe we can do a little damage control.. Tomorrow is the last day of testimony...perhaps our sumnation can bring our talking points home"said Nick , who was thinking only about getting her drunk enough to go home with him or for her to invite him to go home with her..

They were drinking a lot of Tequila...

Like Lt. Tragg.His hands got very loose...He had them up under her skirt..,rubbing her legs, which were trembling and squeezing her buttocks...He was now at the waistband of her pantyhose with his hands almost in them,palming her butt..This was a lot farther than he usually got.. His face was as red as a beet and he had a pleased as punch look on his face..

Maureen had Nick's zipper down and had her soft hands inside his trousers, massaging his erect penis and staring at him daringly... This was the problem she had with drinking and being high sometimes...She tended to get a little too friendly and her panties tended to slip off too easily... "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Nicky...I think we'd better take this to my place ...Ouuuuuuuu before we get thrown out of here...Ohhhhhhhh my godddd!" she said and removed her hands..she zipped his trousers back up.. She removed his hands... She dropped some money on the table, paying for both of their drinks..and grabbed her roller..

Nicky smiled raffishly and followed her out of the bar...His trousers sticking out like a circus tent...

''And the panties are slipping off as though they were greased." said Josie who witnessed the both of them leaving the bar and getting into her car across the street..

They were making out like two horny teenagers , unaware that ADA April Taylor, had just got out of her car and was witnessing the entire thing..She walked past them...

Just a few days before he had shared her bed in her condo...She had thought Nick Volley was different, but he was a dog...He had only been interested in getting her into bed..What a fool she had been..she walked in the bar, only to see Lt. Arthur Tragg, still staring at us and whining and complaining about the case..

"Hi Liv, Beverly, Donnie Ray, Nelson, Josie..." she said..  We liked her, Even though she was our adversary in court at times..

"Hi April." said Olivia.

"Heyy Lady." I said.

"Hi April." said Beverly...

"Hi April." said Nelson.

"Hi April." said Josie.

''Where is the other young girl? Her internship over?/"she asked, Reffering to Bree.

''YESSSS!  We made her a full member of our staff...She got married...She's just returning from her honeymoon."said Olivia..

"AWWWWWWWWWWW THAT'S SO NICE!" said April..."Arthur, buy me a drink and stop bothering these people." she said and winked at us...

He followed her across the bar to a table..  And to think, she was getting ready to break it off with Arthur Tragg...She was glad she didn't..At least he didn't cheat on her she thought..

While they waited for their drinks..They kissed passionately...She let him run his hands under her skirt and rub her legs and butt..

"Ummmmmmmmmm I've missed you Mr. Handsy!...I've missed you inside of me.." she cooed..

"AWWWWWWWW GEEEEEEEEEEEZ" said Lt. Tragg...

"What she sees in him, I'll never know.."said Beverly..

"Does it matter? As long as she keeps him away from us." said Olivia..

"I'll drink to that" said Josie, high fiving Olivia..

"So will I"said Nelson ,also high fiving Olivia..

So did I...

AT MAUREEN THOMAS'S CONDO-

She lived in just the type of condo, Nick Volley  suspected she'd live in...Ultra Modern and walking distance from her center city law firm in Rittenhouse Square.

They weren't inside good before they were kissing passionately....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  NICKYYYYYY!!!!" she moaned..

"OUUUUUUUUUU REEENY! BABY!" he moaned...

"I NEVER KNEW YOU FELT THIS WAY ABOUT ME!" she said.. This was a lie...She had caught him staring at her several times....and she had detected a slight bulge in his trousers a few times in court after she gave her sumnation...She knew he was hot for her all the time..

"I'VE BEEN WANTIN TO GET YOU IN THE SACK SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF THIS ASSIGNMENT!" he said.. She knew that!

"OHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYY!" she said in between kisses.

"Ouuuuuuuuuuu you like your hands in my panties don't you?" she moaned..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSSS!" he moaned...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, DON'T RIP THIS , I JUST BOUGHT THEM!!!!" she cooed..

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I'LL BE GENTLE BABY!!! UMMMMMMMM" he moaned..

"AWWWWWWWWWWWW MYYY GOD!" he moaned, as he slipped her pantyhose down and off..as well as her thong!

She sat on the side of the bed, moving up and down on him, kissing him as though her life depended on it..

"OHHHHHHHHHHH   GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ" he said..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...WOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she cooed..

She rode him like a surfer rides the waves...Sending waves of pleasure into both of them...

and for the next NINE TO TEN HOURS, Attorney Nick Volley and Special Prosecutor, Maureen "Reeny " Thomas made sweet, sweet  love...She had several orgasms during this time period...

Both of them climaxing into a crescendo of pleasure and sweat....

IV-

Surprisingly, they both were on time the next morning...The final day of testimony...

They couldn't look at each other....They had been sooo nasty the night before..She was ashamed of herself...She had once again gotten drunk and gone home with someone she never intended to sleep with..She had a problem and she was going to have to deal with it soon...

Nicky had been responsible for them being on time...He had awakened her and got her in the shower...WITH HIM OF COURSE!!!

And another quick screw in the bathroom afterwords..

.Still, he got her to court on time..and gotten them both there in time to have coffee..She was grateful to him for that!

Nicky Volley had a pleased as punch look on his face....She had given him the ride of his life...WOW! She was something else in the sack, he thought...

Lt. Tragg looked serene...

ADA  April Taylor had made furious love to him the night before.. He really felt good this morning..

Olivia called her final witness...Attorney Maya Andrews...

She walked up to the stand...

Lt. Tragg was stunned...He knew Mya Andrews...Back when she was an F.O.P. Attorney...He had tried numerous times to get her in the sack.....What did she have to do with this? He wondered...

"Ms. Andrews...Tell us how you knew Officer Bill Flaherty.." said Olivia..

"I met Bill three years ago..in a bar...

Out near Penns Landing..

He was in civilian clothes... Everything about him said "Cop" He was big, six foot four or five, muscular and charming in a frat boy kind of way... He told me he was a detective...which was a lie..but he was working plain clothes at the time I met him...This was the first of many lies he told me.

He was tickled pink that I was a lawyer....He told me he was once in law school, but had "dropped out"

Another lie...He flunked out his first year...

We would meet and talk  about a lot of things.. He was charming...

We both liked Tequila...We both drank a lot of tequila...He's the reason I stopped drinking period...

This of course got him invited many nights and afternoons to my Olde City Brownstone..

For lots and lots of hot steamy sex...

He was real romantic, always sent a fresh bouquet of roses or tulips to my office.....the day after.

''Everything was fine for about a year." said Maya..

"Until What Maya?" asked Olivia.

"I started asking questions.. Like how come I didn't know where he lived? How come I never saw him on Holidays?..How come he never took me anywhere ,except to bars? How come I could only call him on his business phone?? Little things like that I started noticing... I wanted to go to the movies , out to dinner... Lunch and Breakfast at least...All we did was drink and go back to my place and screw and then he'd leave.."

''Ohhhhhhh you became a nagging wife!" said Beverly..

The Jury busted out into gales of laughter when she said that.

''Exactly!! And then I saw his temper...He would get really angry and storm out... But he'd always come back....When he was horny!  I had a friend, an ex-cop who was now a Private Investigator...I asked him to check up on Bill....What he told me made the hair on the back of my neck curl.. First off, he was married and had been for years...He didn't wear his wedding band on his finger..He wore his rings on a gold chain , around his neck , which he kept in his shirt.. He wasn't and never had been a detective..He was a Patrolman...In other words , he drove around in a car and walked a beat...He occassionally worked plain clothes with the Vice or Narcotics detectives , but that was it.. He had flunked out of law school after one year, not been forced to drop out in his final year because of money like he had told me..He had lied about well, practically everything.."

"Did you confront him with his lies?" asked Nelson.

''I sure did and he demolished my living room...He broke a lot of stuff...grabbed me around the neck and said if I reported this he'd kill me..He slapped me several times...and knocked me down...'' said Maya.

"Oh My God!!! What did you do?" asked Josie..

''I'm a Lawyer...I was about to take him to court...I think he suspected that...He Paid me for all of the damage and begged my forgiveness...said He didn't know what had came over him...Sent me floweres every day for a week..But it was too late...He had hit me...and I knew if he did that once..He'd only do it again and moreso.. My P.I. friend had told me about the 127 domestic dispute claims against him filed by his wife..I wasn't going through that...I got a Cease and desist order and a restraining order against him.. I changed my phone number so he couldn't call me and I never heard from him again..." said Mya.

"He didn't want all of the bad publicity a restraining order would bring if he violated it... he really hated lawyers...He'd come to the Women's Law center looking for his wife and say some really bad things about lawyers..I think he was angry because he had flunked out of law school and resented all attorneys and female attorneys in general." said Nina Rios.

Nina Rios gave the closing argument...She gave it like the Assistant District Attorney she used to be..She asked the jury show mercy on this poor put upon woman who was driven to her wits end by this monster she had been married to.

And with that , we closed our case...

TWO DAYS LATER-

"I didn't think it would take two days for the jury to come to a decision....I'm worried." I whispered to Olivia.

"I know ,I'm worried too...but I don't feel there is anyway they can convict.. I think we have a hung jury." said Olivia..

''I'm thinking the same thing Olivia...There was one juror who we could not seem to convince.."said Nelson to us..

''Josie if we get a hung jury..We are going to appeal it right away...We have an appeal written already...But you and Paris go ahead and get married.. We'll have Bresha here with us...We'll go on."said Beverly..

''Well don't be so down on yourselves..I think we are going to pull this out." said Josie..

She was the only one of us to believe this.. We all thought this was going to be a hung jury...

Nina and Kathryn sat in a corner and talked quietly....

Maureen Thomas, like us...believed she had a hung jury....She was planning to drop the charges if it was a hung jury and not seek an appeal. This was going to make John Garcetti angry, but she didn't care...She didn't work for him..She never had...and she didn't care to ever work for him again..

Attorney Nick Volley didn't give a damn about the case... All he could think about was the last 72 hours

He had spent the last three nights at Maureen's condo really giving her new bed a workout and having the best sex of his life.....

He had been reduced to a love sick puppy....

''Maureen..?" he whispered in her ear..

''What?" she said. annoyed that he was interrupting her train of thought..

"I think I'm in Love with you!" he said..

''Ohhhhhh Nicky." she sighed..

 Judge Crawford asked the jury foreman...

"HAS THE JURY COME TO A DECISION?" he asked.

"Yes your honor, we have." said the foreman..

The Bailiff gave him the verdict...He read it and then passed it to the baillif..

"Read it." he said.  His face betrayed no emotions.

"THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA FINDS THE DEFENDENT KATHRYN FLAHERTY, NOT GUILTY OF THE CHARGE OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER!!!" he said...

"OH MY GOD!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL!" said Kathryn Flaherty.

"Whewwwwwww! We pulled it out Niecey Poo!" sighed Olivia hugging Beverly...

"We are better than we thought.." said Beverly, smiling..

"Apparently so...I was worried about that one juror.."laughed Nelson.

"They wanted to go home...I'm sure they persuaded the hold out...If there was one." I said.

Josie laughed...

"Thank you guys so much." said  Nina Rios, hugging all of us..

"WELL I'LL BE DAMNED!" snarled Lt. Tragg, who stormed out of the side door of the courthouse...Livid!

"I'm exhausted...Let's go get some drinks Nicky." said Maureen..

"Can we go back to your place afterwords..?" he asked.

"Sure Nicky." she sighed...

She gave him a sloppy kiss.She was glad he wasn't another one night stand...who got what he wanted and then left...Nicky had wanted to be with her...That was better than most.

''Let's skip the drinks...Let's just go back to my place."she said, continuing to kiss him....

''And down comes her panties" said Nina..

Olivia and I , Beverly, Nelson and Josie all cracked up laughing...

EPILOUGE-

ONE WEEK LATER-

Josie wanted a candlelight wedding... Very intimate..Nothing huge..That's what we gave her.

She was a beautiful bride...

Kevin Morris walked her down the aisle...

Beverly was her maid of honor....

Her bridesmaids were Kayla, Jazzy, Jessica, Bee Bee, Sofia and Bresha.

They were all beautiful...

Paris's best man was of course Blake , who came up from D,C. with his wife..Cherish....Chance Howard and Cole were there also with their wives, Nicole Butler and Anita Jenkins...

Nelson, Ray, Chip, Keith, Kahlil and Tony rounded out the groomsmen.

The rest of us were guests..

Me of course

Olivia, who was tearing up like a proud mother...The last of her "girls"was getting married.

Gary Lockwood

Yvette Jones-Lockwood.

Mrs. Jade Lee-Ho..

Husband, Danny Ho

Alfreda ,our office manager, who felt like Olivia, one of her "baby girls" was getting married.

ADA Rockland Cambridge..

Kevin's wife, Sepia, who regarded Josie as a daughter..

Bonita

and her husband, Attorney Robert Foxworth. rounding out the guest list...It was a small intimate wedding....

At The reception....More of our friends were there..

ADA Keith Wallace and the Detectives of the Criminal Investigative Division,  Sissy Van Buren and Her Husband, Eddie C. Detectives Carlotta Wallace, Angie Belton Barlow and her husband, James "Jimmy Barlow, Tyriq and Sirena Pile, Edwin "Duke" Baylor and Coroner, Dr. Hazel Baylor, Detective Tony Hopkins and his wife, FVI/ATF Special Agent in Charge,Sharon Hopkins..

They were all there...

and plenty of food..

Paris and Josie stood on the terrace at the end of the night..

Kissing passionately...

"We are finally married Paris..I'm all yours." said Josie,blissfully...

"It's about time huh?" said Paris..

Olivia and I, Beverly and Nelson and Bresha all looked lovingly from our seats at our colleauge and her new husband.. How far we all had come.