Lies And Disappointments

 DOLLY MADISON WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL CENTER-

"Lieutenant Tragg , I don't understand what you want...Virginia Shaw was a model prisoner from day one...Not one disciplinary write up in 7 years,,,No mean feat for women in here..but she was older..She didn't smoke, wasn't a drug user and was a first time offender...All of this was in her favor ,plus she helped our instructors , teaching reading, writing and basic math and working on writs and briefs, helping 76 young ladies actually get out of here...She was loved by the inmates and the staff alike..

There was no animosity toward her by anyone....She was a lovely person."said Warden Jane Bonham..

"I know, but she was a lifer..."said Lt. Tragg.

"Yes she was..Her sentence was actually 20 years to life..She was eligible for parole...What is the problem?" asked the Warden..

'This Judge, This Judge ,Jefferson Dukes...Did he put undue pressure on you or your administration?" asked Lt. Tragg.

"No he did not...Not at all...Virginia had two lovely attorneys from Philadelphia..

Jessica Sanchez-Burrows and her husband Charles "Chip" Burrows. They advocated for her to have a early parole hearing and petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court...who agreed." she said.

"Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her team had nothing to do with this huh?" he asked.

Still stubbornly trying to bring them into it..

"Never saw them...Except at the Parole hearing...but they were spectators.. They had nothing to do with Ms. Shaw's legal defense.. Why are you up here? Ms. Shaw is gainfully employed, she meets with her parole officer on time every month and she appears to be happy...Has she broken any laws?" asked the warden..

"Well No, Not that I know of...Hey where are you going?" asked Lt. Tragg.

"I'm going back to my office...That's what I customarily do when a conversation is over and going nowhere...GOOD DAY LIEUTENANT!" she said , got up and left.

Lt. Tragg was seething...He got up and left the prison and headed for the bus station...

AND IN PHILADELPHIA-

In his office in Philadelphia. Assistant District Attorney , Cal McCafferty sat in his office, staring out the window.

He had been trying to locate Lt. Tragg all morning and to no avail..He was furious at him for arresting his nephew with literally no evidence... This was par the course for him..

And down the hall in her office..

ADA Gilda Grady was also looking for Lt. Tragg...She had called his cell several times and it had gone to voice mail..She desperately needed more information on this case..The suspect, the people he associated with and the facts concerning his marriage.

She looked at the dossiers on us.. She had faced us and lost to us before..

 

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 ,New York, Texas, California

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, Texas, California

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, Texas, California

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, Texas, California

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 , New York, Texas, California.

Associate Attorney-McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Senior Associate Attorney-McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Managing Partner- McCluskey/Cozen/Connor and Pratt

Married to District Attorney Investigator-Gary Lockwood.

She had big respect for us... She knew we had added a new Office Manager

VIRGINIA ELISE SHAW-

Born in Philadelphia PA.

Graduated from The Philadelphia High School for Girls

B.A. -Trial Advocacy/ Pre Law/Administration of Justice/-Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

J.D.- Northwestern School of Law, Evanston, Illinois

Passed the Bar in Illinois/ Ohio/Pennsylvania/New Jersey/New York/Deleware

Speaks Spanish and French Fluently

Chicago Public Defenders Office

Assistant District Attorney-Chicago

Philadelphia Public Defenders Office

Assistant District Attorney- Philadelphia

Associate Attorney- Bach and Roach

Associate Attorney- Smith and Cohen

Sr. Associate Attorney- The Harris Group

Disbarred

Convicted of Second Degree Murder, Conspiracy to commit murder

Life sentence, Paroled after 7 years/

She knew of her.. She respected her past work in the court.. She had no problem with her being an office manager and doing work for Yvette's firm.. Lt. Tragg on the other hand seemed to be obsessed with her and was calling for her to investigate Yvette and company's law firm to make sure Virginia wasn't operating as a lawyer..

She had Ms. Yvette , Jade and us all in her office this morning..

"I assure you...Virginia Shaw is acting as our office manager only...She files, She orders office supplies , she sets up catering for clients and our meetings and she answers the phones.. The only person acting as attorneys in my office other than myself is Keith Jones, Bee Bee Evans Jones, Kahlil Ahmed and Sofia Garcia -Ahmed, all licensed Attorneys... Mrs Jade Lee-Ho here is a licensed Private Investigator ,employed by me." said Ms. Yvette.

"Lt. Tragg has had a vendetta against Virginia Shaw, since he heard she was released.. The reason is she prosecuted Vern Dule', the former Police Deputy of  Operations and 12 others on corruption charges back in 2011. Dule' was kind of like his mentor." said Jade.

"They all got convicted and sentenced to 10 years... From what I hear all of them are out of jail now and they all got released in under 6 years." I said.

"Except for Dule', He committed suicide , his first week in prison." said Kahlil.

"Lt. Tragg took it pretty hard..He always blamed her for that...For Dule's death...And ever since she got paroled, he has made it impossible for us to eat in public or even have a drink ..He's constantly making snide remarks toward her and badgering us about hiring her and insinuating that something untoward went down ,some kind of imaginary deal or something."said Bee Bee.

"Meanwhile we are busy trying to defend our client , as you well know." said Sofia.

"I know...I'm trying to work on that same case and I can't seem to find him... Between me and you guys..I'd rather work with any detective other than him...He not only doesn't investigate thoroughly, but he's Mr. Handsy, always rubbing your legs and trying to grope you...I despise the man, but..what can I do? Thank you guys for your help...I'll do what I can to see that he doesn't harass you any further." said Gilda.

''Thank You Gilda...Come on guys, we gotta go." said Ms. Yvette.

Sofia , Bee Bee, Myself, Kahlil and Jade  followed her out and down the street to the suburban train station.

II-

We went back to our building.

In our conference room we were having our first Portal meeting with Toby...

"Hey Guys this is mad cool..What's Up? First off, that's a fantastic dress you are wearing Ms. Yvette." said Toby..

"Thank You... Now first off Toby... You weren't very truthful with me. There were FOUR restraining orders taken out during the marriage, you told us just two.....And there was evidence of stalking and cyber bullying on the part of both of you guys...She briefly dated a guy named Skete Watkins during one of the seperations.. And He was cyber bullied so much that he broke it off. You didn't mention any of this.. Nor did you mention that YOU  dated a  woman named Katie Wolf, at one time, your divorce attorney...You broke it off because apparently you wanted  your wife back.. You failed to mention any of that." said Ms. Yvette.

Toby looked like he'd swallowed a canary...He had been caught in several lies.. He smiled snidely..

"You investigate your client?"he asked.

"I certainly do..for this very reason...Imagine me and my team going into court NOT knowing this and the Assistant District Attorney knowing this..We'd look like fools and you'd be convicted and face Life in prison or Death by lethal injection...So do not lie to me again... I'm doing this as a favor to your Uncle, Assistant District Attorney Cal McCafferty.. but lie to me again and he'll have to find you some new attorneys..."said Ms. Yvette..

"Yes mam." said a contrite Toby Tyler.

"Now about your alibi.. We know you were where you said you were... You were at the pool swimming from eight in the morning until noon..I have the testimonies of five close friends who were there with You... According to the coroner, the murder could have taken place anywhere from 11:00- 1:00....According to your  credit card, You were getting gas at a nearby gas station at 12:25,,,,You said after that you went to the apartment you were staying at and slept until at least 5:00. You were alone.Anything else? Anything we should know?" asked Ms. Yvette.

"That's all true...I swear...I told Lt. Tragg that when he arrested me.. He didn't even bother to check it out..So I stopped talking completely...That's true.. I did not kill Brad..I'm not sorry he's dead, but I didn't kill him." said Toby.

"Sit tight, we'll let you know when the hearing date is...Be on time and stay out of sight in the meanwhile..Lt. Tragg is the type who will try to harrass you and add trumped up charges on you if he sees you."said Ms. Yvette.

Sofia and Bee Bee were busy looking up predicates, laws related to this type of case and like cases..

Kahlil and I were busy looking at the present jury pool and deciding what kind of juror we would eventually pick if this went beyond the preliminary,,,

Virginia made sure we had snacks..

to hold us until dinner.

Jade was the only one who was not with us..She was out investigating.

III-

CURLEY'S BAR HOURS LATER-

We all met at Curley's for drinks.

"So I interviewed Skeet Watkins...Trust me, his testimony about our client cyber bullied and harrassed his estranged wife during the short time he courted her would not not have him come off being sympathetic to a jury...But he said something interesting...He said Brad Richter and her were sneaking around on him...He said they definitely had something going on.." said Jade.

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUU, JUICY!" said Sofia and Bee Bee on unison.

"Damn this case has some legs on it." I said.

''You aint lyin.." said Kahlil.

"There is more..I talked to Attorney Katie Wolf.. She said that They had a nice whirlwind one month romance.. but after that restraining order ran out..He wanted his wife back and he started wooing her hard..The usual stuff, sending one hundred roses to her..She said she felt like a fool being his girlfriend and him wooing his estranged wife openly...She broke up with him.." said Jade.

"That melds with everything we know already.." said Yvette.

"Honeyyyyyy this is good enough to be on Television or a story on somebody's blog!" laughed Virginia.

Lt. Tragg walked in just then....As usual, he was livid.. He heard the tail end of the conversation..

"First thing I want to know is where is your client.. I haven't seen Toby Tyler, since you guys bailed him out..WHERE THE HELL IS HE?" asked Lt. Tragg.

" Is he wanted for any crime or under indictment?" asked Yvette.

Lt. Tragg was silent for about a minute, then he said-"No ,but I need to know where he is." he said.

"You know by law ,if he's not under indictment for any crime and there is no warrant out for him, as his attorney, I do not have to disclose his whereabouts.. Although I'm sure he isn't hiding...If you simply look for him you'll find him." said Yvette calmly..

"DON'T USE LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO ON ME... AND WHY AREN'T YOU GUYS EVER IN YOUR OFFICE??  I NEED YOU TO BE IN YOUR OFFICE SO I CAN MAKE SURE SHE IS NOT ACTING IN THE CAPACITY OF AN ATTORNEY...THAT'S A VIOLATION OF HER PAROLE THAT WILL SEND HER BACK TO THE JOINT WHERE SHE BELONGS!" he bellowed.

Bee Bee, Sofia, Myself and Kahlil broke into loud raucous laughter at that.....slamming our hands on the table..

"You hear this Yvette, he's telling us we have to stay in our offices..."laughed Jade.

"You aren't going to monitor any of my employees and we are working attorneys. We will leave our offices when we need to and there is nothing you can do about it. AND YOU KNOW THIS!  You just like to hear yourself talk and bellow out orders....Just stop with the nonsense Lieutenant!" said Ms. Yvette.

"Don't you have a murder you should be investigating???.. The way I hear it.. The preliminary hearing should be coming up." said Virginia.

Before he could say anything else.. 

Assistant District Attorney Gilda Grady walked over to him.

"YES! Where have you been?  I've been trying to reach you all day.. I hope you've been diggimg up more evidence on this case.. I KNOW THEY HAVE!! And it's not their job to assist you.. You're the detective and you've given me NOTHING!!  I need more information and evidence.. And you need to leave these people alone...and Ms. Shaw specifically, is that understood? DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR LIEUTENANT OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO CALL CAPTAIN EDDIE CANTRELL???" she bellowed.

Lt. Tragg was so angry, he stomped his foot and stormed out of the bar.

"Let's Go Home." said Sofia.

"That's a good idea." said Ms. Yvette.

" This guy can ruin any night..He needs Therapy." said Virginia.

"Imagine , telling us we had to be in our office tomorrow , so he could come and make sure that Virginia is not acting in the capacity of an attorney..."laughed Kahlil.

"He's off his nut."said Jade.

"I'm so glad he doesn't know where we actually work.. He was starting to get on my nerves the last few days we were in our old building.." said Bee Bee.

"I know he gets on Olivia and Beverly's nerves routinely stopping by their spot..When they're trying to work." I said.

We anticipated we might be running into Lt. Tragg tonight, so since we came in Ms. Jade's SUV...We parked two blocks down in another parking lot..

He sat in an unmarked police cruiser near Curley's Parking lot waiting for us to come out..

He drank coffee and waited as if he were on a stakeout.. 2:00 am came and Curley's emptied and people got in their cars and pulled off and there was no sign of us..

He had no idea that we had left a little after 11:00 and were home in our beds,

making love and eventually falling to sleep..

He realized that once again...He'd been outsmarted..We had somehow gotten by him.. He kicked his car in anger..

IV-

The next morning at breakfast in our cafeteria..There was much laughter amongst the food

as we all ate our breakfasts...

"He's off his nut.. I can't believe he actually said that."laughed Dabnis.

"He ordered you to stay in your office...So he could make sure that Ms. Virginia wasn't acting as an attorney...Which meant he'd be babysitting you guys all day..."laughed Jazzy.

"He doesn't even know where you work thank goodness.. I wouldn't want him around here." said Ray.

"I know he pestures my cousins Olivia and Beverly from time to time.. They've called the Sherrif and had him arrested a couple of times."said Kayla.

"We've called the cops on him too...On Saturday Morning one time , banging on Olivia's door, demanding to talk to them." said Jessica.

"Yeah, he woke us up."said Chip...

''When he demanded we be in our offices , We all fell out laughing."I said.

"We are working attorneys, what if we had court appointments?" said Bee Bee.

"Oh he's not going to order us to do anything..We don't work for him...He's unhinged.." said an angry Sofia, who found none of what Lt. Tragg said last night funny.

"Instead of harrasing us, he should be out there further investigating his latest arrest, just like ADA Grady told him." said Kahlil.

"I'm serious thinking about filing Harrassment charges against him...That charge and the fact that he's on C&D could get him fired or suspended at the least...He's got me close to doing that." said Ms. Yvette.

"We parked a few blocks away...So if he was waiting in the parking lot to bust us for drinking and driving, he wouldn't get us...We really outsmarted him last night." said Virginia.

Tony laughed and shook his head.

"He was crazy about me for a minute..always groping me, trying to get a kiss....I was so glad to be transferred down here... He knows I work down here, but to date..He's never come down here.And I hope he doesn't." said ADA Karen Page.

Lt. Tragg had once again ventured into our old building, up to our old office only to find the lights off and the door locked,like no one had been in it..

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT....NONE OF THEM ARE HERE!!! IF SHE WAS AN OFFICE MANAGER, SHE WOULD BE HERE!!!! I'M SWEARING OUT A WARRANT FOR HER ARREST!" he bellowed.

He was at Sam Mother's diner 

an hour later seething...

Judge Jetty Dukes came in and sat next to him at the counter..

"Coffee Sam, light cream, sugar....Thank you." he said.

He turned to Lt. Tragg.

"I heard you were up to Dolly Madison yesterday, inquiring about Virginia Shaw's parole, the details of it, which are none of your gotdamn business...." he snarled.

''Listen you...you work your side of the street and I work mine.. My investigation is none of your gotdamn business buddy..." said Lt. Tragg..gearing up for a physical rematch with the man who had knocked him silly a few weeks before.

"Let me put it to you in a way you'll understand stupid.. I warned you about bothering Olivia, Yvette and Virginia.. I think you thought I was just blowing smoke up your ass didn't you?  Olivia didn't call me, but I heard she called the Sherriff and had you locked up for a few days.. Yvette didn't call me, but I heard you bothered her and Liv and their husbands in Curleys and you bothered Virginia in here and last night in Curleys,  Apparently YOU thought I was kidding didn't you...I told you all I had to do was make a call didn't I?  You should be getting it soon.." he said as he finished his coffee and plunked down two dollars.

Lt. Tragg's phone rang no sooner than Jetty had left the diner.

"SIR, I am in the middle of two very sensitive investigations...What is that sir.? No sir...I-I have..Now look I can explain... He's bangin this broad that just got out of prison...Yes sir..I realize that this is none of my concern...No I am not harrassing attorneys...I am merely asking questions.. What is that sir?

WHAT?? As soon as this case is settled..I'm back on the Marine Patrol...30 DAYS??? Sirrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

YES SIRRRR SIRRRRRRRRR!Yes sir!" said Lt. Tragg..

He held his head down...His hands were shaking.....

"You Alright Artie?" asked Sam.

(TO BE CONTINUED)