The Second Cruise

Early Morning at a Non disclosed Hotel in Philadelphia.

"Thank you so much for keeping me company these past three days " said Cassidy...

"Thank you for inviting me.." he said.

They stood in the doorway and kissed passionately.... He had come up to the hotel room where we had sequestered Cassidy, for one night... It turned into 72 Hours of Marathon lovemaking...

"OHHHHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDD...OHHHH MY GODDDD!" he moaned.

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU WARREN...WARRREN..OUUUUUUU!" she screamed to the top of her lungs..

"YOU WANTED ME FOR A LONGGGGGGGGGGG TIME,DIDN'T YOU?" she cooed..

"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" he moaned..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUU COME GET IT BABY!  IT'S ALL YOURS! OUUUUUUUUU!" she moaned..

"AWWWWWWWWW, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HELL!" he moaned.

The Bed squeaked loudly and the headboard slammed against the wall...

He called out sick from work.. and for the next three days, Neither of them left the room...They called for room service when they took a break to eat and afterwords...They returned to bed...making love..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! YOU'RE A BEAST...WOUUUUUUUUUUU!" she moaned and slammed her hands down on the bathroom sink as he plowed into her doggie style..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! UMMMMMMMM" he moaned..

In every way and shape imaginable...

"You sound like a moose, but you're hung like a damn horse...Oh my goodnesss.wouuuuuu!" she cooed.

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" he moaned...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, OH MY GODDDD!" she cooed, her body trembling from yet another intense orgasm..

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" he moaned as they continued to kiss in her doorway... Cassidy eased out of his embrace...

"Okay Warren...Thank youuuuuuuuuuu...You really have to go now...." she whispered..

"Okay...but if you need anything....ANYTHING...you give me a call..." he said...His trousers still standing out like a circus tent..

She giggled... "I will....byeeeeeee" she said and quietly closed the door.. She sighed and collapsed in her bed.. She could use a good sleep.. Warren was insatiable...He never got enough...She knew he had liked her , the whole time he was sleeping with her auntie...but wow...She never knew he liked her this much.

Her Auntie should have kept him....He was an incredible lover....She had never had this many intense orgasms...

Meanwhile ,in preparation for our preliminary hearing.. We were hard at work..

Bee Bee and Sofia  were working hard at research... Looking up any and every law that might be pertinent to this case or that the ADA might pull...Researching like or cases similar to this one...and looking up predicates...

Kahlil and I were busy looking at the jury pool... 

from our media room....

and studying the run down that Jade had given us..

In the front office, Yvette conferred with our Office Manager, Virginia Shaw, now disbarred, but once a brilliant attorney herself.

"We have tried to give that girl updates on her case for the past three days and we've gotten no response.

She hasn't been answering her phone either.. I've checked with the Court....They say she hasn't left the building..So I don't know what the problem is... Is she angry at us?" asked Ms. Yvette.

Ms. Virginia smiled that wicked sexy grin of hers..  

"Noooooooooooooo it's quite simple.. She's got a man up there with her.. A man that's laying some good pipe obviously...."laughed Virginia.

''It's not our guy Johnny Underwood... Jade has been keeping him under wraps since we subpoened him...He has no idea where she is.. He's called her phone, which we have in our possession several times, We disabled the GPS, so he can't track her and he has a Private Investigator turning the city upside down trying to find her.. It's not him...plus his fiance, Erin Wilson has him on a tight lease." said Yvette.

"She's an attractive young girl....What my grandmother used to call "Hot in the Panties"  You saw those 11 character witnesses...They were all trying to get browny points...A pass to her bedroom...It could be any one of those guys or someone altogether different.. but I'm telling you... She's got a man up there in her hotel room." said Virginia.

"That phone isn't for a dating service.." said Yvette.

"You just told her not to contact Mr. Underwood...You never told her she couldn't call anybody." said Virginia.

"You are such a lawyer.." laughed Yvette..

"Well, I used to be anyway." laughed Virginia. 

II-

Lt. Tragg spent his morning trying to find us..

Once again he traveled to our old building...

and our old suite... Once more he found the lights off and the suite door locked.

"It doesn't look like they've been here all week...They must be meeting somewhere else, to avoid me during this trial." he said..Stomping his foot and storming out...

while in the office of Assistant District Attorney Sharrone Stokes.

She seriously wondered about the Preliminary Hearing tomorrow.

TWO WEEKS LATER-

The Preliminary hearing revealed only that we were going to be dealing with a very determined and tenacious prosecutor...

During Voir Dire...She battled Kahlil and I to a 6-6 split in jury selection...A tie , but not what we wanted.. Not at all...

ADA Stokes was proving to be a cut throat, take no prisoners kinda gal...This was now a case of one upmanship... what Ms. Yvette had warned us about.

"She wants to beat us...She wants to beat me mainly...We can't let her do that." said Ms. Yvette.

As I said, Like all good Attorneys..Sharrone Stokes was a great storyteller..

She weaved a very convincing tale of a Romantic Weekend Cruise...for couples....

and two desperate women....

Murder victim Kathy Palmer

and her romantic rival, Cassidy Skyler, who both booked themselves on the cruise as singles  chasing after a yet unnamed man....

They got into a near violent argument and had to be seperated and then, hours later... according to ADA Stokes.. Ms. Skyler went to Ms. Palmer's cabin

bashed her over the head with a lamp and tossed her into the river...where her body might not have been found if it had got caught in the undertow and swept out to sea...

She told that story so well, you WOULD have thought she was there......

Yvette smiled..

"She told that story so well, I almost thought she was there." she said.. This brought the courtroom to laughter...

"I was there....My husband and I were booked on that same cruise the night this happened..  We didn't hear or see anything...but neither did you guys...and rather than argue the merits and particulars of this case now...We'd just like for our client to have bail, which she is entitled... She has no police record whatsoever...Not even a traffic ticket and she poses no threat to the community...She would like her day in court to fight these outrageously egregious and false charges." said Ms. Yvette.

I introduced the name of the "Mystery Man" to the jury.. Mr. John Underwood, The Chief Financial Officer of WeeFleecum and Howe Investments., when I cross examined one of the witnesses from the office who knew of a couple of confrontations the two women had had.

ADA Stokes objected...Saying it was hearsay...

My wife, Bee Bee came to my rescue saying that it goes toward providing foundation and clearing up a mystery...

Judge Julie Wong allowed it..

I smiled at Bee Bee.....

She seductively winked at me...

ADA Stokes produced lurid love letters written by Cassidy to John Underwood along with texts  from her and a record of her pregnancy and her abortion and a cease and desist restraining order from John Underwood ,who she was forced to admit existed and was indeed the mystery man the two women were arguing over.

She was furious at Lt. Tragg for not doing a follow up and not getting her the information in time.  She had to do it herself and by the time she learned John Underwood's name...We had already subpoened... him.

Sofia produced a couple of time stamped  photos of the two kissing and canoodling at Mulberry Street, the rooftop bar and grille and the Mermaid Crab Tavern...AFTER the restraining order was established..

ADA Stokes was again livid.. Once again we had beat her to the punch..

ADA Stokes next went to the night of the murder...She produced the registration list which shows that both women booked a single room on a "Couples" cruise with one thing and one thing only in mind , catching John Underwood, who they suspected was on the cruise with  the other and spoiling his cruise.

Only, Mr. Underwood wasn't on the cruise with either woman..

She produced several witnesses ,who saw and heard their loud argument which nearly came to blows..

Including the Ships crew members who broke the fight up and seperated the two women.

Kahlil questioned them on cross examination...They pretty much stuck to their stories.

So did Bee Bee and Ms. Yvette...Not one saw the two women together again after the incident...Not one... and one witness said he was with Cassie in the bar afterwords buying her drinks and trying unsuccessfully to get her to come to his room.

ADA Stokes pressed her final very convincing argument and closed her case...

"You guys were good...but I think she was a little better...If I were a juror, I might vote to convict." said Cassidy.

''We haven't begun our defense yet.." said Jade.

Lt. Tragg looked confident..

"You hit the ball out of the park kid..You got this." he said confidently..

"Think so, huh?" she said.. She wasn't totally convinced.. We had done some damage. some real damage to her case...

"The Jury is 7 to convict and 5 to acquit..." said Kahlil.

"First time in a long time we are starting from behind." I said.

"That's alright...I still think we can pull this out... I've been here before...In this situation...That means our defense has got to be on point.. Don't get down on yourselves... We've just got to come out smoking..  Now yall did good.. We did some real damage to her case.. If we hadn't we'd be looking at all 12 jurors wanting to convict...Now just hang in there.." said Yvette.

III-

At Home that night..

''Vettie, tell me the truth.. Is it weird? I mean you going up against Sharonne???.... Knowing my past history with her and all...I-I just want you to know...you have nothing to worry about...I haven't gone anywhere near her and I don't intend to.." said Gary...

"Gary...Don't be silly babe... If I felt the least bit threatened ,I would have pulled out.. Let Keith or Bee Bee or Kahlil or Mamasita run the case...but I'm not threatened and I've never doubted your love for me or your love for this.." she said..

Seductively slipping her thong off and tossing it over on the chair...

"OHHHHHH MY GODDDD!" Gary moaned....taking his bathrobe off..

"Come here sugar...." whispered Yvette..

Gary picked Yvette up...She giggled...as he entered her slowly and softly......

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" he moaned...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU LAWDDDDDDDDD!" she exclaimed.. both of her legs trembling....as Gary went in and out of her......

"OUUUUUUUUUUUU COME GET TO THIS BABY!  IT'S ALL YOURS! OUUUUUUUUU!" she moaned..

"AWWWWWWWWW, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HELL!" he moaned.

He had her on the bathroom sink, legs spread and him going to town inside of her..

Tears and sweat rolling down the sides of her face... Her legs trembling.....

and she kissing Gary like kissing was going out of style...

"GARY....GARY...GARRRRRY OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she cooed.

"It's ALL FOR YOU BABY, NOBODY ELSE....THIS IS YOURS ...OUUUUUUU!" he moaned..

"ALL MINE?" she asked in a girlish voice..

"YOURSSSSSSS!" he moaned..

"WOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she cooed loudly...

The Bed squeaked just a little  and the headboard slammed against the wall...

and they made sweet love for the next EIGHT TO NINE HOURS...

Yvette had the most peaceful sleep ever.....So Did Gary...

We began our defense...

Yvette spoke about both girls...

The accused, our client...Cassidy Skyler, about to enter her third year at University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she is close to the top of her class...

And the murder victim, Kathy Palmer an up and coming young Investment Banker...

"TWO VERY INTELLIGENT, VERY ATTRACTIVE WOMEN , both fighting over one man, a much older and successful man.....John Underwood.." she said.

She called John Underwood to the stand... He was sweating bullets.

"Mr. Underwood... You knew  Ms. Palmer did you not?" asked Bee Bee.

"She worked at my firm, I uh only knew her casually...Not intimately..." he said.

"Let me remind you....You are under oath...Perjury is a very serious offense.  You're a lawyer, you KNOW that!" I said and produced a record of two abortions.. in which he was named as the father.. and a lease with her name on it from two years before.. from a property belonging to Weefleecum and Howe investments..

"I'll say you knew her more than casually... You signed this lease for her to live in this property,owned by your company....and you got her pregnant two times....Two times and she had two abortions, arranged by and paid for by YOU!... You filed this Cease and desist restraining order against her...and unlike my client, you didn't go near her again and at the time of her death you had your representatives present her with an eviction order.." I said ,showing the jury and him a copy of that order..

"She called your fiance...and then she called you and told you that she was going to tell your fiance everything about the two of you....You had been romancing Ms. Erin Wilson for a long time...A year....in between the time you were carrying on a sexual and romantic relationship with my client and the victim...am I correct?" asked Kahlil.

He bent his head... "If You say so..." he said..

"What was that? If you say so sounds like Chinese Food." said Yvette angrilly..."YES OR NO?" she bellowed.

The Jury howled with laughter....

"Answer the question.," said Judge Wong.

"Yes." he whimpered...

"OH YOU NASTY LYING DOG...OUUUUUUUUUU OUR ENGAGEMENT IS OFF!" screamed 

Erin 

Tossing the engagement ring at him...

"ORDER, ORDER IN THE COURT.....ONE MORE OUTBURST LIKE THAT AND I'LL HAVE YOU REMOVED.."said Judge Wong.

Bee Bee produced the witness who claimed he was in the bar with Cassidy after the fight for the next three hours..buying her drinks and talking to her, trying to get her to come to his cabin or let him come to hers...

She produced the Bartender who confirmed the story and the time...Which means she couldn't have killed Kathy Palmer when they say she did.

ADA Sharrone Stokes cross examined both men hard, but they stuck to their story...They remembered a semi drunk and heartbroken Cassidy Skyler at the ships bar.

She recalled Crime Scene Investigators who said they couldn't be sure at what time Ms. Palmer died , due to the body being in the water a number of hours.

Sofia produced on a 64 inch monitor,  A Photo of the murdered girl's room.

and a photo of Kathy Palmer's room.

''All of these rooms are just alike.. Except when this photo was taken by Crime Scene Investigators...This lamp was missing from Kathy Palmer's room and found in my client's room....

Bee Bee, Jade, Ms Yvette and Cassidy all tried to lift the lamp....It was heavy..

Sofia tried herself and pulled two female jurors and got them to try and lift it....They all found it awkward and heavy...

"We are all petite woman and all about the size build and weight  of our client and we are having a hard time lifting this bulky lamp....This is the murder weapon.. Kathy Palmer's blood and brain matter is all over it. Our client didn't have the strength or the height to lift this lamp and weaponize it and bring it down on the head of Ms. Palmer and then push her overboard." said Sofia.

"As the Police and Crime scene investigators testified last week They didn't find one fingerprint ,nor one bit of my clients DNA in that room at all...Nor did they find a fingerprint or DNA ,belonging to my client on the murder weapon...Yet the victim's blood is all over it..And ask yourself , If you had just bashed someone's head in with a heavy lamp, why would you take it back to your room when you could have tossed it in the ocean too?  You wanted to frame my client... You killed Ms. Palmer and by framing Ms. Skyler..You killed two birds with one stone.. Got rid of both of your side chicks and this gave you a clear field to Erin Wilson right?" said Yvette.

"I am invoking my 15th amendment right against self incrimination." said John Underwood.

"You're an Attorney....That's smart...If I was you...I'd do the same thing." said Yvette, smiling..

"The Defense rests." said Yvette.

IV-

24 HOURS LATER-

"It's been a whole day...I'm worried." said Cassidy...

"I've had juries take three or four days to come to a decision and others come back in an hour..You're going to be a lawyer...Get used to this." said Yvette, smiling at Cassidy for the first time in a long time and rubbing her back..

"What did the jury look like Kahlil?" asked Bee Bee.

"I had the jury at 11 to acquit and one holding out for conviction.." said Kahlil.

"Best Case scenario.. We get a Hung jury and the ADA declines to prosecute again... She knows this case was weak...She has to know that." I said.

"Think Positive...I think we got an acquittal." said Sofia.

"You did a great job Jade, considering what we had to work with." said Yvette.

"Every client isn't going to be perfect." said Jade...

"I'm tellin you , you gave em a good run kid...You beat em...This girl is going to prison for the rest of her life...Their cheap stunt with that lamp proved nothing...didn't sway this jury at all... I mean maybe Underwood is a louse, a skirt chaser...but that doesn't make him a murderer....They didn't get a confession." said Lt. Tragg..

Sharrone Stokes looked at him, she wondered what trial he had been watching?... As a Public Defender, she had had a 93 % percent acquittal rate and as an Assistant District Attorney, she hadn't lost a case since she'd been here.. She'd won 75 straight cases so far...She didn't think she'd win a 76th...At best this might be a hung jury...She like Kahlil, saw one juror who looked like they were holding out for a conviction. Yvette and her young attorneys had done an excellent job....They had a pretty thorough investigator....Better than Lt. Tragg, supposededly a Lieutenant with the Philadelphia Police department and a veteren detective.

"Has the Jury reached a verdict?" asked Judge Julie Wong..

"We have your honor." said the Jury Foreman..

"Bailiif, pass me  their decision.." she said quietly... she read it...Showing no emotion , then passed it to the Bailiff.

"Read it" she said.

"IN THE MATTER OF COMMONWEATH OF PENNSYLVANIA VS. CASSIDY ANNE SKYLER...COUNT ONE, USE OF AN INSTRUMENT OF CRIME TO DO BODILY HARM, NOT GUILTY!

COUNT TWO, SECOND DEGREE MURDER, NOT GUILTY!!

COUNT THREE, MANSLAUGHTER, NOT GUILTY!!

AND THE MOST SERIOUS CHARGE, FIRST DEGREE MURDER!!! NOT GUILTY!!!

"OH MY GOD!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???" Screamed Cassidy...

"It means you can take that ankle bracelet off, you can go home and live your life again....You can enter your third and final year of law school in the fall...." I said.

"OH THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!" she screamed with joy, hugging me...

Kahlil passed her her phone..

"It's fully charged...It's yours now..." he said..  She hugged him too...

"You Guys were amazing." said Cassidy., hugging Bee Bee, Sofia and Jade..

"You're Welcome" said Bee Bee.

"Good Luck to you mami." said Sofia.

"You're welcome.....Good luck to you." said Jade.

"Thank You Ms. Yvette...Thank You for the tough love...I needed it." said Cassidy, hugging and kissing Ms. Yvette.

"You'll thank me by graduating law school next year and passing the bar." said Yvette, hugging her back and squeezing her.."I hope to see you in court or at the litigation table." she said.

"Thank You Vettie, guys...You really pulled it out...I knew you would..." said Brenda.

ADA Sharrone Stokes was livid...Not at the verdict...She did the best she could, but at the sloppy investigation...The missed cues...everything involving Lt. Arthur Tragg...She couldn't look at him..

She simply turned and walked away...

Like so many others , she hoped never to work a case he was involved in again.. As for  Lt. Tragg,

He looked stunned....He really thought he had brought in a good case... He watched as we all walked out of the courthouse, victorious and laughing..

Always victorious, Always Laughing.

EPILOUGE-

John Underwood would never go to trial for murdering Kathy Palmer... He took his life , one week after the trial..

He was found hanging in his condo....

A WEEK LATER-

Yvette talked everybody into booking a cabin on the same romantic weekend cruise that she and Gary had gone on weeks before. 

We were all here, Ms Yvette and Gary, Me and Bee Bee, Sofia and Kahlil, Jade and Danny and Ms. Virginia and Jetty...We were enjoying the ships buffet.  There was plenty of food.

We all had cabins next door to each other.

''This is going to be just as magic as last time." said Ms. Yvette.

"It's going to be better, We got this entire floor to ourselves." said Gary,laughing.

"This is so nice.." said Bee Bee.

"It is..I'm so glad we all came on this ." I said.

"It's a beautiful night for this too!" said Sofia.

"It is..look at that sky." said Kahlil..

"I suppose we can trust that no one will murder anybody on this cruise." joked Jade..

"That's not even funny."laughed Danny Ho.

''Ouu Jetty we got our same cabin.." gushed Virginia..

"Let's skip the party...and retreat to the cabin."joked Jetty...

''My Goodness you are sooo horny...I just gave you some this morning." said Virginia,laughing and shaking her head.

"Heh heh heh...Just kidding baby." said Jetty.

"No you're not... I wanna dance a little baby....then we can go back to the cabin and screw our brains out." promised Virginia.

Our friends, Olivia Bennett-Alexander, her husband Donnie Ray, her niece, Beverly and her husband, Nelson, Josie Boyd, her husband, Paris, Bresha and Tony Billips and Alfreda and Rockland Cambridge

were right across the hall from us in cabins..

They were enjoying the Buffet too!

"I love this..A full course meal and good drinks." said Olivia.

''You can't go wrong with cheap drinks that aint watered down." said Donnie Ray.

''I heard that..Everything was delish." said Beverly..

"It was... Now I'm ready to dance it all off." said Nelson.

''Me too!"said Josie.

"The D.J.'s come on in a few minutes.." said Paris.

"Enjoying yourself babes?" asked Bresha.

''Every minute I'm with you babes... and our wonderful friends." said her husband, Tony.

''This is so romantic and relaxing, out on the water like this." said Alfreda.

"Yes it is." said her husband, Rockland..

Down the hall from us was Kayla and Ray, Jazzy and Dabnis, Jessica and Chip and Zoey and Lem.

Our group had booked the entire floor.

They too were enjoying the buffet.

''Yvette told me this was a bomb trip...I'm so glad we got to go on this." said Kayla.

''This trip is better, because we booked 14 rooms and we are all practically together.."said her husband Ray.

''Now that I'm full ,I can't wait to start dancing.."said Jazzy.

"Yeah me too!" said Dabnis.

"Here come the D.J.'s now." said Jessica.

"Good let's head to the dance floor." said Chip..

"You up for a little dancing before we retire to our cabins dear? asked Zoey..

"Of Course." said Lem.

FIVE D.J.'s spun...

All of us danced until around two in the morning.. We had a great time.

We all retired to our rooms...

It was a great weekend and we all took Monday Off..

No One was Murdered on this cruise.