A Face To That Foot

A FEW DAYS LATER!  

We were all sitting quietly in the courthouse waiting area....Trial was starting today...Laverne and our client, Blake Daniels walked in together with coffees for everyone..

"Goood Morning Everybody, Rise and Shine" said Laverne in a sin songy voice as she passed coffee's to everybody...

  "Good Morning my esteemed Defense Attorneys." said Blake...He was dressed in a fine tailored suit, had on some shiny new shoes and a great fragrance....

"Good Morning, Good Morning...Thank you Laverne.."said Olivia.

 

"I see you're ready for trial...You're certainly dressed for it." I said smiling, admiring his suit.

"MANNNNNNNN, I just want to get this over with." said Blake.

"You look and smell great." said Beverly.....

"Yeah man, you do.."said Nelson...

"You know I hate to bring him up...but Lt. Tragg wears some nice suits himself, but so many of them get ruined in his many fist fights...Sleeves torn off, back of the jacket split..."said Josie..

This amounted to loud ,raucous laughter from all of us...

"Oh God, why did you bring him up Jo?  Here he comes.." said Bresha...

Indeed, Lt. Tragg walked over to us...he smirked...He hadn't seen Blake Daniels since he had arrested him...We had gotten him arraigned and released on his own recogniznce and had kept him out of the public spotlight for the most part...Us and Laverne.... He was happy to spend his days..Having breakfast with us...In conference with us on his case and eating dinner with us and spending the night in our sub-basement apartment, thoroughly "entertained" by Laverne , who was also staying with us.

"Sooooo Daniels...You showed up eh? I lost a bet I had with Sgt. Brice that you were going to flee town...."said Lt. Tragg.

"You shouldn't take sucker bets." said  Blake gruffly as he sipped his coffee. 

"Lieutenant, as you can see we are having our morning coffee's before trial begins..We are not going to sit here and banter about this case...It's going to be argued in the courtroom."said Olivia.

 

I as usual said nothing to him...I just sat quietly and drank my coffee.

"Why don't you go and get a coffee? You'll feel better.." said Beverly...

"I'm in no mood for your wisecracks..." said Lt. Tragg...

"And we are in no mood for your whining and complaining and triggering remarks." said Nelson...

"There's a great coffee shop down the street." said Josie.

"You ought to try it." said Bresha.

"Olivia you should talk to your junior partners and express upon them they should be seen and not heard, except when they are in court." said Lt. Tragg.

"You know what they say...."Out of the mouths of babes." said Olivia...

He gave us that baleful stare that he does and then walked away.....

"He really gets under my skin." said Laverne....

"He does seem to have that effect on people."laughed Olivia as we all finished our coffees and prepared for trial.

II-

COURTROOM D-

We had been in this courtroom before, a few weeks before with another case...

The Judge, Hillary Lopez was the same Judge we had tried our case before the last time...

Lt. Tragg had been very attracted to her at the time....but he was not so enthusiastic about her today....She had slapped him in Curleys in front of all of us, embarrassing the hell out of him...and then had gotten him put on the Marine Boat and extra thirty days, just as he was getting ready to come off and be re-instated to Homicide...She was also the reason he had to take 200 hours of "Sensitivity Training" , which he had only recently completed....He hated her and he vowed if it was the last thing he did, he was going to get even.....He sat in his chair with his arms folded, almost pouting upon seeing her.

"Good Morning Attorneys and Jurors! As I look around the courtroom I see a number of you who I've had in my courtroom before... I am Judge Hillary Lopez... Common Pleas Court Judge...This is beginning to sound like a broken record but Welcome to my courtroom....Due to courtroom crowding of cases , we are going to bypass a preliminary hearing...We know that a crime, a henious crime has been committed.a man was found shot to death in a condo he purchased....That said We will review what happened here and try to come to a conclusion. So we are going to go straight to trial.. We will have Jury selection today...We will begin with trial tomorrow morning at 9:00 pm." said Judge Lopez.. "We will start today with introductions.." she said.

"Representing the people or Commonwealth , Assistant District Attorney Jean Staples, your honor..."

"Also Representing the people, Assistant District Attorney Justine Logan..." she said...She immediately removed Lt. Tragg's hands from under her skirt...

"Didn't you just finish Sensitivity Training?" she asked him..

He smiled sheepishly.... 

"Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Lead Attorney for the defense your Honor.. " said Olivia.

 

"Donnie Ray Alexander, Investigator for the defense your honor." I said.

"Second Chair for the Defense, Attorney Beverly West-East." said Beverly..

"Attorney Nelson East for the defense, Your honor.." said Nelson.

"Attorney Josephine Boyd for the defense your honor." said Josie.

"Attorney Bresha Billips for the defense your honor.."said Bresha.

''Alright...now that we are through with the introductions...We'll begin with Voir Dire." she said.

ADA Jean Staples had been around awhile and though not as adept at trial science as Nelson, knew a thing or two about jury selection...She came prepared with questions of her own..

Nelson had minored in Trial Science during law school and had used it his entire career..He was a master of Voir Dire.Jean Staples had no idea that Nelson already knew all there was to know about the jurors and which ones he'd find acceptable and which ones he wouldn't...Nelson had carefully worded questions ready for each person he talked to...

Josie and Bresha, his little understudies , Protoge's if you will both were helping him today...They sat behind their laptops and whispered certain things they had talked about into his ear.. He smiled.

Nelson got an 8-4 split with ADA Staples....Not bad at all..

Beverly blew him a kiss...

Olivia smiled and gave him a thumbs up!

Lt. Tragg didn't like any of this....

 "Alright...We have a jury..It's Monday ..Trial will begin promptly Tuesday Morning at 9:00 AM, Jurors, Attorneys  Be on time and Be ready for trial." said Judge Lopez...."You are dismissed." she said, striking her gavel.

"Well, here we go." sighed Blake Daniels as he walked out of the courtroom...

"First me, now you...Same dumb cop arrested us both." said Laverne...

Lt. Tragg overheard the comment, but declined to say anything more to us...He simply watched as we all exited the courtroom.....

We gave him no targets to bug with GPS trackers today because we took public transportation...The train from our home to the courthouse and we just as quickly took the train to the Bridge Building..

Our home away from home...

And their modern cafeteria, where we had lunch with our friends...A lunch that would be uninterrupted by Lt. Tragg, who had no idea where we all were...Josie and Bresha especially liked eating here because they got to eat with their husbands...who also worked in the building.. 

''Well we came right on time..This place is just opening up." said Olivia.

 

''Smells good....So much to choose from." I said.

"I know....We've got our jury picked and we are ready to go tomorrow." said Beverly...

'Yeah, this woman Jean Staples is no slouch..She's been around, she's pretty damn good."said Nelson.

"Kinda wish we were facing Jumpshot Jim.." laughed Josie.

''Awwww come on, you guys need  challenge."laughed Paris.

"Perhaps, but this not sport, a man's life and career hangs in the balance here." said Bresha.

Tony nodded ...His wife was serious and he agreed, she was right. This wasn't sport..it was serious business.

 

"Liv, Bev, thanks again....Laundry Day last Saturday couldn't have come at a better time.." said Jazzy.
 

"Yeah in addition to Laundry..We had sheets to do also." said Dabnis.

''Which reminds me...I've got dry cleaning to pick up after work."said Kayla.

"The Not so glamourous ,ordinary life of an attorney."laughed her husband, Ray...

"We aren't in court all the time,"said Jessica.

"Like this wek, knock on wood..."laughed her husband, Chip.

"Nothing on our dockets this week yet.."said Karen..

"It's been a wild couple of weeks"said Natalie...

"It has."agreed her husband, David...

"Well things are quiet for now, let's enjoy it.." said Brooke..

whose husband, Sean was once again eating with us today...

"I really enjoyed Josie's last week...Thursday and Sunday Morning."said Zoey..

"Yeah it reminded me of old times." said Lem.

"Tonight,let's go to a movie after we get home." said Renee.

"Good Idea."said her husband, Tyrell.

 

 ''So Liv, you guys ready to go to trial?" asked Yvette.

"Yeah, we picked our jury today." said Olivia.

"We've got the same judge we had last time...Judge Hillary Lopez." said Beverly..

"The Judge Lt. Tragg fondled?" asked Keith Jones..

"The Judge that slapped the hell out of him?" asked Bee Bee, holding her hands to her mouth and laughing...

"The Same...Same courtroom too!" said Josie.

''Aye Mios Dios...She should have slapped him again......For being there." said Sofia.

Kahlil busted out laughing.......

"He's got some nerve, doing that to a Judge and one in his case..."said Jade..

"Someone else has some nerve doing that here in the cafeteria." whispered Virginia, removing Jetty's wandering hands from up her skirt..

Jetty smiled sheepishly and looked at her..

Our client, Blake Daniels and Laverne Scott sat across the cafeteria in a corner, kissing passionately...

"Laverne I'm horny as hell baby." he whispered in her ear...

Laverne giggled... "You stay horny as hell, you can't keep your hands off of me.You need to be thinking about your trial." she said.

"I know ,but it's hard." he said.

"I knowwwwww." she laughed.

III-

COURTROOM D- Tuesday Morning....

The trial began.....

ADA Jean Staples began her case...She used plain language and proved she was good at weaving a narrative..

She explained that the deceased victim Vic Damone had been involved in three high profile lawsuits within the past year and that he had fired his former attorney Colby Steele and hired a hot shot heavy hitter, Blake Daniels to represent him..

Blake Daniels won the first law suit and then lost the next two....and although they were currently on appeal, hadn't been paid one red cent...

"That would make any of you angry wouldn't it?" asked Jean Staples..

"Objection...counselor is assuming to know the defendent's mental state."said Olivia.

"Counsel is making a reasonable assumption....Here are photos of the faces of both men, both men's faces are swollen...from fighting and in this photo there is a lot of broken glass on the floor.. I'm assuming they had a fist fight." said ADA Jean Staples.

"I'll allow it."said Judge Lopez..

Second chair, Justine Logan was smiling, then giggling, then furiously removing Lt. Tragg's hands from under her skirt..

He had a pleased as punch look on his face....Finally she got up and moved on the other side of ADA Jean Staples...

Judge Lopez stared daggers at him.....She obviously saw what had been going on. She was close to throwing him out of court..

The next two days ADA Staples showed the jury photos of the murder scene...and had Crime Scene Investigators,policemen who had been on the scene and people from the medical examiner's office testify...

The road was not easy for her from there on...Olivia,Beverly and Nelson eviscerated her witnesses..making their testimony null and void...

 And Josie and Bresha's motions and objections kept 

Justine Logan on her toes.with motions objections and questioning of her witnesess...but they failed to do was put a dent in the theory that during the fight...Blake Daniels had killed Vic Damone in the heat of passion despite the fact that he said he didn't own a gun and had never seen the murder gun before in his life...

When they closed their case....The jury was deadlocked....five to acquit and six to convict....with one undecided...Not good... 

Olivia hated to do it...but she had to put Blake on the stand and allow him to tell his story.

Being an attorney himself..Blake was an almost perfect witness...Almost like he had come from central casting....Calm, smooth ,debonair and well dressed...He was easily the ladies favorite. He had their rapt attention.. Once again Blake recreated what happened to the best of his knowledge....

"I remember a young lady was leaving ,just as I was getting off the elevator.....She was upset, distraught.. I was just  getting out of the elevator and I was not happy either.. The door was still open, so I walked in. I  looked around the condo....at the view at the kitchen , the modern shower and jacuzzi..

"Nice...Very nice...Very nice Vic...Is this you or a love nest for one of your strumpets?"I  asked him..

.

 

"I'm in no mood for your sarcasm Blake...What do you want?" he asked me... I could tell he didn't want me there and was mad that the girl had walked out on him...

''You owe me close to two million dollars in unpaid legal fees....I represented you in three cases last year and haven't received a cent yet...and yet you have enough cash to purchase this condo... I want my money Vic...It's only fair.." I said.

"You won one of those three cases...You lost the other two....remember?" said Victor..

"It doesn't matter...I still represented you and those other two cases are on appeal...."I said.

''Well when you win those other two cases on appeal, then you'll get your money."said Vic.

"You are out of your damn mind....PAY ME...OR I WON'T DRAFT ANOTHER BRIEF ON YOUR BEHALF!" I said..I was livid....

"OH YES YOU WILL...NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!" said Victor, He punched me in the stomach, almost knocking the wind out of me..

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ! You should have never done that.."I said  and punched him in the face ,knocking him backwards...

He punched me in the jaw...I hit him with 17 rights and 17 lefts in his face...knocking him backwards..

Victor gave as good as he got, he hit me with 17 lefts and 17 rights to his face....

We grappled with each other...

Victor took a lamp and smashed it over my head...I felt excruciating pain...

"OHHHHHHHHH" I moaned., I grabbed a  heavy plate and smashed it over Victor's head....

"OUUUUUUUUUU" moaned Victor....

We both must of fell on the floor unconscious...because that's all I remember.." he said.

"But he was alive when you both hit the floor right?" asked Beverly..

But I will tell you this...He was alive and I was alive when we both hit the floor....We had hit each other in the head...both of us was bleeding profusely....but I swear. to you...He was Alive..

''So you didn't hear any gunshots or see anyone?" asked Nelson.

"No I did not...I was out cold...I only woke up when the police and the medical examiner pesonell arrived." he said.

Both ADA  Jean Staples and ADA Justine Logan went at him hard..They had to break him to win the other half of the jury....

But cool calm Blake stuck to his story and would not budge.....

Olivia called Colby Steele to the stand...

Colby Steele had no idea why he was being called to the stand...

"Mr. Steele, what is your foot size?" asked Olivia..

"A size 13!" he said....

Josie showed the jury an enlarged photo of  a size 13 footprint in the blood stained floor of Vic Damone's condo...

"Like this...." she said..

"Ughhhh Yes, like that!" he said.

"Are these your shoes?" asked Bresha, showing him a bloody pair of size 13 shoes ....

Sometimes you get lucky...There had been a recent 5 day trash collection strike....I went dumpster diving behind Steele's apartment complex and found the blood stained shoes, a size 13 in the dumpster...

I took them to the Medical Examiner's office and they were a perfect match for Vic Damone's blood type and DNA.

"These shoes were found in the dumpster behind your apartment complex....The blood on it is a DNA and Blood type match to Vic Damone."said Beverly...

"You  were in that condo....You followed Vanessa Decker there...She left and you came in...saw that both Vic Damone and Blake Daniels were unconscious and you took advantage of the situation...Didn't you?" asked Olivia.

He knew the jig was up.....He frowned..

"I loved Vanessa...I chased after her, wined and dined her for years.....Vic had everything...You ever see his wife...??She's gorgeous.....Why'd he have to take Vanessa from me?? I loved her...I was going to kill him anyway....but when I walked in that condo and saw the two of them unconscious...Well, then I saw my chance... I killed him and I'd kill him again for taking Vanessa from me....Damn it!" he said...

A Hush went over the jury......

"Bailiffs, take that man into custody....This matter is over!" said Judge Hillary Lopez...

ADA Jean Staples angrilly looked at Lt. Tragg.

"Couldn't put a face to that foot eh?   Olivia's people did...You are the worst detective I have ever known" she said as she quickly left the courtroom...

Justine shrugged her shoulders and left...

Lt. Tragg looked like he'd swallowed a canary.....

Olivia and Beverly leaped in the air and high fived each other and yelled "WHOOOOOOOO WEEEEEEE!" as they did after a big win...

Lt. Tragg hated that most of all..

IV-

It was a Thursday Night...And once again, we weren't in Curley's. We were in Josie's..

Josie's was packed.. Our cop friends, Lt. Sissy Van Buren, her husband, her detectives and their spouses were all here..

 

And we were here with our significant others...

 

"This is just like old times ,all of us here and safe.and warm."said Olivia.

 

I hugged her..."Yeah and victorious." I added...

Beverly sat on her husband, Nelson's lap...

"This is a nice cozy feeling.."said Nelson, hugging her..

"The sweet feeling of victory..."said Josie..

"And No Lt. Arthur Tragg...No whining and telling us we'd better not be driving and drinking."said Paris.

''Well we aren't...We're walking..."said Bresha.

"Yeah, even if he were here..what could he do?" laughed Tony...

''Don't bring him up...Please.." said Alfreda.

"Yeah, he might surprise us and come in here." joked Rockland. 

 "Well we don't want that?"laughed Yvette.

"He's in Curleys, crying in his beer."laughed Gary..

''Without us to pick on...Who has he got.?" asked Keith.

"Last time that happened, he picked on Tanya Mosley 's boyfriend and you know how that turned out?" said Bee Bee.

"I hope they aren't in there tonight."said Sofia.

"I don't think they go in there anymore."said Kahlil..

"That's smart... Hopefully that Judge won't go in there either."said Jade.

"She handled him the last time she was in there....I don't think she's worried about him."said Danny Ho chuckling..

"Bottom line is we are hassle free tonight and surrounded by friends."said Virginia..

"AMEN!"said Jetty. 

"Liv and Beverly won their case today....and with all of our dockets clear, I say we should go on a mini vacay..."said Jazzy..
 

''Yeah, where?" asked Dabnis.

"How about down to the shore...Stay in Nelson's beach house." asked Kayla.

"Kinda cold for that...We need a nice warm retreat." said Ray..

"Talk to Olivia and Bev,  they'll think of something.."said Jessica.

"Why go anywhere??...why not just snuggle up at home ?." said Chip.

"Thee is a man after my own heart....I'm just starting to enjoy my new home." said Karen.

Her Husband , B.L. smiled..he had a slight buzz...

"I'm all for Netflix and Chill and I'm all for a mini Vacay too!"said Natalie..

"You can't do both." said David..

''Sure you can."said Brooke.

"You guys are all drunk!"laughed Sean.

Zoey laughed...

So Did her husband Lem...

"Hey where is Blake and Laverne.?" asked Renee..

"Yeah...He got acquitted...I thought he'd be out celebrating."said Tyrell..

"Oh they are celebrating.." said Olivia , with a wink and a smile..

EPILOUGE-

Colby Steele was convicted of General Murder and sentenced to 15 years to Life...

And that night ,That Thursday Night , while everybody was celebrating at Josie's...

at our Office/Duplex

in the sub-basement apartment....

Laverne and Blake were celebrating his acquittal...

"Ouuuuuuu Blake..." she cooed..

"OHHHHHHH LAVERNE....MARRY ME!" he asked her in between kisses...

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" she asked...

"I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE SERIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE." he said.

"OKAYYY!I'LL ...I'LL MARRY YOU!" said Laverne.

They began kissing a little more..a little hotter, a little steamier...

He unsnapped her bra and slipped her panties down....

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU GIRRRRRRRL!!" he moaned...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmm let me put this ass all on you.." said Laverne as she moved up and down on him on the side of the bed......

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LAWWWWWD!" he cried out , nearly going insane..

She rode him slowly, sweating profusely.....her body trembling...tears streaming down the side of her face....her head moving from side to side....She was having an embarrassingly quick orgasm.....

Blake's eyes were nearly rolling into the back of his head....No way he was going to neglect this woman again...

The sex got hotter, steamier.....Laverne had her second orgasm of the night......

"UMMMMMMMMMM  OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU BABYYYYY!" she cried out..

He spread her legs and entered her from behind...while she stretched out over the dresser drawer...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!! OHHHHHHHH BLAKE, YOU NASTY DOG YOU!!! WOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!" she cried out..

Soon they were on the floor really going at it.....

He entered her on the bed slowly....

"OHHHHHH...OHHHHHH MY GODDD!  BLAKE!" she cried out.. She was  sweating profusely.....her body trembling...tears streaming down the side of her face....her head moving from side to side....She was having another embarrassingly quick orgasm.....her third....

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU WOMAN!!! " he cried out......as the bed began to squeak and rock back and forth...the headboard shaking and rattling....

They made sweet sweet love for the next NINE TO TEN HOURS

"I'm never going to lose touch with you....I'm never going to neglect you again...I'm never going to let you get away from me again!" he said trying to catch his breath as he came like a gusher....

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW LAWWWWWWD!!!" he cried out...He came so hard, he thought he might be dying..

Laverne had one last intense orgasm....that left her stunned...and her left foot shaking long afterword...

Both of their bodies were drenched in sweat.....

"Thank you....Thank you for coming to see about me...and getting me these great lawyers..." he said.

"Thank you for marrying me." she said..                

She gave him one last kiss.

As a new morning dawned.