Murder in Germantown (23 page)

I looked for him to bite and lower the percentage just a little. That left room for reasonable doubt. No such luck with the pit bull sitting to my left.

“
Nothing further, Your Honor,” I said and headed to my throne.

“
Counselors approach,” Defaria said.

My opponent and I approached the bench. Deborah stood far away from me as if I had a caution sign pasted on my forehead.

The judge asked, “Who else do you intend to call, Ms. Craig?”

“
I have a forensic handwriting specialist and Mr. Booz, the victim,” she said.

“
I have heard enough, Mr. Lemmelle to hold this over for trial. Calling them would add overkill. Do me a favor and advise your client to plea. Craig, can you rest your case.”

I had no objection. The old man was right.

* * *

I left the courtroom at 10:45 with mistake number two under my belt. My client was on my heels.

“
What just happened in there? I paid you $4,500 to get me off.” Mark had claimed.

I pressed the down elevator button. “You’re going to be paying a lot more to represent you in trial.”

“
More money! I ain’t rich.”

“
Then you need a new attorney.”

“
What!”

“
Mr. Fields, I have done my job. I warned you that you had zero chance to beat this at a preliminary hearing.” I was whispering. “Surveillance put you on the scene of the crime, visually. Little whirls on your finger tips put you at the crime scene, too. Let’s not forget the finger print analysis that solidifies you as the writer of the slips. And Lacy, despite her stupidity, recalled your charming award winning production to get the cash quite vividly. Must’ve made a good impression.”

“
You’re an asshole. So you want more money? What happened when the Judge called you to the bench?”

“
Doesn’t matter,” I said as the elevator door opened. We rode in silence to the lobby.

We exited in the lobby, and he said, “You have to get me out of this, Ravonne. I can’t go back to jail, man.”

“
You should have been thinking about that before you did the crime.”

“
Who said that I did?”

“
Right,” I said and frowned. “You better come up with a grand scheme to get yourself out of this. You’re in a tough situation.”

“
I hired you to come up with a scheme.”

“
Here’s the scheme. Let’s try this,” I said as we crossed 13th Street.

He followed me. Stayed close. “Bring me the exact amount that you stole in cash and I’ll play footsies with Amelia Pechmann to see if she’ll drop the charges for the cash. Throw in $500 for her troubles.”

I walked along Juniper Street and walked into the Juniper Street entrance to the Marriott Hotel. The bell hops and valet nodded at me. That was my normal routine as I headed back to the office from CJC. The valet knew me as an attorney.

“
And when should I have the money?”

“
That doesn’t matter if I don’t get a new G4 from Apple along with the cash.”

I was not above bribing a client.

“
What!” he yelled.

His voice echoed in the hotel lobby and all eyes were on us. He caught himself, and then whispered, “You’re trying to strong-arm rob me?”

“
The laptop costs about $1,200. I’m sure you can get your hands on one.” I winked. “It’s that or pay me a retainer to prepare for trial. And my magic tricks are costly, sir. Very!”

“
You’re a cold-blooded piece of work.”

I exited the hotel on the Market Street side, and then said, “Look, you’re not getting off. Raise Johnny Cochran from the dead and you would not get off. You can fire me and go with a PD to save you money, as no one can save you. Get me the money that you stole, an incentive for Amelia, and the laptop. This case can disappear. You get the last laugh. Everyone wins, and I keep my acquittal record.”

At the corner of 12th and Market Streets, I crossed the street and walked pass Sole Food (my hangout), and 50 yards away stood the Prudential building. I had stopped walking to let what I had told him sink in.

“
So what’s it going to be,” I asked and rocked on the heels of my Ferragamo’s with a dumb smile on my face that would have pissed me off had I received it.

I was in power, and planned to keep his cash, and give Amelia some money to not show up in court. He (and probably you, too) believed that I just tried to extort my client. I didn’t. I didn’t encourage him to break the law either. As far as I knew: see no evil and hear none.

“
I’ll call you when I get the shit man,” he said as if it pained him.

Could what I asked him have been that noxious? He was a penny-ante yegg who needed to pay his taxes to the street.

I collected.

CHAPTER 53

Explorer’s Den was an Uptown takeout spot with superstar popularity and a menu that surrounded the famous Philly cheesesteak sandwich. The shop also sold hoagies and pizza to the students of LaSalle University.

Aramis sat in a booth awaiting his pizza steak when he was approached by Rhonesia Cosby, reporter for the LaSalle U newspaper.

“
We meet again, Mr. Reed,” Rhonesia said, and held her hand out to shake his.

She wanted to feel his manicured hands.

“
That is I,” he confirmed. “And call me Aramis.”

“
Why’d you invite me here? We are competitors. In fact, I want your job. Besides look around, no one eats in.”

“
Right,” Aramis said sarcastically. “Very investigative. Hope you like pizza steak and cheese fries.”

“
I do, Mr. Reed, but I am not hungry. Thanks, though.”

“
Have it wrapped to go. It’s even better after it has sat for a moment. Aramis, for the second time.”

“
Right,” Rhonesia chuckled. “So what’s up? It’s kind of strange meeting a real journalist.”

“
How come?”

“
Well the journalism industry allows in a handful of newbies. The competition is like the NBA, but there’s no real bench.”

“
Sure there is. Freelancers like me.”

“
Aramis, I pulled a few of your articles from the Internet. They are better than the staff writers.”

“
But a paper can only use a certain number of staff writers. I have done good work, but I’ve yet to take the media by storm. You pulled my articles. Must’ve been interested,” he said and smiled.

“
Don’t flatter yourself. Just wanted to see if your work reflected your character.”

“
I’m okay, but enough about me. You’ve got to get some real credits under your belt and I am here to help you get credit number one.”

Rhonesia was an independent woman who was not impressed by the promises of a man. She had no idea what Aramis spoke of. “I need an ear for the campus scuttlebutt and thought you’d be willing to lend your ear,” he said as lunch arrived. He took a large bite out of the steak sandwich, stuffed a handful of cheesy fries into his mouth. He sipped a soft drink, and dabbed the cracks of his mouth with a napkin.

“
Excuse me. I’m famished.”

“
Uh, Aramis. I am going to be very straight forward.”

She looked him in the eyes and used him eating as her chance to do all the talking.

“
I can’t dig up dirt on Wydell. He’s getting stiffed, man.”

Aramis sipped his Pepsi.

“
Good, because that’s not what I want. See there was a keychain found at the scene of the crime, a LaSalle U key chain to be exact. Prints pulled from the keychain are not Wydell’s. I’m looking for information on anyone at school with an interest to frame Mr. James or a motive to kill three people.”

“
Oh, Rhonesia can do that easily. As a reporter around here, students are careful around me. But a few of the girls around, you know, the party chicks, they may prove to be worth more than a blow job.”

“
Do they still claim to be virgins?”

“
Yup.”

The two reporters chuckled. Aramis used the moment to alter his sandwich again.

“
Mr. Reed, how do I get a credit for that? Why should I trust you?”

“
Did I say credit? I meant byline. This is off the record. I have a leak in the defense. You don’t. Good enough?”

“
Byline in the
Philadelphia Inquirer
?” she asked and shook her head.

“
Yes, I will share the byline with you. Your name in the Philly lights.”

“
Just what I need. My name listed with yours. You better not be kidding,” she said and snatched one of his fries.

“
Is this a date?” he asked.

“
No!” Fire in her eyes.

“
Then keep your feet off my fries.” He chuckled.

“
I’ve been many things. I stopped kidding at ten. I studied journalism, got a masters at Harvard, but not even that prestigious U taught me how to dig up the real dirt. Do you...”

“
I can handle this, Aramis.”

She held up a hand.

“
I’ve been hustling around this campus. I know how to get things shook up.”

“
My kinda girl.” Aramis confirmed. “Here’s my card. Call me anytime, day or night if you get anything hot. I have night vision goggles and all.”

“
I like the way you think,” she said.

Rhonesia snatched up his business card and looked at it before stuffing it into her pocket. She stood and gripped up her sandwich.

“
Thanks for lunch, Aramis. I won’t let you down.”

Aramis watched Rhonesia walk out into Chew Avenue. She headed toward the heart of the campus. Hopefully Rhonesia obtained what was required to help elevate them both to stardom. Aramis had no idea if his witch hunt would lead anywhere, but until things were going somewhere, he would not tell Ravonne about his little meeting with the novice reporter. Besides Aramis would love to crack this case and so would the
Philadelphia Inquirer
. He planned to get into Rhonesia’s bed. He adored chasing stories, as well as, independent, demanding, feisty women like, Rhonesia Cosby.

CHAPTER 54

I had walked into my condo with Brandon at 4:30. Dajuan was startled. He looked at the clock and then back at me. He turned back to the piano and continued making a song as if I had not been there. Brandon waved and went to his room. At age five, he knew not to disturb Dajuan while he made a number one Billboard hit. Hopefully, he learned that hard work paid off handsomely.

I tossed my blazer onto the piano keys.

“
Wedding rings one day. No acknowledgement the next.”

“
It’s 4:30. You’re home and you picked up Brandon from Drama class. Two days of anything seems habitual, but I do not want to be deceived by you spoiling me coming home early. I am pretending that you are not home.”

He tossed the blazer and went back to the piano keys.

I straddled him and slipped my tongue into his mouth and we kissed passionately.

“
Still don’t see me?” I asked softly into his ear.

“
Nope.”

I slipped my hands down his pants and massaged his erection.

“
Still not here, I presume?”

“
You’re in the garage,” he said with his eyes closed. “You’re going to have to do a little more to be in the condo.”

“
Too bad,” I said and laughed. “I came home early because I’m going to the bar tonight,” I informed him walking into the kitchen. “I gotta go mingle with the ghetto folks to get a little info.”

“
Sounds like fun. I hope you come home drunk. At least a little,” he said and smiled. “You like to get rough when you’re drunk a little. I want you drunk, so that we can flip and flop all over the place.”

“
I’ll be sure to have a club soda all night just for you,” I joked.

I had every intention of getting drunk. Just kidding. I planned to be working, so no liquor. I would return home and pretend to be drunk for my lover, though.