Dead End pt. 3

Part Three of the series

Los Angeles Superior Courthouse Present Day 

A middle aged Darius sits beside his client which is the defendant. On the other table the female plaintiff cries and wipes her with tissues. It’s now the plaintiff’s lawyer’s turn to talk. He stands up and faces Judge Jefferson. “Your honour it’s clearly evident that the defendant has a criminal record which states what he’s capable of” says the lawyer of the plaintiff. “It doesn’t matter what the defendant is capable of counselor or what he knows for but it matters on if you have any proof or not” replied Judge Jefferson. Darius stands up. “Your honour let me state that my client is well insured from the passing of his mother and may we consider that the plaintiff could be using this as a scam for their own benefit” blurted out Darius. “Objection, what does that have to do with anything” asked the lawyer of the plaintiff. “What it has to do with is the fact that if she wins this case then my client will be fined which would make her financial stable” explained Darius. The jury talks loudly and so do the viewers. The judge slams down his gavel and yells “Order”! Darius stands back up and looks back up at the judge.“Bottom line your honour there is no physical evidence that my client was with the plaintiff that night nor any physical evidence of contact” says Darius. He opens the folder on the table and pulls out two pieces of paper. “What I have here your honour is a police report and restraining order that states our own evidence that the plaintiff has been harassing my client” said Darius. The bailiff walks up to Darius and takes the two pieces of paper and hands them to the judge. Judge Jefferson looks at both of them and reads through. The plaintiff now cries heavily. The judge hands the papers back to the bailiff. “Well Counselor Johnson and Mr. Andrews I have no choice but to dismiss the case and any pending charges, court is now dismissed” says Judge Jefferson. He picks the gavel up again and slams it down. The plaintiff and her lawyer walk out the room first. Everybody gets up and begins to exit. Darius and his client shake hands. Darius picks his suit case up from the floor and places it on the table and puts his folder and all of his files in his suit case and closes it shut. When gets out of the courthouse the media and reporters follow him outside. “Mr. Johnson what do you have to say about your victory” asked reporter #1. “It feels positively reasonable” answers Darius. “Is your client really guilty” asked reporter #2. “No comment” replied Darius. “If you were to end the case in any other way what would you do” asked reporter #3. “It’s too much of a simple case to end it in any other because like they say it is what it is” says Darius. Two people in the crowd of the media take pictures and make flashes. “Now ladies and gentle I really have to get home, no more questions please” told by Darius. He walks away

and goes into the parking lot and gets in his car which is a black Nissan Ultima and drives away. He drives into a suburban neighborhood and parks in a drive way. He gets out and carries his suit case and opens the door of the house and walks in. “Anybody still here” asked Darius out loud. “We’re down here” answered two younger girls in the basement. He walks to the basement door on the right side of the living room and opens it and walks down the stairs. “What are y’all down doin’ down here” asked Darius. “You never took us down here, it’s nice” replied one of the girls. “Do you have a ride home” asked Darius. “No” they both answered at the same time. “I’ll guy you two a cab” said Darius. They both walk upstairs. “I’ll call y’all tomorrow” shouted Darius. “Okay” they shouted back. In the basement Darius sees a black book sticking out the shelf. He walks up to it and takes it out of the shelf and opens it. He flips to the first page of the book and sees a picture of his parents sitting together in church and smiles. The phone rings upstairs in the living room. Darius puts the photo album back in the shelf and walks upstairs to the living room. He picks up the phone and answers it. “Hello” asks Darius. On the other line is his client Mr. Andrews. “Hello Mr. Johnson, can I talk to you for minute” asks Mr. Andrews. “Sure Lucas” replied Darius. “I need a favor from you” says Lucas. “What is it” asks Darius. “First I would like to thank you for getting me off today but I have this friend named Chris who can use your help” explained Lucas. “What did he do” asks Darius. “He got into some trouble in New York; you know weapon possession, assault and battery” replied Lucas. “If that was in New York then what’s he doing in L.A.” asks Darius. “He took a flight up here to get away from the heat but he knows eventually he might get caught which means he needs a lawyer just in case and his flight lands tomorrow” says Lucas. “Have him meet me the day after tomorrow” ordered Darius. In the lounge room of the bureau Danny sits at the eating table next to a fellow agent. “Hey Dan, what was your first job before this one” asks the agent. “I was a LAPD officer” replied Danny. “What was that like” asks the agent. “It was a regular police job up until this one night when my partner and I did a routine traffic stop” said Danny. “What happened” asked the agent. A LAPD squad car pulls over a red custom made BMW E35 AVM. Danny and his partner get out of the squad car and flash lights into the car they pulled over. Danny walks up to the passenger seat and his partner walks up to the driver’s seat and knocks on the window. The driver is an African American male teenager with corn rows. He reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out only his driver’s license and hands it to Danny’s partner. Danny walks around the car and his partner gives him the driver’s license. Danny goes back into the squad car and looks it up on the computer. Then Danny looks up and sees the teenager on his knees with his hands behind his head. Danny’s partner sees a piece of black leather through the cracks of the teenager’s fingers and grabs him by the hood of his sweat shirt and slams him to the pavement and whips his pistol out of his holster. Danny sees a black leather wallet and a folded piece of paper on the ground next to it. His partner points his pistol at the teenager’s head. Danny takes out his pistol and yells out “What are you doing”! His partner looks up at him and aims his pistol him. Danny lowers his pistol and fires one shot into his partner’s right leg. The teenager jumps up in a startled reaction while as he falls to the ground. Danny’s partner lies on the ground holding his left hand against his right leg. Danny runs up towards the teenager’s direction and bends down and picks up the black leather wallet and paper. Danny’s partner lifts his head up and aims his pistol at Danny’s head. The teenager screams “Watch out”! Danny turns around and fires a shot into his partner’s upper torso. His head and arm drop down and blood oozes out of his right leg and chest as he lies there dying. Danny unfolds the piece of paper which turns out to be the registration of the car. Back in the lounge room Danny pulls out a pack of cigarettes. “What happened afterwards” asked the agent. “On the dashboard of the squad car there was a camera that recorded the whole thing and the kid we pulled over testified in court as a witness” explained Danny. “What happened to the kid afterwards” asked the agent. “I let him off with a warning” laughed Danny. “Man, that’s crazy” replied the agent. “I didn’t want to shoot my own partner but it was either him or a kid who couldn’t defend himself” says Danny. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was in that situation” commented the agent. “Well sometimes we all get into situations when we look back and say I would of done this or I would of changed what I already did if I could but at the

same during those moments like that we hit a dead end and just react” described Danny. “What happened to you partner after you shot him” asked the agent. “He was rushed to the hospital and bled to death on the way there” replied Danny. “So nothing happened to you” asked the agent. “No, because they looked at it as my doing an act of police brutality and if he would actually have shot the kid it would be another case of racial profiling when the kid had no weapons in the first place and the city of L.A. didn’t want to have another one of those on their hands” answered Danny. “Well, if I asked any other agent in the bureau what their former jobs were I would get a security guard, school teacher, or maybe even a job at MacDonald’s when they were a kid or something but I think I might like yours the best” says the agent. Danny takes a cigarette out of the pack and puts it in his mouth and pulls out a lighter. Two days later Darius and Lucas are standing in the lobby of the airport and look at the passengers exiting the plane. As all the passengers enter inside the building they look around for Chris in the line of passengers. In front of the line is a light skinned black man wearing a black leather coat. Lucas points at him. “That’s him, hey Chris” yelled out Lucas. Chris walks up to them. “This is the man I been telling you about” says Lucas. Darius holds out his hand. “I’m district attorney Johnson” greeted Darius. He and Chris shake hands. “Let’s go to my place” says Lucas. Darius, Lucas, and Chris sit in a small apartment with clothes all over the floor and empty beer bottles. Lucas and Chris sit next to each other on the couch and Darius sits across from them on a sofa. “Now I know what you said about assault and possession but if you want me to represent you then you have to tell me the full story” says Darius. “I was walking down the street in Queens and I go into this corner store” replied Chris. He visualizes it as he tells it. In that corner store he kicks the door open and pulls out a silver Colt pistol and draws it at the store clerk. He jumps over the counter and grabs the clerk by the collar and points into the clerk’s direction a button under the counter. The clerk reaches under the counter and pushes the button. Behind the clerk’s foot a piece of the floor board opens up and a set of stairs going downward appears. Chris bashes the clerk in the back of the head with his pistol and walks down the stairs. When he makes it to the bottom of the stairs he sees two men sitting at a table with a pile of scattered cash and a revolver on the right side of the table. Chris aims his gun at them. They both look at him and the man sitting on the right side of the table reaches for the revolver. Chris immediately shoots in the chest and stomach. The man falls back in his chair down to the floor. The other man gets up and runs. Chris shoots him in the back and walks up to him and shoots him in the back of the neck. Blood splatters on the cash. Chris turns around and grabs dollar bills off the table and stuffs it in his pocket. NYPD squad cars pull up outside with their sirens flashing. Chris looks around for and exit and sees a door with a chain and lock around it. Chris shoots the chain and lock and kicks the door open. He runs out the door into an alley with a dumpster and tucks the gun into the back of his pants. The memory fades out. “So you mean murder and robbery instead of assault and possession” asked Darius. “From what Chris and I discussed we came up with a story that you can tell the court” says Lucas. “Which is” asked Darius. Chris leans forward. “I went into that store as a vigilante to stop those pushers and I shot them in self-defense because they pulled a gun out on me first” explained Chris. “What about when you held up that clerk, isn’t that just armed robbery within itself” asked Darius. “If we mention that clerk was in on it with that kind of thing going on in his store then he’s guilty too” replied Chris. “I’ll try but there’s no guarantee the jury is going to buy that” recommended Darius. “Then you’ll have to make them” says Chris. He reaches into his pocket and tosses a bank roll of cash onto Darius’ lap with a rubber band wrapped around it. Danny sits in his office on his computer looking at captured suspects. Darius lies in his bed while a woman sits on the other side of the bed putting high heels on her feet. “You getting ready to leave” asked Darius. “Yeah” replied the woman. “I have this new client from New York and I have to convince the jury that it was self-defense from him taking the law into his own hands” complained Darius. The woman counts a fifty dollar bill followed up with twenty dollar bills in her hands and gets up. “I might not like the guy but it’s a favor for a friend” says Darius. The woman walks towards the door she sighs and whispers “good night Darius” under her breathe. Back in Danny’s office he updates the profile photo of Juan Hernandez as deceased. Then he

logs out into a blank computer screen and opens the drawer of the desk and takes out a 9mm pistol and loads in the clip and puts it in his holster. Back in Darius’ room he leans towards the night stand and grabs a cigar. Right before he puts it in his mouth he sees the woman’s purse on the floor and giggles. She comes back in the room and picks it up. “I guess I should be thankful because it pays my bills including you” commented Darius. She straps her purse around her shoulder and throws up her middle finger at Darius and leaves the room again. Darius gets out of the bed and lights his cigar and smokes it while he walks up to the front window of the bedroom. He looks outside of it and sees her getting into the back seat of a taxi cab. In Danny’s office he gets up and pushes his chair into his desk and looks out of the window at a scaffolding and the metropolis of the city. Chris and Lucas sit at a bar counter next to each other. “I’m telling you man, he’s good and he’ll help you through this” suggested Lucas. “When he won your case what was it about” asked Chris. “My ex-girlfriend kept harassing me and she would lie and tell people I would abuse her and that I’m associated with a bunch of criminals” replied Lucas. “Is all that true” asked Chris. “I wouldn’t abuse her but I have to say that I got my hands dirty a few times but it’s not like I could afford a lawyer like Darius with a normal job anyway” admitted Lucas. “I know how that is” mumbled Chris. “Do you regret what you do back in Queens” asked Lucas. “Well besides me just needing the money I had beef with that whole crew because they snitched on one of my friends to keep the cops off their back and who’s to say if I was next” explained Chris. The bartender gives them each a full shot glass. “Here’s to our friend attorney Johnson” says Lucas. They both hold their glasses up and make a toast. Santa Monica, California At a jewelry store Lucas and his girlfriend walk in the front entrance and look around at all the merchandise.  Lucas whispers into her ear “This place will do”.  They separate and she walks up to store counter and asks the employee “Are you guys hiring”?  Lucas walks around the store and scopes out all the jewelry.  Later on in the evening of that day two men wearing black ski masks walk around the same jewelry store that is closed.  They pick the lock of the back door and break in.  When they get inside, they run through the storage room and go into the front floor of the store.  The alarm sounds off and they both turn flashlights on and smash open the glass of the showcase displays and snatch chains and necklaces quickly into a duffel bag. Then they run out the same way they came back in and bump into one of the boxes on the storage shelves and knock it down.  The box breaks open and a few cullinan diamonds fall out of it.  They both turn around and put them in the duffel bag.  In addition, run out the back door.  When they get outside a black Ford truck pulls up and they get in the backseat and drive off.  Lucas’ girlfriend is the driver.  Both robbers take their masks off and the one sitting on the left in the backseat is Lucas who is also carrying the duffel bag. “Good job baby” Lucas says to her.  “How should we split this” asks Lucas’ partner.  Lucas looks at him, opens his side of the door, and shoves him out the car.  He rolls in the middle of the street and the following cars in traffic nearly run him over.  Lucas and his girlfriend both laugh.  The next day Lucas and his girlfriend sit on a motel bed next to the duffel bag.  “The best part is when you pushed him out the truck, but really how did you want to split this between us” she asks him.  Lucas stands up off the bed and grabs the duffel bag. “Baby look, you could have showed up a little earlier with the truck” he says.  “What do you mean” she asks. “You didn’t do a horrible job or anything but it was a risk of me getting busted” he replies.  He walks out the door with the duffel bag.  The bartender serves Chris another drink.  “Ever since then she won’t let it go and she started all this” says Lucas.