Murder at the Stripclub by Lew Pit - HTML preview

Chapter 4

 

We began with Joe who had the surname of what could be regarded as the largest family in the country if you wish, Peeters, very comparable to Smith in the UK. There was not much he could tell us. He confirmed Mister Gentle’s story that they had left together the evening before around 3 am. Joe also told the detectives about the rumor going around concerning an affair between his boss and Rose, but couldn’t confirm that was indeed true or just a rumor. He believed more that Rose was involved with this woman, whom they had nicknamed Helga. He had seen them kissing in the car park once, nothing really passionate like what some of the girls allegedly had witnessed in the private lap dancing room, but more like a friendly peck. Maybe a bit more as it had been on the mouth, but hey women tended to do that regularly, even with their kids. Joe was released 10 minutes after he’d come into the interrogation room.

As George had already been interrogated, but Seiko and Jeff wanted to let him stew a bit longer before calling him back in to confront him with what they’d heard interrogating the different employees. So they called in Julia first.

“Julia, thanks for staying on, we understand that it must be difficult for you after what you saw yesterday. Have you been able to get some sleep?”

“Yes thank you, ma’am, the doctor gave me some pills for last night so I did get some sleep.”

“Excellent. Just for the record, what is your full name?”

“I had nothing to do with Rose’s death, I only had the misfortune to find her.”

“Please don’t worry, we do not think you had anything to do with the demise of poor Rose at the club, but to help us get a full picture of what was going on at the club and why Rose was attacked we need to interrogate everybody that works there and could shed some light on the circumstances and we do need their full name.”

“My name is Zacharsky, ma’am, Julia Zacharsky.”

“Thank you Mrs. Zacharsky.”

“Oh please keep calling me Julia, Mrs. Zacharsky was my mother.”

“If it can make you more comfortable Julia, you may call me Seiko.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Seiko.”

“Just Seiko will do dear, you see Julia, anything and everything, even the smallest detail, that you can give us could help solve this case and bring the person who committed this heinous crime to justice.”

Jeff also confirmed that Julia could call him Jeff if that made her feel more at ease.

“So Julia why don’t you start by telling us what you know about this rumor floating around of an affair between Rose and Mister Gentle?”

Julia all of a sudden looked rather nervous.

“Is anything wrong Julia?”

“No ma’am…euh Seiko, but I know nothing about an affair between mister Gentle and Rose.”

“Well we’ve been told that a rumor was floating around in the club, so we wondered if you had heard it too?”

“No, I heard nothing about such an affair, I’ve never seen Mister Gentle getting involved with any of the girls. I have heard about something going on between Rose and a female customer though.”

“Would you like to share with us what you heard?”

“I only heard that there was a female customer, called Helga, who regularly booked a private lap dance with Rose, something that almost never occurs. It’s always men or boys that pay for these services because they hope, that way, to be able to touch the girls.”

“So exactly what did you hear about this so-called Helga and Rose?”

“The rumor goes that Rose was kissing this woman passionately during a few of these lap dances, but I‘ve never seen it myself.”

“You never saw Rose being overly friendly with this woman?”

“No Seiko…maybe once, when I was on toilet duty and stayed until closing time I saw Rose leave together with a woman and get in her car, but it was dark, I’m not sure if it was the same woman she was giving lap dances to.”

“And that was the only time you saw something that might confirm this persistent rumor?”

“No come to think of it, one day, when I was leaving a bit before 2 pm after I cleaned, rather unusual for Rose, she arrived in a car, which was not her own.”

“No it was definitely not Rose’s car, she got out on the passenger side and I could see Rose’s car parked in the back.”

“And could you see who was driving that car, male or female?”

“I couldn’t see, the car had tinted side windows, and coming out I only saw the passenger side of the car from which Rose exited, I never saw the driver.”

“Did you notice what kind of car it was or the license plate?”

“It’s been a while and I didn’t pay that much attention, but I remember it was a rather small car.”

“A small car, do you have any idea about the make?”

“I’m sorry but I know absolutely nothing about cars, if you would ask my son, he’d probably be able to give you all detailed information, he loves cars and knows all about them.”

“So you have a son and how old is he?”

“Yes, my Toby he’s my pride and joy, he’s ten.”

“I didn’t hear you mention Toby’s dad?”

“I’m a widow, Toby’s dad died 5 years ago he was a victim of a hit-and-run car accident.”

“Did they ever find the driver?”

“No, they didn’t, and to be honest I don’t think they looked very hard. In my opinion, it was a person of influence, a politician maybe and I guess he pulled some strings.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Well it’s been 5 years now and I’ve come to terms with it, there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.”

“And then you are confronted with this horrible scene in the club.”

“Yes indeed, when I came in I had no idea what I saw until I switched on the lights, and even then I thought they had played some sort of a prank on me, it wouldn’t be the first time the girls try to scare me with something strange, especially during the Halloween period. One day they had put up a gigantic spiderweb with a huge spider in the middle, I almost got a heart attack when I ran into the web in the dark and it got even worse when I switched on the light and saw this gigantic spider, so I thought they did something similar until I came closer and saw that it was Rose. At first, I didn’t believe it was her, I thought they had put up a mannequin but when I took a closer look I saw it was indeed Rose.”

“And then you called the Emergency number 112.”

“Yes, I did.”

“And what happened then?”

“The person on the line told me to stay calm, go outside and wait for the police to arrive. She stayed on the line and kept reassuring me that everything would be fine, they arrived about 10 minutes later.”

“Was there anybody in the car park when you arrived in the morning?”

“No, it was completely deserted like it always is.”

“Did you see any signs of forced entry?”

“The gate was closed but not locked which struck me as strange but the back door was locked as usual, and all the lights were out.”

“Do you not go in via the front door?”

“No, I always use the service door in the back.”

“So you have no idea if the front door was open or forced?”

“No, I have no idea.”

“You went out the way you came in via the back door then?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you pass the front door when you go to the back?”

“Yes I do, but I didn’t pay much attention and can’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary.”

Seiko was checking the papers in front of her containing the report of the policemen who had arrived first on the scene. She couldn’t find anything about the front door being open, or locked or forced. So this confirmed Julia’s story.

“Is there anything else that you remember, anything out of the ordinary?”

“I’m afraid not Seiko, it’s still all one big blur.”

“Yes, I can imagine after what you saw. We thank you for coming here and having to relive this horrid scene, what you told us will certainly help us in our investigation. If there is anything that comes to your mind in the coming days, please don’t hesitate to contact us, even if it seems irrelevant to you at first sight.”

“Yes Seiko, if I remember anything I will contact you, can I go no? I need to pick up Toby at the babysitter, well maybe I shouldn’t speak of a babysitter anymore, Toby would strongly object as, since he turned 10, he now refers to himself as a teenager.“

“Yes, I can imagine he wouldn’t like that at his age, anyway, thanks again for your help Julia and if you need counseling, you know you can always rely on the services of victim assistance.”

“Yes, I know the ambulance driver gave me the phone number before taking off.”

“Excellent, and please take care of Toby.”

“I will Seiko, I will.”

After Julia had left, Seiko and Jeff stayed in the interrogation room to go over what they had learned so far and sound each other out on what they were thinking happened and who the murderer could be. Jeff was inclined to think that George Gentle had something to do with it, after all, there had been no forced entry into the building so the person or persons that got in must have had a key or had intricate knowledge of locks. Even the most complicated door lock is easy for a specialist to open. There was nothing in the reports that the locks of the front or backdoor had been forced or tampered with in anyway. Ok, both doors are locked in several places in the frame but when you picked the lock that would not pose a big problem.

From the initial interrogation on-site it was clear that only two people had keys. George Gentle had a key to the front and backdoor and Julia only had a key to the backdoor. The gate at the parking opened with a remote or by entering a security code on the pad at the gate itself. Julia had confirmed that there was nothing out of the ordinary when she arrived with her bicycle. The gate was closed and opened flawlessly after she had entered the code although she didn’t hear the click, which made her conclude the gate was not locked. There was no report of the alarm going off. It was a big mystery, they hoped that further interrogation of George Gentle would shed some light on the whole thing.

Both wanted to find out if there was anything to these rumors of George and Rose being romantically or sexually involved, something Seiko was not sure about. She wanted more to pursue the line of investigation into this mystery woman, Rose was allegedly involved with. She definitely wanted to grill George on this woman. After a good 15 minutes of letting George stew in the waiting room, they called him back in.

“Well mister Gentle, we have now interrogated your complete staff, but we still have a number of questions for you personally,” Seiko started.

“I have nothing to hide Miss Tashima, please feel free to ask me anything, I want this solved as much as you do. I want to see the murderer of Rose caught and brought to justice for this heinous deed, and please call me George, mister Gentle was my granddad.”

“OK George, can you please take us again over the night in question? You left at 3 am together with Joe?”

“Yes like we always do.”

“You went where?”

“Home, of course, I am usually dog tired and want to go to bed.”

“Is there anyone who can confirm that?”

“Euh no, except for my dog maybe, but I don’t think you speak dog do you?”

“This is serious George, so no witnesses?”

“Nope.”

“Now, tell us a bit more about your relationship with Rose.”

“Where would you like me to start?”

“From the beginning.”

“Do you mean from the day I met Rose for the first time?”

“That would be a good start yes.”

“OK, Rose has worked at the club for close to 15 years, and after all that time, she was still the star attraction. She started when she was 21, a few years after Apple. She sort of replaced Apple’s colleague and best friend at the time, Lisa, who retired shortly after Rose started. It is impossible to run a club with just one girl, Lisa had already indicated that she wanted to stop, so I was very happy when Rose came to audition. I hired her immediately, and it proved she was the right girl for the job as she very quickly became the most wanted performer. ”

“You employed Rose 15 years ago to replace this Lisa, but you only opened the club 15 years ago how does this work.”

“Oh but I had another club before this one, I’ve been in this business for at least 25 years.”

“OK, but how did the arrival of Rose affect Apple, wasn’t she supposed to become the number one girl after Lisa retired?”

“No, not really, Apple never had that ambition, and sorry to say not the capabilities to be the number one, she is good but in her own little way. I’m sure she can get a number of cocks to rise when she does her routines, but not the way Rose could.”

“Unlike everybody else we interviewed, you keep referring to Rose in the past tense.”

“Of course, Rose is no longer among us.”

“That’s true, but usually people keep referring to a deceased person in the present rather than in the past tense, especially after it just happened,” Baines replied.

“What are you insinuating Detective Baines? That I had something to do with Rose’s death?”

“No, no George, it just strikes me as odd and gives us the impression you know something more, that you’re not willing to share with us.”

“I have no secrets, and I don’t see the connection between me knowing something more and referring to Rose in the past tense.”

“It was brought to our attention that you might be romantically involved with Rose.”

“Oh my God no, THAT stupid rumor.”

“Yes, George that rumor.”

“Well that is the correct term for it, rumor, and that’s all it is, I don’t have and never have been in any sort of romantic relationship with Rose or any of the girls that work for me.”

“Going by the photos in the box at the entry door she was a gorgeous woman and as many stated she could make men go crazy over her.”

“Yes she did, but she was not really interested in men.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rose was 100% lesbian, the girls must have told you that.”

“Nobody said it so firmly, there were hints that Rose might have been bi, and there was even mention of a potential relationship with one of the female customers.”

“You mean Helga?”

“Who is Helga?” Tashima asked innocently trying to get some more information from George on the subject.

“I don’t think that the name of the woman you’re referring to is indeed Helga, it was a nickname given by the other girls to her.”

“Do you know what her real name is?”

“I don’t really know, I’ll have to check if she ever paid her bill with a credit card.”

“Could it be Dita Van Gall?”

“If you have a name, why do you ask me?”

“We are not sure, it was something one of the witnesses mentioned.”

“And you think that I know more and am not willing to share this information with you?”

“No, certainly not George, we just go by what we hear and try to get confirmation from someone else.”

“Well, I’m not very pleased with the way you work, are you insinuating I had anything to do with Rose’s death? That I killed her out of jealousy maybe, bringing up this alleged relationship I would have had with her?”

“No, no certainly not George, but you must admit that given the circumstances, you could have done it.”

“Explain yourself.”

“There is the fact of no forced entry in the club and you have no alibi to speak off.”

“As I said, ask my dog.”

“George!”

“Yes sorry, I get it, no jokes.”

“Then there is Julia, you were very concerned about her welfare when you arrived at the scene, in fact, she was the first person you wanted to see when you arrived.”

“Yes Julia is very dear to me and I was concerned about her finding this horrible scene all by herself.”

“Is there more going on between you and Julia?”

“What do you mean by more going on?”

“Are you in a relationship?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss this.”

“So we guess you are, why don’t you want to discuss this? If you were together with Julia that night we can remove you from our list of suspects.”

“Can I count on your discretion?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can this be treated as confidential, or is this going to be in one or other report which can be looked at by outsiders?”

“Why is there something going on that can not see the light of day, George?”

“It’s not so much the light of day than Julia’s family.”

“What about Julia’s family?”

“Well you know she’s Polish and she’s a widow and the family is very religious.”

“And?”

“Julia is not supposed to have something with another man.”

“You mean that she is supposed to remain celibate for the rest of her life?”

“Yes, according to the family.”

“And I guess she’s not, she is in a relationship with you?”

“Again, I’m not at liberty to confirm this.”

“Come on George, do you want to risk going to jail or being convicted of murder because the family of your friend are a bunch of religious zealots?”

“Please just confirm that what we discuss here is confidential or not.”

Tashima looked at Baines and I saw Baines nod his head in confirmation.

“OK, George what you tell us will remain confidential, as long as it doesn’t interfere with our investigation, so are you involved with Julia?”

“If you must absolutely know yes, we are a couple, and have been for several years, but no one knows at the club or in her family.”

“That’s probably why, at the club, the rumor about you and Rose started?”

“Yes, and it was convenient as it took the attention of my relationship with Julia away.”

“And what did Rose have to say about it?”

“She never confirmed nor denied, probably for her own reasons, I have no idea. What I do know is that Rose was thick as thieves with Peach until Maya showed up, then Rose’s attention pivoted more towards her.”

“We know, and I guess everybody at the club knows that Peach is lesbian and still they thought that Rose had an affair with you?”

“I’m not so sure that everybody knows, they never acted as if they were lesbian lovers, everyone thought they were just good friends. Besides who would think that a woman, dedicated to seducing men, is lesbian?”

“Yes you may be right there, but then Rose’s so-called friendship moved from Peach to Maya? Did that not raise any brows?”

“It didn’t exactly change, Maya was taken into the folds of the friendship.”

“Did that create any tension between the ladies?”

“You mean like were they jealous?”

“Yes, jealousy can lead to violent reactions.”

“I never saw anything that would lead me to believe there was jealousy between them.”

“So you don’t think Peach nor Maya would harm Rose?”

“No, I never heard any argument among them, on the contrary, those 3 were almost inseparable.”

“Should I ask Peach and Maya about their relationship?”

“Hey you’re the detective, but I think it would be a waste of your time, besides I don’t think that any of these girls could be physically capable of doing to Rose what the killer did.”

“OK, I’ll think about it, but coming back to you and Julia will she confirm you spent the night with her?”

“Only if you can convince her that it will remain confidential and not go to her family.”

“It must be difficult to keep this relationship a secret from the staff and Julia’s family?”

“Yes, the family thing is the big dark cloud that hangs over us keeping us from being completely happy. I’ve asked Julia many times to make it official and get married, but she’s too afraid her family will reject her.”

“The staff wouldn’t object?”

“Absolutely not I’m convinced of that, they’re all very open-minded, they would probably cheer and compete to be Julia’s bride’s maid.”

“But if Julia’s family is so religious and opposed to her getting involved with another man, what about their reaction to her working at a strip club?”

“Oh they know nothing about that either, they think she still works for the agency, cleaning homes of old ladies.”

“I see, so no relationship with Rose, but the one with Julia, seems equally difficult?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“Now coming back to this mystery woman, Rose was supposedly involved with, Dita Van Gall, if that is indeed her real name, what can you tell us about her?”

“She would definitely fit the profile of this Helga from the SS movies, aside from the hair color which is black and short and having smaller boobs than the actress, she’s tall, manly, in short, what you would imagine a dyke to look like.”

“Does she come many times to the club?”

“Yes, at least a couple of times per week.”

“Is she always alone?”

“Come to think of it in the beginning she came together with a man, but after a few times they showed up separately.”

“So did they both come regularly?”

“The woman yes, the guy I’m not sure.”

“Did both of them order private lap dances?”

“I don’t always see who is going to the private dance room with whom unless it happens frequently like with this woman, to know for sure, you better ask the girls.”

“OK we’ll do, is there anything in particular that you can tell us about the man who accompanied this woman in the beginning, what did he look like, how old do you estimate him, was he a regular when he came alone?”

“Again I’m not sure, you better ask Joe, he sees everyone when they come in and pay the entry fee, he can give you an idea of how often he came and what he looks like, Joe’s got a formidable memory when it comes to faces.

“Is Joe still here?”

“No, I think you sent him home after talking to him.”

“OK, we’ll call him in again then.”

“Yeah, it’s not as if he’s got lots to do for a while, how long do you think the club will have to remain closed?”

“That could be several days if not weeks, we’ll try to give you access as quickly as possible, but we’re dependent on forensics, we can also put you in touch with a specialized company, familiar with cleaning up murder scenes and I think there will be a lot of cleaning up to do, and we guess you don’t want Julia to do that, it would only add to the trauma she experienced finding Rose in that state.”

“Is there anything else you need me for?”

“No, not for the moment, why do you need to be somewhere?”

“If you must know yes, I don’t like to leave Julia alone too long, she is still in shock.”

“Yes we can imagine, but again if Julia’s family nor the people at the club do not know about your relationship with her how do you keep it a secret as you seem to live together?”

“We each have our own place, it happens to be in the same building, on the same floor even, so that’s not a big problem. I own both apartments and we have a connecting door.”

“And when Julia’s family comes to visit her don’t they ask questions about that door?”

“No, because they don’t see it.”

“What do you mean they don’t see it, are they blind or something?”

“No, it’s hidden, it’s like in one of these old castles in the bottom of a cupboard, and Julia’s son just loves it.”

“And he won’t tell anyone?”

“Absolutely not, we told him that when he spills the beans to anyone about it, the next time he goes through it he will be abducted by an evil spirit and turned into a donkey like in the story of Pinocchio when he and his friends went to Pleasure Island. That happens to be his favorite story and he believes every word of it, so I guess we’re pretty safe for now, and when he grows older and understands better about the predicament his mom is in he will also stay silent as he loves her so much and already regards me as his father, he was only 5 when his real dad died.”

“Ok George, I think that was about it unless you have any idea who could have committed this heinous crime?”

“I’m afraid not, as I said all the girls have loads of fans, some a bit fiercer fans than others, but I can’t think of anyone visiting the club who would want to kill any of them. Maybe you can look into this Dita person, or whatever her name is, maybe she was jealous of Rose’s relationship with Peach and Maya, she looked strong enough to kill Rose the way she was killed.”

“Believe me George we will, but first I would like to have another chat with Joe, can you ask him to come by again tomorrow morning or shall I?”

“No, no, don’t worry I’ll see him anyway, I’ll ask him, is 10 OK for you?”

“Yes, 10 will be fine.