Murder at the Stripclub by Lew Pit - HTML preview

Chapter 5

 

After George had left, despite the fact that it was already well past 7 pm Seiko continued to work. After all this was the first murder case she was investigating on her own, well except for the bit of help from Jeff of course, and she absolutely wanted to make a good impression on her commanding officers. So she was trying to find out more about this Dita Van Gall or Helga person, whom everybody had mentioned during the interviews. The results were strange, to say the least. The only person she could find with that name was a 96-year-old woman who lived in a retirement home in the neighboring village. She intended to visit the retirement home the next afternoon after her talk with Joe.

Joe as always very punctual arrived at the police station at 5 minutes to ten for his second interview with whom he referred to as a cute oriental cookie. After waiting a few minutes, Joe’s cute oriental cookie herself came to fetch him.

“Good morning Joe, thanks for taking the time to come back, I’ll make this as easy and quick as I can for you.”

“Thank you ma’am I’d appreciate it,” Joe replied politely.

“Please take a seat, you remember we record these sessions?”

“Yes, ma’am, you told me the last time.”

“Excellent, now your boss Mister Gentle told me you see every person that comes into the club?”

“Yes ma’am, I do, nobody gets in without my approval, we don’t want any troublemakers or drunk people harassing the girls.”

“Oh, please Joe you can address me as Seiko, it makes it maybe a bit more friendly.”

“Yes ma…Seiko, thank you,” Joe replied trying to suppress a smile.

“Excellent Joe, now we are looking to find out a bit more about a man that came together with this woman, everyone seems to refer to as Helga, what can you tell me about him, do you know his name?”

“I have no idea about his name Seiko, if they look old enough I don’t ask for an ID, I just want to make sure they’re not intoxicated and collect the entry fee.”

“Your boss said you have an excellent memory for faces, can you describe this person?”

“Absolutely, he was kind of special, rather tall, muscular, I’m sure he’s a regular at one or other gym, black short hair, sort of Mediterranean look, he could be Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or Greek, although come to think about it, he could well play a part in a movie about the mafia so I lean more towards Italian.”

“What was he wearing?”

“There I would definitely make him Italian, he always wore very nicely tailored pinstripe suits, although you would think they were a size too small, which could of course be due to his muscular figure, Pinkish shirt, some might call it salmon, you know salmon colored. His ties were awful, always in a clashing color with his shirts.”

“Was he friendly or hostile?”

“I can’t say he was hostile, a bit aloof maybe, but not overly, as if he wanted to keep his distance.”

“We heard that in the beginning he was accompanied by this woman Helga.”

“Yes, he was but maximum 3 times, when they came back out after their third visit the woman was clearly upset and when they walked towards their car they even started shouting at each other, I even think I heard a slapping sound.”

“Could you hear anything of what they were saying, what the argument was about?”

“Not really what I can say is that it sounded foreign, that’s why I think he is Italian it sounded a bit melodious like Italian, although there was one word I perfectly understood and that was the word puttana.”

“So did he call Helga a whore?”

“If that’s what the word means and although they were already a distance away, that’s what I made of it, I could be wrong of course, but after I heard about the private dances that Rose gave that woman, I was more convinced I heard right. Definitely, after I saw those two kissing a few weeks later.”

“Was that after Helga came alone?”

“Yes, that was another thing I found strange, first they show up as a couple a number of times and then they come separately on different days.”

“Did Helga come in a different car than when they came together or did she come by taxi?”

“No, she came in a sporty version of a Mini, when they came together they came in a big Beamer.”

“Was there anything else that you saw?”

“Yes come to think of it, two days before Rose was killed, Helga and Rose came out in the parking also arguing, I heard something that sounded like Peach and traditore, and after a while, I saw the Helga woman slap Rose in the face, after which Rose came running back in tears. I wanted to stop her to ask what was wrong or if there was anything I could do but she ignored me completely and went straight inside.”

“So were they actually fighting? And this Helga called Rose a traitor.”

"Oh, is that what that word means? How come you know the meaning of all these Italian words, if you don’t mind asking you?”

“I don’t mind, I learned some Italian because I would like to go on vacation there, but tell me more."

“So, no I wouldn’t call it a fight, it was one-sided, after the skirmish the Helga woman got in her car, and I heard her slam the door vigorously, she was clearly very upset about something involving Peach I guess.”

“You said this happened two days before Rose’s death, did anything else happen afterward?”

“No, I didn’t see either of the two after that incident.”

“So neither of them came back after the argument between Rose and the woman?”

“No.”

“Is there anything else you think of which could help us in our investigation?”

“I think I told you everything I saw, I have no idea what goes on inside of course.”

“OK, we thank you Joe for coming back.”

“My pleasure Seiko, I sure hope you find who killed poor Rose, she was a swell broad, always cheerful and friendly, and from what I heard well-liked by the punters.”

“Yes, we heard that too, according to mister Gentle, she was the number one performer, we thank you for telling us what you have seen and heard, it has helped us a lot.”

Joe got up, clearly still a bit emotional after giving his side of the story. It was clear he felt a bit responsible for not having been able to help Rose in her hour of need. Seiko was now ready to visit this 96-year-old Dita Van Gall she found on the internet who resided in a retirement home.

 

Arriving at the retirement home in question she went straight to the reception desk. There was no one there but a sign informed her that when no one was available she needed to press the bell to summon help, which she immediately did. A short while later somebody showed up and asked how she could help her.

“I’m here to visit with one of your patients’ madam,” Seiko told the stern-looking lady in a nurse’s uniform who had shown up.

“We don’t refer to the people who stay with us as patients madam, but as residents.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” Seiko replied while showing her badge.

“You’re a policewoman?” The nurse inquired.

“Detective Seiko Tashima actually,” Seiko continued, “You see miss…” leaving it, open for the nurse to volunteer her name.

“Mrs. Braxton,” she replied after a bit of hesitation.

“You see Mrs. Braxton, I’m looking for one of your residents Mrs. or Miss Dita Van Gall.”

“What do you want with our Dita, has she done anything wrong?”

“No, no, well we don’t think so but her name came up in a murder investigation.”

“Murder investigation? I don’t see what Dita has to do with a murder investigation.”

“Why is that?”

“Our dear Dita has advanced dementia, she doesn’t know or recognize anybody anymore.”

“I see, so yes I guess she might not be able to help us, but maybe you can.”

“Me, I know nothing of a murder, how in heaven’s name can I help in a murder investigation?”

“Maybe you can tell us a bit about Dita?”

“I don’t see why, Dita has been with us for 5 years now, and over those 5 years she has slowly left us mentally, nowadays she even has a problem communicating, so why do you think she or I can help you in this investigation?”

It became clear to Seiko that this nurse was not going to give her access to Dita to see if she can find out how the name Dita Van Gall came up in the investigation. So she changed her strategy.

“Mrs. Braxton, maybe you can help us, for instance, does Dita get any visitors maybe?”

“There is someone who visits her regularly yes.”

“And would you mind sharing a little bit more information about this person?”

“I’m not sure I’m at liberty to share any information with you, I don’t want to end up in jail, and neither do I want that for our dear Dita.”

“Please rest assured I’m not here to put you or Dita in jail, Mrs. Braxton, we only want to find out why the name of Dita is used by a person who, according to our findings is a lot younger. You see when I ran Dita’s name through the computer, she seemed to be the only one with that name, who is still alive. So we are trying to find out who might be using Dita’s name and why.”

“I see,” Braxton replied still not very willing to cooperate, Seiko needed more arguments to convince her to share information.

“By using Dita’s name we think that one of the suspects in this murder case is trying to hide her real identity, so maybe the person visiting Dita regularly could shed some light on that.”

“OK, I see your point, the person who visits Dita regularly is her granddaughter Kelly.”

“Is she the only person who visits her?”

“Yes…no, sometimes Kelly is accompanied by a man, I think a boyfriend or husband.”

“Great, now can you describe the granddaughter?”

“Do you mean, what she looks like?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“OK, she’s tall, there is a resemblance to Dita, you can see they’re related, she’s got short black hair, in fact, she looks rather manly.”

“What do you mean, she looks manly?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me that the granddaughter is rooting for the other side, despite being accompanied by a man.”

“You think she’s gay?”

“Yes, lesbian it’s called I guess?”

“Indeed, and what does the man who sometimes accompanies her look like?”

“I would say he looks Mediterranean, Italian I think, I sometimes hear them talk in something that sounds like Italian.”

“Does Dita have Italian roots?”

“No definitely not born and bred in Belgium as far as I know.”

“OK, one final question do you know the family name of Kelly?”

“Yes, Fairfield, Kelly Fairfield.”

“And the man who accompanies her?”

“No, I’m afraid I have no idea, as he is not a regular visitor he’s not registered.”

“You have a register for regular visitors?”

“Yes, especially the ones visiting residents in the closed dementia section.”

“And you didn’t register the man who came together with Kelly?”

“No, when a registered person is accompanied by someone, we presume they both know the resident and are trustworthy.”

“One final question, aside from the name do you have an address of a registered person?”

“I’m afraid not, that would be a breach of privacy.”

“Yes you are right, and you don’t want to break the law now do you?”

“No of course not.”

“Ok thank you very much, Mrs. Braxton, you’ve been very helpful.”

“Do you want to see Dita?”

“If it’s not too disturbing, I know that people with dementia always have a problem meeting strangers.”

“Oh, how do you know that detective Tashima?”

“My mother also has dementia, still in an early stage but it’s getting worse rapidly, so I know all about how to deal with people suffering from this awful disease.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that detective, it is indeed an awful disease as you say, but a lot depends on the person, our Dita is a very calm and friendly lady, so if you would like to see her, she might even enjoy a visit.”

“Ok, if you think it’s OK.”

“Yes, one thing, as I already mentioned, communication is extremely difficult, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from that, just say hello, and don’t ask any questions, that could upset her.”

Seiko followed the nurse inside the closed section of the demented residents. After going through the door Seiko looked back and noticed that the inside of the door didn’t actually look like a door. Nurse Braxton explained that they had found out that by decorating the door and making it look like a window the residents were much calmer. Before they did that, they regularly had residents trying to get out, not that they could if they didn’t enter the code to open the door but it was very upsetting for them. They even painted some famous local cartoon characters (Suske en Wiske, Spike, and Suzy in the British version, Willy and Wanda in the American version) looking out of the window regularly bringing a smile to the resident’s faces.

When Seiko entered Dita’s room she saw the old lady sitting calmly staring in front of her, not even paying attention to who came into the room.

“Hello Dita,” nurse Braxton said.

Dita turned her head toward the nurse but said nothing, no sign of recognition, although she must see the nurse several times per day, almost every day.

“How are we feeling today dear?” the nurse tried again.

Still nothing. Nurse Braxton turned to Seiko and said, “it’s awful isn’t it, when she came here some 5 years ago she was still participating in all the activities, she loved our afternoon dances every week, she was doing needlepoint, you see the beautiful cross stitch things she made on the wall, they are like paintings, so detailed. I absolutely love the one of the white rose she made, that was, unfortunately, the last one she finished, the next one she started lies unfinished in the cupboard. It went very fast. Her granddaughter Kelly had them framed every time she finished one.

“So nobody else comes to visit her?”

“No, her husband died years ago, we never met him, and her son and daughter-in-law, Kelly’s parents, were killed in a car crash some 3 years ago, so Kelly is the only one left of her family.”

“It’s sad isn’t it, if something happens to me, my mom won’t have anybody left anymore to visit her either.”

“Does she still recognize you?”

“Yes, I always tell her who I am, and then sometimes I do see a flicker in her eyes, it’s especially difficult when its’ been a week since my last visit.”

“So you can see that Dita cannot help you in your investigation.”

“Thanks for allowing me to visit her, I hope that her granddaughter has nothing to do with the crime we’re investigating so that she can still get a visit regularly.”

Nurse Braxton guided me back through the different hallways back to the exit. The place was almost like a maze and when I mentioned that she told me that they had added and added buildings to the original place they started in, the demand for care was so big. Well, at least I got a name I could look into. I absolutely wanted to have a talk with this Kelly Fairfield and find out more about her mysterious Italian boyfriend or husband.

Going on the internet I quickly got all the particulars I needed to pay miss Kelly Fairfield a visit, but it was too late in the day to go there, so I decided to do it the next day. I couldn’t find anything about her mysterious partner though, according to the information I found on social media Kelly was single. I did find a number of photos of her and indeed she looked a bit like Helga from the SS horror movies, but nothing about a partner.