Chapter 3

Driving home, I was trying to get my head around the fact that Rose was gone, she was the third girl I had ever employed at the club, sort of replacing Lisa who had retired shortly after. I sure hope I won’t have any nightmares because of the monstrous way she was killed. When I started thinking of potential suspects there was one that immediately came to mind and that was Jacky Boy. Well, that’s what we called him, his name was Jack but I don’t remember anymore when the Boy was attached to it. It was probably a nickname the girls had given him.

Jacky Boy is the most regular customer I can think of, he is, virtually, every day at the club, and he is a huge fan of Rose. He regularly brings her flowers and small gifts. It is sometimes embarrassing her, to the point that she even didn’t want to give him lap dances anymore. In a way she felt sorry for him, he spent a small fortune at the club, not on drinks though, he could nurse his beer sometimes for hours, but on tips for her, and from the way he looked and was dressed we all presumed he was not really a millionaire. But his infatuation looks so innocent, I doubt he could actually harm Rose, but on the other hand, you never know, especially now since Rose stopped giving him lap dances. Could that have been a potential trigger to harm her? Or was he jealous of other customers whom she still took into the private room, but then again why was the word Dyke carved into her body?

He wouldn’t be the first man who kills the woman, he worships though, so nobody else could have her. I definitely need to tell miss Tashima about Jacky Boy. There were a number of other chaps that visited regularly, and they all had their favorites but none were worshipping their preferred stripper as Jack did Rose. Jack’s infatuation could of course also be very innocent and harmless. I hoped when I tell detective Tashima she won’t be too hard on him. I didn’t know her that well to have figured out yet if she is a tough cookie, she looked harmless enough but you never know. Maybe she had a point to make, as she looked rather young and new at this job and the chief didn’t seem very pleased with her. Maybe I should try to find out how long she’s been in this detective function.

Arriving home I immediately started to make phone calls to all my employees to inform them about what had happened and that they were expected at the downtown police station at 10 am the next day. During the various conversations I had with the girls, I tried to bring the awful message as gently as possible that way avoiding to explain in detail what I’d actually seen myself. The effect on all of us was tremendous, the club would be closed for days, maybe even weeks. The girls couldn’t survive a lengthy closure financially, so I had to make sure they got at least unemployment compensation. I filled in the forms to make them technically unemployed, that way they would at least get some compensation to tie them over. They all promised to show up at the police station on time, even Joe the bouncer, who was as upset as I was after hearing the reason for the temporary closing of the club.

As he’d known Rose for so long I knew up front he was going to take it badly. He kept on shouting that if he’d get his hands on the killer, he would personally wring that person’s neck and pull his head off. Strangely enough, we sort of all presumed it had been a man who’d killed Rose.

The next day we all gathered at the police station, Miss Tashima was already waiting for us. She was accompanied by an elderly gentleman, who introduced himself as Jeff Baines. He explained that he would help Miss Tashima in her investigation. This sort of confirmed what I had seen on the internet about miss Tashima.

I’d figured out that she was 25, had studied at the police academy, ended up top of her class, and was then assigned to our local police station as a detective replacing an old goat who’d not been interested in the job anymore looking forward to his retirement. That made her indeed a rookie detective. Later during the investigation, when we got to know each other a bit better, she confided that after investigating a few burglaries and some domestic abuse cases, this was indeed her first murder case. Jeff Baines was an old fox, who’d handled hundreds of murder investigations, but he was not conceited and let Miss Tashima lead the questioning and rarely intervened.

I told them about my suspicions concerning Jacky Boy but warned them that I had doubts he would actually harm Rose, he was just very infatuated with her. I also told them about the other regular customers who had gone several times to the special lap dance room with Rose for a private session. Again I confirmed that the girls formed one big happy family and there was absolutely no jealousy among them. As I was not allowed to be present during the interrogation of my staff, I’ll let Miss Tashima and Mister Baines tell you how it went. She left the interrogation room together with me to fetch the next person they wanted to interview.

“Is Miss Apple here, please?” Tashima asked.

Apple, who really looked nervous, got up and followed Tashima to the interrogation room.

“Please take a seat, miss, misses?”

“Oh miss, madam, I’m a widow.”

“OK, and what is your real name, as I presume Apple is your stage name?”

“Yes, I’m sorry miss, my name is Nancy Smith.”

“OK Miss Smith, first I would like to inform you that we record these sessions, which makes it easier to type up the required report afterward.”

“OK doesn’t bother me, I’ve got nothing to hide,” Nany replied already feeling a bit more at ease now that she saw it was a woman doing the questioning.

“Great as a start, what can you tell about the victim Meredith or Rose if you wish.”

“Rose is... “ and then she broke out in tears. When she recovered, for which, Tashima gave her ample time best she continued.

“I am so sorry Miss Tashima,”

Please you don’t need to apologize, if I lost someone dear to me I’d probably react the same way, please take your time, you said that Rose was...”

“Yes I have to use the past tense, now speaking of Rose, “she continued sometimes interrupted by some more sobbing. “She was my best friend at the club,” sob, “we started almost at the same time,” sob.

“Is there anybody that comes to mind, who would want to harm Rose?”

“No, not immediately, Rose was well-liked and loved both by her colleagues and the audience. She has one big admirer Jacky Boy, one of the regulars at the club, but I don’t think he would want to harm her.”

“Was this Jacky at the club last night?”

“He comes every night, so yes he was there.”

“Did he behave in a different way than the other nights?”

“No, he sat in his usual spot completely mesmerized when Rose came on stage, but he likes the other girls too, but Rose is his favorite.”

“Is he the only one with a favorite girl?”

“No, absolutely not, I’ve got my admirers, or fans as we like to call them, and so do the other girls.”

“And is this attraction both ways?”

“No, Rose likes him of course like she does all of her fans but she is not in love with him or anything.”

“Does Rose have a boyfriend?”

“No, more like a girlfriend I would say.”

“Is Rose lesbian then?”

“I wouldn’t put the label of lesbian on Rose, if I do need to put one on, I would say she’s bi, a bit like our new girl Maya.”

“So Maya likes girls as well?”

“Yes she’s very open about it just like Peach, but that one is a 100%, pure lesbian.”

“Was Rose involved with either girl?”

“No, I’m not sure whom she was involved with, but lately a single woman showed up regularly and she always followed Rose’s show very intensely, but Rose never mentioned her in any way.”

“Do you think they were lovers?”

“Lovers I’m not sure, but this woman regularly took Rose to the private room for a lap dance, something we don’t see very often. It’s usually men who want a private dance.”

“Can you describe this woman or do you have a name?”

“I think I heard Rose mention the name Dita or something. Well, this Dita, if that is indeed her name, is rather a big woman, I would describe her as manly, but with a nice classic face, in fact how you would imagine a lesbian to look like. Short black hair, muscular. The times I saw her she invariably wore pants and a man’s shirt, nothing much feminine about her. She drinks one beer which she finishes when Rose has finished her second show and leaves.”

“You said she sometimes buys a lap dance?”

“Yes that happened a few times, and when she does she has a second beer afterward.”

“How would you describe Rose’s reaction after this lap dance.” Jeff wanted to know.

“Flustered, happy, ready to take on the world.”

“Is there a way we can find out what this woman’s full name is?”

“You’ll have to ask the bar girls, Daisy or Luna if she paid with a credit card they may have noticed the name. If she paid cash they probably won’t be able to help you either.”

“OK, anything else that comes to mind that could help us to find Rose’s assailant?”

“No, not immediately, as I said Rose was very much loved and liked by all of us and the punters.”

“Thank you, Nancy, if we have further questions we have your contact data, and please accept our condolences for the loss of your friend and colleague.”

“Yes, thank you, can I go home now?”

“Absolutely, you’ve helped us tremendously already.”

Seiko walked out with Nancy and asked Eve to come with her.

“So Eve, would you like to share your real name with us?”

“I’m Drita Toska madam.”

“Miss, dear, or you can call me Seiko if you wish, so you work as a stripper in Mister Gentle’s bar?”

“Yes, Seiko.”

“And is he a good employer?”

“Absolutely, he takes good care of us.”

“In what way?”

“Oh, financially and he helps us with all the administration we need to fulfill in this country.”

“You are not from around here?”

“No miss, I come from Albania.”

“And have you been long in Belgium?”

“Ten years now, I arrived when I was 18.”

“Were you brought here?”

“You mean by these guys that lure girls to come to Belgium to clean or do other normal jobs?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean, people smugglers.”

“No I came on my own, I hitchhiked and ended up in your country, or are you also from another country?”

“If you must know, my roots lie in Japan, I came to Belgium as a baby, when I was adopted by a very friendly couple.”

“Lucky you, I had to fight to get where I am today.”

“What do you mean fight?”

“Well, finding a place to stay, learning the language, getting a job.”

“And you ended up as a stripper, not much unlike the profession the girls that were recruited in your country by the smugglers ended up in?”

“Excuse me, I’m not a hooker, I’m an erotic dancer.” Drita replied looking rather angry.

“Yes, I’m so sorry, my apologies, you are right, you don’t sleep with men for money.”

“No, I take my career very seriously, I train daily, maybe you should try hanging upside down on a slippery metal pole and not break your neck.”

“How did you learn that if I may ask?” Seiko tried to placate Drita after her mistake.

“George made me take a course in these routines shortly after I started working for him.”

“So you didn’t start as a stripper?”

“No, I started working the bar.”

“But you had to be topless? Didn’t it bother you?”

“No, I’ve always gone topless at the beach and I’ve got smashing tits, if I say so myself, so I had no problem with that. It was mister Gentle who suggested I join the dancers after he’d seen me trying some stuff on my own on the pole before the opening time of the bar.”

“I see and one thing led to another?”

“Yes, I make more money now, I was even able to make a down payment on a small apartment I’m trying to buy. Securing a loan was much more difficult, but mister Gentle went together with me to the bank and he convinced them I was credit proficient.”

“I see Mister Gentle really takes care of you girls.”

“Oh yes miss, we couldn’t wish for a better boss.”

“But coming to the task at hand, Meredith.”

“Yes, poor Meredith, I heard she died?”

“She did and not in a nice way, she was murdered and we are going to try to find the person who committed that horrible crime, and that’s where you can help.”

“Oh please tell me Miss Seiko how I can help, Meredith is ... was a wonderful colleague.” She said, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.

“What can you tell us about Meredith, we know that Jack was her fervent admirer. What is your idea of this character?”

“Oh Jack is harmless, he’s like a teddy bear, he spends his last Euro on us, more on Meredith of course, but every time we come on stage he gives us tips, small tips, but nevertheless tips.”

“So you don’t think he would harm her?”

“No, he would be the last person I would think who could harm Meredith.”

“OK, what about a certain Dita?”

“Dita? I have no idea who Dita is.”

“We were told that Dita could be a very close friend of Rose, tall, short black hair, manly looking.”

“Oh is that Dita? I had no idea her name was Dita, I always referred to her as Helga, you know from the horror movies about Helga The Woolf of the SS, only this Helga had black hair while the one in the movies had blond hair.”

“So Helga is a nickname you gave her yourself?”

“Yes and no, I heard her called Helga by some of the other girls, so I presumed it was indeed her name.”

Both Tashima and Jeff were taking lots of notes especially when this name thing came up. Now they had two names to investigate.

“But it was never confirmed?”

“No, Rose didn’t mention her, but I saw Rose take her a few times to the private room.”

“And how did Rose look when she returned?”

“Now that you mention it, she always looked rather pleased and happy when she returned, but I guessed it was because she got a big tip, it’s not every day you’re asked to do a private lap dance for a woman.”

“Could Rose have been romantically involved with this person you think?”

“No, I don’t think so, as far as I know, Rose is not a lesbian, we’ll I don’t think so.”

“We heard she was rather friendly with your colleague Peach.”

“No, not that I know off, Peach is very chummy with Maya, but not so with Rose.”

“So are Peach and Maya lesbian lovers?”

“I wouldn’t call them out and out lesbians I would rather say they root for both camps, bi as they call it.”

“Would there be anything else that comes to your mind, which could help us in our investigation miss Toska?”

“No, not immediately, I have no idea who could do any harm to Rose, we all loved her like a sister.”

“OK thank you for your help so far, if anything comes to mind please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

Looking down at her list of names, Tashima asked Eve to tell Peach she was up next. Shortly thereafter there was a knock on the door of the interrogation room. Upon entering, Peach was asked to take a seat.

“Good morning Peach, my name is Jeff Baines and my colleague is miss Seiko Tashima and she is leading this investigation, would you please be so kind as to state your real name,” Jeff asked politely.

“My name is Patricia Johnson, sir,” Peach replied looking rather nervous.

“And what is your function in the club Patricia?” Tashima continued.

“I’m an erotic dancer Miss Tashima.”

“Excellent, and what can you tell us about Rose?”

“Not much, miss, she’s a colleague, she’s an excellent dancer, and has taught me lots of stuff over the months I’ve been at the club.”

“Are you romantically involved with Rose?”

Patricia instantly turned red in the face and started wringing her hands.

“There’s nothing wrong with liking women Patricia, we just want to know if you are.”

“Euh, yes I am, but we’re not a couple if that’s what you mean.”

“So you only had casual sex with Rose then?”

“Yes!” She replied clearly relieved.

“Does this mean that you’re both lesbians”

“No, miss, I’m 100% lesbian but Rose likes, or should I now say liked girls more but loves to have an occasional fling with a boy or man as well.”