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. Do 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 who 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?”