Chapter 17

"You better start at the very beginning, so we can help you out of this mess," I suggested.

"The first of this school year one of the cheerleaders said, 'The only way to be popular with he boys was to you know do things.'" Ellie said.

"What things," I asked.

"To sorta have sex with them," she said. "Not real sex, none of us wanted to be pregnant not even the guys wanted that to happen. So we did other things."

"Like what kind of things," I asked. There might have been some salacious interest, as well as pure investigative interest.

"We gave them head," she said.

"You mean you sucked their dicks?" I asked. Might as well beat her down, I decided.

"Yes we did that," she said.

"Did you guys have intercourse?" I asked.

"I never took a guy in my pussy," she said suddenly seeming to change her personality.

"Anal?" I asked.

"Yes I have done that several times. It isn't much fun, but we were doing it to be popular. It was just the price we had to pay." she said hanging her head.

"So how did you kids get down to the club in Abbottsville?" I asked.

"I only went once to the club it was too rough for me, but Lucy and one other girl went almost every Friday and Saturday night," Ellie said. "They were having sex for money."

"How did you get down there the night you went?" I asked.

"An adult took us down. I can't tell you who it was. He is a friend of my family. He said he would tell my dad what a little whore I was, if I ever told."

Eddie looked at me and motioned that it was my turn. "Let me explain something Ellie. You friend is dead because you girls wanted to be popular. Some adults took advantage of your need for approval. Getting this out in the open is your only hope for redemption. I have no idea what made you think you could keep this from your family, when half the fucking school knew they could get a blow job just by asking. Your parent are going to know that some kids at school were involved whether we give them names is up to you."

"The man who aided the minors in the commission of the crime of prostitution is probably going to be too busy to name you as a participant. But either way you have a chance to get ahead of this by not being prosecuted for it. You can tell your parents, and not have it come into a police investigation, or some sleaze telling them out of spite. I assure you we will get his name with or without your help. If we do, we are going to add your name to the list of warrants. So who was it."

"Mr Jamison drove us to a strip club in Abbottsville." she whined.

"What was the name of this club?" I asked.

"I don't know they all just called it the club," she said.

"The night you were there was there a large black woman dancing on the pole," I asked.

"Yes, she wasn't a very good dancer. So you know the place," she asked.

"Yeah, I know it," I said. Damn it's always something I thought. "Who is this Jamison?" I asked. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place him.

"He is the Biology teacher," she said.

"I have heard that name somewhere. I guess he was one of the hands I shook when I was running for sheriff. Let's go right this minute and pick him up. Get some search warrants for his house, his car his mother's house and his fucking outhouse."

"I know the drill Sheriff," Eddie said.

I turned back to Ellie and asked, "Which one of you was having sex with Jamison?"

Ellie hung her head when she said, "We all were."

"Who was the girl who recruited you all?" I asked.

"Diane Smart," she said.

"Is she one of the Smarts?" Eddie asked.

"Her grandfather was Simon Smart. He used to own a railroad or something," she said.

"Yes he did, he owned the spur line back at the turn of the last century. It would have been her great, great, grandfather that built that spur. When Southern Railroad bought it, he was already rich shipping timber and furniture out of the mountains, and shipping consumer goods into the area." Eddie explained. The last of the line, lives in one of those big houses on Mulberry Street downtown."

"Get some search warrants for whatever you can of their place. I want to know what the girl had. and if anyone else in her family is involved. Eddie this is going to be one hell of a bucket of worms." I said.

"All that adult shit you were involved with might come back. This time people might care." Eddie said.

"That's why everybody with any of this stink on them is going to fucking jail. This kid just saved a stretch in juvie by talking to us." I made sure Ellie understood.

"She will never hold up," Eddie said. "She is a cocksucker."

"Yeah, but she is our cocksucker," I replied.

"Where is Mr Jamison," I asked the principal of Northern Regional High School, while standing in his office.

"I have no idea," the well dressed and very annoyed principal stated.

"He is not teaching his classes?" I asked.

"He hasn't been here for three days now," the principal said.

"Did he call in sick or just not show up?" I asked.

"He just didn't show up," she said. "What is wrong."

"I going to search his desk," I said. "So you need to show us where his office or his classroom is located."

"I'm not going to let you search his office without a warrant," she stated flatly.

I dialed Rita. "Rita this is Sylvia Porter. Do I need a search warrant to search an unlocked desk in a teacher's classroom?"