We went to the house where Ted, Elise’s boyfriend, lived in the basement, and parked a little beyond it, on the other side of the street, where we had a good view. Mark said he would save my feet by going and checking on whether Ted was there. He returned in a few minutes and told me he had not received an answer to his knock.
“Do you mind waiting?” I asked. Fortunately, Lefty had fed us sandwiches before we left Club Cavalier, so at least he wasn’t hungry.
“I should ask you that question. I have a bigger interest in solving this than you do.”
“Don’t say that. While we’re waiting I’ll call Burt and see if he has found out what Detective Johnson learned by talking to Donna.”
I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and called Burt’s number. A woman answered and said he was with a client. I asked her to have him call me and gave her my cell phone number. I don’t give it to many people. He called me back within ten minutes.
“Aunt Lillian,” Burt said in his inimitable way. “What’s happening?”
“Mark and I are staking out the house where Ted, Elise’s boyfriend lives. Other than that, we’re pretty sure that her father didn’t know she was the Shooting Star and that she didn’t have sex with Lefty at Club Cavalier.”
Burt laughed and said, “It sounds like you’re on the ball. Well, I did talk to Detective Johnson this morning. He’s cooperating with me because he’s no longer completely convinced that Mark did the dirty deed. He talked to Donna for quite a while after we left to try to get her to tell a straight story. If she keeps changing it I can have a field day with her in court. So now her story is that she was studying with a male friend. Johnson is trying to confirm this with the friend.”
“That was her original story, if I recall correctly. Even if she was with a friend, isn’t the timing of when she left him key? She claimed she returned to the apartment, found Elise’s body and immediately called 911. Of course, there’s a record of when the 911 call came in.”
“I’m sure the good detective will get all that information. I’ll beat on him until he does.”
“Does Donna still claim she saw Mark’s car when she returned to the apartment?”
“Apparently so. But, as I say, I think we may be able to nullify her testimony, as far as a jury is concerned.”
I asked Burt to call me back if he learned anything more and hung up.
Mark pointed out a tall and thin young man wearing glasses who was walking toward us on the other side of the street. At the distance he was from us he looked familiar, but I couldn’t be sure. When he got close enough for my old eyes to focus, I saw that it was indeed Ted. Mark and I agreed not to accost him outside where it would be easier for him to slip away than in his apartment.
Ted went up the driveway to the back of the house. We decided to give him three minutes before we went in. We didn’t want to make him too suspicious. I looked at Mark’s watch. My adrenaline starts pumping when I am waiting for something to happen and it was difficult for me to sit still.
Finally, after an eternity, the second-hand circled Mark’s watch three times and we got out of the car, crossed the street and followed him up the driveway. I remembered that before Mark had been arrested, Burt had told Mark not to do any detective work. But on the phone Burt hadn’t said anything. And Mark had been to Club Cavalier with Burt so I could rationalize having Mark talk to Ted with me. Ted gave me the creeps and I didn’t want to talk to him alone.
Mark knocked loudly on the door and then stepped away from it so that Ted would see me first. Considering that we had just watched him enter he took a long time to answer. Could he have spotted us in the car and was avoiding talking to us? I didn’t think so; he hadn’t even looked in our direction.
I was wondering about the propriety of breaking down the door when I heard footsteps on the stairs leading up from the cellar. He opened the door a crack and I said, “Hi Ted, remember me, it’s Lillian Morgan. May I speak to you for a minute?”
He didn’t move, apparently expecting me to say my piece, so I said, “May I come in?”
He reluctantly opened the door wide enough for me to enter. That’s when he spotted Mark. Ted looked startled, but it was too late for him to keep us out, if that’s what he wanted to do. We both had our feet planted firmly in the doorway. Facing the inevitable, he led the way downstairs.
When we entered his room I said, “Ted, this is Dr. Pappas.”
Mark offered his hand, but Ted didn’t take it. He said in a flat voice, “You’re the guy who harassed Elise.”
I noted that he said harassed rather than killed. I was about to say that Elise had been going to drop the charge when I remembered that we had had this conversation before. I said, “Did you read this morning’s paper?”
“I don’t get a paper.”
Ted hadn’t offered us seats so the three of us were standing. We wouldn’t be here long unless we could get something going. But the fact that Ted didn’t read newspapers might be to our advantage. I said, “Are you aware of any extracurricular activities that Elise took part in?”
“She was a singer. She sang in shows.”
“Anything else? Something that you might not have approved of?”
“No, unless you count getting herself harassed.” He looked at Mark.
“So you didn’t know that she was a dancer at Club Cavalier.”
“A what?”
I tried to frame the words for maximum effect. “Elise danced topless at Club Cavalier several nights a week.”
This time he got the message. His eyes opened very wide behind his glasses. He looked from one of us to the other. He finally sputtered, “That can’t be…I don’t…you’re making this up.”
Now I wished we had a copy of the newspaper with us. We did have one in the car, but I didn’t want to lose Ted’s attention. I said, “I understand that you sometimes patrolled with Mr. Hoffman, taking license plate numbers of patrons at the places like Club Cavalier and putting them on the Internet.”
He neither confirmed nor denied it.
“When you were doing that, did you ever read the publicity information in front of Club Cavalier? One of the dancers was known as the Shooting Star.”
Ted reacted. Or rather, he exploded. “The Shooting Star was Elise? My God, it couldn’t be. But if it was…oh my God.” He continued to look distraught.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Mark said to Ted.
Mark led Ted to the chair with the footstool and he plunked down in it, automatically. Mark and I both sat down, also. We knew a Pandora’s box had been opened, but we didn’t know what was inside.
Ted looked as if he had gone into a trance so I said, “Ted, tell us what you know about the Shooting Star.”
He collected himself and said, “That night…the night that Elise was killed, I went on patrol with Mr. Hoffman. When we got to Club Cavalier we recorded the license numbers, as usual, and then he said that in order for me to understand the reason for doing this I should see what went on inside. I was shocked; that didn’t sound like Mr. Hoffman. But he kept insisting. He said that after I saw how the men behaved it would make me more determined that ever to wipe out places like this. The devil’s playground, he called them.”
“Had you ever been inside a strip club before?” Mark asked.
“Of course not.” Ted looked indignant. “And I didn’t want to go then. Finally, I agreed to go in for a few minutes to get him off my back. Mr. Hoffman paid and we sat in the back. He bought us beers. I didn’t know he drank beer. We watched a couple of girls dance. They were disgusting, but the men watching them were even more disgusting. They yelled and whistled and put money on the stage.
“I wanted to leave, but Mr. Hoffman said we would see just one more girl. And then the Shooting Star came on the stage. She was different than the others and she looked familiar, in a way… If anything, she made the men wilder than before.”
“What time was that?” I asked.
“It must have been about ten.”
“Had you ever seen Elise without her clothes on?”
“Never.”
