"Requiem For A Stripper" drabbles by Christopher
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 256
Requiem For A Stripper #256
We got to Harrigan's car and he asked, "You wanna tag along?"
I nodded, "If we can swing by 375 Cherokee Street in West Covina afterwards so I can check something out."
"And now I'm a chauffeur," Harrigan said, dragging out the word and.
"Jack of all trades, master of none," I said as I got in his car.
We got out to Elysian Park at about 2 p.m. It was pretty much the same scenario from Griffith Park the day before, only this time I didn't have to get past a guard who took his job way too seriously...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 255
Requiem For A Stripper #255
"It's called respect, Randolph. Something you seem to be in short supply of."
We started walking toward the door as I said, "Well, I have enough respect for myself not to go around calling a bunch of boobs sir just because they're in a higher position than I am."
"Boy, you haven't grown at all since the Army, have you, Randolph?"
"I was tall enough before I joined up. And I joined not out of a love for the armed forces but because it needed to be done. Otherwise we would've been having to call a bunch of Germans sir."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 254
Requiem For A Stripper #254
Anthony Romero was a tall man with black hair that was greying at the sides. He had a round face that suggested his wife was a good cook. There was a look in his eye that I couldn't quite figure out. Maybe it was just that he didn't like me.
"Harrigan, they found another body. This time in Elysian Park. Get out there," Chief Romero said.
"Yes, sir," Harrigan said.
Romero looked at me with a disgusted gaze and walked off.
"Doesn't it gall you to still have to call people sir after getting out of the Army?" I asked...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 253
Requiem For A Stripper #253
It felt like being in a school you weren't enrolled in and having the principal catch you roaming his hallowed halls.
"Randolph, what are you doing here? Did we finally catch you doing something illegal?" the chief asked.
"No, Chief Romero. I just wanted to see how my hard-earned tax dollars were being spent."
He scoffed, "Do you even pay taxes? I would've thought you wouldn't make enough money to report to the I.R.S.!"
"I make enough to pay the rent. Well sometimes anyway."
"Then you should get back to that. Detective Harrigan has more important things to do."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 252
Requiem For A Stripper #252
Harrigan was a practical man. I knew arguing with him about it would be pointless. Besides, I needed his help.
The phone on Harrigan's desk rang and he picked it up.
"Harrigan. Yeah, okay. Thanks, Becky."
He wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to me. It said 375 Cherokee Street, West Covina.
"Thanks, Jim. I'll let you know if I turn up anything."
He nodded as I got up. I sensed someone walking up behind me. I turned to see the chief of police of the city of Los Angeles, Anthony Romero, staring at me...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 251
Requiem For A Stripper #251
He hung the phone up, "They'll call back in a minute with the address."
"Thanks, Harrigan. I think after tonight I may have this all washed up."
"What's happening tonight?" he asked as he went back to looking through the papers on his desk.
"Two things, actually. One, I'm having drinks with a woman that just might have some information that we need to crack this case."
"And two?"
"The second one is something you don't believe in. I'm crashing an Immoral Society function."
"Good grief. Are you back on that nonsense again? Let it go, Randolph. It doesn't exist."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 250
Requiem For A Stripper #250
Harrigan exhaled loudly. "I'm going to start charging you for these services, Randolph."
I grinned, "I'll file it away along with every other bill I owe. You know, I haven't been paid one red cent for the case I'm on now."
He chuckled, "Oh, I'm quite sure you're getting compensated in other ways!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't pay the rent."
"Maybe you can move in with your hooker friend."
I raised my finger up, "Stripper, thank you very much!"
He shook his head, "Just give me the phone number."
"It's Edgewood 6745."
He called R&I and gave them the number...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 249
Requiem For A Stripper #249
I got to the precinct just before lunch and made my way to Harrigan's desk. He didn't moan and groan like usual when he saw me, and I was beginning to worry that he was softening up.
"Well, Randolph. I guess you tore yourself away from gallivanting with a stripper to come down here and try to get some free information outa me, huh?"
No...he definitely was not softening up.
"Well, you did so well at using a phone number to pull an address from thin air that I wanted to see if you could do that magic trick again."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 248
Requiem For A Stripper #248
"Oh, Jake, that sounds dangerous. Please be careful."
"Careful is my middle name, baby."
She raised an eyebrow.
"No," I said, "it really is. It's on my birth certificate. Jacob Careful Randolph."
"Well, you stay true to your name, then. If that party is being held by The Immoral Society it's likely to be a deadly affair."
"Don't worry, Jen. I've been in danger a time or twelve and I'm still north of the ground."
We finished our naked breakfast and then I got dressed and called the precinct to make sure Harrigan was there before heading in that direction...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 247
Requiem For A Stripper #247
I grinned, "The moral high ground's been known to cause nose bleeds. Be careful."
"Oh, I don't have a problem with that profession, even though I wouldn't do it. But, if that's what she used to do, then the way she looks down her nose at us makes her a hypocrite."
"Well, she can be as hypocritical as she wants as long as she gives me some information that'll help me crack this case," I said, grabbing another piece of bacon.
"So, you'll come to the Daffodil after?"
"Yeah, then at midnight I'm going to that party in Nichols Canyon."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 246
Requiem For A Stripper #246
Jen Ann spit coffee out all over the table.
"Linda Erickson was a prostitute?!" she yelled.
"Say it a little louder, baby, I think they didn't hear you in 'Frisco."
"I'm sorry," she said as she started wiping up the coffee she'd spit out. "I just can't believe she used to be a hooker!"
"Well, don't go spreading that around until this case is cleared up."
"I won't. I'm not a gossip. I just can't believe that. She's always putting on airs like she's so proper and looks down on us dancing girls, and she used to be a whore!"
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 245
Requiem For A Stripper #245
"But first," I continued, "I've got my first dance lesson at Hoofers and then I'm going to have a drink with Linda Erickson."
She looked up at me with an arched eyebrow.
"Calm down! I'm trying to get information out of her."
"That better be all you get out of her! Or into her!" she said, only half-joking.
"I was told if I got her drunk enough she'd spill her guts."
"Who told you that?"
"A woman at The Giant Clam who used to work with her."
"Work with her where?"
"At Madame Helga's. They used to be prostitutes."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 244
Requiem For A Stripper #244
"So, what's on the agenda today?" she asked, pouring the milk in her coffee.
"Well, I need to see if Harrigan can get me an address for that number I found at Honey's that said Madame Helga underneath. I don't know if the crazy woman I talked to on the phone was her, but I'd like to check it out."
She nodded, "You coming to the Daffodil tonight?"
"Of course. There's a hot little number dancing there I've had my eye on."
She smiled and I added, "That's you, by the way."
"It better be!" she said with a chuckle...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 243
Requiem For A Stripper #243
"Well, this is certainly new ground for me," I said as I grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite off of it.
"I do this all the time," Jen Ann said, pouring herself some coffee. "I think I'm more comfortable out of my clothes rather than in them. How about you?"
"Oh, I don't mind wearing them. But I certainly prefer you out of your clothes rather than in them!"
She laughed, "Well, you definitely came to the right place, cowboy!"
She got up and went to the icebox for some milk. I watched her the whole time...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 242
Requiem For A Stripper #242
I didn't want her to feel out of place so I dropped the sheet and walked over to her, kissing her on the back of the neck.
"Ever eaten breakfast in the nude?" she asked as she dumped the fried bacon out of the frying pan and onto a plate.
"No, can't say I have."
"Well, you're about to. Sit down at the table."
"I never argue with a naked woman holding a pan of hot bacon grease!"
I sat down at the table as she set the bacon down, along with scrambled eggs, toast, jam, coffee and orange juice...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 241
Requiem For A Stripper #241
The next morning I awoke at about half past ten and found myself alone. It took me a moment to realize where I even was. I heard sounds coming from the kitchen so I pulled the tangled up sheet around the lower half of my naked body and exited the bedroom.
Jen Ann was in the kitchen, minus a sheet or anything else, cooking breakfast.
"Well," I said, "that's the advantage of dating a stripper. You get to watch them fry bacon in the nude!"
"Yeah, but with all that popping grease you can't stand too close to the stove!"
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 240
Requiem For A Stripper #240
I grinned, "That's what you hired me for, isn't it?"
She nodded, "Yes, and I still haven't paid you yet."
"Give me a piece of your chicken casserole and we'll call it square!"
She laughed and did just that. Then, after dinner, she gave me something else that more than compensated for a lack of payment.
Later that night I was lying in the quiet of Jen Ann's bedroom, with her asleep in my arms, wondering just how I was going to fare the next night with my dance lesson at Hoofers.
I'd never danced a day in my life...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 239
Requiem For A Stripper #239
"Do I think he's responsible for Debra's death? If her death came as a result of getting recruited for those parties with The Immoral Society then, yes, I think he's responsible for her death. Do I think he stripped her naked and stabbed her in the back? No, I don't believe that. Although I did find a large knife in a drawer in his office desk."
"He let you go through his drawers?" she asked.
I grimaced, "What a disgusting thought! No, actually he never knew I was in there."
"You sure do have some mighty shady skills, Jake Randolph."
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 238
Requiem For A Stripper #238
"Lily Padd from the Pink Pussycat. Just like Debra, she was naked and had a stab wound in her back."
Jen Ann stopped right in the middle of the kitchen. She turned to look at me and said, "Why, Jake? Who's doing this?"
"That's what I'm still trying to find out. After I left the crime scene I went back to see Debra's brother Horace. He wants to kill Nicky Minga. He thinks Minga's responsible for Debra's death."
"Do you think that?" she asked as she got the casserole out of the oven.
I still wasn't exactly sure about that...
Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 237
Requiem For A Stripper #237
"Oh, she was darling," I said. "Anyway, she had gone to a party up in Nichols Canyon with Debra that sounded an awful lot like an Immoral Society do. She claimed there were people there who had promised her a movie career and she was going to another of their parties tomorrow night."
Jen Ann looked surprised, "Even after hearing of Debra's murder?"
I nodded, "I don't think she believed the two things were related. After that I went to see Harrigan at a crime scene."
"Uh-oh," she said warily.
"Yeah. They found another missing girl."
"Who was it?"
