11:30 PM, midweek
The Sapphire Room
Near the High Quarter of the capital.
Detectives Greencrest and Herris are outside the club, headed in to ask Miss Pardino some questions.
A velvet rope and bouncers at the door; big, burly guys dressed in 1940’s formal attire.
The detectives are allowed past the rope and door. The door opens to some stairs leading down to another door. Another bouncer at this door like the first.
As accounted by Detective Greencrest: “I said to the bouncer D.I. Greencrest and D.S. Herris to see Miss Pardino. A visor slot about five and half feet up the door slides open. We show our badges. The visor slides shut. The door opens.
We are immediately greeted by a wave of music unlike anything I’ve heard before. It sounds like a large band or small orchestra of trumpets, stringed instruments, woodwinds, drums, and this strong, deep, female voice. A fast beat of music fills the room. A man dressed like the bouncers comes up to us and says, “Come this way detectives.” We follow the man.
As we near the sound of music we walk down some steps and see the room filled with small, round tables for four to six people, blue table clothes, small, circular candle bowls on the tables; a dance floor beyond the area of tables. Some people are dressed in contemporary garb. Some of the women are dressed in the style of clothing Anne was wearing the first day we met her. Some of the med dressed like the bouncers – men wearing trousers that are long and loose fitting; shoes with laces, all the shoes black and polished; suit coats that come down a bit past the waist, single-breasted, and buttoned with one button at about mid-belly, thus revealing a buttoned-up white dress shirt topped with a black bow tie. It appeared to be the style for most men to have their hair slicked back or otherwise well coiffed. Some of the men are clean-shaven, those with beards or mustaches have their facial hair neat and trimmed.
There is a pale blue to blue-white light shining on Miss Pardino as she sings, softer lights on the band behind her. She appears to be singing into some small device on a metal rod or stand. This device seems to amplify the sound of her voice somehow but only so much as she is not drowned out by the band – they are in harmony with one another. On the periphery of the sitting area are bars reminiscent to Tom’s. In the back corners of the sitting area are booths that seat eight to ten people. There are some female bartenders and servers going thru the tables – they are dressed like the men with the exception that they are wearing vests instead of the jackets, and if they have long hair it is back in a pony tail. The band members are seated in three rows in a boxed off area, each row separated by low a divider. There is a conductor guiding the band with a thin baton. People are dancing in front of Miss Pardino in a way I’ve never seen before – men and women holding one another in the usual way, but moving quicker and with shorter movements, and some men quickly twirling their partners around to the lively beat of the music.
As the name implies, the room is mostly decorated in blue colored furnishings and the walls and doors are the same. There are blue curtains on either side of the stage that Miss Pardino and the band are on. A combination of candle lights and magical lights illuminate the room a kin to moonlight on a clear night with the full moon. The music, the dress, the furnishings, the light, this place has an otherworldly, dreamy, and seductive feel unlike anything I had ever experienced. The music fades, the crowd claps and cheers, and Miss Pardino waves and walks off the stage as the band begins to play a slower but still happy, deep, rich song. The man leads us to the bar on the right and says, “If you’ll wait here detectives, I’ll let Miss Pardino know you’re here.” I nod. Herris’ eyes are nearly popping out of his skull as he ogles the women in the low cut, form fitting gowns. A few moments later the man comes back, “Miss Pardino can see you now, detectives. This way, please.” We’re lead past the bar to an area near the stage behind the curtain. We walk up some steps, past another two bouncers, and behind the curtain to the back rooms. We’re led down a hall to a door on the left at the end. The man knocks, “Miss Pardino, the detectives are here.”
“Send them in.” The man opens the door and we enter a large dressing room and office. The room is well lit. Anne Pardino is curled up on a divan, one hand holding some fizzy drink in a low, saucer bowl type wine glass, in the other hand is some type of smoking product. It appears to be a brown cylinder a few inches long. The smell or aromatic tobacco fills the room.
Anne, “Have a seat,” to the couch opposite her.
Greencrest, “Thank you.”
Anne, “Can we get you a drink?” Herris begins to say yes. Before the words come out his mouth, “No thank you.”
Anne, “Smoke?”
Greencrest, “No thank you.” Anne nods and the man closes the door and leaves.
Anne, “So, was wondering when you’d get here. Matt said you stopped by his place today. Told me what you asked. So let me get it out of the way for you: I don’t give a shit if Tom married the whore ‘cause it’s not my problem, it’s his. He loses everything he owns that’s him being a dumbass. Maybe he’d actually grow up and learn to think about more than just him. Yeah, Tom did some stupid shit at home like here, but never hurt anybody. No, I wouldn’t pay his debts unless his life actually depended on it. I make my money from my investments and this club. As you can see from the crowd out there, Tom getting arrested hasn’t hurt my business. Tom, Matt, and me aren’t into any weird religions or cults. I leave anything out?”
Greencrest, “You’ve always had a poor relationship with your brother?”
Anne, “It’s been mixed. I love him. He’s not bad. He just does . . . like my mom said, ‘Tom wants what Tom wants.’
Herris, “What does that mean?”
Anne, “If he wants something he just does it and doesn’t stop to think about the consequences, how it might affect somebody else or fuck up somebody else’s plans.”
Greencrest, “Must be trying to have a brother like that.”
Anne, “No shit. He put my mother, and me, thru a lot of grief.”
Greencrest, “Do you think some of his trouble from your home could have followed him and you here?” Anne nearly spits out her drink from laughing, “No.”
Herris, “You say that like its impossible.”
Anne, “Pretty much.”
Greencrest, “How?”
Anne, “You’re gonna have to ask Matt that.”
Greencrest, “Why?”
Anne, “That’s his department.”
Greencrest, “Miss Pardino, Tom mentioned you have had some relationships that have not worked out well.”
Anne, “I bet he did.”
Greencrest, “Do you think any of the men from those relationships may have something to do with what happened to your brother and Pene?” Taking another drag from her smoke, “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” And she finishes her drink.
Greencrest, “Can we have a list of those men?”
Anne, “Sure, some I’ve already given you the other day.”
Greencrest, “Miss Pardino, if you’re brother was charged with murder, found guilty and hanged what would you do?” Anne seems a bit shaken by that. She smiles a smile to hold back tears, “I don’t want him to die in this fucking place.” A moment goes by. She starts to cry a little, “How much does Tom owe?”
Greencrest, “What makes you think Tom owe’s some debt?”
Anne, “Matt figured you wouldn’t have asked him about paying Tom’s debt if Tom didn’t owe somebody money and lots of it.”
Herris, “Matt has figured out a lot.”
Anne, “He worries a lot and thinks a lot.”
Greencrest, “Matt tries to protect you and Tom, doesn’t he?
Anne, “Yes.”
Herris, “Maybe Matt was trying to protect Tom from himself.”
Anne, “By the killing the whore? Matt’s not like that.”
Greencrest, “What is Matt like.”
Anne, “Matt is like our older brother. He’s always been there for us and tried to guide us and comfort us. He’s tough, and stuck up for us here, but he’s not a killer. He’s actually pretty gentle.”
Herris, “Maybe he thought he was being there for you by making Tom’s bad decision go away.”
Anne, “No.”
Herris, “Maybe Matt just got it wrong. He didn’t mean for the girl to die. He was just going to have Tom and the girl drugged, get the girl out of town and that was it but she died instead.”
Anne, “No.”
Herris, “The poison killed her because she was much smaller than Tom and didn’t have as much alcohol in her system.”
Anne, “No.”
Herris, “He just miscalculated it. We know he’s studied poisons and potions at the Academy. He nearly died in an accident making one. Maybe he just got it wrong again. So instead of making it look like a regular murder he made it look like a ritualistic killing to throw police off the trail and get Tom off the hook.”
Anne, “Get outta my club.”
Herris, “Matt’s smart, he’s rich, he’s studied these things, and wants to protect you and Tom.”
Anne, “Get the fuck out.”
Herris, “He has to protect his family, like he protected you at Fallon’s tavern.”
Anne, “Get the fuck out! Get the fuck outta my club! Allie, Allie! Allie! Get them the fuck outta here!” The door opens and the man that escorted us to the room, and three large bouncers, step in.
Anne, “Escort these two the fuck outta here . . . gently. They are cops after all.”
Allie, “Detectives.”
Greencrest, “We can find our way out.”
Allie, “We’re here to make sure you don’t get lost.” Allie and the bouncers escort us out of the club, up the stairs, and out onto the street. Allie, “Maybe comeback some other time, detectives. We always give law enforcement officers a ten percent discount.” And the door closes behind us.
