The Pastor’s Daughter: Episode XVIII

It took me longer than I planned to contact my ex-girlfriend on the Middle River telephone exchange. But I was able to get in touch with her around four o’clock  the following afternoon.

Naturally, when you broke up with a girl, she won’t like to have anything to do with you – ever. So I did not expect to be hugged and kissed when I got her on the phone. Neither was I surprised when she made the usual difficulties that a girl who has been dropped and now discovers you are interested in her again will make. So, with this mindset, it was easy for me to exercise a lot of patience and tact  before I could get around to what I wanted to ask her.

When I told her I wanted the name and address of a Middle River telephone subscriber, she said promptly that it was against regulations and that she could lose her job by giving me what I wanted. After a lot of persuasion and aimless talk which nearly drove me crazy, she finally suggested that we might discuss the matter over a dinner at The Duck’s. So I told her I would meet her at The Duck’s at eight o’clock and hung up.

I knew there would be more to it than a dinner at The Duck’s, so I bought a cologne for ten dollars that looked showy enough to have cost three times that price as a make-weight if she proves to be too difficult to convince.

I hadn’t seen this girl for three, or perhaps four years, and I didn’t recognize her when she entered The Duck’s. I mean, this girl had won Baltimore’s local beauty contest just three years ago. But when I saw her as she entered The Duck’s, I began to wonder how it had been possible for her ever to have won a prize in the contest. Three years can make quite a dent in the shape and size of any Baltimore lady if she doesn’t watch her diet, and this girl, my ex-girlfriend, hadn’t watched anything since the last time I saw her. She really changed a lot.

Anyway, like I predicted, she proved too difficult to convince. And it was only after I had slipped her the cologne that she finally agreed to get me the name and address of the subscriber of the telephone number I had found scribbled on Brittany’s lounge wall.

She promised to call me the following morning.

In spite of the dinner and the cologne I gave her, I had to wait until half-past eleven o’clock before her call came through. By then I was yellow with rage. Speaking in an irritated voice, she told me that the telephone subscriber in question was a woman. Because of the way she said it, my reply wasn’t that polite.

“Well,” I said. “It had to be either a man or a woman, right? You don’t have to get worked up. Certainly you wouldn’t expect it to be a dog, would you?”

“Stop shouting at me, will you?” she said. “I don’t owe you any favor, and I have no business to give you information about any subscriber, okay?”

This girl is driving me crazy! Following my late father’s advice, I counted up to ten mentally before I could trust myself to speak without cursing at her. Then I said, “Okay, you win. Let me have it.”

She told me that the subscriber lived at Carrol Island, near Chase in Middle River, and her name was Grace Roselli.

I wrote down the name and address.

“Thanks a lot,” I said, staring at the scribble on my paper. “Roselli? R-o-s-e-l-l-i? Is that right?”

She said it was.

Then I stiffened.

Roselli!

I remembered the Trenton Police had believed that Vito Roselli, Aquiles’ gangster rival had been responsible for Aquiles’ death. So the big question is -  was Grace Roselli connected in some way with him? Was she his wife,  his sister, or perhaps his daughter? Was there some hook up between this woman, Aquiles’ murder, Vito Roselli and Brittany?

I suddenly became aware that my ex-girlfriend was talking to me. She was talking very loud, and her voice slammed against my ear-drum, but I wasn’t worried about her. I quietly dropped the receiver back to its cradle. As I struggle to make the connection between Grace Roselli, Aquiles’ murder, Vito Roselli and Brittany, my heart started bumping with excitement.

I told myself that this might be the clue I had been looking for. I remembered Phorbus Taylor had told me that Brittany was thought to be mixed up in the Aquiles’ killing, and that was the reason why she had come to Middle River.

Did Vito Roselli really ordered the killing?

I decided it might pay off to take a look at the house in Carroll Island. The telephone bell rang. My mind told me it was probably my ex-girlfriend wanting to know if I had actually hung up on her. I didn’t have time for arguments at this point, so I just let the telephone bell ring.

END OF EPISODE XVIII

P.S. Episode Nineteen  will be published here next Monday.