Latoya: Episode XX – Vanished Without a Trace

 

 It was almost 7 o’clock by the time I had tracked down N. Washington Avenue.  I, however  decided to keep on working while I could. I remembered Captain Donald’s warning. If what he told me is true, then the chances were I will be chased out of Alexandra soon, and I wanted to find out as much as I could before I did run into trouble.

North Washington Avenue was a street of apartment houses and No. 259 turned out to be an old apartment house. Having located it, I drove the Chevrolet Impala to the nearest car park some hundred yards down the street, left the car, and walked back.

Climbing the steps to the front door, I stared at the five name plates which told me nothing. There is no doubt in my mind that someone had taken over LaToya Young’s apartment, but I had no idea which apartment she had occupied.

I told myself that I needed to think hard to figure out what to do next. I definitely do not want to let everyone know that I was looking for her. But I may have to do just that if I bump into the person who is currently occupying her apartment. I was about to press the bell to the front door apartment when the door opened and a short, fat, black girl appeared.

Even though  she was fat, she was remarkably beautiful and her face looked very innocent and relaxed. She was the kind of girl any smart guy would like to take home for their mother to see; you know, that kind of girl. Since she wasn’t expecting to see anyone, she started when she saw me, and then smiled nervously.

“You scared me,” she said.

“Forgive me,” I replied, taking of my papas cap. “I was about to ring the bell.” She looked very responsible, judging from her face and her clothes, so I went on, “I’m looking for Miss Leisha  York. I understand she lives here.”

The girl looked sharply at me. It is very obvious she was surprised.

“Leisha  York?” she said. “She’s been gone for months. She left Alexandra in August.”

“She did?” I said. “Oh my God! What a disappointment. I promised to take her out the next time I was in Alexandra.”

She smiled then.

“Oh, what a shame,” she said. “Leisha’s gone. I don’t really know where she’s got to. I was hoping she will write to me, but she never has.”

“You are a friend of hers, correct?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “And we shared this apartment together.”

“My name is Emeka,” I said. “This is a big disappointment for me. I planned to have dinner with her.”

She looked at me and in her eyes I could see sudden interest mixed with caution. I believe that whatever it was she saw on my face gave her some confidence for she said, “I’m Jessica Laidlow. I don’t know if Leisha  ever mentioned me. But she’s gone, Mr. Emeka. Sorry about that.”

“Too bad for me,” I said, giving her my best boyish smile. “I guess you already have a date tonight, Miss Jessica? If not, I won’t mind keeping you company tonight.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Emeka,” she said. “I guess I can call you that now?”

“Sure,” I replied. “So long as you calls me some human name, I don’t mind at all.”

“For what you were asking,” she said. “I don’t really know what to tell you. Okay, I’ll be honest. I have no date tonight, and I was going out to supper on my own when I bumped into you. The problem is that I don’t really know you, and I don’t think…”

“Search me,” I said. “You’ll see that I’m harmless, as I’m going to prove to you if you’ll join me.”

She laughed again.

“Fair enough,” she said. “I guess I’ll accept your offer then.”

“Excellent!” I said. “My car is at the end of the road. Where are we headed to?”

“Let’s go to the Jacob’s,” she said. “It’s a little expensive, but their food is very good. That is, if you like sea food of course.”

I said I loved sea food a lot.

By the time we reached Jacob’s restaurant, I had got her confidence. Soon we were talking away as if we had known each other most of our lives. She was telling me she worked for Tyler Goldman, the advertising magnate, as a drove up a sand-covered drive that led directly to the neon plastered restaurant, and she broke up to say: “Maybe we should go to another restaurant. Jacob’s is going to be expensive and I don’t want you to go broke.”

I laughed, thinking what a favorite she would be with Mr. Sessoms.

“I’m in a spending mood tonight,” I said. “So don’t worry about the cost.”

I pulled into Jacob’s parking lot, and together we walked over to the entrance. It was a pretty big and grand restaurant that overlooked a river. Even though it was fairly crowded, we managed to get a table on the balcony. That was a good spot because it gave us a fine view of the river, the swimmers frolicking in the moonlight, and the wonderful sweep of the promenade.

Jessica told me she had heard the redrock grilled shrimp and lobster tail at the Jacob’s were the best in town. We started with two very dry martinis, followed by the redrock grilled shrimp and lobster tail.

While we ate, we talked. I brought the conversation around to LaToya Young when we got to the coffee and cigarette stage.

“Why did Leisha  leave town, Miss Jessica?” I asked. “Did she told why?”

Jessica shook her head.

“I have no idea,” she said. “I went off to work as I normally do and when I got back she had gone. She left no note; she just disappeared.”

“She took all her stuff?”

“Yes, of course,” she replied. “And that is good because I would have been much more worried than I was if she hadn’t. In any case, it was a strange move. I called The Golden Triangle, but they were just as surprised as I was.”

“Who did you speak to at the Golden Triangle?”

“The stage manager,” she said. “His name is Mr.  Dorsey.  Leisha   hadn’t said anything to him about leaving.”

“Do you remember the exact date?”

“I believe it was August 3^rd,” she replied. “I remember because my brother’s birthday is on the 4^th and I had got him a wrist watch. I wanted Leisha’s opinion of it, but she had gone.”

“She never gave you any impression at all that she was leaving?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Did she pay her portion of the rent?”

“Yes, she did,” she replied. “I found the rent money she left on the table in our sitting room – I mean the mantelpiece. That was the main reason I was so surprised. I thought she should have at least written a note, but she didn’t. We were good friends, Mr. Emeka. We had shared this apartment for almost nine months. And we got on well together.”

I ordered more coffee. When the waitress had refilled our cups and had moved away, I said, “She worked at The Golden Triangle on the night of 2^nd ?”

“Yes, she did,” she replied. “She had been modeling for Mr. Powell, the cover designer, during the afternoon.  She told me what a good drawing he had made of her when I got back to the office at about six. She also told me that she was looking forward to seeing him again the following day. She then went out to do some shopping. After that, she came back, got ready for the nightclub and left at 8 o’clock.”

“She didn’t seem upset before she left for the nightclub?”

Jessica shook her head.

“No – not at all,” she said. “She didn’t look worried a bit.”

“Did she get back at her usual time?”

“No really,” she replied. “She was later than usual this time. She normally got back every night at two in the morning. Even though we didn’t share bedrooms, I usually heard her when she came in. I remembered that the time she came in was later – it was nearly daylight when she came in. Now, I could be wrong because I was sleepy, and I didn’t look at the time. But it felt later to me. It must have been nearly daylight, I believe.”

 “Did you speak to her before you went to work?”

“Oh no,” she replied. “She don’t normally get up until around eleven o’clock in the morning, and I have to leave the apartment around nine.”

“And you don’t know is she was alone when she came back that night?”

She looked sharply at me, frowning.

“You know, it’s strange that you asked that,” she said. “There could be someone with her at the time – that may be possible. In fact, I thought I heard a man’s voice but I was only half awake when I heard her unlock the door. So, I can’t be sure since I was sleepy."

“Did she often bring men back to the apartment?”

“Not always,” she said. “But she did bring a man home last July. At that time, she told me she was having a guy in for supper, and would I mind keeping out of the way. It was an agreement between me and her at the time. If I wanted my friends in, she kept out of the way too. The good news was that I already have a movie date with a guy when she told me that, so I didn’t get home until late in the night. They had gone by then, but they left a lot of cigarette buts in the ash-tray: Mexican cigarettes. I hate their smell and I particularly noticed they were Mexican cigarettes.”

“Her guest might have been a woman, of course?”

“Well, she told me it was a guy,” she said. “Besides, there were no lipstick marks on the cigarette butts.”

I smiled at her.

“You will make a good detective, Miss Jessica,” I said.

“I was about to say that to you,” she replied. “Why are you asking all these strange questions?”

“Because I think Leisha is in trouble.” I took out   LaToya Young’s photograph from my wallet and put it on the table. “That’s her, isn’t it?”

Jessica looked at the photograph.

“Yes, of course,” she said. “She added a little weight here and that almost three me off. When was this picture taken?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “But the girl in this photo called herself LaToya Young. She arrived at West Baltimore on August 9 and got a job at the Zodiac nightclub as an exotic dancer. Then in August 17 she suddenly vanished and the police think she was kidnapped. I am going to be honest with you. Can you keep a secret? It is very important that what I’m about to tell you now goes no further.”

She was looking a little scared by now.

“Sure,” she said. “My lips are sealed.”

“The Baltimore police have asked me to find out what I can about the girl. They know the Alexandra police don’t want to investigate her case so I have to work cautiously. The Baltimore police believe there’s some mystery going on, and I want to find out what it is.”

“But she have been found by now if she was kidnapped,” Jessica said, her eyes opening wide. “According to you, she disappeared in August 17. That’s almost fifteen months ago, right?”

“They haven’t found her yet,” I said. I told myself that it doesn’t make any sense to tell her the girl was murdered. If I do that, she might get scared and end our date abruptly. “Maybe she wasn’t kidnapped. It may be possible she’s scared of something and is in hiding. Do you know if she had a regular boyfriend – some kind of significant order?”

“No,” she replied. “It will be hard for her to have one anyway, considering the nature of her job. She doesn’t get up until late, and she went to the nightclub at eight. She often complain about not having a boyfriend to be with during all the free time she have in the afternoon.”

“So, how about the man who came to your apartment for supper – the guy who was with her on the last night before she left?” I asked.

“Well, she never told me who he was,” she said. “I didn’t see him anyway.”

“Do you think she left that night?” I said. “That could be possible, you know. Did you go into her room the next morning?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said. “You are correct: she might have left that night. I overslept and I was in a hurry to leave. I noticed the money in the mantelpiece only when I got back home. It is very possible it have been left there overnight.”

“She never mentioned a guy named Eddie Peterson to you, did she?”

Jessica shook her head.

“No, she didn’t.”

“She had a gold  bracelet. Did you ever see it?”

“Yes. You are correct. I’ve often seen it.”

“Did you notice a miniature golden triangle object in the bracelet?”

Jessica looked surprised.

“Sure,” she said. “And I believe Mr. Bolton gave it to her. It was soon after she had got the job at the Golden Triangle. She had made a hit on her first night, and Mr. Bolton gave it to her as a memento.”

“Saul Bolton? He owns the club, doesn’t he?”

She nodded.

Saul Bolton - Eddie Peterson, I was thinking. Could he be one and the same, given that the initial ‘E.P.’ was engraved on one side of the miniature golden triangle object in LaToya’s  bracelet.

“Have you ever seen him?”

“No, I haven’t,” she said. “Although Leisha  didn’t talk about him much, I think she liked him. But I’ve never seen him myself.”

“She never said what he looked like to you, did she?”

“No, she didn’t,” she said. “But I have the impression Leisha   thought he was very good looking.”

I told myself I should have to take a look at Mr. Bolton. He interested me.

We continued talking for almost an hour, but I learned nothing further. Jessica doesn’t have any more information to give me. I, however, had one more lead to follow. My next move was to take a look at Mr. Bolton.

I took Jessica home, promised her I will be in touch, then drove back to the Panache Motel. On getting to my room, I got into bed and lay in the dark, thinking about my progress so far.

LaToya obviously had a mysterious boyfriend – I guess I could call him that. For some reason or other she had kept quiet about him to Jessica. If the relationship had been a good one the most natural thing would have been for her to discuss him with Jessica. But she hadn’t done so. Why?

Was he Mr. Bolton?  At least I had one small clue. This guy smoked Mexican cigarettes: a little unusual, but not that unusual. 

Had LaToya left on the night of August 2^nd? If that is the case, it is only natural to assume she had gone with her boyfriend. I wasn’t forgetting that she and Eddie Peterson booked in at the Empire Hotel in Baltimore Street on the same day. The time lag between August 2^nd, when she left Alexandra, and August 9^th, when she arrived at West Baltimore, puzzled me. Seven days – where had she been during that time? Also, what had she been doing and yet wasn’t seen by no one? I told myself that this time lag may be the key to the whole mystery.

It was about 2 o’clock in the morning before I fell asleep.

 

 

 

END OF EPISODE 20

P.S. Stay tuned for Episode 21, which  will be published here next Sunday.