Pink Butterfly (13 page)

“Go on,” Melvin said enjoying the fantasy.

“Then you’d take her into the dishwashing room and use the power washer to recreate some strange shower fantasy where she’d hang from the towel rack and sixty nine you while you washed her feet with a loufa pad.”

“No, you got it all wrong,” Melvin stated mocking Von Braun like she was some dyke idiot.

“Then you tell me,” she said firmly moving in closer to Melvin.

“First of all, the kitchen is way too cold to have sex to start. Even with the ovens on, they keep that room around sixty eight and I usually have to wear a sweater when I’m not cooking. Second, our dish room doesn’t have a portable shower head. The best I could do would be a bath and the sink is way too small for two people.”

“So you admit you did have a sexual fantasy about her, just not exactly like I described,” Von Braun stated hoping for a confession.

“I have sexual fantasies all the time. Just like everyone else. I bet you think about banging every girl in the women’s section of this jail. But that doesn’t mean I was fantasizing about her. Hell, I didn’t even know her name till you told me.” Melvin explained like he was talking to a child.

Frustrated, Von Braun came up with a new angle. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that I believe you. Then why the fuck did you shoot her?”

Melvin rolled his eyes and shuffled in his small chair. “I didn’t.”

“Fingerprints don’t lie,”

“I told you I picked up the gun, check my hands for gunshot residue or whatever you investigators do for a living. All you’ll find is gravy and grape jelly.” Melvin sat quiet for a moment and looked Von Braun in the eye. “What about the other girl, the one that nearly ran my ass over running out of that room?”

“We’re checking on that lead, don’t you worry about that,” Von Braun replied. “I don’t think much will come of it actually.”

“Did you trace the ownership of the gun?”

“You can’t trace those things like they do on television. You watch too much C.S.I.”

“So you’d rather make up some bullshit story about me being a stalker of a girl I don’t know, ignore the facts I have given you and blame me because of my past record?” Melvin asked in disgust.

“I’m a detective, not a miracle worker,” Von Braun stated leaning back in her chair.

“What does your husband think of your work?” Melvin asked.

“Husband? I don’t have a husband.”

“Boyfriend?”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding. I pee standing up, I shave my face every day just like you do. I like a nice round ass and a hot girl now and then,” Von Braun stated with a smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to stomp on your sexuality.”

“No harm done, sometimes people get me mixed up with regular folk. But to answer your question, my girlfriend hates my job, thinks it’s too dangerous.”

“Is it?” Melvin asked.

“Fuck no, I sit behind a desk ninety percent of the time trying to think of a way to cut my tits off. I’m saving up for some surgery. Now, enough about me, why did you kill that Schmidt girl? Did she turn you down for a blow job?”

“The last person who turned me down for a blow job was in prison and he’s dead now. Nothing I did, I think he had cancer or something. Like I told you, I don’t know this Schmidt girl, had no interest in her and I was only at the scene because I heard gun shots. I picked up the gun because it looked interesting to me and that’s it. Your perp is somewhere out there running around loose. From what I saw she seemed pretty, so you might want to haul your ass out there and ask her out.”

“That’s a stereotype, I don’t ask out every woman I see.”

“Touchy are we?” Melvin chuckled. “Are you charging me with a crime or am I free to go?”

“With the fingerprint evidence I’ll have to charge you with homicide for now. Let the District Attorney file the final charges once we get some more facts. Looks like you get to spend more time behind bars, but then I think you’re used to it by now.”

Melvin was placed in a jail cell and the door was slammed shut locking him inside. He walked to the far wall, turned around and sat on the bed slab and immediately recognized the girl in the cell across the hall laying on her back. It was Phoenix, the stripper he had met months before. Back on his feet, Melvin approached the bars to his cell and called out to the girl he hadn’t seen since the Tasty Nipple fire. “Hey, Phoenix!” Melvin called trying to get the girls attention.

Phoenix turned her head and looked at Melvin. She knew the voice and now she remembered the face from which it came. “What are you doing here?” she asked sitting upright on her hard bed.

“Nothing, accused of murder, what about you?”

“I was blackmailing some guy threatening to tell his wife about our affair,” Phoenix replied.

“You can get tossed in jail for blackmail?” Melvin asked.

“I’m here for terroristic threats and assault,” she replied. “I never spoke to the bitch, he cornered me and I fought back.”

“Where is he?” Melvin asked.

“Fuck who knows?” she replied disheartened. “He was a bastard anyway.”

“Was this some guy you liked or did you set him up from the beginning to blackmail him?”

“It was a setup for sure, I’m only into men for the money,” Phoenix laughed back.

“So you’ve done this before?”

“Lots of times, always works in the end. Well, almost every time. Once you get a guy hooked and threaten to tell his wife, he always pays up. That romp in the sack is never free.”

“What’s the difference between that and prostitution?” Melvin asked.

Phoenix pondered the question for a moment. “The risk I guess, the payoff for prostitution is way less than for blackmail. I got two thousand once from a guy for a two week affair. I knew it was heading south so I pinched him right away. If it had gone on for months, she probably would have caught wind of what was going on and my pay day would have sucked.”

“But on the other hand, the risk could also mean disaster for you,” Melvin stated.

“No shit, look where I’m at now?” Phoenix stated pointing to the walls around her.

“How long you in for?”

“I go to court on Friday,”

“How long have you been locked up?”

“Since yesterday,” she replied with a smile. Don’t you love the way my hair looks?”

“At least you’re wearing a shirt now,” Melvin said with a chuckle.

“You should be a comedian,” Phoenix said with a droll tone in her voice. “What’s up with this murder charge?”

“It’s fucking bullshit and they know it. Trying to set me up for a murder at my last job. They said I shot a nurse’s assistant because I was stalking her and she wouldn’t give me what I wanted.”

“Did you?” Phoenix asked.

“Fuck no! I did that ten years ago, I’m not the same person I was then. Hell, I didn’t even know this girl. Fucking cops are too lazy to go out and find the real perp, sitting around jacking off on my tax dollar.”

“I really get the feeling you could do that, Kill someone I mean.”

“I did, ten years ago, that’s ancient history, I did my time, I’m a new person,” Melvin snapped back.

“I get that, but you still seem like the type. Kind of cold, aloof and self-centered. Plus you have creepy eyes.”

“Creepy eyes?” Melvin asked. “Who are you to judge me? Fucking blackmailing whore.”

“I never said I was perfect. But I do have pretty eyes.”

“You look stoned half the time. You squint like you’re staring into the sun all the time. Are you on crack or what?” Melvin asked sorta pissed.

“I have congenital light sensitivity in my eyes. I inherited it from my grandmother. I usually wear sunglasses but it makes people not trust me so I stopped.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Like I said, cold, aloof and self-centered.”

“All rise for the honorable Judge Keene,” the bailiff stated to the thinly filled courtroom.

The judge entered and took his place at the bench. “You may be seated,” he said looking down at his papers. “Present the case.”

“The State of Iowa versus Melvin Skankmeyer for the pre meditated murder of Lisa Schmidt, a human being,” the bailiff announced.

“Very good,” the judge said. “Prosecution, present your first witness.”

Melvin sat quiet at the defendants table dressed in his orange jumpsuit. His defense lawyer, Oscar Baranski pretended not to notice and continue reading the news off his laptop. The prosecuting attorney Antonio Aldi stood up and said, “I call Phoenix to the stand,”

Melvin tapped his lawyer on the arm and whispered “Don’t they need her last name?”

Oscar leaned over and whispered back, “She is a protected witness, she’s allowed to use whatever she wants.”

“Why are they calling her?” Melvin asked in a panic.

“Character witness probably,” Oscar replied. “Or did you try to kill her too?” he added with a quirky smile.

Phoenix stepped up to the witness stand and took the oath to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. She sat down and straightened her skirt looking all prim proper and girly.

“Miss Phoenix,” Oscar said addressing the young woman on the stand. “Do you know the defendant Mr. Melvin Skankmeyer?”

“I’ve met him, we have some history,” she replied.

“In what context would you describe your relationship with the accused?”

“I met him at a strip club once, and we spent some time in the county jail waiting for trial.”

“During your time in jail, did you and the accused have conversations concerning his upcoming trial?” Oscar asked,

“Yes, he said he stalked that girl for months and when she turned him down for a blow job in the broom closet at work one night, he went ballistic and blew her away with his gun.”

Melvin started to fume and his eyes widened. He grit his teeth and wanted to shout at the top of his lungs that the whore on the stand was a liar. He kept his calm and took a deep breath.

“Do you know approximately when he told you this?”

“Hell, he talked about her nonstop. I had to tell him to shut up so I could get some sleep. It was Lisa this and Lisa that and how much he thought she was pretty. I think he fantasized about her constantly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had desires to have sex with her dead body.”

“Objection!” Antonio yelled, “That’s her opinion, not a statement of fact!”

“Sustained, ma’am, please keep your responses to the facts of the case,” the judge stated firmly.

“Can you remember anything in particular that stood out when he spoke of the now deceased Lisa Schmidt?” Oliver asked

“Yeah, he said he liked to watch her bend over. He’d intentionally drop food, or whatever so she’d bend over and pick it up for him. He said it gave him a raging hard on.” Phoenix replied.

“Did the defendant ever try anything on you?”

“Hell no, I can spot a pervert a mile away. He stunk of dirty little boy.”

“Objection!” Antonio yelled.

“Sustained, please refrain from making personal judgments about the defendant.” the judge stated more firmly.

“On the night before Mr. Skankmeyer’s first hearing, he confided something in you didn’t he?” Oscar asked.

“Yes,” Phoenix stated. “He told me he made Lisa beg for her life before he shot her in the neck.”

Melvin stood up and yelled, “You lying bitch!”

The judge slammed his gavel and pointed to Antonio. “Get him under control!” Melvin sat back down and hyperventilated till he was dizzy. He was now numb and felt like the room was spinning.

“Please continue,” the judge stated to Phoenix.

“He told me he gave Lisa two choices. One was for her to run off with him and be his sex slave, or two, take a bullet in the head.”

“Did he tell you what Lisa answered?”

“Objection,” Antonio said. “That would be hearsay.”

“Sustained,” the judge said.

“Is there anything else that the defendant said to you directly that the jury should know about his relationship with the deceased?” Oscar asked Phoenix.

“Yeah, he said the first girl he killed was still his favorite. He said there’s nothing like the first time.”

“Thank you, I have no further questions your honor,” Oscar stated and walked back to his table smug and happy.

“Your witness Mr. Aldi,” the judge stated.

“What has the prosecution offered you for your testimony today?” Antonio asked as he approached the witness stand.

“Nothing,” Phoenix replied. Antonio was a tad taken aback by her answer.

“So you have no motive to lie?” he asked.

“Nope, none at all,” Phoenix replied.

“Is there anything in your past that would prejudice yourself to Mr. Skankmeyer? As a stripper, don’t you hate men in general?”

“Not really.”

“You gyrate your body and contort yourself to please men so they pay you money. They idolize you as a sex object. Are you sure you don’t have a deep seated hatred for men and their dirty sexual desires? Isn’t this just a chance to stick it to a guy and make him pay for making you feel like a cheap sex toy?”

“I like what I do for a living,” Phoenix replied. “Nobody ever put a gun to my head and made me strip. I love dancing, I love getting paid to dance. I love the control I have over my audience and for the time I’m working, I’m a fucking star.” she replied. “I could get men like you to hand over two hundred and night and never lay a finger on me. If I need to get revenge on men, I get it every time I make a deposit in the bank.”

“You call what you do dancing?” Antonio asked mocking her. “Did you go to a dance school? Do you have a dance certificate? I have seen what goes on in those kinds of establishments and dancing is the last thing you do.”

“There is more to it than just swinging around a pole and doing tap. Strip dancing is an art form unto itself.” Phoenix replied pissed.

“If it’s an art form as you claim, then why do you take tips on stage? I have never seen any respectable dancer take money shoved down her G-String. Go to a play, go to the ballet, those women are dancing, isn’t what you do closer to whoring for cash?”

“The theater takes money at the door, I take it on the stage, either way the talent gets paid. You’re opinion of what I do has nothing to do with this. It’s legal and I’m over eighteen.” Phoenix barked back.