Chapter 2 – Pas de Deux of Death
January 15, 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Snow was coming down lightly, as Lilly came in from the streets and headed upstairs to her desk. She was just coming back to work after having been off sick for the past week and she still wasn't feeling all that well.
"Feeling any better, Lilly?" Scotty asked. For Lilly still looked peaked to him.
Lilly shook her head, sat down at her desk and began to wade through the material that had been piled up on her desk. Boy nobody was willing to cut her a break, she thought to herself. Sick or not, she had to get back to work; back to her mission.
Lilly Rush, 26 years old, was only one of two female detectives on the Philadelphia Cold Case squad. Kat Miller, 32, was the other female detective, and together they had to work in a mostly male dominated police force.
Scotty Valens, 28, Lilly's partner of the past five years came over to her desk, stood there looking down at Lilly. She glanced up and said, "Well, what is it Scotty?"
He sat down and handed her some photos of an old crime scene; nothing new to Lilly, but these, as she gazed down at them, made her stomach turn. Then Scotty said, "January 1980, a young ballerina with the Pennsylvania Ballet, scheduled to make her debut in March of same year, is brutally murdered."
Lilly gazed at the scene: a pretty young redhead girl, slender and still in her ballet
clothes apparently, lying in an alleyway, her head bashed open, and gruesomely, almost like an afterthought, a pair of toe shoes wrapped around her neck. The eyes were still staring, almost in shock, as if, Lilly thought, she knew her attacker.
At the first sign of tears, Lilly quickly brushed them away, attributing them to her recent illness, but she didn't fool Scotty. He handed her a tissue and said, "I know Lil... it still gets to me too. I've read the background on our victim: Patricia Pearson, 20 years old, born in Rochester, New York, was apprenticed to the Pennsylvania Ballet at the age of 18; quickly rose to become soloist and was scheduled to dance the lead role in 'The Sleeping Beauty', but someone saw to it that she would never appear on stage; there or anywhere else."
Vera swaggered over and said as soft as he could, "Lil, the boss wants to see you."
Lilly nodded and stood, still feeling weak from her illness. Perhaps she should have taken more time off, but she just couldn't, and these gruesome crime scene photos of a beautiful young dancer, dead before her time, just couldn't wait. She had danced off to heaven before she had a chance to dance here on earth. Lilly couldn't take time off for that.
Lt. John Stillman watched Lilly as she made her way to his office. Damn but she was still looking sick and very weak. He had protested when she had announced that she was coming back to work, but when she had insisted, there wasn't much that John could do to stop her. He knew that she was dedicated to her work.
Lilly knocked on the door and then when he motioned for her to come in, she opened it and stepped inside. Stillman said, "Sit down Lilly, before you faint." She did so, and was grateful for her legs felt as if they were going to buckle beneath her.
Some of the crime scene photos lay on Stillman's desk and he said, "I know that you just got the photos of the Pearson crime scene. This dates back 28 years." Lilly nodded and said, "I know boss. It's such a shame too; she was such a pretty young girl, and seemed poised to have it all; a ballet career, a boyfriend as well."
Stillman looked up at that and said, "I didn't read anything about a boyfriend. Where did you get that information from Lilly?" She said, "Scotty went over her bio with me briefly. She was seeing some guy named Anthony Galletti, known as 'Tony'; he was her dance partner and apparently her romantic partner off stage as well."
He moved his glasses up on his nose and peered down at the 8 x 10 photo of the young woman, when she was alive, posed in an arabesque position, and costumed as 'Giselle'. Obviously it was a studio portrait, but he could see that she was a beautiful young woman and apparently a very talented ballet dancer. He could see why she would have a boyfriend, and when he saw the photo of Tony and Patty together, he could see why. They were a very attractive couple.
Just then Vera knocked on Stillman's door and when Stillman nodded, he opened the door and stepped inside. Then he said, "Boss, we've got someone here that wants to talk to you about the 1980 Pearson case. She says she's an old friend and has some information on what happened to Patricia Pearson the night she was murdered."
Stillman rose from his seat, along with Lilly as he said, "Send her in, Vera. Lilly, take a seat please. You're still not well." Lilly sat back down, unable to hide her trembling hands and still wet eyes, from where she had tried not to cry when looking at the body of Patty Pearson.
A few minutes later, the door opened and Vera ushered in a petite, middle aged woman with chestnut brown hair hanging down in curls, and bright blue eyes that were sparkling from unshed tears. Stillman noticed how graceful she moved and wondered if she too had been a ballet dancer. He motioned for her to take a seat, while Vera closed the door and left.
Lilly said, "You were a ballet dancer once weren't you?"
The woman nodded and said, "My name's Nicole...Nicole Miller. Patty Pearson was my best friend back when we were both first starting at the Pennsylvania Ballet."
Stillman sat down and then after clearing his throat said, "Miss? Mrs. Miller?"
Nicole glanced at the lieutenant and said, "It's Miss Miller. I never did get married. I devoted my life to the ballet."
He nodded and said, "Miss Miller, why don't you start by telling us about how you and Miss Pearson met, and any other details that you would like to share, including her boyfriend, Tony Galletti."
Nicole gasped slightly when she heard that name, for she hadn't heard of Tony in more than 25 years.
She said softly, "I haven't heard that name in more than 25 years. Tony Galletti was just devastated by Patty's death; in fact, he left the company after 'The Sleeping Beauty'. No one knows what became of him."
Lilly intervened and said, "Who danced 'Princess Aurora' after Patty's death?"
Nicole lowered her head and said in a quiet voice, "I did."
Stillman and Lilly both looked at each other, surprise in both their faces.
Outside the office, Vera and Scotty were standing around watching the discussion going on inside Stillman's office.
Vera said in his usual gruff voice, "She's bound to be one of those ballet dancers. Say, you ever been to a ballet, Scotty?"
Scotty laughed and said nonchalantly, "Yeah but you know it was the girlfriend's idea. I didn't really want to go, but hey, it was interesting."
Vera laughed and said, "Well I was thinking about taking Cooper to the ballet. Think she'd go for it?"
Scotty slapped Vera on the back and said, "Go for it pal. There's nothing to lose except, NO WAY!"
Inside Stillman's office, Nicole Miller sat there, clasping her hands together nervously.
How could she tell this man, and this female detective sitting here, how she had witnessed her friend's brutal murder? How she had gone after her, hoping to talk to her about the role and perhaps getting her to agree to letting Nicole understudy for her. It wasn't exactly unheard of in the ballet world to have an understudy go on for the principal dancer.
Although Patty was not yet a principal dancer, it was also well known in the world of ballet, that when a soloist dances a lead role, she would shortly become promoted to principal dancer. 'The Sleeping Beauty' would have been Patty Pearson's catalyst to that coveted principal role.
