Chapter 4 – More Death than You Bargained For

After Miss Miller had left, Stillman headed over to where Will and Nick were standing and said, "Got a job for you two, come with me."

The two detectives followed their boss back into his office.

Scotty was watching from where he was seated, near to Lilly's desk and he was keeping an eye out for Lilly as well; he could tell that she wasn't feeling much better at all. Should've really stayed home, he thought.

Inside Stillman's office, he turned to both detectives and said, "Listen gentlemen, we need to find and locate Mr. Anthony Galletti. He was the dance partner of Patty Pearson and apparently he was her offstage romantic partner too. We need to find him because apparently he had offered Miss Pearson a ride home the night of her murder. She declined and we want to find out why."

Nick and Will left, heading out to find out more about Tony Galletti.

January 16, 2008

Nick, Will, Lilly and Scotty sat around the conference table, discussing the latest finds on the Pearson case.

Lilly said, "I have to go to the ballet company today to meet with Jody Taylor, the ballet mistress. She's been with the company all these years and she remembers Patty Pearson, Nicole Miller and Tony Galletti."

Nick spoke up and said in his usual gravelly voice, "Yeah Will and I have been searching for Tony Galletti as well. Maybe this Taylor woman would know where he could be found at. Think you might ask for us Lil?"

She smiled and said that she'd be happy to. Then she stood up and threw her coat on still feeling weak, then Scotty stood as well for he would go with Lilly to the ballet company. Who knows, he thought, he might even meet a pretty young dancer there. He was currently without a girlfriend.

Pennsylvania Ballet Company

The dance class had just ended, and men and women were leaving the classrooms, headed for private rehearsals, outside classes they might be taking, or just relaxing.

Lilly and Scotty walked in through the front doors and approached the front desk. The receptionist there looked up and said in a bored tone of voice, "What can I do for you?"

Lilly and Scotty both flashed their badges and Lilly said, "Detectives Rush and Valens. We'd like to speak to Ms. Jody Taylor, please."

Mandy's eyes popped open and she said, "I'll see if I can get her down here right away." Lilly nodded and they stepped away from the desk and waited in a corner.

As they stood and waited, Scotty watched as a group of dancers approached, elegantly casual in their street clothes, and yet with their postures you could tell they were dancers. Bags slung over their backs, they walked on by, and he watched their backsides appreciatively.

A grin crossed Lilly's face as she noticed Scotty watching those pretty young female dancers walking past. She shook her head and nudged him in the side. He groaned and glared at Lilly in a good natured way though.

A moment later, Mandy the receptionist said, "Detectives, Ms. Taylor has asked that you come on upstairs to her office. Go down the hallway here, take the elevator to the right and go to the third floor. Her office is the second door to the right." Scotty thanked the woman and took Lilly gently by the arm and led her down the hallway.

As they walked towards the elevator, a group of young women were hurrying down the hall, towards class when one of them fell, and let out a yelp of pain.

Scotty turned and said, "I'll be right back Lil." Lil smiled and covered her mouth as she laughed softly. Scotty was a sucker for a pretty young woman, and no doubt aspired to be the knight in shining armor to rescue the damsel in distress.

He moved quickly to the young woman's side, although her friends were still standing there as well. Scotty knelt down beside her and said, "Here, let me have a look." She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. It had been really foolish of her to run, she knew that, but she was already five minutes late for Pointe class.

Scotty moved his hands over her ankle and could feel the swelling coming up, right above her shoe. He said softly, "It looks as though it's sprained."

Rose sighed tearfully and glanced up at her friends then said, "Liz, you'll have to tell Mrs. Dobinski that I had an accident."

Liz sighed and she and the other girls left, their bags slung over their shoulders and walked off. They all knew that Rose was really too clumsy to be a dancer, her ankles were too weak, but somehow she had managed to win the audition and got into the ballet company.

Rose stared at the handsome young man who had knelt down by her side and said tearfully, "I'm afraid that I can't get up. I don't suppose that you could help me." Scotty laughed and said, "Sure thing." Then he turned towards Lilly and said, "Lilly why don't you go on up? I'll be up there as soon as I can." Lilly shook her head, laughing softly as she moved over to the elevator and then stepped inside, the doors closing behind her.

She brushed the tears away and said, "My name is Rose... Elizabeth Rose Caldwell, but I prefer to go by Rose." Scotty smiled and said, "A lovely name Rose. I'm Scotty...Detective Scotty Valens."

Rose stared at him wide-eyed and said breathlessly, "You're a detective? Whatever are you doing here in the ballet company?"

He laughed once again as he helped her up on to her feet and said, "Just business I'm afraid. Now where do you need to get to? Is there someway you can get home?"

And as Rose began to tell him how she had to get home, Scotty said, "I'll take you home Miss Rose. There's no need to have to try and use the public transportation, when you've got a hurt ankle. I guess you won't be dancing for awhile."

Sadly she nodded and said as he led her over to a nearby bench, "Yes and I'm afraid that it happens too frequently. I do have rather weak ankles. I don't know how I managed to get in here, but somehow I did. I won the audition and became a full-fledged member of the Pennsylvania Ballet's corp de ballet."

Scotty, of course, didn't understand these things, but he hoped to learn especially if he could be taught by the lovely Rose.

Jody Taylor's Office

Meanwhile, Lilly had gone upstairs and had found Ms. Taylor's office. She knocked briefly and was asked to come inside.

Lilly opened the door and stepped in, closing the door behind her. She moved forward to the desk, and Jody said, "Have a seat, Detective. How is it that I may help Philadelphia's finest?"

Lilly took a seat and said, "I understand Ms. Taylor that you were the ballet mistress here back in 1980 when a Patricia Pearson was a young dancer."

A far away memory brought a smile to Jody's face and then she said, "Yes Patty Pearson...what a beautiful and talented dancer she was. Oh she would have made a lovely Princess Aurora. Anyway, how can I help you now? That has been nearly three decades now since her murder."

Lilly smiled and said, "Yes well, we're investigating it once again. Some new information has come to light."

Jody sat up straight and said, "Do you think that you will be able to find out who killed Patty?"

Lilly wondered what was taking Scotty so long, then said, "I can't make any promises Ms. Taylor, but we're sure going to try. Can you give us any information on Patty and Tony Galletti?"

Jody sighed, wondering when that would come up and said, "Yes, Patty and Tony were both onstage and offstage partners. They danced beautifully together; Tony knew how to showcase his ballerinas. And yes, they were romantic partners offstage as well. I don't know what happened to Tony. He left the company right after 'The Sleeping Beauty' in March of 1980, devastated by Patty's death. I'd never seen a man so grief stricken. Nobody knows what happened to him; it's almost as if he vanished off the face of the earth."

Lilly sighed, this was going to be difficult but then she said, "What was your role as ballet mistress? And do you still maintain that role?"

Jody smiled, obviously Detective Rush knew nothing of ballet, and so she explained, "Ballet mistresses or masters, if it were a man, are the ones who run the day to day business of keeping the dancers in classes. We teach the classes, maintain decorum, and in some cases, help choreograph the dances, or totally choreograph them ourselves. I did some work with choreography in the mid 1990s and then retired and came upstairs to work in administration."

Lilly stood up and said, "Well I appreciate your time, Ms. Taylor. I don't know if there's anything else right now, but if we think of anything else, we'll be in contact." Then she handed a business card to Ms. Taylor and said, "Of course, if you think of anything, anything at all, please be sure to give me a call."

With that, she said goodbye and left the room, following down the hallway, once again wondering why Scotty hadn't caught up with her.

But as she stepped off the elevator into the main lobby, she could see why. He was seated on a bench with the lovely young dancer who had so fortuitously sprained her ankle at the right time. Lilly sighed, she shouldn't have thought like that. She was sure that the young woman wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her career. From what Lilly had seen, it took many years of hard work and dedication to become a ballet dancer, so why would anyone who put that much time, effort and money into it, throw it away so callously? She couldn't imagine why.

Scotty looked up and saw his partner moving towards him, and felt a stab of guilt that he hadn't made it upstairs to the interview with Ms. Taylor.

As Lilly drew near, Scotty stood and said, "Lilly, I've promised Miss Caldwell here that I would give her a ride home. You wouldn't mind if we made a detour now would you?"

Lilly smiled and said, "Nah what are friends for." So he helped Rose to her feet, and gingerly she put her weight on one foot and an arm around Scotty as he put his arm around her and held her up. Slowly they made their way out to the car.

January 18, 2008

Nick and Will had both been hard put to find anything of Tony Galletti. It was, indeed as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth. But this morning, Kat Miller strode confidently and quietly over to where the two detectives sat and said in as cheerful a voice as she could manage, "Good morning Nick...Will." Both men grunted and nodded their heads.

Kat moved around the desk until she was facing both men and then shocked them both with her next statement: "I found Tony Galletti."

Both Will and Nick stared at Kat, and she was relishing this moment, for she finally had one up on Nick Vera and Will Jeffries. A smile crossed her face and she said, "Well...don't you two gentlemen want to know what happened to the notorious Tony Galletti?"

Nick said, "Yeah sure Kat...give it to us." And he glanced over at Will who gave him a silly smile; both had been working for the last two days trying to trace down the seemingly untraceable Mr. Galletti.

Kat brandished a chair and sat down, relishing each single moment, until she finally cooled down and said softly, "Okay, Mr. Anthony Galletti, former principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, is now residing at the St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery."

Both Will and Nick stared at each other, and in unison both said, "He's dead?"

Kat nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Galletti died of pancreatic cancer in 1984. Just four short years after Patty's death. He never recovered from Patty's death, and apparently sometime in early 1981, about a year after her death, he was diagnosed with cancer. He never sought treatment; in fact, he refused treatment despite pleadings from family and friends. He said that he wanted to die and be reunited with Patty."

All three detectives stared at each other. None of them had ever heard of such a brief and tragic love story, unless you counted Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Nick let out a low whistle, and just then Lilly and Scotty had come in and they saw the gathering and moved over to find out what was going on.

Kat said, "Well Lilly, Scotty we did find Mr. Tony Galletti."

Lilly looked amazed, as did Scotty who said, "Well where can we find the illustrious Mr. Galletti?"

Kat smirked some and then said, "Well Scotty you can't talk to him unless you know of any great intermediaries who deal with death and the afterlife."

Scotty stared at Kat and said, "Wait a minute, you're telling me he's dead?"

Kat was enjoying this immensely as she said, "Yes Scotty that's exactly what I'm telling you. He died of cancer in 1984. He was diagnosed in early '81, almost one year to the date from Patty's murder, and he refused treatment."

Lilly said, "I've got to let the Boss know about this." And so she headed off for Stillman's office.