No Return Address

Jennifer Taylor was the fourth girl to go missing. She lived about six blocks from the apartment complex where Gerald Brown and the other three missing girls lived. She didn't work at the same place they all had worked and there was no indication that their paths had ever crossed. What she had in common with the other women was that she was shapely and attractive and young, though a little older than the rest. At 36 ,she was the oldest of the missing girls. She also ,unlike the others had been married. She was seperated from her husband at the time of her death.

Her estranged husband's name was Drake Taylor. I did a quick check on him and found that he was doing a 3 year sentence at the State Correctional Center in Happy Valley,Pa. He had been in prison since last May....So that cut him out of the equation. Jennifer's last known place of employment was the Victoria's Secret in Chess and Chris's shopping center. Cherry Johnson was the manager there, so that was my next destination.

"Jen was good people Kev...She started working here right after her husband went to jail...They were in the process of a divorce. They hadn't actually lived together for a year. She was starting over...Had moved to a new place...Was even seein somebody....I feel bad for her...That she's dead and all." said Cherry.

"You say she was seeing somebody...It wouldn't have happened to be this guy would it?" I said showing her a photo of Gerald Brown.

"Crazy ass Gerald??? Hell to the no.....That's that kid that killed those girls huh? He the one that killed Jennifer too right?" she said.

"You know Gerald?" I asked ,ignoring her question.

"Yeah...He used to come in here." she said.

"So, that's the connection? He knew her from here!" I said.

"No...I don't think their paths ever crossed...She worked in the morning...She had another job she went to after she left here....He would come in ,after he got off work....Pain in my ass Kev..Always asking me for my phone number, asking if he could take me out...Asking me personal questions...Oh....He was a pest...One night, I did go to Josie's with him...Had a few drinks...I guess he thought I was drunk....He was feelin my boobs, trying to slip his hand up my skirt...I slapped him in his face...hard! He never came back this way...I aint the one Kev." she laughed.

"So you never saw the two of them together? Not talking, Not anything?" I asked.

"Nope...I don't think they ever met...Least not in here....And She didn't hang out in Josies." said
Cherry.

"Okay...Thanks Cherry...Oh...by the way...Where was her second job?" I asked.

''She was a barmaid over at Ciros....Chick's joint." said Cherry.

"Yeah, I know the place.....You said she was seeing someone?"I asked.

"Yeah....a real snazzy dresser...Nice looking man....He's some big wig...I've seen him on the news, but I can't remember his name...He was married though, but he told her that he was in the process of getting a divorce...you know, the same jive ass line all married men run on their mistresses." she said.

"Hmmmm...interesting." I said.

"He was a stone dog too....I never got to tell Jen, but he made a pass at me once. He came in here
about a month before Jen went missing...I told him that she was off...He asked me if I wouldn't mind havin a drink with him....and the fool ran his hand across my breasts....He said -"I uh just had to know if they was real or not." A real smooth operator....I couldn't stand him..He made me very uncomfortable." she said.

"You can't remember his name?" I asked.

"Nah...She told me once, but I forgot..Sorry Kev." she said.

"That's okay...you were very helpful." I said.

I next drove over to Ciros and sat at the bar, having a few drinks with Chick.....The last time I had been in here, I had rousted Big Chicken's boys, Rollo and company....I showed Chick a photo of Gerald Brown.

"Nah Kev...Never saw him....but yeah, Jennifer Taylor worked here...She was a damn good barmaid. Everybody loved her..." he said.

"Chick, did you ever see her boyfriend?" I asked.

"Once...Nice lookin dude..Well dressed...He came in here lookin for her...He had a car and a driver waitin for her outside...She was angry at him about something and she wouldn't leave with him...He kept saying that he could explain...but she wasn't havin it...She wouldn't leave with him..So he threw up both hands and just left...That was two days before she went missin."said
Chick.

"Thanks Chick and thanks for the beer." I said as I quaffed down the Corona... From what I had learned....There was absolutely no connection between Gerald and Jennifer Taylor what soever.
She didn't hang out at Josies, He didn't hang out at Ciros....She lived six blocks from him and their paths never crossed at work.....Yet their paths might have crossed somewhere...but where?

On the other hand...There was this boyfriend...Whoever he was , He had money and position and power...Could he have been the one that Gerald saw? , That Cherry and Chick saw?? Hmmmm.
Just then...My Blackberry went off! It was my wife Sepia.

"Hey Kev...I think you'd better come home quick." she said.

"What's goin on?" I asked.

"Something came for you in the mail that I think you'd want to see." she said.

I drove home...When I got there, Sepia gave me a large envelope...It was addressed to her!!! and it had been opened already.

"This is for you..It says Mrs. JoAnne C. Morris." I said.

"Yeah,it was addressed to me...but I think you ought to look at it." she said.

It was an obvious duplication from the coroners office.....It had been marked confidential!!! There was no return address!!! It was the Medical examiners findings in the deaths of Jennifer Taylor and Stacy Lord......Both women were strangled....and both women were pregnant at the time of their deaths....Jennifer was three months pregnant and Stacy was one month pregnant!!

"Oh my God.....They were both pregnant!" I said.

"Yeah Kevin...pregnant....Does that change anything?" asked Sepia.

"It could be a motive for someone else to kill them." I said.

"You still don't think Gerald killed these two do you?" she asked.

"Not now I don't....This was someone else....Something else may link these girls...But I don't think it's Gerald Brown." I said.

"How are you going to prove it? No one will talk to you." said Sepia.

"Yeah...that is gonna be a problem." I said.

(Definitely To Be Continued...)