“What did you say?”
“Peppermint.”
“No the name. What was that name?”
“Paula M. Dent.”
“Who is that?”
“You remember Peppermint from Pleasers, don't you?” Carmen smiled and Marcus looked confused. “You remember the dancer I sent you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that is her real name. I told her that Paula M. Dent kinda rhymed with Peppermint. Why?” Now it was Carmen who looked confused. “I mean you act like it's something important.”
“It just may be. After the trial was over, I was with Roland in his study and he was on the phone talking to a Paula Dent.”
“So he knows her. He's a world class freak, like everybody else involved in this mess.”
“May be something, may be nothing. But what if I were to tell you that Roland owns Hudson Financial and that the lead detective in all of the murders was our own detective Benjamin?”
“I'd say that since she knows him, we could at least talk to Peppermint, see what she can tell us.”
Marcus and Carmen left the house and drove to Pleasers. They went inside and looked around for Peppermint. Not seeing her anywhere. Marcus asked one of the other dancers if she was there. The dancers said that Peppermint had just came off stage and she was in the dressing room changing.
“I'll get her,” Carmen said and disappeared quickly into the dressing room. Marcus found a table close to the dressing room door. For the next ten minutes he reluctantly turned away dancer after dancer who came to offer their services for a table dance. Finally, Carmen emerged from the dressing room with Peppermint.
“Peppermint, this is Marcus Douglas. He needs to ask you some questions.”
“I thought y'all wanted a dance,” Peppermint said and Marcus reached in his pocket, peeled off a fifty, and handed it to her.
“This should cover your time.”
Peppermint took the fifty. “Go ahead and ask what you wanna ask.” Placing it in her already over flowing garter.
“Do you know a man name Roland Ferguson?”
“Not that I can remember. But a lot of men say they know me. And I meet a lot of men up in here. After a while, they're all just faces with money in their pockets.” Peppermint said with a smile and Marcus smiled back.
Carmen dug around in her purse until she found a picture of Roland and Desireé. “Have you ever seen this man before?” she asked and handed Peppermint the picture.
Peppermint looked at the small picture closely in the dim light of the club. “Rollie! That's Rollie.”
“So you do know this man,” Marcus said pointing at the picture.
“Yeah, I know him,” Peppermint said handing the picture back to Carmen.
“But you never heard of Roland Ferguson?”
“Why? Should I?”
“Never seen him on television or read anything about him in the papers?” Carmen asked glancing at Marcus with a smile.
“Honey, I don't have time to sat down and watch television, much less read the paper.”
“How do you know Rollie?” Marcus asked
“I've danced for him a few times.”