Extreme Change

by Gary Beck

  Peter went into several stores on Third Avenue, but they hadn’t seen the women. He rushed to the hotel and saw Mr. Singh looking at him, a lizard eyeing a succulent insect, and a wave of loathing swept over him. He asked him if he had seen Beth or Kiesha and he shook his head no. Peter went to the elevator and controlled the rage he was feeling, and impatiently jabbed the button. When it arrived, he fidgeted on the painfully slow ride to his floor. Hector was pacing nervously in the hall and looked at him expectantly, but Peter just shrugged and shook his head. They checked to be sure that Miss Lily and the children were all right, then went to Hector’s room. Peter dialed Beth’s phone and got the same recorded message.

  Hector dialed Kiesha and after two rings a man answered and asked, "Who you want?"

  Before the startled Hector could respond, he heard another voice yell, "You stupid motha fucka. Why you answer that phone? Get rid of it." Then the phone went dead.

  Hector turned to Peter, "Some guy answered her phone, then another guy made him hang up. Those guys upstairs must have grabbed them. We should call the police."

  Peter dialed 911 and told the emergency operator that Beth and Kiesha had been kidnapped, and were probably taken by gangsters to an upper floor in the hotel. The operator wanted to know why he thought they had been kidnapped, and he said that they were missing and a stranger answered Kiesha’s cell phone. The operator explained that unless they had specific proof, some kind of evidence that a crime had been committed, there was nothing they could do unless a person was missing for 24 hours. Peter got agitated and demanded that the police come and search the building, but the operator refused. Peter cursed and hung up. In desperation he called the detective at the 13th precinct. He waited interminably until he got through and heard the woman detective’s familiar rough voice say, "Manetti." Roy identified himself and quickly explained what had happened. He expected indifference and was prepared to reason, beg, scream, curse, do anything to get help.

  Instead she said, "We’ll be right there," and hung up.

  Peter and Hector went to Miss Lily’s room and told her to lock the door securely until they came back. The children sensed the tension and asked for Beth and Kiesha. Peter said they’d be back soon and left them without giving them a chance to ask more questions. He and Hector went to the lobby and paced under the watchful eyes of Mister Singh until the police arrived. Detective Manetti and her partner got there in record time and obviously took the situation seriously. The first thing they did was question Mister Singh, who acknowledged that he had seen the two women come in from the street several hours ago. Peter almost exploded and demanded to know why Mister Singh didn’t tell him that when he asked earlier, but Detective Manetti led him away. "Take it easy. That won’t do any good now. I’ll get some uniformed officers here and we’ll search the hotel. Be cool. If the women are here, we’ll find them."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Two uniformed officers arrived a few minutes later and Detective Manetti organized the search. She stationed one officer in the lobby to make sure no one left and sent the other officer with Hector to search the roof, then work their way down the stairs. She instructed the officer in the lobby to send the next two arriving officers to search the basement. She and her partner headed for the elevator and she told the lobby officer that they would be on the 10th floor. Then she looked at Peter and gestured for him to come with them. All the hostility that Peter had felt towards her in the past vanished in an instant.

  When they were in the elevator, she turned to him, "We know who to ask about this. Once we get there don’t say a word. Understand?" He nodded. She looked capable and determined and he was more than willing to trust her. They didn’t speak the rest of the way up and when the elevator stopped, she said quietly, "Remember. Don’t say anything."

  Peter followed the detectives as they walked to a door and stood behind them while she knocked.

  A suspicious voice asked, "Who?"

  "Police. Open up," she said authoritatively. There was a whispered conference behind the door and she knocked louder. "Open up."

  They heard locks click and the door slowly opened. A tall, thin black man asked, "What you want?"

  "Get Mister Power," Detective Manetti ordered.

  "He ain’t here right now."

  "Don’t mess with me. Get him."

  "Hold on. I see if he here." He closed the door and a moment later a short, stocky black man opened the door. He had a large head with thick features and a long scar ran down his left cheek to his chin. His teeth were covered with gold that glistened when he opened his mouth. He wore a green turtleneck sweater, with a thick gold chain around his neck.

  "Hey, Detective Manetti. Whas up?"

  "There were two women reported up here earlier. A white lady and a black lady. Have you seen them?"

  "I ain’t seen nobody. I’ll ask inside."

  He closed the door and there were more urgent whisperings. Mister Power opened the door again. "They was up here a while ago and complained about the loud music, but they be gone now."

  Peter started to protest, because he knew that Beth and Kiesha would never go up here, but Detective Manetti froze him with a glance. "Who spoke to them?"

  "One of my crew."

  "I’d like to speak to him."

  "He not here now."

  "What’s his name?"

  "Bug spray."

  "What’s his real name?"

  "That’s all I know him by."

  "You mind if I take a look inside?"

  "You got a warrant?"

  "Don’t play me. All I need is probable cause and I think I hear someone screaming. If you don’t ask me in, I’m gonna come down heavy on you."

  "There’s nothing here. You can see for yourself." He stepped aside and she went in.

  She came out a minute later and shook her head at Peter, then turned back and told the men in the room, "All of you stay here until we’re through. If I find out you lied to me, I’ll come back and bust your ass."

  Mr. Power said from inside, "Thanks for coming, lady detective," and slammed the door.

  Peter told Detective Manetti that the missing women would never go to this floor on their own.

  "I know that," she said. "They’re not in that room and we’ll search the entire building until we find them." This reassured Peter. More officers arrived to aid in the search. She sent one officer with her partner to talk to Lobo on the 11th floor and assigned the other one to watch the 10th floor, to prevent the departure of any possible suspects. She radioed the officer who was on the roof with Hector and told him to knock on every door on the 12th floor, the top floor, so that if they had to search room to room they wouldn’t miss anyplace. Then she took Peter to the elevator and they went to the basement. An officer was searching the dark labyrinth, but he had only looked in a small part of the space. The basement seemed to be much larger than the other floors of the hotel. The officer had already been through the boiler room and an unused locker room, but there were a lot more rooms.

  Detective Manetti took one side of the corridor with Peter and assigned the other side to the officer. All the doors were locked on her side, so she knocked loudly on each, calling, “Anyone in there?"

  Peter asked her what if the women were there and unable to answer, and she explained that this was just a quick check. If they didn’t find them, each room would be opened and searched. They worked their way down the corridor and suddenly heard shouting and pounding from behind a door they had passed.

  "Hey! We’re in here. We’re in here." Peter recognized Beth’s voice and a wave of relief poured over him. They rushed to the door that was padlocked and the officer used his nightstick to pry it open. A filthy and bedraggled Beth rushed into Peter’s arms and Detective Manetti reached out to Kiesha, who hugged her tightly. She instructed the officer to let everyone know they found the women and that officers should stay on the 10th and 11th floors until further notice.

  Once she heard a brief version of th
eir story, Detective Manetti asked the women to wait until a forensics specialist arrived to collect physical evidence. It didn’t take long, then they took the women to the elevator, sobbing uncontrollably now that their ordeal was over.

  "Are you hurt?" Peter asked. "Do you need a doctor?"

  Beth couldn’t speak, but she shook her head no, and so did Kiesha. They stopped at the lobby and Detective Manetti asked if they needed an ambulance. When they said no, they took the women to their rooms so they could wash and change clothes. Peter led Beth into the bathroom and gently helped her undress and shower. Hector came down from the roof and helped Kiesha. Detective Manetti kept the officers on the 10th and 11th floors and dismissed the others. She waited patiently with her partner until the women were ready to talk, then they sat down in Beth and Peter’s room.

  Before they could start, Peter profusely thanked Detective Manetti for her quick response. "When we called 911 they wouldn’t help. We’re so grateful to you. I’m sorry if I was rude the last time you were here."

  "That’s all right," she said. "We’re used to it."

  Beth was about to tell them what happened, when Detective Manetti leaned forward confidingly, "We know what goes on up there and we don’t like it. Just because it’s not on the street, that doesn’t make it acceptable. We never had an incident like this with witnesses who could identify their assailants. Beth shook her head, "I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we never saw their faces." Kiesha nodded, "The first thing they did was throw coats over us. It happened so fast we didn’t see anything."

  "They spoke to you, right?" Detective Conklin asked.

  "Yes," Kiesha answered.

  "Can you identify their voices?"

  "Yes," Beth and Kiesha said together.

  "Good. That gives us something to work with."

  "I didn’t know you could arrest people from their voices," Peter said.

  "It’s not always clear legally, but those guys upstairs aren’t rocket scientists. Maybe we can scare them into a confession. Now let’s hear your story and we’ll see what we can do about it."

  "You tell them, Beth," Kiesha said.

  "All right. They shoved us into the elevator from behind, threw coats over our heads and punched us. It was hard for us to tell what was going on. They took us to a room and tied our arms to chairs with our coats, then they took off our pants and used them to tie our legs. They hit us and knocked us around, then they tore off our panties and told us what they were going to do to us sexually." She started crying again and so did Kiesha. Peter and Hector comforted them and when the women were calm Detective Manetti asked her to continue. "They said they were going to have a…." She burst into tears. "It’s horrible. I don’t want to say it."

  Kiesha put her arm around her and squeezed her reassuringly. "I’ll tell them, missy. They wanted to have a Miss Pussy America contest and they were going to judge our pussies, before they raped us."

  Peter yelled angrily and Hector cursed, but Detective Manetti shushed them, "I know how you feel, but take it easy. We’ve got to hear everything."

  Beth signaled that she was all right and continued her account of the attack. She told them that their captors were called out of the room by someone they called ‘boss,’ and they untied themselves, then escaped by climbing down the shaft. Detective Conklin looked at them in amazement, "You climbed all the way down the dumbwaiter to the basement? Holy shit. That took nerve."

  "That was the only choice we had," Kiesha said wearily. "If we stayed there, they would have raped and killed us…. By the way, what’s a dumbwaiter?"

  Conklin smiled, "Hotels used to send food to different floors that way. But finish your story."

  Beth shrugged. "That’s about it. We got into the room where you found us, but we couldn’t open the door, so we sat down and waited."

  Manetti prompted, "Is that it?"

  Beth looked at Kiesha, who said, "Yeah. Pretty much. I just want you to know that Beth saved both of us and I love her."

  "Thanks, Kiesha. I love you."

  "I think you’re two gutsy women," Detective Manetti said.

  Peter and Hector praised the women for their bravery and fussed over them. Beth and Kiesha, though exhausted, were beginning to recover from the fear and horror of their experience. Beth expressed her growing anger at the men who abducted them.

  She turned to Manetti, "What are you going to do about those animals?"

  "Are you sure that you can identify their voices?"

  "Absolutely. I’ll remember three of them for a long time and I know Kiesha will."

  "Yeah. I’m sure of it."

  "Are you ready to go upstairs and face them?" Both women nodded yes.

  "Is there anything in particular you can tell me about their voices, to assure proper identification?"

  Beth took a deep breath, "The one they called ‘boss’ had a harsh, mean voice. I’d recognize it immediately."

  "Me too," Kiesha said. "The one who hit me had a high voice and sounded like he was talking through his nose."

  "Yeah. He did. The guy who hit me had a deep voice. I’ll know it."

  "So will I," Beth confirmed.

  Manetti conferred with her partner, then turned back to the two women, "Is there anything else you can tell us that might help?"

  Beth shook her head no, but Kiesha said, "Yeah. They were black."

  "Are you sure?" Manetti asked excitedly.

  "Yeah. I know black guys when I hear them."

  "Could they have been Hispanic?"

  "No way. They were black."

  "Did you hear the name ‘Mister Power?"

  They shook their heads no, but Beth thought of something, "The guy with the harsh voice told them to take us to Popeye’s room."

  "Yeah. I remember that." Manetti grinned at Conklin, "Maybe we got something this time." She radioed the officer on the 11th floor and told him to join the officer on the 10th floor and reminded him not to let anyone leave the floor. "We’ll be up in a few minutes and I think we’re gonna do some business. I don’t think they’ll resist but be alert."

  Manetti told Beth and Kiesha that she would take them upstairs so they could see and hear everything, but instructed them not to say a word, or react in any way. "I’ll bring them out in the hall and ask them some questions. Just listen and don’t say anything. This isn’t a legal line-up, so I don’t want problems later from their lawyer. I’ll get them to say their names and talk. You note which ones you recognize. When we’re through with them I’ll send them back inside and you can tell me which ones you can identify. Then I’ll bring them out and arrest them on suspicion of kidnapping, assault and a few other charges. Do you understand?" Beth and Kiesha nodded yes. "Do you have any questions?" They shook their heads no. "Good."

  "Can Hector and I come with you?" Peter asked.

  "We want to be with Beth and Kiesha."

  "If you don’t say anything or react in any way."

  "We won’t," said Peter.

  Before they could start upstairs, Miss Lily’s door opened, and she stuck her head out. "Can Beth and Kiesha come in here for a minute and show the kids they all right? I told them that you was talkin’ to the police about those noisy men upstairs and you was goin’ up there to make them be quiet."

  Beth gave her a grateful look and went into the room, with Kiesha right behind her. They reassured the children, who weren’t sure that anything was wrong, but their usual routine had been altered. Beth squeezed Jennifer and Andy tight, glad to still be with them.

  Jennifer pretended to be indifferent. "What’s up, Mom? Didn’t I see you this morning?"

  "Don’t be a smart aleck. I missed you, that’s all."

  "Are you all right?"

  "I’m fine, now that I’m with both of you."

  Andy piped up, "We didn’t get any dessert after dinner. Can we have something now?" Beth didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Andy’s plaint, so she did a little of both. She turned to Miss Lily helplessly, who’s face lit u
p with a smile that could warm Antarctica.

  "I’m sure we can find something for good children. Have you all been good?"

  Eager voices chorused, "Yes. Yes."

  "You know we’ve been good, Miss Lily," Pablo said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  No one said anything in the elevator on the way to the top floor. When the door opened, Detective Manetti reminded them not to say or do anything. She beckoned to one of the uniformed officers to join her and knocked on the door.

  The same suspicious voice asked, "Who?"

  "Police. Open up."

  The door opened and Mister Power stood there insolently, "It’s the lady detective again. Whas up?"

  "I need to question you and some of your friends about those missing ladies."

  "I see them right there. How they be missing?"

  "How do you know they’re the ones, Mister Power?"

  He looked at her blankly, "I guessed you found them."

  "Send your friends out."

  He walked back into the room and a minute later three men shambled out. Detective Manetti questioned each one and made sure they said more than yes or no. When she was finished, she sent them back in their room and led her group to the elevator. She told the uniformed officers to monitor the floor until she came back.