Somebody's Daughter (25 page)

At about four o'clock, the mother of the missing British Columbia teenager spoke with the large group of reporters at the station; after her news conference, several journalists lingered, asking pointed questions not about the girl's possible abduction but about an even bigger story they had heard rumors about all day. After the third or fourth demand for information on a pending arrest of several dangerous Nova Scotia pimps supposedly operating on the streets of Toronto, Perry decided to cut a deal with the reporters: he would tell them where the arrest was going down, and they would keep far enough away from the scene not to alert the suspects returning to the hotel; after police had the pimps in custody, the cameras could move in for some good shots.

Dave Perry wasn't just being a nice guy for the benefit of the media; he and his superiors at the metro police department knew the value of the publicity these arrests could create. Perry had spent nearly a decade wrestling with the thorny problem of juvenile prostitution—and, most recently, the dangerous Scotians' role. This was an opportunity to let tens of thousand of people know about a major national pimping ring—and one that hopefully would be broken, here in Toronto, within hours. The publicity could also convince officials in Nova Scotia that they should take on the issue with a full-scale task force, as Perry knew his Halifax colleague Brad Sullivan had been urging for two years.

Just as Dave Perry was preparing to return to the hotel at about four thirty, his cellular phone rang—it was Debbie Howard, calling from Halifax. Here was his chance to attract even more public attention to the issue: after assuring the anxious mother that police were tracking Stacey even as they spoke, and could have news for her within a few hours, he asked whether she had spoken to the media. “Not yet,” Mrs. Howard said, “but my sister's husband works for ATV here—” the widely watched Atlantic Television System. “I think you should talk to them—it could help Stacey and many other young girls like her,” Perry advised. “You can tell them that your daughter has been abducted by a ring of pimps from Nova Scotia and that she's been forced to work—and by the time you go on the air, we'll be that much closer to making sure she gets home to you safe and sound. Oh, and don't forget to let them have a photo of Stacey.”

There wasn't much time—the ATV evening news airs at 6
P.M.
—but the emotionally charged story of Stacey Jackson's disappearance did make it onto that broadcast. Henry Peterson, Stacey's uncle, was the family's representative in front of the camera—her mother felt too emotionally exhausted to make a statement—and his comments were brief but moving: they just wanted Stacey home, and were reaching out to the community to call police if they had even a scrap of information that could help.

While Maritimers listened in shock to the account of a dangerous group of pimps operating from Halifax, police and reporters in Toronto waited patiently for Manning Greer and his family to show up. Unbelievably, they were still hanging out at the pool hall, still obviously unconvinced they had anything serious to worry about. At about seven, Peanut told Annie Mae to get back to the apartment and pack; she'd be joining Taunya and Teri on the stroll later. Then, the five pimps had a bite of dinner.

It was close to nine o'clock when they finally arrived at the hotel. Officers watched from their concealed positions as the gray van with the garbage-bag-covered windows pulled into the parking lot. They became concerned as they watched not one but five men step out. Annie Mae was back at the apartment where Stacey had been beaten. Peanut had told her to pack her things and get ready to go to work.

The information was radioed to the officers upstairs in the hotel room and the others in rooms on that same floor. Inside the hotel room the officers had their guns drawn as they sat in silence listening for the sound of footsteps in the hall. They heard the voices first as the pimps walked toward the door where they expected to find Taunya and Teri waiting to go to work. Only four of the pimps made it to the hotel room door as Eddy reached for his key to open it. Manning Greer had been walking with his colleagues when his cellular phone rang. Amber was calling from Niagara Falls and Greer slowed his pace as he talked with her.

When Eddy opened the hotel room door all hell broke loose. Two men pointed what Eddy saw as a couple of very big guns at his face. They ordered him to drop to the floor and at the same moment doors from the surrounding rooms opened. Other police officers jumped into the hallway and began to scream orders at the three remaining pimps. Officers grabbed Slugger, Peanut, and Smit and threw them to the floor outside the room. The pimps squirmed, cursed and struggled as men knelt on their backs and pulled their outstretched arms back behind them to be cuffed.

Manning Greer swore as he saw what was happening only a few metres in front of him, in the initial confusion the officers did not see Greer as he turned and raced for the stairs. By the time the task force members realized Greer was not there he was already bursting through the hotel doors and running for his van. The police officers outside saw the Big Man running and screamed for him to stop. No one had yet moved to the van and Greer had a clear line of flight.

Officers raced back to their patrol cars to give chase as Greer floored the accelerator in the gray van cursing its slow response and wishing he had his 'Vette. He raced over the sidewalk and onto the road. The chase began and the sirens blared and the reporters waiting a block or so away joined in. Manning Greer raced dangerously through the streets of downtown Toronto with several police cars and news vehicles not far behind. The police knew they had a dangerous man in front of them as Greer pulled his van off the busy road way and raced down the sidewalk forcing pedestrians to jump out of the way or be killed. Greer turned onto a side street and raced toward the next block. He looked ahead and saw a chain link fence and gate blocking the way. He had made the mistake of turning into a delivery lane and not a side street. Greer pressed the accelerator and held onto the wheel as the big van crashed through the gate and entered the loading area parking lot. The police were not far behind and Greer soon realized he had led them into a box canyon. The only way out of the parking lot was the same way Greer had just come in. As he looked back at the police cars spilling in through the only available exit, Greer raced the van to the outer edge of the parking lot and slammed on the breaks. The van had not finished sliding to a stop as the driver's side door flew open and the Big Man leapt to the pavement. Police officers had no time to get out of their own vehicles and train their guns on Greer. They watched him bound over a small fence and into a bush-filled lot behind a row of houses.

Greer swore as he looked between two of the houses at the next street and saw police cars. Two of the cars giving chase had circled the block when Greer headed down the delivery lane and they were already on the street in front of him. Greer crawled beneath a sprawling evergreen bush and tried to figure out a route of escape.

He could hear the officers behind him. They had already scaled the fence but were moving very slowly with their flashlights trained ahead of them. Adrenaline flowed through the officers leading the search. They had all been briefed on the violent nature of the man they were hunting and while they all wanted to make the arrest, no one wanted to find the cornered suspect alone.

The fugitive began to consider what was happening; he had a violent temper and he was angry but he was not stupid. There was no way to escape and he wasn't about to start a fight with a bunch of armed men in a darkened back yard. Greer was pretty sure someone would just shoot him. Some of his cockiness began to return as Greer considered what it would take to convict him. None of the Big Man's girls would dare to sign on him. He might do a little time for the attempted escape but nothing serious. As the officers approached, Manning Greer knelt with his hands behind his head welcoming them. There would be no struggle from the Big Man. He was too smart.

The police pushed Greer face down into the grass and cuffed his hands behind his back. Greer could smell the freshly cut lawn clippings as they patted him down, carefully looking for the weapon he was supposed to be carrying. It was not there. Greer had left the gun in the van. His favorite 9-mm was for the war with the other pimps and Greer hadn't even considered grabbing it as he ran from the police. He knew he could use the system in his war with the police and a gun would just complicate his problems. Many of the older pimps had told Greer how easy it was to beat a charge—as long as your girls don't sign you're safe they'd told him. Greer also knew he could beat a wrap even if a girl did sign. He had to make sure she did not testify at his trial. Manning Greer was startled as he was led out of the field to the next street and the waiting police cruisers. He was suddenly blinded by the lights from television cameras and the quick burst from flash cameras used by the newspaper photographers. Greer hung his head and leaned forward to shield himself from the cameras. His big upper torso leaned so far forward the officers leading him to the car had a difficult time preventing Greer from falling in front of them.

Back at the station, the task force officers began to sort out the suspects and charges. Eddy and the Big Man could face counts of exercising control and living on the avails of prostitution arising from Gizelle's statement; but Perry realized he would need cooperation from Taunya and Teri to prosecute Slugger and extend the charges against Greer. While Perry did the paperwork, other officers interrogated Smit and Peanut about Stacey's whereabouts, and were met with a wall of silent contempt. It didn't phase the investigators; they'd seen it in almost every pimp they arrested. The Scotians, like the others before them, had confidently defied the law for so long that even under arrest, they were confident the police were just spinning their wheels. Soon enough, they were certain it would be back to business as usual.

At Joystick's apartment, Stacey's respite was coming to an end; her new pimp made it clear he expected her to repay his kindness, starting that very night. She had no choice but to return to the stroll. As she stood silently on Church Street, Stacey began to wonder where the other Nova Scotia girls were. Taunya and Teri were at the station, and by now, so was Annie Mae. Smit and Peanut had given the Toronto address of the apartment when they were booked, and police found her there waiting for her ride downtown. Meanwhile, one of the task force's informants spotted Stacey on the stroll, and only an hour after she arrived for work, two unmarked cars and a cruiser pulled up the curb. Mesmerized by the flashing lights glinting off their badges, the confused, exhausted teenager allowed herself to be led to a car and whisked off to the station.

Taunya, Teri, and Annie Mae had been taken to a waiting room while members of the task force waded through the paperwork and made arrangements for Taunya and Teri to be flown back to Nova Scotia. Both fourteen, they could be held by police and returned to their families, unlike Annie Mae, who at nineteen was considered an adult—and a very noisy, angry adult who had been demonstrating her feelings for the police ever since they'd brought her in. Why had she been arrested? When was she going to be released? Where was her friend Stacey? The answer to at least one of those questions was right around the corner. Annie Mae suddenly screamed as she looked through a window out into the busy squad room—Stacey was being led in by two officers. The three girls tried to get to their friend, but police stopped them at the door and soon afterward, the still-befuddled Stacey was led to an interrogation room for questioning, while Dave Perry made the call he'd been looking forward to all evening—“Mrs. Howard?” he asked, and his cheerful voice was all she had to hear to know that Stacey was safe.

The interrogating officers immediately noticed Stacey's horribly mangled legs, and asked her what had happened. No more stories about accidents on the stairs—Stacey was ready to tell the truth. In the same flat, off-handed manner she'd been using all day, she told them how Smit had whipped her. Well, any further questioning would have to wait; much as they and Perry wanted to hear more, they wanted most of all, to get a signed statement against the pimp. This girl needed medical attention, fast; the emotionless tone of her description indicated a state of shock. The police officers accompanied Stacey to a hospital where they photographed the marks left by Smit and his wire whip; she would heal before the trial and they wanted a jury to see what they were seeing.

Stacey's legs had almost healed when this photo was taken, but still show bruises from the awful beating.

While Stacey was being treated at a nearby hospital, Taunya, who had been guzzling can after can of pop from the squad-room machine, found herself in dire need of a bathroom. As a female officer escorted her down a narrow hallway, she noticed the open door to a small room; peering inside, she saw Manning Greer, shirtless, his feet bare. Glancing up, Greer saw his main girl and flashed her a bright smile, completely unrestrained by the presence of the officers in the room with him, or the policewoman at Taunya's side. She walked on, surprised by her own reaction. Taunya hadn't felt in the least frightened at the sight of Greer; she was deeply relieved that he was in custody, and she decided then and there to give police the statement they wanted—and advise Teri to do the same. The police hadn't been able to help her in Montreal, but maybe that was because she hadn't signed on her pimp. Well, she wouldn't make that mistake again: Taunya was tired, and she wanted to go home, and she wanted to live like a normal human being again.