Chapter 5

April 5

After her shower at 4pm, April felt much more relaxed and ready to tackle her domestic chores. First she had to see Viv and get the low down on Jessica Rabbit. No, that wasn't her real name or maybe it was. She and her husband had listed their previous address as a small town in West Virginia. The lease was signed by her husband Thomas Black.

"So Viv," April began. "Did Mr Black show?"

"Not yet, but he did call," Viv said.

"Well, if he shows between now and five have him show you his ID before you let him in. He may not stop here, which is fine. We can check the place tomorrow and every day until it is empty," April stated.

"Yes Ma'am. I just love it when you get all Domme," Viv said.

"Sure," April said. "I'm going to do my laundry and try to get back in the apartment manager mind set. Call me on the cell if Thomas shows before you leave."

April spent an hour over the industrial washer and dryer in the motel's utility room. Back in the day, It was the place where the sheets and other linens were washed. At that time each apartment resident had a key to the laundry room. The residents all shared it on a first come first served basis. Viv had suggested that April remove all the tables from the room, to prevent people from getting too comfortable. She had also suggested the 'one load per day' signs. Since April agreed, they hung them around the laundry room immediately. In smaller print the signs informed the residents that the first violation would result in a warning. The a second offense would result in the termination of their lease. Also that the room was monitored by closed circuit TV in order to avoid any disputes.

It was the only fair way to operate the free laundry room. Plans were in the works to convert the laundry room to a coin operated laundromat. If or when the existing machines had to be replaced it would happen. The building was in constant state of flux, turmoil was normal in her life. April could only hope the changes were always for the better.

April went to dinner after she finished her laundry. Since she was not a big seafood fan, she went to a family steak house. One of those places where the customer went through a line picking up a salad and desert then placing his or her order for the steak of their choice. The steak would be cooked to order then brought to the table by the waitress. It wasn't fancy, but it was good food at a reasonable price. April didn't waste money, even though she was making plenty of it. For her everything was about convenience and product quality versus the cost.

After dinner she went back to the motel and to her computer terminal. She found a phone message from Thomas Black. He wanted to make an appointment to come by for a chat, and to pick up Jessica's things. He was staying in the company provided motel room, even though he had an apartment in April's building.

She dialed the number, "Mr. Black this is April Smythe the owner of the apartment you called about. Let me say first that I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, could you tell me what happened?" he asked.

"Mr. Black to protect you and me, I need to be sure that you are who you say you are. Could you meet me tomorrow and bring some form of ID. You could also empty out the apartment at that time." April said.

"I don't want anything from the apartment. I might have a box full of clothes and some pictures otherwise I don't want anything," he informed April.

"We can talk about that all tomorrow, so what time can you make it?" she asked.

"I'll try to make it around lunch time." He said.

"I close the office from twelve till one for lunch, otherwise I'll be there all day," April said.

It was a quiet night for April as she made the necessary moves to switch her sleep schedule. They included no naps during the evening, and staying awake until 2am. When she finally did sleep, she slept until 7am. For one used to sleeping for short periods at odd times, it was enough to get her though the day.

Thomas Black showed up at 11am, "Miss Smythe, I'm Thomas Black, I decided I want to look through Jess's things after all."

"Good, I would like to get everything taken care of today so I can get a cleaning crew in tomorrow. I'm going to have to keep your cleaning deposit, but I won't pursue you for the additional cleaning expense.

Now I really am curious, since it happened here. I am not going to feel safe till I understand why. You can understand that can't you?" she asked.

"Yes I suppose so. I really don't have any idea what happened. Jess was tending bar at a club on the strip is all I know. Maybe someone from there followed her home and stabbed her," Thomas said.

He might not have known it, but he gave April information she didn't have before. For one thing, he didn't seem to know that she was dancing. April also hadn't known that Jessica was stabbed. She thought so, but it had been possible that she had been shot and no one heard the noise.

"Did the police say whether she had been drugged or not. It occurred to me that someone might have slipped something into her drink." April knew people wanted to believe certain things and Thomas wanted to believe that Jessica was a simple bartender. To April it appeared likely she was dancing to support a drug habit or something just as nefarious, otherwise he would have known what she had been up to.