Chapter 5 #2
“Let me come see.” He walked upstairs, took one look, and snorted. “It’s hardly decent.”
“It might not be decent by your standards, but it’s all Debbie had,” Eden stated. “So, a little bit of niceness from you would go a long way.”
He shrugged. “She wasn’t my friend. What do I care?”
Eden winced at that because he was right. Debbie wasn’t his friend. But then he obviously wouldn’t have any friends with that attitude either. She didn’t say anything, just grabbing two more bags from the bedroom and bringing them out. “I think this will be it.”
“You have to clean it out.”
“The bottom line of breaking the lease is that Debbie loses her deposit and you end up cleaning it with those funds. I’ve already removed her personal stuff.”
“Not this furniture though, have you?” he snorted, raising his voice. “Somebody’s got to clean this place, and it ain’t gonna be me.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared at him. She was so exhausted that no way she could even contemplate getting involved in moving furniture too. She shrugged and grabbed the other bags, but he stepped in her way.
“You have to clean it. Otherwise you’re not going anywhere.”
She frowned at him, trying hard to let go of her anger.
“Keep the furniture,” she suggested, “as payment in lieu of anything you may feel she still owed you. Other than that, you are welcome to go to her grave site and to scream and rant at her because God knows I have nothing more to tell you about what to do with any of this.”
He started yelling in response, but, just as suddenly, another voice cut through the din.
There was the detective, glaring at the landlord. “What is the meaning of this?” Eric snapped.
Frank glared at him and asked, “Who the fuck are you?”
Eric pulled out his official ID, and Frank’s attitude improved right away. He was still red in the face, but his tone was modulated. “It’s these people who don’t pay their rent and who cancel their lease without notice, Detective. You should be taking care of them, not shouting at me.”
At that, Eden snapped, “What you really mean is, people die and don’t leave an empty, clean apartment.”
“You’re supposed to clean it.”
“No, I’m not. That’s not my job. From what I understand of Debbie’s lease, she cleans it or she loses her deposit. And you’ve already told me that you would not be refunding her deposit,” she declared, glaring at him. She turned to look at the detective.
The landlord, who realized that this wasn’t the time or the place, swung past them both and disappeared down the hallway, muttering.
Eric quickly joined her as she stood in the living room, her back to the wall, trying hard not to start crying again. “Are you okay?”
She nodded wearily. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been going through her stuff all day, but Frank still thinks I’m responsible for cleaning the unit, for removing the furniture, for another month’s rent.” She stared around, barely functioning as it was.
“Frank can deal with that himself, I’m sure,” Eric replied.
“Maybe, but you heard him.”
“Does he know where you live or have your contact information?”
“Maybe,” she said, with a shrug. “He won’t care either way. I told him that he could keep the furniture, but I think he wants it out of here.”
Just then a timid knock came at the open door, and there was the neighbor, Kali, again. “I don’t know if you’re getting rid of any of her furniture,” she began, “but I could really use a couple pieces.”
Eden considered that, not sure what to say.
Kali continued. “I don’t want to sound greedy, and I know it’s disrespectful to even bring it up when we’re dealing with somebody who just passed away, but … I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come. Never mind.”
Eden stepped forward and said, “No, it’s fine. Look around and see if anything interests you. I know that you were friends with her, and Debbie wouldn’t mind in the least.”
“I prefer to think she wouldn’t mind,” Kali added gratefully, “and I really could use them, even the bed.” She shrugged. “I know it’s creepy because she died in that bed, but I’ve been sleeping on the floor, so that doesn’t bother me the least.”
At that, Eric offered, “I can drag some of this over for you.”
Eden added, “I can help. I can pick up one end.” Then she looked over at Kali and swung an arm around the room. “What pieces would you like?”
Kali nodded, a sheen in her eyes. “I would take all of it. I hate to admit it, but I’ve been through some tough times recently.”
With that, Eden and Eric each grabbed one end of the couch, and the two of them walked the couch into the apartment next door. Kali hadn’t been kidding. She literally had a series of cushions on the floor. It didn’t take long for them to move all of Debbie’s furniture into Kali’s place.
As Kali softly smiled in complete delight, she looked at Eden and nodded. “I’m so sorry Debbie is gone, but I so appreciate her furniture.”
“I understand,” Eden replied. “We are all sorry to hear about this, but, on the other hand, she would much rather you get this than have it all go to the dump. This way is much better. So, you enjoy it and don’t even bother telling Frank that you got it.
He wanted it all cleaned out anyway,” she stated, with a laugh.
“No, no, I would never. He’s already on the rampage over something,” Kali shared. “So I would just as soon not speak to him anyway.”
With the removal of Debbie’s furniture, including her bed, Debbie’s apartment was empty.
Eden had kept the vacuum to do a quick cleanup, and that’s what she did right now.
When she was finally done, she pulled Debbie’s keys off her keychain and placed them on the kitchen counter, holding back the tears.
Sadly, with one last look, she turned to leave and realized that Eric still stood right here. “Do you still need me?” she asked.
“Did you go through her belongings from the seminar?”
“Debbie didn’t seem to unpack them, so her bags are in my car,” she noted. “I haven’t even opened them. I figured it was something I could do at home, and I just wanted to get out of here.”
He nodded. “Would you mind if I come take a look?”
She stared at him. “I thought you said there was no case.”
“Technically there isn’t a case, but I realized that I hadn’t done that, so I want to at least check to confirm that’s all as expected.”
She shrugged and nodded. “Sure, that’s fine. My car is loaded up, and I’m heading over to my place right now. I do want to get out of here before the building super comes back.”
“Debbie’s place has been cleaned out, and you vacuumed,” he pointed out, with a smile.
“Anything else that Frank wants done, he can do himself. He’s already keeping the deposit, and, from the looks of it, there is no damage, so he’s coming out okay.
” With that, he motioned at her and said, “Let’s head over to your place, and you can relax a little bit. ”
She had a prompt retort ready, but it never left her lips. She was just too tired. Nodding, she replied, “Fine, but I hope you’re not planning on staying long. I’m way too tired.”
“Have you eaten today?”
“No. I figured coming over here would make my stomach sick, so I didn’t want to make it worse by eating.”
“Of course not,” he agreed. “Head on home. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” With that, they locked and closed the door to Debbie’s apartment behind them and walked out.
*
Eric stopped by the local Chinese food joint and picked up a selection of food.
He hadn’t eaten, and it was obvious Eden hadn’t either.
She was also at the end of her rope, from what he could see.
Tired and stressed, plus emotionally she was all over the place as well.
Nothing was easy about emptying the apartment of somebody you cared about, no matter the circumstances, but particularly when they had died and when you were looking for answers but there just weren’t any.
He didn’t even know why he came to Debbie’s apartment.
Just his instincts told him to come and take a look, not that there was an expectation of any wrongdoing.
Still, he needed to dot that I and to cross that T, which in his world meant that he couldn’t walk away in good conscience until he had made sure absolutely nothing else was going on here.
To have somebody go to bed and not wake up was already rough, but, given her age and overall health, which, according to the coroner, was much better than most, her death was troubling.
She was young, in good shape, with good teeth, but somehow her heart had just stopped working.
Drugs may have been in her system, yes, but he had no supporting evidence yet.
As he picked up the food and headed over to Eden’s place, his phone rang.
He parked outside her house and answered the call. It was Captain Louis. “Captain, what’s up?”
“Where are you?” he asked, his tone brisk.
“I am just outside of Eden’s place.”
“Why?” the captain asked sharply. “Anything breaking?”
“Nope, but she called earlier to confirm that she was okay to enter the apartment of the dead woman to clear it out. I realized that the luggage from the seminar trip was there, and I couldn’t see where anybody had checked it for anything suspicious.”
“And you think that’s important?”
“I don’t know if it’s important or not, but I didn’t check it. I wanted to take care of that so it can’t bite me in the ass later.”
“Do you know Stefan Kronos?”
“Yeah, a little. Why?”
“He just called.”
Eric frowned, but what could he say to someone calling his captain?
“Stefan mentioned something, more of an offhand comment really, but I don’t quite know what to make of it.”
“What comment?” Eric perked up, still not sure where this was going.
“A strange request really. To link Debbie with other possibly connected dead women.”
“I’m sorry, what?”