It had been almost a week since April had picked Alyshia up at the airport. Alyshia had made some progress; she'd found Jade's new address, which had enabled April to get a copy of the lease agreement. Funny thing was, Jade hadn't signed the lease, neither as Jade Dupree or Lee Anne St. Clair. The signature on the lease wasn't even in Jade's handwriting. There was another woman's signature on the lease, a Lonna Tassin, and she'd done an excellent job of burying her information.
Actually, April figured Alyshia would have been done several days ago, but they kept getting distracted. In fact, April was stretched out on the bed thinking about distracting Alyshia for the third time that day, while she sat on hold on the phone. Alyshia had found Jade's address three days ago and April had a copy of the lease by nightfall that same day. Since then, the two of them had been picking away at the mysterious Lonna, but details were scarce. Alyshia seemed to think that Ms. Tassin had hired a pro to bury her information. If it had been your average person, Alyshia had told April, she'd have mountains of information by now, but this woman's was too well buried. Finally, John's secretary Linda came on the line.
"I'm so sorry, April. Mr. Dupree is in the middle of a contract negotiation with a company we're trying to acquire, and my phone's been lit up like a Christmas tree all morning," Linda said with a laugh.
"That's ok, Linda. I know John's a busy man, but I'm calling in the hopes that he might be able to squeeze me in for a few minutes today. Any chance of that?"
"From the looks of his appointment book, I'd say no, but let me buzz him and see what he wants to do. I know he has you looking for Jade, so this is pretty important. Would you mind holding a few more minutes?"
"Not at all. I appreciate it, Linda." Once again, April found herself listening to Muszac, and considered suggesting to John, next time they talked, that he find something that wouldn't put his callers to sleep while they sat on hold. Thankfully, Linda was true to her word and quickly returned to the phone.
"If you can get here within the next twenty minutes, he can give you about half an hour. Will that work for you?"
"Perfect. I'll be right there." April hung up the phone and leaped from the bed in the direction of her dresser. She was only wearing panties and an old t-shirt. She discovered a good pair of jeans and a nice button down shirt to wear and quickly dressed. Heading for the door, she told Alyshia where she was heading, and scooped up her keys and wallet on her way out.
Soon, she was riding the elevator to John's office, right on time. The doors opened on John's floor and April jumped out, running right into Jasmine who was on her way out of her uncle's office.
"Shit," was all April could think as she felt butterflies in her stomach. She and Jasmine hadn't seen each other since that day at Trish's when Jasmine had coldly walked out on her. Suddenly, she felt irritated that this woman still had any affect on her, and her face turned hard.
Jasmine came to an abrupt halt as she almost bumped into someone on her rush back to her own office. Looking up, she saw April and felt her heart rate speed up. This last week, she'd done little but replay that morning at Trish's apartment through her mind. She wanted to give April a taste of her own medicine that morning, wanted to show her how it felt to be left behind without a second glance. She thought April would eventually call her, or show up at her house in a temper, but nothing happened, and now she regretted what she'd done. She saw April's face turn cold and felt her heart sink. Mustering up some courage, she tried to be as nice as possible.
"Hi, April. How are you today?" Jasmine cheerfully asked.
"Late," came April's flat response, and she pushed past Jasmine, hurrying into John's outer office.
Jasmine heard the door close behind her with a dull thud and she hung her head to stare at the floor. She'd really done it this time and she had no one to blame but herself. She knew April had to be here because of Jade, who was her sister, after all, and considered marching back in and demanding to be included, but she was afraid that would only anger April all the more. Now might be a good time to back off a little, maybe try a different tactic. A new idea beginning to take shape, Jasmine started walking towards her office, wheels spinning.
As Linda escorted April into John's office, April tried to get herself under control. Oh, she knew no one looking at her right now would suspect anything was wrong, but she was a wreck on the inside. Seeing Jasmine had stirred up so much. And where did she get off pretending to be so pleasant, when they both knew Jasmine thought she was the biggest jerk on the planet. April shook John's outstretched hand and pushed all thoughts of Jasmine aside. She had business to attend to.
April sat in one of the two chairs positioned in front of John's desk and updated him. Now, she had a few questions for him. Ever since she'd seen another woman's name on Jade's lease, she'd had a few scenarios stewing in the back of her mind, but she needed more information before she decided just how plausible they were.
"The woman who signed Jade's lease, this Lonna Tassin, does that name sound at all familiar to you, John?"
"I'm afraid it does." John had been reclining in his chair while April outlined the new information she had. Now, he leaned forward to rest his forearms on top of his desk. "You see, at the time the girls' parents died, I was engaged to a woman by that name."
When John didn't elaborate, April pressed on. "What happened?"
