Page 13 of Lethal Seduction

I start to approach, but in the blink of an eye, he disappears into the crowded lobby. With a sense of urgency gnawing at my gut, I carve a path through the thrumming crowd. But the room is no longer the peaceful lobby it had been a few moments before as waves of geriatric ladies, swinging tennis rackets, flock into the space. They are a complete gaggle of cacophonous sound as their loud laughter and joyous conversation seems to suck the air from the room. Despite my gaze being set on a singular figure, the man who had been listening to my conversation a few minutes ago, I lose him amongst the sea of humanity.

There’s no longer room to move and if I’m not careful, I fear I’ll be trampled. Keeping my hands at my sides, I slowly push my way through the crowd toward the front exit. More than once, my ass is grabbed, and I hear a giggle and exclamation of joy, but I don’t bother to turn and find out who the culprit is. Finally, I reach the door and squeeze my way through. I step into the sunlight, take a deep breath, and do my best to straighten my suit. Once I’m a few meters away from the exit, I stop and look back at the building. Something funny in my chest tingles as if I am being watched. It is hard to see if anyone is looking at me through the reflective front door, but I can't shake the feeling that Devon might know more than he's letting on. And that I'm not the only one interested in what he has to say.

7

PATRICK

After spending the entire day trying to avoid Devon like the plague, it is time for me to go home. The day went exactly how I expected it to go. It sucked. I didn’t even get time to eat my lunch, even though the company automatically deducts the state-mandated thirty-minute meal period because I’m a full-time employee. But, whatever.

I’m now driving home, hoping to get a decent night’s sleep before I have to wake up and do it all over again tomorrow. Traffic is surprisingly light and before long I’m almost home. Turning the corner into my apartment complex, I somehow manage to find an empty parking spot. There's an option to pay an extra three hundred dollars a month to guarantee a space, but I’m not convinced it would work. Even if I had the extra money on top of the two-thousand dollars for rent, my one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is surrounded by assholes.

Too often, I’ve witnessed people’s parking spaces being taken, and the only recourse is to call the police. If the cops even bother to show up, they don’t get there until the situation escalates into a brawl. It’s like they want someone to get stabbed or shot before they can be bothered. I’ve come to the conclusionthat it’s all a bunch of bullshit, and it’s easier to make do with whatever parking space I can find—even if it’s raining and I’m carrying in my dry-cleaning.

“Hey, baby,” Diamond catcalls from the parking lot as I clear the landing of the second floor.

I turn and smile in her direction. “Hey, Diamond. Hope your evening is going well.”

“Oh, you know it is… too many men, not enough cash.” Her usual customers always seem to want to barter or pay her with something other than money. Sadly, it always ends the same way—with her saying, “Cans of fucking green beans don’t pay no rent. I sucked your cock; now give me my money.” Sex work is hard work, and I always try to keep an eye out for her.

I know she lives on the streets and when I’m able to, I’ll make her extra food. She says my rice and beans are to die for even through Tina always complains that she’ll die if she has to eat them.

“Have a nice night, Diamond.” I reach up to open the door, noticing a piece of paper taped to it.

I snatch it free and read it, sighing. My landlord is getting impatient waiting for the rent. This is the third month in a row I’m going to be a couple of days late. Tips have been bad the past few months at the club. It’s hard to know when the money is going to be there when I have to rely on tips to make ends meet. “Dammit.” I glance back at Diamond and sigh. Sex work is hard work, but if I’m not going to get a real acting job soon, would porn still be an option? Maybe one of those pay-to-watch-me-clean-toilets-in-the-nude online subscriptions? Tina told me about a woman she knew from social media who gets paid some heinous amount of money to eat fast food on camera while men jerk off watching her.

To each their own, but couldn’t I get in on some of it?

I stick the key into the lock and turn, but the mechanism doesn’t disengage as it usually does. Reaching for the knob, I turn it. Much to my horror, the door is unlocked.

I could have sworn I locked it this morning. This neighborhood isn’t even remotely safe; there’s no way I would have forgotten to lock up. I vacillate between turning around and leaving or calling the police to check my apartment for unwanted guests. I start to pull out my phone when Diamond hollers, “You had a visitor today, baby.”

“A visitor? Did you see who it was?”

She shakes her head. “I was too busy paying attention to my own business,” she says, licking a candy sucker. “You know what I mean? Those dicks aren’t going to suck themselves now, are they?”

She always tries to turn the conversation into talking about sex. Normally, I’m fine tossing around innuendos, but tonight it annoys me. For someone who is usually in my business, why couldn’t she be more helpful this time?

“Did you see if they left? I don’t want any surprises when I go inside.”

“They sure did. I mean, I didn’t see what they looked like on account of my head being… you know, busy. But what I did see when I came up for air was the man driving away in one of them nice cars… you know… the kind rich white dudes drive.”

Well, fuck Diamond, this is Los Angeles. That description fits most of the cars and close to half the population.

“You sure it was a guy?”

“Oh yeah… I could smell him. He had on one of them colognes I like.”

“What kind?”

She thinks about it for a second and then shrugs. “I don’t remember, but I think it was that new one by Tom Fjord.”

“Thank you, Diamond. If you see him again or remember anything else, please let me know.”

She winks. “You got it, baby.” Diamond turns and snaps her fingers at the man strolling down the sidewalk. “You looking for something fun, Boo-boo?”

Apparently, the man is indeed looking for some Diamond-fun as they walk together down the street before disappearing around a corner into an alley. I decide to risk my life and go inside the apartment without calling the cops. I push the door open and pause before stepping inside. Holding my breath, I listen for any signs of danger.

I flick on the light, and the inside of my apartment comes into view. Nothing is out of order: no overturned sofa, TV still securely mounted to the wall. No shadowy figures pop out of the darkness to kill me—I’m met with nothing but the usual loneliness I feel when coming home from a hard day’s work.

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