“Welcome to Hell, babe. Be glad you got out.” Rene propped his sunglasses on top of his head and peered up at Samson. “Good God, you’re tall. How tall are you?”
“I’m six-foot-five.”
“He should play basketball,” Rene told April.
April grinned. “Samson, this is my old neighbor, Rene. He lives a couple of units down from where I did.”
“Yeah, they had her strung out on that last unit by the fence like bait. A girl all alone right there where creeps come crawling in.” Rene shook his head. “They knew what they was doin’. And April, she never bothered anybody a day in her life. They couldn’t’ve asked for a quieter renter. But they went and ran her out just the same.”
“I appreciated you keeping an eye out for me, anyway.”
“I do, as well. Thank you for looking out for my girl,” Samson said.
“You went and caught you a good one, didn’t you?” Rene laughed and put his sunglasses back on. “He’s a big one! Hope he takes care of you.”
“He tries. I make it hard for him. We’re here to talk to the property manager.”
“Ugh. Good luck with that.” Rene shook his head. He put his hands on his hips. “Whew. Gotta go, kiddo. I’ll see you around, maybe. Hopefully not, though!”
“Thanks!”
As he departed, Samson pulled April closer.
“Rene is harmless,” she said.
“It’s not him I’m worried about. I hate that you lived here alone.”
“It’s really not the worst place I’ve lived.”
Samson sighed and headed back for the front office. “I wish you wouldn’t minimize your experiences like that. Just because there are worse options, does not mean that what’s in front of you isn’t still objectively terrible.”
“A lot of people don’t have a choice but to live in a place like this. Or on the street.”
“I’d imagine you would have to be facing that choice if you ended up here.”
“Yes.”
Samson felt another sense of disconnect when he stepped into the office. The air conditioning was ice-cold, and the rich brown wood furniture spoke to funding that this complex clearly did not allot for the tenants.
It wasn’t that April had been stupid to trust the people here. It was that this office was a trap. He recognized it for what it was: The front to a scam, getting people to choose this location over other low-rent locations, and then bilking them out of what little money they had once they signed a contract.
Samson sucked in his cheeks, swallowed hard, and then put on a bright smile as he approached the young man at the desk. “Hello. My name is Samson Bennett, CEO of Bennett Industries United. I have a meeting with your property manager.”
“Oh! Good afternoon, sir. I’ll go see if she’s in.”
Samson flattened his lips and looked down at the young man. “She had better be in. As I said, we have a meeting, and I expect that my time will not be wasted.”
“I-I’ll just go see if she’s in.” The young man disappeared down the hallway.
“He knows,” April said quietly. “They’re just instructed to never let people back to her. Tenants tend to come in kind of pissed.”
“I bet they do.”
The property manager came out of her office dressed with the precision and care of a high-powered executive. That told him that she was probably paid either too much, or too little. Either way, she was probably already looking around for employment elsewhere.
Samson took her hand firmly. “You would be Erin Morris, yes?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Bennett. We cleared time just for you.”
“That seems strange to me, since your secretary seemed not to have any idea you had a meeting. It seems strange to me that you have two desks out here for secretaries, but your desk is out of sight.” Samson started moving toward her office, and she was compelled to motion for him to come in.
“Well, it’s really a matter of making sure that I can get the property business done without interruption.”
“I see.”
Erin looked to April. “And this would be?”
“I’m April Lucas. I used to live here.”
Erin’s demeanor changed on dime. Gone was the friendly, inviting business woman, and out came the stern property manager. So that was her reaction to a tenant.
Samson pulled the chairs in front of her desk closer and motioned for April to sit down. “April was sent an erroneously high bill charging her for fees that she should not have to pay. I would like to talk to you about that, as well as other matters that should be addressed around the complex.”