The meeting had broken up quickly after Jade and Lisa left. John departed for the meetings he had that afternoon, Tori in tow. Jasmine went back to her temporary office she had set up on John's conference table. April hauled out her own laptop, and settled down to run through the IP addresses again. Running out of ideas, she thought she'd take a swing at seeing if any of the fake names might be a real name, twisted around. Or maybe one of these fake names could be the name of a relative of an employee. It was one hell of a long shot, and would take countless hours to sort through, but she was running out of threads to pull.
"Have you had any luck tracing the books," April asked Jasmine.
"No. The computer records the initials of the person who makes the entry, but when I questioned the people the computer credits with the altered entries, I get solemn oaths that it wasn't them. Several people have even volunteered for lie detectors. Can you believe that?"
"I've seen enough to believe people are capable of damn near anything."
"Well, it all checks out, so far." Studying April, Jasmine felt her curiosity begin to peak. Taking a chance, she decided to find out if she could get April to dish a little.
"So tell me, cher, have you always wanted to be a private investigator?"
April glanced up from her laptop, found Jasmine studying her, and gave the woman her full attention. "No. I just kind of fell into it."
"How?"
Here it comes, the inquisition. "I worked part-time as a secretary for this P.I. back home, when I was in school. Eventually, he started teaching me the basics, like how to do background checks, that kind of thing. When I graduated, I realized that I probably wasn't going to find a job in journalism, and I really liked the work I was doing for Ed, so he helped me get my license and hired me on as another investigator."
"You went to college?" Jasmine seemed a little surprised that April had a college degree.
Feeling defensive at Jasmine's reaction, April's answer was a little sharper than she intended. "What's the matter, Jasmine, think I'm too much of a street punk to have earned a Bachelor's?"
Jasmine winced, realizing that her question had come off like an insult. "No, April, I don't think you're a punk. I was just surprised, that's all. For some reason, I just pictured you knowing what career you wanted from the word go, and then getting it."
"I did. I just didn't get it, so I found something else. That's life," she said with a shrug.
From the way April said it, Jasmine got the impression that April had suffered other disappointments, some of which had really stung. She wanted to know more but, not wanting to anger her further, tried to steer things into a safer subject. "A writing major, huh. Did you have a double major?"
"No. What made you think that?"
"Well, you're really good with computers so, I just figured you probably had a double major."
April saw that, while Jasmine really was interested, she had carefully worded her answer in an attempt to mollify her. She studied Jasmine, unknowingly cocking her head a little as she considered the woman across from her.
Jasmine had to smile. The way April was holding her head made her think of Sassy, the golden retriever she and Jade had when they were little girls.
April finally decided to answer Jasmine. "English Writing was my only major. I minored in U.S. History, Computer Science and Art History."
"Wow! I'm impressed, cher. You're a little bit of a book worm, aren't you?"
"I live for books. Books and music. Now how about you show me those computer entries you mentioned a few minutes ago." April was curious about the accounting entries, but she also wanted to steer Jasmine away from her personal questions before she started to dig too deep.
##
Hours later, April head the noise associated with a relaxed, mass exiting of people. Quitting time. Seeing that it was five o'clock, she suggested to Jasmine that they back up their work and head out. "We can finish this at your house."
"You're coming home with me?"
"Yeah," April said in a kind of exaggerated voice. "What, you think bodyguards clock out at five like everyone else? I hate to break it to you, angel, but it's a 24/7 kind of job," she said with a teasing grin.
Returning the smile, Jasmine got up and started gathering their papers. She liked the way April had just called her angel. They had spent the rest of the day going over the accounting logs. It didn't take long before they had eased into a kind of rhythm, and Jasmine had found that she really enjoyed working with April. They just kind of clicked. With that thought, Jasmine's mind jumped back to this morning and the kisses they had shared. Oh yeah. We click all right.
April saw the cat like smile on Jasmine's face and paused in the middle of packing up her laptop. "What's up with you," April asked teasingly.
Jasmine's head shot up like a little kid caught sneaking something. "What?"
April laughed at Jasmine's "caught with her hand in the cookie jar" behavior. "What's with the feline grin, angel?"
Man, she could really get used to hearing that endearment, Jasmine thought. She turned coy though, realizing April was watching her. "No grin, cher, I'm just happy to be heading home. I don't know about you, but I could really use a change of clothes and a glass of wine." That said, Jasmine hurried towards the door, before April saw through that too.
Shaking her head in amusement, April gathered up her things and followed Jasmine out the door.
##
Jasmine had driven April to her apartment to pick up some clothes, since she would be spending the night at Jade and Jasmine's place. Then they headed for the home the sisters shared. The drive there took longer than April expected. When she saw they were well past the city limits, she questioned Jasmine as to where, exactly, they were headed. Jasmine had just smiled and told her to be patient.
Ten minutes later, Jasmine steered the car through an open, wrought iron gate that was covered in crawling vines. Working their way up the drive, April gasped as the house came into view. It held a striking resemblance to Tara, from "Gone With the Wind", only slightly smaller.
