Save the Date (Complete)

Chapter 10

One thing for sure, Matthew was shocked with where May was living. It was a little past one in the morning, and Matthew had wanted to see what May was so frightened of. Obviously now Matthew didn't blame her.

Her apartment was in the worst section of town. The building itself was dilapidated and the surrounding area was no more well-kept. The riffraff hanging around the place was of the delinquent sort, with drugs, destruction, and damage on their minds.

It was no wonder why May had a hard time going to her apartment after dark.

Either May had foolishly spent her allowance, or Matthew had misjudged the cost of an apartment. But her allowance would have paid for a higher end apartment in Houston or another large city. He couldn't imagine an apartment in Paradise County costing any more.

Without having to use his military training and knowledge, Matthew walked into the secure building. It wasn't a challenge, considering the lock on the door had been taken off. People didn't even bother to tamper with the lock by using a penny to keep it from latching; they just took off the whole lock.

Walking into the building was like walking into a madhouse. Babies were screaming, men and women were yelling at each other from the top of their lungs, and half-naked children ran hither and thither down the halls and up the stairs. Two drunks lay on the steps in various stages of undress as they attacked each other with drunken passion.

Disgust filled Matthew as he bypassed the scene and headed for apartment 101. A big, burly man lay sleeping across the doorway. He was passed out drunk and no amount of persuasion would wake him, so Matthew picked the lock and stepped over the man as he walked into the apartment. Pushing the man, who had fallen into the room back into the hallway, Matthew locked the door and then turned his attention to his ward's living conditions.

Her place was dark, dark and silent. He reached over to shed some light into the room. Her place was clean, without a thing out of place, but not a single object in the room was new. He walked into the living room and trailed a hand along the worn-out couch and noticed there was no television in the room, but a chair took the television's place. He wandered down the tiny hallway to the first bedroom and peeked his head in.

It was May's room. Her scent filled the crowded space, as did the tiny dresser and the twin size bed. There wasn't much of a walking space, but Matthew made do and searched, a little ashamed, through her closest and her drawers. Her clothes were the same she had worn when he had seen her, not flashy but nice enough. They certainly weren't the reason for the lack of money.

Being sure that everything was still in its place, Matthew shut the door to the bedroom and opened the door to the last bedroom. It was another studio. Although it wasn't furnished or finished like the one at her uncle's house, this was, no mistaking, a studio.

That room he did not search. He felt that he would betray her too much by stepping over the threshold. He shut the door. He left the apartment making sure the door was locked. He was glad that Piorret was letting her come back and live at his house. But Matthew was betting it wasn't because Piorret had seen the place. He knew that May would never have let Piorret have seen her house.