Olivia walked around the second floor with a happy smile and asked, "So who lives in the basement?"

"No one now. When he lived at home, Paul had the whole five hundred square feet basement to himself, it even has a separate entrance and kitchenette," Jane revealed as they went out to the yard sitting area with their coffee mugs. "He hated sleeping in his old room because the heater makes noise in the winter, but I never minded. He also said he hated the traffic noise from the Queens Expressway."

"The noise is worth it; the house and yard are amazing." Then Olivia tipped her head to look up at the trees before she sipped her coffee. "Is it weird to be living on the ground again? Weren't you living on the fourth or fifth floor at that old apartment of his grandparents?"

"The Henry Street apartment was on the seventh. Honestly, I feel like the traffic noise from Cadman Plaza was worse there," Joan admitted as she looked up to.

Having a yard like this was a rare thing and showed a labor of love because the flowers and flowering trees filled the patio with the scent of summer in the country. "We made the walk over here to check on his parents during the big outage. I wanted to stay with them, but he was afraid our apartment would get robbed so we walked back. I thought he was going to die climbing back up the stairs to our apartment. When he went back to work, he found out one of his coworkers had a heart attack climbing stairs, so we made it part of our daily fitness routine but honestly I think I was the only one who still took the stairs after three months," Joan reminisced. Thinking back, those three days were wonderful because with nothing to focus on but each other, they fell back in love, and lust. Once the power came on and their life went back to routine, they decided to start the three-day getaways twice a year to stay connected as a couple. That was before Paul became obsessed with financial gurus and influencers and going to their conventions.

"You should live on the second floor instead of the first floor so you can look out at the trees," Olivia suddenly insisted.

"No, I like being close to the kitchen. I don't want to fall down a flight of stairs before I get my cuppa. If you want the whole second floor, it's yours for your rent now," Joan insisted, knowing her friend was paying almost a thousand dollars for one bedroom just to have a private bathroom in a shared three-bedroom two-bath apartment and spending an hour on the train or driving to get to work. "If we find someone for the basement, then we can all put the rent money into an account, and I can use it for the taxes. Since I am the co-owner until Catherine dies, I'm responsible. They are fifteen thousand a year now."

"Wow... I didn't realize the property values went up that much," Olivia gasped, then thanked Joan sincerely, "You are a saint and have saved my sanity! I got two months left with those hoes and I was looking through the rental ads this morning. I caught one of my roommates in my tub last night again. She was shaving her legs with some green gel that smelled like seaweed and dead fish." Olivia shuddered.

"Ick. Did she leave her leg hairs stuck all over the tub again?"

"I don't know. I didn't check to see if she cleaned it before I left for work." Grumbling her disgust, reminded Joan that Olivia grew up with four older brothers and hated sharing a bathroom with anyone. "Well, you have your own bathroom now with a giant claw-foot tub."

They sat in silence then Olivia asked. "Do you miss the Henry Street place?"

"I miss the view, but I don't miss the $2,880 rent. Thank gawd for rent control or we would have been paying over four thousand a month."

Joan laughed as Olivia exclaimed her dismay colorfully.

"Why don't you move now, and I'll waive the rent until your lease is ended? We can move your furniture over later." Joan sighed, revealing, "I need to not live alone right now. I am afraid I'm going to become an alcoholic."

Grinning gratefully, Olivia held out her mug and tapped it lightly against Joan's. "I'm here for you, girl. Happy to be roommates with someone I can trust and that I won't have to clean up after. You probably saved their lives."

"Then my coworkers will owe me lunch for saving them the paperwork for your prosecution and for subpoenaing me as a character witness," Joan announced good naturedly and they laughed more before driving to get Olivia's clothes and such. Olivia could move piecemeal and save the cost of a moving service.

~~~~

Two weeks later...

Joan walked through the office with Sam. They were discussing a restaurant that accidentally killed a man with an almond allergy by using the knife to cut a cheesecake that was used to cut an almond torte. The case was a terrible one because the waitress responsible was obviously overworked in the understaffed restaurant. It was a fatal mistake that would lead to a civil suit since it garnered a guilty plea from all involved. Joan almost wept in court while presenting the case. Stupid mistakes killed people.

A thin man walked up to them wearing a visitor badge. "Are you Miss Joan Hannah?"

Sam stepped between them. "She is, can I help you?"

"I have something for her. I need her to sign here." The man waved an envelope and a handheld scanner. The office had become quiet and two police officers on the floor to talk to attorneys moved closer in case things became heated.

"May I see your credentials?" Sam demanded coldly. He examined the grumpy man's id then told him, "If you are serving a subpoena to one of our A.D.A.s, you need to go through the proper channels."

"It's not that this time. It's a settlement check from some lawsuit." He shoved it toward her.

Joan took the envelope and signed for it as the office went back to work around them. Her hands shook as she opened it. "It's the refund for the money Paul invested and," she paused as she lifted out a second check. "One for wrongful death."

She read the letter quickly, blinking back tears. "The court ordered the return of the investments for tickets to the two conferences where people were sickened plus paying their medical or funeral cost, and then the remaining company assets were divided among the survivors." She held out the second check and letter with a trembling hand. "That's all his life was worth in the end." They fluttered to the floor before Sam could take the papers as Joan fled to a bathroom, weeping.

Sam picked it up and swore angrily as Jack came out of his office. The boss looked at the letter and amount and shook his head. "Get Connie to check on her and send her to my office. This will give her a few months to recover. I also want to talk to Bev about how her grief counseling is going. I can't have my prosecutors breaking down in court. Judge Tramori called me today."

"Sir, she just..."

"She's had eleven multi-illness cases and three deaths in the last quarter alone. Higher than the usual numbers, I know, but I need her in top form when the holidays roll around. We always have more violations starting in November." Jack reminded. "She needs to grieve, and get it out of her system, Sam. See if you can talk her into going and visiting her mother-in-law before she passes."

"You know Paul's mom is dying?" Sam was shocked but realized quickly that he shouldn't be surprised. Jack always knew everything about everyone in the office.

"Yes, I know. It's time Joan used her passport."

~~~~

Joan came in and slammed her satchel on the sideboard table in the entryway, then she sat down on the floor and wept. She felt like she was fired today, but Jack called it bereavement leave. Jack somehow knew the truth about the whole situation of her messy life. Looking into the living room at the glass front of the built-in liquor cabinet from the 1890s, Joan wanted to pour herself a drink of double malted whiskey, but she didn't. Shaking her head, she went and changed into her running clothes because running helped more than getting drunk and if it didn't, she could always do that later. She dug through her bag looking for her phone so she could have her Spotify playlist. Her phone skittered across the surface and tumbled to the floor. She yelped and scrambled to retrieve it. Looking over the phone carefully, she was surprised the image from the tarot reading Olivia did the day they became roommates was on the screen. She popped off the back to make certain it wasn't cracked somewhere she couldn't see, and a business card fluttered out of the sleeve opening for credit cards she never used.

Confused, she picked it up then stared at it.

Thane Hades, Director

Reaper Division, Grimm Acquisitions

Afterlife Unlimited, Death Inc.

Joan read the business card twice then laughed out loud in disbelief. Shaking her head at his sense of humor, she decided to call him and ask him about it, then she put the card down. Calling anyone out of the blue wasn't something she ever did.

"You're not thinking clearly, Joan." She admonished herself, then she put her phone in the bicep pocket on her running shirt, strapped on her water bottle thigh-holder, and headed out to get out her anxiety through physical activity. 

Jogging over to Squibb Park Bridge, she made the circuit before switching to the longer Brooklyn Bridge Park Greenway. Nine laps later, she was still in knots inside, but her body was ready for food and a bubble bath. Stopping at corner of the Harbor View Lawn, Joan panted as she checked her timer. She'd run her normal three-mile circuit almost two minutes faster than usual. As she drank some water, another runner passed her then stopped.

"Joan?" 

~~~~

Hello lovelies, 

You are getting your weekend chapters early because I will be away till Monday. Enjoy, happy weekend and be blessed. 

M.M.