The Silver Lake Murder by Gregg Matthews (read novel full txt) 📗

letters spelling, Lakeview Lounge. The storefront next to the Lakeview Lounge is a Chinese restaurant with a sign on the front of it reads. Sun Luck. The sign has a white base with red letters.

The storefront next to Sun Luck has a sign on the front of it spelling out, K-9 Academy. The sign has a white base with blue letters.

Next to K-9 Academy is the vacant store he plans on making RiversTattoo shop. He presses on the wad of cash in his right front pocket and hopes he has enough money to get this shop up and running. He takes a seat on the front steps in front of the vacant store and waits for Eleanor to arrive.

Some time passes, enabling Blake to wake up and process what he saw in front of the new, Welcome to Silver Lake sign yesterday. He is confused, angry, and curious to know what is going on here. He also knows he needs to get his new tattoo shop up and running as fast as he can before he runs out of money. He is worried about how long the process to open the store will be. There are health code certificates he is going to need to apply for. He knows health code certificates can take a long time in a small town.

An old pickup truck, green with white trim pulls into the parking lot, sending crushed stone dust into the air. The truck parks in front of the vacant storefront. He reads the writing on the driver’s side door Lakeview Realty. He notices below the writing there is a symbol that looks like a crude outline drawing of a dog and the word Jackal underneath. He realizes the symbol is of a Jackal and not a dog.

Elenore steps out of the truck with a handful of paperwork and a smartphone. He seesshe is a middle-aged woman wearing black leather work boots, jeans with a two-inch-wide black leather belt, a green T-shirt with white letters on it, and an unbuttoned long sleeve green and white checkered flannel shirt. Her large chest makes the T-shirt hard to read, but he thinks it says Lakeview Lounge. She has a pretty face, with slight wrinkles around her eyes and nose. When she speaks, her mouth shows some lines too. Looking her in the eyes he can see she is focused and is here to get the job. She has a full head of long dark hair, with a couple of flaring gray patches on each side. Her body is toned and in good shape. She walks up to the front door of the vacant storefront. He does the same. He notices she has a pack of cigarettes in her shirt pocket.

“Eleanor?”

“Yes. Blake?”

“Yes.”

Blake and Eleanor shake hands. When Eleanor sticks out her right hand, he notices she has a crude outline drawing tattoo of a Jackal between her thumb and index finger. The same symbol on the driver’s side door of the truck. He makes a mental note of the tattoo. Eleanor unlocks the front door of the storefront and steps inside.

“The store is two thousand five hundred square feet. The first three storefronts, this one, K-9 Academy, and Sun Luck are all the same size. The storefront on the end, the Lakeview Lounge, is two thousand five hundred square feet and another two thousand five hundred square feet on the second floor,” Eleanor says.

“I understand, Eleanor.”

Looking around the space, he can see lots of boxes and benches are still there from the previous tenant. He can see how much work he has in front of him to get Rivers Tattoo shop up and running. There is a strong smell of wet dog in the air.

“Something smells?”

“K-9 Academy started out in this location as a dog grooming store called the Barking Boutique. They used to wash and groom dogs here,” Eleanor says.

“Does the owner want all this stuff?”

“No, you have to throw it away. There is a dumpster in the back alley.”

“Why didn’t you make him clean the store out before he left?” Blake says angrily.

“Look, friend, do you want the space or not? I have three other potential tenants on their way here to rent it,” Eleanor says impatiently.

“I will take it,” Blake says hurriedly.

Blake and Eleanor walk over to the counter and start signing paperwork. He hands over a wad of cash covering the first month, last month, and security deposit. He watches her slide a set of old keys across the countertop.

“What type of business?”

“Tattoo shop.”

Eleanor slides an additional packet of paperwork at him.

“What’s this?”

“This is the occupancy permit application. The health code permit application. And a few other certificates you will need before you can open for business. If you fill this outnow, you will have everything you need to be open for business tomorrow by 12:00 noon.”

“Are you kidding me?” Blake says in disbelief.

“Do I look like I am kidding?”

“No. But how can the certificate approval process be done by tomorrow?”

“Luke owns the building and most of the politicians in Silver Lake. This has been going on for a long time. Fill out the paperwork and pay your rent on time, and there will not be any problems, OK, friend?”

“Yup!”

Completing the necessary paperwork as fast as he can, he listens to Eleanor talk.

“Listen, friend, you need to know how things work around here. Luke owns the Lakeview Lounge and a lot of other buildings, cottages in and around Silver Lake. There is a guy who works for Luke, the maintenance man. His name is Lester, he’ll come by and introduce himself. Ask him about what’s going on and how things work around here. Again, pay your rent on time, and we will not have any problems.”

“Thanks, Eleanor.”

“Yeah,” Eleanor says on her way out the door holding a handful of paperwork.

As he looks around the store, he can see his new tattoo shop coming to life. The first thing he needs to do is empty the store. He walks to the back