Tags:
Drama,
detective,
Crime,
Sex,
Mystery,
Murder,
models,
Investigator,
LA,
strippers,
private,
case
time I met her and Cyndie twelve years earlier. It was an interesting read.
Three hours later, I had just finished the pink journal, when Cyndie broke my concentration and said, âLet's go.â
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the penthouse
Cyndie and I were walking to her office through the narrow streets lined with row houses. We had changed back into our business clothes. We entered Rittenhouse Square and Cyn had us sit for a moment on our favorite bench so we could look at the Grayson Agency. We were shaded from the late day sun by the fully-grown leaves of the big oak and sycamore trees.
We had a clear view of the modeling agency. The five-storey building sits on the north side of Rittenhouse Square. 1811 Walnut Street is the third building in from the northeast corner and has an impressive turn-of-the-nineteenth-century style. The entrance has a five-step granite staircase that leads to the raised first floor. The first floor has two grand windows on each side of the double front doors. The second through fourth floors have matching bay windows on the right and left sides, with smaller windows in the middle. The building has a hallway that runs from the front to the back with suites off to the left, the right, and the rear on all four floors. The two elevators are on the right or east side of each floor, halfway down the hall. The first floor has twelve-foot ceilings, while ceilings on the next three floors are ten feet high. The front third of the first floor is dominated by the lobby, all the way back to the elevators. To the right side is a waiting area, and the security desk and office is to the left.
Our park bench provided Cyn and I with a clear vantage point to see the fifth floor, which is hidden from view closer to the building. The penthouse was added later, after the original building was completed, and is very different architecture. It looked to me like it dated from the 1960s with its brick siding and window style. It reminded me of a school. The penthouse occupies the back two-thirds of the roof. A deck fills the front of the roof surrounded by a four-foot wall, set back five feet from the edge of the fourth floor.
We could see two doors onto the deck; one on the right from the elevator lobby and the French doors on the left leading into the penthouse. There were also two windows farther to the left of the French doors. From five stories up the deck provided a million-dollar view of Rittenhouse Square.
I'm glad Cyn stopped us here to get familiar with our destination. Cyn explained that her office didn't have any windows and was next to what was Andi's office. That office had a window that faced north, away from Rittenhouse Square toward the skyscrapers of Center City. Cyn told me that she could see the top of my building from Andi's old office. Cyn's office was in the rear suite on the fourth floor, just inside the hall door. Right outside her suite in the hall was the door to the fire escape.
We were about to get up when Cyn held my forearm and said, âI feel a cold draft.â
Cyn was looking east toward the right side of the square. I followed her eyes and there was my ex-girlfriend, Eve Simmons, walking up 18 th Street, focused on the sidewalk in front of her. Eve wore her uniform, a woman's dark brown suit with jacket and skirt and low heels. She carried her briefcase in her left hand. Her hair was cut collar length; a little shorter than the last time I saw her, and my mind wandered and I realized I couldn't remember when that was; maybe sometime during the winter. Eve was walking quickly. She looked older, unhappier and smaller than I remembered.
Cyn said, âI hope she saw us sitting here, together.â
âShe may have as Eve always looks around taking in everything in sight. Of course, she'd never come by and say hello.â
âThat bitch!â
âOK, Cyn, but it looks like she's finished work and is walking to her condo. Let's give her a minute. I don't want to meet her