“You sure?” Ava asked.
Pawlowski nodded and gestured for Ava to walk ahead of her. Ava did, and they passed through the front doors, only to be stopped almost immediately by a large, sweating construction foreman.
“What the blaze are you ladies doing in here?” he asked.
Ava rather enjoyed the look that came over his face when she showed her badge. “Detective Ava Gold, and Officer Pawlowski,with the NYPD. We’re looking into the suicide that occurred here two nights ago. According to our records, it was up at the highest point.”
The man smiled, even chuckled a bit. He stared at them both as if he were looking at two kids playing dress up. “Well, yeah, I was told the police might come, but…”
Ava hoped he’d continue with what he was about to say. She could sense that he had reservations about two women looking into it, and she wanted to see how Pawlowski would react.
He made a smart decision, though, and simply shrugged. “We’ll, we’ve got small freight elevators working right now, but they’ll only get you as high as the fortieth floor. After that, you’ll have to take the stairs. And whatever you do, when you get up to the top,do notlean on any of those walls. They’re firmly in place but they need to be reinforced. I wouldn’t want your pretty brains all over the street.”
Pawlowski let out one of the loudest sighs Ava had ever heard as she strode past him. “Thanks for the concern,” she said sarcastically.
Ava caught up with Pawlowski as she made her way beyond the front entrance. On the first floor, things looked perfectly fine and polished, though there were still sheets and traps put up to keep the interior from getting dingy and dirty. They found the freight elevators all the way to the right, in flimsy-looking shafts that were clearly only temporary. When they reached them—there were four in all—a small group of construction workers eyed them as if they were lunch. One of them even whistled and nudged the man beside him.
“Curious,” Pawlowski said in his direction. “Has that ever worked for you?”
This shut the man up. He looked angry at first but then decided to stay quiet while his friends pointed and snickered at him. Before things could escalate, Ava pulled out her badge andflashed it at them. “NYPD. Let’s act like we’ve got at least some sort of manners, okay?”
All eyes turned away from them at that moment as the elevator took them up. It started with a buckling jolt and then a thunderous grinding sound filled the small wooden-based elevator. Ava felt the tremors of it in her bones as the pulleys and cables did their job, pulling them farther and farther away from the ground. She’d been in a few elevators before, but only to go up two or three floors. Going up as many as forty boggled her mind and she tried not to think about it as the motor continued to churn above their heads. She couldn’t help but wonder how Frank would be reacting in that moment, racing up the side of this monstrous building.
She glanced back over to Pawlowski, trying to get a read on her. Pawlowski was looking down toward her feet, as if making sure she didn’t have to look forward or ahead. She was clearly nervous but doing her very best not to let it show.
Finally, the elevator came to a gut-wrenching stop. The little box swayed a bit and Ava did not like the sense that her legs were still moving even as the elevator had come to a stop. She did her best to keep her calm as Pawlowski looked over to her.
Pawlowski lifted the little metal-slatted door and they stepped off onto the fortieth floor. It was featureless as of right now, nothing but steel beams, concrete, and sturdy walls. Doorways had been cut into the halls here and there, but the floor was featureless for the most part. They found the stairwell at the far end of the hallway and Ava was quite relieved when she saw that the walls there were also very close to their final stages. She didn’t know if she’d be able to climb them if she could look to her right and see the city looming down below.
“I have to ask you, Gold,” Pawlowski said as they climbed the stairs for the final thirty flights. “Are you really as good as they say you are?”
Ava wasn’t sure how to answer that. “How good do they say I am?”
“Good enough for them to write about you in the papers. Good enough so that you’ve got precinct captains squabbling over you.”
“Oh. Then…I honestly don’t know.”
“Is that modesty or ignorance?”
“Maybe a bit of both. Now let me ask you, Pawlowski. Do you have some sort of a problem with me?”
“Nope,” she said. “Not yet. If you want the bare bones of it, I’m selfish. I liked being the only dame in my station. I feel like they brought you in because I wasn’t enough.”
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” Ava said.
Pawlowski had no response to this. They both remained quiet as they finished the grueling climb up flight after flight of stairs. Ava couldn’t help but wonder ifthiswas why she and Pawlowski had been tasked with this job. She had no idea how long it took them to get to the top. What she did know was that her legs were aching and even without seeing the open expanse of New York City sky all around them, she couldfeelthe height. It seemed to weigh down on her, adding some extra pressure to her lungs.
When the stairs came to an end, Ava found herself standing on a reinforced wooden floor, made of sheets of thick boards and beams. It was not finished like the floors beneath them, and neither were the walls. As a matter of fact, the wall behind them was incomplete, offering that view of the sky she’d not yet seen. She could feel the wind whipping; while it was not nearly strong enough to knock her down, it was enough to make her feel like she had to push forward a bit more than she was used to.
Several workers were moving around as if they weren’t bothered by it at all. As she watched, three men were hauling asmall metal rod to the other side of the floor, toward the open space that looked out onto nothing more than sky.
“You ever done anything like this?” Ava asked Pawlowski.
“No. I stood out on a balcony in one of those Manhattan high rises a few months back. But this…this is too much. Let’s make quick work of these and get the hell down.”
It sounded like a good idea to Ava as she continued to study their surroundings. Because the more she looked around, the less complete this floor seemed. She saw open spaces with sky peeking through, blocked by nothing more than steel girders and the most basic foundation materials.
Still, at the same time, she felt drawn to the danger of it. She and Pawlowski walked over to the closest wall and peered out between the girders. It was horrifying and thrilling all at once. No more than six feet rested between her toes and open space. And standing so close to the edge, the wind seemed to be just a bit stronger at her back.