“I dare you to spit,” Pawlowski joked.
Ava stepped back, her heart slamming in her chest. As she did, one of the workers came hurrying over with a shocked look on his face. He was coated in sweat and wore a hardhat that sat on his head in funny but handsome way.
“What in God’s holy name are you two dumb Doras doing up here?” he howled.
“We’re cops,” Pawlowski said, brushing him off as if she did this sort of thing every day.
Ava found herself once again showing her badge. “We’re here to look into the man that apparently flung himself from the floor two nights ago.”
“Oh, that jackass?” the man in the hardhat said. “I tell you, you have to be some kind of maniac to even think about it. That’s alongfall.” He softened his demeanor a bit and eyed them withsomething like concern. “You ladies be careful, yeah? Is there anything we can do for you?”
“Would you mind answering some questions?” Ava asked.
“Yeah, sure. But let me get James over here, too. He’s the crew supervisor.” He turned and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Hey, James! come on over here. These cop ladies have some questions about that moron that jumped.”
Ava watched as a man looking at blueprints by a stack of lumber came slowly walking over. He didn’t look as friendly as the first man, but he also made no attempt to hide the fact that he was quite taken by both of them. The smile he offered them as he approached was the sort that let Ava know he was accustomed to flirting with women and getting away with it. To thwart this and stop it before it began, Ava once again showed her ID.
“We’re with the NYPD,” she said. “We’re trying to find out more information about the man that seemed to have leaped from this very floor two nights ago.”
The man—James, presumably—chuckled. “Yeah, you and a bunch of other folks. I don’t even know how he got up here. Those front doors are supposed to be locked after hours. And there’s even a security guy downstairs most of the night, too.”
“Do you have any idea if any of that might have been different two nights ago?”
“Not for sure, but I don’t see why it would. I mean…you work for the cops. You know about all these men killing themselves lately. A place like this…you bet your gams it’s going to be protected.”
“Do you have any idea if that security guard might still be in the building?”
“He might be. He works some strange hours. Nine to nine or something like that. If you hurry back down, you might catch him.”
“And what about you, sir?” Pawlowski asked. “Have you had any men sort of lose it while working up here? Anyone you think might want to throw themselves off under the stress of the job?”
“Not at all. There are some that know for sure they won’t be able to handle the height. And even then, with the ones that do work way up here, I make sure they take breaks. If you’re up here long enough, itcanmess with your head. Besides…after I heard about the incident, I checked in with all of my men. Everyone was present and accounted for.”
“This guard downstairs,” Ava said. “Do you know his name?”
“They call him Dooley. I think it’s his last name. I’ve never spoken to the man.”
Knowing it was already after nine o’ clock, Ava felt the need to hurry back downstairs. Her knees, on the other hand, were perfectly fine standing still for a moment. “Thanks for your help,” she said, already turning back for the door. Her knees and calves seemed to seize up at the thought of what was coming.
As the women made their way back to the stairwell, Ava noticed Pawlowski looked back to the nearly finished walls. She shook her head softly and said: “Could you do it? Working up here, I mean.”
“I don’t think so. I think it takes a special sort to deal with the wind and the heights.”
And in saying that, she thought the same might be true of a man that might kill himself from such a height. What sort of trouble might he have been going through to make such a plan? Or, on the other hand, what sort of maniac would have lured him up there only to throw him off?
CHAPTER SIX
Ava was relieved to find that it was at least a bit easier to walk back down the stairs. They did very little talking along the way in an effort to save their breath. The only conversation occurred somewhere around the forty-fifth floor. Pawlowski, now in the lead on the way down, said something Ava had already wondered about.
“The elevators…all these damned stairs…you’dreallywant to have to kill yourself to go through all of this. I mean, it would be easier to just put a bullet in your head or hang yourself, right?”
“That’s a little morbid,” Ava said, “but yes. I’d agree with that.”
“I think by the time I got off of the elevator and then saw all these stairs, I’d turn around.”
“Almost makes you think someone was trying to make a statement,” Ava said. “Maybe someone trying to prove a point.”
All Pawlowski said in response was “Hmm.”