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The voice replied, “Give me a second to get dressed.”
In many ways, it was going better than I expected. It could’ve been the wrong address. Allie may not have been home. It could’ve been a mail drop. Instead, we got an immediate response. So why was I still uneasy?
After about forty-five seconds, I looked at Terri.
She just shrugged and knocked on the door again. Nothing from inside. Then I heard a metallic scraping noise. I immediately recognized the sound of a fire escape brushing against the side of the building.
I rushed to the window at the end of the hall. I saw a young woman in shorts and a T-shirt, holding running shoes she hadn’t had time to put on, carefully making her way down the outside fire escape.
I unlatched the tall window and opened it. I looked out the window past the fire escape to the alley below. My fear of heights hit me like a sledgehammer. In an instant, I felt clammy sweat spring up on my face. My stomach twisted and I could taste my morning coffee in my throat. It was worse than I’d ever felt it in the past.
Somehow I managed to gasp over my shoulder to Terri, “She’s trying to climb down the fire escape.”
Terri didn’t hesitate to sprint down the hallway and blast through the door to the stairwell.
I had to suck it up and stepped out onto the fire escape with shaky legs.
Chapter61
I GULPED Adeep breath to follow Allie as she descended the fire escape. She moved quicker than I could. I could barely let go of the rungs as I tried to make my way from the fifth to the fourth floor. I should’ve felt better as I moved closer to the ground. Instead, my palms got slick with sweat. I fought nausea with every step. Why was my dislike of heights hitting me so hard this time?
Between the third and fourth floors I looked down and saw that Allie was nearly to the street level. My heart pounded as I tried to take each rung of the fire escape quickly but carefully. My foot slipped, and I had to freeze in place for a moment. Finally, I gathered my nerve, closed my eyes, and kept going.
As I cleared the second floor, I couldn’t see anyone in the alley below me. Allie Pritz had hit the ground running whether she was wearing shoes or not. I got to the end of the fire escape and dropped the few feet to the asphalt alley.
I suppressed the urge to vomit, then turned and sprinted toward Cornelia Street. I skidded to a stop as soon as I turned the corner.
Terri Hernandez was standing on the sidewalk with her arms folded in front of her and a stern look on her face. On a foot-high planter near the building’s entrance, Allie Pritz sat sheepishly, slowly putting on her Nike running shoes.
Terri took one look at me and said, “You okay?”
I couldn’t speak. I just nodded my head.
Terri said, “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. I forgot about your acrophobia. I just acted on instinct and ran for the stairs.”
I waved her off. This was not exactly the first impression I wanted to make with a potential homicide witness.
I looked at Allie Pritz still sitting on the edge of the planter. From this angle she seemed incredibly young. I wondered if she knew what she had gotten herself into. I said, “Why’d you run? We only want to talk to you.”
She looked down at the sidewalk and mumbled, “I’m sorry. I just panicked.”
Terri said, “Do you know what we want to talk to you about?”
“I can guess.”
Terri said, “You’re not in any trouble. Go ahead and guess. We won’t hold it against you.”
In a weak voice, Allie said, “You want to talk about The Girlfriend Experience, right?”
That’s when I said, “Actually, we’d like to talk to you about a series of homicides.”
That immediately got all of Allie Pritz’s attention.
Chapter62
A FEW MINUTESafter our short chase, we found ourselves back in Allie Pritz’s apartment, sitting around her breakfast counter. Allie had poured us each a glass of some kind of green antioxidant drink. Apparently, the healthy Gen Z’s version of coffee.
All my vital signs had returned to approximately normal,although I knew I’d have visions of the fire escape as I was trying to fall asleep tonight. Allie had been badly shaken when we told her about the deaths of Emma Schrade, Estella Abreu, and Suzanne Morton.
