The Westing Game

Sunset Towers

1 ♦ Sunset Towers

The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange! Sunset Towers faced east and had no towers. This glittery, glassy apartment house stood alone on the Lake Michigan shore five stories high. Five empty stories high. Then one day (it happened to be the Fourth of July), a most uncommon-looking delivery boy rode around town slipping letters under the doors of the chosen tenants-to-be. The letters were signed Barney Northrup. The delivery boy was sixty-two years old, and there was no such person as Barney Northrup.

Dear Lucky One: Here it is—the apartment you've always dreamed of, at a rent you can afford, in the newest, most luxurious building on Lake Michigan:

SUNSET TOWERS

- Picture windows in every room

- Uniformed doorman, maid service

- Central air conditioning, hi-speed elevator

- Exclusive neighborhood, near excellent schools

- Etc., etc.

You have to see it to believe it. But these unbelievably elegant apartments will be shown by appointment only. So hurry, there are only a few left!!!

Call me now at 276-7474 for this once-in-a-lifetime offer. Your servant, Barney Northrup

P. S. I am also renting ideal space for:

- Doctor's office in lobby - Coffee shop with entrance from parking lot

- Hi-class restaurant on entire top floor

Six letters were delivered, just six. Six appointments were made, and one by one, family by family, talk, talk, talk, Barney Northrup led the tours around and about Sunset Towers. "Take a look at all that glass. One-way glass," Barney Northrup said. "You can see out, nobody can see in." Looking up, the Wexlers (the first appointment of the day) were blinded by the blast of morning sun that flashed off the face of the building. "See those chandeliers? Crystal!" Barney Northrup said, slicking his black moustache and straightening his handpainted tie in the lobby's mirrored wall. "How about this carpeting? Three inches thick!" "Gorgeous," Mrs. Wexler replied, clutching her husband's arm as her high heels wobbled in the deep plush pile. She, too, managed an approving glance in the mirror before the elevator door opened. "You're really in luck," Barney Northrup said. "There's only one apartment left, but you'll love it. It was meant for you." He flung open the door to 3D. "Now, is that breathtaking, or is that breathtaking?" Mrs. Wexler gasped; it was breathtaking, all right. Two walls of the living room were floor-to-ceiling glass. Following Barney Northrup's lead, she ooh-ed and aah-ed her joyous way through the entire apartment. Her trailing husband was less enthusiastic. "What's this, a bedroom or a closet?" Jake Wexler asked, peering into the last room. "It's a bedroom, of course," his wife replied. "It looks like a closet." "Oh, Jake, this apartment is perfect for us, just perfect," Grace Wexler argued in a whining coo. The third bedroom was a trifle small, but it would do just fine for Turtle. "And think what it means having your office in the lobby, Jake; no more driving to and from work, no more mowing the lawn or shoveling snow." "Let me remind you," Barney Northrup said, "the rent here is cheaper than what your old house costs in upkeep." How would he know that, Jake wondered. Grace stood before the front window where, beyond the road, beyond the trees, Lake Michigan lay calm and glistening. A lake view! Just wait until those so-called friends of hers with their classy houses see this place. The furniture would have to be reupholstered; no, she'd buy new furniture— beige velvet. And she'd have stationery made—blue with a deckle edge, her name and fancy address in swirling type across the top: Grace Windsor Wexler, Sunset Towers on the Lake Shore. Not every tenant-to-be was quite as overjoyed as Grace Windsor Wexler. Arriving in the late afternoon, Sydelle Pulaski looked up and saw only the dim, warped reflections of treetops and drifting clouds in the glass face of Sunset Towers. "You're really in luck," Barney Northrup said for the sixth and last time. "There's only one apartment left, but you'll love it. It was meant for you." He flung open the door to a one bedroom apartment in the rear. "Now, is that breathtaking or is that breathtaking?" "Not especially," Sydelle Pulaski replied as she blinked into the rays of the summer sun setting behind the parking lot. She had waited all these years for a place of her own, and here it was, in an elegant building where rich people lived. But she wanted a lake view. "The front apartments are taken," Barney Northrup said. "Besides, the rent's too steep for a secretary's salary. Believe me, you get the same luxuries here at a third of the price." At least the view from the side window was pleasant. "Are you sure nobody can see in?" Sydelle Pulaski asked. "Absolutely," Barney Northrup said, following her suspicious stare to the mansion on the north cliff. "That's just the old Westing house up there; it hasn't been lived in for fifteen years." "Well, I'll have to think it over." "I have twenty people begging for this apartment," Barney Northrup said, lying through his buckteeth. "Take it or leave it." "I'll take it." Whoever, whatever else he was, Barney Northrup was a good salesman. In one day he had rented all of Sunset Towers to the people whose names were already printed on the mailboxes in an alcove off the lobby:

Office ♦ Dr. Wexler
Lobby ♦ Theodorakis Coffee Shop

2C ♦ F. Baumbach

2D ♦ Theodorakis

3C ♦ S. Pulaski

3D ♦ Wexler

4C ♦ Hoo

4D ♦ J. J. Ford

5 ♦ Shin Hoo's Restaurant

Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake. Barney Northrup had rented one of the apartments to the wrong person.