Finding Maggie (Remade)

A Chance Encounter

The ever-present cacophony of New York City knew no bounds as it wafted in through the open windows of the penthouse apartment on the twenty-sixth floor, bringing with it a sultry mixture of heat and smells both pleasant and not. Taxis honked day and night, regardless of traffic conditions. People walked the streets chatting away on cellphones, mothers shouted out of windows to their children below, vendors lauded their wares to mostly deaf ears proclaiming their merchandise to be fresh and fair priced despite the truth being quite the opposite. The noise had at some unknown point in time taken over the city, becoming part of it, melding with it, ingraining itself into the very core of the people. Most had become so accustomed to it that they no longer paid it any attention. It all added up to a perfect level of irritating and yet easily ignorable. And, ignoring it was just what Maggie was doing sprawled out across her plush, over-stuffed red sofa smack dab in the middle of her living-room while she tried to get ready for her court date in the morning. Paperwork littered the large, square, glass coffee table while her laptop sat next to her, quietly adding its lowly hum to the city's clangor below.

The clock in the hallway had just chimed half past eight at night when the buzzer from downstairs rang through the penthouse. She checked her watch and affirmed the time before shuffling off her blanket to answer the call. Her hand went up, subconsciously tucking her curly blond locks behind her ears. It was a nervous habit she had picked up rather recently which she hadn't yet noticed she had gained. "Yes?" she asked after pressing down the button on the box inset into the wall near the front door. Her heart thumped unsteadily in her chest, inwardly reminding her of that which she wished she could forget.

"Good, you're home! Lemme in, lemme in!"

Maggie let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding in and pushed the second button which unlocked the main door downstairs. The doorman left at eight every night, locking the place down before going home. So, it was left up to the tenets to let visitors in and out of the building late at night. Maggie wasn't quite comfortable with the system so she stood by the threshold and waited for the sound of the elevator doors opening down the hall before peeking through peephole. Just to make sure. She couldn't help but relax at seeing Jessie strut out of the elevator through the fish-eyed lens of the tiny hole. Unlocking the front door's heavy bolts, Maggie opened it just in time for her friend to bubble on through. Yes, Jessie bubbled. Her whole body exuded that airy, dancing, bouncy quality that only special people could pull off without looking completely silly. Maggie thought back to a time, not long ago, when she too used to bubble. Could a year really change a person that much? Apparently so. Shaking her head to force her unbidden thoughts aside, she plastered on an artificial smile and locked the door behind them.

Jessie spun around after haphazardly tossing her tiny, leather jacket over Maggie's paperwork on the sofa. "Oh my god, Mags," she began, teetering in her five inch, black suede, chunk heels. "I'm so bored!" She elongated her complaint, drawing it out so as to prove its validity.

"Jessie, I can't." They had been through this conversation so many times in the past that Maggie sometimes wondered why they bothered anymore.

"Please?" Jessie's whining she could do without.

"I have the Landry case in the morning." Maggie shrugged her shoulders and tucked her curly hair back in behind her ears.

Jessie was a sweet girl with a heart of gold but Maggie wasn't up for the club scene. She was already working over-time at Grant and Sellers and now it was lightly raining outside. All she wanted to do that night was sit back, crack open a bottle of wine, and finish her paperwork. Still, when it came to Jessie, saying no was difficult. Jessie began her complaintive pleas again while Maggie made her way around the room to shut up the windows lest the rain make its way inside. "Come on Mags, you've been working on that case for months now." She stuck out her bottom lip in a comical mock pout which was meant solely for Maggie's benefit. "You used to be fun."