Chapter 18
It was shortly after six in the evening when Jo entered the second of her two penthouse apartments. The concierge was busy downstairs, so she was not introduced to him. The private elevator to the top was the same, opening to a hallway with two doors, just as before. “One door is the apartment, the other is a smaller apartment that the security team will occupy,” Roberts explained. “It is the same at both locations.”
Jo entered this apartment expecting to find a lot of similarities, but there weren’t many. Dark colors, heavy draperies, marble countertops and brown leather furniture. The apartment was very masculine, yet still very luxurious.
“This was Mr. Hartford’s residence. He had been here for about eight years before he died. It was decorated to suit him, of course,” Roberts offered in way of explaining the lack of light and color.
There were three bedrooms, as with the other penthouse, but the rooms were slightly smaller. There were three bathrooms in total, rather than the four-and-a-half the other location boasted. The outside deck had no safety fence, and Jo was actually too frightened to go near the edge. It was just a three-foot wall surrounding the deck area. There was a spa outside, but no gazebo for privacy, and it was smaller than the one at the other apartment.
The kitchen was designer quality, but the black marble countertops increased the darkness of the surrounding rooms. There was an entertainment center, just not as elaborate, and the office in the back was simply an office. It contained a desk, a chair, a bookcase, a filing cabinet and nothing else.
“It’s lovely, of course,” she told Roberts, “but not near as nice as the other. What is the difference between the two?”
“This one, as I mentioned, was Mr. Hartford’s home. He had been here for many years. The other penthouse was a recent purchase of Mr. Hartford’s. There was speculation that it was purchased for his mistress, but of course, that was never verified. He had just finished having the other penthouse redecorated about a week before he died, but no one had ever moved in. It is just as the decorator left it, the way you saw it today.”
Jo considered that. Of the two apartments, she much preferred the one she had seen earlier, but if these were the apartments, what did the homes look like?
“Why did Mr. Hartford live in an apartment instead of one of his homes?” Jo asked Roberts.
“The most probable reason is the ease of commute. There is no room for a house in the city center,” Roberts explained, “so the houses are all outside of the business district. This apartment and the other one as well, are within five minutes of the Corporate Office. I don’t believe any of the homes are closer than thirty minutes away, or more, depending on traffic.”
“That makes sense. Did he use the houses on weekends or something, then?”
“I’m not sure Mr. Hartford ever took a weekend, Miss Becker. He worked much too hard, which is probably why he died of a heart attack at age fifty-four. This apartment, in fact the desk in the back room, is where the letter from your father was discovered. When housekeeping came in, they thoroughly cleaned and boxed everything. The letter was underneath the top drawer, between the drawer and its enclosure. When Director Johnson went through the things from his apartment, she found the letter, and the rest you know.”
Alex and her parents were back in the living area, ready to leave. After seeing the first apartment, the luxury of this one was lost on everyone. Jo would not choose to live here.
“It’s almost seven,” Alex announced. “Should we see if we can find Charlie?”
“Oh, yeah!” Jo responded excitedly. “We can drag her along to look at the houses. Or the condominiums, but after seeing the first penthouse, I would bet that any other place will seem trashy to us.”
“Probably so, Jo, but you never know. Simple is good.”
“What is the history on the condos, Roberts?” Jo asked him as the group exited the elevator and once again entered the limo.
“I believe Mr. Hartford purchased them simply as investments. They are all in very good areas of the city. Two are in the business district, I believe. One is in Manhattan, and some others in Brooklyn.”
“Would you recommend any of them for me to live in?” Jo asked honestly.
Roberts hesitated. “They are much less luxurious than the penthouse, of course, but my main concern is your safety. It will be much more difficult for my team to protect you in one of the condominiums.”
“What about the homes? Do they have security risks?”
“Two out of the three homes are equipped with state of the art security systems, including cameras and even heat sensors on the gates. The third home was the one your grandparents owned. It is just an old colonial style house. I would not recommend you live there, for security reasons of course, but I assure you it will be a pleasant place to visit. It has beautiful grounds.”
Jo smiled. She would enjoy seeing the home her father grew up in. “How far away are the two secured homes?”
“One of them is across the river in New Jersey. It was built in the late eighteen hundreds. It is full of antiques, and makes you feel like you are walking through a museum.”
Jo scowled. “Scratch that one. Next?”
Roberts grinned. “The home I would recommend is in Long Beach, but it’s not a close drive to work. It is beautiful, however. It’s on the bay side. One of the condos is on the ocean side if you wish to see it as well.”
“I’m having a blast, Jo, let’s get Charlie and look at them both.”
Jo agreed that was a good idea. “Can we fit four more in the limo, Roberts?” She asked as they headed down the elevator.
“Where will your friends be?” Roberts asked. “I will have one of the larger limos meet us there.”
Jo was trying not to be surprised by anything, but she just had to ask, “Roberts, how many limos are in the company fleet?”
“Currently twelve, but only four of them have security measures in them. You will only be using the four.” Roberts replied as he ushered them to the waiting limo.
“I have to stick with only four limos, Alex. What is this world coming to?” Jo’s sarcastic retort sent Alex into peals of laughter. Jo pulled out her old cell phone because she knew how to use it, and called Charlie.
“Hey, Jo, how are you doing?” Charlie asked when she answered the call.
“I’m okay. You guys having a nice trip?”
“Yeah. We looked at about eight apartments today. No luck so far.”
“Why not?”
“The ones that are in our price range are in questionable neighborhoods, and the one that I liked the most was too expensive.”
“I’m sorry, Charlie. Tell you what, how about I come get you and we can help you look.”
“Come get me? You are in New York? With Alex? You said we, so is Alex here too?” Charlie was screaming in the phone so loud that Jo had to hold it away from her ear. When she felt it was safe, she answered Charlie.
“Alex and I decided you needed help looking, so we kidnapped her parents, hopped on a plane and came.”
“That’s wonderful, Jo! It will be so much more fun to look with you guys!”
“So you want us to come get you?”
“Is there a taxi big enough for all of us? Dad wanted to rent a car when we got here, but the people drive insanely, so we had to leave Kyle in the motel and just Mom and Dad and I went out in a taxi. How can we four and you four all fit in one taxi?”
“I will take care of it, Charlie. What motel are you at, we can be there in a few minutes.”
Jo could hear Charlie asking her parents something. “Okay, we are staying at the Marriott on West Street. Can you find it?”
Roberts nodded to Jo. “Tell her to be in the lobby in five minutes.”
“Charlie, be in the lobby in five minutes. Oh, and dress nice.”
“Five minutes and dress nice? It’s either one or the other, Jo; you can’t have both,” declared the exasperated Charlie. Alex and Jo both laughed. This was going to be so much fun.
“Trust me, Charlie. Throw something nice on, and hurry.”
Roberts radioed to someone to bring a bigger limo to the Marriott, he then instructed the driver where to go.
About five minutes later, Jo and her crew pulled up at a very nice motel with the familiar Marriott logo on the building. There was a second limo just pulling in. Roberts exited the car and went to talk to the driver of the other limo. Then he came back for Jo.
“I was just verifying that I knew him. It’s safe, let’s go.”
He rushed Jo from one limo to the other. Alex and her parents followed. The new car was just as luxurious, but had a bench seat along the side, as well as the back seat, and a backwards facing seat towards the front. There was much more room. Diaz, who had been riding in the front with the driver the whole trip, helped Roberts and the limo driver transfer Jo’s and her friends’ luggage to the larger limo.
“There’s Kyle,” Alex shouted out as she saw Kyle, wearing slacks and a dress shirt, exit the lobby and enter the parking lot. He made a beeline for the limo.
“Whoa, cool,” Jo heard him say, and her and Alex giggled quietly.
“Mr. Allen, please enter on the right side of the vehicle, if you would.” Roberts requested. Kyle looked up at him in shocked astonishment.
“Who, me? I don’t think so.” Kyle responded, and turned to head back into the hotel.
“Kyle, it’s okay. It’s just us,” Alex took pity on the boy and stepped out of the car to call him. He turned at her voice, amazed.
“No way! You got a limo? How did you get a limo, Alex? That is so cool!” He wasted no time going around the right side of the vehicle as requested by Roberts. He bounded in and looked around, touching everything as any thirteen-year-old boy would do. “This is awesome!” Jo and Alex smiled, and watched for Charlie to come out.
A few seconds later, Charlie exited the lobby with her parents behind her. She had changed into a mid-length dress, and her parents were nicely dressed as well, but then, they usually were, Jo remembered.
“Mom! Dad! In here! Alex got us a limo!” Kyle had found the button that allowed a large rectangle in the top of the limo to be opened. He stood up, so that the top half of him was outside, and waved at them. Charlie saw him and stared, her mouth wide open. Jo and Alex watched as Mindy pushed Charlie’s mouth closed and said something to her. They lost it at that point, unable to contain their laughter.
Roberts went to the front of the vehicle to escort the three newcomers to the right side, and helped the ladies in. Charlie stared hard at Roberts. She remembered him from the funeral, but didn’t know what had transpired since then.
“Alex! Jo!” Charlie gave them both enthusiastic hugs as she entered the limo. “Jo, wasn’t that the guy who was going to offer you a job?” she asked.
“Did he offer you a job, Jo? I know we talked about it yesterday morning, but I was unsure if you were really going to meet him.” Brad questioned.
“Forget that, tell me where the limo came from,” Mindy demanded.
“One at a time,” laughed Jo. “Charlie, Brad, this is Roberts, the man I was meeting for a job interview yesterday after the funeral.”
Brad shook hands with the man. Charlie interrupted again. “So you got the job, Jo? And this trip to New York was to finalize the job?”
Jo pondered how to answer that. “Something like that, Charlie. This is a celebration trip for accepting the job. Roberts brought me here, to show me around before I begin at the company, and I invited Alex and the Turners to tag along.”
“But what is the job, Jo?” Brad’s concern was evident.
“I will tell you all about it later, I promise.” Jo smiled. “But we are wasting daylight. Should we eat first or look at a place to live first?” She asked no one in particular. The people looked at each other to get a consensus. The Allen family had only been in New York slightly longer than the rest, so everyone was still on California time. The clocks all read seven-thirty, but to everyone in the group, it felt like four-thirty.
“Let’s see this amazing apartment you are going to find for me first, and then we will eat.” Charlie decided. They all went along, since there was no differing opinion. Roberts asked Jo which place first, she told him to go to the condo, and he gave the order to the driver.
They had about twenty-five minutes to catch up, but Jo was reluctant to discuss all that had happened in the car, so she asked Charlie what she and her parents had done since arriving in New York. Charlie regaled them with horror stories of the apartments they had looked at. She told them about visiting a few historical sites, and how tired and discouraged she was getting about finding a decent place to live.
“California is expensive, and I know that. I was expecting it to be here, too, but what I’m finding is that the apartments that are in decent areas are a long ways from the college I’m attending. So far, we haven’t found even one possibility near the college.”
“Why do you have to be close to the college?” Jo asked. She was beginning to worry that inviting Charlie to live with her wouldn’t work.
“I don’t want to have to drive, and taxis are expensive. The subway scares me to death, so I don’t want to take it, either.”
“Oh, so it’s just a transportation issue? Is that all?”
Charlie looked at Jo like she had grown three heads. “Yes, Jo, isn’t that enough? It would be nice to be able to get to the college I plan on attending.”
Jo laughed. “All right, Charlie. Point made.”
The limousine was rolling along a road that bordered the Atlantic Ocean, and everyone turned to watch. Soon they pulled into a parking lot that seemed to belong to a large building that looked like an upscale motel, but at the same time, didn’t. Each small room had a balcony, and a few had chairs. One of the balconies had an outdoor grill, Jo noticed. The view would be beautiful, but would it match the luxury of the Penthouse?
“Miss Becker, this is where the condo is. Would you like to see it?”
“This looks much fancier than anything we saw today, Charlie. I’m quite sure it’s out of my budget,” Brad cautioned his excitable daughter.
“It won’t hurt to look, Daddy,” Charlie rationalized. “Besides, maybe Mr. Roberts knows the owner.”
Jo and Alex looked at each other and ducked their heads to hide their snickering. Kyle saw it, and tried to guess what the joke was. He didn’t see anything funny.
“I do, indeed, Mr. Allen. I’m sure something can be arranged.” Roberts gave Jo a knowing look. They all exited the vehicle, and Roberts escorted the group to the top floor of the high-rise. He opened one of the ten or so doors on the floor, and ushered them into the room. It was a two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment, with a small balcony. There was roof access, as well. On the roof was a community pool with deck chairs and patio furniture scattered around. It was very lovely, Jo decided, but nothing compared to the luxury of the penthouse. She stepped onto the balcony and felt the cool breeze blow off the Ocean.
“This is absolutely perfect, Jo! How did you find this place? Is it available for the full season?”
Alex walked out to the balcony to join Jo and Charlie. “Eh, I’ve seen better,” Alex commented nonchalantly.
“Are you insane, Alex? This is the most beautiful apartment in all of New York!”
“But Charlie, you are like a forty minute drive to school from here! How will you be able to afford the taxi bill?” Jo reminded her. Charlie slumped, deflated.
“But it’s so pretty, Jo. Nothing else we saw was this nice. Nothing.”
“There are other nicer things. I believe Roberts has connections to another apartment Alex and I looked at earlier today,” Jo winked at Alex as she spoke. “It was pretty amazing, and it was right in the middle of the financial district. Much closer to your school.”
“Daddy looked in the financial district, there was nothing available that didn’t take half a year’s salary, he said. I think that area is hopeless.”
“Well, we have one more place to see in this half of town. It’s just a house that Roberts wanted to show me, not far from here.”
Charlie sighed. This was really a beautiful condo. She knew it wouldn’t be affordable, though. It was obviously something even her dad wouldn’t be able to give her.
“Miss Becker, may I have a word with you please?” Roberts motioned for Jo to join him in the hallway, as everyone else headed to the exit.
“I see that Miss Allen has her heart set on this place, but I need to remind you, it will be very difficult to keep you safe here. Please keep that in mind when you make your decision.”
“Don’t worry, Roberts. She only wants this one because she hasn’t seen the other one yet.” Jo thought of something. “Roberts? Would it be possible to have some sort of dinner served at the house? We could stop and pick up fast food on the way or something, right? Maybe some paper plates?”
Roberts nodded. “I’m sure it would be possible. However this is not my area of expertise. Your personal assistant would know exactly how to arrange it for you.”
Jo glanced up at him, “Would it be an imposition to call her and ask her to set up a dinner?”
“As your assistant, this is the type of thing that she would handle for you at all times, Miss Becker. After this weekend, once you take your place at BeckFord, Tammy will be underfoot almost every moment you are awake. It is her job, Miss Becker. She is paid quite well to make sure anything you could dream up takes place.”
“Oh,” Jo wasn’t quite sure she was going to like having a person under her feet all day long, day in and day out. “So I should call Tammy then.” She pulled out the very modern cell phone and punched the “Tammy” icon. Shortly, her assistant answered.
“Hi, Tammy, this is Jo Becker.”
“Yes, Miss Becker, is there something I can do for you?”
“I was wondering, if it wasn’t too much trouble, if you could have some food delivered to the…” Jo looked up at Roberts. “Where is the house we are going to next?” she asked.
“BeckFord house. It was the first home purchased with Mr. Hartford’s salary earnings, so he named it after his company.”
“And where is it? Do I need to give Tammy the address?”
“I will tell her where it is.” Roberts held his hand out for the phone Jo was holding. Roberts gave the directions to the house, and handed the phone back. Tammy inquired what Miss Becker wished to have delivered," Jo told her “Surprise me!” Tammy told her she would let the caretaker know that Miss Becker was on her way with a group to inspect the home, and assured Jo that there would be a meal waiting for them.
Roberts ushered Jo down the elevator to the bottom floor where all of her friends were waiting. He put her into the limo, the Allens and Turners followed her in, and they continued on their adventure.