Finding Maggie

Chapter One - A Chance Encounter

Chapter One - 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 of the twenty-sixth floor. Taxis honked day and night, regardless of traffic conditions, people walking the streets chatted away on cellphones, mothers shouted out of windows to their children playing below. It all added up to that perfect level of irritating and yet 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.

Her paperwork littered the large, glass and varnished steel, square coffee table while her laptop sat in her lap, quietly adding its lowly hum to the city's clangor. Opening arguments had always been her least favorite hurdle to get over in any court case and the one she needed to write out that night wasn't going to be any easier than the ones before it. The difficulty of them lay in the judge and opening arguments were much like first impressions. She wanted, no needed, to make a good one. Her client's lawsuit depended on it.

The clock in the hallway had just chimed half past eight at night when the buzzer from outside rang through the penthouse. Maggie checked her watch and affirmed the time before shuffling off her laptop and 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 recently which she hadn't even yet noticed she had gained.

"Yes?" She asked after pressing down the button on the box inset into the wall near the front door.

"Good, you're home! Let me in, let me in!"

Maggie let out a breath of air 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 door and waited for the sound of the elevator opening before peeking through peephole. Just to make sure.

She couldn't help but smile 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, bouncing quality that only special people could pull off without looking silly.

Maggie thought back to a time, not too long past, when she used to bubble too. Maybe never as much as her long-time friend but well enough to suit her disposition. Could a year really change a person so much? Apparently so. Shaking her head to force her unbidden thoughts aside, Maggie plastered a smile across her face as she re-locked the door. Just the simple act of smiling had lately become just that. An act.  Jessie spun around after tossing her tiny leather jacket over Maggie's paperwork on the sofa.

"Oh my God, Mags," Jessie began, hopping up and down in her five inch chunk heels. "I'm so bored!" She elongated her complaint, huffing it out, as if to prove its validity.

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

"Please?"

Her whining Maggie 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, at least not until the proceedings were over. 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 fine wine, and finish her opening remarks for the morning's trial. Still, when it came to Jessie, saying no was difficult, it always had been. Jessie began her complaintive pleas again. "Come on Mags, you've been working on that case for months now. You already know what you're going to say. Why do you always have to write it all down?"