the right. This route takes us a little out of the way, but it’ll be better in terms of traffic.”
“So I should just follow you?”
“Yes,” I told him. “If we do get separated, once you’re on Denny keep going until you hit Second. The garage entrance is off Clay one block beyond the light at Second and Broad. I’ll wait for you inside the garage on the P-1 level and guide you down to our assigned parking places.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” Alan said. There was a tear in his eye as he said the words—a tear I pretended was invisible.
“Not to worry,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’m happy to help. If our situations were reversed, I’m sure you’d do the same. Are you all checked out?” He nodded. “Okay then, let’s roll.”
It was after eleven when we finally left the hotel and headed downtown. Fortunately, traffic was as reasonable as it ever gets around here. Most of the University of Washington commuters were either at their desks or in class by then, so traffic through the University District wasn’t all that bad. We made it down I-5 and onto Denny with no problem, but once we turned onto Denny, a bus pulled out of the bus lane directly behind me, slowing Alan down and blocking his view. Luckily, the last-minute directions I’d given him paid off. He caught up with me a minute or so after I pulled in to the P-1 level of Belltown Terrace’s garage.
Mel’s and my parking spaces are on level P-4. Once Alan arrived, I put the Mercedes in gear and led the way down to P-4, where I directed him into Mel’s customary spot, the one nearest the elevator. After exiting the car, I handed him Mel’s garage-door clicker to put on his window visor and gave him her set of keys.
“Belltown Terrace is a secure building,” I explained. “When the garage door is closed, the remote will let you into the garage and give you access to the lower parking levels. This key lets you into the building’s front entrance and into the garage-level elevator lobbies. Once inside the elevator, you’ll also need to use the same key to operate the elevator from the garage levels. The other key lets you into the unit.”
Alan clicked open the trunk on his rental. It was full, as was every inch of available space inside the car. “How the hell am I going to get all this crap upstairs?” he asked despairingly.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll take Lucy and Athena with me. There’s a grocery cart parked right there in the elevator lobby. Load as much as you can onto that. It’ll most likely take more than one trip. Just remember to keep the elevator key with you at all times.”
I held the lobby door open long enough for Alan to retrieve the P-4 grocery cart. Once he headed back to the car, I used my key to activate the penthouse button so Lucy, Athena, and I could head upstairs. The elevator stopped at the main lobby. When the door slid open, who should be standing there but Marge Herndon herself.
Spotting Bob, the doorman, over Marge’s shoulder, I gave him a wave. I had called him during the drive into town to warn him that Mel and I were about to have guests staying over for the foreseeable future, so he was already in the know even before Marge showed up. Bob was on the phone, but he greeted me with an answering wave. It was, in fact, due to Bob’s wife’s long-term friendship with Marge that she had come into our lives in the first place.
“You’re a little late, aren’t you?” Marge grumbled, glancing reprovingly at her watch as she stepped into the elevator. “I thought you told me you’d be here by eleven.”
“Sorry,” I said. “That was the plan, but there were a few unavoidable delays.”
“And I can’t believe they let you bring that monster of a dog in here,” she continued. “You’re sure it’ll be all right riding in the elevator?”
At that very moment, Lucy, was sitting quietly at my feet, behaving perfectly and minding her own business. In other words, Marge Herndon hadn’t changed her stripes very much after all.
“Lucy will be fine,” I assured Marge before deftly changing the subject. “How did you know we were here?”
“Bob saw you drive into the garage on one of his security monitors,” Marge answered.