The next morning, Maddy arranged to have Mrs. Hudson watch Eliza for the day. She and Mrs Turner had decided to take her to the zoo. Maddy had decided that it was time to solve this case and get the boy back.
She held the card in her hand with the address that John had found for the offices of Konstantin Alexopoulos. That morning she had dropped by Mycroft's house and changed into some of her old wardrobe. Now she walked confidently through the lobby and into the mirror fronted elevator. She entered the office of the World Angels Success Foundation and walked up to a desk manned by a blond woman with a pinched face and a black and white dress. "May I help you?" she asked.
"Yes thank you!" Maddy said talking slowly and formally, "My name is Madeline St. Martin. I'm sure that you've heard of me. I head the Holmes Homeless Foundation and I have an appointment with Mr Alexopoulos."
"Mr Alexopoulos doesn't see visitors," she said.
"He will see me. I called before, did you not get the message. Call upstairs to ask."
The woman frowned, "I'm sorry but Mr Alexopoulos sees no one."
"Are you saying that you are not his secretary? Oh I see. Can you give me her number."
"I am Mr Alexopoulos' secretary, but he sees no one but Mr. Blackwell."
"Excuse me for being rude, but if you don't make his appointments, what exactly are you paid to do? I have an appointment with Mr Alexopoulos. I have asked you to call to confirm. Will you please check with him now."
The woman rose to her feet, her face hard as stone, "Madam, I have told you that Mr. Alexopoulos does not have an appointment with you, I must ask you to leave now, or I will call security."
Maddy looked down her nose at the woman. "I must say that your manners have much to be desired. I shall come back at another time. Good day." Then she turned on her heel and walked out of the office. She went to the elevator and pushed the button. She hadn't found put much, but she confirmed that Mr. Blackwell was the one who spoke for him. The elevator opened and a janitor came out. Maddy watched as she wheeled a cart down the hall. The elevator closed behind Maddy as she stared after the janitor, an idea forming in her head. The janitor took out her keys and unlocked the door to a private washroom. She took out some rolls of toilet paper and walked into the room leaving her keys on the cart.
Maddy took off her shoes and walked quickly toward the cart. She peeked into the room watching as the woman entered a stall, then she took the keys. She ran to the end of the hall. One door had an emergency sign on it. It was the stairwell leading down. Next to it was a separate door which read authorized use only. She tried different keys in succession until one of them fit. Then she bent down and wedged her shoe in the door to keep it open. She could hear the maid returning, so she rushed back to the cart just as the woman returned with a trash bag. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, "Is it alright if I throw this in here?" she asked thrusting the paper in front of the woman's face as she returned the keys. The woman nodded and she dropped the paper into the trash container before turning away. The maid picked up some paper towels and then turned back and picked up her keys before returning to the washroom.
Maddy walked back to the end of the hall. She retrieved her shoe and entered the stairwell closing the door behind her, then she climbed up to the top. Luckily the door was unlocked. She found herself in a hall with a yellow-orange carpet and white wallpaper threaded with silver vines. There were windows on the ends of the hall with a fabulous view of the city. An elevator stood a the other end of the short hallway, and double doors led into the penthouse.
Maddy walked over to the doors and knocked. If he asked, she could claim that the secretary had let her in, but she would see this Alexopoulos who kidnapped children. Oh yes, she would see the man. She knocked. Then she knocked again. Then she knocked louder. Then she tried the door. It was open.
"Hello," she said as she leaned into the room. The place was magnificent. Large, there wasn't a description for how big this room was. It couldn't be called a living room. Maybe a lobby. The walls were glowing white, with striped wallpaper that had a pearlescent sheen
The furniture was burnished wood all golden and gorgeous. There were huge windows looking out either side of the room, the back wall was a wall of glass looking out on the London skyline. A white couch sat in the middle of the room. There was a desk against one wall, and rooms going off to either side. Straight ahead, glass doors led out to a pool with a hot tub and a garden.
Maddy walked into the apartment. She strode up to the windows looking out at the view and then she knocked and opened the bedroom door. There was a large bed there, but no one was in it. In fact, although it was elegant, it was empty and impersonal like a guest room. No one had lived here in months. She walked around checking the other rooms. The place was beautiful but vacant. There was certainly no indication that a sickly old man lived here. Hospital beds, nurses, oxygen tanks were all missing. Even the trash was empty, everywhere except for the bar and the writing desk.
Maddy looked through the trash next to the desk. There were some pieces of plastic, rolled up paper napkins, and a matchbox. She picked up the matchbox. It was empty but she put it into her pocket anyway. There was a large ashtray on the desk full of ash, but no cigarette butts. There were no butts in the trash either. She opened the drawers. The top drawer had pencils and pens and some blank paper with letterhead for the foundation.
The side desk was full of bric a brac. Four wax candles, a roll of white ribbon, scissors, a pair of pliers and wire along with other odds and ends. Wedged far in the back was a picture. It must have sat on the desk at one time, but someone had thrust it away, It showed a grandfatherly like old man with Greek features holding a child while smiling children stood around him. He looked...nice. It was hard to think of him as evil, but then looks can be deceiving. She was just about to search the bar when a sound came from the hallway.
She thought for a minute about standing here and claiming to have been lost, but as the footsteps came closer, she bolted, rushing to the bedroom and closing the door behind her. She thought briefly of hiding under the bed, or in the closet, choosing instead to crouch under a table behind the door.
She could hear the sound of a man's footsteps. He walked past the door. He was talking to someone. She sat as still as she could. The man stopped in front of the door. "What do you mean he doesn't want to pay it. You tell him that if he doesn't want the papers to hear about the activities that he gets up to on the weekends that he had better get that payment in to us on time...I don't care if he's getting audited or not. That's his problem..." Then the steps walked away. She could hear the sounds of glasses clinking. He was making himself a drink. The footsteps moved over to the desk and there was the sound of a wooden chair being pushed back. The drink clinked onto the desk and she heard the sound of typing. The man must have brought a laptop. There was the sound of a laptop closing and the chair moved again. The steps were coming toward the bedroom.
Maddy crouched down low just as a door opened, banging against the table that she was under. Maddy leaned to the side hoping to hide herself behind a potted tree near the table, but she was woefully exposed. There was a man standing with his back to her. He was wearing a pale suit. he tossed his tie and coat down on the bed and then turned toward the wardrobe. He opened the mirrored doors and entered.
Maddy considered bolting around the still open door, but he came out then carrying a suit still in it's plastic dry cleaning wrapper. He tossed it on the bed and began to undo his shirt before walking through a door and into the bathroom.
Maddy heard the sound of the shower and she crawled across the floor and out of the open bedroom door. She looked briefly at the silver laptop. A spy might open it, tap it somehow, but all that she wanted to do was flee. She stood taking off her shoes and rushed for the front doors opening one and closing it as quietly as she could before making her way back to the stairwell. She went down the stairs, and out into the lower hall, then she opened the emergency stairwell and walked down all of the flights of stairs not trusting the elevator. She kept going until she exited the building in a back alley.
Her heart felt like it was beating a million miles a minute, and not because of the stairs. She walked three blocks before taking the first bus that she saw. She sat there letting the bus drive her somewhere while she calmed down. Something about that place terrified her. She texted Sherlock.
[Penthouse empty of old man. Only talks to Mr Blackwell.]
[Good, come for debrief at the hour - 0]
Maddy sighed.
When Maddy returned, Mrs Hudson was still out. She climbed the stairs to find John in the flat. She sat on the couch and sighed with relief. "I'm so glad to be back," Maddy said, "I went by the WASF offices today and broke into Alexopoulos' flat but he wasn't there. Some other man came in and took a shower and so I high-tailed it out of there. Apparently, Mr. Blackwell is the only one who ever sees him. That was probably him in the flat. Well I call it a flat, it was more like a series of flats. I'd never seen a penthouse apartment before."
It was only after she had taken off her shoes that she realized that John wasn't saying a word. "Is something wrong?" Maddy asked looking at him.
"Tell me, Maddy" John said his mouth in a thin line, "who exactly are you?"