12:25 p.m.
THE TRAFFIC on Third Street just above Market was slower than usual up to Arch Street. Something was off; Veena had an uneasy feeling. She looked up at the skyline for black smoke or news choppers or both but saw nothing out of place. That made her worry all the more.
“Driver, please pull over,” Veena said. “We’ll get out here.”
Their rideshare driver seemed stunned by the very suggestion. “But I’m supposed to take you to Second and Arch.”
“Charge us for the whole trip, and I’ll add an obscene tip,” Veena said. “Come on, Janie. We’re walking the rest of the way.”
“You got it, V.”
They hurried east on Market. The brutal winter winds chilled by the nearby Delaware River blasted their bodies as if trying to push them away.
“Why did we get out here? What’s going on?”
“Hopefully nothing, but…”
“But what?”
“Traffic is never this slow. To me, that means police activity.”
“And Roz Cline lives nearby…”
They hurried down Market Street, fighting the cold wind. At the far end of the block, near the ramp leading to Penn’s Landing, there were two police vans blocking traffic, and street cops were steering pedestrians away. As they closed the distance, even more police cars arrived, lights flashing, along with an EMT truck that squawked and squeezed through the blockade, forcing its way up Second Street in the wrong direction.
“This is such a huge response,” Janie said. “What the hell is going on?”
“There are no fire engines,” said Veena. “Just police and EMTs.”
“I don’t like this.”
“You still have your old press pass, right?”
“Five years out of date.”
“They probably won’t pay too much attention. We should head up the walk to Church Street. Maybe we can sneak past the police along Christ Church.”
Veena was right; nobody paid them much mind as they wound their way through the police vehicles toward Roz’s condo. A crowd had gathered outside. Veena could hear snippets of conversation that chilled her blood even more than the January cold:
“Can you see anything from here?”
“Trust you me, you don’t want to look.”
“I need to get back to my apartment. This totally sucks.”
“Anybody actually see her jump?”