It took me half an hour to free climb up to Mrs. Rutlidge’s floor. I was sweating in the humid air, but felt more alive than I had in months. I swore to myself that I would never go so long without getting in some climbing again. My inner beast was appeased, a little.
I sat on Mrs. Rutlidge’s deck chair to enjoy the view of the skyline and collect myself. Her snores were loud, as she had passed out on the love seat where I’d previously left her. It could be done, scaling the building to get into this place, but very few people in the world had such skills—even veteran climbers would balk at such an attempt.
This guy was really good. Plus, he’d carried his haul back down with him. There wasn’t even rope fiber to be found, and the police hadn’t lifted any fingerprints.