Celia Roberts and Peg Jefferson were well acquainted with each other from their Hoffman Estates subdivision. They moved in the same social circles and lived about a block apart in upper middle class MacMansions. In fact, they occasionally even played golf together in their country club woman's league and served on the same Charity Ball Planning Committee. While not the best of friends they were in each other's address books and were definitely on a first name basis. Consequently when they literally ran into each other coming out of across the hall motel rooms at 1:45 on a Tuesday afternoon, they greeted each other with a surprised use of each other's first name.
"Peg!"
"Celia. What are you?...OOH"
"Call me later OK? "
"Sure. Right I'm sure I've got the number."
With that the two women with their nervous male companions made their way in opposite directions down the motel corridor.
At 4:00 an on edge Celia answered her cell.
"Hi Peg, can you talk?"
"Yes Celia, thanks for calling. Look I think it's obvious that neither of us would like anyone to be discussing our little meeting this afternoon. Right?"
"Definitely Peg. But it's been ages since I've seen you. Why don't we get together and have lunch. I'm free on Thursday and I do have something to discuss. How about that quiet little Italian place in the Hallman Plaza Mall at 12:00?"
"That would be great. We can discuss our meeting that never happened and the Charity Ball decorations."
Peg parked her Lexus in the Mall lot and came into Petrolos Fine Italian Cuisine at 11:59. She found that Celia had taken a booth in the rear of the quiet restaurant and surprisingly, she was not alone. Celia saw Peg and stood up and waved her over. She introduced Peg to Marge Potter. Over several orders of Bruschetta and two bottles of Chianti, Celia had Marge explain a very interesting concept.
"As you may know, I am a Sales Associate for Harrison Realty. In my capacity as such I have discovered that my fellow associates satisfy an occasional need for a place to have 'discrete encounters' in an interesting fashion. In the real estate business we have access to many vacant houses and offices for which we have listing contracts. A car displaying the real estate companies logo and another vehicle without markings in the drive would not be suspicious at almost any time from early morning to early evening. Obviously it would look like someone was showing the house. The only problem is that high turnover and the need for multiple agents to access the property makes availability sometimes problematic.
Mulling this concept over in my head I suddenly had an inspiration. What if there was something similar but in a mall? No one would question if your car was in the parking lot. Plus, there are lots of offices, stores and restaurants for cover. There is also the Professional Building and after lunch I will show you my idea. Essentially I recently rented a large suite of office spaces to a young Chiropractor who is just starting out in the business. His plan was to have a joint practice with another doctor and he signed the lease with that as his intent. Unfortunately the other doctor backed out at the last minute leaving the fellow I leased to holding the bag. The solution that I came up with for him is I think rather unorthodox but takes care of his problem."
"The office space he rented includes a smaller independent suite associated with it. That space has a point of lockable attachment in case the practices wanted to share treatment rooms. It also has its own small reception room coming off of the main office hallway, one large treatment room and a bathroom with a shower. The floor that this space is on is also populated with the usual collection of doctors, dentists, lawyers and opticians."
"Recently I made a proposal to the financially strapped Chiropractor and he accepted the concept. What I have offered is to unofficially sublet from him for cash. I in turn can make the facility available to a very select group of friends and acquaintances for 90 minute periods. Discrete meetings can take place with the ability to come and go through the mall under the guise of shopping or a visit to the chiropractor. The nominal fee of $100 would cover clean sheets for the treatment table, clean towels, security, a portion of the rent and a small fee for my management. A good friend has built a smart phone app that renters can use to reserve time slots which are separated by 30 minute windows for privacy. The fee is placed in an envelope and is dropped through a panel in a bag together with the soiled linens. The service is available today and if you give me a small deposit I can assign you your passcode for the keypad lock."
Celia and Peg were thoughtful for a moment, asked a few insightful questions and after a quick inspection trip to the property after lunch, gave Marge a $100 deposit each and received a user name and password for the system. The reception area door was labeled with a generic Chiropractic name and a phone number which went to an answering machine serviced by Marge. The reception office was a small room with a couch, desk and two chairs. The treatment room with its locked door leading to the other practice was generic in layout and contained a large padded treatment table covered with a fitted sheet. The bathroom was clean and contained a large vanity, toilet and shower.