The Feature

Nightmare in Apartment 9B

for The New York Times

The housekeeper, June Gordon, pushed past the dogs in the pantry that May morning in 2005. She moved deeper into the apartment that was like some cobwebby Miss Havisham version of high-end Manhattan living, with peeling paint, torn furniture and a permanent stink of cigarettes. She found Joyce Cheney on the small red sofa in the big living room, with its impressive view south over the tops of the West Side brownstones.