Anomaly #2: Missing bricks and Masonry Patches

In the tax photos we see the lintel and sill of the building in ruins, decaying and patched in different states. Most sills are still intact (although obscured by the truck they're visible today), although weathering is extreme on others. The lintel above the first floor row of windows is apparent, again in various states of repair or removal (the garage door renovation plans from the 1940s). The 2nd floor windows is harder to determine, there are areas which look like different brick patches right where a lintel would be. There are areas in the facade where a seam is visible between windows, is this buckling brick or evidence of something which has been removed?

Most of these little incongruencies and patched parts are explainable, but notice the detail of bricks along the parapet in this photo, look for the very regular gap in all of the extruded brick courses.

close up of the unexplained anomaly, notice the areas where the brick patch has been done.

It's clear to me something was removed, or repaired. Another duct or pipe may have been there, but the other pipes go over the bricks why would this be different?