by Melissa Hill
She was between a rock and a hard place with this one.
‘Jodi, I have to continue with this. You just don’t understand.’
But Jodi was already shaking her head. ‘No, I do understand, I’ve been there before. You seem to keep forgetting that, for some reason. You are feeling a bit let down by Danny lately, I get that. You are looking for something exciting in your life. This “treasure hunt” falls into your lap. You lie to me, your best friend, and get me to help you with this, while I operate under the notion that it’s Danny who’s behind it. But you have other ideas – that this crush of yours—’
‘He’s not a crush,’ Beth insisted, annoyed. ‘I told you before, he’s a friend.’
‘Whatever,’ Jodi continued, unconvinced. ‘You start pretending or drawing conclusions in your mind that maybe Ryan is behind this. And you justify in your head that this is just for fun. But, Beth, if Danny isn’t doing this and Ryan is, it’s inappropriate. He’s out of line and not respecting you when you say you’re not available. I mean, unless—’
‘Unless what?’ Beth snapped, not meaning to sound as harsh as she did. She didn’t lose her temper with people, especially Jodi, but right now her buttons were being pushed.
‘Unless you are done with your relationship with Danny.’
‘No, I’m not. I’m not finished with Danny. It’s just a rough patch. That’s all. And we will work it out . . . somehow. And this treasure hunt . . .’ Her voice trailed off as she realised that she didn’t have an excuse. And any comeback she had now seemed illogical. At least it did when Jodi made it all sound so black and white.
Beth bristled internally. What right did Jodi have to make her feel guilty? Just because her friend couldn’t see the magic and romance in anything didn’t mean that Beth had to cut it out of her life. In that instant, she decided she would continue the treasure hunt, but she wouldn’t let Jodi know. If Jodi didn’t want to help any more – well, fine, she didn’t need her help.
However, there was one thing that continued to trouble her and nag at her insides. And she couldn’t deny that it did present somewhat of an issue.
Where her next clue was pointing her – the Waldorf Astoria. A hotel.
If Ryan was the one behind this, what would she do if he was there? At the hotel waiting for her? She frowned. No, that would be crossing the line. And she would leave. Simple as that. And that would be the end of this treasure hunt.
But what if . . . Beth allowed her mind to trail off, considering other options.
What if it was just another stop? What if there was another clue waiting for her at the Waldorf? She realised that she had to find out.
She couldn’t not find out. Whoever had set this whole thing up realised that too; knew Beth well enough to know that she wouldn’t rest until she got to the bottom of it, which was reassuring enough in itself.
No, Beth was going to the Waldorf Astoria, whether Jodi liked it or not.
Chapter 20
Jodi had insisted on taking the subway all the way to Beth’s stop in Lower Manhattan after they had ended their shift at Carlisle’s mid-afternoon, and had even got off the train with her – walking side-by-side practically to the front door of her building – even though she was supposed to be heading in the opposite direction, off the island to the Bronx.
Beth knew what her friend was doing. She was babysitting her. Making sure that she didn’t pursue the next clue and go to the Waldorf. Right then, Jodi was walking next to her, eyeing her suspiciously. ‘So what are you going to do this evening?’ she asked.
Beth shrugged. She was trying her best to look casual, nonchalant. ‘I don’t know, make dinner, take Brinkley for a walk. And then watch a movie.’
‘What movie?’ Jodi enquired with a sharp tone, as if daring her to say Serendipity.
Well, Beth could play that game, too. ‘I don’t know, Maybe I’ll just settle in for a nice night of Rambo or Full Metal Jacket. Something with lots of blood and guts. That’s what I feel like at the moment.’ She looked darkly at her friend, but Jodi simply laughed it off.
‘Sure. Full Metal Jacket. That sounds like you. You might want to try out Platoon too, if you are on that kind of kick.’
Beth waved her off. ‘So is this going to be a habit? You walking me home from work. I’m off tomorrow, do you need to pick me up the day after? I’m just wondering how much babysitting I require, that’s all.’
Jodi stopped in her tracks and Beth turned to face her. ‘I’m not babysitting. I’m protecting you from yourself.’
‘You’re protecting me?’ Beth exclaimed. ‘I didn’t realise that I was in danger.’
‘Maybe not physical danger,’ Jodi chided. ‘But I have a feeling that this whole thing is going to land you in trouble. I don’t know how, but I just have a feeling that something really bad is going to come from this. So, like I said, I’m protecting you from yourself.’
Beth started walking again. She saw her building ahead of her and decided that a different approach might work with Jodi, in an effort to get her off her back. She knew that Jodi liked to be in charge and she was likely to be much more accepting if Beth simply acquiesced. Or at least appeared to. If she continued to butt heads with her like this, well, then she was likely to have Jodi follow her up to her apartment and stand guard outside the door.
‘OK, fine. I understand that you’re just concerned about me, and that you simply care about my welfare. You’re a good friend.’
Jodi’s eyes narrowed. She was clearly suspicious about Beth’s sudden change in tune. ‘So you give up? No more treasure hunt?’
Beth nodded but said nothing.
Jodi crossed her arms over her chest and considered her friend. She caught Beth’s quick glimpse over her shoulder, as if plotting an escape route and smiled. Beth was a bad liar, especially when working to fool someone like Jodi, who had an internal lie detector that could sniff any untruth out.
‘OK, fine. I only do this because I want to protect you, you know. I care about you. That’s all.’
Beth nodded and reached forward to give her friend a hug. ‘I know, and I appreciate it. So now, if I have your permission,’ she teased, ‘I’m going home. See you at work, OK? Have a good evening and thanks for walking me home.’
The women said their goodbyes and Jodi watched as Beth went through the motions of walking the remaining distance to her building, saying hello to Billy, and then disappearing inside.
Jodi turned round, heading back towards the subway. She knew exactly where Beth would go next: back uptown to the Waldorf Astoria. That meant she would have to head to the subway and return the way they’d come.
Jodi considered the neighbourhood. Quickly she spied a bar on the opposite corner from where the stairs to the subway platform were located. She could go in there, have a drink, and wait for Beth to enter the subway, and then she could call her out on her lie and maybe embarrass her into giving this up once and for all.
Feeling that she had a plan, she walked towards the bar, checking behind her every few feet just to make sure that Beth hadn’t immediately circled back, thinking Jodi was already gone.
But no, the path was clear.
Jodi walked into the bar, ordered a JD and Coke, and sat next to the window, which looked out onto the street. Now she just had to wait. She stared in the direction from where Beth would eventually come. She took a long swig of her drink and settled in.
Beth stood in her doorway, feeling that she had been able to read Jodi’s mind. She crossed her arms, determined to wait it out.
She smiled in the usual way at Billy, but there was no denying that she now felt hugely uncomfortable around him. Still, just then she needed his help. ‘Billy, there is somewhere I need to go, but Jodi doesn’t want me to. Can you go out onto the street and see if she is walking away? Just act as if you are doing your normal concierge thing,’ she added airily, referencing the way so many New York doormen would walk the path regularly in front of their buildings as if they wer
e sentinels to the property.
Billy considered the request, eyes twinkling. ‘And what is this thing that Jodi doesn’t want you to do, lovey? I hope it’s nothing that’s going to get you in trouble.’
Beth tried to see if she could read anything into this response other than friendly interest. ‘No, nothing that is going to get me in trouble,’ she replied evasively. ‘No danger that I know of. Jodi is just being Jodi. Will you check, please?’
Billy opened the door and casually looked down the block. He looked down the opposite way, waved to someone he obviously knew and then turned back towards the building.
Opening the doors, Beth was all over him for an answer. ‘Well? Was she there?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t see her anyway. The street was clear. She probably already went down to the subway.’
Beth considered Billy’s words, but couldn’t shake the feeling that something didn’t feel right. Hell, these days it was impossible to take anything for granted. But she worried now that if she decided to go back uptown via the subway, her plans would be hijacked. She guessed that was exactly what Jodi was planning on, and wouldn’t even put it past her friend to be waiting close by, probably on the platform, hoping to catch her in the lie.
So, she would just have to do something that Jodi hadn’t planned on.
‘Billy,’ she requested sweetly, ‘I need a cab.’
Within minutes he had secured a cab for her and she was heading in the direction of uptown, leaving her friend – wherever she might be lurking – in the dust.
She had also taken the opportunity to swear Billy to secrecy, although she wasn’t sure how long that could last against any subsequent assault from Jodi. Nevertheless, she would have to chance it. Beth hoped that if Jodi truly was looking out for her she would take her at her word, and just go home.
Circling her thoughts around, Beth began to refocus on her mission. She pulled out the book and five-dollar bill that she had been given earlier that day and considered the two items again.
Yes, the Waldorf was exactly where she was supposed to go. This was a clue that she felt very sure about. She wondered, though, what she would find when she got there. Jumping a little in her seat, her stomach fluttery with excitement, Beth placed the two items in her lap and took a deep breath, composing herself. Even though she still had considerable uncertainty about who could actually be behind all this, she had to believe that eventually it would all make sense.
Just like a classic movie with a plot that featured countless twists and turns, Beth had faith that the path would lead her to answers. She was committed to seeing it through.
The cab slowed, and the driver turned round from the front to face Beth. ‘Sorry about this traffic. You said the Waldorf, right? I’ll get you there as quick as possible.’
Beth smiled politely and shook her head. There was no way to control Midtown traffic at rush hour. ‘No worries, I’m not in a hurry,’ she said, even though she sort of was, but she had to keep it in perspective. It was her own internal deadline that was making her agitated – it wasn’t like there was any emergency.
She looked out the window at Park Avenue to find something to entertain her thoughts; to distract her from wondering what was waiting at the hotel for her. Chances were it wasn’t Billy, she reassured herself with some relief, given that she’d just left him.
However, almost as if serendipity was playing its own kind of trick, Beth suddenly got more than she bargained for.
On the path, no more than twenty feet away from where she sat in the cab, was Danny.
He was walking briskly, avoiding the tourists and crowds of Christmas shoppers that seemed to be crushing the space around him.
Beth’s expression dropped when she noticed he looked incredibly stressed, completely out of sorts, as if something terrible had just happened. She could see it in his face. The cheery twinkling fairy-lit trees along the avenue seemed even brighter against the grey misery of his demeanour.
Forgetting her own mission at that moment, Beth had eyes only for Danny. What was wrong, what had happened? She hoped it wasn’t more bad news from the office, and that all those extra hours he’d been working had ultimately been for naught . . . She started to roll the window down so she could call out to him, make him stop so she could get out of the cab and find out why he looked so upset and preoccupied.
She could go to the Waldorf another time – tomorrow – whenever. ‘Just a minute,’ she said to the driver. She had just got the window down halfway, and she started to stick her head towards the opening to call after Danny, but someone beat her to it.
‘Wait!’ cried a woman’s voice from nearby. ‘Hold on.’
Beth pulled back from the window and watched as a beautiful, dark-haired woman rushed after her boyfriend. She had an arm up in the air and seemed desperate to reach him – to get his attention. Beth’s brow furrowed and she looked around in confusion, suddenly realizing that this part of town was quite some distance from Danny’s workplace. What was he doing here?
Her attention was very quickly dragged back to the scene in front of her. The dark-haired woman had been successful in getting Danny’s attention. She had reached him and grabbed his arm, pulling on him, trying to get him to face her. And Danny’s face was just . . . ashen, Beth thought; it was hard to describe how he looked. And not only that but he seemed dishevelled, not at all as groomed as he usually was, his shirt hanging out as if . . . As if he had got dressed in a hurry or something. What on earth . . . ?
But notwithstanding how he looked, it was also crystal clear that he knew this woman.
Who was she? Beth studied her. Dark and Mediterranean-looking, she had long, silky hair and wore a pencil skirt and high heels. Beth focused in on the woman’s face. She handed him something and she and Danny were talking now – no, not talking, remonstrating. Something was going on and it was heated. Beth tried to remember the last time she and Danny had communicated like that, openly and unrestrained, the way these two people were interacting. It reminded Beth of something, it was like two lovers in the throes of a passionate discussion. A dramatic outburst on the city streets – followed by making up somewhere private.
Beth felt as if she was holding her breath.
Danny was clearly upset and Beth wished that she could hear their words. How did they know each other? Was she a workmate of his? What was going on?
And then the realisation hit Beth. Danny was . . . involved with this woman. She swallowed hard, trying to understand it, trying to make sense of it. Suddenly his behaviour over the last few weeks made perfect sense.
‘Oh God . . .’ she gasped out loud.
‘Miss?’ the driver suddenly said, interjecting into her thought process. ‘Do you want to get out here or what?’
But Beth turned away from the window and shook her head violently. ‘No, no. I don’t.’ Her fear and confusion escalated as she turned back. She had to get away from here – she wasn’t ready to deal with this. She wasn’t sure when she would ever be ready to deal with this.
Danny cheating on her . . .
And right then, she came to the crystal-clear realisation that Danny didn’t plan this treasure hunt – he certainly wasn’t behind it. Evidently he had moved on, was making plans for – or more to the point, with – someone else, and Beth wasn’t included.
‘Sorry, no, I don’t want to get out,’ she managed to the cab driver. ‘Keep going. Please. I have to get out of here.’
As the cab continued on its journey, and Beth scrambled to get her thoughts together, suddenly she felt very sure of one thing.
As her world was crumbling around her, she would continue on with this hunt, she decided, swallowing the lump in her throat and hardening her heart.
Anything that would offer her a respite from this terrifying new reality.
Chapter 21
The cab driver practically had to snap his fingers in front of Beth’s face as a signal that they had arrived, so fraught with confusion
was she.
‘Miss, we’re here, the Waldorf,’ he said. ‘Miss? Miss? You OK?’
Beth came to attention and stared blankly at the man talking to her from the front seat. She was still trying to process what she had just seen. It didn’t make any sense.
Or did it?
‘Sorry, what?’ she mumbled, honestly forgetting what she had originally set out to do.
‘We’re here, at the Waldorf. It’ll be fourteen dollars.’
Beth shook her head in an effort to get rid of the cobwebs that cluttered her brain and reached for her purse. Pulling a twenty out of her wallet in one absent motion, she handed it to the cabbie, not asking for change, and getting out of the car before he had time to thank her for the tip.
What was it she’d just seen? Danny – with a woman . . . No, it couldn’t be; Danny wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t cheat on her.
But then she thought again about his recent strange behaviour. She had been well aware that, of late, things had been off with how he acted: those long nights at the office, the fact that he’d jumped all over her that time she’d offered to go through his pockets, not coming near her until he had a shower. Indeed, if Jodi had been here at that moment, assessing the situation with her, she would have been screaming ‘cheater’ at the top of her lungs.
Standing on the path in front of the hotel, the reality once again hit Beth and left her weak and breathless with horror.
Oh my God, he truly was having an affair. This wasn’t just a rough patch in their relationship. Danny, her boyfriend of seven years, was cheating on her.
With that woman. That stunning-looking woman who looked to be Beth’s opposite in every way. Stylish, beautiful, poised . . . everything she wasn’t.
Feeling crushed afresh, she chided herself then, unable to believe that she had felt so guilty about her steadily growing feelings for Ryan. Now, in light of all this, she found it so embarrassing that she felt stupid for worrying. When she was dealing with all of this internal conflict, Danny had already taken the lower road. He’d betrayed her, kept secrets from her, cheated.
