Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Text from Alex: Really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, sis. We’ve missed having youhere!

‘Oh Olive,you poor poor goose. You poor frightened trembling little goose.’

I wake up to the sound of a very thin, drawling voice calling me a frightened goose. My eyes flutter open and I’m peeved to discover that I am not on a sofa bed in the Upper West Side, but still in a jail cell, my head resting on the furry-coated shoulder of Mandy Banana who is lightly snoring beside me. I rub my eyes. Anders is in front of the holding cell, his horrified face poking between the bars. He’s wearing a tight white T-shirt and baggy white jeans on his skinny frame. With his white blonde hair and pale skin, the effect is startling.

‘I came as soon as I could,’ he says, grasping onto the bars of the cell with a quiet drama. ‘I had my phone turned off – I was dyeing hair extensions and I didn’t want to be disturbed – it’s a very particular process. Anyway I’m here now, you poor sweet jail kitten. I’m so glad you called me. Surprised – people never seem to call me again – butglad.’

‘What time is it?’I ask, suddenly wide awake.

‘It’s 3 a.m,’ Anders says, his perfect face looking not at all sleepy. ‘How long have you been here? Don’t worry. I’m getting youout.’

My stomach drops into my feet. 3 a.m.? My flight home is in six minutes. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed my way out of here. And I haven’t found Chuck. And Seth probably thinks I stood him up! Why did I fall asleep? Why isn’t my legal counsel here? What am I going to donow?

‘No, no. no,’ I mutter to myself. ‘I can’t have missed my flight.’

Officer Leeland appears behind Anders. ‘You’re a lucky kid, English. Your friend here has a hotshot lawyer. She’s spoken to the prosecution office, they’ve deemed this a low-priority case and are choosing not to file charges.

I blink.

‘You mean, I can leave? I - I cango?’

‘Yup,’ Officer Leeland says, unlocking the cell, and letting me out. ‘English, you are free togo.’

* * *

In the cab,I tell Anders how and why I got arrested. He seems thrilled with the drama of it all. ‘And there I was thinking you were such a meek little thing!’ He’s even more thrilled that a photo of me with hair styled by him has appeared in the New York DailyNews.

When the taxi pulls up to my apartment building and before I can even open the car door, Anders has dived out and done it for me. I get the sense that, like me, he doesn’t have many friends and that’s he’s quite pleased to be the one helping me. Or maybe he is just being nice until he can knock me out and have his way with my hair. Only one way to findout.

Upstairs, I take out my key, as Anders shudders at the ‘miniscule dimensions’ of the vestibule. I just want to flop on the sofa bed, FaceTime Birdie, eat some comfort food and figure out what the hell I’m going to donext.

But as I open the door to my apartment I’m greeted by the sight of a young red-haired woman painting her nails on the futon. She jumps up in fright at our arrival.

‘What the hell?’ she yells, the little pot of pink nail polish tumbling off the futon and spilling onto the parquet floor. ‘Who are you? How did you get inhere?’

I frown as I take in the apartment. None of my stuff ishere!

‘Who are you?’ I step inside and glance around. Where are all my belongings? ‘I… this is my apartment,’ I say. ‘Where’s my stuff?’

‘Oh!’ the girl’s confused face relaxes into a smile. ‘Oh, yeah. The doorman said you might turn up. Yeah, so this is my Airbnb now. I checked in half an hour ago. The super said you were supposed to have left by now. He was gonna take your belongings down to the basement but the woman in the apartment opposite said she’d look after it for you, that you weren’t the kind of girl who left without saying goodbye. I guess she was right!’ She turns to Anders. ‘Nice jeans.’

‘I know,’ he says. ‘Prada.’

I shake my head in disbelief. Now I have no place to stay? How the ham sandwich has everything gone so completely and utterly wrong! This is chaos! Bona fide chaos!

Anders following me, I hurry out across to Mrs Ramirez’s place and give it a gentle knock. It’s almost 5 a.m. Man, I hope she’s an early riser. I feel like a dick for potentially waking her up, but what else am I supposed to do? I need my stuff. I need to change out of these stinky clothesASAP.

Within a few seconds of me knocking, the door swings open. Mrs Ramirez stands there, fully dressed, her long hairdamp.

‘Ah, I knew you hadn’t run away! Come in, dear.’

I walk into Mrs Ramirez’s apartment, Anders close behind.

‘I’m Anders von Preen,’ he tells Mrs Ramirez. ‘I rescued Olive fromjail.’

‘Jail? Ay no! I’m Mrs Ramirez,’ Mrs Ramirez replies, leaning over to shake Anders’ bony hand before hobbling back over to her armchair, hand rubbing her injuredknee.

While they’re making introductions, I notice that there, in the corner of Mrs Ramirez’s flat, is all my stuff. Piled up in a jumbled, unorganised way, nothing in its place. And while ordinarily the sight of such disorder would freak me out, today it seems so inconsequential compared to what else is going on. Like the fact that I’ve completely failed Birdie and I have no earthly idea how I’m going to fixit!

‘I need some air,’ I mutter, leaving the room while Anders dramatically relays to Mrs Ramirez the story of how I ended up injail.

Out in the hall, I get into the elevator and am about to press the button for the ground floor when I notice the button at the top. Roof Deck. Before I can psyche myself out of it, I place my finger on the button and push. If I’m about to call Birdie and let her know that I’ve not found Chuck, I can at least go and see the view from the roof like she asked. I can fulfil that promise to her. Even if it does scare the living shit out ofme.

When the lift comes to a shuddering stop, I really really really want to press the button that will take me back down. But I don’t. I exit the elevator, walk up the corridor towards a door marked ‘roof’ and, with trembling hands, I push it open. I’ll just step out for thirty seconds, have a little peek at the view Birdie was so excited about and then get back inside to safety.

But what I see when I step out onto the deck makes me suck in my breath, my heart filling with wonder.

The early morning sun is rising in the cornflower blue sky, casting a pink, orange and yellow glow over the buildings so that they look almost golden. Stretched out ahead is acres and acres of greenery and the gorgeous, lush trees of Central Park, and beyond that is the shimmering silvery blue Hudson river set against everlasting skyscape. New York City is waking up right in front of me, getting ready for all of the amazing moments that are going to happen today.

I take a few steps forward and take a seat at one of the teal painted chairs set out for residents of the building. My legs are wibbly at the thought of being so high up. But I am okay. I breathe in and out through my belly. And it works. Everything is okay. I am safe on this seat. I am safe here in thesky.

A gentle breeze whips its way through my messy hair and my eyes fill with exhausted, overwhelmed tears. I look out over miles and miles of city and shake my head at its magnitude. In that moment it occurs to me that I’m probably safer up here than anywhere else in the world right now. Everything that could possibly go wrong here has done. And at the end of it all, I’m still going to lose my best friend. And I’m fucking terrified. That’s the worst thing in the world. What else do I have to be afraid of? There is nothing else to be afraidof.

Before me, the sun bursts right out into the blue sky as if to say ‘Here I am!’ It’s glorious.

Imagine if I had missedthis.

Imagine if I had never got to see this because I wanted to stay in my safe little world.

Even from the other side of the earth, Birdie’s making my life better.

I bite the corner of my lip, take my phone out of my pocket and FaceTimeher.

Her face flashes up on the screen, bright and happy. ‘Hello, my Brewster. What is happening? Ooh, where are you? Wait – why are you not on the plane?’

I swallow hard and take a deep breath.

‘I have some bad news and some goodnews.’

Birdie nods, eyes widening. ‘Goon.’

‘Right. Well the bad news is that the man at Chimes Investment was not Chuck Allen. It was Chuck Ellen. With an E. Oh, and also I got arrested, spent the night in jail and missed my plane.’

Birdie’s eyebrows shoot up so high they almost disappear into her hair. ‘What the fuck? Olive! Oh my god. How? Why? WHAT?’

I tell her everything, unable to believe what is coming out of my mouth, that any of it actually happened. When I’m done, Birdie runs a hand through her croppedhair.

‘Okay. That’s enough, Olive. Come home immediately. Come home. Get a flight. I will book it now. Get here. Shit. I’m so sorry for sending you over there! It’s my fault you’ve gone through all this. I thoughtthat—’

‘Hush!’ I interrupt her. ‘You haven’t heard the good newsyet.’

‘What? What isit?’

I grin, my heart lifting. ‘Number one, I am on the roof. And you were right. It is amazing. Scary, but not as scary as I thought. In fact, nothing that’s happened has been worse than what I’ve imagined in my head. And number two, I’m going to find that elusive motherfucking Chuck Allen.’

Birdie shakes her head. ‘Olive, listen, seriously, don’t worry about it – wecan—’

‘NO. I said I was going to do it. I promised. And I’m going to do it. I just need a few more days. And I will back before your surgery, okay?’

Birdie looks panicked. ‘But you got arrested? Your eyes look all wild and glinty. What about work? What about—’

‘Don’t worry!’ I say with a laugh. ‘Unclench, why don’tyou!’

Birdie presses her lips together, a delighted smile in hereyes.

‘You’re a nutcase, Brewster.’

‘I fucking love you, Birdie.’

‘I fucking love youtoo.’

‘Good.’

‘Good.’

‘Good.’

‘Stop saying “Good” and go find that elusive motherfucking Chuck Allen already!’

‘Onit.’

Ending the call, I run down the stairs instead of taking the lift and burst into Mrs Ramirez’s flat, where she’s sitting in a chair looking very happy while Anders brushes herhair.

I put my hands on myhips.

‘Right! I have no earthly idea where he is and I don’t have long until Birdie goes for her big surgery and I have to be back in England. But I am finding Chuck Allen and you two are going to help me. I hope. Please?’